Category Archives: Family

02.07.13
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Here Comes the Boom

My rating: ratings4

I saw this movie yesterday on Amazon Instant Video with my family. We all enjoyed it. It made us crack up! This movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray this Tuesday. It is also available on Xfinity On Demand. This movie is rated PG by the MPAA for “bouts of MMA sports violence, some rude humor and language”.

This film is about a former college wrestler named Scott Voss (Kevin James) who is now a 42-year-old bored biology teacher at a failing high school. When budget cuts lead to cancelling the music program, Scott decides to become a mixed martial arts fighter to save it. The film’s cast also includes Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler, Bas Rutten and Charice.

I really liked the cast and the comedy of this hilarious film, which is directed by Frank Coraci. This is now my favorite Kevin James movie. I would recommend this movie for kids my age or older but it might be inappropriate for kids younger.

Also, here is the website and the trailer of this movie.

01.05.13
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Parental Guidance

My rating: ratings4

When grandparents Artie (Billy Crystal) and Diane (Bette Midler) agree to babysit their three grandchildren when their parents (Marisa Tomei and Tom Everett Scott) leave town for a week, problems arise when the kids’ 21st-century behaviors collide with Artie and Diane’s old-school methods. But this movie, which is directed by Andy Fickman, is also about the value of family.

I really enjoyed this comedy and thought it was hilarious! I think that even the trailer of this movie will make you crack up!!!! I really liked how they made the credits, which you will have to stay tuned for and find out yourself when you watch the movie!!!!!!!!!!!  I would recommend this movie for kids 10 and over but it might be too uninteresting for kids younger than that. They also might not get any of the funny things in this movie.

Also, here is the website and the trailer of this movie.

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11.29.12
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Arthur Christmas

My rating: 

Have you ever wondered how Santa Claus delivers 2 billion presents in 1 night? Well, in this movie, which is now availible on DVD and Blu-ray, you will find out how he does it. This 2011 Christmas holiday themed movie is directed by Sarah Smith and stars James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Imelda Saunton, Jim Broadbent and Ashley Jensen. It tells the story of Arthur (McAvoy), Santa’s son. In this movie, Santa (Broadbent) delivers the Christmas presents with an ultra-high-tech “sleigh” known as the S-1, which is piloted by his older son, Steve (Laurie) and Steve’s elf assistant, Peter (Marc Wooton). On Christmas night, the elves deliver all the presents to all the children across the world. Soon the mission is complete and every present is delivered, until Arthur finds out that one present, which belongs to a girl in England named Gwen Hynes (Ramona Marquez), has not been delivered. Together with an elf named Bryony (Jensen), and his grandfather, Grand-Santa (Nighy), Arthur goes on an adventure on the original old wooden sleigh, named Evie, to deliver the present to Gwen. Also, Imelda Saunton plays Margaret Claus, Santa’s wife.

I really liked this movie, its animation, and humorous, smart and heart-warming story. I would recommend this movie for kids of all ages. Maybe even adults might enjoy this hilarious film.

Also, here is the website and the trailer of the movie.

11.22.12
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From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

My rating: ratings1

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a 1995 television film based on the novel by E.L. Konigsburg. The story is about a girl named Claudia and her brother, Jamie, who run away from home to live in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and discover what they think is a lost treasure. The children are transfixed with the treasure and won’t leave without knowing what its secret is. Lauren Bacall stars in the title role, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

The film lacks the narrative of Mrs. Frankweiler present in the book which causes it to lose much of the book’s humor and wisdom. For the majority of the film, the script stays true to the action in the book. However, Claudia’s posing as an adult and Jamie’s cold are not present in the novel.

I hated this movie a lot, especially becuase I didn’t like the actress who was casted as Claudia. I would recommend this movie for kids my age or older, but not for younger kids who might not be interested in it or not understand the plot.

Also, here is the trailer of the movie.

11.09.12
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Paperman

My rating:

This 7-minute black-and-white short film is theatrical with Wreck-It Ralph, and it is a combination of hand-drawn animation and computer animation. I really liked this technique. In this short film, a man tries to send a paper airplane to his love. The director of the short is John Kahrs and the producer is John Lasseter (director of Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Cars and Cars 2).The technique they used that blends hand-drawn animation and computer animation, called “final line advection”, gives the artists and animators a lot more influence and control over the final product as everything is done within the same department; the artists quoted, “In Paperman, we didn’t have a cloth department and we didn’t have a hair department. Here, folds in the fabric, hair silhouettes and the like come from of the commited design decision-making that comes with the 2D drawn process. Our animators can change things, actually erase away the CG underlayer if they want, and change the profile of the arm. And they can design all the fabric in that Milt Kahl kind-of way, if they want to.”

Also, here are some videos from the short.

11.09.12
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Wreck-It Ralph

My rating:

I saw this movie on Monday with my dad and brothers. We all enjoyed the movie. It stars John C. Reily, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer. In this film, Ralph (Reily) is the villan of an arcade game called Fix-It Felix, Jr., in which the hero of the game, Felix (McBrayer), must fix a building that Ralph destroys. Ralph has been the villan for 30 years now, and he is tired of being the bad guy. So one day, he leaves his game to prove he can be a hero and enters another arcade game, a first-person shooter called Hero’s Duty, in which the game’s leader, Sergeant Calhoun (Lynch) and her army must battle Cy-Bugs, the game’s villans, and get to the top of a building. Ralph later crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a kart-racing game set in tracks made of candy, where he meets one of the game’s characters, Vanellope von Schweetz, whose world is threatened when Ralph accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade.

