Ferris Bueller's Day Off - M3.4/E6

This movie frequently comes up as one of the great movies of the past (IMDB - 7.9 and Rotten Tomatoes - 80%), and I keep thinking that maybe by re-watching it I'd understand where those viewpoints come from.  Maybe not a lot of great movies came out of the 80's or maybe I'm just missing it all together.  I like movies that make me think, and maybe I'm not thinking along the right wavelengths as those who praise it; but if a movie requires too much thought, it's not worth my time.

By all means, the story was fun and entertaining, it made me think back to high school (a fairly positive time period for me), so it definitely served its purpose.  It would have been more enjoyable on VidAngel given the amount of language (particularly religious profanity) throughout the show.  Otherwise, for a high school comedy, it was fairly clean.

Ferris is almost an idol worshiped by everyone in the movie, except for his sister and Principal Rooney.  Eventually the sister gives in and the Principal pays for his lack of devotion.  Ferris' example to his friend Cameron could be seen as a bit controversial.  He gets him to break all sorts of rules in the name of living it up and their soon parting when they graduate from high school.  The majority of the comedy comes from this unrealistic gushing adoration for the carefree Ferris.  His sister decides to take his side only after having a make-out session with a druggie in the police department...maybe being stoned is contagious?

The Lorax (2012) - M3/E5

I tried to go into this movie with no expectations, though I had read what the general response was from the critics.  I knew it was a movie about caring for the environment, but still remembered loving the story growing up.  After getting through 10 minutes of commercials and 25 minutes of trailers (with my daughter asking me each time a new trailer came up if it was the movie actually starting), the movie finally started, and I was hopeful.

It ended up being far from great, and will more than likely just disappear from my memory as a rather uneventful experience.  The movie was a fun kids show, lots of colors, and fun creatures; but the songs were less than memorable and the characters were not very interesting or deep, and the villain was completely annoying.  Why is it supposed to be funny to cast the villain as a mean, angry, short person? (My kids loved it, so I guess that's what they were going for.)

We are taught the same lesson that the book and the earlier animated feature teach us, that "unless" we take action and defend the trees, no one else can or will.  A much stronger moral (and the one my wife remembered from the book) was that "unless" we do something ourselves, we can't ever expect anything to get done - not only with respect to caring for the environment, but in every aspect of our lives.  Carpe diem!  Act now!

[Spoiler Alert]

The movie ends on a silly, corny, but positive note.  A movie suggesting action, is often better without offering a resolution (like what we're given in the original book/movie); giving the reader/viewer the opportunity to decide for him/herself what actions they need to take.  Instead we're given a crazy chase with the angry, tiny man trying to destroy the last truffula seed and the townsfolk changing their disdain for the boy with the seed to disdain for the tiny, angry man when they see what he's hidden from them (a dark and dreary wasteland).

Wait for this to come out on DVD to see it, and you will probably only enjoy it if you have small kids that you can watch it with.

Real Steel (2011) - M3.8/E6

No real surprises here. The entire plot of the movie can be easily derived from the trailer. Even still, the fight scenes were pretty cool and the father/son bonding was nice (though a little contrived and unoriginal). At first I really liked the kid actor, but as the show went on it seemed that there was a little too much overacting.

Fathers should shoulder responsibility for kids they help bring into this world. This show didn’t make that strong of a point, since it pretty much showed that 11 years of absence from his son’s life was made up by a summer of attending some fights. How many loser-father’s are really brought back into contact with children they sired and then abandoned? I guess that makes this more of a fairy-tale than inspirational.

Again, it’s worth the $1.25 at Redbox, if you’ve got nothing else to watch. There is some violence, though mostly robot vs. robot; language and sex are minimal. Other than the main character getting beat-up for never repaying his debts, this show is probably alright for most audiences (even under 13).

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - M3.6/E7

This was a good movie, though perhaps a little too complex for maximum enjoyment.  The story was well told, and not terribly confusing (considering all the flashbacks), and probably is deserving of a second watch to iron out all the details. The trailer shows the movie moving a bit faster than it actually does (though I never wondered when it would be over).

We're taken along in an investigation of top British Intelligence agents to discover who is leaking information to the Russians at the height of the Cold War.  While a good movie, I imagine that reading the book might prove to be a better experience.  Nothing in the movie made me think more about how I could be a better person or inspired me to think more on God's goodness, as indicated by the low morality score it received.

There isn't a whole lot more to say.  The filming was good, not crisp and digitized, but was reminiscent of a 70's style film, perfect for the era in which it took place.

Before checking this out, be warned that there is some coarse language, violence, and sexuality - nothing terribly explicit, but present nonetheless.

Ghostbusters (1984) - M3.4/E7

This was a great movie, and believe it or not, I've never seen it in its 27 years of existence! It was a lot better than I had anticipated, and I had a lot of fun watching it in the theater. Bill Murray really made the film great, and Aykroyd and Ramis did a great job with the script and playing the most enthused and geeky parapsychology professors. I’m sure the purpose of the theater screening was to get us excited for Ghostbusters III coming out sometime next year. There’s still one more showing this Thursday, check your local listings for it.

I'm sure the main reason that I wasn't introduced to this movie as a kid is that it is not appropriate for young children, and if created today would probably garner a PG-13 rating due to a bit of sexual innuendo and coarse language.

This type of film is not meant to do anything but make us laugh. Laughter is healthy, but cheap laughs centered around sex are unnecessary for a great film.

Hanna (2011) - M3.1/E6

This is nothing like a Jason Bourne movie, though that is what it seems like from the trailers. It's actually an interpretation of Grimm's fairy tales (the twisted original stories of the sweet Disney stories we're told as kids). There is no real resolution, and mysteries presented are revealed rather abruptly. Even with these short comings, it was so intriguing we hardly knew that two hours flew by.

There’s little to offer on a moral level. The violence was rather gruesome and didn’t contribute to any positive message in the film. This is just a story about how an ex-CIA operative shelters his daughter and trains her to be an assassin so that she can kill the one person they’re hiding from. It’s a little deeper than that and artistically appealing, so we think it might be worth at least one initial watch if you’re looking for an action flick and don’t mind a few bloody scenes. The featured user review on IMDB is worth reading after you’ve seen the film.