THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

Guy’s Review...

I only saw this movie once before I saw it now. Usually I get to see these films thanks to the fact that I’m dating Girl. She has a special place in her heart for these types of films. That’s why it caught me by surprise that she didn’t remember this one.

I’ve seen a bunch of reincarnations of the character Quasimodo. I’ve seen him in black and white, in TV and in live action color. Non of them are as good as what Disney did with it. I think I said this about “Tarzan”as well. If not lets make it very clear that the peeps at Disney are masters of taking these classic characters and making them better than anyone else. You’ll probably fight me on this but beware I’m kinda big and have no problem pushing other movie geeks over.

Guy’s Rating: Classic! One of the movies with the better music too.

Girl’s Disney!

Yay! A sorta awesome film experience! I mean, it’s good, but not the best of the best for Disney. The gargoyles aren’t memorable sidekicks compared to the many top notch ones out there. The fact the Hunchback doesn’t get the girl, but just two friends who will become a coupe, get married, have kids, and gradually ignore Quasimodo until they don’t call anymore. Typical!

Girl’s Rating: A classic because of the story but not because it’s Disney gold.

TREASURE PLANET

Guy’s Review...

I don’t really know about this one. I guess Disney took a stab at something that wasn’t really up their alley. I mean pirates in space sounds fun and all of that but I think it has to be done in another fashion. Maybe as a bloodier live action movie or even a japanese anime full of fights and stuff (maybe “Firefly” or “Cowboy Bebop” would be classified as pirate series?).

“Treasure Planet” has all of the Disney basics a kid venturing into the big unknown to find his destiny. The bad guy that turns good in the end. The funny little character that can be sold with happy meals at McDonalds. What it doesn’t have is that heart that they other movies does. I should know by now, I’ve watched enough during these two days.

Guy’s Rating: Definitely not one of the better Disney movies.

Girl’s Disney!

Yay... Awesome movie? ... Okay, so, I cannot actually stand behind this movie. The dog character is just annoying and weird (sorry Niles from Frasier), and the kid has a rat tail! I mean, a rat tail?! Who in Disney thought that that hair style would be popular in the future? It’s never coming back, it should never have been, and it is not cool on any world.

The only upside was Morph, the cutest piece of goo I’ve ever seen!

Girl’s Rating: Not really a classic... Sorry, Disney. I’m still your biggest 24 year old fan!

LILO & STITCH

Guy’s Review...

When I heard that Girl had missed this Disney film I just had to show it to her. Not only so she now can say that she’s seen them all but also because it’s actually really funny. The relationship between Lilo and her sister in the beginning of the movie is one of the funniest scenes in Disney history.

Just the fact that Stitch was made as a weapon and looks that way is pretty awesome. When I think about it all the aliens are fun and has a great look to them. When they released this movie the used the phrase “back to basics”. What they meant by that was that they went back to using old fashion ways of drawing and coloring. Disney had a slew of computer animated movies before this so I guess they wanted to appeal to their old audience.

I don’t think that’s right though. There’s a bunch of computer animated spaceships and other stuff that clearly was not drawn with pen and paper. Well, who cares the movie is still a lot of fun.

Guy’s Rating: I think it’s a lot of fun.

Girl’s Disney!

Okay, this was my first time with this movie, so coming from a newbie and a Disney Advocate, I give this my stamp of approval!

Although I found the first half of the movie waaayy funnier than the second half. The sibling dialogue, the destructive creature, the bond between kid and thing (classic), all create a great new addition to the Disney family.

Girl’s Rating: Welcome, Classic!

TARZAN

Guy’s Review...

The first time I saw this movie was in Vegas when I was about 15 (no that’s not too old to see these movies in the theaters). I actually saw it with my grandmother who was in her 70’s and both me and her enjoyed it. You gotta give them some credit for that. Not everybody can make a movie that will entertain people between the ages of 6 and 80. Well, Disney can. “Tarzan” has a nice love story that old and young can feel for and funny gorillas and other animals that will make every kid laugh.

