The Princess Diaries (2001)

Rating: 60%
Well I have to admit it; after her spectacular performance as Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman I just felt that now would be the time to finally look back to how it all began where many people such as yours truly first saw her in a trailer to this movie and later saw the movie itself in theaters. So without further ado, he's my review for The Princess Diaries.

Plot: Mia is a 15 year old high schooler who lives with her mother in San Francisco. She is generally viewed as invisible socially in school and has trouble when it comes to public speaking. But one day, her grandmother Clarisse, her late-father's mother, comes to visit from the European country of Genovia and tells her that her father was the prince of Genovia and Clarisse is the Queen, making her the princess of Genovia. Mia is shocked and run away from her grandmother and is furious with her mother for not telling her about it. But eventually Clarisse and Mia make an agreement to help Mia train to be a princess before a Genovia annual ball to give her time whether or not to really become a princess.

For the most part, this is an...okay film. I mean yes, usually girly movies like these suck like heck and are only entertaining in the slightest to their primary audience, and...yeah this movie did have a lot of really cheesy moments, the second half is roughly structures like any romantic comedy or something like that, and a couple of odds and ends that gives us the reason for any of us that aren't little girls to not really like these kinds of movies. But this movie to me really stands out because at the very least, it has some decent charm to it. The acting was alright, some of the supporting characters had some cute moments, some of the comedy all around had one or two moments that made the movie pretty fun to watch when I was a kid and while I don't laugh at now, I still like it for just how nicely done some of it was. But I do like that it wasn't trying so hard with throwing us joke after joke or was shoving a lot of romantic moments or anything, it just focuses on what was happening to Mia in a decent, pace that altogether gave us a decent, fun movie that - while girly- can still be a nice movie to enjoy.

Actors/Characters.
Anne Hathaway/Mia: I enjoyed watching Hathaway in this film. She gave us this girl who has this cute personality with her trying to adapt to the whole princess thing while trying to deal with it at school or at home and still having the decision to make as to whether or not be a princess. I agree that most of what I just said was done in a cliche way for the most part, but unlike most actresses around that age when it comes to a girly movie, she still manages to give us a character to care about cliche or not that makes it little wonder that she's gone so much farther to the point of currently being the best Catwoman in a Batman movie, and there's plenty of room for optimism for her upcoming performance as Fantine in Les Miserables.  
Julie Andrews/Clarisse: For the most part, there's nothing much to say other then saying that it was Julie Andrews being Julie Andrews just the way we love her. Having a strong confident kind of energy with her smooth and gentle sounding voice and everything. Her dialogue may not be the best kind for her to shine the way most of us know and love her, but she still gave us an enjoyable performance.

Music: Personally, I liked that this movie didn't have much of an original score. In fact, I kind of enjoyed the moments where there was no music at all but just plain dialogue. That kind of helped take some of the slightly more dramatic moments a little more serious. Not spectacular of coarse but nice. As for the songs, I liked that there some songs that (while modernized) were brought into the film such as "Little Bitty Pretty One" and "Stupid Cupid". And as girly as "I"m Supergirl" and "Miracles Happen" were, at least they both were decent songs to remember even now once in a while.

Editing: Most if it was okay, but there where some cuts that didn't make sense. Mostly around the beginning where there's the scene where Mia and her mother are rock climbing and there's random points in the dialogue where they cut to just random things like a rock on the rock climbing all or just most of her mother's body for some reason. Then there's the scene where Paolo is giving Mia her makeover and there's the shot where it's the bottom of the chair and you see the chair spinning around from the reflection of the bottom of it. The editing and music was at the very slow pace that while it made sense as a transition...just felt a little off.

And that's my review for The Princess Diaries. It brings plenty of cliches from the book, but we still get some cute moments and some acting that may not be the greatest but is still enjoyable and all around was a nice way for Anne Hathaway's career to begin. 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Rating: 95%
Well a little before The Dark Knight Rises hit the theaters, one my best friends suggested that I come over to his place for his to show me the whole extended edition of the Sweden trilogy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And conveniently, by dad got the American version of the movie so I could compare both version of the first book. So here's my thoughts of the Sweden version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

Plot: Mikael Blomkvist is a journalist who is gets attacked publicly after following a lead to a man he's trying to take down that turn out to be an ambush against him that leaves him and the magazine he works for disgraced. But then he gets offered by Henrik Vanger, who's a retired CEO of his family's business to write about his family's history and to try to crack the case about his great-niece's disappearance 40 years ago. At the same time, the story is about Lisbeth Salander, a researcher and computer hacker whose legal guardian has recently had a stroke and has gained a new one who unlike the last one, gets control of her finances and gives her monthly allowances in exchange for sexual favors.


