Titanic

Note: This review is far more casual than my average review, for the reason that it was initially a Facebook status addressed to friends. I'm posting it to my blog as well, after I was recommended to do so.

I set aside a number of hours a couple weeks ago to do something I only kind of wanted to do: watch Titanic, for the first time ever. Figured I'd finally get more culturally up to date.

Well... that was certainly an interesting movie. Freaking long. A lot of work was put into the thing. I mean a lot of work. The writing was kind of poor, and so was a lot of the acting, and yet some of the acting was superb. I recognized a lot of actors, and that was probably one of the coolest parts. The music... dang, the music was gorgeous. The production value was huge.

I can understand how this movie became a timeless classic, but I still had problems with it. It probably could've been a lot better if they'd shaved off an hour of it. Or perhaps half of it. I was bored and unimpressed for, like, the entire first half. Sure there were some humorous scenes, but not really enough to make up for the almost agonizingly slow pacing.

Overall, there are so many things that could have been done better, the writing and a lot of the acting included. However, as I stated before, some of the acting was superb.

Here's a list of the actors I recognized:

Bill Paxton ─ I recognized his voice more than I recognized what he looked like. You have to understand, I'm used to seeing him look over fifteen years older. He was probably one of the best actors in the movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio ─ Well, he was just as difficult to stand as my dad always told me. It's strange, since he's a brilliant actor in everything else he's in. He certainly did have his great moments, though. Overall I didn't care for the character.

Bernard Hill ─ He was probably the easiest to recognize, since he looked and sounded very similar to how he did playing Théoden in the Lord of the Rings movies a few years later. He didn't have a whole lot of lines, but they were very well-delivered.

Victor Garber ─ I knew I recognized him from something, but I just couldn't place it. I finally looked him up mid-movie (by that, I mean about two hours in), and found out that I'd seen him in one episode of one TV series, ever, and that was it. Somehow I was able to remember him enough for him to make an impression on me, I guess. That being said, I think he was probably the best actor in the entire movie. Played his part brilliantly.

Bernard Fox ─ Now, this made me geek out a bit. All these actors I recognize from parts they played years and years after Titanic, and here's an actor I know from many decades previous. I know Bernard Fox from 60s sitcoms like Hogan's Heroes, F-Troop and The Andy Griffith Show. Now here he was showing up in a 1997 movie! I geeked out.

Now, do I recommend this movie? If you like being bored, yeah. There were moments that made it worth watching, but you have to endure a lot of boredom to get to them.

Indie Game: The Movie

Indie Game: The Movie is a documentary about what it takes to make and release a game in the independent gaming industry. It focuses on Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes during the final months of development on Super Meat Boy, Phil Fish during the later development of Fez, and Jonathan Blow reflecting on the development and release of Braid.

For those who don't know, indie developers are game developers who create games on their own without the help of larger corporations. If you were to download some free programming software and create your own game, as even I have done myself, you would be considered an indie developer. It's not always so simple as that, however. This film focuses on those who have battled their way to the top of the industry and gotten recognition for it. In other words, those who have succeeded where so many others have failed.

With success comes great sacrifice. Similar to how it is with novels, you cannot just come up with an idea that will instantly sell millions (though there are exceptions). You have to fight. You have to give it your best and push through the hardest times, knowing full well that even in the end you could fail and everything will have been for naught. It takes an unbelievable amount of endurance and creativity to make something that will sell.

But in the end, the point isn't really to sell your game, is it? The point is to put yourself into something. Make something that everyone, even yourself, would want to play. It doesn't come down to money; it comes down to others enjoying what you have created. If there's no enjoyment—if there's no love—then everything will have been for naught.

Indie Game: The Movie tells a brilliant story of what it takes to get through the living hell of being a successful game developer without the support and funding of corporations. In a way, a lot of parallels can be drawn between game development and writing. Both paths are nearly impossible to travel, but if you can succeed, it's worth it. Anybody can make a game or write a book, but few can create something that will always be remembered.

This documentary is highly recommended, especially for those who are trying to make a name for themselves in any given industry.

Caution: Indie Game: The Movie contains frequent strong language, along with brief footage of a NSFW game.

