2015 Year-End Blog: The Box-Office Awakens

Recently, George Lucas caused a bit of a ruckus when he criticized Star Wars: The Force Awakens for being too "retro", declaring that he tried his best to do something completely different from film to film.  He has since recanted his statements, saying that he used poor analogies (comparing Disney to "white slavers") and that he was honored to have Disney as custodians of his vision and was proud of the work J.J. Abrams had done on the film.  

I'm sure that Lucas regrets saying what he did, but I don't think he didn't mean it.  However, I would posit that innovation (New spaceships! All CGI effects! Jar Jar!) without respect for character and dialogue is far more useless than brilliant nostalgia.  New and dumb is still dumb.  Familiar and brilliant is still brilliant.

I start my year-end blog with this because I find that my favorite films this year (my number one film the exception) follow the familiar and brilliant mode.  There have been terrific sequels, adaptations, and re-imaginings that play to the natural human inclination towards a beautiful mix of familiar and surprising.  Familiar and surprising.  Kind of a perfect way to describe this year in film.

First, my yearly disclaimer:  I haven't seen everything.  The list of acclaimed films that I have yet to see include Mad Max: Fury Road, Brooklyn, The Walk, Pawn Sacrifice, and countless others.  I do get to the theater more than most, but I'm still an amateur, which means I see a very small fraction of the films that are released every year.  That having been said, here's my year in review.

WORST OF THE YEAR:

Again, since I have to buy the tickets when I go to the movies, I tend to avoid movies that I suspect I won't like.  Even so though, I did go to two movies against my better judgement and the recommendations of professional critics: Pixels and Fantastic Four.  Both bad, but in very different ways.  I was hopeful for Pixels because the premise is fun (although a total rip-off of the third segment from the Futurama episode, "Anthology of Interest II") and the special effects looked terrific.  The movie was very much sold as a action-comedy in line with the likes of Men in Black.  Unfortunately, it was just another horrible Adam Sandler movie occasionally interrupted by fun action sequences.  The "jokes" were painful, the acting atrocious, and the plot developments (why did they have to forever ruin Q-Bert?!?) excruciating.

Fantastic Four was a different type of painful.  Since the last Fantastic Four films were criticized for leaning too much on the humorous aspects of the comics, the makers of the reboot obviously decided that it would be better if their take offered no humor at all.  Stoic, dour, and worst of all, boring, Fantastic Four was so determined to be different that it forgot to be good.

DISAPPOINTMENTS:

Minions - Cute.  That's the best I can say about this movie.  Many have criticized this film because it put the sidekicks in the starring roles, but the problem isn't the minions themselves.  If anything they're the biggest asset.  The problem is that it's not anywhere nearly as well-written as the Despicable Me movies.  The voice-over actors do their best (Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm are clearly having the time of their lives as the villainous Scarlet and Herb Overkill), but the actor can only do so much with a plot that never gets going and jokes that choose easy toilet humor over the wit of the original films.

Poltergeist - I don't know if this really belongs in the disappointment column.  It's really as good of a remake of the original as could have been made.  It's a well-directed, well-acted, effectively scary movie that ends as a tribute to the strength of love found in the nuclear family.  The only problem?  It's a remake of a movie that did all of those same things, only better.  There's no sense of surprise, which is essential in a good scary movie.  It hits every beat (the t.v., the tree, the clown, the closet) from the original.  It would have been much more interesting to do a sequel with a new story, but for what it is, it's ok.  It's merely unnecessary.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Tomorrowland - Brad Bird is a brilliant filmmaker and this movie had been his pet project for a number of years, so it's understandable that expectations were sky high for this bit of retro-scifi.  Did it live up to the hype?  Not really.  The story is a bit thin and the film itself overlong, but it certainly has it's moments and it's unabashed optimism is certainly something that should be celebrated.  The performances are warm and engaging throughout, the music by Michael Giacchino is pitch perfect,  and it ends with my favorite final shot of the entire year.  Tomorrowland isn't game changing, but it's a delightful place to visit.

McFarland, U.S.A. - This one almost made my top ten.  I love this movie.  It's unashamedly sentimental, hokey, and inspiring, and it's one of the most uplifting movies of the year.  Disney does this type of underdog sports movie better than anyone and this story of determination and teamwork in a small, poor town is among their best.

Furious 7 - I have to be honest, I really hated this franchise at its inception.  It was everything that was awful about modern Hollywood action films.  I nicknamed the first movie "Pretty People Scowling."  Then Fast Five happened.  It was fresh and funny and surprising, with a vibe that was way more Ocean's Eleven than Fast and Furious.  Fortunately, the latest installment falls in line with the previous two.  It was utterly ridiculous, but unquestionably fun, with some of the best stunt work of any action film this year.  Plus, it ends with a surprisingly heartfelt tribute to the late star of the franchise, Paul Walker.  In fact, the ending was so perfect that I wish they would have just stopped the franchise there.  However, the movie made 1.5 BILLION (?!?) worldwide, so it's no surprise that an eighth film is forthcoming.

Cinderella - Congrats, Disney!  You not only made a film that didn't seem like a needless cash grab, but you made one that could understandably be considered the definitive telling of one of the most over-told stories in human history.  This movie is breathtakingly lush and romantic, but at it's core is the vital message that kindness is more powerful than selfishness.  What a better world we would have if everyone took that message to heart.

Jurassic World - If I were judging only on action sequences, this one would be high on the top ten list.  Unfortunately, the characters are barely one-note and the gender stereotypes are beyond ridiculous.  However, this is the first of the sequels to recapture the wonder of Spielberg's original vision.  Had the plot and the characterizations been more thoughtful, this could have been one of the year's best.

TEN FAVORITES OF THE YEAR

10. The Peanuts Movie

For years, I have bemoaned the tendency of family films to perpetuate the same message: "Be yourself."  I'm sorry, but while I understand the intent of that message, I have to assert that if everyone were to merely "be themselves" then no one would ever become more.  No one would grow.  No one would curtail horrible instincts.  We would all just wallow in a never-ending sea of self-obsession.

The Peanuts Movie, however, has a very different message at it's core: "Be kind, be honest, be willing to sacrifice."  I would much rather entrust the future of the world to a generation that believes in these morals.  Yes, the movie is simple, but Charlie Brown has never been more giving and heroic than he is in this wonderful little film.  Of course, we know that Charlie Brown is the epitome of not fitting in with the crowd, but this story gives him ample opportunities to be a "winner" in the eyes of his classmates.  It's something he's yearned for since his humble beginnings on the funny pages in the 50's.  Yet, he finds being an unsung source of selfless kindness the better path.  If only for it's beautifully and tenderly executed message, The Peanuts Movie is almost revolutionary in an increasingly selfish society, and therefore deserving of high praise.

 9. (tie) Ant-Man/Avengers: Age of Ultron
Yeah, I'm cheating.  Technically, there will be eleven movies on my list, but it's my list, so there  you go.  These movies are both pretty terrific examples of why Marvel Studios is kind of ruling the world right now.  Avengers: Age of Ultron (or as Honest Trailers calls it, Avengers: Roughly One Week of Ultron) has all of the wit, action, and exciting character dynamic as the original (contrary to what some of the more vocal critics have said).  By dint of being the second time we've seen these characters together, it can't be as joyfully surprising as the first Avengers movie, but this is still a delight from beginning to end.  It's been pretty publicly stated that the filming of this almost killed director Joss Whedon, but his trademark ease with humor and character are all over this movie as he uses an apocalyptic superhero movie to analyze the importance of, and the intricacies surrounding the concept of family, specifically the dynamics of generations replacing the ones that came before.  This film stands up to multiple viewings well, with each frame filled with action, drama, and humor.

