Stuart Little

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

The film opens with Eleanor and Frederick Little and and their son George on the day they are intending an adoption. While George is at school, his parents go to the orphanage where, they fall in love with a thoughtful, observant mouse named Stuart, who knows almost everything about the other children, having been there for a long time. Despite the warnings of Mrs. Keeper (the woman in charge), who says that humans should not be adopting mice, they decide to adopt him as their second son.

Immediately after getting home, Stuart meets Snowbell (voiced by Nathan Lane) the family cat, who immediately attempts to eat him. George is surprised when his parents introduce Stuart as his new brother. He thinks it is a joke at first, but is shocked when he sees they are serious. That night, Snowbell visits Stuart and requests that he keep a low profile, so as to avoid getting seen by the other cats and damaging Snowbell’s reputation.

George is at first sullen and somewhat disappointed and treats Stuart with contempt. He eventually snaps at a family gathering when they encourage him to play “catch” with him. He also earns Snowbell’s wrath when his friend, Monty the Mouth visits for food. As Snowbell tries to keep him from seeing Stuart, he makes a scene trying to get a cereal box from a cupboard. When he sees him and discovers he is a member of the family, Monty cannot contain himself. Enraged, Snowbell tries to kill him, who narrowly escapes by fleeing into the basement. Here, he learns that George keeps a playroom and the two interact and eventually, George comes to accept him as his brother. He also finds that George keeps a toy car just his size. They decide to work together to finish George’s homemade model boat, the Wasp, for the Central Park Boat Race the following week.

Snowbell, however, isn’t finished. He and Monty head to an alley that night to visit Smokey (voiced by Chazz Palminteri), a Mafia Don-like Russian Blue who is the leader of the alley cats. Since Snowbell doesn’t want Stuart killed, he makes a plan with the alley cats to remove him from the Littles’ house. On the day of the 92nd annual Central Park Boat Race, the Wasp is finished, and they arrive at Central Park. George discovers his nemesis, Anton, is there. At the same time, Stuart accidentally destroys George’s remote control, rendering his boat inoperable. To make up for this, he takes control of it himself. Anton, however, attempts to cheat by ramming his much larger boat into other ones and sinking them. When he attempts to do the same thing to the Wasp, Stuart manages to bite into the line of his sail, rendering Anton’s boat inoperable. He subsequently wins the race.

That night, the Littles are visited by Reginald and Camille Stout, a mouse couple claiming to be Stuart’s parents. After discussion, he reluctantly leaves with his parents, taking the toy car with him as a goodbye present from George and they go to their home, a small toy castle on a golf course. Three days later, the Littles are visited by Mrs. Keeper, whom they had asked to do some background research on Stuart. She tells them that, according to the records, his parents died several years ago after a pile of canned food fell on them. The Littles realised that he had been kidnapped and call the police.

A terrified Snowbell rushes to the alley and warns Smokey and the others about the Littles’ discovery. He then decides that the only way to rectify things is to kill him. They call a meeting with Reginald and demand that he and Camille hand Stuart over. But the Stouts, having grown to care for him, reveal the truth and Reginald orders him to escape before the cats find him. He does so after saying goodbye to his “fake parents”. Meanwhile, the Littles decide to place “missing” posters around the city to get help in finding him. While going through Central Park, he is ambushed by Smokey and a few cats. He manages to evade them by driving his car into the sewer, but he loses both the car and his luggage while escaping the storm drain. Eventually, he finds his way home just as the Littles leave to hang the posters. The only one home is Snowbell, and he tells him a lie about how they are enjoying life without him, and shows him the family picture with his face cut out (they had actually removed it to provide one for the missing posters). He leaves again. However, Snowbell sees the pain his absence has caused and realises his selfishness.

Discovering Stuart’s location from Monty and the other cats, who intend to eat him, Snowbell heads to Central Park and finds him sitting alone in a bird’s nest. Snowbell, however, turns on the other cats and escapes with him, admitting his lie to him and that the Littles actually do love him, he is in fact the only one who hates him. The cats catch up with them and Snowbell attempts to convince Smokey to call off the hit on Stuart, but is refused. Instead, he orders the cats to kill them both. Stuart responds by taking off Snowbell’s collar and using it to lure them.

The cats give chase, and eventually corner Stuart hanging from a tree branch. They group together on a lower one to catch him, but Snowbell breaks it at the last minute and sends them into the water below. Smokey sneaks up behind Snowbell and is about to kill him when Stuart releases a thin branch that hits him in the face and knocks him into the water. Enraged and humiliated, he walks off, only to be attacked by dogs upon turning a corner. Monty and the other cats also climb out of the water, whimpering and embarrassed. Snowbell and Stuart walk home and he shares a warm reunion with his family, telling them that Snowbell helped him get there. The Littles bring them inside and close the windows, ready for

REVIEW:

A term the movie industry tends to use a lot, mostly when it comes to family flicks, is “movie with heart”. Well, there is no better example of this than Stuart Little! I have never been fortunate enough to view a film that really makes you feel for the central character, except maybe a few of those Pixar films, but I tend to have high expectations for those.

