Wednesday, June 6, 2012

My Favourite Movie

I bet you're looking at the picture right now and thinking I'm joking. I'm totally not. My favourite movie of all time is Disney's The Little Mermaid.

It probably has something to do with the fact that this was my first favourite movie. You know how kids will sometimes pick one movie and watch it over and over and over again, and never tire of it? The Little Mermaid was my movie on repeat. Except my love for this movie didn't just last for a year - it has lasted my whole life. I am amazed that the old VHS I have still runs! Although that doesn't matter, because as soon as it was released on DVD, I made sure to pick it up.

Of course I don't watch The Little Mermaid every day anymore, or even once a month. But if I'm looking for a movie and don't know what I want to watch, I will almost always choose to pop this in. What do I love so much about it? Well, for one thing, the songs. I like a lot of music from Disney movie, but there is something about the songs in The Little Mermaid that I just love - especially Part of Your World and Kiss the Girl! I know every word. How could I not at this point? Also, I think it's the whole fairy tale and fantasy thing, especially that it's not just your typical Disney Princess movie, but that the princess is a mermaid. I've been fascinated by mermaids and fairies and all things magical for as long as I can remember. Just the idea that there's a whole other world living right underneath our eyes that we don't even know about... it's that idea that I really love, I think.

So, yes. The Little Mermaid is my favourite movie. And I've seen a lot of movies in my life, and I do love a lot of movies almost as much. Almost. But I can pretty confidently say that no other movie will ever take first place.

What's your all-time favourite movie? Is it an unexpected choice like mine?

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Movie Review: MIB III *slight spoilers*

Alright. Men in Black III. It has been a ridiculously long time since Men in Black II came out - 10 years, actually. And it's probably been 10 years since I've seen the 2nd one, and possibly even longer since I've seen the first one. I probably should have watched both of them again before seeing the new one, but as it is, I really have no comparisons between the movies because I can't even remember what happened in the first two. I do recall liking them, but that doesn't say much.

Anyway. The basic premise of the Men in Black movies is that there is a secret organization that keeps track of and polices extraterrestrial activity on Earth, which there is way more of than any human would ever guess - aliens are everywhere. The movies follow Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) on their missions. In Men in Black III, Boris the Animal, an evil alien that Agent K arrested in the 60s, escapes from his high security prison and travels back in time to kill K before he has a chance to shoot off his arm and arrest him. Agent J wakes up one morning and is the only person that remembers K. He must travel back in time to save his partner and kill Boris the Animal before he gets to K.

My impression of this movie is that it was kind of ridiculous. Maybe that's what happens when you take a movie that was popular in the 90s and try to do a sequel of it in 2012. The dialogue was especially corny, and it felt like a movie that belonged in the 90s when that was the norm. Imagine trying to do another Austin Powers movie today - it just doesn't fit in with the current culture. Dialogue aside, the story was okay, but also silly. I think it's definitely a movie more suited to kids, who would get a kick out of humans who are actually aliens in disguise.

Negativity aside, I did like how they went into Agent K's past and showed a whole different side of this usually-super-serious character. And I especially liked the ending that involved J as a kid - not going to give any more than that away - which made me a little teary-eyed.

All-in-all, it wasn't a terrible movie, but I'm also glad I didn't have to pay to watch it. I've heard a lot of people say that they did like it, so maybe I'm being a bit too critical. Just not my style, I suppose.