What I like about this movie is the Phil Collins soundtrack... Not really, even though it suits this film I can’t get over that it’s freaking Collins singing. In all honesty I’m probably just upset that I let that scumbag play on my heartstrings with his velvet voice.

Oh, this movie has the cutest Disney baby to date as well. Little Tarzan is just the cutest thing that you’ll see.

Guy’s Rating: Still as good as it was when I watched it in Sin City.

Girl’s Disney!

Yay! Awesome movie. This is definitely the best version of Tarzan in film to date. For the following reasons:

- You are touched by the story line in the first 15 minutes, due to the fact they kill a BABY GORILLA! And Tarzan’s PARENTS! Easy, Disney.

- The songs!

- The comedy!

- The ending! So happy :)

Girl’s Rating: Let’s see... Classic!

ALADDIN

Guy’s Review...

This was definitely one of my favorites as a kid. I mean who doesn’t want a genie with Robin Williams voice to grant three of your wishes? It also has one of the greatest villains, Jafar and his parrot which is brilliantly voiced by the very funny Gilbert Gottfried. When I think about it I actually like most of the characters in this film, which is very unusual for me when it comes to these types of movies (meaning cartoons).

Girl mentioned that this movie has one of the most playful intros. I have to agree, I think this is the only Disney classic that breaks the third wall(looking into the camera). When it comes to fun, the action sequences are terrific as well. I love when Aladdin runs through the poor district fending of the palace guards.

Guy’s Rating: One of my favorites in this category.

Girl’s Disney!

Yay! Yet another awesome movie! As a child this was not one of my favorites because I hated watching the ending. I thought it was scary and humiliating (the whole puppet thing). I still kind of do... But! The first forty minutes of this movie is very entertaining.

If Robbin Williams hadn’t been casted for the genie, I don’t think this movie would have been as amazing.

Girl’s Rating: Classssiicccc.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Guy’s Review...

I don’t buy this movie for a second. The beast is freaking terrifying. I would not fall for him even if he was the nicest thing in the whole wild world. Is it just me or is every girl in the Disney classics gorgeous? I mean, Ariel (hot mermaid), Belle (french country girl), Jasmine (turkish delight) and all the other princesses. It’s not like I’m sitting around and jerking it to these drawn chicks. I’m just thinking about all the little girls growing up watching this and thinking that what the girls look like in these cartoons represent the standard.

Back to “Beauty and the Beast”. It’s a nice message that you should never judge a book by it’s cover. I guess I just think that the cover is a little bit too deep when it comes to the beast. He actually turns even uglier when he turns back to a human in the end. As for the song and dance numbers in this they hold a very high Disney standard.

Guy’s Rating: Not one of my favorites but a I can see why it’s a classic.

Girl’s Disney!

Yay! This movie is awesome (yes, I’ll be starting all my Disney reviews with this). The beast might be terrifying, but Guy just didn’t get the point of the movie. The point is that, no matter how terrifying someone might look, if you are the nicest thing in the world, it will shine through! So cheesy, but so good. What else is Disney there for but the cheese and hidden sexual innuendoes?

The bad parts of this movie? Gustan and his henchmen. So mean to that old man! A little too mean if you ask me. It’s not usually Disney’s style to create mean humans - usually they are sorcerers or evil sea serpeants or other creatures... They don’t usually create plain bullies.

The plus side? All the people of the Beast’s mansion being pieces of furniture was pretty awesome as a kid, and still has its set of highlarious moments as an “adult”!

Girl’s Rating: Uhm, Classic!

THE LITTLE MERMAID

Guy’s havet är djupt!

As you all know if you follow this blog, Girl is a huge fan of the Disney classics. So from time to time we have a run of different cartoons at the house. This time we decided to watch “The Little Mermaid” again. For me it was years since I saw it and the first time in its original language. It’s pretty awesome though that these movies translate into any language and still works like a charm.

