Reminder

Thanks Ira!

Zoodles

This is my first purchase of 2015:

I will use this "spiralizer" to make zucchini noodles, aka "zoodles." By smothering zoodles in delicious marinara sauce, I hope to further my New Year's resolution to eat more vegetables. Hopefully, this newfangled gadget does not go the way of my dusty, long-abandoned NutriBullet. 

Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest Semifinalists (My Picks)

Although Doritos initially expected to announce up to 30 semifinalists by Monday, November 17, this has been delayed as they are still reviewing submissions. 

In the meantime, here are entries that stood out to me:

50 Shades of Nacho Cheese: This commercial is a take on "Fifty Shades of Grey" which is a clever strategy considering Universal has teamed up with Doritos for the contest and Universal will be releasing the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie in February 2015, soon after the Super Bowl.
This commercial will especially resonate with the legions of global fans obsessed with Fifty Shades and therefore has cross-promotional appeal. If this commercial goes viral/is aired during the Super Bowl, it would introduce Fifty Shades to a broader audience than simply the readers of the book - I envision male Super Bowl viewers who would otherwise be amused by this commercial, are explained the inside joke by the Fifty Shades fans in their lives, i.e. wives/girlfriends/boyfriends? and are then coaxed into accompanying said Fifty fans to the movie - ahhh, see how Doritos brings lovers/freaks together.




Dog Dreams - This one featured awesome special effects, a Doritos truck and the perfect dog for the concept! How did they do that!? I'm curious how much this commercial cost to make. Not sure why the house is decorated like it's from the 70's though?



Craveman - Although my initial instinct would be that cavemen have already been overdone (Geico), this commercial was really well made. Check out the Nacho Cheese impression of Michaelangelo's "The Creation of Adam." Again, how much did this one cost to make!?



Dorito King - This one is my brother's favorite. It is successful because of the talented actors, particularly Marcus Johns who I think is a real comedic standout. I expect to see him make it big and he already has a substantial Vine following.



A Dorito A Day Keeps the Doc Away - This one is my brother-in-law's favorite. It's a well-made commercial with cool effects. It's also being well-promoted because it stars a pro-wrestler.



The Last Bag - This really well-executed commercial packs in a lot of action in just 30 seconds and I now realize firsthand how challenging that is to pull-off. The throwback to multiple Universal movies was really clever too (especially to my fave). However, this entry uses original music - which sounds great but is illegal according to the official contest rules. It doesn't seem fair that this commercial would move forward for that reason to me since all rule-abiding entries were limited to only the music provided by Doritos.



Girls Only Party - Once again, it's the talented cast that really makes this commercial a stand-out for me. The girly men are hysterical. I love the scene with the hand-slap followed by girly laughter.



The Lemonade Stand - This is a really well-made commercial. However, as nicely as this idea is executed, there's something awfully saccharinely manipulative about the whole thing. I think I got diabetes just from watching this. I'd like Doritos to ultimately go for something edgier as their winner.



Old Enough (Version 2) - There's something simultaneously creepy and captivating about this odd little commercial. Again, great casting enhances the production and I like the diversity of the cast which is lacking in previous contest finalists. However, I don't get why the little girl would be too young for Doritos? I'm not sure that Doritos wants to endorse that message even if I see Super Bowl viewers getting into the hot model.



Hurry Back - Clever premise that was executed nicely. Great acting and loved the expression of the little girl at the end.




I wonder how many of my picks will make it to the semifinals!

By the way, if you would like for me to review your Doritos commercial entry, comment with the link below.

UPDATE: Check out additional great entries that I missed before writing this post by reading the comments! For example, why does Doritos Angler have so few views?! It's hysterical!

Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest

I'm rooting for this one to win!

"50 Shades of Nacho Cheese"

Tuxedo Kittens

I'm allergic to cats. Yet, last weekend, I spontaneously embarked upon a stray kitten rescue mission prompted by my compassionate cousin. 