Cars 2

First off, I would like to point out that the original Cars was my favorite animated film of all time. Whether a movie is CGI, anime, or whatever other types of animation there are, chances are I like Cars better. It's just, you know, a classic. You just can't beat it. When I first heard there was a Cars 2 in the making, I was uninterested and figured I may watch it someday, but it wouldn't ever be able to compare to the first film. Then, during the previews when I went to see the Dawn Treader in theaters, I saw a trailer for it, and suddenly knew that I had to see it.

The movie begins five years after the previous movie; probably because it came out five years after the previous movie. Internationally-known race car Lightning McQueen returns home to the town of Radiator Spings after winning his fourth Piston Cup, and discovers that a famous inventor and implied motivational speaker Sir Miles Axelrod has announced the first World Grand Prix, taking place in Japan, Italy and England. McQueen was one of the racers chosen to compete.

Meanwhile at the same time, Finn McMissile of British Intelligence is undercover trying to foil a plot by the evil professor, Zündapp. When two agents are unmercifully murdered, he, along with agent Holley Shiftwell must put their trust in . . . the exact wrong person.

Tow Mater, Mater for short, is a tow truck and a complete goof. He is Lightning McQueen's best friend though, and McQueen was convinced to allow Mater to accompany him on the World Grand Prix as part of his pit crew. Mater is accidentally (and surprisingly) mistaken for an American agent, and is soon thrown into the world of spies and espionage. In the end everything depends on him, though he would wish anything otherwise.

I understand why some people did and will dislike Cars 2, but I certainly did like it. In my opinion, what makes a good sequel to a previously stand-alone movie or book is a story that takes the world that was in the first movie or book, but vastly expands it. Cars 2 does exactly that. Instead of being pretty much restricted to Radiator Spings as the first movie was, it takes place in over four countries and dozens of locations. It's an amazing and creative sequel, and takes a far more in-depth look at cars culture.

I can see how people could dislike this "action-packed spy movie" after the simplicity that the original Cars was, but that is precisely the reason why I like it. I have a dad who's over 50 and is a huge automobile geek ("geek" in a good way), and he pointed out so many awesome inside jokes and car parodies of real-world things that a younger person would just never catch.

Cars 2 is what I've called before "the Jason Bourne of Pixar." Though there were many parts in it that I didn't like, I overall enjoyed the movie. It was by far the darkest Pixar movie I've ever seen, and sometimes I was extremely surprised that it wasn't even rated PG. (Seriously, those two agents were murdered in cold blood. Does that sound like a G movie to you?) I was surprised and intrigued by the fact that it was an action movie; hardly the reaction that many other people would have.

==Pros==
-Fun, enjoyable cast of characters
-Likable soundtrack
-Amazing CGI animation
-Further explores the world of Cars

==Cons==
-Some parts were downright stupid
-Rated G when it should be PG

Overall Score: 7.5/10



The movie was fun, entertaining, sometimes downright hilarious, and overall a worthy sequel. Maybe it's not the perfect sequel to Cars, but it was certainly the sequel that Cars deserved. If they make a Cars 3, I hope it's as good as the first two.

Reuben Horst

Inception

"Okay . . . so what exactly is going on?"

That's what I kept asking myself, and the rest of my family (probably to their annoyance), as I watched through Inception. It's true it is a complex movie, and I find it hard to understand complex things. There are many things I find hard to understand, and it's really starting to get under my skin, because I love complex things (as long as they're not boring).

This movie is like taking The Matrix . . . and making it more complex. A group of men—along with a woman—are assigned to find something out, and the only way to find this information is to get inside someone's head . . . or dreams.

The technology for being able to enter somebody's dreams has been around for quite a while, though it is considered top secret. What some people believe is not possible is a process called "inception". Inception is the idea of planting ideas in somebody else's brain, through their dreams. People say it's not possible, though this team needs it to execute their mission.

One man on this team, Dom Cobb, knows that Inception can be done, as he has experienced it before. This being known, the team enters the dreams of Robert Fischer, the heir to a business empire. Before long, the team is questing through several different dreams inside another, all to discover the code to a safe.

That doesn't sound complex, does it? Well, I've barely described the movie.

Inception is action-packed and, long story short, just plain awesome. The acting was great, along with the script and special effects. The film was directed by Chistopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight, and frankly, I enjoyed Inception far more than The Dark Knight.

The story was intriguing and complex, and shows that people can still make good original movies nowadays.

