Mr. Bug Goes to Town - DVD movie review

From July 13, 2013

Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)
SCORE: B+
AKA: "Hoppity Goes to Town" and "Bugville"
I'd never heard about this film until a few months ago. You only ever hear about Disney animated films from the golden age of animation. But before Disney ever got in the animation game, Max Fleischer and his brothers were animating short cartoons (Out of the Inkwell, Betty Boop, Superman, and Popeye). 
And based on the success of Disney's "Snow White", the Fleischers made "Gulliver's Travels" (which I'll see and review soon), which was financially successful like "Snow White". But Disney's next films ("Pinocchio" and "Fantasia") lost money at the box office... as did Fleischer's next film: "Mr. Bug Goes to Town". 
Most historians blame WWII as the cause for these financial failures. But the Disney studio was saved when the US Army came in and financed the studio to produce war films (see "Walt Disney Treasures: On the Front Lines" for these cartoons/films). But the Fleischer's had no such luck. "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" not only lost money, it put Fleischer Studios under. Paramount booted the Fleischer brothers out and took over their company. 
From wikipedia: "Mr. Bug was originally going to be released in November 1941, but since the Fleischers' rival, Walt Disney Productions, had its film Dumbo released weeks earlier in October and was already a success, Paramount changed the date to December. Having the misfortune of opening two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mr. Bug was a financial disaster and led to the ousting of Max and Dave Fleischer from the studio they had established in 1919. Paramount reorganized the company as Famous Studios. Max and Dave had not spoken to each other since early in 1940 due to personal and professional disputes."
Sad because "Mr. Bug Goes to Town" SHOULD have done well (as "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia" should have).
Everything is good in this film; the story, the animation; etc. The movie even has music by Leigh Harline. From wikipedia: "He was hired by Walt Disney where he scored more than 50 tunes, including for the Silly Symphonies cartoon series in the 1930s.
"He won the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score and the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star," featured in Disney's Pinocchio (1940). The tune later become the theme for Disney's TV series The Wonderful World of Disney.
"Together with Frank Churchill, Larry Morey and Paul J. Smith, Harline was responsible for such Disney film tunes as "I'm Wishing", "Whistle While You Work", "Heigh-Ho" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come" in the Disney studio's first animated feature-length cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937."
NOTES:
PRO:
• Fleischer's Roto-scoping is seen clearly any time there's a human on-screen.
• I like how all the bugs refer to humans as "those human ones"
• Mr. Bumble seems like a Disney character, as does little Buzz. Mr. Bumble's daughter, Honey, is cute/sexy looking. Smack the Mosquito and Swat the Fly are cool. They look like characters from a Looney Tunes cartoon. The bad guy, Mr. Beetle, looks like the inspiration for the look of the Penguin in the Batman comics. I liked the protagonist Hoppity, too. He looks the way Jiminy Cricket probably should have, although Jiminy's look DOES fit his stuffy personality better. Hoppity is a lot younger and happy-go-lucky. I like his voice.
• There's some interesting POV camera moves when two of the characters get beat up by a bouncer.
• There some cool camera swaying during a musical number where the singers are calling back and forth to each other.
• There's a neat scene when Hoppity is electrocuted that reminded me of the pink elephant scene in "Dumbo".
• There's a funny line when Hoppity sees a mother bug and her children. "Hello, Mrs. Stinkbug! How are all the little stinkers?"
• I like the way the Fleischer Studio approximated depth-of-field in their films by painting the foreground in-focus/outlined and the background more out-of-focus/hazy.
• Mr. Creeper, the snail, sounds like the same voice--Pinto Colvig--as Grumpy in "Snow White" and I'll bet it is because Colvig was known for working at the Fleischer studio as well as Disney.
• I really enjoyed the ending, where both the good and bad bugs are running around the skyscraper as its being built.
CON: 
• The opening credits of the DVD copy that I bought has an AWEFUL transfer. It's all pixelated, which really pissed me off because the opening credits look cool, as they're over scenes of a 3D-looking New York city. I'd really like to see the opening credits in a remastered format someday. 
• The movie reminds me too much of Disney Silly Symphonies "Bugs in Love" and "Woodland Cafe".
• There a scene where Hoppity and Mr. Bumble are caught in a tin pale and the background switches to a real filmed pale. It was weird.

