My Summer of Movies: Enchanted

I am a die-hard Disney fan. I know all the Disney Princesses. I nearly have the whole Disney Animated Collection on VHS. Technically, my sister and I, but that's beside the point. I've always loved the fantasy and wonder that all these classic animated films instilled upon my youth. All of them had their own issues (racism, awkward references, oddly sexual, but then again, what Disney princess is oddly sexual?), but they all succeeded in pulling me into the world and the narrative as a whole. Strong music, with catchy tunes and great singers (lyrics are questionable, I'm looking at you Alladin's "Arabian Nights"...) and beautiful art styles really helped build the world of the particular movie.

But then time passed. Sure, I grew older, but I could pull out the old VCR and watch any of those movies at anytime and have fun. It was Disney that really changed. I remember the last Disney hand-drawn animated flick I was excited for was Mulan in 1998, and that movie definitely delivered. After that were so-so hits, like Tarzan and Lilo & Stitch (Lilo & Stitch over Tarzan any day, although the ALL PHIL COLLINS soundtrack is kind of awesome), with the best one being The Emperor's New Groove (which spawned a shithole Disney Channel series WITHOUT David Spade), Disney really relied on its CGI animation team and Pixar, churning out CG animated films every year like it wasn't nothin.

Then here comes along Enchanted in 2007, which brought back the hand-drawn animation of old and crossed it over with live action. To be honest, my interest was piqued when it came out, but I never went to see it. I was 17, had to man up. I saw Live Free or Die Hard (PG-13 Die Hard = FAIL) and Transformers (bad movie, good fun), but never, no matter how my inner child wanted to, saw Enchanted. Even at the Oscars, I found myself enjoying the songs that it was nominated for three songs, but found myself yelling, "SUCK IT!" at the screen when its high chances of winning were crushed by underdog Once. Sure they were catchy songs, but with a 3/5 chance of winning, and my istinctual need to root for the underdog, I found myself loving that a movie I never heard of won. But I digress.

Two years later, it shows up on Netflix's Watch Instantly list. Having an Xbox 360, it seemed like a logical pick to watch on an HDTV; see this beautiful new animation on a big 1080i screen. Of course, I had to bury it in between seasons of South Park, The Fugitive, and the original Die Hard. You know. Just in case my friends used it. I finally get to watching it, and needless to say, those feelings I felt as a kid quickly rose up. I found myself smiling through most of the film.

Let me explain one thing: this movie is great due to Amy Adams's fantastic job as Giselle. Her smile is infectious, she's cute, and damn can she sing. She had a way of truly bringing one of those Disney princesses to life, but made the character truly question whether her world of ignorance would truly make her happy. Patrick Dempsey did fine (never liked him or Ellen Pompeo on Grey's Anatomy, but that's another post), and so did everyone else, but Adams downright made the movie.

The animation at the start was beautiful. Definitely a new animation style (reminded me of the upcoming Rapunzel, but 2D), but nevertheless, fluid and easy on the eyes. We're first shown the classic storybook opening to a Disney animated film, introducing Prince Edward, his evil mother, the bumbling Nathaniel, and the lovable Giselle. Trouble arises when Edward finds Giselle and plans to marry her the next day, threatening his mother's rule. She then transports Giselle into modern day, real-life New York City. Hijinks ensue as she stays with Dempsey's character, Edward begins to seek her out, and Nathaniel attempts to kill her and prevent her return.

It's your standard Disney fare, but the film eloquently alludes to nearly every other Disney princess film. As Giselle looks into a fish tank, seemingly looking like she's underwater, you can faintly hear the tune "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. The suit Dempsey wears at the end of the film looks very close to the Beast's suit while dancing with Belle in that memorable scene from Beauty and the Beast. Giselle's uncanny way to have animals help her, like...every Disney princess EVER. It's all there, but never over-the-top allusions. Okay maybe the Cinderella glass-slipper one at the end was blatantly obvious, but who didn't see that one coming...and the poison apples... Not to mention many of the original princess VAs make cameo appearances in the film.

