Month: June 2014

Movie Review: 22 Jump Street (2014)

I think I forgot what was funny until I saw this movie. I laughed more at the ending credits than I did for the entirety of A Million Ways to Die in the West and Neighbors. Not only is this movie the funniest thing I have seen in quite some time but it also manages to blow the first one out of the water.

I don’t know if the writers are in their prime or if the actors felt unstoppable but I doubt anything as funny will be coming out anytime soon. The trailer was mildly humourous but it didn’t even come close to brilliance of this movie.

All the talent was utilized brilliantly. Of course, not everyone can be a main character but they made sure that everyone worth hearing from got to shine a little.

The humor was far more palatable for my poor sensibilities as well. There was very little potty humor and the sex jokes were as tasteful as sex jokes in a movie aimed at guys can be. Not once did I find myself trying to ignore a scene or pretending that I was completely cool with something happening.

There was an attempt at a larger theme but unlike other movies that have attempted a deeper meaning it actually delivered the message with a subtle hand. It didn’t throw it in our faces in the beginning, it didn’t forget about it in the middle, and it didn’t rush to conclude at the end. Continue reading →

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On Fun Fonts

If you are writing and have the thought, “Maybe I’ll jazz it up a bit by using a font that fits the story,” STOP. (You could argue similarly for using all caps for emphasis but that’s another post and not one I will be writing.) Don’t do it. I have seen many a weak, poorly developed plot and cliché rhyme painted over with a “fun” font. Here are some examples.

  • A story about food in the freezer written in “Chiller”
  • A story about a retired journalist written in “Courier New”
  • A poem written as a letter in “Lucida”
  • A story from a kid’s POV written in “Comic Sans”

I’m not talking about well sprinkled font use. If your serial killer has written, “Hello,” on the bathroom mirror and the main character sees right before noticing the shadowy figure in the reflection go ahead and write that in “Chiller”. If your character reads a newspaper, you can put the article in newstype. If the character is writing a note use one of the handwriting fonts if you want. Continue reading →

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Make me a better me, for you.

I am humbled (kind of) that you even stayed long enough to read these words. If I didn’t want to share my thoughts with you then I wouldn’t have started this blog. With that in mind and if it pleases you to do so:

Check out my “About” page.

Make requests for my opinions on things or ask questions on my “Requests” page.

And give me quick and easy feedback with the poll on my “Satisfaction” page.

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Episode Review: Bachelorette, Season Andi, Episode 6

Just to be clear, this is not the same as the terrible filler episode aired two weeks ago. This is actually about Week 6.

To see my reviews from the previous weeks just click on episode 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and the recap.

Venice. What screams American tourists more than a group of me yelling, “Venice, we’re here baby!”

First 1-on-1: Starts as soon as the boys land and meet Andi. Everyone thinks it’s going to be Cody because he is the only one who hasn’t had one yet. He looks like he is about to jump for joy. And then it is given to Nick. Nick spews poetic about how beautiful the city is in a voice over as the camera panes across a church under construction with ugly scaffolding.

Andi says she is worried that he isn’t popular with the guys because she doesn’t trust people who make enemies that easily. But Nick scores points with her by apologizing for being salty on the last group date and promises to do better. Of course, in order to prove that he has to make it to next week but that is kind of given.

We see them get black-tie level done up for dinner. She says, “In his tux he looks like a prince.” I’m glad she thinks that because I was thinking little teddy bear in fancy duds.

Andi flat-out asks, “Do you think you’re a frontrunner?” Nick, “I don’t like that term…blahblahblah beating around the bush blah, but I do talk with a sense of confidence.”

(Dear readers, I pray for all of us that Nick is not the next bachelor. I try not to be mean…okay, that’s a blatant lie. I like him as a person so I don’t want to shred him. But if I have to listen to him talk for another entire season I might just watch it on mute with subtitles.)

Nick throws Andi a bone by mentioning that love was the direction he was going in and she relinquished the rose, forfeited a few kisses, and the couple donned masks to go dancing…alone. “I’ve been masking (ha) my feelings,” says Nick. Gotta love a good pun y’all. Continue reading →

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Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Was not as good as the first one.

Don’t get me wrong. It was not a bad movie. It just felt flat.

There was little actual character development for all Hiccup spent the movie talking about finding himself. We jump through a lot of growing moments really quickly. Instead of depth we just get a lot of characters and dragons thrown at us. We meet his mother. She’s cool I guess. The supporting kids all get a little more personality. There is the redeemable bad guy and the real bad guy. There is a swarm of different dragons that we never really get the names of. All of them seem to breathe fire. Kind of lazy after how creative the first movie was with powers.

The plot was weak. Basically a guy with a bigger dragon tries to take over everything. In the end he is vanquished and disappears. Which is odd since they fought on an island. We never really get any explanation. Why can this guy control dragons through fear? Why are there two king dragons just chilaxing with humans when they are supposedly really rare? Why is Toothless the only Night Fury?

Basically, at the end of the movie I had so many questions about things that were pretty glossed over that it probably would have been better just not to see it. Continue reading →

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