NEW YEARS EVE ALONE? What to do.

If you don't have any plans for New Years Eve think of it this way, you won't end up being the victim of someone who is drinking and driving, or waking up with a huge hang-over!

But if you want something to do, I suggest a trip to the video store, netflix, itunes or however you rent films.

These are my choices for some little "treasures" for you to watch and get lost in their adventure (while everyone else is getting drunk and kissing strangers). And since I am very ecclectic, these will run the gammet of genres):

MAIDRYN'S NEW YEARS EVE FILM PICKS

• Wait Until Dark (Audrey Hepburn) Thriller (but okay for kids)
• Breaking Away (funny, witty entertainment for kids to grandparents - NOTE: watch for a very young Dennis Quaid)
• Moonstruck (Romance for women & MEN)
• Breaker Morant ( an australian gem and true story for those who are anti-establishment and enjoy a thoroughly well made and interesting movie - your brains and heart will need to be available for viewing this one)
• Aliens (Thrill-ride/Sci-Fi  hang onto your popcorn)
• Gallipoli  (early Mel Gibson - World War I - Tragedy & Friendship)
• Galaxy Quest (a MUST for every Star Trek fan who wants to laugh the night away)
• Fried Green Tomatoes (Friendship/ bridging the generation gap - for ALL ages & BOTH men and women)
• Gone in 60 Seconds (Nic Cage & Angelina Jolie - a total guy flick/ car chases, beautiful women, brothers sticking together, you know " it's a guy thing" (but I like it too. shhh)
• 300 - Gerard Butler, David Wenham, Lena Headly - BLOOD EVERYWHERE but this is not just a "GUY and GUTS" thing. Women & Men will like this movie but it is rated - R for a very good reason! Not a kids' movie.
• Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole - Not only a kids's movie. Beautifully animated with voices by EVERY ACTOR KNOWN TO MANKIND ;-) This is MY personal pick. I "double-dog-dare" anyone to watch this film and not LOVE it. Yes I said LOVE. (see my blog at, http://maidrynsmedia.blogspot.com/2011/06/legend-of-guardians-owls-of-gahoole.html/ for a more indepth review.

So a "Merry viewing to all and to all a good (new years eve) night".

Here Comes " CORIOLANUS "

The new film from Lionsgate, acted & directed by Ralph Fiennes and also with Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave & Brian Cox is going to be in wide release on January 20 (2012). It's a modern remake of the Shakespearean Classic. But don't be afraid of the language, but maybe just the content. It's dark and disturbing and it will stay with you for days. (just like most things worthwhile do)

Be there or be WARE.

STAY TUNED TO THIS SPACE FOR MORE INFO!!!

But for now, here's a sneak peek at the trailer:

The Walking Dead : mid-Season FINALLY!

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If you have been reading my critiques of the second season of the AMC show, '”The Walking Dead”, you will know that I have not been singing it’s praises as much as I did last season. In fact, this season I’m not singing at all! But I am still watching , although for very different reasons and motives (after all everyone needs a good Sunday night gripe session). I usually say most of negative comments to the TV during the broadcast (or should I say broadcasts) of the episode. But there are a few things that have me quite upset and so  must “spill over” into my blog.

1)  I am tired of the people at AMC calling their reruns “an encore presentation”. When one episode has been played over and over so that AMC can wring every inch of advertising revenue out of it, it’s just called plain, old reruns.

 

2)  In all my many decades of watching TV I have never heard of a mid-season finale. What that basically means is that all the people who make the show want to head off for several months of holidays. They simply call it a “finale” so that we won’t realize that it is actually the first episode this season that actually included something HAPPENING. Do you believe that 1 hour TV shows used to actually be shot live, lasted 57 minutes long and included 46 episodes per year. Ah, the gold ol’ days.

 

3) You cannot force something to become a cultural phenomena or have a cult following. AMC feels that by following “The Walking Dead” with a show called “The Talking Dead” they will be able to build this show into another Star Trek or any one of dozens of other movies and TV shows that developed cult followings. I’ll let them in on a secret, “those shows were good”.  If they make great entertainment and do their jobs well, this show will live on indefinitely. This entire direction of PR might actually backfire on them. Simply because the show “The Talking Dead” is more interesting and exciting then the show they are suppose to be promoting. Oops!

