ParaNorman

Movie Title--  ParaNorman

Release Year--  2012

Running Time--  1 Hour and 32 Minutes

Director--  Chris Butler and Sam Fell

Cast--  Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Tucker Albrizzi, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Jodelle Ferland, John Goodman

Norman Babcock, a misunderstood 11 year old boy that speaks to ghosts, is recruited to save his small town from a 300 year old witch's curse.

Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an 11 year old boy that can speak with the dead.  Because of this he feels isolated at home due to his family all but accusing him of making it up and he is alienated at school, causing him to be bullied and ridiculed by his peers.  His only friend is an overweight kid named Neil Downe (Tucker Albrizzi), who is also constantly bullied however he stays in a generally good and upbeat mood most of the time.  

As the school is getting ready to put on a play to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the execution of the town witch, Norman has a vision that flashes back to the town's past and he finds that he is being chased by the town's citizens as if he were the witch.  He snaps back into reality and the bell rings to end the school day.  As Norman and Neil walk home, they encounter Mr. Prenderghast (John Goodman), Norman's "crazy" uncle, who tells Norman that he has to stop the curse of the witch.  Soon after this meeting Mr. Prenderghast dies.

During the theater performance at school, Norman has another vision and it ends with him snapping back to reality as he shouts "the dead are coming", promptly ending the play.  Norman's father (Jeff Garlin) is frustrated with how his son is acting and Norman's mother (Leslie Mann) explains that sometimes people say things they don't mean because they are afraid for the person that they love.  The next day Mr. Prenderghast appears to Norman and tells Norman he must go retrieve the book he was holding when he died.  

Norman makes the decision to go get the book and continue with the regular ritual that Mr. Prenderghast had been in charge of.  After Norman gets the book and takes it to the graves of the 7 people that condemned the witch he is interrupted by the school bully, Alvin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) as he tries to read from the book which he is discouraged to find is a book of fairy tales.  The dead rises and Norman realizes that the witch's grave was not among them.  

Norman and Alvin start to run from the zombies and run into Norman's sister Courtney (Anna Kendrick), Neil and Neil's older brother Mitch (Casey Affleck) who are out searching for Norman together.  The five of them head to the Town Hall to find out where the witch is buried and stop the curse for good.

So, if I am being honest, I didn't really care for this film.  Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of stop animation but for some reason, I just didn't really like this film.  It really wasn't a film that appealed to me but someone suggested that I watch it, so I decided to give it a try.  I was OK with watching it once but now that I have seen it, I probably will never watch it again.

I don't really think it is a film that younger children should see, especially very small ones.  This is more like an animated film for maybe tween or teenage children.  It is scary for small children and for children up to age 11(ish) it is probably a little inappropriate for them.  

If you have an older child you want to watch this with, I would say give a try but if you have a small child, I recommend finding something a little more kid friendly but whatever choice you go for, make sure you Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Welcome to October!

Hello everyone!

October symbolizes fall and the coming of the holidays; starting with Halloween.  I plan on making this month very special by mixing fall and scary films throughout the week so that you can prepare for Halloween.  Then, to give the Halloween theme a break, the weekends will be filled with superheroes!  The Marvel superheroes to be precise (DC will have to come at a later time).  I even have a few creepy documentaries lined up for your viewing pleasure.  This will all kick off later today, so please come back to see what all I have in store and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

The Flat

Movie Title--  The Flat

Release Year--  2011

Running Time--  1 Hour and 42 Minutes

Film Type--  Documentary

Director--  Arnon Goldfinger

When documentarian Arnon Goldfinger's grandmother Gerda Tuchler dies at age 98, he and his family begin to clean out her apartment in Tel Aviv when they come across some shocking information about Gerda and their grandfather Kurt's past in Nazi Germany.

Gerda Tuchler, a 98 year old German woman living in Tel Aviv passes away and it is up to her children and grandchildren to clear her flat out.  Arnon Goldfinger, the son of Gerda's daughter Hannah Goldfinger, films the family going through Gerda's posessions.  When the clean up begins, they were disposing of roughly 60 garbage bags a day.  The clean up soon slowed down, with Arnon and Hannah sometimes being the only two to show up to clear out the flat.

