Best Movie: ‘The Princess and the Frog’
BY HANNAH ROGERS
Entertainment Editor
Great movies come from great characters. In 2009, the onscreen characters I was most invested in were those in “The Princess and the Frog.”
Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) is a young waitress living in New Orleans during the Jazz Age who dreams of owning her own restaurant. Naveen (Bruno Campos) is a visiting prince who has been cut off by his parents because of his wild lifestyle. He is left with two options: marry for money or get a job. Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a Voodoo practitioner, sees an opportunity to take over New Orleans through Naveen and turns the prince into a frog. Through a series of events, Tiana transforms into a frog and accompanies Naveen on a journey to find a way to break the spell.
Though this movie captures the spirit of the traditional Disney movies, it takes several storytelling risks.
Despite being marketed as a “princess” movie, it is equally about Naveen and Tiana. The film’s love story is authentic as it helps the characters grow, though it does not take away from the adventure or the other characters’ arcs.
The film is not “girly,” it is simply a movie with a strong young woman protagonist. The movie’s plot is strong and takes a different spin on the classic fairy tale “The Frog Prince.”
After five years of computer animation, Disney returns to the 2D medium triumphantly.
Best Movie: ‘The Hangover’
BY APRIL WINDHAM
News Editor
This bachelor party gone bad is a hilarious guy comedy everyone can enjoy. After a crazy night in Vegas, the men wake up to a baby in the closet, a tiger in the bathroom, a stolen police car, a surprise wedding and a missing groom.
In order to find their missing friend, they have to go through some adventures and backtrack the night before.
The best part of the movie is although its story is overly exaggerated, it could happen to anyone.
If you can get past the crude language and inappropriate jokes, “The Hangover” offers a good laugh and a happy ending to all viewers.
Best Movie: ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’
BY BOB CARSKADON
Sports Editor
How do you turn one of the most-read books of all time into a movie and still keep viewers on the edge of their seats? You do it by straying from the original story. Yes, many fans’ biggest complaint about “Half-Blood Prince” is what makes it the best Potter film, yet and one of the best movies in 2009.
As Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) have aged, the acting has improved, but director David Yates took the series to a new level when he decided to exercise some creative license.
He made superb additions to the teen-love/angst between Harry and Ginny (Bonnie Wright) and the Hermione-Ron-Lavender (Jessie Cave) love triangle, and Lucky Harry could not have been better.
Yates also succeeded in making the film “dark,” as the book is, but it was not overdone like it was at times in “Order of the Phoenix.” The cave lake full of inferi was actually pretty creepy, as was the child Tom Riddle, who was eerily reminiscent of Damien from “The Omen.” “Half-Blood Prince” was the first Potter film without the based-on-the-book feel, and for that I am a grateful wizard.
Simultaneous Best/Worst Movie: ‘Star Trek’
BY HARRY NELSON
Opinion Editor
I have been a Trekkie for most of my life, so naturally, I was a bit skeptical when it was announced the new movie would feature the original characters as cadets, played by new young actors, and would target people who were not already fans of the series. To some extent, the creators of the movie succeeded magnificently.
The movie was visually stunning and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I was thoroughly engaged by the plot and appreciated the Easter eggs thrown in for the fans (for example, Sulu mentions he is trained in fencing).
But at the same time, the creators decided to give the fans a huge “screw you” by using time travel to wipe out hundreds of hours of continuity. What a great way to thank one of the most loyal fanbases out there by telling them that all of the previous TV series (well, except “Enterprise”) and movies actually “did not happen” now. And it was not even integral to the plot! It could have easily been some random planet destroyed and tied into the established continuity well. There is a line movies should not cross, but the asinine creators of this movie decided to do it anyway without even having a good plot-related reason. So yeah, it was a good movie. A great one, in fact. But a movie franchise has to respect its fans, and the 2009 film “Star Trek” film did not do that.