I kinda wish I was younger when I saw this movie. I figure it would have been a little bit scary but I would’ve learned a important lesson. A lesson I haven’t really learned to this day, the importance of growing up. If Ariel didn’t go out on her own to find her calling and true love the movie would have been very boring. If I was a merman I would just stay in daddy Triton’s castle and play underwater playstation and hung out with all the hot mermaids. Who would have watched that movie?

I’m not that good of a singer either so I would have been an ou

tcast in the Disney universe. Everybody has original songs and great voices, me not so much. I hated the fact that everybody just started to sing when I was a kid. Now as an “adult” I actually don’t mind it anymore.

Guy’s Rating: It’s good. Never say you’re too old to watch it.

Girl’s Disney!

Yay! This movie is awesome. If not only for singing along, or for the priest’s erection during Ursula’s wedding attempt, but for the simple brilliance of the story. It’s clean, it’s fun and it’s unique! Or at least it was unique at the time. They’ve tried to recreate the mermaid thing in a bunch of other films, but nothing I’ve ever seen has lived up to this classic.

Why do I love this so much? Well, for one, Flounder and Sebastian are pretty great characters. Time and again, Disney has tried to recreate the Sebastian affect. Take the most recent example, Princess and the Frog. That firefly guy? Not even close to the cool French crab. The big alligator? Try again. Another classic feature is the evil Ursula. Other bad guys cannot live up to the hype of this octopussy. She makes people into disgusting slave kelp. Disney has gotten weak with their villains in comparison.

From the soundtrack to the charming characters, The Little Mermaid delivers for Disney lovers.

Girl’s Rating: Classic!

WAR OF THE WORLDS

Guy’s Spielberg!!!

Nuff said, Spielberg can make a hell of a movie. I know a bunch of people gave this movie shit. I think these people can go and jump around somewhere and talk shit to each other. The only Spielberg movie I really have had a problem with was the latest Indy movie. I don’t blame him that much though, I actually think George Lucas was the problem in creating that peace of you know what.

I watched this movie first with my father which made it a little bit more special. There’s a scene in the movie where Tom has to choose between his son and daughter. My Dad looked over at me and said “I could never do that”(I know, awwww). So needless to say the first viewing of this movie was kinda special to me and I encourage all sons and fathers to have a movie night where they sit down to watch this epic.

Guy’s Rating: Good Sci-Fi and a good moment to have a moment with your father.

Girl’s review...

I didn’t get the father son story line. The son seems angered by the fact his father hasn’t cared or been the provider for the family, then he begs his father to let him go into danger? It seemed to me that his wants were all over the place.

Also, did anyone else feel a little cheated when just all of the sudden the aliens started to die? I felt that there was a couple scenes missing where the fight between aliens and humans grew more desperate. Although the scene where Cruise kills Robbins was full of tension and definitely a climatic moment for Cruise’s character, somehow the events that followed directly after undercut those character beats. The whole grenade up the hole thing. Maybe if that had happened before the events in the cellar, it would have been more dramatic concerning characters?

Girl’s Rating: Meh. Not high on my list of things to recommend. Read the book instead.

PEACOCK

Guy’s Review...

This movie is super Hitchcocky. Not only the apparent parallel between this film and “Psycho”. There’s a mood that comes with those old thrillers that are very well replicated here. Cillian Murphy is a great, great actor. In this movie he plays two parts. That of a tortured man (John) that got severely abused by his strict mother. The other part is his alter ego, a personality he developed during the abuse, a woman named Emma that is close to what his mother was.

He has lived with this psychosis as a secret for a year since his mother died. One day a train derails and ends up on his property. This event brings the whole time to his house. The people of the town meets Emma and thinks that she’s John’s wife (I don’t know how they all got tricked, they’re clearly the same person). Emma slowly startstaking over more and more and John fears for other peoples safety. There’s more subplots in this twisted tale but I won’t go into them because I actually think people should see this movie.

Guy’s Rating: Surprisingly scary and thrilling, well worth a watch.

Girl’s ditto...

SUPERHERO Hitchcocky you could say.

