I watched the recent Lion King reboot with a friend the other day.

The CGI work in the movie is absolutely stellar and it's almost eerie how lifelike the animals look, yet despite all that it's still very much inferior to the original in basically every way possible.

 

Everything Everywhere All At Once
9.5/10

I saw this movie a few days ago and I'm still thinking about how beautiful this movie is. So funny and so heartfelt. It's amazing how well it balances everything it does.

 

I didn't, but I'll be on the lookout for that

 

Everything Everywhere All at Once
Did not expect this film to absolutely break me like it did. I have not bawled like that in a good while in the theaters. Such a beautiful film. It does so many things and does all those so well. The grounded family story is so relatable and honest juxtaposed to the insanity of a multiverse adventure should not be an easy thing to balance but the Daniels do a magnificent job. The martial arts in here is amazing and reminded me why I love the genre so much! Must be said that the martial arts is not the most prevalent element however what we got was really kinetic and really fun. Plus with the early Hong Kong cinema influences in the fights it was really nice seeing some Wong Kar Wai homages thrown in as well. This movie is something special and should not be missed.
9.5/10

 

Finally saw Turning Red and I freaking loved it. It was so hysterically funny. It was lovingly lowkey but also impactful because of its exploration of generational trauma, much like Encanto. I MUCH preferred the mother in this movie than Abuela in Encanto, but maybe that’s because Abuela hit home more with me and I didn’t want to forgive her or try to by the end of that movie.

This movie is hysterical. I adore the main character, the mom is great, the dad is wonderful, the friends are funny. The animation is stellar and expressive. The music is awesome. The emotional scenes are genuinely great. I adored the emotional climax between Mei Lin and her mother. And the other climax at the concert was hysterical and awesome.

Man. Pixar really knows what they’re doing. 9/10.

 

The recent Spider-man. 6/10. Forgettable. Premise was silly and completely avoidable. The same old boring CGI fight scenes. Dafoe was great, as always.

 

Pixar really has been going for the generational trauma thing as of late. I'm guessing a lot of them identify with abusive relationships run amok. It's amazing how many people have experienced that in their lives. Goes to show that parents really can be the worst villains in most stories.

 

I finally watched the live action Sonic the Hedgehog film and while I geeked out hard to all the subtle and not so subtle nods to Sonic’s games and various media, I don’t think I had a bigger jaw dropping fan moment than when Garry Chalk appeared on screen. Jim Carrey stole the show. It was wholesome, fun, and full of nostalgia. One thing I wished they’d have gotten was a cameo from Jaleel White, but it was in no way a dealbreaker. I had a lot of fun with this movie and I look forward to catching the new one which I’ve heard is even better.

I’m gonna give this a 7/10.

 

The Bad Guys - 8/10

Couple of weak spots, but otherwise this was pretty entertaining. All the main characters bounce off each other really well. The opening conversation between Snake and Wolf is like a Tarantino for kids scene and the car chases are great fun.

Spoiler

Its also really weird and really funny to hear Moss from the IT Crowd act like a mad scientist

 

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 9/10

Finally got around seeing it today. Man this really went beyond what the first movie established and gave us quite a thrill ride that really does justice to what it's adapting. The crowd I went with cheered when it ended too.

 

It's so much better than it had any right being.

 

Porco Rosso-Beautifully animated, bland characters and story. Ridiculous attempt at humor that didn't hit the mark. It was ok. I do not rank it among my Ghibli favorites, it's down at the bottom with Howl, Castle, and Ponyo. 6/10

Favorite to least:
Princess Mononoke
Pom Poko
Spirited Away
My Neighbor Totoro
The Secret World of Arietty
When Marnie Was There
Return of the Cat
Kiki's Delivery Service
Nausicaa: of the Valley of Wind
Howl's Moving Castle
Ponyo by the Sea
Porco Rosso
Castle in the Sky

 

The Batman (2022) - 5/10

Way too long and way too bleak. Riddler was one thing, then became something completely different. I liked the investigative aspects of Batman, Colin Farrell was great.

