The Blob

"Beware of The Blob

It creeps and leaps

And glides and slides

Across the floor

Right through the door

And all around the wall

A splotch, a blotch

Be careful of The Blob"

So opens the classic 1958 horror movie, The Blob. Let me start by saying that I don't do horror movies. I don't like slashers, I don't like scary, I don't like horror. I can tolerate suspense and once I've seen a movie I can usually watch it again since I know what's going to happen. However, classic horror movies are a different story. I find them hilarious. Especially the Universal monster movies. They're cheesy and ridiculous and I love them. So you can understand how excited I was to watch The Blob, an excitement that only increased once I heard the theme song. It's totally my new favorite song; I even bought it on iTunes after we finished the movie. 

Watching movies with my family is always an experience. With The Blob, it started early in the movie. My dad asked what year the movie was made and my mom responded "19cheesy". She then equated the Blob sticking to the old man to the spray-on shoes in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. She preceded to gasp in (fake) horror throughout the rest of the movie whenever the Blob grew larger. I, on the other hand, struggled not to laugh through a large portion of the movie. "Campy" comes to mind when I think of the film, along with "cheesy" and "ridiculous". Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie. It was great and I'm glad I finally got the chance to watch it. But movies like The Blob or Dracula or Frankenstein just make me laugh. They're the kind of horror/monster movies that I would marathon-watch on Halloween. Note to self: spend Halloween watching old, ridiculous horror/monster movies. I'm also glad that I can finally say I've seen a Steve McQueen movie. And yes, he was certainly attractive. Now I just need to watch one of his more serious movies. 

Two things that I found especially funny in the movie: 1. Movie tickets were much cheaper back then; they were complaining about leaving during the movie and wasting their 80 cents. I wish tickets were still that cheap. 2. The fact that the Blob is so scary. To me it looks like a giant ball of jello or something. It's not scary at all. But you have to enjoy the solution to stopping the Blob: freezing it. They send the Blob to the Arctic so it stays frozen. Too bad the polar ice caps are melting and global warming is happening. Guess the Blob is going to make a comeback. 

Other than the theme song, my favorite thing was one of the options on the DVD menu. It said "color bars". And yes, it meant the color bar test pattern. If you clicked on it, an image of color bars showed up. They created a whole option on the DVD menu for color bars. How authentic. 

Divergent

I never had the chance to see Divergent while it was in theaters. I kind of wanted to but I was afraid it was going to be like half the other YA series out there. I still haven't read the series, although my mom keeps begging me to, but I have finally seen the movie. I can definitely say that I'll be reading the series soon now. I really liked the movie. It was interesting and thought-provoking but not overly YA. It was a good mix of sci-fi and reality, in a manner that is different from other books or movies like it. There are several points that I really liked about the movie which I'll be discussing after a brief summary.

The story is set in the future, in post-apocalyptic Chicago (no explanation behind the apocalypse is given but that's ok). Society is split into 5 factions, each one based on a disposition: Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (honest), Dauntless (brave), and Erudite (intelligent). Every year, all 16 year olds take a test to determine which faction they belong in. They can chose to ignore their results and just pick a faction, but either way, if you leave your birth faction you cut ties with any family. Faction before blood. Beatrice takes the test but the results are inconclusive. She is one of the few people who is Divergent. She makes the choice to leave Abnegation and join Dauntless, where she changes her name to Tris. Things aren't good in the beginning but she manages to toughen up and become top of her class. Then Erudite goes crazy and tries to wipe out Divergents and Abnegation. Tris and Four, her instructor in Dauntless and then boyfriend who is also Divergent, stop the attack on Abnegation and go on the run. There, brief summary.

So, what I liked about the movie. First off, there was no love triangle. I'm sick and tired of every YA story having a love triangle. Heck, I'm tired of any chick flick or romantic movie having a love triangle. It's cliche and annoying. But Divergent had no love triangle. And the romance wasn't even a major focus; it was clear that they had feelings for each other but it happened slowly and over time. I'm all about romance; I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. But that doesn't mean I necessarily want a girly "Oh my gosh, I love you and I'll die without you and I want to have your babies" kind of movie. Unless it's Jane Austen, I generally need more than just romance. So the fact that Divergent is about more than the relationship between Tris and Four is very appealing to me. Now as I've said, I haven't read the books yet so for all I know that changes in the later books. But for now, it works for me.

