Peanuts

My husband and I went to see the Peanuts movie tonight. He has a lot of nostalgia about it, but I really don't. I watched one of the movies as a kid, but not the regular cartoon, and I wasn't really into it. The Peanuts movie had stuff for both of us, and was really good. 

For me, I saw a lot of myself in the Charlie Brown character - always trying to do good things and always having them turned on their heads. And no, I can't fly a kite. I found the movie touching and funny in about the right combinations. Lucy reminded me of many of the kids I grew up with, except that I was fortunate enough that by high school most of them had forgotten about me. She gives Charlie perfect advice, and then tells him he'll never be good enough to follow it, insulting him the whole time. 

My husband complained that the movie was a little too long. It came in at only 88 minutes, so I'm not sure how much shorter they could have made it and still called it a full length movie. I admit that it did feel like more than 88 minutes to me, too. I estimated 100 minutes after looking at my watch, but that must have included the time for the new Ice Age short at the beginning. 

Speaking of the Ice Age short, can I tell you how fed up I am with Ice Age shorts? How much attention can people give to a rat that wants an acorn? It's old and tired. I hated it the first time I saw it and nothing has changed that opinion. It also put me into a bad mood as the movie I actually wanted to see began and almost ruined the whole thing. Fortunately the first of many scenes that reminded me of my life (Charlie Brown knocking over a fence when everyone is trying to see the new girl) came quickly and I was able to refocus on the present movie. 

For a 50 year old cartoon, these characters really pinpoint childhood still. I guess the more things change the more they stay the same. Nothing seemed out of place either for life growing up or for the show. 

Overall I give it a B+

All-Star Superman

My husband wanted me to watch this movie because I have been really getting into Marvel comic book movies but haven't enjoyed DC as much. He thought this would be perfect because it makes fun of the exact aspect of Superman that I always hate, namely that he is so over powered it becomes laughable. This movie plays off of that by having every stupidly super powered thing that happens to him over a few years of comics happen all at once in about 2 hours. My husband also thought I needed a better appreciation for Lex Luthor in order to understand comic books.

This movie follows the last days of Superman as he dies following too much solar radiation. He gives Lois Lane super powers for 24 hours, and then Lex Luthor gets arrested, escapes from prison by taking the same serum that made Lois Lane into Super Woman, has an epiphany thanks to seeing the world as Superman does, and on death row, comes to terms with Superman. Superman, meanwhile, becomes converted into pure energy at exactly the same time as the sun is dying and needs to be relit, so he goes on to become the sun.

While I understand that the movie was kind of making fun of this phenomenon, all it really did was annoy me because all of the things that happened in this movie did happen in the comics at one time or another. It just highlighted how overpowered Superman is, and how much I don't like him.

Maybe you needed more background information to appreciate it. I know that the opening scene would have confused me completely if I hadn't seen the newest Superman movie in the theaters. It provided no information and just expected you to understand what they were talking about with vague scenes related to the death of Krypton. Then, he tells Lois Lane that he's Superman, and she doesn't believe him. I guess there's background here, because it's vaguely referenced, but it just seemed random.

This movie is really for the fans. It's not meant to bring anyone else into the Superman fandom. It expects you to know Superman. Since I don't know Superman, it left me frustrated, and feeling like it was just a movie about an overpowered super hero I couldn't relate to.

Overall, I give it a B-.

Jurassic World

Circumstances behind seeing this movie
My husband and I went to the theater on opening night to see this movie. We both knew it wasn't going to be great going in, but it was going to be an excuse to watch dinosaurs, and I have always loved dinosaurs. I watched the original 22 years ago when I was 11, and loved the first one so much that I read and re-read the book several times. So basically I was excited even though I knew it wasn't going to be a great movie
The movie
I went in thinking this movie wasn't going to be great, and I got what I expected. There were blatant attempts to shoe-horn in a reason to care about the characters, such as a conversation between the two kids (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) about their parents getting a divorce. I guess they wanted to make it a little tragic or something. It really didn't work, and at no point during the movie did I really care the two kids got eaten by dinosaurs. With regard to other characters, including the aunt, (Bryce Dallas Howard) I was actively cheering the dinosaurs to eat the corporate whore. There was really only one character I didn't want to get eaten, and that was the character, Owen, played by Chris Pratt.
The masterful suspense from the original movie's raptor chase was sadly lacking in this one. It tried to scare you with jump scenes and a chase scene, but it wasn't done nearly as well as the 1993 version. Partially this might have to do with my lack of caring about the characters, but it also had to do with the pacing of the movie, and the fact that the actors were trying too hard to put suspense where there just wasn't any.
The redeeming value in this movie comes from the entertainment of a giant lizard smackdown when a velociraptor and t-rex team up against the genetic mutant that should be more powerful than both of them. The end was predictable as soon as you saw where it was - up against the water with the ledge broken. They attempted to make you jump here, but really it was so predictable that, well, I didn't even jump. As predictable as the end was, it was worth it to see giant dinosaurs beating on each other.
Overall, dinosaurs are cool, and they really made the movie - which is fortunate because the human actors weren't carrying it themselves. But you know what? When they make a sequel, we'll be there on opening night to watch it.
I give it a solid B.
Also, check out this image by Georgia Aquarium having fun with one of the scenes from the movie