NevermoresRaven Blog

I am one of the biggest nerds around, and the original "Star Wars" trilogy is one of my biggest nerdisms(wait, is that a word?). So you think someone who gets into arguments over who would win in a fight between Darth Vader and Captian Kirk would take his prized movies as a godsend, and I do. However I also happen to have this thing called a sense of humor, and Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs" tickels my funnybone(oh god, the cliches!) and then some.

Now any idiot could spoof sci-fi classics like "Star Wars" and "Planet of the Apes"(Planet of the Grapes could net you millions!), but Mel Brooks does it in a way that not only satires the films but also pays homage to them with subtle jabs.

Let us not forget the iconic dialouge this movie has, and the great lines it presents. "I knew it, i'm surrounded by assholes", "Spaceballs the Flamerthrower! The kids love that one", and the famous:
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former room-mate.
Lone Star: So what's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing!
Those are by far my favorite lines from the film, and some of the best in cinema if you ask me.

This whole film just shows Mel Brook's talent for satire and witty writing, and every scene gives a sense of respect at the same time to the source material.

Needless to say, the acting in this film is spot on to what they needed. Rick Moranis plays the villianous Dark Helmet with a surprising wit and tounge in cheek attitude, but he also plays the most incompitent villan ever. I think that's why his character is so likeable. And let's not forget John Candy as Barf, the heroic Mog. The stupid dog puns that he's able to spit out add a sense of simple familiarity to the character.

So please, for the love of all things awesome, see this film if you haven't. I just about killed my friend when she said she had never seen it, but she is now one of those who has basked in it's glory.

Holy crap, has it really been 15 years since this came out? You mean to tell me I was 7 when this came out? Wow, I feel kind of old all of a sudden.

So "Jurassic Park", where do I begin with this movie? This is, by all means, one of the single greatest survival-thriller-action movies ever made. The combination of thrilling action and dinosaurs just sets this apart from most anything else out, sure the sequels were both pretty bad but they don't count anymore.

First of all, the acting in this movie is stupendous on all accounts. Sam Jackson, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Richard Attenborough all give stellar performances. Even the kids who play Lexi and Tim give great performances and set the bar(even though both of them have sort of fallen from the face of the Earth). And lest we forget the big stars of the movie, the Dinosaurs themselves.

Speaking of those Dinosaurs, how awesome are those things? The CGI may seem a little dated, but it still holds so strong even all these years later. Come to think of it, it looks more convincing than some other movies i've seen since the turn of the century(I, Robot for example). The scene where the T-Rex chases the jeep down the road is still an impressive specticale of visual magic, and credit must be given to the masters at ILM. The anamatronics are equally amazing, and to this day remain some of the most realistic robots and puppets i've ever seen in my life. The sick Triceratops still makes me gasp in wonder at the effects the pulled off.

And let us not forget the amazing soundtrack by John Williams. The theme song alone(like so many of Williams' previous works) captures the imagination and is easy to notice anywhere. It's like Jaws or Star Wars, you just know that song.

So what is bad about this film? Well to nit pick a little bit, it's got some vast differences from the book. But hey, what novel adaptation(Sin City excluded) is truely faithful to the book in the end?

Either way, this is one of the best films of the 90's, or the century, or of ever. Watching it brings back fond memories of my childhood and my eccentric quest to become a palientologist.

I'm the type of guy who's sort of on the fence when it comes to teen comedy-dramas that involve people getting pregnant, simply because it's been done before. Maybe it's also got to do with the fact that I knew so many girls in highschool who were pregnant that it's made me take a sick and twisted view of teen pregnancy issues. Yet something about 2007's "Juno" made me forget most of my quarrels with this style.

As you know, Juno(Ellen Page) gets pregnant by Bleeker(Michael Cera), and goes off to find a good family to give the child to(Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). Ok so the plot is pretty thin, but that's to be expected when you think about most films these days.

There's a lot of talk on the ol' interwebs about how this movie is nothing more than "worthless hipster bullshit", which makes no sense to me. Most people are just bitching about it because it was the big popular movie, just like they did with "Transformers" and "The Matrix". People online will find anything to complain about so that they can seem cool, popular, and intellectual. Don't listen to these poeple, but please listen to me.

Ellen Page gives a good(not great) performance as a semi-geeky girl who has no quarrels spitting out pop-culture references whenever able. Sure there's some things that seem a little odd and out of place, but people bring up that "She's supposed to be 16, no 16 year old talks like that". That's a BS argument, because I was spewing pop-culture satire and the likes when I was that age(and that was only 6 years ago mind you). I like the fact that she makes a Thundercats joke(and I don't want to hear the whole "she got the line wrong! RAAAAAGGGGEEE!" crap because you're a moron if you can't just accept a fun reference). Michael Cera gives a somewhat half-assed performance as Bleeker, but that seems more due to the fact that his part really isn't as big as one might expect. In fact, I think Jennifer Garner has more screen time than Cera does. I can't blame it all on him, but in the long run Michael Cera is sort of a one trick pony, kind of like Rachel Dratch...that same tone and facial expression no matter the role.

J.K. Simmons(of Spiderman fame) does an exceptional job as Juno's father, with the sort of wit and charm you'd expect from him(and the line "I'm gonna' punch that Bleeker kid in the weiner" is great).

The music is a big downside to this film. it's all acoustic "indie"-pop junk that could have been taken out n favor of something to better suit the personalities of the characters. Sure there's a Sonic Youth song in there, but who even likes Sonic Youth anymore? Nobody, that's who.

So in the long run this is an enjoyable film, if you don't mind some missed character development, a thin plot, and some strange lines(yes, even I admit that "honest to blog?" is fake as all get out), and a few missed jokes. Just don't let the whiney idiots that lurk about the lands of the internet deter you with all their anti-"hipster"(what the hell does "hipster" even mean?) junk.