I enjoyed the animated Disney film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire very much. It was an underappreciate Disney classic featuring the voice work of Michael J. Fox. So when I came across a sequel of the movie while scanning through Disney +, I was excited to watch it. Sadly, this does not come anywhere near as much fun as the original film.
In fact, this is one of those Disney straight-to-DVD films like The Return of Jafar and Simba’s Pride, and, sadly, the quality is at about that level.
You can tell that some of this was meant to come from an animated series that had been scrapped when the original Atlantis movie was less than successful. This feels like something that should appear on one of the Disney networks instead of the movie theater.
There are three basic segments in this movie that are weaved together with some transitional animation. The segments were “Kraken”, “Spirit of the West” and “Spear of Destiny”. One a battle with a sea monster, one in an old west confrontation and then an appearance of Odin, of a sort.
Quite the disappointment with this film. I was hoping for so much more with these characters.
Yes, we have seen the crazy killer toy that comes to life and kills everyone, but we have never seen one as insanely funny as Benny Loves You.
Benny Loves You played the hilarity over the horror and what we get is an hour and a half of pure ridiculousness that is a joy to watch.
Jack (Karl Holt) was a loser, who worked as a failed toy designer. When his parents died accidentally on Jack’s 35th birthday, his life took a turn. He attempted to reorganize and renew his life path, which begun by throwing out all of his things from his childhood… including his favorite stuffed bear, Benny.
Mistake.
Benny immediately came to life and begun killing people in Jack’s life who was giving him trouble or that he could care about, all because, as the bear would say, “Benny loves you.” It became a slaughterhouse, leading Jack to try and manage the people Benny killed.
To complicate matters more, Jack began to fall for a co-worker, Dawn (Claire Cartwright), which gave Benny a new target and a new motivation: jealousy.
This was one of the goriest films I have seen in a long time, and every moment filled me with laughter and happiness. It’s not often that you see a stuffed toy present the heart of someone he just murdered to his friend as a present, but that happened here. There were more intestines in this movie than I have ever seen before.
Whereas Chuckie or Annabelle are played for fright and scares, Benny Loves You is a straight up British comedy and works so well as one. The story is simple. We do not spend time trying to discover a deeper meaning behind how this happened (although we do visit another instance where a toy that has been discarded returned to kill this bratty little girl).
The way Benny moves is just hilarious. He sort of bounds back and forth, as you might expect a stuffed bear might do. The character design is fantastic. There is nothing sinister about benny, until there is.
I enjoyed this movie a ton. It made me laugh and grossed me out at the same time, a true feat.
On the 213th day of the DailyView, we have hit movie number 300. When I started back in April of this year, I did not expect to have watched this all the way till now and I did not expect to come anywhere near 300 movies. This DailyView has been something that I have been quite proud of and it has been challenging.
Thank goodness for HBO Max, which has been one of the best of the streaming services for available movies that I have not seen. Number 300 is on that site as well. It was a film dealing with a topic that I loved growing up, the Loch Ness Monster. I was always one of those kids who believed in and read about Nessie, Bigfoot, yetis, UFOs and other strange phenomenon. So this film appealed to me when I found it on HBO Max. It had been on my queue for a few weeks, but this fit into the schedule today.
Young Angus (Alex Etel), whose father was killed fighting in World War II on a boat that was sunk, lived with his family on the shores of Loch Ness. One day, he discovered an egg around the loch and he took it with him home. The egg hatched and there was a strange creature inside, a creature that Angus had never seen before.
Handyman Lewis Mowbray (Ben Chaplin) just started working for Angus’s mother Anne (Emily Watson) when he came across Angus trying to hide the creature. Lewis told Angus that he believed the beast was a water horse, a mythical Scottish creature and there is only one that can exist at a time.
Soldiers from the British army, led by Captain Hamilton (David Morrissey), take up residence in the castle where Anne and her family maintain, and begin to cause trouble. The dog of one of the soldiers started chasing the water horse, named Crusoe by Angus, which led Angus and Lewis to release the creature into the loch.
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is an enjoyable family film that takes your typical boy and his pet story and infuses it with humor, some drama, and a lot of heartfelt moments. Alex Etel does a good job leading the film and carrying on the relationship with the giant CGI creature. Never easy for an actor, Etel is very believable and covers the emotional beats well.
