Movie Review - "Mission: Impossible" 05/22/1996

As "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol" came out in December 2011, I have decided to watch the MI movies before watching Ghost Protocol [and watch the more recent Rogue Nation]. This is a review for "Mission: Impossible", released on May 22, 1996.


Trailer:

Plotline:
Tom Cruise plays Agent Ethan Hunt. He is a spy on a team with a few other spies. Their mission, should their leader chose to accept it, is to catch a man who is stealing the NOC list (the list that has the real name and the undercover name of the agents). Plot twist *SPOILERS*: The mission that their team is on is actually an operation to figure out who the mole is in the agency. Ethan, survivor of the original mission, now has to find out who the mole is and how to catch him/her, all while being a disavowed agent. So now his mission is impossible and it is the only way to go to prove that he is not the mole.




Character Development / Relationships:
This doesn't seem to be much of a relationship/character developing movie since it is an action-packed quick-sequence movie. There is a relationship question about Ethan and one of the supposed dead women from his team, but they do not seem to go any further than work together. Ethan probably doesn't go for the lady because she was the wife of the team's leader, though *SPOILERS* someone does say that she thought she could fool him with only her looks. [Seriously, why do we have to try to use the female to trick the main character?!]




Music:
The music for this movie is well known, at least for the Mission Impossible theme. Aside that, I didn't really notice other music. Very great theme!




Criteria:
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.


Honestly, this movie could have used more but for the action-packed sequences, it wasn't that bad. I suggest it but I personally don't think that this is high on the "to watch again" list. 4/5

Friday, December 16, 2011 Movies to Watch and Review

Corman's World's: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel
Cook County
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol
Carnage
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked

Fun Writing Days on Twitter

Just wanted to jot down a quick list of days that can make writing fun (mainly on Twitter), that I know of.
First, definitions:
1. WIP is Work In Progress
2. MC is Main Character
3. MS is Manuscript




Day: Whenever a writer is writing and feels like sharing

#AmWriting
Theme: None - whatever you want to post from your WIP

This is a "whenever and whatever" post for writers, not run by any specific person. If you want to post something and it doesn't go along with any daily themes or hashtags, just post it and say #AmWriting ! :-D



#AmEditing
Theme: None - whatever you want to post from/regarding your WIP

Like #AmWriting , this is a "whenever and whatever" post for writers/editors, not run by any specific person. If you want to post something while editing and it doesn't go along with any daily themes or hashtags, just post it and say #AmEditing ! :-)



#SixWordStory / #6Words
Theme: Posted Prompt.

Run by Kelsye Nelson @Kelsye , this is a Twitter game to prompt writings. For example, a prompt on Feb. 05, 2016 says "In SIX WORDS or fewer, write a story about the stranger you met in the coffee shop.". Follow Kelsye for these prompts. Some of them are interesting. ;-)




Day: Sunday

#SundaySample
Theme: Posted Prompt.

This is a WIP sharing hashtag run by Colin Rowe @lowericon . It happens every Sunday and Colin posts the theme in the morning, USA Mountain Time.




Day: Monday

#Meta4Mon
Theme: Metaphor/Simile

This is a Monday posting hashtag run by Cori Lynn Arnold @corilynarnold . The "theme" is metaphors and similes.



#Ministory Monday
Theme: Story in 5 tweets or less; Posted prompt

Run by Elise Edmonds @WriterEdmonds . If you like to write and want to come up with a miniature story, try this.
"Using the given prompt, write a complete story in 5 tweets or less."




Day: Tuesday

#TwitterTuesday
Theme: Posted

Run by Quill @QuillWriters , this is a theme posted writer game (hashtag game).
"Every Tue, New theme every week. 3PM GMT and goes on into the evenings. Normally tails off around 8pm gmt but has been known to go on til midnight. We use the tags #quill plus whatever our theme is. Example: #Quill and #FantasyTropes for the theme of FantasyTropes."



#2BitTues
Theme: Optional and Posted

This is a Tuesday posting hashtag run by Angela D'Onofrio @AngDonofrio . The theme is optional and posted on a day before Tuesday. Even if you don't something to go with the theme, any kind of WIP post is welcomed!




Day: Wednesday

#1LineWed
Theme: Posted

This is a Wednesday posting hashtag run by Kiss of Death @RWAKissofDeath . The theme is posted before Wednesday.
"Writers at all stages of their careers coming together to share their writing by posting lines from a Work in Progress. #1lineWed is about writing, not advertising. Please No Buy Links. Instead we'd love you to share your website. Remember, @1lineWed is about fun. Retweet others as you'd like to be retweeted. Feel free to block spammers."



