hot tub time machine

this one should have been a homerun. i was so excited about this one and so ready to love it. then i saw it. it was pretty disappointing. the set up is great: four guys are partying and remembering the good old days back when they were kids, then they happen to be whisked back to the 80's with their hot tub time machine! they get to go back and relive their glory days for a single night. sounds like the perfect opportunity to show all kinds of really funny 80's nostalgia type things, right? well they do, but its not nearly as funny as it should be. i mean, they've some how convinced mr. 80's himself, john cusack, to be in it, but it still never really leaves the cleaver premise. this thing had all the makings of a movie that would take off and really be filled with great zingers and perfect moments of reliving their youth, but instead it just kind of sits there with half hearted jokes that fall pretty flat. with this being the competition, i guess bill and ted (and marty mcfly) are still the kings of the time machine.

the red violin

what a great movie! i've seen this one before and recently rewatched it. the story follows the life of a violin that was made in the 1500s as it goes up for auction. there are many people bidding on it and the film flashes back through the violin's 500 year journey to see where it has been. we start by learning about the man who made it with such loving care. then we go through and see some of the different people who have played it over the years and how those stories are a driving force for some of the different people who are bidding on it at the modern auction. we see a monastery bidding because it was a part of their collection for over one hundred years and plays an important part in the life of that church, a museum wants it because it was an inspiration for a famous composer, a chinese family wants it because it was a part of their family's anti-communism past, and a rich man wants it just because he's greedy! each of these flashbacks give so much life and depth to the journey of the violin and its importance. the stories are compelling and draw you in to care about each of the people who are bidding on the violin at the auction that by the end you dont really know who to be rooting for. an amazing story (well, stories) fantastically told.

aladdin and the king of thieves

i was just the right age when aladdin came out in theaters that i was totally enamoured with it. i loved it and memorized all the songs! a year or two later disney was about to start its foray into straight-to-video animated sequels. it is a standard practice now a days, but back then it was something quite amazing to an impressionable child! i immediately convinced my parents to let me purchase (yes, i purchased it with my own hard earned money!) 'aladdin 2: the return of jafar'. turned out that the straight to video stuff wasnt quite of the same quality. actually, i wouldnt even use the word 'quality' in the same sentence... having learned my lesson, i resolved to never again be sucked in by these poor animated follow ups. so, when the third aladdin movie came out a couple years later, i avoided it at all costs. i didnt get suckered in to buy it, but i was always curious about it and wanted to see it anyway. fast forward a dozen or so years and now i finally had the opportunity to see it, so i did! turns out, i wasnt missing anything.
i know this isnt really a review of the movie, but the story of my wanting to see the movie is infinitely more interesting that anything in the movie! ok, fine, here's the story: aladdin meets his dad and finally married jasmine. and its crap. the end. now you happy?

(500) days of summer

this is a pretty good movie. its kind of a chick flick, but its still quite good. the story takes the traditional love story, but jumbles it all up. it follows joseph gordon-levitt as he meets and falls in love with a girl named summer. the interesting thing about this movie though, is that we jump in and out of the days they have been together which are shown out of order. which means that we see the relationship as its ending even before we get to see them 'meet cute'. due to the mixed up order of events, we see an unusual view of what these two go through in their relationship. another difference between this love story and most is that its the boy who is head over heels in love, and the girl who is slightly aloof. this movie is exactly what the tag line for it says: this is not a love story, its a story about love. and as it turns out, its not necessarily about thier love together. an interesting take, and one worth watching.