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.