Arnon comments that he liked to come to his grandmother's house as a child and although she had been living in Tel Aviv for  70 years, her flat looked as if she had never left Germany.  He also stated that his grandmother had never mastered Hebrew and Arnon himself had no desire to  learn German, so they would sit and talk together in English.  He then realized that during all of their talks, all the things of importance had always been left unsaid.  He then conducts interviews with some of his family members, only to find that the people that he interviews knew little to nothing about their grandparents' past.

When they got to the paper documents, Hannah reads each line of each paper before deciding to dispose of it or not.  As they were clearing out a closet, they came across a box that held letters and old newspapers.  When Arnon saw that the newspapers had Swastikas on them, he knew that they had stumbled across Nazi propaganda.  This discovery and the curiosity of why his grandparents would have Nazi propaganda takes Arnon on a journey through his grandmother and grandfather's pasts that will both shock and sadden him.

I liked this film but at times it can seem a little overwhelming.  It is about a German-Jewish family that moves away from Germany before the Jews started to get relocated to the Ghettos, so this film is heavily subtitled because most of the film is spoken in German or Hebrew.  For someone like me that doesn't speak either of these languages I had to make sure I was paying close attention to the subtitles so that I wouldn't miss anything.  For someone that isn't going to sit and read a film all the way through, this may be a little discouraging.  

When you get right down to it, this film is about a generation that didn't ask any questions of their parents, leaving the 3rd generation to dig through the past to learn more about their family.  As Arnon asks his family if they knew anything about the patriarch and matriarch of their families, very few knew just a little bit of information and even more knew nothing at all.  I was personally a little discouraged with Hannah Goldfinger, Arnon's mom and Gerda's daughter as I watched this because she says on several different occasions that she didn't care about the past; she didn't wasn't going to willfully go in search of it and it would make no difference on her life now knowing what happened back then.

After the film went off, it finally dawned on me that she didn't care about the past because that is how she was raised.  After the war, her parents taught her to live in the present and not to look back.  It could have been because then their children would learn things about Nazi Germany and what happened to their grandmother (Gerda's mother) that they did not want them to know or even the reason they left Germany for good.

I think the biggest lesson of this film is to always ask questions.  So many of us let time with the people we love just slip away and we never know what life was like for them when they were younger.  I admit I am at fault for that myself; I had a grandfather that was in WWII and never once did I ask him about it.  Although I was only 17 when he passed away, now that I am 31, I regret not at least mentioning it back then.  I feel the same way about my other deceased grandparents; I never asked and the family members that I ask about them, remember being told very little about how life was for any of them at a young age.  We don't think that these things are important to learn about when our family members are alive, it is only when they pass that we realize the questions we should have asked were always kept unspoken and that is a very sad but true fact.

This was a very good film.  It was presented in way that holds a person's interest because honestly, you want to see where it is going to lead Arnon in his search for answers.  If you are looking for a honest look inside a family that knew no family history, only to learn that they did have (although very very little) involvement with Nazi Germany, this is a good view.  Do take my warning from above, there are a lot of subtitles in this one.  Get ready for a wonderful  experience and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

The Decoy Bride

Movie Title--  The Decoy Bride

Release Year--  2011

Running Time--  1 Hour and 29 Minutes

Director--  Sheree Folkson

Cast--  Kelly MacDonald, David Tennant, Alice Eve, Michael Urie, Sally Phillips, Hamish Clark, Federico Castelluccio, Maureen Beattie, James Fleet

Wildly popular starlet Lara Taylor is determined to keep the media away from her wedding to English author James Arbor, so when the media descends on the sleepy Scottish island of Hegg, her agent hires a decoy bride to throw the paparazzi off scent.

The hugely popular Lara Tyler (Alice Eve) only wish is to marry her fiancee James Arbor (David Tennant) but the paparazzi refuse to leave them alone.  When their traditional wedding is spoiled by photographer Marco Ballani (Federico Castelluccio), Lara decides to have her wedding on the Scottish island of Hegg, the location of which James had based his book "The Ornithologists Wife".

