The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games book series is an extremely popular series with today's teens and tweens. It falls in the category of Teen Literature or Young Adult Fiction. It came to my attention because I kept seeing articles in entertainment magazines and websites that heralded The Hunger Games as the next Twilight series, as in the next teen fiction book series that would make millions of dollars as a series of movies. I did some research and found it at the top of teen fiction charts everywhere. When I learned the premise of the stories it sounded so compelling that I had to check it out, partly because I wanted to be ready when the movies hit and my young girls started begging me to read the books, and partly because the story sounded like the kind of story I'd love to read.

At the point of this writing, I've read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, the first two books in this three part series. I plan to read the third book, Mockingjay very soon. As soon as I can get my hands on a copy I'll be diving in to see how this incredible series ends. As you can already tell, I'm enjoying the series immensely. I say that from the point of view of an adult who enjoys a good science fiction thriller/human drama. When I switch to my parent hat, I'm a little concerned about a couple of big issues. I'll get to those in a moment.

PLOT SUMMARY - The story is set in the not too distant future when the United States has been divided into 12 sectors that are ruled with an iron fist by the powerful and wealthy Capitol. In order to keep the weaker sectors in line the Capitol forces each sector to send two tributes, or teen agers (one boy and one girl), to an annual event called the Hunger Games. The best way to describe it is to think of our Survivor reality show and imagine the contestants having to kill each other to be declared the winner. Our hero for the whole series is a 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeen. When her younger sister is chosen to go to the games, she volunteers to take her place. From there we follow Katniss into the games and see the whole gruesome experience through her eyes. It's appropriate to compare the Hunger Games to Survivor because the actual games are played out like an extreme reality t.v. show. Viewers throughout the country are forced to watch every minute, recorded live on hidden cameras inside the games. I'll stop there because I don't want to give too much away.

MY TAKE - The premise of this series is intriguing. The very thought of a young, innocent girl being forced to participate in a game where she has to fight to her death is one of those things that's too sick to think about, but given the chance to see it, I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off of it. That's what happened when I started reading The Hunger Games. Author, Suzanne Collins is so good at putting us inside the head of Katniss Everdeen that we instantly begin to care about her and feel her pain. We also realize early on that Katniss is no ordinary girl. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, are different than the other tributes that we meet. They're both pure at heart in their own way. They have no lust for power or fame or fortune. They want simply to survive and protect their loved ones. This purity, especially in Katniss, becomes more and more important as the story goes on. The well written characters are the star of the show here as it should be in any great story. The games are simply the setting (and what an incredible setting it is) for the inner conflicts that Katniss is forced to experience. I was glad to see that the violence of the games wasn't played up for shock value in any way. Instead, the violence is shown more as an example of how unjust and evil The Capitol is for forcing these young people to participate.

IS IT FOR KIDS? - I'm more concerned about the violence when I think of my young kids reading the books. There are a few scenes where people get killed in particularly gruesome ways.
The premise of the series alone is a problem for young readers, in my opinion. The thought of my kids wrapping their little minds around the idea of innocent teenagers having to kill each other to survive makes me feel a little queezy. I would not want my kids contemplating these themes. So, I would say no to younger kids. Maybe when they're in their teens. I'd have to play that one by ear.
The other issue that a parent should consider is the matter of the two main characters sharing a bed at times. It should be noted that no one in these first two books has had sex with each other. Katniss and Peeta end up sleeping together for comfort. It actually makes sense considering the horror of what they're having to go through. Nevertheless, I wouldn't want my young ones reading this and coming away thinking it's ok to spend the night with a member of the opposite sex as long as nothing happens. Call me old fashion, but I've got to draw a line somewhere. 

MY BOTTOM LINE  - I highly recommend the Hunger Games series for adults and teens, but it's definitely not for younger minds. I also can't wait for the movies. Get ready Moms and Dads. If your kids don't already know about the Hunger Games, they will this time next year.

