It's Arbor Day and we wanted to celebrate by taking a look at some of the best tree featured in movies.  Sounds silly? Don't tell that to Groot. Trees can be gentle giants or menacing foes.  Here is our list of the best trees in movies. 

1.  Groot (The Guardians of the Galaxy) - The most recent lovable tree.  He is big and scary and an excellent fighter but has a heart of gold.  Although he might not be the brightest he is someone you want on your team. 

2.  Ents (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) - They maybe big and slow but when the time calls for it they are ready to battle.  Making their first appearance in The Two Towers with the help of Hobbits they make their strength know during battle. 

3.  Rape Tree (The Evil Dead) - When it comes to scary tree's in horror movies there is none scarier than the tree in The Evil Dead.  When you run from a cabin in the woods you don't expect to be taken hostage by a tree.  And you definitely don't expect that tree to rape you.  It is graphic and makes you want to stay out of the woods. 

4.  The Tree of Souls (Avatar) - The spiritual tree of the Na'vi comes under attack by those pesky humans trying to  mine Unobtanium.  The tree survives and remains a source of strength for the Na'vi and humans who have come to understand it.   

5.  The Fighting Trees (The Wizard of Oz) - One more obstical on Dorothy's road to Oz.  These tree's don't like having their apples picked and will fight off those who dare touch them. Not as dangerous as other tree's on this list but still ones to avoid. 

6.  Grandmother Willow (Pocahontas) - The wisest of trees.  She helps guide Pocahontas through her journey with sage advice.  

Dishonorable Mention- Can't do a movie tree list without mentioning The Happening.  Spoiler Alert: The trees are trying to kill you.  What could have been a decent story ends up being a slow movie horror movie about people going mad because of something the trees are giving off.  It is neither scary or intense.  

We have some extra posters from the Batman v Superman IMAX trailer even and we want to give them away.  
We wanted to make this contest a little bit harder than what we have done in the past so we are doing an essay contest.  Doesn't have to be a lot but we want you to give us your best explanation why you think Batman or Superman would win in a fight.  We will pick one random winner that thinks Batman would win and one random winner that thinks Superman would win. Each will get the respective poster.  

Contest Ends 5/1/15

Enter below or check out the link HERE

The Stoner Comedy has been around for a long time but it has evolved over the years.  Sometimes when you just want to laugh at stupid jokes these are the movies you turn to.  Here are 5 Great Stoner Movies to enjoy.  

1.       Dazed and Confused – Alright, alright, alright! Let’s start things off with a classic.  The story of the first day of summer vacation for a group of high school kids in the 70’s.  Not only is a tale about looking for a great party but also about growing up and really captures a youthful spirit.  The movie also has a great cast that included 3 future Oscar winners (Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Renee Zelwegger in an uncredited part)

2.      The Big Lebowski – Apparently there is a new genre called “Stoner Noir”.  Guess it crosses the elements of Film Noir with a stoner comedy.  The Big Lebowski is the prime example of this that. When someone pisses on the Dude’s (Jeff Bridges) rug he ends up being sucked into a kidnapping plot that involves millionaires, porn directors, and nihilists.  All the Dude wants is a new rug. 

3.      The Pineapple Express – This could be considered our second “Stoner Noir” on the list.  When Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) witnesses a murder he goes into hiding with his pot dealer Saul (James Franco) and together they must try to piece the mystery together. 

4.      Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke – The classic first feature length Cheech and Chong movie. As the two stoners end up on a road trip together that finds them on the run from the cops.  And as expected craziness occurs. 

5.       Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle – What happens when two stoners get the munchies and feel a craving to go to White Castle? Well they end up going on one bizarre adventure that somehow involves running into Neil Patrick Harris.  This is one of those movies that is just stupid enough to be funny. 

By Stephen Milek

It's Milwaukee Day (4/14 get it) and we thought we would share some of our favorite movies that take place in Milwaukee.  Let us know what your favorites are. 

1.  Bridesmaids -  The funniest movie on our list about a Maid of Honor trying to deal with her friend getting married and a bizarre group of Bridesmaids.   Nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay and Supporting Actress (Melissa McCarthy) the movie is one of the few mainstream movies to take place in the city.  

2.  American Movie - Before I moved to Milwaukee someone told me watch this movie to see what Milwaukee was really like. While it doesn't represent all of Milwaukee it is a fun documentary about one of Milwaukee most determined filmmaker Mark Borchardt. 

3.  Dahmer -A movie about Milwaukee's notorious serial killer. Starring two time Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner the movie reconstructs the murders in a very disturbing way. 

4.  Dawn of the Dead - Has nothing to do with Milwaukee except that is where they decided to place the fictional mall. But the movie is full of action and one of the better horror remakes.   

5.  The Jeffrey Dahmer Files - Unfortunately our city was home to one of the most notorious serial killers in the country and another movie about him makes the list.  This movie is a documentary that looks at the people surrounding the case like the detective that first interviewed him and his neighbor.  Directed by Milwaukee's own Chris James Thompson the movie offers a different look at the Dahmer case.  Thompson also just made a documentary short that The 414's that takes a look at a local computer group that are considered the first hackers.  Take a look at it here on CNN 

Honorable Mention -Mr. 3000 - While the movie may not be that great I got to be in Miller Park as an extra while they were filming it.  It doesn't live up to Major League which was also filmed in Milwaukee but the movie took place in Cleveland so doesn't make this list.   

Let us know what your favorite Milwaukee Movies are.

After weeks of voting we are finally down to one.  If you had asked me at the start of the competition I would have predicted Cinderella would win but what I didn't know was that she would be in some really close races.  Another thing I wouldn't have predicted was how upset some people would get that she won.  