I would recommend this movie to children all ages, and I think everyone will think it’s funny. Especially video game lovers will enjoy this movie.While those moments are great, most of the humor is much more broad-based, and the touching story will win over everyone, regardless of their ability to put a name to M. Bison’s face.From a homeless Q-Bert to Oreo guards at the candy palace, every minute of “Wreck-It Ralph” comes with a smile and a laugh. It’s worth plunking down some quarters.

Also, here is the website and the trailer of this movie.

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10.17.12
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Frankenweenie

My rating:

Frankenweenie is the first 3D animated black and white film, and it is directed by Tim Burton. It is a parody of the 1931 film Frankenstein, which is based on Mary Shelley’s book of the same name. It is also a remake of Tim Burton’s own 1984 short film, also titled Frankenweenie. Burton offered it to Disney, but they thought it was too strange. How ironic it is that 30 years later they asked him to make it into a feature film!

This film is about a boy named Victor Frankenstein, who’s best friend is his dog, Sparky. His parents want him to make friends with the neighbors, but Victor has no interest in making friends with the kids who live nearby, who include Nassor, a weird kid with a flat head inspired by Frankenstein’s monster, Edgar, a deformed, igor-like kid, Bob, an obese kid, Toshiaki, a Japanese classmate of Victor’s, and a weird, unnamed girl, who owns a cat named Mr. Whiskers. The only kid who really cares for Victor is Elsa, his next-door neighbor and the mayor’s niece, who owns a dog named Persephone. One day Sparky is killed by a car while pursuing a ball, and Victor is heartbroken. Persephone and Elsa are miserable, too. But one day in school Victor learns that the muscles of a dead frog still react to electricity. Victor tries this experiment on Sparky, which succeeds and Victor is really happy. But when Victor’s classmates find out, they plan to win the science fair using Victor’s creation, and they create monsters of their own, including a mummy hamster, a were-rat, a Gamera-like monster turtle, sea monkeys, and worst of all… a vampire cat!

This movie would be way too scary for kids younger than my age (10), but some parts are not as scary as others. This movie was OK, but not as good as Hotel Transylvania. I heard that Tim Burton was inspired to make this movie from his experience of losing his own dog when he was a child, and now, after watching this movie, I know how he felt when he lost his dog.

Also, here is the trailer of the movie.

10.13.12
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Hotel Transylvania

My rating: 

Hotel Transylvania is a hilarious, animated film starring Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James and Fran Drescher. In this film, Dracula (voiced by Adam Sandler) owns a resort named Hotel Transylvania, where monsters and their families can rest in peace, away from the danger of humans. On one special weekend, Dracula invites the world’s most famous monsters, including Frankenstein’s monster (voiced by Kevin James), his bride (voiced by Fran Drescher), a family of werewolves (the parents, Wayne and Wanda, are voiced by Steve Buscemi and Molly Shannon), Murray the Mummy (voiced by Cee Lo Green), Griffin the Invisible Man (voiced by David Spade), Bigfoot, the Blob, and many other famous monsters to celebrate his daughter, Mavis(voiced by Selena Gomez)’s 118th birthday. But an ordinary 21-year-old human traveler named Jonathan (voiced by Andy Samberg) accidentally enters the hotel and falls in love with Mavis.

I really enjoyed this film and I thought it was hilarious. I would recommend this movie for children of all ages. Even adults will enjoy this movie. My brother and my dad also really enjoyed it. It is now one of my favorite animated movies of all time!

Also, here is the website and the trailer of the movie.

10.09.12
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Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest

My rating:    

This is a 6-minute short film made by Perry Chen, an 11-year-old animator and movie blogger (like me), directed by Kevin Sean Michaels and produced by Bill Plympton. It is a true story about a girl named Ingoushka Petrov (later known as Ingrid Pitt), who survived the Holocaust in 1945, when she was only eight years old. She narrated the film herself and it was her last project before she passed away. Like Anne Frank, it was her childhood dream to become an actress and she eventually lived her dream and was a movie star for over 40 years before her death in late 2010.

This short film describes the Holocaust experience through Ingrid Pitt’s eyes in very simple, hand-drawn animation. I was very impressed by the movie’s ability to express Ingrid Pitt’s fear of being imprisoned in the concentration camp with her mother, constantly fearing for her life, experiencing hunger, diseases and sadness. I really liked how Perry Chen made Ingrid’s bad memories in black and white and her good memory (of the moment she learned the war was over) in color – almost like she was becoming alive again.

As a Jewish boy I was personally moved by this film. It made me feel that I can now better understand what my great grandmother’s family went through in Poland. They, too, were taken to concentration camps and killed in horrific ways (my great grandmother was the only survivor from a big family). She still lives in Israel (she’s 98 years old now) and frequently shares her family stories and pictures with us.

This film will be featured at the Transbay Festival, kicking off this Friday, October 12 in San Francisco.

Also, here is a preview video of the movie.

10.06.12
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Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

My rating:   

I saw this movie last week on Youtube and I thought it was a great movie. It stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia Robb, Bailee Madison, Robert Patrick and Zooey Deschanel. It is based on the award-winning novel by Katherine Paterson, which I also read, and it is the story of Jess Aarons (played by Josh Hutcherson)who meets a girl named Leslie Burke (played by AnnaSophia Robb). Together, they create the imaginary land of Terabithia and rule as king and queen. This friendship helps Jess cope with the tragedy that makes him realize what Leslie had taught him. I would recommend this touching film for the whole family.

Also, here is the trailer of the movie.