Un Monstre a Paris - DVD movie review

From May 14, 2013

SCORE: B+
This was a good movie. I really liked the whole turn-of-the-century feel and look to it (because it takes place then). As the wikipedia page states: " The film became a critical, but not a commercial, success in its native France and internationally." It cost € 28.22 million, but it only made € 18.61 million. I'm not sure why it didn't do better.
The movie is about a shy guy named Emile, his friend Raoul the delivery guy, and a singer named Lucille. In a large greenhouse--run by an absent professor--Emile and Raoul meet a helper monkey named Charles. Something goes wrong with a growing potion and an explosion and a monster in made...
The design of Lucille's costume while onstage reminded me of the main character from the up-coming comic book series that I'm currently working on.
I also liked the character sketches they show during the end credits. By the end of the movie I asked myself, "Is there really a lighthouse on the top of the Eiffel Tower?"
PRO:
• The French filmmakers seem to play with light in scenes more than American filmmakers.
• I liked the reference to Méliès, the famous silent filmmaker who made "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) whose story was shown prominently in "Hugo" (2011)
• There's some good POV scenes in this movie. The first is a funny one involving one of the main characters getting his film camera stolen while he's filming. The second is a neat revisiting of earlier scenes from the monster's perspective.
• There's a neat song-and-dance number in the middle of the film.
PRO & CON:
• The animation of the characters is a little strange and stilted in this movie at times. This, of course, goes away when the characters start dancing. It looks like the filmmakers put most of their efforts into those scenes. This is a French film, so the character Lucille dances seductively in all the right ways.
• CON:
I was really annoyed when the monster starts singing not only well, but in a language. "That's stupid," I thought, but it is explained in the context of the film, so I was later ok with it.
• The song near the end of the film (and especially the song over the end credits) sounded like something from the 1970's, which was cool, but kind of out of step with the rest of the film.

Rise of the Guardians - DVD movie review

From May 13, 2013

SCORE: B-/C+
I was first told about this movie by a friend who works for Dreamworks back in 2009 when he gave me a tour of the Dreamworks campus in Glendale. I saw a painting of Sandman over a city at night as well as some sketches of the Easter Bunny. Jeff played up how amazing the movie would be... unfortunately the finished film sort of fell flat for me (my favorite Dreamworks movie is still "Kung Fu Panda". Beautiful, funny film).
The design in this film is beautiful and ornate... but the story just isn't there. Something seemed lackluster. Perhaps that's why the studio had to layoff 350 people after it came out. Even though it made money (it cost $145 mill but made $303 mill), the cost of advertising made the studio lose $83 million. Damn. It was a decent movie. It wasn't THAT bad.
PRO:
• I initially thought that Jack Frost, the main character, was voiced by John Cusack, but it turns out that it's "Star Trek"s Chris Pine. Just as cool.
• I liked the Eastern European Santa Claus (or "North" as he's called in this film) as well as the European architecture in his home. 
• I liked the short, mute, triangular elves and the mute yetis (they looked like Talz from Star Warshttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talz).
• I like the mute Sandman (there sure are a lot of mute characters in this movie), but to me, the Sandman
• looks like the one from the Neil Gaiman comic books. And that version looks a lot more like Pitch, the bad guy from this film.
• I like that they call the Man in the Moon "Manny" and that they treat him sort of like a deity.
• I liked that the reindeer looked almost like clydesdales.
• Alec Baldwin did a good job as the voice of Santa Claus / North.
BOTH PRO & CON:
• The design in this film is beautiful and ornate... but the story just isn't there.
• Jack Frost's new friends turn on him unbelievably quick at one point. But this is followed by a pretty good scene between Jack and Pitch, the villain.

CON:
• Way too many unnecessary 360 degree swoops around rooms for my liking.
• I don't care for the villain having an English accent. It seems cliche. I kept thinking, "Why is Voldemort in this movie?"
• I have no idea why the Easter Bunny has an Australian accent (especially since Australia currently has a big problem with rabbits from the US).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_Australia
• The Easter Bunny has stone egg warriors? Ugh.

Iron Man 3 - movie review

From May 13, 2013

SCORE: A
No Spoilers, I swear!
This movie sort of reminds me of "Dark Knight Rises" in that Iron Man isn't really in the film all that much. Tony Stark is really the main character of this film. A reviewer from the Hollywood Reporter said that the movie is, "darker and more serious than its predecessors." I would agree, which is probably why I liked it more (I'd give "Iron Man" an A-, while I'd give "Iron Man 2" a B- ). But it is funny, too, which is apparently a staple of the new director, Shane Black. 
Previously, I'd never heard of Shane Black, but he apparently been in the movie biz a long time. Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Black. The most stunning thing I found out is that Shane Black acted in "Predator"!!! Holy shit, that made me like "Iron Man 3" even more.
"Iron Man 3" is pretty top-notch, visually speaking. It's exciting and funny, although the villains' reasons for doing things aren't ever explained. Sure we understand that they can do some crazy things based on genetic engineering (something called 'Extremis') and we find out the tie to Tony Stark (not really a surprise as the opening scene/monologue explains this), but we never find out WHY the bad guys are doing bad things. Money? I don't know.
Anywho, I liked all the scenes between Tony and a kid named Harley, although some reviewer from The Star-Ledger (whatever the fuck that is) said, "A supposedly cute kid sidekick — a true sign of authorial desperation — is introduced, and then dropped." The kid isn't dropped in the film. And is his inclusion a sign of authorial desperation? I don't see why that would be.
I really liked that they talked about the alien invasion from "The Avengers" a lot and showed that the events in that film pretty much gave Stark post-traumatic stress disorder.
There's an amazing scene involving Iron Man saving 13 people who are plummeting to their deaths.
I really liked the twist with the main villain, but I won't tell you what that twist is. Sir Ben Kingsley does a good job, of course. As does Guy Pearce, who has gone on record saying that he liked doing this movie (and "Prometheus") because it's a cameo role. Er, he's in the majority of the movie, as far as it looked to me. Hardly a cameo role.
I liked seeing William Sadler as the Pres of the US. I've liked him since he was the villain in "Die Hard 2" and "The Shawshank Redemption". 
Blink and you'll miss Linden Ashby--who played Johnny Cage in "Mortal Kombat"--in a scene where he's an officer who says, "Is that Rhodes?"