Worst Movie: ‘New Moon’
BY AUBRA WHITTEN
Managing Editor
Let me just start off by stating how sad I am to report that this movie set the record for the largest grossing midnight showing in domestic (United States and Canada) box office history at $26.3 million in over 3,000 theaters. It grossed $72.7 million domestically on its opening day, beating the $67.2 million record held by the infinitely superior film “The Dark Knight.”
Its opening weekend gave it the third highest opening weekend in domestic history, right behind two great movies: “The Dark Knight” and “Spiderman 3.” How a movie as horrifically bad as “New Moon” managed to do that is simply beyond my comprehension, and it really makes me feel like there is absolutely no hope for our culture.
Who lets this happen? I wish I could say preteen girls and their mothers, but sadly, I have been to the theaters to watch both “Twilight” saga movies and there were just as many college-aged girls and helpless boyfriends present. (Side note: Guys, be a MAN and just refuse to go see movies as dumb as this one. If your girlfriend refuses to back down, make her watch some extremely manly movie with you so you can attempt to earn back your man points.)
Basically, all this movie is soft porn for girls. Just admit it, ladies; you’re not there for the plot or the acting (or you better not be) – you’re there because Jacob (Taylor Lautner) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) look good shirtless.
There is lots of awkward staring, kissing attempts and weak sauce man fights over Bella (Kristen Stewart). Come on, since when are fake fights between an icy vampire and a smelly werewolf over such a weak character as Bella deemed to make a film worthy of grossing such high profits?
To quote my friend Helen Boswell: “I thought our nation was going under when the Jonas Brothers came out, but this is way worse than that.”
Worst Movie: ‘G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra’
BY KYLE WRATHER
Editor in Chief
It would be hard to find anyone our age does not have some sort of nostalgia for G.I. Joe. Because of this, the utter disappointment of the movie, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” is nearly enough to make any devout “Joe” fan throw away his vintage G.I. Joe lunchbox or make the ninja assassin Snake Eyes break his vow of silence to scream in disgust. With a movie based on a 25-year-old cartoon based on 3-inch plastic toys based on even older 12-inch toys, there is obviously some room to be campy and fun.
Miraculously this movie managed to seem both too serious and it was as if the entire cast and crew were not trying. Part of the problem may be the clash of intentions with the movie, while Gen. Hawk (Dennis Quaid) humorously references the 1980s G.I. Joe PSAs noting “knowing is half the battle,” co-star Marlon Wayans seems to relish the fact that he is in a movie at all by constantly overacting.
Similarly the digital effects were both over-the-top and somehow understated at the same time, making them appear both gaudy and disappointing (in hindsight, a gumby-style claymation adaptation may have been a better choice). “Rise of Cobra” embraces the trifecta of what ruins film: Bad acting, terrible special effects and ruining your entire childhood in one fell swoop, but now you know and knowing is half the battle.
Simultaneous Best/Worst Movie: ‘500 Days of Summer’
BY AUBRA WHITTEN
Managing Editor
“This is not a love story. This is a story about love.”
While the film’s opening words give a more than fair “heads up” to audience members, I still found myself frustrated at the end of the film. The ending (which really is justified considering the warning given in the beginning) and not-so-subtle signs throughout the movie clearly hint that Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) will not end up together; yet it feels like a love story and thus almost made me mad when the two did not end up together.
Another best/worst factor for this movie has to be Deschanel’s straight-up mean tease but absolutely adorable character. By the end of the movie, I found myself wanting to hate her for being flighty and using Tom, but at the same time, she is precious and adorable throughout the entire movie. Seriously, who hasn’t fallen in love with her irresistible blue eyes or charming singing voice?
Hands down, the best part about this movie was that it’s real. Just like life, no matter how well things seem to be going, things can change in an instant and life becomes bittersweet or downright hard. Watching Tom cope with the realization that Summer didn’t want a committed relationship is sad, but it’s reality – life does not always happen the way we think or hope that it will.
At the end, when Tom finally interviews for a satisfying job and meets Autumn, it is a sweet reminder of real life – there’s always hope and the promise of a new beginning.
