The Duff

So I watched the trailer for this movie and thought that this movie might actually be a little bit funny. The trailer had a flair of Mean Girls and I mean... Ken Jeong is in it... that's cool.

The Duff is a highschool story focusing on a girl by the name of Bianca Piper (played by... her? Mae Whitman). Bianca has to seemingly genuine friends who are very attractive. I would usually say who played them but the truth is, A) you don't know these actors, and B) their sole purpose in this movie is to be the attractive friends that Bianca has at the start.

Literally, their purpose is to be more attractive than Bianca. This is made known to Bianca when she runs into her... childhood friend?

The way that Robbie Amell's character is described in this movie is a little bit confusing because a part of me thinks they were friends when they were young and they grew apart. But the way Robbie Amell acts, he's still friends with her and she's kind of an asshole to him, and all because he's the football captain.

Oh by the way, the movie tries to set itself apart by saying the stereotypes of old about high school are gone and now people are defined by who they are instead of what group they fall into. As progressive as this sounds, they really don't do that well as they still identify people as "goths" or "nerds", etc.

Anyway, back to my point, the fact her friends are more attractive is made known to Bianca by Robbie Amell as he reveals to Bianca that she is the Duff of her friend group.

What is a Duff you may ask? Designated. Ugly. Fat. Friend.

Now it is given some context in the fact that the Duff doesn't have to be fat or ugly. A Duff can actually be an attractive person but they are not the most attractive in the group. They are the more approachable one because they're not the target. I thought the best description of this was they are the gatekeeper of the friend group.

Bianca is of course offended by this but she begins to realize that Robbie Amell is right and she resents her friends for putting her in that position.

Bianca makes it her goal to break out of that convention of being the Duff and be her own person. Her goal is to get with this hippie douchebag who she finds attractive. The way that she goes about doing that is recruiting the help of Robbie Amell to break out of her shell and become more than a Duff. In return, she will help him pass science or something, its your stereotypical high school deal.

Here's the thing though. They say that the Duff is the more approachable one, I don't really see how Bianca falls into that category.

Bianca is kind of an asshole. She's suppose to be the scrappy, against the grain, I wear overalls sort of girl, which is fine, but she kind of shuts down a lot of people and while she's dressed like the alternative girl in the group, she's just as manipulative and I'll say it, Bitchy, as the rest of the "popular girls".

Its like they were trying to make this girl Juno but without any of the charm or realness. Hell they even made her mom Alison Janey! She dresses all hipster but she falls in with the gossip of her cool friends. All in all, Bianca is not exactly a great person to center a movie on.

And let's talk about the whole concept of the movie. It centers around a title you would find on Urban dictionary. I'm not even joking about that, there's a part where they go to Urban Dictionary and look up the phrase, Duff.

And when I saw the trailer, I said, huh, that's kind of funny. And it was funny for about 15 seconds. But unfortunately, that's what I think every time I find a funny definition on urban dictionary. I laugh for a half a second, then I move onto the next one. I don't make a full movie out of it. I think it would have been funny to have her realize she's the duff and then look into whether or not other definitions fit in with the social conventions of high school.

But instead, the movie decided to focus on the fact that this generation in high school is obsessed with technology.

Seriously, the movie has this weird theme about it focusing on technology and how its everywhere and people take it WAY too seriously.

Here's the thing though, cyber-bullying isn't a new concept. This movie acted like posting an embarrassing video about someone is a totally new thing.

And I'm sorry, as much as these movies think that kids today cannot survive without their cell phones... well that's probably true but they do it in such a way that its kind of patronizing.

But I would be fine if this movie was just about cyber-bullying. I would be fine if this movie was just about finding your individual self and not falling into categories. But this movie rips off so many high school movies that its just kind of funny if anybody thinks this is anything different than what we've seen in the past. There's parts of Mean Girls ripped off in this movie. There's parts from 16 Candles ripped off in this movie. There's parts from Breakfast Club ripped off in this movie. Nothing is new in this movie.

But the one thing that I will give the movie a little bit of credit for is the romance... sort of.

Now you've probably been wondering why I haven't called Robbie Amell by his character name. The truth is, I didn't remember until halfway through this review. But the truth is, Robbie Amell is not that great of an actor. He's just a hot guy. Ask any girl. Ask any guy. Most people will agree, Robbie Amell is a hot piece.

And the thing I guess I have to give the movie credit on is that they tried to create this romance between two people that in most high school movies would never get together. I'm not saying Mae Whitman is not attractive. She's a beautiful woman. But in the culture of movies that people have grown up with, I don't think you would put these two together.

So I guess I have to give the movie credit for that.

But the truth is, these two together is just odd. Maybe I'm too caught up in the very conventions I was just applauding the movie for trying to break. But the romance is very odd and kind of forced upon us. At the end when they get together (spoilers?) Their interactions are really kind of forced and I don't buy that these two actually would be attracted to one another.

As friends, yeah, there is a part of it that is kind of fun and it is different. You don't see the captain of the football team working with a duff like character too often. And this could have been emphasized with the fact that they were childhood friends. Robbie Amell brings her to Victoria's Secret to pick out underwear. I think it would have been funnier if Robbie Amell was gay and ended up coming out at the end. It would fit with the theme of the movie of not slotting yourself into the norms that are created for you.

And the sad part is, the only times that they really get together are parts where Bianca is dolled up. Its just like the end of Grease when Sandy changes the way she looks and acts in order to get a boy.

I'm not a huge connoisseur of high school films. I kind of skipped over them as a kid. I don't know if this movie is an absolute rip off of every high school movie. Hell, it could actually be on the higher end of high school movies today. But the ones that I have seen that are really good, this one doesn't even compete.