So, what did I like?

Story. More often than not, today’s films choose to forget good storytelling in favor of any and everything else. This film does the opposite. Yes, it has a little CG mouse as its star, but, unlike other films that stick a CG character in the “real” world, they don’t focus on how he’s different, but rather just stick to him being a normal orphan. Yes, they touch on his being a mouse here and there, but that really is a side note to the major plot line of Stuart wanting his fairytale ending with a real family.

Age of innocence. There is just something about how innocent and sweet this story is that appeals to all ages and may very well be why this film, and more so the books, are such a success. With the exception of the rather dark turn that leads to the film’s climax, this is almost G rated sweetness.

Animation. I’m won’t say that this is the best use of CG I’ve seen, but compared to that waste of time that was Marmaduke (which was released 13 years later, btw), this shines. Stuart is very well crafted and executed and the cats don’t have that weird, creepy moving jaw that is used way too often when it comes to talking animals.

Cast. Those of you that have grown to love Hugh Laurie as the curmudgeon Dr. House on House will be shocked to see him as this loveable father here. He has great chemistry with Geena Davis, who seems at home in the colorful, dare I say retro setting. The voice casting isn’t half bad, either, led by Michael J. Fox as Stuart.

What didn’t I like?

Unnecessary plot twist and deviation from the source material. I know that this film doesn’t stick very close to the source material, so the dark tone the film takes near the end is probably the result of the director thinking this was too happy of a film. Personally, I had no issue with things going just right for Stuart. Where is it written that every film character has to be thrown a life curveball? The whole thing where the “mafia” cats hire a fake family to take Stuart away, just seemed unnecessary.

Stuart Little is one of those films that is good for all ages. It has something for everyone and will have you wanting to watch it over and over again. I wish I could say that this is a perfect film, but it isn’t. More importantly, though, it is a fun film to watch. So, give it a look-see!

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

Teen Wolf

PLOT:

High school student Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox) is seventeen years old, sick of being average and wishing he were special. His father runs a local hardware store. Scott plays basketball for his high school’s team, the Beavers, with a not-so-good win-loss record. The girl of his dreams, Pamela Wells (Lorie Griffin), is dating Mick, a jerk from an opposing high school team, the Dragons. After another of the team’s losses, Scott begins to notice strange changes to his body. While at a party, Scott keeps undergoing changes and eventually he returns home, locks himself in the bathroom, and undergoes a complete change and becomes a werewolf, while his father demands that he open the door. He tries to refuse, only to finally give in and obey, to find his father has also transformed into a werewolf.

Harold never told his son about the condition because “sometimes it skips a generation” and he was hoping it wouldn’t happen to Scott. Scott first reveals his transformation to the public at one of his basketball games, after getting pinned in a pile-up. After momentarily stunning the crowd with The Wolf, Scott goes on to wow them with his basketball skills and he finishes the game with a quadruple double.

Scott subsequently learns to use his family “curse” to gain popularity at school, becoming the team’s star basketball player, and learns to transform at will between his normal self and The Wolf. His basketball team goes from last to first, and Scott begins spending most of his school time as The Wolf. He also wins the heart of Pamela while ignoring the affections of his best friend, Boof (Susan Ursitti), who has loved him since childhood.

Scott’s other best friend ‘Stiles’ (Jerry Levine), a party animal with an entrepreneurial streak, quickly cashes in on Scott’s new-found popularity, selling Teen Wolf T-shirts and other merchandise. Stiles’ “wolfmania” reaches such extremes that he trades in his own vehicle for a stepvan dubbed “Wolfmobile.”

After a freak encounter with Mick at the Spring Dance that almost turns violent, Scott wishes to be himself. During the final basketball game (Beavers VS. Dragons again), Scott refuses to “wolf out” and insists on winning the game on his own. Coach Bobby Finstock tells Scott that the team is doomed to fail without The Wolf, but Scott is able to prove him wrong. In a dramatic ending, and with the help of four fouls from Mick, Scott is able to rally the team back to within a point as time is expiring. Scott is fouled one last time by Mick on the final play and given two shots. In a clear violation of the rules, Mick is able to stand underneath the basket as Scott attempts his foul shots. Scott makes both baskets and the Beavers win the game by one point.

Pamela attempts to get Scott’s attention after the game is over, but he passes her by to hold Boof in his arms, kissing her passionately.

REVIEW:

The 80s was a good time for cinema. Back in those days, movies were made for the people that watched them, not solely for the purpose of making moeny. Furthermore, no matter how totally “rad” (had to get that 80s term in there) or awful a movie ended up being, they were still fun to watch and not depressing like many of today’s movies.

Teen Wolf is what I like to consider a forgotten 80s classic. Think about it…name 5 80s films and I bet Teen Wolf doesn’t come up on the list, does it? There is a reason for that. Simply put, it isn’t that great a film, even by 80s standards. Having said that, it doesn’t totally suck, but there’s isn’t anything really memorable about it. As a matter f fact, I think I remember more about the SAturday morning cartoon than I did about the actual movie.

