The Disney Channel Drop

I think the Disney Channel has gone downhill. Big time.

Let’s flash back a few years to a time when the shows had decent writing and when the DCOMs (Disney Channel Original Movies) were actually entertaining. I grew up on reruns of Phil of the Future, Even Stevens, That’s So Raven, and many more. I also grew up watching new shows to the channel such as Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Wizards of Waverly Place, short lived shows like Sonny with a Chance, and many more as well. I found these shows to be incredibly influential and I looked up to a lot of the stars, especially Miley Cyrus. Let’s just add her to the list of talented child stars who wanted to get as far away from image as possible. These shows weren’t just influential, they were actually entertaining. Whoever was behind the writing knew how to grab the attention of young people, creating the empire that is the Disney Channel. Though, I believe that this empire is starting to crumble and fall.

I tried watching some of the new shows and it was very hard to sit through an episode. I feel like instead of catering to a wide age range of kids, they’re simply trying to cater to the lowest demographic. The jokes aren’t funny, so there’s no need for the added laugh track. I just feel like the shows have lost the charm they once had.

Something just as iconic, or possibly more, than the shows on the Disney Channel are the DCOMs. These weren’t just movies, they were events. I loved watching the DCOMs. There’s so many great ones, but I think the greatest DCOMs ever made were the High School Musical movies. This trilogy was an empire in itself. Great writing, catchy music, charismatic characters, and a compelling story with a message all contributed to the success. These attributes could be applied to several other DCOMs as well. I can’t say the same for some of the most recent DCOMs. I went into watching Descendants thinking that I wasn’t going to like it. I was proven wrong and thought it was a wonderful movie. I don’t think the movie would have been as successful had it not been directed by Kenny Ortega, the great mind behind the iconic Disney classic Hocus Pocus and also the High School Musical movies.  If you have a great team behind the movie, it’ll probably be good. I just don’t feel like some of these movies have had a lot of effort put into them and I feel sorry for the actors that have to try and give their best performance with this material. 

The Pajama Game Review

I went to opening night of The Pajama Game and I thought it was wonderful. I have to say, I didn’t think this production was as strong as other productions such as Jekyll and Hyde or Nice Work If You Can Get It. This has nothing to do with the cast, they were fantastic as always, I think it was the overall plot that didn’t completely win me over. I felt it was continuous jumping from the factory to the office to the club to the outside and back to the factory. I just found it to be a little hard to follow at times. This was also how I felt after going to the preview, so I think it’s just a plot with some flaws.

I really enjoyed the overall concept and the 50s flair. I really enjoy musicals that are period pieces, so that was a big plus to my experience. One of my favorite things about this production were the costumes. They were nothing fancy or overly dramatic, but the simplicity of the costumes and the hairstyles brought a lot of spunk and charm to everything else.

I was very excited to see what the music was going to be like. From the preview, I thought the songs were cute. I particularly really liked There Once Was a Man and I liked it just as much seeing it for a second time. My favorite song was a song that I wish I would’ve seen at the preview because after seeing it, I wanted to see it again. This song was I’m Not At All in Love. I just loved it. I thought it was incredibly well done and all of the girls’ voices went together so perfectly. My favorite ensemble number was Once a Year Day. The costumes, the set, everything was working together so well. I loved the choreography and how complex it was at times. It was sort of hard to keep track of everything because almost everyone on stage was moving all at once, but that’s part of what made it so entertaining and fun to watch.

This has nothing to do with the performances or anything, but I was upset that a song list was absent from the program. I just like to be able to keep track of sequence of events. Other than that, I did enjoy the production, I just didn’t feel like it was the strongest. 

The Good Wife 7x19 "Landing" Review

-SPOILERS BELOW-

There was quite a lot that happened during this episode, but there’s really only one aspect of the episode that I want to focus on. This was the episode that I had been waiting for. This episode finally brought the return of Kurt McVeigh. His scenes were absolutely wonderful! At the top of the episode, fans of Kurt and Diane finally got the scene that they had been wanting and waiting for since the very beginning, a playful bedroom scene. I was on the edge of my seat during the entire scene and felt like I could barely breathe because I was happy and exhilarated by it. It was so adorable to see Diane so flustered over thinking that Kurt wanted a divorce after three years of marriage, though it turned out to be that he wanted to sell his ballistics business and retire so he could finally move in with her and really settle down. They’re both busy people, so it isn’t often that they get to see each other. This is such a wonderful step in the right direction for the both of them. It was so refreshing to see Diane so rowdy with Kurt and deeply in love.