Oh... and Ken Jeong is in this movie... I guess that's cool... Seriously though he's not that funny

And that's what I thought of The Duff. What did you think of it? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also shoot me your thoughts on this movie and send me requests for future reviews.

I'll leave you with this. I legitimately could not find a video I thought was good enough for this review... so here's a video about how ads lie to you. Enjoy!

Patch Adams

The thing about Patch Adams is that there is a really touching and really great movie just trying to get out here. You've got a really great performance by Robin Williams, a really interesting story in the biography of Patch Adams, and a lot of other things that could make this movie a great film.

And the truth is, I enjoyed this film. I got the warm and fuzzies, I enjoyed William's performance, the good things about this film were things I enjoyed. But the things that need to be said about this film that aren't so good are pretty obvious and I can pin point them very clearly.

The movie starts with the center on Hunter "Patch" Adams (played by Williams) admitting himself to a mental institution after he had suicidal thoughts.

His time in the mental institution is short lived as he realizes that he has a passion for helping people and wants to become a doctor. I will say that his realization comes very, VERY quickly. He has a couple interactions with the patients in the hospital but its really one interaction with his roommate that makes him release himself from the hospital and its kind of a very quick transition.

But that's okay because the main focus is on his time at the Medical College of Virginia and his journey to becoming a doctor.

Unfortunately, this movie really relies heavily on the conventions you've seen in multiple movies, especially a lot of roles that Williams has done himself before.

Very similar to the role that Williams had in Good Morning Vietnam, Patch believes that humor is a great form of medicine. More importantly, he believes there is room for the current medical field to grow as it, at the time of this movie, has turned into a field of prestige and calculative methods rather than focusing on helping people and improving quality of life. Like his role in Good Morning Vietnam, Williams's character and his methods buck the status quo and the system that all the other doctors and medical students have been studying for years.

So yeah, the plot of this story is very similar to Good Morning Vietnam in that its another story of Robin Williams bucking the system that just find his humor and sense of human connection "Most Unorthodox"

Eventually, Patch comes up with the idea to open up a free clinic and help sick people without charging them or making them feel as though they are subjects but instead are respected by the doctors. (I'll get to this in a second)

Along the way, Patch meets a group of friends that either buy into his unorthodox ways, or buck him every chance that they can get. His friends include the ambitious Carin Fisher (played by Monica Fisher) who believes that its her duty to be the successful female of the medical community. His buddy Truman (played by Daniel London, talk about a guy who has done almost nothing past this film) who just kind of goes along with whatever Patch does.

And then of course you have your obstacles, the people who disagree with Patch so much that they just want to see him fail.

You of course have the Dean of the School (played by Bob Gunton) who doesn't like Patch's spirit and his incredible happiness.

Then there's Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing probably the most over the top stooge in the entire movie who is a student who comes from a long line of doctors and doesn't like Patch because he seems to be mocking the system he holds in such high regard.

It may sound like the casting of this movie is not very good, but the truth is, this is actually a pretty good cast. As much as Bob Gunton continues to play the same role over and over again where he's the authority figure with nothing but contempt for the main character (The Shawshank Redemption, etc.) he does a good job at creating an obstacle for Patch. Monica Fisher and Daniel London are good supporting characters and their relationship with Patch seems genuine. Hoffman's performance is a little bit over the top, but you kind of need that stooge douchebag character, so I'll let it slide.

The biggest problem with this movie is the writing.

A lot of the movie is very, VERY sappy. While the performances of Williams and others are good, there are a lot of moments that are suppose to be heartwarming, or their suppose to be heart wrenching, and while some of them work, with a lot of credit going to Williams just having that heart warming air about him (I swear, even in Insomnia, I connected with his murderous character mainly because it was Williams.) But there were many moments where it was very forced and seemed as though it was really trying to make you feel something.

On top of that, there are a couple of plot holes in the movie that are a little hard to explain. So much that when the credits rolled and my dad realized that this was a true story, he said, "I'm not totally sure that's how it happened"

Adams opens up this free clinic and starts treating people. Well he's practicing without a license. Whether or not this hospital he creates was an orthodox way of treating patients or not, he was still doing it illegally. And they really kind of brush that aside.

Earlier in the film, he's going around interacting with patients even though he's been told multiple times that if he keeps on doing that he's going to get kicked out of school. And yet, the very next scene, he's right back doing his thing.

At the beginning of the movie, it really comes down to them all saying, oh that's just Patch Adams, he's unorthodox and quirky, but there are a couple moments that people see him do something that is most definitely dangerous, against the rules, or could have horrible consequences if things went wrong.

But instead of reporting him, or getting him in trouble, they just kind of laugh it off like he's a rambunctious kid. There's bucking authority, and then there's whatever happens in this film, and I totally understand why my dad was kind of brought out of it, because there are some really unanswered questions by the end of this film, and the only recourse to those things that happen are, oh he's just quirky and different.

The lesson of Patch Adams is a good one. The importance of human connection is something that we all want in our doctors and its important to note that if you want to help people, no matter what the field is, the focus should be on others, not the prestige or the seriousness that takes you away from actually helping people.

Its a good message.

The problem with it is that its so bashed over your head and its put in such black and white terms that there really isn't much to think about. Everyone who doesn't adhere to Patch's methods are pretentious and wrong. There are different ways of doing medicine and people get different things out of being doctors.

Like I said before, there are really good things about this film. Williams of course gives a really genuine performance, even if it is not exactly written the best. The performances are for the most part pretty good. And the message is pretty good.

