Photo by Sam Kutz

Of people between the ages of 15 and 20, car crashes are the leading cause of death. Billions of dollars are spent and people’s lives are forever changed. These things don’t just happen. The numbers and statistics don’t sound quite real. More teenagers die due to car crashes than anything else.

Inside an automobile, several miniature explosions happen within the blink of an eye. These explosions cause a rod to spin, moving a large disk that rotates a succession of gears. Those gears transfer motion to the wheels, propelling the car. This happens with little input from the driver and none from the passengers. To make all this happen, an internal combustion engine needs air, fuel, electricity, and an operator. The wild card is fuel. The tank in every car holds several gallons of flammable gasoline that can make a collision into a fire hazard. All of the mechanical aspects of a car are controllable, but the person driving is the biggest variable.

The riskiest part of any car lies behind the wheel. Turning music all the way up, driving faster than the posted speed limit, and having a habit of grooving to a favorite song make any driver more at risk to get in a collision. 37% of male drivers between 15 and 20 years old involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time. More than half of the 3,678 passengers between 16 and 20 years killed in a crash weren’t buckled up.

The previous generation of drivers lacked something that this generation has: video games. These simulations may be used to tell stories or allow players to release some stress, but they instill a lack of realism; a world without consequences, where players can start from a point where their characters are faced with a challenge and are allowed to fail and restart from a save point infinitely, until they get it right. When it comes to real life, people don’t get a second chance to drive home knowing that around the same corner there is the same car that will always pull out of the same parking spot without looking. They can’t start from a checkpoint before they were on that road and try again. This new hobby allows the players to retrace past mistakes and even start fresh, losing their high score, but getting a chance to do it perfectly with the strategy guide sitting in their lap. Life doesn’t have a guide to it. People don’t have the luxury of a second chance exactly like the first one. Once something is altered in real life, there is no way to revert it to its original state. Whether it’s the bent frame of a car or a bad first impression, it is impossible to return to the original circumstances. The older generation of drivers on the road knows this. When they were teenagers, these miniature alternate realities didn’t exist.

The other main factor in this is that teenagers think that they’re invincible. Why else would any sane person do half of the dangerous things teenagers do? This is a time in the lives of youth when minor mistakes can be overlooked and forgiven. This coupled with a loose grasp on reality that always allows for a second, third or fourth chance, provides teenagers with reckless driving instincts that cause the death of thousands of people every year. Crashes that involved 15-17 year olds cost more than $34 billion dollars in this nation, which was spent on property damage, medical treatment, and many other related costs. That’s more than Google is worth.

There are campaigns whose purpose is to enforce safe driving, but the best way to change the way people drive is for drivers to take the initiative. Making sure that everyone in the vehicle is buckled up is one of the safest things to do. Some EMTs say they have never had to cut a dead man out of a seat belt.

The easiest way to prevent many deaths that are caused by car crashes is to buckle up. Individual drivers know how they are going to drive, but other drivers can behave unpredictably.

Ultimately, control lies in the hands of the driver. They need to know what is happening on the road is more important than an epic guitar solo or an awesome lyric. Buckling seat belts can save lives in a car wreck, but having an observant driver prevents accidents.

Image Courtesy of Google

The fifth entry in the Fast and the Furious saga continues its trend of cutting words from the title and allure from the plot. Although, it should be obvious that seeing Fast Five for the story is akin to watching A Clockwork Orange for its comedy. While it doesn’t have much of a plot, the action scenes are perfect. Throughout Fast Five My senses were joyously bombarded during every chase and fight scene, which seemed to occur within at least ten minutes of the previous one.

The usual characters, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel, Fast and Furious), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker, Takers), and Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster, Chuck) are back behind the wheel. Fast Five begins with Dom on a convoy to prison to serve a 25-year sentence. Naturally, Brian and Mia rescue him in a driving sequence that culminates in a large bus flipping onto its side and barrel-rolling its way through the air, eventually coming to a hard landing. This scene, like all of the other action in this movie, was very well shot. The camera wasn’t too close to get lost in the action or too far away to make the crash look like toy cars in the hands of little children.