Enchanted is a first and foremost a kids movie. It is a Disney princess movie. However people of all ages can enjoy this movie, especially for anyone who grew up watching the original Disney movies. It's definitely stirs up the inner child, and is great feel good movie.

My Summer of Movies

So, with a pretty uneventful summer lined up, I've decided to start watching movies like crazy (at least one a day). This won't be just movies I've liked, or movies I've been recommended. I'm going to take a look at whatever selection I can get my hands on and watch something there that looks interesting. Maybe it will have an actor I like, maybe it's some movie I just haven't seen in a while. Regardless, I'll be trying to post a review of whatever movie (or movies) I watch the day of (in addition to wrap-up reviews of TV seasons). It will be a random sprinkling of everything, and I hope you all enjoy.

Here's what will be coming down the pipeline soon:
Enchanted
Star Trek (yes the new one)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire/Order of the Phoenix
Ocean's 11/12/13
How to Lose Friends and Alienate People
Waitress
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

HIMYM and Big Bang Theory: Reruns tonight!

Just a reminder, both shows are reruns tonight. I'll be watching Gossip Girl instead. Heroes and 24 are still new, but are going to get crushed by the NCAA Championship Game. I'll be reviewing Heroes tonight and 24 tomorrow, so stay posted.

New Posts Daily! aka I have time to kill now

I haven't been keeping up with posting for quite sometime (though I have a lot of stories saved as drafts, I never finished em in time for them to be relevant) so here's my promise to make daily posts on TV, Movies, Music, and Video Games. Hopefully have TV reviews up after they premiere. Here's what I'll be watching, in case you're interested:

Monday: HIMYM, Big Bang Theory, Heroes OR 24 (whatever I don't post that night will be up the next day. Thanks hulu!)
Tuesday: ....Pass...
Wednesday: Scrubs, Lost
Thursday: The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock
Friday: Dollhouse (if I'm up to it...)

So stay posted for more!

Battlestar Galactica: More than just frakkin Sci-Fi

When my sister first handed me Season One of Battlestar Galactica, I had my doubts. The only Sci-Fi television that I really got into last was The X-Files (Heroes had me at one point but lost me). I had preconcieved notions of the space ferrying Sci-FI TV shows: hot women, crazy technology, hot women getting with attractive men in nerdy roles (a la the voluptuous Six and Dr. Gaius Baltar), and all of that IN SPACE. Sure, Battlestar Galactica has all that, but brings so much more that has made it one of my favorite shows ever. It breaks through the notions of Sci-Fi, making a drama better than your mainstream national television shows.

Rather than going over the whole plot, which I would love to do, to save some time and space here's the gist: humanity created the Cylons, robotic servants to do humanity's every bidding, but the Cylons rebelled. After a long war, they vanished for 40 years, but they finally returned. With a swift surprise attack, involving new Cylons that look and feel like humans, on humanity's 12 planetary colonies, the Cylons nearly wiped out humanity. The old, about-to-be-retired Battlestar Galactica is forced back into the fight, leading it's crew and a small fleet of around 50,000 survivors to a new home: the mythical home world of the fabled 13th colony, Earth.

Twists and turns abound while the survivors scour the universe for Earth. The idea is Sci-Fi-y enough, but if this was going to be technical jargon thrown around left and right, I wasn't sold. The events that take place between the genocide of humanity to the conclusion are what make this series stand apart from other space oriented Sci-Fi.

Battlestar takes a chance by making episodes that reflect current day issues. Whether it is worker's rights and unionization, or abortion, Battlestar provides thought provoking insight on either side of the issue. Especially when fan-favorite characters are on opposing sides of the issue, viewers are torn between likable characters and their own ideas.

