17 Again movie review

Have you ever wished that you could go back to high school? Chances are that isn’t something that’s high on your list of priorities in life. But what if you were given the chance to start over? What if you could go back to your teenage years, knowing what you do now, and fix the things you think you did wrong? Well, this is the idea behind the new movie, “17 again”, being released on DVD this August 11.

37 year old Mike O’Donnell’s (Matthew Perry) character is unmemorable and not particularly convincing, but fortunately this doesn’t have too much of an effect on the movie, as his older self is not highlighted throughout. He portrays a man who deeply wishes he could go back to his high school years. As a senior in high school, he is the star of his basketball team. The movie opens to a scene of 17 year old Mike (Zac Efron), shirtless and sweating, playing his most important game of the season, complete with hundreds of screaming fans, college scouts, and pressure from his coach. At halftime, he sees his beautiful girlfriend looking upset, and after much inquisition, she reluctantly informs him that she’s pregnant. In a daze, he stumbles onto the court to finish the game, and when the buzzer sounds, he sees her walking away, heartbroken. One impulsive, mature, and life-changing decision later, he finds himself running away from an unfinished game, his astounded coach, and a future in college basketball towards the girl he loves.

On day, Mike visits his old high school (which is now his children’s) as an adult who never went to college, is going through a divorce, doesn’t get the job promotion he wanted, and has two kids who never talk to him, now his children’s, and sees pictures of his basketball glory days and wishes he could go back, finish the game that he abandoned, go to college, and have no more regrets.

Of course, you must be careful what you wish for! Later that night, thanks to a jolly and surprisingly creepy janitor, Mike finds himself in a new body: his from 20 years before!

Together with hilarious and Sci-Fi crazed childhood friend, Ned (Thomas Lennon), newly 17 year old Mike attempts to live his high school years the way he had always dreamed. In this fabulous movie laced with nostalgia, regret, discovery, and romance, lessons are learned as Mike gets to know his children for the first time, overcomes his regrets and fears, and remembers the reason that he left that court so many years before.

Post Secret

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These are some postcards that people have sent in anony-mously with their deepest secret on them.

Bedtime Stories: a movie review

I went to see the movie Bedtimes Stories with a few of my friends, because we had nothing else to do, and I wasn’t really expecting too much. Right from the beginning, however, I was laughing my head off. I thought Adam Sandler, who played an immature, lovable “Skeeter Bronson” was absolutely brilliant. He was hilarious, and for the most part appropriate for all ages.

In the movie, Skeeter is asked by his sister to watch her two kids for a few days while she is interviewed for a job. He has no experience with children, and has about the maturity of a 6 year old himself. The children have no TV, no junk food, and Skeeter has no idea what to do with them. So, he decides to just put them to bed. Or course, they demand a bedtime story, but their selection is limited. So, he decides to tell them a bedtime story he makes up himself, all based on his sad life. At the end however, the kids think it was not exciting enough, so they add their own plot twists. The next day, shockingly, the tale comes to life. People start to do the hokey pokey, it rains gumballs, and an angry dwarf kicks Skeeter in the shin. The next night, he tries to use the stories in his favor, which results in a highly random and funny sequence of events.

It does lack too deep a message, and although a bit shallow, I think that this film will make adults and children laugh from this rare movie that’s funny and appropriate.

4/5 stars

Random Facts of the Week

♥ The moon weighs 18 million tons

♥ The shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes

♥ The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

♥ There are more chickens than people in the world.

♥ Porcupines float in water.

Rant of the Week

On the annoyances of not having access to the internet and trying to write a review

It’s kind of crazy how much we use the internet in our lives now if you think about it. I’m sitting here trying to think of how to start a review on the movie “The Quantum of Solace” for our local paper, and I’m getting absolutely nowhere. Why? Well, first of all, the movie was awful. It was action packed, but it had no plot. It was just about Bond’s shallow struggle with revenge, and he killed everyone interesting anyway. But probably the biggest problem that I’m having is not being able to go online. There’s a word I’m trying to think of, one that means “no consequences”, in reference to James Bond’s killing habits, but I can’t think of it and my phone modem is down, so there’s no thesaurus.com to look it up. I guess I could go find a hard copy of a dictionary (do we even own one?) but I would have no idea what word to look for. I need Google even to tell me one possiblility of a word, because you can’t just go typing in “no consequences” in the thesaurus box. Also, a review should probably have a reference to what other people around the world think of the movie, like online polls, box office sales, or critic’s ratings, and I don’t have access to any of that information without my internet. The movie was really bad though, so it’s not like I can’t guess what everyone else thought of it. But still…

This has been the “Rant of the Day” with the editor

Random Facts of the Week!