Meanwhile, Katie (Kelly MacDonald) is returning to her mother's home in Hegg, broken hearted and down-trodden.  As soon as she gets home her mother informs her that she is going to a wedding and since her mother is in a wheelchair, Katie pushes her to the chapel in the rain, only to learn that it is the wedding of her ex-boyfriend Angus (Hamish Clark).  At the reception Katie runs into her old boss William (James Fleet) and asks for her job back.  The next day, William comes in and tells Katie that he wants her to partner with him to write a guide book about Hegg, telling her that there is a Marketing Group coming to the island.

Lara's agent, Steve Korbitz (Michael Urie) and Emma arrive in Hegg and Katie escorts them to the castle that was supposed to be straight out of the book.  Upon seeing the condition of the castle, Steve realizes that James had never in fact come to Hegg to research his book and did all of his research through Google Earth. He gets to work turning the castle into a replica from the book so that Lara can have the wedding of her dreams and James is stunned when he learns that they are in Hegg and he sees the castle for himself.  Steve tells James he knows he didn't truly come to the island for research, so frustrated, James decides to go for a stroll and takes his book with him.  

At the same time, Katie is out and it starts to rain, so she runs into a rundown toilet.  It is a local legend that the ghost of a drown cow haunts the toilet, therefore the locals all refer to the place as "The Haunted Toilet".  She is taking voice recorded notes for her guide book and steps into a particularly disgusting stall when she hears someone coming into the toilets, so she closes the door behind her and hides.  When she hears a man mumbling, she goes over to an open pipe and moos as if she were the ghost of the cow, trying to play a joke on the man mistaking him for someone else but quickly realizes that the man is not a friend of hers.  Embarrassed, Katie tries to explain herself and introduces herself to James, who tells her that his name is John Johnson.

James then tells Katie that he is lost and she offers to help him out.  As they are walking she notices the book that he is holding and goes on to tell him that the Hegg book club has given it a 4 out of 10 and that nothing in the book is actually like it is on the island.  When James has finally had enough criticism, he tells Katie he can find his way and after embarrassing herself, the two part ways.

The next morning Lara is out for a run with Emma when she spots Marco and she takes off.  Emma goes back and tells Steve that Lara is gone, so he decides to hire a woman to be a decoy bride until Lara can be found.  Steve remembers Katie and hires her to stand in Lara's place.  The plan is disastrous and James is suspicious the entire time.  It is only after the wedding when the two of them are locked away in a room together to keep them from being seen by the paparazzi, do they realize that they each signed their real names on the marriage certificate, making them actually married.  The two then set out to find a way out of their marriage and find Lara before the media learns everything.

I really like this film but I will admit, isn't going to be for everyone.  I watch a lot of BBCA but for those people that don't, you may have a little trouble understanding what they are saying because sometimes Kelly MacDonald and David Tennant's accents can sound slightly thick.

This is a typical cheesy romantic comedy and honestly, the story is kind of corny but the acting is great.  I am big fan of both David Tennant and Kelly MacDonald, so for me, this was just awesome.  They work really well on screen together and are extremely funny.  I think that Kelly's performance was so good that there were even a few times that I actually felt a little embarrassed for Kelly's character Katie when she did something extremely silly or the wrong words spilled out of her mouth.  The Tennant and MacDonald are really the best part of the entire film.

If you are looking for a romantic comedy, this is a pretty decent one.  If you are unsure about it before you sit down to it view it, just remember that there is a chance you won't like this one.  Use an open mind with this one and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Safe Haven

Movie Title--  Safe Haven

Release Year--  2013

Running Time--  1 Hour and 55 Minutes

Director--  Lasse Hallstrom

Cast--  Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, David Lyons, Noah Lomax, Mimi Kirkland, Cobie Smulders, Irene Ziegler

A mysterious woman arrives in Southport, North Carolina and after forming a bond with a widower and his children, must confront her dark past that she has been so desperately trying to escape from.

A young woman runs from her home after dropping a bloody knife, running to her neighbor's house looking for sanctuary.  She is then shown at the bus station with newly bleached, short hair.  She purchases a ticket and narrowly escapes the man chasing her.  The bus stops in Southport, North Carolina for a short break and after spending a few minutes there, she decides not to get back on the bus.

