Sunday, February 15, 2009

Movie Reviews: Frozen River, Kung Fu Panda, The Visitor

I had a paper to write this afternoon for my Human Development class, this is one of those assignments that you do to get it done, it's BS101, so I thought that it might be a good time to rent a movie and watch it while I got the paper done. I'd been planning to go over to Blockbuster to get Juno, I'd seen it in the theater last year and LOVED it and wanted to see it again, when I got an e-mail from my friend Doug. Every year he and his wife Kristen throw an Oscar party and Doug was writing us all to tell us what Oscar nominated movies were out on DVD. Even though I'm probably not going to make it to the party next weekend since I'll be driving back from West Virginia I decided that I'd check out some of this years contenders.

When I got to Blockbuster I pulled Doug's e-mail up on my iphone and attempted to located the movies in the store. I wonder what beef Blockbuster has with the alphabet and why they can't simply put the movies in ABC order, that would make life a lot easier! From the list I found three that I thought I'd like: Frozen River, Kung Fu Panda, and The Visitor. Here they are in the order I watched them:

Frozen River: I did not enjoy this movie, it reminded me of Thelma and Louise meets Fargo - it was weird, maybe I just didn't get it.

Kung Fu Panda: This movie surprised me! I didn't think I'd like this movie. While I do enjoy animated movies, especially the Disney and Pixar movies, a Kung Fu fighting Panda just wasn't going to do it for me. I was really surprised by this movie! It was about this cute and cuddly Panda who has to find his true destiny! It's all about perseverance and finding your way even when it's hard - and realizing your true potential even when others don't see it! It has a large amount of fighting scenes but it's nothing over the top. I'm really bummed that this one is rated PG - it's a movie I would willingly show in my classroom!

The Visitor: This was an interesting movie. Wayne is a college professor who lives in Connecticut and has an apartment in NYC, he goes to NYC for a conference and discovers that there is someone living in his apartment! There are two people who are from Africa living there and making their living in the US. As the movie progresses Wayne develops a deep friendship with the couple and fights to keep them here after it's discovered that they are illegal. This is a deeply touching movie about finding friendship and healing in unexpected places! I really enjoyed this one as well and am hoping to see it win next week!

Now I'm watching Juno and cracking up!
4 movies in one afternoon/evening has got to be some kind of record for me!
Oh and the paper - only half done, about 1/4 of the way through Kung Fu Panda I was too into the movie and I got out my crocheting and the paper didn't happen!

2 comments:

stephen said...

KUNG FU PANDA movie is really very interesting movie...This is a animated movie.....II love the character of Po who is lazy and working in the noodle restuarant of his father.I Download kung fu panda movie last night

Anonymous said...

This is a animated movie. mostly the children like the animated movie.... But when i watch kung fu panda movie ,i really like this movie.