No movie is without flaw, though, and I have to say I completely hated the character Mal Cobb, who was Dom's wife. Even though she played a huge part in the film, it would have been much, much better without her.

Yes, I would recommend this movie. Go watch it!

~Reuben/Arkatox~

Pride & Prejudice

Several students in our school got together on Tuesday, since we're on Spring Break, and we watched some movies on our giant TV. The first movie we watched was picked by the boys, and it was Sahara. The second movie we watched was picked by the girls, and it was Pride & Prejudice. Both were based off of best-selling novels, but from what I hear, Sahara didn't follow the book very well (I haven't read the books for either).

You could tell the obvious difference between movie genres. Sahara was full of action, adventure, and a lot of bad guys shooting at the good guys. Pride & Prejudice was full of drama, humor, and some romance. Okay, they both had their extremely funny moments, but I laughed a lot more during Pride & Prejudice. This may be partially because I laughed several times just because the girls were laughing, even though I didn't get what was funny.

Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed Pride & Prejudice better of the two movies, even though the boys were pretty much forced to watch it. I guess I'm just the type of person who can occasionally put my manliness aside and do something different. I used to actually be more of a girl than a boy. Five or six years ago on New Years Eve, I was even called a "Tom Girl" by a girl. It's just because it took me far too long to grow up.

Yeah, that's right, I took too long to grow up. Not many people know, but I still played with my stuffed animals when I was eight. Embarrassing, eh? I was just a young kid back then, and it was hard to transfer to being a normal boy. But then again, eventually, I grew up and now consider myself more mature than the average 14-year-old.

How is this related to the movie? I'm just saying that because I was once a girly kid, I can sometimes forget who I am and enjoy movies and such that I otherwise wouldn't care for as much.

Now Pride & Prejudice was very well-done. The main family had five daughters (and they were all played by actresses totally unrelated to each other), and they all looked really similar. That obviously means the people who made the movie knew how to pick actresses that looked alike (LOL).

The story was a drama, as mentioned, and based off a classic. There were some really good acting jobs done by many actors and actresses including Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike, Simon Woods, and Donald Sutherland (who also did a really good job of acting in the 1976 film adaption of The Eagle Has Landed).

The story was pretty good, the humor was . . . humorous, and overall I liked the movie. Sahara just had so much shooting and action, and I didn't even like it that much the first time I watched it.

~Reuben/Arkatox~

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Today I got to see the film adaption of the award-winning classic by C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It is both the third book in the novel series and the third movie in the film series.

The story follows King Caspian X (portrayed by Ben Barnes) on a journey in his ship, the Dawn Treader, to locate and find Seven Lost Lords of Narnia. Somehow yet again some children from our own world are thrown into the great journey (this time they got to Narnia through a picture).

The movie takes place three years after the events of The Chronicles of Narnia: Price Caspian, and a lot has changed in the world since then. In both worlds, actually.

I saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3D, but since this isn't a review of 3D theaters, I won't say too much. I'll say the 3D was cool, but it failed to meet my expectations. I'd like to see a 3D movie in an IMAX theater sometime, so I can see 3D at its best.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Dawn Treader. The acting was good, the special effects and music were completely awesome, and it was all done very well. It differed from the story of the book in several places, but I'm sure C.S. Lewis, if he were still alive, wouldn't mind too much.

I loved the character development of Eustace Scrubb, a no-good-very-bad-boy (boy, in opposed to day). The actor, Will Poulter, did an excellent job of playing a spoiled kid, and then later, after he changed, a used-to-be-spoiled kid. A changed kid. Poulter was just great at portraying the character created by Lewis. He'll probably do great in the next movie, too.

One thing I love about the Narnia movies is that you get to see the characters/actors grow up as the story progresses. It's already been around five years since The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was initially released in theaters, and not even half of the series has been made into movies yet. The Dawn Treader was just released in theaters a week and a day ago.

My final conclusion is that this movie is well-made, really cool, intriguing, touching, and overall just plain awesome. I, like usual, would recommend waiting until it comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray until you watch it, but if you're a theater lover, totally be my guest. It's worth the admission fee for sure.

==Pros==
-Awesome story
-Amazing special effects
-Awesome music
-Extremely well made

==Cons==
-Story differs from the book in several places
-3D was disappointing (but that's the theater's fault)

Now, I can't wait for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair to come out!

~Reuben/Arkatox~