Wreck-It Ralph: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - In my memory, I distinctively remember the day when my family bought our first personal computer. I was about five years old, I believe, and I remember having been at a family friend's house several weeks previous and they had showed us kids the computer games that could be played on such systems. Several years later, I was first introduced to Pac-Man on an arcade system at church. From a young age, video games have played a large role in expanding my imagination. In more recent years, however, there simply hasn't been enough time to fiddle around with them any more, plus with how realistic and graphic many of them are today, they no longer provide for a brief moment of immersive escapism as they once did. I always appreciated the clear distinction between reality and fantasy, which has been blurred so much in video games today. Nevertheless, when I first heard about Wreck-It Ralph earlier this year and saw the promotional trailer featuring many of the villains of an era of gaming gone by, it immediately struck the nostalgia nerve in my heart.

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The Rocketeer: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Admittedly, I've been sporadic with continuing my series of reviewing the films of my childhood, but a significant part of this is because it is not always easy to source these films. There are several more on my list to review before this series is complete, but this week, I came across The Rocketeer, which is a film that I watched far more times than any child should be permitted. I'm not entirely sure why I watched it so much, or if it was simply due to a limited supply of films that my parents allowed me to watch. Nevertheless, this film possesses some nostalgia for me, plus it was also a film that preceded the fame experienced by Alan Arkin, Jennifer Connelly and Terry O'Quinn, so it's interesting to look back on this film and see these actors before they were a part of the big time.

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Brave: A film review

 - Vancouver, British Columbia - It’s hard to go wrong with Pixar, and I was rather delighted to see an advanced screening of their newest gem. I’d seen a teaser trailer, but all that really revealed to me was that there was a fiery red-haired Scots girl who is temperamental and amazing at archery. It left me curious as to what the meat of the movie was.

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