Zootopia Review

          Zootopia tells the story of a rabbit named Judy Hopps who really wants to become a police officer. This is not something that is normal. In fact if she does become a police officer (which she does) she will be the first ever rabbit that is part of the police force. When she manages to get a case that has to do with missing mammals, she teams up with a sly fox named Nick Wilde that tries to help her solve the case.
          This movie is fantastic. It has so much more meaning than I ever expected it to have. It's definitely a more mature/adult oriented movie than I thought it would be. This is a great well rounded film. Not only is it a great film for kids to enjoy, it's a film that adults will enjoy as well. In fact it has a lot of themes that kids will not understand like sexism, racism, drugs, etc... I'm being dead serious about that. I was absolutely surprised about what kind of issues this movie handled. At some points I was surprised about what they put in the movie because kids just won't understand it. Now, don't get me wrong this is still a film kids will have a great time watching. However it is a film that I believe adults will actually enjoy a little more.
          Zootopia puts more effort into telling you the story it wants to tell, rather than putting it's effort into making you laugh. It really felt like this movie was made for adults but instead of humans being in the movie,  there were animals that walked and acted like humans.  Even with this movie tackling the certain themes, it was extremely entertaining and fun.
          The two main characters were so great! Ginnifer Goodwin as Hopps and Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde did fantastic voice work. Same with all the other celebrities that had a part in it. JK Simmons, Idris Elba, even Shakira did a great job. Michael Giaccino (it seems like he composes every Disney movie now a days) once again strongly delivers, giving this movie a fantastic score that I already downloaded. I don't want to sell short the amazement I had watching the action scenes. The animation was beautiful, it felt much more real then other animated movies.
          Zootopia is definitely in my top 3 Disney animated movies, it's also in my top 5 animated movies of all time. The characters were great, the script is one of the best, the message is well above anything I've ever seen in a kids film before. And I can't forget to mention how funny this movie was. It was hysterical. There were points where I was laughing, and I just couldn't stop. I can't wait to see this movie again because I know there were jokes I missed when I was laughing.
          I'm going to give this movie a perfect, 5/5


And there is a great Godfather reference that I really appreciated.

The Good Dinosaur Review

          The Good Dinosaur is the latest movie in the PIXAR collection and it is about a dinosaur named Arlo, trying to get back home after he got lost in a flood.
          PIXAR's first film this year, Inside Out was phenomenal.  An animated film only PIXAR could have done. That movie was above average in every way, shape, and form. Inside Out found it's way into my top 5 favorite PIXAR movies. The Good Dinosaur looked like it was going to be a good PIXAR movie. It wasn't going to be better than Inside Out, but it seemed like it was going to be a top tier PIXAR movie. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
          The movie was just an animated film that was below average. It didn't seem like PIXAR made this film. It felt like it was made by an independent studio. It didn't feel like PIXAR for 2 main reasons.
          1.) The story was very rushed. The Good Dinosaur was all over the place. It knew where it started, and knew where it wanted it to go.  It just didn't know how to get there. Every moment in the middle was a very big important part to the overall story arc. There were just too many of the very important parts. They needed to show you all these parts that they only spent a limited amount of time on them. That caused for very fast paced story telling which PIXAR hasn't done before in any of their movies. They could have eliminated 3-5 of those parts and expanded upon the ones that were left over. That would have caused for a better flowing story. With the studios weaker films like Brave, Cars 2, and Monsters University, they still had brilliant story pacing. Even though the story was very rushed, they still delivered the emotion they wanted to deliver, and it still made me cry like basically every PIXAR movie.
          2.) The characters. When this film starts off you see a mom and dad dinosaur waiting for their 3 eggs to hatch. When each egg hatches a dinosaur comes out with a very distinctive personality. Their personalities work for when they are new borns. When they are grown up, it doesn't work so well. The dad dinosaur character doesn't fit in with the story at all. I swear he had some king of bipolar disorder. He was a terrible father. He is trying to encourage his son Arlo to try new things, then the next scene he is basically yelling at Arlo telling him how bad he sucks. Very un-PIXAR to have a sudden change of character with no motive or story behind it. Arlo's siblings and mother are really forgettable. They didn't have good enough traits to remember them.  On Arlo's adventure, you meet other dinosaurs. You never care for any of them because they don't focus on them enough. That goes back to the problem I stated in point number one. You never care for the characters that aren't the focus in the story. In one of my favorite PIXAR movies Cars, the miscellaneous cars that Lighting McQueen meets have distinctive characteristics to them so when the ending of the movie comes around, you care for each and every one of them. The only characters you care about in this movie are of course the main dinosaur Arlo and the little boy that follows him. Again, it is very un-PIXAR like to only give focus on your main characters.
           Overall The Good Dinosaur is a disappointing edition to the PIXAR library. In fact i'm very sad to say that this is my least favorite pixar movie. It gets a 1/5.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Review

