Jaws 2 rated PG for violence/disturbing imagery, mild language, and mild sensuality

As the catch phrase says "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."  This picture picks up about four years after the first movie.  Michael Brody (played by Mark Gruner) has grown into a strapping young man.  Ellen Brody (played again by Lorraine Gary) now works for the town committee to expand the local economy regarding tourism.  Chief Martin Brody (played again by Roy Sheider) becomes convinced that a large great white shark is once again terrorizing the waters off of Amity Island after a few mysterious "accidents" and disappearances occur in close succession.   Once again Chief Brody works hard to convince the town council including Mayor Vaughn (once again played by Murray Hamilton) that there is a shark problem.  Once again Chief Brody is ignored at first.

While Brody is working to keep the town safe, Mike is trying to indulge in hanging out with his friends.  Everyone likes to go boating on the island and Mike is no exception.  Mike is also keen to impress his friend's cousin Jackie (played by Donna Wilkes).

Brody meanwhile decides to be as vigilant as possible while seeming to pray that his fears are nothing more than fears.  All the while his anxiety and terror grows as he can't ignore his gut feelings.  Unfortunately Brody's fears lead to him causing a scene on the beach and getting fired.

The following day Mike decides to sneak out to go boating with his friends and Jackie.  When Mike's little brother Sean (played by Marc Gilpin) threatens to tell their parents, Mike reluctantly takes Sean with him.  No one can imagine the horror that awaits as the unwitting teenagers find themselves under attack from the monstrous shark.

This film has a lot of the same type of fake out scares as the first one.  The shark effects are similar to the first picture.  This film has one of the more horrific cinematic deaths for me in the form of the young woman who valiantly saves Sean from certain death but dies in the process.  It isn't so much the actual death that disturbed me so much as the reactions of the characters when it happens.  Plus it's so tragic because she was so close to making it and the fact that she was so quick to try to do something in the face of such terror.

Again probably not a film for younger audiences.  Not as gory as the first one but still has disturbing images.

Jaws rated PG-13 for violence and gore, mild language, and frightening/disturbing imagery

In honor of Shark Week 2017 it seems fitting to talk about shark movies.  Naturally I'll start with the first that comes to mind.

In this film, a huge great white shark terrorizes the waters off of normally idyllic Amity Island.  The island's economy is largely based off of summer tourism and the shark happens to begin its attacks at the start of summer season.  While the town is gripped with terror resulting the horrific shark attacks, new town police Chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider) does his best to first make the town council headed by Mayor Larry Vaughn (played by Murray Hamilton) acknowledge that there are shark attacks occurring.  Brody enlists the help of marine biologist Matt Hooper (played by Richard Dreyfuss) to assist Brody in understanding more about the shark and thereby stop the shark.  When Brody's son and the mayor's son have a close encounter with the shark, Brody convinces the mayor to hire Quint (played by Robert Shaw) to kill the shark.  So Brody, Hooper, and Quint then go out on Quint's boat called the Orca to hunt and kill the shark.  The shark turns out to be worse than the three men could have imagined.

As pretty much everyone knows, Jaws the movie is based off of a book written by Peter Benchley.  The book is loosely based off of real life events that occurred off of the New Jersey coast in July 1916.  Unfortunately this film inspired a lot of fear of sharks.  Thankfully we are more educated about sharks now.

Interestingly enough this film was listed the number 1 scariest film in the top 100 scary movies of all time.  This film plays to visceral fears that everyone has of A) the unkown and B) facing an apex predator and being powerless in the face of it.

Another noteworthy aspect of this picture is that this film contains the first reference to the U.S.S. Indianapolis for most people unfamiliar with that horrific event prior to this film.

Lots of people like to make fun of how fake-looking the shark looks and how silly the effects look as well.  Some of those same people either have are unaware or have forgotten that when this movie was released, this film was the first of its kind.  The "nightmare" aspects of filming particularly revolving around the use of the shark ended up working to the picture's advantage and upped the suspense.

This film is a classic that shouldn't be missed although it might be too much for younger children.  I personally was traumatized enough by this movie that I used to be scared of the deep end of the pool.  After I got older and wiser, I am now only comfortable going into the ocean at knee deep level.  I have a healthy respect for sharks but I even now this film makes me jumpy.

Storks rated PG for mild action and some thematic elements

When I saw the previews for this picture I wasn't interested.  A couple of friends purchased it for their children and then put it on for me.

Storks used to deliver babies but stopped since they found more lucrative, easy work delivering merchandise a la' Amazon.  Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg) is looking forward to his upcoming promotion which will enable him to not have to make deliveries and spend time hanging out with upper management including his boss Hunter (voiced by Kelsey Grammer).

Unfortunately the one thing standing in Junior's way of being promoted is his final assignment:  Get rid of Tulip (voiced by Katie Crown).  Tulip is an unfortunate orphan who lives with the storks after Jasper (voiced by Danny Trejo) the stork that was supposed to deliver her went crazy and destroyed her beacon.  The beacon tells the storks where to take the babies.  Now that Tulip is 18 Hunter wants her gone from the storks facility.

In effort to avoid getting rid of Tulip, Junior hides Tulip in the tower where the babies used to be made and tells her that she's been promoted to special position.  Tulip happily takes on her "new position" and Junior leaves thinking that everything will be fine.

In the real world, a lonely little boy named Nate Gardner (voiced by Anton Starkman) desperately wishes for a younger brother so that he has someone to play with since his parents Sarah (voiced by Jennifer Aniston) and Henry (voiced by Ty Burrell) are too busy for him.  After finding a faded brochure about the storks delivering babies, Nate happily writes a letter detailing his wishes for his baby brother and mails it off.

Back at the storks, Nate's letter arrives and Junior looks on in horror as Tulip happily plugs the letter into the baby making machine.  After a baby girl pops out it's up to Tulip and Junior to deliver the baby to the family that is eagerly awaiting her.

While attempting to deliver the new baby to her family, they have to outwit some impressively organized wolves led by Alpha Wolf (voiced by Keegan-Michael Kaye) and Beta Wolf (voiced by Jordan Peele) as well as Hunter and Pidgeon Toady (voiced by Stephen Kramer Glickman).
This is a great heart-warming family film and was surprisingly funny.

The Shining (1980) rated R for violence, language, brief nudity and brief sexuality

This film is a prime example of atmospheric horror.  It's also one of my preferred Kubrick films.

Former teacher turned writer Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) accepts a winter caretaker position at the Overlook hotel located high in the mountains of Colorado.  Jack decides to bring along his wife Wendy Torrance (played by Shelley Duvall) and their young son Danny Torrance (played by Danny Lloyd) to stay at the Overlook with him.

