A Movie Review: The Way, Way Back

The Way, Way Back. This is a wonderful and somewhat painful tale of flawed adults parenting awkward young teenagers. And what is truly interesting is the relationship that develops between the water park manager and our lead.  And though I love movies such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I especially appreciate the fact that our lead character is not a wanna-be writer with an IQ that will blow you away, but is just a normal kid.

A Movie Review: Fruitvale Station

Fruitvale Station. A solid movie; however, I felt like I was getting an overly glossed up point of view of Oscar.  Also, the movie doesn't take the time to dive into the tensions between the poor and law enforcement.

A Movie Review: Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim. I don't think this movie started off very well.  An early conversation goes something like this when a monster sighting wakes up two military personnel in the wee hours of the morning:

"What time is it?"

"2 o'clock."

"2 a.m.?"

Of course, it is 2 a.m.  Do you really think the army would let you sleep from 11 p.m. or whatever time they went to sleep all the way until 2 p.m.  And I thought military used military time anyways.

Also, the first attack happens during the Obama years.  I'd like to know how we made those robots work so well so quickly when Boeing can't even get their Dreamliner to function properly after years of testing.

Never mind all that.  This movie isn't brilliant Oscar stuff, but it is a very good summer popcorn movie.  The fights are cool.  And even though it would seem the use of a sword would be a weapon of choice for close combat versus having a blaster that takes forever to warm up, it is good that it is eventually brought to the fight.

A Movie Review: World War Z

World War Z.  For all the talk about now this movie was a mess, I do think it turned out to be a very thrilling movie.  It is Contagion on adrenalin.  It isn't as scary as one might assume considering that this is a zombie movie.  Even the fact that these zombies have amazing speed that allows them to outrun even the fastest human being doesn't really increase the scare factor.  Instead, this is a very well done medical investigation movie that stands above Contagion.  I even like how the "cure" was found better in World War Z versus Contagion.

Make Music Pasadena: Killola

Make Music Pasadena: Letting Up Despite Great Faults

I last saw them at Silverlake Jubilee.  Loved them then and loved them a couple months back at Make Music Pasadena.

Make Music Pasadena: Dom La Nena

So long since Make Music Pasadena.  Here's a photo of Dom La Nena.

Make Music Pasadena: The Dustbowl Revival

Been awhile since Make Music Pasadena, but I've been busy.  

A photo of The Dustbowl Revival.

A Movie Review: Monsters University

Monsters University. An enjoyable movie about characters who aren't scary, but want to be scary. Kids, please don't look under the bed or listen too hard.

A Movie Review: Despicable Me 2

Despicable Me 2. Minions. Birthday parties. Girls growing up. Evilness in the world that needs to be resolved. I consider this cartoon to be the best movie of the year (so far).

A Movie Review: The Heat

The Heat. When a movie is liked both by critics and audiences, I usually find myself agreeing. Not with this movie. I could have saved my money on this one.

A Movie Review: This is the End

This is the End.  The movie starts out hysterically with Seth Rogan picking up his friend Jay Baruchel at the airport. It is funny that everyone is trying to talk to Seth while ignoring Jay. They soon party it up, getting stoned at Seth’s house. They then take a taxi (nice add to the move as you don't want folks high while driving) to a house party being hosted by James Franco. A number of celebrity cameos pop up. For awhile, it looks like a Project X for celebrities. Then the inevitable end of the world hits. The earth opens up and many of the celebrities are swallowed up and sent down to the burning pits of hell. Our remaining celebrities (Jonah Hill, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson also survive) are left in purgatory, trying to figure out what in the world is going on.

This movie lasts close to 2 hours. With about 30 minutes to go in the movie it feels like this movie is just a one joke movie and really should just wrap up; however, it takes a nice turn with them leaving the house and the movie picks back up in a fun way.

The audience I watched the movie with was laughing from the beginning to the end.  That is always a good indicator.