Ant-Man on the other hand is a much smaller movie, and not just because of the stature of the titular hero.  It follows the basic plot structure of the original Iron Man film, but it does so by way of an Ocean's Eleven-style heist movie and it does so splendidly.  Paul Rudd is a perfect choice for the lead as he is one of the only actors in Hollywood who can simultaneous portray sincerity and sarcasm with equal authenticity, and that combination makes Ant-Man feel like a snarky action-comedy with a surprising amount of heart.  Personally, I can't wait to see this character interact with the more famous of his MCU cohorts.

 8. Mr. Holmes
Mr. Holmes is a highly intelligent film that imagines Sherlock Holmes as an octogenarian facing the challenges of increasing senility.  He spends the bulk of the movie trying to recount the specifics in the case that led him to retirement, but he finds his flashes of inspiration more frequent as he spends time with the young son of his housekeeper.

This is a slow, simple, gentle movie that is propelled by terrific casting and atmosphere, and one of the best performances by one of the world's greatest actors, Ian McKellen.  Portraying Holmes at two different ages, one before losing his mental faculties, one after his increasing memory loss, McKellen is extraordinary in this film.  This is an example of a movie that would have been very good regardless, but with this performance, it's great.

7.  Shaun the Sheep Movie
Aardman Animation has been a critically-acclaimed powerhouse for decades now, but to be honest, it's been quite some time since I've felt they achieved the heights of brilliance they displayed in the 90's.  Shaun the Sheep Movie is a return to that brilliance.  Shaun manages to be hilarious, fast-paced, and filled with heart, while doing so without a single line of dialogue.  That's right, this is like an animated, very British, Buster Keaton movie with complex visual gags and delightful characterizations galore.  If you yearn for the brilliance of Wallace and Gromit, it's here in full display.  Enjoy!

 6. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
When I say that Tom Cruise is utterly insane, it's not meant as an insult.  Is there any other big-time Hollywood movie star that would dangle from the side of a plane as it takes off and flies for the sake of keeping the audience involved?  While I'm not convinced he's a great person, there's no question that he's 100% devoted to his craft, and that devotion is on display in every sequence of Rogue Nation.

Besides Cruise and his insane work ethic, this movie is filled with other virtues.  It's thrillingly paced and impeccably cast, with a particular stand-out performance from Rebecca Ferguson as a British agent with unclear loyalties.  This franchise has gotten into the bad habit of making the female characters disposable.  Here's hoping Ferguson bucks the trend and returns because she's fantastic.

 5. Creed
I know that this is considered heresy, but I actually think Creed is a better film than the original Rocky.  Sure, it's mostly a beat-for-beat remake and it's missing the original's rough and tumble charm, but Creed is a much more focused journey and, frankly, contains a more nuanced and depth-filled performance from Sylvester Stallone, a performance that will surely garner an Oscar nomination if not a win.

The rest of the performances are terrific as well, especially Michael B. Jordan as the son of boxing legend Apollo Creed and Tessa Thompson as his "Adrian", the immensely likable and talented Bianca.  Director Ryan Coogler skillfully balances sentiment, drama, and character resulting in a movie that manages to enthrall and inspire.  Gonna fly now, indeed.

4. The Martian
I haven't read the celebrated novel upon which this movie is based, but considering the extraordinary achievement of this film, it must be one heckuva read.  Matt Damon turns in a career best performance as Mark Watney, an astronaut mistakenly thought for dead and left behind after an expedition to Mars.  His efforts to survive and make contact with the world beyond are reminiscent of Tom Hanks' similar journey in Cast Away, but The Martian is not only a taut survival drama, but a surprisingly funny character study.

The Martian is also one of the best films in the career of director Ridley Scott, and that is high praise indeed.  Every frame is a work of art and every emotional hit is perfectly balanced.  The Martian is, quite simply, one of the most thoughtful, inspiring,  and exquisite works of cinematic science fiction in film history.

 3. Bridge of Spies
Bridge of Spies, the true story of an insurance lawyer, played by Tom Hanks, who is roped into representing an accused Communist spy at the height of the cold war, could not be a more timely film in our political atmosphere of building walls and de-humanizing anyone considered "the enemy."  As the film progresses, there is no question of the guilt of the accused (Mark Rylance, in an Oscar worthy performance), however, the movie shows that, in spite of the differing world views of the two characters, they are both indisputably, sometimes painfully, human, and as a result, actually capable of understanding and respecting one another, even while disagreeing.

Spielberg shows, once again, that he knows how to handle a camera like no other living filmmaker.  He's an expert about showing, not telling, giving us all the information we need without depending on an over-expository script.  Speaking of the script, it's a work of subtle nuance and memorable dialogue created by Mark Charman and the Coen brothers (yes, those Coen brothers).  While it does contain the Coen brothers celebrated humanity and quirk, it also has a refreshing optimism that has certainly not been the hallmark of their writing style.  A masterwork that stands proudly among Spielberg's best.

2. Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I have great respect for the talent and vision of George Lucas.  However, I have to state emphatically that his views about J.J. Abrams epic, nostalgic, surprising, heartbreaking, thrilling, deftly funny take on the Star Wars legacy are simply wrong.  That having been said, I very much appreciate that he had the humility to step aside and realize that he was not going to give the legions of Star Wars fans the movie they had been longing for since 1983.  In fact, the kindest thing that he said about Episode VII is that it was definitely a movie for the fans, and he's not wrong about that.

Yes, The Force Awakens has a plot structure that will be familiar to fans of the original trilogy, especially of the first Star Wars.  Yes, it has a desert planet and a snowy planet.  Yes, there's a droid with valuable information being hunted by the bad guys.  However, for every moment of nostalgic familiarity, there are three or four of thrilling surprise.

One of the most delightful things about The Force Awakens is a re-dedication towards character and dialogue.  Instead of the prequel's stilted plotting and painful dialogue, we're given characters rich with hope and possibility, and dialogue that will likely stand tall among the most quoted lines of the original trilogy.  Plus, we get a villain that is not only intriguingly flawed, but a very pointed commentary on fandom gone horribly, horribly wrong.

J.J. Abrams was absolutely the right man for the job.  The Force Awakens is the best Star Wars movie we've seen in at least 35 years, if not more.

1. Inside Out

Let me be clear, I loved Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  I could not have loved it more.  It's one of the most enjoyable and thrilling blockbusters in decades.  However, Inside Out did something that not even Star Wars could do.  It changed me.

A day-glo colored fantasy about the inner-workings of the mind of an 11 year-old girl, Inside Out is a work of absolute genius, but beyond the imagination bursting from the seams of this instant classic film, it is a movie that makes us think about the way we interact with one another and how we choose to develop our personalities and emotions.  Since my first viewing of Inside Out, I've had countless conversations with my wife about subjects that it brought up.  What islands of personality am I creating?  Which emotion do I let run the controls and why?  Can I truly be empathetic with others if I can't communicate my own sadness?  Isn't is interesting that the most profound moments of joy I've experienced in my life have often been preceded by sadness?  Are memories associated with mixed emotions inherently more powerful?  When's the last time any film, let alone an animated "children's" film, inspired such personal reflection?

