Why Sly won for Creed

There were many cheering Rocky fans last night as the creator mind and star of the boxing series won the recognition they felt was long overdue.

Sylvester Stallone was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay at the 1976 Academy Awards for the first Rocky but was defeated for both. But now, after his Golden Globe win for Best Supporting Actor for the series Spinoff Creed, Stallone is unarguably a shoe-in to finally win that golden statue.

But it wasn't so much his performance in Creed that won him the Golden Globe last night as the character he portrayed. Rocky Balboa has been with us for 40 years-40 years! We've seen him fall in love, get married, have a son, lose his wife to cancer, and now we've seen him battling cancer himself. Seeing the character of Rocky Balboa go through chemotherapy was like seeing a favorite uncle go through chemotherapy, because he's been in our national psyche for so long that it feels like he is a member of our American family. To many Americans and die hard Rocky fans, Rocky Balboa is the embodiment of the American Dream-an underdog boxer who faces off against the heavyweight champion of the world and in the end achieves fame and glory.

His win last night was also the culmination of a great reversal of fortune for the Rocky franchise from the lows of Rocky V, which tanked at the Box Office back in 1990 and was seen as a dismal end for a franchise beloved by so many fans. Stallone said later he did V because of greed and was his prime motivation for writing and directing Rocky Balboa, which not only did better commercially and critically than the previous installment, but also had one of the most inspirational motivational speeches in movie history.

Oscar nominations are this Thursday morning. When Stallone's name is read for Best Supporting Actor, you can bet they will be many fans cheering his name, ready to stand in his corner one more time.

Why I Agree With The President's Action on Gun Violence

I was never more ashamed of my government than on that fateful day in April, 2013, when the U.S. Senate voted to block common-sense gun control legislation that would have expanded background checks in the wake of Sandy Hook. The key word is blocked. The measure, which would have prevented criminals and people with mental illnesses from buying a gun, actually passed with 54 votes, but because it didn't get those three extra votes the Senate GOP and several red-state, Pro-NRA Democrats were able to filibuster it (I'm thinking about you, Mark Pryor. How did that vote turn out for you?).

In the almost three years since that "shameful day for  Washington", as the President described it while standing in the Rose Garden with family members affected by Sandy Hook, this nation has experienced even more senseless gun tragedies in Isla Vista, in Charleston, in Lafayette, in Roseburg, in Colorado Springs, and just recently in San Bernardino. 33,000 Americans died in 2013 from gun violence, including 21,000 who used guns to take their own lives. This has gone far enough, and that's why I'm glad the President acted today. 

With Congress unwilling to do their jobs, instead focusing on another Repeal Obamacare bill, the President stood with Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in the Tucson Massacre five years ago that left six people dead, along with several other people affected by gun violence, to announce his executive order that would help prevent tragedies like Tucson and Newtown and San Bernardino from happening in the future. 

The core  of the executive order is that it would expand background checks to guns purchased online or at gun shows. This is supported 90% of Americans, including 90% of gun owners, which isn't much of a surprise because it's common sense. What's the point of going to a gun store and find out your criminal history prevent you from buying a gun when you can just buy one at a gun show, or, more conveniently, buy one over the internet? Does anyone seriously think domestic abusers, criminals, and people with mental illnesses should be able to go out and buy a gun? (I know the NRA does but that's a whole other matter). The executive order will also direct the FBI to hire an additional staff of 230 to help process background checks 24/7. $500 million in additional funding for mental health services would need Congressional Approval. 

By far the biggest moment of the speech was when the President shed a tear when mentioning the first graders that were gunned down at Sandy Hook, saying that whenever he thinks of them it "makes me mad". It makes me mad to, that we live in a country where most of our representatives care more about scoring political points and winning the next election than keeping their constituents safe. But I'm glad at least we have a President who understands that this has gone on long enough, and that we need to do something about it. 

Pixar's "Inside Out" Is a Great Idea (And a Great Movie)

Over the past 20 years since the release of Toy Story, Pixar Animation has taken us on many great adventures, from the oceans to outer space to the monsters living inside our closet.