She finds a small house out in the middle of no where and then goes into town to pick up some supplies, where she meets Lexi (Mimi Kirkland), the daughter of the general store's owner and she introduces herself as Katie (Julianne Hough).  She then meets Alex (Josh Duhamel), Lexi's father, who immediately takes a liking to her and does small jobs for her to try to impress her.  Lexi takes an immediate liking to Katie but Alex's son, Josh (Noah Lomax), is resistant because he feels like she is trying to replace his mother.

Back in Boston, Kevin Tierney (David Lyons), the police officer that has been looking for Katie, uses his authority to put out an APB saying she is wanted for murder.  When Alex sees her picture at the police station, he confronts Katie.  He is angry that he has brought her into his life and around his children while all along she has been lying to him and doesn't even trust him enough to tell him what her story is or what her real name is.  He then tells her that she needs to leave.  Katie goes home and packs while her friend Jo (Cobie Smulders) tells her that she shouldn't just leave but Katie insists she has been in town for too long.  

Katie goes to the ferry where Alex finds her then admits that he has fallen in love with her and tells her that if she stays, he will protect her from anything.  She finally tells him that she is the wife of police officer Kevin Tierney.  She then goes on to say that she stabbed him in self defense and is on the run from him.  Meanwhile, in Boston, Kevin's boss has put him on unpaid leave because he has been drinking on the job.

Unknown to Katie, Kevin decides to take his time to search for her.  It is only a matter of time before Katie will find out if Alex really will be able to protect her or if she will be at the mercy of her cruel husband.

I enjoyed this film.  I won't lie, it is a chick flick, so it probably isn't going to be a choice that any of the guys out there that is looking for a film but for anyone looking for a love story, this is a pretty good one.  I feel like it isn't just a love story but also a story of overcoming your fears so that you can carry on with your life.  

This is based off the book "Safe Haven" by Nicholas Sparks.  I am a fan of Nicholas Sparks, so I had a feeling that I would like this film and I wasn't disappointed.  I was already a fan of Josh Duhamel but other than seeing Julianne Hough on Dancing with the Stars, I haven't seen any of the other films she has been in, so I wasn't sure how I was going to like her performance in this film.  I can say for sure, that I thought she did an excellent job.  I was kinda blown away by the two children in the film, Noah Lomax and Mimi Kirkland, they did an amazing job and they are super cute.  

All in all, I think this film is just great.  As I said before, this may not be a film that a male would want to sit through but I think that it would be a great film to sit down to during girl's night.  Call your favorite girlfriends over for this one and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

The Duchess

Movie Title--  The Duchess

Release Year--  2008

Running Time--  1 Hour and 50 Minutes

Director--  Saul Dibb

Cast--  Kiera Knightly, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell, Simon McBurney, Aiden McArdle

A chronicle of the life of the 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

Set in the late 18th century, the story starts when Georgiana is a young woman and is being set up to marry the much older William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire.  The only stipulation is that she must provide him with a male heir.  After becoming the Duchess of Devonshire, she attends a political meeting with her husband but as the speeches are going on, he gets up and leaves.  She follows him out and asks if he is ill and he replies with politics bore him.  Feeling that someone needed to represent their donation, Georgiana goes back in and this becomes the start of her political career. 

Not long after the marriage the Duke brings a child into their home and Georgiana learns that the child is his illegitimate daughter.  The Duke tells Georgiana that she should practice her mothering skills with the girl and soon the two become very close.  The Duchess has two daughters but produces no sons, so the family goes away to Bath to drink the healing waters.  Once they are there, the Duke hits on a woman and Georgiana goes and introduces herself to the her, learning that her name is Lady Bess Foster.  They become fast friends and when it is time for them to return home, the Duchess gets the Duke to invite her to their home.

The Duke and Bess begin an affair and upon feeling the sting of betrayal, she begins her own affair with a young politician named Charles Grey.  Georgiana then tells her husband that she would make a deal with him, he could have Bess as his mistress as long as she could take Charles Grey as a lover.  He then tells her that he does not need to make deals with her because he holds all the power.  He then demands that Georgiana give him a son.  What happens to her makes her become wreck less and after the birth of her son, she takes back up with her lover and she is forced to make the biggest decision of her life.