 

4) As for Sophia being one of the “Walkers” in the barn … my 70 year old mother had that one figured out the moment it was revealed that there were “Walkers” in the barn. Actually, Mom has come up with some really interesting plot lines for this show. I enjoy her story lines more than the actual ones. Maybe I should send in a resume to “The Walking Dead” on her behalf. I hear there’s good money in TV writing and maybe I’ll be able to get her my allowance re-instated.

 

5) This one will probably meet with the most resistance. We know that the character of Lori is pregnant, took some “morning after” abortion pills and then threw them up. So now her husband, Rick, comes trotting over to “have it out” with her. He’s got his nerve. After all, he’s only the baby’s father ! So after some “Blah blah blah” back and forth Rick states, “Did you really think I would make you have a baby you didn’t want?!”

Lori replies, “Oh sure! Then it would be on my conscience.”

(Now forgive me for being my ‘naive’ little, pro-life self but ) It seems to me that if a woman states that it’s “her body” and “her decision” and “solely my choice what I do with my body” then, yeah, it would be on her conscience! I’ve known about the tenants of the pro-choice movement for a long time, but do they really expect to let no one participate in that decision and then require them to carry the blame AND the consequences for actions they had no say in?

All I can say is, “Beam me up, Lord. It’s getting really weird down here.”

 

Not Always anti-Dead

I know I've been trashing this season of "The Walking Dead" but I want you to see the video I made when I started watching it last year. And as a Christian I was seriously putting my reputation at risk by what I say. I mean, Jesus knows what I am, but I'm not sure my fellow church-goers knew how dead was my strange-ness went.

The Walking Dead: Season 2

Now let me start by saying that since I am a Christian I do not often watch movies or TV shows that involve aliens, vampires, werewolves and especially not ZOMBIES! It’s not that I’m particularly holy, just that I find that type of genre rather boring. It seems to me that Zombie stories are pretty much like slasher flicks; mostly for boys under 12 years old who get a kick out of looking at gross stuff. But I was very surprised last year when a zombie show called, “The Walking Dead” on AMC (American Movie Channel) caught my attention. It's when the actors and makers of the show kept talking about it being a metaphor for life today. As one actor from the show said, “It’s less about zombies and more about how a small group of very different people keep their beliefs and morals alive in a world where the majority are dead people without any humanity at all and the main goal of everyone is survival.” That definitely piqued my interest and I tuned in. I watched every episode of the first season and then watched it again. Then I went on the internet and raved about this show and told everyone (including all my Christian/Church friends) that this was no ordinary horror show. These stories had depth, posed interesting questions and kept you well entertained (even if I did have to close my eyes for some of the grosser moments).
So it is with some hesitation and much disappointment that I must retract some of my opinions after watching Season 2 of “The Walking Dead”. It seems to me that the scripts have gotten bogged down a lot into how everyone “feels” and the entire show has taken on a soap opera atmosphere. Last year there was non-stop action and we discovered everyone’s feelings and beliefs through their actions, not through a bunch of yakity-yak. In Season 1, just when people started arguing and getting petty, the “Walkers” would descend upon them and there would be no time for talking just for moving. Everyone was revealed through their actions and alliances were formed among very unlikely people out of instinct and not prejudice. This season, an attack from the Walkers appears just when the writers believe their audience is about to fall asleep, change the channel or go to the bathroom (which may actually be more exciting than watching this show).
Plus, also like a soap opera where nothing happens for the entire first part of the show,  you need only tune in for the last 10 minutes to get all the plot information and action they mean to give us.
Before all you fans come down on me for being more harsh than Deputy Shane and dumber than Merle Dixon, I must state that I started this season with great expectations and I am still tuning in each week in the hope they will prove me ‘dead’ wrong. But if you take a moment to imagine yourself in the same situation as our motley bunch of survivors, would you be acting the same? Aren’t there many questions you’d like them to attempt to answer, many relationships you’d like explored? Just sitting here on my bed I am wondering why Sophia’s mom isn’t constantly wandering the woods looking for her daughter. If your 12 year old daughter was alone in a forest filled with Zombies , would you just sit around looking worried, or would they have to tie you down to keep you from looking?
What happened to the “French” whom Jenner said “might be onto a cure”? Why  aren’t they trying to contact overseas? Why aren’t they trying to find other non-dead survivors? Do they plan to continue “bumming” off the Vet and his family at this little farm or are they going to try and find supplies or maybe plant a garden or maybe do some chores? They keep acting like they are VIP guests there instead of pitching in and helping the others. If your son’s life had just been saved would “cooking dinner” be the best “thank you” you could come up with? And with all the family problems and dysfunctional families in the world , do you really want to see Rick and Lori continuing the same marital arguments through several episodes? Boy, there is nothing like a boring, mundane husband/wife argument to entertain us all.  And with all the Dead people walking around didn’t it occur to anyone to put up better defenses than Andrea on top of a Winnebago?
Now with all the negative things I just said, let me end on a more positive note. There are several actors I think we should really give credit for doing their characters well, making them three dimensional and keeping our interest (even with some pathetic story lines) while working in 100 degrees (+) Fahrenheit weather. Whatever is going on , you can’t take your eyes off them! (Click on their names to get more info on each actor and their character - and follow the links below that to the official WALKING DEAD site)