The real Patch Adams has come and said that he's not a huge fan of this movie along with a lot of critics.

I won't say I hate this movie because as much as I can see through some of the conventions that this movie is using to make me feel, I do like Williams in this role, I do love the message, and I realize what they were trying to do, even if it didn't exactly work out that way.

Its just a testament to the fact that not all of a beloved actor's work is going to be beloved. That's not to say Robin Williams's career is tarnished or not as good as people say it was, it really was. And whether or not you like this movie, I don't think you can't come out of this movie without acknowledging the heart Williams and other put into it. It wasn't a half assed movie by any means, it just could have used a little bit more work to make it something incredible instead of passable with a lot of obvious flaws.

But those are my thoughts on Patch Adams. What do you think of this film? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews that I post on this blog. You can also shoot me your thoughts and give me requests for future reviews as well.

I'll leave you with this. This is Jimmy Fallon's tribute to Robin Williams. Enjoy!

How Jurassic World jumped the Shark

So here is the unfortunate thing about Jurassic World.

I mentioned before that the movie needed to raise the stakes a little bit more. Unfortunately, the movie breaches the line of being comical by how huge it gets.

This is my spoiler talk so if you haven't seen Jurassic World, you probably won't want to read this.

I thought the movie did a good job at raising the stakes. Creating a threat that was bigger than anybody could ever expect.

When the pterodactyls started attacking all the people in the park, I was just thinking to myself. Well shit, this is exactly the worst nightmare anybody could ever expect. You've got all these people here just enjoying their day when suddenly they're attacked by dinosaurs.

This is the exact fear that everyone who has seen Jurassic Park, or knows anything about the old films, could only imagine happening.

I thought this scene was pretty good.

The unfortunate part is that the trailer really kind of gave this away.

I knew the park was going to get attacked. While I saw this as a worst case scenario, I knew it was going to happen from the trailers. I think they probably could have hidden that a little bit better. Unfortunately, this isn't the only scene that kind of gave the movie away. And this is something that has become more and more of a problem in that trailers have begun to show WAY too much.

Furthermore, they really gave the Indominus Rex away too quickly. I mean, to be fair, the dinosaur isn't really anything to brag about, its just a white T-Rex with long arms. All the jokes about T-Rexes not being able to grab stuff or do things with their arms goes away.

But they also gave away the intellect of this dinosaur.

This dinosaur is suppose to be the most intelligent thing created. So much that it actually communicates with other dinosaurs and turns them on the humans.

This happens with the pterodactyls. The I-Rex (I'm just going to call her that now because that's a lot easier) communicates with them to take down the helicopter with the large gun on it.

But I get it, the humans didn't know the I-Rex put the avian wing on the humans, so they obviously think that they can use the raptors on the I-Rex and things will be great, all while the audience knows they are screwing themselves the minute they put the raptors out there.

So when put the raptors on the trail of the Indominus Rex, she communicates with the raptors and actually turns them on the humans. And that probably should have been the point where the humans throw down their weapons and run for their lives. But no there's still this connection between the raptors and Chris Pratt and he is able to get control of them again, pretty magically actually.

I would have actually preferred Chris Pratt having to put down his raptors after they chose their "new alpha". While that would have been sad, as he had created a bond with them, I can overlook the sudden change of heart. My disbelief is still suspended.

Well okay, but the raptors can't take down the Indominus Rex. So what else could possibly pose a threat to this huge dinosaur?

The Motherfucking Tyrannosaurus Rex

Bryce Dallas Howard goes and releases the T-Rex and sics him on the Indominus Rex. And my initial thought was that you think there is going to be a fight but the Indominus Rex can communicate with other dinosaurs. Why doesn't she do that and turn both T-Rex on them? At that point you would realize that nothing could stop this dinosaur. You'd have both the Indominus Rex AND the T-Rex after them. But that didn't happen oddly enough, even though it happened with every other dinosaur the Indominus has run into. But at this point, my disbelief is still suspended. Sure, let's bring in the T-Rex like the Raging Bull getting ready for his last fight. I'm sure the king of the dinosaurs can defeat the I-Rex... oh wait he can't.

And this I also could have accepted. At that point, I was thinking, Oh shit, not even the T-Rex can stop this thing, the humans need to run, get as many people off the island as they can and then nuke the shit out of that thing.

The Indominus Rex is pretty much going to put the kabash on the T-Rex. Everything looks hopeless. And everything leading up to that point, I could have accepted. It was a little bit over the top to brining in the T-Rex like he was a heavy weight boxer that tagged in after the raptors couldn't take the Indominus out but I get it.

But at this point, the T-Rex has lost. Chris Pratt, the kids, Bryce Dallas Howard, they have no more cards up their sleeves, they need to get the hell out of there, or be eaten.

And then out of no where, comes another Raptor, sprinting in like he's listening to Chariots of Fire and the T-Rex and the Raptor team up to fight the Indominus Rex. At this point, I am laughing my ass off, because that raptor looked hilarious. And for some reason, the raptor and the T-Rex team up.

Now, the movie could have stopped there. The T-Rex Raptor team could have killed the I-Rex, they could have all lived happily ever after. It would be really ridiculous, but I could have accepted it. I was on the edge, but I could have accepted it. But no, these guys needed to throw in one more thing to put me over the edge.

With no build up, or expectations, out pops the water monster and he brings the I-Rex down with him into the water and that was the end of the movie. The T-Rex says, "well, I'm good" and goes back to his cage. The raptor gives Chris Pratt one last look and goes back to his cage and the movie basically ends showing the T-Rex taking his place as king of the dinosaurs once again.

