Movie Reviews

Wall-E, rated G

Last week in the heat, I decided to take the kids to see Wall-E. Although I missed some with the multiple bathroom trips, request for food and drink, and monkey business...I like this one. All of Pixar's movies are both amazing technically and sweet in story.

Basically, consumerism ruins Earth and all living things must be evacuated from the planet. Staying behind is a garbage robot, Wall-E. He collects relics from the trash including a VHS of Hello Dolly which he plays on an iPod (he learns the choreography and everything, ha, ha!). Eventually, another robot is placed on Earth to collect data and look for signs of life...which she does in a small plant growing in a boot...and she finds love and friendship in Wall-E. Yada, yada...more super sweet scenes....they end up on the vessel that holds all the humans who now are completely assisted by robots. So you get to see what happens to humans in this situation and what happens when they find out that life can once again survive on Earth.

Although it has great action and comedy, the story brings up a lot of questions and discussion points for all ages.

I recommend it for everyone and encourage your family to talk about it a lot as well.

Batman: The Dark Knight, rated PG-13

I snuck out yesterday and saw this one...its long, this was the first chance I had 3hrs+. I love superhero movies, especially Batman. I recently watched the original of this series...but it wasn't necessary, they cover the basics for newbies. It is great movie...you could even call it a film.

The plot is somewhat complicated (but not nearly as hard to follow as the first) but basically villains emerge in Gothem, Batman takes care of it while trying to resolve his own personal issues and relationships. I won't give away who all the villains are but we all know that the Joker makes his first appearance in the series. If you know Batman well enough, you can predict some of the story. Basically...great performances (although my throat hurt listening to Bale's Batman voice), beautiful imagery (Chicago baby!), and great action sequences. All the talk is about Heath Ledger...and he is great. A really interesting interpretation of the classic character...you have to wait it out though (I did want more backstory on this one). I love Michael Caine as well. My only criticism is the third act (which is great) made the movie feel a bit long, especially after my soda in-take. But I liked the last third so much that I wish they cut some from the beginning.

I recommend it to kids over 10yo at least and on the big screen.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, rate TV PG

If you didn't catch the free viewings of this, you can download it on iTunes or wait for the DVD....but in any case...if you love musicals and/or superheroes....this is awesome. This low-budget, 45min internet film is brilliant. Based on simple superhero/villain principles and Broadway-quality music, we follow Billy as he tries to get his alter-ego Dr. Horrible in the Evil League of Evil while also finding the love of his life. The lyrics are hilarious, the acting and singing wonderful...watch it over and over again to get all the jokes. A must-see!

Although there are a couple inappropriate things (the last line in Act II, and some of Capt. Hammer's talk of sex (which was over my little ones heads but not the 11yo))....everyone in my family loved it.