When the audience first meets Danny and Wendy, it appears that Danny has a very active imagination that involves an "imaginary friend" named Tony.  According to Danny, Tony tells him things but he is reluctant to discuss what exactly Tony shows him with anyone.

On the day that Danny, Wendy, and Jack move into the Overlook, Danny meets a man named Hollarann (played by Scatman Crothers).  Hollarann has "the shining" just like Danny.

At first things seem to be going well for the Torrance family.  As time passes the audience observes that Jack seems to be acting a little strange.  After the snow settles in, the atmosphere of the hotel seems to become more sinister and oppressive for all but Jack.

Has Jack lost his mind or is the hotel really haunted?  As things escalate, Wendy is forced to try to keep Danny safe all while staying alive and avoiding Jack.

Overall, for atmospheric horror, this movie is excellent.  The influence of this movie is pretty obvious in The Witch.

I once watched an interview with Stephen King talking about this film.  He said that he didn't like this film because it was a very cold movie and the novel isn't.  Years after seeing the movie I finally read the book.  I personally found the book to be so scary that I couldn't read it alone in the daylight.  After reading the book I understood what Stephen King was saying in regards to the Kubrick movie versus the novel.  If you haven't read the novel I recommend it.  (I also recommend reading the sequel Dr. Sleep and sincerely hope that someone turns that book into a movie sooner than later).

This film is essentially an alternate interpretation of the novel.  It's good on its own but it isn't quite the same as the novel.  The impression that I get from this movie is that Jack is spiraling into insanity and his family is suffering as a result.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 rated R for violence, language, and brief drug use ***spoilers***

In this continuation of the story from Kill Bill Vol. 1 this film picks up shortly after the end of the events in Vol. 1.  This is a film of revelations and/or confirmations for many of the characters.  By now it is assumed that all of the Squad has been killed with the exception of Bill.

This film shows The Bride hunting down the two remaining Squad members.  Ultimately one dies but not at the hands of The Bride.  In this picture we finally learn The Bride's name which is Beatrix Kiddo (wonderful name by the way).  We also definitively learn that Beatrix was Bill's lover in addition to being his top assassin.  We witness Beatrix's arduous training under the tutelage of the fierce Pai Mei (played by Gordon Liu aka Chia-Hui Liu).

It also becomes apparent that Elle Driver was Beatrix Kiddo's jealous rival.  She was the other blonde of the group who clearly loved Bill in her own way and envied Beatrix for all that she was.  Whether Beatrix was aware or not is up to you the audience.  I don't think that Beatrix cared one way or the other.

As such, there is a very excellent fight between Elle and Beatrix.  I consider it one of the better ones that I've seen in films.

The film ends with another great fight scene between Beatrix and Bill.  Any questions that remained (for the most part) are answered by Beatrix to Bill just prior to the fight scene.  And of course, if you didn't know already, Beatrix is happily reunited with her beloved daughter B.B. (played by Perla-Haney Jardine).

I felt and still feel that this is a wonderful follow-up/conclusion(?) to Kill Bill Vol. 1.  If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this one.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 rated R for strong bloody violence, language, and some sexual content

Regarding mothers, this is not a film that I personally could put on for my mother.  She doesn't like Tarantino movies and she would be offended by the violence and language. 

 I am a fan of some of Quentin Tarantino's pictures.  When this one came out, my movie snob friend reluctantly decided that, of all the Tarantino films, this would be the first of his that she watched.  She didn't (and still doesn't) like his arrogance.  She's also squeamish when it comes to blood.  She was reassured by the preview that the blood in this picture would be cartoonish as an homage to classic Kung Fu movies.  She also asked me to watch it with her considering that I do like some of Quentin Tarantino's movies.

Uma Thurman plays The Bride in this picture.  But we the audience don't know that at first.  For reasons, Uma Thurman's character's name is bleeped out throughout this film.

Anyway, it turns out that The Bride used to be known as Black Mamba, the deadliest woman in the world.  She was the top assassin of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.  The Deadly Vipers consist of O-Ren Ishii aka Cottonmouth (played by Lucy Liu); Vernita Green aka Copperhead (played by Vivica A. Fox); Elle Driver aka California Mountain Snake (played by Daryl Hannah); and Bill's brother Budd aka Sidewinder (played by Michael Madsen).  Bill aka Snake Charmer (played by David Carradine) was the leader and mentor of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.

The Bride is betrayed by and brutally beaten by the rest of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad during what appears to be The Bride's wedding (hence the title of The Bride).  To make matters worse, The Bride was very pregnant when she was nearly beaten to death by the Squad.  When she wakes up from a coma four years later, she is devastated by the loss of her baby.

This film chronicles The Bride's quest for vengeance against the Squad and anyone who would dare to stand in her way.

I loved this film.  I thought and still think that this is another of Quentin Tarantino's great films.  Everything about this film was and still is excellent in my opinion.

My movie snob friend even managed to make it through the whole film.  She was a little green at the end of it but otherwise ok.  As far as I know this film is the first and last Tarantino picture for her.

Dear Frankie rated PG-13 for language

Continuing the theme of Mother's Day, I present one of my three favorite Mother's Day films.

Frankie (played by Jack McElhone) is a nine-year-old who lives with his mum Lizzie (played by Emily Mortimer) and his grandmother Nell (played by Mary Riggans).  They have recently moved to Glasgow Scotland.  Frankie happens to be deaf and is a "champion lip reader" according to Lizzie.  Frankie seems to be adjusting well to the changes in his surroundings.

Frankie regularly writes to his dad who is a sailor.  Frankie's dad is not in Frankie's life and the impression is given that Frankie's dad has never been in his life.  Frankie's dad does write back or so Frankie thinks.  It turns out that Lizzie has been writing to Frankie as Frankie's dad.

Things get complicated when Frankie's best friend reveals that Frankie's dad's ship is due to arrive in Glasgow.  Frankie is visibly surprised by this news but tries to brush it off like its nothing.  Frankie's friend bets Frankie his stamp collection that Frankie's dad won't show up to an upcoming football game after the ship arrives.  Frankie accepts the bet.

After telling his mom about the bet, Lizzie struggles to find a solution to help Frankie.  On the one hand, she can come break down and tell Frankie the truth.  On the other hand, she wants to help protect her son both from the truth and from being taken advantage of by his friend.

She decides to hire a man to pose as Frankie's dad.  After a disastrous attempt at finding a man in a bar, Lizzie's new friend Marie (played by Sharon Small) offers a solution in the form of a guy that she knows.  Lizzie is pleasantly surprised and intrigued by The Stranger (played by Gerard Butler) who is Marie's "friend".  The Stranger agrees to pose as Frankie's dad and turns out to be a better man than expected for both Lizzie and Frankie.