Better then the American version? Entirely. It takes it's time of roughly three hours of film very well and being much more descriptive then the American. What really helps was that this was done in subtitles which, considering my family and I prefer that anyway because we find it a good tool to make sure we understand everything and know all the names and stuff when watching a new film, made all the difference. And even then, this movie was done SO much better visually. I mean we gets these extremely well done close ups of files, pictures, stuff that either Mikael or Lisbeth are doing on their laptops, that made things super clear on what's happening whether Lisbeth was hacking or Mikael was looking at certain people in his tree of suspects or whatever that's called. The American one may have won best editing and was at least nominated for best cinematography, but when it comes to giving us very clear, descriptive, and meaningful visuals to help with the story, the Sweden version is highly superior. I also really like that this version also gives us a side story over what was happening at the Millennium over the whole Wennerström deal unlike the American version which I liked.  Now what really makes me want to read the book is that there's a lot of things that are done in completely different ways. Some clues are told differently, there's one character who's nice in one version but is trying to blow Mikael's brains out in another, all around, I'll definitely have to read the book and watch both version again to know which movie is more loyal to it then the other. 

Actors/Characters:
Michael Nyqvist/ Mikael Blomkvist: Now I definitely would like to read the book to know how to really view Mikael as a character. Because honestly, I think he was roughly the same thing as he was played by Daniel Craigg. He has a sort of quiet tone but still very persistent attitude when it comes to solving the mystery. So better or worse then Daniel Craigg? I really do not know. Really until I've read the book, I don't really know for sure how to take Mikael as a character for sure. 
Noomi Rapace/Lisbeth Salander: Now when it comes to being an ultimate psycho, I have to admit that Rooney Mara displays it the best. But with Rapace, I kind of see Lisbeth to be more...human I think would be the right way to put it. She has her psycho side of her and all, but it's not as super descriptive as Mara does. Rapace make her Lisbeth a little more of a real human being who just has a lot of darkness in her past which made her a much more enjoyable to watch.

Music: Very nice. Plain and smooth most of the time, but it kicked in pretty well whenever there was suspense.

Editing: While they didn't win Best Editing like the American one did, the editing here was just better in terms of telling the story because it had much better visual shots and they used it very well.    


And that's my review for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The American one my have a slightly more psycho Lisbeth and an opening credit sequence that kick MAJOR rear, but this one tells the story so much better visually that no matter which one I'll find to be more loyal to the book, I'll still find this one the best as a movie.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and what I have to say about the Aurora shooting

Rating: 80%
It's been four years since The Dark Knight came and taken both Batman and the idea of superheroes in general to a whole new level. Now they have finally made the third movie for the Dark Knight franchise. Did they give us the movie we've been waiting for? Let's find out in my 300th review: The Dark Knight Rises.

Plot: Eight years after The Joker was defeated and Harvey Dent was killed, Gotham has been living in peace under the Dent act which helped Commissioner Gordon nearly destroy organized crime completely. Bruce Wayne has locked himself up in his mansion feeling like he has nothing left to live for after stopping The Joker and losing Rachel. But then while Gordon and the police follow a lead to an investigation, Gordon discovers that a group of terrorists lead by Bane where he manages to escape, but is shot in the process. Shortly after that, Bane and his followers attack the stock exchange in Gotham where he begins to start creating chaos in Gotham leaving Bruce Wayne to come back as Batman and try to stop him.

