So I finished my book on my blog topic, which as you know is movies/film. I did not like the book, I’m not saying it was bad, but i am not a professional in this field so i could not appreciate it nearly as much as someone who is an avid filmmaker could. There was a lot of things that i did not really understand but also did not care for. This book talked about all sorts of things that i did not even consider movie makers had to incorporate in their work like how the voices of the actors/actresses must leave an effect whether good or bad on the audience to make them want to see the movie agian or come back for another movie by that director or with those actors. I did not like reading this book though, it was hard to get into and hard to follow and i found myself dreading when these blogs were due because i knew it meant reading this boring book once again. I like the unit where we could choose any book we wanted with no assignment attached becuase i got to read with no anchors or chains attached to the assignment. Overall, unless you are a to-die-for movie aspect enthusiast, i do not reccommend this book

The article that i found was by Rolling Stone and it was a critique of the new “Mowgli” movie Welcome to the Jungle. They describe what they like about the movie and what is missing from the movie and why they gave it 3/5 stars. This relatews to my book because the author states things like having multiple archetypal characters will generate a better movie because it will appeal to more viewers and in the review, they state how John Lockwood is an exceptional archetypal additional character. The article is not that long so there isn’t that much to write about but basically everything the author of my book is saying, the Rolling Stone is saying whether or not this movie has those aspects to make it a good movie or not.

 

I am not going to be censoring anything in this blog. It’s Shrek. If you haven’t seen it by now you have bigger problems to face than reading spoilers. Because of this I am also going to skip the summary, this whole post will basically be a judged summary. So  I will just go through the entire movie highlighting my favorite parts and parts I didn’t like.

 

The movie’s intro is simply showing the daily routine of a swamp-dwelling ogre named Shrek, while also providing some actor credits to the song “All-star” by smash mouth. It is a very funny intro. He also scares away an angry mob and then smiles, showing he knows he is not to be messed with and he likes being alone in his swamp. The mob runs away but drops a “Wanted” sign for fairy-tale creatures behind. This sparks his curiosity. The next scene is where Donkey is introduced. There is a big line full of villagers trying to cash in their rewards for capturing these creatures, and as a talking donkey, he qualifies.

 

Donkey manages to escape, but the Kingdom’s guards chase him right into Shrek, where Shrek then scares the guards away, and in Donkey’s eyes, saves him. This is where they first meet. I love the contrast between these characters. Shrek, a big, mean introverted ogre, seeking only isolation, and Donkey, a loud, humorous, outgoing extrovert, looking for friends. Donkey follows Shrek home as he frequently tells Donkey to leave him alone, but Donkey doesn’t take the hint and instead compliments Shrek, which catches him by surprise. Some Foreshadowing to a future friendship. Shrek still doesn’t manage to get rid of Donkey, so he makes him sleep outside. When night falls, Shrek becomes aware that all the fairy tale creatures have fled to his swamp as a safe-haven, which infuriates Shrek. He then decides to go to the king that is ordering the captures of all the creatures and put an end to it, in attempt to get rid of the unwanted visitors, taking Donkey along with him.

 

The next scene is the king, Lord Farquaad torturing the Gingerbread man for information about the location of the escaped creatures. He realizes he isn’t making progress so decides to get his “yes-man” (the magic mirror) to hype him up and make him feel better. Instead, the mirror tells him he isn’t the greatest king because he has no queen. He then orders a competition to see which of his knights is the best for him to send to rescue princess Fiona for him to marry. This is about the same time Shrek and Donkey show up. Shrek easily beats up all the knights and makes a deal that if he gets princess Fiona, then he has to remove all the creatures from his swamp. The king agrees and sends Shrek and Donkey on their way.

