directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
written by Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel
While I would have loved to have spent last weekend watching the resurgent historical epic Heneral Luna, I found myself in a mall with three little girls too young to watch the R-13 rated movie and a lot of time to kill. In any event, I had been wanting to take my kids to see the film since the initial trailers, so this was as good an opportunity as any to go see it.
The Transylvania gang, including Dracula (Adam Sandler), Frankenstein (Kevin James), the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), the Invisible Man (David Spade), and the Mummy (Keegan-Michael Key) are back, and Hotel Transylvania remains very much in business. Drac's daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and her boyfriend since the end of the last movie Johnny (Andy Samberg) finally get married and make Drac a grandfather. Drac's joy soon turns to anxiety, however, as it becomes unclear whether or not little Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) has actually inherited any of his mother's and grandfather's vampiric powers. It also becomes an object of concern when Mavis, worried about her "non-monster" son, begins to think that living in a monster-free California, where Johnny is from, might be better for Dennis than living in Transylvania. Thus begins Drac's quest to coax his grandson's vampirism out of him as Mavis and Johnny leave for the U.S. to visit Johnny's parents, leaving Dennis with Drac and his friends, who have their work cut out for them.
I found the first movie reasonably entertaining with its combination of fun, if not particularly innovative designs on classic movie monsters and to anyone who enjoyed the first movie I am pleased to report that this is pretty much more of the same unpretentious silliness. It's pretty much trademark Sandler, but with less rude jokes (though the word "boobies" actually makes it into the script) and with a broader canvas, considering the things that cartoons can do which real people cannot, even when abetted by computer graphics. Sandler used to play a man-child who refused to grow up, here he plays (through voice acting) an old man trying to relive his youth vicariously through his grandson. In any case, the broad humor connected with me. I also liked little touches in the film like the vampire summer camp and the extensive use of youtube, though I found it kind of idiotic that the filmmakers could not decide whether or not vampires could be captured on camera, as they were in some instances and were not in others.
The sequel does have a kind of by-the-numbers feel to it, as can be expected from most sequels, but most importantly, they kept the fun, even if the movie really dipped into the nonsensical time and again. I'd be a complete hypocrite if I didn't admit I had a good laugh time and again. It's some pretty decent, if altogether silly fun.
6.5/10
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Heneral Luna: The Most Important Movie Any Filipino Could Possibly Watch This Year
directed by Jerrold Tarog
written by Henry Francia, E.A. Rocha, and Jerrold Tayog
As Jerrold Tarog begins this film, he gets something very important out of the way: he declares, in no uncertain terms, that his film is a work of fiction for which he has borrowed liberally from actual history, and that certain events may have been tweaked to serve the greater narrative. With one stroke he addresses the history nerds in the audience, telling them quite categorically: "Just shut up and enjoy the movie." This is important because rather than a by-the-numbers retelling of history, this film plays out very much like a parable, one that every Filipino needs to see and hear.
After Three Hundred Thirty-Three years, Spanish rule in the Philippines is coming to an end, and to escape the humiliation of having been overthrown by its erstwhile subjects, the Spanish government is having a closed-door meeting with the new burgeoning imperial power, the United States of America. As they meet inside the walled city, Intramuros, the revolutionary government, led by President Emilio Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado) have a meeting of their own and try to decide what to do next. Antonio Luna (played masterfully by John Arcilla), the highest ranking general of the army of the revolutionary republic of the Philippines, believes that they are only swapping one colonial ruler for another, and advocates an attack on the Americans while they are still marshaling their forces, but cabinet members Pedro Paterno (Leo Martinez) and Felipe Buencamino (Nonie Buencamino) believe that the Americans have good intentions and are looking forward to doing business with them. In the end, the politicians prevail and no attack is carried out. However, when the American soldiers shoot a passel of Filipino soldiers a few months into their occupation, a full-blown war breaks out, leaving General Luna no choice but to face the military might of the strongest nation in the world. Luna, however, is no slouch; he knows that to beat the Americans, who are superior in both numbers and technology, he will need tactics, and thanks to his fierce intelligence and extensive education in Europe he knows exactly what he needs to do, which does not involve beating Americans on the traditional battlefield but basically wearing them down by getting them to throw more and more money at their war effort until they realize that colonizing the Philippines is too expensive an endeavor. As he strives to professionalize the Filipino army, Luna soon realizes his biggest problem, though, isn't the Americans but his very own countrymen, including officers from his own army like the arrogant General Tomas Mascardo (Lorenz Martinez) and the useless, lazy Captain Pedro Janolino (Ketchup Eusebio), neither of whom will answer to or even cooperate with him but will only take orders from the President himself. As Luna finds himself fighting a war on two fronts, one against colonialism and the other against parochialism and self-interest, he realizes there are precious few people he can trust, such as his loyal officers Francisco Roman (Joem Bascon) and Eduardo Rusca (Archie Alemania). Time is not on his side, and neither, it seems, is the very republic he is fighting to save.
The film, based primarily on a 1972 book by Vivencio Jose is a masterclass of direction, acting, cinematography, editing, music scoring, art direction and costume design, among others. Quite remarkably, in making this film director Tarrog wore several other hats as well. He wrote the film's script and music score and also served as film editor. His shot selection is utterly brilliant. On a technical level, this film is virtually beyond reproach, but for the occasional continuity gaffe and some seams in the special effects, and perhaps more conspicuously, some rather mediocre acting from the actors Tarrog and his crew got to play the Americans, whose onscreen presence is mercifully short, though somewhat pivotal. The good news, though, is that the Filipino actors are, for the most part, at the top of their game.
Arcilla, a veteran of both screen and stage, owns this film. The truth of it is that, in the hands of a lesser actor, with stinging lines like "you're like virgins believing in the love of a prostitute" or the much more important "our very worst enemy is ourselves," the character could have descended into caricature, a live-action version of the splash-panel editorial cartoons that regular newspaper readers are used to seeing. Arcilla, however, takes this role, with its tricky lines and incredibly difficult duality, and gives us a character who is both fierce and tender, both brilliant and, in the end, somehow naive of the evils of which his compatriots are capable, a flaw that ultimately proves to be his undoing. It's really such an outstanding performance, the kind, I believe, that will define Arcilla as an actor, and in the best possible way.
It is to the credit of most of the supporting cast that Tarrog and his producers have assembled that they do not simply blend into the background. Ramon Confiado imbues his Aguinaldo, quite clearly one of the central villains of the piece, with just enough humanity and hesitancy to keep him from being completely beyond redemption. There's even a pretty vivid flashback to the butchering of Andres Bonifacio in which Confiado gets to manifest pangs of the first Filipino president's conscience. Confiado's performance is creditable for bringing out the conflict in this character. In contrast, Epy Quizon's take on Apolinario Mabini was a little too saintly for my liking, thanks largely as well to the script, but he essayed the role well. I will admit I had some problems with Leo Martinez's Pedro Paterno, the greasy politician that felt a bit like a retread of his old "Manhik Manaog" character from the Mongolian Barbecue movie that I'm sure nobody remembers anymore (but which was actually pretty good), but considering his relatively small role I can get why Tarrog and his co-writers Francia and Rocha did not flesh him out too much.