Now I will say that as a movie, The Dark Knight Rises did not best The Dark Knight, but it's likely going to be just as memorable. The story despite a couple of issues is very deep and complex. The characters where very loyal to the comics, some of them where loyal at some unexpected points and altogether were an extreme lot of fun to watch throughout the movie. The action was much, much better then they were in the first two films, mostly in the extent that the fights were shot in much wider camera shots then they were in Batman Begins and Dark Knight which to me, made it easier and more fun to watch. But there are a couple of issues that I had with the film. For example, *WARNING SPOILERS* I thought it was really dumb how they first showed Selina Kyle as Catwoman. I mean she's just being Selina Kyle in a couple of scenes, and then in the middle of a chase scene she all of the sudden is Catwoman for the first time in the movie for 15 seconds and then it's back to the chase scene. I think it would've been better if we first saw her as Catwoman in the film during the scene where she attacks Daggett over the matter of getting the program she's after. Because while that wouldn't have have been perfect, I thought it would've given us a more dramatic entrance for Catwoman then just put her in for 15 seconds in the middle of a totally different scene as a way to introduce her as Catwoman. The same would be the way they introduced Crane in the movie. He wasn't shown until he started sentencing that one guy, and I thought it would've worked better to first show him when they first showed the courtroom during Bane's speech. Then there's a bunch of really cheesy parts in the film like Bane going "impossible" when Batman returns to Gotham, the whole thing about a bomb and that Batman has to supposedly sacrifice himself to keep it from blowing up Gotham, and then there's the part when Bruce Wayne escapses the prison, which was cheesy in itself that it would be set as a really dramatic moment, but it's just that he escapsed just by succeeding in making that ledge which I think would've only been good if he did like a certain clever thing where he would make it or something like that. Then, the final battle was not what I was hoping for. I mean whenever I was thinking about what the final battle was going to be like, I kept thinking it was going to be a battle where it's Bane and his mercenaries verses, not only Batman and the police, but practically every man, woman and child in Gotham. (Not really children mind you, but you get the idea.)  Cause considering the times in the Batman comics where Batman will rely on even gangs to help him whenever there's a war in Gotham like in The Dark Knight Returns,  I thought that even the civilians would be wanting some action against Bane and his men as part of the final battle for Gotham,. But not only did that not happen, but strategically, the battle for the sake of the police sucked. Finally, there's the ending. Obviously, there's the stuff that's really confusing and all that, but I really have trouble accepting it. I mean the idea to it is wonderful. I mean we're talking about ANY superhero let alone Batman getting to live happily ever after with their city or other place being permenantly evil/crime free forever. I mean that's a grand idea to me because when it comes to superheroes, the best ending you'll get is one ultimate catastrophy averted and the hero gets the love interest. So it's pretty big of the idea of any superhero let alone Batman hang up the cape for good knowing that everything's going to go wonderfully from here on out. But the problem is that they really rushed it. It just ended too quickly and while I kind of like it, quite frankley can't except it because it's so rushed that it really doesn't feel right. *END OF SPOILERS* But other then that the only real issues I had with the movie as a whole was there there were tiny bits of dialogue and certain parts of the plot that I did find a little cheesy. But regardless, it's very dark, complex, with some very good action, better acting from some of the particular actors from the trilogy, and like the other films, packed with some very well done story/character development that brought the story of Batman to a dramatic and memorable conclusion.  

Acting/Characters:
Christian Bale/Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman: First thing to say is that Bale actually did a rather excellent job as Bruce Wayne. I mean I thought he was fine before with being focused on the mission while secretly being a playboy billionaire, but he improved in this movie to the point where even if he's in the batcave with Alfred or something like that, he speaks so much louder and clearer which made him so more more believable as a character. As Batman I enjoyed him more when it came to the action because again, they gave us much wider shots, and just how they gave us more gadgets for him to use. He may still have the voice, but so what? He's still Batman and he's still awesome. And Bale does display every bit dramatic thing that Batman goes through extremely well.
Tom Hardy/Bane: Well the first thing is that I was really skeptical at first when it came to Bane's voice. I mean sure, part of it is that I can't always understand him as people have mentioned already, but I imagined that his voice was going to be lower and deeper then it turned out to be. But I got over it after a while and still really enjoyed how he really was menacing, powerful, dangerous and while wasn't as psychotic as The Joker, really gave us an even wider scale of chaos in Gotham. An being an improvement from the Bane in Batman & Robin? Biggest understatement of the fricking millennium.
Anne Hathaway/Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman: When Anne Hathaway was announced to be Catwoman in this film, naturally, we all were skeptical about the whole idea that the woman who was once that cute teenage girl from Princess Diaries and has since been in between nice to less then good films like Devil Wears Prada, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Valentine's Day and so on would all of the sudden be Catwoman. But at the end of the day, she actually turned out to be the best Catwoman there is to date. She was pretty much exactly who Catwoman is; smart, manipulative, cunning, hot (like that even needs to be said) a skilled thief, a bad-a fighter, yet has he conflict between good and evil and with her relationship with Batman. I mean the bummer thing is that they never even mention her name, but oh well.) Michelle Pfeiffer still did an awesome job as Catwoman and she still will still be remembered well for it, but it's Hathaway who gave us that ever so popular burglar that has tricked Batman and stolen his heart time and time again ever since she stepped foot into the comic.

