Pixar’s Inside Out Review

Pixar is better at parenting than most parents out there.

As eleven-year-old Riley leaves her long time home of Minnesota with her mother and father for San Francisco several feelings and emotions work overtime to get a sense of her surroundings. These emotions take shape into characters in her mind as Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Joy (Amy Poehler). Together they try to operate her state of mind as the emotions they represent with her memories as ways to guide that. However, Sadness can’t help herself from overwhelming Riley as she struggles to fit in her new surroundings and in the process Riley’s more crucial memories are lost deeper into her mind and it is up to the optimistic Joy and the pessimistic Sadness to retrieve those memories back to their control room before Riley breaks all her emotions entirely.

This movie has resorted my faith in Pixar and the art of family storytelling. When Pixar was starting to become an assembly line studio turning in sequels, prequels, and spin-offs that were either hit or misses (mostly misses) that were aimed to be a quick sell and Disney Animation had risen back and started a new renaissance with “Wrench it Ralph” and “Frozen”, I had predicted that Pixar would eventually be absorbed into Disney Animation in the future. What Inside Out has showed me is that Pixar are still the pioneers of creativity and imaginative storytelling that speaks to every age of every background in many forms, and Inside Out is possible their peak of that.

Before I say any more note that one viewing probably won’t be enough to grasp how cleverly the movie expresses itself and with each viewing one would find something new, even more so with a child seeing it now and later as they have grown.

The animation itself is vibrant and colorful and incredibly creative while still keeping the Pixar style of children’s animation, one scene in particular, had the animation style change entirely giving us a plethora of shapes and figures. The music is strongly composed and adds to the story and hits it’s cues when they want a certain emotion to be felt, the voice acting is sound and defined as each actor perfectly fits the literal emotions they are portraying. The humor is intelligent and simple at the same time. There are many instances in which a joke or gag is made that adults would likely grasp while keeping lots of easy physical humor and sight gags that all children above five can comprehend. Amy Poehler is an infectious Joy as she keeps a level head and determination set, we see her struggle but never do we see the struggle overcome her. Phyllis Smith’s Sadness is melancholy and always ousted from the group, but we see her purpose grow and show itself as she arches through the story, so seeing these two polar opposites working together brought out so much subtle dimension obvious namesake personas.

If I were to be nit-picky (and this is a real stretch for me) is that there is a character that’s introduced halfway that I found little more annoying than the others (my inner disgust talking) but as the movie progress and we saw the arch the character made that annoyance was replaced with admiration.

This movie will tug at your heart strings much like the last scene in “Toy Story 3” or the first scene in “Up”. We see the causes behind the actions Riley’s head in a very cartoonish and childish way, but we see the real world effects in a more tangible setting.

That in a nutshell, is it’s glorious achievement it’s ability to connect with each audience member whether they’re six or fifty-six. It doesn’t need poop or fart jokes to speak to the children nor does it need sex and pop-culture references to relate to the adults. As an adult we would identify the things Riley is going through because we have all had those emotions get the better of us and usually we wouldn’t have an explanation as to why and for a child the movie would shape their understanding of the world around them and give them clarity to the obstacles and changes they would eventually have to overcome.

I believe this movie would be used in children’s psychology class and film theory classes. There’s truly a life to it and it grows within someone if they reflect on it. It’s intelligent, humorous, creative new and challenging. It describes the why I named my blog what I named it. One would enjoy it for it’s merits, but there’s so much more than face value.

Verdict: A+

The Punisher gets casted for Daredevil season 2

Hell’s Kitchen is about to get a little more crowded with vigilantes.

In a press release on Marvel, one of their most popular and most deadliest characters Frank Castle aka The Punisher has been casted for the second season of the successful Netflix’s series Daredevil and it’s The Walking Dead, Fury, and The Wolf of Wallstreet star Jon Bernthal.

Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis (Jon Bernthal) in Columbia Pictures’ FURY.

In their announcement, Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television comments on Bernthal casting saying “Jon Bernthal brings an unmatched intensity to every role he takes on, with a potent blend of power, motivation and vulnerability that will connect with audiences,” “Castle’s appearance will bring dramatic changes to the world of Matt Murdock and nothing will be the same.”

Jon Bernthal will also be co-starring in the upcoming action thriller with former Daredevil Ben Affleck in “The Accountant”

Furious 7 and Saw director James Wan to helm Aquaman and Robotech

James Wan is going to be a very busy guy.

