Imagine being trapped on a mysterious island full of violent lunatics while you try to solve a missing persons case and blow the lid on a major cover-up. Not your cup of tea? Then you probably won’t like Martin Scorcese’s recent horror/suspense film, Shutter Island. If these things do intrigue then you should definitely go to your nearest Redbox (or Blockbuster or Hollywood Video if those antiques haven’t gone out of business in your area) and rent it. To get the best effect out of the movie, you should plan to see it late at night with all of the lights off. I can’t give you any more details about the plot (it’s a complex movie and the more I reveal the less you might enjoy it) except to tell you that Leonardo DiCaprio plays a great lead character as Teddy Daniels, the US marshal who is sent to the island to investigate the missing person.
Incredible. By the way, how does one judge between different “artisan” waters? What makes Fiji water worth more than “Icelandic Spring” or “French Alps” water? Any connoisseurs care to weigh in?
(via ohyeahfacts)
Thanks to a few friends of ours Caroline and I were able to enjoy a nice night out this week. The movie theaters don’t seem to have a lot to choose from these days (end of summer doldrums at the box-office I guess) so we didn’t feel too strange about using this precious opportunity to watch an animated film targeted at children.
After receiving some good directions from my very capable older sister, Jen, we headed down the interstate until we found Regal Cinema 20. It was hard to miss as it was the only building that looked like a neon-crown. We parked our car, went in and spent some time failing at arcade games in order to kill some time (I also heard the song “Butterfly” for the first time thanks to DDR).
Alright, so you want to know what I thought of Despicable Me, right? I have to warn you first though that my opinion of the movie may be somewhat biased. I didn’t have to put up with any shrieking children bouncing up and down in the front rows. In fact, we had the entire screen to ourselves that night. The advantage to having our own theater was that we could talk as much as we wanted and laugh like maniacs. And laugh we did. Despicable Me is easily one of the funniest films of the year. The script-writers didn’t slack on the story either, which is quite refreshing in the age of Happy Meal (tm) movies. I won’t give away too much of the film, but let me just say that while the plot revolves around the actions of a (somehow) loveable super-villain named Gru, the audience begins to figure out very quickly that there are other, more menacing villains that the film wants to warn us about. These villains represent greed, selfish-ambition and vanity. We see all of these traits in Gru at the beginning of the film but by the end his interaction with three adorable little girls helps to change his perspective. As cheesy as this moral message seems I never felt like the movie was being preachy.
Overall feelings: Kids will appreciate the vibrant animation and almost constant slap-stick action. Adults will be able to enjoy the ins-and-outs of the plot as well as the overall moral message (and some of the jokes that will be going over their kids’ heads). If you haven’t seen Despicable Me yet and you’re looking for a fun movie pick-me-up before summer leaves, I definitely recommend it.