It's a long story, but I'm happy to report that these little babies, only 3 weeks old (and flea-free!) by the Vet's assessment, are in great hands. They will be nursed by an expert before they are ready for adoption. 

Exercise Day 9 & DAP Movie #7: Madagascar 3 - Europe's Most Wanted

Done & Done.

This is part of my ongoing series of DAP posts.

Dreamworks Animation Movie #7
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
2012
Rating: PG
Budget: 145 million
Box Office: 746 million plus (even more than the sequel!)

IMDb Logline: "Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent - Madagascar style."

Lazy Review: Madagascar 3 was cute but 2 remains my favorite. 3 was less grounded as far as storyline which actually fit its circus theme. Running away with the circus also lent itself to really cool animated scenes. 

After the movie: I missed most of The Voice and am now in progress watching Christina Grimmie's major misstep singing Fun's "Some Nights." Too bad. 

Not exactly 10 minutes later: I'm not really loving Jake Worthington's rendition of Bryan Adam's "Heaven" either. Usher gave some helpful background on vocal issues that Jake has been suffering. This helps me to better appreciate, not hate. 

DAP - Movie #6: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

This is part of my ongoing series of DAP posts.

Dreamworks Animation Movie #6
Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa
2008
Rating: PG
Budget: 150 million
Box Office: 602 million plus (over half a billion dollars!!!)

IMDb Logline: "The animals try to fly back to New York City, but crash-land on an African wildlife refuge, where Alex is reunited with his parents."

This sequel was absolutely delightful! It's rare for a sequel to best its predecessor but this one goes down as my favorite Dreamworks Animated movie of those I have viewed so far.

The characters were developed even further, and even Chris Rock's Marty won me over. Despite my not loving his voice in Madagascar 1, it was comedic genius to have him voice the entire herd of thousands of zebras in the sequel.

What's really impressive is how well Madagascar 2 balanced all of the cool animal characters introduced in the first Madagascar, while adding new lovable animals to the fold - including Zuba, Alex's dad, voiced by the late great Bernie Mac.

This is no easy feat, considering along with the main 4 animal friends of Marty the Zebra, Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo and Ross, I mean Melman the Giraffe, they have:
the still terrific lemur King Julien;
the still adorable Mort;
the still hysterical penguin commandos, who elevated the movie every time one of them opened his cute little beak (Skipper even gets married to a hula doll, Lola);

and the happy return of the Chimp Duo Mason & Phil, who recruit an entire barrel of monkeys!

Yet, the writers were able to effectively integrate all of the various storylines and tie them together with a satisfying, uplifting ending, without any animals we loved getting lost in the shuffle.

I also appreciated the film's less traumatizing angle on the "Lion King" (also known as the other animated lion movie set in Africa concerning a father-son relationship that shall not be named by Dreamworks). The story was sweet, funny, and fun for all ages.

The music (with an assist from will.i.am, who also voiced the beefcake hippo Moto Moto) and choreography (yes, choreography is involved even in animated movies!) were excellent too.

I liked the movie so much, I rewatched most of it with the Filmmakers Commentary, available as a DVD special feature. It was really impressive to hear more about the complexities, hard work, attention to detail and teamwork involved in bringing this type of endeavor to completion over the course of 3.5 years. This movie didn't seem to cut corners in bringing its story to animated life - the creative team even took a 10-day trip to Africa to collect art, thousands of photos and at least a day's worth of video footage to inform their story-telling/animation. It strikes me that Madagascar 2 truly earned its half billion in revenue.

DAP - Movie #5: Madagascar

This is part of my ongoing series of DAP posts.

Dreamworks Animation Movie #5
Madagascar
2005
Rating: PG
Budget: 75 million
Box Office: 532 million plus (daaaaaaamn)

IMDb Logline: "Spoiled by their upbringing with no idea what wild life is really like, four animals from New York Central Zoo escape, unwittingly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar, among a bunch of merry lemurs."

