Brave

I love, love, love PIXAR films and this is another gem in the Pixar golden crown. Beautiful scenery, good story, really great characters, hilarious jokes, awesome fighting scenes, there is absolutely little to dislike about this movie. The film is about Princess Merida, Pixar's first female protagonist, in medieval Scotland and her relationship with her mother Queen Elinor. Merida wants to live her life her way while her mother wants her to follow their kingdoms' traditions and find her a suitor to maintain peace between all the clans. They hold a archery contest to determine Merida's suitor. Merida enters in the contest for her own hand and hits dead center on every target. This angers the Queen, for Merida went against tradition by participating in the contest and embarrassing the clans for outperforming them. This leads to a huge fight between the mother and daughter. Feeling hurt by her mothers words and actions, Merida rides off into the woods. She then comes across a sort of 'Stonehenge' circle where she is lead by some magic wisps to a witch. She asks for spell from the witch that will change her mother, thus changing her fate. The witch gives her a cake, which she gives to her mother. Her mother takes a bite of the cake and changes into a huge bear. From there the two take a sort of journey together knowing a little bit more of each other and understanding from their different point of views. I don't want to give away the rest of film but it is really quite good. 

What really makes this movie so good is not so much the story, but the characters and the animation technology is what really makes this film so great. Every single character in this film is really great and they are hilarious when they playoff each other and are even funnier when they fight with each other. My favorite character would have to be the King, Fergous, he is just so funny , especially when he is fighting with some of his friends from the other clans or when he is in trouble with his wife. He seems to have a lot in common with his daughter, they both like to make jokes, they like to fight, practice archery, they just seem to have a good relationship. The Queen is pretty good too, I love how much power and respect she carries, she can cease an entire war with one dirty look, now that is real power. As for Merida, I think she is an okay character, I certainly like her more than most than the other Disney Princesses. I like the fact that she is not crazy for a boy or looking for love like other female characters, in fact there is no love interest at all in this movie, I really like that about this movie. At one point in the movie she even has a sword fight with her father in order to defend her mother and actually is able to push him to the ground, that is some major 'bravery' right there. As one would expect from Pixar, the animation and the details in this movie are amazing. The bears they created for this film look like real bears. The most impressive is the waterfall scene, it looks like a real waterfall with real mist surrounding it. Its not Toy Story 3 and I don't it will be nominated for best film, but I have no doubts that come Oscar time it will win Best Animated film hands down.

I have already been to see this movie twice, that is how good it is. This movie is great for everyone, I urge you to go see it as soon as possible to enjoy all the laughs and beautiful scenes Pixar has to offer. 

    

Rock of Ages (80s Glee with bigger names)

I took my dad to see this as a treat for Father's Day, I thought I would hate it but the music was pretty good and that is all. I spent my early childhood years listening to every single song that was performed in this movie. I love to listen to classic 80s music even up to today, rock music was just so much fun to listen to from back then. Clearly this movie was targeted toward older audiences who were teens back in that decade. The cast was great, I recognized every single person in the film, even the 80s musicians who made cameos in it. If you have ever watched the TV show Glee, this is basically a 2-hour 80s version of that, famous people singing other peoples' classic songs.
The story is boring and over done, you know what is going to happen before it even happens. Girl moves to L.A. meets nice boy, share the same dream, love at first site, lovers montage, misunderstanding, break-up, and you all know the rest of the story. The acting was okay, except from the young lead actor and actress, but they performed the music numbers quite well, I was dancing inside my brain as they sang and dance to the songs they preformed. The two young lead characters are more boring than dry, hard, plain toast, I was more interested with what was going on with all the background or sub characters since they actually had PERSONALITIES! If you are a Catherine Zeta-Jones fan, you will be disappointed with her performance in this movie. She is not that bad, she does perform Pat Benator's hit song 'Hit me with your best shot' and she sings it very well, she just wasn't cast as a good character for her. She usually plays these really strong, sometimes evil, sexy, hot female characters, in this movie she plays a crazy woman who has a grudge against Stacee Jaxx and uses her political ties to ruin his career. That is not who she is, she is a strong, sexy woman who can also be dangerous when she needs to be, she makes crazy too crazy. I loved how funny Alec Baldwin and Russel Brand were in this and they made a great team, they just played off each other really well like real best friends. They even sing well together in the duet they share, not great singing voices, but they perform the song well. There is a scene where the two of them work too well together, but I won't spoil it for you, you'll have to see the movie if you want to know. Tom Cruise was okay, he sang very well in this film too. I thought he was just lip-syncing to some other person's voice, no he sang every song himself. I don't know what to think of his acting in this film, I question if he really was acting or was really drunk to get into his character, who is just weird beyond reason, which is good when you are playing a rock star. Definitly not a summer blockbuster! There are only two reasons to watch this movie in theaters: Alec Baldwin with Russel Brand and Tom Cruise as a weird A-hole. If you don't care about those actors then just buy the soundtrack on iTunes!

