Short Circuit

Number 5 is alive!

If you've seen Short Circuit, there is a good chance you already have a smile on your face. If you saw it as a child, there is an even better chance you are thinking about the time you watched it with friends or maybe played it out in the park. That's the power of cinema.

Struck by lightening, No. 5 (voiced by Tim Blaney), a robot constructed at Nova Technologies, a defense firm, starts behaving like a human. Its hunger for "input" (information) leads it to Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy) who initially thinks of it as an alien but eventually takes on the task of protecting it from Nova Technologies who now wants to destroy No.5. Helping her along the way is the creator of Number 5, Newton Crosby (Steve Gutenberg).

Short Circuit is a great film is you want to learn word synonyms for No.5, after going through a dictionary, has a tendency to speak them out every chance he gets.

Stephanie Speck: I thought you were alive, Number 5. I let you tear my house to shreds and you're a ROBOT! You're a machine from that dumb war lab place. God, I'm so stupid!

Number 5: Stupid - foolish, gullible, doltish, dumbell...

Short Circuit is a great film if you want to laugh-out-loud as the team of military men and scientists try their best to catch Number 5 who seems to always be one step ahead of them.  

Skroeder: Maybe it's pissed off.

Newton Crosby: It's a machine, Schroeder. It doesn't get pissed off, it doesn't get happy, it doesn't get sad, it doesn't laugh at your jokes...

Newton Crosby/Ben Jabituya: ...IT JUST RUNS PROGRAMS!

Short Circuit is an essential watch if you want to wipe tears off your eyes from laughing hard at the dialogues of Ben Jabituya (Fisher Stevens), who in all probability is Apu (Simpsons) reincarnated as a scientist helping Newton find Number 5.  

Ben Jabituya: With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?

Howard Marner: Don't tell me its laser is still armed.

Ben Jabituya: Bimbo.

Ben Jabituya: Newton, we are wasting valueless time here.

Ben Jabituya: Bye-bye, goofy woman. I enjoyed repeatedly throwing you to the ground.

Stephanie Speck: ...Where're you taking him?

Ben Jabituya: This is not being a HIM. It's only being wires and several mechanisms and other such machine-type apparatus, for the Pete of sake - the sate of Peeckle...

Short Circuit is a wonderful 1980s comedy that manages to still amuse audiences after almost three decades of its release. It provides a sense of adventure of the most unlikely kind as a robot goes out in the big bad world and learns the importance of life, that of its own and others.

The magic of Short Circuit is that it works on many levels. It's a look at society and its eagerness to destroy anything that is not the norm. The film is great entertainment full of numerous fun filled chase sequences. Most importantly, it is a film for the entire family, especially the kids who are sure to be charmed by Number 5. As for the ladies, one look at Number 5 copying Travolta's moves from Saturday Night Fever, and you are bound to be floored. 

Short Circuit is amongst a group of great children's comedy classics from the 1980s (The Breakfast Club, Flight of the Navigator, Goonies, Herbie Goes Bananas, A Christmas Story, BMX Bandits, ...) that have become essential viewing for the newer generation because even with the passing of time, these films have remained as refreshing and crisp as any new film being released today.

Rating 4.5/5

DVD Information:

Special Features: Original Trailer, The Creation of Number 5, Cast & Crew Interviews, Behind the scenes featurette, Commentary.

UK Release Date - 19 November 2012

Running Time - 95 Minutes

Region Code - Region Free

Certificate - PG

Flight of the Navigator

It was a time of innocence. A time when children’s films where a gateway into imagination. The 1980s and 1990s saw countless films geared towards kids that till this day remain classics and bring a smile, at the mere mention of their titles, on the face of adults who grew up enacting scenes and characters from these films. Flight of the Navigator is a film that, even though I don't remember watching growing up, brought about memories from my wonder years.

Flight of the Navigator is a story about a boy, David (Joey Cramer), who is abducted by an alien, Max (Voiced by Paul Reubens), only to return to Earth 8 years later to find everyone has aged except for him. What follows is an escape and chase movie as the scientists at NASA want to study the boy and the spaceship that crash-landed along with him while the alien in the spaceship needs him for maps that have been stored in his brain. 