Walking Dead: JEFFREY DEMUNN (Dale)



Walking Dead: NORMAN REEDUS (Daryl Dixon)


Walking Dead: STEVEN YEUN (Glenn)


Walking Dead Official Site/ AMC

Walking Dead: CAST & CHARACTERS

William Shatner School of Acting: CLOSED !

The first time I watched an episode of Star Trek (the Classic one), I was sitting in my diapers on the floor in front of our black and white TV in Alberta, Canada. I had no idea what I was watching but my mother, in her mid-20s, had become an avid fan of the show. She was an attentive mother; seeing to our every need, but for 1 hour a week we were not allowed to interrupt her unless we were on fire. I may not remember the first broadcasting of those original Star Trek episodes, but it went deep into my impressionable little mind. In fact, since my father’s name was also William (Bill) and absent from our home, I was 3 years old before I realized that William Shatner was NOT my “daddy”.
Now over the years, since those first days of Star Trek in the 1960’s, William Shatner (now known as “The Shat”), has gotten a reputation for over acting. Hamming it up , if you will. But whether you think he was merely doing a great job of acting or over-acting, you must agree that all eyes were on him. He is electric, full of life and definitely has “IT”, if anyone can figure out exactly what “IT” is.
Now let’s warp forward into our recent past. A few years ago some very talented and ingenious people realized that special effects had grown to a point where just about anything could be visually represented, by just about anybody, in a very cost effective way. So they went back over all the episodes of the Classic Star Trek and “ramped up” the special effects. They didn’t change the look of the ship or star bases or aliens, but they were able to change the space, planets and Enterprise manoeuvring to make them more accurately represent what the script was depicting and how the actors were reacting. Basically, they took cheap-o effects and made them more realistic, while still staying true to the original Star Trek stories.
Now enter actor William Shatner. When the actors were performing their roles they had to use their imaginations for everything. There really wasn’t anything on the screen, they really weren’t flying around in space and what we saw at home was never there for them to react to. It was all in their imaginations.
Now I’m watching these episodes with the new special effects and I see Captain Kirk react to them and he seems to be doing so very appropriately. It’s not OVER acting at all.
For example:
In the episode, “The Squire of Gothos”, the Captain and crew believe they have just escaped a very dangerous alien and are high-tailing it out of there as fast as possible, only to discover that the planet is following them. They try 90 degree turns (a hard left), but the planet is still in front of them and accelerating towards them. Then a hard right, then a 360 degree turn (which is a complete spin in  a circle) , yet the planet is still in front of them and they are about to splat right on it, like a fly on a newspaper. When Mr. Spock declares “Cat and Mouse” you feel the frustration and fear of being trapped and unable to get away. With Captain Kirk’s ship and crew’s life hanging in the balance, no escape possible and death very probable, is any reaction too much?