Nonie Buencamino was a bit more surprising as the identically-surnamed Felipe Buencamino; this character is basically Luna's arch-nemesis throughout the film, and yet at the end of it all, he comes across as surprisingly human, even though he's still someone the audience will truly love to hate. What is remarkable about Buencamino's performance is that he, unlike Martinez' Paterno, does not come across as a con-artist or snake-oil salesman, but as someone with genuine, however misplaced, conviction. Projecting that on the screen was to my mind, almost as challenging as portraying Luna himself.
I could go on forever about how I admired this movie as a work of art, but ultimately what matters more is this film's message, which is basically about unity and selflessness in the name of one's country. The film is hardly subtle about its advocacy; its core messages are explicitly stated in the dialogue. In a day and age where people are bickering about how everything is the government's fault and how this politician is better than that one, Tarrog and his crew have shown some serious balls by daring just about everyone who watches this film, when complaining about the ills of society, to basically just take a good, long look in the mirror. Also, there are very few message movies that go balls-out on production value the way this film did, only to end on a complete downer.
Heneral Luna is hardly the first "message movie" to come along, and I sincerely hope it's not the last. I really hope this movie gets a revolution going, and not the kind with guns and murder, but the kind that involves EVERYONE--from the people government to the motorists on Commonwealth avenue to the urban poor--changing the way they think, and learning to truly love their country.
10/10
written by Henry Francia, E.A. Rocha, and Jerrold Tayog
As Jerrold Tarog begins this film, he gets something very important out of the way: he declares, in no uncertain terms, that his film is a work of fiction for which he has borrowed liberally from actual history, and that certain events may have been tweaked to serve the greater narrative. With one stroke he addresses the history nerds in the audience, telling them quite categorically: "Just shut up and enjoy the movie." This is important because rather than a by-the-numbers retelling of history, this film plays out very much like a parable, one that every Filipino needs to see and hear.
After Three Hundred Thirty-Three years, Spanish rule in the Philippines is coming to an end, and to escape the humiliation of having been overthrown by its erstwhile subjects, the Spanish government is having a closed-door meeting with the new burgeoning imperial power, the United States of America. As they meet inside the walled city, Intramuros, the revolutionary government, led by President Emilio Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado) have a meeting of their own and try to decide what to do next. Antonio Luna (played masterfully by John Arcilla), the highest ranking general of the army of the revolutionary republic of the Philippines, believes that they are only swapping one colonial ruler for another, and advocates an attack on the Americans while they are still marshaling their forces, but cabinet members Pedro Paterno (Leo Martinez) and Felipe Buencamino (Nonie Buencamino) believe that the Americans have good intentions and are looking forward to doing business with them. In the end, the politicians prevail and no attack is carried out. However, when the American soldiers shoot a passel of Filipino soldiers a few months into their occupation, a full-blown war breaks out, leaving General Luna no choice but to face the military might of the strongest nation in the world. Luna, however, is no slouch; he knows that to beat the Americans, who are superior in both numbers and technology, he will need tactics, and thanks to his fierce intelligence and extensive education in Europe he knows exactly what he needs to do, which does not involve beating Americans on the traditional battlefield but basically wearing them down by getting them to throw more and more money at their war effort until they realize that colonizing the Philippines is too expensive an endeavor. As he strives to professionalize the Filipino army, Luna soon realizes his biggest problem, though, isn't the Americans but his very own countrymen, including officers from his own army like the arrogant General Tomas Mascardo (Lorenz Martinez) and the useless, lazy Captain Pedro Janolino (Ketchup Eusebio), neither of whom will answer to or even cooperate with him but will only take orders from the President himself. As Luna finds himself fighting a war on two fronts, one against colonialism and the other against parochialism and self-interest, he realizes there are precious few people he can trust, such as his loyal officers Francisco Roman (Joem Bascon) and Eduardo Rusca (Archie Alemania). Time is not on his side, and neither, it seems, is the very republic he is fighting to save.
The film, based primarily on a 1972 book by Vivencio Jose is a masterclass of direction, acting, cinematography, editing, music scoring, art direction and costume design, among others. Quite remarkably, in making this film director Tarrog wore several other hats as well. He wrote the film's script and music score and also served as film editor. His shot selection is utterly brilliant. On a technical level, this film is virtually beyond reproach, but for the occasional continuity gaffe and some seams in the special effects, and perhaps more conspicuously, some rather mediocre acting from the actors Tarrog and his crew got to play the Americans, whose onscreen presence is mercifully short, though somewhat pivotal. The good news, though, is that the Filipino actors are, for the most part, at the top of their game.
Arcilla, a veteran of both screen and stage, owns this film. The truth of it is that, in the hands of a lesser actor, with stinging lines like "you're like virgins believing in the love of a prostitute" or the much more important "our very worst enemy is ourselves," the character could have descended into caricature, a live-action version of the splash-panel editorial cartoons that regular newspaper readers are used to seeing. Arcilla, however, takes this role, with its tricky lines and incredibly difficult duality, and gives us a character who is both fierce and tender, both brilliant and, in the end, somehow naive of the evils of which his compatriots are capable, a flaw that ultimately proves to be his undoing. It's really such an outstanding performance, the kind, I believe, that will define Arcilla as an actor, and in the best possible way.
It is to the credit of most of the supporting cast that Tarrog and his producers have assembled that they do not simply blend into the background. Ramon Confiado imbues his Aguinaldo, quite clearly one of the central villains of the piece, with just enough humanity and hesitancy to keep him from being completely beyond redemption. There's even a pretty vivid flashback to the butchering of Andres Bonifacio in which Confiado gets to manifest pangs of the first Filipino president's conscience. Confiado's performance is creditable for bringing out the conflict in this character. In contrast, Epy Quizon's take on Apolinario Mabini was a little too saintly for my liking, thanks largely as well to the script, but he essayed the role well. I will admit I had some problems with Leo Martinez's Pedro Paterno, the greasy politician that felt a bit like a retread of his old "Manhik Manaog" character from the Mongolian Barbecue movie that I'm sure nobody remembers anymore (but which was actually pretty good), but considering his relatively small role I can get why Tarrog and his co-writers Francia and Rocha did not flesh him out too much.
