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.

Toy Story 3 – Century 20 @ Bella Terra, Huntington Beach, CA

Leave a reply

Pizza Planet truck!!! A113 license plate!!! Pizza Planet driver!!! My Neighbor Totoro!!! Bud Luckey (Rick Ricker from The Incredibles)!!! Lee Unkrich did an absolutely incredible job tying together everything the Toy Story universe has meant to a generation of fans. This film is absolutely phenomenal. And there’s really awesome promotional materials all over the place! At the Century 20 theatres… At Disney’s California Adventure… And I’m sure much more. Way to go Disney-Pixar! 😀

Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time – Premiere Cinema 11, Galveston, TX

Leave a reply

Directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter 5), music by Harry Gregson-Williams (Chronicles of Narnia). Very enjoyable. Little kid free running + big kid free running. I never played Prince of Persia (preferred Assassins Creed), but story looks like fun (if adaptation is loyal).

Grease – GoldenWest College

Leave a reply

People I know: Whitney Ackerman (Danny Zuko), Amanda Baker (Marty), Brian Sipkovich (Kenickie), David Kinne (Sonny), Jonathan Dean (Vince Fontaine), Josh Alton (Teen Angel), Sarah Harrington (Anita), Megan Berndt (Peggy), and my amazingly talented sister Alyssa Heckman (Sherry). Aside from adding the song “Hopelessly Devoted To You” from the movie (which was a nice moment for Sandy but is then duplicitous/redundant when shortly followed by “Raining On Prom Night” – kind of like they wanted to remind us that Sandy is still depresse after intermission), the musical remains true to it’s source and is a wonderful trip to the raunchy and rebellious 50’s. Laura is not a fan of this musical because it instructs girls that the only way to get through high school is to give in to peer pressure, as Sandy does by dressing “hot” at the end of the show, and I agree with Laura…it is a … Continue reading →

Iron Man 2 – Century 20 @ Bella Terra, Huntington Beach, CA

Leave a reply

Freaking amazing. The entire cast and crew do a fantastic job. Does Disney even exist in the Marvel universe? Was that an awkward moment at the Disney-buys-Marvel-negotiations? “Um yeah…Howard Stark replaces Walt Disney in our universe” RICHARD SHERMAN WROTE THE JINGLE USED IN THE ARCHIVED STARK EXPO FOOTAGE (it’s called “Make Way for Tomorrow Today”). EEEEE! Jon Favreau must really love AC/DC as he features them very prominently in both Iron Man movies so far. Sam Rockwell ALWAYS seems so sleazy to me. I know the strawberry vendor! He was in Torrance Cultural Arts Center’s summer production South Pacific (circa 2002) as Stewpot! Ha! It’s always fun to pick him out in movies. He was in one of the Fast and The Furious trailers as the truck driver who’s rig is being dismantled while he’s driving it. Having read some reviews, my language/opinions have been slightly tainted/biased, but there are … Continue reading →

How To Train Your Dragon (In 2D)

Leave a reply

Laura and I elected to not pay a surcharge for fancy 3D. Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois?!?!?! That’s what you get, Disney! Well, then again Disney couldn’t make a movie like this one, but my point is somehow still valid! Not really, I’m just stubborn. Anyways – as I understand it, Chris and Dean were key players at Disney’s Florida animation studio (located inside Disney’s MGM Studios before the name change and before they shut it down) and were partially responsible for Mulan (1998) and almost wholly responsible for Lilo and Stitch (2002), which are two of my favorite post-Frank Wells animated feature films (Chris was also prominantly featured along with other crew members of Mulan in Drawn to Animation at Disney’s California Adventure until it was replaced with The Animation Academy). To the best of my understanding, Chris Sanders left or was fired after which Disney turned … Continue reading →

Anything Goes – Laguna Beach High School

Leave a reply

A delightful production of Cole Porter’s musical stone soup (nearly every song in the 1986 version that everyone does is from a different Cole Porter musical; the original Anything Goes is called the Beaumont version and is very rarely done), the kids of Laguna Beach High School do a fantastic job with a high school arts budget (even if it is a south Orange County high school arts budget). Laura grew up learning a lot about boats and apparently the running lights were backwards – the green light is supposed to indicate the starboard (right) side of the ship and the red light is supposed to indicate the port (left) side of the ship. Of course this really doesn’t affect the caliber of the production, but it’s a great conversation piece!