Again, everything up to the part where the raptor and the T-Rex teaming up, I could have accepted. But throwing in that water monster after he had been used one too many times, I just lost it.

And it was at this point that I realized that this movie had jumped the shark.

And this was the point where I was laughing and my dad needed to tell me to be quiet. The movie just went to a level that was just more than I could handle. And I mean, its a movie about Dinosaurs. How realistic am I expecting it to be? But I'm sorry, having the raptor run in like chariots of fire, having the T-Rex show up, not be affected by the Indominus. And then having that sea monster show up out of no where, definitely jumped the shark.

The thing I'm worried about with this film is that I'm worried the people in charge of this film want to milk about five more sequels out of this franchise before it goes into remission again.

And the thing is, I think the movie is good enough, and will do well enough at the box office to merit a sequel.

As ridiculous as the set up is, as over the top it gets. The performances are good. The effects are good.

BD Wong got away to do more science shit. There's still people interested in dinosaurs. While the movie didn't absolutely set up for a sequel, its most likely going to happen.

Is that a bad thing? Well it depends. Look what happened last time a good Jurassic Park movie came out. Two horrible sequels happened. As long as people put time into it and think creatively about a sequel for this movie, I was entertained by this movie enough to go out and see a sequel, I just don't want to be made a fool.

We will see.

But do you think Jurassic World jumped the shark? Have you even seen it yet? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also send me your thoughts on this film and requests for future reviews there as well.

I'll leave you with this. I'm realizing this video might have been a better choice. Here's Chris Pratt drunk talking about acting. Enjoy!

Jurassic World

The truth is, I don't have much of a personal connection to the first Jurassic Park movie. I recognize it as a great film and I know the visual milestone it was. Honestly, its been a long time since I've seen the movie in its entirety. I wanted to watch it before I went to Jurassic World, but... I was lazy. That might be a review that might come in the next week, but then again, its not on Netflix so I have to actively go out and watch it and I'm only half way motivated to do that.

So I went into Jurassic World with enough knowledge to enjoy some of the Easter eggs but I don't really know exactly what I was comparing it to. I really only vaguely remember everything that happened in Jurassic Park so a comparison isn't really fair. Again, we'll leave that for a different day.

Jurassic World is set years after the events of the previous movies and the dream of John Hammond has been realized as the park is now open. Jurassic World is a fully functioning park that shows the world the advances of genetics by bringing to them, real live dinosaurs.

Two of our main characters are two brothers who come to visit the park. (played by Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson) Their aunt Claire (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) is the manager of the park and basically runs it. The boys have come to visit her and get a VIP treatment as they tour the park. Of course she is a little too busy... family drama... yada yada yada.

Claire is busy because the park is trying to open a new attraction in the form of a totally new created species.

Similar to the beginning of the first Jurassic Park, a lot of the beginning is just exposition and foreshadowing to when the dinosaurs get loose, which you know they are going to. I would say spoilers but c'mon, even if you haven't seen any Jurassic Park movie, you can assume that a movie about a park full of dinosaurs will have the dinosaurs get out.

So its a lot of explanation of how the park needs to keep getting bigger and have more and more attractions. So Claire and the scientists behind the scenes have created a new dinosaur that is larger, scarier, and has a lot more teeth to raise the hype of the park.

So enters, The Indominus Rex.

As the new species is almost ready to be put on display, they call in a dinosaur expert by the name of Owen Grady (played by Chris Pratt) to take a look at the dinosaur and give his opinion on the status of it. Unfortunately, this leads to the dinosaur escaping its confines and being released into the park.

As you can assume, that's where the shenanigans start to happen. The people in the park need to try and bring this dinosaur down before it reaches the thousands of people touring the park, and of course, there is a search for the boys as Claire realizes they are missing.

Now let's get one thing out of the way really quickly.

This movie is not as good as the first movie.

I don't think anybody expected this movie to be better than the first one. I think that even if this movie was the best movie on the planet, people would still think the first movie is better.

I'm going to touch on this a little bit more in another review because I haven't seen the first movie in a long time, but I think that movie is so drenched in nostalgia for so many people that I don't think anything World could have done would make it better than Park.

But the thing I find curious about this film is that, structurally. Its the same movie.

I watched a review on this movie that said that it was a great monster movie, but not a great Jurassic Park movie. The thing is, when people talk about Jurassic Park, they always talk about how smart it is. How ahead of its time it was. And visually, that is true, it really was a milestone with practical and digital effects. But is it really that intelligent of a movie? Again, I'll definitively answer that question in my Jurassic Park review. But structurally, both movies are the same.

The first act is your "everything is fine" humanity's hubris act. There's a lot of exposition, talking about the implications of the dinosaurs being created, the implications of the manipulation of dinosaurs. And of course, there's always the "this ship is unsinkable" lines that foreshadow the inevitability that these dinosaurs are going to get out and they're going to fuck shit up.

The rest is survival. Dinosaurs get out, humanity needs to do what they can to contain the dinosaurs and survive.

How is Jurassic World different?

Well the funny part is that the movie really falls victim to its own morals. Part of Claire's exposition at the beginning is the fact that kids see Dinosaurs the same way they see Elephants. The hype dies down and they need something bigger and better to keep park attendance up. Of course Owen says, "Its a dinosaur, how much more hype do you need?"

That's an interesting idea, the idea that we need everything bigger and better.

The problem is that, it seems the movie fell into its own trap because it couldn't just be the dinosaurs getting loose. The ante had to be raised and the stakes needed to be higher.