42 - movie review

From April 21, 2013

SCORE: A
This is a thoroughly well-done movie. The acting is great, the music, costumes, etc. 
The movie looks like they sucked just a bit of the color out of it, like a slightly faded photo. Nice.
Harrison Ford does a great job as the exec who puts Jackie Robinson on the team. But goddamn Ford looks old in this movie. During the entire movie I just kept thinking, “Holy shit, he looks like Michael Gough in ‘Batman’.”
Chadwick Boseman does a good job as Robinson. He’s stern-faced and determined. There's a lot of pathos for him.
The shockingly gorgeous Nicole Beharie does well as the supportive wife of Robinson. 
I really liked the actor Lucas Black as Pee Wee Reese. Looking on Wikipedia I discovered that he played the character Stevie in “The X-Files: Fight the Future”. No wonder he looked familiar to me. 
It was weird to see Alan Tudyk in a movie that wasn’t a comedy. 
I also appreciated seeing John C. McGinley in a subdued cameo role as the announcer.

Return to Neverland - DVD movie review

From April 21, 2013

SCORE: B
Overall I liked it.
This movie is from 2002. This is actually the second time I’ve seen this film. I didn’t see it in theaters. The first time I saw it was in various parts posted on youtube. So I ended up buying the DVD from a seller on eBay.
PROS:
The animation is good. I particularly liked Hook, Tinkerbell, and Jane (Wendy’s daughter). Also there’s a scene of a crown rolling in the sand that was done very well.
I instantly love anything from 1940s/WWII era.
I LOVED the surrealistic kaleidoscope as they enter Neverland. I liked it so much that backed it up and watched it twice in a row. I’m sure it was inspired by the art of Mary Blair, who worked on the original “Peter Pan”
I like that Jane punches Peter Pan, then favors her hand.
The film score is by Joel McNeely… That’s right! “Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire’s Joel McNeely. That’s cool.
I liked the scene where Jane sneezed on Tinkerbell.
I liked seeing Peter Pan meet the older Wendy.

CONS:
The film relies too heavily on past glories (as all DisneyToon films do). There’s nothing NEW. The opening is all a suite from the first Peter Pan film.
Seeing bomber raids on London and sending British children into the countryside (while historically accurate) made me feel like the DisneyToon people were ripping off C.S. Lewis.
The dog’s name is Nana 2? Please…
I hate, hate, HATE the inclusion of CGI in 2D animated films, and MANY things are CG in this film, from doors to trains to Captain Hook’s ship to Big Ben. Oy vey
I hate music by contemporary Pop musicians in 2D films, like Jonatha Brooke, BBMAK, and They Might Be Giants in this film (although TMBG never sing in the film, they just wrote one of the songs). Did Disney have Shirley Temple sing songs in “Snow White”? No, because that would have been stupid. (Although, I’m not sure how people at the time felt about Dinah Shore, the Andrews Sisters, Bing Crosby, etc showing up in films like “Make Mine Music” and “Ichabod and Mr. Toad”.)
An octopus/kraken is used in this film in the exact same role as the crocodile in “Peter Pan”. Lame.
I think it’s sad that DisneyToon continued to make decent 2D animated films like this one while the main Disney Animation studios made shit like “Home on the Range” and “Chicken Little”.
I didn’t like the scene where Jane falls through the ground, leaving a silhouette of herself. It was an all-too-toonish move that made me think I was watching a Looney Tunes cartoon.

NEITHER PRO NOR CON:
Captain Hook coming to the real world and Tinkerbell dying because Jane doesn’t believe in her reminds me too much of Steven Spielberg’s “Hook”. This film is subdued. The kids’ cheering doesn’t inspire a goosebump moment like a similar rooster-crowing scene in “Hook”. (btw, I think “Hook” is a wholly underrated film by movie critics)

The Master - DVD movie review

From April 21, 2013

SCORE: D/F
This movie really annoyed me. I thought it would be a scathing commentary on L. Ron Hubbard and his wacky invented cult, Scientology. That’s what the previews and press made it out to look like. 
But no, the film is mostly about the wanderings of a WWII vet ( Joaquin Phoenix) who suffers from PTSD. He’s sex-obsessed, but only has sex once in the whole film (at the end). He drinks. He stumbles around. He falls in with a cult. He gets thrown in jail. He falls in with the cult again. The movie ends.
Doesn’t that sound like a great flick to you?
Joaquin Phoenix does a great job acting as usual, but you never care about his character, because he’s a wholly unlikable person. 
Philip Seymour Hoffman also acts very well in the film, but who cares when the film is slow and meandering in its plot?
Nothing happens in this film. There is no character development. Joaquin Phoenix’s character begins the movie as a crazy, shiftless guy… and whoa! He ends the movie that way, too. Wow. That was a lot of character development. Good job, writer.
At the end I realized that this was a Paul Thomas Anderson film and I said “Oh! THAT’S why it was so annoying!” 
Many critics hail PTA as the best director in a generation and I have no idea why. His movies are all mostly boring and have little-to-no purpose. Just because PTA makes films that make no sense, DOES NOT mean that they are artistic!
The only films of PTA’s that I can stomach are “Punch-Drunk Love” (which I mostly like because it was Adam Sandler’s first dramatic performance) and “Boogie Nights” (which is really only palatable because you get to see Heather Graham naked on roller skates). 
No, I have not seen “There Will Be Blood” yet, which I hear is very good. I’ll see it one of these days when I have nothing better to do. Until then I will continue to avoid all PTA films like the plague.