Music: Now there was not a lot of new music to listen to since most of it was some of the same tracks that we have with both Batman Begins and Dark Knight. But there some new tracks here and there that while I currently don't find them excellent were still pretty good.

Editing: Aside from my issues that I mentioned during the spoiler alert section, I enjoyed the editing a lot especially since, again, the camera shots for the action were wider which made the action and the editing for it much more enjoyable.

And that's my review for The Dark Knight Rises. It may not exceed The Dark Knight, and it has a few stuff that didn't work out the way I for one wanted it too, but it's still an excellent, very well done movie with great characters, very complex story, and just an awesome film to bring the Dark Knight trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. And thus that brings me to a total of 300 reviews so I'd like to say thank you for reading my reviews, and here's to maybe reaching 400 eventually.

Also, here's my video review of The Dark Knight Rises and a new thing I decided to do for my reviews called a spoiler video.

Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rBXCuqTqjc&feature=plcp

Spoiler Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrBK7zO3z78&feature=plcp

But as I finish this review, let us never forget the shooting that took place in Aurora, Colorado, which is only less then an hour or so by car from where I live. That said, I ask that you let your prayers be very well with everyone that was in that theater whether they were shot or not. This was a horrible thing for anyone in there to experience even if nothing happened to them. And prayers for the shooter that justice is done to him, but at the process of that, that somehow he'll realize and be truly ashamed for what he's done. It's not likely that he will but that's where we must bear in mind that all things are possible in The Lord and pray to him that it may one day happen. And that as long as we are willing and are truly sorry, he'll forgive even the most horrible of our sins and help us over come them as Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, he will never let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way where you can stand up under it." I know that it looks like things will never go that way for the shooter, and it feels like we should treat him like he's Hitler or Bin Laden, but we must also remember to love our neighbor; a commandment that so many of us will forget. I know I do and probably still will in the future, which proves all the more that we are only human because only God is God.  But though I do not have answers as to way someone would do this, as one woman named Marie who was there at the shootings pointed out in verse; "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?" Psalm 56:3-4. In other words as she has also put it, God is always good, but man is not.

If you want to see the rest of Maire's post, here's a link to it: http://aminiatureclaypot.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/so-you-still-think-god-is-a-merciful-god/

Who knows what's in store for everyone after what happened, but until then, let us rely on The Lord to help us through it as we continue to remember what happened.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Rating: 90%
Alright to last night I saw this movie again to prepare for The Dark Knight Rises. So here's my review for The Dark Knight.

Plot: Since the events of Batman Begins, Lt. Gordon and Batman have been working on getting rid of the entire mob to completely rid Gotham of crime. After a mob-owned bank is robbed by the Joker, they decide to clue in the new District Attorney Harvey Dent in their plan to take down the mob. But when Batman captures the Chinese accountant who has all of the mob's funds, the mob decides to call the Joker for help. So the Joker sends a message where he declares an ultimatum stating that Batman has to unmask himself and people will die everyday for every day that he doesn't.

