Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Ty gives ***1/2 stars

Title: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Directed by: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Featuring the voices of
Bill Hader
Anna Farris
James Caan
Andy Samberg
Release date September 18th 2009
Computer Animated

So what did I think about this film? It was cute. What made the film ever cuter was that my mom took me to go see it. She bought the tickets and the popcorn and we sat in the theater with our 3-D glasses on, all excited. It was great. The one question that people ask me about this film is, "What's this movie about anyway?" So I'll tell you. You start off with a nerdy kid who wants to be an inventor. Flint Lockwood to be exact, voiced by Bill Hader (Comedian for Saturday Night Live, Private Miller in Pineapple Express, Officer Slater in Superbad). As a kid, Flint always wanted to be an inventor and was encouraged greatly by his mom. Flint lives on a small island that was once known for catching and canning sardines. Then one day, people decided they didn't like sardines and stopped buying them, so the town went close to going under. Sometime growing up, Flint's mom passed away. Sad. So Flint is left with his dad, Tim Lockwood voiced by James Caan (Sonny Corleone from The Godfather part one and two, Ed Deline on the tv show Las Vegas) who is a very quiet and simple man who runs a bait shop. Tim never really understood Flint, so over the years he let his wife Fran take care of Flint but he really does love Flint, mostly by letting Flint do his experiments over the years. One day Flint invents a machine that will change everything and make his hometown, Swallow Falls, a great place again full of food and color. (Because the town is kind of gray and the water is kind of brown. Ew.) He invents a machine that will turn water into food! The machine has some name that no one can say because it's so long so we won't go there. Anyways, after a mishap that destroys the new amusement park that the mayor had built to put the town on the map again, fail, the flubberwhatever (food machine) is rocketed into the atmosphere above the town. Flint feels like he's failed yet again. Another person who feels like a failure is reporter Sam Sparks, voiced by Anna Farris, (Cindy Campbell in Scary Movie 1-4, Shelly Darlingson in the House Bunny) who was sent to Swallow Falls to report on the opening of the new amusement park. This was going to be her first story. While she was doing her piece, she kind of got run over by Flint. No pun intended. While she's off for a walk on the dock, indulging in her loserdom, she runs into Flint. They meet. They like each other. They feel sorry for each other. Until she realizes he was the one who ruined her peace, then anger happens, then comes dark clouds come, then comes the rain, but then... cheeseburgers? Instead of water drops falling from the clouds, it's cheeseburgers? Yup. That's how it goes. I won't give away the whole movie, but if you're older than five, you can probably guess how the rest of the movie is going to go. So was the movie funny? Adult funny? or just kid funny? It was both. This movie isn't Shrek by any means but it's good. It's really, really, really, original. I'll stress that. No other cartoon is like it. Being in the 3-D was cool. The 3-D effects wasn't as good as Monsters vs. Aliens, but it was better than UP! So should you regret not seeing it in theaters? Not really. Should you rent this movie even if it's not in 3-D? You can. If you really want to see it, pay the new release price. I don't think you or anyone would be disappointed by it. Should you buy it and watch it in 3-D and experience this movie in it's complete glory? I'd say, watch first, buy later, unless you really want to see food in 3-D and you're dying to see it, than this movie could be the best meal for your eyes that you've seen in a long time.

Juno

Ty gives **** stars

Title: Juno
Directed by Jason Reitman
Starring
Ellen Page
Michael Cera
Jennifer Garner
Jason Bateman
Release date December 25th 2007

So this movie passed me by when it first came out. A lot of people saw it. A lot of people loved it. I was like, "Okay... whatever." And never saw it nor did I think about this film until I came across it in the college library and the idea that I could see this famous film for free made me think about watching it. So I rented it and watched it and... it was cute. Not like, "That's a cute idea. Now get away from me." but cute as in... cute. I really enjoyed this film. It promoted adoption, so yay! If you have to read this review to find out what this movie is about... fail. What's wrong with you? Don't you read a newspaper or watch television? If not, here's the plot. 16 year old girl gets pregnant by the boy she lost her virginity to. Yup. That's it. And she gives her baby up for adoption. So if you're wondering, "Why would I or anyone waste their time watching a movie about this when I can look out in the neighborhood and see this?!" than you're missing the point. This movie is a story about one girls perspective about pregnancy. This film is funny and smart and I think really, really, true. I think when people look back at the decade between 2000 and 2010 and ask, "What style of films came out in this decade?" I would say honest ones. Truthful ones. Ones that weren't always about beautiful people living in a beautiful world, but actors portraying real people living through real life in a world that's different than your own. If you get a chance, watch Juno. Whenever you have a chance to see the world from someone else's point of view, I dare you to take a look. You might see something you've missed or see something in someone else's life that you've seen or felt in your own life. This film gives you one of those rare chances, and you get to see how one girl chose to give her baby to a mom who wanted a child for her own who couldn't have one. This film is about love. Self-sacrificing, unselfish love to a mom from one little teenage girl who got pregnant. Who wouldn't want to watch that?