In the extra features, the director mentioned that she wanted to showcase the beauty of Glasgow and I personally think that she did an excellent job in this film.  I love this movie because it shows just how far a parent (in this case a mother) will go to make their child happy and safe.  It also shows just how much a child can appreciate their parent(s).

Mr. Mom rated PG for mild language and brief sexuality

When thinking of Mother's Day films, a handful come to mind.  Of those handful, three are my personal favorites.

In this picture we meet Jack Butler (played by Michael Keaton) who works at an automotive factory.  His wife Caroline Butler (played by Teri Garr) is a stay-at-home mom who effortlessly runs the house while raising their three children Alex (played by Frederick Koehler), Kenny (played by Taliesen Jeffe), and their baby daughter Megan (played by Courtney and Brittany White).  She is also happily supportive of her husband.

After Jack gets laid off, Caroline goes back to work in marketing for a guy named Ron (played by Martin Mull).  Jack quickly realizes how much he took his wife's being at home for granted and how hard she worked to keep their home and family in order.  As time passes, Jack struggles first with figuring out the routine, then apathy, then frustration with his wife as Caroline enjoys success and growth at her new job.  Meanwhile Caroline is sympathetic to Jack's initial struggles but gradually finds herself taking her family for granted just as Jack used to.

This movie has a lot to love.  There is a delicate balance of comedy and warmth woven throughout the film.  The characters all feel real as opposed to the caricatures that one encounters in films like this nowadays.  While it is more common to find stay-at-home dads in our current society, it's easy to forget that at one time it wasn't as common.  Now there is the use of internet and social media to help stay-at-home parents manage things at home.  In this film, you see a guy using common sense and advice/suggestions from neighbors and his own children to figure things out.

One of my favorite comedic moments might give some parents pause in showing this picture to younger children.  It involves the ladies from the neighborhood taking Jack to see Chippendale's dancers.  There's no nudity or anything very overt but it could be considered offensive by someone I'm sure.  

The Pirates! Band of Misfits aka The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! rated PG

I had been keen to see this picture after watching the preview for it awhile back.  It looked funny to me.

In this pirate adventure we meet The Pirate Captain (voiced by Hugh Grant) and his crew including Pirate With a Scarf (voiced by Martin Freeman), The Albino Pirate (voiced by Anton Yelchin or Russell Tovey depending on which version you are watching), The Pirate with Gout (voiced by Brendan Gleeson), The Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate (voiced by Ashley Jensen), The Pirate who likes Sunsets and Kittens (voiced by Al Roker or Ben Whitehead depending on which version you are watching), and their beloved "parrot" Polly are roving the high seas doing what pirates do best.

The Pirate Captain desperately wants to win the Pirate of the Year award but to do that he will have to beat out Black Bellamy (voiced by Jeremy Piven), Cutlass Liz (voiced by Salma Hayek), and Peg Leg Hastings (voiced by Lenny Henry).  Whoever has the most booty wins the prize.  Unfortunately for The Pirate Captain, try as he might, he hasn't won despite many attempts.  Still he and his crew are determined so they troll the seas intent on seizing as much booty as possible.

While sailing and attempting to pillage, the crew comes across a scientific expedition led by Charles Darwin (voiced by David Tennant).  Charles is amazed and fascinated when he "discovers" that Polly isn't a parrot but is in fact a dodo.  He mentions that he wants to show Polly off to scientists in London with the hopes of winning recognition and "riches beyond imagination".  The Pirate Captain is intrigued by the mention of riches and so determines to accompany Charles Darwin to the science exposition to show off Polly himself with the hopes of winning.  Charles reluctantly goes along with The Pirate Captain's scheme.  The rest of the pirate crew is unsure but supportive if it will get their beloved captain the Pirate of the Year award.  Off they go to London.

The pirate crew is nervous about going to England because Queen Victoria (voiced by Imelda Staunton) is very vocal about destroying pirates.  She has made it her mission in life to remove the pirate scourge from the world.  The Pirate Captain isn't worried because the pirates are "masters of disguise."

So begins the hare-brained scheme of a Pirate Captain and his crew to win The Pirate of the Year award.  All the while, the crew has to avoid Queen Victoria, as well as try to protect their precious Polly and each other.  When the Pirate Captain makes a disastrous mistake that costs him dearly, he must use all of his pirate skills to save Polly, get his crew back, and still hopefully win the Pirate of the Year award.

It is a cute family movie.  I found that I wasn't as amused by it as I had hoped but I don't regret watching the film either.  The pirates are all charming and endearing and Polly is adorable.

Power Rangers (2017) rated PG-13 for sequences of sic-fi violence, action and destruction, language, and some crude humor

I remember watching the first American Mighty Morphin Power Rangers show from the early 90s and I was excited when they announced that this movie would be made.  I thoroughly expected to like if not love this movie.

If you aren't familiar with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers I would suggest that you watch at least one episode just to understand why this movie wasn't as good as it could have been.  You might find that you love the film more.  If so, that's great (no sarcasm).  If not, oh dear.

The film opens with a battle being fought on Earth during the time of the dinosaurs.  Zordon The Red Ranger (played by Bryan Cranston) hides some coins in the hopes that some future generation will discover them.  Just after hiding them, Rita Repulsa The Green Ranger (played by Elizabeth Banks) attacks Zordon.  Before either can kill or defeat the other, both are killed by a large explosion that flings Rita deep into the sea.

Fast forward to present day Angel Grove, California.  Over a brief course of time we meet a group of troubled youth including Jason (played by Dacre Montgomery), Kimberly (played by Naomi Scott), Billy (played by RJ Cyler), Zack (played by Ludi Lin), and Trini (played by Becky G).

All happen to end up at the local gold mines and find the coins that the audience observed Zordon hiding.  Jason gets the red one, Kimberly gets the pink one, Billy gets the blue one, Zack gets the black one, and Trini gets the yellow one.  Just after finding the coins the teenagers attempt to flee from the authorities who have come as a result of Billy's setting off explosives to retrieve the coins in the first place.

While fleeing the group seems to be involved in a car accident that should have at least injured if not killed some or all of them.  Instead they all wake up in their respective homes with no memory of how they got back home.  Each has their respective coin that they retrieved.

They all start to notice unusual abilities that they seem to have developed overnight.  They all go back to the mine to find out more answers and end up finding Alpha 5 (voiced by Bill Hader) who leads them to Zordon.  From both Alpha 5 and Zordon the teenagers learn that they are the new Power Rangers.  After learning this, they initially panic and flee but come back for more answers.  Then follows a montage of training to become Power Rangers.