The good…the studio did a good job of casting and capitalizing on Micaheal J. Fox’s growing star power. The initial transofmation sequence is impressive, and belive it or not, one of the better werewolf tranformation scenes I’ve seen (at least they don’t jump in the air and turn into giant dogs *cough* Twilight *cough*). The fact that the school seems to accept this teenage werewolf, when we all know theyd have shunned or shied away from him in real life, is something I’ve always liked. The scenes where the dad scares the piss (literally) out of the vice principal has long been one of my favorites of the film.

 

The bad…muhc of this film is the cliche high school stuff, culminating with the “hero” falling for the popular girl when a perfecty beautiful best friend is secretly pining over him, but at film’s end he falls for her. That kid of stuff you can see a mile away. As good as the transformation sequences are, the actual look of the werewolves is just plain bad. The look like some kid of hybrid between Cousin It and the monkey creatures (can’t think of their name right now) from Land of the Lost.  Talk about bad acting, the actress that plays the object of Scott’s affection is in a high school play and is supposed to sound like a band actress, that’s fine and dandy, except that there are times that I think she may have have gone too far into her preparation because she wasn’t that great.

 

I seem to remember loving this film when I saw it in my younger days. I guess now my tastes have changed, or I now more about what to look for in a good film. Not totally sure what the reason is, but this picture isn’t as good as I remember. Still, it isn’t that bad, but rather just and average film. No reason for you not to give it a look see. You could definitely do a million times worse.

 

3 out of 5 stars

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

PLOT:

In 1914, Milo James Thatch (Michael J. Fox), an aspiring cartographer/linguist/explorer working in the boiler room at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., believes he has found the secret to the location of Atlantis through a manuscript called the Sheppard’s Journal. When his request to lead an expedition is denied by Institute’s board, he finds himself contacted by Preston B. Whitmore (John Mahoney), who reveals he was a friend of Milo’s grandfather, Thaddeus Thatch, who had originally located the Journal. Whitmore requests that Milo become part of a team to search for Atlantis as their linguist expert, which Milo eagerly agrees to. Milo is introduced to the specialists on the team, led by Commander Lyle Rourke (James Garner) and his second-in-command Helga Sinclair (Claudia Christian). The team includes Italian demolitions expert Vincenzo “Vinny” Santorini (Don Novello), crazed French geologist Gaetan “Mole” Molière (Corey Burton), medical officer Dr. Joshua Sweet (Phil Morris), teenage tomboy mechanic Audrey Ramirez (Jacqueline Obradors), redneck cook Jebidiah Allerdyce “Cookie” Farnsworth (Jim Varney), and elderly cynical communications expert Wilhelmina Packard (Florence Stanley). The team initially teases and plays tricks on Milo but slowly warm up to him over the adventure.

The expedition quickly meets a fateful start when a robotic Leviathan destroys the main submarine, and most of the ship’s crew are killed during the evacuation, but Milo’s team are able to find the underwater cavern described by the Journal that leads to Atlantis, and proceed with the exploration, unaware they are being watched. After misadventures with the local fauna and discovering the caves are resting on a dormant volcano, they find themselves at the outskirts of Atlantis. Kida (Cree Summer), one of the Atlantians that had been tracking the group, invites the team to see her father, King Kashekim Nedakh (Leonard Nimoy). However, the King demands that the team leave immediately, but acquiesces when Commander Rourke asks to stay the night to recover and refresh supplies. While the others relax, Rourke orders his soldiers to arm themselves.

Kida discovers that Milo can read and speak the Atlantean language, something that her people have long forgotten, and enlists his help to transcript ancient murals that can be used to save the city. Diving near some of the city’s ruins, Milo and Kida learn that the city is protected by the Heart of Atlantis, and that the strange blue gems that each Atlantian wears are connected to it. Kida recalls when her mother was taken away from her by the Heart in order to save the city from a mega-tsunami. As they leave the ruins, they are caught by Rourke and the rest of the team, who have turned mercenary and are after the Heart. The armed men take Milo and Kida by force to the King. Rourke mortally wounds the King when he refuses to reveal the location of the Heart, but manages to deduce the location anyway from the clues in the Journal. Rourke, Helga, Milo, and Kida travel to chamber below the King’s quarters, finding the Heart to be a large blue crystal hanging in mid-air. Kida is drawn to the crystal and is infused with its power; as she is walking towards the crystal, she tells Milo in Atlantian that he should not worry.

