Movie Review: ***^Forever Young (1992)

This is a very enjoyable movie, about a test pilot (Mel Gibson) who decides to be frozen when his girlfriend (Isabel Glasser) is hit by a car an in a coma.  He regrets that he never proposed marriage to her.  His friend (George Wendt) is a scientist working on a special project and needing a subject for cryogenics.  However, he is misplaced for over 50 years.  His friend died in a fire, saving the cryogenics machine.  They were both listed killed in the fire, and the machine misplaced in a warehouse.  Until some kids, playing around, open the capsule, and out comes a man.  He gets the jacket of one of the kids (Elijah Wood), and traces it to his house, where he meets the kids mother (Jamie Lee Curtis.)  The cryogenics does not stop rapid aging after someone is unthawed.  The test pilot is trying to find those people with whom he associated, and finally comes upon someone who might know something.  Finally after several days, things start to fall into place.  This is a love story where you get a second chance. 

Movie Review: ****Chicken Run (2000)

This is stop-motion animation from Aardman Animations Studio in England.  It features the voices of Mel Gibson as Rocky and Jane Horrocks as Babs.  Babs has a bad habit, she wants to escape the coupe.  Her efforts get her in solitary confinement, over and over.  But when a rooster comes flying in the the chicken yard, a new scheme is born.  Rocky does not tell that he was shot out of a cannon, and gets the hopes of the other chickens up as the feed him and keep him away from the farmer.  He is nursing a broken wing.  In the end, his fraud is exposed, and he runs away without saying goodbye.  But the dream is still alive.  It's escape or be turned into a chicken pot pie.  The chickens build a plane, and away the go.  Rocky redeems himself in the end, and just in time.  This film was fun.  I don't know if I like the stop-action animation, which is sort of like clay.  I know I don't like that the chickens all had teeth in addition to beaks.  

Disney Movie Review: Pocahantas (1995)

***^ Pocahontas (1995): This movie portrays the conflict between two cultures.  It has the wicked colonists who are seeking freedom; and gold.  It also shows the people of Pocahontas, who are in perfect harmony with nature and the earth, even though they have their own conflicts between peoples.  Mel Gibson gives voice to John Smith, and Irene Bedard to Pocahontas.  Judy Kuhn provides the vocals for Pocahontas.  David Ogden Stiers is the gold-seeking governor.  Pocahontas is coming to a crossroads in her life, and has to decide whether or not to marry Kocoum, the warrior.  She consults the willow tree to get direction.
    The best part of this show is the meeting of John Smith and Pocahontas in the mist of the waterfall, and the relationship that follows. Another highlight is "Colors of the Wind:"
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
A beautiful song.

Disney Musical Movie Review: ***^ Pocahontas (1995):

 This movie portrays the conflict between two cultures.  It has the wicked colonists who are seeking freedom; and gold.  It also shows the people of Pocahontas, who are in perfect harmony with nature and the earth, even though they have their own conflicts between peoples.  Mel Gibson gives voice to John Smith, and Irene Bedard to Pocahontas.  Judy Kuhn provides the vocals for Pocahontas.  David Ogden Stiers is the gold-seeking governor.  Pocahontas is coming to a crossroads in her life, and has to decide whether or not to marry Kocoum, the warrior.  She consults the willow tree to get direction.
    The best part of this show is the meeting of John Smith and Pocahontas in the mist of the waterfall, and the relationship that follows. Another highlight is "Colors of the Wind:"
Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon
Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?
Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?
A beautiful song.

Movie Review: ****Signs (2002)

This is another M. Night Shyamalan movie and stars Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix.  The premise behind this movie is fascinating, and we see the fear through the eyes of the actors.  First mysterious things happen, and then crop circles, and then a view of an alien on the TV.  The reaction to this by Joaquin Phoenix blows me away.  It sets you up for suspense, because the aliens are not there to be friends, but to have a picnic, with humans as the food.  Gibson plays a pastor, who has given up the cross when his wife passed away in an auto accident.  The events of this movie help him find his faith again.  Some things--call them intuition, or inspiration, cannot be explained other than that God is watching us.  This movie is very well done.  It is a must see.