Category Archives: Review

These aren’t so much reviews as contemplations on the subject matter. What I loved, what pissed me off, what intrigued me, what I disliked, what made me think, what made me beg Google for answers.

Transformers: Dark Side Of The Moon – AMC 30 @ The Block, Orange, CA

The best Transformers movie yet. No seriously. I mean it. The first one had a lot of characters and things to introduce, but I stand firm in my belief that the film would have been monumentally better if Anthony Anderson and John Turturro’s roles were smaller. The second one was lots of fun with the 1920’s Transformers and I enjoyed the plot, but this one really takes the cake. First there’s no more Megan Fox. Second the story’s conspiracy angle has just enough for me to believe it. Third it’s got Alan Tudyk and he doesn’t get killed (damn you Joss Whedon!). All in all I had a fantastic time at this mind-numbing, action-packed blockbuster. Lenonard Nimoy returns to the Transformer universe! For those of you playing the home game, he voiced a souped up Megatron called Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie (1986). I was really excited to get … Continue reading →

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure The ‘good parts’ version Abridged by William Goldman Author of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Started: some time after Jenny’s birthday party (Aug 2011) Finished: shortly afterwards I’m fairly certain that I liked the book a great deal more than the movie (at least my many fractured viewings of the movie), but I do have to give them credit for doing some incredibly interesting things and creating a great cult film.

Cowboys & Aliens – AMC12 @ Downtown Disney, Anaheim, CA

Fun. Pure, simple, action/sci-fi fun that just happens to be a Western. It’s got a few more jumpy moments than ID4 did, but the film paces itself fantastically enough that I didn’t really mind (i.e. I wasn’t scared out of my wits the whole time waiting for the next “jump” moment, I was able to enjoy the movie). I’m so happy Jon Favreau got this movie made – I really like his directorial style. There was this one really simple shot (Laura says it’s a crane shot) at the beginning of the film – Daniel Craig has just woken up in the desert and the scalpers are spreading out around him and the camera just pulls back and up and it looked really cool! I am intrigued to see what they changed from the comic book. Yay grumpy Harrison Ford! Yay Keith Carradine! It isn’t really a Western without him! … Continue reading →

A Very Cultured Saturday (Tim Burton Exhibition At LACMA & Encore Entertainment’s Production Of The Drowsy Chaperone)

What fun! Went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (AKA LACMA) for the first time with our friends Jeff and Wendy to check out the Tim Burton Exhibition (closes Oct 31) and various other exhibits there. Then Laura and I went to West High in Torrance to see a student production of The Drowsy Chaperone which was a lot of fun! Tim Burton Special Exhibition (Resnick Pavilion): to see so much Burton goodness in such concentrated form was amazing. The exhibit features remnants from his interment in Burbank (winning contest entries, doodlings on newspapers, poetry referencing classmates), props and costumes from his numerous film projects and replication maquettes from Nightmare and Corpse Bride, but what’s really amazing is to see how much of Burton’s genius is captured in his sketches. It is his preferred medium of communication, and his prose is stunning. The rooms of the exhibit are … Continue reading →

Captain America: The First Avenger – South Bay Galleria 16, Torrance, CA

Absolutely amazing! So beautiful! Fantastic job by Chris Evans. Hugo Weaving is an amazing villain. When I grow up I want to be Stanley Tucci. He’s such a great and dependable character. Yay for Stan Lee’s cameo! Awesome music by Alan Silvestri. I’m glad I didn’t know it was him going in because it would have distracted me, but one I knew it was him I could hear bits of Van Helsing in the credits. Yay Howard Stark’s Expo! They re-used the Sherman brothers song from Iron Man 2! 😀 And that new song, “Star Spangled Man” is so pretty! And it’s written by Alan Menken and David Zippel (the song-writing duo behind Disney’s Hercules)! Yay Marvel and Disney synergy!!! 😀

The Pixar Touch: The Making Of A Company by David A. Price

Available on Amazon. Many thanks to my good friend Jeff Allen for recommending this book. It is an absolutely riveting read. For me it kind of capped off/continued the Disney company history that I so enjoyed discovering in Walt Disney: Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler (covering Walt’s lifetime) and Disney Wars by James Stewart (covering the period from Walt’s death to the successful ousting of Eisner) by telling a completely different story: the story of Pixar. How Ed Catmull, a Mormon computer scientist who knew he couldn’t draw good enough to be an animator decided that he would make a movie with a computer instead (in the 60s). How he gathered a brain trust of computer scientists, electrical engineers, artists and writers around him and shepherded them through 40 years of business transactions and negotiations from the New York Institute of Technology to Lucasfilm to Emeryville, all … Continue reading →

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – AMC 12 @ Downtown Disney, Anaheim, CA

No parts 1 and 2 or A and B here. I took part in AMC’s two part premiere and watched all 6 hours…well 4 hours and 36 minutes, but really, who’s got time to count when everything’s blowing up? Well I guess you could count during the camping scenes… 😉 It was actually a very nice treat to revisit the first movie because there were some really good parts in it that I forgot to mention in my first review: primarily when Harry, Hermione and Ron are running from the snatchers in the forest, there’s this absolutely gorgeous tracking shot that just looks so large and complex. And that whole chase is very visceral and really enjoyable. Stunning. Gorgeous. And emotionally satisfying. I would definitely say that I am on the whole satisfied that this is where it all ends (see what I did there? Tying in the marketing campaign … Continue reading →

Dish The Musical – The Gallery Theatre, Anaheim, CA

Epically hilarious and very clever, this world premiere of an original work is highly recommended and a great escape for a couple of hours. Hope you got a chance to see it! Favorite numbers: Judge Judy Rules (a nice doo-wop song) and Vampires Are Really, Really Hot (hilarious take on how there’s hundreds of vampire shows). The cast did a fantastic job. Really good impersonations (favorites are Whoopi Goldberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger).

The Price Of Freedom by A. C. Crispin

Amazing!!!! It answers almost every single question that has arisen about Jack Sparrow since discovering his delightful character in the first film. It’s practically a complete back story, but does so with a gripping narrative and a story that is as lush and vibrant as any locale we’ve seen Jack visit in his four films. Also makes me want to pick up the junior novels that delve into Jack’s childhood to see what other gems are out there to glean about Jack Sparrow. I also want to pick up A. C. Crispin’s other novels (she does Han Solo’s backstory!!!).