REVIEW: Big Hero 6

MOVIE
Big Hero 6

CAST
Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit

RATING
PG

RELEASE
November 7, 2014

DIRECTOR(S)
Don Hill, Chris Williams

STUDIO
Disney

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 42 minutes






STARS
****








REVIEW:

You know how one movie might be considered a "kids" movie and another might be considered a "family" movie?  Well, "Big Hero 6" is a full-fledged family film, and in the best ways imaginable.  With the parade of PG-13 superhero films coming out every year, it's nice to see Marvel let the heads of Disney tinker around with one of their properties while not going in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  On the surface, this looks like any other superhero film, only it's animated and has a plush robot as one of its main characters.  However, looks can be deceiving, as many have already figured out first hand.  While this is a superhero film, "Big Hero 6" is a story about the bond between friends and the love a family has for one another.  It was these elements that made me fall head over heels for this latest Disney masterpiece.

The lead character, Hiro, is a someone we can all see ourselves in.  We all grow up being told that we can do anything we want to if we set our mind to it, but most of the time we manage to slack off and take the easier and sometimes more dangerous roads.  Hiro happens to be in the stage of his life where, despite having graduated high school at 13, doesn't want to put his gifted mind to the best of use.  I can admit that I am still in this type of phase in my life, though I'm trying to establish a better way to have the best of all worlds I happen to reside in at the moment.  Hiro is the type of character that people, especially teenagers, will look at and be like "I've been there."  Not only that, but the bond he has with his brother Tadashi is something that many will strike a chord with.

It's no surprise that Tadashi dies in the film, as this has been widely implied and advertised for a while now.  However, what makes this different than the many other Disney films where family members die is that we actually get to know and connect with the bond between Hiro and Tadashi.  We see how these two mesh with one another and how they influence each other in their motivations and their work.  With the film having a good 20-25 minutes worth of chemistry between the brothers, it made Tadashi's death all the more impactful not just for that moment, but also when it's brought back throughout as Hiro's motivation to form the superhero team.  It's the things like this that make me maintain faith in the power of movies these days.

Last year, Disney released another film about the love between siblings last year, the worldwide hit "Frozen."  I have since re-watched "Frozen" and, to be perfectly honest, I don't find it as great as many others have.  Sure it's a well made movie, and it's entertaining overall, but I just don't think it deserves to have been as much of a "cultural movement" as many have made it out to be.  But to each his own, the film pleased a lot of people out there, and there's nothing I could do to convince people that it's not as great as they're making it out to be; rather I'm only in charge of recommending what's good, or maybe even great, out now.  This film, to me, had the impact on me that "Frozen" unfortunately didn't.

"Big Hero 6" isn't just a great movie in terms of its comedy, storytelling, and empathetic characters, but I personally believe it's the most important movie to see this holiday season.  This is the type of film that has something for every family member going to see it, from children to teenagers to parents to even grandparents.  It's rare when a movie can be so entertaining and still convey an important message about family and the bond between siblings.  This is a sleek, funny, emotionally engaging, and overall wonderful animated flick that made me truly feel Disney's magic for the first time in a while.  And if Disney goes through with making a sequel to this film, as their end credits scene teased, then you can count on me being first in line to see it.  Even if the film doesn't impress you as much as it did for me, then I guarantee that the short preceding the film, "Feast," will at least put a smile on your face.  To be honest, though, I have a feeling it's going to be hard for people to resist the adorable nature of Baymax the robot in this film.  That character alone will keep people invested for the 102 minutes that "Big Hero 6" lasts.





PREVIEWS YOU MAY SEE:

Annie

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Hilsong: Let Hope Rise

Minions

Tomorrowland

Inside Out

REVIEW: Before I Disappear

MOVIE
Before I Disappear

CAST
Shawn Christensen,
Fatima Ptacek

RATING
NR

RELEASE
November 28, 2014

DIRECTOR
Shawn Christensen

STUDIO
IFC Films

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 38 minutes







STARS
***3/4








REVIEW:

In 2012, writer/director Shawn Christensen made a 20 minute short film entitled "Curfew," telling the story of Richie, a suicidal man given the opportunity by his desperate/estranged sister to take care of his niece Sophia for a few hours.  The short has been widely lauded by everyone who's seen it, myself included, and even went so far as to win the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.  Christensen then took the short, along with its music and his young co-star Fatima Ptacek, and expanded it to a 98 minute feature film entitled "Before I Disappear," which actually won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year.  Some notable differences present include an expanded storyline that includes the main character Richie's personal life, as well as the casting additions of "Shameless's" Emmy Rossum and "Sons of Anarchy's" Ron Perlman.  To me, these additions actually enhanced the film as a whole into something deeper, more symbolic, and a lot more personal than the short it was based off of.