Also, what a wonderful way to engage in a dialogue with children about their emotions.  Director Peter Docter wrote Inside Out in an effort to understand his tween daughters' increasing eye-rolls and sass-talk, but what he did was create a masterpiece that is so complex and rich that it's legacy will not merely be found in its entertainment value, which is extraordinary, but also in its ability to inspire personal introspection and change.  It's this kind of power that elevates this from being a mere movie to being a profound and lasting work of art.

Well, there is is, 2015.  A fun and history-making year of film.  Now to look forward to dawns of justice, civil wars, forgetful fish, rogue rebels, and going where no one has gone before in 2016.  Should be fun!

Mini Reviews: The Good Dinosaur and Mockingjay Part 2

Mini Reviews: The Good Dinosaur and Mockingjay Part 2

The Good Dinosaur/Rated PG/Dir. by Peter Sohn/100 min./Pixar Animation Studios

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2/Rated PG-13/Dir. by Francis Lawrence/137 min./Lionsgate

The Good Dinosaur

It may have endured one of the more tumultuous gestation periods of any Pixar film, but The Good Dinosaur has finally arrived and it is a wholly unique and worthy entry into their canon of brilliance.

Of course, the most daunting challenge of this simple story of a boy (dinosaur) and his dog (human boy) is that it comes out the same year as Inside Out, one of Pixar's very best films.  However,  to compare the two is as misguided as comparing Fantasia with 101 Dalmatians just because they are both from Disney.  As it is, The Good Dinosaur stands on it's own quite well, thank you very much.

The story is an interesting combination of simple and surprising.  As the commercials have well shown, the central premise is that the dinosaurs never died off because the meteor missed the Earth.  What's interesting is that this premise has little to do with the story itself.  It's an American story, a settler's story.  It feels like the type of story that Disney himself would have championed in the 50's or 60's, just with actual people as pioneers of the American west instead of dinosaurs.  A little The Incredible Journey by way of Old Yeller (don't worry though, the dog doesn't get rabies).

While the story is simple, the animation is perhaps the most stunningly complex ever developed at the studio.  Aside from the admittedly cartoonish looking characters, this has the same eye candy delight as a DisneyNature documentary.  There's never a frame that isn't jaw-droppingly real and breaktakingly lush.  The visuals alone are worth the price of admission.  Fortunately, the movie is sweet, moving, and filled with worthwhile messages about overcoming self-doubt and embracing friendship, even with someone you once considered an enemy.

The Good Dinosaur gets a well-earned B

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Mockingjay should have been one epic movie.  Period.  This trend of dividing books into half just to milk the franchise for all it's worth may be financially lucrative, but it's creatively bankrupt.  The ending of Part 1 felt jarringly abrupt and the beginning of Part 2 feels very poorly developed.  I'm excited to see these two joined together eventually so I can see a completely story, instead of the weird, separated-by-a-year, mini-series we get.

That having been said, The Hunger Games has been a smart, if brutal, pop culture phenomenon and the ending doesn't pull any punches.  This is a war movie, pure and simple.  The emotions are real and the threat is palpable.

However, a film like this begins and ends with the skills of the actors and each actor leaves nothing on the table.  Especially surprising was Josh Hutcherson's performance as Peeta, who up to this point in the series has been little more than Lois Lane to Katniss' (Jennifer Lawrence) Superman, constantly getting in trouble and constantly getting saved.  In Mockingjay Part 2, Peeta is given a little more meat to his character and Hutcherson delves into the role with relish.  Lawrence is terrific, as always, but she's doing the same "I don't want to be a hero, but I will if it's what's required" song and dance that she's perfected throughout the series.  Hutcherson feels like he's actually finding another level to his character, and that's a nice surprise.

Storywise, The Hunger Games has messages that are important, especially with current events that may blur the lines or right and wrong.  It does what great art is supposed to do, it makes us think a little more deeply about ourselves and about the human condition in general.  However, it just doesn't congeal as a complete movie.  It constantly feels lacking, and the biggest thing that's lacking is Part 1.

Grade : B (for Part 2 by itself), A- (for Mockingjay as a complete story) 

Of Stilettos and Stegosaurus: Sexism and the Blockbuster

This summer has been much like any other at the movies.  Heroes have fought robots and dinosaurs and covert spy organizations.  Occasionally lessons have been learned, but usually they're secondary to the fiery explosion chasing the protagonist down a hall.  In all honesty, I absolutely love summer movies.  Steven Spielberg and George Lucas helped cultivate a yearly homage to B-movie heroics by way of A-movie special effects, direction, and (often) acting and because of their efforts, we have one season a year that we can go to the movies with a pretty good chance of seeing things we've never seen on screen before.

Summer movies have been accused of many things throughout the years: the dumbing down of mainstream entertainment, the shift from original films to endless franchises, the importance of opening weekend grosses.  However, this year one of the most common accusations against the blockbusters films of summer has been sexism.  Of course, Hollywood has never been a haven of enlightenment regarding gender equality, but this summer the call against blockbuster sexism has risen to new heights.

I recently had a friend share a well-reasoned, well-written article deriding the film Avengers: Age of Ultron as inexcusably misogynistic.  In the case of this particular movie, I believe that the scenes and character arcs that are believed to be sexist are really being misinterpreted, especially considering the fact that the director and writer Joss Whedon has long been a champion for strong female characters (frankly, the most sexist thing about AoU is the fact that there are roughly 1,324 main characters, but there are only 3 female characters that have any influence on the plot whatsoever). However, after I asserted this belief in my friend's comment area, another of his friends took me to task.  I've never been one to wage battle on the fields of Facebook, so I didn't really get in to it, but while his arguments didn't sway my views (and if you want to know my defense of perceived areas of sexism in AoU, let me know, I'll be happy to share my thoughts), they did get me thinking more about the way women are written in blockbuster films.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that women go to the movies far more than executives used to believe.  Unfortunately, movie executives still don't understand female moviegoers and writers still fail to write good female characters.  They still believe that in order for a female protagonist to have appeal to a female audience, said protagonist must spend most of their time worrying about their clothes or worrying about if they're being taken seriously or worrying about their romantic relationship with a man.  The Twilight films were hugely popular, but holy cow is the lead character a step back in the feminist movement.  I mean, she spends three films with her sole defining characteristic being her romantic relationship with a man and then she literally gets her personal strength when she allows her husband to suck away her humanity.  Seriously.  

Yet I digress.  Right now I'm ruminating on gender issues in films that are supposedly targeting all genders, ages, and races: the summer blockbuster.  These films are greenlit by how effectively they appeal to all demographics, so one would think they should be the most progressive movies in regard to gender equality.  Of course, they are not.

Beyond the aforementioned Age of Ultron, the watchcry of sexism has been sounded against many other films this summer.  Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation is a blast of a film, but it still manages to continue M:I's proud tradition of rotating sexy female agents who can kick butt in skimpy dresses,  while maintaining the same male agents who are allowed to do the same butt kicking fully clothed.  Minions has one major female character, a character that has been driven to criminal dementia by her lifelong desire to be a pretty and popular girl.  One of the only summer blockbuster that has escaped this trend is Pixar's Inside Out, a movie in which the three central protagonists are female (granted, two of them are the personification of the other one's emotions, but still) and none of those characters are defined by their relationships with their male counterparts. (I've heard Mad Max: Fury Road is another example of a summer blockbuster that doesn't play into antiquated Hollywood attitudes towards women, but I haven't seen it so I can't speak to it directly.)