Meanwhile Rita Repulsa has woken up and is on a mission to rebuild her golden monster Goldar.  Zordon tells the Rangers that once Goldar is revived he will attempt to destroy the world by destroying a massive orb that rests under Angel Grove.  The Power Rangers have about a week to get their crap together and become Power Rangers in order to stop Rita.

I really really wanted to like this movie more but I have a few complaints that make this difficult.  My first complaint is Trini.  She is so full of unexplained and unnecessary drama that she is actually a caricature of a teenager rather than a real teenager.  She comes from a fairly normal household and it isn't clear why she is so troubled.  The only thing that comes up is a hint that she might be struggling with her sexuality.  I can't relate to that but I can appreciate that such a struggle might be troubling depending on circumstances.  But the struggle with sexuality felt more  tacked on to make Trini more troubled rather than a genuine aspect of the character.

I was bothered that the word autism was depicted as shameful in this picture.  The characters were more comfortable talking about Trini's struggle with sexuality than talking about autism.  Neither situation is shameful in any way.  The characters all but say the word autism.  They describe it, they refer to it but refuse to use the word autism.  Why?  If anything I should think that actually stating that a character is autistic would be a good thing because A) It's bringing awareness B) how many autistic people does one come across in any movie/show? C) If I knew someone personally who had autism or had autism myself I should be glad to see a hero depicted with autism.

I had heard someone say that this movie seems to take itself too seriously and I have to agree.  It's all well and good to add their own spin to the franchise but I think that the filmmakers dropped the ball in this case.

On the plus side, I was impressed with Elizabeth Banks portrayal of Rita Repulsa.  In my opinion, her character was improved in this movie versus the original show.  She's diabolically evil.  She's actually a little scary.  I really liked that they made Rita Repulsa a former Power Ranger.  It was also a nice tie in to the original show in that the original Green Ranger started out evil but became good.

Finally, my hands down favorite part was at the end when you can clearly see some of the actors and actresses who portrayed the original Power Rangers in the crowd.  That made the movie worth watching for me.

 There's an end scene during/after the credits that hints at a possible sequel or at least references another character from the original show.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) rated G

It seems appropriate to blog a complimentary post to Beauty and the Beast 2017 version.

The film opens with a beautiful series of stained glass windows while the narrator (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) tells the audience what happened.  There was a prince (voiced by Robby Benson) who lived in a castle that was full of servants.  He was selfish and unkind.  One night during a bad winter storm, an ugly old woman knocks on the door and begs for shelter in exchange for a beautiful rose.  When the prince first refuses the woman, she warns him not to be deceived by appearances and asks him again.  After he refuses a second time, the woman transforms into a powerful and beautiful enchantress.  The prince tries to apologize but she won't hear it.  She places the castle under a curse that transforms the prince into a Beast and his servants into objects.  The rose will bloom until the prince's 21st year.  In the 21st year, the rose will start to die.  The Beast has until the last petal falls to "learn to love another and earn her love in return".  If he succeeds the spell will be broken.  If he fails, he is doomed to remain a beast for all time.  As the years pass the beast loses hope for "who could ever learn to love a beast?"

Belle (voiced by Paige O'hara) is living just outside of  a "poor provincial town" with her father Maurice (voiced by Rex Everhart).  Belle is considered strange by the townsfolk because she is beautiful and yet she seems only interested in reading books.  She also keeps to herself.  Plus her father Maurice is viewed as an eccentric because of his being an inventor.  The local town hero named Gaston (voiced by Richard White) pursues Belle because she is considered the most beautiful woman in town and he is considered the most handsome.  His loyal friend Lefou (voiced by Jesse Corti) encourages and assists Gaston in his pursuit of Belle.  Belle firmly refuses Gaston's advances but Gaston is nothing if not determined.

After successfully finishing his latest invention, Maurice excitedly leaves for the fair with their trusty horse Philippe (voiced by Hal Smith).  Maurice gets lost in the woods and ends up at The Beast's castle after Philippe leaves Maurice in the woods after getting spooked and throwing Maurice.  Once at The Beast's castle, Maurice is warmly greeted by the servants of the castle.  Shortly after settling before the fire, Maurice is confronted by the angry Beast who locks Maurice in the dungeon.

Meanwhile Philippe has returned to Belle and Belle is naturally afraid of what has happened to her father.  She rides Philippe back to The Beast's castle and finds her father in the dungeon.  As she is talking with her father to try to find out what happened, The Beast comes to the dungeon and tells Belle that Maurice is his prisoner for trespassing.  Belle bravely offers herself in place of Maurice and The Beast agrees.  After sending Maurice on his way in an enchanted but creepy carriage, The Beast leads a reluctant and sad Belle to her room.  The Beast tells Belle that she can go anywhere in the castle except for the west wing.  When Belle starts to question why, The Beast gets angry and tells her that it is forbidden.

Once at the room, The Beast tells Belle that the servants will attend her.  After some prompting from Lumiere the candelabra (voiced by Jerry Orbach), The Beast invites Belle to dinner but she angrily refuses.  The Beast forbids Belle from eating unless she eats with him.

Once The Beast has retired, Belle sneaks down to the kitchen where the servants lead by Lumiere and Mrs. Potts (voiced by Angela Lansbury) happily prepare dinner for Belle.  Afterwards Belle is taken on a tour of the castle with Lumiere and Cogsworth the clock (voiced by David Ogden Stiers).  After finding out where the west wing is, Belle sneaks away from Lumiere and Cogsworth and finds the west wing.  She is then confronted by an enraged Beast who orders her to get out.  She panics and flees the castle.

The Beast saves Belle and Philippe from wolves but gets injured in the process.  Belle helps tend to the injured Beast which causes Belle and The Beast to warm up to each other, particularly after The Beast shows Belle the treasured library at the castle.

Back at the village, Maurice tells Gaston and the villagers that Belle is being held captive by a monstrous Beast.  The villagers mock Maurice and throw him out of the pub.  Gaston gets an idea to con Belle into marrying Maurice and goes after Maurice to put his plan into motion.  Fortunately for Maurice, Maurice has left his home to try to rescue Belle on his own.

Belle and The Beast seem to be developing feelings for each other but Belle abruptly leaves one night after learning that her father Maurice has become sick on his way to rescue her.  Belle leaves with the magic mirror from the Beast.  It is at this time that The Beast realizes that he loves Belle.  The servants are thrilled that The Beast has learned to love but are saddened that Belle is leaving and doesn't seem to love him in return.

When Belle finds Maurice she takes him home to nurse him back to health.  Lefou, who has been secretly hiding on the property while waiting for Belle to return, leaves to let Gaston know that Belle has returned.  While Belle is talking with her father, she finds that Mrs. Potts' son Chip (voiced by Bradley Michael Pierce) has slipped into Belle's bag to find out why Belle left and convince her to come back.  Gaston shows up to imprison Maurice if Belle won't marry Gaston.  Belle reveals that Maurice was telling the truth about The Beast causing Gaston to rile up the townsfolk on a hunt for The Beast.  Gaston locks up Maurice and Belle and leaves with the townsfolk to kill The Beast.