 

The Northman 10/10

 

yeah, took my Son to see this today. I really enjoyed it. it was much better than i expected it to be.

 

Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - 9/10
I had a blast. It is extremely meta and self mocking. It is ridiculous and plays that up. I had a huge smile and was laughing the whole time. Once the plot gets going you can tell exactly any twists from the start. But that did not detract. Given what the movie is it is a benefit. Cage gets to go VERY Cagey in this. But high recommend.

 

The Batman - 9/10:

Robert Pattinson was really quite good in this. I knew he was a capable and talented actor and he really went for it here.

Colin Farrell made for an excellent Penguin and the makeup just makes him dang near unrecognizable.

Geoffrey Wright made for a solid Gordon. I liked the way he spoke, carried himself, just got into the nitty gritty with it.

John Turturro was really quite good here because he wasn't over the top, he wasn't funny, and when restrained like this... He delivers menacing and chilling quite well.

Paul Dano? Always turns in a solid performance, nothing changed here.

Zoe Kravitz made for a smart Catwoman. Not a damsel in distress, not just a pretty face, and she can beat a mofo like she's a miniature Mike Tyson.

If I have any complaints, they are as follows:
-Too dark. There are certain scenes where you can't make out anything. At all.

-Not enough Alfred.

-Not enough Batmobile.

-The ending kept changing and each piece felt like they were just tacking things on akin to "oh, wait! We have one more scene!" And then it became a DJ Khaled vibe and all you could think of was "Another one. Another one." It got ridiculous, honestly.

It was very well written, the detective part of Batman was finally done right, the suit looked great, and the whole shadows/opening sequence thing was expertly crafted. I agree 20 minutes could've been shaved off but all in all, I see why audiences and critics actually enjoyed this movie.

It was finally a Batman film that was intelligent. It didn't try to be the comic book, it didn't try to be Schumacher, it tried to show violent BTAS Batman in live action (without intending to) and did it well.

 

Paddington - 9/10


Paddington 2 - 9/10

 

Frozen - 8.5/10

Despite a couple problems (like lack of foreshadowing for the villain), I'm still impressed by how well-done this movie is. I'm not even a huge Disney princess guy, but I do quite enjoy Frozen. Even enjoyed the "Fixer Upper" song more than I remembered.

Frozen 2 - 6/10

This feels like someone's overly complicated fanfiction based on Frozen. This movie has huge problems, but I'd honestly be willing to overlook most of them as fairy tale logic if the move actually felt like a fairy tale. It's just so confusing, and throws way too much information and exposition at the audience...most of which are probably 5 years old and just want to see a simple adventure with princesses and a funny snowman. This is the second time I've seen it, and I remembered almost nothing that happened.

You'd think a sequel to Frozen would pick a simple setup and run with it. Like, maybe Anna gets powers or a villain shows up and takes Elsa's powers or something. Instead the plot revolves around...some sort of peace treaty with natives that ties into Elsa's grandfather? Uh...okay? What the heck does this have anything to do with the first film? This feels like a Cars 2 level departure, but without the sheer insanity that makes Cars 2 fun for me. I feel like most of the Frozen fanbase probably had better ideas for a sequel.

There were a few things I liked, like Christoff's proposals to Anna constantly going wrong and getting to see more of Elsa being a hero. I liked the "Show Yourself" song, and even Christoff's rock ballad was fun. The little lizard was super adorable, and I liked the idea of explaining Elsa's powers (in theory, at least). I wouldn't call it an awful film, it just really misses the mark for me in terms of the premise, and looses the fairy tale magic that made the first film great.

 

The Bad Guys - 8/10

Got back from seeing the film some hours ago. This is without a doubt among Dreamwork's best films in recent years and they weren't kidding when they aid that this takes a lot of elements from certain heist movies in a way that still plays it smart. Really happy to hear that it's doing so well at the box office too because it earns it.