Still under gunpoint, Rourke forces Kida into a metal chamber they will use to return to her to the surface, using her power for financial gain; however, without the Heart, the city and its residents will soon die. The other team members quickly recognize Rourke’s motive was not part of the mission and stand behind Milo in demanding him to release Kida. Rourke refuses, leaving the others stranded while he and his men leave the city. Before going in pursuit of Rourke, Milo sees the king for the last time. Sweet informs Milo that the king has internal bleeding caused by Rourke’s attack. The king pleads to Milo for the return of his daughter and the survival of Atlantis. The king also adds that the Heart would choose a host of royal blood, like Kida and her mother before her, to protect itself and its people. It thrives on the collective emotions of previous hosts, in return the Crystal would grant them power, protection, and longevity. Through the years and ages that passed the Crystal began to develop a mind of its own. He attempted to use the Crystal as a weapon of war, but its power was too great to control, which lead to their destruction, so he hid the crystal beneath the city so that history wouldn’t repeat itself. The king also warns that if Kida remains fused to the crystal for too much time, she would be lost forever, the same fate that Kida’s mother suffered. The king in his last moments tells Milo that he will be gone and his daughter too, hands him the crystal he wore and tells him that it is up to him to save Atlantis. With those words, the king dies.

Milo, the other team members, and the Atlantians discover how to use ancient flying machines to give chase to Rourke, who is trying to launch the chamber with Kida in it to the top of an extinguished volcano which leads right to the surface. A large battle ensues between the Atlanteans (with Milo and the expedition gang) and Rourke, Helga, and their soldiers. In an attempt to save Kida, Milo rams his vehicle into part of the balloon, Making it lose altitude. Rourke tells Helga to lighten the load, and throws Helga off as well, stopping at nothing to win. Milo finally makes it on board, and fights Rourke. Down below, Helga takes her last breaths and fires a round into the balloon, helping Milo to win. Milo, finding a shard of glass powered by the crystal, jabs it into Rourke, crystallizing him, and killing him. The battle has caused the volcano to start to erupt, the lava threatening to destroy Atlantis. Milo returns Kida to the center of the city where she is taken once again by the Heart; her life force is used to activate giant stone guardians at the city’s edge that form a protective barrier from the lava. After the city is saved, Kida is returned to Milo’s arms from the Heart, no longer infused with its power.

The rest of the surface team prepares to return with vehicles full of treasure as thanks from the city, but Milo decides to stay behind, smitten in love for Kida and determined to help preserve Atlantis to its former glory, and passes a note (using his picture of him and his grandfather) to be given to Whitmore, with a blue life crystal as evidence he found the city and his thanks for the opportunity. Whitmore is enlightened by this, and the rest of the team, after returning to the surface, concoct a tale for the public with Whitmore’s cooperation that they never found Atlantis, despite their newfound wealth, and that Milo, Rourke and Helga went missing in action. The film ends with Milo and Kida creating a memorial for the dead King while going forward to help restore Atlantis back to its former glory.

REVIEW:

I don’t really understand why this film isn’t more popular than it is. There’s action, adventure, deception, drama, and a bit of a love story. All the things that make for good cinema. I guess since  it’s rated PG, people had a cow.

The animation, as with 99.9% of anything Disney, is spectacularly breathtaking. From the minute the film starts you can’t help but be dumbfounded, but I’m a purist, and don’t believe in computer animation when things could just as easily been hand drawn like they were in the old days. Yes, it looks cool and all, but for me, that’s a negative. It sends the message that the artists are too lazy and reliant on computers to do the work it takes to make a good animated film. That may just be me, though.

Michael J. Fox couldn’t have been more perfectly cast as the voice of Milo Thatch. For some reason, his voice seemed to fit the character perfectly. Also in perfect casting were Cree Summer as Princess Kida (why is she never brought up as a Disney Princess) and James Garner as Commander Rourke, not to mention Jim Varney as the cook. The rest of the cast isn’t too shabby either.

The plot of the film could use some work, or at least the development of the crew could. Of course, it just so happens that they had originally intended for this to lead to a TV series, but because of poor box office results, that idea was shelved. So, as a result, the characters, who all seem to be very interesting, got shortchanged in the development department. Personally, I would love to know Mole’s backstory that Dr. Sweet told Milo “You don’t wanna know…”

Not too shabby of a film, if you ask me. Sure its not the most memorable, but they all can’t be. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it. It has something for everyone!

4 out of 5 stars

Back to the Future part 3

PLOT:

After lightning strikes the clock tower and sends the Back to the FutureMarty back to 1985, Marty McFly (Michael J Fox), who is stranded in 1955, takes “Doc” Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) home. He explains to the Doc of that era that Doc’s future self and the DeLorean time machine were accidentally sent back to the year 1885. Marty learns from a letter written by Doc in 1885, that the DeLorean is hidden in an old mineshaft. The letter instructs Marty to find the car, return to 1985, and then destroy it in order to prevent further disruption of the space-time continuum.

With the help of the Doc of 1955, Marty retrieves the DeLorean. In the process, he discovers a tombstone which leads him to learn that Doc was killed in 1885 by Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen, just seven days after having written the letter. Ignoring Doc’s urging to return to 1985, Marty decides that he must save Doc, who had no idea he would be killed days later. Marty takes the DeLorean back to 1885, and arrives in the middle of a skirmish between a group of Native Americans and the United States cavalry, resulting in the DeLorean’s fuel line being ruptured. Marty reunites with Doc, who agrees to leave when he learns of his upcoming fate. Doc sees Marty’s photograph of his tombstone and concludes from the inscription that he was to have fallen in love with a woman named “Clara”. Learning that the new schoolmarm he has promised to pick up is named Clara Clayton, Doc decides to leave without meeting her.

