Movie: Wild Hogs

Studio:	Touchstone Pictures
Release:	March 2, 2007
Genre:	Action/Adventure and Comedy
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and some violence.

My Yahoo! Movies Rating:

Overall Grade:	B-
Story:	C
Acting:	B
Direction:	B
Visuals:	B-

A group of men having mid-life crisis fancy themselves to be bikers and decide to hit the road. They manage to antagonize real bikers, get stuck in a small town, and must learn to deal with the problem they created for themselves.

To be honest, I wouldn't see this movie on the merits of the story. I watched the movie because the lead actors just happen to belong to my favorite actors list.

It's a comedy that does deliver a lot of laughs... a lot of them situational.

Movie: Pan's Labyrinth

	Distributor:	Picturehouse
	Release:	December 29, 2006
	Genre:	Art/Foreign, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Thriller
	MPAA Rating:	R for graphic violence and some language.

I was watching the Oscars and the imagery of Pan's Labyrinth caught my eye. When it was shown in local cinemas, I scarcely remembered what it was nominated for and what it won ... I just remember the beautiful images and the promise of a beautiful story.

The story is about a stubborn girl who find herself in a less than ideal situation that she hates, an encounter with creatures of fantasy, followed by quests and secrets to be kept.

This is not an American, Hollywood movie. There is a good ending, but it's not a corny, happy ending like those usually found in recent fairy tale movies. The girl here dies.

This movie reminds me of a lot of other stories. The girl escaping from the realities of Spain caught in a civil war to a fantasy world where alas, it is not all fun but a series of tasks from which to learn lessons from is reminiscent of Charles Kingsley's "The Water Babies". The fascination of the underground creature for the girl is a theme found in a lot of stories ... you even find it in the Hollywood movie with a similar title: Labyrinth (the one with beautiful Jennifer Connely). Also, like the Labyrinth movie, this movie has the older sister saving her younger brother. Like Jean Cocteau's Orphee, it is sometimes hard to distinguish when the lead character has drifted in or out of the fantasy world. Getting from one world to the other is a simpler matter than one would initially think...Orphee had mirrors, this one used magic chalk (oh yes, shades of the cartoon Chalkzone there). As in Orphee and the movie Mirrormask, the otherworld in Pan's Labyrinth is a place of wonder but not necessarily a happy place, and sometimes it mixes the strange with the familiar. One also wonders if the vision Ofelia has before dying is real or something imagined like that in Little Match Girl.

For those who do not understand Spanish, like me, there are English subtitles. The translation is not exact for every word though, based on the subtitle of some Spanish terms I am actually familiar with. Since the translation was written by Guillermo del Toro himself, I believe the subtitles are what the dialogue would have been had the movie been filmed using the English language.

If you have to depend on the subtitles, then it is advisable to watch the movie twice. I find that it is easy to miss part of the story if you concentrate too long on either the subtitle or looking at the scenery.

Novel: The Lord of the Rings (Illustrated Edition)

	Author:	J.R.R. Tolkien
	Illustrator:	Alan Lee
	Genre:	Fantasy-epic
	Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin
	Year Published:	11/12/1991

The Lord of the Rings as it should be: all chapters in one book.

The tale starts off roughly ... Tolkien tries to cram so much history in the first few paragraphs that if you are someone like me, it would take determination to read through it. Those paragraphs may actually turn a person off by not even bothering to continue reading the book ... or maybe just skip the part. Once you get to preparations for Bilbo's party, though, things are smooth sailing.

One of the things that blew me away is Middle Earth. It comes across as a real place with the meticulousness that Tolkien has taken to forming this "world". When I was reading "The Hobbit", Middle Earth wasn't as real as it is in this novel.

I find it charming that once again, the heroes of this tale are the hobbits. Hobbits are not the best looking, or the most gifted, nor the most powerful people in Middle Earth, but the story focuses on a bunch of them going on a quest. Although generally cheerful as they have always been since Tolkien wrote about them in "The Hobbit", our halflings in this novel get more action and drama. The elves too, are much more serious here. Apparently, there are different clans of elves, and the ones we were exposed to in Bilbo's first adventure were the merry, wine loving kind.

This is a novel to read at leisure's pace, to allow the reader to drink in the details of the rich tapestry of Middle Earth that Tolkien has woven. And like any tapestry, one finds more details by looking at it a second, a third, and more times.