When I first read that Kurt was going to retire, I selfishly wasn’t too happy because I would love to see Diane and Kurt working side by side at a law firm of their own. Though, after seeing Diane so happy and supportive of his decision, I was too. But, of course, it couldn’t be an episode with Kurt in it without some argument between Diane and himself. With the two of them being as stubborn as they are, I wasn’t surprised when there was a disagreement over the selling price. I loved seeing Diane so clearly jealous when she was discussing the matter with the potential buyer. These two as a pair always know how to work out their arguments and this situation was no exception. Seeing Diane almost cry over how happy Kurt makes her almost brought me to tears. They are such a beautiful couple and I am so grateful that they got to shine.

I was a little disappointed that they didn’t bring up the current presidential race. Diane is a democrat and Kurt is a republican. Diane loves Hillary Clinton, who is a candidate, and Kurt loves Sarah Palin, who is not a candidate, but did endorse Donald Trump. That would’ve been some amazing banter between them. Other than that, amazing episode. 

Reboots of Reboots are Stupid

It was just announced to the public that Benedict Cumberbatch will voice the Grinch in the upcoming animated reboot of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I’ll be upfront about this, I’m not happy about this. I just don’t see the need to reboot this story for a third time.

This idea just scares me. It’s being done by Universal, the same people that did the live-action version of the story back in 2000. The 2000 version, starring Jim Carrey as the Grinch, is one of my most favorite movies ever. I’m afraid that this new animated version is being created to ‘erase’ the live-action version because of it being under Universal. I hope the good people at Universal remember how big of a success their first go at this story was and that they have a very profitable attraction based on this movie at their theme parks during the holidays. Don’t forget your roots, Universal.

I know that the Seuss purists were afraid of even the thought of the Chuck Jones cartoon being adapted into a feature length movie. I also know that there is a large majority of people that despise the live-action adaptation and would like to forget that it exists (I’m looking at you, 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). It really makes me sad that so many people don’t love and appreciate it like I do. I think the movie has its flaws, but in no way do I think it’s a bad movie. I think it’s a wonderful adaptation and I wish more people could enjoy it for what it is. So, in that sense, I don’t think this one needs an update. One I could see getting an update is The Cat in the Hat (which I think is in the works). I think that that live-action adaptation is absolutely terrible and even insulting to the source material. It’s like they tried to take everything that the live-action Grinch did right and completely derail it in a way that’s just upsetting. It was because of that abomination of a movie that Audrey Geisel, the widow of Dr. Seuss, put a stop to any other live-action adaptions of her husband’s work.

I have nothing against Benedict Cumberbatch. I know very little about him and I’ve never seen any of his work, but I’m sure he’ll do a fine job. I just will never see anyone else as the mean, green one unless it’s Jim Carrey. I’m no Seuss purist and it feels weird for me to be placed in the position they were in in 2000. I don’t dislike the cartoon, I just wouldn’t watch it over the live-action version. That live-action version is canon to me and it holds a special place in my heart. I’m sure I’ll enjoy this movie just fine, but it’s no replacement. All I ask is that they don’t completely discard events and characters that were introduced in the live-action version. 

A PSA to Moviegoers

Here’s the PSA, don’t talk during a movie. It’s simple and it’s told to you before every movie, but it’s still not followed. I’ll admit, I have talked during movies before, but I’m never loud enough to become obnoxious and disruptive.

