A Million Ways to Die in the West-Movie Review

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a comedy brought to us by the creator of Ted, Seth MacFarlane. This is Seth's first feature film that he is starring in and includes an all-star cast.  The movie doesn't come out until May 30th, but I was lucky enough to see a prescreening with my husband.  This movie was enjoyed by both of us, and there were several people in the audience that laughed quite a bit at many things during the movie.

I've never really watched any westerns, but my husband said that it hit the "western notes" spot on.  I will take his word for it.  The introduction credit/title sequence is a bit long, but apparently that is normal for a western.  The movie is set in a time when most fights are solved by a gun fight and the loser dies, Albert is put in this situation several times throughout the course of the movie.

Seth's character, Albert, is a sheep farmer; but is not very good at his job.  The premise of the movie is that he isn't confidant in anything, so he needs to build himself up.  His best friend, Edward, is played by Giovanni Ribisi.  He is dating Sarah Silverman's character, Ruth.  Ruth is a prostitute.  She has sex with men for money, but she is waiting until marriage to have sex with Edward because they are both Christians.  This premise was very funny to me, and that was the point.  Liam Neeson plays Clinch Lockwood, the most feared gunman in the territory.  He is married to Charlize Theron's character, Anna.  There is a point that I wondered why Anna didn't just kill Clinch.

There is blatant death, which is apparent by the title of the movie.  I was still surprised by some of it, for some reason.  Neil Patrick Harris and Amanda Seyfried are also key players in this comedy.  There are also cameos by Doc Brown from Back to the Future, Ewan McGregor, and Alex Borstein.  To be honest with you there was a point that we thought we saw Ryan Reynolds, but I can't find him on the cast list.

Most of what I recall from the trailers isn't actually in the movie, which in my opinion leaves some unanswered questions.  All in all my husband and I would suggest you see this movie.  It is funny, smart, and of course there is a depth that I didn't expect.

Disney's Wreck-It Ralph Pre-Screening

I was lucky enough to get pre-screening passes to see Disney's Wreck-It Ralph last week from my local Fox television station.  My family (me, my husband, my 14 year old daughter, my 7 year old son, and my 4 year old daughter) all wanted to see this movie.  In fact, I feel as though it was made for my son who talks almost non-stop about video games.  He gets very wrapped up in the story lines, characters, and levels; plus he comes up with countless ideas for his own games.

What a wonderful way to surprise them all!  Pre-screeings are a regular occurrence for my area, usually they are only a couple of days before the movie actually starts, so I was really surprised that this was almost two weeks ahead of time.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these events make sure to arrive early because seating is not guaranteed and they hand out more passes than seats to ensure the theater is full.

This is a movie about a 'bad guy' Ralph that gets in a rut and is tired of being excluded.  He decides to leave his game via Game Central Station to try and get a medal so he will no longer be excluded by the others in the Fix It Felix Jr. video game.  On the way he meets some interesting characters and true friends, but he has to hurry, if he doesn't make it back in time the plug will be pulled on his game.

Now, to tell you what we thought about the movie...  My 4 year old daughter loved it and every part with cars was her favorite, plus her favorite character was Vanellope, played by Sarah Silverman.  My son's favorite part was when Ralph helped Vanellope make her car, no surprise his favorite character is Ralph, played by John C. Reilly.  My 14 year old daughter refuses to pick favorites, which I told her is funny because it isn't like they will know.  My favorite part is the revelation of the true bad guy (which I didn't see coming) I have decided to not have any real spoilers in this post, so anyone can read it.  My husband liked the fact that Qbert was included because he misses that game.
    
I definitely say this is a must see for the whole family.  We have a large age range in our family and every single one of us enjoyed it.  Oh, and we did see it in 3D, but I believe the story line is strong enough to carry it no matter what.  Plus it has a great moral that is valuable.  

All thoughts and opinions are mine and my families, we were not compensated in any way for this post.