Facing the Odds...

Django Unchained by far is one of the best Quinton Tarantino movies. Everyone knows how great the man is as he has brought us such movie favorites like Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and Gran Torino. His movies are always filled with the best of the best (Actors). This one stars, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DeCarprio, and Samuel Jackson, not to forget other notable characters. The great aspect of the film is that Tarantino stuck true to old western films but added a modern flavor.  Django Unchained is about a slave and his journey to be with his wife. We find him crossing a winter forest along with four other slaves and three white slave drivers. As luck would have it another white man posing as a dentist stops them and asks for Django specifically. He goes on to explain that the plantation where Django just came from, the slave drivers there were criminals and since he didn't know what they looked like he asks Django for his help to point them out to him. This doesn't sit right with the slave drivers and they demand the dentist leave immediately! As the man is actually a bounty hunter, he wastes no time and shoots two divers and wounds the other rendering him no threat. Django accepts his offer and thus begins the journey to find the criminals. Django and the Bounty Hunter make such a great team that not only do they go after a couple criminals but they put away 50 to 100 in just one winter. The bounty hunter helps Django understand the art of the gun and killing, this gains the trust of Django and he asks the Bounty Hunter to help him find his wife and free her. Eventually the two find out that his wife is located at one of the biggest plantation owners and at the same time, one of the ruthless too. What can be learned from this story, is that no matter the odds, we must fight for what is dearest to us. Django, being a slave had to overcome not only physical blocks but mental too. Its something great to see and puts a fire under your heart giving you the strength and power to overcome great obstacles as well. Go see Django Unchained and don't hesitate to fight the greatest of battles.

Second Chances...

Halle Berry has always been one of my favorite actresses. She disappeared off of the Hollywood map for a little while, as she was pregnant. With the child out, so is Halle, back in the Hollywood spot light. In her latest movie "The Call" Halle stars as a 911 operator named Jordan. Jordan is ahead of the game and top dog at the 911 call center. When someone has a problem it always seems they go to Jordan for help. She is so well known that even the people that call in, know her and ask for her help specifically. The film does a great job portraying this quickly so the audience doesn't have to play "catch up". A call comes in from a teenage girl who is home alone and a man is trying to break in. This is a fear that many people have; someone breaking into their personal life and hurting them or someone they love. Jordan does what she knows best and helps the girl evade and hide from the intruder. As the teen is under the bed hiding from the intruder the call fails and Jordan makes the worst mistake and calls back, but the teen also answers the call thinking the intruder is completely out of the house.....although he's not. Immediately the intruder turns back around and goes directly where the teenage girl is hiding, he rips her out from under the bed and beats her all while Jordan is still on the phone listen to every punch and scream. Jordan begins to beg the man to please stop and leave the girl alone as heavy breathing is all there is left. She says "Stop before you do something you regret" the only response from the man is "...its already done.....Click". The next day Jordan watches on the television as  the body of that girl is found in a field. This leads to Jordan's destruction and she isn't the same. Six months passes and Jordan is now just a trainer, no longer on the phones, she teaches new operators how to handle the phones and how to help. One day as she is walking the floor, a newly added operator becomes desperate for her help as a teen girl is on the phone panicking about being in the trunk of a car. Not sure of herself, Jordan worries but takes a deep breath and takes the phone call into her own hands. After calming the girl, Jordan discovers a man grabbed her and threw her into the trunk of his car in the mall parking garage. Many times through the ordeal, its seems as if the teenager will be able to escape and be OK, but time after time the kidnapper cuts her escape short and makes her pay as well as other citizens that tried to help. Jordan continues to try all her resources and find the girl before anything bad happens to her as well as catch the kidnapper and make him pay. A little after the kidnapper rips the teenage girl from the trunk, he realizes that she has a cell phone in her back pocket, and he makes her pay by beating her. Before he destroys the phone, he listens. Jordan hears heavy breathing again and once more says "Stop before you do something you regret" and once more the only response from the man is "...its already done.....Click". If you haven't guessed by the end of that last sentence its the same man who destroyed not only Jordan's world, but the world of the first teenage girl too. Its been a very long time since a horror film scared me and put me in suspense as this one did. If you are really looking for a heart pounder, this is the 2013 horror film for you. Not only did I get a great scare, I realized that this film showed we do get second chances to make right what was done in the past. We may choose something and it'll take us a little bit of time to realize we may have been able to choose better, and then some how, the choice comes back around to test us once more. Of course the choice may not have you putting someones life on the line like Jordan's did, but you get the point.