I give props to Christensen for being able to take this story and give it a dark and realistic edge to it, while at the same time going out for the strange and surreal quirks that the film has.  This felt like Christensen's version of "Garden State" in the sense that both films deal with things that feel very personal on screen as well as the surreal minds that the main characters of both films see the world with.  Christensen himself not only wrote and directed a well-made movie, but his performance as Richie was very impressive and pretty damn great.  While the last film he wrote, 2011's "Abduction," wasn't anything particularly great, I still found something rather personal in it, plus the concept of it all was original and clever.  It is clearly shown here that Christensen learned from his mistakes in "Abduction" and has made a movie that is sharper, more engaging, and overall a very good movie.

As great as Christensen's work on the film was, I still felt that his 11 year old co-star Fatima Ptacek stole the show.  She reminded me a lot of Ciara Bravo from the TV shows "Red Band Society" and "Big Time Rush" in a good way.  Both actresses have this quirky spunk to them that makes them not only adorable, but incredibly likable at the same time.  Ptacek's character in this movie, Sophia, compliments Christensen's Richie very well.  Both characters need each other, whether they realize it or not, and that makes their journey together all the more relatable.  The rest of the supporting cast, including Emmy Rossum, are all really good and serve their purpose to the story very well.  Having said that, though, it's the bond and chemistry between Christensen and Ptacek that drives the film home and makes it more than just a good film.

"Before I Disappear" is quite a remarkable directorial debut from Mr. Christensen.  Over the course of an hour and a half, we get a simplistic yet layered story, characters that all serve a purpose, and an overall message of living life despite the world around not always being so grand.  It's kind of funny to have this film come out the same year as Zach Braff's follow up to "Garden State," "Wish I Was Here."  Considering that "Wish I Was Here" wasn't as great as it could have been considering how incredible "Garden State" is, I guess you could consider this film to be that follow-up people had been looking for.  Is this a perfect film on all accounts?  I would say no to that.  However, the flaws I had with this film are minimal, and at the end of the day, "Before I Disappear" is emotional, touching, and overall a really great indie gem to come out in this insanely crowded year for movies.

MINI-REVIEW: Horns

MOVIE
Horns

CAST
Daniel Radcliffe, Juno Temple

RATING
R

RELEASE
October 31, 2014

DIRECTOR
Alexandre Aja

STUDIO(S)
Radius-TWC,
Dimension Films

RUNNING TIME
2 hours







STARS
***1/4








REVIEW:

Daniel Radcliffe is doing a bang-up job getting away from his "Harry Potter" image.  From historical dramas like "Kill Your Darlings" to delightful rom-coms like "What If," he's definitely succeeding at showing people how capable of an actor he really is.  With the new film "Horns," Radcliffe delves back into the realms of fantasy and horror as he plays Ig Parrish, a man whose longtime girlfriend was murdered and is accused by the town he lives in that he's responsible for it.  After a drunken night of playing with god, Ig wakes up to the startling discovery of horns growing from his forehead.  And yet, that isn't even the craziest thing in his life.  Things are even stranger when people, when they see the horns, begin to tell the truth, and doing so revealing their darkest and most cynical thoughts out loud.

The story itself becomes pretty predictable and the villain, without spoiling who he or she is, is pretty obvious and cliched, but I had fun with "Horns" overall.  Daniel Radcliffe looks like he's having a fun time in the role of Ig, and there are scenes with his character that are both hilarious and awesome.  The visual effects and makeup designs are also very impressive, looking realistic and just plain cool in general.  The script by first time screenwriter Keith Bunin, based on Joe Hill's novel of the same name, suffers from not knowing exactly what genre it wants to be.  There are moments that are played purely for laughs and others that are played for scares.  Unlike other recent horror films like "You're Next" and "The Cabin in the Woods," this film didn't have the right tools to properly mesh the two genres well enough so the film has an equal balance of both horror and comedy.  Having said that, I still found enjoyment in Radcliffe's performance and several key moments that had me say "F** yeah" out loud.  If you're looking for a fun, but flawed, horror flick, "Horns" is a solid film to choose.

MINI-REVIEW: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

MOVIE
Birdman

CAST
Michael Keaton,
Zach Galifanakis

RATING
R

RELEASE
October 17, 2014

DIRECTOR
Alejandro González Iñárritu

STUDIO
Fox Searchlight Pictures

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 59 minutes








STARS
***3/4









REVIEW:

"Birdman," or "The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance," can be summed up best in a single word: surreal.  If you look up "surreal" in a dictionary or on the internet, the synonyms that you will find to be associated with the word would include "weird," "strange," "dreamlike," and, most commonly, "bizarre."  This film comes to us from writer/director Alejandro González Iñárritu, and it has Michael Keaton playing the titular character.  Well, the titular character of a famous movie series Keaton's character Riggan was the star of to be exact.  It's pretty obvious here to see a strong comparison between the character of Riggan and Keaton's own life in regards to him playing "Batman" in the late 80s/early 90s.  It's also pretty easy to see a strong resemblance to another film that Fox Searchlight released and helped to win many accolades, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan."

