Ok so its been a while since my last blog. Been busy and uninspired honestly…but today I’m Back! Inspired by three movies I have seen these last few weeks. All of which I was sublimely happy with. (Ok maybe not “Lincoln” sublimely happy, but pretty close.

All three movies have thankfully been getting pretty decent reviews so that was a plus for me because I was really gunning for them all.

Number one: Frozen.

I love almost all Disney animation but Great Uncle Walt! I haven’t been this pleased with a Disney movie in a long time. Tangled was amazing and lots of fun but it took a while to grow on me, Brave was stunningly beautiful and very funny with a strong female lead, but lets face it the story line was dumb and a total Brother Bear rip-off. The Pixar movies will always be great but none of them have made me leave the theatre the way this one did. I wanted to turn around and go right back in to see it again. I did too, though it was a few days later and I am ready to go again. It has that sweeping epic feel that I love of big screen-filling movies. Its music was more that broadway style we all love; like Beauty and the Beast all over again. Tangled fumbled on that honestly. Like it never really could decide on what style it wanted to be. And Frozen had a sense of staging and choreography that I am very attracted to. It’s animation of Idina Menzel who played the original Elphaba in Wicked, seemed to be really capturing some hints of Margaret Hamilton-type moves that really caught my attention. Ooh and when you go keep an eye out for a very special moment when Elsa stomps harshly on the ground to a certain lyric in her song and BOOM! – ice quickly spreads out beneath her foot. Perfectly timed and sent chills right through me. Gorgeous flick.

Number two: The Hobbit.

Now for all you people who felt the first installment bombed all I have to say is…Shut -Up!! I mean really?! Who cares if it was too long and maybe a little slow. Did you not think that the riddle scene with Bilbo and Gollem was worth the wait!!?? And anyway, why wouldn’t I want three Peter Jackson epics to fill the ten-year void the Lord of the Rings has left. Anyway. The second installment of the Hobbit is well worth the wait you slogged through in the first one. Whatever changes Jackson made from book to screen are more than acceptable especially the addition of a female kick ass fighting elf. Thank the frigging fantasy gods! Smaug the dragon is worth every penny they spent on him. Legolas is back and as beautiful as ever, (and eyes a bit more sparkly.) But the real winner in this film is a guy named Lee Pace. He plays Thranduil the elf king. And he is FLAWLESS. Very theatrical and absolutely impossible to ignore. He steals every moment on film and his delivery is nothing short of mesmerizing. The only other thing I have seen him in was Lincoln last year as the pro-slavery congressman from New York. Opposite Tommy Lee Jones in most of his scenes he manages to not only keep up with grumpy old Jones (quite a scene stealer himself) but at times I felt he ran away with the whole scene. He is nearly unrecognizable in Hobbit but he is the guy to watch trust me on this.

Number 3: Saving Mr. Banks.

Charming. I loved it. Sentimental as hell of course but who cares! Emma Thompson is wonderful as I expected but she really is even better than that. Grumpy and downright rude most of the movie and yet you totally sympathize with her and at times you can see every single childhood memory etched on her face. We know exactly where she is coming from and why she doesn’t want to sell Mary Poppins. We know Uncle Walt is going to win out of course, but it is such a pleasure to see how we get there.  And who better to play the man himself than our favorite on screen leading man Tom Hanks. He is almost as beloved as Walt was and I loved watching him. And though Hanks never really made me forget it was him I was watching, I think he did an excellent job portraying one of the greatest men of all time.

Two enthusiastic thumbs up for all three films. Go. Now. Spend 11$ and go see these flicks!