Rise of the Guardians

"We go by many names, and take many forms. We bring wonder and hope, we bring joy and dreams. We are the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy, we are the Easter Bunny, and Santa. And our powers are greater than you ever imagine..."


It is becoming a bit of a tradition now for me to take our boys to go see a movie on Thanksgiving Day. It is the kickoff to the holiday movie releases. We planned a few months ago to go see Rise of the Guardians. We saw the 3D version and were impressed with the Snow and the Sand as it blew in our faces. With a theater full of 9 people, we had pretty goos seats.


Rise of the Guardians is the story of Jack Frost and his rise to become one of the Guardians. He is good at what he does, freazzing thinks, making snow and making snowdays for the kis to get out of school,but does not know why he is was chosen to do it. All he knows is that the Man in the Moon selected him to be Jack Frost and that is it. The Guardians are made up of the big four, Santa(North), the Toothfairy(Tooth), The Sandman(Sandy), and the Easter Bunny(Bunny) and their job is is to take care of their holidays and to keep the children believing in them.


The Boogeyman, aka Pitch Black, makes an appearence and begins to bring doubt into the childrens mind and put an end to the guardians powers. Pitch is voiced by Jude Law. He is great as the voice. All the voice actors are good in this film. Jack is voiced by Chris Pine. The Man in the Moon selects Jack to be the Next gurardian. He is the one who can stop Pitch from destroying it all, only problem is that he does not know how.


The bulk of the movie is Jack learning about who he is and his purpose among these legends. I am not a big fan of seeing movies in 3D. I find it annoying to have to wear two pairs of glasses at once and think it makes the movie much darker than it nees to be, but this movie was beautiful with the golds and bright holiday colors it looked great. I will always be willing to see a 3d movie with snow, rain or flying. This was Seth's first film that he kept the glasses on the whole time. I know they enjoyed as they talked to the screen and comments, cheered and clapped for the heros. Last year we saw Arthur Christmas and this was just as good as that was. two great thanksgiving in a row. A Clear winner.

Solid 9 out of 10

Lincoln

"...that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."



I went out to Utah for a Surprise vist. Only my mom and dad knew I was coming. My dad made plans for us to go see the new movie about Abraham Lincoln when I arrived. Since we are both history buffs we thought it would be nice to hit an early morning release the day it opened. In the theater were more people than expected and the average age of movie goers was well into the 70's. At one point after watch an elderly gentlemen slowly make his way to his seat I turned to my dad and offered him five bucks to go ask the guy what President Lincoln was like in person.

Lincoln is a film based on a few months period of Lincoln's life. It focused on the stuggle of getting the 13th ammendment passed by the House. This ammendment would emancipate the salave and make them free. The film began shortly after Lincoln has been re-elected and innogurated for a second term. The Civil War is windng down and there is talk of peace between the north and south. Lincoln is in a rush to get the ammendment passed on the basis that it must be done now so the slaves can be counted as spoils of war thus not violating state law of personal property. Lincoln and his cabinet work to get the votes need to pass the amendment. They go about courting the delegates and trying to turn their votes in favor of the ammendment.

Abraham Lincoln is played by Daniel Day-Lewis. He looks and sounds fantastic as Lincoln, and I'm sure will be up for an oscar. Lincoln's wife, Mary, is played by Sally Field. Mary was a little crazy after the deather of her first son and she seems a half step from the edge the whole movie. A friend said that if you want crazy just cast Sally Field. The film is a list of who's who. One of my favorites was Tommy Lee Jones Plays Thaddeus Steven a Delegate who is working to get the Ammendment passed also. You can see he is passionate about it passing and also provides a bit of comic relief for the film

Lincoln shows some of the hooror of the Civil war and has some great scenes of the final days of the War. Shots of battle scenes and hospitals are good. My dad's favorite scene is the opening scene where Lincon is talking to two black soldiers who are talking about the progress of the black soldier in the war. they are very respectful. Then two young white solders who seem new to the war show up and offer the opposite as far as manners. They are lound and seem very out of place as they recount the gettysburg address. They finally go back to their regiment leaving Lincoln with one of the black soldiers who finishes quoteing the Gettysburg Address, only much more reverently.

Lincoln was not a bio pic as much as it was an ensemble production. This movie in my opinion was more of a "Court Drama." The real story was about all the work that went into passing the ammendment abolishing slavery. Oscar bait as it may be I feel it was one of the best movies of the year.

8.96 out of 10.