Good Prevails

The Wizard of Oz is known as one of the greatest films of all time. It holds a record for one of the most watched films as well. Made in 1939 it was a hit from the start, that is why it is such a major task to make a prequel to this phenomenal story. Ever wonder how the wizard, the only mortal other than Dorthy in the land of Oz, came to be? Me too, and I was incredibly impressed with the film. It begins with a wanna-be magician working in a carnival. This Magician, is named Oscar also known as Oz was known around the carnival for toying with Woman and making them fall in love with him. In the act we see he performs a trick and is called out by a man in the audience saying he is a fraud, yelling "I see the wires!". And indeed there were wires but once Oscar cuts the wires the woman still floats! Believing in Oz's magic a little girl in a wheel chair asks him to heal her. Sadly Oz replies that he is unable to all while trying to keep his audience captivated. He is in a rage after the show with his assistant for not closing the curtain faster, but the assistant after being very apologetic only wishes to be Oz's friend but Oz makes it clear on their relationship saying "I don't need friends, I need someone to get me an audience". It seems that the Strong Man of the carnival finds that Oz has been flirting with his woman and storms around the carnival to find and hurt Oz. While an old friend (a beautiful blonde woman) visits with Oscar telling how a man has asked for her hand, and to our surprise Oscar encourages her to say yes because he isn't the good man she deserves. The Strong man catches up with Oz demanding his neck, and Oscar escapes in a air balloon with the help of his loyal assistant. As he escapes, he soon realizes that the floating balloon is in line with a giant tornado (of course like Dorthy's home). While in the tornado Oscar begs for his life praying to be saved and in trade he will stop coning people and be a good man. After some time Oscar realizes that the wind has stopped and he pops out of the basket seeing a new world never seen before. A rough landing occurs and he meets a pretty woman named Theodora he soon finds that she is a witch, but not one that he has heard of. Being very pretty, he turns on his charm and captures her heart very quickly. Oscar finds it interesting that he is in a land named Oz and begins to understand more about the people he is about to meet. Theodora explains there is a  prophecy that a great and powerful wizard will kill the evil witch that terrorizes the land of Oz and become King. This entices Oscar as he lies about his powers and begins to con Theodora. On the way to Emerald City to meet Theodora's sister, also a witch, Oz saves the life of a friendly monkey named Finley from a lion (who will become very cowardly after this moment). They reach emerald city where he meets Evanora (the real evil witch) who explains he only gets the gold and kingdom once the evil witch is dead but she leads him to believe that is Glenda who is actually the good witch of the land. He sets off on his adventure with the help and loyalty of his new friend Finley. This movie is so great that I'd hate to ruin it for anyone, but something that the viewers must remember is that this is a prequel! Meaning it'll be filmed as if it were made in the 1930's, the jokes maybe a little adolescent just as the jokes were in the beginning of the making of films, also the acting is over done on purpose. Also just like the Wizard of Oz all the characters in the beginning of the story have a purpose in the actual land of Oz. The relation of this movie and actual life is that may the odds be stacked against you, if your heart is true then you will prevail. It's as simple as that.

Taking things into your own hands...

As we all know, comedy films are always a good call and they rarely disappoint. The movie "Identity Theft", I only assumed would be a disappoint, as almost all the funny parts seemed to be in the pre-views. Although starting off slow, it definitely left me satisfied after and hour and a half of laughter. Sandy Bigalow Patterson, is a man who seems to have a great life, with a recent promotion it looks just about perfect until his identity is stolen. As seen from the trailers its not hard to guess what happens next. A woman (whose real name we won't know til 5 mins left in the movie) from Florida seems to be a professional identity thief. Once she gets a hold of Sandy's identity there is nothing to buy that is out of her limit and with a baby on the way Sandy takes notice of this spending real fast. The police arrest him near his work in Denver and charge him until a mug shot is pulled and they realize that it isn't the same person as one is female and the other is Sandy, a male. With jurisdictions and government regulations the police tell Sandy that unless she is right in front of them there is almost nothing they can do. With the arrest of Sandy happening at his workplace they decide to fire him cause of his humiliation tot he company. With a baby on the way and no career, this sends Sandy off on an adventure that would change his entire life. Taking matters into his own hands makes him go the extra mile to recover the woman that ruined his life. As you can imagine many twists and turns occur through out the journey bringing both the thief and Sandy closer as they rely on one another. A happy ending is in store and all ends well, but not without a moral. The moral of the story as I perceived it is that, we all have trips that tangle our lives and make things harder for us. At these times we must continue to press forward and take things into our own hands, relying on our own strength and power. The second part is that at times we too must need the assistance of an unlikely friend. You never know what could happen as you continue through life's own journey.

