Complete and total lie. If you haven't heard me whine about it enough, then I'll reiterate: I have virtually no free time this semester, what with six classes totaling eighteen credit hours that meet thirteen times a week and two jobs that take up roughly seven to eighteen additional hours a week.
Then add homework to that, food and sleep, etc.
BUT ANYWAYS! I did notice I've watched a decent amount of movies this semester...errr, well, not really, but some that I can at last write about. So I'm going to do that.
---
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) - If you haven't seen this movie, then do that. It's a comedy staple for a reason, even if most people can't stand to watch the rest of the Monty Python stuff (you know it's true).
The whole reason this one got busted out is because Terumi and Jiaqi hadn't seen it, which Lauren and I sought to rectify. I hadn't seen it in a rather long time, so it was nice to see it again with some older perspective thrown onto my viewing. I kind of appreciated things a bit more and found myself being not as cynical as I thought I would.
---
Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric (1989) - This one gets put on the list mainly because it's something I streamed on Netflix and also because it's as long as a standard movie. Curse of Fenric is a 7 and Ace story, a Doctor and companion duo that I adore dearly and am sad didn't get more screentime.
It's a bit pointless to try and explain the story, since most of you, even if you are Whovians, don't know the Classic series. Let's just say there's Nazis and I got to shout "fish from space!", but the main point is Ace-development when she unwittingly encounters her abusive mother...as a newborn. The way the Doctor defeats the baddie is also a tear jerker on the part of Ace and would've developed into something really nifty if BBC hadn't canceled the show in '89.
---
Astro Boy (2009) - I don't think we're ever going to get a truly fulfilling anime-based movie from an American company. Hell, I know there's debate on Japanese adaptations of anime, so who knows if anyone will ever get it right. But I will say this: You could do a lot worse than Astro Boy.
I ended up watching this one because one of my Twitter friends had made mention of it a while ago. It showed up on my "recommended" queue on Netflix, so, with an afternoon to kill before class, I watched it.
The story pulls out all the stops for cliche - red core and blue core (guess which one is evil), a military president situated in a thinly-veiled copy of the 2008 presidential race, the good guy is seemingly the bad guy, and orphans. But I stuck around* because despite everything being seen from a mile away, I got some mild entertainment from it. I wish they had played up more themes and got rid of others, but eh, it's got a 6 om IMDb, so it isn't too bad.
(*Bill Nighy is Dr. Elefun and Nathan Lane is Hammegg. That is why I stuck around.)
---
Dirty Harry (1971) - One of those "been meaning to see this" movies that I finally got to see thanks to Shinmaru's movie group. My memory is a bit fuzzy on it, which is pretty bad considering I saw it less than a week ago, but I can tell you that it was worth watching. Surprisingly short, too, clocking in at the regular hour-and-a-half mark.
To me, the most surprising thing about the movie was its pacing. It didn't waste time but didn't hasten it either, making good using of action and recuperation. There's bobs and blood, so if you aren't ready for those, don't watch it. But if you're wondering where the whole "cowboy cop" thing comes from, check it out.
I'll also throw in that I had planned to do Illustration homework during the viewing, but found myself unable to and enticed too much by the film. That's somethin'.
---
How To Train Your Dragon (2010) - I JUST LEARNED THEY ARE PLANNING A SEQUEL TO THIS AHHHHHH
*ahem*
If you didn't know from this post, I am in love with this movie. The art, the music, the story, the humor - it's my favorite right now, and is seriously beating some long-standing competition on my list. I can't even fully express why I am so obsessed with it. It just struck me in the right way, hitting pretty much all the marks to really appeal to me.
It seems standard - boy is seen as a derp, wants a date, takes down a dragon, no one believes him, he ends up helping the dragon, they become BFF, conflict happens. But really, when you boil down all stories, they're pretty simple. However, it's the way this one is layered that makes it work.
Hiccup is seen as a derp and outcasted by his village, but at the same time, you can see why. It isn't exactly unfair when you put it in Viking context. Stoick (his dad and village leader) struggles to understand his son, and really only Gobber (to whom Hiccup is apprenticed) vaguely understands him. Then Hiccup takes down the nefarious Night Fury dragon, but of course nobody believes him..
The dragon is Toothless and, after a gorgeous montage (that is virtually dialogue-less for five minutes but has spectacular music), they bond, and Hiccup goes about building a component to replace Toothless's tail fin. At the same time, Hiccup and the other viking kids are leaning to fight dragons, though, through his time with Toothless, he learns ways to come out on top without actually hurting them (hint, they behave a lot like cats or dogs), while also leaning to fly on Toothless - since it takes two to tango, Toothless can't fly unless he has Hiccup maneuvering the missing fin.
Okay, not going to go any more into the plot than that. But one thing I noticed was that, despite his increasing popularity and notoriety in the village, Hiccup never goes through the "arrogance" phase, instead understanding that he can't show-off Toothless because he knows the village would kill him. Woah, a kid protagonist having common sense!
Did I mention that this movie, despite being distinctly cartoonish, is very very VERY pretty? Oh, and that the music is mind-blowingly awesome? (So awesome, I used it as an example in a speech I gave last semester about the merits of children's movies.) Also, this movie is funny. The sense of timing in this is brilliant, gotta say.
And here's where I'm going to take a stand on this. How To Train Your Dragon is awesome on many fronts and - dare I say - better than Toy Story 3, the other animated 3D film I saw this past summer. Don't get me wrong, Pixar has the most amazing track record for movies (I'll ignore Cars and the fact that they're doing a sequel to it - well, okay, nevermind, BLEMISH TO YOU, PIXAR!) and I adored Toy Story as a kid. But they've never blown my mind with awesome and made me rush out to buy their soundtracks or DVDs (VHS, whatever). Toy Story 3 played heavy to my nostalgia, and it made me cry (as did HTTYD), but that was about it. Is it fair to compare the two? Probably not. But hey, this is the internet, so I can.
That does make me resent the fact that, come awards times, How To Train Your Dragon is probably going to lose out to Toy Story 3 (except maybe the music, Randy Newman cannot compete with John Powell kthnx) - and in fact, already has been. It's a powerhouse that steamrolled records, so obviously there's a wider audience to it. Again, I repeat that I did see it and did like it. Can I see why it's been winning? Yeap. Do I necessarily agree? Eh...not so much. Ish.
Good Lord, I've ranted long. I'm going to post this finally.