At the castle, Lumiere and Cogsworth lead the charge to defend the castle against the townspeople.  Gaston sneaks past the defenders and finds The Beast in a mournful state.  He attacks The Beast but The Beast seems uninterested in defending himself.  Once Belle shows up at the castle, The Beast starts fighting back.  The Beast has an opportunity to kill Gaston but doesn't because his new found love for Belle stops him.  As The Beast is happily greeting Belle, Gaston sneaks up and stabs The Beast before falling to his death.  As The Beast lays dying Belle realizes that she loves The Beast.  The Beast is then magically restored to his Prince self while the servants are made human again.  Belle and The Prince then live happily ever after.

I loved this movie and Belle in particular because for the first time I found a princess that I felt that I could relate to.  I absolutely love books and have loved books for years.  The part where she first sees the library is exactly my reaction when I come across excellent, large libraries.  I could also relate to not fitting in to the small town that I grew up in because I was different than "the norm" where I lived.  I also loved the lesson that anyone can be loved no matter how "beastly" they are, that anyone can find someone who loves them perhaps in spite of how "beastly" or different they are.

In comparison to the 2017 Beauty and The Beast this one has a few actual risque aspects to it.  The first that comes to mind is Gaston's suggestive wink coupled with the line "Every last inch of me's covered with hair" during his song in the pub.  The second that comes to mind is Lumiere and the feather duster basically fooling around behind a curtain as she says "Oh no" in mock shock and he says "Oh yes!" in his lusty way and she continues with "I've been burned by you before" in her suggestive way.  I would also add that Gaston attacking the Beast by viciously stabbing him on screen is somewhat unexpectedly off putting in a Disney film.

My only complaint is shallow at best but I have no excuse for it.  I was disappointed by the Prince's appearance because I felt (and still feel) that he is the least attractive of the Disney princes.  I was confused as a child because I had a vague sense that he wasn't supposed to be "ugly" at least not considered ugly but I couldn't warm up to him no matter how many times I've seen this movie.  I will say that he has beautiful blue eyes at least.

Red Sonja rated PG-13 for brief nudity, violence, and some gore

I have heard of this film over the years but hadn't watched it until recently.  A friend of mine happened to have a copy on vhs and she gladly put it on.

Sonja (played by Brigitte Nielsen) is a young woman who was living peacefully with her family on their land when the evil Queen Gedren (played by Sandahl Bergman) and her guards come across Sonja and her family.  Queen Gedren lusts after Sonja and demands that Sonja come to her but Sonja refuses and fights back.  When Sonja fights back, she injures Gedren on the face.  As punishment for Sonja's refusal and injury to the queen, Sonja's family is then murdered and Sonja is brutally raped and left for dead by Gedren's guards.  A mysterious forest spirit encourages Sonja to seek revenge against Queen Gedren and Sonja goes to be trained by a master.

Some time later the audience sees a sacred tower where a magical orb is kept by the priestesses who live there.  Kendra the high priestess (played by Donna Osterbuhr) determines that the orb is too powerful and must be destroyed.  Kendra starts to destroy the orb but the tower is attacked by Queen Gedren's forces.

While the tower is under attack, one of the priestesses named Varna (played by Janet Agren) manages to escape but is injured during the course of her escape.  As the tower was being attacked the audience observed a powerfully-built man named Kalidor (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger)  riding towards the tower.  Kalidor helps Varna to safety.

Meanwhile Sonja has finished her training.  She is the best warrior and is determined to begin her quest to seek revenge against Queen Gedren.  Before she can set off on her journey Kalidor arrives and tells her that her sister Varna is dying and wishes to speak with her.  Sonja gruffly allows Kalidor to lead her to Varna where Varna tells her about the orb and what happened at the tower.  After Varna dies, Sonja goes on a quest to retrieve the orb and destroy it.  Kalidor insists on going with Sonja but Sonja refuses his assistance.  Not surprisingly, she doesn't initially trust Kalidor so she determines to do her quest on her own.

Along the way she meets and saves Prince Tarn (played by Ernie Reyes Jr) and his loyal servant Falkon (played by Paul L. Smith) and reluctantly allows Kalidor to join their party after Kalidor helps save them all in a fight with a mysterious beast.  As they continue journeying to Gedren's castle, Sonja softens towards Kalidor as she appears to be falling for him and him for her.   Sonja, Prince Tarn, and Falkon also form an attachment to each other.

Meanwhile Gedren is going crazy with power from the orb and her servants are getting nervous.  Will Sonja defeat Gedren?  Will Sonja and Kalidor get together?  Or will the orb destroy everyone?

The movie has cheesy effects that haven't stood the test of time but it's all good cheese.  Definitely worth watching whether you are a "barbarian" enthusiast or not.  Brigitte Nielsen does a good job as Red Sonja.  It's not an Oscar worthy performance but it is good.  Arnold Schwarzenegger does a good job as something of a side kick to Brigitte Nielsen.

The violence is cartoonish but might be bothersome for little ones.  The rape was as subtle as possible.  The brief nudity consists of a brief image of a topless woman.  The acting isn't great but that's part of the fun.  The costumes are wild at best and made me sympathetic to the actors.

The Brood rated R for bloody violence and language

I came across this movie while flipping channels one day.  It sounded weird but potentially interesting.

Frank Carveth (played by Art Hindle) is a man who is separated from his wife Nola Carveth (played by Samantha Eggar) because she is seeking controversial treatment from an eccentric psychologist named Dr. Hal Raglan (played by Oliver Reed).  Frank doesn't intercede or question Dr. Raglan's techniques because he is told that it would be detrimental to Nola's healing.  Frank even allows his young daughter Candice (played by Cindy Hinds) to visit with her mother overnights.

Meanwhile, a strange series of murders start occurring.  First Nola's mother Juliana Kelly (played by Nuala Fitzgerald) is brutally murdered in her home while Candice is visiting with her.  Candice doesn't say anything about what she witnessed or heard as she seems to be in shock.  Then Candice's teacher is viciously attacked and murdered while in the classroom with Candice.  Finally Nola's father Barton Kelly (played by Henry Beckman) is murdered.  When Candice goes missing, Frank travels to the institution where Nola and Dr. Raglan are staying.  He is justifiably horrified by what he finds.

