Review of Percy Jackson, Fame, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, and *eek!* Happy Gilmore

Last night was movie night! :D Well, and this morning... We watched Happy Gilmore last night, and I watched Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. The night before, I watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and Fame. Let's start with Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is about a boy who discovers his father is Poseidon and that he is the prime suspect in the theft of Zeus's master lightning bolt... all within 14 days of discovering that he is superhuman (demigod). He has to try to find the bolt while fighting ancient Greek creatures that are out to kill him. Overall, it was a pretty good movie with special effects making a huge factor in my like for it, but I would have to say that the book is much better. The book has a much different plotline with the same goal (retrieve the lightning bolt before Zeus kills him), but little aspects made it better, like the humor always present in the book, and a smoother segue into events and relationships.

Fame was pretty cool. It was a lot less graphic than its '70s predecessor, but the issues were made to conform to modern times, which I really liked. It's a movie that follows several students who are admitted into a high school in New York with an emphasis on the arts, but it shows the ups and downs of their lives over the four years. I really loved all of the characters, and the actors did a great job playing them. I loved Denise's and Marco's voices, and I especially loved the lunchroom scene. If I were going to a school of the arts, lunchtime would be my favorite part of the day. :D Also, I would like to add that Kevin the ballet dancer (well, ballet teacher now) looked kinda like Bruno. :P

I rewatched Happy Gilmore with a couple of my friends. I hadn't seen it in a few years, and I instantly loved it again. It made me laugh so hard with its wry sense of humor. I'd have to say that my favorite character is Chubbs. He is so ridiculously ridden with bad luck that I couldn't help but giggle. Oh, and I finally discovered that the IRS agent (played by Robert Smigel) who comes to repossess the house is the same guy who creates the TV Funhouse cartoons for Saturday Night Live (which from hereon out, I will refer to as SNL). It was nice to put a face to the name.

Finally, I watched Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid via recommendation by Laura this morning. It's a detective comedy where Steve Martin incorporates several scenes from '40s and '50s films into his plotline of Det. Rigby Reardon's search to discover who kidnapped a client's father. It was very funny, and Martin's sense of humor is a little offkey from the stereotypical middle-class American humor, but it makes it all the more hysterical. One of my favorite parts is when he dresses up like a woman to seduce a suspect because he can't find a blonde woman to bait the suspect. He ends up being taken home with the man and drugging him, but he just looks so un-womanly (not feminine) that I laughed for the whole scene. Overall, it was an awesome movie for its subtle humor.



Also, I need to add another movie to Laura's and my list of movies to watch. We will be adding the Dracula movie which stars Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves. I feel like many parts in this will be too funny to pass up. It makes me think of Interview with an American Vampire, which is about the turning and life (or existence) of a vampire (played by Brad Pitt) in America. It costars Tom Cruise and Kirsten Dunst (when she was younger) and is based on a book of the same name by Anne Rice. I haven't read the book, but the movie was actually pretty interesting. It had its downfalls, but I liked it overall. But I am excited to watch Dracula. :D

P.S. Don't let me ever get started on The Village. My disappointment with it will never end.