The appendix is a good read in itself. It provides back stories and tells you what happens after the tale ended. I found the family trees amusing.

From beginning to end, Tolkien stuck to the illussion that you are in Middle Earth...that the book you are reading is actually written by people who had witnessed those events. Just brilliant.

Added plus: the art of Alan Lee - which is actually the main reason I bought this thick, hardbound, overpriced (PHP3,324.05) book from Powerbooks today. Otherwise, I would have been content with the three volume paperback that I already own.

Movie: Stomp the Yard

	Studio:	Screen Gems
	Release:	January 12, 2007
	Genre:	Drama, Musical/Performing Arts and Teen
	MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for a scene of violence, some sexual material and language.

I enjoyed the first Bring It On (2000) movie as well as Drumline (2002) when I saw them on cable. So, I just knew I would enjoy this movie.

It won't be for the story ofcourse. All three have similar plots: a school team trying to wrest the top title from the defending champion in a competition, a misfit joins the underdog team, misfit learns teamwork while at the same time teaches the team new tricks, misfit finds love which complicate things, someone from the other team steals the routine, a final showdown between the two teams.

It's watching the routine that gets my adrenaline pumping. And stomping is REALLY cool. It combines a bit of cheerdancing with the body providing the beat instead of drums.

I don't care if critics hate this movie. I wouldn't mind watching this again if it ever gets shown on cable.

Movie: Happily N'Ever After

	Distributor:	Lionsgate
	Release:	January 5, 2007
	Genre:	Comedy, Science Fiction/Fantasy and Animation
	MPAA Rating:	PG for some mild action and rude humor.

In this version of fairy tale world, a wizard is in charge of maintaining the balance between good and evil. Tough job, and once in a while he goes on vacation.

Problem is he's got two bumbling assistants who allow the wicked stepmother get hold of the magical staff. This wicked stepmother is tired of all the villains losing at the end of every tale that she tips the balance towards evil.

The bumbling wizards get the help of 'Ella and her friend in the quest to regain the staff. They succeed in the end, but as a consequence, Ella falls in love not with the prince but with her friend.

If ripping off of traditional fairy tales had not been done in earlier movies, this movie would have offered a fresh concept. Unfortunately, many felt this movie is merely repeating what Shrek and similar movies have done, which is why few people made a point of seeing it.

Those who do see it with kids and expect it to be similar to Shrek would find that although a family comedy, this movie actually is a bit darker... yet cute at the same time.

Frankly, I find this material more akin to the alternate universe fan fiction stories I find on the net. This probably means not everyone would find this movie amusing as I did. I would agree with the critics here: the puns/jokes that did work aren't even memorable.

TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

	Distributors:	Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution
	Release:	March 23, 2007
	Genre:	Action/Adventure, Animation and Adaptation
	MPAA Rating:	PG for animated action violence, some scary cartoon images and mild language.

I used to watch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, but by the time the second movie came out in the early 90s, I'd lost interest and lost track of the story.

The only characters I remember are Splinter, the 4 ninja turtles, and April. I know Shredder, but not much of Karai who now leads the Foot Clan.

The story starts with the 4 turtles going on with their Shredder-less, villain-less lives - Leonardo goes to South America for soul searching, Donatello becomes one of those working the computer help lines straight from home, Michaelangelo performs in children's parties as a "mascot", and Raphael leads the life of a vigilante unknown to his master and brothers. Donatello trying to handle a frustrated customer over the phone was funny ... that scene alone reminds us that the turtles have survived to live in the present time.

The back story of an immortal warlord who's at least 3000 years old, and now trying to regain his mortality is good although tales of immortals have been used in a lot of movies. What makes it more interesting though are his four generals who refuse to return to mere mortals. After all, they've spent those 3000 years of immortality in stone while their leader enjoyed his life and amassed a big fortune.

I haven't read any comic book or watched the latest cartoon of this franchise, so I wouldn't know if this story had already been tackled extensively in those media. If not, I think it is a waste to kill Max Winter and get rid of the generals and the other world monsters at the end of the movie.

Too bad the movie had to focus on the turtles working on their relationship with each other. I would have liked to be more familiar with the capabilities of the stone generals... without having to watch a separate cartoon or reading about them in a comic book.

This movie isn't as corny as the previous turtle movies. Didn't mind watching it in the movie house instead of catching it on TV or cable like I did with the other turtle movies.