Nonie Buencamino was a bit more surprising as the identically-surnamed Felipe Buencamino; this character is basically Luna's arch-nemesis throughout the film, and yet at the end of it all, he comes across as surprisingly human, even though he's still someone the audience will truly love to hate. What is remarkable about Buencamino's performance is that he, unlike Martinez' Paterno, does not come across as a con-artist or snake-oil salesman, but as someone with genuine, however misplaced, conviction. Projecting that on the screen was to my mind, almost as challenging as portraying Luna himself.
I could go on forever about how I admired this movie as a work of art, but ultimately what matters more is this film's message, which is basically about unity and selflessness in the name of one's country. The film is hardly subtle about its advocacy; its core messages are explicitly stated in the dialogue. In a day and age where people are bickering about how everything is the government's fault and how this politician is better than that one, Tarrog and his crew have shown some serious balls by daring just about everyone who watches this film, when complaining about the ills of society, to basically just take a good, long look in the mirror. Also, there are very few message movies that go balls-out on production value the way this film did, only to end on a complete downer.
Heneral Luna is hardly the first "message movie" to come along, and I sincerely hope it's not the last. I really hope this movie gets a revolution going, and not the kind with guns and murder, but the kind that involves EVERYONE--from the people government to the motorists on Commonwealth avenue to the urban poor--changing the way they think, and learning to truly love their country.
10/10
Saturday, September 5, 2015
A Truly Beautiful Mind: A Review of Inside Out
directed by Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen
written by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley and Ronnie del Carmen
In this day and age of rampant video piracy, film distributors have decided to make it a point to release their "tentpole" pictures in Asia and other territories ahead of their release in the United States. Because of this, we viewers in the Philippines get films like The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, and Minions at the same time as, if not weeks ahead of, our counterparts in America.
This is not the case, for some reason, for films which are made by Walt Disney Pictures' Pixar Studios, whose films are invariably released here as late as two months after their release not only in the United States but in other parts of the world as well.This was the case with Inside Out, which, by the time it came out here almost two weeks ago, had grossed over $600 million in other parts of the world.
Well, the good news is that it was completely worth the wait.
The film is about five colleagues, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black) and Fear (Bill Hader), who have a very interesting job: they are the emotions of a little girl named Riley (Katlyn Dias). They live inside her mind and basically form her reactions to everything that ever happens to her in her life. Joy is the lead emotion in view of the fact that Riley lives a generally happy life in Minnesota. She loves her family, she has great friends, she's crazy about hockey, and life in general. Joy, for her part, loves her job, which mainly consists of pressing buttons on a console that causes Riley to react happily to situations in her life, and storing the memories of the events, depicted as glowing crystal orbs the size of bowling balls (to Joy and her colleagues), in the enormous landscape of Riley's mind. They transport these "bowling balls" via vacuum tubes. Each memory is the color of the emotion that triggered the reaction to the event, and most of them are yellow, the color of Joy. There are some exceptions, like the blue memories represented by Sadness' reactions, green memories triggered by reactions of Disgust, red memories triggered by Anger, and the purple memories triggered by Fear. Joy, however, is the dominant emotion, as she should be in a child's life. There are memories, and then there are core memories, which are necessary to making Riley...Riley. The core memories, in fact, power massive floating structures in Riley's mind that represent aspects of her personality. In the beginning of the film, all of the core memories are joyful ones.
Things change, however, when Riley's entire family moves from Minnesota, where she's lived all of her eleven years, to San Francisco.
Joy and her colleagues go about their business, but she notices that sadness has suddenly started touching yellow memories...and turning them blue. It's mildly irksome at first, but when sadness starts handling core memories, Joy intervenes, and the two of them, along with all the core memories, end up getting sucked into the vacuum tubes and sent out to where all of Riley's memories go, which is a massive city. They find themselves "miles" away from the control room, and they have to get there fast, or the floating islands that core memories power will fall into the chasm of Riley's forgotten memories, and Riley as everyone knows her will truly be lost. Time is not on their side as one by one the islands begin to collapse, but they may have an unexpected ally in Riley's one-time imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind) who has spent the last years wandering around the corridors of Riley's memories.
Meanwhile, back in central control, Disgust, Anger and Fear are basically running Riley's mind, and they're in a bit of a panic.
All of this, of course, is happening on the inside of Riley. On the outside, she is reacting to her friends moving on from her, to being the new kid at school, and to her dad being preoccupied with his business deals. The combination of Fear, Anger and Disgust dominating her mind is a dangerous mix, and looking back on her fond memories of Minnesota, Riley contemplates doing something drastic.
There is one word that sums of up what I think of this film: SUBLIME.
The notion of anthropomorphic representations of people's emotions isn't something Pixar came up with but I dare anyone to claim that anyone else has executed the concept with even a fraction of the inventiveness and meticulously-realized detail that Pixar have with this film.
I'll admit I wasn't particularly sold on the concept by the initial trailer, which was why this film truly blew me away; it took me quite by surprise. Pete Docter's and Ronnie del Carmen's vision of the inside of a person's mind, even that of a child, is utterly breathtaking, but Pixar being Pixar, they certainly weren't about to stop with a few stunning visuals. Sure, these emotions are all characters in a story, but each of them is a functional part of somebody's brain, and it became pretty clear that Pixar did their homework on how the brain works. Interviewing psychologists is one thing, though, but translating all of this information into story concepts that kids and their parents would embrace was quite another, and Pixar's triumph here was their visualization of the various concepts of the mind like abstract reasoning, subconsciousness, and a personal favorite of mine, dreams.
Of course, all of this was wrapped up in some generous helpings of humor, helped along by the sterling work of the voice cast headed by Poehler and Davis. Hader has long been a personal favorite of mine, and during the laugh-out-loud "dream" sequence he did not disappoint. I was also moved by Dias, the young actress who plays Riley, who was given the unenviable task of acting out all the emotions that had her mental avatars in a tizzy. Sure, this was just voice acting, and Pixar's CG did much of the heavy lifting, but Dias really went a long way towards helping me feel her character's inner turmoil. This movie was, for me particularly extraordinary because just about everything that happens outside of Riley's head is really rather mundane, and the fact that Pixar managed to depict almost everyday mental processes into some larger than life just really shows just how far ahead of the curve they are in terms of sheer creativity. Relative to their competitors, they really are operating on another level of storytelling.
Like the very best of Pixar's offerings, this movie has at its center a beating heart. For me it's right up there with Finding Nemo and the deeply moving three minute love story of Carl and Ellie in Up. Surprisingly, this isn't about fathers and sons or husbands and wives but about understanding one's self, and in a way learning selflessness. As strange as this may sound, this is actually a good movie to show at office team buildings or to teams before a big game; the egomaniacs in either of those groups will quite likely get the reference.