-There are more doughnut shots per capita in Canada than any other country

-Children grow faster in the springtime

-40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year

Twilight- Movie Review

Yesterday, I was offered the opportunity to begin writing movie and music reviews for our local paper. My first is on "Twilight", the object of my obsession for a long time... so here it goes:

A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine and I went to Findlay to see “Twilight”. We had been waiting for weeks for the movie to premiere, and on the car ride there, we were giggling and clapping our hands in excitement like little kids on Christmas morning. Both of us had read the Twilight series, by Stephanie Meyer, and fallen in love with her characters, especially Edward. The plot of the story seems generic; A teenage girl falls in love with the gorgeous and seemingly unattainable boy (one Edward Cullen), who turns out to be an immortal vampire. Of course, it can’t end there. This vampire family is “vegetarian”. They hunt animals rather than people, because they don’t want to be monsters. It’s hard to resist humans though, and when one of them falls in love with the girl, it becomes more and more dangerous for them to exist.

We arrived at the theatre, bought our popcorn and sat down in the best possible seats. We had come early, hardly able to contain our excitement, and had to sit through 45 minutes of ads, sitting on our hands, trying to contain ourselves until the actual movie started. We weren’t alone in this though. The movie had made girls all over the country (and even the world) crazy with anticipation. Eventually, the movie started, and we spent an amazing two hours finally seeing the books come to life.

There were parts in the book that didn’t make it to the film, one of which I missed especially. There were a few extra scenes also but none that clashed with the theme and feeling of the book. There were also some details that they left out in an effort to make the movie less confusing, which I guess makes sense, although it’s slightly frustrating for fans of the books. However, all of the pivotal scenes were kept, which is good, and more than many books-made-into-movies can claim. As a big fan of the books before I saw the movie, I can honestly say that I approve. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty close.

Of course, not everyone has time to read a 498 page book, especially one aimed at teenagers (Although, there’s an internet movement going on now called, “Twilight Moms” for 30+ year olds who love the series). So, it’s important to know how the movie would be to a person who had never obsessed over the books. I talked to some of my friends, and I couldn’t find one that didn’t like it. (Well maybe one, but he hadn’t seen it, so it wasn’t exactly fair) My grandparents even enjoyed seeing it! I think the reason that the books are so appealing is that, even though it’s considered “fantasy”, it was completely relatable. There’s a first love which is dangerous and intense, and at the same time, very sweet and innocent, but most of all, completely forbidden. The onscreen chemistry was shockingly real and the acting was believable. Maybe the best part of this movie is the family of vampires. You’ll fall in love with them. Each character is surprisingly well developed and, of course, inhumanly beautiful, with golden eyes and pale skin.

And, you can’t have a movie without a climax, of course. You’ll get your fix of action and suspense from the flick when there’s a conflict with another vampire coven… one that isn’t “vegetarian”. There are some intense parts, and one that is slightly disturbing, but nothing too bad. Also, there is one scene when the leads kiss, but not too much more. Don’t take anyone too young (it’s rated PG-13), but it’s appropriate for most people.

So, is it worth paying nine or ten bucks and driving a half hour to the nearest big movie theatre to see? That depends. If you’re ready for a bit of cheesiness, a couple tears, and some predictability, then definitely! But there are also more important issues that are underlying the story: Moral and ethical dilemmas. If you were made into a vampire, a monster, would you have the strength to resist everything that you were made to be and do? Is it worth fighting against yourself to get back some of your humanity? If you can live forever, what do you live for? I do think that it’s a movie that you should see eventually, and while it was made for the big screen, I’m sure seeing it on DVD will be almost as good. In fact, when it comes out in the spring of next year, I’ll be first in line to get it!