Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away

Cirque Du Soleil has always been on my want to see list. I have never been in a place to see one of the shows, so when I found out that they were flming one for a 3D film I wanted to take the boys to go see it. With New years a good day to do nothing and this no being a very largley advertised movie we decided to hit the early show.

Cirque is about a girl who lives in a small town and goes to visit a traveling carnival. She is facinated by the carnival and sees a man who she fancies. She goes to leave and stopped by a silent clown who persuades her to go see the aerialist who is the man she is smitten with. She goes to watch him on the trapeze and distracrs him causing him to fall to the ground. she rushes to him and th ground gives way sending them dow to the world of Cirques Du Soleil. They spend the rest of the movie trying to find eachother, coming across the amazing acts of Cirque Du Soleil. Many of the scenes are made up of their stage preformances such as "O", "Beatles: Love," and "Viva Elvis." They acts were great in 3D, They were not overwheming or full of cheap tricks. The scenes are just as you would see on the stage , just bigger. My favorite character was the ringmaster, a creepy clown-like man, who helps the girl find the aerialist.

My boys were fascinated by the acts. There are the usual circus acts with rings and ropes and then there are new ones with water and rotating walls. There is very little talking but the visuals are great. I did however feel it was 15-20 mins too long. The last 30 mins my 5yr old asked how much was left. However, when it was over he said "That was awesome." I asked my 8yr old he he thought it was cool and he said he loved it. We went with our Aunt and cousin. She said it felt as if she had spent the last 2 hrs in another world. It was lots of fun to see these amazing artist without paying the price for a Vegas show. There was onyl about 10 people in the theater. I think the film still is flying below most peoples radar. It is a good family film. Lots of fun for old and young.

7 out of 10

Les Miserables

"To love another person is to see the face of God."


I was very excited and counting down the days to christmas for the release of Les Miserables. Heather was too. The trailers looked great. My wife and I saw the play at the Kennedy Center in D.C. last year, so I knew the basic story and like everyone else know most of the music. I was interested to see how the film would differ from the stage play and looking forward to see what they could bring to the table.

The new cast was a mix of screen actors and stage actors. A pretty good mix. Most of the main characters were well known screen actors and the supporting cast were made up of people who have been playing roles on Braodway. I was uncertain about some of the cast. I had my doubts about Anne Hathaway as Fontine. I like her in a few things, but not very much. The other peson I was not excited to see was Russell Crowe as Javert. It turned out I was right on one of my guesses. Many were excited to see how Hugh Jackman would do as Jean Valjean, knowing that he had a lot of theater experiance. Amanda Seyfreid played Cossette in a smaller role. I will watch her in anything because I have a screen crush on her.

A quick plot synopsis of Les Mis is that it is set in France in the early 19th century. It is about a man named Jean Valjean who starts the play/film off in prison for stealing bread. He is parolled and runs off and makes a new secret life for himself. He changes his life for good and takes in a dying womens child and promises to raise her as his own. He spends the whole film running from a man named Javert who qas rhe guard at the prison and is now an inspector. Cossette falls in love with a revolutionary(Marius) and he is torn between her and supporting the cause.

The opening scene is of prisoners pulling a large ship into dry dock. It was amazing. The scene seemd so massive. I caught myself actually whispering "wow." The color of the water and the size of the ship were fascinating. I could have watched that scene for the full 2 1/2 hours. The second scene that took my breath away was the solo by Anne Hathaway as she sang "I Dreamed a Dream." At first I thought it was very risky for the director to shoot the whole scene in a close up of her face, but it paid off in a big way. I have never seen Les Mis the raw, this emotional. Each song (minus the water scenes) were sung live. This way they were able to catch the actors emotion more fully in their singing and whispers. The same scenario applied to the scene where Marius sings "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables." The emotion flows from him you inderstand the survivors guilt that he is feeling. My wife did not like Hugh Jackman that much saying that is voice was too low for the singing some of the songs and I agree with her a bit. I thougth russell Crowe's voice was bad too. I think his vocal chords are lodged up in his nose somewhere.

I was impressed overall. If you have not seen the stage play this film is a great place to start. If you have seen the stage version that this will be a new, fresh way to see it. To get the raw emotion from close ups of actors is something you can't get from a stage play and it pays off.

8 out of 10

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.

The Dark Knight Rises

" A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended."


I will be honest. I did not have much, if any, desire to see The Dark Knight Rises. I was not a big fan of The Dark Knight. I will say that Heath Ledgers' Joker was absolutely amazing, but I thought the film as a whole was too...well, dark. With noting but good reviews and recommendations and all the press about the tragedy in CO I decided I would go see it. So I checked out an early morning show with about 20 other people in the theater.