Unfortunately, this kind of forces Jurassic World to get so big and so high of stakes that at some points, it gets kind of ridiculous. The ending is the best example of this. I went to the movie with my dad and near the end, when the tension is at its highest, I was actually laughing. So much that he had to tell me to be quiet. I was laughing because things just get so ridiculous near the end that its almost comical.

But lets talk about performances before I get into spoiler territory.

Obviously the person who had the most fun here was Chris Pratt. Some people may say that they're kind of sick of Chris Pratt, they might say he's in everything. But I say, keep it coming because I love Chris Pratt.

The one complaint I have with this movie is that he's a little bit too Starlord-y. I wanted this role to be something a little bit different than Guardians of the Galaxy. I do love that side of Chris Pratt, but I want him to branch out and do something a little bit different.

But Chris Pratt in this movie is basically Starlord if he grew up to train raptors.

Which by the way, I thought was awesome.

Some people may have thought that was not in the continuity of raptors in the first films. Again, I don't have a great recollection of those films so I can't comment on that. Raptor training, but not just that, the relationship between Owen and the raptors is actually pretty good.

There's another element of the story as Chris Pratt is training Raptors, you've got Vincent D'Onofrio wanting to utilize the raptors for use in the military. At first I thought that was really a silly idea, especially when D'Onofrio says, some people think the future is in drones, but I think it is in raptors. But the more they speculate and the more they use the raptors, the more I liked the idea. No doubt they'll try and incorporate that in future movies that they will almost inevitably make.

Anyway, I thought the use of the raptors was really creative. I'll talk more about that in my spoiler section of the review but I really liked the use of the raptors and I liked Chris Pratt in this movie.

Bryce Dallas Howard was alright in the film. I've never been a huge fan of her work and she hasn't really done anything that has really impressed me. I mean she was in the worst Spider-man movie for pete's sake.

But was she bad in this film? By no means. She was alright.

I think the relationship between her and Chris Pratt was a little bit forced. But a part of me kind of liked how quick it turned it. It was kind of reminiscent of old movies like Jurassic Park where the main characters fall in love very quickly. That doesn't happen as much any more.

I thought her and Chris Pratt worked well together. I don't think they're couple of the month, but it was passable.

And then you have the kids.

And I'm not gonna lie, the kids were not very good. I'm not saying they were awful. There of course is going to be that sibling butting of heads. The younger kid is of course going to be scared. The older brother is not going to totally know how to deal with his kid brother. Whatever.

There were a couple moments that worked, but at the same time, there were a lot of moments that didn't. For the most part, I just don't think these two were written that well. There's some subplots about their parents getting divorced which went no where. The older brother was preoccupied with girls which didn't really go anywhere once all the women were being eaten by dinosaurs.

Again, they weren't terrible, I just think they weren't written that well. I think these two could have had an interesting brother to brother dynamic, and in some parts they do, but for the most part, a lot of it was bad writing.

There were a couple other characters which in the end were just archetypes. Jake Johnson is your techy bum slacker nerd. Vincent D'Onofrio is your military prone douchebag.

Like I said before, the movie really does well until a certain point near the end where everything just goes to hell. Where the movie is suppose to be the most intense, I just felt as though some of the moments were just comical.

Overall, I think Jurassic World was a really fun time. Its definitely a popcorn flick that I found really entertaining. While some of the moments fall flat, a lot of the moments really work.

The performances are fun enough and I think if I can come out of this movie thinking it was a fun time, I think the movie succeeds in my book.

Overall, I would give the movie a solid B. I know I don't usually give rankings but thats the best way I can describe this movie. A solid B movie. It does everything it sets out to do, it gets the job done and its fun along the way. Every once in a while you see the possibility of this film being an A movie. You see things that could have worked a lot better if they had been given a little bit more time, maybe a little bit more suspense, or maybe some things could have been gotten rid of.

Overall, I really enjoyed Jurassic World.

But have you seen it? As you all start seeing it, let me know what you thought and where it stands in the Jurassic Park movies. Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also post your thoughts on movies and give me requests of future reviews I should do.

I'll leave you with this. Its a how it should have ended, all focusing on the trailer that came out a while ago. Enjoy!

The Prince of Egypt

Continuing on this nostalgia trip I've sort of been on recently, I decided to revisit The Prince of Egypt. Being in a decently religious family, this movie was a definite watch as a kid as it was animated and did tell a classic Bible story that I was familiar with but had never seen on screen. I was too young to watch Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments yet so this was actually a perfect choice for my parents.

How does it hold up though?

In case you don't know the story of Moses in Exodus, here it is.

The Jews are slaves in Egypt and they're growing too numerous. Pharaoh decides that their numbers need to be curbed so he orders a mass genocide of all the new babies. In order to save him, Moses's mother sends him in a basket down the Nile and he ends up in the care of the Queen of Egypt and is adopted into the royal family.

His heritage is hidden from him and he goes about his life enjoying the perks of being a Prince of Egypt.

Very quickly, you see Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer) and his brother Rameses (voiced by Ralph Fiennes) together as brothers who have grown up together. Its really a fun dynamic. Moses is not in line for the throne so he's more of a prankster and laid back where Rameses has a lot more expected of him. The relationship between them is actually very good and you can tell that they care for one another.

However, Moses realizes his heritage and after an incident where he accidentally murders an Egyptian slave driver, he throws himself into exile and finds a new life in the desert.

He marries (his wife is voiced by Michelle Phiefer) and he lives the simple life away from all the memories that haunted him back in Egypt. However, God comes to him in the form of a burning bush and tasks Moses to return to Egypt and convince his brother, now the Pharaoh of Egypt to let his people go.

