Sucker Punch

The film Sucker Punch (2011) is an Action/Fantasy/Thriller following a young girl, nicknamed Baby Doll (Emily Browning). Her mother has recently passed away, and she and her younger sister fear for their lives knowing their stepfather is in control. When he discovers the inheritence is left to the children, he attacks Baby Doll- getting nowhere- and turns on her younger sister, killing her. Step daddy blames Baby Doll and sends her away to Lennox House for the Mentally Insane. In the asylum, he bribes Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), who operates the establishment, to have her lobotomized. It'll take five days for the Doctor to arrive, but Jones will forge the on-staff doctor, Vera Gorski's (Carla Gugino) signature, for the procedure. In the asylum, Baby Doll witnesses an act in "The Theatre" in which Gorski tells another girl to relax, and surrendor to a safe place in her head. Watching, Baby Doll does just that, and finds herself in a fantasy world in which she's been taken to an underground Brothel, very much like the asylum, with all the same girls, but instead, her virginity has been sold to the high ruler, and she must learn to dance to gain his notice and money. Blue serves as pimp for the girls, and Gorski is their instructor. The girls, Baby Doll comes to know, as the friendly Rocket (Jena Malone), her older sister- and not so friendly- Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Asian-American Amber (Jamie Chung), and black-haired, sex kitten, Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens). When Gorski tells her to dance, the music sends her reeling into a deeper fantasy realm, where Gorski tells her she has all the weapons she needs; so fight. A man narrates her quest for destiny, giving her a sword and guns to use, and the battle against three giant, robot Samaris begins. But within all these fantasies, there really is a Baby Doll in some form of peril... and how far can those bounds of reality be pushed before real pain breaks the surface of the imagined?

This film was written and directed by Zach Snyder, who's infamous for such works as Watchmen and 300. Snyder came up with the original story himself before he made Watchmen, actually, but postponed the project to work on Watchmen first. Later, he took writing help from Steve Shibuya, who's first writing credit is Sucker Punch. Most of the same team used in Watchmen was used in Sucker Punch for their work in Visual Effects. Warner Bros took the script from Snyder with open arms, declaring that they were completely supportive- despite the R-feeling of a PG-13 movie- after the success they had gained from Snyder for Watchmen. Boy were they in for a surprise.

Let me begin by saying that this film was ripe with stunning visuals- not just the effects, but the make up, the costumes, the set design and pieces, and of course the effects themselves, explosions, jumps, choreographed action and dance, etc. This film was visually A material. My critique toward the visuals? Too many slow motion scenes. The movie is 120 minutes long exactly... probably would have been 90 without all the slow motion walking, jumping, looking, realizing, etc. We get it. Some things look good in real time too, guys. Let's go. The soundtrack was the second most notably great thing about Sucker Punch. I love listening to a classic in a new way (as long as it isn't filled with suck). The soundtrack had me at the opening with "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)," owned by The Eurythmics, but sung by Emily Browning herself, and not badly I might add. It continued to grab me through its remix of Bjork's "Army of Me," Jefferson Airplane's classic, "White Rabbit," and the mashup of "I Want It All/We Will Rock You." The soundtrack was nearly perfect, and I think you could only cut it up if you were really trying to.

Unfortunately, not to piss on the parade, that is where the good abruptly stops and turns into a carnal wasteland of, "What the fuck did I just watch?" For a while afterward, I wasn't even sure whether or not I liked it. The soundtrack and visual appeal were so good and strong, and everything else was SO bad that I was truly conflicted. How could it be that those groups of people never met and TALKED? It's like being a beautiful, gorgeous woman with face face face, body-yoddy-oddy, a BEAUTIFUL singing voice... and no brain, in complete bitchmode, and a case of "Wait, where was I going with this?" Yeah. That about sums it up.

