Daily Archives: October 14, 2010

Movies

How to Train Your Dragon

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Lisa here, back after a hiatus, to help Matt with some reviews…

I’ve been mainly against CGI kids movies ever since Finding Nemo (and yes, I still loathe that film). But Pixar has been changing my attitudes since Wall-E and I’ve started broadening my horizons.

How To Train Your Dragon was actually a DreamWorks film, and I have a love/hate relationship with many of their movies, too. Liked Kung Fu Panda, hated Madagascar, and Shrek I was meh on. I went in to see HTTYD not really caring about the studio, I just wanted to see a decent movie with a good friend (hi Peter!).

So HTTYD was actually a first for me, it was my first 3D movie actually created for 3D (I had seen the Nightmare Before Xmas 3D enhanced film, not impressed). We saw it at a real IMAX (Museum of Discovery and Science in Ft. Lauderdale) and let me say it was amazing.

I was worried that the 3D would be too gimmickey and feel forced like it did on Nightmare, but it really didn’t. I think they blended the 3D effects in perfectly with the story, using them only where appropriate. It all just felt…natural, which is how I think 3D needs to be used. Just enough to give that WOW factor without getting stale.

The story was actually quite enjoyable. It was serious enough to keep me intrigued, but light hearted to not be boring and dry. There was plenty of humor, and the characters were well developed and not too stereotypical. It had a good, rustic feel with the Norse theme they had, which honestly I’ve yet to see a good viking kids movie, so I was quite pleased.

My Advice: So is it a kids’ movie? Sure, take the childrens. Is it entertaining enough for an adult? Yep. It’s just a generally all around good film that has enough action and humor for kids, but enough development and plot for adults.

P.S. — There’s a sequel in the works, and yeah, I’ll most likely go see it. Heck, I bought a Happy Meal for a HTTYD toy, they’ve sold me on the franchise (I got a green dragon that flaps its wings, forgot what it was called…I’d never make it as a dragon trainer).

Movies

Salt

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As a guy, I have a deep, dark secret…

One that I is sure to have people look at me as if I was some horrible person…

I do not like Angelina Jolie.

There, I said it and the world did not stop spinning.  While I know she has a lot of fans based on her acting, and even more based on her looks, she has not really impressed me with either.  The only two movies I have liked with her in them have been Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow; and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.  So it was no surprise that when I saw the trailer for Salt, that I was not interested.  Rich, to his credit, kept trying to talk me into seeing it, but I was resistant.

So I found myself leaving work on a Wednesday and wanting to see a movie.  After looking over the times, the only movie playing that seemed remotely interesting was Salt.  So, I bought my ticket and headed in.

Salt is about a CIA agent named Evelyn Salt.  A defector comes in and accuses her of planning to murder an important Russian diplomat.  What follows is a tightly-scripted/filmed cat-and-mouse game where nothing is as it seems.  As I watched it, I was reminded of the 80s flick, No Way Out, where Kevin Costner was in a similar plot.  I soon forgot I was watching Angelina Jolie on-screen and got more invested in the story.

My advice:  worth full price; I actually saw it twice – I just hope they do not do a sequel, even though the door was left open…