Monster's University reviewed

Image courtesy of Disney•Pixar

It was easy to think that Pixar movies were incapable of being poorly created or received.  For 15 years they had put out nothing but fantastic, story-driven movies that were visually amazing and reached the audience on emotional levels.

And then the summer of 2011 was upon us and Cars 2 hit the theaters, proving to be something of a bust, running Pixar right off the track. What a terrible pun. I'm sorry.  So what did Disney•Pixar do?

They released Brave.  Which bounced the company right back into the sort of success they have always been known for.

But wait, you say.  I thought this was a Monster's University review.  All you've done is rehashed stuff we already knew.

I'm getting there.

Monster's University is a great movie.  There you go.  That makes two in a row now, so we'll call that a "new" streak going for Pixar.

In M.U., we are treated to a prequel of Monster's, Inc.  That gave the creative team some room to play with in terms of character development and storyline.  How did our main characters get to be where we last saw them?  What challenges did they have?  Where was John Ratzenberger's voice going to pop up?  Will Randy Newman's songs sound any different than they do in all the other Pixar movies he's done?  The answers to the last two questions are 1.  He does do a voice and 2.  No. Randy Newman's songs always sound the same anytime and everywhere.  Moving on...

Mike Wazowski and James "Sulley" Sullivan are a fantastic duo.  Like a modern day "odd couple", we are treated to the comedy that ensues from the battle between obsessive Mike and carefree Sulley as they embark on their journey through college together.

We glimpse at the movie's opening what drives Mike in his youth, and Sulley makes his first appearance in an unforgettable manner.

M.U. is filled with twists and turns for our pair of future Scare Floor heroes, as they team up with the less-than-cool monsters in a sprawling campus battle of scares and wits against the very system itself.  The storytelling in M.U. really gets you feeling as if you are a part of all the antics going on and provides an immersion in the environment amongst the characters that a lot of comedy and action movies frequently fail to deliver on.

With peeks at many characters' beginnings and changes, M.U. fills the audience in with more of the enjoyment we received in Monstropolis the first time around with Pixar.  On top of the obvious things we are shown in the movie, there are probably plenty of "Easter eggs" tossed in, as well.  Unfortunately, I was too engrossed in the story and characters to watch for stuff on my first viewing, so I can't tell you anything to look for.  There is a very short segment after the credits are finished if you want to stick around for it.

If you were a fan of Monster's, Inc. then I'm confident in saying you will really like Monster's University, too.  It's theater worthy.  Especially if you have children.
I'm giving this:        7.5 out of 10

Man of Steel reviewed

Image copyright Warner Brothers Entertainment

     Man of Steel is not your grandfather's Superman.  Nor was it my Superman.  Zach Snyder, under the production leadership of Christopher Nolan, has given audiences a son of Krypton with more modern appeal and action than probably any of the previous Superman movies combined.
     I went into Man of Steel with the expectation that this was a true reboot, unlike the 2006 Superman Returns.  I suggest doing the same if you go see it.  It's best to understand you are not going to be watching Richard Donner directing Christopher Reeve.  Man of Steel does to Superman what Batman Begins did for Batman.  It gives us characters we've grown up with and puts them into a darker, grittier today.  This isn't the age of world wars, nuclear families, peace & love.  We live in an era of globalization, diminishing privacy, and deep social debates of rights and wrongs with no end in sight.  The comic book version Superman keeps up with this.  Why shouldn't the movie version?

     So who were these new faces underneath such established characters?

     I had to look through IMDB to see who Henry Cavill was.  I have not seen anything he has been in.  Not even Immortals, which appears to be about the only one that would have held any interest.  Did this matter?
     Not in the least.  Coming in at about 3" shorter than Christopher Reeve, Cavill's stature as Superman in the movie was not measured by height, but by the maturity (he's 4 years older than Reeve was at the time), physique, and boyish-charm he brings to the screen.  Clark Kent is put through a range of emotions for much of the movie, and Cavill covers them all.  Like Reeve, he carries an air of goodness about him, sort of a benevolent caretaker for us on Earth.  We learn who he is, where he came from, and what we can expect from someone with the strength and power that Superman possesses.