The writing was ABYSMAL. Snyder, why would you consult a man with no writing credits on a film with themes like THIS?! Should've tried to reach Christopher Nolan, maybe? With themes like Mental Illness, the existance of multiple realities and the effects of those realities on ourselves and others, combined with Innocence and Lust, Honor and Action, and Self-Awareness... how the fuck could you let that fall so far behind??!?!?!? This film had POTENTIAL as a paragraph idea. And Snyder, you blew it, dude. I see where this could and should have gone. But it seems almost as if he wanted it to be this really intricate, detailed, mindfuck of a movie... and then saw this beautiful set and said, "Ya know, it's not really working the way I thought, but damn. Isn't it pretty?" Okay, Snyder? The beauty of Avatar is forever remembered. BECAUSE WE COULD UNDERSTAND THE MOVIE. All of the emotion in the movie made sense- it was cliche... but it made sense. I never questioned motives, or the "realness" of what was happening within the fantasy world-- probably because it was Disney's Pocahontas goes Blue Man Group in the Jungle. But it's a fucking Award Winner. I bet Sucker Punch won't be. BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN. Way to make the Original Screenplays look bad.

I've heard that some reviews are blaming the believability fail on emotion on the actors? I disagree. I feel that there was only so much they COULD have done with what was on the page. They can't make up action or dialogue that simply isn't there, in large part. I don't blame the actors, I blame the writer/director, himself. This script has plot holes, and pot holes, and explosion holes, and holes in the neck of a dragon-- and oh look, crystals! It's very, very hard to stay into this film. I watched the entire thing as if I was in a dream, and that's not what films generally do for me. But I HAD to watch it that way, otherwise all the broken plot lines and missing threads pulled away too much to enjoy what I was looking at. But, dreams frequently take a wrong turn and we stick with it. So to me, it was a $12.50 dream. Usually mine are free?

Would I recommend this to a friend... yeah. Depends on the friend, but I went with three other people, and the spectrum of reactions was alarmingly different. One person completely hated, would never watch it again. My friend and I were on the fence, and the fourth person loved it. My boyfriend's seeing it tonight, and I think he'll probably love it as well. I think with a film like Sucker Punch the audience it appealed to COULD have been huge... but now it's only really going to be enjoyed by followers of this type of film, instead of many. I don't think I'll be purchasing this film when it comes out (I mean, possibly for the beauty of it) but I'll probably acquire the soundtrack, one way or the other, because it was really well-done.

Animal Kingdom

The film Animal Kingdom (2010) is an Australian film, centering around an 18-year-old boy, Joshua- or "J"- (James Frecheville) who's mother has just passed away from a heroin overdose. The paramedics come and take her away as J watches Family Feud on the television, hardly aware of her death, it seems. He calls his estranged grandmother, Janine (Jacki Weaver) since he has no idea what to do about funeral processions, and she invites J to move in with her. He's still in school, and he does so, getting himself introduced into her lifestyle. She has three sons who stick close by her loving side, Darren, the youngest, (Luke Ford), Craig, the middle brother, (Sullivan Stapleton) and Andrew- or "Pope" as he likes to be called- is the eldest, suspected of armed robbery (Ben Mendelsohn). Craig is a pusher for heroin in the small town where they live, with Darren following his lead as he chooses, and Pope is on the lamb, hiding out from a gang of renegade detectives. J stays out of their business as much as he can, but Craig wants to help his brother, Pope. It's that very generosity that gets him shot by the same detective gang, leaving his young wife a widow with their child. Pope moves back in with Janine, and J goes to stay with his girlfriend, Nicole (Laura Wheelwright), though her parents aren't thrilled about it. Before he knows what's what, his uncles are pushing him to shut up while the police urge him to let them in on the details. His uncles have killed a squad car of two officers to get back at them for their assault, and J is mixed up in it. He wants to protect Nicole, and himself, but how far can he go in either direction before he's bound to get hurt- or hurt somebody else?

This film is loosely based on events taking place in 1988 in Melbourne, Australia. The script, written by the director, David Michôd, was originally entitled J, and explored the underground workings of Melbourne, focusing on the workings of a crime family, the Pettingills, and the Walsh Street Police Shootings. A fellow producer, Liz Watts saw a lot of potential in his draft, but argued that it lacked structure and deeper characterization. he agreed, and spent time working on a number of drafts until this one was finally produced and developed into film. This film received 18 nominations from the Australian film board, and an Oscar for Jacki Weaver as Best Supporting Actress. In total, the film has received 32 nominations, and 10 wins.

