Brave Review

I will explain my self for the lack of video first. It needs to be done seeing as I feel some people were hoping for it over a written one.

First of all- it was at a drive ins, and was a double feature (Brave and Avengers) soooo we didn’t leave till 1:30….I was swamped…and had to be up early to watch Korra….I have priorities (I’ll discuss my reaction of Korra later maybe…kinda…OMG IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!)

Anyhoo yeah…with that out of the way hopefully my outbursts in the tearbending form shall be under wraps as I bring you the first Disney/Pixar movie since the death of Steve Jobbs. (I say that because the movie Brave…was dedicated to him and I feel it was rightfully good that it was.)

Now as everyone figured, this took place in (we can only assume) Scotland. Following the young princess Merida (best princess name to date in my opinion) growing up from a cute big headed poofy haired Scottish girl with a toy bow to the bad ass archer daughter of Legolas…I mean King Fergus the Bear King.

This movie was very true to the fashion of most Disney Princesses, minus one key factor. A “love interest” Merida is probably my new favorite because she doesn’t WISH to be married. She is fifteen and not ready for all of that. She knows that tradition dictates her to be betrothed to someone from one of the other three clans. Her mother has seen to that, but she is just too much like the Will o’ the Wisps (look it up I am not detouring for that lol)

So with that said I am gonna start with Part 1, the set up and Cast of Brave.


Part 1 -Cast Introduction.



Merida- you saw her above and you know her from all the previews. She is the spunky little poofy red head (WOOO) who loves her bow, her horse Angus and her family. She also loves being free to be herself. Like Jasmine before her and Ariel, along with every other Disney churned out Princess, Merida was raised lovingly yet somehow something was too strict to her. (this case her mother Queen Elinor being a controling mother preparing her for adulthood/queendom.
Merida is a good person, funny, witty and overall pretty cool. I don’t doubt if they made her older in the story (reaching 18 or already passed 18) she’d be really beautiful, however because as always- this IS a coming of age type story- she is 15 and just hittin puberty. (her mood swings prove this often.) The voice actress picked for her was perfect my only issue was her amount of complaining. Call it sexist but the story felt like she flip flopped too much and had little actual conviction in her complaints. Yes she was right to complain about them, but it fell short of her complaining out of genuine distaste instead of “I’m 15 and my mother is being a bitch, I’m gonna piss and moan like a wench.” Other then that I loved her, by far one of the best characters I’ve seen from Disney since Rapunzel and Tiana.


King Fergus

Billy Connolly people! King Fergus made me laugh, made me enjoy his pressence and over all reminded me of what a bad ass yet awesome disney dad was like. He was that father that most girls wanted to have and most guys want to become. The almost simple minded but fun and free spirited father and devoted husband but kind and just ruler of his kingdom. Having a fifteen year old daughter, three sons and a very stubborn wife, Fergus does what he knows best to stay alive- he has fun. With his two dogs and daughter he kicks back, makes jokes and pushes every button on his wife from grabbing her ass to playing stupid when she is mad at him.
Fergus also is a devoted father, he protects his daughter from a bear at the cost of his leg and then again in the castle. Doing this with little to no regard for his own safety, Fergus is that father everyone feels a man should be. (even when he is playing the fool)



Queen Elinor

Ok I am going to admit- she bothered me sometimes mostly because it seemed that for the first act she had no character, just a bothersome, stick up her ass mother. She had little sense of fun and adventure yet married a warrior husband and had a daughter bent on never growing up to be a Queen like her. Call it writing issues or something but I feel that they made her this way to make the audience not like her and grow to like her wisdom. Seeing as every story of this sort needed a hard ass bad person that really had your best intentions at heart, even if you wanted to bash her face with an ax just because she told you to not bring your weapon to the table…
The voice actress was Emma Thompson and wow I was surprised but enjoyed it, proving that a good actor/actress doesn’t need to be visually there to give a great performance. Convincing the audience of her motives was something Queen Elinor did with gusto and flawless effort. Many MANY kuddos to her.




The Triplets-

Oh ….. My……..God….these kids, I love them. I want them as my little minions. For silent devils I adored them. Charlie Chaplin would have been proud of their ability to convey everything about them, without a spoken word. Using their size, numbers and wit to pull pranks, steal, and cause mass mischief, the boys quickly became my favorite source of laughter in the movie.