     You know who else I had to look up?  Michael Shannon, who plays General Zod.  With a much more extensive background than Cavill, I feel like I should have known who he is.  After going through the IMDB list, the only thing I *might* have seen him in were the two episodes of Early Edition he apparently was in.  And that's just because I think I watched most of Early Edition.
     Anyhow, Michael Shannon was phenomenal.  His portrayal of Zod cuts right to the heart of the tenuous relationship between the House of El (Superman's family) and himself.  His battle to fulfill his role and preserve a way of life at any cost is not so different from extremists in the world today.  Evil terrorists to some, heroes in their own way to their followers.  The energy Shannon brings to this role is simply electrifying.

     I can at least say I have seen Amy Adams in some other movies.  How was her Lois Lane?  Well, she doesn't smoke, so +1 for that.  She does seem to get into the same sort of stupid messes that Lois always gets into.  Every time you turn around, Superman is saving her.  But she does bring the same grit and determination that the intrepid reporter always seems to have, as evidenced by her first scene in the movie.  Does the romance between Superman and Lois seem as natural as in the original movie?  Probably not, but not to say it isn't blossoming.  I think what keeps it more at bay isn't the lack of on-screen chemistry between Cavill and Adams, but how they have made Cavill's Superman feel far more like the all-powerful alien being he is, than Reeve's ever felt.

     Some quick blurbs on the only others I feel like mentioning:

     Russell Crowe's version of Jor-El is much cooler than what Marlon Brando had to work with.  They gave him a deeper, more meaningful character and allowed much more screen time to advance the plot.  It wasn't self-serving Russell Crowe time--it was important, story driven Jor-El time.  He clearly cares about his son.  Just as much as...

     Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, who took over the reigns as Jonathan and Martha Kent, respectively.  They gave some emotional performances that made you feel their own difficulty in what it was like trying to raise someone as special as Clark.  Their support of their son in who he is never wavers and they share it well with the audience.

     I don't want to get into spoilers and specifics.  I will say that Man of Steel moves at a very quick pace, with plenty of action.  Clark Kent's backstory is tucked into relevant parts as flashbacks and the whole thing is fairly seamless.  Hans Zimmer composed the score for this, and once again hits another homerun with his choices throughout every scene.

     This is the sort of movie that is worth seeing in the theater.  I'm talking splurge on full-price tickets if you can't do a matinee.  I give this:          8.1 out of 10

Rotten Tomatoes is a stupid website, and I still use it.

     I enjoy going to the movies, and I enjoy writing in this blog.  Except for when I travel, I probably do the former far more than the latter.  The other day after watching This Is The End, I wrote a review of it.  Maybe some of you read it, some of you didn't.  Some who did read it didn't care what I had to write.  Some who didn't read it... well, you are missing out on a chance to ridicule my blogging skills.  I will fill both camps in on a little secret-- I enjoyed writing the review.

So, that is my new thing.  I hope I keep up with it.  One a week--that's my goal.  I'm going to throw in some quick research I've just done that prompted this blog, though.

I think Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com) is a stupid website.  And yes, I still use it anyhow.

I've been familiar with RT for probably a decade (they pretty much rolled it out in 2000, I think).  For an average movie, I usually do a quick look at the Tomatometer score from the critics and from the audience (average Joes like you or me that rate on there), maybe glance at the quick "consensus" write-up they have, and see how it stacks up to what else is opening or currently playing.

The scores don't sway me to see or not see a movie.  That's a choice I've already made prior to visiting RT.  What the scores do (for me, mind you) is give me an idea of whether most movie-going people (critics and audiences alike) cared for the movie or not, and gives me a ball-park idea on what I might expect out of it.

I had never given any thought to how this worked out behind-the-scenes at RT, though.  And now, I think some of these rotten" vs. "fresh" ideas could be skewed.  Do you think I was dumb for not thinking this before?  Yeah, I probably was.