I loooveeee Cillian Murphy, so much so I wanted to name my firstborn after him. I say wanted because after watching this movie that want died. He just creeped me out and forever ruined how I look at him. Murphy pulls off woman too well by far. Plus! He is a method actor, so just think of how it was to work on set with him during shooting this film (after you watched it of course)... Creepy.

The one downfall to this movie? Ellen Paige. After watching her performance in this, I cannot agree that was worthy of an oscar nomination so young. As the young hooker mother to a child from Murphy she was unconvincing. Everything she said and did didn’t feel natural, so her performance was stiff. Maybe, compared to the genius of Murphy, someone as young and non-methody (new word) as Paige just couldn’t fill the screen.

Girl’s Rating: I’m not sure if I can honestly recommend this movie.

KING KONG

Guy’s Review...

I have to say that I was one of those people that gave this movie a bunch of shit when it came out. I guess most people expected way too much after the LOTR trilogy. Then they got this which is similar but way off from what he did with Tolkien’s books.

We sat down and watched the extended edition in HD. I barely remembered any off the movie, just some scenes like the end and the fight with the T-rexes. While watching this time around I found myself feeling very entertained. I loved the freaky insect pit, the dinosaurs, the weird river creatures (new in this edition) and Kong’s manhandling of poor Naomi Watts. I mean he throws her around like a rag doll. Every bone in her body should have shattered and broken.

Peter Jackson know how to make a entertaining movie that’s for sure. He filled this one with action and even the dramatic scenes all tough cheesy are fun to watch.

Guy’s Rating: Give it another chance, come on.

Girl’s review...

I think I was one of the few people that enjoyed this movie the first time I saw it in theaters. I remember that my date shook his head and rolled his eyes when he saw I was tearing up when King Kong died. It was just so sad! You all can shove it, I don’t care.

Despite the cheesy one-liners (Jack Black killed the movie at the end when he said that stupid “It was Beauty that killed the Beast”) and poor acting (some of the crew members were slapstick and unnecessary), I think that Watts and Brody pull off some great chemistry amongst the others’ debauchery. When Brody says “Isn’t it obvious?”... Sigh. I love that line. It was different and touching. The shinning good moment of the movie.

Girl’s Rating: If you are one of the haters, then you are no friend of mine.

WHEN IN ROME

Guy’s Review...

Kristen Bell works as a curator of a museum. One weekend she goes to her sisters wedding in Rome. There she meet the perfect guy and is willing try for love again even though she’s been burned a bunch of times before. The wedding goes as planned and she dances with the guy and everything seems fine. Later she spots him with another girl outside. Sad she jumps in to a fountain that grants love if you throw a coin into it. She steals some coins and all the owners fall in love with her. Then she spends most of the time running around dodging the people who are madly in love with her only to find out who she truly loves...gah!

Guy’s Rating: Well, if you read my synopsis then you know what you need to do.

Girl’s wtf...

How can movies like these still be made? There are a million of them, mostly starring Katherine Heigl, and ALL BAD. For fuck sake’s, can someone please bring back the good romantic comedies that movies like 27 Dresses and When In Rome disgrace?

The only bright light is that the main guy in this movie (the same guy that starred in the new Crazies) was actually kind of charming. Get rid of his crazy bad luck streak, and I would have enjoyed this movie more.

Girl’s Rating: Third no in a row and I don’t care. This was shit.

DEAR JOHN

Guy’s what is Lasse doing?

As a swede I have to support our talent that has made it overseas. Lasse Hallstrom is one of those people. He did a great job with “The Cider House Rules” and “Chocolate”. Ever since then the quality of his movies have steadily decreased and have come to an all time low.

To make this quick. “Dear John” is like “The Notebook”. You know boy meets girl and all that stuff. Here they just tried to cram in as much heartbreak as they could within 90 minutes. I mean, a dad that’s autistic, separation by war duty, cancer, sick kids and a bunch of other bullshit.

Guy’s Rating: Don’t bother. This is stupidity at its worst.

Girl’s bah!