It's newest release Inside Out, takes us on a journey through the thing that has puzzled humanity for most of our existence on Earth: that of the human mind.

The 15th film from the Disney-owned Emeryville studio begins with the birth of Riley, which causes her emotion Joy (Amy Poehler) to come into existence. But she is soon joined by Sadness (Phyllis Smith) right when Riley starts crying. Later as Riley grows up her emotions begin to include Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).

Everything in Riley's life seems perfect, until her family suddenly moves from their home in Minnesota to San Francisco where her dad creates a start-up company. Being in a new home and going to a new school causes Riley's emotions to fight against one another, the main conflict between Joy, whose top priority is to make sure Riley is happy all the time, and Sadness, who Joy tries to contain as best she can. But once Joy and Sadness accidentally get sucked out of headquarters and have to find her way back, Riley is left with her three other emotions to deal with, causing her to become a moody preteen and run away from home.

Of course the film comes with a happy ending, as you would expect from a Pixar movie. But what makes this one different from all the rest is that there's no clear-cut villain. Sure Joy and Sadness come across a scary clown that is a part of Riley's biggest fears, but other than that there's no antagonist throughout the whole picture. That is because the movie's entire conflict exist within Riley herself. Inside Out deals with her thoughts, her emotions, the choices she makes, her deepest, darkest fears, and what means the most to her.

When I first heard of the movie's plot I was a bit skeptical, but once again Pixar has pulled off the impossible brilliantly. Riley's mind is a world of it's own, a visual wonderland that you can get lost in. There's imagination land with enormous french fries, Dream Productions that produces her dreams, and other parts of her brain and subconscious. There's also Riley's train of thought, which is actually a literal train.

The movie's message is a surprising one, that the emotion of sadness is actually a good thing and can be beneficial to our lives. This message may be somewhat confusing to younger viewers, but will certainly resonate with parents and older moviegoers, especially those who have dealt with depression in their own lives. The film reminds me of The Simpsons episode Lisa Sings The Blues where Lisa is sad for the most of the episode until Marge tells her that sadness is ok and that you don't have to pretend to be happy.

Some of the best moments in the film are when we go through the emotions of other characters such as Riley's parents (moms and dads will get a kick out of Riley's dad replaying a game he saw on TV in his head during dinner while his wife is talking to him). Poehler and Smith make a great pair, with Joy's bright, sunny personality contrasting with Sadness's sad, downbeat demeanor. Sadness's morbid sense of humor is also fun to watch.

While the film deals with some complex emotional issues, it shies away from including characters who have any sort of mental illness, treating everyone's mind as if they are all the same. What about people who are Bi-polar, have post traumatic stress disorder, or any other sort of emotional issue? How do the emotions within their minds interact? As the writer of this blog who has Asperger's surely knows, not everyone's minds works the way Riley's does. As the issue of mental issue has become more prevalent in our society, I'm hoping that if there is a sequel it will deal with some aspect of this. Still, Inside Out is a cinematic delight and another win for the studio that brought you Woody and Buzz. 

15 years after "Titan A.E."

15 years ago today saw the release of perhaps one of the most underrated animated movies in the history of cinema.

The film I am referring to, Titan A.E., is a visually stunning thrill ride for anyone who enjoys science fiction but ended up being a huge box-office disappointment, losing 20th Century Fox $100 million and essentially shut down the studio's animation department.

This however, doesn't necessarily mean that Titan is a bad movie. Most of the blame for the movie's demise had to do with it's botched marketing campaign, which couldn't figure out whether to target children or teenagers. Luckily I was one of the few people who saw it in theaters, and it was a blast I will always remember.

Set in the year 3043 A.D., 15 years after Earth was destroyed by a sinister alien race called The Drej (who were obviously inspired by the aliens from Independence Day) Titan finds a young man named Cale (Matt Damon) who discovers that the ring his father gave him before Earth was blown to smithereens contains a ship called the Titan, which has the ability to create a planet and give the human race a new home. Together with pilot Akima (Drew Barrymore) and her ships's captain Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman), Cale sets out on an adventure through different planets in order to find the Titan, but not without a few twists along the way.