Frankenweenie - DVD movie review

From April 21, 2013

SCORE: B
Overall I liked this movie. I think one of the best things about it is that it was filmed in Black and White. Thank you! I think we need more B&W films. I’m kind of tired of color. I see color every time I open my eyes. B&W films seem instantly more nostalgic and artistic. (btw, I still have yet to see “The Artist”, another recent B&W film).
The film has no songs that anyone sings, which I did sort of miss. One of the best things about “Nightmare Before Christmas” are its songs. Anywho, I liked “Frankenweenie”, just not nearly as much as “Nightmare Before Christmas”.

PROS:
• The film is in Black and White! Awesome!
• Sparky is visually appealing and animated very well
• Victor makes home movies
• Victor’s dad is voiced by Martin Short in one of his only non-annoying film roles.
• I loved seeing Christopher Lee’s Dracula movie on TV in one scene.
• When Victor is sewing Sparky together, they have a cool shot of his cast shadow on the ceiling.
• This film, being a Disney film, is never too gruesome. When Sparky is killed, his body is never shown. When Victor digs him up, it’s seen from far off. 
• During the electrical storm scene, the music reminded me most of the score from Burton’s 1989 “Batman”.
• There’s a funny twist with the pet named Colossus
• The rat monster, sea monkeys, and the fat kid look like “Nightmare Before Christmas” character designs.
• There’s a movie theater playing “Bambi”
• The burning windmill ending is just like in “Frankenstein”

CONS:
• Victor as a puppet is not as expressive as other characters in the film.
• The filmmakers should have had Zero’s tombstone in the New Holland Pet Cemetery somewhere. Sigh. Missed opportunity. Although there is a pet’s tombstone named “Shelley” in a nod to Mary Shelley, the writer of “Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus”.
• For some reason the bat-cat rubbed me the wrong way. I just didn’t like it as a monster.

NIETHER PRO NOR CON:
• All the kids in New Holland are weird emo kids.
• Victor reminds me of Johnny Depp
• There’s a remark in the film about Pluto not being a planet anymore
• The dead fish that is brought back to life becomes invisible… Why? It is never explained. Later, it disappears entirely. This is also never explained. 
• Is it coincidence that the Japanese kid raises a quasi-Godzilla-looking pet back to life?
• The jerk mayor of the town reminds me of Rudy Giuliani. No? It is just me?

ParaNorman - DVD movie review

From April 21, 2013

SCORE: A
I really liked this movie. It’s got some clichés, but I think those were done to poke fun at horror movie conventions. My favorite thing about it was that once you thought you knew where the movie was going, they took a left turn and ended up doing something far better than you expected.
The film actually makes reference a lot to bullying. Norman is picked on for being a freak (it’s painted on his school locker). The kid he ends up becoming friends with is an overweight kid, Neil (“fatty” is painted on his school locker). The school bully, Alvin, comes up and mocks Norman, then laughs and says “Ha! That was SO Alvin!” to his cronies. Norman’s friend, Neil, says “You can’t stop bullying. It’s human nature. If you [Norman] were bigger and more stupid, you’d probably be a bully, too.”
The film also ends with some more words about bullying, when Norman confronts the antagonist. Just when I thought the movie would end like most films, building up and up and up into a louder and louder crescendo, it takes another left turn and ends as well I hoped it would.

PROS:
• The facial animation is superb. The characters all have translucent ears. Cool.
• Cool 1970s style intro.
• Norman has zombie slippers. His feet slip into the zomibies’ mouths. Nice touch
• At one point a character says, “That statue just ‘psst’ at us!”
• Norman’s friend, Neil, in an effort to protect Norman, threatens to throw hummus at someone. “Don’t make me throw this hummus! It’s spicy!”
• Neil looks like the red-haired kid from “The Sandlot” and the X-Files episode “Bad Blood”
• Someone says to Norman; “Swear!” And Norman replies, “You mean, like the F-word?”
• Norman uses his phone as a flashlight, which we’ve all done and reminded me of Mulder and Scully going into a dark, scary place with nothing but a flashlight.
• The skies in the film are neat looking. I assume they were done digitally. They’re all smoky and ethereal looking.
• The bit with the vending machine was hilarious to me.
• There’s a Scooby Doo reference to “meddling kids”
• A policewoman gets mad about the townsfolk shooting at people. “Firing at civilians? That is for the police to do!”