The film is full of subtle humor and moments that will warm your heart. Like most kid-centric films of the time there is always a strong moral behind each action and lessons to be learnt. The adventure quotient is good enough to make children run to the nearest enclosure and imagine a spacecraft taking them around the planet at speeds faster than light. Another aspect of the film that really stood out was the dialogue which although is geared towards entertaining the kids has stood the test of time and sounds fresh enough to have made me chuckle quite a few times during the film.

Max: I crashed into electrical towers and my star charts were erased. I need the ones in your head to complete my mission.

David: So you need ME and my INFERIOR brain to fly that thing?

Max:Correction, I need the SUPERIOR information in your INFERIOR brain to fly this... thing.

David:Where do you go next, Max?

Max: Back in time to when I picked up my creatures. By now they're so hungry, they could eat a zigzog.

David:What's a zigzog?

Max: Kind of like a hippo, but with feathers.

For most adults Flight of the Navigatoris a journey back to their childhood, while fans of Sex and the City can find a young Sarah Jessica Parker in a small role sporting pink highlighted hair, something I'm not too sure Carrie Bradshaw would approve of? As for the younger generation, they can enjoy the film for what it is, fun, adventurous, humorous, and a feel good family entertainer that should be in everyone's home collection.

Rating:  4/5

DVD Information:

Special Features - Commentary by director Randal Kleiser & Producer Jonathan Sanger

UK Release Date - 19 November 2012

Running Time - 86 Minutes

Region Code - Region Free

Certificate - U

The Lorax Premier - From The Orange Carpet

The sun was out and orange with a dash of yellow was the color of the day. We've seen red carpets, we've even seen green, but the bright orange one, signifying the color of the film, welcomed everyone at the entrance of Birmingham Cineworld who were hosting the premier of the new animation, Lorax, based on the ever famous Dr. Seuss book. The event was also the very first UK premier for a film outside of London.

The event was beautifully organized with gracious hosts and a sense of joy and laughter all around with the Lorax character dancing and mingling on the carpet along with balloon makers and face painters. My sources inside the theater, wife and daughter, informed me the ambience was that of fun and frolic with cupcakes, candy-floss, sweets, Lorax mustaches, along with other goodies, in abundance to keep the young and the young-at-heart pleasantly satisfied.

Emile Heskey, Danielle Lloyd, members of the American Olympic Team, and Joe Egan were among the celebrities who walked down the orange carpet. Joe Egan, who has acted in the Sherlock Holmes films along with a part in the Indian film Ra.One epitomizes the "big lovable" character especially when he said one of his dreams was to walk down the red carpet with his mum. Called "the toughest white man on the planet" by Mike Tyson he modestly talked about how he's enjoying and loving slowly but surely rising up in the entertainment business making a name and mark for himself and can be seen next in the film Crying Wolf.

As expected, the arrival of Danny DeVito was greeted with unanimous cheering from all the fans present around the carpet. A legendary actor, he met with his fans and members of the press with the same kind of excitement and enthusiasm only a newcomer promoting his first movie has. Visiting Birmingham for the first time he was quick to point out that the much needed sunshine probably had something to do with the "Lorax" being in town. Crediting the entire team of the movie including producers, writers, and animators, he spoke about doing the voice for the movie in Russian, German, Spanish, and Italian himself. On stage, he emphasized the message that Lorax gives and how it is important that "if you see somebody abusing something, stop 'em".

I do hope that having the first ever UK premier of a major movie outside of London starts a new trend. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all present especially the children. You can watch a video I made of my daughter about her experience on her return below. Both my wife and my daughter enjoyed the film and the orange Lorax 3D glasses for the children were a nice little addition to the goodie bag.

I would also like to thank the wonderful people at DDA PR and Prepared PR who organized my very first press pass which I will cherish forever.  

Movie Thoughts - Is this the right time?

I've been struggling for the past year or so with trying to introduce some of the classic children films to my daughter (who is four and a half now). I tried A Christmas Story about six months back, but she lasted about half an hour before leaving. I am aware that her attention span is around the 30-45 minute mark in a theater (while watching any children's animation/film) and that is reduced even more at home because obviously there are a lot more distractions at home. In fact, a while back I tried to have a movie play date at home for some of her school friends, but they all lasted about 30 minutes into Toy Story before they were off playing with the kitchen set.