The director of the first and my personal favorite Saw and the enormously successful Furious 7 and the very underrated Death Sentence has penned a deal with Warner Brothers to direct Aquaman starring Jason Mamoa. The news broke out in The Hollywood Reporter also revealed that he has also made a deal with Sony to make a film based on the 80s anime classic Robotech. Not to mention he is still going to be working on his horror movie roots with The Conjuring 2.

This is news that I am personally excited for, Wan has an auteur style that lends itself well for action movies things are usually clear and defined and with his background in horror he knows how to properly use audio, visuals, and sound to make scenes tense and suspenseful.

Greg Silverman of Warner Brothers had this to say about Wan and Aquaman: “The Aquaman film will be a major tentpole picture for us and James’s span of work has proven him able to take on any manner of project, bringing his incredible creative talent and unique voice to the material.”

I really liked Furious 7 but it was definitely more of a studio product film than a James Wan production and I expect Aquaman to be more of the same to connect more with the other DC movie lineup, however I do think he is miles above Zack Synder in almost every aspect in filmmaking. So expect some really good decisions being made by WB in the upcoming years

Aquaman is slated to be released in 2018

Watch the teaser trailer to the maze runner sequel: The Scorch Trials

Today Fox dropped the brand new trailer to last year’s hit The Maze Runner. One year is very quick to put out a sequel which leads me to believe Fox has a lot invested into the series and hopes to grab its audience fast.

For me personally, the first Maze Runner movie was a surprise hit. I vaguely knew of the series and I took a chance seeing it in the theaters with at best mediocre expectations. To my surprise the movie was really well paced, consistently suspenseful, well-acted showing off the young talent coming from Hollywood, smartly shot and directed however in was the inevitable last 25 minutes in the story that became a let down and became very predictable.

Think of it like this, the first hour and fifteen minutes were like the first three seasons of Lost, very good and very suspenseful and just like Lost what followed up after that became very dull and very dumb.

So in a nutshell the payoff was nowhere as gratifying as the buildup. Despite that still really enjoyed it and even watched it a second time on home video, and judging by the trailer it looks aimed to surpass the first.

The Scorch Trials hits theaters September 18, 2015

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

The world’s mightiest heroes are teaming up again, but this time they aren’t so mighty as a Tony Stark (Iron Man) feels it’s within his duty to save the planet from everything by creating a self-thinking A.I. mind named Ultron but that backfires as it comes to the conclusion that the only way it can save humanity is by destroying it. So it’s up to Ironman, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and a few new super-powered beings to combat Ultron while at the same time combating themselves to try to save the world.

Much like Jaws and Jurassic Park the first Avengers movie became a colossal game-changer in the world of summer blockbusters, it was a multi-billion dollar formal and risk but that risked benefited ten fold and will probably shape the landscape of Hollywood product making for the next few generations at least. And rightfully so. The movie had everything a big budget popcorn entertainment flick needed and more. A simplistic story that doesn’t speak down to you, perfectly casted characters we like and became familiar with, very competent and effective filmmaking techniques. Some movies have taken 5 years in the making, but this is really the first I can say “This movie took 5 movies in the making.” Now will the highly anticipated sequel be much like “The Empire Strikes Back” or “The Godfather Part II” and surpass the billion first and set the stage for an all-new structure of Hollywood? The short answer; No, not at all.

The short answer; No, not at all.

Now don’t get me wrong the movie is still very solid and an enjoyable time and I will likely see it again sometime. However, it fails to capture the kind of entertainment value of the first. In fact, it tries to emulate the same sort of structure and beats with similar but weaker gags and because of that I had trouble letting the movie distance itself from the first by forcing me to compare it to the first and not allowing me to let it stand on its own merits.

But as I stated before there is a lot to take away. Like the first movie, it expects you to know the previous stand-alone movies and post-credit scenes and almost literally hits the ground running in the opening sequence with Joss Whedon’s familiar long take. The actors retain their strong chemistry with one another and highlights how perfectly casted they are. Even the new super beings that come to assist or disrupt The Avengers such as Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, The Vision all make a strong presence and don’t hinder one another in any way. Finally Ultron himself with the intelligent sounding voice of James Spader makes a very enjoyable villain to watch as he is really witty for a sarcastic evil robot A.I. that wants to destroy the entire human race, I felt as though I wanted to have a drink with him instead of seeing his demise. The action is well shot, everything in the frame is clear and the characters are identifiable in the fast action and all the players use their strength and are hindered by their weaknesses appropriately. The strongest action scene in my opinion came in the form of an out of control Hulk causing destruction on an African city and Iron Man is the only available member at the time is force to punch in his failsafe for the beast and forms this massive hulk buster armor and the two do battle in a fight scene that left me giddy with excitement, laughing with joy, and on the edge of my seat with anticipation. The entire scene is perfectly choreographed, using their size and physics to appear plausible and entertaining.