Now it's possible that the words "post-apocalyptic YA series" brings to mind another series that you've probably heard of called The Hunger Games. Divergent is similar; it's post-apocalyptic, people are split into different groups, someone is trying to wipe out one of those groups. However, the premise is different (and I almost like it better than the premise for The Hunger Games). People aren't split just randomly and assigned something to mine or create or catch. Instead they are split by dispositions, by a personality trait. Then, based on that trait, the Factions work in jobs that need that trait. Candor are judges, Dauntless are police, etc. I love the idea. It's original and brilliant. And it would work except for Divergents, for the whole point of the series. The problem is that people aren't just one thing. People are kind and brave and intelligent. The system sounds plausible but people aren't made like that. The Erudite leader, Jeanine, keeps saying that the real enemy is humanity and free will. She's all about conformity but she wants things to be her way. For someone in the Faction of intelligence, she is very ruthless and hardhearted. It's interesting; I like it.

I really did enjoy the movie. The story moved at a nice pace. If it had been a standalone movie it might have seemed slow, but as the first movie of a series it was the perfect setup. I liked being able to watch Tris go from a weak girl from Abnegation to a strong young woman of Dauntless. I think the casting was perfect. I was afraid I wouldn't like Shailene Woodley because of her association with The Fault in Our Stars, something I have neither seen nor read and have no inclination to. However I really liked her as Tris and thought she did a good job going from naive to serious. And of course I can't complain about Theo James too much, although I'm also a fan of Jai Courtney. But overall, I really enjoyed the movie and I'm excited to finally read the series.

In Remembrance of Robin Williams

As I'm sure you all know, Robin Williams died earlier tonight. He was definitely one of the funniest actors I've ever seen, not to mention being a good actor in general. I can't remember the first movie I saw him in. Obviously Aladdin is up there but I wouldn't have known at the time that Williams played the Genie. However it remains one of my favorite movies of his.

Williams was known for being incredibly funny. When Christopher Reeves was in the hospital after his horseback riding accident, Williams visited him pretending to be a Russian doctor. Reeves said his visit was one of the first times he laughed after his accident. During filming for Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg frequently called Williams and had him tell jokes over the phone to cheer up the cast and crew. This was during filming for Aladdin so Williams mostly spoke as the Genie. He also improvised most of his lines in Aladdin, and did a very good job at it as his lines are some of the best.

I think we can all agree that his role as Genie is one of our favorites. Not to mention Mrs. Doubtfire, which is incredibly hilarious and heartwarming. I also love him as Peter Pan in Hook. It's one of my favorite versions of Peter Pan and I think Williams did a great job of portraying a grown-up Peter. I also love Jumanji, especially his scraggly beard near the beginning. The way that Williams gave some of the lines in the movie and his absolute fear of the game make the movie seem more real and are part of what I love about the movie. His turn as Teddy Roosevelt in Night at the Museum and its sequels is adorable, and I'm glad they were able to finish the last movie before his untimely death. One of his funniest roles is as Bob Munro in RV, a movie that is guaranteed to make my family cry from laughter. But possibly my favorite role of his is as John Keating in Dead Poets Society. I know some people think the movie is unrealistic, which yes it may be a little, but what I love so much about it is the idea that a professor can be that influential in a student's life. And for someone who is so well known as the funny man, Williams is a very good professor.

I'm not sure about everyone else, but I think a Robin Williams marathon is going to happen in the near future. What better way to remember Williams than by watching some of his best movies again? Although his death was unexpected and sad, we can always remember him as a brilliant, funny actor who managed to make us laugh at the drop of a hat.

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world."

