Terrible Plan! Movie Reviews

What I liked: The scenes they recreated from the animated Sleeping Beauty. It was also good to see that the three fairies had some help raising Aurora, because we all know from the cartoon that would not have worked out well. If you wanted to spend 30 seconds thinking about the film, there are some very simple visual and thematic parallels to examine: Maleficent becoming monarch when her enemy does and them jointly destroying both lands. Her being trapped like the crow was. etc.  Potato Ents. They pop out of the ground like daisies. What I didn’t: Keeping wings you cut off a fairy is 1 weird 2 a biohazard 3 highly unlikely to result in successful reattachment after 17 years of separation. If you are wearing a giant iron suit without insulation 1 you probably are not very agile 2 you will likely be very susceptible to dragon fire and fire from your own blow torch. The fairy kingdom seems very floppy; all these magical powerful creatures get pushed around for no other reason than plot

What I liked: quidditch with sheep. Sheep in catapults. Sheep pinball. What I didn’t: Most everything else. The plot dragged. The characters were nowhere near as funny as in the first one. And honestly what was the point of bringing back as long lost dead mother? Did it help the plot? no. Did it help the characters? no. Could the place in plot and character development be assumed by any other random mysterious dragon rider to the same effect? yes. Also what was the evil villain’s motivation and plan again? neither seemed to make much sense.   Who should watch it: people who like bad sequels. Would I watch it again? Nope.  But I would youtube the sheep scenes.

What I liked: Imagining my friends pursuing advanced degrees in Humanities striking out into a warzone to save the art they love. Essentially it would go exactly like this. The would have bantering bickering, be fairly ineffective, but love every minute of it. This is a lighter view of WWII it doesn’t encounter the horrors of the war but still conveys the urgency of a wartime adventure. I liked that this was a true story and am glad that the significance of leaving/returning great works of art in/to defeated countries was acknowledged. I liked that the would be romance was rebuffed. What I didn’t: The high star power of the film I think detracted from the characters. Clooney as a standard Clooney character as were most of the other stars, they didn’t really seem to get into their rolls. Who should watch it: people looking for a lighthearted drama. A fun evening, but not too thought provoking. Would I watch it again? Once was good unless I end up teaching a class on post WWII re

What I liked: the battle scenes were well done and I thought they did a good job of capturing the controversy in the book of using children to fight wars. Contrast between harrison ford and ender was also good. What I didn’t: CG was a little off. They purposefully used two kinds one for the in movie computer game and one for the movie reality. It came out the same year as Gravity and the ready comparison did not help it. The different ending of finding a new home for the buggers to live instead of becoming a speaker for the dead made it happier but also lessened the tragedy of the last battle. There were clumsy attempts to give the characters more depth, seemed to bog things down more than add thoughtful perspective into their motives. Who should watch it: Anyone looking for a fun action movie in space. Would I watch it again? Once was enough

What I liked: It was a child’s eye view of WWII in Germany. The protagonist recognized that some things were wrong or off but generally just tried to live her small life. There was sadness and fun and the relationships seemed to progress naturally and realistically. A good life drama. Fairly good use of German. What I didn’t: Having death as a narrator was odd. It seems to me with an emphasis on storytelling, just about any narrator could have been selected. having death be the narrator added a more sinister tone to what could have been more of a children’s movie. Who should watch it: a good family movie. Would I watch it again? Yes if in the right mood