Their names Hamish, Harris, and Hubert. Not sure which was which but you know what? I don’t care they rocked my socks, made me laugh, they were adorable when needed to be along with being everything you expect from red headed multiple siblings…Move over Fred and George, these three got your number and they want your spot.

These three were actually surprisingly not “anti Merida” they helped her do things when she asked and was actually quite like obedient servants to her when it came to the plot. Showing that even siblings as divided by age as them are- will help each other out….for a years worth of desserts.






Part 2
The First Act and Plot development.

Now as you can guess from the above section, Merida is the “I wanna be ME” type girl while her mother and the rest of the world (majority wise) says “oh well, grow up and be like us.”

This was the set up and the conflict we were provided at first glance and it was a pretty good set up. Merida is a confident, strong, independent girl. Especially for her age. She does what she is told but likes to add her own spice to it, which isn’t bad. Actually it’s good, it shows that she listens and follows the rules for the most part but even the oldest traditions change over time due to one reason or another, she understood this and it just so happened she wanted to change every tradition that she was supposed to take part in. Mostly because it felt wrong to her, it suffocated her (sometimes literally) Elinor- probably the first in a long time Disney Princess- MOTHER who wasn’t wicked step parent or evil to the core. All her problem was- was a generation gap. She grew up with a lot less then her daughter and  felt that she HAD to give that life to Merida not realizing that shockingly the child wanted nothing to do with it, she had rather been able to have fun and be a kid. No throne, no nothing.

King Fergus was never really any help, he did slightly feel the need to provoke his wife by not taking the situation seriously but in his defense why should he have, the problem wasn’t a world crippling crisis. It was a girl going through the change to adult hood from childhood and she wanted to blaze her own trail, that is always going to be hard, it’s going to be a challenge and she will eventually get hurt a bit on the way, that’s life. Her mother however wanted to give her the easy, traveled route.

Now I know you’re thinking this “He repeats this mantra a lot so far, doesn’t anything else happen?”

Well sadly- not really, that was my issue with this story. We find out that Elinor is having the Other 3 Lords of Clans come to try and win Merida’s hand in marriage. Now this is age appropriate for the times. Suitors coming to try winning the parents approval, get a fixed marriage and be done with it…oh wait, you’re telling me Merida got the balls in the family and decides to say fuck you to that. Alrighty we got a movie…sorta…what’s the conflict? Mother daughter yelling….oh…
PLOT TWIST POWERS ACTIVATE! FORM OF CRAZY BEAR CARVING WITCH!! (no really this hag carves more wooden bears then a hooker makes money in tip.) I am serious, a crazy old lady is a witch and she trades Merida a potion to “change ‘er fayte’ for a medallion she had. (oh and every bear in the shop….I’ll get to that later)

The potion is in the form of le cake.

This potion is to be eaten by the Queen and poof change of fate. Sounds simple. But there is a catch that the Hag can’t remember. Oh well we’ll probably find out later, nothing major I bet.



Part 3- The resolution/overall thought.


so that cake? well it did work…turned Elinor into the bear she was inside. No not gay fat man bear, like giant black furry roaring bear…with poise and grace of a Queen….I’m serious…even in a bear form- Elinor tries being all “queeney” It was funny and cool.


To get her out of the castle and fix her, Merida asks the brothers to help, which oh god they love doing. It was prank central to them. Distracting Fergus and all the other clans through the castle allowing Merida and Elinor to escape, classic stuff. Resulted in the complete torment of one of the poor servant ladies…she just never got a break.

However after the girls leave- well lets just say the triplets got hungry…then cuter…in the form of bear cubs….with awesome prankster powers. One of them even got to motorboat the poor servant I mentioned earlier….over a key…I’m not kidding he does, and his brothers do the “Omg did you just see that?!” point/face.
Well we shall be skipping over the development of how to bring back the Queen to her human form because you know Pixar and Disney wrote out the hard work it would really have taken because they wanted to cover the movie in a few day span. I personally can’t really explain it because it’s seriously that- lacking hard work to break a bond between mother and daughter and instead poof instant closeness again through sarcasm and humor eventually leading to actual realization. Little effort/struggle put in…aside form Fergus trying to kill his bear-wife. You know, nothing major. (I kinda think that this was where the movie broke for me….it went from really innovative/new/original to “shit we are owned by Disney…we gotta follow that step by step plan they gave us!!”