However, perhaps the most telling example of sexist attitudes in Hollywood blockbusters is the biggest blockbuster of the year, Jurassic World.  (Please be warned, I cannot discuss these issues without spoilers.  If you haven't seen JW, please stop reading now.  SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!)

Much like other summer blockbusters, I very much enjoyed Jurassic World.  It is really the first of the Jurassic Park sequels to capture the excitement and wonder of the original.  It's well directed, has a fun sense of humor, and special effects that fill the viewer with equal parts awe and dread.  However, the two main characters are perhaps the most shallow gender stereotypes committed to any film with Steven Spielberg's name in the credits.

Before I get to them though, allow me to address an area that has garnered criticism that I feel is unjust: the admittedly horrific death of Zara, a female character whose only crime is not being a particularly good nanny in spite of her profound British-ness.  I have heard some say that the fact that the most disturbing death scene in the movie involves an innocent woman is clearly sexist.  Actually, if you look at the series as a whole, it's pretty progressive.  Innocents have died in the previous films, but never a woman.  The movie finally shows that dinos really couldn't care less the gender of their meal.  Also, it's been said that her death scene is particularly mean-spirited, but, once again, I'd like to direct your attention to the previous films, especially The Lost World and it's callous dispatching of Eddie Carr, a man who is easily the kindest, least selfish character of the film, but is thanked by being ripped in two by a pair of T-Rexes. 

Now, back to the two leads.  Let's start with how these characters are introduced.  First we meet Claire Dearing, the park operations manager played extremely well by Bryce Dallas Howard.  When we're introduced to Claire, she's alone in an elevator nervously rehearsing the names of the executives from Verizon Wireless that she's about to meet.  She's clearly worried and seemingly out of her element.  However, when the elevator doors open, her self-doubt dissolves and she morphs into the epitome of professional confidence and persuasion.  "Welcome to Jurassic World," she says with a cool, executive ease.

Conversely, when we first meet Owen Grady, an ex-Naval officer turned animal expert winningly played by Chris Pratt, he is lording over a pack of velociraptors, controlling gaze and actions solely with the authority of his voice and a clicker.  In those two scenes we learn that the female protagonist appears strong, but is actually self-doubting and highly strung, while the male protagonist is so awesome and so confident that he is able to BOSS AROUND VELOCIRAPTORS.

These characteristic trends continue throughout the film.  When the characters first interact, we learn that they had been on one date, however she was too uptight and he was too effortlessly cool for it to work.  With every tragic disaster that threatens the safety of human life, Owen is confident, aggressive,  and invariably right, while Claire is nervous, non-commital, and invariably wrong.  In spite of the fact that her nephews just watched her save Owen's life by shooting an attacking dinosaur, the boys immediately make it clear that they don't care if she's around as long as Owen's there to make them feel safe.  Even in the end, when Claire finally steps up and risks her life to save everyone by facing down a T-Rex (!!!), the script makes sure that she's running from the beast in fashionable stilettos. (Sidenote:  As ridiculous as this wardrobe choice is, Bryce Dallas Howard is like an Olympic athlete in those stilettos.  Her running in those shoes is perhaps the single most amazing bit of stunt work in the movie.)  As the credits roll, she too has been bewitched by the overwhelming awesomeness of Owen and has fallen in love with him in spite of his rugged confidence and easy going attitude.

Clearly, such broad and shallow characterizations are not necessary in any conceivable way, so what could have been done?  Well, the simple solution is don't be sexist.  Honestly, just let Claire be as strong as Owen.  Put her in real-people shoes, let her confidence not be a facade, let her make smart decisions, don't force a romantic relationship -  all of these would have been acceptable.

However, as I thought about it, I couldn't help imagine a different movie.  Now follow me here, even if it seems ridiculous.  Firstly, don't make Claire the nervous park manager, give that role to Lowry, the fanboy with a love of all things dino,  played by the awesome Jake Johnson.  Johnson's terrific deadpan was under-utilized in the movie anyway and his natural nervous energy would have given the role of a park manager who feels control slipping through his fingers a more genuine sense of humor and chaotic dread. (I know that the idea of giving the main female role to a man seems the opposite of progressive, but I'm getting to that)  In the film as it currently exists, Claire's arc involves respecting the dignity of animals that she had previously viewed through the antiseptic eyes of a bureaucrat.  In this version, Lowry would grow from a dino-fanatic who really only saw them as giant action figures to a respecter of their place in the world as real living beings.

Now here's where things could get interesting.  Keep the character of the ex-Navy paradigm of coolness exactly the same, except this character becomes Claire Dearing.  Claire becomes the character who successfully communicates with the raptors, which actually makes sense because the raptors are female, so it would follow logically that they would respond to a female becoming their alpha.  Claire is strong, smart, laid-back.  Lowry is smart yet nervous, and discovers his strength through the events of the story.  Plus, he wouldn't have to run from a T-Rex in high heels.  Oh, and also, they don't fall in love.  I know, unthinkable, but the fact of the matter is that any relationship founded on the fact that both parties managed to not be eaten by dinosaurs is doomed to fail anyway.  Just get rid of the romance angle all together.  This is a story with potential.  It keeps everything about the movie that works, but it offers an interesting and exciting take.

Of course, the solution to misogyny in Hollywood isn't "just swap the genders of the main characters."  It's simply to not be sexist.  Would your male protagonist have the same character arc regardless of his interactions with female characters?  Then show the same respect to your female protagonist.  Is your male protagonist allowed to be fully-rounded without a romantic relationship?  Then allow the same for your female protagonist.  Does you film have nine male heroes and one female hero?  Yeah, maybe re-think that.

I'm not sure if movies are getting worse in their treatment of women or if I'm just becoming more disturbed by it, but either way, it needs to change.  Not only do women need to stop supporting this type of misogyny, but men need to recognize these trends in their favorite films and demand better female representations in popular films.    

I suppose there is some progress being made.  Katniss Everdeen is a far better role model than Bella Swan, even if she's still forced into an odd love triangle.  At least her initial heroic motivations aren't centered around her romantic identity.  Yes, Black Widow is still forced to fight the world in tight pants, but at least her male counterparts are equally embarrassingly dressed, and yes, she falls in love in AoU, but so does Bruce Banner and that relationship is not the defining characteristic of either of their multi-film arcs.  As I mentioned above, Inside Out manages to acknowledge general gender differences without resorting to pathetic stereotypes.  I just hope that some day we'll see this type of dedication to strong female characters as the norm, not the exception.

Movie Review: Shaun the Sheep Movie

Shaun the Sheep Movie/Aardman Animation/Dir. by Mark Burton & Richard Starzak/Rated PG/85 min.

In the early and mid-nineties, Aardman studios gained prominence with a series of animated shorts built around the characters Wallace and Gromit.  These shorts were critically acclaimed, award-winning, and extremely popular, particular in Aardman's homeland of England.  The third short in the series, A Close Shave, introduced a new character, a mischievous little sheep named Shaun.  He was popular enough to get his own BBC t.v. series and now that series has received the big screen treatment.  However, unlike the average t.v. cartoon-to-feature length project, Shaun the Sheep Movie is not only one of the finest feature length Aardman films, it's one of the most delightful, charming, and consistently hilarious films of the year.

Shaun and all of his friends at Mossy Bottom Farm, on a vaguely English countryside, have gotten into a bit of a rut.  The Farmer has aged from a hip young man who likely has an extensive vinyl collection of The Smiths to a balding, single farmer with a paunch who has dedicated himself to his animals and, by extension, an exacting schedule.  When the animals decide they need a break from the routine, they get The Farmer to take an extended sleep (by means far too funny for me to spoil here) and put him in a camper trailer so they can make use of the amenities of his house.  Unfortunately, a series of unfortunate events leave that camper trailer on a random street in The Big City and The Farmer with amnesia.  It's up to the ragtag group of farm animals to find him and restore things to their proper order.  