There was great voice talent in this movie- especially noteworthy was:

Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien of the Lemurs (very entertaining and somewhat impersonating Babu from Seinfeld)


Ben Stiller (surprisingly worked) as Alex the Lion


David Schwimmer (especially surprising, until you realize his character is an exaggerated, more neurotic version of Ross from Friends) as Melman the Giraffe


and of course Tom McGrath (also a co-director) as Skipper, the leader of a hilarious troop of penguins


Chris Rock also starred as Marty the Zebra, a character clearly inspired by Eddie Murphy's Donkey in Shrek.


However, unlike the witty and winsome Donkey, Chris Rock's Marty lacked the necessary charm to compensate for his ridiculously annoying voice.

Chris Rock is a great comedian but not a great actor as evidenced by:
 

Seeing an energetic animated zebra instead of his continually perplexed acting face helped... somewhat.



There were also a pair of super-amusing chimps (like the monkey take on Jay & Silent Bob or Penn & Teller), who unfortunately disappear for most of the movie and reappear by the end.


 
While Madagascar was cute and I especially appreciated its NY roots, it still blows my mind that this movie made over half a billion dollars. Its sequel made even more moola. My research will involve seeing the entire trilogy.

Special shout out to the adorable Mort.

DAP - Movie #4: The Prince of Egypt

This is part of my ongoing series of DAP posts.

Dreamworks Animation Movie #4
The Prince of Egypt
1998
Rating: PG
Budget: 70 million
Box Office: 218 million plus


IMDb Logline: "An Egyptian prince learns of his identity as a Hebrew and, later his destiny to become the chosen deliverer of his people."

Review: One Rod Down.

I don't think watching Dreamworks Animated films this old will really be relevant to understanding the studio today. 

The dialogue was often painful and the story, while worthwhile, was ill-fitting for an animated feature film. The songs were unbelievably corny, with lyrics like: "With my father, brother, mother, oh so noble, oh so strong, now I am home, here among my trappings and belongings, I belong... I am a sovereign prince of Egypt, a son of a proud history that's shown, it's on every wall."

The Ten Commandments was epically entertaining. The Prince of Egypt is a weak copy, despite its ambitions and animated free reign, and even certain favorable changes (brotherhood rather than rivalry forged between Moses and his future rival, the Pharaoh). The animated Moses fell flat in look, movement and character development, never transcending a cartoon. Val Kilmer as his voice was meh, and when overly enunciating also served as the voice of God. The heart of the story was so dulled, by the time the plagues were unleashed, the animated Moses seemed more an antagonist than a hero. 

While I hope this movie was helpful to inspect for a historical perspective on Dreamworks Animation, it's galaxies apart from the studio's most successful contemporary ventures. Dreamworks has not only abandoned traditional animation in favor of computer animation, but possibly musicals along with hefty adult themes involving slavery and the smiting of children. Rather than prophets, heroes are now represented by an array of plucky animals. This movie is a good case for why.

DAP - Movie #3: Turbo

This is part of my ongoing series of DAP posts.

Dreamworks Animation Movie #3
Turbo
2013
Rating: PG
Budget: 127 million
Box Office: 282 million plus


IMDb Logline: "A freak accident might just help an everyday garden snail achieve his biggest dream: winning the Indy 500."

Review: I wouldn't have imagined that an animated movie featuring snails would ever work. Snails are weird looking and seem limited as far as story prospects. Turbo is indeed strange to behold at first. However, the animation is really impressive and the funky snails actually won me over. The predictable story was cute and entertaining, although it could be argued that the character stereotypes were "borderline racist."

According to Wikipedia, the film had one of the lowest grosses in Dreamworks Animation history and the studio took a loss because the film fell short of their expectations. I don't remember hearing anything about this movie when it was released (not that I would have watched it anyway). Also, maybe others, like me, assumed cartoon snails would be boring.

Themes: Self-actualization; following your dreams; the underdog champion; exceeding limitations:"slo no mo" poster tagline/improving your circumstances; superpower; bro-love  

DAP - Movie #2: Antz

This is part of my ongoing series of DAP posts.

