Weekend Movies

This weekend, I checked out "The Lego Movie". It's not quite what I was expecting, but it was great nonetheless.

The story is pretty simple: a Lego Construction minifigure, Emmet, spends a (painfully) average but happy life in the city of Bricksburg. While juggling his construction job, he follows the everyday rules that make everyone else there joyful, but complacent. Park between the lines! Watch reality TV with friends! Always use your turn signals! Always return a compliment! Buy expensive coffee on the way to work!

The adventure kicks off for Emmet, though, when he's captured by the evil President Business (Will Ferrell, enjoyable as always) and his right-hand man, Good Cop/Bad Cop (Liam Neeson: good, but kind of weird seeing him in an animated feature). See, Emmet finds the "Piece of Resistance", a strange-looking block that is supposed to end President Business' reign as an evil Donald Trump-like figure and restore unrestricted creativity to the Lego World. Then Act One kicks off into overdrive, like a kid that's chugged a bottle of Mountain Dew and has found your candy dish.

Oh yeah, the start of The Lego Movie is hyper as hell. Act One is super fast-paced, designed to draw the younger audiences in and keep their attention. My head almost was almost spinning at one point, although it slows down much later for all other age groups to enjoy. The story, which switches to the real world briefly, teaches all of us to be creative and believe in ourselves. Touching and poignant, not bad for an animated feature.

Other cool things happen in The Lego Movie too, including other characters that join the fray and help Emmet on his quest. Batman, Superman, and even some basketball stars join up, and (albeit very briefly) a certain other Lego franchise I won't mention here shows up in a cameo. Neat.

My favorite character, though, is Benny, a beat-up, scruffy spaceman minifigure that you would find in an older sibling's closet or shoebox. A little man out of his time, Benny is OBSESSED with Lego's 80's and 90's spaceship sets, and is always attempting to build one of his own. At the end of the movie, by God, he does. And the results are chaotically fun.

Also, it snowed like hell on Sunday, and so I spent the day indoors watching "Aliens" (still awesome after all these years) and "The Master". The latter, at least to me for some reason, is unbelievably hilarious on a "Mommie Dearest" level. So much outlandish stuff happens, including a scene where Phoenix and the late Hoffman play a game called "Pick a Point" on a motorcycle.

You should check all these movies out. Stay warm until next time.