First of all this is a David Cronenberg film so expect a bit of weirdness, a bit of sci-fi, and "gross" special effects.  If you don't like his movies, you probably won't like this one.  If you don't like any of the things that I listed are general hallmarks of Cronenberg films, this movie might not be for you.  I still recommend it if only because it is definitely different and gives some food for thought.  The special effects are a little cheesy but also a little gross.  I personally couldn't eat while watching this movie but that's how it was for me.  The acting fits the film.  The story has some unexpected turns.

Better Off Dead... rated PG for mild language and brief sexuality

A friend showed this picture to me after I revealed that I hadn't heard of it much less seen it.  The first time that I watched it I thought that it had some cute quirkiness to it but I didn't love it enough to own it.  After watching it again, it started to grow on me enough to warrant purchasing it and so I did.

Lane Meyer (played by a very young-looking John Cusack) feels pretty good about life mostly because he has a girlfriend that he absolutely adores named Beth Truss (played by Amanda Wyss).  Sure he doesn't have a car, his parents don't understand him, he doesn't have many friends, and he isn't on the ski team yet.  But everything is fine as long as he has Beth.  Or so he thinks.

Lane is dismayed when Beth breaks up with him to be with the smarmy captain of the ski team Roy Stalin (played by Aaron Dozier).  To make things worse, he can't seem to ski the K-12 to make it on the ski team.  His father starts to give him a hard time about everything it seems.  Lane keeps crashing the family car while trying to race two brothers Yee Sook Ree (played by Yuji Okumoto) and Chen Ree (played by Brian Imada).  Everyone seems to be asking him if it's ok for them to date Beth.  On top of all of that, Lane also has to work hard to try to avoid the Paperboy (played by Sebastian Dungan) who just wants his "Two..dollars!"

Fortunately, Lane's friend Charles De Mar (played by Curtis Armstrong) is actively trying encourage Lane in his endeavor to ski the K 12.  Charles is also comically trying to get high by snorting everything but actual drugs.  The other person who tries to encourage Lane both with the skiing and romantically is the French foreign exchange student Monique Junot (played by Diane Franklin) who is living with the Smiths across the street.

Poor Monique is struggling to keep Ricky Smith (played by Daniel Schneider) at bay while  Mrs Smith (played by Laura Waterbury) keeps encouraging Ricky to pursue Monique.

This is a classic movie that I recommend particularly for fans of 80s movies and/or John Cusack.  It's a cute romantic comedy with memorable characters.  There is some cheese to this picture but it's great.

Moana rated PG for peril, some scary images, and brief thematic elements

When I first heard about this film, I was interested in seeing the picture but not excited about it.  After its release, I started to hear more about the film and became keen to see it.  I was pleasantly surprised because it turned out to be different than expected and not bad.

At the beginning of this picture, Moana and the rest of the village children are told a story by Moana's Gramma Tala (voiced by Rachel House) that took place a thousand years ago.  The goddess Te Fiti blessed the world with creation and life.  Over time, other powerful beings and creatures including monsters and coconut pirates seek the heart of Te Fiti to have the power of creation.  One day, powerful shape-shifting demigod named Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) succeeds at stealing the heart of Te Fiti.  But as a result of stealing the heart Maui unintentionally releases a powerful darkness that seeks to consume life.  Maui is defeated in battle by the lava goddes Te Kal and loses both his magical fish hook and the heart of Te Fiti.  It is believed that the darkness will be defeated only when the heart of Te Fiti is restored and that Maui is the only one who can do that.  If the darkness isn't stopped, the world will be consumed.

Moana is intrigued by the story but is quickly reassured by her father Chief Tui (voiced by Temuera Morrison) that the story is just a story and that the island has everything anyone could want in life.  As Moana grows up she is taught that her place is with her people even though she is intrigued by the ocean and wanting to sail on it.  At first she feels conflicted but eventually comes to terms with the expectations and the duties that she has to her people as the next chief in a long line of chiefs.  Her Gramma encourages her to obey her father's wishes but also gently reminds Moana that the pull that she feels to the sea isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Shortly after accepting her role as the next chief, Moana learns that there aren't any fish for the fishermen to catch.  When she suggests that the fishermen fish beyond the reef, her father forbids going beyond the reef.  Moana's mother tells Moana of a tragic boating accident that Chief Tui was involved in when he was a younger man and dared to sail beyond the reef.  Soon after the fish disappear, the coconuts on the island appear to be blighted and dried up.  Moana suggests getting coconuts from a different part of the island but she is troubled.

Moana becomes more conflicted after learning from her Gramma that their ancestors were voyagers who had traveled far and wide among various islands.  After sharing her discovery with her father, Chief Tui becomes enraged and attempts to burn the boats that the ancestors had left behind.  Before he can act, he learns that his mother Moana's Gramma is ill and so he and Moana go to her.

Moana is encouraged by her Gramma to find Maui and make him restore the heart of Te Fiti.  When Moana hesitates, Gramma gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti and pushes Moana to go.  With mixture of sadness and excitement, Moana leaves to find Maui as her Gramma wishes.

Along the way both Moana and Maui grow in ways that neither could have anticipated.  Their adventure has a nice mix of humor, action, heart, with a dash of seriousness.  The culmination of the adventure was beautifully unexpected but, given the culture, not entirely surprising.

The imagery is gorgeous.  The story is well done.  I particularly like that Moana is the most selfless of the "Disney princesses" so far.  She doesn't directly or indirectly contribute to any of the problems/troubles in this story and yet she tries to fix the problems.  She has help from The Ocean, her grandmother and ancestors, and of course Maui but she almost never gives up and her resourcefulness is admirable.  The characters are all likable and their actions make sense.  All of the music is great.  I was initially unaware of Lin-Manuel Miranda's involvement with this picture but was pleased with his involvement in this picture.

All in all a very good movie and not just for children and families.  I did hear a local radio dj complain about there being "too much peril".  He claimed that he couldn't enjoy the film as much due to his being anxious for the characters.  I personally feel that the peril featured in this movie was more than tolerable and added to the story.  The family that I watched the movie with wasn't bothered by the peril so I feel that the dj was exaggerating.

I have a coworker who complained about Maui's tattoos.  She was offended by them and worried that the little ones in her family being influenced by the film to get tattoos.  If you are someone who is offended by tattoos you can avoid this film but you'll be missing out on a great family movie.  The tattoos featured in this film are a treasured aspect of Polynesian culture that has a different, more important significance (in my opinion) than you might find outside of Polynesian culture.

The Accountant rated R for strong violence and language throughout

I was keen to see this picture after the first trailer that I saw.  Something about it looked interesting to me.  I ended up buying it outright rather than watch it first.  I figured that I would like it well enough but if I ended up not liking it, I could get rid of it or it would grow on me.