Hulkbuster Armor

Now we get into the negatives, what pains me to state some of the negatives is that these negatives are normally positives and that the problem is that there’s too much “character”. I’ve always said I prefer a good character than good story, but this is a special case. What the first movie did so well is that it had amazing character interaction here the interaction is sacrificed for character development and that got in the way of what made the first so great, that we knew who these characters were and that they conflicted with one another and learned to resolve their differences, here new conflicts within themselves are raised and they seemed more disconnected with themselves than they were with one another, and if they wanted to create those new conflicts they should have done that with the solo films they created. Because of that I became detached with these characters and my investment in their team shrunk toward the end and was less and less concerned by the minute. Not only is the overall conflict almost identical to the first (powerful being threatens earth’s destruction and creates an army), in the context of this story the stakes aren’t as high and I became less invested in their goals.

But the biggest disappointment was the villain the title is based on. Though he is well liked and well acted by James Spader, it’s just that his motives continue the very same motives of every single generic super computer A.I. robot story that has ever been told. “Human beings are a disease and we are the cure” “For the better of humanity we must end it” “God created man, man created machine, it’s our turn” blah blah blah. Every single speech about humanities self-destruction he made I wanted to roll my eyes in frustration. The problem I believe was that they wanted to make a very sympathetic and understandable antagonist much like the Loki in the first Thor movie but the reason why Loki worked so well in the first Avengers movie is that he had a serious lack of sympathy. In the first one, he became a villain who chose his path and was not at all conflicted with his decision and with the lack of sympathy we rallied with the Avengers in their pursuit to stop him. So by the end of the movie I didn’t become eager to see more Ultron in future installments (and we probably won’t).

Ultron

That being said, my gripes with the character of Ultron was somewhat made up for in the form of The Vision played by Paul Bettany. I really got a strong sense that he and Ultron were “two side of the same coin” type of brothership, that they were polar opposites but mirrored identical, down to fact Ultron is all CGI and The Vision was mostly practical with makeup, and watching The Vision’s arch from creation to establishment (especially how he proves himself with the team) was really exciting to watch. So when the two had their final confrontation with one another as they share their beliefs (though predictable) I got a really gratifying arch between the two.

The Vision

All in all I felt as though this movie was a “diet” version of the first, the memorable moments like The Hulk making a toy out of Loki, Thor getting punched or tossed out of frame, and the long take showing the Avengers working as a team were all done in this movie but it wasn’t earned and gratifying. People stated that Iron Man 2 suffered a lot of sequelitis, well Avengers: Age of Ultron even more so. I feel as though this is a mostly a setup movie to Civil War and the next phase of the marvel movies but if they need a whole movie to shape the next phase, you can be damn sure it’s going to be a big one.

Verdict: B-

A good look at Harley Quinn and Deadshot in “The Suicide Squad”

With the enormous amount of leaks on the set of The Suicide Squad, WB and David Ayer have forced to officially reveal the characters in full uniform. Below is a clear look of Will Smith’s Deadshot in full armor and though not an official photo a much clearer look at Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn

Deadshot #SuicideSquad pic.twitter.com/HEF0jFeMsO

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 4, 2015

As stated in my previous article with the full cast photo many hardcore Harley Quinn fans were strongly worried the type of Harley Quinn that will be depicted on screen. Especially the depiction of Quinn that is overly sexualized and very much part of the male gaze. However, it seems as though they choose to pool many of the newer interpretations of Quinn that retain her more iconic tropes such as her costume in The Arkham City games and even her western themed from Injustice: Gods Among Us video game with her revolver hanging under her shoulder while simultaneously making her very attractive and sexy (with Margot Robbie it’s not a hard thing to do).

As for Deadshot it’s clear they put this one out fast for the widely negative response to the leaked set photos of Will Smith in what seemingly looks to be a Hell’s Kitchen pimp from the 70s. And that this Deadshot shall be a more realistic portrayal with military style armor along with his identifiable red suit and white hood which looks functional as it looks menacing.

First Official Cast Photo of “The Suicide Squad” in Costume

The Suicide Squad director David Ayer Tweeted today the first photo of the cast of The Suicide Squad in costume

Task Force X assembled and ready. #SuicideSquad http://t.co/fEV7E1aPsm—
David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) May 03, 2015

In it we can see the characters from left to right Slipknot, Captain Boomerang, Enchantress, Katana, Rick Flag, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark and El Diablo. Missing from the picture are Amanda Waller and The Joker

The photo reveals a lot for before I saw it I had no idea Slipknot, Katana, King Shark and El Diablo were going to be apart of the team.