Now I know the criticisms that this movie may get right off the bat. People might say that this movie is hard to connect to if you aren't of the Christian or Jewish faith. And a part of that is understandable. You might have an easier time connecting to this film if you are familiar with the story and know what it absolutely means.

But I would argue that the story of Moses does have themes and is compelling enough of a story that you can watch it even though you don't have that background and still enjoy it. And i think that is done incredibly well in The Prince of Egypt.

I think probably the strongest part of this movie is the relationship between Moses and Rameses. What makes this relationship so strong is the fact that its not because of Rameses that Moses leaves Egypt. He leaves because of something their father did. Moses says when he returns to Egypt that Rameses is still in his heart and is still his brother, but they are separated by what is expected of them and what their destinies are.

And this is developed really well. If you don't have a connection of the religious manner of this story, you might find a connection in the brotherly turmoil that happens in this story. Like I said before, Rameses has all this responsibility laid on him. He's got a legacy to live up to. On a second watch, I identified a lot more with Rameses and his struggles than I ever had. I'd love to watch his movie from his perspective. Even though he's in the wrong, because you know... slavery is bad. You have to empathize with him.

And then you have Moses who comes in, tasked by a burning bush to free his people. That's a strong motivation. Again, kind of going back to Rameses's point of view, his brother who he thought was dead shows up preaching about a god he's never heard of. What is he suppose to do?

And that really is one of the strengths of the movie. This duality between Moses and Rameses, the shift from brothers to enemies in this film is done really well and that's why the film doesn't go beyond the last time Moses sees Rameses.

This could have been an animated version of The 10 Commandments, but there's only a slight mention to events after the Hebrew's flight from Egypt because that's not the main focus.

And that's what I kind of like about this film. Again, you can totally get your religious fill from this film. It definitely has those tones. On top of that, knowing the story from the Bible, I do know that the movie takes direct lines from the Bible and puts it in the film. The song playing during the part where the 10 plagues are hitting Egypt are definitely quoting scripture and kind of assume the wrath of God is coming down on Egypt.

And yeah... the whole burning bush scene is pretty religious in nature. I mean its God himself coming down and tasking Moses.

But being a story from the Old Testament, it actually kind lends itself to being more of a story rather than a lesson or proof that Judaism or Christianity is the absolute correct faith. You could interpret it that way, but I do think it lends itself to being accessible to people outside of the faith by the way its set up more like a story. And the relationship between Moses and Rameses really is the final mark of that narrative.

In the end, The Prince of Egypt is a pretty darn good interpretation of the story from Exodus. Whether or not your Jewish or Christian, its going to be a fun ride and I think anybody can enjoy it. I don't consider it overly preachy, especially with other movies that I have seen that have gone out of their way to be preachy. Its just a good in run of the story of Moses as told in the Bible.

A couple other things worth mentioning about this movie is the cast. Its an all star cast. Val Kilmer is Moses, Ralph Fiennes is Rameses. Patrick Stewart played their father. Steve Martin and Martin Short play the High Priests.

Now as a kid, I wasn't so into who did the voices for what and who played what. Unfortunately, on a second watch, its a little bit more obvious in certain places. Like when Sandra Bullock started talking, I knew from her first word that that was Sandra Bullock. Fans of Jeff Goldblum or Patrick Stewart might pick up on their characters right away. I know Steve Martin and Martin Short might be pretty obvious as well.

So it kind of depends on how much that takes you out of the experience. Though I watched it this time around with an easier time picking out Steve Martin's voice, when I thought of his tone and how he and all the other actors were giving it their all, it kind of only took me out for a moment and then I was back in. That might be something to watch out for.

The other thing worth mentioning is the music. I really like the music in the movie. They're really these large scale orchestral pieces and they really are impactful. As far as movie musicals go, this is how you string together music to make a cohesive story.

Furthermore, the people they get to sing these songs were incredibly good. With few exceptions like Martin and Phiefer, everyone had professional broadway singers come in and sing their parts and it translates pretty well. Not only does it sound like the singing voice and the speaking voice could be the same, the singing voices were very good.

My one complaint with the music is that some of the songs, especially some of the best songs are incredibly short. Its not true for all, but there are a couple songs that start and I really get into them, but they're so short that I can't really enjoy them.

Now this is coming from somebody who loves musical theater. Not everyone loves music in movies and get really impatient when a movie has too many songs. Now I guess for those people the music might be the right length for them to not lose interest and I guess if you're playing it safe that is a good way to do it. But I think some of the songs could have been a little bit longer just so I could enjoy them.

Overall, Prince of Egypt is one of those movies that you watch when you're young and you enjoy it alright but then when you're old you can enjoy it a lot more. Maybe its nostalgia, maybe its something else but if you haven't seen Prince of Egypt, it might be a good movie to check out.

I really enjoyed it the second time around. Is it a perfect movie? No, perfect movies are hard to come by. But its definitely well done. And coming in a time where Disney was ruling the animated world, its fun to find something that isn't Disney and see what they can do. I think that Prince of Egypt was a boon for Dreamworks back in the day and its worth mentioning its success in the hall of animated fame.

But what do you think? Do you like Prince of Egypt? Do you think its too religious of a movie or does it play to all audiences? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also tweet me to send me your thoughts on movies I review and requests for future reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Every once in a while I put something up from a fellow reviewer The Nostalgia Critic. He did an Old vs New with The Prince of Egypt and The 10 Commandments. The results might surprise you. Enjoy!

Tarzan

Looking on the interweb, it turns out that Tarzan is considered the last film in the line of the Disney Renaissance. This is the line up of films that came out in the 90s, prime time for me to watch them as I great up in that decade and I definitely remember Tarzan.

Was it my favorite? Absolutely not. But what do I think of it now?

