The Addams Family Values

I'll be totally clear, I don't hate this movie. In fact I enjoy this movie but does it surpass the first? Yes and no.

Our story focuses once again on Uncle Fester who ends up actually getting married to a seemingly nice lady named Debbie who turns out to be a money obssesed psycho. It happens. Meanwhile Gomez and Morticia have had their third child and due to Wednesday and Pugsley not liking the baby much along with Debbie's suggestion get sent to a summer camp. Now I think I can safely say everyone loves the camp scenes in this movie, and most will agree it is the best parts of the movie. But why exactly? It's by no means an admission to the marriage plot line being bad, but there's really not much going on except for several humorous attempts on Fester's life. So there's a hell of a lot of comedy in the camp scenes and genuinely has a conflict and story, and to be brutally honest I feel much the same way Wednesday and Pugsley feel toward the camp. I'd rather choke and die than go there, it's so....suburban. But it leads to some great comedy, this is so much more the film where Christina Ricci gets to shine, she's outstanding in this movie! Again, not to say the rest of the cast does bad cause Christopher Lloyd still does good and he is completely whipped in this movie which causes turmoil in the family which is an element I like, Anjelica Huston is still lovely and has some great lines, Carol Kane actually really cracked me up as the grandmother and I just adore Carol Kane so nothing but love there, and Raul Julia though not having much to do this film around still gives a great and very funny performance with a killer dance scene with Morticia. I think the reason this film does not surpass the first is, though it does have excellent scenes there's not much for the family to do, we're either focused on the marriage or the camp scenes despite there being a new member of the family. So it just doesn't give as much time to the other family members, and I know the entire conflict of the last movie is a bit shoehorned in because The Addams Family is above such scenarios but it still worked, and though the idea of a black widow marrying into the family could be quite funny not much is made of it. But you should still see it to judge it on it's own merits and to see if you liked it more than me. The only highlights are the camp scenes and Raul Julia, which is a shame because I love these actors and I love these characters very much and I know you can make entertaining stories and great humor from one of pop culture's most famous families. Regardless of decade or iteration, from the 60s series, to the 70s animated show, to friggin' Scooby-Doo, to these movies and beyond, The Addams Family always holds a place of undying love in my heart and I am always happy to see them time and again. Especially Lurch, because he's my favorite. I'm very interested to see what the new movie has in store, and already was putting it on my calendar just from seeing the comic strip designs for the characters, and I'll tell you what I think of it on Friday. But don't be afraid to pay a call on The Addams Family throughout this month, for it is always a grand spooky time in their house regardless of day or season. Until we meet again.

School Of Rock

You know, for a movie over 15 years old (and you just let that sink in for a minute) it honestly hasn't lost any of it's charm or enjoyment for me.