While my daughter is addicted to Peppa Pig, Dora and Chotta Bheem (Indian Cartoon), I have desperately been waiting her to watch movies like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, or Goonies, or even Mary Poppins, but alas I have been unsuccessful. The only full length animated feature she has managed to sit through, and does so repeatedly, is Tangled. So there seems to be some hope after all.

The reason why I bring up this discussion now is because this morning my daughter woke up and told me about a dream she had. According to her, she dreamt about being in space going to different planets where aliens live. So, the little light bulb on top of my head suddenly lightened up. Could this be the right time to maybe show her E.T.? She is all into aliens right about now and fascinated by their existence (or lack of), so could this be the moment I have been waiting for? As it happens I have wanted to buy some DVDs of movies that I watched as a kid and this might just be the moment I take that step and try showing them to my daughter.   

The truth remains that I can't wait for her to someday be as crazy about films as I am, but what the future holds I do not know. What do you think is the best time to introduce classic films to kids? Should I go ahead and show her E.T. and see what she thinks, or maybe wait a while? I mean the other day during #MTOS (Movie Talk On Sunday on Twitter) someone mentioned watching Rocky Horror Picture Show at 4, so E.T. should be okay?

Super 8

If you've grown up watching films like ET, The Goonies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the likes then there is a good chance you will enjoy Super 8 because of the nostalgia it is likely to bring out in you.

Set in the 1970s the film follows a bunch of kids who while making a movie (on a Super 8 camera) during their summer break, witness a train crash and eventually end up running from the military and an unknown entity in their sleepy little town. Part action, part children, and part monster movie, the film is edge of the seat entertainment with some brilliant acting from the younger cast members especially Elle Fanning.

Super 8 has some tremendous backing with Spielberg as the producer and JJ Abrams directing, but the story is pretty simple and at times I did feel that certain elements were rather clichéd and did not add much to the story. Nevertheless, the initial suspense and then the trills make up for whatever the story falls short on. The biggest problem I had with Super 8 was the ending. A tad abrupt and hugely anti-climatic, the film could have done with a much stronger and grander ending.

Everything else aside, Super 8 is back to the basics family entertainment reminiscent of past films that glorify the importance of friendship, family, forgiveness, and lastly the right to live freely.

Having finally seen the film, I could understand if the newer generation doesn’t like it as much, but then I’m part of the older generation that grew up on movies like Adventures in Babysitting and as a result thoroughly enjoyed Super 8.

A 4 out of 5 star rating.       

Theatrical Debut - Toy Story 3

Right, so a few good things came out of this movie. I for once enjoyed the 3D aspect of the movie. It was smooth and clear and added... well a new dimension to the movie. It would have been nice to have a few things fly at you, but unfortunately I feel the 3D movie makers are staying away from that sort of stuff thinking it takes away from the seriousness of the movie. But in a kids movie? Come On! a couple of things flying around to catch would do good.

Secondly, this was the first movie that my daughter watched in a movie theatre. It was an exciting experience for her, till about halfway through the movie at least. After that our parenting skills took over as we tried our best to keep her from getting bored and throwing a tantrum. Nevertheless, everything went well and it must have made an impression on Saanvi because the first thing she did that evening (during her iPad time) was play with her Toy Story 3 App.

As for the movie, it lacked the humour that was there in the first two movies. The Buzz Lightyear speaking a foreign language gag had already been done previously, but surprisingly got the maximum laughs (guess the makers know what they are doing). Talking about the animation is redundant as we all know it's a Disney-Pixar film and that sums it up pretty much. I do hope this is the last installment as they ended on a nice little semi-high note, and making another one would be stretching it a bit. The last 5 minutes of the movie were as strong as the montage in UP! that made everyone teary eyed. 

What I do feel is that this movie would have been equally good without paying the extra 2 quid for the 3D aspect. We went hoping Saanvi would enjoy it more in 3D.  The short -"Night and Day" -before the movie was another example of Pixar brilliance.

As for rating it, 3 Toys out of 5. Maybe 3 and a broken toy (3.5) if we take the Pixar Short into account as well.