Tarzan begins to the singing of Phil Collins (we'll get to that) in the background of a little bit of a tragic start for both a family of gorillas and a family of humans. A baby Tarzan and human parents are in a shipwreck and are forced to create a new life on a tropical island. Somewhere in the same jungle, a family of gorillas is bringing in a baby of their own.

Unfortunately, both this new gorilla baby and the human parents are murdered by a leopard. Fortunately though, the mother gorilla (voiced by Glenn Close) finds the human baby and decides to raise it as her own. The alpha gorilla sees young Tarzan as different and has an incredibly difficult time accepting him as one of the gorilla family.

As Tarzan grows up, he finds it very difficult to get that acceptance by the rest of the gorillas. However, he decides to persevere through being different and be the best gorilla ever.

Along the way he's helped by his cousin Terk (voiced by Rosie O'Donnell) and an elephant named Tantor (voiced by Wayne Knight).

There's a training montage where Tarzan trains to be the best gorilla he can be an eventually proves himself when he becomes an adult (voiced by Tony Goldwyn).

The first act of this movie is actually really good. Its that idea of gaining the father's approval and the question of Tarzan being a man or a gorilla. I thought it was really good.

That's not to say that the rest of the movie isn't good, its just different and in some ways, the movie loses a little bit of focus.

Just as Tarzan is about to gain the respect of the family, a new creature arrives in the jungle. It is a group of humans exploring, looking for gorillas to study. This expedition is being done by Jane Porter (voiced by Minnie Driver) and her father (voiced by Nigel Hawthorne).

After Tarzan saves her, he hangs out with them as they try to teach him about being a man and teaching him to speak english so they can communicate with him so he can bring them to the gorillas for them to study.

Now when I say the movie loses focus a little bit is in the idea that instead of this movie having Tarzan wanting to be more like an ape, suddenly he wants to be more like a human. And that's fine, that part actually works really well. The problem with it is that suddenly the father issues that he has kind of go out the window. Yeah Kerchak, the alpha gorilla (voiced by Lance Henriksen) is still an element of the story but he becomes more of an obstacle rather than someone Tarzan is trying to impress like he is at the beginning of the film.

The other problem with film is the villain. Clayton, the sort of guide of the expedition to find the gorillas (voiced by Brian Blessed) is not exactly the most memorable villain. I by no means think that he is bad. He's just not incredibly great. He's fueled by greed. Its pretty obvious from the beginning that Clayton is going to be the bad guy so there's not much of a feeling of betrayal, even though Tarzan is really caught off guard.

However, where this movie does lose focus in some elements of it, I can say that it does have some really great dilemmas for the main character.

Like I said before, there is a bit of an element of Tarzan being torn between two worlds. And that does go over pretty well. The seeking of approval from Kerchak is done decently well, at least in the beginning.

On top of that the relationship between Tarzan and Jane is actually done really well. I don't think Jane will go down as one of the best female leads in a Disney movie as she needs to be saved a lot. She does teach Tarzan but in the end she needs saving and she does kind of go all weak in the knees just at a look at Tarzan. But hey it was the 90s, all damsels were like that. She's a decent enough character, just not exactly a strong female character.

I never realized how good of a character Tarzan is. I'm not saying he's the best out of any Disney animated flick I've ever seen but he is this great combination of a good character but also can seem very simple when he's learning how to be a human.

Rosie O'Donnell as Terk is decent enough. She's the comic relief and I actually think she did a decent job. The other characters like Wayne Knight as the elephant are good but not incredibly memorable.

And that's kind of the overall feeling I get from this film. Its a good Disney film, but I don't know if its the most memorable.

The animation is very good. The story is pretty good. The characters are good. But its kind of like Lilo and Stitch where its a good property from Disney to go back to and be nostalgic about, but its not your go to. Tarzan came at the end of the Disney Renaissance but I don't think its what the period will be remembered by.

Oddly enough, the thing I remember most from this movie whenever I think about it is the music.

I really like what Phil Collins did with this film. Weirdly enough, my parents bought the soundtrack to this film and we spent a lot of time listening to it. Yeah, you could say that its vague enough so it can apply to the film but at the same time could be played on the radio and that's not exactly good movie music, but I think that its actually really good music set in well with what's happening in the story. I actually saw a review on this film that said, I was half expecting Phil Collins to start singing and all the animals would look up and say, "what the fuck was that?". Yeah sometimes it does feel a little bit out of place but I don't think its enough to say that Collins did a bad job. I'd actually be really interested to see how this translated into a musical because there was a run of this show on Broadway.

Overall, is Tarzan great? No. Its good. Its the kind of movie that I will enjoy every time I watch it, but most likely will not remember a couple days later. That might not be the best review but I definitely think there are some good parts of this film... and some not so great parts. But its well done and while its not totally memorable, I think it was a good way to end the Disney Renaissance.

But what do you think of Tarzan? Where does it fall in your favorite Disney films? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie news and reviews. You can also shoot me a message or give me a request for movies to look at in the future.

I'll leave you with this. This was the radio mix for Strangers like Me. I really liked it and enjoyed it as a kid. Does it hold up? I don't know but I thought it would be a good video to put at the end of this. Enjoy!

Employee of the Month

Remember when Dane Cook was a thing?

I mean I'll be totally honest, I enjoy his stand up, I think he has a lot of energy as a comedian. As far as people who have made the jump from another job to actor, Dane Cook is not the worst example of this. I mean the worst example of this in recent years is unfortunately Seth MacFarlane.