I can't remember exactly when I first saw School Of Rock, I know I definitely rented it at one point so I must have been fairly young maybe 10 or so, but it has a lasting impression on me. More on that later but first, story time! So our story begins with our man Jack Black as a guitar player named Dewey that gets kicked out of his old band, and in need of a steady gig impersonates his roomate who's a substitute teacher and gets into a prep school. After learning about his student's musical talents he forms a rock band and grows a great relationship with the kids as they perfect their craft for a battle of the bands event. First off, there is no way in hell that this movie could have worked without Jack Black, I mean he has that energy and appeal plus he can totally act and even play. He's the best part of the movie, but his co-stars aren't outshined. These are cool kids, pretty much perfect acting from all with extra love and admiration going to Summer, Zack, and Tomika. Granted some kids are more in the background but they get their moments and with an ensemble cast this big it was unavoidable. Bottom line, the kids are awesome! But what's the point of talking about the movie if you don't bring up the soundtrack? I mean geez this film practically groomed me for my music taste! This film introduced me to a lot of artists that I've come to enjoy and appreciate like The Doors, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC, bands I didn't know much about when I was younger but now am big fans of them all. If you straight up asked me what my favorite band is, it's either Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, or The Doors, it really did influence me that much. The music selection no matter how brief is really, really good with even the original songs being great. Lord knows I'd take a music class like that where I could be introduced to lots of different groups and appreciate their styles and songs. It really puts you in a good if not great mood by the end, it's easy to get invested in the story, to enjoy these characters and their interactions together. Jack Black is so good in this movie, he can talk to these kids about their problems and issues and be completely genuine while still having fun and being crazy. It's a damn good movie man, what can I say? I do hate the whole liar revealed nonsense, cause you know they're just gonna go rock out anyway, those scenes no matter the movie are padding. Plain and simple. But beyond that is there anything I even slightly dislike? Nope, I love how the opening shot is kind of a long take, I love all the actors, the story is original and fun, the music is all kinds of awesome, not much at all to hate here! 4 stars! See it again if you grew up with it, introduce it to your kids if they dig that kind of music, have fun with it, rock out, you just go have a ball. Okay I have to tell this story cause I have such good memories of this movie, waaaay back during the summer of 2007 I was on break at my grandparent's house, and Cartoon Network pretty much had a marathon of this movie for about 3 days and all I did was watch the movie, play some Guitar Hero (both 1 and 2), and had a great summer. I pretty much had my own version of Woodstock and it was pretty far out, granted it wasn't as massive or as wild as Woodstock but I loved every minute of it so I'm always in higher spirits when the School Of Rock starts rolling credits. And what's summer without some great tunes?

Toy Story 3

What we thought was the end.

Toy Story 3 is a good movie, I like the way the series has progressed but I have a few nitpicks if you can even call some of them that. It's a beautifully animated movie with just as much heart and care put into it as the last two movies, I got invested into it, I enjoy it, but there's some off things I need to bring up. Okay so we flash forward after a great opening by about 6 or 7 years, Andy is now 17 and headed to college (guess he was really good in school), and his poor toys have not been played with in years. Through a series of events our lovable lot get whisked away to a daycare center, and all seems well. You know, until it's revealed as a prison that would make Alcatraz look like a pleasant vacation spot, forcing our friends to try to find a way back home. I have no issue with this scenario, it brings up a lot of truths in this world for these characters, and the daycare setting is a brilliant idea for the toys to travel to. We meet a few new characters, Barbie finally meets a Ken whose even voiced by Michael Keaton (Yaaaay!), a few toys who might as well be a street tough gang from an 80s movie, and our "warden" of the daycare Lotso. I....ooh, I really don't like this bear. I hate him with a fiery vengeance the world has not seen for millenia, which is odd because villains have always been my favorite since the beginning but this fffffflip flappin bear is a massive prick. And his story tries soooo hard to elicit sympathy but garnered nothing but contempt from me, basically he was a happy go lucky bear yet somehow was left accidentally and instead of this kid's parents going back to get him they replace him, and he goes from Care Bear to controlling psycho in the span of oh about 5 seconds. He really does run the daycare like a combination of the warden from Shawshank and Jackie Treehorn from Road House. I swear if they sold legit toys of him I may have to take the Shaq-Fu angle and dedicate my life to destroying every one of them. The hate was so real, it damaged my love of the movie. I really don't want to watch this movie again and all because of a jerk bear. I guess that's a good villain if they can pull that sort of reaction out of a person but God, I need to take a woodchipper and a tank of gasoline to that bear for me to feel better. But I dig the whole prison escape feel the movie has for a good majority of it's length, and sweet Jesus does it get dark at that climax. I mean. Whoa. I'm not saying it's too dark or it's going to severely screw your kid up but even I was shocked to see it get that bleak. But if Don Bluth has taught us anything as long as the movie has a happy ending you can do whatever the hell you want with kid's emotions. Speaking of endings, this ending...sort of perplexes me. The fact that Andy was fully ready to take Woody to college with him seems well, stupid. I had favorite toys I held onto even to this day, but I didn't need to take them to COLLEGE with me. And when he introduces all the toys to a little girl, who I swear is the most pwecious thing in human existence, and has one final playtime I just, ugh. I'm not saying it's forced or contrived or even bad. But seriously, what is this ending? Even on my first viewing of this movie which I will freely admit I did not see opening day, nor did I not see it when it hit video, hell I didn't even see it until about 3 years after it came out when I was in highschool, the ending didn't do much for me. Oh sure, it's a touching and very bittersweet ending but if Andy came by, told the little girl about them and then left with a bittersweet but ultimately happy expression on his face, I'd pretty much call it perfect. Maybe it's too sweet that I practically got 5 different types of diabeetus from it, and maybe I'm an old cynical bastard that doesn't like anything anymore, but I still enjoyed it. But I mainly blame it on the bear. I should have seen stuffing shoot out in 80 different directions when he went through those cutting blades. Why am I so angry?? I don't know! Toy Story 3 is a good movie, I still recommend it, I give it a solid 3 stars, it just had elements that, shall we say diminsihed my enjoyment factor. Other than one character, and one ending, I very much liked the movie, maybe not loved but certainly not hated. All that's left to say is, this is not over bears!!