What can I saw that you likely do not know already? It's a wonderful film. The story itself is very creative and well thought out, the characters are awesome especially with how some of them introduce to us how Batman as a franchise makes it all psychological when it comes to its characters whether its the villains or even Batman himself. The action is very good, the special effects are awesome (especially when it comes to the Bat-Pod), the dialogue is very memorable, and one thing that I find especially nice about this film is how while it is very dark and every thing, they did gives us some comedy here and there that is very enjoyable. The first five minutes or so of the movie is very clever to the point where it almost seem like it shows itself as its own short film which is really cool.  But there's a couple of things that don't really make sense, such as *WARNING SPOILERS* how it isn't always clear that Lucius Fox known that Bruce Wayne is Batman. I mean I guess it's not a big deal because you can figure it out for yourself, but from my point of view from the first few times I watched the movie, I had trouble knowing for sure, so I guess for me, I would've liked them to just have said it straight out that he knows. But again, that's just my take from it. And then there's of coarse, the movie ending with Gordon saying that there's only five people dead when in fact there's at least nine people dead that Gordon should know about not counting the robbers that Joker killed earlier in the movie. Maybe the characters actually think it's just five and they somehow don't know or not considering the other deaths, or maybe that's a problem with the script that they didn't find before shooting that scene or something. I don't know, but that little error is confusing considering its inaccuracy. *END OF SPOILERS* That aside thought, it's an excellent film that did an excellent job at taking the idea of not just batman, but superheroes in general to an entirely new level.

Acting/Characters:
Christian Bale/Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman: Same thing as the last film, but the one major down that's part of why The Joker really stole the show in this film was how some of Batman's dialogue turned out to a little cheesy. But he still did a good job at the end of the day and you can at least enjoy how we get more into Batman having different kinds of gadgets like with the Batpod, the Night vision Bat goggles (or detective mode to people like me who play the Arkham games) and the Timed Grenade Launcher.
Heath Ledger/The Joker: I know we all say the same thing but that shouldn't stop me from saying it: Heath Ledger's Joker is a masterpiece of a performance. He was unpredictable, he was psychotic as heck, he. was. truly. The Joker. I mean Nicholson's Joker is just as memorable, but Ledger brings out the psychological aspect of who The Joker is, showing how he views the world, how he'll do things just because he can as Alfred points out, and most of also how they keep it a total, utter mystery as to where The Joker come from or where he came to be. Because for some people like my brother, they prefer to have The Joker without any past in him at all because that's what makes him even more dangerous because that can leave you just as defenseless as to how to stop him. It's a terrible tragedy that Ledger didn't live long enough to see how he turned out as The Joker in this film with how he has truly set up bigger standards for future actors to play the Joker in other film version of Batman possibly to come, and also that he didn't live to see himself win best supporting actor for his amazing performance. All let's left to say is that Ledger has our thanks for giving us a truly wonderful performance and that he should be well remembered for generations for his performance.   
Aaron Eckhart/Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two-Face: While Ledger stole the show when it comes to the super criminals in this film, Eckhart did do a brilliant job as Harvey Dent. He really showed Dent as a man who will stand up to crime and finish what Batman started and he'll do whatever it takes to get it done. Now how he was as Two-Face was an excellent result two. I mean the visual effect for making him Two-Face is cool and fun too look at, which is where I wish he was Two-Face much more often in this movie, and while they don't show the dual personality that Two-Face has in the comics, he still gave us at the very least, a really good introduction as to what his villain is like in the comics. Plus even if he's not a perfect Two-Face to some people, you can easily admit that he beats the living crap out of Tommy Lee Jones' version of the super criminal.

Music: The music is so much better in this movie. I mean they kind of upgraded the theme track for Batman which is awesome, and then they gave us the Joker's them track "Why so Serious?" which is a very interesting piece with all the different kind of instruments and notes that Hans Zimmer used in this piece which turned out to be very enjoyable to listen to.

And that's my review for The Dark Knight. It's a creative, well put together movie that really brings Batman and the idea of superheroes into a new level while giving us performances that we sure as heck are not going to EVER forget anytime soon.    

Batman Begins (2005)

Rating: 85%
Well now that I have Singin' in the Rain reviewed, that leaves me with only three more movies to review before I'll have written a total of 300 reviews. So for the past month or so, I have planned to make the last three movies to be the entire Dark Knight trilogy. So let's get started with doing that with Batman Begins.

Plot: Bruce Wayne develops an interest to fight against crime when his parents were killed by a mugger when he was just a kid. He starts to travel the world to understand crime where he eventually meets a man named Ducard who represents a group of ninjas called the League of Shadows led by Ra's al Ghul. Ducard trains him to become a ninja, but when Bruce learns that the League of Shadows kills criminals and intends to destroy his home city, Gotham because of its corruption, Bruce destroys their temple killing Ra's but saving Ducard. He comes back to Gotham with an intention to fight the corruption, where he becomes - you guessed it - BATMAN!!!!!