My understanding of how a critic's review gets flagged as either "Fresh" or "Rotten" (after doing bad Google searches and finding nothing helpful) is as follows:

If the critic has marked it better than 60% in their own personal movie review (via their own newspaper, magazine, online source, website, etc.), and that critic's review is then used amongst the RT Reviews Counted, RT gives it a "Fresh" rating.  If it is marked below 60% on the critic's original review source, RT gives it a "Rotten" rating.  If there is no numerical/star/whatever score in the review to determine a percentage, then a "person" (yes, I am putting that in quotes) at RT reads the review and determines what to give it for the sake of including it in the Tomatometer score.

Simple math, then, provides the following:

If a movie is given 2.5 out of 4 stars or better, than it should be "Fresh".
If a movie is given 3 out of 5 stars or better, than it should be "Fresh".
Obviously (I hope) if a movie is given 6 out of 10 or better, than it should be "Fresh".

The number of Fresh reviews are then divided by the total reviews counted, and the average is the Tomatometer score.

It is really supposed to be that simple.  But if you take the time to sort through individual critic reviews (that is what prompted this whole thing for me) and look at the score they give, you will see RT marking 3/5 as "rotten", or even 2/4 as "fresh".

As I type this, Man of Steel has a score of 56%, making it "rotten"--however it has an average numerical rating from the critics of 6.3/10, making it (on average) "fresh".

By comparison, The Bling Ring has a score of 61%, making it "fresh"--however it has an average numerical rating from the critics of 6.4/10.  Clearly still fresh--but almost identical to Man of Steel, which is 5 points lower on the Tomatometer and "rotten".

This is not some stupid ratings conspiracy theory.  It is just plain stupid.  RT is putting a product out there that has, in my opinion, a simple thing wrong with it.  They are doing a poor job of aggregating the reviews.  Which just happens to be their main job.

Well, there you have it.  My long-winded rant on why I am now annoyed with RT.  More importantly, it's just a little bit of information on why I want to start doing reviews, too.  I think I will use a 10-point scale.

I am giving this post a 7.5/10 because it was angry.

This Is The End movie review

Image copyright Columbia Pictures

Let me put your mind at ease.  If you were worried that the funniest parts of This Is The End were shown in the various red band and green band trailers, they weren't.  Plenty of everything has been left for your viewing pleasure: humor, raunch, action, and ... horror?

Well, yeah.  Horror.  This is a film about "the end", after all.  There's demons, demonic possession, hellfire, brimstone, cheap scares.  The works.  And all of this is crafted through a pretty simple story.
Does this simple story work?  Well, these aren't high-end special effects in this movie, and it wasn't written by anyone that most moviegoers would argue is the greatest screenwriter of all time.

The bottom line is yes.  It works and for a great reason--the comedic talents of this group of guys.
The interplay of Rogen et al feels fresh from beginning to end.  Lines don't seem forced to make the jokes within and about each other.  They take things in stride and seem like what they are: rich, funny guys being put to the test of survival.  By comparison, my buddies and I would be poor guys dabbling in the mediocrity of funny being put to the test of survival.

I don't begrudge them for being richer though.  Especially because they seem to learn some valuable lessons about friendship and salvation as the movie continues.  Sort of.

Like any of their other movies, just know that hilarity ensues when they are put in a room together.  Is it their best work as individuals?  Definitely not.  But like chocolate cake, their whole turns out even better than their parts. **** out of 5

Kit Kat McFlurry, bonding, and the measurement of success

     Today's post is simply musings, leftover notes, and anything else that I forgot or may not have had a home these past two weeks.  I just know things don't quite feel complete here, so I wanted to do a wrap-up.

     I don't think we have Kit Kat McFlurrys here in the United States.  We should.  They are amazing.  If an opportunity arose to get one, we did.  DQ Blizzard ripoff?  Who cares.  Delicious Kit Kats and caramel all blended together in ice cream.  I wish I had one right now.

     I think learning some French would have served us better than learning Arabic/Moroccan Arabic for Casablanca.  It seemed everywhere we went in town, French would have sufficed just fine.  It wasn't easy trying to draw upon stuff from 25 years ago, but it was better than nothing.  The Arabic was definitely useful for the first stretch of the trip in Ifrane, Meknes, and Fes, though.  I'm glad Ahmed gave us some relevant words/ phrases to use.