After freeing Dom, Mia and Brian go to Rio De Janeiro to hide from the US Government. Due to unexplained circumstances, Dom isn’t there yet. They meet up with Dom’s brother, with whom Brian doesn’t get along. He tells them about a “job” that could help them; moving some cars. Since Brian and Mia need the money, and this job appears to be safe to do, they take it. Knowing that this is a Fast and the Furious movie, nothing is ever this easy.

Dom and Mia move cars off a train using strong winches attached to a flatbed vehicle designed for off-road work that drives next to the train car. Somehow, Dom shows up with the crew taking these cars. According to a plan that isn’t explained, Mia takes a Ford GT40 to a private garage and leaves Brian and Dom to fight off two henchmen who got wise. Long story short, the car has a list of addresses stored in the memory chip of the fancy touch screen stereo. These are houses owned by the man who runs the city, a wealthy and corrupt businessman named Reyes. Reyes doesn’t trust anyone with his money, so he keeps it as cash in these houses stored all over the city.

On the hunt for Dom and his crew is Luke Hobbs, a U.S. Agent out to get them played by an unusually intimidating Dwane ‘The Rock’ Johnson (The Other Guys). That pits The Rock against Vin Diesel, causing some sort of paradox where two equally tough guys are forced to act cool and in charge all in one movie. All laws of cinema aside, Hobbs makes a good hunter: Nothing stops him from catching his prey.

Reyes wants his Ford GT40 and its data back, so he sent his men to kill who stole the car and get it back. After narrowly escaping from Reyes’ henchmen, Dom wants revenge, so he cooks up a brilliant plan to rob Reyes. Dom is after all of Reyes’ money, which adds up to around $100 billion, and he assembles his old crew. Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges reprises his role as Tej, and uses some special skills other than signaling the ‘go’ flag as he did in previous Fast and Furious movies. Five other characters that had roles in the previous films show up for roll call and help Dom rob Reyes.

At this point viewers may have noticed a similarity here, a ghost of another movie in the background. Breaking someone out of jail, assembling ‘the old team,’ and robbing someone’s money from a safe all ring bells that had been rung before. Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels shared these elements, but wait! Fast Five has cars, so it must be…The Italian Job! Pretty close, except for a couple of differences. These guys are professional drivers who want revenge on a personal level.

After the money in one of the houses is burned, Reyes has it all moved to a vault in a police station. After replicating the layout of the parking garage, the drivers see that the cameras in there will always catch them. So, like any thief would do, they scrap the plan of sneaking into the station and formulate a new one. Using an armored car, they smash through the wall of the vault room. Then two matte black, Dodge Chargers tether themselves to the safe and yank it out of the police station. They take it with them on a rampage on the way out of Rio, smashing pursuing cop cars, nearby buildings, medians, and parked cars in one of the most awesome and ridiculous chases in movie history.

Fast Five is full of action, and that’s not a bad thing. The plot is stable, but intense chases and vehicular carnage more than make up for the lack of a moving story. The action is nearly nonstop, and only slows down for the story to try to catch up. The tense moments of the film were during the chases as opposed to plot-related moments, and I’m okay with that. Fast Five will take viewers on a thrilling ride in the passenger seat, complete with crashes, chases, and fights.

★★★★☆

Photo by Hanna Kazlouskaya

Denver Public Schools is giving TJ’s theater a major change of scenery over the summer using leftover money from a bond.

In 2008, Denver voters approved a bond that brings major improvements to all DPS schools. “Most of the projects that have been done district-wide came in under-budget. Contractors were happy to bid lower because they wanted the work. So the district saved about $25 million,” said Assistant Principal Scott Lessard. Some of the projects that were already in the works were sports-oriented, so DPS decided to look at every auditorium and upgrade them. TJ’s stage will be outfitted with new curtains, battens, lights, and a new sound system.