Same Story....Different Outcome

Feeling a little dull on a Tuesday night my fiance and I realized the new film "Jack the Giant Slayer" was released. Off we went, and of course we sprung for the 3D version. Finally we were seated and ready for the Adventure through the fairy-tale we have heard since childhood. The movie stays mostly true to the story that we've known and loved, just with a touch of added adjustments. A young boy is in bed reading a book about the history of the kingdom he lives in. It tells about catholic monks finding beans that grew into a giant bean stock which leads to an alternative world with thousands of giants (not just the one). These giants descend on the Kingdom and destroy it,while doing so acquiring the taste of Human. The monks kill one of the giants and dip a magic crown in the giant's heart. The king wearing the crown banishes the giants back to their realm and this leads to whoever wears the crown controls the giants. Many years pass in the kingdom full of peace and happiness when a now grown farm boy goes to sell his horse in the kingdom walls. He ends up with the magic beans and accidentally grows them into a bean-stock. Coincidentally, the princess was in the farm boy's house and is lifted thousands of miles into the air along with the bean-stock. The Adventure to save the beautiful princess begins. Instead of just Jack going up the bean-stock an entire fleet of 15 men go up too in efforts to get in and then out before the Giants know humans have created a bridge to the lower world. Something that I left out in the beginning was that the crown was buried with the king, but dug up by and evil kingdom servant wanting ultimate power. He too went along with the fleet and doesn't hide his intentions at all as soon as he is to the top he picks off the other men and wears the crown to control the giants. To sum up the story, the evil servant is killed but not before one of the giants get his hands on the crown becoming leader of the giants. Power is placed int he hands of many after the decent of the giants on the kingdom, and an all out battle occurs. In relation to how this movie could affect our own lives, not that giants are real or anything, but we may have giant problems, and although the outcome may be uncertain we may all have the power with in us to overcome it. So enjoy the film and remember that feeling of adventure like you did when you once were a kid.

The Power to Change

As I have been out of town, I was unable to upload my latest insights of this months movies. February has always been seen as the "month of love" and because of that, it is always a prime time to exploit the feelings of the world with movies. The latest films that have been the talk of the town are Warm Bodies and Safe Haven. To begin, Warm Bodies strikes as just another zombie movie, which that is exactly what it is. Somehow a zombie apocalypse engulfs the entire world, which struck me as annoying because the narration doesn't tell how this happened. I, for one, would definitely want to know what happened to make this zombie apocalypse occur so I could avoid such event or at least prepare myself for the inevitable. The narration is done by the main character "R". We call him "R" because zombies have no name as the film itself states. I guess maybe the key to this film is to not think to much about it, for there are alot of flaws in what the narrator says about zombies and what happens. The thing about this particular movie is that they took a simple concept about boy meets girl and gave it a twist. Humans still live in the world but are confined to a walled town. Outside of these walls roam zombies and another creature called "bonies". These were once zombies but have crossed over to total darkness. Every once in a while the humans send out a team of people with guns to evaluate and area and collect any needed supplies like medicine, food, and other necessities. As the team begins their search, the zombies begin to grow hungry. A girl by the name of Julie (also the daughter of the General in charge of the small city) heads the search team with her boyfriend. All while searching Julie continues to urge him to retreat back to the safe city feeling uneasy about things, meanwhile a group of zombies have gathered and smelt out the humans which leads to an attack. Many in the search team are killed and eaten including the boyfriend. This is when we learn something very important about zombies. If bitten and partly eaten then humans too can become zombies, but if the brain is devoured then there is no revival of the dead. R is apart of this vicious attack and is coincidentally the one who kills the boyfriend, R at this time also admits that the brain is the best part of the human body because the memories of that person become your memories (There's the flaws I spoke of earlier). This is what ultimately makes R fall in love with Julie. Among the calamity R notices Julie and walks over to her, somehow he communicates telling her to follow him, as well as the rest of the zombie pack. After hours of walking R leads Julie to an abandoned airplane where she finds thousands of "nick nacks" that R has collected over time. Julie you can see is obviously confused as to how a zombie is capable of communicating let alone thinking enough to save her and save these things. After days of them spending time together Julie learns more about R and sees a true change in him. As always in my blogs, I refuse to ruin the ending to this film but as seen in the trailers R becomes more human with the love that Julie gives him. They face many trials first with other zombies and then with the small city and other humans. Then once the Bonies get involved its a whole new group of complications. This story is more then just a simple teen action film, when you really take a look at it the zombies can be related to us. We go about our day lifeless, may it be School, Work, and/or other daily activities that eventually become monotonous to us. Then something breathes life back into our souls may it be a joyous event or someone we love actually acknowledging our being. This is what really makes us feel human, the ability to feel life at its best and also at its worst.

