Congrats Miami Heat!!! & "Brave" Review!!!

   We got a chance to go watch the new Pixar movie "Brave" yesterday and we were pleasantly surprised by the different approach the movie took and how deep yet witty the story was. Before we start talking about the movie though we must first give a big shout out to all the Miami Heat fans out there who have stuck it out and shown once and for all that they do have a great team, a team that knows how to work together, a team deserving of the title. A lesson that can be learned from this team is that it doesn't matter how many stars you have in your roster, if they cannot work together then they will go nowhere, it was the Heat's teamwork that brought them this win, we look forward to the Heat's continued growth and wish all Heat fans good luck for next year.

    Like many Pixar movies before it, "Brave" had a fun short-animation film prior to the movie starting. This year Pixar choose the short "La Luna", it is a superbly well done short film about generational gaps and a young boy becoming a man. When you watch this short film make sure to watch the detail around the three characters, from the boat to the moon, to even the waters surrounding them, it was a great work of art. Every year in the "academy awards" a short film is selected to win the award, we feel strongly that "La Luna" will be a strong contender, it has all the elements one would want from a short story, we loved it. But enough of all this, let's move on to the movie shall we. 

     Usually here is where we would start praising the movie and showering it with love, but we feel that we should start this review by saying that though this was a fun movie, that this was not what one would expect from Pixar. "Brave" is a great movie, it was entertaining, it was gorgeous, the story flowed well, but it wasn't groundbreaking, there wasn't that element of epicness you found in "UP", "Wall-e", "Toy Story" or "Finding Nemo", it was a great film but it wasn't a spectacular film like we have always gotten from Pixar in the past. In many ways this movie is your standard Disney princess movie with a "Brother Bear" element thrown in there for fun, the end result isn't bad but it isn't epic. With all that said let's talk about how fun this movie was.

    "Brave" looks fantastic, it is astounding how far we have come when it comes to animation, from lighting to set design, "Brave" felt alive, the movie was quite a sight to see and it kept us engaged at all times. As we have talked about before this is Pixar's first time having a female main character and they did a really good job creating a character people could relate with, someone that is not perfect but lovable, they gave us a great main character with plenty of personality. The side characters were fantastic as well, the movie was packed with funny jokes and moments, the twins were hilarious and kept us entertained throughout the whole show as well, if you are a fan of animation and love Pixar's work then we recommend this movie hands down. Also a big shout out is deserved to all the voice actors that worked on this movie, they all did a spectacular job, top notch work for sure.

    Rating this movie isn't an easy feat though, this movie was really fun and we recommend it for everyone, but when considering this movie's rating in light of all the other movies that Pixar has been a part of we can't give this movie more than a 3.5/5, it just doesn't stand up to the other projects that Pixar has been a part of, though this might seem like a low score it shouldn't be looked at as such for it was a great flick.  Due to the bar that Pixar has set upon themselves we can't help but be harsher with this film then we normally would. Putting the Pixar element aside this movie was a definite "must see" it will definitely be the best animated movie this summer, that you can count on. For the record, we did love this movie, so go watch it for sure.

   Stay tuned for a special post on Sunday as we review "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter", hopefully it'll be as fun as the book. We hope you have had a great week and pray that your weekend might be a safe one.

 Love from your humble blogger,

The Hunger Games who is Brave and loves Snow

    It saddens us a bit to report that there are just a few movies coming out (that have been announced so far) that contain a strong female role within it, but we are happy to report that these movies all look amazing. This year we are blessed to have various interesting characters making an appearance or re-surfacing with a new look, did someone say reboot? Yeah, not all reboots are bad, let us hope that more great titles surface as the year progresses and we see more movies like "The Help" or even something like "Columbiana" surface, both of which, in their own styles, hosted strong female characters and were good movies overall.

     Starting with the reboot, or should we say the competing reboots, one cannot start a post about changing the scene without talking about "Mirror Mirror" and "Snow White and the Huntsman" which both look promising in their own way. "Mirror Mirror" is taking the more light hearted approach but still offering a different take on the story, one where Snow White isn't helpless and weak but knows how to hold her own, this movie not only has an amazing cast but is attempting to change the game a bit by offering a new perspective and bits of fun in between, a sure one to look forward to. Our other contender is "Snow White and The Huntsman" which is appealing to the mature ambiance of the story, still hosting a very strong female role and keeping a dark atmosphere about itself. Both these movies will give us a new twist in the story, but the most important part is that both of these movies are hosting a strong female figure instead of the helpless princess, it's about time, we were starting to think that "Mulan" was going to be the only one.