Since TJ’s auditorium hasn’t been updated in many years, there are a lot of changes that will be made over the summer. The company installing the upgrades could begin as early as mid-May and will finish in early August. The renovations will begin after the senior graduation practice because after that point the auditorium isn’t needed until the next year. “They need the auditorium empty. They can’t have people going in, sitting in the seats, anything. It’s going to be a hardhat area; there’s probably going to be some asbestos abatement going on, so they really do need it empty. It’ll be sealed off; no one will be able to go in. Think about it. They’re going to be bringing in cranes. They may actually cut open the roof to do this. It’s huge. It’s a huge project to replace all that stuff,” said Lessard.

Upon completion, the company that installs the equipment will bring in Theater Director and Teacher Michael Palmieri, the Band Director Robin Johnson, and a few of TJ Theater’s top students to be trained on how to use the new systems.

Arguably, the most noticeable improvement is new curtains. The old curtains are going to be replaced by brand new ones, along with the battens and wires on which they hang. The wires will be controlled by electric winches instead of counterbalancing the weight of the batten with weights on the rope. The new system will be operated by a control station with a long cord so the battens and rigging can be adjusted from any place on stage. “The new curtains will look so much better, and we’ll be able to do scenery changes and curtain adjustments smoothly and more safely. To have things change during a production, for instance, we could have one set completely built behind a curtain, and one of the stagehands or tech team will be able to be on stage and when it’s time push the button and up goes the curtain,” said Palmieri.

All of the onstage lighting will also be upgraded. “That will include, if it goes according to plan, getting some of the latest generation LED lights which give you that intense, concentrated color on the stage. The latest LED technology has very bright colors so you can mix white light with the colored light and not have it wash out,” said Palmieri.

The control system for the LED lights will also be upgraded, and the people doing the renovations will add an outlet for the main light control board on the onstage balcony, allowing it to be moved from its usual location – the booth in the back of the theater balcony – to the stage itself. This move will let the student who adjusts the lighting be able to control all the stage lights from on stage.

One of the biggest changes is the improvement of the theater’s sound system. By the time students return in the summer of 2011, there will be new speakers, a digital soundboard, and a new wireless microphone system. “If the wireless system works well, and with good mics – I asked for headset mics – we may be able to do our own sound for the play as opposed to bringing in sound people. I’ve loved working with Mark Payne of ACA sound. He does a great job for us, but maybe for some of the smaller productions, students could run the sound; run the soundboard, learn how to mix wireless mics in different ways, learn how to be kind of high speed on the soundboard,” said Palmieri.

When students return in the fall, the theater will look and sound better with these new bells and whistles. New lights, curtains, and a new sound system will improve the quality of every presentation on TJ’s stage, ranging from Honor Roll award ceremonies to TJ’s theater productions.

Artwork by Michael Kutz

I love superhero movies. From the gadgets to the specialized super powers, I have always been a fan of heroic stories, which is why it was hard for me to enjoy The Green Hornet.

Yes, it has Seth Rogen in a three-piece suit riding in a menacing American muscle car, but to me the character of the hero is much more valuable than the machines he uses.

Britt Reid (Rogen, Funny People) is first shown as a grade school child, having a talk with his father James Reid (Tom Wilkinson, Batman Begins) in his office. James is the Editor-In-Chief of the local newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, and Britt was sent to see his dad after defending another kid from a bully. He was kicked out of school for fighting. We join Britt about 20 years later at a crazy party, living in the lap of luxury. Aside from getting taller, he hasn’t changed; he still has the mentality of a third grader.