This film shocked me as far as quality goes. There wasn't an aspect of it that I didn't feel was up to par. The cinematography was gritty, yet clear and exciting. The shots were well placed and interestingly set. The writing definitely stood out to me, even from the first three scenes, which is great to be able to detect in a visual piece, because it's so behind the scenes. But the direction was very precise and wonderfully executed. The score also stood out to me as being memorable, dramatic, and strangely appropriate for an Australian film, though I cannot imagine why I feel that way. It all just worked really well.

Critiques I'd make on the writing would have to go firstly to the voice over done by J. In first act of the film, he lets us into his head, building him as a character who may not be able to- or even want to- speak his mind. We get a taste of how he really feels when no one else is watching, and I liked it, but wasn't sure it was needed. After that moment, we don't go into J's head again. That stood out to me upon finishing the movie as being a way for the writer to expose information for a brief moment with no follow through, which doesn't have to be the case. Just include a couple more blurbs of J's thoughts and then we're with him more often- which I genuinely would have LIKED because there is something socially not right with J and he never speaks, really, or seems to have much knowledge on etiquette. The voice overs would have helped me to figure him out a lot more, but I stand by that they should have been expanded upon or dropped-- it's the same way with flashbacks. Don't have one all of a sudden, and then no more, ever. That spells "cop out." Make it a theme, or make it gone.
The characters in this piece were reeeeally good and interesting, though. I've never heard of Liz Watts, but KUDOS, girl, for telling the writer to make them bigger, better, and awesome because to me that's one of the greatest strengths of the film, and the reason I'd like to own it. Their motivations are all unique and really strong.

This is definitely a drama that borders on some weird maternal sexual tension, as well as sexual tension between an older man and a younger girl, and a feeling of isolation from a character who doesn't speak, as well as the overwhelming feeling of us vs them about cops and drug lords, something that every country is familiar with, and it makes the film universal even though it's in Australia. I enjoyed every minute of it, and never found it to be boring. For a movie over two hours long, it doesn't drag on to me. Like I mentioned earlier, the score was really intricate and interesting, and I'd love to hear more from composer, Anthony Partos, who did a large part of the soundtrack. It really was well constructed and it's sticking with me. I say, watch it. There's something in it for a lot of people as far as I'm concerned-- but a word to the wise, it DOES border on uncomfortable. So don't expect a "feel good" after effect. It doesn't take you where you want to fall asleep.

Checking In...

Hey guys.

It's been a long time since I posted, yes. For the first week, I was away for Spring Break and wanted to see my boyfriend who lives 8 hours away from my school in that time. Selfish? Yes. Do I care? Not much, no. :) It was worth it.

I did want to say that I will shortly be back, as I have a plethera of new movies to talk about for you! Just because award season is over doesn't mean I haven't stopped being a fanatic. xD So settle down and get ready for me to piss all over the competition, cause 2011 is the season of CRAP! :)

Things to look forward to in this week include:
Animal Kingdom
My Name is Khan
and...
Sucker Punch, which hits theaters March 25-- this weekend.

I just wanted to make a quick review on The Town while I'm here.

It was so boring that I couldn't finish it. I turned it off. Ben Afleck? Please just act. That's bad enough. As a writer, you make me very, very tired. And I have anxiety. It's hard to do that.

The Stoning of Soraya M.

