Rewatching Old Favorites: Miss Potter

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"There's something delicious about writing those first few words of a story..."

The other night, I pulled out Miss Potter, and was reminded why it's stuck with me for so long. Normally, I'm an action/scifi/adventure type of movie watcher, but every time I watch Miss Potter, I discover something new to love about it.

Miss Potter follows the adventures of one Miss Beatrix Potter, an unmarried woman in her thirties who is frowned upon for trying to publish her book. Beatrix is shut up in her house with no friends for the large majority of the time and decides to make the best of it by drawing. When she finally finds a publisher, she befriends him and his energetic sister and realizes that she deserves better than what she has already. Miss Potter tells the story of a beloved author trying to find herself.

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In the past, I classified Miss Potter as a romance, but after this rewatch, I realized that it really isn't. Although there are some romantic aspects of it, Miss Potter is about one woman's journey towards realizing her dreams and becoming truly independent. At the beginning of the film, she is thirty-two, unmarried, and lives with her controlling mother and laid-back father. She even has a chaperone who follows her wherever she goes. She is independent, but forced to be dependent. Her mother tries to squash her dreams of becoming an artist. Throughout the film, we watch as Beatrix struggles to break free and become her own person, instead of the person that her parents want her to become. Her courage and determination are inspiring and entertaining.

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The acting is beautifully done. Renee Zellweger is completely believable, and completely un-Renee-Zellweger. She truly is Miss Potter. The supporting cast is similarly brilliant, particularly Ewan McGregor as Beatrix's publisher, Norman Wayne, and Emily Watson as Millie, Norman's sister. These moving performances contribute to the strength of the story.

One of my favorite things about Miss Potter is the animations of Beatrix's drawings. Her watercolors are adorable, and with a touch of filmmaking magic, they become even more so. Peter Rabbit literally bounces off the page. Jemima Puddleduck waddles her tail obligingly as Tom Thumb and Hunka Munka scamper off their paper. The animation is beautifully done, and not overdone. It helps the audience realize that these aren't just drawings to Beatrix--they're real, and they're her babies.

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I can't say enough good things about this film. It's sweet, charming, real, and funny, with a touch of heartwrenching feels. I highly recommend it for any lover of Jane Austen, any lover of period films, and of course, any lover of Peter Rabbit.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Contrived & unengaging

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I feel like I might be offending people by saying this, but generally when you watch TMNT, you don't really take it seriously. I mean, it's giant talking turtles who eat pizza, live in a sewer, and were raised by a rat. You kind of have to watch it for the cheese, and you end up buying into their universe, and then you're sucked in and you can't stop. The 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles doesn't have a consistent universe, and you never get invested in the film. Ever.

The film opens with a brief explanation of the Foot Clan, a ninja-gang that roams the streets, committing crimes left and right. (Not that we need the explanation...after twenty minutes, the Foot Clan is rarely seen again.) We're also introduced to April O'Neil, a lifestyle reporter who wants to report on substantial news. She's so ambitious, she's willing to risk her life (multiple times!) to shoot crappy video on her iPhone in half-successful attempts to get her big break. While following Foot Clan suspects to a dock, she discovers that masked vigilantes are stopping the Foot Clan in their tracks, and puts herself into even greater danger by telling basically everyone she knows that the masked vigilantes are turtles. So therefore, the teenage mutant ninja turtles take her to their lair in the sewer, and together they attempt to uncover the Foot Clan's plan and take down the Clan's sinister leader, Shredder.

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The entire film focused on April O'Neil, with the turtles as a nice side plot, which definitely should have been flipped around, especially in a movie called "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". The film tries its hardest to put O'Neil into the turtles' troubled past, but without any setup, the entire O'Neil + turtles backstory seems contrived and convenient. Although Megan Fox can be a halfway decent actress, she would have been much more convincing if she hadn't played the exact same character in Transformers (thanks, Michael Bay). Originally an interesting, three-dimensional side character, April O'Neil is turned into a flat, generic "heroine" who is more stupid than brave...and then we're forced to watch an entire film about her.

It's pretty obvious that much more time was spent on the CGI and the action sequences than the script. Every turtle has one personality trait. Michaelangelo is the sassy one, Leonardo is the responsible leader, Raphael is moody and rebellious, and Donatello is kind of geeky (he even wear glasses). The characters were pretty one-dimensional, and they remain the same throughout the movie. I don't think one character developed during the entire course of the film. Maybe you could make a case for Donatello, but it would be hard to find evidence.

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The one redeeming quality of the film is the special effects. In this day and age, there's really no excuse for poor special effects. When we go to the movies, we have high expectations SFX-wise, and TMNT delivered. A lot of the fight sequences with Shredder vs. the turtles evoked video game images. The shots used are quite similar to those used in video games, I'm guessing because both shots rely so heavily on motion capture. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as a lot of the action shots were quite cool. They were almost the exact opposite of The Hunger Games: lots of smooth, wide shots were you can see everything happening in the fight without getting a splitting headache. I thought it was well executed.