I bring this topic up because I was reminded of a friend’s sleepover from last year. I had offered to bring Into the Woods to watch and my friend was all for watching it. It wasn’t just the two of us at this sleepover, it was a bunch of other people. At first, everyone was watching and paying attention, but that came to a halt very fast. Soon, phones came out and conversations started to pop up. By the middle of the movie, people had gone off to other areas of her basement and started to just do their own thing. We had to keep turning up the volume on the movie so we could hear it because people were talking so much and being loud. It was extremely frustrating. By the end of the movie, there were only four of us watching it and everyone else acted like they didn’t even care that they were being so rude. There were complaints about it being so long, the fact that it’s a musical, and just a bunch of other nonsense that I didn’t want to deal with.

If you’re not enjoying the movie you’re watching, fine, but don’t hinder the experience for the others around you. I’m baffled still by the behavior of the other people at the party. It was my friend’s party and she was the one that wanted to watch the movie. They should’ve been respectful and participated in what she wanted to do, not go off and do their own thing while being extremely obnoxious.

I know it’s difficult to sit for one and a half or even over two hours without getting fidgety or wanting to talk. I get that, I completely get that. We’re humans and it’s hard to remain still and silent for a long period of time. Though, you owe it to the others around you to treat them with respect. If you’re seeing a movie in a theater, then you obviously had to pay for your ticket to see that movie. You used your own money because you wanted to be entertained. You wouldn’t want that money to be wasted due to the fact that you couldn’t enjoy yourself and be entertained because people were having conversations around you, right? 

WhoHaha

Elizabeth Banks, one of my favorite actresses and most loved humans, recently created a website and a campaign titled WhoHaha. The goal of this campaign is to highlight the ”who behind the haha.” This whole thing is all about women and aimed at women. Elizabeth, who is an actress that does a whole lot of comedy, feels that there is a huge divide between who gets the comedic roles in Hollywood. Even though there has been an influx in successful female actresses in comedies, she’s right when she says that most of these roles go to male actors. I do believe that there is a gender divide in Hollywood and it is greatly in favor of males. I think it’s wonderful that Liz has come up with this idea to create a gathering point for women and to give them a platform to show just how funny women can be.

If it wasn’t for comedy, I might not have found Liz in the first place. I actually discovered her wonderful acting and comedic talents after having seen her as Effie Trinket in The Hunger Games. For a movie with a very dark subject matter and gritty atmosphere, she served as the comic relief and did a wonderful job in doing this. Outside of serving as the comic relief in a dark dystopia for four movies, she’s done many other funny movies like The Lego Movie and the Pitch Perfect movies. Pitch Perfect was a huge deal for Miss Banks. Not only did she have a role in both acting in the film and writing it, she actually moved to the director’s chair by the second movie.

She acts, she writes, she produces, she directs, and does all of this while being extremely funny. I think a lot of women can be inspired by Elizabeth Banks and should be. She shows that you can be happily married, a mother, a successful business woman, and can make an impact on those around you in a very positive way. I hope that with WhoHaha, the overwhelming movement to support women and feminism, and simply the push for equality between genders, that women will get the credit they deserve. Hollywood and everywhere else needs a huge reality check when it comes to seeing that both men and women should be seen as equals and that one gender should not be privileged over the other just because of old social standards. 

Bringing Movies Home

I am not a person that goes to see every movie that is released in theaters and I’m certainly not one to purchase a new movie very often, but when I do, it’s a big deal for me. I would consider myself to be a movie buff and I always get excited when a movie I’ve been wanting to see again is released for the public to bring home. I always gravitate towards getting the versions that offer a DVD, a Blu-Ray, a Digital Copy, and occasionally a bonus disc with special features (which is usually the version offered at Target). I wanted to talk about this topic because of the two most recent movies that I’ve purchased from Target. I have been buying my movies from Target ever since 2012 when The Hunger Games came out on DVD. I was so happy with the bonus discs that came with the Target exclusive, but the packaging wasn’t the greatest.

I think packaging is really important. A lot of movies and music are now switching to non-plastic packaging because it’s more eco-friendly. This is great for the environment, but not always for assuring the safety of the discs. With the other three releases of the Hunger Games movies, Target switched to having their exclusive content come in a very nice, hard cover book with movie stills inside to hold the discs. I really enjoy these books and I wish that the first movie could’ve been released this way. I think the exclusive book for Mockingjay Part 2 has the nicest look to it and is definitely my favorite in my collection.