The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008) is a Drama set in Iran in 1986, which opens with a Muslim woman journeying to the side of a river, and plunking bones from the sand. She washes the bones off in the water, and buries them back in the sand, praying. Meanwhile, journalist Freidoune Sahebjam (James Caviezel) breaks down in a remote Muslim town. The local mechanic, Hashem (Parviz Sayyad), agrees to fix his car, but it will take a while. As he walks further into the town, he's approached by the same older, but attractive woman, Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo) who had washed the bones she buried, who tells him that the town is not what it appears- there is evil here. She's quickly dismissed by the Mullah, (Ali Pourtash) and the Mayor, Ebrahim (David Diaan) who tell the stranger she is a crazy hag in the town, and not to trust her. But Zahra is not swayed by this, and she regains his attention while he's eating lunch by throwing him a map of the town to get to her house, with a human bone wrapped up inside. He's intrigued. When he's done eating, he follows the map to her house. She wants him to record her story of what happened only days ago, because in this situation, a woman doesn't have a voice, so she will give it to him. The story she tells is about her niece, Soraya (Mozhan Marnò) who is involved in an abusive relationship with a man who only wants to be rid of her and his two daughters, to keep his two sons and to marry his 14-year-old prized girl. When the Mullah offers Soraya the option of being his "temporary wife," a role justified in the Koran, but shunned by the women as being a whore, she and Zahra are deeply offended, and Zahra chases him out. But her husand, Ali (Navid Negahban) stil wants to be rid of his wife. And when she takes over as houselady for Heshan after the passing of his wife, he sees an idea: an idea that means death by stoning for any woman under Sharia law: Adultery.

This film is based on the novel, La Femme Lapidée, by French-Iranian Journalist, Freidoune Sahebjam, in 1990. It's based on true events which he obtained from a similar woman in 1986 Iran. The film is adapted by Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh and Cyrus Nowrasteh, and was also directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. The book itself has been banned in Iran, for obvious reasons, and though the locals still claim that the events seen or read in the story are falsified, Sahebjam sticks to his story that it is true. He has also been a war correspondant, and spent some time writing about the wrongs wraught upon the Baha'i community by the Iranian government, as well.

Words almost don't describe how much I loved this movie, and so much is recieved from a film that's won almost no awards- certainly not nominated for any Golden Globes or Oscars. Good grief, the acting is superb. The violent graphics are phenominal. The look and feel of the setting is perfect. I get the impression that this film may have been made on a low budget, but they used every penny to perfection. I also love that they didn't opt for English. This is a subtitled, American made film- and sometimes American directors take the easy way out and just give all the characters English speaking parts with accents- but not this film. The spoken language is beautiful, and having to read did not take away from the sets as it sometimes can. You really feel for Soraya every step of her beaten path which she follows. The climax is one of the hardest things I have ever had to watch- and I saw Passion of the Christ in theatres when I was 13. You know all along, based on the title of the film, where it's heading, but it doesn't make it any easier. They thought Hitchcock was the master of suspense? You just want this poor woman to be put out of her misery for Christ sake.

No complaints about this movie, and honestly, I feel it should be shown in religious classes- NOT as an anti-Islam film. I am against no race, sexual preference, gender, philosophy or religion- but at the same time, some people are. And far too many American children grow up texting and watching Bratz and having no concept of appreciation for the world they live in. They grow up to say, "this doesn't really happen," but it DOES really happen, all the time- every day. Many countries today still practice this same ritual exhibited in the film. I reccomend this film to people interested in gender studies, religion, thrillers, suspense, historical dramas, biographies, Islam, and crime and punishment. No one deserves what this woman had done to her- least of all an innocent. And Jesus thought he had it bad? Rumor is it didn't take him long to die. Give this a watch. Allah is not present.

The Oscar Winners

There is one, single word I would use to describe the Oscar Presentation last night... long!! I can't believe they were able to stretch that many awards into 4 hours! Not to mention the pre-Oscar Show in which reporters and "the fashion police" are on patrol, speaking like ya care, until you almost can't stand to look in the mirror and call yourself a human. Seriously. "What do the stars eat?!" Have you seen Nathalie Portamn, girl? They eat NOTHING. Even pregnant she's the smallest person I've ever seen.

Anyway- with THAT behind us- let's talk about who took home the awards!