Sure, Illumination Studios may have raked in the big bucks with the broad humor and undeniable appeal of the Minions, but with this Pixar has just reasserted that it is STILL the absolute best in the animation business. At a time when studios are churning sequel after remake after reboot, it is utterly gratifying to know that something this fresh can still succeed in the marketplace.
10/10
written by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley and Ronnie del Carmen
In this day and age of rampant video piracy, film distributors have decided to make it a point to release their "tentpole" pictures in Asia and other territories ahead of their release in the United States. Because of this, we viewers in the Philippines get films like The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, and Minions at the same time as, if not weeks ahead of, our counterparts in America.
This is not the case, for some reason, for films which are made by Walt Disney Pictures' Pixar Studios, whose films are invariably released here as late as two months after their release not only in the United States but in other parts of the world as well.This was the case with Inside Out, which, by the time it came out here almost two weeks ago, had grossed over $600 million in other parts of the world.
Well, the good news is that it was completely worth the wait.
The film is about five colleagues, Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black) and Fear (Bill Hader), who have a very interesting job: they are the emotions of a little girl named Riley (Katlyn Dias). They live inside her mind and basically form her reactions to everything that ever happens to her in her life. Joy is the lead emotion in view of the fact that Riley lives a generally happy life in Minnesota. She loves her family, she has great friends, she's crazy about hockey, and life in general. Joy, for her part, loves her job, which mainly consists of pressing buttons on a console that causes Riley to react happily to situations in her life, and storing the memories of the events, depicted as glowing crystal orbs the size of bowling balls (to Joy and her colleagues), in the enormous landscape of Riley's mind. They transport these "bowling balls" via vacuum tubes. Each memory is the color of the emotion that triggered the reaction to the event, and most of them are yellow, the color of Joy. There are some exceptions, like the blue memories represented by Sadness' reactions, green memories triggered by reactions of Disgust, red memories triggered by Anger, and the purple memories triggered by Fear. Joy, however, is the dominant emotion, as she should be in a child's life. There are memories, and then there are core memories, which are necessary to making Riley...Riley. The core memories, in fact, power massive floating structures in Riley's mind that represent aspects of her personality. In the beginning of the film, all of the core memories are joyful ones.
Things change, however, when Riley's entire family moves from Minnesota, where she's lived all of her eleven years, to San Francisco.
Joy and her colleagues go about their business, but she notices that sadness has suddenly started touching yellow memories...and turning them blue. It's mildly irksome at first, but when sadness starts handling core memories, Joy intervenes, and the two of them, along with all the core memories, end up getting sucked into the vacuum tubes and sent out to where all of Riley's memories go, which is a massive city. They find themselves "miles" away from the control room, and they have to get there fast, or the floating islands that core memories power will fall into the chasm of Riley's forgotten memories, and Riley as everyone knows her will truly be lost. Time is not on their side as one by one the islands begin to collapse, but they may have an unexpected ally in Riley's one-time imaginary friend Bing Bong (Richard Kind) who has spent the last years wandering around the corridors of Riley's memories.
Meanwhile, back in central control, Disgust, Anger and Fear are basically running Riley's mind, and they're in a bit of a panic.
All of this, of course, is happening on the inside of Riley. On the outside, she is reacting to her friends moving on from her, to being the new kid at school, and to her dad being preoccupied with his business deals. The combination of Fear, Anger and Disgust dominating her mind is a dangerous mix, and looking back on her fond memories of Minnesota, Riley contemplates doing something drastic.
There is one word that sums of up what I think of this film: SUBLIME.
The notion of anthropomorphic representations of people's emotions isn't something Pixar came up with but I dare anyone to claim that anyone else has executed the concept with even a fraction of the inventiveness and meticulously-realized detail that Pixar have with this film.
I'll admit I wasn't particularly sold on the concept by the initial trailer, which was why this film truly blew me away; it took me quite by surprise. Pete Docter's and Ronnie del Carmen's vision of the inside of a person's mind, even that of a child, is utterly breathtaking, but Pixar being Pixar, they certainly weren't about to stop with a few stunning visuals. Sure, these emotions are all characters in a story, but each of them is a functional part of somebody's brain, and it became pretty clear that Pixar did their homework on how the brain works. Interviewing psychologists is one thing, though, but translating all of this information into story concepts that kids and their parents would embrace was quite another, and Pixar's triumph here was their visualization of the various concepts of the mind like abstract reasoning, subconsciousness, and a personal favorite of mine, dreams.
Of course, all of this was wrapped up in some generous helpings of humor, helped along by the sterling work of the voice cast headed by Poehler and Davis. Hader has long been a personal favorite of mine, and during the laugh-out-loud "dream" sequence he did not disappoint. I was also moved by Dias, the young actress who plays Riley, who was given the unenviable task of acting out all the emotions that had her mental avatars in a tizzy. Sure, this was just voice acting, and Pixar's CG did much of the heavy lifting, but Dias really went a long way towards helping me feel her character's inner turmoil. This movie was, for me particularly extraordinary because just about everything that happens outside of Riley's head is really rather mundane, and the fact that Pixar managed to depict almost everyday mental processes into some larger than life just really shows just how far ahead of the curve they are in terms of sheer creativity. Relative to their competitors, they really are operating on another level of storytelling.
Like the very best of Pixar's offerings, this movie has at its center a beating heart. For me it's right up there with Finding Nemo and the deeply moving three minute love story of Carl and Ellie in Up. Surprisingly, this isn't about fathers and sons or husbands and wives but about understanding one's self, and in a way learning selflessness. As strange as this may sound, this is actually a good movie to show at office team buildings or to teams before a big game; the egomaniacs in either of those groups will quite likely get the reference.
Sure, Illumination Studios may have raked in the big bucks with the broad humor and undeniable appeal of the Minions, but with this Pixar has just reasserted that it is STILL the absolute best in the animation business. At a time when studios are churning sequel after remake after reboot, it is utterly gratifying to know that something this fresh can still succeed in the marketplace.
10/10
Saturday, August 22, 2015
A Review of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
directed by Christopher McQuarrie
written by Drew Pearce and Christopher McQuarrie
Mission Impossible movies, like James Bond movies, are relatively simple affairs: there's a mysterious, megalomaniacal threat somewhere in the world, and Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt accompanied sometimes by his Impossible Mission Force, at other times just his buddy Luther, played by Ving Rhames, must hunt in down and neutralize it. The fun, of course, is in watching Ethan and company do their thing, particularly considering that it invariably involves high-speed chases, death-defying stunts and bone-crunching fight sequences. To wax cliche, it's about the journey, and not the destination.
