I'm Slipping When It Comes to the Oscars

Oscar Night is a big deal at our house.

Okay, I make it a big deal. The movies I root for, the gowns I drool over, and the food I make. This year's menu was fairly simple--nachos and chocolate cherry butter cookies.

Normally, I see at least fifty per cent of the movies nominated. My best year was 1998 when I saw every nominated movie except for the foreign films, half the shorts, and two of the full-length documentaries. That was the year Shakespeare in Love won, a popular, financial and critical success. (We won't discuss the pink princess fantasy frock Gwenyth Paltrow wore to the Oscars when she won Best Actress for that same film.)

This year I saw only four of the nominated films--Maleficent, Interstellar, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and...

The Legos Movie. There's a reason I haven't reviewed it.

And there goes that damn song in my head again.

"Everything is AWESOME..."

One of the movies I'd really wanted to see this year was Birdman. I love Michael Keaton (and have since the days of Nightshift), and his insane sense humor while playing a washed-up actor noted for his superhero blockbusters hit me as something I would love.

Unfortunately, Birdman was released right in the middle of The Move. By the time I caught a breather at Thanksgiving, it had been ditched by West Bumfuck's tiny Cineplex in favor of crazy chicks leading revolutions and penguins.

So even though I haven't seen it yet, I was happy Birdman got a lot of Academy nominations. I was a little surprised about the nomination for Best Picture since I'd heard it is a rather black look at how Hollywood culture chews up actors. I was shocked that it won Best Director and Best Picture.

This Friday, I plan on heading over to Family Video and renting Birdman.

Yes, West Bumfuck is that far behind the times. We have not one, but six video rental stores thriving in our glorious metropolis!

Monday Movie Mania - How to Train Your Dragon 2

This review is a little late. I actually attended a free special screening three weeks before the movie's American release. I loved the first movie, and I thought, given the talent, the sequel would exceed my expectations.

As sequels go, the story was...competent. That is, it wasn't a huge disaster, but it didn't quite live up to the original.

**MAJOR SPOILER AND PARENTAL ALERT!**

Dad dies saving Hiccup in this one. If you have super-sensitive kids under the age of 10, I don't recommend it. Even though GK is nearly fourteen, he's still got issues when the parent figure dies. He loves The Walking Dead, and he's been begging me to buy more Blu-Rays. I haven't bought the second season yet because, well...Lori.

***

Anyway, back to Dragon. The story picks up five years after the first movie. Hiccup and his friends are no longer young teen, but young adults. Everyone in the village of Berk has adopted a dragon, in some cases, more than one.

Pros
1) Hiccup has actually grown as a person. He's not quite the dreamer he was in the first movie. He's also become a bit isolated from his the rest of the villagers because of the pressure his father is putting on him to take up the mantle of chief. The events of this movie solidify his personality.

2) The comic relief comes from Ruffnut's crush on dragon hunter Eret. You wouldn't think Ruffnut playing the dopey, hormone-ridden girl would work, but Kristin Wiig somehow pulls it off.

Cons
1) The mind-control dragons. I can understand the clash of two king dragons, but the whole mind-control thing left me cold. Especially when the device was used to have Toothless kill Dad. I know the writers used Hiccup's rapid forgiveness of Toothless to show how much the Viking had matured, but to me, it cheapened Toothless's character.

2) Finding out Mom is alive. Okay, she wasn't killed by dragons when she was taken from their home when Hiccup was a baby. But she never tried to get back to Berk in following seventeen(?) years? I have issues with Mom being that callous, and I can't see either Dad or Hiccup rolling over and welcoming her with few to no questions.

Those are just my impressions. HTTYD is supposed to be a trilogy, so I hope the writers step up their game for the third movie.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.