          I like every film in this franchise. I surprisingly liked Mockingjay Pt.1 when a lot of people didn't. Pt.2 just sucks.
         This movie was incredibly boring. It might be the most boring movie I have seen this year. The way the exposition was done was always drab. Now, I get that the world is dull, but you still need some excited moments in there to color it a bit.
          From the trailers it looked like the armies of the united districts are coming together and attacking the capitol. The thing we have been waiting 4 movies for. Do you seen any of that? Do you see anything that has to do with the districts attacking the capitol? Nope. You don't see any of it. There is nothing in this movie that helps move the story forward. It feels like they were making the film and they thought to themselves "We forgot to add something exciting. Let's add it here and have it make no sense."  They threw in nonsense hoping that it would make us appreciate what was going on. It didn't.  Another thing I got from the trailer was when Katniss and her group were marching towards President Snow's mansion, there were traps all over the town and they would have to skillfully plan how to avoid them; and we would see them struggling to survive the traps that they got into. They only focused on one trap. They had a perfect opportunity to have some really interesting conflict. But they didn't.
          Without spoiling anything, there are some pretty key reveals that they just screwed up, that carried no emotional impact what so ever. When a reveal happened they only focused on it for about 2-15 seconds. There was literally nothing there to make me care.
           Just like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King this movie could've literally ended 10 different times. The difference being when it seemed like Mockingjay Pt.2 was going to end, it should have and it shouldn't have kept going. I just wanted this movie to end. And when it didn't and it kept going, I was seriously thinking about leaving the theater. I about had enough with this movie. The whole movie moved along with the same speed as a sloth. The whole movie was just filler scenes with no actual scenes to help the story.
          I was so disappointed by this movie because I really liked the other movies. Especially Pt.1. I knew Pt.1 was the build up to what was going to happen in Pt.2. But Pt.2 ending up being really boring with no payoff in it.
          Harry Potter handled the whole Pt.1 Pt.2 situation really well. What we left wanting in Pt.1 came in Pt.2. When you watch the Deathly Hollows Pt.1 and Pt.2 you realize it needed to be 2 movies. You couldn't put all of the of the things we needed to have in one movie. In Mockingjay you could have easily put everything into one movie. When they split the 2 movies they also split there chances of having both movies be good. Mockingjay Pt.2 could have been Battle of Hogwarts good. It just wasn't. They were lazy with the way the handled the main conflict of this series. I couldn't even tell Pt.2 was about a rebellion. If I went into Pt.2 without watching any other movie in this franchise, I would have thought this movie was about, well, I don't know what I would think this movie was about. It was so diluted down from what it could have been.
         This movie sucks. 1.3/5