Best Picture of the Year: After much anticipation, it has gone to The King's Speech. I won't pretend to be surprised or upset about this one. That movie had it all- a starstudded cast, without being A-List, witty dialogue, clever ways to keep the audience's attention, great music, costumes, makeup, editting, cinematography, etc. This film has literally swept the industry, not only because it's an "original" screenplay doing so well (Let's not forget, it is based on actual events, so it's technically a nonfiction adaptation) but this is a COMPLETELY off-the-book film. The industry's standard that they've slipt into sounds a lot like "Bigger and better than ever before!" If it's not an Epic, it's a Sequel. If it's not a sequel, it's based on a video game or a comic book. They want to shake the younger audience. With this film, they relied on the opinions of the mature audience, and not just on the middle school crowd who can't wait to see Avatar in 3D for the seventh time... this week. The King's Speech is a sign to writers, directors, and audiences, that America's film department is coming out if its agregious recession, and we're headed, again, for intellect.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth for The King's Speech. While I am proud of the middle-aged Firth for accepting this role, and what a surprise it was for him and for his friend and family, especially given his older age and working in Hollywood, I actually thought that Jesse Eisenberg was going to collect this one for The Social Network. I felt like that role was unlike anything he'd done, so far, and the character was so... GOOD. But, in large part, that character was good for his line and delivery. Eisenberg takes credit for the delivery, but not those lines- those are all writer, baby. So, Firth claimed the award, I'm sure in part by making a stammer easy and hard for us to watch at the same time. You go, Colin.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Nathalie Portman for Black Swan. I mean... of course! Nathalie, you are Captain Rule-a-Role. Everything I have ever seen that girl in, she takes a part, makes it COMPLETELY her own, and turns it into a ravenous beast that could rip out your throat. She's such a cute little thing, and a badass- a total oxymoron- but she's captivating, cinematic, and talented. You're right, Academy. Black Swan may not have been the best written, but it was certainly good for one thing: Nathalie and Mila. Need I say more?

Best Performance by Actor in a Supporting Role: Christian Bale for The Fighter. Okay, so I still haven't seen this one. I rest judgment until I do see it, but let me just say... Mark Ruffalo is FIIINE and he did a fantastic job in The Kids Are Alright. I'm glad he was nominated, despite Bale taking it home- and what was up with his giant old-man beard? He beats his wife and kids and we have to forgive him, but the man beard? It's makin' it a little harder for me to forget the incident. Bale, try to be sexy at LEAST.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Melissa Leo for The Fighter. Again, I haven't seen this film. But personally- and we all know I didn't like the movie- I was rooting for Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit, a little bit. I mean, she's 14 and that performance was beyond her age as far as I'm concerned. Not to mention she looked great and was completely charming and optimistic the whole time. But, if this performance by Leo was really wonderful, as I will found out as soon as Netflix lets go of its hold on the DVD, then more power to her! Oh, and I did I mention, she was so flabbergasted that she swore on stage? The big one! She was "fucking" excited, man. Loved it.

Best Achievement in Directing: Tom Hooper for The King's Speech. Tommy... nice work. He must really be excited. He's won so many awards at this point, he could make a new suit out of them. And now that award season has ended, he gets to take them all home and make himself a shelf ripe with domination. Thank God he beat the Coen brothers, or I may never have watched the Oscars again. He must really be thanking his mother by now for enjoying Australian theater, so much.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: David Siedler for The King's Speech. I completely support this win, though I feel bad for Christopher Nolan. He worked SO hard, for so long... but at least he lost to someone who worked equally as long and hard on his own screenplay. And let's not forget, Siedler was attracted to this story because he grew with- and overcame- a stutter. I'm sure this has been an incredibly emotional award season for him, knowing that his story has been shared so well and so thoughtfully. My condolences to Inception, however, who will not stand forgotten. In my mind, Nolan, you've already won so much just for being the only screenplay nominated which wasn't based on another story, or true events.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network. Again, I say, of course. The fact that Toy Story 3 was even in this category shows me how desperate they were. But, aside from that, this film really was great. As I said to my boyfriend last night, however, I wish they'd get smarter with the writing award. Because writing is more than just a story. Some writers right excellent story pieces without so much thought for the dialogue, and vice versa. I wish they would break the category down a little further like they've done to music and sound. That would really be more precise, I feel. Because honestly, I felt that Winter's Bone had a better STORY than The Social Network, but the dialogue in this film could cut glass it was so sharp. Nonetheless, I support the decision, at least... until they break down the category further.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Toy Story 3. I hope that no one was surprised about this. It was nominated for Best Picture of the Year for Christ's sake. Of course it was going to win for best animated picture. But, again, I don't think that's bad. The film was a good animated picture, for sure. I also was partial to How to Train Your Dragon, especially for the score which was really well-done, but Toy Story 3 did very well. So, kudos!

