Movie Review - Michael Jackson: This Is It

Kristi and I went to This Is It last night. The movie has been receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews. I thought I would like This Is It, but it was even better than I anticipated. The movie works.

This Is It is a documentary about Michael's rehearsals for his 50 date concert series that had been scheduled to begin shortly after the date of Michael's death. The movie gives attendees a glimpse of what the concert would have been like as well as a glimpse of Michael as a professional, planning for this elaborate concert. Going into the the theater I had no idea that the concert would have been elaborate, but elaborate is likely an understatement. The concert would have been spectacular.

The focus of the movie is on the music. Many of Michael's songs from over the years are in the show. The sound quality is fantastic - and that's what really makes the movie. Anyone who enjoys Michael's music at all just should not miss seeing (and hearing) this movie in the theater!

There are really no spoilers to this movie, but the items below are some conclusions I drew. If you are going to go see it, you might want to wait to read my ideas until after you've had a chance to draw your own conclusions.

Some things that struck me:
Some of the dance auditions were shown in the movie. An elite corp of young physically fit dancers were on stage with Michael. It was stunning how well Michael kept up with his younger counterparts.

That concert would have been one of the most spectacular shows ever produced.

Michael seemed like a pretty regular guy; scarcely a hint of eccentricity - mostly just focused on the task at hand, giving fans an amazing experience.

The crew - working so closely with Michael to prepare for the concert, many of whom were living life-long dreams, must have been crushed when the news of Michael's death arrived.

Day with the Girls & Bolt

Kylee, Abby and Makenna sporting their 3D glasses.

I spent the day with Kylee, Makenna and my niece, Abby. I took Rob's advice and took them to see Bolt in 3D. The movie was fantastic. Beyond the terrific story, the RealD 3-D visuals were very impressive. If you enjoy going to movies and haven't seen Bolt yet, I would recommend seeing Bolt in 3D before it ends its run.

The whole day was a lot of fun, we:

• Went to Dick's Sporting Goods and PetSmart in Mishawaka. (The girls do not have any pets, but they do enjoy looking at the animals in pet stores.)
  
  
• Went bowling at Strikes and Spares in Mishawaka. (None of us had been there before. It is a very nice place. It was Kylee and Makenna's first time bowling and we had a good time. I plan on returning to Strikes and Spares.)
  
  
• Ate lunch at Chick-fil-A. The girls played in the play area.
  
  
• Went to Build a Bear Workshop and Claire's in University Park Mall.
  
  
• Took the Toll Road from Mishawaka to Elkhart.
  
  
• Saw Bolt in 3D in Elkhart where we drank 120 ounces of Pepsi and ate a large popcorn.
  

It's Fab-u-lous

Kylee, Makenna and I saw High School Musical 3 this afternoon. We all enjoyed it. I thought it was way better than High School Musical 2, but still not quite as good as the original, which I thought was a great movie.

I enjoy upbeat musicals in general and while this one doesn't have a terrific story line, the songs are highly energetic and, I thought, a lot of fun. A movie doesn't have to have violence or adult oriented themes to entertain me. This one doesn't have either, and it certainly did entertain.

Movie Review: King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

I had heard about King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters a number of months ago. I thought it sounded like a movie I might enjoy, so I set the Tivo to search for that title. Last week, I noticed the Tivo had recorded it. Cool!

Kristi and I watched King of Kong last night. It is a documentary about one guy's quest to break the 20 year old Donkey Kong high score record and the record holder's quest to retain the record.

We generally enjoy documentary movies and King of Kong was no exception. It is an incredibly interesting story; funny, suspenseful, frustrating, absurd, and filled with surprises.

Kristi and I both really enjoyed King of Kong. I highly recommend it.

King of Kong will be airing on the G4 channel (DirecTV channel 354, Dish Network channel 191) on June 13 at 7:00 pm and on June 14 at 2:30 pm.

Prince Caspian

I took the girls uptown to see Prince Caspian tonight. I had read The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to Kylee and Makenna, but we had not read Prince Caspian.

We enjoyed the movie. I do hope we didn't bother the family two rows in front of us too much, as the girls did have quite a few questions as they tried to understand all that was happening. I'm not an expert movie-understander by any means, so their crutch itself was slightly lame. After a bit of a slow and slightly confusing (to a lame crutch) start, it moved along quite well. Definitely not one of my favorite movies, but I did like it.

Four things:

1. I always enjoy going up to the Nappanee Theatre to see movies. It brings back many fond memories of my childhood.
   
2. This is the first time I have taken my twins daughters to a movie theatre as seven-year-olds. I was wondering if it might be the first time I would take them to a movie and NOT have at least one of them crawl onto my lap. I'm happy to say the streak still stands.
   
3. (Not really much of a spoiler alert) My favorite bit of symbolism in the movie is a scene in which Lucy is standing beside Aslan and the sword-wielding mouse, Reepicheep. The injured mouse is brought before them. Even with the Mighty Aslan standing beside her, Lucy is the one who rushes to the mouse's side to use the gift of healing that Aslan had given her.
   
4. Shoot, I forgot the fourth thing.

DVD Review: Lassie (2006)

We watched Lassie at home as a family a number of months ago. All of us thought it was a terrific movie. So, as an end-of-the-school-year-treat (and so I could get report cards done) we watched Lassie in my second grade class today. This version of Lassie hit theatres is 2006, so it's pretty new. Yet only one of my students had seen it before. The kids in my class seemed to really enjoy it. A number of students mentioned that they thought it was great. I did pause it about four short times at the beginning and once at the end to make sure everyone was understanding what was going on.

Lassie is a fantastic family film. It's a story of love, loyalty, adventure, sacrifice and determination. I have found that any book or film character that kids can really connect with, who then faces something heart wrenching makes for a film or book that kids end up liking pretty well. This movie has more than one such character. You'll care about the characters in Lassie, your heart will be wrenched and you'll love the movie all the more.

I say, watch this one for sure (even if you don't have kids!)