The plot of Shaun the Sheep Movie is breezy and simple, but the humor is surprisingly sophisticated.  The movie is told with a visual spark and not a single line of dialogue.  Told from the point of view of animals, the humans mumble incomprehensible gibberish and the animals communicate via "baas and "barks" and delightfully animated expression.  It's as if Aardman decided to remake Ferris Bueller's Day Off with the comic sensibility of Charlie Chaplin, populated by British livestock.

This is a short review, but this film doesn't require a long, drawn-out meditation.  It is, quite simply, one of the best movies of the summer.  A short, surprising, delightful, frothy little film to cleanse the pallet of world-ending, special-effects driven blockbusters.  Hopefully, the public will discover this little gem.  I'd love to see it become as successful financially as it is creatively.

Grade: A

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Mission:Impossible - Rogue Nation/Dir. by Christopher McQuarrie/Paramount/Rated PG-13/131 min.

Movie trailers have a horrible habit of showing the best jokes and the biggest stunts months before the release of a film.  There are far too many times that I find myself in the theater watching a movie for the first time and trying to force a laugh for the gag that I've already heard 15 times or generate a thrill about the action sequence I've seen in it's entirety for weeks.

I was a little worried that this would be the case with the newest Mission: Impossible movie because the studio has been spotlighting the heck out of a pretty darned impressive stunt:  Tom Cruise hanging from the side of an airplane in flight.  There have been commercials, making-of commercials, interviews, all focusing on this admittedly jaw-dropping stunt.  Imagine my surprise when the movie starts with that scene.  Yes, within five minutes, they showed what I had already assumed to be the movie's most impressive action sequence, so where could they go from here.  Oh my, where could they go indeed.

The first Mission: Impossible movie was serious and dark.  Something a little more akin to The Bourne series.  The second was serious and ridiculous.  Something a little more akin to the more absurd moments of the Brosnan Bond movies.  Then, the third movie did something unexpected.  It made the characters just as important as the stunts.  It made the plot just as important as the exotic locales.  In an odd way, numbers 3, 4, and 5 all feel like a complete trilogy, almost completely separate from the first two.  They're fast paced, character driven, and each one has embraced a lighter tone than the installment that proceeded it.  Not that M:I is turning into Rush Hour style action-comedy, but they are definitely enjoying the dividends that sharp, smartly placed humor can reap.

Picking up with the mission that was revealed at the end of Ghost Procotol, Rogue Nation finds  Cruise's Ethan Hunt searching for a mysterious organization uncovered to be responsible for all of that film's mayhem known only as the Syndicate.  Unfortunately, the last film ended with a nuclear bomb (albeit disarmed) causing havoc in San Fransisco, and the government sees it as the last straw.  The proof that the IMF is an outdated organization that has operated without oversight for far too long.  At the head of the anti-IMF campaign is the director of the CIA (Alec Baldwin).  After an oversight committee dismantles the organization, the remaining agents are absorbed into the CIA and Hunt is declared a rogue agent, much to the chagrin of his friends Brandt and Benji (Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg respectively, two actors who should appear in every M:I movie that Cruise has it in his ability to produce).

The Syndicate, which the CIA still doesn't believe exists, seems to contain a beautiful British agent named Ilsa Faust (terrifically played by Rebecca Ferguson), who seems trustworthy because she keeps saving Hunt, but seems untrustworthy because, well, she kinda seems to be trying to kill him too.  

As previously mentioned, the movie kicks off with an amazing action sequence with stunt work that not only proves that Tom Cruise is in better shape at 53 than most people ever have been, but also that he is completely, indisputably insane, but his insanity has resulted in some amazing movie set pieces, so, shhhh, no one tell him.

It would seem that there's no where to go but down from there, but each action scene ramps up the stakes and Cruise plays these scenes not as an indestructible superhero, but as a human who could possibly die at any moment.  This not only makes the scenes more intense, but it also makes the character of Ethan Hunt more impressive.  He survives not because he's invincible, but because he simply will not quit.

This game of "who can you trust" is in play more than it has been in any of the other M:I movies and it is employed well.  McQuarrie does a great job keeping the pace moving and throwing in twists right when they're needed.  The plot does go to the happy coincidence well, but not anymore than any other spy movie.  It also has one laugh-out-loud unintentionally funny scene.  It involves death by a seemingly unassuming woodwind instrument.  Actually, after seeing that typed out, it's certainly possible that it was intentional.  After all, all of the other bits of intentional humor land beautifully.  I've certainly never laughed during a Mission: Impossible movie more than I did Rogue Nation.

This movie is one of the best action movies of the summer and a terrific installment in this long-running series.  If the quality of this one is any indication, we're going to see Tom Cruise running like an Olympian and risking his life as a stunt man for years to come.

Grade: A-

Movie Review: Ant-Man

Ant-Man/Dir. by Payton Reed/Marvel Studios/117 min./Rated PG-13

You remember that kid in elementary school?  The one who knew they were a little odd, but had the good humor to acknowledge it before anyone could make fun of them?  In the Marvel playground, that kid is Ant-Man.  Originally conceived in film form by grand high master of all nerd-dom, Edgar Wright and shepherded to completion by comedy mastermind Payton Reed, Ant-Man completely understands that it has the silliest concept, the silliest powers, the silliest title of all the Marvel Universe, and it owns it.  Filled with bright colors, zippy humor, and inventive action sequences, it's exactly what you'd want from a summer popcorn flick.

The film begins in 1989 with some of the best special effects put to practical use as we see Michael Douglas, looking exactly as he did in the late 80's, playing Hank Pym.  When I say he looks exactly as he used to, I mean it.  This is no weird dead-eyed Jeff Bridges in Tron.  No, it's simply Michael Douglas 26 years younger.  The effect is stunning, but I digress.  Pym is determined to keep his "Pym Particle", a formula that allows the space between atoms to be removed so items can shrink, out of anyone's hands other than his.  After an accident involving his wife, something we learn more about later, he doesn't want his tech being used at all.

Fast-forward to today as his protege and usurper of his own company, Darren Cross (played with joyful villainy by Corey Stoll) announces that he's figured out the key to this technology.  With Pym's daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) playing double-agent and gaining info about Cross' plans, Pym realizes that he needs someone to break into the lab, steal the tech, and destroy the data before Cross can use it for his own nefarious ends.

Enter modern-day Robin Hood, Scott Lang (played to perfection by Paul Rudd).  Scott spent some time in prison because of his last steal-from-the-rich-to-feed-the-poor escapade, one that involved breaking into a facility thought burglar-proof (Lang makes sure that people know he's not a robber because he never hurts people).  Estranged from his ex-wife and his  deeply-loved daughter, Lang is determined to go straight and put his life of crime behind him.  Pym has other plans.

One of the things that separates the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the rest of the movie superhero throng is that the superhero part is usually a side part of a different story in a different genre.  So far, we've seen MCU tackle WWII drama, fantasy, action-comedy, sci-fi epic, political thriller, and now with Ant-Man, the MCU take on the comic heist film.  More a comedy in the vein of the 2003 remake of The Italian Job than the more seriously toned The Sting, Ant-Man finds as much of its humor from the heist planning as it does in self-referencing its own absurdity.  Most hysterical is Michael Pena as Luis, a right hand man that likes to tell stories and anyone who has enjoyed the humor of Kid History or Kid Snippets on youtube will very much appreciate the way the movie re-enacts his stories.