#WIPWed
Theme: Whatever is from your WIP

This is a Wednesday posting hashtag, not run by anyone in particular. Just post something from your Work In Progress. ;-)




Day: Thursday

#ThrustyThursday
Theme: Romance/Erotica

This is a Thursday posting hashtag run by Brittany Pettegrow @scribalreverie . There is no theme aside posting romance/erotica clips from WIPs.



#3WordThurs
Theme: Posted Prompt.

This is a Thursday posting hashtag run by Brittany Pettegrow @scribalreverie . She throws three words up in the prompt and the challenge is to "Use all three words in a sentence or conversation. Must at least make some sort of sense. We are writers, not gobbledegook speakers.". Check in with Brittany to see what kind of words she posts.




Day: Friday

#Friday5th
Theme: 5th line on a WIP page

This is a Friday posting hashtag run by Kelsey McIntyre @KelseyNMcIntyre and Hypergraphia @alliemayauthor .
No theme but posting the "5th line on a page in your WIP".



#FictFri
Day: Friday
Theme: Votable and Optional and Posted

This is a Friday posting hashtag run by (yours truly) Gracie Mae DeLunac @Gracie_DeLunac . It is Fiction Friday - using clips from fictional WIPs for the posting hashtag.
The theme, like 2BitTues, is optional so if you don't want to post according to the theme, that's fine. The theme is chosen through a poll that I post up the previous week. Three options to chose from and whatever choice wins the poll is the theme for the next week. The theme is posted a few times before it goes into effect but, again, is optional. The theme is a "kickstart" to get you writing so if you don't want to use it, that is fine. "Just keep writing!"




Day: Saturday

#SatireSaturday
Theme: Satire/Comedy

This is a Saturday posting hashtag run by Brittany Pettegrow @scribalreverie . This is a hashtag to post humor, mocking, irony, exaggeration, ridicule and other such satire-ish stuff on a Saturday. No specific theme aside "satire"/"comedy".





Day: Weekends

#WhosYourCharacter
Theme: Describe/Introduce your characters.

This is a hashtag created by Rebecca Frohling @chipmunkofpower . It is a tool to share some quirks of your characters without having to go into details. "Join us Saturdays and Sundays for #WhosYourCharacter Weekend! Share bios, insp. pics, etc."
For example from Rebecca: "The Steward: Works at The Hospital. Terse and untalkative. Knows secrets even death would not divulge."







That's all that we have for now, that I know of. I will keep this post updated if I hear of other things to add! Keep writing!
~yume

12/07/2015: Added Monday #Ministory and #TwitterTuesday .
12/24/2015: Added #WIPWed thanks to Allie Kincheloe @Allie_Kincheloe .
02/08/2016: Added #SixWordStory / #6Words thanks to Kelsye Nelson @Kelsye . Added #3WordThurs thanks to Brittany Pettegrow @scribalreverie . Added #WhosYourCharacter thanks to Rebecca Frohling @chipmunkofpower .

Movie Review - "Problem Child 2" 07/03/1991

Of course, after we watched the first Problem Child movie, we had to watch the second one so here's a review for "Problem Child 2" which came out in July 3, 1991.

Viewed 12/05/2015




Trailer:

CAST
* John Ritter - Ben Healy in "Problem Child", Ben Hanscom in "IT" - Ben Healy, Little Ben
* Michael Oliver - Junior in "Problem Child" - Junior Healy
* Amy Yasbeck - Peggy Brandt in "The Mask", Marian in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" - Annie Young (Trixie's Mom)
* Ivyann Schwan - Trixie Young
* Gilbert Gottfried - Mr. Peabody in "Problem Child", Iago in "Aladdin" - Mr. Peabody


12/06/15-  I just realized, after posting both reviews, that the reason why Trixie's Mom - Annie Young looked like Flo Healy is that it was the SAME ACTRESS! HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!



Plotline:
Junior's back! And he and Dad Benjamin Healy are moving away from the town of Cold River to a place called Mortville, where women to men ratio is 50/1 (or so says a neighbor). Divorce capital of the world or something like that... Complete with a "Love Rock" [a massive circular rock that has a pink heart-shaped marking on it]. Should Dad find a woman to marry in this small overpopulated-with-women town? Can Junior agree to any of them that Dad chooses?