I was looking forwards to this film, but came out disappointed. It tried too hard, couldn't find a balance between silly and serious, and ultimately failed to capture the spirit of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that the majority of the world has come to know and love.

Journal of a UFO Investigator

I personally think the title of this book should be Journal of a UFO Investigator (But It's Not Really About UFOs). I am a big fan of the scifi genre, hence why I grabbed this book at a library used book sale, and was semi-pleasantly surprised to find that although aliens and UFOs play a big role in Journal of a UFO Investigator, it's not science fiction.

The story follows our hero, Danny Shapiro, from ages thirteen to nineteen. His mother is very ill, and could have a heart attack at any moment. His father barely tolerates him, and he has almost no friends. As a coping mechanism, Danny starts a journal about an alternate life where he is a UFO investigator and goes on all sorts of weird and wild adventures, which parallel his terrible home life.

I don't think I've ever read a book like this before. The author does a great job at blurring reality and fiction, and it's very difficult to see if Danny actually believes what he's writing in his journal, or if he's actually experiencing what he's writing in his journal. Oftentimes, reality seems like it's intruding on Danny's fantasy. To be quite honest, I'm not entirely sure which parts of the book were truly Danny's life, and which parts were just his imagination. I'd have to read it again to find out.

Journal of a UFO Investigator does a good job at hooking you right at the beginning. UFOs are flying everywhere, mysterious phone calls about the moon appear, and lower levels in libraries are decidedly creepy. However, towards the end of the book, it gets very confusing, and hard to keep reading. I pressed on, mostly because I couldn't wait to finish the book so I could read something else, but I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. Most things get sorted out, and it has a generally promising ending to it. Although things get slow in the third quarter of the book, if you stick it out, it gets better.

Overall, I did enjoy Journal of a UFO Investigator, and I think I'd like to read it again, mostly to go back and sort out parallels and symbols now that I have a general idea of what's going on. This book does a good job at dealing with subjects like depression and suicide in an original way (set in an alternate reality with aliens), and it's interesting and hopeful. I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun scifi read, but if you're ready to think (a lot) and if you're ready for a little bit of teen angst, go for it.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

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I am nowhere close to being a Transformers fan. I thought the first movie was pretty decent, the second was laughably terrible, and didn't bother to watch the third. But I bothered with Age of Extinction, and for the most part, I'm glad I did. Critics are slamming it (and I agree with most of them), but if you put aside the shaky plot, stereotyped characters, and Transformer dino fights that last almost an hour, you've got a fairly enjoyable movie. If nothing else, Transformers: Age of Extinction is fun to watch.

After the gigantic fight in Chicago, the government is cracking down on Transformers, killing any they can find. Cade Yeager, a broke inventor with the coolest name on the planet, happens to find an injured Optimus Prime and semi-nurses him back to health, earning the Autobot's eternal gratitude and the government's eternal hatred. Meanwhile, the government has discovered the secret to the Transformers' transforming ability and has created an entire army of Transformers. Unbeknownst to them, Megatron has infected the army with Decepticon metal.

From there, you can kind of guess how things go down. Cade, his teenage daughter, and his teenage daughter's boyfriend round up the Autobots, and much giant robotic fighting ensues. And man, is it fun to watch. It's like you've died and gone to sound-effects heaven.

It's also like you've died and gone to plot-hole hell. The plot isn't set up very well. The human characters are saved again and again by convenient and unoriginal plot devices. Most of the time, I felt like it was just too much for a Transformers movie. No one wants an elaborate, intricate plot. We just want to see giant robots and cool cars, please. Without crazy, barely-believeable, and time-sucking story points, Age of Extinction could have nicely wrapped up every subplot and still had time for special effects overload, instead of leaving gaping holes in the plot everywhere and devoting a third of the movie to the final showdown.

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Despite the cast being much better than previous Transformers installments (I'd take Mark Wahlberg over Shia Lebeouf any day), they're given stereotypical roles to play that don't do the film any favors. My biggest bone to pick is Tessa Yeager, Cade's daughter, and her boyfriend. I wish some movie would feature a teenage girl who's biggest problem isn't that her dad doesn't allow her to date. Tessa does a gigantic disservice to teenage girl-dom and feminism in general as she spends the entire film hiding behind her boyfriend, wearing tiny shorts, and getting trapped in all sorts of places and needing rescue. However, the film slightly redeems itself with all two other remaining female characters; one a brilliant scientist, the other a lawyer/businessperson/ninja.

I definitely enjoyed Age of Extinction more than I've ever enjoyed a Transformers film (although that doesn't say much), and it's a fun ride, if you're willing to overlook some things. It certainly seems like Michael Bay has created something bigger than himself. Age of Extinction has already made about $600 million, and now holds the record for biggest opening in China of all time. Despite negative reviews, you just can't ignore the lure of fighting robot alien car things.