Of course the way to bring back Elinor was quite interesting, I won’t ruin that for you seeing as I feel it was the most clever plot device in the story. I will say however I do enjoy that in the end of it all, Merida convinced her mother to let her be her. She didn’t like everything she did but she had to learn Merida would have to make her own way in the world, not follow her footsteps. Also you learn that a lot of the lessons that the two tried to teach the other, were one in the same. Just viewed from opposing sides of the coin. Teaching the audience that just because you don’t agree with a method someone has- don’t be afraid to listen to it if the end result is the same as yours, both sides might be right, but together you might be able to discover a third way or something. Besides….it’s disney there are morals about happy people, loving everyone, being nice, pranksters are the shit, you know all that good moral stuff Jesus would promote in his smashing best seller “The Bible 2- Jesus gets WiFi!” Now in E-book form and hard cover at your local book store :D



So yeah…again sorry I didn’t get to video the review, I feel that this movie would have been better reviewed in film form but honestly 12 hours after watching it, did nothing for the memory/initial after viewing review mindset you need. I do plan on seeing it again maybe in the theatres not drive ins, and when I do- I might just video review it then, giving me the ability to cover everything. Not saying this was a bad review but it is not going to be my best. Did I like Brave- YES. Would I recommend it? - Of course, to everyone of all ages. It is great, funny, emotional, it does speak to a generation that is trying to push their parents away too soon forgetting that our parents yes are always there for us but sometimes we push them to become things we regret.

Brave- the best animated movie I’ve seen all year. Hopefully it is a chance for Disney and those guys to get back on track on how to make good movies/stories.  If not, I’ll always have Merida to inspire me to be awesome :D RED HEAD POWER!!!
till next time :D

9 months ago

it's been 9 month-ish since I started publishing a book, feels like a week has gone by o.o

hasn't been dull though. I've learned quite a bit, expanded more then I ever thought I'd have to, and gained a confidence I knew was there but didn't think I had the right to express. Some call it an inflated sense of self/arrogance, but I know- it's pride. I've done something FEW do now a days- I finished a book I started 10 years prior.

and yes I'd like some fries with that to those who think little of that accomplishment

barnes and noble people watch

first odd person of the day- a mother and her daughter, the daughter just picked up a copy of twilight and asked her mother “why does this store sell bad books if no one buys them.” (should note the daughter is I am guessing 10-13ish…I have hope for the future of teen girls, granted it was kinda squashed when she looked down the anime/sci fi section and wondered why they had one of those too….she held on to it as long as she could I think

up, within a few minutes, number two pops up, an Asian couple with three kids. Now the mother and father (I presume) have real books and are enjoying them it seems. However the kids….are complaining how there are too many books and not enough kindles/nooks to read from, they don’t like books they like kindles/nook books because they are the better version. I think I know why the parents are now engrossed in their books and ignoring their kids…..


Should probably note I’ve only been here for like half hourish and I’ve noticed that the more I pay attention the more I realize I am completely really unnoticed in my little corner near the customer service section haha only like two people have really NOTICED me because they heard my headphones and said they liked my music….go me ^.^
There are days I wish I could video this and be like an announcer at a horse race so that it’d be funnier…but yeah…people’d notice, get mad and beat my ass with the latest copy of 50 shades of gray…..
Lady number 3- standing near me and staring at the bookshelf, JUST noticed her still there, she appeared about 5 minutes after I sat down and set up….she is STILL here….staring at the same shelf…I think she is having lag…should probably stop downloading my stuff and let her buffer xD


anyone else ever come to barnes and noble and feel underderssed/out of place? I always do, I see all these customers dressed nicer then me, then look at myself and go “….is this like a social thing you do? Do you dress up to stare at books/read/purchase books/get starbucks?!”


god that is gonna bug me…why do all these customers aside from like ME…dress in nicer clothing, clean shaved, etc…. EVEN THE KIDS ARE ALL DRESSED NICE?!?


Red flag!!! RED FLAG ALERT!!! Old guy like emperor palpatine old asking for a copy of 50 shades of gray and soul surfing for his wife….someone tell me that isn’t weird?!?