Rango Review

Rango is an off-beat, funny, eye-popping movie. It's not your average CGI movie. In fact it breaks new ground for the genre with clever writing, quirky characters and extremely life-like animation.

Plot Summary: A directionless lizard, who spends his days pretending to have an exciting life with the objects in his lizard tank, ends up stuck in the desert, in a dusty old town that looks like it was pulled straight out of an old Clint Eastwood movie. In fact, every character in Rango reminded me of stereo-typical western characters from the classic movies. In order to stay alive, the lizard uses his only skill of pretending, or acting like someone else. In this case, he becomes a gunslinger named Rango. Before he knows it he's the sheriff of the town and all the odd townspeople, or towns-small-animals, are expecting him to solve all of their problems. The plot thickens and Rango's lies get thicker too. Before he knows it, he finds himself in a heep of hilarious trouble.

What I Liked About Rango: My favorite thing about this movie was the colorful characters throughout, starting with Rango, voiced by Johnny Depp who did a fine job bringing the colorful lizard to life. His characterization brought back shades of Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show. The numerous supporting characters were a smorgasbord of kooky western characters played by rodents, reptiles, amphibians and other weird critters. I liked most of the writing in Rango. Dialogue was more subtle and more intelligent than what we get in the majority of today's CGI movies. You had to listen a little harder to keep up but I found that quite refreshing. I liked the realistic style of computer animation, so real that most of it looked like film. Only the stylized animal characters gave it away. In fact, the real factor was so strong that most of the towns folk were down right disgusting looking. No cute animated toys or fluffy monsters here.

What I Did Not Like About Rango: There was some spiritual talk about "the spirit of the west" that almost ruined it for me. Keep in mind I had my 8 and 6 year old sitting next to me in the theatre. In one scene the characters said a solemn prayer to this spirit asking it for help. There was another scene where one of the bad guys goes into a southern preacher routine as he deceives the crowd by promising a miracle that doesn't happen. Neither scene went far enough to offend me but I felt they were very unnecessary. There were also several minor cuss words thrown in that I wish my kids hadn't had to listen to.

Who Should See It?: Rango is barely a kids movie. In fact, I say it's meant for older kids and adults who are still young at heart. Many of the jokes and lines will go over the heads of young kids. Several of the characters are scary looking and some scenes are intense and could frighten younger kids. My two told me they enjoyed the movie, but I'm sure they didn't get alot of it and I'm a little worried that my youngest will end up having nightmares after seeing it.

Rango is not a perfect movie by any means. It is, however, fun and very original. If you're old enough to remember the classic westerns you'll get an extra kick out of Rango. There's just enough craziness and silly happenings to keep the kids interested but don't bring the younger ones. 

Part 2 - Interesting Movies, Coming Soon in 2011

Here are a few more movies, due to open in the next 2 to 4 months, that look and sound interesting. I'm judging them by their trailers and the general buzz surrounding their production. In each case, the proof will come out in the pudding, as they say. In other words, they may all look a whole lot different once we've had a chance to watch them in their entirety. But, for now, it's fun to try to predict where Hollywood will get it right this year.

March - RED RIDING HOOD

My first impression when I saw the trailer was that it might truly be the next Twilight. Not as a cheap immitation or just because it's a successful series of novels (as far as I know, it's not.), but because it looks like it will be 50% romance and 50% horror, married together in an intriguing and mysterious story. It's even directed by Cathryn Hardwick who also directed the original Twilight. The other thing it has going for it is Amanda Seyfried. She is one of the hottest young actresses in Hollywood right now. In everything I've seen her in (Dear John & Letters To Juliet) she has shined with sophistication and innocence.

Will it be Family Friendly? Maybe. I'm hoping the horror is as tame as it is in Twilight. The trailer didn't suggest any hot and heavy sex scenes, only passionate kisses, etc.

Will it be Good? The production values look first class and the cast looks strong. My guess is yes. I think it will be one of the biggest of this Spring.