It’s the same with “The Doomsday Machine” (aka. The Planet Eater). You finally see how tiny the Enterprise is in comparison to this massive planet-eating carrot and that no matter what  weapons they hurl at it, they make no more dent than a mosquito trying to penetrate a suit of armour. So, I ask you again, is it possible to over react to watching your ship and crew being dragged into this device to their absolute destruction?
   Doomsday: Old Effects
                                              
  Doomsday: New Effects

I submit to you, that William Shatner never over acted or “hammed” it up, but that it simply took all these years, and advancements in special effects for the rest of us to catch up with his imagination. He, as an actor, was imagining and reacting to situations and threats that were so lame when it came to the final depiction of them that his performance seemed out of proportion.
So, I also submit to you , that William Shatner has never gotten the accolades he deserves and that the jokes about his acting should cease and desist. From here on out, the William Shatner School of OVER acting is now CLOSED!

P.S. If the Enterprise really is being whipped around like the Special Effects now make it appear, it certainly would explain why all those crew members are falling out of their chairs and being flung around the bridge. But as my Mom said, “That’s still no excuse for not having seat belts.” And after all, she was a Star Trek fan before I was. When we first watched the episodes together, she understood them, I was drooling and pooping my diapers. I bow to her experience.   

Machine Gun Preacher

More than three years ago I started a group at Yahoo dedicated solely to Christians who wish to discuss and pray about actor, Gerard Butler. We have always been at about a membership of 15 people . Enough people to have a good discussion, but not so many people that you lose track of anyone.

Then came along Sam Childers , the drug-dealer-biker turned preacher and defender of the small and defenseless in the Sudan (and many other areas of the world). God only knows how these two men (Gerard Butler & Sam Childers) got together, but they have and the end result is the movie, “MACHINE GUN PREACHER”. Both Gerard and Sam have been out and around promoting this movie, which is now in theatres and I would encourage you to go and see it. It is in limited release and some of you might have to hold out until it comes out on DVD, but  I hope you do eventually see it. Especially all the people  who believe that following Jesus means becoming a “sissy” and “whimp”!

It’s the true story of a man going nowhere, except down, fast and hard and then learning that Jesus will accept , forgive and love him just the way his is. Then you add talented actors and film-makers, who have taken the time to tell this story. That equals a very good movie (and an even more exciting life for Sam Childers).

But I must remind you of several important things:

1) any person who places their life completely in the hands of Jesus better be ready for a life of drudgery turned into a life of adventure,

2) that no person is truly a man or woman until they reunite with their God who created them and loves them still, and

3)  it only takes a small group of praying and faithful Christians, from all over the world, to effect the lives of those they care about and make a worldly impact. Gerard Butler learns what it means to be a “REAL MAN”, we got our prayers answered and a movie that shows God listens to anyone who  speaks plainly and honestly to Him will be seen by millions who are craving for hope. Following Jesus may be very hard sometimes but it is always purposeful and NEVER boring!

Our prayers continue for both Sam Childers and Gerard Butler.

 Go out and see “Machine Gun Preacher” , then please come back here and give us your opinion.

IMPORTANT LINKS (click and follow):

Jesus 4 Gerard Christian Fans

Jesus 4 Gerard TWITTER

Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan By Sam Childers Meet the real-life inspiration behind the movie Machine Gun Preacher. You'll be transfixed by the story of Childers's transformation from a violent young drug dealer in the hills of Pennsylvania to a motorcycle-riding, gun-toting, Christ-honoring defender of orphans in Uganda and Sudan. A remarkable story of courage and action in the midst of unimaginable suffering! 240 pages, softcover from Nelson.