Web Series Wednesday: The New Adventures of Peter & Wendy

Long time no see, dear readers! I haven't seen any many new movies/TV shows lately, hence my extended absence. I did, however, discover this amazing new web series...

It just got started, but so far it's quirky, funny, and adorable, and I'm really excited about it. Starring Welcome to Sanditon's Kyle Walters as Peter Pan, The New Adventures of Peter & Wendy follows the current trend of vlog-style modern day literary adaptations and reimagines the world of Peter Pan into the twenty-first century. Wendy runs an online advice vlog called "Dear Darling", John works for his father's online newspaper, and Michael and Peter Pan want to have the most fun while doing the least amount of work.

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I love the story of Peter Pan, and so far I love the web series. The acting is spot on, and I really like that half of the episodes are told from Tink's point of view. I'm also really enjoying seeing Peter Pan as an adult who hasn't quite grown up, instead of a kid who doesn't want to grow up. The chemistry between Peter and Wendy is spot on, and all the characters are great, but I must say, the very grown up and also very stuck up John Darling is my favorite. Watch this show, you will not be disappointed.

Transcendence: Cool premise, lame story

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I'll admit that I went into Transcendence a bit biased...all reviews I had read about it were negative. ("Why go and see it?" you ask. "Well, it only cost me five dollars," I respond sheepishly.) However, after a shaky start, Transcendence started to get interesting, and I started to enjoy it, and then...the film blew it.

Starring Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, and a very familiar-looking girl (who IMDb tells me is Rebecca Hall), Transcendence takes place in the not-too-distant future, following the life and death of Will Caster, who has devoted his life to studying artificial intelligence. In fact, he created a gigantic AI machine named PINN...and then is assassinated by an anti-technology terrorist group. Before he dies, Will, with the help of his wife Evelyn, upload his consciousness into PINN's software. Evelyn refuses to listen to her friends' concerns as Computer Will starts evolving, growing stronger, smarter, and way more powerful. Will she be able to shut it--him--down before it's too late?

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The idea of Transcendence is pretty intriguing, but the execution fell flat. The beginning is slow-paced, chock full of admittedly necessary, but unexciting expository information. Once Computer Will starts taking over, things get more interesting, but just as you're starting to get into the world of the film, and just as you're starting to root for the right people, the film takes the weirdest twists and turns, bringing all sorts of things you never previously knew about Will into play. The ending was far from satisfying, and actually ended up just being incredibly confusing. The ending proves the first half of the movie to be pointless setup, as nothing gets paid off. It will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

One good thing about Transcendence is it's not afraid to ask tricky questions. How far is too far, in the world of technology? Is AI the way to go? Is it okay to play God, curing sick people, creating the next generation of humanity, or is that something that should be left alone? What are the consequences to playing God? What is knowledge, anyways? What can you do with unlimited knowledge? Just how big is the Internet? It's appropriate that the film does not attempt to answer all of these questions, but instead attempts to give hints, possible outcomes, and leaves them open. Despite all of the interesting moral issues that the film touches on, Transcendence chose the wrong question to answer, which makes you question who you should have been rooting for in the first place.

The premise of Transcendence is on the right track, but the storytelling isn't. Watch it to get a glimpse at some cool science stuff (which I'm honestly not sure if it's real....yet), hear Johnny Depp practically narrate the whole movie, and wonder about the power of technology. Don't watch it if you want to be entertained. You'll spend seventy-five percent of the time trying to keep up with the wild goose chase Transcendence turns out to be.

A Maleficent Movie?

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Sleeping Beauty is my absolute favorite Disney princess. I don't know why, but her movie was my favorite when I was younger, and I still love the movie. So when I heard they were making a movie about Maleficent, I was a little disappointed--why focus on the bad guy? She's creepy, and has horns growing out of her head, which is weird. A live action Sleeping Beauty, I could get behind, but a live action Maleficent? Ew.

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And then Angelina Jolie was attached to the project, and I got a little more optimistic about it. I'm still not entirely sure about Maleficent, but Sleeping Beauty is a darker fairy tale anyways, and yes, I'm curious to see how Maleficent got those horns. Are they real? I'm really interested.

The first teaser trailer was haunting and pretty, and all other trailers released promise beautiful visuals, if nothing else. I'm not really sold on the tree-monster things (nice CGI and everything, but it seems a lot like Narnia to me), but, Angelina Jolie, man. She looks and sounds exactly like the cartoon character (hopefully she will take that as a compliment?) and that laugh is absolutely perfect.



Then when I heard Lana Del Rey's haunting rendition of "Once Upon A Dream", I was both horrified that they'd creepified one of my favorite Disney songs, and also very intrigued. Basically, the marketing ploy worked on me.

All this goes to say, I'm interested. And cautiously optimistic. I think looking at it as a remake of Sleeping Beauty is the wrong way, as the trailer makes it clear that although these are familiar characters, the story is very different from the tale I've grown up with. I'm excited to see what they've done with this classic.

Maleficent hits theaters May 30.