Movie Review: Spare Parts: La Vida Robot (Five Stars!) - Mon., Jan. 26, 2015

Spare Parts is the 2004 true story about four Mexican-American, undocumented inner-city high school students in Phoenix, Arizona, the quest for excellence, and an underwater robotics competition at University of California, Santa Barbara. This intrepid team goes up against MIT, Virginia Tech, and other outstanding universities in their quest to win the ROV competition.

Just returned from seeing this movie. What a GREAT flick. Very highly recommended. I gave it 10 stars on IMDb and five stars on Fandango. I laughed, I cried, I laughed until I cried, I was deeply touched. If you want to go see it, I'll go with you. It's inspiring, heart-warming, touching, well acted, and superbly paced.

Yes, it's another underdog story, but what a story. And, yes, it has to do with science, but most of the concepts were explained in layman's terms. It appealed to the nerd in me.

George Lopez plays Fredi, a substitute science teacher at the high school. He's not perfect and has secrets, but then so do his students. Slowly, we learn each character's "story." Humor is interspersed with caring, teachable moments, encouragement, and teamwork.

Jamie Lee Curtis is the hardened school principal who teaches wayward students in her own inimitable manner. She uses humor and wisdom in keeping the kids in line.

Marisa Tomei works in the high school library. There's more to her than meets the eye.

The sum of the spare parts of this movie add up to a totally awesome movie-going experience. I've read the reviews where the tone of the movie is called "saccharine." I must admit I like sweets and this IS a sweet story. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion. Too much black humor and violence in many movies, although the last seven movies I've seen have been outstanding. Take a chance, see this underdog of a movie. Just go.

Movie Review: G.I. Joe Retaliation

I was pleased to find that G.I. Joe Retaliation contained an entertaining story line, exciting action scenes, and superhero-like characters. Oh, and the adrenaline-junkie, testosterone action sequences were de rigeur for this movie sequel.

The G.I. Joes start the current movie in North Korea where they infiltrate a high-security prison to nab a defector. That's the end of that story line and the defector has no bearing on the rest of the story.

Next the Joes are sent into Pakistan to recover nuclear bombs from a large facility. Much gunplay ensues. As they wrap up their mission, choppers come from out of the night and massacre all the G.I. Joes (except four who jumped into a well to hide). When those four emerge from the well, Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) becomes the leader of their ragtag group. They suspect they have been set up by their own government.

After a long, hot hike across the desert (which thankfully the movie doesn't drag out), the remaining Joes find an airport and fly back to the U.S. With the help of sympathizers and their retired general, General Joe Colton (who started the G.I. Joes), they figure out the president has been replaced by an evil, look-alike imposter.

General Colton outfits the remaining G.I. Joes with all the weapons they could possibly want. In fact, the scene is quite funny. The general has guns in hidden compartments all over his house: cupboards, drawers, under the stove cooktop, and in the walls.

The COBRA organization (bad guys) want world domination and power a la the bad guys in James Bond movies. There's satellites, bombs, and a nasty demonstration of what COBRA is capable of.

A particularly good action sequence takes place in Japan when two G.I. Joes go to a ninja training facility to kidnap Storm Chaser and take him back to the United States. The action takes place on vertical rock cliff faces with the ninjas ziplining from cliff to cliff, and fighting as they "walk" and swing sideways across the cliff faces. Pretty exciting stuff. I was riveted watching the stunt work.

If you've watched any superhero movies, you can easily figure out the end of the movie. For me, the movie provided entertainment and air conditioning. Sure it was formulaic, but at least I knew what to expect. My expectations were not sky high.

Welcome to Linda of Linda's Lens, our newest blog follower. Linda is an Oregonian like us. She enjoys photography, camping, skiing, running and hiking.

Movie Review: Star Trek Into Darkness - Mon., May 20

First off, kudos to J. J. Abrams for directing and producing a true work of art and a super-fine piece of spring entertainment: Star Trek Into Darkness. From the opening sequence, chills ran through my body like opening a bay door in deep space, except the water on my tongue did not boil and I did not lose consciousness. The bay door closed and the story held my rapt attention through the remaining two hours.

More than anticipated, Into Darkness keeps the Star Trek franchise booted up, suited up and ready to go boldly into the future. The opening sequence plays like an opening scene from Star Wars or Indiana Jones with a story that immerses you immediately into the lives of another culture; this one alien, not technologically advanced, and close to extinction.

And, surprise, surprise, once again Captain James Tiberius Kirk is rebelling against rules and superior officers. I don't think I give too much away by saying that.

In Into Darkness things are not always what they seem. Be prepared to be surprised.

Keep your sense of humor sharp. Laughs will come when you least expect them.

I do not want to give away too much of the plot because it's much more fun going in with no pre-conceived notions. Do expect a rollicking-good story and excellent performances from the cast.

I continue to adore the young crew playing parts iconically belonging to William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock), DeForest Kelley (Bones), George Takei (Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov),and James Doohan (Scotty). They do the franchise proud.

Enjoy!

Travel Bug out.

Movie Review: Miss Potter (2006) - Mon., May 20

From Star Trek Into Darkness to Miss Potter. How diverse is my movie watching? Quite!

