Tag: review

MOVIE REVIEW: Big Hero 6

Stay to the end of the credits of Big Hero 6 because… well, just do it.

big-hero-6-movie-poster-disneyA couple of weeks ago, The Wife and the Daughter went to the Colonie Center mall, near Albany, to see the movie Big Hero 6 in 3-D; I had a choir rehearsal. They both liked it a lot, though The Daughter said it was a little sad.

They went out of town to visit my in-laws the day after Thanksgiving, and as it turned out, the local second-run theater, the Madison, had started showing the movie in 2D, which was fine with me. I hadn’t been to the venue since it had been refurbished several weeks ago.

Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) is a techno-geek who graduated high school at age 13 but has little direction beyond hustling people in illegal bot (robot) competitions. His older brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney), realized that Hiro needed focus, and brings him to a competition at Tadashi’s college. But after a tragic fire, Hiro is morose.

His brother had invented an inflatable medical robot named Baymax (Scott Adsit). The robot wanders off, and Hiro discovers that someone has stolen the technology he created and is using it for nefarious purposes. Hiro and his brother’s school friends use their creativity and intellect to turn themselves and Baymax into superheroes in order to identify and stop the villain.

First off, I LOVE the setting of San Francokyo, the locale that has blended the two cities in fun and creative ways. The animation was quite fine. The voice actors, which also included Damon Wayans Jr., James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk, Abraham Benrubi, and Maya Rudolph as Aunt Cass were solid.

I enjoyed the storyline, though most of the heroes in Big Hero 6 aren’t always particularly as well defined as they could be. And if the story mentioned how the boys were orphaned when Hiro was three, I missed it.

On the plus side, there are difficult lessons that Hiro has to learn about justice and forgiveness, and Baymax (who I kept hearing as Betamax) helps him learn them through the compassionate programming that Tadeshi encoded. Hiro also gets support from his brother’s friends, who become his friends.

My buddy Greg Burgas wrote this on Facebook, and I think it’s correct: “At the heart of Big Hero 6 is the need for young people to process complicated emotions in a positive way, which seems to me far more mature and interesting than a lot of kids’ movies.” But I didn’t think it was just a kids’ movie. There’s a great action scene when the heroes use their powers and just get in each others’ way, which seems logical for people with skills they are just developing.

I read one negative review that said that the movie wasn’t funny. I thought good chunks of it were LOL hilarious, especially when it involved Baymax. Another thumbs-down review wondered where the audience was for this movie, thinking it was too intense for small kids and too boring for adults. I know The Daughter would likely have been frightened by it when she was five, but at ten, she was fine. Her mother, who is an adult, and her father, who purports to be one, were seldom restless.

Someone pointed out that, in the midst of some faux comic books the heroes were reading was one very real comic book, one I once owned. Marvel Premiere #32 featuring Monark Starstalker was written and drawn by Howard Chaykin back in 1976. This was a very obscure item, even in the day, and I’m curious why it was chosen.

Stay to the end of the credits, because… well, just do it.

There was a short before the movie, The Feast, “The story of one man’s love life is seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite by bite through the meals they share.” It was cute, but I might have enjoyed it more if the hipster film buffs who had been blathering about DeNiro and other actors had SHUT UP when the Steamboat Willie intro came on. There was little dialogue in The Feast early, but their yakking was still distracting.

MOVIE REVIEW: Kill the Messenger

In Kill the Messenger, Gary Webb’s big story slowly begins to unravel, due in no small effort of the rivals of the Mercury News, such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, to smear him.

jeremy-renner-kill-the-messenger-posterThe cover story of the October 9, 2014 issue of Metroland, the “Capitol Region’s Alternative Newsweekly,” was Return of the Messenger, about how a new film starring Jeremy Renner will serve as a belated vindication of an investigative journalist. The movie starts with clips of US Presidents from Lyndon Johnson to Ronald Reagan extolling the virtue of fighting the scourge of illegal drugs.