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: In a Better World (Denmark). I haven't seen any of the nominees for this category so far, but they included Biutiful (Mexico), Dogtooth (Greece), Incendies (Canada), and Outside the Law (Algeria). I plan on seeing them in the coming weeks, and will post about my responses to them, accordingly.

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Wally Pfister for Inception. Well, if nothing else, at least they finally saw the visual effect of the film. I was happy for this to take this award home, because it helps increase its notority, and the cinematography really was great, and the other films nominated were good, but not exeptional. There you go, Inception. It's going to be okay.

Best Achievement in Editing: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for The Social Network. I agree, the editting in this film was great. But, I'm not the best person to judge editing, so... I guess that's my only comment on that one. Moving along!

Best Achievement in Art Direction: Robert Stromberg and Karen O'Hara for Alice in Wonderland. Tim Burton's films are nothing if not artistic, so I felt that this award was well-placed, especially since- apart from Inception- the other nominees weren't especially artistic to me. The sets of this film are stunning, and colorful, and must have taken a good long time to make, so I concur. And, of course, they also took home Best Achievement in Costume Design (Collen Atwood). Again, it was one of the only nominees that really used elaborate costumes so again I say... of course; no contest.

Best Achievement in Makeup: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey for The Wolfman. I actually forgot about this film! I saw it back in January or February of 2010, I believe, and I completely forgot about it. The makeup is wonderful however, and it's also a decent thriller/horror film if you wanted to see it for that. I enjoyed it. It makes good stabs at mental institutions and tall, dreary castles. It is, of course, a remake.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network. I absolutely agree with this decision, and I watched the film last night, which made me re-agree. That score is entirely befitting the piece, but can still sound epic when it stands alone. Inception's score was really, really good too, but I think that it's a little too similar to The Dark Night to really stand by itself, whereas Reznor and Atticus's work here is a little more... not original, but noticable, I would say.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song: Randy Newman's "We Belong Together," from Toy Story 3. I'm a little disappointed about this one. I honestly thought that A.R. Rahman and Dido's song "If I Rise," 127 Hours, was better than this one, and that maybe it wasn't chosen because of that film was less popular, or because those artists are less well-known, but the song itself was better and harder hitting to me. Not to mention, I just don't see anything that speical about Randy Newman's voice. The singer in the other piece had a lot of talent. So, boo Academy.

Best Achievements in Sound Mixing and Sound Editing: Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick, and Richard King for Inception. I don't know much about sound, but power to Inception for packing in the smaller scale awards! It certainly sounded good to me.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, Paul J. Franklin for Inception. I mean... duh. Paris on the ceiling.

Last of the awards I wll mention: Best Documentary, Feature: Inside Job. This is another category that I have yet to see any of the nominees for, but will be seeing in the coming weeks. So don't worry your pretty little heads, I WILL have an opinion!! I plan on it. :)

Those are the awards! For those of you looking for a complete list of the winners, since I stopped before the shorts, you can find a complete one at IMDB.com, as well as a list of all the potentials- nominees- who did not take home an Oscar. As I said, I'll still be watching some of the nominees in the coming weeks, so look back for those reviews! Award season is over, but a new realm of films to judge is about to begin! I'll be here to keep you posted on my feelings, until next year, when we do this all over again.