     The gap between the wealthy and poor in Morocco is really large, but even worse is how large a percent those groups are.  The number of people who are "economically vulnerable" is close to 45%.  It is rampant in the rural areas we drove through.  Not only were we privileged with taking the trip, but we were a privileged group-- one that could, relatively speaking, purchase or do whatever we wanted to there.  The Morocco Mall is huge and filled with stores such as Gucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton.  We could make purchases there.  According to Deyea, she thinks the average Moroccan comes to this mall to see it as a site.  Like we might go to a park or monument.  Not to actually shop there.  I guess it is built for the tourists and wealthy Moroccans, while everyone else sticks to shopping in the medinas.

     Have you ever seen a Yamazuki bike?  I hadn't until this trip.  Did I ever mention how rampant counterfeiting is in Morocco?  This thing had to be a joke.  Some hybrid Yamaha-Suzuki thing that looked like it wouldn't make it up the smallest of hills.  Whoever owned it probably thought they were cool?  I don't know.

     I don't know how the girls will get by without our little bus driver from Casablanca.  He really was pretty cool.  But they will miss him most--because he let them honk the horn.  Repeatedly.  I believe he had been trained like a Pavlovian dog to honk whenever the girls went "beep beep".  I imagine some of them are driving around Fort Wayne right now in their cars.  With a sad "beep beep" and honking their own horn.... which is probably not as widely accepted, nor expected here.  Unlike in Morocco, where it was the norm.  People honked everywhere for everything.  It was a cacophony of surprising honks and alerts that were directed at anyone and everyone.  It has been so quiet driving into school these past two days.

     I didn't know how close our group had gotten until yesterday afternoon.  I went into work at noon for a couple of hours before my class at 3pm.  As each minute ticked by, I found myself getting more eager to see the 7 others who were in my J401 class.  I couldn't wait for 3pm!  Oh, glorious Chronos, speed up these moments so I can see my brethren again.  And the time came, finally.  Ashley, Rodrigo, Lynsey, Kelsey, Kyle, Melissa, Seyoung... we were together again. We shared our own secret laughs and stories, our own glances at each other in the class, our own knowledge that we had been through many things together.  We all probably realized how close our group had gotten.  This didn't end there, as I spoke to Chadi in between classes and he said how weird it was to be eating breakfast alone.  He was right.  It felt weird to be doing anything alone.

Me.  Enjoying life.  Encouraging all of you to do the same, everyday, everywhere.

     We were going to ask Stephen his thoughts on all of this, but the bum didn't show up for class.  I think the rest of the group all managed to make it in.  Way to be odd man out, Stephen.

     This trip brought us closer together.  Through the bonding around a new, foreign culture.  Through the academic and functional work we did together there. Through the multiple benefits of travel and experience.  I think, for the most part, it was an absolute success.  Even if everything wasn't perfect, the pieces that were, counted for much, much more than the trivial misses.

This is what traveling--whether alone, with friends, or with family (or a combination of those)-- can do for you...me...anyone.

So, if I can ask you to do something, it is this:

Please. Get out. Find the money and the time. See the United States. See all the things that people who come to our country attempt to see and experience our different cultures. From Southern hospitality to the West coast lifestyle. From the Amish to New England Yankees.

And once that's done, look outside the United States. You'll be ready to leave your comfort zone and appreciate everything a lot more. You'll almost guarantee you won't come across as an obnoxious, ignorant American to the rest of our world. Nobody wants that.  Hopefully we've got a few less of us now after this trip.

Remember, be good.  And if you can't be good, be good at it.

Where's your other hand? Between two pillows.

I couldn't leave the last day out, so here it is.

     This was it.  The beginning of the end of the beginning.  The trip is at a close, but for some, the travel bug will have bitten them, so this is really just a start for those looking to expand their cultural awareness.  They're ready to turn around and head right out again.  For others, it is an affirmation of what they always knew.  They like the things they like.  It may be local, or regional, or national... but it is familiar.  It is known.  They'll take their adventure much further down the road.
But we all still need to make it through today, just to get back to Fort Wayne.  That route entails a dash of some planes, trains, and automobiles.  Well, buses actually.