That said, while the MI series has had its ups and downs over the course of five films (and counting), I personally feel the series received a real creative shot in the arm when J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Star Wars Episode VII) took over the directing duties around ten years ago and produced the next couple of films, including this one. There's a bit more cleverness to the way Hunt and his friends take on the bad guys and the introduction of supporting characters like Simon Pegg's Benjie Dunn (who has quite a lot of screen time here) has really made the movies more entertaining overall.
In this particular installment, Hunt and his team take on the mysterious Syndicate, a collection of secret agents from all over the world who have either been declared missing or dead, who are apparently in the business of destroying governments. Led by the ruthless former MI6 agent Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the Syndicate seems to perpetually be one step ahead of Hunt and his IMF, who are also facing the problem of having their budget cut off as Central Intelligence Agency Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) seems intent on demolishing them during Congressional hearings. Fortunately, however, Hunt and his team may have an unexpected ally in double-agent Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) who may or may not be an MI6 agent also fighting the Syndicate. Time, however, is running out.
Truth be told, after the inventive and entertaining Edge of Tomorrow which was basically Groundhog Day but with a sci-fi/action flavor, I'm vaguely disappointed that Cruise went back to his comfort zone, though to be fair he did try a number of different kinds of films between this film and his last MI film. The good news is that as well-worn franchises go, Cruise and his crew have done a great job of keeping things fresh with some tightly-filmed action sequences, the highlights of which include a really good motorbike chase scene and a death defying underwater sequence.
Cruise's Ethan Hunt and Pegg's Benjie Dunn see the most action here, though Jeremy Renner's William Brandt and Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell have crucial roles as well. I guess Renner was taking a break from all the action he saw in Avengers: Age of Ultron in which his character Hawkeye had a dramatically expanded role; he doesn't throw a single punch in this film.
Cruise, on the other hand, goes all out with his stunts here, and considering he's dangled from a cliff connected to only a thin wire in Mission Impossible 2 and did the same thing, except from Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, that's saying a lot. The very first sequence, featured prominently in the trailers and other marketing materials, has him clinging to the side of a flying plane. He apparently has ambitions of being the Jackie Chan of Hollywood.
McQuarrie, probably best known as the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects, has only directed two films previous to this one, Way of the Gun, and Jack Reacher (which also starred Cruise), both of which had a bit of a crime noir sensibility, which makes it even more impressive that he was able to handle this high octane affair with such panache.
The thing about this movie is that it really is a case of not fixing something that isn't broken. It's a good thing in that it makes for an entertaining film viewing experience, but Cruise and crew don't really reinvent the wheel here, so there really isn't much by way of original thrills either. It feels that way after a while, too.
Still, this was good fun.
7.7/10
written by Drew Pearce and Christopher McQuarrie
Mission Impossible movies, like James Bond movies, are relatively simple affairs: there's a mysterious, megalomaniacal threat somewhere in the world, and Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt accompanied sometimes by his Impossible Mission Force, at other times just his buddy Luther, played by Ving Rhames, must hunt in down and neutralize it. The fun, of course, is in watching Ethan and company do their thing, particularly considering that it invariably involves high-speed chases, death-defying stunts and bone-crunching fight sequences. To wax cliche, it's about the journey, and not the destination.
That said, while the MI series has had its ups and downs over the course of five films (and counting), I personally feel the series received a real creative shot in the arm when J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Star Wars Episode VII) took over the directing duties around ten years ago and produced the next couple of films, including this one. There's a bit more cleverness to the way Hunt and his friends take on the bad guys and the introduction of supporting characters like Simon Pegg's Benjie Dunn (who has quite a lot of screen time here) has really made the movies more entertaining overall.
In this particular installment, Hunt and his team take on the mysterious Syndicate, a collection of secret agents from all over the world who have either been declared missing or dead, who are apparently in the business of destroying governments. Led by the ruthless former MI6 agent Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the Syndicate seems to perpetually be one step ahead of Hunt and his IMF, who are also facing the problem of having their budget cut off as Central Intelligence Agency Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) seems intent on demolishing them during Congressional hearings. Fortunately, however, Hunt and his team may have an unexpected ally in double-agent Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) who may or may not be an MI6 agent also fighting the Syndicate. Time, however, is running out.
Truth be told, after the inventive and entertaining Edge of Tomorrow which was basically Groundhog Day but with a sci-fi/action flavor, I'm vaguely disappointed that Cruise went back to his comfort zone, though to be fair he did try a number of different kinds of films between this film and his last MI film. The good news is that as well-worn franchises go, Cruise and his crew have done a great job of keeping things fresh with some tightly-filmed action sequences, the highlights of which include a really good motorbike chase scene and a death defying underwater sequence.
Cruise's Ethan Hunt and Pegg's Benjie Dunn see the most action here, though Jeremy Renner's William Brandt and Ving Rhames' Luther Stickell have crucial roles as well. I guess Renner was taking a break from all the action he saw in Avengers: Age of Ultron in which his character Hawkeye had a dramatically expanded role; he doesn't throw a single punch in this film.
Cruise, on the other hand, goes all out with his stunts here, and considering he's dangled from a cliff connected to only a thin wire in Mission Impossible 2 and did the same thing, except from Burj Khalifa in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, that's saying a lot. The very first sequence, featured prominently in the trailers and other marketing materials, has him clinging to the side of a flying plane. He apparently has ambitions of being the Jackie Chan of Hollywood.
McQuarrie, probably best known as the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects, has only directed two films previous to this one, Way of the Gun, and Jack Reacher (which also starred Cruise), both of which had a bit of a crime noir sensibility, which makes it even more impressive that he was able to handle this high octane affair with such panache.
The thing about this movie is that it really is a case of not fixing something that isn't broken. It's a good thing in that it makes for an entertaining film viewing experience, but Cruise and crew don't really reinvent the wheel here, so there really isn't much by way of original thrills either. It feels that way after a while, too.
Still, this was good fun.
7.7/10
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Jake Does a Jake: A Review of Southpaw
directed by Antoine Fuqua
written by Kurt Sutter
This title is a bit of a misnomer; the only similarity between Jake LaMotta, the real-life man whom Robert De Niro portrayed in the 1980 film Raging Bull, and Billy Hope, the fictional man whom Jake Gyllenhaal plays in the current film Southpaw, is that both of them are professional boxers. It was worth drawing the parallel (apart from the identical names) because it seems to me that the only reason this movie was made was for Gyllenhaal to take a shot at the Oscar glory De Niro's performance thirty-five years ago earned him.
Southpaw is the story of Hope, an undefeated prize fighter from Hell's Kitchen who starts the film on top of the world, having fought his way to the very top of the heap. Having accompanied him from his humble origins to the top is his lovely wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) with whom he has a lovely daughter Leila (Oona Lawrence), and the two of them are his whole world. Tragedy strikes, however, when the arrogant up-and-comer Miguel Escobar (Miguel Lopez), who yearns for a title successfully goads Hope into a fistfight (not the sanctioned kind) and the subsequent melee between the two fighters' entourages results in a horrifying death. Billy loses everything; his title, his money and even his daughter when the government deems him an unfit parent, and as a result he must fight his way back from the brink. Fortunately, he might have a little help in washed-out former boxer Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker), but it will take more than the bravado and brute strength on which he has gotten by so far. Billy will now have to learn how to box as he has never boxed before.
