Winter 2017...Movies, etc.

You know that sad feeling you have the first day of school after Christmas break? When you have classes but you just feel like studying and going to school is literally the last thing you want to do at the moment? When you get exceedingly grumpy for seemingly no reason and just mope around complaining (which I shouldn't do by the way--don't follow my example)? When basically you feel like this?

Going back to school after break is the saddest moment of the school year, worse than exams I think. But anyway, I digress. Other than school, here are a few movies in no particular order that I've been watching lately (the subtitle of this post should have been: "Movies I intended to review but didn't"). 

Okay, I'll start with Boss Baby. We watch a lot of animated movies and love lots of them. In fact, I'm pretty sure that we have more animated movies than plain old live action ones, but I digress. Boss Baby was actually a pleasant surprise! I was expecting it to be rather ho-hum and boring, even rather stupid, but it was really cute and had some EXTREMELY FUNNY moments with sibling humor. There wasn't any objectionable content *that I remember*, although there were a whole lot of diaper jokes and babies without any clothes on, but...other that that, I would recommend it! It was very fun. Also the way they used "Blackbird" by The Beatles was really kind of sweet, surprisingly touching for an animated movie. 

.....................................meh. The first two Despicable Me movies were good, more than tolerable, but I found this one kind of bland. It was mediocre. There were some funny moments, but we had to wait through the rest of the movie filled with Minon humor *yawns* and no real plot line other than "this stupid 80s brat is trying to take over the world" and "Gru has a brother." It wasn't awful, but was definitely a step down from the other two. That's Universal's problem, they make too many sequels and then they ruin a perfectly good movie/series! That's what happened to Ice Age (that was Universal, wasn't it? If it wasn't, it's still what happened.)

Wow, this was a quite good drama. Obviously, it was about Winston Churchill and World War II. I was surprised at how short a time span in his life it covered, but so much happened in that time! I really enjoyed this one. It was well done, well acted, and painted a very poignant picture of life in that time, how people felt and how the situation was. There was a bit of language in this one, so I wouldn't recommend it for young kids, but I think it is a good film for any World War II history fan. Plot-wise, acting-wise, and simply quality-wise, it was very good and worth the watch. A moving story beautifully told (for the most part). Plus, I was surprised by Lily James and Ben Mendelsohn (who is Director Krennic in Rogue One) showing up!

I was surprised at how cute this movie was! I was definitely expecting it to be a stupid talking animal movie, but they made Paddington rather adorable and sweet! It's a very British movie, and I am not a huge fan of how the parents and children behave to each other, but they are reconciled in the end. I was so glad that the mother's "hero" in the story she was trying to write (she was an artist/writer/something) turned out to be her husband, not the bear. Hmm...what is there to say? It was a cute movie, totally unrealistic, but nice all the same. I wasn't a fan of the villain (of course, that's probably a good thing). There was a little British humor and one use of a synonym for 'gender-y' as a joke which will most likely go over the heads of kids (plus, the person it is said about is actually a man in disguise and a very poor excuse at pretending to be a lady--it's difficult to explain). Other than that though, it was quite entertaining and nice.

Sherlock Holmes: the 1930s/40s version with Basil Rathbone

I picked a collection of old Sherlock Holmes movies up at a secondhand store and was super excited to watch them! I love the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and while I have not watched BBC's Sherlock and I probably won't, I still think Martin Freeman IS WATSON! (Get that? I haven't seen Sherlock and I'm not planning to, but from pictures I've seen and the stories I've read and seeing him in The Hobbit, I've decided that Martin Freeman is the one and only Dr. John Watson. Except without a moustache.) What I have seen of the old Sherlock has made me love the stories all over again, because Basil Rathbone...I never thought I would say it, but here is an actor who exemplifies Sherlock in every way! I thoroughly enjoyed it! Of course, they are mostly murder mysteries, so there is a bit of violence involved, but it's from the 40s so (at least so far) nothing has been unwatchable. We can argue about the portrayal of Watson later.

I mean, come on! If it was possible, wouldn't they make a great team? 

