A vacation is supposed to be a time to relax, take a breather, and enjoy ourselves. It should not be a time to worry about entanglement with law enforcement.
In the 1999 film Brokedown Palace, Alice (Claire Danes) and Darlene (Kate Beckinsale) are best friends. To celebrate their high school graduation, they decide that a trip to Thailand is in order. Their party grows from two to three when they meet Nick Parks (Daniel Lapaine), a handsome and charming Australian.
Nick convinces the girls to extend their trip by going to Hong Kong before heading home. At the airport, drugs are found in their luggage and they are detained. Sentenced to three decades in jail, their only way out is American lawyer Hank Greene (Bill Pullman). Hank can get Alice and Darlene out of prison and on their way home, for a price.
This is an interesting coming-of-age tale. Most of the narratives within this genre are usually romances. But this is different. It is about friendship, the loss of innocence, and the decisions that are made during difficult times.
When the sequel to a highly successful film is released, the expectation is that this second narrative will hold up on its own while giving proper respect to its predecessor.
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) is the follow-up to the blockbuster 90’s movie Independence Day. It takes place a generation after Earth was nearly obliterated by an invading alien army. Humanity has taken thorough advantage of the advancement in technology. When the aliens return with revenge on the mind and a military force that has doubled in size, our heroes must once again save the day.
Two generations combine forces. the newbies Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth), Patricia Whitworth (Maika Monroe), and Dylan Hiller (Jessie T. Usher) eagerly join the fight. Backing them up are veterans David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), Julius Levinson (Judd Hirsch), former President Whitmore (Bill Pullman), and Jasmine Hiller (Vivica A. Fox). It will take all of them working together to repel the attackers and keep our world going.
I love the first movie. It is everything a film of this nature should be. I wish I could say the same about Independence Day: Resurgence. While the visuals are fantastic, they cannot make up for the meh storyline and unimpressive character arcs. The emotions that I felt while watching Independence Day are missing. It was as if the screenwriters and creative team lost the spark. Unfortunately, it comes off a soulless easy cash grab based on nostalgia, which doesn’t always work.
*The schedule for the Character Review posts will be changing to Friday (or Saturday at the latest from now on).
*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the movie A League of Their Own. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the movie. There is something to be said about a well-written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.
When we have a certain skill, many would assume that we would build our lives and career around the skill. But not everyone is interested in that life. In A League of Their Own, Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) is discovered playing on a local baseball team during World War II. While waiting for her husband, Bob (Bill Pullman) to come home, she works in the family dairy with her parents and younger sister Kit Keller (Lori Petty). Convinced to try out for the AAGPBL, Dottie not only makes the team and joins the Rockford Peaches, she becomes its initial de facto leader and star. Coach Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) is at first more into drinking his days away than supporting his players. But as good as she is, this is not something she has dreamed of. It is just a way to pass the time until Bob comes home.
As the seasons wear on and Dottie becomes one of the faces of the league, the tension between her and Kit grows. Believing that she is forever in her elder sister’s shadow, Kit starts to resent Dottie. This soon spreads to the rest of the team, nearly sending Dottie home with her newly returned husband and Kit changing teams. It finally comes to a head during the World Series, when their respective teams play opposite one another.
By the time the last pitch is thrown and the game ends, the Peaches have lost. Dottie and Kit have both moved on emotionally and resumed the relationship they had before all of this started.
To sum it up: We all have talents and we all have choices. Depending on our perspective, we can either draw on those talents or choose to go down another path. Dottie obviously has the skill, but this is not her life’s goal. I admire that. She knows what she wants and goes for it, even if someone else disagrees with that decision.
Ghost stories have been part of human story telling since the beginning of time. It is up to the writer to make sure that their ghost story stands out.
In the 1995 movie, Casper, Carrigan Crittenden (Cathy Moriarty) has just inherited her late father’s decrepit, crumbling mansion. Her plan is to burn the house down, until she discovers a treasure map. But before she can get her hands on the treasure, she is frightened out of the house by ghosts that have laid claim to mansion. Determined to get her hands on the treasure, Carrigan hires Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman) to get rid of the ghosts. Joining Dr. Harvey is his daughter, Kat (Christina Ricci). Kat is befriended by Casper (voiced by Malachi Pearson), the ghost of a young boy who is not as fearsome as the other ghosts.
While the other ghosts are doing everything they can to get the living out of their house, James and Kat are doing everything they can to get the ghosts to cross over. Who will win this battle and will Carrigan ever claim the treasure on the map?
As ghost stories go, this is rather PG. But that’s fine, this movie has just enough spook to make the audience jump, while still allowing them to sleep at night. It is also aimed at the tween/early teen set and deals with the trials and tribulations of that age.
The adult in me would say that this film is rather simple. However, I was just the right age when the movie hit theaters. For the intended age group, the film as a whole is not that bad.
Mel Brooks has made a career out of lovingly satirizing our sacred cows. Whether it is history (History of the World: Part I), The Nazis (The Producers) or classic horror films (Young Frankenstein), he has knack for finding the satire in the sacred.
30 years ago, he satirized Star Wars and other science fiction films in his own version of a space adventure: Spaceballs. The planet Druidia has an abundant amount of fresh air. President Skroob (Mel Brooks) from the very polluted Planet Spaceballs send his henchmen, Lord Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) to capture the Druidian princess, Vespa (Daphne Zuniga). King Roland of Druidia (Dick Van Patten) must either give his planet’s air to the Spaceballs or lose his daughter. Enter Lone Star (Bill Pullman) who is sent by the king to rescue Vespa.
This movie is like most Mel Brooks movies. It borders on the absurd, takes easy pot shots at the revered and most of all, it makes us laugh.
30 years on, this movie is just as funny as it was in 1987.
Writergurlny 