June - MR POPPER'S PENGUINS

This is taken from a classic children's young reader book that my wife and I have read to all 4 of our kids when they were around 6 or 7 years old. It's a fun story that will hopefully translate well to the big screen. Jim Carrey stars which at least means it should be very funny. No trailer is available yet for this film.

Will it be family friendly? Most likely, yes.

Will it be Good? Without a trailer to watch, it's anybody's guess.

July - CAPTAIN AMERICA, THE FIRST AVENGER

One of the great Marvel comic book characters of all time is finally getting the first class Hollywood treatment. There have been lesser, badly produced versions of Captain America in the past, but this one looks promising. I'm excited about this movie because I love comic book hero movies, for one thing. More importantly, though, because this one looks different from all recent heroes who have been translated into movies. Captain America is set during World War 2, a time when patriotism was at it's highest and nobody got upset if you said the U.S. is good and the communists are evil. The actor, Chris Evans looks sufficient for the part. His costume looks cool yet down to earth, and his shield is reported to be awesome.

Will it be family friendly? My gut feeling is, yes. Captain America has never been one of those heroes that pushes the line between good and evil. He's as good as they get, at least that's how he's been in the past. Of course, Hollywood could change things like they tend to do (The Dark Knight anyone?). I predict it will be at least as family friendly as the Spiderman movies were.

Will it be Good? There is a 50% chance. Alot depends on the director for a movie like this. Joe Johnston is taking the lead and his record is ok, not stellar. His most recent attempt was The Wolfman, one of the biggest dissapointments of last year. Hopefully he learned a few lessons from that movie.

2011 Movies That I'm Looking Forward To

Movie ticket sales are down, but Hollywood magic is still on the upswing. 2010 gave us some of the best family flicks of all time with Toy Story 3, Alice and Wonderland, Despicable Me, Avatar (it started in '09 but most of it's run was in '10), and a few others. I'm anxious to see what's going to hit it big in 2011 and what's going to come and go with hardly a blip on the screen. Here is part 1 of my list of the stuff that sounds good at this point, judging by the descriptions and trailers that are available.

February 2011 - GNOMEO & JULIET



This looks cute and it's a classic love story set in the world of gnomes, you know, the little statues that people have in their gardens and other places. Red gnomes and blue gnomes hate each other. All except a young girl and a young man who fall in love. The trailer looks funny and charming, and it's rated G.

Family Friendly? Definitely Yes.

Will It Be Good? I give it a 50% chance. The production company is an unknown, so it's hard to say for sure.

March 2011 - RANGO

I'm excited about Rango because it looks different from any other animated movie I've seen so far. And the story is unusual. It's a western, done with lizards, snakes, birds, and various exotic creatures. It looks funny in a sublte way, not so much slapstick childish humor that's so common these days. Rango could possibly break new ground in humorous animation. Then again, it could also be boring and bland. My money's on the former. I'm always up for something fresh and creative.

Family Friendly? Most likely. It's rated PG so it may push the limits a little.

Will It Be Good? I'll say it's a 75% chance. The look and the feel of the trailers is one of high quality animation, good writing, and that old time western charm.

April 2011 - HOP

I'm including Hop in my picks for only one reason; it's made by the same people that made Despicable Me. I loved the humor and the style of that movie and I'm hoping it carries on into their newest release. The story is about a man who injures the Easter Bunny and brings him home while it recovers. The rabbit turns out to be a terrible house guest. In the process, the rabbit and the man learn to grow up. Honestly, that doesn't sound incredibly exciting, but I'm hoping it surprises me like Despicable Me did.

Family Friendly? As far as I can tell. There's no rating yet.

Will It Be Good? 50% chance is the best I can do at this point.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 OF THIS BLOG FOR MORE MOVIES I'M EXCITED ABOUT IN 2011. I promise they won't all be animated.

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The Cape

The Cape is a new series that began earlier this month on NBC. It's the story of a man who is forced to become a vigilante type superhero in order to clear his name and get his family back. With his new mysterious identity, The Cape, he fights the villain and his corrupt police force armed with a fist full of circus secrets that he gets from an underground band of circus thieves? You know those circus types that hide in sewers and rob banks? Never heard of them? Neither have I but that's beside the point. It works for the show and it provides a decent explanation for Vince's secret weapon; his cape. The cape is definitely cool as long as you don't think too hard about all the things he does with it.