How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is an animated Adventure/Comedy taking place on The Island of Berk, a Viking settlement. The young Viking, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), who has always been smaller than the others, works as an Apprentice making weaponry for the other Vikings to use since he is too weak to fight. When a dozen dragons attack the settlement, he makes his desire to fight them off as clear as everyone else, however his best intentions only lead to further dismantling of the settlement. Even though his invention to throw weapons at the dragons seems to work, taking one down, no one sees and he's booed back indoors by his own father, Tribe Master, Stoik the Vast (Gerard Butler) who doesn't need a bigger mess to clean up. Hiccup is determined to show his father that his invention has worked, killing a dragon, so he goes looking for the corpse in the forest. He finds the injured, but not dead, body of the mysterious Night Fury dragon. He has ruined one of the wings on its tail, however, and stuck down in field of grass and water below the mountain level,  it cannot fly. He cannot bring himself to kill it, however. But his father has set his mind to accept Hiccup for a dragon killer just as Hiccup decides he doesn't want to kill them, he wants to learn from them. Still, he's thrust into training to be a dragon killer during the day time, seeing his long time, dragon-killing crush, Astrid (America Ferara), and leaving to tend to the dragon he trains for himself afterward- who he names Toothless due to his ability to disguise himself as having no teeth. But as each side of him develops, he realizes that each one has a path that he cannot turn back from. And dragons are not what his people have thought. Can he juggle both lives long enough to please his father, and save the dragon he's grown to love?

Produced by Dreamworks, How to Train Your Dragon is actually an adaptation of one story in a series of books written by the British, children's author, Cressida Cowell, published in 2003. When it was first adapted by William Davies, it was whimsical and adorable, sticking very close to Cowell's novel. But when Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders- most famous for their writing of Disney's Lilo and Stitch- entered the picture as co-directors, things changed. Davies had Toothless the dragon has a very small creature, smaller than most dragons, like the novel. He was redone to be the breed of the rare Night Fury, and large enough to carry Hiccup and Astrid on his back, at once. Roger Deakins, who often works with The Coen Brothers, was hired by the filmmakers as cinematographer to make the animated picture have a live action feel. This film is currently up for Best Animated Feature of the year at The Acamdey Awards, to be voted upon, tonight.

The score of the movie is another distinguishing feature it has. Listening to the movie, it's nostalgic of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and beautiful, old Celtic work. This score is probably my favorite so far, for 2010. Having now seen all of the nominations for score, I would have to pick this one. And we all know I LOVE Hans Zimmer (getting the credit this year for Inception) but this score really stood out from the film, all on its own. I wasn't listening for it, but it's there. As I said, it is also nominated for Best Original Score, this year, to be decided upon, tonight.

This movie is kind of adorable, as the writings dictates from the novel, but it's also hilarious at times. There is definitely a feel of the Lilo and Stitch humor by writers Sanders and DeBlois. Lilo and Stitch has a slapstick, hard-hitting punch line feel to it. It's really quick and witty. This film also has moments like that, and that style is great for a kid's movie, and can also keep adults widely entertained. The writing, in my opinion, is a huge success. I also found the picture to be really beautiful. Computer-generated animation can hit or miss at times, but this film is really nice to look at. The characters are in a less traditional style, not looking especially like anything else I've seen. They still look like PEOPLE, of course, but it's definitely not Disney.

It's hard to say if I prefered this film over Toy Story 3. They're both adaptations, but at least this one isn't a sequel, if I might say that (filmwise, anyway). I found them both to be as equally emotionally in depth as the other. I enjoyed watching them about the same. I found them both to be as graphically stimulating as the other. So it wouldn't be a surprise if either of them were to take home the award. Unfortunately, The Illusionist is still not available to me to judge, so if that one wins, I'll have to be surprised! How to Train Your Dragon has already won all of the Annie Awards it was nominated for, and the Visual Effects Awards. Animation is not my specialty, but it seems to be doing rather well.

I would reccomend this movie to kids, or to my cartoon-watching adult friends. Honestly, I didn't see any problems with it. It's not really a 'thinking' piece, it's another one of Hollywood's "3D Epics." You watch it to have fun, not to get involved. It's light in that way.

