The Great Movie Review: The Chorus

Wow, what a film. This is a truely inspirational story about a teacher and his students. And dudes, who are turned off by the word inspiration, I don't mean sappy and emotional; I do mean spurring and motivating.

Monsieur Mathieu arrives as a new prefect at a boarding school for troubled boys located in the French countryside. Although he does find the boys an unruly lot, Mathieu does not believe in the tactics of the strict headmaster. Mathieu tries to reach his boys and build trust and true order through music.

This film is excellent. With great storytelling and interesting characters, this film really captures its viewer into wanting to fight for these kids. Most of them are punks struggling to conceal their true reasons for being punks. And the rest just have no hope. Each one has their own issues, and the main character comes alongside each one and confronts them in love. What a perfect picture of a mentor!

And its pretty too! It feels like the film literally gets more colorful as time progresses. And come on; It's France. Who doesn't love the French countryside?

For me personally, this movie sticks out. I really identify with the character Mathieu. His desire to be excellent and to upset the status quo when necessary match my own. He looks at each of his students with love and individuality and desires the best out of them. Yes!

While this film did not win an Oscar, It was nominated for a couple. So do yourself a favor and check this one out.

Thank you to Jenny for picking this one! I feel that I am better for having seen it!

This will begin our theme of Foreign Language Films.

The Chorus (2004)

Group Rating (out of 5):

Stevox: 5
Kyle: 4
Jenny: 5

Averages to 4.66 making this the third highest ranked movie to date below Rear Window and Harvey.

This trailer makes it look really sappy. But I assure you it's awesomeness demolishes any sappiness.

The Great Movie Review: The Neverending Story

So in case you forgot in our Holiday Hiatus, the current theme is Movies Based on Books. Val brought Treasure Planet (Treasure Island) and I brought the Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte). It's based on a German fantasy novel published in 1979. Which put the movie being made in a five year turn around.

This movie is ridiculous. We start with this kid named Bastion. Which is a terrible name for a child. It's no wonder that he's getting picked on and thrown into dumpsters. Secondly, he's a thief. Sure he leaves a note, but he clearly steals the book containing the Neverending Story. He then skips school to read this book even though he knows for a fact that he has a math test. He then decides to STAY AT SCHOOL to continue reading this book he stole, while his Dad goes insane and calls the police and such. All of these qualities make him a hero. Because nothing says Valor like theft, playing hooky and worrying your parents (parent, his Mom is dead. Had she been alive she might have died from embarrassment.)

Now lets get to what i actually want to talk about, and that is the pedophile flying dog they are trying to pass off as a Dragon.




Seriously? This is what you came up with! Instead of this:

This:

or This:
At least Mushu can breathe fire! This is the type of dragon who would get his underwear run up the flagpole in high school and then in college, and then probably at work after he graduated.

Valerie said she kept thinking of this the whole movie:



And in a bit of acting that rivals sad Keanu, "It's so far away." (Start at 3:30)



So in short ... we don't recommend this movie. Unless you just really want to.

The Neverending Story (1984)

Group Rating (out of 5):

Stevox: 2
Valerie: 2
Kyle: 2
Jenny: 2
Micah: 2

Averages to 2 creepy dog dragons out of 5.

Shares this rating with Arsenic and Old Lace and The French Connection.

In a fight Arsenic and Old Lace: Atreyu would sick his Luck Dragon on the Police, and then sit down for tea, and be dead before dessert.

The Great Movie Review: Treasure Planet

"Treasure Planet" is one of those movies that tends to not get a fair shake, but I've always thought it was an extremely well-made Disney film that deserves a little bit more credit.

"Treasure Planet" lifts the traditional plot and characters from the book "Treasure Island" and inserts them into a futuristic world, where ships are traversing the universe, not the ocean. But the creators didn't want it to turn into just another metal/steam/computers/dark spaceships type of a sci-fi movie (thankfully!), so they really went a long way to create a different kind of space movie than audiences are used to seeing. For example, "Sound designer Dane Davis mentioned that he and his team "scoured hobby shops and junk stores for antique windup toys and old spinning mechanisms" in order to create the sound effects for John Silver to "avoid sounding slick or sci-fi"."

The voice cast includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emma Thompson (two weeks of Emma in a row! Score!), Martin Short, and David Hyde Pierce, all giving fun and inspiring performances. It helps that they are working from an incredibly witty, clever, and moving script.

Another brilliant aspect of the film is the gorgeous animation, particularly the starry backgrounds and other-worldly visuals. I think Disney really did some fantastic work on the artwork of this film, as only they can do. There's a scene in Wall-E where the title character runs his "hand" through some... stardust, I don't know- that always reminded me of Jim Hawkins flying through similar space... sparkles. Both iterations of the astrological glitter are beautiful.

Speaking of Jim, I just love his character, and all I want to do is give that kid a hug. I think there is something so Ryan Atwood about him, the way he is so lonely and brooding but also compassionate and good-natured. I want to take them both home with me and take care of them.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of written-especially-for-the-movie songs, and heaven knows I'm no GooGoo Dolls fan, but I've never been able to resist the song they wrote that appears in the film. Here's the song as it was included in the movie, because the music video for it is absolutely awful. Just trust me.

I think everyone really enjoyed it, once they gave it a chance. Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the more intense films and mix it up with a little Disney! So if you enjoy good story-telling, lush visuals, and movies based (loosely) on books, which incidentally is our next theme, I'd recommend you check this one out!

Treasure Planet (2002)

Group Rating (out of 5):

Stevox: 3
Valerie: 4
Kyle: 4
Micah: 3

Averages 3.5 pink amorphous blobs out of 5.

Shares this rating with The Maltese Falcon, Lawrence of Arabia, Juno, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Makes us want to see a cyborg/magical eye-off between Long John Silver, Mad Eye Moody, and the Terminator.

The Great Movie Review: Love Actually

I had planned for two choices for this evening. But after buying a Christmas tree, brewing a pot of wassail, and listening to Christmas music, I just couldn't get around not picking something Chrismasy. "But it's still November," blurts Kyle. Indeed, but Thanksgiving is over, and that means fair game.

I've always wanted to see this movie (mostly to get Netflix off my back, after recommending it to me over and over.)

EVERYONE, is in the movie. We literally spent the first five minutes going, "That's the guy from ______. Oh and she's from ______."

The movie opens and ends with shots of real people greeting each other at the airport as if they had not seen their loved one in a long time. I'll admit, I had trouble keeping the tears in my eyes for that bit.

What did I learn? Don't buy gifts for women that are not your wife. Don't ever start making out center stage behind a closed curtain. And NEVER be left alone in a room with the president of the United States. (especially if his name is Billy Bob.)

All in all, we enjoyed it! It's charming; it's funny. And, everybody has an English accent. What's not to like. Any good sensible guy should and would enjoy this movie.

If I may quote myself a second time, "What is this, Crash?"