 

On the way to the tower, Shrek still tries to get rid of Donkey by insulting him, but Donkey shows his true loyalty to Shrek and stays with him. After saving the princess from the dragon guarded tower, Shrek tells her that he isn’t the man she will marry. She is confused because thats “not how its supposed to go” she has a secret that nobody knows about and it is that she turns into an ogre herself at night and to break the curse she must find “true love’s kiss” On their long journey back to Farquaad, the three of them bond the whole way. Shrek begins to take a liking to Donkey and also develops a crush on Fiona. They fight Robin Hood together to prevent her from being kidnapped and then camp for the night. She begins talking to donkey in private about her ogre self and asking if she will ever find love, Shrek over hears and thinks its about him, so he ends his second thoughts about delivering her to the King, and goes to get him. Then it shows Shrek going back to his swamp all heat broken and stuff and it shows Fiona prepping for her wedding, even though she doesn’t love him, she just wants to break the curse. Deep down they know they love each other though. Despite how Donkey was treated, he returns to Shrek because “that’s what friends do” and tells him Fiona wasn’t talking about him when she said those mean things. Them they decide to stop the wedding before its too late. Shrek bursts in and confesses his love. Fiona then shows him that she too is an ogre. Lord Farquaad is revolted and orders his guards to seize them two. Shrek then calls the dragon that Donkey brought from the tower that fell in love with Donkey and she ate Lord Farquaad. Shrek then marries Fiona and kisses her, which breaks the curse and keeps her as an ogre forever. Then they have a wedding party and its a happily ever after. Overall this is one of my favorite movies of all time. Donkey’s humor, Shrek’s character development and the use of all my childhood fairy tale creatures. All aspects of this movie are great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warning: Like I said before, my blogs are going to be filled with spoilers and also may contain graphic scenes not suitable for some readers. If you want my ratings but not a spoiler, scroll down to the bottom of the page to where it says “Credits”

 

 

Summary: John McClane, an NY police officer, flies down to LA for Christmas to see his wife at her job’s Christmas party at Nakatomi Corporation, before surprising their kids on Christmas Day. While there, German terrorists begin their heist on the 2.5 billion dollar company, taking the entire floor as hostage, including their CEO, and John’s wife, Molly. John temporarily evades the terrorists, but soon realizes he is trapped inside the building up on the 30th floor with everyone else and he is the only one who can save them.

One of the things that makes this movie great, other than the action-thriller that it is, is the humor. From the very beginning when John meets his limo driver and talks about how he is new, and has never driven a limo before, then followed up with John comforting him saying that its ok because he had never ridden in a limo, either, to the iconic “yippie ki-yay, motherfucker” and then finally at the end when Molly sucker-punches the newsman, the humor in the movie really makes the audience love the characters even more. I love all the wise-ass comments from John to the main German bully, Hans. It shows that he isn’t only a badass hero, but a funny one as well. Any more jokes, tho and it would have taken away from the overall mood of the tense situation at hand. For humor its a 4/5 star.

It’s an action movie, so of course their is going to be blood and death. And in this movie there is plenty of that. In the beginning to when the security guard gets first shot in the head, to when John wrestles a terrorist down the stairs killing him, and putting him in the elevator for the others to see, to all the machine gun spray down deaths and crawling barefoot over shattered glass from the shootouts, the action in this film was amazing. The rocket launchers blowing up the the LAPD’s armored vehicles and the terrorists lining the entire roof with C4 only added to the intensity. For action its a 5/5 star.

 

This movie is a thriller as well, and I just watched it again, before coming to write this and again, I was on the edge of the couch in anticipation. Camera angles, I think had a big part in it, too. When John was jumping across the empty elevator shaft, the audience could see straight down into the darkness of being on the 30th floor and the fear he must’ve felt. Again when he used his gun to wedge in the wall frame and lower himself down the building by the strap, like he did with the roof fire hose. Again the camera pointed down to show the fall. Finally, when John was Facing Hans and he had his wife at gunpoint, he dropped the machine gun, as per Hans request, but then reached behind him  and ripped the packaging tape off his back to pull out his pistol and shot Hans, and another guard, then pushed Hans out the window and watched him fall from the 30th floor. For thriller its a 4.5/5 star.

 

 

In the End, John manages to kill all 12 terrorists, and save all the hostages, except for 2, and make it back to his wife and children.

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Absolutely. The countless Christmas trees, and Christmas songs throughout the movie, in addition to the “Christmas Miracle” it took for John to kill all 12 professionally trained assassins definitely makes it a Christmas movie

 

 

 

 

 

CREDITS

So, overall, I would rate this movie 4.5/5 stars. If you have never seen it, definitely watch it, and if you have already seen it, watch it again, but think about Molly and her maiden name, and also what Al said about his gun and what changed. Now, please leave comments, your opinions, any questions you have and any movies you want me to criticize.

 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton