"Shrek 2" (2004)

I actually laughed out loud once or twice.  That's saying something.  I quite enjoyed this movie.  I'm not going to say I laughed all the way through, because I didn't.  (I know, I know.  Picky, picky.)  Nevertheless, I enjoyed this movie.  The moment that I remember laughing to?  Puss in Boots eyes, when he uses them against the castle guard.  Let's see, I probably enjoyed the use of the "Mission Impossible" theme.  And I enjoyed seeing Captain Hook as a piano player.  Nice.

Okay.  That was a nice watch.

"Bridge to Terabithia" (2007)

I know this movie was originally a book, but it is a book I haven't read.  So, not only can I not speak to how well it is adapted, I'll be talking from the perspective of evaluating the story purely from a movie-goer's view.

This movie was a real quality movie, and a tear-jerker.  Why don't they make adult movies of this quality?  Is it that such a task is impossible?

The heartbreaks of junior high life.  The ups and downs of a coming of age.  The balancing act of fancy and reality.

And why do good friendship movies end with one friend dying or leaving?

The heaven/hell theology was atrocious in that the view stated is the view the world would like to believe, not the truth.  However, in the context of the story, it isn't dwelt on aside from it being a natural question a grieving person would ask, and the person hearing what we--both the griever and the audience--want to hear in the context of the story.  Too bad.  It wouldn't have taken much to turn it true, but would turning the story true (as in carpentry straight) would Leslie's character been unable to hold up to being consistent and believable  herself?

It was nice to see a balanced boy bullies and girl bullies in the story.

(After watching author and director commentary:)

What a difference context makes.  The real life inspiration for the story for the author--that was missing information from my view earlier/above.  It makes the story sweeter now.  And I like the view expressed (paraphrased): "If the book gets to be too much, put it down.  It will be there later.  That's the nice thing about books."  (author)

The editorial/commentary/interview also illuminated Leslie's theology as something she was "poor" in to parallel Jess's financially poor state.  Hmm....

Overall, well done, guys.  Well done.

"Ice Age" (2002)

Regular readers of this blog will already know that I have talked about my dry sense of humor before.  Therefore, it shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't laugh at most of the humor here--the humor tries too hard, or my humor has gotten drier as I've gotten older.  That being said, the story is decent, even enjoyable.  I found the beginning (how the mammoth and sloth got together) a bit forced, but once past that, the story was enjoyable--even if the humor was, well, more for others' taste.  I did enjoy it, and liked the ending.

"Fantomas IV: Fantomas vs. Fantomas" (1914)

This story is so well told.  The elements seem simple, and yet how everything is going to come about and how things are exactly going to wind up is not clear, nor is it so easy to guess.  This kind of masterful writing is hard to find these days.  What's more, it's not a cliche genre movie, at least I don't think so.  It doesn't even coin the beginnings of one.  It's part of the wonderful series of Fantomas movies--so there's more than one--, yet, it clearly stands on its own.

This French movie needed an American name.  The name they came up with "Tom Bob."  Nothing like putting two first names together to create an "authentic" American name.  :S  :)

If you haven't watched any of the Fantomas movies, you should.  This one is well worth watching.  And by telling you, "Three identical disguises from three different parties.  What could possibly go wrong?" I am giving away nothing.  You might guess where its going to go, but I predict the better majority of you won't guess, not completely correctly, anyways.  [Hey, I make predictions about your experience, can't I?]

Granted, it takes watching 1 or 2 Fantomas movies to keep track of who's who (they all seem to have dark hair and mustaches), and the Fantomas himself is in several disguises.  That's where the first "introducing the actor/character" bit at the beginning is helpful.  "This actor will have these 4 appearances."  That is helpful.  Then you can play "I spy Fantomas!" as the movie goes on.

Go.  Go watch it.  It's a well-spent hour.

"The Rescuers" (1977)--Revisited

The very first movie that I saw in movie theaters that I can actually remember the title of is The Rescuers.  I remember my Dad recounting afterwards how I'd gotten "tickled" at the chase scene near the end.  And now, X-number of years later, I still find that chase scene grinningly funny.  The only difference is then it was brand new and the here-and-now I can put words to why it was funny--or I can try.  For me, it's not the slapstick, not so much.  Instead, some of it is the unexpected.  Some of it is actually managing to capture irony.  The moment that most captures my funny bone?  When the jack rabbit snaps his fishing reel back to snag the turtle and the turtle says, "I don't need no one's help" when he very clearly does.  The turtle snaps and the jack rabbit doesn't bat an eye taking it all in stride and helps him anyway.  That's the moment that does it.  Every. Time.  lol.  :D    And the music in that section just adds to it.  Music/sound adds SO much to a movie.  Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

"Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944)

It's clear that this movie was meant to showcase two things:  Judy Garland and color.  There were several scenes where Garland's attire is opposite of those around her in order for her to stand out a little more.  Who can miss the stripes when she first appears?  In the first party scene, her blue is in such a shade that it stands out against the other folks' apparel.  Later, when those surrounding here are costumed in very very festive colors, Garland is in black--which both makes her stand out and frames her face.  The house, too, is repainted (not repainted within the storyline) to best showcase each season of the year.  And, of course, who can not enjoy the dramatic depth-of-dimension of a well known alto vocalist in the age where "crooners" are highly valued.

For a musical, the plot was believeable and held the songs together well-enough.  It was curious to have the adults/older figures reprimand the younger for lying and then  would turn around and do it themselves in both the same and in other circumstances.

"Ghost Graduation" (2012)

In Spanish, mostly, (and I believe set in Spain) except for a few English pop songs and once when the teacher says that Shakespeare should be read in English instead of Spanish and attempts to speak a few lines in English from the Hamlet's ghost scene.  The English songs were "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (turn around ... turn around ... turn around ...), "Saturday Night", and "Surfer Bird" ("Everybody's heard, about the bird ... bird is the word, bird, bird, bird, bird is the word...).  There were Spanish songs to.  So, it was a sub title movie.

The premise of the plot is a "done before" one, but since it takes its time, there's enough "what is this version going to do?" to keep watching to see how this one is going to go.

The "humor" I didn't find funny.  Thankfully, it wasn't "stupid" humor.  Instead, the humor played to "mature audiences only"--just enough to be rated for such, but the movie didn't center on it, so it wasn't too bad to ignore it.  There really wasn't any other kind of humor.  It was mainly "for mature audiences only".  And if you prefer family friendly, then you can skip this movie.  If you enjoy the mature humor or if you don't mind looking past it, then the plot is actually enjoyable.  I wish they'd scaled back some of the visuals, but that's me.

So, why did I start watching it?  Teacher helps ghosts.  Others don't believe teacher sees ghosts.  I thought it would be a nice twist/variation on teacher helps students.  It was.  Sort of.  So even though I didn't like the mature humor and mature visual humor etc., the plot was decent enough for me to watch to the end.  That does say something.

Now I'm ready to watch something with better values.  Christians need to make more movies or need to have more Christians involved in movie making.