However, the ruptured fuel line has left the DeLorean’s gas tank completely empty; and the DeLorean cannot reach 88 miles per hour without gasoline. After several failed attempts to accelerate the car through alternate means, Doc decides to push the DeLorean up to speed with a steam locomotive, but finds that the only track straight enough ends in an incomplete bridge over a deep ravine. The car will have to reach 88 miles per hour before reaching the bridge, so that it can travel to 1985 where the bridge is completed. As they scout the location, they save a woman from falling into the ravine on a runaway carriage, only to discover that she is Clara Clayton. She and Doc immediately become enamoured with each other.

At a festival dedicating the newly constructed clock tower, Buford attempts to kill Doc, only to be thwarted by Marty. Marty, however, is goaded into a gun duel after Buford calls him “yellow”. With Doc’s original death averted, his name disappears from the tombstone in the photograph, but the date remains. Doc warns Marty that his name may end up on it if he chooses to meet up with Buford. Still infatuated with Clara, the Doc expresses his desire to stay with her in 1885, but Marty talks him out of it. Doc decides to say goodbye to her and, when pressed, tells her that he’s from the future. Thinking this an obvious lie, Clara angrily slaps him in rejection and starts to cry as Doc heads to the town saloon to get drunk. Marty convinces him to leave the saloon, but not before Buford shows up and insists that it’s time for the showdown. Marty is forced to participate and defeats Buford by using a stove cover as a bullet-proof shield. Following the duel, Buford is arrested for having committed a robbery the previous day. Clara, meanwhile, hears about how heartbroken the Doc was when she rejected him and sets off to find him.

Doc and Marty manage to hijack the locomotive and start to push the DeLorean; Marty waits in the DeLorean while Doc remains on the train to add specially-created logs to the boiler that will overheat it and increase its speed. Clara catches up with the locomotive on horse and climbs aboard as Doc makes his way to the DeLorean. Seeing Clara in the cab, he is forced to return for her, and manages to fly off with her on the hoverboard just as the DeLorean reaches 88 miles per hour and transports Marty back to 1985 alone. The locomotive, which subsequently runs past the track, falls into the ravine and explodes.

As planned in the parallel year 1985, Marty coasts safely across the ravine bridge, but he immediately encounters a modern-day diesel locomotive bearing down on him. Marty escapes, but the DeLorean is smashed to pieces. Marty picks Jennifer up at her house where he left her in Part II, and having learned his lesson back in 1885, refuses to take part in a drag race with Needles, who calls him ‘chicken’. This causes him to avoid the automobile accident which resulted in the ruined future depicted in the previous film. Marty takes Jennifer to the site of the destroyed DeLorean, where he accepts that it is what Doc wanted. At that moment, however, a time machine built out of a locomotive appears. The door opens to reveal Doc, Clara and their two sons, who are named Jules and Verne (before appearing in Back to the Future: The Animated Series) after the author Jules Verne. As Doc prepares to leave again, Marty asks if they plan to go to the future. Doc replies that they’ve already been there, and the train lifts off from the ground and flies off into time.

REVIEW:

The finale in the Back to the Future saga goes out with a bang. For my taste, though, it’s not as good as part one and takes a bit of a dramatic turn that really wasn’t necessary.

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reprise their roles as Marty and Doc Brown, respectively. Fox also hit the makeup chair so that he could play Seamus McFly.

Just as the first one was almost completely about Marty with Doc in a supporting role, this one is more about Doc with Marty in the supporting role. It’s an interesting shift, especially since their roles are pretty even in the second.

Thomas F. Wilson gves his best performance of the saga as  the eccentric Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen. One must wonder if real outlaws were like that.

Mary Steenburgen does not fit into the cast. This may be a bit of a biased observation by me, but she just feels like they threw her in to give Doc a love interest and a female lead other than Lea Thompson.

Lea Thompson does appear in this film, but her biggest role in the trilogy was the first film.

I love the old west, so I really liked the fact that they chose to go back to that period of time. However, I wish there would have been more gags with steam engines and horses and such, rather than spending valuable film on one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever seen on a film, Clara Clayton.

Don’t get me wrong, I respect the fact that she stopped the train she was on and chased after Doc. It was nice to see a woman chase after the guy for once, but she got him stranded in the past, all because she didn’t give him the benefit of the death. Just my two cents, though.

To close up the trilogy, this is a pretty solid film. I belive there are things that could have been better or changed, but it’s still a good film. I recommend you watch it.