Speaking of Martin Freeman...I got to watch the extended edition of The Battle of Five Armies. Yes, it is rated R. Yes, this is the first and most likely last (last without any sort of filter, that is) R-rated movie I'll ever see. The violence really wasn't as bad as I thought it could have been, though there was a lot of splattering...need I say more? The thing is, violence with orcs being killed doesn't bother me much, as it would if it was humans being killed. I could never do that. But anyway, there are some excellent extended scenes that help the plot along, such as when Thranduil says, "If anything moves on that mountain, kill it." In the original version, he says that immediately before the movie cuts to Bilbo climbing down the mountain. In the extended version, Bilbo climbs down (after a conversation with Bofur, who is great) BEFORE that Thranduil scene. I feel like that makes more sense. And there was Thorin's (and Fili's and Kili's, but apparently they're not important) funeral added at the end, along with some other extra bits that I won't spoil right now. Overall I liked it a lot and it was just as exciting as ever. We still yelled at Thorin for following Azog under the ice...and I cracked up laughing so hard for some reason when an elf blew his horn...but that's another story. 

I was actually surprised at how enjoyable this movie was. As my brother said, it was pretty much "THE animated movie" and wasn't super spectacular, but it was fun to watch and very entertaining. I was surprised at how they could make a bull be so likable and sweet a character. It was a very cute movie which would be fine for kids, I really don't remember anything objectionable. The music was quite lovely, too! It was just a nice, fun story...about bulls in Mexico...but it was still good! The German horses were hilarious--I think that if bulls and horses did talk to each other, what happens in this movie is exactly how it would be in real life. The dance-off between the bulls and horses was very hilarious (except for the horses dabbing, which was cringey). In conclusion, Ferdinand was worth watching. I don't think I would pay to see it, but we had theater gift cards and couldn't think of anything else suitable for our whole family. I would watch it again when it comes out on DVD, if we get it from the library. 

*SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH* My older brother has been going on and on about how amazing this movie is ever since he watched it. Then when he got the DVD as a Christmas present, we had to watch it. The basic idea is this: aliens in their big egg-shaped spaceships have come and we need to figure out how to communicate with them. The main character is a linguistics professor (the lady) and that's probably why my brother likes it; he's a linguistics major. So, it's really artistic and quite well-done (there is some swearing, including an upper-tier word that would be easily skippable once you know where it is), really cool effects and the aliens are mind-blowing. Then I hated it once it was done. So, throughout the film, the lady has these flashbacks of her daughter, who died of a rare disease. Her husband had left her or they divorced I assume, and it's kind of a sad story. But then we learn that she was actually seeing the future and having "flash-forewards" and that she marries the guy that she's assigned to work with, knowing FULL WELL that he would get mad when she told him what she saw in the future would happen to their daughter, but decides to marry him anyway knowing all this!!! I mean, come on lady!!!!!!  I was done with it then, and once it turned out the message of the movie was that all the world should be at peace and unite in peace (which I mean isn't a bad thing, but world peace movies are annoying) just in case aliens ever come...the movie was interesting, but the ending disappointed me in SO MANY WAYS.

My reaction at the end of the movie

All right, last one. I was wanting to watch this for the longest time and finally got the chance to a while ago. It was excellent. Really. Very good. The acting was pristine, the story was great and the message was beautiful. It just had a very deep feeling to it that was satisfying to watch. There were a few more language issues than I would like, but overall was not bad content-wise. The descriptions/depictions of slavery can be a bit disturbing and very sad, maybe not fit for younger kids, but overall I loved the movie and the story of William Wilberforce (at least the fictionalized story--you can't take everything in a movie for granted you know). It was interesting to see Romola Garai in another role than in Emma, and she was pretty much the same person, I thought, but just as good as ever. Of course Michael Gambon was in it...he seems to be following me around...and Benedict Cumberbatch. He was good too, but I really wanted him to actually...do...something...instead of just sitting in parliament with that sneaky smirk on his face. (N.B. Is he supposed to be good-looking? Everyone says he is...but I don't see it. No offense.) Ah well, wonderful movie, in all respects. Go watch it as an excuse to quit listening to my yakking.

And to close, two movies that I'm excited about that are coming out soon!!! 

1: Aardman Animation's Early Man

2: Peter Rabbit

Have you seen/want to see any of these? Any thoughts you want to share? Comment below if you wish!