But how will Toy Story 4 impact the series? It ended the best way it could, so is the fourth movie going to be a completely unnecessary sequel and a quick cash grab, or is it going to be a welcome and fine addition to the series? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Toy Story 2

It's better than I remember.

I love Toy Story, it is an excellent film and still so enjoyable to this day. I watched both Toy Story 1 and 2 when I was a kid on VHS, a lot. And yet now as I'm older I love it so much more. I'm not even sure what it is, the humor is great with some moments that made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe, the story takes new ideas and gives a bit more of an emotional tale, the animation is amazing, Toy Story 2 is without a doubt a superior film and another rare awesome sequel that you come across now and then. I love how the story goes, the fact that Woody gets damaged and then is stolen is a great way to hold interest for the whole movie and a handful of our favorite toys set out to rescue him. But in the meantime Woody comes to discover he's actually a rare toy and meets toys from the same line as him, a cowgirl named Jessie who almost singlehandedly makes the movie surpass the first, a fun horse Bullseye, and the astronaut prejudiced Prospector. Now these 3 characters alone bring so much to the table it's crazy. Bullseye is just a fun character and come on, what's a cowboy without a horse? The Prospector brings up a lot of important things to be seen in the next movie, and actually brings up the point to Woody that Andy won't be a kid forever. Ugh, those are such great moments! Which takes us to Jessie, and she is incredibly active with a bubbly personality but she has major emotional baggage that the movie isn't afraid to shy away from. It's her flashback sequence alone that really does push this movie from really good to great, it's a kind of powerful scene that can be understood by kids possibly more than adults. Kids grow up and change a lot, it may not seem like it but they really do, I had tons of toys as a kid and there were some that I lost, some that were replaced by new favorites, and some that got damaged, and this happened while I was still a kid. Though the humor is in my opinion better than ever, there's always something more to notice as time goes by. Some of it's little things like the abundance of Star Wars sound effects in the opening, or that surprisingly soothing and hypnotic repair of Woody's arm to more big things like how Woody is actually a family toy meaning he was passed down probably from his dad or uncle because he was around in the late 50s right before the big space race boom, or a certain fan theory that seems much too credible to dismiss but we will cover that next time. And I gotta say the animation for this movie looks outstanding, for a movie that's 20 years old some of this stuff looks like today's Pixar animation, I was thoroughly impressed by the colors and expressions of characters. Like jeez, I can't even imagine how I'll take Toy Story 3 because I have my own history with it but again, another thing for another time. Toy Story 2 is that perfect continuation of a great series, I wouldn't be surprised at all if some people said it was The Empire Strikes Back of the series, though for less obvious reasons. It really does improve and continue to innovate this world that Pixar banked everything on and it payed off. For only the 3rd film in their library, they hit their stride quick and is still making movies today. Yet another 4 stars, 10/10, could not recommend it enough! Definitely go back and check it out if it's been a few years, it might stir up some old memories for you too.