The rest of the cast is fine. I’m not sure why Captain Hamilton made such a swap midway through the film. He started off as a horrible character, but changed as the story progressed.
The CGI was decent. It may not match up with today’s level of quality, but for 2007, there was nothing that really stood out as terrible. Again, it is important for the character of Crusoe to be believable or else no one would buy into the story.
The story of Angus is told to a young couple by Brian Cox and this way of setting up a story works very well, and this time the trope benefits from the skill of Cox as an actor.
While it may be predictable at times, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is a fun family film that is full of adventure and heart.
Kristen Stewart has come a long way from Bella Swan in the Twilight franchise, all the way to the Princess of Wales.
Stewart’s performance as Princess Diana in this piece of historical fiction, which looks at her decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles is haunting, at times frightening and sad. The fictionalized account places Diana with the rest of the Royal Family at Christmas holiday at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.
We see a rebellious Diana, going out of her way to not follow instructions from the people around her. We see a depressed Diana, who is clearly saddened and suffering from Prince Charles (Jack Farthing) and his poorly hidden affair. We see a physically challenged Diana who is forcing herself to regurgitate the meals she has eaten. And we see a mentally challenged Diana who is having hallucinations of Anne Boleyn (Amy Manson).
Kristen Stewart brings a realism to all these circumstances as we see the declining star who was Princess Diana. She is so believable as the iconic princess that she carries the entire production.
This is not a biopic so if you are coming into the picture with expectations of learning more about the last years of Diana’s life, you will be disappointed. This is more of a teardown of the way the Royal Family is treated and handled, presenting a challenge for those who have come from outside in. The schedules of everything from exactly what to wear to where you should be to what you are expected to do makes for a very difficult life and one that brought feelings of claustrophobia and isolation to this Diana.
There was a scene in a car at the end of the movie, which I will not spoil, that cause me to roll my eyes, but the rest of Spencer was a powerful portrait of what the demands of a world watching can do to a person, especially when you lack the support or the confidence to do what you have to do.
Kristen Stewart should be remembered around Academy Award nominations as she is exceptional here.
Earlier today I was watching the live version of the Top 10 Show with Matt Knost and John Rocha. I rarely get a chance to see them live since I am normally in class, but since this was Black Friday, I was at home and I took advantage of the opportunity. The topic this week was Top 10 Songs from Movies, which is a ginormous topic. However, one song that they had in common near the top of their lists, was the song Lose Yourself, by Eminem. This made me remember that 8 Mile was on my list for the DailyView.
I am not a fan of rap music, but I do like Lose Yourself, so I found 8 Mile on HBO Max and watched it. I must say that Eminem was impressive in his big screen debut, even if he was basically playing himself. There was plenty of speculation that the film was heavily biographic with Eminem’s youth growing up on the streets of Detroit, but that does not take away from a powerful performance in his first major role.
Jimmy Smith (Eminem), nicknamed B-Rabbit, is trying to get through life and hoping to get a break as a rapper. He had to move back in with his alcoholic mother (Kim Basinger) and his sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield) when he was struggling to keep a job.
Things got worse when he froze during a battle rap competition creating all sorts of conflict for the young white rapper.
The film continued to toss these conflicts at B-Rabbit as it builds toward him returning to the battle rap stage to show what he was capable of doing.
The story was stitched together with several scenes that felt connected slightly. Still, each moment showed something of the character of B-Rabbit and the friends that he hung around with.
The film included performances from Anthony Mackie, Michael Shannon, Brittany Murphy, Omar Benson Miller, Proof, Mekhi Phifer, Taryn Manning and De’Angelo Wilson.
The battle rap at the end of the film was excellent and highlighted their skills at the rap.
8 Mile was an enjoyable film and I liked it even despite not being a fan of rap.
This was my second Beatles inspired DailyView today in honor of the new Disney + documentary by Peter Jackson, The Beatles: Get Back (which was tremendous). Unfortunately, neither of the DailyView entries were up to par.
That certainly goes for teh Beatles juke box musical, Across the Universe.
When Jude (Jim Sturgess) left Liverpool to travel to America in search of his absent father, he met the rambunctious Max (Joe Anderson) and his lovely sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). The trio were carefree and happily singing Beatles songs, until Max is drafted to head to the Vietnam War.
