New Releases For Home Viewing

I have 3 films for home release to note this week. All three are not great...just okay.

CARS 3
Directed by Brian Fee
Screenplay by Keil Murray; Bob Peterson; and Mike Richardson
Voice work by Owen Wilson: Cristela Olonzo; and Chris Cooper



Being a huuuuge PIXAR fan you would think that this review would have come a couple weeks ago.
Well..............if you follow my blog....then you know in my PIXAR post...Cars 1 and Cars 2 are at the bottom of my list of PIXAR films.
So Cars n3... I was pleasantly surprised. Lightning McQueen is fighting a new generation of racers. He has to prove, even though he is old school...he is still able to compete.

The Positives:
-This movie is beautiful!!! Every scene is flat out gorgeous. Coming off Finding Dory and The Good Dinosaur....it leaves those two film in the dust. You can just turn the sound off and just watch this beautiful film.
-The plot is strong. New vs old. Remembering who your friends are. Remember where you came from. How to behave in competitions. The funny thing is that one of the focus points is....how old school can be better than modern technology.......aaahhhh....PIXAR took out modern cartoon art lol.
-Voice work is pretty good, highlighted by Chris Cooper and using voice work from the late Paul Newman from the original Cars.

Negatives:
-The plot is strong, however the script has some problems:
1- Slow in many place, which may make the younger viewers rammy.
2-The ending...will make adults watching go..REALLY??? Switching places??? Kids will not question that I am sure, but what made PIXAR work the stories were for kids as well as adults.

Well.....pushing negatives aside, I think this is the best of the Cars films...I would give it a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. I was pleasantly surprised.




INGRID GOES WEST
Directed by Matt Spicer
Screenplay by David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer
Starring Aubrey Plaza; Elizabeth Olsen; and O'Shea Jackson jr




Ingrid (Plaza) is a Facebook stalker. Not just a Facebook stalker, Facebook is where she starts, then she moves on to being a real life stalker. Ingrid kind of tries to steal the lives of her Facebook friends or push herself into their lives.
It is an interesting film, because it plays on the way society is today. Differentiating between internet chat room friends and friend in life. Also the film touches on a little bit on loneliness and the feeling of being wanted or liked. Does it work? Sort of.

Positives:
-Aubrey Plaza gives a wonderful performance as Ingrid. She is a stalker. A flat out stalker..I mean she packs up and moves west to be in someone's life who does not know her.. Yet, with all the uncomfortable situations she puts herself in, and you know she is wrong, you feel for her. Which is all Plaza, it is a difficult part, she is unlikable but you care about her.
-O'Shea Jackson Jr.as Dan Pinto Ingrid's landlord, but almost becomes her best friend and caretaker. I only have seen him once as Ice Cube in Straight Outta Compton, then he disappeared for awhile, here he took a nice, sweet role and you really fall in love with him. He pulls it off...which is tough because  at times he has to be tough on Ingrid

Negatives:
-It is a big negative. Yes there are some funny moments...however the film is a hard watch. Watching someone who clearly has some mental illness...is very awkward. Then throw in the treatment to her... Is the only option of the people around her to be mean? Again hard watch.

Yes, this is very well acted by Plaza and Jackson Jr., however that awkwardness has me giving Ingrid Goes West 2 out of 5 stars. It is uncomfortable, throughout much of the film. I understand the point but.....just too awkward.



THE GLASS CASTLE
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Screenplay by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham
Based on the book by Jeannette Walls
Starring Brie Larson; Woody Harrelson; Naomi Watts; and Ella Anderson




The Glass Castle follows The Walls family...mainly the children growing up in with eccentric parents Rex (Harrelson) and Rose Mary (Watts).
We see the film through the eyes of Jeanette (Larson), as she looks back at her strange childhood.
Now, I know a lot of people who read the Walls book were upset because this film took some heart of the story. I did not read the book so luckily I have no basis ...soooo.... I really liked this film.

Positives:
-The screenplay is really good. The film runs over two hours and it flies by. There are so many dynamics to this family, it is a train wreck you cannot stop watching. There is some joy, but it has an umbrella of sadness. There is clearly mental illness here and alcohol disease at play. Also mental abuse and physical. It sounds like it would be hard to watch and sometimes it is....but what make it work is....
-The Acting!! Larson with another fine performance. You see her acting often without talking. She is carrying years of hurt and embarrassment with her into her adult life.
Harrelson as Rex is relentless. I can't tell if this is good acting or good casting. Come to think about it with Woody, it may be the same thought for all his parts lol!!!!!!!
Lets not forget Ella Anderson and Chandler Head as the young Jeanette at different ages. These young girls are playing roles that are really mature roles. They pull it off (note they were both in the film The Boss)!!
Are there any negatives?
Yes.
-As noted before, this is a difficult watch. Rex is abusive!! Then things get wrapped up in a nice neat ball of string; I heard in the book...maybe not so much. It did seem a little odd. It is nice at the end to see the family smile..if that is something.

Well...a true story...about  a family with secrets, and the weight of your past that you carry with you. 4 out of 5 stars. This shocked me. I got a pass and thought...well I will go watch I have nothing better to do...and I really liked it. An interesting story and well acted.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review:Goodbye Christopher Robin

GOODBYE CHRISTOPHER ROBIN
Directed by Simon Curtis
Screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Simon Vaughan
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson; Margot Robbie; Kelly McDonald; and Will Tilston





Well the trailer is deceiving that is for sure.
It is a good story however it has an umbrella of sadness.
You know the story just from the trailer. This is about Christopher Robin; or the name he was called by at home, or answered to, Billy Moon. 
-He had a father Alan Milne played by Gleeson, that had many issues after coming home from the war.
-A mother, Daphne Milne played by Robbie, was cold as ice to him and openly says she preferred a girl.
-Then when the Pooh books hit it big, Daphne uses Christopher for publicity. Which leaves him confused because he is too young to understand why people are taking his picture. He is just a kid with stuffed animals who plays in the woods.


