Karebear Central

I like Nicolas Cage.  I like that he changed his last name to prove himself as an actor.  This movie, Ghost Rider, did nothing to prove himself as an actor.  He usually has quite amusing characters with some sort of depth to them (minus his character in Fast Times at Ridgemont High). 

The movie is based on a Marvel comic.   I had never heard of this comic.  Basic story is Nicolas’ character, Johnny,  as a boy made a deal with the devil (played by Peter Fonda) to save his father’s life from cancer in exchange for Johnny’s soul.  The devil kept his word as only the devil could do and told Johnny he’d be back for payment some day.  Fast forward about 15 years, and the devil comes to Johnny for help to kill his son (played by Wes Bentley).  His son is trying to take over Hell, the world, whatever.  Well Johnny is now the Ghost Rider, the only one who can defeat the devil son.  He is the Devil bounty hunter on earth.  Since the Devil fell, he had no power on earth. 

The movie had a great cast: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Peter Fonda, Wes Bentley, and Sam Elliot.  ( I love his voice)   The movie did not really have much character development, not a lot suspense, and wasn’t really that funny.  The one thing that was done great on this movie was the special effects.  They were almost seamless and somewhat realistic looking. 

I would recommend watching this if it was TV, but not running out and renting it.  It wasn’t horrible, just not too exciting.    123 minutes and rated PG-13. 

I have been hearing from a lot of people how good this movie is.  I think I need to change who I listen to for good movies.  This movie would probably be better for guys than girls.  The movie was slow moving in most parts and not so funny.  Not for young kids or people who didn’t like 40 year old Virgin. 

The story is about 2 best friends in their last few weeks as seniors.  They get the job of bringing beer to a party to impress the girls they like. Their friend Fogle, gets a fake id as “McLovin” and hilarity ensues.  I did like McLovin’s storyline with the cops.  They are what made the movie so amusing. 

I doubt I will watch the movie for a long time.  Its just one of those that you know you should watch because everyone is talking about it, but not something to buy. 

Last night, Andy and I sat down to watch a movie last night.  Of course, since its a supposed scary movie, I made Andy get up to turn down the home theater sconces“Dark Water” with Jennifer Connolly.  Don’t.  For Andy, he said it reminded him of “The Ring” or “The Grudge”.  It was very slow moving and not very scary.  I jumped maybe once.  Plus, I woke up this morning and totally forgot that we watched this movie.  It kept on seeming like it was done and kept on adding more scenes.  I would say unless you want to punish yourself, don’t watch this movie.

I never want to eat at Fast food again.  If you want to start a diet, watch “Super-size me.”  This guy, Morgan, eats McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 30 days straight.  Why, may you ask?  Too see if there really is truth to the lawsuits that are suing the fast food for obesity, to see if it can be proven to cause harm.  Morgan does it right, but going to 3 different doctors–a cardiologist, a gastroenterologist and an internal medicine doctor.  The doctors run test for to see just how healthy Morgan is.  He is in tip-top shape with low cholesterol, low BMI, and only 185.   The doctors do not expect much to happen to him except for higher cholesterol and triglycerides.  They do not think anything bad will happen to him.

After 30 days, he has gained over 25 pounds which took him almost a year to lose.  About 21 days into the documentary, his doctors tell him he should stop before he causes permanent damage.  All from eating McDonald’s for every meal.

Its kind of interesting the rules that are set up.  He can only super-size when asked, he has to try everything on the menu at least once, and he can only consume things that are sold at McDonald’s (i.e. bottled water.)  His doctor at one point tells him to take some aspirin, but Morgan does not want to because it is not sold at McDonald’s. 

This is a good documentary.  It kept my attention for the full 1 hour and 39 minutes.  It is interesting to see what fast food can really do your body.  I did read “Fast Food Nation” a couple of years ago and it did keep me away from eating it for awhile. But after seeing this movie, I do not want to put that food in my body for a long time.  I think partly, the movie accomplished what it wanted to.  To make people aware of the dangers of eating fast food.

This movie reminded me so much of “Now and Then”.  Four girls growing up and growing apart, but still realizing that they need one another.  It is a great movie for teenagers growing up.  It is a chic flick.  Just to warn any guys that would ever have the guts to come near.  It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me happy.  All the things you want to happy in a chic flick.  Watching Lena grow from a shy timid girl, to an open woman, was liberating.  To watch Bridget learn she needed to be sad, was very sad.   Being there when Carmen told her dad how she really felt, was so gut wrenching.  Being with Tibby saying goodbye to Bailey was also sad.  You know those times when you need a movie where you cry, this is one.  It ends happily, but the middle is like real life–its sucks sometimes.  I look forward to long awaited sequel!