The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right (2010) is a Drama/Comedy in which Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a long-term lesbian couple raising two kids. Their eldest, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) is in extremely intelligent, and in between high school and college- her last summer at home. She's just turned 18. Her younger half-brother, Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and she have different mothers-- he's Jules's biological son, and Joni is Nic's biological daughter-- but they share the same father- a sperm donor who they've never met. Now that she's 18, Joni is legally allowed to call the Sperm Bank and get the details on her biological father. She's not interested-- but feeling separated from both his legal parents, and having a douche-bag for a best friend, Laser is definitely interested. He convinces her to make the call, and they meet him. Paul (Mark Ruffalo) is working at his home-grown garden when he gets the call from Joni. He's a hippie type who likes to work with his hands and sleep with the girl working nearby, Tanya (Yaya Dacosta), growing all his produce locally, and he's an amazing call. He completely forgot he ever donated the sperm until Joni calls, but wants to meet his two biological children anyway. After meeting with them, he's captivated with these two young adults, and cannot get enough-- father life wasn't something he saw for himself, but he's more and more drawn to it. When the moms find out, they're less okay with it than they always thought they'd be. But, still, they make an attempt to meet him, and get to know him so that they're comfortable with their kids doing so. But as tension builds between Nic and Jules, and the family gets closer to the newly introduced Paul, little things start to pull them all apart. And it's only a matter of time before Joni will be gone.

This film is an original screenplay by Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko, who also directed it. It's based on aspects from Cholodenko's real life, and was began in 2004. She stopped writing in 2006 however, when she was impregnanted by a sperm-donor. Julianne Moore was the first actor enlisted for the production, followed by Mark Ruffalo and then Annette Bening. It was made on a budget of four million dollars. It was widely received as an unbelievable picture when it first came out, and was releashed on DVD and bluray in November, 2010. It's currently up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, as well as Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Screenplay-- which has been officially changed to "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen" due to a slump in truly original written work.

This film, though marked as a comedy, was surprisingly humorous to me. For some reason, in reading the summary, I just didn't think it was going to be that funny-- it seemed like it would be kind of a downer, and at times, it can be. But there were several moments that made me literally laugh out loud. The comedy was tasteful and good. The movie is really a drama as far as I'm concerned, but moments of it really are funny. Apart from that, not a lot about this movie sticks with me. The performances were good, they just weren't striking. This movie wasn't groundbreaking for me in anyway. HOWEVER, I was clear to say "for me." I'm aware that lesbian parents aren't yet 'mainstream' in society-- which is disgusting, by the way. It ought to be, by now-- and because of that, this is sort of the Brokeback Mountain of girls. I feel like that's part of why it's up is the homosexual subject matter, especially them being parents.

This film also happened to be visually... bright! The sun was always shining, the trees blew in the breeze, it has a palpable feeling of summertime, and even though I'm a winter girl, it made me yearn for Spring. This film has a really nice quality to its sets and lighting. It's warm and inviting. The visuals had a really nice effect on the movie. The sex scenes in the movie are also... painful? I think painful is the right word. Even when the sex is being enjoyed, it's just so awkward-- like Election. You just kind of want it to go away. (And by the way, if I see one more awkward sex scene, I may never fornicate again.) The characters are believable and well-written, as well as all the different layers of conflict. They're subtle, but noticeable, and really great. These people have believable issues, which makes it a good statement on contemporary, middle-aged lesbian life in the burbs. 

I did enjoy this movie, and I might even buy it, but it wasn't 'new' to me. Inception explored new territory for me. The King's Speech explored a speech disorder, something I haven't seen in a film. Black Swan explored a thriller concept with a ballerina... those films had a certain new quality to them, even though two of the three are adaptatons and not new ideas, at all. They still FELT new. To me, someone who owns all 5 seasons of Queer as Folk, has seen The L Word lives in "The City of Brotherly Love" and has a girlcrush on P!NK... this just isn't that new. I felt that if the lesbian parents had been removed from the story, and the kids had been born to straight parents who simply needed a sperm donor, this film would have been... boring. The lesbians were what made it hip, new, and interesting. Don't get me wrong, as I said, I enjoyed this movie and found it a pleasure to watch. But aside from the lesbians, what's the catch? Not much. The writing was clearly well-done though, just from seeing the film, and if that wins, I wouldn't be surprised or upset. It's just not the Best Picture of 2010. Still, I reccommend it. It's kind of calming and a pleasure to watch. I wouldn't call it 'uplifting' but it's definitely enjoyable.