Tag: Movie Review

“Everything is Awesome” – A review of The Lego Movie

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Bruce
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The initial display from IndyLUG at the Greenfield Brick Expo- After seeing the film today, we know there’s a lot that needs to be added…

I’m and old school animation guy… classic Warner Brothers animation, Disney, & Pixar are all my favorites.  While I haven’t had a chance to see a lot of the more recent stuff I haven’t really been a fan of other studios attempts at creating an animated film.  Some have been good, but I compare animated films to super hero films and you’ve got Marvel that has figured it out, and DC that hasn’t (this coming from a DC comics fan).  I think I’ve had the misfortune of seeing a few failed attempts at telling an animated story from Dreamworks, or whoever and just left shaking my head.  The studios idea seemed to be if we use famous people and throw in a song by a popular artist (along with a few fart jokes) it will make us enough money to cover the costs.  I feel bad for parents who have young children and have to sit through Ice Age 16, Madagascar 25 or whatever.  Again I’m generalizing so don’t come back with a “What about…”  There have been some good movies, but nothing consistent, like what Pixar had done.

Being an AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) when the hype started about “The Lego Movie” I was cautiously optimistic.  The trailers seemed amusing which could be that they cut the trailer to include only the funny parts.  The cast, while stars, weren’t necessarily Hollywood A-listers (although I stay away from tabloids so they could be and I don’t know).  The thing that kept coming to me as I watched the trailers was it looked like it was going to be fun.  It looked like they were taking themselves seriously, but not too seriously.  When the Lego kits for the movie came out, they continued with this theme.  Almost a child-like whimsy built into to each set.  I started to really look forward to seeing this film- and that scared me even more.  I was scared that I was setting the bar too high and that nothing could be as good as what I was expecting.

I was wrong.  This film not only met those expectations, but surpassed them.  I was lucky enough to get a couple of passes to a screening this morning since I had contributed to a display at the Greenfield Brick Expo and was amazed at how it appealed to everyone in the audience, and this could have been a tough audience since a large portion were AFOLs.  Frankly, I don’t want to give anything away and I suggest you avoid spoilers because there are some twists that really make the film more than just 100 minutes of animated Lego Minifigs.   I also suggest you see it as soon as you can, before you can’t avoid reviews that ruin the film for you.

Here’s the basic plot, most of this can be pulled from the trailers-  It takes place in a Lego world where our hero – Emmet is just a construction guy doing his job.  There is a group called the “Master Builders” who are looking for “The Special” someone who, because of prophecy, will save the world from Lord Business and his evil plans (destroy the world on Taco Tuesday).  Emmet, our “hero”, gets mistaken for “The Special” and must try to save the world, with the help of others (the trailer shows an old wizard guy, a girl dressed in black, and Batman- yes, Batman).  Sounds a little like “The Matrix”? I would agree as to the general premise, the nice thing is they tie everything up in 100 minutes, not three movies, and since it is geared to kids, adults can pretty much understand what’s going on.  By the end you care about the world, you care about the characters, and it has a couple good morals (one for kids, and one for adults although the one for kids works for adults too)-  If I told you it would ruin it for you so I won’t.

The thing that stood out for me is that I am seriously considering seeing this film again, in a theater.  Most films I can wait until they are on Netflix, or I spend a couple bucks to rent them from iTunes  (I did this with The Avengers & Man of Steel).  This one I’m thinking about going back to the theater when it opens, paying a lot of money, and seeing it again, just to catch what I missed-  and then I’m thinking about buying a copy to own when it’s available…that says something about this movie, since I haven’t done either thing for any film released in the last decade.

SO what are your thoughts?  For me it was “AWESOME!” Your mileage may vary.

Never Judge a Book by its Movie – Ender’s Game

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Bruce

Please note that there probably are spoilers in the following and this is my recollection of the film Ender’s Game that I saw last night, way past my bedtime, so I may not recall everything is extreme detail.

Last night I joined some friends to see “Ender’s Game” I’m not going to go into anything dealing with the author of the original story’s rabid political rantings- I don’t agree with anything he has to say on those points, I really don’t want to discuss the person, I’d much rather go into the movie and the book Ender’s Game.    As for Ender’s Game it is a story I picked up in 1989 after listening to the author speak coherently about literature and pop culture.  Over the years I picked up a few other books by this author, but none of them really hit me like Ender’s Game. I even had gone back and found the published copy of the original award winning novella just to see the original format of the story. So for year’s I have been a fan of this story- which when seeing a modern film version of a story written around 30 years ago can be a bad thing… a very bad thing.

Some basics – the Earth has been invaded by the “buggers” they were fought off and now to prepare for the second invasion children are tested (Oh the horror of futuristic standardized testing) to see if they have military aptitude.  Those “lucky few” are sent off to Battle School in orbit to learn the art of war.  After initial training students are placed into armies lead by other students and compete in zero-g battles to put their leadership and tactical skills to the test.  Those that succeed graduate. Ender Wiggin is sent up because he has a high midichlorian count and may be “the one.”  He goes through various trials in order to test him and finally… well you know the hero’s journey.  Originally a Hugo & Nebula award winning novella- the author turned it into a series of novels, and then another series of novels telling the story from different character’s points of view.  Then he turned it into a comic series and started writing some of the missing parts and history… I’m not even sure how many books are in the series now.