I really enjoyed this film.  I found myself being very sympathetic toward Georgina because of her situation; she was a woman whom had to raise her husband's illegitimate child, had two girls and finally a son, and had her only friend become her husband's live in mistress.  All of that is before she took a lover, was forced to give him up and the consequences that came with all of that.  It just seemed so cruel and unfair to her.  I think the saddest part is that this was based on a true story, although since men had more authority then than they do now when it came to how they controlled their marriages that seems to be the kind of things that happened back then to some upper class women, just not quite as publicly as Georgiana had to deal with it.

Kiera Knightly is beautiful in this film.  I do have to say that I hated her hair throughout the film but a lot of that was wigs and not really her fault.  I am also a big fan of Ralph Fiennes; I like him in just about any role but I think I like him best when he plays a villainous role.

I would recommend this film to anyone looking for a little historical dramatization.  Get a few girlfriends over for this one and Don't Forget the Popcorn!

Rush

Movie Title--  Rush

Release Year--  2013

Running Time--  2 Hours and 3 Minutes

Director--  Ron Howard

Cast--  Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Marie Lara, Christian McKay, Pierfrancesco Favino

The 1970's rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda

As the images of the racetrack and action in the garage from the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring on August 1, 1976 fill the screen, a voice begins to talk about the statistics of Formula 1 racing.  He then introduces himself as Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) and informs the audience that people know him for two things, the first being his rivalry with fellow driver, James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and the second is the event that would happen to him that very day.

The rivalry begins in 1970 at the Crystal Palace circuit in England when the two make contact and Hunt goes on to win the race.  Words are exchanged in the garage between the two of them.  

Lauda has a falling out with his father over wanting to be a race car driver and when he realize that he doesn't have his father's backing, he takes out a loan himself and buys his way onto BRM Formula One team.  When he goes to test drive the car, he meets his teammate Clay Regazzoni (Pierfrancesco Favino) for the first time.  Meanwhile after Hesketh Racing, the team James Hunt is driving for, hears about Lauda buying his way into Formula One, they soon follow suit.  Regazzoni gets hired by Scuderia Ferrari and he takes his teammate Lauda with him.  Lauda wins the World Championship that year.

At the end of the season Hunt's team, Hesketh, team closes up shop because they have failed to pick up a sponsor.  At the last second Hunt learns that McLaren has lost their driver and he goes for an interview.  He picks up the ride for the year.

The start of the 1976 season saw Lauda winning more races while Hunt is struggling to catch him in the points.  When Hunt wins the Spanish Grand Prix, Lauda complains and Hunt is soon disqualified for his car being too wide after a post race inspection.  McLaren then has some trouble complying to F1 rules after this and they suffer a series of setbacks.  It is during this time that Hunt learns that his wife is having an affair.  After their divorce, Hunt regains the competitive spirit he thought he had lost and it is announced that after an investigation, his disqualification in Spain has been overturned and he gains back the points he had lost.  

At the German Grand Prix in 1976 the conditions are really bad for racing and Lauda calls a drivers meeting to discuss canceling the race with everyone.  Hunt then speaks up and persuades the room to continue with the race, saying that Lauda would be the only person to benefit from having one less race to run.

What happens on the track that day will determine the outcome of not only the race but the lives of Hunt and Lauda and the rest of the season.

I thought this film was just amazing.  It truly is one of the better films I have seen lately.  The story was put together so that it was interesting and action packed with very little filler.  It successfully told the story of two men and their legendary rivalry without becoming wordy and boring.  It is a little bit long but in order to do these two men justice, it is well worth it.

Hemsworth and Bruhl are absolutely wonderful in this film.  Their onscreen chemistry was excellent and from the beginning the two of them make you feel like you are actually watching this real life rivalry unfold in front of you.  They story sucks you in and that is the best kind of film; when you feel like you are really there that is when you have the best movie going experience.

Prepare your snacks early for this one because you aren't going to want to miss a second of it and Don't Forget the Popcorn!