Of course not!



Relationships:
* Big Ben and Little Ben & Junior
Guess who else is back? Grandpa. He never did get elected (for whatever it was - president?) and now he is broke too so he's staying at Ben and Junior's place. He brought his dog "Nip" with too, who is a pain in the rear it seems... Aside Grandpa crashing at Ben and Junior's place, there doesn't seem much relationship building between the generations. Grandpa seems to merely be around for the ride, so to speak.


* Ben Healy and Junior
Since Ben is now a single parent, he has to take care of his son on his own. That includes trying to discipline, feed, entertain, and teach him. The shinanigans that Junior pulled in the first movie are no longer against Ben but now are against would-be suitors (all the women who want to tie Ben down) because Junior just wants it to be the two of them together. Why would they need a woman in the house? They had Flo in the first movie and that didn't work well so why add another person, aside Grandpa being a squatter, to the mix?


* Junior and Trixie
Trixie is Junior's biggest trouble in the town. It started out that he shot down her balloon right as he arrived to town. She started getting after him as soon as he arrived at the elementary, mocking him and taunting him and shooting him with the fire hose. At one point, she flips him off and runs into the girls bathroom. He ends up going into the bathroom to confront her (saying "The bitch has to die") and she comes up with a stick of dynamite which she lights. [At this point I was like "WTF are you kidding me?!"] Junior says she's insane and flushes it down the toilet, where it runs through the pipes and explodes beneath his teacher's rear while he is on the toilet. We see the teacher later with gauze that looks like he has a diaper on but he seems 'okay'. Here's the scene:

At one point, Junior and Trixie end up becoming friends and stop attacking each other with their shinanigans. This is during supper at the local pizza shop where they realize that their school principal Mr. Peabody, the guy who used to be at the adoption agency that Ben Healy picked up Junior from, is at the place too. They agree that they hate the principal and end up starting a food fight, mainly between Junior's Dad/Trixie's Mom defending their kids, the two kids, and the principal. After they get kicked out of the pizza place, Junior realizes that maybe there could be something between his Dad and Trixie's Mom. Maybe, if Trixie was up to it, they could get the two of them together?



Music:
Not as good as the music for "Problem Child" but still decent. Still shows mischief caused by Trixie and Junior. ;-)



Negatives:
Let's see here. Junior causes people to throw up on a carnival ride (especially since Trixie was taunting him), petrifies a dog accidentally [which is depetrified by a can of Chow Down dog food], a kid trying to revenge on Junior drops a satellite dish onto Ben's head, Grandpa falls out of a second-story window trying to attack Junior, says that the b***h (Trixie) has to die for flipping him off, causes a food fight with Trixie, causes a scorned (ex?) husband of one of Dad's suitors to confront Dad on his date with the suitor, and puts cockroaches in a meal made by one of Dad's suitors. He also does not approve of a babysitter having a boyfriend over while Dad is on a date so he hooks up a camera and a live feed projector (in the yard) and the whole neighborhood watches the babysitter and boyfriend f**king via projector projected on the side of the house. Junior's science project is about how electricity works, via electric chair.

Trixie sprays Junior down with a fire hose at school, flips Junior off, causes a food fight with Junior, lights a stick of dynamite that Junior flushes which causes harm to a teacher, moves the Love Rock to stop a wedding ceremony, and gags/ties up classmates to be part of a puppet play.






Criteria:
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.


This would be a 4.5/5 for me. It wasn't as good as the first movie, since it was a sequel, but it was still pretty good. I personally prefer the first to the second movie. Overall it was good that the two guys stuck together and that Junior was able to come to terms with Trixie. Doesn't make all the negative things in this movie right. The balance of wrongs to rights in this movie was a bit too much for me, moreso than the first movie.
Would I watch it again? Sure. Would I get a hard copy and put it on my shelf? Sure, but probably only if my hubby suggested it first.






Bonus "Deleted Scenes":

Warning: the audio on this video is so messed up that by the end of the video it is almost 11 seconds ahead of the actual video. Adds some story to the tale; just not as much as the deleted scenes from Problem Child (1) did to the tale.

Movie Review - "Problem Child" 07/27/1990

Here's a movie that my hubby has wanted me to watch for a while so we watched last night (12/05/15): "Problem Child" which was released July 27, 1990.