Christian Wolff (played by Ben Affleck) is an accountant who happens to be a math savant as well as autistic.  His story is told through flashbacks of memories that he has as well as information gained from surveillance and research performed by the Treasury Departments Crime Enforcement team led by Ray King (played by J.K.  Simmons).

On the surface he appears to be a nobody, a local CPA who owns his own accounting firm in Illinois.  But it becomes obvious (to the audience at least) that Christian is the same person that Ray King is seeking in connection with powerful criminals across the world.  It turns out that when criminal overlords/bosses/etc need someone to "cook their books" they call on Christian.

While Ray and his newest team member Marybeth Medina (played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson) work to find out who Christian is, Christian is called to "uncook books" at a legitimate robotics research and development company run by Lamar Blackburn (played by John Lithgow).  An accounting clerk who works at the company named Dana Cummings (played by Anna Kendrick) found some discrepancies and the company wants to make sure that everything is copacetic.

At the same time that Ray and Marybeth are converging on Christian and Christian is helping Dana to sort out the books, a situation is developing that appears to be leaving a trail of bodies leading straight to Christian.  Someone is intent on removing people that have recently interacted with Christian and so a mysterious man named Brax (played by Jon Bernthal) and his team are hired to take care of the people.  Brax is a shadowy elite assassin who is very good at what he does and has a skilled team of assassins working under him so it's just another day at the office for all of them.  Or so they mistakenly assume.

After Christian fends off an attack by Brax's team, he decides to rescue Dana as she is apparently the next target on the list.  Afterwards Christian determines to get to the bottom of who wants him and Dana dead.  At the same time, Ray reveals to Marybeth that the intention behind his investigation isn't as simple as potentially bringing Christian to justice.  It turns out that Ray knows more about Christian than originally revealed and he has a few secrets of his own.

The film was better than I anticipated.  The acting was good all things considered.  The story was well thought out and well executed all things considered.  Most of the characters were likable.  Even if you didn't like all of the characters, you could at least understand why they do the things that they do.  I also liked the more subtle aspects of the picture for example the character Marybeth, why Ray chooses to work with her, and her unexpected connection to Christian.

My biggest complaint about the movie is what I feel is an inaccurate fallacy connected to autism.  I've worked with and spent time around people with autism and I know it is a spectrum disorder but I have issue with the movie implying that Christian is a math savant because he is autistic.  Maybe that wasn't the movie's intention but that's what it seemed like it was implying.  On the other hand it was pleasantly surprising to see Christian portrayed as this bad-ass "Jason Bourne" type despite the fact that he has autism.

Ex Machina rated R for graphic nudity, language, sexual references, and some violence

I was intrigued by the look of Ava (played by Alicia Vikander) from the trailer but  I wasn't sure what the picture was about and didn't care enough to research.  After the film was released I got the impression that it was more critically acclaimed than commercially successful but I still didn't care enough to find out.  After a friend recommended this movie, I was receptive to watching it.  I wasn't disappointed but I wasn't thrilled.

A young programmer Caleb (played by Domhnall Gleeson) wins a contest at work to spend a week with the reclusive CEO of the company Nathan (played by Oscar Issac).  After arriving at Nathan's secluded house, Caleb is initially excited at the prospect of getting to know Nathan.  After greeting Caleb, Nathan reveals to Caleb that he has been brought there to work on Nathan's AI project.  Caleb is intrigued and excited at the prospect of learning more about the AI project and also contributing to it.  Nathan particularly wants Caleb to participate in testing his AI to confirm that the AI is legitimate.  The AI's name is Ava and Caleb is to interact with her as part of the test.

As Caleb spends time around both Ava and Nathan, Caleb starts to become suspicious of Nathan especially after Ava tells Caleb not to trust Nathan.  As Caleb's time with Nathan draws to close, new revelations come to light and Caleb finds more questions than answers. Who is testing who?  What is Nathan really doing in his secluded home?  Is Ava a pawn or a player?  What happens to whomever fails the test?

Overall the movie was ok in my opinion.  It was good to an extent but it was a little predictable.  The acting was very good all around.  The story was pretty good. It's worth watching if you are curious.  If you don't care either way, it doesn't matter either way if you watch it or not.

Ill fantasma dell'opera aka The Phantom of the Opera (1998) rated R for violence/gore and sexuality

After watching the first few versions of The Phantom of the Opera that I have previously alluded to in my blog, I decided to try to watch as many variations of the film as possible.  This version I came across on late night tv and I was intrigued.

With this version, we are treated to Dario Argento's vision involving the classic tale.  The Phantom (played by Julian Sands) isn't disfigured at all.  He's just a dirty creepy guy who was orphaned at a young age and raised by rats.  As such he is protective of his "family".  His enemy in this version is of course Ignace the rat catcher (played by Istvan Bubik).

The Phantom lives and creeps about the Paris Opera House and ,like the original, he doesn't want to be disturbed.  He changes his attitude about having visitors after he sees and falls in love with the beautiful Christine Daae (played by Asia Argento).  As in the novel (although with a change of title) Baron Raoul De Chagny (played by Andrea Di Stefano) is also in love with Christine.  Christine finds herself torn between the two and so on and so forth.

Another variation in this version was that Christine actually seems to be more in to the Phantom instead of  Raoul.  This was the first time that I even heard of the idea of the Phantom and Christine having sex with each other much less actually seeing it displayed.

All in all this version was not horrible.  It has the expected gore of Italian horror and the special effects were pretty good.  The changes that were incorporated into this picture were a little silly at times but they didn't necessarily take away from the original story.  The acting was ok.  The chemistry conveyed between Christine and the Phantom was more believable than between Christine and Raoul.  It seems to me that it would a little challenging to realistically appear to sing opera but unfortunately Asia and the voice that was used for Christine's singing voice did not remotely fit at all.

Chappie rated R for violence, brief nudity, and language

I had heard great reviews of this film and kept getting recommendations to watch it.  While I had enjoyed District 9 I was a little worried that Chappie would end up being sad.  After seeing a clip involving Chappie getting a book from his maker I was sold on watching the picture.

In this film, Johannesburg South Africa has been experiencing a high volume of crime that is overwhelming the local police force.  A company named Tetravaal has released robots called Scouts that work alongside police officers to help the beleaguered police department.  Scouts can be deployed instead of people thus reducing injuries and deaths to the police while safely neutralizing dangerous situations.  The "hero of the hour" is the engineer of the Scouts named Deon (played by Dev Patel).

Deon has been secretly working on a project in his off time to develop an AI.  After he succeeds, he goes to his boss Michelle (played by Sigourney Weaver) to sell her on his ideas.  She rejects his proposal and forbids him from further testing..