I know many people who swore they wouldn’t see any of the Harry Potter films because it would ruin the picture they had in their mind of the setting and the characters. I found myself wandering around London on my first trip looking for the actual locations mentioned in the book so I could visualize it better. (Note that some places used in the Harry Potter films are not the actual locations sited in the book- just sayin’) So when it comes to Ender’s Game I read it when I first started teaching kids who happen to be around the age of Ender in the book. Ender (in the book) was always considered small and youngish.  He stood out from the crowd in this way- or at least that’s the way I imagined him.  The film does not portray him as such. I could nitpick through the film, but for me this was one of the major points that threw me- these are supposed to be children and while they were younger and were “children”, they were older than I had ever imagined.  Tweens or even teens… is that the audience they are pushing for?   While watching the film I kept waiting for Petra and Ender to have some childish romantic moment- something that never came to mind when reading the book.

The film itself seemed rushed- It was like they couldn’t understand that Ender was in Battle School for not just 30 days. He dealt with a bunch of commanders before being given his own army. (The novella starts with Ender training his army after first being given command, the character Bean is introduced there.  The movie has Bean as his first friend on the transport to Battle School.  Now I’ll admit Bean was an important character (important enough to have his own book or two), but in the book he was the one Ender picked on initially, he was the one Ender trusted in the end because (pardon the pun) they were two peas in pod.  He suddenly appears in the the transport Ender is on?!? no no no no… this kills Bean’s backstory.  Don’t even get me started on Ender’s first nemesis – Bernard.  He was a minor character, he was a bully who Ender embarrassed and really wasn’t important after that.  Having him become one of Ender’s chosen few?  Bringing him to help Ender at the end?  no no no no… I barely got to know, let alone care, about any of the characters before the film was over.  and while many of them were important to Ender at some point in the book, with the exception of Petra, many of the characters considered Ender’s trusted few, were difficult to figure out how they formed such a tight bond with him.

So much of the book took place in Ender’s head (like Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) that it is difficult to know the title character, therefore love the title character in the film.  It also seemed like they tried to take some parts from the novel to “humanize Ender” but dropped an entire other plot line that demonstrated the brilliance of Ender’s siblings.  Then again those plot points (let alone Ender’s siblings) don’t show up in the original story.  The whole surprise ending really didn’t seem like that much of a surprise (but then again- I read the book), but then again maybe it was because this was the point of using special effects, where in the book they were dealing with 1980’s vector graphics.

I know I seem to be focusing on the issues I have with a beloved book being put onto the silver screen, as for positives- it was well acted, the special effects were glorious if you like explosions and spaceships. I just can’t say much about the story because I’m obviously too close to it.  So as for the story, I recommend you not spend the large sum to see it in the theater ($12 for a movie ticket? Really?!?!) but go to a used bookstore or your local library and pick up a copy. If you absolutely want to see the film version because you are illiterate, or something like that- wait to see it on DVD or Netflix.  I know if I decide to have a second viewing it will be when I don’t have to buy a ticket.

—

Ender’s Game is on a short list of books that I reread (& reread) when I need to escape kind of like putting on a comfy sweater. They are-

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Dream Park by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Another Fine Myth by Robert Aspirin

Harry Potter & Philosopher’s Stone By J.K. Rowling

The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas Disch

I’m sure there will be others and I might have missed a few- since I didn’t even list any comics.

It has been over two years since I did one of these so I thought I should give it a try and give everyone an extra large comic today.  Being a geek, this Summer seems to be filled with some fantastic movies based on comic books.  This can be a good thing & a bad thing.  Green Lantern is a bit of both.  I have never been an avid reader of Green Lantern and there have been so many different versions over the years, but I have followed the basic story- the Silver Age story (the golden age story is different although it has been adapted to match up with the Silver Age).  Yes, I am speaking comic geek.  In the 1950’s when Hal Jordan became Green Lantern heroes were written differently than they are today.  Heroes were flawless, if they were bumbling it was an act.  Hal Jordan was fearless, he had no faults, in the comic.  When characters started to need to be portrayed as more human, Hal started having some issues, but the way he’s being portrayed in the film is not it.  So if you are a Green Lantern fan and you are expecting the Hal Jordan from the comics- expect to be disappointed.  Besides that trying to fit over 50 years of back story, that has been changed every 10 or so years, makes it difficult.  I think they did a pretty good job of including little things, altering others to work within the universe they had created on film.  One thing that has gotten old is the reveal at the end of the credits… Could we just stop doing that.  Now one will top the original Muppet Movie’s final scene so don’t even try.

I did use specific comic book page paper for this one and being a different size than what I normally use- I’m still learning… next time I know I can divide it up a lot more vertically.  Still a nice summer experiment I’ll have to try it again some time.

Have you seen Green Lantern?  What did you think?  Was it worth the ever increasing ticket prices?