CONS:
• The movie reminds me of The Sixth Sense, about a kid who sees dead people.
• Movie clichés: The dad is fat and bumbling, the mother is annoying and cloying, the older teenage sister is bitchy.

NIETHER PRO NOR CON:
• There are some genuinely scary moments in this film, which I thought was cool, but which may scare younger viewers.
• Norman looks like Elvis to me.
• In a kids movie (or one that most people would associate as a kids movie) I was surprised to hear characters say “Jackass!” “Oh, hell yeah.” and was surprised to see a sexy, scandalous drawing of a witch on a billboard. I was also surprised to hear the dad at one point go on a rant about “limp-wristed liberals”, but I think that was done to show how stupid/close-minded he is.

The Three Musketeers - DVD movie review

From March 13, 2013

SCORE: B
Apparently, this movie got "mixed reviews" when it was released on DVD in 2004. I'm not sure why. It's by far the best movie done by the DisneyToon studios (the studio that produces off-shoot Disney films that sometimes get into theaters like the Duck Tales movie, A Goofy Movie, Return to Neverland, Jungle Book 2, etc. or they usually go straight to DVD). 
The animation in this movie is very well done, in my opinion, especially Donald's facial expressions (when he's deciding whether or not to leave) and the Beagle Boys. The squash and stretch is good, without being overdone as it is in many animated films. 
The watercolor backgrounds look good too. 
There are points where the plot drags / is boring. Maybe that's why this film got mixed reviews when it was released.
Some Notes:
- I like the opening and ending of the movie because they incorporate comic books, which I always love.
- I kept thinking of Babs Bunny (from Tiny Toon Adventures) while listening to Daisy Duck, because they're both voiced by Tress McNeille. 
- The tower where the Beagle Boys are taking Minnie looks almost exactly like the Rapunzel tower from "Tangled" which would have been in development at the time this was made, I think.
- Pete refers to the Mickey Mouse Club at one point, which doesn't make any real sense other than the connection that the kids in the Mickey Mouse Club were called Mouseketeers.
- There's a Disneyland reference, I think, when there's a sign in the dungeon that Mickey reads that states: "You must be this tall to survive prison"
- The Goofy / Clarabelle scene is done particularly well. Good music and animation.
- Mickey is referred to as "just a little guy" multiple times in the movie, which I guess is sort of a reference to "The Prince and the Pauper" short from the late 80s. 
- The scene at the end (the sword fight between Mickey and Pete) sort of references the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short "Oh What a Knight" with its strong shadows on the wall during the fight.
- I liked hearing Rob Paulson's voice (as the Turtle/Trubadour). I've been a fan of his since he did Raphael in the 1987 TMNT series, then Animaniacs, and now as Donatello in the new CG TMNT cartoon from Nickelodeon.
- I noticed an Art Director in the credits with the name Toby Bluth. I wonder if he's related to Don Bluth.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action - DVD movie review

From March 13, 2013

SCORE: B
I'm scoring this movie by comparing it to its Live-Action/Animation brethren "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Space Jam". 
Roger Rabbit would easily get an 'A' from me whereas Space Jam gets at highest a 'C'. Looney Tunes Back in Action is somewhere in the middle at a 'B'. 
Whereas Roger Rabbit was set in the 1940s (an area that I am personally deeply in love with for multitudes of reasons), LTBA is set when it takes place: the 2000s. There's a fantasy element to Roger Rabbit that is lacking here because of this time difference. 
The movie is a lot like Roger Rabbit meets "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" with the characters running around the Warner Bros. studio lot.
Other Notes I took while watching the movie:
- There's an amazing scene with the characters running around famous art pieces, including Dali, Munch, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Seurat. 
- The famous Looney Tunes short "I Love to Singa" is referenced 2-3 times (a bit too much, I think).
- A character says: "Giddy up, Dumbo" in an obvious reference. 
- I liked the inclusion of the Tim Burton Batmobile in this movie.
- I thought the use of the Gremlin car was a reference to the director, Joe Dante's, previous movie "Gremlins".
- Scooby Doo and Shaggy have a cameo in the film but are TERRIBLY animated. Ugh.
- I enjoyed seeing Ron Pearlman in this movie as well as the hologram doctor from Star Trek Voyager. 
- I like Timothy Dalton in everything that he does ("Hot Fuzz" is one of the best) and he plays a secret agent here, riffing on his short stint as 007. 
- Bugs references "Pyscho" in a shower scene. 
- I noticed a Ben Burtt Star Wars sound effect in the firing of the car missile.
- Brenden Fraser references himself in funny (but formulaic) self-deprecating humor. 
- I thought there was a Roger Rabbit reference when Brenden Fraser and Daffy Duck kiss. In another scene, characters hang from a hook in what I assume is another Roger Rabbit reference.
- At one point, Yosemite Sam has pink "Sam ears" like Mickey Mouse ears. 
- Jenna Elfman is in a Kate Capshaw (Willie in "Temple of Doom") role here.
- There's a lot of product placement about Wal-Mart and they even comment on it jokingly in the film. 
- I like that the secret military base is called Area 52 and has old Hollywood aliens and the Dr. Who robots.
- I laughed when the good guys keyed Marvin the Martian's spaceship.
- I liked the Lightsaber carrot and "The Force for Dummies"
- I was surprised to see Peter Graves show up at one point.
- I just don't find Steve Martin to be funny anymore.