Kato (Jay Chou, Initial D) is introduced as a servant who makes Britt’s coffee. After firing all of his home staff after his father’s death, he gets a plain cup of coffee instead of the usual fancy espresso he is used to. Like any spoiled rich kid, he throws a temper tantrum until he gets his fancy coffee. One of the staff tells him a man named Kato made his coffee, and he ordered her to bring Kato back. Kato and Reid spend the afternoon together, talking about their lives and how James Reid was a jerk. While cruising around town in now deceased James’ 1965 Chrysler Imperial, Kato bonds with Reid after saving a couple pedestrians from being mugged. After this, they decide that they could pretend to be criminals to take down the real threats to the city.

Kato begins making modifications to the ’65 Imperial, and after adding several weapons and stronger materials, names it ‘The Black Beauty.” For people who like cars, the Black Beauty will be a show-stopper. Outfitted to the teeth with guns, missiles, and gadgets, this car is the reason why The Green Hornet and his chauffeur don’t need utility belts. The car gets away with some ridiculous stuff, including driving without the entire rear half of the car and a thirty-foot sideways fall resulting in a perfect landing.

After a few nights of fighting gang members, Kato and Reid get in a fight over who is more important out of the duo and, like third graders, stop talking to each other for several days. However, they suddenly forgive each other in the middle of a gunfight and are instantly best friends again. What makes a movie really enjoyable is showing that the main characters have changed, and the only change the Green Hornet and his loyal chauffeur Kato go through are outfits.

I enjoyed the first 30 minutes of The Green Hornet; I thought the movie really had potential. It shows the Black Beauty – their vehicle of choice – as an invincible road machine, breaking through walls and deflecting gunfire. While it is a little over-the-top, these scenes added to the power Britt and Kato displayed. Afterwards, I saw that the character development had come to a dead halt.

A character sho didn’t make much sense was secretary Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz, Knight and Day). Britt inherited the newspaper after his father’s death, and shortly after that the paper hired a temporary secretary, Case, who has a surprisingly vast understanding of criminal psychology for a secretary, and she is someone for Reid to ask what the Green Hornet’s next move should be, because he has no clue what he is doing. In the beginning, Kato and Britt have a little slap fight over who gets the girl, but that eventually devolves to Case becoming a mother figure and a lot of gay jokes ensue, directed toward Reid and Kato.

Along with the characters, the plot has a few inconsistencies. The most obvious one is when the bad guy wants someone killed and hires a hitman. The hitman goes rogue and at least 15 gangsters pop up in the area (who were presumably making sure the target was killed). If the bad guys can gather forces in such numbers to enforce a kill, it’s pretty clear that eventually one of them would kill the target and there would be no need for a hitman. Also, if the car can receive faxes, why doesn’t it have a usb port? That would eliminate the last half hour of the movie, that’s why.

The venues where the car shines are when they are chasing Chudnovsky (Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds). He is in charge everything in the city, from nightclubs to illicit activities. After the Green Hornet starts taking out his business, Chudnovsky goes insane, but silly insane. When testing out his monologue, his most faithful assistant gives an honest response telling him it’s terrible. Chudnovsky kills him for one of the most pointless deaths in film since the several innocent contractors working on the second Death Star.

During The Green Hornet’s 1960’s television show, Kato was played by Bruce Lee, and some sketches of him can be seen in the current Kato’s sketchbook along with missile illustrations. This alludes to the idea that there was a Green Hornet before, in conjunction with a secretive father who had strong morals. In the history of The Green Hornet, the car and outfit were passed down through family, but this movie sidesteps that to tell its own story, even tossing away the fact that Reid’s great great uncle was the Lone Ranger.

I wanted The Green Hornet to be a noble hero, whose morals and money enable him to fight crime and do what is right, but it’s more like a rich kid discovers fighting gangs can be fun. This could have been a better movie if it was more believable. The Green Hornet needs viewers to be lenient with reality to enjoy it, but I like my heroes to be as real as possible.