Christian Book Distributors (Sam Childers "Another Man's War")

MACHINE GUN PREACHER  Official Movie Site

Cowboys & Aliens: the Review

  

 

Well, I finally got to see this movie that I raved about and looked so cool when it his the theatres several months ago. since I am homeless right now, I am staying in a hotel/motel where you can rent movies in your room. Some that are still in the movie theatres and so I was able to see, “Cowboys & Aliens” in the privacy of my own room.

With stars in it like Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Sam Rockwell, how can a person expect anything but a great movie. PLUS, one of my all time favourite actors was also in the movie, Clancy Brown. But none of those thing could save this movie.

There are sometime that I refer to a film that just can’t “get off the ground”. I suppose it comes from having a father who spent his life around airplanes. An airplane can have all that it apparently needs but when it comes times to actually leave the runway, it just doesn’t make it. That is this movie.

The story is there, but it drags on too long. The special effects are great but too many of them so that you notice them instead of them just enhancing the story. The actors are great but all the characters are arch typical that I imagine it would take a great amount of talent and a bit of a miracle to keep everything from being formulaic. And that is this movie in a word: Formulaic. It’s all been done and seen before.

You would at least think that by placing an alien invasion in the “old west” you would at least be able to get a different slant on it, but everyone is acting like spaceships dropping from the sky and kidnapping their loved ones with a massive grappling hook is something they see every day. Or at least once a year. Maybe we’ve all become desensitised with the idea of alien invasion but one would imagine that the people of the old west would be so shocked they would be unable to move for hours and probably soil themselves. Instead of what happened in this movie, they got themselves a posse to round up the aliens. I mean , these people don’t have telephones or internal combustion engines but a spaceship swooping through town doesn’t seem to phase then much.

I usually have a strict rule that I don’t judge anything without giving it a second watch but I’m begging you, DON’T MAKE ME WATCH THIS MOVIE AGAIN. I could barely stand it the first time.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

On August 5th, 2011 the new film "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" will go into wide release in theatres. I find it interesting that this movie would probably not be able to be made just 10 years ago, because CGI (Computer Generated Images) had not yet evolved enough to do this. James Cameron has been quoted as saying that there is nothing a person can conceive of in their imagination that cannot be realized on the movie screen.
On the flip side: great graphics does not a great movie make. After all the "glitz" and "glamor" is finished, a good movie comes down to one main thing. The thing that is the foundation that all the rest of it is built on. A GOOD STORY.
The original "Planet of the Apes" film with Charleton Heston had some pretty hokey special effects and consisted of a bunch of guys running around in monkey suits. Pardon me. Ape suits. But the story was good and even though I was only 5 years old at the time, that story effected me then and still does to this day. We'll have to wait until August 5th to see if this latest "Ape" movie will be able to live up to the same standard as the first one.
I'm not sure if the people in Hollywood understand that. They see one movie make some money and they try to repeat the same formula. It's another case of  "monkey see; monkey do". Or perhaps "money see: money do"

Keep watching this space for updates and comments.

Inception

I meant for this blog to look at both the best and worst of everything in entertainment, but since time is very precious, I just don't seem to have the time to waste on the bad.
Which brings us to another movie that I am very impressed with: "INCEPTION".
It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and is written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
I got this movie as a DVD and by the time I was merely 15 minutes into I had one thought on my mind: "whoever wrote this story put a lot of thought and time into it".
As it turns out I was right. Again! (Yeesh. It gets so boring to be right ALL THE TIME.)
Christopher Nolan both wrote and directed this film and has been apparently writing it for years and it shows.