Lincoln - movie review

From March 13, 2013

SCORE: A
I really should write a better review than this one, but I saw the movie a few months ago and have sort of forgotten many things about what happened in it. After I buy it on DVD, I'll flesh out this review more.
Basically:
I enjoyed this film (one of the first Steven Spielberg films I've seen in a while), but I liked "Argo" better as a political drama. 
Daniel Day-Lewis did a good job, of course. 
It was a quiet movie, and a little bit boring at points. Which isn't a bad thing, necessarily. I think a lot of movies are too in-your-face nowadays. This movie lets you wait for Lincoln's punchline (he was apparently fond of telling jokes) or watch as he slowly walks down a hallway. 
Overall, I can see why it's getting the praise that it is. 
Interestingly, there's also a not-so-subtle reference to Obama being elected at the beginning of the movie.

Oz the Great and Powerful - movie review

From March 13, 2013

SCORE: B
This movie is through and through a 'B' film. That's not a bad thing, it just is. I mean just look at the fact that they have Bruce Campbell (the King of 'B' Films) in a scene, which I loved because he's hilarious and Sam Raimi directed "Oz". 
I really enjoyed the opening credits, although that's a weird thing to point out at the top of a review. They were quirky and seemed to fit the turn of the century. 
I liked that they filmed the opening in B&W as well as in the old screen size of 4:3. You really notice it later when the film turns to color and they open the screen up to 2.35:1.
I also greatly appreciated the color in this movie. It is bright and almost overpowering, but I miss color in films. It's a disturbing trend to me that many recent films are filmed in almost sepia tone, with the color drained out. I'm not sure if they're adding the silver nitrate back into their negatives (which I know is done sometimes) or what but it's very annoying. 
For a good example, look at the Harry Potter films. The first one is bright and sunny and colorful, and each successive film gets more and more drab in terms of colors. I guess the filmmakers think that a drab-looking film is more realistic or more adult, but it just looks dreary to me.
I thought everyone did a good job acting in the film. I really liked James Franco as Oz, and I say this to a lot of people: I would have preferred him as Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels over Hayden Christensen, who cannot act to save his life. 
I also liked seeing Zach Braff in this film, as Oz's helper in the beginning and as the voice of his flying monkey servant when in the Land of Oz. 
Rachel Weiz and Michelle Williams also do a good job, although who the wicked witch is (and how many there are) does get a little confusing. 
Mila Kunis takes her "Sexiest Woman 2012" award and turns it on its head by becoming the ugly green Wicked Witch of the West (a phrase that Disney is apparently not allowed to use in this film because much of the original movie rights are still owned by MGM). 
Some Notes:
- The wikipedia article states: "References to characters from the previous film include: the Scarecrow, who is built by the townspeople as a scare tactic; the Tin Man, whose creator is introduced as the Master Tinker; and the Cowardly Lion, who is frightened away by Oscar after attacking Finley. Theodora's tears leave burn marks on her face, foreshadowing her weakness to water. Annie (Michelle Williams) informs Oscar that she has been proposed to a man whose surname is Gale, presumably hinting at Dorothy Gale's parental lineage."
- I thought that the Emerald City looked the way I would imagine Baron Harkonnen's city on Giedi Prime would look like. (Yes, I HAD to throw in a DUNE reference. You're welcome.)
- I thought the animation of the China Girl was very well done.
- The flying monkeys are now flying baboons, which IS scarier, I have to say. Baboons are vicious.

UPDATE: After having read some of the Wizard of Oz books now, I appreciate this film more and would give it a B+

Snow White and the Huntsman - DVD movie review

From January 6, 2013

SCORE: B
I really enjoyed this new take on "Little Snow White" by the Bros. Grimm. It tried to be a little too LOTR at points, but overall it was good. I really liked the scenes in the fairy land. They reminded me of "Pan's Labyrinth".

Skyfall - movie review

From January 6, 2013

SCORE: A
I initially didn't want to see this (because Quantum of Solace was so meh). But it was a very good Bond flick. Better than Casino Royal. I WILL WRITE MORE SOON

Les Miserables - movie review

From January 6, 2013

SCORE: A+
Wow. Great movie. Sad as hell, but great.
The songs were fantastic!
I was surprised that the director decided to hold on certain characters while they sang. I mean, the shots were of just the actor against black or an out-of-focus background while they sang. That's ballsy. They did it like 4 or 5 times during the film.

The Campaign - DVD movie review

From January 6, 2013

SCORE: C+
This was funny, but a bit over the top at times. The biting satire of the entire political process WAS good, though. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert would be proud.
It was weird seeing MSNBC news people in the film. And Wolf Blitzer? Sheesh!