The movie's biggest strength are its visuals, with Roger Ebert citing one sequence as demonstrating "what live action can do and animation cannot". Made by the same team who made 1997's Anastasia, Titan combines traditional 2-D animation with amazing computer generated effects when needed. Together they create a movie that is just stunningly beautiful to look at, and along with its always-moving story and great soundtrack, Ttian is one of those under the radar films that is worth checking out.

"Jurassic World" Debuts to Biggest Opening Weekend Ever

Jurassic World took a huge chunk out of the Box-Office this weekend.

Not only did the fourth entry in the Spielberg franchise debut to $208.8 million, surpassing The Avengers to have the biggest domestic opening weekend of all time, but it also grossed more than three times all the other movies played this weekend COMBINED.

That's insane.

So what led to the T-Rex size turnout that led the T-Rex size opening weekend? A lot of it certainly has to do with audience's nostalgia for the first movie, and the witty banter between Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard didn't hurt. Nor did the performances of Ty Simpkins and Nick Robinson, who play two brothers. And although this is only the second film directed by Colin Treverrow (and the first that cost north of $100 million), Worlds opening has  turned him into an A-list director overnight.

But I believe the biggest reason why this movie did so well and far surpassed expectations is because it took us back to the Jurassic Park franchise but with a twist. How many times have we seen someone being eaten by a dinosaur, chased by a dinosaur, or trying to hide from a dinosaur? What we haven't seen before, what makes this movie seem new and exciting, is that we've never before seen a fully operational Dinosaur theme park filled with actual theme park goers. It's as if we finally get to see what John Hammond's vision was when he invited Dr. Grant and everyone else in the first movie. That is what led people to flock to cinemas this weekend.

Jurassic World's Box-Office record might not end with its opening weekend. There's a chance the movie could also surpass Avatar's $760 million gross to become the biggest movie in U.S. Box Office history. To do so, World will have to gross 3.59 times its record-breaking opening weekend, which would require it to have strong legs in the coming weeks but is not entirely out of the question. Inside Out opens this Friday, but that may end up being more of a counter-programming option for families who didn't want to see dinosaurs maul people. And while Ted 2 might hurt it's chances depending on how well the Seth McFarlane flick does, World's biggest competition may be in three weeks when it faces Terminator: Genysis. 

Hillary's Elecotral College Edge

Hillary Clinton's announcement Sunday that she is finally entering the presidential race means that she is not only the inevitable front-runner for the Democratic nomination, but that she has a very good chance of actually becoming the first female President. 

That is because of her advantage when it comes to the electoral college. Since 1992 when her husband was first elected to the presidency, 18 states and the District of Columbia have voted for the Democratic nominee for President in each consecutive election. These states plus D.C. now have a total of 242 electoral votes-just 28 votes shy of winning The White House.

The "Blue Wall" includes California (55), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), Hawaii (4) , Illinois (20), Maine (4), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (11), Michigan (16), Minnesota (10), New Jersey (14), New York (29), Oregon (7), Pennsylvania (20), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), Washington (12), and Wisconsin (10). 

New Mexico narrowly went for Al Gore in 2000 and for George W. Bush in 2004, yet in the last Presidential election the state and it's 5 electoral votes were uncontested and ended up being won by Obama by 10 points, putting it firmly in the Democratic column and giving Hillary a base of 247 electoral votes. A recent poll from September shows her leading Jeb Bush there by 14 points. 

The midwestern states of Michigan and Pennsylvania used to be considered battleground states yet Obama won both last time around without even campaigning in either one. The state the GOP might have a shot at breaking the blue wall is Wisconsin, but it's highly doubtful since Obama won the state by 7 points despite the fact that native son Paul Ryan was on the GOP ticket. 