“Kill the Messenger… is the true story of Sacramento-based investigative reporter Gary Webb, who earned both acclaim and notoriety for his 1996 San Jose Mercury News series that revealed the CIA had turned a blind eye to the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras trafficking crack cocaine in South Central Los Angeles and elsewhere in urban America in the 1980s. One of the first-ever newspaper investigations to be published on the Internet, Webb’s story gained a massive readership and stirred up a firestorm of controversy and repudiation.”

The first part of the movie was like “All the President’s Men,” the movie about the Watergate affair that toppled the presidency of Richard Nixon, but on steroids, with hard-working Webb going out on a limb to nail this story. But his big story slowly begins to unravel, due in no small effort of the rivals of the Mercury News, such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, to smear Webb, thus undermining the narrative.

This is an engaging story, but depressing in terms of both the government’s actions and the media’s complacency. Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of The Washington Post from 1968 to 1991, who died recently, backed his reporters, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein when they investigated Watergate; the San Jose Mercury News eventually was less supportive of their reporter. The Washington Post’s actions in 1972 through 1974 were courageous and served the country well; the Washington Post of 1996, at least in regard to this story, was cowardly and petty.

At least some of the less positive reviews (75% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) suggest this movie also takes some liberties with the facts. This MAY be true – I know not – but it’s also possible, as The Myth of the Free Press by Chris Hedges suggests, that “these [CONTINUING!] attacks are an act of self-justification… an attempt by the mass media to mask the collaboration between themselves and the power elite.” In any case, the overarching narrative is probably accurate. Others suggest that the ending is unsatisfying; so it was, but that’s the way it really played out.

The Wife and I, who saw it on a recent Sunday afternoon at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany, thought it was well worth our time.

MOVIE REVIEW: Dolphin Tale 2

How can Sawyer go when the dolphin Winter’s status at the hospital is still in doubt?

Dolphin_Tale_2One of the useful functions of the blog is that it helps me remind me of events. In this case, it was Columbus Day weekend three years ago when The Daughter, The wife and I saw the movie Dolphin Tale, the first theatrical film the three of us ever saw all together. I liked it; the Daughter was even more fond.

The Daughter really wanted to see the sequel, the cleverly-named Dolphin Tale 2. We trekked to Colonie Center near Albany on a Sunday afternoon to whatever chain theater is out there to discover an annoying fact: 3 p.m. is the demarcation line for matinee prices, and it was the 4 p.m. showing we wanted to see. So it goes.

The plot is that Winter, the dolphin with the artificial tail, who has become a big hit at the facility where she lives, has an aging playmate. What happens when the older creature dies? USDA regulations require that marine mammals have a companion. Another dolphin is rescued. Why can’t this be the solution?

Dolphin Tale 2 is…nice. I’m not sure I would have known who all the human characters were, and their relationships had I not seen the first film. Sawyer Nelson (Nathan Gamble), the young man who first found Winter in the last film, is still working at Clearwater Marine Hospital. The facility is headed by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr.), and assisted by a number of attractive young adults, plus his now teenaged daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff). Loraine Nelson (Ashley Judd) is trying to get her son Sawyer to decide on an incredible educational opportunity, but how can he go when Winter’s status at the hospital is still in doubt? Dr. Clay has to make tough decisions, with his dad Reed (Kris Kristofferson) lending support. Can Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman) save the day again?

Any real drama in the movie takes place in the last third of the film. However, I did enjoy the ethical dilemma Dr. Haskett found himself in during the middle of the narrative. Also present in a cameo is Bethany Hamilton, a noted surfer, who came to national attention after her left arm was bitten off by a tiger shark back in 2003.

If you have an 8 to 14-year-old who wants to see it, I recommend renting the first movie and watching it, for it is the stronger film. THEN watch this one.

Movie Review: Boyhood

In creating the movie Boyhood, writer/director Linklater somehow transforms the viewer into his or her own passages of time.

boyhood.ellarmasterSteven Rea, the Philadelphia Inquirer film critic wrote of the film Boyhood, “Is it dumb to say, ‘Wow?'” I don’t care. Wow.” I’ll buy that.

