Details: Released in 2017. A little under two hours and twenty minutes long. Stars Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson.
I don’t know what it is about this movie, but I didn’t enjoy it. It’s surprising because I enjoy over the top action. I loved John Wick, and while this is about cars, not gun play, I found this movie really dull. I found myself wanting to just speed over the story parts and going straight to the action scenes. This movie did not need to be over two hours long.
Details: About an hour and a half long. Stars Art Parkinson, Charlize Theron, and Matthew McConaughey.
Obviously, Kubo and the Two Strings is a stop motion animation movie. That means that in order to make the movie, they take miniatures and dolls and other small replicas and take a lot of pictures of the things in different positions, then they play those images in however many frames per second it takes to make it look like they are moving. It’s a time consuming yet visually beautiful method of making movies that you don’t see all that happen.
Kubo and the Two Strings has some of the best stop motion I’ve ever seen. I compare it to films like The Nightmare Before Christmas and greatly appreciate that, at least technically, the film is far smoother and visually pleasing than prior stop motion films that I’ve seen. While part of that is likely improvements in setting up and taking pictures of the miniatures, the other is probably the use of computer generated images sprinkled throughout the film. Appreciably, computer generated images are used in such a way that it meshes well with the stop motion animation.
In regards to the plot, the premise of the film is this: Kubo is the song of a celestial being and a great samurai. After being found by his evil, god like grandfather, Kubo must journey with some companions he meets along the way to find powerful weapons and armor that can defeat his grandfather.
It’s a very standard quest story that was clearly written to imitate or take inspiration from other classic fairy tales. This story is not based on any specific fairy tale. Based upon their names, this was written by two very not Japanese guys, despite the use of samurais and moon deities. Accordingly, you get the mismatch of various themes and characters reminiscent of other Asian stories you might have heard, but not entirely from any one story. Regardless, it’s a satisfactory story that had me choking up at certain parts. however, overall, it was just an okay story for me and plainly a vehicle for the gorgeous visuals achieved by the stop motion animation.
The voice actors were good. Charlize Theron has been fairly active the last few years and I have yet to see a performances from her I did not like. Parkinson is also great and McConaughey… is Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey is basically only able to play a guy from south Texas so it was weird hearing him voice a samurai beetle. I didn’t know he was in the film, but when you hear that south Texas timbre he has, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that is Matthew McConaughey.
Score: 6/10 A good children’s film with some aspects that border on adult, as many fairy tales do. Worth a watch for the visuals alone. I’d recommend it.
Details: Two hours long. Stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, and Nicholaus Hoult.
I walked into this movie with maximum hype. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a 99% and there are ample reviews loving the movie. So, was the movie worth all the hype? Is it a near perfect film?
No. No it wasn’t. But it was still a great movie.
Often times, what I look for in a movie, a restaurant, and any new experience really is for something new. Something different from the same old crap that you see all over the place. Mad Max is very, very different. It’s ironic considering it’s the latest in a long line of Mad Max movies. However, given the current era of super hero films and all the other teen angst crap Hollywood is putting out, this film is undeniably unique.
Mad Max is a high octane thrill ride which grips you from the very first seconds of the film and does not let you go. My blood was pumping with adrenaline and my ears ringing from the sound of engines, yelling, and explosions from beginning to end. By the end of the film I was physically exhausted.
The imagery and art direction used are also fantastic and unique. This is a frenetic, insane world that is somewhat reminiscent of the 1980’s movies. Often times I could not believe or even comprehend what I was seeing or hearing, but I couldn’t turn away. It was just crazy.
Score: 7.6/10 There is nothing out in recent memory quite like this. Action and insanity from start to finish. It won’t change your life, but you are unlikely to have seen anything like this in the last couple of years. This is a post apocalyptic wasteland worth visiting.
Muse Bank 