★★☆☆☆

Artwork by Ed Gloor

Tron isn’t just a movie that came out late in 2010; the original came out in 1982 and became a cult film favorite of geeks. Many new viewers who enjoy the lighted suits, disc fights, and a world within computers have little or no clue that it was first on the scene 28 years ago. Tron: Legacy has a story that is strong enough to stand on its own, though it does borrow here and there from the original Tron. By itself, it’s a good movie that is accompanied by stunning visuals and a soundtrack by an artist who truly couldn’t have been a better choice. It is, however, much better when the audience knows the complete arc of the story.

Tron is not just a movie; it’s an opportunity for geeks to bond over talking about the journey Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, Iron Man), RAM (Dan Shor, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), and Tron (Bruce Boxleitner, Babylon 5) took through the Encom company’s computer network to shut down the overlord Master Control Program. Tron was something almost sacred, a shared connection that several computer geeks, video gamers and gadget fiends had in common.

Not anymore.

It was good for Disney to reboot an old story and continue it for the fans, but for those unfamiliar with the world of Tron, Legacy’s just another big-budget blockbuster 3D movie. Sure, the effects were cool, but the feeling of a new world and rebellion that was carried over from Tron won’t sink in for the average moviegoer. There’s no doubt there are fans of Tron: Legacy who don’t even know there is an original. To these new fans I would like to say, know that there were others first amazed by light-up suits and identity disc battles. Know that there have been dreamers who wondered if programs believed in users or not. Most importantly, know that an underground film reserved for computer geeks and fans of Sci-Fi movies now has a sequel that is awesome.

It’s strange to see something that used to be obscure, like an inside joke, become popular, with the punch line exposed for everyone to see. Yes, it has a beauty that only the world of Tron could have, but it feels strange that other people who don’t know what came before it are now allowed in. Part of me wants to make it a requirement to see the original Tron before seeing Tron: Legacy. It’s a bit extreme, but that’s how I and a few of my acquaintances saw it, and by doing that, Legacy gave them a few rewards here and there for seeing the first Tron. Another part of me wants to be okay with the fact that non-geeky masses are enjoying Tron now that it is mainstream, but when it comes down to it, there’s a little sting in my inner geek when I hear that someone has seen Tron and I realize that they’re talking about the sequel and haven’t heard of the predecessor. I like what everyone involved in Tron: Legacy created – a brilliant Sci-Fi father- son story with amazing visuals – but as a longtime fan of a movie made in 1982 that was mostly set inside a computer, it hurts that most of the audience for Legacy never knew that world.

If people are still planning to see Tron: Legacy, it’s worth the hour and a half it takes to see the original Tron. The story will be clearer and those viewers will catch the little homages to the original that are in Legacy.

Artwork by Luke DeGregori

There’s a unique feel with live music performed by a large group of people, and listeners at this year’s Citywide High School Honor Orchestra and Band Concert experienced the way a tune can carry people.

For a newcomer to orchestral performances, conductors play a large role in the performance. The manner in which they move their arms and baton have a certain touch of magic to them, as if the music is moving them.  Some audience members may be lucky enough to glimpse how the face of the conductor changes with the soft harmonies, naturally smiling, and the strong bass, in which they appear tense. The orchestra was conducted by Brandon Matthews, Musical Director for the Metropolitan State College of Denver. Matthews has conducted Denver’s Philharmonic Orchestra and the Metro State Symphony Orchestra. “He would get really into it. He obviously loved conducting and he would move wildly with the music. We can tell when a conductor is into it or if they’re doing it just to get volunteer hours. He obviously wanted to do it; he obviously wanted to help us, and that showed,” said TJ senior Luke DeGregori.

TJ’s orchestra had practiced in anticipation of this concert for a long time. The difficult part was coming together to perform as an orchestra in over the course of just three days. The students practiced after school on Thursday, and spent all day Friday practicing as a group. The group came together again on Saturday to practice in the morning and prepare for the afternoon’s performance.

