Due Date (2010) vs Planes Trains & Automobiles (1987)

I'm going to come out and say it, Planes, Trains & Automobiles is better than Due Date. Due Date tries to be a bigger and better version of Planes, Trains & Automobiles and fails, so instead of having the flight land in a different city, there's a ridiculous bomb threat. Instead of one major story point, we have multiple plot details that didn't have to be written. These things and more amount to an ending that should've been reached through a faster and easier route.

The characters are exaggerated to the point where Ethan (Zack Galifianakis) is just the most grating idiot anyone can meet and Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) is a ticking time bomb. They both have their redeeming qualities, but you don't always see them shine through. Instead, Peter physically and verbally assaults Ethan, and Ethan seems unintentionally hellbent on ruining Peter's trip. While you will laugh at the movie a lot you'll notice something is missing, even if you've never seen Planes, Trains & Automobiles. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about the heart of the movie.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles has several scenes that won't make you laugh, but will leave you thinking something like, "What was this movie really about?" Due Date doesn't really have that, you go in, have a laugh (a pretty good laugh at times), and get out. Both movies are great, one just does the genre (road movie) justice. This is what it boils down to, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles did it first and did it best. Does that make Due Date terrible? No, it's a great movie. It's just in second place.

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Hair Raising Hare (1946)

Some of the best of Bugs Bunny and Chuck Jones are shown in this film. What I really noticed about Hair Raising Hare is it shows how many different ways an action or emotion can be animated. And if I'm right, it's the director's job to pick out the best way to go for a particular scene. They decide how a scene plays out based on the script, am I right? Bugs goes through several different walk cycles, a take where he goes through several facial expressions of fear (complete with "Yipe!" sign), and several other animation exercises. Bugs has his greatest moments of breaking the fourth wall in this cartoon, my favorite being his response to the "doctor in the house." The monster is very funny, and part of his own set of interesting gags, from being in a suit of armor to "Canned Monster." His single line of dialogue-single word-is hilarious. The two things I didn't like-Bugs is WAY too smart to fall for the mechanical rabbit in the beginning of the cartoon, the second time makes up for it though. Also, that scientist guy is too creepy. If they could have made him kind of funny, just a little, this would be perfect.

Title Card | Copyright 1946 Warner Brothers and AT&T

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The King's Speech (2010)

I walked into this film with no idea what it was about and no real expectations because of that. I knew it was generating a lot of buzz and great reviews, but I didn't have the faintest idea of what it was about. I just knew I wanted to see a movie that day and I picked The King's Speech. I walked out of the theater amazed.

This film is about Prince Albert (Firth), A.K.A Bertie, becoming the king of England during a period of personal and international crisis. Colin Firth gives a marvelous performance in the title role as a man with a severe speech impediment, a stammer, and self-doubt. To help cure the stammer Bertie sees a speech therapist, at his wife's (Helena Bonham-Carter as Queen Elizabeth) insistence. The speech therapist is Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) and he changes the lives of The King and the people of England. While all this is happening England is rocked by political controversy and WWII on the horizon.

The highlight of The King's Speech is the acting. Everyone onscreen gives it their all, each working off a great script by David Seidler and Tom Hooper's direction. Firth and Rush are able to play off of each other perfectly and through that we see the characters develop. Firth himself plays the role extremely well. He never makes the stammer feel fake in any way and he shows how much more there was to Bertie's life, his love of his wife and daughters, concern for his brother and country, and grief and resentment toward his father. Rush comes in as a sympathetic friend and, more importantly, equal to his counterpart and plays the role gorgeously If you've only seen her in Tim Burton films and the Harry Potter series then Helena Bonham Carter is almost unrecognizable in appearance and demeanor. She, first of all, does not appear like she's escaped from a prison or asylum. Queen Elizabeth, in this film, is shown mainly as a wife. A very supportive wife who only wants the best for her husband, but isn't always sure what the best thing is when it comes to treatment.

I recommend you see this film at least once, I saw it twice (once with a friend). The second time around I was able to pick up certain key moments I missed much more quickly-and became more immersed in the film's story.

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