You can't call it Frolie...

Children of Men (2006)
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Produced by Marc Abraham, Eric Newman, Iain Smith, Hilary Shor, Tony Smith, Thomas Bliss, Armyan Bernstein
Novel by P.D. James
Screenplay by Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Clive Owen (Uncredited)
Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Clare-Hope Ashitey

Children of Men Trailer

Notes:

• The image of tough Clive Owen in a business suit while wearing flip flops is pretty cool.
• I think this is the first time I've seen Michael Caine not helping a super agent or super hero, and instead, helping himself to a little futuristic weeeeeed...
• They either had an incredible baby actor, or an incredible CG team to make an incredible baby actor. (Although the CG team probably could've spent more time on that ping pong ball.)
• The actors going in out of cars on the RIGHT hand side kept confusing me. I kept thinking "oh wait, if they're in the passenger seat, who's driving..?"

Things I learned from Children of Men:

• In the future, doors will be too short for people of Clive Owen's height.
• Babies are born limp?! Oh that makes sense. Looks creepy. For a split second I thought the girl gave birth to a dead alien.

Recommended to:

• Those who like the trailer or the concept for the movie.
• Those who like deep, heavy, and thought-provoking films.
• Those who read the book?
• Those who like dystopia stories.
• Mothers (so they can be thankful of their children?)

Not recommended to:

• Those looking for something bright and happy.

Conclusion:

I'm a pretty delicious sucker for movies about crazy hypothetical situations. "What if no one could have a baby!?" "Yeah! I'll watch that!" But regardless of my initial bias, this was an excellent movie with a lot of exciting and tense moments, along with great acting and dramatic scenes. There was even a part where I said "oh my god!" out loud, and involuntary exclamatories are most often a good sign.

Coming soon: The Birds

You ARE stuck in Witchita!

It was either this or face-washing with undies.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
Directed by John Hughes
Produced by John Hughes
Written by John Hughes
Starring John Hughes Steven Martin, John Candy

Notes:

• This is essentially the story of torture (mainly mental in a comical manner).
• With Steve Martin being subjected to all this slapstick "uh oohhh" situtations, he kinda reminds me of an older Ben Stiller.
• Some of the 1980's stuff doesn't really hold up well in 2010. At least they didn't wear parachute pants (or too bad?).
• The movie ended with a freeze frame, which, again, seems very out of date. Sorta gross. TAKE NOTES, PRISONER OF AZKABAN...
• Any movie that ends with a karaoke version of Every Time You Go Away is a win for me.

Things I learned from Automobiles:

• Sleeping at an airport is probably better than spending 3 days with a stranger who almost gets me killed.
• Sharing bathrooms can suck.
• Steve Martin's has very nice white hair.

Conclusion:

This movie balances VERY steadily on the edge of hilarious goofiness and unbelievable ridiculousness, mainly due to the John Candy character. He falls so closely near the archtype of "he's annoying, but lovable because he means no harm", and that archtype REEKS OF BADNESS. Luckily John Hughes adds just the slightest hint of realism into the character that it prevented me from walking away. Besides, if I tried to not finish the movie, Steve Martin would look at me from the screen and yell "WELL EXCUUUUUSE ME!!!".

Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'

Brooks is here.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Directed by Frank Darabont
Produced by Niki Marvin
Screenplay by Frank Drabont
Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman

Notes:

• The whole thing reminded me of both Forest Gump and Holes. Hey, all three movies had curly hair'd leads too!
  
• What if master narrator Morgan Freeman didn't narrate the movie? That would suck. If he didn't, the only acceptable alternative would be Sir Ian McKellen, and in that case, Tim Robbins should just be replaced with Sean Astin. So pretty much if Morgan Freeman wasn't here, I'd end up watching Lord of the Rings.
• There's a part where Moran Freeman says he's Irish. How awesome would an Irish Freeman be?? Everything would be the same except his hair would be red, and at a distance, his skin mixed with his hair would blend into maroon! His name would be Maroon O'Freeman.
  
• This movie made me want to go to jail to hang out with that fun gang of guys in the film.
  
• Then there were some rape scenes. Then I did not want to go to jail.
• I wonder if people in prison watch this. I'm guessing it would make the guards feel uncomfortable...

What I learned from Shawshank:

• Jail toilets are surprisingly clean!
• To get money, write letters to the government until you annoy them into succumbing to your will.
  
• Prison isn't fun when you get raped, or when the warden is corrupted, or when you get beat up, or when you spend 2 months in "the hole", or when you can't listen to music, or when you aren't free.
• Prison is fun with an Irish Morgan Freeman.

Random quotes:

• "They send you here for life and that's exactly what they take."
• "The funny thing is, on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook."

Conclusion:

NOW I know why it got so much praise! This was a wonderful movie with superb actors and a great script. I was also surprised at how happy it was, since, yknow, the whole thing takes place in a prison and all.

The Italian Stallion

Rocky punching Apollo Creed's egg head into a cup. He does this 20 times, then drinks the whole cup in about 8 seconds.
Rocky (1976)
Directed by John G. Avildsen
Produced by Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Burgess Meredith

Notes:

• Yay for character driven stories!
• The 1970's stuff was pretty cool to watch. I wonder if they thought that in the 1970's?
• Is it me or does Apollo Creed look like Lando Calrissian. Must be the 'fro 'stache combo.
• Rocky has cool glasses.
• Rocky also has a cool name. Bravo, parents.
• Why does his manager act like Popeye?
• Sylvester Stalones' lips rarely move throughout the movie, I think that's how he keeps that cig in his mouth while he talks.
• That training season with the Rocky music was all kinds of exciting.

Things I learned from Rocky:

• "They don't remember you, they remember the rep!"
• Punching meat should always be the answer.

Random quote:

• "She's got gaps, I've got gaps... together we fill gaps."

Conclusion:

Great movie! I didn't expect to like it as much as I did.

Movie Time

Heyo.

NEW BLOG!

Every week I plan to watch at least one movie (primarily via Netflix), and afterward I'll draw a lil picture and gather my thoughts for a post on this website. And uh... that's about it! PREPARE FOR YOUR MIND TO MELT DUE TO UNUSUALLY LARGE CONSUMPTIONS OF AWESOMENESS!!

So far I have a pretty exciting list (here's part of it):

• Children of Men
• Birds
• Princess Mononoke
• Total Recall
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Ghostbusters
• Citizen Kane
• Saving Private Ryan
• Edward Scissor Hand
• Once
• The Big Libowski
• Braveheart
• Blazing Saddles
• Slaughter House 5
• The Thing
• Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures
• Triplets of Bellville
• Pulp Fiction
• AND MORE
  

I'll also include movies I see in the theater. Feel free to recommend some movies to me, I'm open to everything not boring.

Huzzah for movies!