There’s something unique about a live orchestra and band. Listeners can feel the music. It absolutely fills the theater unlike the echo of a single performer, and Denver Public Schools’ Citywide High School Honors performance was nothing short of captivating.

Artwork courtesy of Google Images

The Tourist is an interesting movie, at best. It has elements of a basic movie, but none of them are very good. This is a film that is all too easy to lambaste.

The movie looked good, but the story was unnecessarily complex. The audience sees that Elise (Angelina Jolie, SALT) is living in Paris and under constant surveillance in order for the watchers to capture the man she loves, who stole a large sum of money from some gangster and went into hiding. Elise evades her observers to meet a stranger on the train to Venice, a man by the name of Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland) and uses him as a decoy husband. Frank’s a math teacher from Wisconsin who was naturally surprised to have a beautiful woman join him in a train. His mannerisms show that he’s just an average guy, and at least that was relatable. The dialogue between the two in their first scene felt like it had a spark of romance; however, that is soon forgotten. The closest these two get is-literally-in Frank’s dreams. So far, we can throw the “falling madly in love” setup out of this movie, and the rest of their “romance” feels like he’s following her just to see what she does next like a lonely lost puppy. The outfits of the characters suit them: The gangster wears suits, Frank wears a collared shirt and a jacket, and Elise is very well dressed and looks like a rich woman touring Europe would.

The spy part of this movie isn’t very impressive, either. The thief is tracked by Scotland Yard, and poorly, I might add. They end up calling off the report of Frank as the thief and then someone within the office alerts the mobsters that Frank is the thief. The odds of a Scotland Yard employee with ties to the mob are slim, and this plot device was plainly ridiculous. The actors who played the intelligence in the movie weren’t very memorable. There’s a chance there were some big names in the cast, but they didn’t play their parts with enough screen presence.

The Tourist is based on a 2005 French film that was nominated for “Best First Work” by France’s César Awards, but I highly doubt this incarnation will receive any accolades. If they had screened the original version for a few weeks with subtitles or English dubbed audio, they might have done better than rewriting the film for an American audience and familiar actors and actresses. Oddly, Johnny Depp played his part very well. I had the notion that this is a rare movie where Depp plays a normal man, not looking for any kind of trouble or leaping around a pirate ship.

I wasn’t impressed by the movie, other than its locations. Shot in Paris, France and Venice, Italy, the atmosphere was right. The scene where Frank jumped out of a window and ran across old ceramic-shingled rooftops was a prime example of correct location. I don’t want to spoil it, but at the end The Tourist left me feeling incomplete, and my first reaction was surprise at why a movie would pull an ace out of its sleeve on a whim. They spent two hours of film reinforcing something that was already accepted from the beginning, and in the last three minutes of the movie they revealed it was all a lie and turned everything it told you on its head. It builds up to a tense moment that never happens.

I wouldn’t see The Tourist, as the plot is so weak it couldn’t fight its way out of a wet paper bag regardless of its surprise ending. Angelina Jolie played her role as the femme fatale perfectly, and the scenery was nice.

★★☆☆☆

Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010)

One of the greatest comedians in the history of film, actor Leslie Nielsen died on November 28.

Nielsen was born on February 11, 1926 in Saskatchewan, Canada but later moved to Edmonton, Canada where he spent his childhood. After finishing school, he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. After he was discharged, he worked at a local radio station.

In the mid 1950s Nielsen moved to Hollywood and began his acting Career. He was able to land leading roles in several films, but none of them were big hits. His most notable film appearance from this time was his role as the captain in the 1979 disaster movie, The Poseidon Adventure. His looks and acting skills commonly gave him roles as a dramatic adult, and frankly weren’t very successful. He acted in more than 50 works of film in this period of time.

