Alice! Alice! who the flip is Alice?!

Well – I think I can say without much argument that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is a theatrical force to be reckoned with.


The record smashing interpretation of the classic children’s tale was filled with color, drama, action, fun and fear is a trip to be made by adults and children alike.

Biggest opening weekend for a non-sequel, biggest opening weekend for a 3-d movie, 6th biggest opening weekend in history - all of these honors go to Alice, and the movie is far from finished with its run.

The only thing about the whole scenario that ruffles my feathers is the “non-sequel” comment.

I have been watching Disney and fairy tale movies since I could sit still on the couch – and in my opinion, Tim Burton’s Alice is indeed a sequel – or something of that sort.

Alice is full grown, the characters keep making reference to her having been around before, the caterpillar talks to her about her last experience in what she referred to as “Wonderland”, she keeps having a reoccurring dream about a rabbit, the official synopsis of the film is reviewed on the Internet Movie Database as Alice's RETURN to Wonderland. (There are lots of other interesting facts about Alice in the database HERE). All of the evidence points to a seqeulesque performance. Am I alone in these observations? Is it being mistaken as what the movie industry call a "Re-Imagining"? Whatever it is, Joe Average watching this film that is aware of the original film would certainly feel as though this is a follow up to the original story.

Now - moving on.

Johnny Depp is an excellent Mad Hatter. He is mad as they come yet completely endearing and sweet.
Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen with her gigantic head was repulsive, interesting, and maybe madder than the Hatter. She works well with her long term fiance, Tim Burton, and brings interest and untraditional beauty with every performance she casts.

The Cheshire Cat was my favorite character that was non-human - that may have been a bit of nostalgia on my behalf. The rest of the cast, Mia Wasikowska, Anne Hathaway, Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, and many others came together to create a masterpeice.

Go see it and enjoy being a kid again!

Jumping into the Summer Movie Pool

You know summer has arrived when Hollywood starts pumping out its big money makers for the year. Not the dramas that are expected to get Oooo'd and ahhhh'd over during the Oscar picks - but the ones that the average person is going to go out and watch, and love, and talk about to all of their friends until everyone they know had gone to see it.
Some of the movies that I speak of are the ones that I have seen (expected to be in the noted money makers for the season)

1.X-Men Origins - Wolverine: Greatly done movie. Keeping true to the story line while filling us in on the mysterious past of the fanboy favorite, Wolverine. Hugh Jackman is awesome to look at for the ladies and the fight scenes and graphics are awesome for the men. What most average movie goers didn't realise is that in order to create a buzz, movie makers put different ending spots after the credits. Different cuts of the same movie. So if you get the chance to watch the last few mins after the credits of a movie besides the one you saw - go for it - it is worth it. These guys Matt and Nat make me look normal in their speel. They also touch on the leaked print of Wolverine - which did impact its box office recordings.

2. Star Trek: I am unsure where to begin about this movie. I had never seen a single episode of Star Trek all the years it was on t.v., not one of the monster hit movies that was released in it's name, or been to any of the conferences, or watched any of the documentary's - and folks - I loved it. I barely knew what a Vulcan was, or a Kilgon (which doesn't make an appearance by the way), and I still get the generations of captains mixed up when I am talking about the story line - and I loved it. It was a new beginning, to a new generation of Trekkies and self-pronounced Trekkers.
There is an interesting take on this newbie-friendly format on The Onion HERE
3. Angels and Demons: Read the book. Period. Dan Brown's writing (once again) was not given justice by this movie. The attempts to tell the movie goer all of the links and mystery and heritage of what they were doing without making it too obvious was insulting to both a movie-goer and a reader.

4. Terminator - Salvation: Simple Awesome. Even with all of the controversy of
Christian Bale bawling off some lighting guy - that never crosses your mind as you are watching this dark portrayal of a delicate future of the Skynet/Cyberdyme era.