Next up...
Brave and Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (I hope he is hunting Twilight vampires!)

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

 Happy belated Father's Day to all the Dads, Step-Dads, Father-In Laws, Grandpas, God-Fathers, and so on...
For Father's Day my family and I treated my Father to Freddy's because he was curious about it ever since they opened a few months ago in the shopping mall not to far from where I live. I thought it would be nice for him to try it before he left for his big trip with his buddy. And of course he enjoyed it, and so did the rest of my family. I wouldn't say it was special, I didn't hate it but it was okay, it was just a more expensive 50s themed fast-food restaurant with a drive-thru.



There really isn't much to say (or type in this case) about Freddy's because there really is very little that distinguishes it from other burger places, other than they use steakburgers. We did walk inside the place first, 5 seconds later we headed back out before we lost anymore blood from our ears and drove up to the drive-thru window. I have been to more rock concerts that were more quite and calm than this place. Even though I wasn't inside for very long, I saw enough of the inside to know they were going for "blah". Everything was red and white only and I mean "EVERYTHING" from the floors to the uniforms and the building itself. At least at McDonald's the interiors have a broader color palette. Its a no brain-er! The interior of your restaurant is just as important as how good your food is, and clearly they really don't care about their customer's comfort. As I said earlier it has a 50s theme to it, the 50s died a long time ago burger industry, JUST LET THEM REST IN PEACE ALREADY!!!! If you plan to visit Freddy's, just save your eyes and your ears by going through the drive thru.

Now the burgers and fries are the only thing that does set this burger joint apart from the other burger joints. From the pictures the burgers didn't look very good at all, they looked like shredded meat that was somehow put together. I ordered their #1 Combo (Original Double burger with fries and a Pepsi) and I really liked it. The steakburger was really different from a regular burger made from ground beef, it tasted just like a really tender steak. Hardly greasy, not enough to make you sick or cause your bun to collapse from the grease soak. Their fries are also unique, they are really thin. Thinner than shoestring fires, like the potato equivalent of onion strings you would get on a steak but not curly. Their fries are also crispy but still manage to have some softness when you chew. The food isn't the greatest but it's not the worst. I still prefer Smashburger or Five Guys for better burgers and fries, but I will keep Freddy's in mind if want something fast that is close by.

If you want to try a different fast food burger and fries then try Freddy's just drive up to the drive-thru window if want to enjoy them.

          

Welcome and say "MMMMMmmmm"

Hi and Welcome to BLD&M!
What I like to do on the weekends is go out to a restaurant or out to a movie with friends, or even both. These days though dine-in movie theaters seem to be coming back. Often my dad and I go to Movie Tavern to watch a movie and enjoy a meal, but they don't have a wide variety of choices and we have tried everything on their menu. The food from Movie Tavern is fine, I'm just sick of the same old stuff and wish they would add more items already. This summer though we're not planning on going often because their Retro Summer line-up is lame, they are just showing what they showed last summer and nothing new (by 'new' I mean new to the theater not a new film). So we are just going to Chinese theater at Arapahoe Crossing in Aurora (Its a theater that is built to look just like the one in Hollywood. Then we might go out for a bite either before or after a movie.
So whenever I go out to eat at some new place or see a new movie, I'll post about it. By sharing my experiences with you, I hope that my reviews will make it easier for you to plan your weekend or your date night. Or even save your sanity from seeing a bad film or eating at a lousy restaurant.
Thanks for your time and enjoy yourselves.