Tag Archives: Movie Reviews
Movies in Bed: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Guess what’s out on video?!? Or, I guess in this decade I should say: guess what’s now available from iTunes?!? That’s right! The newest Star Wars movie, the one intended to get the bad taste of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones out of our collective mouths. Seeing as the big-screen release grossed over 2 billion dollars (!) I’d say that it was successful.
I’m inclined to agree. If there is a chance you actually haven’t seen The Force Awakens and you enjoyed the original trilogy, there is no good reason not to watch the movie. It honors the spirit of the original without relying too heavily on them to carry it forward. One of the biggest complaints against George Lucas is that in his later work he let CGIs do all the heavy lifting, even egregiously adding computer-generated parts into the original movies, something nobody was asking for and few likely approved of. J.J. Abrams went back to the series’ roots, insisting on building sets for everything, including the massive Millennium Falcon. Despite the improvements in CGI technology, nothing can beat the real thing.
The story is set some years after Return of the Jedi, and focuses on a disenchanted Stormtrooper named Finn, a junk scavenger named Rey and an adorable but not annoying droid named BB-8 which they turned into the greatest toy ever. The new baddie, Kylo Ren and his pals have a giant laser they want to use to destroy everything. The story is a little too much like the plot of A New Hope but if that’s the worst thing about this movie, then that’s saying a lot. Now that it’s on DVD you will have the luxury of watching it from the comfort of your own bed, and if you fall asleep in your popcorn no one will know but you.
Movies in Bed: Drive Me Crazy
Post by Mark T. Locker.
It seems my best friend and I have developed a new tradition: whenever we find ourselves alone with a couple hours to kill we find a new high school movie to watch. Most of the time these are absolutely terrible movies. To be honest, I’m not sure we have watched any good movies together, save for the ones I’ve dragged him to (but to be fair, the bad ones are usually better). We have seen all the Resident Evil movies together, each exponentially worse and more confusing than the last. Yet they keep making them and we keep looking forward to them. Last summer I saw Sixteen Candles for the first time and She’s the Man for the first and last time, both with him. A couple weeks ago he came to visit and while everyone else was in bed, we found a movie called Drive Me Crazy, buried deep within Netflix.
I was delighted. It stars Melissa Joan Hart who I had grown to love during adolescence as the star of Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains it All. I guess she did Sabrina the Teenage Witch too. Either way, this movie shows us in glaring clarity why she could never break into the big screen scene. She’s not bad; she’s just not terribly charismatic. ANYWAYS. The most surprising part about this movie turned out to be the fact that it was written by Rob Thomas, best known for Veronica Mars and iZombie. Both my friend and I are huge fans so suddenly this got a lot more interesting.
The plot is way less interesting than the writer. Classic story: popular girl and “bad boy” make an agreement to couple up, each for their own particular end. Naturally, their selfish reasons for fake dating all fall away when they let their prejudices go and see each other for who they really are. I won’t say this was a good movie. But it was deeply enjoyable. There’s something comforting about high school dramas. It’s why The Breakfast Club and the other Brat Pack movies were so fantastic. I’m not sure these 90s versions have the same je ne sais quoi but that will never stop me from watching every last one of them.
Movies in Bed: Galaxy Quest
Post by Mark T. Locker.
As you know, we have already lost a few great artists this year. One of those was Alan Rickman and although he may always be best known for his captivating portrayal of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies, he won my heart earlier and it wasn’t for his role in Love, Actually and it wasn’t for playing the villian in Die Hard. Rather, it was for his role as the disillusioned actor whose stint as an alien on a Star Trek-like show had marked him for life.
Galaxy Quest is a surprisingly clever and funny movie about a cheesy science fiction program like Star Trek whose passionate fan base elevated it to cult status. Eighteen years since the final episode, the cast stays together for the comic con circuit though they don’t really like each other any more. Then one day Jason Nesmith, who played the captain, (Tim Allen) is approached by a group of aliens in humanoid disguise who plead for the help of his crew. Turns out, they had watched every episode of Galaxy Quest, believing it to be historical documentation, not fiction. Whether it’s for ego or the chance to make a real difference, Nesmith convinces the crew to join him to fight the vicious enemy of their new alien friends.
With a cast including Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shaloub, and of course Alan Rickman, what I thought would be a really dumb movie is actually quite funny and charming. There’s even a tip of the hat to the die-hard fans whose intimate knowledge of the entire series helps to save lives.
Although it has a little violence, it’s a generally family-friendly movie though the Star Trek references will like be lost on younger audiences. A fun science fiction comedy to watch in bed in honor of the great Alan Rickman.
Movies in Bed: Brain Games!
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Ever wonder how a flip book, or for that matter, a movie can take still images and create the illusion of movement? Have you seen that cardboard dinosaur that appears to turn its head to follow you? How do those sleight of hand experts make a coin disappear?
These are the sorts of questions tackled by this National Geographic show, available streaming on Netflix (maybe on other streaming hosts as well). I’m not sure if it is for kids or for adults but we all enjoy watching the show together. My son is the one who discovered it and thought, what the heck, let’s give it a try. I was blown away. The first episode we watched was all about focus and how the human brain will ignore a bunch of really wacky things going on in the background while it pays attention to something else. The show does a lot of public performances to show how these brain teasers work on most people. You’d be surprised how many people feel pain when a fake hand is hit with a hammer!
It’s a fun blend of magic and science working together to amaze and inform. Each episode has a different theme, from memory to focus to deception. The science behind it is pretty interesting but what’s great is seeing your own brain get tricked by these illusions. Especially when you know your mind is fooling you but you can’t do anything about it!
This is a fun, kinda silly, informative show that is great to watch with the whole family as pre-bed brain food.
Movies in Bed: Into the Woods
Post by Mark T. Locker.
I am a big fan of fairy tales. The original 19th-century German tales, as recounted by the brothers Grimm, hold a lot of value to me. To be honest, I never knew that Into the Woods was a musical by Stephen Sondheim until the movie was released. I was intrigued as to what a fairy tale-themed musical might be like.
With an A-list cast including Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, and James Cordon to name a few, it showed a lot of promise. The story contains mix of several fairy tales that will be familiar to viewers: Cinderella; Jack and the Beanstalk; Little Red Riding Hood; and Rapunzel. Their stories merge as a poor childless baker and his wife make a deal with a witch. In exchange for several items, she will give them a child. Those items happen to include a golden slipper and a red robe. Each character finds him/herself headed into the woods for each individual purpose. And one by one they find each other and create a new story altogether.
I enjoyed this movie. It’s a good family-friendly sing-along-able movie with a mix of old stories and new. I only wish the movie had ended at what I assume was the intermission. I felt that everything was resolved nicely and that the second part only served to muddle the story. I found myself asking: why did that character do that? Why did that just happen? When did songs turn into people just singing what seems like regular dialogue?
Aside from that, I would watch it again. I’d probably turn it off at intermission. But that’s just me. If you are looking for a family-friendly musical that’s got a mix of humor, adventure, and tales we all know and love, take a trip Into the Woods.