Probably an even bigger risk Battlestar takes is making religion a main focus for the plot in a Sci-Fi show. Humanity believes in a polytheistic pantheon of gods, nearly identical to the Greek gods. The Cylons, on the other hand, believe in one true God, whose ideals and commandments are strikingly similar to the Christian God. Sci-Fi usually takes the road of explaining the unexplainable with science. Instead we have elements of Sci-Fi, but the unexplainable could be explained by a sort of divine, unseen force. We see this transformation specifically in Dr. Gaius Baltar. Originally a man of science, giving logical, thoughtful explanations for everything, and through manipulation by a Six (unseen by anyone else, referring to herself as an angel of God), he eventually leads a new religious sect within the fleet that believes in the Cylon God.

So the plot is good, but with poor actors, it means nothing. Thank the gods that Battlestar has some of the best actors to ever be featured on TV. None of them truly HUGE names, but after this, they deserve some frakking recognition. I really wish I could name off every one of them and say how great each one is. I'll list my all time favorites, but know that the ENTIRE cast is absolutely amazing. I don't think there was one performance or character I hated. That says a lot, because the only show to pull that off (for me at least) was The Wire. Edward James Olmos is an absolute powerhouse as William Adama, the Commander of the Battlestar Galactica. He speaks in such a demanding tone, and the speeches he gives are delivered perfectly, he could lead an army to the gates of hell and no one would look back. The dying President Laura Roslin is portrayed in perfection by Mary McDonnell. She's so good, Alan Sepinwall has run out of praising adjectives describing her performace. Tricia Helfer, originally a model with no acting experience, does an AMAZING job as Six. And I can't forget about the lovely Katee Sackhoff, who almost embodies Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. I haven't even gone over Michael Hogan's Saul Tigh or Galen Tyrol played by Aaron Douglas. If someone finds a weakspot in the cast, tell me, because I cannot see a problem in this group of fine actors.

The writers also did something great when creating these characters. They are all so gritty, so real, that all of them have likable aspects paired with things people despise. Just as there is in war; there are no good guys or bad guys. I was astounded that a Sci-Fi show could have such deep characters, all with their own flaws.

What more can I say about one of the best shows ever made. I know for many people there is a stigma around Sci-Fi, that it may be FUN entertainment, but never a legitimate work. Sure, there is founded evidence of this, but Battlestar Galactica is proof that Sci-Fi television can be a masterpiece. I had my preconcieved notions about the show as do many people, but this is one of the finest shows that no one should miss. Battlestar transcends the simple notion of being Sci-Fi and becomes a frakkin' good drama that any viewer would like.

Rugz Reviews: WALL-E

Although I have seen plenty of movies since I saw Iron Man and have plenty of reviews in the works for all the movies I've seen since, this film quickly jumped to the top of my list for reviewing.

Let me also preface this review by saying I'm biased towards Pixar. I think Pixar is the finest animation company in the new millennium. No not Disney, Pixar alone (though I am not a fan of Cars). Disney Animation Studios put out Pixar-esque films that were horrendous (Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons to name a few). It's a relief to see them move back to a fairy tale setting with movies like Rapunzel and The Princess and the Frog. These Pixar-emulating movies never had the same depth, spectacular visuals, and certainly none of that certain Pixar charm.

WALL-E had all that depth, visuals, and charm that I've come to expect from Pixar, but in WALL-E, I saw all three of these factors blended together so smoothly that it immediately jumped to the top of my favorite Pixar movies.

I'm hoping everyone has seen the movie, but in short, the plot is very simple. The super conglomerate corporation Buy n' Large created a fleet of the Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class robots to compact and store the accumulated trash. Humans fled Earth and one WALL-E was left functioning but with one glitch: it was curious. The mysterious EVE robot arrives on Earth and WALL-E becomes completely entranced by her. All this begins WALL-E's chase to rescue EVE and win her heart.

See simple enough. But herein lies those three factors that Pixar oh so likes to put into their films. For instance, the first 30-or-so minutes of the movie are lacking dialogue. Absolutely nothing is said. Okay so there is some singing, as you find WALL-E has a VHS copy of the movie Hello, Dolly! that he treasures beyond anything.

