Local Highlights

Things that make me smile

Local Highlights

Local library dvd categories 

 

Popular, Children's, Comedy, Sci-fi War And Western, and Horror & Musical

Things that make me smile

 

Love Game by Heather Ramsay

BlyeQ Hi/Bye Shoulder Bag

Movie Review - The Man From Earth

I had this movie on my queue for well over a year before I decided to try it. The plot summary made it sound like a low budget science fiction film, full of actors from canceled television shows. As it turns out, it is a low budget science fiction film, full of actors from canceled tv shows, but it's possibly the best, most engaging science fiction film I've ever seen. The entire film takes place inside one man's house and his driveway. The lead character is a college professor named John, who is leaving his job and "moving on." His friends and co-workers try to throw him a going away party, but he slips out before they can grab him. So they take all the food and booze and catch him at his house before he leaves. They're all curious about where he's going, and why he feels the need to leave. His answers start an incredibly interesting and intelligent conversation. You get pulled in and forget your watching a movie about a bunch of people talking and drinking wine.  The movie was so captivating it pulled my boyfriend out of the computer room because he didn't want to miss anything. Easily the most original science fiction film I've seen in a very long time.

The Man from Earth

Movie Review - Paranormal Activity 2 (Spoilers)

I'll admit that I havn't seen Paranormal Activity 1, primarily because I thought it looked stupid. I also thought the sequel looked stupid, and I was happily surprised, so I should give the other one a shot. What made this movie different from other recent horror movies to me was the believability. Not the concept, of demons possessing people and stalking their families, but the almost total lack of special effects. There are no cheesy shots of little girls in period clothing walking down hallways, faces appearing in windows, or blood oozing from faucets. The entire movie is built on the fear of normal, random events building into something unexplainable. With the exception of three scenes, the baby floating out of the crib, the kitchen cabinets exploding open, and the mother getting gut punched in the nursery and dragged down the stairs. The build up leading to each of those scenes is so mundane, and the filming of everything is done with home video and surveillance cameras, it makes each moment feel like it could really happen. If I ever see a copy at Half Price Books I'll buy it.
                                                                   Paranormal Activity 2
                                                                
                                                  

Rewriting the Land Before Time

I was scrolling through "Watch It Again" on Netflix when I noticed this,

And I thought, what a happy picture. Those dinosaurs don't look like they're in any danger at all! That's not the way I remember this movie. I remember death, and starvation, and being chased by a T-Rex that looked WAY bigger than that tiny dude does in the picture above.
 
So I went looking for the original poster/vhs cover art, and found this

Now THAT looks more familiar. Two volcanoes erupting in the distance. Tree suspended over a misty canyon. Tiny little dinosaur kids with giant T-Rex. And I wondered if there was more cover art cover-ups out there.

Here's An American Tail the 21st century version

 Fivel's got his sister and a friendly cat next to him, and he's standing tall on some luggage.

Here's what it looked like in 1986

Fivel's by himself, and in easy foot-smashing level, though still apparently happy to be in America.


Here's one in reverse.  The Rescuers Down Under as it was in 1990.  Dangling high above the outback, everyone seems terrified, except for the Australian kangaroo rat.

Somewhere in between they made this one

Now they're still dangling, but over water. And everyone looks like they're having fun.

And finally we have this latest version.

Nobody's dangling, they're flying. And everyone seems happy. Except Bernard who for some reason looks worried.

These are all fairly frightening children's films. Children are separated from their parents, put in life or death situations, often by truly evil bad guys (or bad cats) and people die. Thank god they haven't actually edited the films themselves to make them less frightening, but by editing the pictures they're misrepresenting the content of the movies. Modern children's movies are usually much tamer than what I grew up with, and G ratings reflect the lack of violence and danger. All three of these movies are rated G, but it's a 1980's-1990's G, not a modern G.  If you're a parent who has somehow never seen these films, you might think from the cover art that they'd be perfect for your two year old. Never guessing he could have many nightmares of evil dinosaurs, evil cats, and poachers.