I think the starbucks ninjas know I am here, I’ve been stared at a few times by the starbucks people for munching on combos and not listening to their crappy instrumental music that really isn’t that relaxing, it’s kinda weird. I still wanna go into a starbucks one day with a SHIT LOAD of dunkin donuts crap and be like “yeah hi…I just need your internet…only be a minute.”


oh gender stereotypes you give me material to write about haha


two women, wanna say late twenties early thirties, in the sports/health section thing, one of them is looking at a hunting book and is like afraid to be looking at it so when she notices me behind her she quickly puts it back and grabs a health food book and pretends to be reading it intently.


I SAW WAHT YOU DID WOMAN!


anyone else ever wanna go up to the workers of barnes or any book store and ask where the literotica is? go with a straight face and be like yeah, you see porn just isn’t good enough too fake I like the written works of someone who knows the ins and outs of sex, know any good authors like that?


…well I lost hope for one girl who was holding a bunch of manga at the counter, before checking out she was like “oh yeah I was wondering I hoped you had Rush Limbaugh’s newest book still I want to read it, I love watching him on tv.”…dear god I’ve never seen a cashier/check out clerk glare so much for a question like that. Granted I probably just made the biggest “WTF!? face ever hearing it.”


Side note- it’s 10:40 now…I have until 2 pm before I leave….this is gonnnnnna be funnnnn >.> someone get the popcorn goin you might be in for a wild read.


gonna start a new entry later after I find a new spot to sit, the one I have now lacks a table and honestly the chair is uncomfy as fuuuuuhck. plus I need an outlet soon >.<

ugh

between my random reviews I've done.
Zombie march this past month.
graduations for friends.
 book publishing stuff.
randomly designing clothing that I'd want to make at some point.
and a bunch of other stuff within the past like MONTH/ish

I THINK I am a bit wiped out. >.<

Ink

Alright so I only found this movie by accident, it was because I was listening to music on youtube and someone actually use this movie as the topic of their fan made music video. Watching the music video I was curious to check out a movie that was based on what I watched. Plus over all for an indie movie it looked good.
Now I first should probably set up the movie that way you get the idea of why my mind had to actually be curious to investigate the movie. So here is the IMDB’s quick blurb about it.
As the light fades and the city goes to sleep, two forces emerge. They are invisible except for the power they exert over us in our sleep, battling for our souls through dreams. One force delivers hope and strength through good dreams; the other infuses the subconscious with desperation through nightmares. John (Chris Kelly) and Emma (Quinn Hunchar), Father and Daughter are wrenched into this fantastical dream world battle, forced to fight for John’s soul and to save Emma from an eternal nightmare. Separate in their journey, they encounter unusual characters that exist only in their subconscious. Or do they? Ink is a high-concept visual thriller that weaves seamlessly between the conscious and the subconscious. Ink has been hailed as the new “it” movie and compared to cult classics Brazil, Donnie Darko, The Matrix, Dark City and Pan’s Labyrinth.





Now, before you really wonder, does it really live up to Darko? Labryinth and Matrix- I personally didn’t THINK SO. It was a good, I enjoyed it and would probably watch it again at some point in the future. However I can’t say that I was BLOWN away by the movie over all. Concept wise, yes, product that I was presented with- maybe. Alright on to the review.


Part I- Set Up (Over all 3/5 for the set up and first act)

Alright I am not gonna lie, it started out weird and wasn’t sure really what was happening, I mean it wasn’t like “O.O DEAR LORD WHAT IS GOING ON!!!” But I did have to rewatch it just to make sure I was actually getting what I thought I saw. But no, the idea is not thrown at you, the opening plot device is actually laid down in a bread crumb fashion, causing those who rely on the painfully obvious to actually do more then veg during a movie.
I didn’t care much for some of the acting. It just didn’t seem convincing to me at some points and one of them was actually a main character- the father. Sorry but driving down a busy city street screaming fuck for no apparent reason to the view does not make me relate. Was funny though just because hearing some yell fuck so much for again, no reason. It just made me giggle.