This brings me to a couple of points. All the things WALL-E collects brought back memories of The Little Mermaid. WALL-E's outpost really seemed like a futuristic version of Ariel's grotto where she stored her "gadgets and gizmos a plenty" along with her "whos-its and whats-its galore." The silence in the first bit of the movie also reminded me, as it did everyone else, of Charlie Chaplin. Hell the movie as a whole seemed, as the New York Times, put it "Chaplinesque." The clumsy, funny guy trying to win the heart of the pretty girl. WALL-E's goal for the whole film is simply to hold EVE's hand, and he travels across the galaxy to accomplish such a simple act. This kind of romance has gone from other films. Even purely romantic movies don't have this elegance of portraying love.

The first 30 minutes of the movie are timeless, superb, and utterly flawless. I've never enjoyed the start of a movie as much as I did in WALL-E. The movie does take a slump once WALL-E reaches the spaceship Axiom (Pixar's wit strikes again, just like Nomanisan Island in The Incredibles), but even still, it wasn't anything that made me rethink the movie. It just had a different kind of charm.

The depth goes beyond alluding to other movies (Sigourney Weaver as the Axiom's computer voice = a wonderful surprise). The movie obviously has the pro-green standpoint. Sure the environmental view is shown, almost as if the movie was shouting "STOP FUCKING UP THE EARTH" but the same eloquence that went into the love story was sadly not used with the environmental view. Instead, the anti-corporate view is a bit more subtle and fleshed out over the whole movie. No one character straight up says that corporations are evil, unlike the environmental view ("I don't want to survive, I want to live!"). The whole Buy n' Large corporation is revealed slowly through the movie. First you see on Earth that BnL pretty much controlled all forms of commerce and travel. Then WALL-E passes by the moon and you see an ad for BnL homes. Then it is somewhat pounded in your head with the BnL images on the Axiom, but it hits home when you see that the President of BnL (played by Fred Willard outstandingly) was in fact the President of Earth (Futurama anyone?)

Both statements come off very ironically due to Pixar being a Disney studio. An anti-corporation film coming from a studio owned by one of the largest, wide-spanning corporations of all time. And this movie will spawn toys that are going to be purchased by kids with all that packaging and eventually the toy ending up in a land fill, thus somewhat negating the messages of the movie. Or does it? The movie doesn't really tell you right out to FIGHT corporations or ONLY recycle. Just like Back to the Future showed showed an alternate future, WALL-E shows a possible outcome of our current ways. It leaves the viewer to take the message to heart or simply brush it off. And yes, I did try my hardest to work Back to the Future into this. It's just so damn good.
I've almost forgot to say how much a visual treat WALL-E is. The scenes with WALL-E in space are probably the best looking scenes in any animated movie so far. Also, what I find very amazing is that they made robot without a face show emotion. Just with simple tilting of the eyes, WALL-E shows any kind of emotion that any human can have (notice how I've been calling WALL-E "he"). In fact, I never thought of him as a robot until the end where certain events happen...can't say more.

In Defense of WALL-E
Like with Iron Man, people had some issues with WALL-E, although the volume of complaints is substantially less. The only complaint I've heard was that the plot was essentially the same as nearly all the Pixar film, especially Finding Nemo. Well considering director/writer Andrew Stanton was director of both films, I'm not too surprised. "But Rugz," you may ask, "why not create a new plot." The movie is a kids movie, but the execution of its depth, its certain kind of style, and that adorable robot's charm had not been seen before in any other Pixar movie.

Too Long; Didnt Read (tl;dr) Short Review
WALL-E is the best movie of the year. After leaving the theater you'll feel great and want to see this film again. Has something for everyone, kids and adults alike. Beautiful visuals (even the credits are beautiful) and a well executed story propel WALL-E for a definite Oscar nomination. See it once, the see it again. Whatever you do, see it. An instant classic that you'll come back to over and over.