Trailer:

Cast:
* John Ritter - Ben Hanscom in "IT" - Ben Healy aka Little Ben
* Michael Oliver - Junior
* Amy Yasbeck - Peggy Brandt in "The Mask", Marian in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" - Flo Healy
* Gilbert Gottfried - Iago in "Aladdin" - Mr. Peabody
* Michael Richards - Cosmo Kramer in "Seinfield" - Martin Beck aka Bowtie Killer




Plotline:
A child named Junior is problematic and hard to place with a "forever home". One couple find out they can't have children biologically so what do they do? Try adopting this child and have to learn how to deal with this wild child through different situations. Can they survive the problem child?




Relationships:
* Big Ben and Little Ben
The man who adopts Junior is named Benjamin Healy. His father is called "Big Ben" (Benjamin Healy) and owns a sports equipment store. The local baseball diamond has a "Big Ben" connotation also. So anyways, Big Ben and his son "Little Ben" have issues because Big Ben wanted his son to be a bit more competitive/back-stabbing. His son is "too nice" he says. Little Ben is trying to figure out how to please his father before they adopt but the adoption doesn't help the relationship any. In fact (as you can see in the above trailer), Big Ben calls Junior a devil child and Junior doesn't approve of that, throwing the cat at 'grandpa'. All through the movie, Big Ben keeps trying to convince Little Ben to return Junior though Little Ben says no. Little Ben does end up showing he has guts to stand up to his father, *spoilers* ruining 'grandpa's' campaign at the end. That doesn't help with the relation between Big Ben and Little Ben, though.


*Ben Healy and Flo
Little Ben's wife is Flo (Florence). She is the uptight preppy woman that I dislike. All she can think about is showing up to social gatherings, looking perfect and proper, having expensive stuff, and showing off her things. "I don't wear secondhand clothes so I won't have a secondhand kid," she even says. Ben convinces her otherwise because that way they can have a kid and the child can be the gateway to more social gatherings and Flo can have nice clothes to appear at the gatherings. She agrees, loving the idea that she can get new expensive clothes. [Like I said, I disliked her.]
When the going gets tough, Flo says that they should return the kid because she'd rather have no kids than have Junior. When Ben hears that Junior had been returned to the adoption agency 30 times previously, however, he goes into a noble speech about the fact that they are going to do the right thing by the kid and keep him. Flo is not happy about that. Their marriage turns into a debate about whether they should keep the kid or not. She's for getting rid of and he is for keeping.


*Ben Healy and Junior
Finally being able to become a father through adoption, Ben Healy tries his darndest to take care of his kid. Though he tries to help the kid, everything keeps messing up: He takes him camping with the neighbors (problems ensue); he puts him on his baseball team (problems ensue); he and Flo get Junior invited to a birthday party for another neighbor's kid (problems ensue).
Even though all these problems arise due to Junior's antisocial shinanigans, Ben keeps trying to be the caring father to the boy. He says that he will do the right thing for the kid, especially after he heard about Junior being returned 30 times to the adoption agency. It is not an easy path, mind you, but he tries his hardest.
At one point, *spoilers* Junior and Flo are kidnapped. Ben at first celebrates because he doesn't have to deal with them anymore but then realizes that Junior actually liked him. So he goes to fight for his son which finally earns him respect from Junior enough to be called "Dad".



Music:
I liked the use of the music in this movie. It synced with the movie well. They used "Bad to the Bone" occasionally when Junior was scheming something. One scene is the neighbor's daughter's birthday party. The girl was a little b***h to Junior because he wasn't a "real kid" since he was an adopted kid. She actually said something previously about the fact that they didn't have a kid, then they had a 7 year old kid, and that was gross. Her mother threatened to cancel her party (clown, ice cream, etc.) if she didn't behave. It was a costume party so what does Junior wear? A devil's outfit. Way to go. Anyways, the girl steps on his tail and says he can't go see the magic show because it is her party. Junior decides to show her a lesson for being so rude:

 "Its My Party (I'll Cry If I Want To)" by Lesley Gore
Perfect music for this scene!



Violence:
Okay, so aside the fact that Junior caused a nun to break her arm, made another nun fall down, made his new grandfather and cat to fall down the stairs, made his dad beat up the neighbor in the woods [Dad thought that neighbor Roy (in bear costume) was the bear], setting the clown decorations in his room on fire, ruining the neighbor girl's birthday party, and a few other incidences, this is a fairly clean movie. Aside Junior's shinanigans, there are two mentionable things that I can think of - a bad dude whom they called the Bowtie Killer {the inspiration for Junior to wear a bowtie} caused the prison warden to fall off a second story walkway, probably killed a psychiatrist in the prison as he escaped, stole two cars, kidnapped Flo and Junior, stuffed Flo into a suitcase in the trunk, punched a clown, and shot Ben. Bad guys do bad things... But still that was the extent of the non-Junior-shinanigans in this movie. Do I approve of them? No, especially Flo being stuffed into a suitcase though she kinda deserved to be brought down a notched [in my opinion].