Cinderella might not have been the first Disney Princess but she is one of the most beloved as evidenced by the numerous retellings of her story.  But to some younger women she represents everything wrong with Disney Princesses. She is a slave in her home and waits for a man to save her. For those people they would have preferred to see a strong Princess who fights for what they believe in like Mulan, Merida,, or Anna (I actually had someone tell me the refused to vote in the finals because of who was in it). But despite their representation of women fairy tales we see as kids tend to stay with us and I think that is a reason the classic tale of Cinderella remains popular.

Cinderella started out her run to the top easily defeating Tiana from The Princess and the Frog but faced some close battles after that. The closest race in the whole competition was between Cinderella and Belle with Cinderella topping Belle by one vote. The final contest between Cinderella and Ariel was very close till a last minute surge but Cinderella over the top.

Ariel on the other hand was a surprising runner up. But she easily beat Merida and Rapunzel and earned a showdown with Elsa in the Final Four. I expected the current love of Frozen to keep Elsa on top but once again the love for The Little Mermaid surprised me.

What results surprised you? And who do you think should have won. Let us know in the comments.

After weeks of voting we have our final two.  Cinderella eeked out a narrow victory over Belle and Ariel easily beat the snow queen Elsa.  These would not have been my predicted final two but I love how this process has surprised me all along.  So remember to vote and share and we will see who will come out on top.  

If the form doesn't work below use this link. http://goo.gl/forms/IvQZK1NLcY

Hope everyone is having a Happy Easter.  I know a lot of people have a favorite movie to watch on Easter but if you are tired of watching The Passion of the Christ, Ben-Hur, or Easter Parade we decided to make a list of alternative movies to watch.  The selection of Easter movies is not as large as Christmas movies but we tried to come up with a list of movies that people might not think of. 

1.       Jesus Christ Superstar – This maybe one of the more obvious ones on this list but it is worth mentioning.  If you have only seen the stage musical you are missing out on a very different experience.  The movie is about a bunch of actors putting on a performance and the wardrobe is clearly 70’s and it will always seem strange to see the Roman’s guarding Jesus with machine guns. 

2.      The Last Temptation of Christ – Maybe one of the most controversial movies on the list.  The Last Temptation of Christ caused quite the stir when it was released in 1988.  Depicting an alternate life of Jesus that deviated severely from the Gospel caused many Christians to boycott the film.  But in the end it is a story of one of the many temptations of Jesus by Satan and doesn’t have to be seen as sacrilegious. 

3.      The Life of Brian – If you like your movies with more satire then Monty Python’s Life of Brian might be for you.  Brian is born the same day as next door to Jesus and is constantly mistaken for Jesus his whole life.  The movie ends with “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” as Brian is being crucified on the cross.

4.      Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! – If you are looking for an Easter themed horror film then Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill! Might be for you.  Not much to say about this movie then it is probably what you expect from a horror movie called Easter Bunny, Kill! Kill!. 

5.      Mallrats – Mallrats might not be the first movie you think of when you think of Easter movies but it does take place at Easter and features Jay and Silent Bob beating up the Easter bunny. 

6.      Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny – Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny isn’t even about Easter but it does feature a bunny and we thought we had to share it.  What happens when Santa Claus’ sled gets stuck in the sand in Florida? Well you call the ice cream bunny driving a fire truck.  This one is for the fans of really bad movies like Santa Claus Conquers The Martians will probably love this. 

 

It’s April Fools Day and we didn’t want to trick you but we thought we would share some of our favorite movies about magic or magicians.  Not the supernatural magic (so no Harry Potter) but people that perform prestidigitation (so yes Harry Houdini).   There are some great movies but we just wanted to highlight a few of our favorites in no particular order.

Pocketful of Miracles – One of Frank Capra’s last movies Pocketful of Miracles is not so much about magicians but about pulling off an elaborate trick.  Bette Davis plays a simple street peddler Apple Annie who has been writing to her daughter pretending to be rich.  When her daughter says she will come and visit Annie finds a rich guy to help pull of an elaborate charade.  As some of you know Chris’ dad was a magician and this was one of his personal favorites. 

The Prestige - Arguably one of the best movies about magicians.  Christopher Nolan’s tale of two magicians trying to out due each other is twisted and bizarre.  Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale are great as the magicians and the supporting cast which included Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson were outstanding.  On another note this probably one of the few movies that is better than the book it was based on.

The Illusionist- Since The Illusionist came out the same year as The Prestige it tends to be overshadowed by it. But The Illusionist is a great movie also with Edward Norton gives a great performance as Eisenheim a master illusionist who falls in love with a woman out of his league.

The Great Gabbo- A cult favorite in the magic world. From 1926 The Great Gabbo is another one that isn’t quite about magicians but is about a ventriloquist. The Great Gabbo is one of the best ventriloquists around but he increasingly goes mad and uses his dummy as the his only means of expression. 

Houdini – The 1953 film starred Tony Curtis with then-wife Janet Leigh. The movie was not exactly an accurate portrayal of Houdini’s life but did highlight some of his biggest escapes and had some high stakes drama. 

An Honest Liar- This is the most recent movie on this list.  This is a documentary about the life of master magician The Amazing Randi.  We were lucky enough to catch it a the Milwaukee Film Festival last year and get to interview Mr. Randi himself.  It follows his career from an escape artist to today where he has become an avid debunker of psychics and fortune tellers. 

Make Believe- Another documentary from the Milwaukee Film Festival.  This one played at the festival a few years ago and is a memorable one.  The movie tells the story of kids from around the world who enter a magic tournament in Las Vegas.  The story of the kids and their background is pretty inspirational.