Bridge of Spies Review

Bridge of Spies is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Tom Hanks. It is about an insurance lawyer who agrees to represent someone who was caught in America as a soviet spy. At this time he becomes very unpopular with his country because America hated the soviets during The Cold War. Then he becomes more hated when he agrees to negotiate a swap between Russia and America about 2 captured spies. He doesn't have a political standpoint however, the CIA feels like he is good at talking so they hire him to do this dangerous, and risk full task. This is based on a True Story.
I LOVE THIS MOVIE.
I went into this movie hoping, just hoping I would get enjoyment out of it and I certainly did. I can't wait to buy it the day it comes out.
Bridge of Spies is a different war film than you might be used to. There are no scenes with actual war. It is about a lawyer who went over to Germany to negotiate a swap. This is a movie that is very dialogue heavy. So if you are one of those people who don't like movies or get bored in movies with lots of talking, you probably won't enjoy this movie.
If you are one of the people who get goosebumps when you watch a perfect crafted scene, you will have the time of your life watching this. He uses camera close ups, camera wide shots to simulate camera cuts that aren't actually there. He makes the scenes have maximum dramatic effect. He does it just like the old Hollywood style filmmaking. If you love the classic films like 12 Angry Men or North by North West there is no doubt you will enjoy this movie. This is the best directed film I have seen all year.
Let's talk about Tom Hanks. One of the most likable actors alive today and even cinematic history. Once again he gives a stellar performance. An Oscar worthy performance. He is funny and instantly likable. He reminded me of Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window.  He takes the movie and makes it his own. You can tell it is a great performance when you don't see the actor in the role. I did not see Hanks in this movie. I saw his character and that is always a positive. There are multiple scenes in this movie where it is just Hanks and another person talking. There is no action to help propel the scenes, it's just Hanks.
What makes this so interesting is the underlying story.  It's a negotiation movie, it's a courtroom drama. It's a war film that doesn't focus on the physical aspect. It focuses on the mental aspect. It's a war film that highlights the emotional part more than anything else. However, Spielberg directs it as if it was an action film.
Another performance in this film that caught my attention was Mark Rylance who plays the soviet spy. I see a best supporting actor oscar nomination in his future.
If I were to pick some negatives with this movie it would be elements that take place in the second act about the american spy that got captured. You can tell it was there just to make you care. But there is an incredible plane scene in this segment that blew me away.
The other negative is the score. This movie is the first Spielberg movie since the Color Purple in 1985 that is not composed by John Williams. You can definitely tell it was missing some of that Williams magic. Thomas Newman did his best, but the score was disappointing.
Bridge of Spies isn't one of Spielberg's best. You won't want to watch it again and again like you might with Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, or Jurassic Park. Bridge of Spies is the best Cold War film I've seen. It's funny, likable, and film that should get your attention.
Bridge of Spies gets a 9.6/10

The Man From U.N.C.L.E Review

          The Man From U.N.C.L.E is directed by Sherlock Holmes 1 & 2 director Guy Ritchie and stars Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) and Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger, Social Network). The movie tells the story about two agents during the Cold War. One from the CIA (Cavill) and the other from the KGB (Hammer). The two enemy agents are forced to team up to try and stop an evil organization that is trying to rapidly produce nuclear weapons. 

          I didn't enjoy The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as much as I though I would. It was disappointing. 

          The biggest problem with the movie is the cast/characters. You don't care about them. You are never attached to them. It seems like they are just there and have no real purpose in the movie. There is one exception to this though. Henry Cavill is fantastic in the film. There is no question that he was the best part. Unlike the other characters, we got to know the background to his character so we actually cared about him. He was the only one that seemed like he had purpose. He had great one-liners, and portrayed his character exactly how it needed to be. He was the only one where his line delivery was entertaining.  Cavill has a whole bunch of charisma and shines every time he is on screen. 