Wreck-It Ralph - movie review

From January 6, 2013

SCORE: B+

The movie begins with the Steamboat Willie scene that all the Disney movies are opening with these days, but this time it’s an 8-bit Mickey! After that the film opens on an arcade game from the 1980s with a voice-over from Wreck-It Ralph (the bad guy from the game Fix-It Felix) voiced by John C. Reilly.

Seeing the TMNT arcade game at the beginning montage was awesome! It was also funny to see Ken and Ryu from Street Fighter II stop fighting after people leave the arcade and just talk to each other like friends.

Seeing bad guys from various games I used to play made my day: M. Bison and Zangeif from Street Fighter II, Kano and Smoke from the Mortal Kombat games, a ghost from Pac-Man, and Dr. Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog games (you later see Sonic himself. You also see Bowser from the Super Mario games, but unfortunately no Mario or Luigi to be seen, although Fix-It Felix does talk about Mario. I guess Disney got the rights to show Bowser, but not Mario. Oh, well.

The way the characters move in Wreck-It Ralph’s game is hilarious. They move quickly and jerk around like 8-bit video games characters.

The movie references things like characters being stuck in a walk cycle loop, a character a one point continues to walk even though he’s against the wall and not going anywhere. The character is from Hero’s Duty, a game like Halo and Call of Duty that has Ralph fight alien bugs in a violent FPS (first person shooter) game. I think there might be a mocking reference to Scientology in this game: when Ralph first sees the game he exclaims: “Sweet Mother Hubbard!”, but then I realized that the aliens are called Cy-Bugs which is sort of a reference to Cylons (from Battlestar Galactica). Jane Lynch does a good job as the tough female sergeant “programmed with the most tragic back story ever.”

I really liked Sarah Silverman’s character, Vanellope von Schweetz, as well as basically everything in the Sugar Rush racing game because it reminded me so much of one of my favorite game series: Super Mario Kart. Btw, try NOT singing the Sugar Rush song for days after seeing the movie. It’s a really catchy song. I liked the King Candy character, especially because for some reason he sounds like Ed Wynn (Uncle Albert from ‘Mary Poppins’). And I liked the character Sour Bill.

Watch out for the Darth Vader breathing reference :) There’s some stuff about bullying in the film, as the other racers bully Vanellope von Schweetz, destroying her car. I think it’s good that something was said about this subject, as it’s such a big deal in the news and education circles.

I also like video game conventions they reference, like Mini-Games and fighting the Boss Level.

As a side note, Rihanna’s song “Shut Up and Drive” is really out of place in this movie. I almost always hate it when they use pop songs in films, especially ones that weren’t made specifically for the film they’re in. With that said, I did really like the pop song ‘When Can I See You Again?’ (by Owl City) that plays during the end credits, so I’m a hypocrite. Oh, well.

For more info on all the video game references in the film, read this from wikipedia:

In addition to the spoken roles, Wreck-It Ralph contains a number of other video game references, including characters and visual gags. At the meeting of video game villains, the above characters include, in addition to any mentioned above: Bowser from Super Mario Bros., Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Neff from Altered Beast.

Characters from Q*bert, including Q*bert, Coily, Slick, Sam, and Ugg, are shown as "homeless" characters and later taken in by Ralph and Felix into their game (Q*bert also speaks to Felix at one point using the signature synthesized gibberish and word-balloon symbols from his game, called Q*bert-ese). Scenes in Game Central Station and Tapper's bar include Chun-Li, Cammy, and Blankafrom Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky, and Inky from Pac-Man, the Paperboy from Paperboy, the two paddles and the ball from Pong, Dig Dug, a Pooka, and a Fygar from Dig Dug, The Qix from Qix, Frogger from Frogger, and Peter Pepper from BurgerTime. Additionally, Lara Croft and Mario are mentioned in reference.

Additional references are based on sight gags. The residents of Niceland and the bartender from Tapper are animated using a jerky motion that spoofs the limited animation cycles of the sprites of many eight- and sixteen-bit arcade games. King Candy uses the Konami Code on an NES controller to access the programming of Sugar Rush. Throughout Game Central Station is graffiti that includes "Aerith lives" (referencing the character of Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII), "All your base are belong to us" (an Engrish phrase popularized from the game Zero Wing), "Sheng Long Was Here" (referencing an April Fool's joke around a made-up character Sheng Long from Street Fighter), and "Jenkins" (a nod to the popular Leeroy Jenkins meme from World of Warcraft). There is also a reference to the Metal Gear series when Ralph is searching for a medal in Tappers Lost and found, finding first the "Exclamation point" (with the corresponding sound effect from the game), and then a Super Mushroom from Super Mario Bros. Mr. Litwak wears a black and white striped referee's shirt, a nod to the iconic outfit of Twin Galaxies founderWalter Day. One of the songs in the credits is an original work from Buckner and Garcia, previously famous for writing video game-themed songs in the 1980s. The Walt Disney Animation Studios opening logo is animated in an 8-bit pixelated fashion, whereas the Walt Disney Picturesclosing production logo appears in a glitched state, a reference to the kill screen from many early arcade games such as Pac-Man

The Hobbit - movie review

From January 6, 2013

SCORE: B+
I enjoyed the Hobbit, but did feel that it was overly extended... by a lot... and there's still 2 films to go. I once saw the LOTR films described as the books, but scarier... or the books, but more intense. I’d say that ‘The Hobbit’ is like the book, but with WAAAAY more stuff in it... and it’s not for kids, like Tolkien’s 1937 novel is.