There are many problems with this musical, but the music is not one of them. The Beatles songs are great and if you just listen to them, you might enjoy yourself. Of course, if you just listen to them, you may as well play the CD instead.
So much of the plot and a bunch of characters are involved here simply to get Beatles songs into the film. Many of them make no sense in the overall story of the movie and are there just to say they are there. Bono of U2 showed up just to sing The Benefit of Mr. Kite. I believe that is the total of his appearance.
Characters are introduced with names that tell you they are going to have a song around them. There was a Prudence (T.V. Carpio), Lucy, Jude and JoJo (Martin Luther).
If this was intended as simply an extended music video with the different Beatles songs, I could deal with it. However, they are pretending that this is a feature film and that should have some kind of compelling… or at least understandable story. Across the Universe does not. Across the Universe tries to tie all of the 1960s unrest and major events with Beatles songs when they should have tied them to a story.
I am preparing to watch the first installment of the new Beatles documentary from Peter Jackson on Disney +, Beatles: Get Back. It looks to be an epic doc, with the first installment clocking in at over 2 and a half hours. I am saving that for after lunch today, so to prep for the show, I looked for something Beatles for the DailyView today. Time wise, Across the Universe did not fit (maybe tonight), but I found another documentary on Amazon Prime called The Beatles: Up Close and Personal that fit much better into the schedule.
Sadly, I did not enjoy this documentary very much.
Make no mistake, there are some great uses of the Beatles’ classic music. That was easily the best part of the doc.
However, the rest of the doc just felt like it was stories that were being told by the hangers-on.
Pete Best, one of the original drummers with the Beatles before being replaced with Ringo Starr, did a lot of the heavy lifting on the storytelling, and his constant reference to him being a Beatle felt wrong. He used a lot of “we” and “us” in the tales, and the doc does not seem to realize that Pete Best was not in any of the clips of the Beatles playing because he was out of the band by then.
The most interesting part of the doc was retelling about when Pete Best was released from the Beatles.
This felt like a group of people desperately trying to cash in on the success of the Beatles. It is reportedly unauthorized. I sure hope Get Back is better than this one.
We pulled out another documentary for the DailyView today, this one off Disney +. I have always been interested in Easter Island and the amazing creations of the Moai statues that mysteriously existed on the tiny island. Moai “are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500.” (Wikipedia).
This National Geographic documentary looked at what happened to the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island, not just about the mysterious Moai.
While most documentaries focus upon the Moai, but this one looked closer at the people on Rapa Nui, which corresponded to the slowing of the carving of the Moai. The doc included everything from changes in climate, famine from a lack of resources, to potential cannibalism.
The crew heads down into caverns beneath the island to try and determine what happened. How some caves had fresh water and how this may have led to conflicts. The people split into clans and even competed for control of the island.
This documentary was fascinating and I really enjoyed how the doc went into other areas, including the dangers that the island has today, from increasing rainfall causing erosion to the breaking of the cliff edges to the threat of tsunamis.
The 60th Disney animated film was released today over the Thanksgiving holiday. The film Encanto featured a Latino presence and a cultural perspective that is unlike any other Disney property. That is a great step in the right direction.
Thing is… I just did not connect with this film. I found it kind of boring.
From Rotten Tomatoes: “The Madrigals are an extraordinary family who live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a charmed place called the Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every child in the family with a unique gift — every child except Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz). However, she soon may be the Madrigals last hope when she discovers that the magic surrounding the Encanto is now in danger.”
Of course, the animation is beautifully rendered and the music from Lin Manuel-Miranda is very catchy and engaging. These two layers of filmmaking is not something that Disney fails at often. Still, I found the story itself to be wanting.
Perhaps it was the introduction of all of these characters that took me out of the film initially, although that did not bother me in Eternals. I had more knowledge of Eternals than I did with this whole new group of characters so perhaps that is part of it. I did not find the hook of the story behind the Madrigals to be engrossing enough to maintain my attention. I found myself checking the time a couple of moments during Encanto.
Since Encanto did not grab my attention immediately, maybe I missed too much of the first act specifics that would have maintained my interest. Maybe this is a film that I should give a second chance to when it arrives eventually on Disney + because, usually, this is a type of film that would be right up my alley.
I am very pleased that the Latino community is receiving the attention of this film which is sadly too late in coming. Hopefully there will be even more diversity in Disney animation moving forward. Unfortunately, I just did not get into this film.
Heading over to Hulu for the DailyView this evening, I came across a movie from 2019 that I did not go to see in the theater. I remember when Where’d You Go, Bernadette was in the theaters. It was a movie that I was always considering going to see, but it was one of those films that was getting pushed aside for other new releases or never worked in the schedule.
Cate Blanchett is one of the great actresses of our time and she is front and center with the character of Bernadette Fox, an artistic architect who moved with her family to Seattle after a major career tragedy which sent her over the edge.
Bernadette had a remarkable relationship with her daughter, Bee (Emma Nelson), despite struggling with her relationship with any other human beings. This was also causing issues with her husband, Elgie (Billy Crudup), who had buried himself deeply in his work.
Her escalating negative behaviors began to worry Elgie and a promised family vacation to Antarctica elevated those behaviors even more.
The performances in Where’ You Go, Bernadette were very solid. Of course, Cate Blanchett is always exquisite and she amplifies any material she is given. The young Emma Nelson was very good as well, not losing step opposite her famous co-star. Bill Crudup does well too, though he may be a bit of a step down. The feuding neighbor Audrey was played by Kristin Wiig, but there is not enough with her. She seemed to play a big role in the first part of the film, but nothing in the second part.
This is a bit of the trouble with the movie. It felt like several different themes and tones floating around the story, and the characters were not completely consistent. At times the film did not seem to know what it wanted to be. It also seemed to diminish mental illness, which was used to explain some of Bernadette’s behaviors.
This film is an adaptation of a novel by Maria Semple, which I have not read, so much of the criticism about how it does not adapt the book well is foreign to me. Director Richard Linklater shoots some solid work, especially the scenes in Antarctica.
I enjoyed this movie despite its flaws, mainly because I enjoyed the characters and the performances. It may not be the best film around, but it was a decent watch.
Another busy day so I had to dip into the Charlie Chaplin vault to pull out another silent short to complete the DailyView. Today, it was a film on YouTube called The Fireman from 1916.
Charlie is a fireman this time, whose chief (Eric Campbell) made an arrangement with the father (Lloyd Bacon) of a beautiful daughter (Edna Purviance) to allow his house to burn down so he could collect the insurance money. In return, the father agreed to let the chief marry his daughter.
As other fires break out in the city, the firemen finally answer the call, thanks to Chaplin.
Turned out that the father set his house on fire without knowing that his daughter was upstairs. Chaplin scaled the outside of the building to save her, showing one of the more impressive stunts of the time.
Honestly, while I have typically enjoyed the Charlie Chaplin short films during this DailyView, this one was kind of boring. I loved the stunt of climbing the building, but I had checked out of the film in the first 15 minutes or so. The slapstick did not do it for me.
This was an early film in Charlie Chaplin’s career and many people seemed to love it. However, after seeing a bunch of the other ones first, The Fireman felt too much the same.
I saw this on Veterans Day, opening night, live in a Fandom Event. I have not written my thoughts about it up until now. Rocky IV was one of my favorite Rocky movies in the franchise. I mean… Rocky defeated Communism. Who would have guessed?
However, Sylvester Stallone was not too happy with the end result of the film. He wanted to make this film more serious. He wanted to bring a different tone. He wanted to limit the 1980s feel. And he wanted to get rid of the robot.
He certainly did all of that.
This director’s cut changes so much about the original. This felt more like an independent film and it had much less 80s tone. Stallone removed a lot of the original content from Rocky IV and added several scenes.
There was more with Apollo. There was more with Drago. There was not much of Paulie and Rocky’s kid did not make most of the cut. They did more with Adrian and we saw more of the funeral of Apollo.
The montages were still in the film, but they had a little different feel to them.
My thoughts are this. I liked this version of the movie, but I did not like it more than the movie we already had. This absolutely felt like a different movie, but there was something original about Rocky IV and its cheese factor. The new version was fine, and I am happy Sly feels as if he had made it better. I would still choose the 1985 version.
Not sure why this did not pop up on Netflix during the October run of horror movies I was doing, because this is far superior than several of the films that I did during that month of the DailyView.
Let Me In is a remake of a Swedish film, Let the Right One In, written and directed by Matt Reeves. It was another film that was never on my radar in 2010, despite being critically acclaimed during that time frame.
Let Me In stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Richard Jennings in a new take on vampire movies.
Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) was a lonely, sad and bullied teen who lived alone with his mother. When Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) moved into his building with her father (Richard Jennings), Owen bonded with her, unable at first to see the strangeness happening around him.
As attacks begin to pick up, a detective (Elias Koteas) started to get close to the truth, especially after Abby’s father was involved in a car crash trying to get blood for her.
Owen is fascinated by Abby and her confidence helped him to stand up to the main bully (Dylan Minnette) that had been tormenting him.
The relationship between Owen and Abby is special and both young actors brought the goods to these roles. Their early sweetness helped to solidify their friendship for later when all hell breaks loose.
I will say that it seemed to me that Kodi Smit-McPhee had a growth spurt during filming because I swear he went from a little kid to a giant during the runtime. It might just be my perception of how he was shot, but he seemed to suddenly be all legs.
Let Me In was a wonderful horror movie with a new and different relationship at the heart of it. It worked very well and I am glad it popped up on Netflix.
King Richard is a biopic of Venus and Serena Williams by focusing on their father, Richard Williams. That is a strange fact, but absolutely true. This movie tells the story of two of the greatest tennis players in history, but does it through the eyes of Richard.
Richard Williams is played by Will Smith and he does a tremendous job. There are times in the film where you are trying to understand why Richard is doing what he is doing and times when you wish he would get his own comeuppance because of things that he does, but, in the end, the character shows what he had been planning the entire time.
The film looks mainly at Venus Williams (Saniyya Sidney) because she started in training and her career before her sister Serena (Demi Singleton) did. Richard had his plan, and it was shaking up the tennis world, which, at times, did not know what to make of Richard Williams.
Tony Goldwyn (President Fitzgerald Grant from Scandal) played tennis coach Paul Cohen, who had some ideas that were different from Richard. Then, Jon Bernthal joined the movie as Rick Macci, who brought the family to Florida and elevated Venus’s training even further.
Aunjanue Ellis played Venus and Serena’s mother Brandy, who had several strong scenes with Will Smith. She brought some power to the role and was anything but a bystander in her daughters’ lives. There was a scene where Brandy confronted a neighbor and it showed the fire in her.
The film does run almost 2 and a half hours, but I never felt the length. The movie flowed extremely well and transitioned impeccably from each scene. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green does a great job with the shots of the film, especially the tennis action scenes which bring a tension to the film.
While Serena does not get the same attention as her sister, the movie does not allow her to fall into the background. Her own story of becoming one of the best players of all time is planted here and showed her dedication and passion. Both young actors who played the Williams sisters do a wonderful job with their performances and have bright futures in acting ahead of them.
King Richard could have been just another inspirational sports stories on the Hallmark Channel, but Will Smith and the rest of the cast, as well as Reinaldo Marcus Green, would not accept that level. The film tackles some major issues such as racism and overbearing parents without making anything judgy and providing an entertaining biopic. Excellent work all around.
After watching the wonderful tick, tick…Boom this morning about Jonathan Larson, the creator of the iconic Broadway show, Rent, I was inspired to make the 2005 film version of Rent the DailyView for today.
According to IMDB, Rent “is the film version of the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical about Bohemians in the East Village of New York City struggling with life, love and AIDS, and the impacts they have on America.”
The cast included Rosario Dawson, Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Taye Diggs and Tracie Thoms. Six of these actors reprised their roles in the film from the Broadway play, three of whom received Tony nominations.
Starting positively, the film’s music is sensational. The score and the musical aspects of Rent jump off the screen and grab the audience. The massive hit ‘Seasons of Love” starts off the film and is used throughout in a fantastic manner. Though that was the only song that I recognized from the soundtrack, the music is absolutely gripping and special.
The story has several elements of tragedy to it and emotionally works in moments. However, the characters are not developed past the surface which undermines the power of some of the emotions. Some of the characters feel as if they are doing things just because the story wants them to. It does not feel like reasonable choices. Instead, it feels like a series of scenes strung together to fill the time and connect the songs.
Not having seen the stage musical this film was based on, I cannot compare them to see if the play does a better job creating these characters. With so many actors reprising their roles among the Bohemians, you would think they would have a real handle on why their characters do what they do. It just did not transfer to me.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 