Dreamworks Animation Movie #2
Antz
1998
Rating: PG
Budget: 105 million
Box Office: 171 million plus

IMDb Logline: "A rather neurotic ant tries to break from his totalitarian society while trying to win the affection of the princess he loves."

Review: This movie was never meant for children. The dialogue would go completely over their little heads, not to mention animated ants, like their real-life counterparts, are creepy looking. This is an animated movie for adults. Mental Note - Dreamworks is down with this, even lines like:
"I was going to include you in my erotic fantasies."
"What are you bitching about?"
"Call me crazy, but I have a thing about drinking from the anus of another creature."

I didn't love it probably because I was at my animated movie saturation point for the evening. Also, Woody Allen's voice creeps me out even when I can't see his dweeby face. It wasn't a bad story though and the dialogue was clever. Overall, an admirable and bold leap for Dreamworks Animation's first feature film, paving the way for animated films catering to adult appreciation.

Themes:
As stated by Woody-voiced Ant hero at the movie's conclusion: "Your average boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy changes underlying social order story."
As stated on movie poster: "Every ant has his day." Self-actualization.

Dreamworks Animation Project (DAP) - Movie #1: The Croods

Step 1 - Research. 

Watch every a lot of Dreamworks Animated movies. I'll explain maybe later. This post will probably be a boring read as it's more record-keeping for me.

Movie #1:

The Croods

2013

Rating: PG (surprisingly- did you know that "thematic elements" qualify for a PG rating?!)
Budget: 135 million

Box Office: 587 million plus

IMDb Logline: "After their cave is destroyed, a caveman family must trek through an unfamiliar fantastical world with the help of an inventive boy."

Review: Started out wanting to hate it expecting an unnecessary copy of The Flintstones. Surprisingly, it won me over. Well-written. Clever dialogue and cute story. Charming characters. Opposable Thumbs Up.

Lessons/Notes:

Cute characters especially animals; angsty teen with ABC family sitcom parental themes; family friendly; vivid imagery (this one seemed inspired by Avatar); action scenes; happy ending; it's okay to be totally unrealistic; puppy love romance; comedy; modernized informal dialogue and lingo seemingly misplaced but that's the point; kid packaging but fully appreciable by adults 

Themes - family; father-daughter relationship; coming of age; overcoming fear

Character Notes:
Grug - Dad, loving, sacrificing, strong, overprotective, oaf, caveman Homer Simpson, comedic tool
Ugga - Mom, kind, sensible, cavewoman Marge Simpson
Eep - headstrong daughter, rebellious, carefree, reckless/brave, freedom-seeking, more busted cavegirl version of Ariel, the Little Mermaid
Thunk - younger brother, doofus, dimwitted, lovable, comedic tool
Sandy - baby, doubles as family dog, cavebaby Maggie Simpson, growls instead of sucking pacifier, comedic tool
Gran - Grandma, Grug's mother-in-law, ornery, wise-cracking, inappropriate, comedic tool
Guy - neanderthal hottie, Eep's love interest, surfer dude genius inventor, neanderthal Aladdin, comedic tool

Lovable animal crew:
Belt - Guy's pet sloth, akin to Aladdin's monkey Abu
Douglas - Thunk's dog crocodile, akin to The Flintstones' Dino
"Chunky the Death Cat" - Macawnivore, looks like furry giant, saber-toothed tiger, appears to be predator but is actually loveable and cuddly, akin to The Flintstones' Baby Puss
Other animals rescued by Grug when he overcomes his fear - Liyote (reminds me of Ren from Ren and Stimpy); Trip Gerbil (looks like siamese mini-koala twins)

Trick Worth Mimicking: The Full Circle
Dropping events/lines/jokes/animals that seem incidental but then revealing that they are meaningful via circling back cleverly (examples include snap shot, defining joke, rescued animals)