         We know we covered this already but it bears mentioning again that Pixar's new movie "Brave" will be coming out this summer and it will surely blow our minds. A point that we felt we should make about our post on Monday is that we are not saying that being a "stay at home" princess is a bad thing, no, what we are saying is that we as a society should support all roles of women in society, we should affirm everyone by what they choose to do, but at the same time we should encourage people to strive for excellence. So we felt that the latter side, have not really had a lot of movie inspiration going their way, thus the importance of pointing out that "Brave" is doing just that. We should always strive to affirm all people and everyone deserves a voice, we should strive to encourage people to pursue their dreams, whatever that might be, and hence the importance of the message of the movie "Brave" which is exactly that, that we should strive to aid one another to reach our goals instead of putting each other down, encouraging one another to aim for the sky, and be all that we can be.

   This brings us to the last movie that you should check out, this is one that we are very excited about, "The Hunger Games". We mentioned "The Hunger Games" in December and boy does it deserve to be talked about more and more, this movie is pushing the boundaries, it is giving us something we have never seen before, and is showing us a strong "everyday" girl who through willpower overcomes great obstacles. We were excited about this movie months back but with the recent previews that have been coming out for it, our excitement tripled if not quadrupled. Here is a story of love and loss, of courage and fear, of pain and regret, of courage and cowardice, this movie has it all and more. If you didn't have this movie in your "must watch" list before then do yourself a favor and do so now, this is the "must watch" movie this month, and if you find yourself with some free time do pick up the books, you'll love them, they will surely entertain you intensely.

     We hope that you have had a good week and pray that you have an even better weekend,

Love from your humble blogger,

Pixar's "Brave": Why It's A Big Deal

    We all love Pixar's films, from Toy Story to Up Pixar is constantly wowing us with their amazing story telling and masterfully crafted animation, but even though all their movies have been epic they have never had a movie hosting a female main character, there have been female side characters but never main characters, this is something we are glad that they are finally redeeming. Its about time that we saw more movies come out that features female characters leading the story, thus "Brave" is a big deal, the first Pixar film centered around a girl instead of a boy.

    The newest preview for Brave has just recently come out and it looks great, we are all looking forward to Pixar's latest original work with anticipation. From what we can tell from the preview this is a reversed princess story, here is a princess who does not wish to be a "stay at home princess" but wants to be able to venture into the world, go in adventures and fight, instead of staying home and learning to be miss perfect and wait for some prince to come take her away. Of course her parents oppose it, specially her mom, but she will go out anyway and prove to the world that a girl adventurer can be more qualified than their male counterpart, this is a good message, one that needs to be shared more, the restrictions placed on people because of them either being male or female is prejudice and something we should constantly work on fighting against.

  We live in a world where there are more girls going to college than guys, where women have become presidents of corporations and countries, where we have more female workers than men in various parts of the United States, this is a big deal, it is something that  needs to be broadcast to the new generation, telling them that it doesn't matter what you see in magazines or TV you are good enough, you are smart enough and you can accomplish anything no matter what your gender is, so don't let the media fool you into thinking you can't be successful in the world.

   Think about all the animated movies that have come out as of late, now try and remember which one of these movies was lead by a female character, maybe one or two, and to take this thought even further, think about those movies that had leading female roles, which one of those was targeted towards everyone versus the ones that were targeting only the female population? What we mean to point out here is the fact that Pixar is releasing a movie that has a female leading character that is being targeted to all audiences and not just the female population, this is a big deal. Here is why, this is Pixar making the stand in saying that its about time we embrace the female lead character and stop being scared to have a girl win the battles instead of a guy.

    This is not a new thing here, even in other movies we see this phenomenon happening all the time, think "Transformers" the only reason there is a girl included as a character is sex appeal, that's about it, in a sense it sells, but in another sense the whole formula is disgusting. Let's think of another movie, how about "Lord Of The Rings", notice there are no female characters within the party that sets out to destroy the one ring, and don't say "that was another time, he wrote it forever ago" cause we can always counter with "Narnia" which hosted some strong female lead characters and was written around the same time, C. S. Lewis is the man, let's be honest. 

   The point here is simple, we need more movies with strong female characters, we need to encourage the new generation of women to aim for the heavens, to surpass their male counterparts, and achieve that which we have thought to be unachievable. This year we do actually have some good movies coming out hosting strong female roles, we'll be featuring a few of those on our Friday post, so stay tuned for that. On Wednesday we'll be talking about some reality TV shows that are nothing but negative influences on the next generation and how we need to start fighting against such shows.

     We hope you are as excited as we are about "Brave" and hope that this Monday will be a great one for you. To all the Mass Effect 3 people out there, be sure to get some sleep tonight.

Love from your humble blogger,