To be perfectly honest, I watched this movie for only two reasons: I was trying to sit out a terrible traffic jam and I wanted to hear one of the final film scores of my favorite film composer, the late James Horner. Not only was Horner's music among his less remarkable work, there was nothing else about the movie that was particularly compelling, either before, during or after the viewing.
As a boxing film, Southpaw commits the usual (and understandable) Hollywood sin of depicting modern-day boxing as simple brawling, with the fighters exchanging blows like their jaws and bodies were made of granite instead of trying to actually duck. This is actually made a plot point later in the movie, but it still doesn't make the depiction of fighting any less silly. Still, if they were going for utter hard-edged realism, audiences would most likely be treated to several minutes of clinches, ducks and backpedaling, which is what they saw during the last fight featuring a real-life undefeated boxer. Still, whether the film was justified or not in taking liberties with the reality of boxing, it ultimately brought nothing new to the table.
As human drama, the film is serviceable, and Gyllenhaal and Whitaker really sell the heck out of their characters' arcs, both as individuals and as an onscreen duo. Particularly impressive for me was Gyllenhaal's rapport with Lawrence, who played his daughter. The thing was, again, this wasn't anything that hadn't already been done before. The father seeking to be reunited with his daughter was done as recently as Ant Man, and quite frankly, that was a lot more enjoyable to watch.
The film isn't a complete waste of time; Fuqua certainly knows how to create atmosphere, and quite honestly I'd like to see what he could do with a less cliched script and a more compelling story, as the potential is clearly there. Also, I marveled at the makeup artists who not only did a good job of turning Gyllenhaal's face into hamburger, but in showing how boxing injuries to the eyes actually look after they've just started to heal. I doubt they'll win any award, but I think they deserve a shout-out.
Still, this was a movie I could just have easily waited to see at home, and had it not been for a traffic jam and the prospect of listening to one of James Horner's final works, I would have.
6/10
written by Kurt Sutter
This title is a bit of a misnomer; the only similarity between Jake LaMotta, the real-life man whom Robert De Niro portrayed in the 1980 film Raging Bull, and Billy Hope, the fictional man whom Jake Gyllenhaal plays in the current film Southpaw, is that both of them are professional boxers. It was worth drawing the parallel (apart from the identical names) because it seems to me that the only reason this movie was made was for Gyllenhaal to take a shot at the Oscar glory De Niro's performance thirty-five years ago earned him.
Southpaw is the story of Hope, an undefeated prize fighter from Hell's Kitchen who starts the film on top of the world, having fought his way to the very top of the heap. Having accompanied him from his humble origins to the top is his lovely wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) with whom he has a lovely daughter Leila (Oona Lawrence), and the two of them are his whole world. Tragedy strikes, however, when the arrogant up-and-comer Miguel Escobar (Miguel Lopez), who yearns for a title successfully goads Hope into a fistfight (not the sanctioned kind) and the subsequent melee between the two fighters' entourages results in a horrifying death. Billy loses everything; his title, his money and even his daughter when the government deems him an unfit parent, and as a result he must fight his way back from the brink. Fortunately, he might have a little help in washed-out former boxer Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker), but it will take more than the bravado and brute strength on which he has gotten by so far. Billy will now have to learn how to box as he has never boxed before.
To be perfectly honest, I watched this movie for only two reasons: I was trying to sit out a terrible traffic jam and I wanted to hear one of the final film scores of my favorite film composer, the late James Horner. Not only was Horner's music among his less remarkable work, there was nothing else about the movie that was particularly compelling, either before, during or after the viewing.
As a boxing film, Southpaw commits the usual (and understandable) Hollywood sin of depicting modern-day boxing as simple brawling, with the fighters exchanging blows like their jaws and bodies were made of granite instead of trying to actually duck. This is actually made a plot point later in the movie, but it still doesn't make the depiction of fighting any less silly. Still, if they were going for utter hard-edged realism, audiences would most likely be treated to several minutes of clinches, ducks and backpedaling, which is what they saw during the last fight featuring a real-life undefeated boxer. Still, whether the film was justified or not in taking liberties with the reality of boxing, it ultimately brought nothing new to the table.
As human drama, the film is serviceable, and Gyllenhaal and Whitaker really sell the heck out of their characters' arcs, both as individuals and as an onscreen duo. Particularly impressive for me was Gyllenhaal's rapport with Lawrence, who played his daughter. The thing was, again, this wasn't anything that hadn't already been done before. The father seeking to be reunited with his daughter was done as recently as Ant Man, and quite frankly, that was a lot more enjoyable to watch.
The film isn't a complete waste of time; Fuqua certainly knows how to create atmosphere, and quite honestly I'd like to see what he could do with a less cliched script and a more compelling story, as the potential is clearly there. Also, I marveled at the makeup artists who not only did a good job of turning Gyllenhaal's face into hamburger, but in showing how boxing injuries to the eyes actually look after they've just started to heal. I doubt they'll win any award, but I think they deserve a shout-out.
Still, this was a movie I could just have easily waited to see at home, and had it not been for a traffic jam and the prospect of listening to one of James Horner's final works, I would have.
6/10
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
A Superhero Heist Movie: A Review of Ant-Man
directed by Peyton Reed
written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and Paul Rudd
As much as I have truly savored seeing the Marvel Cinematic Universe unfold since the very first Iron Man movie in 2008, I will admit that, after eleven movies, which include films I find utterly sublime, like the aforementioned Iron Man, The Avengers, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I have finally started to feel a little fatigue set in, to the extent that at one point I was contemplating sitting out the MCU's twelfth film, Ant-Man.
More than just feeling tired of superhero movies in general and Marvel movies in particular, I was also one of the few film geeks who was put off by the fact that quirky British director Edgar Wright, who had basically devoted ten years his life to bringing this movie to the big screen, had left this film in a bit of a huff last year over "creative differences" with Marvel Studios. The trailer looked promising, though, and my kids were interested in seeing the movie, so partly out of curiosity and a sense of "duty" to my kids, I still went to see it, doubts notwithstanding.
I'm happy to say that I'm glad I overcame my misgivings and went to see the film; I had a really good time.