4 out of 5 stars

Back to the Future part 2

PLOT:

Marty McFly, “Doc” Brown, and Jennifer Parker (now played by Elisabeth Shue) arrive in 2015. Jennifer begins asking many questions about her future. Doc tranquilizes Jennifer, who is not necessary for his plan, explaining that he brought her along only because she saw the time machine. After landing in Hill Valley, Marty and Doc leave Jennifer in an alley, expecting her to remain unconscious while they attend to the crisis involving Marty’s children. Doc explains that Martin McFly Jr., Marty’s and Jennifer’s son, is about to be approached by Griff Tannen, Biff’s grandson, and his gang, who will offer him the chance to take part in a robbery. According to Doc, this event leads to the ruin of the entire McFly family. Marty impersonates his future son and tells Griff he will not join the robbery; however, his self-control crumbles when his courage is called into question, and he is accused of being a “chicken”. The resulting confrontation leads to a hoverboard chase that causes Griff and his thugs to damage the glass facade of the nearby courthouse. Griff and his gang are arrested and the planned robbery never occurs.

Before reuniting with Doc, Marty notices a sports almanac displayed in an antique store window, which lists sports statistics from 1950 through to 2000. He buys it, intending to take the book back to 1985 and use the data within for financial gain. Doc discovers the almanac, and sternly tells Marty that the purpose of inventing this time machine was for scientific investigation, not financial gain (especially dishonest), and pitches the almanac into a garbage can. Meanwhile, Jennifer, still tranquilized, is found by the police, who mistake her for her future self after thumbprint identification, and take her to her future home, waking her up just as they arrive. Confused, she hides in a closet, not seeing Marlene McFly, Marty’s and Jennifer’s daughter, letting George and Lorraine in for dinner. She also witnesses the Marty of 2015 being fired from his job after his Japanese boss catches him “cooperating” in an illegal scheme (a sting operation) that his immediate boss and longtime friend, Douglas Needles, goads him into joining, again by taunting him that he is too ‘chicken’ to try it. Travelling to the house, Doc leaves Marty with the DeLorean, finds Jennifer and sneaks her out of the house. Along the way, she encounters her older self, who has just arrived home, with the shock causing both women to pass out. Unable to carry her himself, Doc calls Marty for help, leaving the DeLorean unguarded.

While Doc and Marty rescue Jennifer, the original Biff (age 78), having overheard Doc and Marty talking about time travel and about the folly and hazards in using it to win at gambling, recovers the discarded sports almanac, steals the DeLorean and travels back in time. He returns the car just before Marty and Doc return to it to leave for their own time, stumbles away in pain and collapses (he has the same symptoms that Marty exhibited in Back to the Future when he was beginning to be “erased”). Upon arrival in 1985, Marty and Doc find that Hill Valley has become a dilapidated, crime-ridden slumlorded over by a middle-aged Biff, who is now immeasurably rich, powerful and corrupt thanks to decades of successful sports betting, the proceeds of which he invested in toxic waste dumps, oil, and to purchase the Hill Valley courthouse and convert it into a luxury hotel and casino. Biff has also married Marty’s widowed mother, Lorraine, after secretly killing her husband George. Doc deduces that the Biff of 2015 must have given the almanac to his younger self sometime in the past. Marty confronts Biff and finds out that he received the almanac on November 12, 1955, the date of the lightning storm that Marty used to get back to the future. Biff then intends to kill Marty (telling him that it’s the same gun that he used to kill Marty’s real dad George) as he now knows too much. Marty again is saved by Doc when Doc knocks out Biff with the DeLorean’s gull-wing door.

Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to prevent Biff from getting the almanac. Marty goes through a long and complicated series of events involving his multiple attempts to recover the almanac, all the while making sure that he does not interfere with past events again and does not undo all that he had previously done in 1955 in the first film to set his parents up with each other. After revisiting the events of the Enchantment Under the Seadance, he eventually manages to steal the book from the 1955 Biff with the help of Doc in the flying DeLorean, and burns it, restoring history to its proper course. As Doc fights the controls (and accidentally turns on the time circuits) while attempting to land the DeLorean during the storm to pick Marty up, the car is struck by lightning, causing it to disappear, the time-travel capability having been triggered by the lightning. A few minutes later, a Western Union delivery man appears with a letter, which he explains was sent seventy years ago with the explicit instructions that it be delivered to Marty “at this exact location, at this exact minute, November 12, 1955″. Marty opens the letter, which is from Doc, explaining that he is now living happily in 1885. Knowing he has only one source of help, Marty runs to the clock tower to find the Doc of 1955, just as lightning strikes to send the previous film’s Marty back to the future. The shock of suddenly seeing the new Marty, whom (he thinks) he has just sent back to 1985 causes Doc to faint. The film ends as Marty tries to revive Doc.

REVIEW:

This series of films is a true trilogy, as each film is a different part of the story. This particular one is  arguably the most entertaining.

Michael J. Fox reprises his role as Marty, but this time he also had to go into makeup so that he could play his son, daughter, and older self. I almost didn’t recognize him as  the daughter.

Christopher Lloyd reprises his role as Doc Brown and is more eccentric that in the first film. A very good performance from him here.