Last night while Andy was out, I watched the movie “Gracie” which is loosely based on Elizabeth Shue’s childhood and her fighting for woman’s rights in the 70’s.  (You know the babysitter from Adventures in Babysitting–great movie, I think i need to add that to my collection) The story starts out sad, you know its going to be sad.  There is a terrible tragedy in her family which forces her to fight for her right to play on the boys team.  She is also fighting for place in her family, in her father’s eyes.  It seems like she is getting pushed on all sides.  The cool thing about this movie is that Elizabeth Shue plays the mother and Andrew Shue (her brother) plays one of the soccer coaches.   This is a great family movie, one for girls and boys alike.  I would watch this again. 

Guess what I saw last night?  Well, I guess the title gives it away.  We had to drive about an hour away to see it since the whole Marcus theater thing, but it was well worth the drive.  The movie is about an hour and a half.  This was one of my picks of movies to see this weekend.  Andy’s dad’s only complaint was too many throats were slashed. The set was done in complete Tim Burton style–dark.  The movie was like any other Johnny Depp movie, although its may have been made to be dark, he added some comedic effect.  I don’t know if I can be a good judge of whether the movie was good or not because it had Johnny in.  I liked it.  Andy was quite amused. 

The singing was great–Johnny can sing!  I read an article where they didn’t see if he could sing before he took the part.  Helena Bonham Carter also was a good singer and actress.  I know I’ve seen her in stuff before and I know she’s Tim Burton’s girlfriend, but she did great.  She started the movie looking really like a hag and in the middle looked very nice and then in the end a hag again. 

I would say this is a movie to watch every couple of years.  Not something I could watch every year.  It has a lot of blood, so if you don’t like blood stay away.  It is a musical, so if you don’t like singing, stay away.  But if you love Johnny–its one of his best performances.  Lets just say, I’ve never truly believed someone could be in love with a razor until this movie!

I will admit it.  I am a Friday the 13th fan.  I know these movies are cheesy and if you have seen one, you have seen them all.  But come on, Jason in outer space in year 2455.  That is just going a little overboard.  Plus, this time it was all about the killing and not about the chase.  I think the new director did not really understand the Jason movies.  I would really recommend not seeing this movie unless you are bored to death. 

So I started walking on the treadmill again and have decided one thing that will help me is watching movies I have never seen.  I watched Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas.  I never realized I actually like him as an actor.  I think it partly is because of him in Shrek.  He voices a great Puss in Boots.  Take the Lead is about a former ballroom dancer bringing his love of dance to inner city schools.  The story is based on the life of Pierre Dulaine.  It is one of those feel good movies that you pretty much know the ending, but you have to watch it.  I love dancing movies.  I think it started with Dirty Dancing.  I saw Patrick Swayze on TV today, so I will probably have to watch it before I go to bed tonight.  The dance off at the end of Take the Lead is awesome.  It makes me want to learn to dance.  This movie is something you watch when you do not want to think, but want to walk away thinking, wow I feel good. 

The other interesting thing about this movie is at the begining, you want to hate the principal, played by Alfie Woodard. She seems like the ultimate witch. But as the story goes on, you learn that she does care about these kids. She starts to like Pierre and his ideas. When a fellow teacher tries to get rid of Pierre, she lets Pierre explain why he should stay. It makes me wonder why dance isn’t stressed as much in school.  He states that he teaches respect and trust and confidence through dance.  What parent wouldn’t want to have their child have all three of those personality traits.  Alfrie even shows up to the competition to watch these students who once were just detentionees, and watch them achieve something. It is moving and a total chic flick that I enjoyed watching. 

I didn’t want to like the first one, I didn’t want to like the second one, and I really didn’t want to like the third.  But I liked all three.  I love the comradery between the men, especially Brad Pitt and George Clooney.  The story is about Danny (George Clooney) taking revenge after Rueben (one of thirteen) is double-crossed by an oily casino owner played by Al Pacino. 

The story is completely unbelievable, but it keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It also explains everything to the T which is really interesting.  I loved it partly because its a movie of 99% men and one woman.  Its comedy and action, with a little bit of drama.  If you liked the first two movies, you’ll love this third installment.  The 122 minutes flies by so fast.  I can see another movie in the future.  There is no reason why there couldn’t be.