From IMDB: “Filmed over 12 years with the same cast, Richard Linklater’s BOYHOOD is a groundbreaking story of growing up as seen through the eyes of a child named Mason (a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents and newcomer Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha…” This project was somehow completed, more or less, secretly.

So it is a visionary CONCEPT of a movie, a brilliant stunt, filming a few days every year for a dozen years, in the life of a boy and his family. So many things could have gone wrong.

Over more than a decade, an actor could have died or decided not to continue to participate. Linklater had gotten Hawke to agree to direct the rest of the film if HE died. On the Daily Show, Linklater told Jon Stewart that he agreed to allow his daughter to costar because he figured he’d always know where she was.

But what’s amazing is how well it works as a narrative, even though it often tends to note the day-to-day experiences of growing up. There are no on-screen titles or chapter breaks signifying “next year,” but are woven together like a quilt with slightly different colored material, a function of film editor Sandra Adair; give her the Oscar now.

Olivia, the Mom, holds the family intact, in spite of choices that don’t always work out. The sibling rivalry, particularly in the early years, was credible. The Dad, who’s not living with the family, is trying to find ways to be there for his kids, the way non-custodial parents often do, to the irritation of the primary caregiver. Both child actors went through that awkward-looking stage, as adolescents do.

One of my favorite scenes involves Mason Sr. and Mason Jr. in a vehicle, discussing the disposition of the father’s previous car. Totally different perceptions of a conversation that took place seven years earlier, and totally believable.

In creating this movie, writer/director Linklater somehow transforms the viewer into his or her own passages of time. I think that when the specifics of a narrative resonates, it becomes universal. As people come and out of the core family’s lives, you wonder what happened to them, as we do in real life. You CARE about these people.

The only thing I can even remotely compare this to is the amazing Seven-Up series that records seven-year-olds, then catches up with them every seven years. But that is currently eight non-fiction films.

A great soundtrack also helps this film along. Oh, another piece of dialogue I especially loved involved the father giving the son a mixed two-disc CD.

Eh, just go see it, like The Wife and I did at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany last week. Visit the loo first, because it’s 165 minutes long. Rated R, mostly for language and alcohol/drug use, I’d be inclined to let the Daughter see it in a couple of years.

MOVIE REVIEW: Magic in the Moonlight

The movie Magic in the Moonlight that was about sleight-of-hand was rather slight,

magic+in+the+moonlight+posterWednesday night at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany, the Wife and I went to see Magic in the Moonlight. There are still several films we want to see, but at 97 minutes, this was the shortest; when you hire a child watcher, time is definitely money.

I am a huge Woody Allen fan. Afterward, I thought it was a better than OK movie, though my wife thought it lagged in the first half. Maybe it was that we’d see too much in the preview?

We knew that a magician, Stanley (Colin Firth) is brought to the south of France by his friend Howard (Simon McBurney) to try to debunk this American “mystic”, Sophie (Emma Stone), before she defrauds the Catledge family: mother Grace (Jacki Weaver, who for some reason reminded us both of Sally Struthers), smitten son Brice (Hamish Linklater), and daughter Caroline (Erica Leerhsen, with not much to do).

Much to the consternation/irritation of the arrogant Englishman with a dislike of spiritual claims, yet he has difficulty discovering how Sophie pulls off the ruse if it IS a ruse.

Most of that I knew from the ads, and to say more would be a spoiler, except that whatever laughs to be had are in the second half, after all the above is established. Oh, and that the biggest delight of the movie is Stanley’s aunt Vanessa (Eileen Atkins) in a movie that also features Catherine McCormack as Stanley’s girlfriend, Olivia, and Marcia Gay Harden as Sophie’s mother.

A lot of the reviews were lukewarm towards the movie. Several critics made a similar pun/suggestion that the movie that was about sleight-of-hand was rather slight, and maybe that’s the issue. The film touches upon the issues of God, Nietzsche, and faith versus rationalism, yet perhaps isn’t substantial enough to bear the weighty topics.

I liked it well enough, particularly the period outfits and cars from the 1920s, and it has a suitable ending. But after seeing recent Woody movies such as Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine, this is clearly a lesser effort.

Ramblin' with Roger
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