Sure, it's all a little far fetched, but I'm not complaining. Superhero movies are all far-fetched if you think about it. Most are much more out there than The Cape. This show tries and succeeds in being a Batman type hero for the small screen.

I watched the first two episodes and my reaction is mostly positive. The show is fun and has enough heart to make me care about the hero and his family. Speaking of his family, I really liked the strong emphasis on Vince's family. One line says it all. Vince tells Max, "My family isn't my weakness, they're my strength."

It's no secret that The Watcher500 is a big fan of Superheroes. I tend to like a little more of the super in my superheroes than is present in The Cape. I prefer Spiderman over Batman because I like the campy spider abilities that Peter Parker has, as opposed to the wiz kid gadgets that Batman uses. My only problem with The Cape is I'd like to see more in the way of real super powers. However, that's more of a personal taste and not an actual critique of the show. Overall, I really liked The Cape. For a television superhero, it's actually one of the best I've ever seen. I think the series has great potential and I'll be watching to see what kind of story lines develop in the future.
My two scores on the Watcher500 scale of 1 to 250 are as follows: 190 for entertainment value, and 210 for moral value. Some of the fighting was a bit gruesome and bloody, but never over-the-top.

Top 10 Movies of 2010

According to Boxofficemojo.com, these are the top movies in North America for 2010.

1. Toy Story 3

2. Alice In Wonderland

3. Iron Man 2

4. Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5. Inception

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

7. Despicable Me

8. Shrek Forever After

9. How To Train Your Dragon

10. The Karate Kid

This was a strong year for computer animation. The fact that so many were box office favorites is a tribute to how much the quality of animation has improved over the last fifteen years. I'm talking more about well written scripts and strong characters than the computer technology, although that's also very impressive. We can all thank Pixar for raising the bar for everyone by putting out a string of near perfect movies, beginning with Toy Story in 1995 and continuing to this year with Toy Story 3. The other animation studios are definitely upping their game with better and better movies. How To Train Your Dragon is possibly the best thing Dreamworks has ever put out. Despicable Me is also extremely good and a favorite of my family. It was put out by Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

Family movies also did very well this year. All but Inception has appeal to families (Eclipse, HP and Iron Man 2 barely make the cut, but they do appeal to families). I hope Hollywood takes note. Why waste money on trash like Love and Other Drugs, Skyline, The Expendables, or any title with the word Saw in it.

My Favorite Christmas Movies

It seems that we now have every Christmas movie imaginable. What with Hollywood re-doing every classic story with modern twists, and the Hallmark Channel giving us a zillion movies about Santa falling in love. It’s easy to get lost in the blizzard of holiday entertainment. If the storm is overwhelming you and you’re ready to say “enough is enough, let’s get back to our usual fair of hopeless, excessive, big-budget movies”, then let me remind you of some of the Christmas movies that are still worth seeing. Here are my favorites.

1. The Muppet Christmas Carol
This movie has all the elements of a great Christmas movie. It’s lots of fun with humor added all along the way, keeping it from ever getting too heavy. At the same time, Dicken’s message of redemption is still loud and clear. The songs are catchy. The movie looks and feels old-fashioned, charming, and magical.

2. Home Alone
Besides being a clever story about a boy who is left alone in his home to fend off a couple of bumbling crooks, this is one of the great Christmas stories of our time. What better way for a boy Scrooge to learn what’s important in life than to be suddenly without a family during Christmas. The music in this movie alone is heart-warming and brings me into the Christmas spirit every time.

3. Christmas Vacation
I don’t recommend this one for the kids due to off-color jokes and crass words, but for laugh-out-loud comedy coupled with a great story, you can’t beat this classic. Many other Christmas and non-Christmas movies have tried to duplicate the success of the over-enthusiastic-dad storyline made popular in the vacation movies. Chevy Chase, however, is still the king of that character. His loveable goofiness, coupled with the writing of the National Lampoon wrapped in a family Christmas tale, makes for timeless entertainment.

