Ender's Game - Never read the book but saw the movie and I really liked it. The boy playing Ender did a good job. I didn't realize till I got home and looked on the Internet that people are rooting for the film to fail. Didn't realize Orson Scott Card was such a bigot since that isn't portrayed in the movie at all.
The Heat - had some funny moments. Melissa McCarthy stole the show.
I love Melissa McCarthy, and weight-y or not, I think she's a purdy lady. I loved her in The Nines too (I know that movie is love-it-hate-it though).
I still gotta see Ender's Game. And given some of the messages you can from the book I'm surprised with his views on homosexuals.... but I won't let that change that I like his book; I just think he says dumb things. A lot of authors are weirdos.
Anyways.
From Up on Poppy Hill: I kind of miss old Ghibli that wasn't afraid of some action in their films. Or maybe I'd like the latest ones more if conclusions left a bit more 'bang' or gave a better lasting impression. Not that anything is wrong with dramatic pieces, it just feels like they've been playing it safe the last three films (I have yet to see The Wind Rises, but given the premise, I'm not sure how interested I am in it...fictionalized biographies aren't really something I enjoy; but I've also heard it's somewhat... 'politically charged').
This movie is sweet, it's nice, and it's quite safe. I loved that it takes place in the 60s, and I love how beautiful the scenery and the music reflect that. And the start had a lot of promise... but it kinda....
aaauuugh... Just nothing too big happens! There's a cute-then-awkward-then-cute-again romance in the A-Plot, then it's settled, then some history lesson happens, then that's about it. The B-Plot was amusing, albeit predictable, of fixing up a student centre so it doesn't get torn down. I liked this more than the romance plot and it's when you see the characters at their best, but then the school plot takes a back seat to what's going on in the A-Plot. It tied up nicely....but a little
too nicely.
It's a good film, but I just didn't feel like it was "all there". The movie falls between charming and quaint, but the studio has definitely done better.
The Incredibles - A rewatch, obviously. ;)
It's weird saying that Pixar, who is indeed one of the best CGI animating companies in the world...actually shows age. I remember how amazed I was by the film when I first saw it; but this time I noticed a few flaws. For one, virtually ALL of the non-main characters look the same... they were probably based on the same "NPC" (for lack of better words) skeleton and reworked. Second, the city looks kind of....
bad. It's really bland, repetitive, and empty. And third, obviously animating hair is one of the hardest things for animators to do, but Violet's hair kind of looks awkward nowadays. It's cool, but unrealistic. I think part of the reason Disney's Tangled amazed me so much was because it definitely demonstrated how far computer animator's have come in creating and animating realistic hair (and I remember thinking about how hard it must be for them when Disney studios announced that they were adapting the Rapunzel story).
The content of the film is still amazing, and I realized this flick is the PERFECT blend of "superhero" and "cheesy family tropes" that make it a damn fine picture (nothing demonstrates this better than when Bob and Hellen are arguing about what streets to take on the highway; not because they're going somewhere exactly, but because a giant robot is destroying the city!). I would like to see a sequel to this one too (Monsters Inc is cool and all, but I don't think it needed a prequel, and same with Cars 2, but little boys love seem to that movie and I think that's cute).