Based on visuals alone they seem to be representing their comic book characters with respect. Noticeable changes to me seem like Deadshot will be portrayed as a serious veteran soldier rather than a suave billionaire ladies man archetype.

Finally what I am happy to see the portrayal of Harley Quinn. This is a character fan will have strong opinions both good and bad regardless of she will be depicted for she is the most popular among the fans both hardcore and casual. So far, I’m happy with what I see. I was really worried they would far too over sexualize the character much like how the comics have do and with Margot Robbie in the role, it’s hard not to write in some eye candy characteristics. However, they seem to have found the right middle ground between the over-sexualized Quinn and the Quinn that made her so popular in the mainstream.

Things seem to be shaping up well in this production. Let’s see what the future will hold.

First image of “Nightcrawler” in “X-men: Apocalypse”

Early this morning Director Bryan Singer posted on his Twitter the first photo of Kodi Smith-McPhee as the blue skinned mutant Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler was previously played Alan Cumming in X2: X-Men United and has not appear in an X-Men movies since then.  X-Men: Apocalypse marks his first big screen in appearance 15 years. In comparison to The Joker photo that hit a few days ago this Nightcrawler in terms of looks doesn’t differ too drastically from it’s previous incarnations. He retains nearly all the characteristics of the Alan Cumming’s version and I cannot help but think the hints of red on his suit is a node to the comic’s adaptation of Nightcrawler and his red and black and very triangular uniform. Nightcrawler is possible my favorite X-Men in both the comics and the movies so on a personal level I am excited to see how this turns out.

X-Men: Apocalypse will be set in the 1980s and we will see younger versions of the X-Men with Tye Sheridan as Cyclopes, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, and Alexandra Shipp as Storm (expect to see photos of them to be released soon) as well as “Days of Future Past’ characters Magnito played by Micheal Fassbender, Professor X played by James McAvoy, and in their last time as the characters Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique

X-Men: Apocalypse is set to release May 27, 2016

First official photo of Jared Leto as The Joker in The Suicide Squad

Late today David Ayer director of the highly anticipated DC anti hero team up movie released the first official and clear photo of Jared Leto as The Joker on his Twitter.

This is the first clearly defined photo we have seen of him yet, miles times better than Leto holding of his iphone to a friend with a picture of him in makeup and a TMZ picture just happen to be there.

The Joker’s trademark green hair, pale skin, and red lips are there but the greatest difference added to the joke depicted in other mediums is an assortment of tattoos riddled all through out his body. Each tattoo adding a visual icon to his psychotic clown personality such as a skull with a court jester’s hat on his right chest, a large mouth with a smile on his right arm, laughter written in as “HAHA” in a very Gothic font, and the word “Damaged” on his forehead.

The first thought I had when I saw the image was that they are depicting a very different joker than the ones we have seen before, Warner Bros knew they would get many comparisons to Heath Ledger’s Jokers so Leto and the others on the creative team had to go a very different route.

To me it feels as though they are going to go with a punk rock bad boy type a guy that is both evil and curiously attractive, possible attractive for a naive Harley Quinn. Time will tell how this shapes up, but with Leto behind the wheel I think this is going to be an enjoyable ride.

What “Man of Steel” would have looked like with a richer color pallet

In this video created by the YouTube Channel VideoLab we are given a perspective of a Man of Steel with a much more vibrant and colorful color pallet.

Audiences are divided of their opinions of the film. Some love it and think it is the perfect catalyst to upcoming DC cinematic universe while others believe it’s a contrary and disrespectful interpretation to the Superman they know and love. In my opinion as a “movie” it is a decent to mediocre action movie with a very good musical score but riddled with unwelcoming Hollywood movie trends such as shaky cam and symbolic undertones that beat you over the head and really just goes no where when the credits roll.

One aspect that many hardcore Superman fan took with distaste was the grim and dark color scheme. Clearly they were riding the coattails of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies and tried to emulate the same feel. Such a quality would have been appropriate for the Batman films because the world to which Batman see a reflection of himself in, is the kind of earthly toned world they needed to convey, making him just as darkly toned in character.

However Superman was hardly like that, he was not as cynical as Bruce. So seeing the bright red and blue become crimson and navy showed a Superman that did reflect the world he was raised in. It’s a major treat to see the bright green fields of Kansas and the clear blue sky over Metropolis and to see the reflection of that in Superman as he proudly wear his colors.