I liked that the 13 dwarves were differentiated enough that you could follow who they were. It was very good that each dwarf has his own look and personality because I get confused about who is whom while reading the book. Also in the book you don’t get to know the majority of the dwarves as they have no lines, they’re just names on the page (that Tolkien got from a Medieval text that gave a list of dwarf names).

The Howard Shore score was amazing as always. Try to NOT sing “The Pines were roaring song” after you go home. I think it was a good idea to introduce the Arkenstone in the beginning back story because it comes up suddenly in the novel.

It’s funny that the dwarves greet each other with a head butt. Not only does it show their fortitude and that they have a different culture than anything you the viewer are used to, but it’s also funny because this is a take on how the stunt people in the original Lord of the Rings’ trilogy would greet each other: with a head butt. This was taken up by others, such as Viggo Mortenson, who talks about it in the LOTR DVD Appendices.

I’m not sure where Peter Jackson and the writers got Thorin’s back story with Azog the Defiler. I assume they didn’t make it up. From wikipedia: “He is referred to in a single remark of Gandalf’s in The Hobbit: "Your grandfather Thror was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin.”  In the films, his role is greatly expanded. In the Return of the King appendices he is described as being fully protected by iron armor, however in the Jackson films he is bare-chested and scarred.”

It’s good that Gandalf explains about the 5 wizards. I like the portrayal of Radagast the Brown. He seems like people I’ve seen shambling around the streets of Berkeley, CA. Although I didn’t like the scene where he fought the Witch King’s spirit. It’s funny that Gandalf recommends Old Toby weed to Radagast to calm him down, but the smoke coming out of his ears was a bit too Tex Avery to be in a LOTR/Hobbit film.

I like that the animals do not speak in the film (as Guillermo del Toro was worried about doing when he was still involved with the picture), or at least not directly in English. They squeak and squeal as animals do, and Radagast is able to understand them.

It’s weird to hear the Trolls speak, especially in a cockney accent. But they did speak in the book (although that was because Tolkien hadn’t developed them, as with other things in ‘The Hobbit’ like the Elves and the Ring). In the contexts of the films, I guess the Cave Troll in ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ was kept feral by the Orcs. And the Morder Trolls in ‘Return of the King’ could have been able to speak, but just weren’t shown doing so.

I still want to live in Rivendell. They should build it for real in the Remarkables (a mountain range in New Zealand) as a resort hotel or something. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Remarkables

I didn’t really like the Stone Giants. In reading the book, I didn’t really get that’s what was being described. I don’t know. Everything in the LOTR/Hobbit that isn’t in our world, like Trolls, Orcs, Hobbits, Wargs, Dragons, etc. is at least alive. But giants made from STONE? Meh. Smacks a bit too much of ‘The Neverending Story’ for my liking.

The crazy little messenger Orc seems inspired by Guillermo del Toro’s involvement. It wouldn’t surprise me if del Toro designed the character. Andy Serkis steals the show yet again.

The Orc King was really strange, nothing like in the book, where he’s in a throwaway line. I disliked the part where Gandalf and the dwarves ride on the bridge through the underground. It was too much. Silly.

I think the heart of the movie (and book) is in some great dialogue Jackson and team gave to Bilbo: “I know you doubt me. I know you always have. And you’re right, I often think of Bag-end. I miss my books. And my armchair and my garden. See, that’s where I belong. That’s home. And that’s why I came back. Because... you don’t have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.”

I can’t wait to see ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ and meet Beorn, Smaug, and the rest!

PS: I chose the poster below because it’s better than the American ones.

Cloud Atlas - movie review

From October 29, 2012

Score: A-
I really enjoyed this movie. I'm not sure that I understood everything that went on, but I know I liked what I saw.
It was a very interesting movie. I was surprised at how often (and fluidly) they switched back-and-forth between time periods. It put 'Pulp Fiction' to shame.
I also had a lot of fun picking out the actors in each time period.
There's some very interesting things done withlanguage and culture in the future scenes, how they speak in the future and who gets deified. Neo Seoul (circa 2160s) has some pretty interesting technology, like image-shifting walls, GUI holograms, holographic roads, and human clones (and how they are treated).
I'll write a more thorough review after I let it sink in a while. I might even read the book before writing my review, so that might take a while, but I'll leave you with this from Wikipedia:
Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film for being "one of the most ambitious films ever made", awarding the film four out of four stars. He wrote "Even as I was watching Cloud Atlas the first time, I knew I would need to see it again. Now that I've seen it the second time, I know I'd like to see it a third time ... I think you will want to see this daring and visionary film ... I was never, ever bored by Cloud Atlas. On my second viewing, I gave up any attempt to work out the logical connections between the segments, stories and characters."
Variety described it as "an intense three-hour mental workout rewarded with a big emotional payoff. ... One's attention must be engaged at all times as the mosaic triggers an infinite range of potentially profound personal responses."