Ender's Game

As usual, I haven't read the book for this, so I'm going entirely based on the movie here. I know, I know. I really need to pick up a book or two more often. I really miss reading for pleasure.

Ender's Game is a good, albeit strange, movie. It has a cool, if not necessarily big or expansive, story, following a boy raised in peace time in a militaristically proud society. The invasion of Earth by the alien enemy happened 50 years previous to the events of the film, but the army continues to build itself in fear of the alien's return. It has an obvious allusion to our involvement overseas (whether or not this was the same context for the book obviously I don't know, but it would of course be with different policies in mind), questioning how much is too much in military protection, what "protection" really is, and of course bringing into question the moral ambiguity of the use of child soldiers. Obviously to us it's unthinkable, but this film does put the concept into a very believable scenario, one that almost leaves the audience not batting an eye.

But for all its brilliance, I have to admit I have some questions that were never really answered. I get that the game that was played was to demonstrate a certain way of thinking and a certain amount of leadership. But how exactly was this game demonstrating a strong leader for a full armada of spaceships? It's not like he really learned any skills in space battle, only battling with his own weightlessness? I don't want to give away the ending, but there's a BIG question I have regarding his training simulations. Give me a holler if you want to know that question, we'll avoid spoilers here. Although here's a weird little spoiler question - why were they so mad that he found the game section, wanted him blocked out, and yet continued to watch? Confused...

Ben Kingsley is an awesome actor with a super cool character. But again, this character raised more questions than answers. How exactly is he there? Is that really all the explanation we're going to get? what am I missing to let me really get this story? As always, I put no fault on the book. This is problems with a script, things that were left out that probably could have been left in or explained.

But all that aside, I loved the performances in this movie so much. Everyone gave 110% to deliver an awesome interpretation of deeply written characters, some giving far more interesting twists to characters than the sometimes bland script didn't deliver on. And that's not to say the script is bad - it had me react pretty strongly to some of the emotional displays. It's a successful movie. But I can't help feeling it could have worked far better.

Rank - 3/5

Last Vegas

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into with this movie. Honestly, I hadn't seen a single trailer. It only just came onto my movie radar maybe a week ago, and I liked the idea. But then again, it could turn into some boring rehash of a million comedies.

But what I got was nothing original, but still a sweetly told and nicely written story. Four childhood best friends go to Vegas to see the final one of them get married to a particularly young woman. The film has plenty of jabs at the age of the girl, and plenty of jokes about male genitalia. But I have to admit, there was something different about the style and level of low brow humor. After thinking about it, I realized it was organic. The jokes weren't forced dirty jokes or nods to the audience. Instead, they were jokes that I'd very much believe childhood friends would throw off, much like how my closest friends and I would throw off color humor at each other. It made sense that they would bust Michael Douglas the way that they do, and Kevin Kline's behavior and actions make sense for him rather then just a punchline for the audiences to chuckle at.

The story is generic enough, involving two characters falling for the same woman, past drama that alienates one of them, and of course distinct character flaws such as not feeling alive, sexual frustration, questions of love, and moving through phases of loss. It moves pretty effortlessly through humor and serious moments, allowing not only to connect with them on an emotional level but also allowing us as an audience to laugh with them, again making the low brow humor work effortlessly. Each of the actors demonstrate masterful ability to balance humor that's funny on two levels - the context of their actions relative to their age, but also in context to their personalities as actors. There are often punches at their personalities or character types, and to watch this group of well respected actors at a club is pretty hilarious.

Honestly...there's really not too much else to say about this movie. Although it should be noted that I saw this movie by myself, surrounded by people easily 3 or 4 times my age. Of that audience, everyone seemed to REALLY enjoy themselves, laughing at all the right moments and reacting just right to every  other moment. It was really an enjoyable group of people to see the movie with, but I guess that's also a pretty strong nod to the audience that will enjoy this movie. Kids my age will probably stick with The Hangover.

Rank - 3.5/5

Free Birds

Oh my god. It's been done. It's really been done. A movie was made that even George Takei's presence couldn't fix. It's so sad. It actually happened.

Seriously though. I thought Escape from Planet Earth was the worst animated movie I'd seen in a long time. But no, this, THIS takes the turkey. What's that, you say that's a bad pun? Kick's the crap out of any joke int his movie...

So, what is this movie about? Two turkey's, one of whom had a vision of a turkey god telling him to do so, go back in time to prevent turkey's from becoming Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, that apparently WILL be made into a movie. Owen Wilson's character, the USA pardoned turkey, is kidnapped by Woody Harrelson's overly buff turkey (...?) character. Hijinks ensue. That's really about all there is to say...there's Native American turkeys (?) who use spears and flaming pumpkins (?) to sabotage Plymouth colony (.......). Not to mention this film suggests that Thanksgiving was celebrated in an attempt to convince the Native Americans that they needed help. Way to get your facts straight, movie...

But that's not all that's wrong with this movie. Pretty much everything manages to fall on its face. Voice acting? Disgraceful. What the hell happened, Woody Harrelson? Animation? Cheap and lazy. In fact the only good animation seems to have been saved for the time travel sequences. And even those only look just okay. Plants and surfaces look flat and uninteresting, lazily forgotten to make outer space look good. But even there it doesn't. The Earth, when the turkeys fly into space (...-_-) looks like a poorly cropped photo of Earth just kinda thrown in. It all happens with an overly used awful musical score, one of the worst I can remember. It's tacky, boring, and forgettable.

Not only is the movie's general plot stupid, but so much more of this just raises eyebrows. Apparently, Woody Harrelson's character sees Turkey Jesus, who tells him to go to find the pardoned turkey and go back in time to save turkeys from being the Thanksgiving standard...because that's a story that needs telling...? How about the part where a villager is hit in the head with a flaming pumpkin, with no comedic results. That's right, incredibly blatant violence endorsed by this movie. How about the turkey's all using SPEARS as their choice of weapon, or the incredibly insulting war paint on their faces? If that's not strange enough, there's an absolutely ridiculous plot twist that results in head scratching and headaches, and my giving up on the film.

And this all culminates into a film that even takes away George Takei's happy making. His sultry, soothing voice doesn't even make my mouth twitch from a smile. Even his trademark "ohh myyyyy" had me roll my eyes. Mr. Takei, if you're reading this, I PROMISE it's not your fault. It's this god awful movies fault. I can't believe I wasted my cash on this. Who am I kidding...I see this so you don't have to.

Rank - 0.5/5