Miss Potter is based on the life of Beatrix Potter, a very popular children's book author. Surely you've heard of or remember stories of Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter Rabbit. All are creations from Beatrix Potter's imagination.

The film from 2006 takes place inthe late 1800s to early 1900s in England and Scotland. Beatrix, whose imagination brought to life the lives of bunnies, pigs, rats, mice, geese and other animals, started out creating greeting cards from her art. But she dreamed of much more. She wanted to be a published children's book author.

In the movie, Beatrix, accompanied by her chaperone, takes her stories and artwork to publishing houses trying to sell them on printing her stories. She wanted to keep the sizes of her books small and the art in black and white to make the books affordable for as many families as possible. One publishing company offers her a book deal, but the two brothers who own the company don't want to have anything to do with it. Their youngest brother (Mr. Norman Warne) has just joined the firm, so they assign him to work with Beatrix. Through his knowledge and vision, Beatrix's books can be published affordably in color.

Miss Potter and Mister Norman Warne spend countless hours together working on getting her books ready for publishing, getting the art colors just right, and proving to the older brothers in the firm, and to Beatrix's own mother, that her stories with hand-painted art appeal to a large portion of the population.

Miss Potter and Mr. Warne fall in love much to the dismay of her parents who are nouveau riche because of inheritances on both sides of the family. They believe Norman, as a trademan, is beneath Beatrix's status. Beatrix disagrees and stands up to her parents. In a compromise, Beatrix agrees to accompany her family to England's Lake District for the summer. If the love is still strong at the end of summer, her parents agree she can marry. She promptly tells them, "Plan on an October wedding."

Off they go to their holiday home in the Lake District. Beatrix and Norman write love letters to each other, until one day his letters stop arriving. Beatrix is convinced Norman is on holiday in an area with slow postal service. But that is not the case.

I will not give away any more of the story. That is for you to find out.

Beatrix Potter led an interesting, proper life, until mid-adulthood when she ditched British properness and decided to start living her life as her own.

This movie rates five out of five stars. Renee Zellweger is perfect as Beatrix Potter.

Travel Bug out.

Iron Man 3 - Mon., May 13

"Now that's a blockbuster movie," I said to myself at the end of Iron Man 3. What joy to see a movie that entertains from opening credit to the end of the credits.

If you love superheroes and Marvel comic stories, action, romance, surprise plot twists, humor, super evil bad guys, hot women, and mega-battle scenes, again with twists, consider seeing this movie.

I went to the movie alone because Bob isn't big on superhero/fantasy or sci-fi movies. But I wasn't truly alone...all the characters kept me company for two hours, bursting their way into my head.

I don't want to give too much away, but I will say the performances by Ben Kingsley and the young boy were terrific. By the end, I was thoroughly entertained and isn't that the purpose of a blockbuster movie?

Buy the snacks, find a good seat, and let your imagination soar with the best superhero franchise out there (in my opinion, of course).

Even so, Iron Man 3 isn't for everyone. Just sayin'.

The Most Fun Event We Didn't Do -- Sat., Mar. 9

Do we go tonight? Don't we? Important questions when the weather forecast is 90% chance of severe thunderstorms, wind gusts to 20 mph, and a chance of large hail and heavy rain. Some of the events take place outside, rain or shine, and some inside. I'm a fairweather person. I wouldn't mind taking an umbrella for the rain, but with wind gusts to 20 mph the umbrella would become useless in mere seconds.

Oh, wait, what's the event, you ask? Sorry, I forgot to mention that detail. San Antonio's Luminaria 2013 at Hemisfair Park. The event runs from 7 pm to midnight. Did I mention it's free? (Except for souvenirs, food and drink, that is.) You are welcome to dress to be seen. Costumes are common at Luminaria, and lit costumes are especially welcome. I am so interested in going, maybe next year. Description from their website:

"Luminaria is San Antonio's annual night celebration of art and artists. It is free of charge and showcases all art forms including Visual, Music, Theatre and Performance, Literary, Media, and Dance.  Luminaria takes place in downtown San Antonio in both outdoor and indoor venues."

In addition to all the art events going on in Hemisfair Park, the Institute of Texan Cultures (in association with the Smithsonian Institution) is free from 5-8 p.m. tonight. So much to do, so little time.  

In years past, the Tower of the Americas was decorated with lights. See photo of Luminaria  marketing postcard below. The photography on the postcard was done by ArtGives.org. The Luminaria event is produced by the artists of San Antonio.

What makes the whole event possible are multiple sponsors: City of San Antonio, Bud Light, 80/20 Foundation, H-E-B, Valero, Rackspace, Bank of America, AT&T, John and Florence Newman Foundation, SAWS, CPS Energy, Creative Civilization and CE Group.

So, Luminaria, 2014 is another year. We'll do our best to come see you then.

Tonight we will be watching our Netflix movie selection: Two-Lane Blacktop. It's a 1971 flick with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, James Taylor, and Kris Kristofferson about two drag-racing drifters who are more devoted to their '55 Chevy than they are to each other. It's an American road movie. We'll see if it's any good.

Before closing, the cats wanted me to include the following photos:

Window's open, great scents and birds!

"Iz u takin' pix of us agin?"

"I tries to sit like my peeps, but my legs aren't long enough for the footrest."

 Have a good evening. Travel Bug out.