     Did I mention we had to be up for breakfast at 6am?  This made the 7 or 7:30am breakfasts look like a cake-walk.  The good news eating that early was that we had put a cushion of 15 minutes in to make our bus, and for once we made it on time.  A rarity.  At least we already had our boarding passes, no luggage to check (it was already set to go to the States), and nice weather.  This bus driver proved a little more prepared for our group.  For instance, he showed up and waited for us with a nice large bus to accommodate everyone without packing us and our fragile items in like sardines.

     Now, Rodrigo's only job the entire trip was to take charge in Madrid with his mastery of the Spanish language.  The downfall here was that this "mastery" in no way proved useful in attempting to talk to the rest of us.  Needless to say, after repeating some things, pointing, and grunting (I'm sure he was half asleep still), he got us to the train to get us to our gate.  Fine job there, Fes.


We ventured on planes, trains, and automobiles buses. And we triumphed.

     American Airlines "security" agents (really--it's in quotes because this concept is a joke) proceeded to ask us the old worthless questions that we here in the US gave up on asking years ago.  Did you pack these bags yourself?  Have they been with you?  Who purchased things in the bags?

I mean, really?  Who is going to answer in any negative manner to these questions?  Only the stupidest people out there, no matter their intentions.  No further x-rays.  No random searches.  Were we supposed to feel safe?  Actually, I did, because I am never really worried about this when I fly.  But I suppose some people may have gotten nervous.  I don't know.  It was just a waste of time.

     We had a great flight into JFK.  Got in early, which just meant our 4 hour layover was more closer to 5 hours.  We found a McDonald's serving sandwiches which were both familiar and expensive, so we knew we were back in the States.  That and the fact that many people didn't speak English and people were very rude also helped to point out we were back in the States.

Now I'm wondering why we even came back.  Probably because we are out of funds for the trip.  I suggested to Tom to play the drum he got for his buddy (it had made the trip in great shape so far) down in the corridor between terminals to try to solicit some money for us.  We had a lot of baseball hats that could be filled up with change.

     Finally, 4:50pm rolled around and the boarding process started.  We were on.  We were excited.  We all had a stranger sitting between us and our classmate on both sides of the plane (it went from being empty to being full).  Yup, here it is-- 5:20pm.  We were ready to go.

We went nowhere.  Nowhere.  They tossed some pathetic announcement that it would be super fast for a quick de-icing, and we would be on our way.  By 6pm, we had heard nothing else and kept sitting there.  By 6:20pm, we moved back from the gate with no de-icing having been done.  We at least got an announcement saying it was time to go.  Yeah, right.  By 6:45pm, we were sitting in the middle of the tarmac finally getting de-iced.  And by the time we finally wheeled into position for takeoff?  7:01pm.

An hour and 51 minutes after our takeoff time.  How did we fill that time?  Well, I read, stared around, read, stared around some more.  How bad could this boredom be?  And the others?  Well some napped, some listened to music or movies, some talked.  Like Ashley, who should now be known as Chatty McChatty. She talked poor Rodrigo's ear off and seemed to be full of giggles.  For like the entire 1:51.  Pretty impressive actually.

     The flight itself had a little chop to it, but we remained aloft.  And it took about 2 hours and 9 minutes according to the lying pilot we had.  By the time we touched down, we got the great news that there was a plane in our gate that was being de-iced, so we had no where to go.  Are you kidding me?  It took 30 minutes from touchdown to get off the plane.  Nothing like spending more time on the ground than we did in the air.

     So, instead of it being 7:20pm, it is more like 9pm.  And we really, really just want to get on the coach and get to Fort Wayne.  Our simple hope is that we will actually have a bus ready when we get our luggage.  That is the sort of hope that is the worst.  Simple.  Because things can never be that simple on a trip like this.  There was no bus ready.