Thankfully he had someone who loved him and took care of him (Not  to say his father did not love him, he just was so damaged and cold he did not know how to show love), a nanny Olive played wonderfully by Kelly MacDonald.


There are shining moments that are uplifting like a good 15 minute portion when Alan is forced to take care of Christopher for a week while the nanny and his wife is away. Or a moment when Olive takes a stand and fights for Christopher.


It a well acted film. A story I did not know about. Yet just sad....3 out of 5 stars for Goodbye Christopher Robin. Worth a look when available for home viewing just for the history and the true story.


From the shadows as always thanks for your  time.

New Film Review: Thor Ragnarok

THOR RAGNAROK
Directed by Taika Waititi
Screenplay by Eric Pearson; Craig Kyle; and Christopher Yost
Starring Chris Hemsworth; Tom Hiddleston; Cate Blanchett; Idris Elba; Jeff Goldblum; and Tessa Thompson



I have to start with something that bothered me tonight. I went to my screening and it was a full screening. At the end of the film there are scenes during the credits and after the credits. So everybody left the theater at the same time. One asshole decided to go out the emergency door. Now it is a dark theater still, so when that door opened some people jumped, some froze. Again..aaaahhh you do realize that is an emergency door... it is for an emergency. That door was used in Colorado for access by a murderer while another superhero film was showing. How can someone not think that!!! Just saying...I have hundreds of followers spread the word...be patient and use the right exit!!!

Well as for my review. If you follow my blog you know I am "superheroed" out, so here comes Thor Ragnarok...the best superhero film of the year, including the overrated Wonder Woman.

This film does a lot right:
-The script is soooo funny. One of the funniest films of the year. Hemsworth showed his comic timing in Ghostbusters and in the new Vacation. You have to think the writers saw it and used that wonderful comic timing. Hiddleston plays a really good straight man here to Hensworth.
-The script is clean. It is not confusing (Except the silly...fire thing god at the end), it is pretty much a family battle for control. It also does not overstay its welcome coming in at 2 hours and not over playing the last battle scene.
-Introduction of well played characters: Cate Blanchet, over the top great as the evil sister Hela. Jeff Goldblum is just hilarious as the flamboyant evil Gamemaster. However the best is Tess Thompson as Valkyrie. WOW!! She was really good in a small part in Creed...but here you love her and when she is on the screen she steals the scenes.

Negatives:
-The film was doing well with real sets during most of the movie but the last fight scene..it got a little loose with CGI and a little confusing.
-I mentioned this over and over and over. These films lack tension because the superhero is indestructible. Here, many times, Thor falls from heights that were ridiculously high and he gets up. At one point he is in a battle, and gets his head slammed over and over again. Pretty much skull breaking slammed...but nothing happens to him, he lives. No tension.
-Last...my soap box again. I noted it before. We have here a PG13 film with automatic weapons. Not needed in the big picture of the film..but there they are. Will taking them out save the world? No. But in my opinion it takes away the norm of an automatic weapon. Kids are watching.

4 out of 5 for Thor Ragnarok. Very funny. Full of action. Try to see it in a full theater because it is kind of fun with a lot of people in the theater. It is a fun event film.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: Bad Mom's Christmas

BAD MOM'S CHRISTMAS
Directed And Screenplay by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore
Starring Mila Kunis; Kristen Bell; Kathryn Hahn; Susan Sarandon; Christine Baranski; and Cheryl Hines




I liked the first Bad Moms. It was very funny, and it covered a modern day subject of helicopter moms. I was bothered by the end of the first one where I thought it sold out to a lazy feel good ending.
Well here comes Bad Mom's Christmas which doubles the mom's. Is it better than the first? No. It is as funny as the first, but the writing is lazy and adding the additional mom's means having three different stories and that makes the film very choppy, sometimes boring.
Well lets break down the three stories:
Kiki (Kristen Bell) and her mother Sandy (Hines), Sandy is the mom who wants to  always be around her daughter even though she is married in her own house. This story line was boring and not once was it funny.
Amy ((Kunis) and her controlling mother Ruth (Baranski). This story was sightly ridiculous. In many ways. The timing was ..way off. Meaning Baranski would continuously set things up with a snap of her fingers, which in the real world it would take days. Be it a party or a holiday scene, it was just....lazy writing...to find ways to create friction. As we got to the end it settled things without really settling things. I mean Ruth was being a jerk...and was not owning it, so what was the point?
The best for last. Carla (Hann) and her mooching mother Isis (Sarandon). Like the first film Hann steals the movie. Now to be honest.....Sarandon was not needed, its Hann with her great comic timing....then throw in Justin Hartly as Ty, a stripper, who with Hann ...well I could see a whole film with just these two. They are that funny together (No spoilers here).

Too bad the script is a bit choppy because it is very funny, I did not even mention a quick Kenny G , yes that Kenny G, funny cameo. Plus a very funny music video at the end. Why do you pay money for this film? Too laugh. It worked. It tries to be emotional, and that would be nice but it failed in that aspect. So 3 out of 5 for Bad Mom's Christmas.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.