4. How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Technically, this is not a movie. It’s actually a 26 minute animated Christmas Special from 1966. I had to include it, because it’s my all-time favorite Christmas story. I looked forward to it’s airing every year as a child and teenager. It was and still is funny, creative, and it teaches a wonderful lesson. The live-action version with Jim Carrey didn’t have quite the same magic for me. Dr. Seuss’s original is still one of the best of all time.

5. The Christmas Carol (2009)
I included this version, mostly because it sticks closer to Charles Dickens’ original story. It’s a much darker, and even more frightening telling of the story then, the Muppet version mentioned above. That’s probably how Dickens meant for his story to be taken, as a ghost story. I don’t recommend this adaptation for smaller kids, but for older crowds it’s great entertainment. The computer animated characters and heavy special effects are visually stunning. Because of the darker nature of this movie, the change-your-ways-or-go-to-hell storyline is center stage from start to finish. That’s one of my favorite things about this version of the Christmas Carol. I just wish Dickens hadn’t left out the most important part of the story; salvation only happens through Jesus Christ. Oh well. This story certainly brings us close to that truth. Maybe an occasional viewer will reach that conclusion on their own after seeing this powerful movie.

3D Is Killing Movie Theaters

3D movies have been around since I was a kid. About every 8 to 10 years, it seems, Hollywood would come out with a new 3D movie and proclaim that movies would never be the same. Supposedly, 3D was the next step in movie evolution. Every time it turned out to be nothing but a cheap gimmick and the American public barely even noticed.
Here we are again, in 2010, in the middle of another 3D revolution but this time, 3D has actually made some headway in changing our movies. It's actually expected now, that every big budget movie will be made in 3D. It's become the norm now rather than the cheap parlor trick.
There are two reasons why it's finally succeeding. First, the 3D technology has truly improved by leaps and bounds. Some movies, the ones that are made for 3D, are really fun to watch. The other reason is the powerful marketing machines of the big studios have gotten behind it and convinced us that we have to have 3D for a bigger and better movie experience.
However, the current 3D revolution is only good news for the studios and little kids who don't pay for their own movie tickets. Sure, 3D is fun to watch, but it's not worth paying lots of extra money to see. A few nights ago, I took my wife and two kids to see one of the newest 3D movies and it cost us $48.00 for tickets. Each ticket had $3.00 added for the privilege of watching in 3D. Only, it wasn't a privilege because we weren't given an option of watching that movie in non-3D,. We'd already promised our girls that we'd be watching that particular movie, so we went ahead with it. A stop at the snack bar cost me another $13 for a medium popcorn and a medium drink. By the time I sat down in my theater seat, I felt sick knowing I'd just spent $61 for a movie that I'll be able to rent at the Redbox, in a few months, for $1.
Here's my point. The economy is still way down and money is tight for most of us, and first run movie theaters are the only businesses that don't get it. I understand that their hands are tied. I'm sure big budget movies come with a hefty price tag for the rights to be shown. But, the whole industry is broken if a Mom and Dad have to pay $61 dollars to watch a movie with their kids. Fifteen years ago, movie theaters were justified in raising their prices. The movie experience was fun and unique and way better than VHS movies or watching on TV with all the commercials. Today, we have many more options for our movie entertainment; DVD, Blue-Ray, and Pay-Per-View movies on high-def t.v.'s. Not-to-mention downloadable movies right to your home computer. The competition is intense now, and the movie theaters have responded with over-priced 3D.
How long will this 3D revolution last? I predict not too much longer. Very soon, maybe in 2011, 3D ticket sales will decline as the novelty wears off and the American public realizes it's not worth the cost. We love movies and we love going to the movie theater, but as the price goes up we'll choose the movie theater experience less and less. If theaters want to stay alive, they should give us 3D at the price of the non-3D movie, giving us more reason to come back, and come back again.
Considering all the competition, and the high prices of tickets, I don't see how first run theaters will still be around in 5 to 10 years, at least not in the form they are now. If they do stay around, I expect them to change into some kind of upper class entertainment experience more like a night at a performing Arts center to see a live play.
I hope, before that happens, they'll see the writing on the wall and find a new way of delivering new movies to us in an affordable way so that we can keep going to the movies. If that does happen, I sure hope they'll also figure out a way to bring down the price of a bag of popcorn.