Part II- The Cast (Over all again, 3/5 the act it self was better then the cast development)

Alright so this movie follows John (the father) and Emma (the I wanna say 4-7 year old girl) as the story plays out. It does jump back and forth every so often and it isn’t very good at switching like most movies do. Maybe that was a budget choice, being Indie I am not going to hold it against them, I am just going to point it out, if you’re gonna be following two characters like that- end their segments a little better so that we are not left wondering what we missed or whatever.
Anyway, yeah during the second act we start to learn more about John and Emma through a lot of flash backs by John or arguments between him and Emma’s maternal grandfather- who we really don’t get to know either…shame he seemed like a guy I’d really go for in the end lol. (Yeah if you like character development more then story- avoid this movie, because honestly the character development portion is kinda lacking in some areas of the film.)
We also get to know Ink, Liev, the Blind Pathfinder….OH and- Mr. Black punchy man and chick with white tank top that really has badly written lines. (That is what I have dubbed them)
Talking actually takes off in this act in the sense of conversations between cast members where you actually can grab at straws to what is going on, and I won’t lie- the pathfinder with electrical tape ‘x’ing his eyes out…he was awesome.


Part III- The Plot Developing to Conclusion (This one shockingly will be getting a 3 and 1/2 out of 5. You’ll see why though.)

Alright so we have met the cast and learned that the story tellers (good guys) and incubi (bad guys) are at an unspoken, unexplained, undiscussed war. For really - no reason. Other then to battle over who gets to implant dreams into, well…US. Yeah not kidding they live in a parallel universe and affect what dreams we have but yet given the actual option to reveal what started this “good dream v nightmare war” we don’t know. Personally I think that the first incubi was just a little spitfuck who pissed off the wrong chick. (The story tellers are primarily female and the few men they seem to have- are kinda not ‘manly’ while the Incubi are ALL MEN)

Now back to the story- Ink (a drifter) has kidnapped Emma’s soul and is taking her to the Incubi to offer her up so that he can become one of them. Not gonna lie- until they revealed his face….I liked him a lot. I gained my interest back though literally at the end when everything came full circle. It was the face though that just bugged me. Anyway, yeah during that journey (he has to go the long way because Liev (Emma’s Dream….body…guard…stalker…weird thing) broke the little hand drum that Ink uses to jump from place to place….I think (unsure really how that thing was supposed to work especially seeing as no one really explained on it.)

Yeah but back to the real world, Emma is in a Coma due to her lack of a soul. With this however the story tellers think that by having her father reunite with her physically, as a loving father should do with his near dying daughter, it’ll break her sickness and wake her up. (Because you know- fuck modern medicine, if your kids in a coma, it just means some other dimensional creature took her soul and is gonna go all virgin sacrifice on her ass just to get a black and white tv screen for a face and creepy 70s glasses.)


  Now back to the plot/wrap up. Not gonna lie the ending was GREAT…until it ended. I mean the set up to end was awesome (not the BIG climatic fight I expected but that fight was more mental/emotional then physical for everyone- a lot of revelations, revealing of truths, etc) the physical fighting was cool, the story tellers fighting the incubi trying to take John in a hospital while he walked to find his daughter in the same hospital. All the while the blind path finder is off running and doing something that will make things all the better. And Ink discovers his true self leading to a revelation of kinda awesomeness.


So it ends happily and things go well for kinda everyone, you know aside from the fact that now Emma knows that there is another dimension of people, all of them you know- INFECTING US with dreams…fighting for our souls, capable of taking them, possessing them, etc. you know I wanna know what happens to her. No really. the mental trauma of waking up form that “nightmare” is just complete bull shit. Does she go for therapy? Does she some how learn to become one of the story tellers because of her good heart? Does the incubi come back in a fiery vengeance for the swift kick to the nuts? This is where I was left annoyed- most movies that end with questions- are small ones, you know. the Did they get together, did the good side characters get a good ending etc. Not this much wtf-ery.


So yeah. That is Ink. (Reason it might have sucked in this review is that I try to avoid giving spoilers) I recommend the movie. It was great, but if you’re one of those people (like me) who want a cohesive story, plot development, story expansion, character growth- avoid it like the plague. It’s an indie movie first, foremost and last. It reminds you of it a lot. Causing you to actually get upset with somethings. I mean if this had a greater budget and was Hollywood done with the same cast that it had- maybe I’d be less pissy. Again…maybe. There were a lot of plot holes I noticed but they were plot relevant so I am gonna let you watch it to find out.
Ink- Unbiased (never seen or heard of it before) review- 8/10
Ink- pre watching expectations- 5/10 honestly (looked like a quick thrill nothing more)
so yeah I reviewed something again…tis been a while but I think I did good.
Can anyone can think of a movie I should possibly review next?