His role as the oblivious Dr. Rumack in Airplane!, however was what brought him true fame. This 1980 comedy gave Nielsen a chance to maintain his serious style while delivering hilarious lines. The plane was going to crash, and Rumack (Nielsen) had to find a pilot for the plane and asked a passenger:

“Can you fly this plane, and land it?”
The passenger responded, “Surely you can’t be serious.”
“I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley,” said Nielsen.

He perfectly delivered several one-liners in this film, showing his skill with comedy. With this new popularity, Nielsen became known as a comedian and acted in several movies that prove his talents as a funny man.

After Airplane!, Nielsen continued his comedic career by starring in the television series Police Squad! The show wasn’t well received, but Nielsen reprised his role years later as the clumsy Detective Frank Drebin in the movie The Naked Gun: Files From The Police Squad! and its sequels. Afterwards, Nielsen starred in several more comedies, including Spy Hard, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Scary Movie 3 & 4, and Superhero Movie. Leslie Nielsen set a high standard for future straight-faced comedians with Airplane! and continued to act as a funny man for the rest of his career.

His films weren’t very famous for the moving storyline, or their deep characters, but their straight-faced jokes were what made them worth watching. Some critics may not have enjoyed those movies because they were made just to make people laugh; then again, the value of a good laugh is often underestimated.

Nielsen passed away on November 28th due to complications of pneumonia. He was in the company of his family and friends at the time of his death.

Artwork by Hayden Johnson

As a fan of superhero movies, I’ve seen some of the best and worst good vs. evil flicks. Some of them can only be used as a reference when discussing how low Hollywood can go, whereas others deserve a place in a movie hall of fame. Megamind is a great hero movie that I would rank at about an 8 out of 10. The casting for this movie was spot-on; I forgot that it was Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Brad Pitt playing the main characters because I was entranced by the story they told. It was the story of a villain who chose to be evil because the role of chiseled-good-looks hero was already taken.

The story of DreamWorks’ Megamind managed to capture me to the point that I was rooting for the bad guy. The clichéd good versus evil motif is injected into this movie as prescribed by Hollywood, but the story focuses on the underdog, Megamind (Will Ferrell, The Other Guys). His plans fail every time, but he never gives up, which endears him to the audience.

Megamind was shipped off from his home world at eight days old, and coincidentally a nearby planet also sent off an infant at the same time. They both landed on earth, where Megamind’s new nemesis was raised in a fancy home, while prison inmates raised Megamind. In the early stages of their conflict we see that Metro Man (Brad Pitt, Inglourious Basterds) – the alien child that had the good life – gets a lot of attention from his fellow classmates for his powers of super strength, flight, and invulnerability. Naturally, Megamind gets jealous, and tries to outdo Metro Man in the classroom with various gadgets that, like his dreams, are crushed. From that point on, Megamind decides that he isn’t good at being a hero and becomes determined to prove his worth as a villain. The clash between these two arch nemeses goes on for many years in a familiar formula. Step one: Kidnap news reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey, 30 Rock). Step two: place her in an elaborate hostage situation. Step 3: Wait for Metro Man to save the day and destroy the evil facility.

(Spoilers begin here!)

What I really enjoyed about this movie is that Megamind wins. He kills Metro Man and takes complete control of the city. The best part about this is that he has no idea what to do after he has taken the valuable art, fancy cars, and cool stuff in the city for himself. He’s run out of initiative. He used to fight Metro Man just because he couldn’t win, and now he has no one left to fight. Using DNA found on Metro Man’s cape, Megamind creates a gun that will give one person the same powers that Metro Man had. Contrary to his plans, he accidentally shoots an innocent news cameraman, Hal (Jonah Hill, Get Him to the Greek). Megamind then takes on the role of Hal’s “space father” in a delightful parody of Marlon Brando’s Jor-El, the father of Superman. With his new powers, Hal steals valuable items and becomes a villain. After all, it’s not the tights, the powers, or the personal issues that makes a hero, but the righteousness and justice within that person that makes them heroic.