Surprised by Tangled

I had low expectations for Tangled. The trailer made it look like a computer animated B-movie. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was fun and charming with well defined characters that you either love or hate. The story was far more intricate than I expected with lots of action, touching moments and laughs a-plenty. In fact, I will go as far as to say, it's the best thing Disney has put out since Lion King, of course taking all Pixar movies out of the equation (Disney just owns Pixar. They are really two separate production houses, although the head of Pixar, John Lasseter, is now overseeing Disney movies too and it shows.) I believe, with Tangled, Disney is back on their A-game. We even have our first CGI princess. Rapunzel is everything and more that a Princess should be; beautiful, sweet, naive and longing for the life she never had.
One of the many things I liked about Tangled was the relationship between Rapunzel and the leading male, Flynn Rider. Their friendship/romance was more developed than in previous princess movies. Normally, the handsome prince, or love interest character is one-dimensional and exists only as an object for the princess to desire. He becomes a motivation factor to get her to break out of her safe and lackluster existence. The difference in Tangled is that we learn as much about Rider as we do about Rapunzel. He also has a back story, and goals, and weaknesses just like Rapunzel. It makes for an interesting push and pull between the two leads that isn't usually seen in a Disney movie.
Everything else about Tangled was perhaps what you would expect from a Disney movie, but all done with perfection. The villain was just evil enough to make the plot believable but she was never over-the-top like so many kids movie villains today. There were great songs, but not too many. And, one scene involving floating luminaries that was touching and beautiful.
I watched it with my wife and my younger kids. All 4 of us commented afterwards on how good the movie was. I always count it as a plus when a movie is good enough for all ages to enjoy. I'll rate it 235 for entertainment value and 240 for moral character. The total Watcher500 score is 475 (out of a possible 500 points).

Fringe

In this 2010 television season, the show Fringe is the sci-fi action drama to watch. It even has an excellent serial element to keep me coming back week to week to see what will happen next.

I watched Fringe sporadically during it's first 2 seasons, but this year I've watched every show faithfully. This year, the Fringe division has gotten involved with a parallel universe where there are identical people living similar lives. Our heroin Olivia tangled with her counterpart and ended up switching places with her, not by her choosing. For the entire seaon, our Olivia has been trapped in the other world while the shady Olivia #2 is in our world carrying out an evil plan. As the season goes on, we're getting treated to alternate shows between the two worlds; two different Fringe divisions that do practically the same thing but every one is different.

It's been intriguing watching our Olivia struggle to get back to her world. It's been equally fun seeing the bad Olivia acting like the good Olivia while doubting her resolve to follow through, and watching Peter and the gang wonder what's different about her.

The show still gives us a weird crime case to solve each week while continuing the serial drama. I'm very impressed with the writing, the acting, and of course with the show's creator, J.J. Abrams. He gave us Lost, the best series ever and I've heard his show "Alias" was also very good, but I've not yet had a chance to check it out. I also loved his movie "Cloverfield". Keep it up J.J. And keep it up Fringe. It just keeps getting better and better.

My Watcher500 score for the current season of Fringe (so far) is 225 for entertainment value and 180 for moral character. It's definitely not for kids, but it's relatively mild for adults. Just a few gross out effects with very little blood. Three times this season, we've seen people get hit by cars or busses. Those scenes were very disturbingly realistic, but not excessive. The other issue that should be noted is some occasional spiritual talk that assumes God does not exist. Total score = 405.