Elizabeth Shue takes over the role of Jennifer from Claudia Wells. While not the biggest role in this film, she does a good job with what she has. I actually think she’s a better Jennifer, if for no other reason than she’s cuter.

Thomas F. Wilson is all over this film as young Biff, old Biff, present Biff, corrupt Biff, and his grandson Griff. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was the star of the show. Still, he makes a good villain.

Lea Thompson is a cutie and though she doesn’t have as big of a part in this film as she did the previous one, she does have a similar scene with Marty, only instead she’s nursing her son back to health and apparently gained some implants in the corrupt world of Biff’s 1985.

The best part of this film has to be the future scenes. It’s too bad they rushed everything back to 1955, though. Here it is 2009, and we don’t have flying cars, hoverboards, fusion fuel generators (you know you thought of those when gas was inching ever so close to $5/gal), and all the other gadgets and gizmos in 2015, but hey there’s still 6 years left, right?

The alternate present was actually kinda scary and dark. It really left the impression that it wasn’t someplace you wanted to live.

1955 was, well it was 1955, but this time we got to see it from a different angle and some of the other event that happened while Marty was fixing his past from the first film.

All in all this is a good film. Like I said earlier, it’s part 2 of a trilogy, not a sequel, so you may need to refresh your memory by watching the first one. After doing so, you’ll enjoy this one that much more. I know I did!

4 out of 5 stars

Mars Attacks

PLOT:

Tim Burton directs an all-star cast in this outlandishly funny spoof of 1950s-era sci-fi flicks, featuring bulbous-headed Martians come to Earth hell-bent on world domination and destroying everyone and everything in their path! Can the president (Jack Nicholson) save America — and the planet — from the invaders? Or are we all just toast?

REVIEW:

This film has Tim Burton’s fingerprints all over it. The only thing missing is Johnny Depp and/or Helena Bonham Carter.

I’m a fan of old sci-fi films from the 50s, so this is right up my alley. Burton does a good job of parodying the genre. what I didn’t know was that Mars Attackswas a Topps card series at one time and this film is just the cards brought to life.

This is just a fun film. I don’t understand why critics went into expecting to see a cinematic masterpiece. They seem to like to rip apart films that are made just for entertainment purposes.

Jack Nicholson as the president looks very…er…presidential. not to mention he has a dual role as Art Land. This is some of his best work (that I’ve seen) since he was the Joker in Batman.

Look for young stars Natalie Portman, Christina Applegate, Jack Black, and Ray J.

Jim Brown made a name for himself on the football field setting records left and right, and if this film was any indication, he could have had a pretty decent film career, but probably chose not to, for whatever reason.

Pam Grier is a but underused for her talent, in my opinion, but is as gorgeous as ever.

Glenn Close, Martin Short, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Michael J. Fox, and Sarah Jessica Parker all do a pretty good job with their roles. No one really sticks out as the star of this film, which is a good thing because this was more of an ensemble picture, anyway.

The martians are the real stars. I’ve made it perfectly clear that I’m no fan of CGI being mixed with live-action, but if it can be done like this, then I have no issue. Still, I wonder what the martians would look like in stop-motion.

Paul Whitman needs to be shot for singing that “Indian Love Call”. That has to be the most annoying song in music history. I had the same feelings the martians did everytime I heard it.

AS I said before, this is justa fun film. It’s meant to be a spoof on those B-move sci-fi flicks of yesteryear. If you’re going to watch it expecting to see a serious drama about martians or some over the top big budget alien flick, then stay away, but if you’re in for a good time, then check this out.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Back to the Future

PLOT:

Marty McFly is a 17-year-old living in Hill Valley, California. On the morning of Friday, October 25, 1985, his eccentric friend, scientist Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown (Lloyd), calls him, asking to meet at 1:15 the following morning at Twin Pines Mall. After school that day, a solicitor approaches Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer (Claudia Wells), asking for donations to preserve the town’s clock tower which has not run since it was struck by lightning thirty years before. Upon arriving home, Marty finds the family car wrecked in the driveway. Inside the house, he finds his weak-willed father George (Crispin Glover) being bullied by his supervisor Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), who had borrowed and wrecked the car. At dinner that night, Marty’s mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) recounts how she and George first met when her father hit George with his car as George was “bird-watching”.

That night, Marty meets Doc as planned in the parking lot of Twin Pines Mall. Doc presents a DeLorean DMC-12 which he has modified into a time machine. As Marty videotapes, Doc explains the car travels to a programmed date and time upon reaching 88 miles per hour using plutonium in a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of power it requires. Demonstrating how to program the machine, Doc enters in November 5, 1955 as the target date, explaining that it was the day he conceived the idea of the flux capacitor; the device which “makes time travel possible.” Before Doc can depart for his planned trip into the future, a pair of Libyan terrorists, from whom he stole the plutonium, arrive in a Volkswagen bus and kill him. Marty jumps into the DeLorean and is pursued by the Libyans until he drives at 88 miles per hour and is instantaneously transported back to 1955.

