thoughts on Delivery Man

Vince Vaughn stars as David Wozniak, who makes deliveries for his family's butcher shop and has a knack for getting himself into ridiculous situations.  He won't let his girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders) come over anymore because he doesn't want her to know he's trying to grow pot.  He currently owes some mobster types $80,000 for reasons that I was never exactly clear on.  Emma tells him in an early scene that she's pregnant, but she's doubtful whether she can count on him to step up and be a father.

He soon finds himself in another ridiculous situation.  Apparently, when he was in his twenties, he donated a ridiculous amount of sperm to a sperm bank and is now the biological father of 533 kids.  He signed a confidentiality agreement when he donated the sperm, but now 142 of the kids are suing the sperm bank to try to find out his identity.  He is given a manila envelope with information about the 142 kids, and he starts paying them visits without telling them who he is.  He has fathered quite the assortment of children, it turns out (all of whom are now in their late teens or early twenties).  There is a wannabe actor who David covers for at work so that he can go on an audition.  There is an NBA basketball player.  There is a young woman who he saves from a drug overdose.  There is a young man with cerebral palsy.

What I have just given you is maybe the first third of the movie, and it's pretty good.  David and the people in his world are likable, as are many of the kids.  After a point, though, there's just too much going on.  One somewhat creepy kid figures out who he is and tries to get closer to him while keeping David's identity from the others.  David's lawyer and friend, Brett (Chris Pratt), suggests that David countersue to keep his identity a secret.  David doesn't really want to, but he needs to pay off the mobsters.  Also, he's trying to prove himself to Emma...all the while keeping this HUGE secret from her.  "I can't do this without you," he tells her at one point.  "Can't you?" I asked aloud (my two friends and I were the only ones in the theater).  He supposedly wants to build a life with her, but he's not telling her about a huge thing happening in his life.  Why is she in this movie, even? Supposedly her pregnancy is the thing that makes him want to grow up and figure himself out, but it's really his interactions with the kids that do that.

So...it was okay.  I liked most of the characters, but the story (which, granted, was fairly ridiculous from the beginning) lost me after a point.

thoughts on Frozen

In this animated Disney film, Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) are sisters and best friends.  Elsa has the ability to freeze things just by touching them.  As kids, this is fun (they build a snowman and bring him to life, they slide around on the ice, etc.) until an accident that happens while they're playing almost kills Anna.  Elsa and Anna's parents take them to some trolls who save Anna's life and warn them that Elsa's powers will only grow stronger; she must limit her contact with others and try to suppress her abilities.  Meanwhile, the trolls will erase Anna's memories of Elsa's magical powers.  Elsa and Anna's parents close the gates to the kingdom, and Elsa shuts herself in her room.  Because Anna no longer knows about Elsa's powers, she has no idea why Elsa never wants to play with her anymore. 

The girls grow older, and their parents are killed while traveling by boat.  Elsa is going to be queen, and the gates to the kingdom are opened for the coronation.  Anna meets a prince named Hans (Santino Fontana) and immediately falls in love with him.  When she tells Elsa she plans to marry him and have him move in with them, Elsa gets very upset, and her emotions set off her powers.  Horrified, she runs away where she believes she can be free to use her powers without hurting anyone.  Little does she know that she's set off an eternal winter in the kingdom.  Leaving Hans in charge, Anna runs off to find her, getting help along the way from Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an ice salesman whose business isn't going so well these days; his reindeer, Sven; and Olaf (Josh Gad), the snowman Elsa brought to life as a child.

There's a lot to like about this movie, everyone.  First of all, for all of the magical things I just mentioned-- Elsa's powers, the trolls, the adorable talking snowman, etc.-- it all feels really REAL.  You just really hurt for Anna when Elsa keeps pushing her away without telling her why.  Also, while there are characters in this movie who are not good people and who do bad things to the main characters, this is not a story where the characters just have to overcome a villain and everything will be fine; most of their problems come from chance accidents, from fear, from dishonesty and secrets, from impetuous decisions-- the same types of things most of our problems come from in real life.  Like in real life, then, the problems are solved when characters figure things out, when they make sacrifices, when they are honest with themselves and others.  There's romance in this story, too, but it sometimes causes more problems than it solves, and definitely doesn't make everything perfect.

In addition to a great story, let's also not forget that this movie is all just generally very well-done.  The songs are so good I'd like to get the soundtrack.  The animated winter wonderland the characters live in is beautiful.  Olaf the Snowman is super cute.  The characters are likeable.

Yeah.  Not only is this the best Disney movie I've seen in awhile, I daresay this is the best movie, period, that I've seen all year.

thoughts on Scandal 12/5

I like this show, but I've said it before, and I will say it again: this is a mean, dirty world these characters live in.  I HATED the torture stuff with Huck and Quinn, and...CYRUS PIMPED OUT JAMES WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT AND THEN GOT MAD AT HIM FOR GOING THROUGH WITH IT!!!!  What kind of person does that to their spouse?! Of course, though, I will be back for the next episode, what with the Sally Langdon "I've committed a sin" gasp-worthy moment at the end. This show!