You might be thinking to yourself "Wait, how the hell does a Michael Keaton movie relate to that movie where Natalie Portman is losing her mind and manages to make out with Mila Kunis?"  Well, as hard as it may be to believe, the films are a lot similar to each other in more ways than one.  For starters, both delve in to the psychological aspect of their main character, making the audience question what is real or what is a fragment of the characters' imaginations.  Second off, they both have the central character in a type of rivalry with someone who potentially are more gifted and more pleasing than they are.  Third off, both movies strangely enough feature a scene featuring some lesbian loving.  Not gonna lie, that last one doesn't seem too much of a coincidence on my end of the spectrum, and it unfortunately doesn't further the plot or receive any explanation or recognition after it happens.  Don't worry guys, that's the worst I can say about this movie, as the hype surrounding this flick is real and something to believe.

Aside from a couple of subplots that go absolutely nowhere, a score that sounded a little too repetitious at times, and an ending that felt like it was trying to be ambiguous just for the sake of doing it, it's hard to deny how great "Birdman" is as a performance showcase, an experiment in filmmaking, and an all-around movie in general.  Michael Keaton is fantastic here and deserves all of the praise he's gotten thus far, although I personally believe the two standouts of the film were Edward Norton and Emma Stone.  The cinematography was gorgeous and precise, and the whole concept of this film having the illusion of being one continuous shot is nothing short of groundbreaking.  Iñárritu's direction and script, which he co-wrote with three other individuals, are concise and very sharp in their methods of storytelling.  Aside from the little problems I had with the film, I can't deny that "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" is a masterful film and one that will be remembered long after 2014 concludes.







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Blackhat

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MINI-REVIEW: Whiplash

MOVIE
Whiplash

CAST
Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons

RATING
R

RELEASE
October 10, 2014

DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle

STUDIO
Sony Pictures Classics

RUNNING TIME
1 hour 46 minutes







STARS
****







REVIEW:

I personally believe that Jazz is the best form of music out there, hands down.  From the rhythm to the swinging tone to the combination of instruments, I just love everything about it.  That might be part of the reason why I was really looking forward to Damien Chazelle's "Whiplash."  Poised to be a big player in the awards circuit this year, "Whiplash" won the top prizes given out at this year's Sundance Film Festival and even went on to play at the prestigious Cannes, Toronto, and New York film festivals before finally rolling out to theaters.  The film tells the story of a drummer played by Miles Teller from "The Spectacular Now" who gets into a top jazz orchestra band that has given way to the careers of many great musicians in the past.  He quickly finds out upon entering the program that his instructor, played fiercely by J.K. Simmons, is a man willing to do anything to have his disciples see the true talent within themselves.  When I say anything, I mean anything, as he does some of the most despicable and shocking thinks out there to his students.

Chazelle, an up-and-coming screenwriter and director, doesn't hold anything back in regards to the content shown here.  It's pretty easy to tell that this came from personal experiences of his, as the intensity of each scene is heightened and gripping at the same time.  It's possible that the way Simmons' character in the movie is portrayed in a bit of an over-the-top manner, but to me this actually sort of added to the character a lot.  When people remember their teachers or old acquaintances, the recollection is more exaggerated than it actually was, but they sometimes forget that the teacher's job is to help their students succeed.   And just like Simmons' mission in the film to help get the best out of Miles Teller, Chazelle's past helped push him to make this amazing powerhouse of a movie.

"Whiplash" is not a movie for the faint of heart.  It is an intense, shocking, and yet mesmerizing film that people I know have called "the most anxiety-driven 2 hours of 2014."  Frankly, I can see why many people would think this, as it really is a film that has anxiety as one of the central emotions for both the characters in the movie and the audience members watching it.  Miles Teller continues to prove that he is one hell of a talented actor, and at 28 shows that he's not slowing down anytime soon in terms of winning some awards.  J.K. Simmons really IS as terrifying and brilliant as people have been making him out to be, and definitely deserves all of the attention he's gotten for his performance.  These two actors, along with Damien Chazelle's crisp direction and sharp script helped to make "Whiplash" exactly what Teller's character sets out to be at the beginning of the film: one of the greats.








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Rosewater

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Foxcatcher

Mr. Turner