John Keating, Dead Poets Society

Guardians of the Galaxy

SPOILERS! Part of the reason I like The Avengers so much is that it's about a group of people who struggle to get along because they're constantly butting heads and arguing, yet they have to get along in order to save Earth. It's such a ragtag team of superheroes, several of whom think they should be the ones in charge or know more than everyone else, and yet it works. The chemistry between the characters is wonderful, and the movie is the perfect combination of funny and dark. My other favorite Marvel movie is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not only was it better than its predecessor, it was just a fun movie. The cast was great, the dialogue was good, and the plot was spectacular. It was fun, it was dark, and it was amazing. Now, what does all of this have to do with Guardians of the Galaxy?

Well, you've probably heard people and critics say that Guardians is the best Marvel movie yet. I can honestly say that they're not wrong. Even my sister, who loves Marvel but wasn't that concerned about seeing Guardians in theatres, said that it is probably now her favourite Marvel movie. It's seriously that good. It's funny and dark and absolutely ridiculous and two of the main characters aren't even real, but it works. It works so well that at San Diego Comic Con they announced the release date for the sequel. And this from a movie that looked like it had the potential to be as completely ridiculous as Galaxy Quest. I also think it was brilliant to release it at the end of the summer. I know part of the reasoning was they were unsure how the movie would go over, but I think it's good to end with such a strong movie to usher the summer out. They start with blockbusters so why not end with one?

Let me start by saying that the cast was brilliant. The five main characters were perfect and even though one of the characters was a talking raccoon and one was a walking, talking tree, you had no problem believing they were all real. The animation for Groot and Rocket was great and they ended up being huge fan favorites. Drax was hilarious due to his inability to grasp sarcasm and metaphors. Gamora was awesome and further proof that Zoe Saldana is seriously badass. And for someone who hadn't really been a main character yet, Chris Pratt did a wonderful job as Peter Quill/Star-Lord. He was funny, he was a smartass, and he was relatable. And even though the 5 characters start the movie fighting each other, they were able to come together eventually.

As for the bad guys, you didn't really see them a lot in the trailers so you weren't sure what to expect in the movie. I loved Ronan's contacts and thought that he was a good villain, although he wasn't the real villain as he was working for someone else. I didn't expect to see Thanos in Guardians; our first glimpse of him was at the end of The Avengers and he was definitely a surprise in Guardians. And I loved Nebula. You could hear how they'd changed Karen Gillan's voice to be a little metallic but I didn't expect that to mean that her entire character was metallic and malleable. And the Collector was as creepy as always. I don't trust him and I knew that his appearance in this movie would not be a good thing.

Visually the movie was amazing as well. As I mentioned, Groot and Rocket were both incredible. So were the rest of the characters who were different colors and such. I loved the bright colors of some of the characters' skin, from Gamora's bright green and Nebula's blue to the bright pink of others. It's a cool and simple way to set humanoid aliens apart. And speaking of aliens, I loved how much of the galaxy we got to see. In Thor: The Dark World we got to see a little more but it was still centered around Earth and Asgard. And honestly, Guardians had almost no reference to the previous Marvel movies so it was almost possible to forget that it took place in the same universe. I also liked the whistle-guided arrow thing that Yondu had and thought it was cool how quickly he could trigger it. One of my favorite visual effects was the ship-net that the Xandarian's created to try to stop Ronan. It was really cool how their ships interlocked and formed a barrier, although I feared it would only work for so long and I was right. And Ronan's ship was pretty impressive and much larger than the Xandarian fleet so it clearly wasn't going to end well.

But my favorite part of the movie was the soundtrack. I'm being completely serious when I say that I'm going to buy the soundtrack. It was awesome. It's full of classic songs that are just fun and perfect for dancing. Other than Rocket and Groot, it was the highlight of the movie. Plus, the first time we see Chris Pratt as Peter he puts his headphones in and starts dancing around, and it's when he strikes a pose that the title of the movie comes up. The music was just perfectly incorporated into the movie. Heck, they used it at the end as a way to distract Ronan. The music helps make the movie and the movie is incredible.