An aspect of the film that could have ruined it, but actually becomes a strength is Lang's ability to "communicate" with ants.  These scenes are treated with such humor initially, easing the viewer into the admittedly goofy superpower, that by the time it is really needed for the plot, the audience has simply accepted that this is a man with an arsenal of ants at his disposal.  We even come to care about the little pests (not that I'm going to welcome them into my pantry any time soon).

Much has been made of the troubled production of Ant-Man and, unfortunately, the movie doesn't emerge completely unscathed by those troubles.  While a thoroughly enjoyable film, the evidence of "too many cooks" (the cliche, not the disturbing Adult Swim sit-com spoof) is found in a certain feeling of disjointedness.  When it works, it works smashingly, but every once in a while the seams between ideas show in a way that is unusual for a Marvel film.  Reed has done a wonderful job with the profoundly thankless task of taking over for one of the most beloved names in genre film (Wright left the production because of creative differences with the studio, mostly involving fitting the story into the overall arc of the MCU), but the scenes and the lines that tie these events into the MCU really do feel forced.  Ant-Man was obviously conceived by Wright as a stand-alone film and whenever there's a mention of the Avengers or a Stark, it feels a bit out of place, the exceptions being a terrific stinger at the end of the credits and an action sequence early in the film that's fun enough to gloss over the obvious cross-pollination of characters.

Any superhero film stands or falls on the strength of its lead and Paul Rudd is the ace up Ant-Man's sleeve.  Rudd is one of the rare actors that feels just at home with sincerity as he does with sarcasm and that versatility makes Lang one of the most relatable of the Marvel clan.  He's not a billionaire or a war hero or a alien/god, he's just a flawed dude trying to do right by his daughter.  It's going to be very fun to see Rudd act off the core Avengers in future movies.

Not the surprise success that was Guardians of the Galaxy, but so much more intelligent and downright fun than it could have been, Ant-Man is a welcome addition to the MCU.  Now that his origin story is out of the way, there are a million different directions they could go with this character and I'm very excited to see which ones they choose.  This goofy kid on the MCU playground certainly has the potential to be the most fun of the whole lot.

Grade: B+

Movie Review: Minions

Minions/Dir. by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin/Rated PG/Universal Pictures/91 min.

There has been a trend emerging in the world of animated film of giving side characters their own feature films.  Many critics have slammed this trend, saying that these characters were designed for short shots of comic relief and don't have the substance to sustain an entire film.  Personally, I disagree.  These films succeed and fail not because of the origins of the main characters, but on the strength of the screenplay.  The Penguins of Madagascar may have failed at the box-office, but it's actually my favorite of the Madagascar films, partly because the penguins are far more interesting than the leads of the other movies, but mostly because it's written with the wit and manic energy of a Monty Python movie.  Cars 2 may have succeeded at the box-office, but it's the worst of the Pixar films not because it put Mater in the narrative drivers seat, but because it's the only film Pixar has ever made where it's obvious they were more interested in cool toy designs than clear plotting and engaging character arcs.

Well, it's my sad duty to report that Minions, the new film featuring the scene-stealing, gibberish-speaking, villain-serving characters from the Despicable Me films, is more Cars 2 than Penguins of Madagascar, but it's certainly not the fault of the little yellow guys.  They're as lovable and hysterical as ever.  No, it's all because of lazy writing.  A film that, by all means, should have been the funniest of the series, generates fewer belly laughs than either of the previous films.  Heck, it actually generates fewer laughs than its main animated competition at the box-office, the far more cerebral Inside Out.

It begins with a delightful prologue detailing the history of the minions, from single cell organisms to unfulfilled pill-shaped henchmen.  You see, the minions were created with the innate desire to find the most evil villain in the land and serve as his or her devoted....well.. minions.  This opening, most of which was unfortunately spoiled by the trailers, is easily the most imaginative and exciting set piece of the film.  In fact, I almost wish the the writers would have just expanded these little vignettes to feature length.  If they had this could have been something special.  Instead, the bulk of the movie focuses on three minions, the confident Kevin, the enthusiastic but easily frightened Bob, and the head-banger at heart Stewart, and their search for a master, a search that leads them to Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock, clearly having the time of her life) and her husband Herb (Jon Hamm, doing such a great Jason Segel impersonation that they may as well have just hired Jason Segel).  Scarlet, being evil, wants to rule England and she agrees to employ the entire minion colony if they can obtain the queens crown for her.

On the plus side, the movie has such an irreverent view of history that some of the plot twists are genuinely surprising.  Sequences involving Excalibur and Queen Elizabeth fly in the face of history and mythology and decorum just enough to give the film an air of subversive glee.  The problem is that these and, indeed most of the sequences of the 2nd act, feel haphazardly constructed and retread the same comic material over and over again.  You say that the first Despicable Me movie had a funny bit involving a minion's bare backside?  Well six such bits should be six times more funny!  The first time Scarlet slowly grows from cloyingly sweet to maniacally evil in a sentence was a hoot?  Let's do that with each of her speeches then!  From a story stand-point, so little happens in this 2nd act that it becomes little more than slightly amusing filler.

The movie almost regains its footing in the final act though.  It embraces the gonzo energy of the best animated comedies, bringing images and jokes to life in a way that life-action films simply can't approach.  However, it's all a case of too little too late.

It's not that Minions is a bad movie.  On a hot summer afternoon, it's a perfectly enjoyable way to spend a few hours in an air-conditioned theater.  It's just a disappointment from this series, which has consistently brought the funny and the heart.  Minions has a fraction of the humor and none of the heart.  But, still, the minions themselves are still pretty darned entertaining.  Here's hoping that there is a better written adventure in their future.

Grade: B-

Movie Review: Inside Out

Inside Out/Rated PG/94 min./Pixar Animation Studios/Dir. by Pete Doctor and Ronaldo Del Carmen

"Silly grown-ups, animation's for kids!"  This antiquated, wrong-headed, unsupported notion is alive and well and there was a time, perhaps, that there was a sliver of truth to it.  After all, the original Disney animated classics, while filled with unquestionable and complex artistry, were also clearly aimed at the tykes.  Snow White, Dumbo, Pinocchio....they all had very simply constructed plots designed to support one or two clearly laid-out morals:  Kindness will always win, believe in yourself, smoking and drinking will turn you into a jackass, literally.

However, at the same time that Uncle Walt was making these carefully crafted morality tales, he also spearheaded Fantasia and Bambi.  Fantasia being a film that still challenges and enthralls adults of all ages, and Bambi, one of the most lyrical visual tone poems ever conceived.

There have been 80 years worth of films proving that animation is an art form, pure and simple.  It's a means of telling a story, not a genre unto itself, which is to say that a film being animated shouldn't indicated it's target audience anymore than a film being in 3D or in color should.  In the past 20 years, makers of animated films have created more complex narratives that work on multiple levels to enlighten and entertain regardless of age.  Often this has been done by creating plot and action for the kids and jokes for the adults.

Well, right now there is a masterpiece playing at your local movieplex that flips that formula on its head.  The film, Inside Out, is a film that is really aimed at adults, but it has action, color, and humor that will keep young 'uns engaged.  There is such artistic nuance on display in every frame, such thoughtful detail in the plot construct, such profound truth laying at its core, that dismissing it as a kid's movie is a huge disservice.  Yes, it's definitely kid appropriate (it really should be rated G) and children will love it, but it is, quite simply, one of the greatest examples of film art of this decade.