The story revolves around dreams , which is always a tricky topic to write about. But in this case, Nolan seems to be able to tap into the parts of our dreams that we all share, while blowing our minds with things that most of us have never thought of.
It takes place in the not to distant future where trade and personal secrets can be stolen by simply slipping into a person's unconscious mind and "tricking" them into telling them to you ... while they're asleep. Leonardo DiCaprio plays  one of these "extracters" who is desperately trying to do whatever it takes to get home to his two kids, while battling some major guilt that takes the form of some serious 'dream demons'.
I truly can tell you very little about the content of the film because anything I say would spoil some part of this film for you. It is full of twists and turns and I would suggest that the best way to watch this film is on DVD. As clear as Nolan makes this story, there are still a few times when I had to review an explanation that one of the characters makes before going forward. I would suggest you do the same. If you don't have a good basic idea of what is happening, plot wise, then go back and make sure you have all the info you need before proceeding any further with the film.
Besides 1)a great writer and director in Christopher Nolan, 2)a wonderful music score by Hans Zimmer, 3) fantastic visuals by  Director of Photography Wally Pfister (who won the oscar for this film),  this film has one of the greatest ensemble casts any movie can brag of.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page , Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and the always wonderful Michael Caine.

This film is the perfect combination of a "Guy Movie", "Chick-Flick" and "Artsy-Fartsy Film." There is something here for everyone . And I challenge anyone to NOT like this film. It can't be done.
If I'm wrong, ... well, there's a first for everything. But I don't think it will be this time.

NOTE: click the title to this post and you will go to the official site of this film

Cowboys and Aliens

There is  very little in the way of new releases in theatres that gets me excited. In my 45 years of life and 40 years of actively watching what amounts to literally thousands of films, I HAVE SEEN IT ALL! And now-a-days 98% of it is CRAP.
Enter the new film , "Cowboys and Aliens" which is opening today (Friday, July 29/11) in almost every city in North America.
I've been to the website for this movie (click on the title of this post and go there) and there are not only some really cool things to look at and navigate through, but you will be drooling to get to this movie. I know I am.
Let me start by saying that I am not your average middle-aged, female movie-going. I rarely enjoy a movie if something doesn't blow-up and/or someone doesn't out-run a fire ball. But when all is said and done, there are only TWO kinds of movies: GOOD & BAD.

I have yet to see "Cowboys & Aliens" but I predict that this is definitely going to be in the good category. Did I mention I also love Sci-Fi movies? Yup, yup!

This film is about your average town in the old west which is run by the iron fisted sheriff, played by Harrison Ford. Into this town walks the "dark stranger", aka. Daniel Craig. (best known for his James Bond films). He has no memory of who he is and only a strange looking shackle on his wrist.
He's barely stepped foot into the town Saloon (these towns always have one) before he is beaten up and headed to the jail. That's when all hell breaks loose. These average town folk are about to be invaded by more than the local rowdies. The "Aliens" that reek havoc on them aren't from this neck of the woods.
Just after these nasty aliens swoop down from the sky and start taking the innocent town folk, Daniel Craig's character finds out that his "shackle" is actually a really cool weapon he can use against these aliens. Not your average Colt 45. Now he and Harrison Ford must join forces and fight the bad guys (or slimy guys in this case). And these "bad guys" make the James Gang look like a herd of new born kittens.
But there's no way that me describing this film will give you the desire to see it like watching the trailers at the website will. So you "mosey on over and see fer yerself."
Let me just make a few comments about the rest of the people involved in the making of this film.
Jon Favreau (Iron Man) directs. The one, two punch of Brian Grazer & Ron Howard are the Producers and the Executive Producer is none other than the man who made movie aliens fashionable to all of us, "The Spielberg".
Not to mention great character actors like, Sam Rockwell (always good for a thrill), Adam Beach (who hasn't he been?), Olivia Wilde (Beauty personified and eyes that look  deeper than a pool of water) and of course two other guys. Uh? What were their names? Oh. Right. Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig.
If this movie is just half-ways interesting, THIS will be the movie of the summer . And guess what. James Cameron ain't in sight!

A small foot note that I have to put in. Don't let anyone tell you that the combination of the OLD WEST and ALIENS hasn't been done before. I'm a hard core "Browncoat" and if you don't know what that is, you haven't seen the movie, "Serenity" or the TV series it's based on , "Firefly". If you need to see more of this kind of action when "Cowboys and Aliens" is over, check out both, "Serenity" & "Firefly" (created by Joss Wheadon).