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has just done three years for burgling, and has resolved to go straight for the sake of his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Forston) to the extent that he even resists the enticements of his former partner-in-crime Luis (Michael Pena), at whose apartment he is now staying with two other "associates" Dave (Tip Harris) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian). Things take a turn for the worse, however, as Scott's employer lets him go upon discovering his criminal record, and Scott realizes that he won't be able to see his daughter until he gets on his own two feet. In a fit of desperation, he takes Luis up on his offer, which is to break into the vault of a rich old man away on vacation. As it turns out, that rich old man happens to be Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) creator of fantastic technologies, one of which shrinks humans to insect size while giving them extraordinary strength and the other of which enables people to communicate with ants. Pym, who actually allowed Scott to break into his house and steal his things, deliberately chose Scott because of the skill he displayed in one of his previous jobs, in which he burgled an ulta-rich one percenter who happened to have the most advanced home security system on the planet. Pym needs Scott to break into the facilities of the very company he founded in order to stop his former protege Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from using technology derived from Hank's own inventions to create and sell a weapon of frightening power. Scott will have help from Pym, his reluctant(and highly-skilled) daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and most importantly, an army of Pym's most useful allies: ants. Scott is reluctant at first, but agrees when he realizes the stakes, even if it means getting in way over his head.
The good news is that, even though Wright did not direct this movie, Reed does a job that can reasonably described as a couple of notches above competent, and even more encouragingly, Wright's fingerprints can be seen all over the film. The movie's a bit breezy and a lot more lighthearted than other MCU films, which says a lot considering that, with the possible exception of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, most Marvel movies have a certain buoyancy to them which, while making them fun to watch, also opens them up to criticism from people saying that they're pure fluff. The humor works differently here, though, in an Ocean's 11 sort of way.
Casting Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, while not quite as spot-on as the selection of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, was a clever move that paid off, as was the choice of making Lang the lead Ant Man and casting Michael Douglas as Henry Pym. What I love about these top-caliber actors like Douglas and, before him, Glenn Close, Robert Redford and Anthony Hopkins, is that none of them are slumming it in these roles for a paycheck, or just so they can say they were in a superhero movie. They all put in really engaging performances, and Douglas is no exception. Evangeline Lilly does a great job as Pym's firebrand of a daughter Hope, but ironically the filmmakers kind of shot themselves in the foot by creating such a strong female character and basically relegating her to a supporting role. Stoll's Darren Cross, while appropriately menacing, is like a few of the other the MCU antagonists that have come before him, yet another throwaway bad guy. Judy Greer, an actress whose work I enjoy, is utterly wasted in her second mom role this year. I was happy, though, about Michael Pena and the rest of the guys playing Lang's crew, who provide wonderful comic relief. Pena, in particular, is central to two of the film's most memorable sequences. The three characters kind of play up to ethnic stereotypes, but the actors playing them are having such a grand time of it that it's hard to begrudge Marvel this little indulgence.
What I had a little difficulty with, though, was the sequences basically tying Scott into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which felt shoehorned into the script. Yes, they work from the logic of the MCU and achieve the intended result, but they feel disruptive of the film's overall narrative flow. This was a film conceived years before there was a grand design to fit all of these things together, and it definitely feels like it. About the only MCU insertion that feels right is the part of the script demonstrating and explaining Pym's disdain for Stark (played here by John Slattery, rather than the more youthful Dominic Cooper). At least it clearly establishes why Pym wouldn't run to the Avengers for help.
The movie was fun, though not anywhere near Marvel's very best. Still, it's definitely worth 120 minutes of one's time and a couple of hundred pesos. As with most Marvel movies, I skipped the 3D on this one.
7.5/10
written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and Paul Rudd
As much as I have truly savored seeing the Marvel Cinematic Universe unfold since the very first Iron Man movie in 2008, I will admit that, after eleven movies, which include films I find utterly sublime, like the aforementioned Iron Man, The Avengers, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I have finally started to feel a little fatigue set in, to the extent that at one point I was contemplating sitting out the MCU's twelfth film, Ant-Man.
More than just feeling tired of superhero movies in general and Marvel movies in particular, I was also one of the few film geeks who was put off by the fact that quirky British director Edgar Wright, who had basically devoted ten years his life to bringing this movie to the big screen, had left this film in a bit of a huff last year over "creative differences" with Marvel Studios. The trailer looked promising, though, and my kids were interested in seeing the movie, so partly out of curiosity and a sense of "duty" to my kids, I still went to see it, doubts notwithstanding.
I'm happy to say that I'm glad I overcame my misgivings and went to see the film; I had a really good time.
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has just done three years for burgling, and has resolved to go straight for the sake of his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Forston) to the extent that he even resists the enticements of his former partner-in-crime Luis (Michael Pena), at whose apartment he is now staying with two other "associates" Dave (Tip Harris) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian). Things take a turn for the worse, however, as Scott's employer lets him go upon discovering his criminal record, and Scott realizes that he won't be able to see his daughter until he gets on his own two feet. In a fit of desperation, he takes Luis up on his offer, which is to break into the vault of a rich old man away on vacation. As it turns out, that rich old man happens to be Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) creator of fantastic technologies, one of which shrinks humans to insect size while giving them extraordinary strength and the other of which enables people to communicate with ants. Pym, who actually allowed Scott to break into his house and steal his things, deliberately chose Scott because of the skill he displayed in one of his previous jobs, in which he burgled an ulta-rich one percenter who happened to have the most advanced home security system on the planet. Pym needs Scott to break into the facilities of the very company he founded in order to stop his former protege Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) from using technology derived from Hank's own inventions to create and sell a weapon of frightening power. Scott will have help from Pym, his reluctant(and highly-skilled) daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and most importantly, an army of Pym's most useful allies: ants. Scott is reluctant at first, but agrees when he realizes the stakes, even if it means getting in way over his head.
The good news is that, even though Wright did not direct this movie, Reed does a job that can reasonably described as a couple of notches above competent, and even more encouragingly, Wright's fingerprints can be seen all over the film. The movie's a bit breezy and a lot more lighthearted than other MCU films, which says a lot considering that, with the possible exception of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, most Marvel movies have a certain buoyancy to them which, while making them fun to watch, also opens them up to criticism from people saying that they're pure fluff. The humor works differently here, though, in an Ocean's 11 sort of way.
Casting Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, while not quite as spot-on as the selection of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, was a clever move that paid off, as was the choice of making Lang the lead Ant Man and casting Michael Douglas as Henry Pym. What I love about these top-caliber actors like Douglas and, before him, Glenn Close, Robert Redford and Anthony Hopkins, is that none of them are slumming it in these roles for a paycheck, or just so they can say they were in a superhero movie. They all put in really engaging performances, and Douglas is no exception. Evangeline Lilly does a great job as Pym's firebrand of a daughter Hope, but ironically the filmmakers kind of shot themselves in the foot by creating such a strong female character and basically relegating her to a supporting role. Stoll's Darren Cross, while appropriately menacing, is like a few of the other the MCU antagonists that have come before him, yet another throwaway bad guy. Judy Greer, an actress whose work I enjoy, is utterly wasted in her second mom role this year. I was happy, though, about Michael Pena and the rest of the guys playing Lang's crew, who provide wonderful comic relief. Pena, in particular, is central to two of the film's most memorable sequences. The three characters kind of play up to ethnic stereotypes, but the actors playing them are having such a grand time of it that it's hard to begrudge Marvel this little indulgence.