Punching a clown:

I thought it was a bit funny though punching is bad, m'kay.






Criteria:
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.



I don't know what else to say above in the review so here's my rating: 5/5. I very much enjoyed this movie. I must say that the 90's movies seem to be better than today's movies and this movie supports that statement. This movie had wonderful music, had GREAT characters, had a good storyline, wasn't filled with sex/nudity and drugs/alcohol. The violence of Junior's actions and the Bowtie Killer's actions make this movie a borderline 4.5-5 but I think it was mild enough to keep the rating at a 5. For those that are sensitive regarding violence, you might want to take this as a 4.5 rating just in case.
I think I might try to get a hard copy of this movie. I think it should definitely hold a spot on my shelf. :-D








Bonus "Deleted Scenes":
This explains the broken front door and why Mr. Healy (Little Ben) squealed through the neighbor's garden. Nice.

Movie Review - "Super Troopers" 02/15/2002

Hubby wanted me to watch this with him so here's a review for "Super Troopers". This movie came out February 15, 2002.

Viewed via streaming online 12/03/2015.



WARNING! This is not appropriate for everyone due to drugs, sex, nudity, and language. But for the rest of us adults, here we go for the review!

Trailer:

Plotline:
Basically a bunch of state troopers mucking about and having fun messing around, this is about how their section is maybe going to get shut down due to budget issues. Can this handful of guys act serious enough to keep their job?

Oh, but a drug thing is also going on so what the heck can these troopers do? Go after the drugs. But stuff get in their way, aside just their stupidity.



Relationships:
No singular main character but one character does fall for a police officer woman who seems to have more brains than most of the guys in the state troopers division. *insert sex scene here and here and here*




Drugs/Alcohol:
Right at the beginning, a set of three teenage friends are driving down the road and see a state trooper. The two in the front freak out about their drugs and have the guy in the back eat it so they don't get caught with posession - marajuana and shrooms. They also dump some other drugs out the window and then the state trooper pulls back to pick it up and pull them over. It is a trippy scene which is pretty funny, even when you are watching sober. Here:

A lot of blocks of cocaine or crack or... I don't recall what kind they said it was but it is a major bust to find this much in the back of a semi truck trailer. And in a Winnebago.

They take some while they are watching a cartoon show ("Arabic anime") which is pretty lame, but the show seems to hold no meaning to English speakers without getting high.

The state troopers also drink a LOT, though they have to work. At one point, they were all so wasted drunk while they jumped into a car that I was thinking "this is NOT going to end well", though somehow it did manage to end well.





Sex/Nudity:
Let's see..... A state trooper wacking off in his car while looking at a hot chick's picture on a billboard is one. A horny German couple who stole a Porsche and the chick trying to get the state trooper to f**k her so to get out of a speeding ticket; the couple end up getting arrested and playing rough in one of the officer's homes. The one state trooper getting it on with the local police officer lady in the back of his car (where he has to bust the door off to get out) and getting it on in the impounded Winnebago [finding the stash of drugs].
Definitely not a kids movie. More of a "bite the lip and keep watching" kind of movie. ;-)




Music:
Didn't get in the way nor was too crazy.




Criteria:
0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.
1/5 – Barely worth any time.
2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.
3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.
4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.
5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around – characters, music, theme, storyline, etc.


Honestly, I will put this at a 3.5/5. It was a good movie but the degredation of the role of officer was more that I would have liked. It was funny but at the same time I just wanted to turn it off. "Dumb and Dumber" meets "COPS", pretty much. If you don't want to see idiots as cops or cops as idiots, don't watch this. That's my main negative thing to say about this movie.

Would I watch it again? Maybe. Sure. Not something that I would think of watching right away for comedy, though.


Feel free to watch but you have been warned!





Oh by the way:

There is a Super Troopers 2 coming out in 2016. It was fully funded via indiegogo https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/super-troopers-2#/ April 24, 2015. So if you like this movie, watch for the sequel!

[My hubby is looking forward to it... :-P ]