Meanwhile another engineer named Vincent has been waiting in the wings of Tetravaal for his big moment to shine.  He has jealously watched as Deon has been showered with accolades for his Scouts.  Vincent has developed his own project involving a massive robot called Moose.  Moose has a huge amount of firepower as well as the nifty aspect of linking with the mind of the operator so that Moose can remotely neutralize threats.  The problem is that Moose has too much firepower to be safely utilized in urban areas.  Moose is subsequently rejected by the local police and Vince is left to stew in bitterness.

While all of this is going on, a trio of criminals Ninja (played by Ninja), his partner Yo-Landi (played by Yo-Landi Visser), and their friend Amerika (played by Jose Pablo Cantillo) have run afoul of a criminal overlord named Hippo (played by Brandon Auret).  They have three days to come up with a huge payoff of over a million for Hippo or else they will be killed.

While Ninja, Yo-Landi, and Amerika are talking over their options of a heist, they realize that they have a big problem in the form of the Scouts.  How can they accomplish their heist if the Scouts show up and stop them?  And it is guaranteed that the Scouts will show up at the first sign of trouble.  Yo-Landi suggests that they find a way to turn off the Scouts and that they get the guy who developed the Scouts to give them their solution.

Back at Tetravaal, Deon is determined to try out his AI program and decides to take a Scout that is scheduled for destruction after being too damaged for repair.  While enroute to his home with the broken Scout in the back of his van, Deon is kidnapped by Ninja and his gang.  After Ninja demands Deon's help in the form of turning off the Scouts, Deon tells them that there is no way to turn off the Scouts and pleads for his life.

While Ninja is threatening to kill Deon, Amerika discovers the broken Scout in the back of Deon's van.  In an effort to save himself, Deon reluctantly reveals the option of uploading the AI program into the broken Scout, making it so that the Scout would work for Ninja and his crew.  With a heavy heart Deon uploads the AI program into the Scout.

Happily the upload is a success with unexpected results.  Yo-Landi is the first of Ninja's crew to be won over by the Scout and names him Chappie (played by Sharlto Copley).  Chappie starts out as a child and rapidly learns from his new "family".  Yo-Landi even becomes "Mommy" to Chappie while Ninja eventually becomes "Daddy".  Thus begin Chappie's adventures.

At first Chappie is simply learning from his "family".  Much to Deon's dismay the majority of Chappie's "education" seems to be oriented around committing crimes.  Fortunately Deon and Yo-Landi are more positive influences to balance out Ninja's influence.  Some aspects of Chappie's adventures are sad.  Some are hilarious.  Some are sweet and simple.

The adventures culminate in a race against time to meet Hippo's demands, save Chappie, stop Vincent, all while everyone else is trying to stay alive.  There's a lot more that goes on that I've only vaguely touched on.  I would call this film a mash-up of Pinocchio,  with a dash of the original Robo Cop, and the feel of District 9 .

As always (in my opinion) Sharlto Copley gives an amazing performance this time as Chappie.  It was nice to see an AI not immediately or almost immediately decide to destroy humans.  Even nicer was that this particular AI seemed to view himself as living like his human family.  Sharlto did a great job adding more than enough humanity to Chappie to make him interesting as well as endearing.

Everyone else in the cast did an excellent job too.  It was interesting how the four main human characters Ninja, Yo-Landi, Deon, and Amerika all showed at least some growth and depth beyond their personas.

Even though Deon was the "educated one" versus Ninja and his crew the "criminal element" neither side was perfect.  Deon, not being a criminal, would technically be considered a "good" person but he still makes some very bad choices that lead to pain for Chappie.

Obviously one expects Ninja to be something of a "bad guy" and while he definitely isn't a "good guy" he finds some semblance of goodness as a result of his interactions with Chappie.
Hugh Jackman as Vincent is also an interesting villain.  It's easy to get where he is coming from and why he does the things that he does.  Half of his reactions seem to be due to fear of the unknown/different while the other half are just based off of his efforts to succeed at his goals.  He truly believes that his Moose is a great idea and completely discounts any contrary suggestions.

The story was well written and well executed.  It gave wonderful food for thought on the subject of AIs as well as just general commentary on people and how they can be moved in a positive direction beyond their current state of thinking and acting just by being around others who are different than them.

A very good movie.  Not necessarily recommended for children mostly because of the language but a very very excellent movie.

A Very Long Engagement rated R for sexuality and violence

My movie snob friend sort of recommended this film to me based off of my enjoying Amelie and after she watched more of Audrey Tautou's films.  She cautioned me that the film is long and is aptly named.

Just before the Battle of the Somme in World War I, five soldiers are sentenced to die following a court martial.  They have all been court-martialed for cowardice after they have all become injured on their hands.  The idea is that they were trying to injure themselves so that they will get sent home.  Everyone in the trenches is weary of war and many are experiencing shell-shock too so it isn't a stretch.  Unfortunately the penalty is death by being sent out to No Man's Land between the German and French lines.  The men will have nothing but the clothes on their backs.  It is expected that the Germans will finish them off.

Fast forward to about four years after the war has ended.  Mathilde (played by Audrey Tautou) is a young woman who lives in Brittany.  She was engaged to one of the soldiers who was court-martialed and his name was Manech (played by Gaspard Ulliel).  He was the youngest of the soldiers who was court-martialed.  Everyone tells Mathilde that Manech was killed in a battle that followed his being sent to No Man's Land.  Mathilde refuses to believe that Manech isn't dead and determines to find him.  Using her inheritance money to hire a private detective and her own ingenuity with a goodly amount of luck, Mathilde searches for Manech.

Along the way Mathilde faces ups and downs as she listens to various accounts from the events of the day of the battle that Manech was supposedly killed during.  Some of the accounts come directly from soldiers who were there as well as from her private detective's research.  She learns of some of the corruption that plagued the French military that seems to have directly affected Manech and his fellow court-martialed soldiers.

Mathilde also thinks on her life with Manech so far starting from childhood and continuing on to just before he left.  Mathilde was afflicted by polio as a child and as such has limp.  Manech was first her best friend, then her first love.

While Mathilde is searching for Manech, it turns out that someone else is doing research of her own.  The lady is named Tina Lombardi (played by Marion Cotillard).  Tina was dating one of the five soldiers who was court-martialed and she appears to be on a vendetta against the system that killed her beloved.

The movie is long but since I was prepared for it, I wasn't bothered.  Also it is a French film and as such is subtitled so if you don't like subtitled films, you're missing out on a great movie.  The story is apparently based off of a novel that I am assuming is excellent because the movie was so good.  The acting was great.  While I don't agree with desertion, this movie did a great job of depicting the desperate measures that people can be driven to in the face of vicious circumstances beyond their control.  The twists and turns that occur throughout this movie played out well and the movie had a great ending.