What I had a little difficulty with, though, was the sequences basically tying Scott into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which felt shoehorned into the script. Yes, they work from the logic of the MCU and achieve the intended result, but they feel disruptive of the film's overall narrative flow. This was a film conceived years before there was a grand design to fit all of these things together, and it definitely feels like it. About the only MCU insertion that feels right is the part of the script demonstrating and explaining Pym's disdain for Stark (played here by John Slattery, rather than the more youthful Dominic Cooper). At least it clearly establishes why Pym wouldn't run to the Avengers for help.
The movie was fun, though not anywhere near Marvel's very best. Still, it's definitely worth 120 minutes of one's time and a couple of hundred pesos. As with most Marvel movies, I skipped the 3D on this one.
7.5/10
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Cinematic Junk Food: A Review of The Minions
directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda
written by Brian Lynch
When the animated film Despicable Me came out in 2010, it captivated critics and audiences alike with its inventive story of a supervillain adopting three little girls. What the makers of the film may not have anticipated, however, was how popular said supervillain's droves of tiny, overall-wearing, gibberish-speaking henchmen, collectively called the "Minions" would eventually turn out to be the most influential pop-culture figures with yellow skin since Spongebob Squarepants. After increasing the exposure of the Minions in the second film, the next logical step, in view of their popularity, was to give them their own movie, and so we have the animated film "Minions."
Minions is the story of a race of little yellow creatures that have been around since the dawn of time, whose overriding purpose in life is, as illogical as it may sound, to find and work for the biggest villain in the world. In the course of their lives, they work for such renowned bad guys as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dracula, and Napoleon Bonaparte, and always end up causing their bosses' undoing, as a result of which they end up living in an ice cave for over a hundred years, until one of them, Kevin (Coffin, who voices all other minions), decides to go out an find "the" big villain to whom all of them can devote their apparently eternal lives in servitude. Leaving the cave, Kevin, accompanied by fellow Minions Bob and Stuart sets out to find this "big boss" and their travels take them to New York City in the year 1968, where they learn while watching late-night television, that the supervillain they are searching for may just be in Orlando, a femme fatale by the name of Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). They travel to Orlando and through a madcap sequence of events manage to impress her enough to get her to hire them, whereupon she gives them their big assignment: they are to steal the Royal Crown of England. While they will have at their disposal the gadgets of Scarlet's husband Herb (Jon Hamm), it wont be an easy task, but the Minions are always eager to please.
The paper-thin plot is barely enough to sustain the running time of a full-length movie, but the good news is that the slapstick involving the Minions is virtually non-stop, so all told it's still about eighty or so minutes of nice, mindless fun with topnotch computer-generated animation, all set to a totally groovy sixties soundtrack (though I also appreciated the familiar musical cue from the Despicable Me movies, which was also a staple of the mobile device game). Speaking of the game, it gets quite the shout-out from the filmmakers at the movie's climax.
That's the thing about this movie, though; one remembers things like the toys and the video games because unlike the quirky first movie, which was really about a middle-aged man becoming an instant dad for the very first time, this one, with its nonsensical plot and celebrity walk-ons really feels like a slickly-packaged product, designed primarily to sell related merchandise. It makes no pretensions about what it is and is not, but watching it felt like going on a junk food binge. It was a tasty treat in its own way, but not quite what I'd call a truly satisfying cinematic experience.
The kids loved it, and I was happy to indulge them, but I wouldn't let them watch movies like this on a regular basis for the same reason I wouldn't let them eat hotdogs everyday; it isn't really good for them.
6/10
written by Brian Lynch
When the animated film Despicable Me came out in 2010, it captivated critics and audiences alike with its inventive story of a supervillain adopting three little girls. What the makers of the film may not have anticipated, however, was how popular said supervillain's droves of tiny, overall-wearing, gibberish-speaking henchmen, collectively called the "Minions" would eventually turn out to be the most influential pop-culture figures with yellow skin since Spongebob Squarepants. After increasing the exposure of the Minions in the second film, the next logical step, in view of their popularity, was to give them their own movie, and so we have the animated film "Minions."
Minions is the story of a race of little yellow creatures that have been around since the dawn of time, whose overriding purpose in life is, as illogical as it may sound, to find and work for the biggest villain in the world. In the course of their lives, they work for such renowned bad guys as the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dracula, and Napoleon Bonaparte, and always end up causing their bosses' undoing, as a result of which they end up living in an ice cave for over a hundred years, until one of them, Kevin (Coffin, who voices all other minions), decides to go out an find "the" big villain to whom all of them can devote their apparently eternal lives in servitude. Leaving the cave, Kevin, accompanied by fellow Minions Bob and Stuart sets out to find this "big boss" and their travels take them to New York City in the year 1968, where they learn while watching late-night television, that the supervillain they are searching for may just be in Orlando, a femme fatale by the name of Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock). They travel to Orlando and through a madcap sequence of events manage to impress her enough to get her to hire them, whereupon she gives them their big assignment: they are to steal the Royal Crown of England. While they will have at their disposal the gadgets of Scarlet's husband Herb (Jon Hamm), it wont be an easy task, but the Minions are always eager to please.
The paper-thin plot is barely enough to sustain the running time of a full-length movie, but the good news is that the slapstick involving the Minions is virtually non-stop, so all told it's still about eighty or so minutes of nice, mindless fun with topnotch computer-generated animation, all set to a totally groovy sixties soundtrack (though I also appreciated the familiar musical cue from the Despicable Me movies, which was also a staple of the mobile device game). Speaking of the game, it gets quite the shout-out from the filmmakers at the movie's climax.
That's the thing about this movie, though; one remembers things like the toys and the video games because unlike the quirky first movie, which was really about a middle-aged man becoming an instant dad for the very first time, this one, with its nonsensical plot and celebrity walk-ons really feels like a slickly-packaged product, designed primarily to sell related merchandise. It makes no pretensions about what it is and is not, but watching it felt like going on a junk food binge. It was a tasty treat in its own way, but not quite what I'd call a truly satisfying cinematic experience.
The kids loved it, and I was happy to indulge them, but I wouldn't let them watch movies like this on a regular basis for the same reason I wouldn't let them eat hotdogs everyday; it isn't really good for them.
6/10
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