Generally speaking, this is a really good movie. I mean it's dark and edgy like Tim Burton's Batman only this time they really took the darkness with developing things like Gotham and if corruption and the dark knight himself to a whole new and more realistic level. Primarily there's only two actual issues that I can think of with this movie. First is that since and intro movie, which mean we usually have an hour or so before we get to the stuff we are really interested in and even then may not get as much as we would like in the movie at the end of the day, which is what makes most "first movies" not all that enjoyable like Transformers and Hulk. Technically because the amount of appearance of Batman himself in this film I can see people thinking that about this film, but at least Batman Begins uses the rest of the time with really awesome story/characters development and things like that, where that is not a big deal at all unlike Transformers and Hulk. So in my opinion, this is not one of those less pleasant "first movies", but I understand if anybody feels that way. The second thing is that some of the dialogue is not that great. I mean most of it is awesome, but sometimes there were a couple of lines that I thought where kind of cheesy like Rachel saying "Justice is about harmony. Revenge is about you making yourself feel better" or Gordon just plain old defying Flass by saying "There's nothing wise about what you do Flass." And then there's that guy in Wayne Tower during the climax in the film who kept saying how important it was to stop the train like three times even though Batman had already explained it when he was talking to Gordon. But regardless, both issues are roughly a mere nuisance if you will since with those two things still comes with very well done acting, well thought of story, and just one movie that really does the trick as the beginning of The Dark Knight trilogy.

Actors/Characters:
Christian Bale/Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman: In a way, I think he displays Batman the best. Primarily, I say that because Christian Bale gives us a deeper idea about what Batman really is with how he really strikes fear into his enemies and all around view Batman as a symbol. His voice may sound like he has throat cancer or whatever to some people, but even if it's true to a certain extent, I think it works really well.
Michael Caine/Alfred: Well he may not have more of the innocent fragile butler kind of appearance unlike Michael Gough (Lord rest his soul), but I view Caine to be better. I mean that in the extent that while he's the loyal butler he also includes how Alfred is also his...I think the right word would be adviser. Gough touched on that a little bit in Batman and particularly Batman & Robin, but this is where we really start to get that with Caine.
Liam Neeson/Ducard: Now naturally Ducard has a secret that is reveled in the climax, but I won't mention it more for those of you who haven't seen this movie yet. Anyway, to be brief about Neeson, I thought he did a really good job with the part and just all around giving those of us who first saw this movie not knowing his character (like me), a good introduction of what he is.
Gary Oldman/Sergent Gordon: Oldman is definitely the best Gordon there is so far. I mean Pat Hingle (Lord also rest his soul) didn't do a bad job or anything, but Oldman focuses more on just how Gordon really wants to fight crime and really is Batman's primary ally/partner in the war against crime in Gotham.

Music: I really enjoy the score to this film. It gives a really exciting melody that is fun to listen to while watching this film through and through.

Editing: The editing is pretty good as a whole. I had one or two little issues such the possibility of a specific shot being shown twice at two different points in the film.

And that's my review for Batman Begins. It may have a couple of issues, but never the less, it's an awesome film and much more in-depth for a film about Batman.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Rating: 95%
Well today was the day some theaters where going to play this movie to celebrate it's 60th anniversary. But since I didn't want to spend my money on it as sweet of an idea it is to watch such an old classic on the big screen, I just watched the movie at home. So here's my review for Singin' in the Rain.

Plot: Don is a popular silent film star who was original a singer, dancer and a stunt man and barely tolerates his leading partner Lina who believes is in love with him just because the public thinks so. One night along the way to a party, Don is attacked by fans and escapes by jumping into the car of a woman named Kathy who drops him off but not before telling him that she's an actress and thinks that because he works in silent films, he's not a real actor. He meets her again to find her as one of the dancers at the party, but Lina becomes jealous and gets her fired. Don find her again while he and the company works on its first talking movie. The movie gets terrible results at the preview due to the sound, but then Don, Kathy and his best friend Cosmo decide to turn the movie into a musical.