          The script was an issue. The story was all over the place. It was very hard to tell what was going on. It was rather confusing at points. This is due to the poor direction. The style it was directed in was they style I like to call "action with little story." In this directing style they know that the best parts about the movie is their action scenes. So within their action scenes they put key story elements hoping that you will catch these key details. However, we are so focused on the action that we completely miss the story details we have to catch in order to get what was going on. Then they assume we catch the details so the non-action scenes are really confusing. It's very hard to enjoy the movie when you don't know what's going on.  Because the movie was hard to follow the way the movie ended seemed to contradict it's self. This could have been fixed by ending the movie 5-10 minutes earlier. The other big problem I found with the script was the jokes fell flat about 55% of the time. The only time they worked is when Cavill said the joke. Every other time the jokes just didn't make me laugh. Some were even cringe worthy. 

          The action scenes were awesome. They were cleanly done and you could follow the action really well. The action scenes were by far the best part in this movie. I wish there were more so I could've enjoyed this film a little more then I did. The thing that helped the action scenes was the cinematography. It's done in a way where you can see every little detail that is happening. 

          My favorite thing about this movie (other than Cavill) was the score/soundtrack. It's something I could listen to over, and over again and never get tired of it. The score is in my top 3 of the year. It was fantastic. I'm listening to it as I'm writing this. 

         Overall The Man From U.N.C.L.E is mediocre fun. It's not a movie you will be dying to see again after you first watch it, but it is a movie that you would want to see again once it comes to redbox or a dollar theater. I liked it enough that I want a sequel just to see how they can improve upon this movie and I would like to see the characters continue. I will give this movie a 6.4/10 

          

          

          

         

Harry Potter Spinoff Gets Collin Farrell

          More news about the Harry Potter spinoff "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" have surfaced. The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Collin Farrell has joined the cast which already includes Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne, Allison Sudol, Ezra Miller, and Katherine Waterston.
          Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a text book in the Harry Potter universe written by Newt Scamander about the various magical beasts that exist in the Potter universe.
          According to The Hollywood reporter, Collin Farrell will play a wizard named Graves that Newt Scamander (Redmayne) meets while he is documenting new magical creatures.
          I really like the addition of Farrell. It's never a mistake to add talent. Farrell was in the movie Saving Mr.Banks with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson and he stood his own ground. He was as good as Hanks and Thompson. If you haven't seen Saving Mr.Banks, treat your self.
          I'm really excited for this movie. They have the best possible people working on this project. Director David Yates who directed the last 4 Harry Potter movies is directing it, Potter producer David Heyman is producing again. Steve Kloves who was written 7/8 of the Harry Potter films is also producing. J.K. Rowling is writing the screenplay. Writing a book is completely different than writing a screenplay, but no one knows this world better than Rowling, so I'm not worried at all.
          The movie will follow Scamander as he is doing research for his book. The movie is taking place 70 years before the first Harry Potter.
          Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  is set to release November 8th, 2016.

For the Love of PEZ

          There is a movie based on the PEZ candy dispensers coming. Yes, you heard me right. A movie about those creepy candy dispensers that disperse candy through their neck is happening. Have you been looking forward to this movie? If you answered yes to the previous question, you need to get a life. I literally have never heard of something so stupid and idiotic before. What studio is incompetent enough to make a movie about PEZ? What were they smoking when they bought the rights to this. What's this movie even going to be about? Are the PEZ characters going to shoot random objects from their neck?  If you wanted to play devil's advocate in this situation you could say that PEZ has lots of characters that they could use to do a well, thought out story. It worked for The Lego Movie? Why can't it work for PEZ? The answer to that question is the characters in the lego movie actually had arms. The characters in the PEZ movie (if they decide to stay true to their source material) are just going to be heads on big, long, necks. I can't think of anything more horrific than a big hello kitty head on a big long stick. That's absolutely terrifying. 

          The studio behind it is Envision Media Arts. They haven't done anything in the past that's noteworthy or mentionable. The writer who was hired to pen the script is Cameron Fay who also worked on that terrible Three Stooges movie. This movie is going to suck. 

          I'm just waiting for the movie about the Coca-Cola polar bears. I want that movie extremely bad.