The car stalls shortly thereafter; Marty hides it, and makes his way into town on foot. He finds that the town square now reflects the popular culture of the 1950s, and that the clock tower once again operates. Marty runs into his own father, then a teenager, being tyrannized just as he was in 1985 by Biff, then the school bully. Marty follows George (who turns out to be a peeping tom, not a birdwatcher); as George is about to be hit by a car, Marty pushes him out of the way and takes the impact. The car turns out to be driven by Lorraine’s father, resulting in Lorraine becoming infatuated with Marty instead of George. Marty is disturbed by her flirtations, which contrast sharply with the prudish mother he is familiar with. He flees from her home to track down Doc Brown.

The scientist at first believes that Marty is a lunatic. Marty convinces Doc by recounting the story of how Doc got the inspiration for the flux capacitor, and then by showing Doc the videotape of the 1985 experiment. However, when he hears his older self describe the power requirements for time travel, Doc is shocked. He tells Marty that aside from plutonium, which is “a little hard to come by,” the only possible source of that much power is a bolt of lightning, which cannot be predicted. Marty remembers that the lightning strike at the clock tower will occur the following Saturday. As a result, Doc begins planning a way to harness the bolt’s power. Doc also deduces that Marty, by saving his father from the car, has prevented his parents from meeting, and instructs him to set things right.

After several failed attempts at playing matchmaker, Marty eventually works out a plan to have George appear to rescue Lorraine from Marty’s overt sexual advances on the night of a school dance. However, Biff shows up unexpectedly and orders his friends to lock Marty in a car trunk. Heavily intoxicated, Biff jumps into the car and attempts to force himself on the horrified Lorraine. George arrives as he and Marty have planned and is shocked to find Biff instead of Marty. Biff orders him to turn around and walk away, but George cannot bring himself to ignore Lorraine’s pleas for help. When Biff attacks him, George finally snaps and knocks out his tormentor with a single punch. A smitten Lorraine follows George to the dance floor, where they kiss for the first time, ensuring Marty’s existence.

Doc, meanwhile, has used cables to connect the clock tower’s antenna to two lampposts, which he plans to have Marty drive under in the DeLorean, now sporting a lightning rod, the moment the lightning strikes. Before Marty can leave, Doc finds a letter in his coat pocket that Marty has written, warning him about his future murder. Doc indignantly tears up the letter without reading it, describing the dangers of altering the future. Marty instead adjusts the time machine to take him back to 1985 ten minutes earlier than he left, giving him time to prevent the shooting. Upon his arrival, however, the car stalls and Marty arrives at the mall too late to save Doc. As Marty begins crying over his friend’s body, Doc sits up and opens his radiation suit to reveal a bulletproof vest. He shows Marty the letter he had written, taped back together. When asked about his belief in not altering the future, Doc replies, “I figured, what the hell?”

The next morning, Marty finds his family has been changed for the better. Most notably, Lorraine is physically fit and is no longer prudish, and George has become a self-confident novelist who orders a weak-willed and servile Biff around. Just as Jennifer and Marty reunite, Doc arrives, insisting frantically that he has visited the future and that they must go back with him to work out a problem concerning their future children. The three take off into the sky in a newly upgraded DeLorean that can fly, and disappear into the future.

REVIEW:

For me, this is one of the quintessential 80s films (with a bit of the 50s thrown in for good measure). Every time I see it, there is something that I either missed or forgot from the last time I saw it which makes it that much more enjoyable!

Michael J. Fox really came into his own with this film and proved that he could do more than just be Alex P. Keaton (from Family Ties).

Leah Thompson, when we first see her seems like your typical frustrated housewife who drinks to escape her misery. Then we go back to 1955 and realize how beautiful she is. Talk about a good make up job they did making her look old and unattractive.

Christopher Lloyd is perfect as Doc Brown. If his acting doesn’t make you a believer, then his facial expressions should do it. Like Jim Carrey, Lloyds face says a lot without him saying a word.

The rest of the cast is pretty good. Headlines by Crispin Glover as George and Thomas F. Wilson as Biff.

The score to this film is by Alan Silverstri, but at first listen you’d think it was John Williams. When the film shifts to 1955, Silvestri decides to pay homage to the science fiction films of that era in the score. Masterful! Not to mention, how can you not leave the theater (or seat) singing the main theme or even the Huey Lewis song included in the soundtrack?

I guess if I have an issue with this, it would be that we never see what’s happening to Marty’s family in 1985 while he’s changing history, except in the picture, and never learn why the Delorean turns cold upon re-entry. A couple of minor things, which tells you how good this film is.

This is an enjoyable film, you even learn something. In all my years of school, the only place I even heard of a gigawatt was while watching this. Of course, I know there are some of us out there that wonder what our parents were like in high school, myself included. I don’t know if I could take going back and having my mother obsessed with me or seeing me in my underwear. Still, this is one of the more enjoyable films of all time and I recommend seeing it and/or reacquainting yourself with it.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars