Roma

Posted on December 25, 2018 by Doc

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Finally had a chance to watch Roma on Netflix today and I have to say that it was extremely powerful and emotionally affecting.

I have never been a big fan of reading my movies, so I have avoided other foreign language films, but if they are all the quality of this movie, maybe I need to rethink that.

I will admit that I had some difficulty following the story early, partially with the language barrier and partially with the fact that I was streaming the film at home and there were plenty of distractions around me.

However, once the story was well involved, I was fully engaged.

The performance of Yalitza Aparicio as Cleo was heart-wrenching and powerful. She certainly will deserve the Oscar attention that she is going to receive. There were two or three moments in the movie that felt like I had been punched in the gut and that I had to hold my breath to make it through.

This is probably the biggest criticism I have of Roma is that there are some moments that are just tremendously emotional, but these moments are connected together with too many unremarkable scenes. I believe the idea was to show the family life of a typical family but there are too many moments that do not catch my attention. So it is like both ends of the spectrum.

The film itself is a beautifully designed and shot masterpiece. The black and white it stunning and the cinematography is masterful. Director Alfonso Cuarón shows his remarkable skills in putting together the technical aspects of the movie. It is a piece of art. Word indicates that this is a personal story for Cuarón who created a film that details much of his own story as a youth in Mexico and the life of his mother.

Roma is a wonderful movie that may have a difficult time with audiences that do not want to take that leap of a foreign language film. The scenes that really hit, hit amazingly hard, but there are others that seem mundane. That actually may be the idea behind it, but I think it may end up being a drawback.

4 stars

2018 Best/Worst Horror

Posted on December 25, 2018 by Doc

Horror

Whereas sci-fi was down, horror seemed to have a strong year. Though there were plenty of clunkers, the great horror movies were films that expanded the genre and pushed the envelope.

Best Horror Movie

A Quiet Place

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This was one of the most tense and anxiety-ridden films of the year and the theater experience was unlike any I had. I never saw a theater so desperate to stay quiet.

Others: The year started off with a surprisingly good Insidious: The Last Key. Didn’t expect that out of a January horror movie. Unsane was a great film this year, filmed exclusively on an iPhone. Hereditary was frightening, but the ending knocked the film down for me. The Endless was a film that few knew about but it was good. Overlord is a fantastic horror/war mash-up. Zombies and Nazis together! Mandy was campy and wild with Nic Cage in a serious bloodbath. The First Purge was okay.

Worst Horror Movie

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The Nun was a spin off of the Conjuring series and it made a lot of money, but it was just horrid. And the Nun really did not show up in this movie very much either.

Others: Slenderman was nowhere near as good as the documentary. Making a horror movie out of a real life tragedy was a bit of a questionable choice. The sequel Unfriended: Dark Web was not good either, though maybe better than the original. Winchester should have been so much better than it was. The Possession of Hannah Grace was not even that scary. Truth or Dare was one of the few misfires from Blumhouse.

Horror

2018 Best/Worst Sci-Fi

Posted on December 25, 2018 by Doc

Best Sci Fi

2018 was not a great year for science fiction. There were way more bad films than good ones. In fact, I struggled to find much in the positive category. Of course, I did not count super hero movies, which technically could be in this category.

Best Sci-Fi

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Upgrade.

This is really the only positive sci-fi movie of 2018. Creative and original, Upgrade even had a shocking finale.

Now some people loved Annihilation this year, but I found it a bit muddled and confusing. It leans towards positive though. I even included Solo:A Star Wars Story, which is not even considered sci-fi and it is, at best, average. Solo was not as bad as many people stated.

Worst Sci-Fi

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Mortal Engines

Boring. A poor film without much characterization that was just too long and boring.

Unfortunately, there were many more choices in this half than the positive one. A Wrinkle in Time was quite a failure. The Cloverfield Paradox had a huge start with a Super Bowl commercial, but the Netflix film fell flat. Pacific Rim: Uprising was a sequel that I did not want, but it was way worse than the first one (which I did not love anyway). The Darkest Minds is a YA adaptation that was basically an X-Men ripoff. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom turned into an insane film with the worst third act possible. Ready Player One was another failure and was no where near as good as it could have been.

Best Sci Fi

EYG Top 10 Christmas Villains in Movies

Posted on December 25, 2018 by Doc

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Merry Christmas.

On the Top 10 Show today, they do a Christmas theme, which I figured they would, but I was not sure what the topic would be. I was hoping it would not be just Best Christmas movies. However, the pair came up with a clever idea (thanks to a patreon) in Top 10 Christmas Movie Villains.

Of course, as soon as I heard this idea, I thought, “How many villains could there possibly be?” One popped in my head immediately, but I wondered who else could there be. Then I did some research and I found 13 that worked for me. I was shocked and so it was considerably easier than I thought it would be.

Mr. Potter does not make my list because I have never actually seen It’s A Wonderful Life all the way through. I have seen parts of it, but I have never sat down and watched the whole thing. I thought about throwing him on the list at #10, but I decided against that.

Top 10 Christmas Movie Villains

Related image #10. Stripe (Gremlins). It has been a long time since I have seen the Gremlins, but the Top 10 brought this up on their show and I agree. Gremlins was a film that was ahead of its time and Stripe was scary.

Related image #9. Krampus (Krampus) The myth of Krampus was from Alpine folklore providing a creature that was basically an anti-Santa. Krampus was a horned beast who punished naughty children at Christmastime. No word if he checked his list twice. Krampus has been picking up steam over the last several years and the character could become even greater down the road.

#8. Willie (Bad Santa). Billy Bob Thornton was such a jerk as the titular role in this movie. Bad Santa smoked, drank, screwed around, and showed off his poor attitude throughout the movie. And, he really did not change his ways…at least not too much. The second movie was not as great, but there is no doubt that Billy Bob knows how to play an a-hole.

Image result for harry and marv #7. Harry & Marv, the Wet Bandits (Home Alone). It is amazing that Harry and Marv, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, were able to survive the Home Alone movies because that kid did things to these villains that should have killed them multiple times. The cartoon aspect of these two (aka Wile E Coyote) dropped them down the list a little but they are iconic.

#6. The Duke Brothers (Trading Places). How can you ruin the life of a man over a bet for $1? Mortimer and Randolph Duke can do it. Played by Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy, the Dukes are the epitome of rich, pretentious jerks. They went out of their way to ruin Louis Winthorpe’s life by framing him as a drug dealer and replacing him with Billy Ray Valentine for no other reason than a social experiment. The fact that they get their comeuppance at the end is great, and we get them in cameo appearances in several other movies such as Coming to America.

#5. Frank Cross (Scrooged). I thought about not including him because he was basically Scrooge, but he has a different name, and so is a different character. Bill Murray is absolutely epic as Frank in Scrooged. I hadn’t seen this film for years and when I finally sat down to watch it, I loved every second of it. Frank is really a bad dude as this film starts and his redemption is the thing of many Christmas villains.

Image result for oogie boogie nightmare before christmas #4. Oogie Boogie (The Nightmare Before Christmas). I just recently watched this movie and this character was one of my favorites. Oogie Boogie tried to eat Santa Claus! A cool character design, Oogie Boogie gave plenty of children nightmares, I am sure. A representation of the classic Boogeyman, Oogie Boogie is a burlap sack filled with insects and a snake for a tongue. I saw him and I thought about Thrakkazog from the animated The Tick TV show.

#3. The Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas). This is the animated TV version, though I did consider the Benedict Cumberbatch version (not Jim Carrey!). The classic Boris Karloff was the narrator/the Grinch in this cartoon that has never been surpassed in all the efforts to try to create a film from the Dr. Seuss character. You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.

#2. Hans Gruber (Die Hard). I considered putting Hans at number one because I think he is one of the greatest movie villains of all-time, but I placed him at number two because I think there is a more iconic Christmas movie villain than Hans. Alan Rickman’s first movie role solidified him as an amazing actor and helped make Die Hard such a perfect action film. Had there been another actor cast as Hans Gruber, there just would not be the same feel or the same love of this movie. Smart, classy, and brutal, Hans was willing to do whatever he had to for what he wanted, and despite his gentleman-like ways, Hans was a monster in his own right.

#1. Ebenezer Scrooge (Muppet Christmas Carol). Scrooge was the first name that popped in my head and Micheal Caine’s version in the Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite version of the movie. I mean, sure there are more serious version with actors such as George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, Alastair Sim, Jim Carrey, Christopher Plummer etc. but I think Caine captures the intricacies of the old miser in a way that none of the others accomplished. And he sang songs with mice. I watch this movie every Christmas and it never fails to bring a tear to my eye. When Caine delivers the line, “Not Tiny Tim” you can feel his own heartbreak at the situation. He does the best job of showing Scrooge’s transformation across the entire film. One of my criticisms of some of the versions is that Scrooge does not show his change until the graveyard scene at the end, but Michael Caine starts showing his changing philosophy immediately. Love this version.

Honorable mentions: Arthur Shaw (Tower Heist), Jack Frost, The Martians

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Mary Poppins Returns

Posted on December 25, 2018 by Doc

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I have heard decidedly mixed reviews about the sequel and return of Mary Poppins in the new Disney film. It had sounded as if many people liked the film, but did not love it. To me, the film is magic.

Just magic.

This was way better than I anticipated. I loved this film. I loved the portrayal of Mary Poppins by Emily Blunt, stepping into the shoes of Julie Andrews. I thought Lin-Manuel Miranda was wonderful. I loved most of the music. There was just so much to love.

Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) has had some troubles. Since his wife passed away, Michael has been struggling. He is about to lose his house and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) wants to help him. Because of this, Michael’s children have had to grow up quicker than they should.

Enter… Mary Poppins, who returned as if she hadn’t aged a day, and takes up her mantel as the nanny for the Banks children, helping teach lessons to everybody, especially the adults.

Now, the film itself really hits the same beats as the original Mary Poppins. There is the animation section. The big dance number from the lamplighters instead of chimney sweeps. The bank drama was here as well.

However, that did not matter. There were so many wonderful scenes here. I found myself completely engulfed by the story and the songs. I had tears in my eyes and a huge smile on my face from the joyous nature that I was feeling.

Emily Blunt was perfectly cast. I can’t imagine the idea of having someone try to take the role of the iconic nanny over but Blunt does it unbelievably well.

The new Banks children are played by Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson and they do some great work here. The children in this movie had to be charming and solid because they carry a lot of the narrative and if they are average, this movie does not work at all. Thankfully, these kids are great.

There were also several fun cameos, including Dick Van Dyke (who can still break a move), Meryl Streep and Angela Lansbury.

I am so happy that I finally saw this tonight. I took my mother to this on Christmas Eve and I was very happy to share this experience with her.

4.75 stars

“I Am Groot” Award and Best/Worst Animated- 2018

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Doc

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2018 saw many great voice acting performances and the “I Am Groot” Award recognizes not only the great voice-over acting, but also the best of the motion capture world, which has become an even more prevalent storytelling technique.

This is the third year for this award, and we threw in an honorary winner in year one (Robin Williams as the Genie).

Previous Winners: Auli’i Cravalho, Andy Serkis, Robin Williams (honorary)

#4. Holly Hunter (The Incredibles 2). Holly Hunter is the hero in the Incredibles 2 that takes that step to the front and she knocks it out of the park.

#3. Sarah Silverman (Ralph Breaks the Internet). As Vanellope von Schweetz, Sarah Silverman dominated that movie. She is the heart of the Ralph movies and brings the emotion to the animated movie.

#2. The cast of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse. Could not choose one from this group. Shamiek Moore, Nicolas Cage, Jake Johnson, Lily Tomlin, Hailee Steinfeld, Liev Schreiber, John Mulaney, Mahershala Ali, Chris Pine, Kathryn Hahn. So many great performances that I just felt like it was a disservice to narrow it down to one or two.

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And the “I Am Groot” Voice Acting Award goes to….

#1. Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War)

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About half way through Avengers: Infinity War I stopped and thought to myself that Thanos was CGI. I couldn’t believe that I never even thought it once until that point. It is such an amazing mo-cap performance from Josh Brolin, and he adds a perfect voice to display the emotion and the pain shown by the Mad Titan. The Villain of the Year gains his second year end honor.

Best Animated Movies

#5. Smallfoot. A surprise film this year. I liked this more than I eve thought I would. The story of a Yeti and his discovery of the mythological “small foot”/human.

#4. Ralph Breaks the Internet. A fun sequel to a surprise hit, this time Ralph takes his act into the Internet and shows how funny the place can be.

#3. Incredibles 2. Another great sequel that follows right up from the original from 14 years ago. Jack-Jack vs. the Raccoon is one of the best scenes of the year.

#2. Teen Titans Go to the Movies. No way this is number two! But here it is. So much fun, really full of great humor, and cameos everywhere! Teen Titans GO!

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#1. Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse. One of the best movies of the year, not just animated movies. Many people are calling this the best Spider-man movie ever and that is possibly true. An amazing story, full of heart and laughs, and the most risk-taking animation I have seen in years.

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Worst Animated Movies

I skipped Sherlock Gnomes, and a few others…

#2. Hotel Transylvania 3. I have never enjoyed this series of films and this was every bit as bad as the others.

#1. Early Man. I so hated this. I hated it within the first five minutes and I regretted coming to it. It is most likely in my top 5 (for sure in top 10) worst films of the year, not just animated. It was so stupid that I felt stupider after watching it.

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Best and Worst Villains of 2018

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Doc

Villainy found its way into 2018. After eliminating Donald Trump from contention (heh heh), I was still able to come up with a group of villains worth facing off against for our heroes. We know that a good hero needs a good villain. Here are the best and worst of 2018.

Best Villain

#9. Graviton (Agents of SHIELD)– Graviton was a great villain for season 5 of AoS and fit perfectly with their storyline.

#8. Black Manta (Aquaman). One of my favorite parts of the latest DC Movie, Black Manta may have been better off being saved for the sequel.

#7. Michael Myers (Halloween). Michael returned from prison a new man and picked up right where he left off…an obsession with Lori.

#6. Bullseye (Daredevil). The season three was as much of an origin story for Bullseye as it was anything else and he was remarkably compelling.

#5. Billy Lee (Bad Times at the El Royale). A great movie that not enough people saw, Chris Hemsworth continues to show his amazing versatility by playing the creepy cult leader.

#4, Andrew Ghai (Movie Trivia Schmoedown). The best heel of the year. The man speared his former teammate. Obnoxious and crude. Awesome.

#3. Killmonger (Black Panther). Michael B. Jordan was brilliant as Killmonger, a character who was clearly a villain, but one that you kind of understood why he was doing what he was doing. Brought a distinct gravitas to the film.

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#2. Kingpin (Daredevil, Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse). This villain was done twice, in two distinct styles, and was great both times. Wilson Fisk is another character that you can relate to despite his evil intentions.

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#1. Thanos (Avengers: Infinity War). Of course, the number one villain is the one who killed half the universe in a movie that made over 2 billion dollars. He is basically the protagonist of the Avengers: Infinity War film and he wins at the end. Huge year for the Mad Titan.

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Worst Villains

#7. Negan (The Walking Dead). The Negan storyline lasted way too long and killed any momentum that it may have had. Now he is neutered and in prison.

#6. Cyrus Bean (Scandal). The always manipulative Cyrus took too many steps into the dark in the final season of Scandal and became a cartoon.

#5. Slenderman. Not a very good monster in a terrible horror movie. The documentary was scarier.

#4. Braun Strowman (WWE). It is hard to be a villain when the crowd wants to cheer you. So the Braun Strowman heel turn lasted about a month and a half.

#3. The Nun (The Nun). The movie made a bunch of money, but it was just a terrible film. More like Annabelle than the Conjuring, The Nun was not scary and had too many laugh out loud minutes. Plus, we did not see the Nun much.

#2. Carlton Drake (Venom) Even if you liked Venom, you have to admit that Riz Ahmed was completely wasted. Drake was a cookie cutter villain without any appeal.

#1. Sheriff of Nottingham (Robin Hood). Ben Mendelsohn is a tremendous actor, but the performance he gave in this terrible film was so horrid that it did not matter if the rest of the film was good. Your main villain was a joke and this film was going down.

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The “I See Kid Actors” Award-2018

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Doc

Kid Actor

We have had a strong year for the young actors in the movies. So much so that it was tough picking the one who would earn this award.

Specifically, the “I See Kid Actor” Award goes to an actor under 18 years old. The older actors playing young people do not count (sorry Tom Holland).

I have narrowed the list to eight performances and I probably missed some.

Previous Winners: Emjay Anthony, Jacob Trembley, Millie Bobby Brown, Dafne Keen

#8. Gustavo Quinez (Instant Family)

#7. Julianna Gomex (Instant Family)

#6. Abby Eyder Fortson (Ant Man & the Wasp)

#5. Sunny Suljic (Mid90s)

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#4. Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place)

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#3. Isabela Moner (Instant Family)- she was 17 and still qualifies.

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#2. Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place)- would have won this in other years. She was amazing in this movie.

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And this year’s winner…

#1. Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade)

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Elsie carried the surprising and entertaining film Eighth Grade with such poise and brilliance. I still can feel how tense I felt, how absolutely scared I was when she was in the back seat of that car (you know what I am talking about if you saw this movie). She was as real as any eighth grade girl could be. She is the reason that this film is as great as it is.

Mary, Queen of Scots

Posted on December 24, 2018 by Doc

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I knew very little about the history of this time period in England and Scotland. I would have known Mary, Queen of Scots by name and that is about it. After watching this film, I am still not sure I know much about her. All I know is that Saoirse Ronan is quite an actor.

This pseudo-biopic (I believe much of the history is fudged) followed the temperamental reign of Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) over Scotland and the political drama that engulfed her, not only from Elizabeth of England, but her own court that surrounded Mary.

Watching this, I felt very badly for Mary and I wanted these traitorous men to pay. Sadly, justice was not coming for these scummy men and the end of the Queen of Scots turns out quite tragic.

Saoirse Ronan is amazing as the titular role. She brightens the screen every time she is there. Elizabeth is played by Margot Robbie to a lesser extent. Elizabeth was also a tragic figure in the world of British monarchs, but she feels very much less connected to the audience than Ronan does.

This is typically the opposite of what these two historical women are seen as. In fact, Mary, Queen of Scots is also referred to as “Bloody Mary” and there are no examples that would require that sort of nickname. It makes one wonder exactly how history is being told and from whose perspective they are recording it.

Casting aside the questions about the historical accuracy of the film (which honestly, is not that important of a detail), the film itself is fine, but it is considerably better because of the strong performance by Ronan. The males in the film are basically just there. Heck, I saw David Tennent’s name in the credits, but I never realized that he was in the film. That is how unnoticeable the males turn out to be.

The powerful women being harassed and manipulated by the men in their lives is a definite theme here and can be connected to the current world easily. It would have been interesting to see Mary, Queen of Scots with a little more backbone, able to take on these weasels, but I suppose it may be what happened.

The film did feel fairly long and I was not overly happy with the outcome. Again, I get it. It is what happened. Still, there is a great performance by Saoirse Ronan and a solid one form Margot Robbie.

3.1 stars

2018 Expendables Award for Acting Excellence

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Doc

Expendables

Best Expendable Supporting Actor: Dolph Lundgren, Creed II. He is back as Ivan Drago in this year’s sequel, Creed II, and he is surprisingly good. Drago is given some stuff to do in the story and Lundgren is great.

Best Expendable Cameo of the year: Terry Crews, Bedlam. Deadpool 2/Once Upona Deadpool. A member of the ill-fated X-Force in Deadpool 2, Terry Crews meets a shocking and unexpected fate.

Best Expendable Professional Wrestler: Ronda Rousey, WWE RAW Women’s Champion. Ronda has taken to the WWE beautifully, showing off her athleticism all year long. She is still working on those promos though.

Best Expendable Actor with Gigantic Shark: Jason Statham, The Meg. It takes a special kind of Expendable to be able to tangle with a gigantic, thoguht to be extinct dinosaur-like shark, but Jason Statham can do it.

Marvel Comics 2018

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Doc

Okay, it is time to review the world of comics. Now, when I say world, I mean Marvel Comics since I do not pick up other comics. No offense to any of the other comics out there, but I have too much to read as it is.

Starting off with…

Best Marvel Comic of the Year

#8. Runaways– Love the return of the original bunch (plus Doombot)

#7. Champions– engaging group of young heroes trying something different.

#6. Spectacular Spider-man– Including JJJ was a stroke of genius.

#5. Daredevil– Mayor Fisk was extremely compelling. Loved DD’s characterization.

#4. Amazing Spider-man– Peter and MJ back together.

#3. Immortal Hulk– shows what can happen when you write a classic character smartly.

#2. Marvel Knights 20th- still underway, but remarkably enjoyable.

#1. Old Man Hawkeye

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Old Man Hawkeye was the most compelling, fascinating and exciting comic of the year. I loved the path of revenge that Clint Barton set out upon in hopes of finishing before he went blind. We got to see a possible future Marvel Universe with a character that played a huge part in the Old Man Logan saga. I typically am not a fan of the alternate reality/Possible future type storylines, but Old Man Hawkeye was a book I made sure that I read as soon as it came out.

Best Heroes of 2018

Miles Morales. You have to consider him a huge star now as his animated movie is a leading candidate for an Academy Award nomination.

Immortal Hulk. Write the character as he was initially meant… a monster…and see what happens. Bruce Banner can die, but the Immortal Hulk… well, he’ll be pissed.

Hawkeye (Kate Bishop). Not only is she a key hero in Old Man Hawkeye, but she also is the leader of the new West Coast Avengers.

Black Panther. After the success of his film, T’Challa was everywhere in the Marvel Universe.

Best Issue.

#1. Spectacular Spider-man #310.

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This felt like a new version of The Kid Who Collected Spider-man, which was one of the greatest back up stories of all time. Here, a kid is filming a documentary on Spider-man and getting interviews of all the important people in Spidey’s life. The book is fantastic and packs a solid punch.

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#2. Marvel Knights 20th #1.

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Marvel Knights 20th #1 starts out a brilliant series telling the story of a group of Marvel heroes who have forgotten who they are. This issue perfectly kicks off this six-issue series with a story that you have to know what is next. Includes appearance by Matt Murdock, Frank Castle, among other Marvel stars.

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#3. Old Man Hawkeye #7

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Everybody dies. How did the Thunderbolts betray them all? Here is how. A fabulous issue that shows how we get to where we are.

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#4. Immortal Hulk #7

Hello? I mean… what is happening in this series? What a wild ride we are on. And this issue really shows that Immortal Hulk is every bit a horror story as a superhero one.

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A Christmas Carol (1999)

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Doc

I found this version of Charles Dickens’s classic novel, A Christmas Carol, on television tonight and I thought I would watch it and see how it compared to some of the other versions I have seen. Sure this is a television movie, but I figure I can stretch the category a bit. I mean, it’s Christmas!

However, I found this version to be lacking when compared to some of the other notable versions that have been done.

Sadly, I think the main reason was I was having a real hard time with Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge. Now, do not get me wrong. I love Patrick Stewart and I think he is a tremendous actor. I just had a difficult time seeing him in this role, and with that working against the film already, it did not have much chance to pull through.

It is always interesting to see what certain adaptations include in the film and what some dismiss. Scrooge’s nephew Fred’s party being one of the most varied of all of the scenes. This version showed much more at Fred’s party than any other version I have seen.

Other actors in the film included Richard E. Grant (who gave a great performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me this year with Melissa McCarthy) as Bob Cratchit. Broadway star Joel Grey appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Dominic West was Fred.

The classic lines were here too, but I just did not feel the emotion of them as I have in other versions. Some scenes felt rushed, which may be on account of time constraints of television, but it still felt too compact at times.

You can also tell that this is a television budget with some of the special effects the film tried to pull off. They were adequate most of the time, but there were some really noticeable moments of poor quality as well.

I really had a hard time looking upon Patrick Stewart and seeing Scrooge. I did not have that problem in other iconic roles that Stewart played so I just do not believe that, no matter how brilliant he is, he was the right fit for Ebenezer Scrooge.

meh

Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009)

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Doc

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I finished playing Disney’s A Christmas Carol for my literacy students yesterday, which means I saw it five times! So I figured I would review it for the Doc’s Classic Movies section here at EYG.

The film is one of dozens of adaptations of Charles Dickens’ novel, this one a 3D computer animated motion-capture version from director Robert Zemeckis. This early version of mo-cap was somewhat awkward at times, but showed initially what was going to be possible.

The classic tells the story of miser Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) and how he was visited by a series of ghosts one Christmas Eve trying to scare him straight and get him to accept Christmas in his heart. Gary Oldman was here as Bob Cratchit, Jacob Marley and Tiny Tim. Colin Firth was Scrooge’s nephew Fred. Robin Wright played Scrooge’s little sister Fan and his former fiance Belle. Cary Elwes was here as well as a couple of the more minor characters.

The voice cast was done well, but some of the motion capture made these people look pretty weird. The heads were oversized and their expressions were odd many times. Still, it provided animators an opportunity to push the boundaries of animation at a time when this was just being started.

The story was done well, however I was not a huge fan of the action section added to the future scenes where Scrooge is chased by a haunted horse pulled carriage and shrinks down to mouse size. This seemed like an excuse to add some action to a story that did not need action. A Christmas Carol is compelling enough without some kind of chase scene tossed in.

The film is very dark and has some great spooky moments. I know that the kids were startled a couple of times at the imagery and the jump scares that were included. This version of A Christmas Carol provides an effective adaptation of the classic tale, including most of the iconic lines.

Jim Carrey is wonderful in the lead role as the miserly Christmas hater. He stands out among all of the animated characters as well, being the one who has clearly had the most time committed to him. Carrey’s voice is perfect for Scrooge, and he also does the voice of the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Bob Haskins as Fezziwig though was very odd. His character’s head was gigantic and the dance he had with his wife was weirdly gravity defying.

In the end, this version does a good job of telling the story of Scrooge in an entertaining and engaging manner and it kept the attention of my students. I liked seeing it as well.

funtime

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Bumblebee

Posted on December 23, 2018 by Doc

Image result for bumblebee poster

Last year, I sat in the theater and watched the travesty that was called Transformers: Last Knight. It became my worst film of the year and in the top 5 worst of all time. I so hated that movie. The other Transformers films were bad, but that thing was just horrendous. So, to say that I was excited about seeing another Transformers movie, this time focused on the single Transformer, Bumblebee would be a gross exaggeration.

However, with director Travis Knight at the helm instead of Michael Bay, there was a glimmer of hope that they could find the missing ingredient to make the movie worth seeing. I wasn’t holding my breath.

Then, positive word of mouth started coming from critics, and I was cautiously optimistic. Not hopeful, just optimistic.

Today I saw Bumblebee. It is easily the best Transformers live action movie that there ever was and I would argue that it would give the classic animated movie a run for its money.

This gives us the origin story of Bumblebee, starting on a war torn Cybertron. Optimus Prime sent his dedicated soldier Bumblebee to earth to scout out if the planet would work as a base for the remaining Autobots. Bumblebee was to protect the earth from the Decepticons and keep it secret.

Bumblebee landed on earth in the middle of some war games from military man Agent Burns (John Cena) who immediately tries to destroy the robot. Bumblebee winds up in a junkyard for an uncertain amount of time.

When teenage girl Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) discovers the yellow Volkswagon-looking Bumblebee, she takes it home and then discovers that the Volkswagon bug was more than met the eye.

The relationship between Charlie and Bumblebee is the crux of the film. They are remarkably sweet together and this film creates a real and human person to interact with the Autobot, unlike any of the Michael Bay movies. Hailee Steinfeld shines in every scene as the outcast teen who had suffered a terrible loss that has shaken her life to the core. Bumblebee helped fill that gap.

Meanwhile, two Decepticons (voiced by Justin Theroux and Angela Bassett) discover a signal from Bumblebee and trace it to earth. They team up with Agent Burns to try and capture the renegade Transformer.

I have heard some negative comments about John Cena’s work in this movie, but I thought he was great. He was actually very funny and had some of the best lines of the movie. I will admit that he does feel like someone who fit more in the old Bay movies than this one, but I think he has a place here.

The battles are exciting and considerably easier to follow. One of the biggest problems in the other films was you never knew who was fighting who because it just seemed like big robots fighting. These fights were well shot and directed beautifully so I cared about watching them.

Charlie had a good dynamic with her family as she was doing her best to keep them at arms length. The screen time that these characters received were all well done and furthered the story.

This movie was sort of a prequel to the other films and was set in the 1980s (specifically in 1987) and the film did not hide the fact that it was the 80s. Songs were constantly blaring in the film of the greatest hits of the decade and we got allusions to the Breakfast Club. They were anything but subtle with their references. I enjoyed the music, even though there were a few stretches where it felt more like a music video than anything else. I love 80s music so this was fun for me.

There were allusions to the Bay series of movies as well as the Transformers: The Movie. Although it was challenging at times because the movie Bumblebee played fast and loose with the continuity during this movie. This is completely fine with me. I would be all for pretending like those other movies did not happen and building a new continuity starting with Bumblebee.

This is the best Transformers movie ever and it owes a great deal of thanks to director Travis Knight. The film is extremely engaging with Steinfeld and Bumblebee and has a pretty basic, yet successful story. Optimus Prime was perfectly used here. This is what Transformers fans have been wishing for since the beginning.

4 stars

Old Man Hawkeye#12

Posted on December 22, 2018 by Doc

Old Man Hawkeye #12 (Of 12)-Georgetown Comics

Old Man Hawkeye #12

“Justice is Blind”

Writer: Ethan Sacks

Artist: Francesco Mobili

Cover Art: Marco Checchetto

The finale of the twelve-issue maxi series featuring Clint Barton on his path to the place he was in at the beginning of Old Man Logan.

Fact is that Old Man Hawkeye has been one of the best comics of the year and this conclusion, which sees a blind Hawkeye facing off with Bullseye, is just awesome. This series never let down from the beginning and has just brought it each and every issue.

The tale of Clint Barton on his vengeance quest worked so well and the future iterations of the Marvel Universe characters was always fascinating.

What is even better, the final page of Old Man Hawkeye #12 hints that there is yet another year before Barton meets up with Old Man Logan and maybe we can get another Old Man Hawkeye series. I loved the final page of this book and the shock of the mystery cameo (which I will not spoil) was spot on. It would be a wonderful story to tell. So Marvel Comics… get on that as soon as you can.

Until then, Old Man Hawkeye is a series that you must search out, if you have not been reading it yet, and see it from issue one.

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