Since I did not have much desire to see it I did not know what to expect. I also have not seen the Dark Knight in about 3 1/2 years, so I had not remembered much of what led up to the current film. One other thing that kept me from wanting to see the film was Anne Hathaway. I can't always believe her acting. I decided that since I was alone with no family around I might as well go spend some time alone in the theater.

The Dark Knight Rises picks up 8 years after the Dark Knight ended. Batman has gone into hiding after being blamed for the death of a public figure. Bruce Wayne has also shut himself up in his mansion. We see the appearance of Selina Kyle, aka Catwomen. She is a cat bugler who crosses paths with this films villain, Bane. Bane is played by a very large Tom Hardy, who seems to have gotten back into his "Bronson" workout ethic. Bane has plans to turn Gotham back over to the people and let anarchy rule, just like any good villain would.

One of the parts I liked about this film was that fact that for once the bad guy was truly better than the hero. There is a fight scene where you realize that Batman has no chance to physically beat Bane. Much like the the other films it is up to Batman to upset the evil plan to destroy Gotham. There are many obstacle and twists and I found myself wondering how it was going to end. Of course the final option was very obvious to figure out, but leading up to that was great.

The Dark Knight rises was not as dark as the last film. The story was great and the characters we developed well. I was never bored. The introduction of Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a welcome surprise. He was great addition and had a major role in the film. Gotham city looks more like NYC now and it is good to see Gotham in daylight. With a run time of 2:45 I was surprised to see it go by quickly. I told my wife that I would be willing to go see it with her for the second time. The depth of the story and the acting really sold me on this one. If there is another one, and it is as good as this one, I would be willing to go see it

9 out of 10

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

"When things get tricky in my life, I talk to my fish."


When I was in the theater waiting for my first screening of The Artist they showed a a preview for Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. That is one of the great things about going to see lesser known films is that you get to see trailers for more independent films and film festival selections. The trailer for this film was a good one and I really wanted to see it. Unfortunately, it was only in select theaters for a short time.

A rich sheik has dream of bringing the sport of salmon fishing into Yemen. His assistant, played by Emily Blunt, is tasked with the responsibility to make this a reality. She asks for the expertise of Dr. Alfred Jones, played by Ewan McGregor. He works for the British government in the department of fisheries. He is a sad man who is stuck in his life with a slow job and a wife who ignores him at best. His only joy in life is his fish pond.

With the help of the sheiks millions, the Prime Ministers PR person they begin the task of the impossible. They must first find away to keep the water cool and oxygenated. The second task is finding fish to make the run. The sheik is a wise man who offers advice and helps Alfred with his problems. Relationships rise and fall and tempers flare.

The scenes are beautiful. The shots of the rivers and the country are great. This film was based on the novel by the same name. A simple plot, but it is the story of the two leads that make up the rest. The tough relationships they are each in and the confidence they place in each other to control the one thing they both care about. I was amazed it was not seen in more theaters with the two leads being so popular. I hope more people get a chance to see this film.

7 out of 10

Beasts of the Southern Wild

"I see that I am a little piece of a big, big universe, and that makes it right.




"My wife and kids are out of town for a whole month. That leaves me with a lot of extra time. So for the first weekend alone I decided to go catch a movie that I head heard great things about and wanted to see it before it left the theaters. The film, Beasts of the Southern Wild, was a winner at Sundance and at Cannes. It is a truly beautiful movie.


Hushpuppy, played by newcomer Quvenzhane, is a six year old girl who lives in place nicknamed "The Bathtub." it is by the levee just outside New Orleans. She lives with her father Wink in a make shift house and they live off the land raising chickens for dinner and eating the fish. Her mother "swam away" when she was a baby. Leaving her with her father. she is not self sufficient and find herself causing accidents, but Hushpuppy has a gift. She can hear the animals heartbeat and it speaks to her.


The film is about hurricane Katrina and what it did to this little family. The brilliant part about it is that you never hear to it being referred as a hurricane. Instead, you see the hurricane through Hushpuppys eyes. We watch as her father, a bit drunk, make a stand during the storm and vows to stay no mater what even when the relief efforts come.


Beasts is shot with hand held cameras and from a low vantage point really making you feel like a child without you realizing it. The music in the film was amazing. The music could not have been more perfect for the film. A great blend of bayou music and a film score. I won't say I cried in the film, but it was a very emotional film. It was not as heavy as others, but enough to make you think and feel good. Some of the scenes at the end with "The Beasts" where quite beautiful.


I hope many people get to discover this hidden treasure. It was one of the best films I have seen in a long time. This will be my favorite undiscovered film of the year for sure. I hope to see it again. There is a line at the end of the film that sticks with me and haunts me at the same time. In a wonderful scene Hushpuppy and her friends are dancing with some women and she says:
"I can count the number of times someone has lifted me. I can count the number of times someone has lifted me on two fingers."


9.7 out of 10!!!