This doesn't necessarily guarantee Hillary will win the presidency, but it does give her a substantial edge over the GOP-nominee-in-waiting, who would have a base of 191 electoral votes. For example, the GOP nominee would have to win either Ohio or Florida to win the election, yet Hillary could conceivably win without winning either of them, as long as she held Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire from the last election. 

The odds are supposed to be very much against any Democrat being able to win the White House next year. Since World War II, only once has the party in power been able to extend their control beyond two terms (in 1988, when Vice-President George H.W. Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan). But given the electoral college edge Hillary has, the odds against her don't seem so bad. 

Movie Review: The Duff

Very rarely will you come across a movie that is not only great but also speaks to you on a deeply personal level. 

For me The Duff is that movie. 

Though it has only grossed $31 million in it's 28 days of release, that's more than three and a half times the Lionsgate/CBS Films co-productions $8.5 million budget. I not only consider it my favorite movie of 2015 thus far but also the best movie I have seen in years. 

Luckily I graduated from high school right before "cyberbullying" started. Yet anyone who was ever picked on in school would almost certainly resonate with the main protagonist and what she has to go through. 

That protagonist is high school senior Bianca Piper, played by Parenthood's Mae Whitman (even if you have never seen Parenthood you most likely seen her before as the President's daughter in Independence Day). A cult-horror film fanatic, Bianca is not your typical high school teenager. One night Bianca and her two best friends Jess and Casey (played by Skyler Samuels and Bianca A. Santos, respectively) go to a party thrown by reality-show wannabe and Queen B of the school Madison Morgan (Bella Thorne) who views people like Bianca as inferior to her. 

During the party, Bianca runs into her much despised next-door neighbor Wesley Rush (Robbie Amell), Madison's boyfriend and a star on the school football team, who explains to her that she is Jess and Casey's "Duff"-their "Designated Ugly Fat Friend", the friend who is not as popular or attractive as her friends, therefore making her the person can ask questions about them before making their move. 

This revelation turns Bianca's whole world upside down. In addition to having a falling out with Jess and Casey after finding out that she is their "Duff", Bianca reluctantly enlists the help of Wesley to make her less "Duff" like in exchange for helping him pass chemistry so she can win the heart of her guitar-playing crush Toby Tucker (Nick Eversman). In one of the comedic moments of the film, Bianca and Wesley head to the mall, where she tries on new clothes and pretends that one of the manequins is Toby, confessing her love and pretending to make love to it. This gets secretly filmed by one of Madison's friends, gets uploaded on YouTube, and causes the entire student body to make fun of Bianca. 

The scene where she cries in the school restroom is one of the very few times I have sympathized so deeply with a character on film. Although I graduated from high school in 2007, a time when high schoolers didn't have smartphones and the term "viral video" didn't exist, like Bianca I was picked on for being "weird" or "different", for not being a "normal" person like everyone else. It is the kind of experience that feels like hell at the time but that makes you a stronger person. 

Wesley tells Bianca not to let the video get to her and be straight up to Toby about her feelings for him. I'm not going to say what happens next because it would spoil the whole movie, but I will say there a few surprising twists and turns in the last half hour or so of the film. 

Major props go to Whitman, who essentially helped carry the entire film and not only made the character of Bianca fun and enjoyable but also someone you can root for. If director Ari Sandel had chosen a less capable actress the movie might have ended up being boring as hell. Liking The Duff rests entirely on liking the character of Bianca, and Whitman does such a superb job of making the character likable that you end up wanting to watch her journey on screen. Though Whitman has been mostly under the radar save for people who have watched Parenthood, she has the capability and potential to be a leading comedic actress in the vein of Tina Fey and Melissa McCarthy. 

The Duff will not end up being one of the top 10 grossing movies of 2015 or even the top 100 grossing movies of 2015. Upcoming blockbusters like The Avengers: Age of Ultron will certainly surpass the films entire domestic gross in just one day. But if you've ever been made fun of for being quirky or different, seeing The Duff while it is still in theaters is an experience worth having.