As the film begins, we not only witness the birth of a little girl named Riley, but we see the emergence of her emotions, personified by Day-Glo colored characters that live in her brain and guide her through the use of a control panel.  When she needs to be careful, they let Fear (Bill Hader) take the wheel.  When they're unsure of a new food, they send in Disgust (Mindy Kaling).  Anger (Lewis Black) makes sure that things stay fair and Sadness (Phyllis Smith)....well, no one's really sure why Sadness is necessary at all.  The defacto leader of the group is Joy (Amy Poehler), a yellow colored sprite in a breezy summer dress who keeps things running smoothly.

As Riley creates memories, little glass balls are created as a holding case for the memory and the important core memories, the experiences that had the most profound effect on Riley's personality are placed near the control center as core memories.  Joy feels no small amount of pride that all of the core memories are bright yellow because of her influence.

To go any more into the construct of the wonderland inside Riley's head would ruin the surprises of this film, and there are many.   Suffice it to say that after Riley moves to a new city, Joy and Sadness accidentally get separated from the control center, leaving the pre-teen girl at the mercy of Fear, Anger, and Disgust.  I have a feeling that there are many times that pre-teens know exactly how that feels.

One of the most amazing things about Inside Out is the plethora of lessons to be learned.  I recently read a review in which someone said this is one of the rare films that could actually make you a better person and I couldn't agree more.  The plot is carefully constructed with many themes, all designed to pounce on your mind and your heart depending on where you are in your own life.  I have no doubt that I'll be learning new things from watching this film in years to come.

The voice casting could not be more perfect.  Poehler and Smith become the main protagonists and the two actresses interact superbly.  Poehler brings the same almost manic energy to the role that she did on Parks and Recreation, but as she slowly begins to understand the importance of all emotions, especially Sadness, she switches gears delivering a tender and heart-breaking performance that sticks with you as much as Ellen Degeneres did as Dory in Finding Nemo.   Initially, Smith portrays Sadness as an animated Debby Downer, but through a soft and subtle performance, she creates a fully realized, three-dimensional character and will be treasured for years.  Kaling, Hader, and Black mostly supply the comic relief, but they interact with each other with a gonzo comic energy that lights up every one of their scenes.

Visually, Inside Out is a stunner.  From the vast caverns of long-term memory to the surreal room of abstract thought, the filmmakers back this movie with images to tickle the brain and dazzle the eye.  It is, quite simply, beautiful to look at.

Basically, just go see this movie.  See it multiple times.  It has spurred more thoughtful conversations over the last three days since I watched it than has any film over the last decade.  After a few films ranging from frustrating to disappointing, Pixar is back with an insta-classic that will stand proudly next to their best.  If the Academy didn't have a clear bias against animated (a.k.a. kid's) films, this would be a sinch for a Best Picture nomination.  

Grade:  A very enthusiastic A+

Movie Review - Home

Home/DreamWorks Animation/Dir. by Tim Johnson/94 min./Rated PG (for mild action and some rude humor)

It's been a rocky few years for DreamWorks animation.  On one hand, they've been on a great creative streak.  While still nurturing proven franchises, they've also provided some terrific films that are patently non-DreamWorks-ian.  Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda were all films that set aside the DreamWorks model of constant juvenile humor coupled with unending pop culture references and instead crafted character based stories that brought the funny while bringing an almost Pixar-like dedication to story and heart.

On the other hand, their movies haven't been making as much money as they used to.  Personally, I think it might be because they've spread their franchises a little thin with their television division.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Kung Fu Panda 2 were both outstanding films that under-performed domestically.  Perhaps non-coincidentally, both films had t.v. series based on their characters airing concurrently with their releases.  This could also be a contributing factor to the dismal box office of Penguins of Madagascar, a highly amusing film that was based more on the television series of the same name than it was the hugely successful Madagascar films.  These box office missteps have led to big layoffs at the studio and a sharp decline in annual product.  Typically, DreamWorks had released two to three films a year, however, this year there is only one.

Long story short, DreamWorks needs a win.  It seems that they have found it with this year's release, Home, a genially amusing movie that just surprised a lot of people with a huge box office win this weekend.

Home begins with perhaps the most benign alien invasion in the history of film as an alien race named the Boov, lead by Captain Smeck (voiced by Steve Martin) kidnap all the humans and put them in brightly colored compounds in Australia.  Believing the humans to be a simple species, the Boov provide them with shelter, food, and easily accessible amusement parks.

Among the ant-like followers of the charismatic Captain is Oh (perfectly voiced by Jim Parsons).  Oh, is the only Boov that doesn't seem to belong.  He makes mistakes and is so enthusiastic about life in general that his fellow Boov find him horribly off-putting.  When he accidentally sends a party invite to the entire universe, alerting the enemies of the Boov to their location, he finds himself on the run, joining forces with a human teenage girl named Tip (Rihanna) who escaped the forced relocation of the humans, but wants to find her mother (a very under-utilized Jennifer Lopez).

Needless to say, high-jinks ensue, and really, that's the entire point of Home.  While it is a very entertaining movie, it never reaches the height of DreamWorks' best.  Plot becomes incidental and, occasionally noticeably hap-hazard, but that allows the movie to  become more of a character comedy, juxtaposing the sassy, sad/mad, Tip with the optomistic, accident-prone Oh.  Not to say this is an animated My Dinner With Andre, but the movie is at its best when it focuses on these characters.

Parsons is particularly fantastic as Oh.  The commercials make it look like it's just Parsons doing his Sheldon Cooper shtick from The Big Bang Theory.  In actuality, he adds a level of innocence and sincerity to the character that was surprising.  Rihanna does a fine job in emoting the troubled Tip, however, she was tremendously miscast considering the fact that no one is going to mistake the voice of a raspy-voiced 27 year-old woman for a 12 year-old girl.

The animation in Home is beautiful and extremely colorful, with the physicality of the Boov one of the highlights of the film.  The aliens are the human equivalent of mood rings, changing colors depending on their moods.  They also have the physical flexibility of a balloon, which makes them a delight to watch in action.

In terms of quality, Home falls dead center among the pantheon of DreamWorks animated films.  It fails to reach the high quality of the How to Train Your Dragon series, but it also is better than company missteps like Shark Tale and Bee Movie.  It's light, funny, colorful, and a perfectly cromulent way to spend some time with the family.

Grade: B

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015: Year-End/Year-Beginning Blog

I have to be honest.  I have debated about doing a year-end blog so soon.  The fact of the matter is that I haven't seen most of the big Oscar-y movies that are released at the end of the year and often held in super-limited release until January.  It's usually around February that I finally catch up on all the "bests."

So, I've decided to do a "favorites" list, rather than a "best" list.  These films are wonderful films and would certainly be at home on any critic's top ten list for the year.  In fact, many of them have repeatedly appeared on these lists.  However, none of them will win the best picture Oscar.  These are not the movies that will be heralded in film art text books thirty years from now, but they are the movies that will be embraced by generations thirty years from now.  They are the films that will be remembered in the hearts of millions long after the more "legitimate" films have faded from memory.  Not because the "legitimate" films are unworthy, but because these films are aware that movies can be layered, passionate, excellent, AND fun and inspiring.  I'll probably do a "best" list after I've had a chance to see some titles that I'm itching to see, like The Theory of Everything, Selma, The Imitation Game, and Big Eyes, but for now, I present the list of the movies that I know I'll be watching over and over for years to come.  To be difficult, I'm doing a top 12 list.  My apologies to those of you with the compulsive need for round numbers.

12. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Andy Serkis continues to show that the most important part of a motion capture performance is the performance.  Inhabiting Caesar, the leader of the intelligent apes, as a full-blooded character, Serkis manages to rise above the digital make-up to deliver one of the most mesmerizing feats of acting in any movie this year.  Plus, the script provides some of the most thrilling and shocking moments in the franchise history.

11. The Hundred-Food Journey - This is not a challenging movie, however it is a smart one.  Filled with warmth and nuanced performances, this movie is the equivalent of a big smile-inducing hug.  Just don't watch it when you're hungry.  The soft-filtered images of French and Indian cuisine guarantee an increase in appetite.

10. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - The Hobbit movies are simply not as good as the Lord of the Rings films.  They suffer from over-stuffed plotting and glacial pacing, problems that are bound to happen when you decide to turn a single children's book (and, compared to LOTR, that's what The Hobbit is) into a 9 hour epic.  However, they are not the cinematic missteps that some have made them out to be.  Yes, they're poor adaptations, but they're pretty darn thrilling films and the finale does everything that it should have.  Wrapping plot points together in a massive battle and manages to recall elements of the Pelennor Fields battle in Return of the King, while still distinguishing itself with far different characters and motivations.

9.  Edge of Tomorrow - I so did not see this movie coming.  Even the commercials did little to raise my expectations.  However, this is a gem of sci-fi tale.  The easy explanation is "It's Groundhog Day with aliens", but that doesn't convey how rich, engaging, and simultaneously dark and funny this epic is.  A confusing title and a dwindling fan base for Tom Cruise may have kept you from seeing it in the theaters, but there's no real excuse.  It's one of the finest sci-fi films of the decade.

8. Interstellar - Yes, it's flawed.  However, it's beautiful, it's ambitious in a way that few other films dare, and it serves as an allegory to convey wonderful truths.

7. X-Men: Days of Future Past - As close to an "Avengers" film as the X-Men franchise is likely to get, DoFP hits all the heights that you would want from a great X-Men film, plus is has one of the best scenes of any movie of the year.  If you've seen it, you know exactly which scene I'm talking about.  If you haven't, well, let's just say you won't hear Jim Croce sing "Time in a Bottle" again without thinking of a certain kitchen in the Pentagon.

6. Big Hero 6 - Sure, Big Hero 6 gives the world one of the most instantly lovable characters of the year in Baymax, the health care providing robot, but even an infinitely lovable character can't completely save a weak movie (Scrat from the Ice Age movies proves that).  Therefore, how delightful is it that Big Hero 6 is bright, smart, and enthralling even when Baymax isn't on screen.  Further proof that the Disney animation slump is officially over.

5. The LEGO Movie - When I first heard about this movie, I let out a very disgruntled groan.  Seriously?  How could this possibly be a good idea.  Wow, was I wrong.  Not only is The LEGO Movie one of the flat-out funniest movies of the year, but it's nothing short of an all-out tribute to the joy of imagination and creation.  Many pundits see this as the front runner for the Best Animated Film Oscar, and while I don't think it's the best animated film of the year, it's certainly a more than worthy contender.

4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Since the summer of 2011, I have maintained that the brilliance of the Marvel Cinematic Universe isn't just in it's intertwining story lines, but the fact that none of these films are "just" superhero movies.  Each movie takes on different genres, not only distinguishing it from films featuring other characters, but distinguishing it from other films in its own franchise.  No film better illustrates this than Winter Soldier.  With the first Captain America firmly in WWII action mode, The Winter Soldier veers masterfully into the territory of a modern spy thriller.  That alone would be a nifty gimmick, but what raises the film above gimmick is its sharp writing, sincere performances, and truly fantastic direction.  So great was the direction from the Russo Brothers (previously best known for being creative forces on "Community" and "Arrested Development") that Marvel has handed them the keys to Avengers: Infinity War, the film that the MCU has been building towards ever since Thor first entered the Asgard vault.

3. Into the Woods - For the life of me, I can't see why this movie isn't getting more Oscar talk.  Sure, Meryl Streep will get her 1,243-ish nomination, and it'll be well represented in costumes, sound mixing, and production design, but this is such a deeply profound film.  The magic of Into the Woods, both the stage play and the film is it's ability to not only layer character upon character, but genre upon genre, and theme upon theme.  It's the type of movie that you think you have a full handle on when you see it the first time, but discover more and more upon each subsequent viewing.  Plus, Steven Sondheim is one of the great living artists of any art form and he was in top form with this, both when he wrote the stage version in the 80's and when he adapted it for film.  Yes, it's divisive, but it's also rich and inspiring.

2.  How to Train Your Dragon 2 - I stand by my original assertion that this is the best animated film since Toy Story 3.  Discontent to simply churn out a run of the mill sequel, the filmmakers have taken the elements of the first movie and expanded them in such a fluid and surprisingly emotional way that it feels less like a sequel and more like the second act in an epic story, a feat that it manages with far more success than The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug did.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy - Simply the most surprising movie of the year.  Yes, in hindsight its success seems to simply be part of the MCU juggernaut, but don't forget what a risk this movie was and how delightful it was to see it unfold on the big screen.  I can't remember feeling that level of discovery and wonder since, I don't know, maybe Jurassic Park.  I can't wait to see what the future holds for this disparate group of heroes.


3 Biggest Disappointments of the Year:

3. Annie - If you've ever thought, "Annie would be a good story if it had more swearing and traded out the memorable music for bland pop songs and if Miss Hannigan wasn't funny, but just whiny and annoying," I have a movie for you.

2. Heaven is for Real - I didn't see this sleeper hit until it was released on video.  I was looking forward to it because I would love to see a movie represent matters of faith in a realistic and inspiring way.  However, instead of that, we get a movie that tries to create tension by portraying most people of faith with the same level of anger and lack of love that one would expect from an anti-religious film.  The characters are trite and the performances are shallow, with the exception of young Connor Corum, who manages to be the sole bright spot in a film that should have been nothing but bright spots.

1. Noah - Ugh.  Just ugh.  Is there a filmmaker in Hollywood with a more over-inflated ego than Darren Aronofsky?  The word "pretentious" doesn't begin to cover it.  Yes, he's very talented, but so is George Lucas and they both need to demonstrate a little restraint.  As a fantasy film, it's barely watchable, but as a telling of the biblical story, it's a ludicrous mess.  Jennifer Connolly and Emma Watson are beyond fantastic in it though, but they really are the only people that remain unscathed from this monstrosity.


Finally, the ten movies I'm most looking forward to in 2015.  I'm going to attempt to contain my explanations as to why I'm excited for them to one or two words.  We'll see how that works....

10. Minions - Cute/Funny!
9. Spectre - Bond!
8. The Good Dinosaur - Pixar!
7. Ant-Man - Marvel+Rudd!
6. Untitled Steven Spielberg cold war thriller - Steven Spielberg!
5. Tomorrowland - Brad Bird!
4. Jurassic World - Trained Velociraptors!
3. Inside Out - Conceptual Pixar!
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron - Duh, Avengers!
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Abrams!  Practical Effects!  Beach-Ball Droid!  Star Wars!  STAR WARS!

OK, there are my thoughts.  There are many like them, but these are mine.  Have a wonderful 2015!