What can I say that you probably know already? The movie's a classic. The story is good, the characters are lovable (with the exception of Lina of coarse) the music is memorable and what really got me from watching this film today along with the music was the choreography. I think this movies as one of the wackiest and more creative choreography I've seen. I mean just the first dance number with the violins alone made me go all "I wanna dance like that all creative and stuff". I think my only issue is that there are a couple of stuff during the dance/singing numbers that don't entirely make sense. *WARNING SPOILERS* For example, in "Moses Supposes" it ends with Don and Cosmo just piling a bunch of random stuff and then it ends which i find weird. Then there's the broadway melody where during the end, part of the set are a bunch of large boxes or whatever with a big letter in each one...just what's the purpose to it? Both of these aren't really big deals and maybe there doesn't really need to be an answer, but all the same, I just wonder. *END OF SPOILERS* But otherwise, it's just an excellent musical classic that can easily be enjoyed through and through.

Actors/Characters:
Gene Kelly/Don: Well he's pretty easy to like. I mean he's smart, clever caring and all around the hero of the story which that alone makes him fun to watch when it comes to him in this film.
Donald O'Connor/Cosmos: Man that guy was crazy. I mean he had some creative and energetic body movement, he has some pretty funny lines, all around he was pretty entertaining as the comedy star (at least I think that would be the right way to put his part in the film)
Debbie Reynolds/Kathy: She was pretty likable as the female lead of the story, but honestly I thought she would be in the film more often then she was. I mean she was in it a good amount but there some point in the film - I think it was the whole mic thing - where it felt like a gap in a sense to not have here there at all. I mean the scene in itself is fine but when we see her again, somehow I was all "hey Kathy, were have you been?" But I digress especially since that matter is probably as small of a deal as the stuff I said in the spoilers. 

Music: pfff. do i even need to bother? "Moses Supposes", "Make 'em Laugh", "Good Morning" and of coarse, "Singin' in the Rain". Just excellent music that should be well remembered.

Editing: It's mostly good but there were a couple of bad cuts here and there, mostly one cut - i forget which scene - but there was one action two characters did during the end of one shot, then it cut to a wider shot which started by playing that action with the two characters all over again.

And that's my review for Singin' in the Rain. It has a few issues here and there, but it's still a wonderful, fun, creative lovable film that has rightfully been remembered for so long. So here's to another 60 years of remembrance.

Spirited Away (2001)

Rating: 90%
Well here's the next Miyazaki film to watch and review. This is probably the first time I've seen this movie since... 2003 or 4 or so. So here's my review for Spirited Away.

Plot: Chihiro and his parents are moving much to her displeasure where her father takes a wrong turn and finds themselves in an abandoned amusement park and they end up exploring it. Along the way, her parents smell food that they end up eating while Chihiro wanders around. But along the way, she find this boy wandering in an abandoned bathhouse telling her to leave the park before dark. But before she tries to leave, spirits start appearing in the park and her parents have been turned into pigs. She meets the boy whose name is Haku again, he tells her to go to the boiler-man in the bathhouse which is now occupied with spirits and ask for a job. This leads to her asking a job to a witch named Yubaba who gives her a job in exchange for stealing her name and giving her a new one; Sen.

Out of all the creative films that Miyazaki has come up with, this is his most creative if not THE most creative he's done (I'd say it is, but I gotta be sure after seeing the other films). I mean you have all these creatures and spirits all over the place that just messes with your head from the duck spirits (sort of), to that one-footed lamp, to...well the list just goes on and on. That aside it also gives us a unique story with some pretty fun and interesting characters. Plus you'll probably enjoy that fact that with the Disney version to this film, there's a lot of familiar voice actors like David Ogden Stiers, Susan Egan, Suzanne Pleshette, John Ratzenberger and Jason Mersden.

Characters:
Chihiro/Sen: For the most part she was a pretty good character. I think most people really enjoy how she grows over the movie from being so scared and all when all the bad stuff start happening to her, but then starts to hold her own and become pretty brave as the movie goes on. The one thing I don't entirely get is how she was able to know whether or not she could see her parents in the pack of pigs during the climax, I mean maybe there's a way, but maybe it's hard to tell since she only saw them when they first turned to pigs for only like, 10 second or so.

And that's my review for Spirited Away. It's a charming and creative animated film with some familiar voice actors and a story to enjoy.