And of course, there is this other "little" TV show that came out in the mid 1960's that was sold as "wagon train to the stars". You might have heard of it. It's called, "STAR TREK". You might want to check it out. But just a suggestion.

Also, I welcome anyone who has seen "Cowboys & Aliens" to come back to this blog and tell us about it in a comment. "We'd shur love ta have ya' !"

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: Owls of Ga'hoole

Last year I saw a 30 second commercial for an animated movie that caught my attention, but I could find no information about it because I never caught it's name. Three days ago, while at an electronics store, I noticed a DVD had fallen on the floor. Being my compulsively organized self, I picked it up to put back on the shelf and discovered it was my "owl movie". Or, as it is really entitled, "LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS: the Owls of Ga'hoole".

I have seen thousands of movies in my life, but this one instantly rose to the top of my favorite films list.

It begins with a family of five owls living happily in their tree. Soren (the younger son) is a dreamer and spends his time playing with his little sister, Eglantine, as they act out the legends about the great owls known as "The Guardians".

Their older brother, Kludd, is the more practical one and has no time for dreams. His imaginations of greatness are mainly about himself. Unfortunately, he does not seem to be gifted with all the owl abilities that his younger brother has , and quickly developes feelings of jealousy and resentment.

One night the brother owls are kidnapped from their home and brought to a group of owls called "The Pure Ones" led by a mysterious owl known as "Metal Beak". They are Tyto owls, which the Pure Ones believe to be the "greatest" species of owl. The plan of the Pure Ones, led by General Nyra, is to dominate all other owl species, kill off the weak ones and make the inferior owl species their slaves. Kludd begins training to be a soldier to the Pure Ones , while Soren is sent to work in a dark factory (even though he a Tyto) as punishment for an act of kindness. With his new friend, an elf owl named Gylfie, Soren escapes and sets off to find "The Guardians of Ga'hoole", believing they are the only ones capable of defeating the evil owls. Along the way, Soren and Gylfie make other owl friends, each with their own quirks and talents and, working together, they attempt to make the long, hard journey to Ga'hoole.

There is no doubt that this movie is visually stunning, but considering that making an animated movie takes many departments doing many different tasks and that the actors are rarely in the recording studio together, it is amazing how this story flows seamlessly as the scenes change from intimate talks to high adventure. This is probably due to director, Zack Snyder and the excellent and prestigious [voice] acting talents of David Wenham , Anthony LaPaglia, Hugo Weaver, Sam Neil and Oscar winners, Geoffrey Rush and Helen Mirren and many others.

Also of interest is the main song of the movie, "Take to the Sky" performed by Owl City (a.k.a. Adam Young) who's new album, "All Things Bright and Beautiful" was reviewed in the May/June 2011 issue of the Living Light News.

In the same vein as the book and movie of "Watership Down", this story contains many layers and lessons, including veiled references to the evil idea of maintaining racial purity . Yet, the best thing about "Legend of the Guardians" is that it dares to declare many themes that are contrary to the world we live in. Sayings such as "we must look out for number one" and "only the strong should survive". The theme of this movie is summed up in the vow each owl must take before becoming a Guardian of Ga'hoole: "I vow to mend the broken, make strong the weak and, without hesitation, to vanquish evil."

Now a word of warning. This movie deals with the fight of good against evil and has several battle scenes that may be scarey to younger or sensitive children. But this movie is beautifully made, ringing with truth and liberally sprinkled with humor that children will understand on their level and adults on theirs. This is a film for the entire family and since it is based on a long running series of childrens' books by author Kathryn Lasky, we can probably expect to see more adventures on film of the Guardians of Ga'hoole.

The DVD also includes extras like a short educational video about different species of owls and how they interact with their environment. And with the series of books you can also get a "Teaching and Discussion Guide" by Kathryn Lasky.

The DVD, Blue Ray DVD and series of books called "The Owls of Ga'hoole" are all currently in release.

(CLICK ON THE TITLE OF THIS POST AND IT WILL TAKE YOU TO THE "IMDb" PAGE FOR "The Legend of the Guardians")

Living Light News (Christian Newspaper)