Speaking of feelings at their worst, Nicholas Sparks strikes again with another love thriller with Safe Haven. This story once again touched so many hearts across the country as it is a love story that any woman can relate to at some-point in their life. To briefly explain, a woman runs from a harmful relationship and finds comfort in a small secluded town. This towns seems perfect as she moves into a house in the woods. Coming from a terrifying background its normal that at first she is distant to anyone just making small talk. Through out her time as she gets to know her knew surroundings, we quickly find out more about her past. A kind shop owner who is also the widower of two children finds himself very interested in this woman, and in the classic Nicholas Sparks way these two inevitably are drawn to one another only finding themselves in the most romantic of situations. This is where I will end, for if I speak anymore it will only destroy and ounce of surprise for you. This movie in itself teaches us that it is never to late to try again. To pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and move on to bigger and better things. And no gentlemen, these aren't movies that only women should see, so fellas puff out your chest, and walk proudly into these films, you won't be sorry.

Insanity lies within us all...

Movies are dreams brought to reality for the world to see. From the time that movies were first created, they've had a way of touching our inner most feelings unlike any other source known to man. Classic movies such as E.T., Titanic, and Forrest Gump, (just to name a few) made audiences around the world feel for its characters and set the standard for future films to be judged by for years to come. Although I could continue to speak of these films for hours, I'd rather discuss movies in theaters today. This is a difficult topic, as rumors have spread throughout Hollywood that nothing original can be produced now days. We have seen trilogy after trilogy and remake after remake flood in and out of theaters and I believe its time to recognize the brilliance that is still alive and well in the film industry. Recently I took my fiance out to celebrate our anniversary and as I tried to persuade her to once again see another action film (realizing I would soon lose this battle) I gave in and let her decide. She picked "The Silver Linings Playbook" and by looking at the main characters played by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, one could only assume another chick flick will be the background music to the rest of my night. Let me swallow my pride and admit I was incredibly wrong and taken back, because this film really was something that separated itself from the rest of the muck that pollutes the Big Screen these days (cough Battleship cough). In a average summary, Bradley Coopers character Pat has been in a mental health center for 8 months. He was recently released to the care of his mother as long as he reports to his therapist weekly. The Audience soon realizes that because of a traumatic event he was diagnosed Bi-polar. He soon meets a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) through his friends who also has had a very traumatic experience which left her mentally unstable as-well. They learn about each other and become friends as they agree to a trade if one will help the other. Throughout the movie, Pat has breakdowns remembering what happened to him creating trouble for his parents. The genius to the movie is that if you pay close attention, all the characters have a small mental problem that is shown throughout the movie. I won't finish the story but I will let you know my understanding of this amazing film. The understanding that I came to know is that we all have problems big or small. The problems sometimes can take control of our lives but as long as we focus our energy on the positive aspects and find the things that truly make us happy then we can conquer any obstacle (the classic movie moral). Until next time...