No, thank you! And saying it is like The Notebook is an insult to one of the best romantic dramas I’ve ever seen. Shame on you, Guy.

The only good thing about this movie was the father, played by Richard Jenkins. His part was small, but well played and he was in the only moment that truly played on my heartstrings instead of just the annoyed ones.

Girls’ Rating: Avoid. There are way better romantic dramas out there without Channing Tatum.

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

Guy’s Review...

I like the fact that Luc Besson can just show up with an idea or a just with some sort of outline and the movie companies will make it into a movie. On this he has a “story by” credit. This means that he probably just floated an idea past someone. This movie is directed by the same guy that did “Taken”. I like that movie because it’s so simple. Simple in the way that “Die Hard” was. A guy that can take care of shit.

In this movie they casted Travolta to be that guy. The difference here though is that he is way to over the top. He can take on an army by himself. He’s smart, strong and vey bald. I just didn’t like his character at all.

When it comes to the movie it’s pretty basic action stuff. A pencil pusher gets a partner that is fucking crazy and they make the most unmatched couple ever. Well, they find some common ground and start helping each other to take down the baddies. The add some twists and voila there you have an action movie.

Guy’s Rating: Entertaining and full of explosive action. I guess that’s all you need from a movie like this. Don’t expect more!

Girl’s when did Guy watch this movie?

I don't think I watched this movie, but I don't like the guy from Tudors.

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Guy’s ...nice...

We watched this cause we wanted to see something with Bill Murray. It also helped that Girl hadn’t seen this movie either. I think Murray is one of the funniest people alive. Sometimes people get duller with age (Akroyd, Carrey). Not Murray. Wes Anderson knows this and puts him in about everything. Here in in this movie he shows that he’s a master of balancing serious acting and a phenomenal comedian. When it comes to Scarlett, I feel that this is her best part to date and she’ll probably not do anything better. She’s just natural and great.

Sofia Coppola, I envy her career and the fact that she gets to do these these types of films. I think she would have had to start somewhere else if Francis wasn’t her daddy. Luckily for both of them she can deliver.

“Lost in Translation” gives you a good feeling all over, even the second and third viewing. It’s just a great story about two people that are lost and finds a person that can shine a light into their dark little world.

Guy’s Rating: A gem.

Girl’s just okay...

I think this movie had been built up from all the praise that my expectations were just too high. Although I agree with Guy that Scarlett and Murray both create outstanding performances in this film, somehow I wasn’t as riveted as everyone said I would be when I watched it.

I think this was because in the end I still wondered whether or not these two characters were rejuvenated enough from the small encounter with this other person to carry on with their ordinary lives in a happy manner. The ending was definitely appropriate - I didn’t want them to run away together - but it still left me wondering with a bad feeling that the small happiness they gained in Japan would eventually go out and they’d become lost again. It just seemed inevitable.

Girl’s rating: I went without watching it for seven years and I was fine.

THE CELL

Guy’s Review...

We sat down and watched this again. I haven’t seen it since it got released. A time where JLo made two movies a year.Thank god that doesn’t happen anymore. Tarem (the director) is amazing with visuals, he shows that much in his later movie “The Fall” but some of it here as well. This movie is stunning for lack of a better word, but that is also all that this movie has to offer.

It’s a pretty decent idea too. I mean a therapist that can actually walk around inside of their patients head. I would like to see how the landscape in my head looks like. It’s probably a bunch of bunnies running around with chainsaws killing Howard Stern impersinators.

Guy’s Rating: Better now than then.

Girl’s childhood nightmares...

I watched this movie when it came out back in 2000. I was 14 and already suffered from crazy dreams - this movie did not help. I only watched it that once before a week ago and it had always stuck with me. The evil version of the murdering psychopath was fucked up, and when he tortures Vince Vaughn by pulling out his intestines? Gross.

Watching it again, it still lived up to the horror and the suspense that I remembered. The visuals were crazy. That dog slowly shaking off the blood from the bathtub full of it? That was weird.

Girl’s Rating: As good now as then.