Megamind really takes a shine to Roxanne, but every time they meet after Metro Man’s death, he is disguised as the quiet, unassuming museum curator by way of a gadget that completely changes his appearance. Of course, he accidentally falls in love with her. But when he reveals that he is Megamind, Roxanne is shocked. They then part ways and walk away in the rain. It’s not a very heart-wrenching moment, but it brought the audience closer to our blue-headed friend

(Spoilers end here).

As far as villains go, Megamind is pretty quirky. Megamind consistently mispronounces several words, one of my favorites being school as ‘shool’ and Metro City similar to atrocity.

Overall, Megamind takes what we know about superhero movies and switches a few things around. It puts the villain in the limelight, giving the audience a deeper look at why he is evil. Megamind is a superhero movie that follows a different formula, and succeeds.

★★★★☆

Artwork by Ed Gloor

There is a plethora of movies about spies, but not very many about what happens when they get old. RED shows that some retirees still have what it takes. It’s seems natural to see Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense) as a retired man; after several action movies, it’s about time he took a break.

The first few scenes of RED are immersive, but it’s like being immersed in mud. We see a clock at six in the morning, and Bruce Willis waking up. He puts on his robe, has a cup of coffee, and has a slow and quiet start to his day. Fortunately, by noon, we find out the name of the character he is playing. It reminds me of the beginning of Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster, 2006), except there is no narrator to explain who the protagonist is, his occupation, or frankly, why anyone should care. It put me in the mind of Bruce Willis, the actor, not Frank Moses, the character he is playing. This set the mood of an old retired man who keeps mostly to himself, spends the winter inside his house, and doesn’t have a feeling for upcoming holidays.

Fortunately, the action comes in immediately afterward, when several men armed with guns and body armor break into the house. Then we see more of Frank Moses than Bruce Willis, when Frank disarms and knocks out all of the invaders. Shortly after that, he is on the run from killers who he doesn’t know, for reasons he has no clue about.

The rest of the story is fairly predictable after the first clues are dropped. Moses has fallen for a girl who works answering phones to help retired CIA members with their paychecks, and over quite a few calls, they become friends. She goes along with the ‘come with me if you want to live’ statement that Moses makes without question. It’s close to a genuine on-screen relationship, but Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker, Howl) is just too eager to be on the run from dangerous killers. The cast works together well, except for a few characters.

Let’s start with the Russian. Take everything commonly known about Russians in America from movies and collect it. Okay. Based on this, they are probably male, heavy-set, have a fashion sense that involves furs, and a clichéd taste in adult beverages. All of the above describe Ivan Simanov (Brian Cox, The Bourne Supremacy), a former member of Moses’ team.

Victoria (Helen Mirren, The Queen) is the British member of the team who apparently needs no last name and was living in the peace and quiet of a nice cottage in New England. She has a history with MI6 (Great Britain’s CIA), the CIA, and apparently worked with Moses before she retired. Life as a florist has been dull for her, and she said she couldn’t adjust to “normal” life. She is eager to get her team back together and return to espionage and killing. RED barely gives her more of a background than that.

Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman, Invictus) has retired from the CIA and is now living at a retirement home. Actor Morgan Freeman played this role well, although his character is about 20 years older than he is. He is an old man with wisdom, a plan, and helps solve the problems with which the gang is faced.

Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich, Secretariat) is a member of the old gang, and is very paranoid. He carries a couple weapons with him at all times, notes the air crafts that are flying overhead, and is suspicious of everyone. He also has a large arsenal of weapons and tends to hold them as one would hold a small child.

Overall, RED was a good movie. It probably won’t win much when it comes to awards, but the characters have a chemistry that feels like they have worked together in the past. It’s worth checking out because it’s a little different than the typical spy movie. If Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox, Mary Louise-Parker, and Bruce Willis got together to watch a football game and ended up writing a screenplay, it would probably be something like RED.

★★★☆☆