But it would be there soon.  5 minutes.  Sha, right.  And monkeys might fly out of my butt.  Five minutes turned into 15, while we stood outside freezing in the wind.  Our awesome bus driver had never  been to O'hare and shot right past us out in a drive-lane, rather than inside his pick-up lane.  But he eventually got there.  At least the bus was nice.  Actually, Bob the Bus Driver (really.  Bob.) was nice, too.

There are no city streets to be driven on between O'hare terminals and Fort Wayne.  At all.  None.  This is important to know.

Remember two seconds ago when I mentioned the bus driver had never been to O'hare?  Well, we no sooner left the terminal and were on I-190 coming out of the airport.  This was perfect.  Here we go.

No.  Wait.  We are on a ramp going slower.  And slower.  Slower.  Why?  We got onto a city street.  Are you kidding me?  I am so awake and alert now because I have no idea what he is doing, we all have no patience, and most of the others are in a stupor.  I watched him drive around a block and get back to I-90.  Clearly, a wrong turn, but he figured it out.  Probably was using Apple Maps.

He makes his way to I-294 South.  This will work perfect, so I close my eyes for some much needed sleep, knowing that it would be hard to screw this up at this point.  There are giant signs saying "Indiana" everywhere you look on the road.

Bob the Bus Driver and his Apple Maps screwed up again.  Took us north of where we needed to be because he didn't jump onto I-80/90 when he had his chance.  What else could go wrong?  Fortunately, nothing.  He got us to Fort Wayne at about 2:20am Tuesday morning, 3/19/2013.

It was the end of our journey.  People were either too tired or too excited (or both) to think much about this.  I know I was.  I climbed in my car, got home, crawled into bed.  At that point, it was like I had never even left.  I was out.

Well, there you have it.  My trip to Morocco.  I am going to write one more post today or tomorrow with some general insights and some post-trip comments.  Read it.  Don't read it. Up to you.

    

Wrapping up Madrid and St. Patty's Day

The continuation of St. Patty's Day...
     When we last saw our weary travelers, they had just been abandoned by the little Spanish bus driver dude.  Fortunately, this was after he had shoved us and our luggage off the bus at the Crowne Plaza.  Little did we know what awaited us after this.

     Communication suffered a bit of a breakdown while we all headed to our rooms, with the plan to meet in the lobby at 4pm (30 minutes).  The original plan was to all board the bus and head into Madrid for some afternoon/ evening sightseeing.  Once Ahmed saw the bus driver was gone, he quickly called the travel agent in Fort Wayne, who allegedly was in contact with the bus operator.  Trouble was, the bus operator (again, allegedly) could not get the driver on the radio or phone.  So, we had no mode of transportation other than our own feet.  In Rodrigo's case, this was pretty worthless, since his own two feet carried him no more than a block at a time before he became lazy and sat down wherever he could.

     Ahmed offered a cab to anyone who wanted to still go out when he saw that the bus was a bust, however when he saw that everyone wanted to go and we would need some 4 or 5 cabs to get us around, the idea was shot-down.  This left us to entertain ourselves in the hotel.  Not a difficult prospect, since we had been entertaining each other for almost two weeks.  What made it harder was the disappointment that we were so close to everything Madrid had to offer, but weren't going to get there.

     Fortunately, delicious pizzas and drinks in the lobby bar helped quell the disappointment.  Even better, the first drinks were free due to a promotion they were running.  All one had to do was basically check-in via social media at their location and beer/wine/pop was on the house.  Some of us stayed down there, while others headed upstairs to play some cards before dinner.  The evening was relaxing, quiet, and rather uneventful-- all things I imagine it would not have been had we gone into town.

     Probably the best part of dinner was the smiling prawns in Tami and Ahmed's paella.  Tami laughed repeatedly everytime she looked down at them staring up at her.  The rest of our food was good, but not as personable as hers.  My cow was long dead.  Wait.  That reminds me of Lynsey's food.  Her cow was barely dead for the beef covered with mozerella she ordered-- or something like that.  All I know is, it was some mooing beef strips, redder than any meat I have had in years.

     After dinner, people were crashing early since we had to be up for breakfast at 6am.  This was it.  Only one morning left.  We hadn't lost anyone, yet.  Hopefully, tonight would not be our first.