Trolls is a fantastic story told with beautiful vivid dazzling colors and out of this world graphics. The music was especially good because it took me back to the days when I grew up listening to the kind of music I loved but don’t get to hear much any more. It was great hearing those old songs mixed with some great new ones.
Trolls are small doll like creatures (also popular in my youth) who live in an almost perpetual state of happiness, singing, dancing, and hugging all day long. That’s all they do. Life was good until they were discovered by the Bergens, who are the opposite of the Trolls. They are not very attractive, large creatures who never feel happy, but discover they can feel momentary happiness if they devour a Troll. The Bergen’s capture the Trolls and place them in a cage, then hold an annual festival in which, each Bergen gets their feeling of happiness, by eating a Troll. On the day that Prince Gristle Jr. (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) was supposed to eat his first Troll, they had all escaped through underground tunnels, led by the troll King Peppy (Jeffrey Tambor). Furious Bergen King Gristle Sr. (John Cleese) banishes his Chef (Christine Baranski) who was in charge of the Troll preparation. After 20 years, the Trolls were never seen or heard from again by the Bergens.
King Peppy’s daughter, an extremely happy and optimistic troll Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick), decides to throw a huge party to celebrate the Trolls’ 20th year anniversary of freedom and the escape from the Bergens. Poppy ignored the fears and warnings of the grey, grumpy, glum troll who wouldn’t sing, called Branch (Justin Timberlake), that loud parties could attract the Bergens. Branch’s fears become true when the banished Bergen Chef, sees the fireworks and captures a number of Trolls. Poppy is among the Trolls who manage to hide, but discovers that none of the other Trolls dare to venture to Bergen Town to rescue their friends. She goes by herself, but gets trapped by several spider-like creatures. She is saved by the reluctant Branch, and together they go to Bergen Town.
Poppy and Branch discover that their friends are being guarded by the Scullery Maid Bridget (Zooey Deschanel), and strike a deal with her: If she frees their friends, they will help her get a date with the now King Gristle Jr. Poppy and Branch learn that Creek (Russell Brand), a Zen-like Troll is being held apart from the rest in a jewel that decorates the king’s mantle.
Of course, I won’t tell any more of the story, as not to spoil it for you–so check it out to see what happens. Trolls is a happy film that will make you feel good. I recommend it to all.
[TROLLS is nominated for Original Song]
A student loses all of his college tuition on a popular website playing on-line poker. He discovers that he was cheated so he sets out to confront the owner of the web site and finds himself working in a web of crooked high rolling cheats. Richie Furst played by Justine Timberlake, thought he was dealing with a legitimate, up front guy named Ivan Block, played by Ben Affleck, but soon found out differently. This movie reminded me so much of “21” a movie starring Kevin Spacey as a teacher who teaches a special student how to win at gambling by counting cards so he could afford his college tuition. I found Runner Runner to be very entertaining and well acted. I could actually believe this kind of thing could happen. There’s a lot of double crossing, deceit, action and drama in this movie. I especially enjoyed Justin Timberlake’s performance as he has turned out to be a really good actor as well as an excellent singer and a great entertainer. I recommend that you check it out on DVD.
I can’t say I liked Inside Llewyn Davis. I found it a little weird. I understand the movie was about a young folk singer who had no where to live in 1961 and that he slept on anyone’s couch, and that he was unsuccessful at being discovered, and of course, he had little to no money but, because the film only spanned over 1 week of Llewyn’s (played by Oscar Isaac) life, I didn’t really get a since of consistency or relevance. The cast was awesome but the story, for me, was not. I’m not sure why this movie received high ratings (I looked it up in IMDB and found it received a rating of 7.8) and 2 Oscar nods. Maybe I’m missing something. I found it boring, discombobulated, slow and dreary. I might add Justin Timberlake played Jim, another singer and friend to Llewyn. John Goodman also starred in the film as another homeless person (Roland Turner). The movie took place mostly in Greenwich Village in New York. Apparently, Llewyn had a singing partner who committed suicide by throwing himself off the George Washington Bridge. Like I said, this movie was all over the place. It’s probably worth seeing if you’re into folk music and a bit of Greenwich Village history. Other than that, I would skip this one.
CAROL's WORLDS 