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?

Despicable Me 3

I hate it when I'm right!

This is the weakest Despicable Me movie, it's not even a fraction as funny as the last two, our main characters are still likable, the story is uneventful. I mean when you hear that Gru has a brother, and they do villain stuff, you expect them to kinda have fun with it, and they do.....in one single scene. It was just so underwhelming. I liked the villain but only because I love the 80s, so that's a positive (But not really). I don't know guys, this just really landed flat on me. Pretty much if you watched the trailers, you saw the movie. All the funny parts were in the trailer, the entire movie was in the trailer, so I'm gonna say it! Just watch the trailer. I do have to admit, the people in the theater enjoyed it and there were all kinds there, single persons, couples (even older than me), and of course families so maybe I'm wrong.

Despicable Me 2

Okay, I surprisingly find this movie better than the last.

So Despicable Me 2 picks up about a year after the last with Gru being a single father, as he is recruited by an organization to help solve a case. And then, well a lot of stuff happens. Gru has a partner Lucy played hysterically by Kristen Wiig and they kinda got a thing going on, minions are disappearing left and right, and Margot has a crush. Boy that sounded like a bad recap to a tv show didn't it? So what do I think of this movie? I actually really like it, the characters have more depth to them, the comedy had me on the floor laughing at parts in fact I can sum the comedy to me in a single phrase: Comes in strong bursts. When a joke hits, it hits like a sandbag alright? Surprisingly most the things I laugh at in these movie are just tiny details in the character's design or how they spoke their lines, and not much the material intended to make you laugh. Good or bad? You make the call! But yeah, the comedy was waaaaay better than the first, the characters I thought were more interesting (although I will admit Gru is way more awesome when he is evil), and I like the plot more. So I can easily say this is a wonderful family film with excellent animation, great voice acting, bizarre yet effective jokes, and does make me want to see what happens next in this series. I'm thinking a double feature tomorrow, two brand spanking new movies out in theaters. Hopefully it will work out.

Despicable Me

Let me make one thing perfectly clear, I do not hate this movie. I'm going to repeat that again, I do NOT hate this movie.

It took me years to watch this movie, you gotta watch Despicable Me, it's so funny, the minions are hilarious, blah, blah, blah! I heard that for like 3 damn years! The minion thing was bad, it wasn't like now where they are on everything in the flippin' universe but it was still pretty bad. I was pessimistic towards it. But when I was finally forced to watch it, I found an okay movie. Now hold your fire, and do not castrate me, Despicable Me is a good movie. It's a great family movie to watch with an original idea, fun characters, and good bits of comedy. It is not Miyazaki, it is not Disney, it's not even really Don Bleuth in terms of acclaim. Again, let me explain. While the plot is decent, focusing on a villain who tries to steal the moon (brownie points for dreaming big hun.) and in the process adopts 3 little girls in order to accomplish his plan, it still falls into certain tropes. The guy who's kind of an ass but has a heart of gold will come to love and appreciate the girls he originally did not like, and they'll all live happily ever after. Doesn't take much beyond a 5th grader's intellect to guess where the movie goes. While the animation style is quite decent, some shots did look very clunky and rigid while other's were near flawless in execution. I know animation is the hardest job in the world, so I can't bash it much. Seriously the best parts of the movie are the girls and when Gru tries to attempt to steal a shrink ray, it just has a very Chuck Jones or Tex Avery style straight out of a Roadrunner cartoon, and I love that. The girls are extremely cute, like to the point you want to adopt them yourself but I swear I got the diabeetus when the littlest girl Agnes was on screen. The minions are not in the forefront of this movie, and they're comedy is....hit and miss. I'm either laughing my ass off or I'm just begging for the scene to end. My main question is, what was the target audience for this movie? Kids. Okay, how old? We talking kindergarten to maybe 6th grade? Not that there is a problem with that, I just am very curious since it kinda exploded and is now accesible to all ages from preschoolers to past fully grown adults. So overall, Despicable Me is indeed a good family movie and is great to watch if you just want a movie night with your kiddos but honestly I just am not that in love with it. Do I like it? Sure! Do I want to see the 3rd movie? Yeah, I mean that's why I'm doing this right? I'd tell you to rent or buy it but chances are every household owns a copy so there you go.