I recently got Star Wars: The Force Awakens from Target as well, once again because I wanted the bonus disc with the extra content. I also wanted this version because I really liked the cover art on the Target version compared to the versions offered by other stores. I wasn’t super happy with this version. I still love the cover art and the stills offered inside, but I hate the packaging. It’s completely cardboard. It’s essentially the same format as what was offered for The Hunger Games, so I don’t understand why they couldn’t have made a similar style book to hold the discs. This would’ve made the extra five dollars that was needed to purchase this version more worthwhile. All of the options for consumers is ridiculous in my opinion and I wish there would just be one great version for a reasonable price. 

The Importance of Score

Have you ever watched a movie without music? My guess is that you haven’t, unless it was a silent movie. All of the major Hollywood movies nowadays are always accompanied by score, yet I still feel that score is underappreciated. For anyone who doesn’t know, score is the background music that accompanies the scenes in movies. Often times, the scenes are filmed first, so the actors set the stage for the emotions the scenes are trying to convey. The composers are the real stars of the show. With every movement of the scene, the composers have to experiment with what instruments and arrangements would work the best to intensify the emotion of the scene. I feel that actors and directors get all the credit, but composers are the ones who help to tie everything together.

When watching a horror movie, everyone knows that when it all gets silent, something is going to jump out. This anticipation is often intensified by the quiet hum of violins that gradually gets louder. This anticipation would not be as intense if the score was taken out. I think score works very well in dramas. There are often cliffhangers and attention grabbing moments in dramas that receive great additions from score. In action sequences, there is often an orchestra accompanying them. I really love how orchestra and action go hand in hand. These scenes are particularly enjoyable in a theater with surround sound. Movie theaters are like the stage for composers to show off their work and really shine through.

I love when movie soundtracks are released with tracks that are purely score. The score itself is able to tell the story all by itself without the dialogue. Score lets your imagination paint the scenes in your head. Personally, I will sometimes only listen to score just to get lost in how beautifully thought out it is. I think score is wonderful and should be praised just as much as any other part of a movie. 

Two of my favorite composers who have written some of the greatest movie score are John Williams and James Horner. Unfortunately, James passed away not too long ago, but his work still lives on. I also feel like John has composed the music of several generations simply because he is behind some of the greatest movies ever made. 

Rock of Ages Review

I have friends who have told me several times to watch Rock of Ages, but I never got around to it. I got lucky and caught it on TV the other night after Mamma Mia! It must have been jukebox movie musical night or something. The fact that Rock of Ages is a jukebox musical actually had me worried. Prior to watching, I hadn’t watched any trailers and I had no idea what the plot was about. The most important thing about jukebox musicals is making sure that the existing songs actually tie in with the plot of the musical. I think Mamma Mia! does this extremely well, but this probably works so well because the entire musical is just ABBA songs. You can often tie a theme between songs done by the same artist, so it would be much easier to write a plot for that. This is what hurts Rock of Ages. The songs are fun, the way they incorporate the songs is fun, but I don’t feel like the songs move the plot along. For the majority of the movie, I didn’t feel like I was watching these characters singing these songs, I felt like I was watching a bunch of people doing karaoke in different locations. That’s the problem with doing a jukebox musical that involves a bunch of different songs from a bunch of different artists. It’s very hard to get everything to tie together in a way that makes sense.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Sherrie and Drew. I was totally invested very early on and I thought they had great chemistry. Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, and Tom Cruise all made me feel a level of discomfort, I’m not going to lie. It was also super obvious that they were getting some serious help and tweaks to their vocals. Some of the songs in this movie sounded very auto tuned and overdone, but I think that just added to the campiness of it all. I really enjoyed the protest scene with the mashup of We Built This City and We’re Not Gonna Take It. I thought these songs blended together very well and I thought this scene was also done very well.

I had the biggest problem with Catherine Zeta-Jones for almost the whole movie. I don’t have any issue with her or her performance, she’s amazing. It’s just her character. It was so hard to see her as this goody-two-shoes type. When I hear that voice of hers, I hear Velma Kelly from Chicago. I was just waiting for that bad girl to come out to match her sultry voice. I thought she was the standout performance.