Yeah he did a good job in Ted but that was voice work. When you move to actual acting, MacFarlane didn't do that good of a job in A Million Ways to Die in The West. So yeah, its hard to make that transition and in comparison, Dane Cook actually had a better transition than others.

Does that mean Employee of the Month is a good film? Well...

Zach Bradley (played by Dane Cook) is a box boy working at a Costco or Sam's club like grocery store. Zach slides by under the radar. While he's not that hard of a worker, he's a nice guy, helping out his co-workers every way he can. He's a nice guy, that's his thing.

On the other end of things, you've got Vince Downey (played by Dax Shepard) who is the head cashier of the store. Vince is a douchebag, that's his thing.

Zach is pretty good with the way things are until a new employee, Amy (played by Jessica Simpson) comes to the store. And I mean, yeah, its Jessica Simpson. She's hot. So obviously Zach has a thing for her and wants to get involved with her. However, there is a rumor going around that she only goes for the guys in the stores who win the employee of the month.

So Zach decides that he is going to win Employee of the Month in order to sleep with Amy and piss off Vince.

Now, this movie has the potential to be a smart comedy set in a strange unorthodox setting. You don't see too many comedies set in a store you can buy stuff in bulk. Its creative, it really has the potential for some funny moments.

But here's the thing. These people take this store INCREDIBLY serious. They're making up competitions for cashiers, their job is their life. Now to be fair, I've never worked at a store like this, I don't know the people that work here, what brings them to work at a store like this. And that could be a really funny idea. You could throw in a kid trying to make money for college, there are a lot of jokes and stereotypes you could pull in to make this movie pretty funny.

But for some reason they really don't take advantage of the setting or the jokes just waiting for them. Why in the world does Jessica Simpson work at a store like this? What do other people think about people working in a store like this. I'm not saying make employment in a warehouse store a joke, just bring in some humor to something people may not know about.

Unfortunately, the way its done, its just Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, and Dax Shepard working in a warehouse store.

And unfortunately by not giving funny stories to these characters, you kind of make the audience draw their own assumptions and that can get kind of offensive if you leave people to their own conclusions.

Like Zach has a friend who is box boy along with him who is Indian played by Brian George. Does that mean old Indian men work at these kind of stores? You see how people could assume the worst?

But moving away from a couple missed opportunities when it comes to the setting, how are the performances?

Well again, its Dane Cook. You've got a guy coming from standup and trying to make a film career. Its not exactly A-Grade acting but its kind of fun and again, I kind of like Dane Cook. He's now kind of a joke of my middle school years but I like him in this film. I think he plays the "nice guy" stereotype pretty well. There's not much story to him besides something about him investing his grandmother's retirement money into a business that went under (its mentioned but is forgotten very quickly)

Dax Shepard is kind of funny. I'm not a huge fan of his work honestly. The fun part about this is his relationship with Pedro from Napolean Dynamite (Efren Ramirez), his box boy. Its kind of fun seeing that relationship deteriorate as he competes with Zach.

What's interesting about this film is that its a pretty predictable comedy. Zach is trying to win employee of the month for one reason, he turns it around but gets kind of cocky near the end, there's falling out with his friends and the love interest, but he wins it all back in the end. The weird thing is that they showed Vince kind of fall from grace. I don't think you're suppose to feel bad for him, but you kind of do. At the beginning, Vince is a douche, but at least he's a challenge to Zach. Halfway through the film, Vince is just kind of a loser and Zach's biggest challenge is his own arrogance.

Seriously, I almost felt more bad for Vince by the end of the movie more than I felt bad for Zach. At least Zach made a choice when he decided to be a douchebag, Vince was brought down by poor writing and everyone figuring out that he's a douchebag.

But by far the worst performance of this movie had to be Jessica Simpson. I say that because Jessica Simpson was not in this movie. Jessica Simpson's boobs were in this movie, Jessica Simpson was not.

I don't mean that in a crude way, I'm sure the writing, costume, even director probably had something to do with that. But my god, Jessica Simpson could have been a cardboard cut out and it would have been the same movie.

She's just the thing the guys chase after. Its not like she could go after the Employee of the Month or anything.

And what's worse is that there's nothing to point to her being so easily persuaded by someone winning employee of the month besides what they read about her. She goes on one date with Vince and then immediately is very visibly interested in Zach. As horrible as her performance is, I could tell she was suppose to be interested in Zach and that's what always confused me about this film.

She always seems like she's into Zach. They have this really awesome date together. They become really good friends. And yet he still kind of thinks that she's only into him because he's going after Employee of the Month. And that ties into the whole thought that the people in this movie take their jobs way too seriously, and honestly it kind of takes you out of it.

All I'm saying is that the plot of the story is a little bit convolute and not really the best. Its not horrible, and at times it can be a lot of fun. Its probably best you don't think about it too much as this is a 90 minute comedy starring Dane Cook.

And that's the bottom line of this film. Its a 90 Minute comedy starring Dane Cook, you know what you're getting into from the beginning. Yeah he's not jumping around, he's not doing his stand up, or narratives from his stand up but he's trying to act. The movie will probably not have you on the ground holding your side in laughter but its a decent time. But that's me speaking as a Dane Cook fan. There is a very good fan you will not like this film and if that's the case, here is my warning. Its not a great film. Its fun, it probably could have done more. I think I'd want to see this movie updated and done a little bit better because I think a comedy set in a warehouse bulk store is a really creative idea.

But have you seen Employee of the Month? What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get movie news and reviews. You can also send me a tweet with your thoughts and requests for future reviews.

I'll leave you with this. You know that really annoying song that you hear every once in a while and you're not totally sure where its from? Yeah that's the one from this movie. Try and get this one out of your head! Enjoy!