Going out to the movies is a rare act for moms and dads. In this series we’ll go to the movies, so you can judge for yourself if it’s a good investment.
The fact that The LEGO Batman Movie is entertaining is not a surprise. If you saw The LEGO Movie and the subsequent previews for The LEGO Batman Movie it’s evident that a similar feel was happening with both of them. What audiences will be surprised at is just how hilarious, entertaining and ripe with quality The LEGO Batman Movie really is.
Continue reading The LEGO Batman Movie review: it builds on the family fun
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Franchise films are fun to watch. However fans of franchise films sometimes have to excuse or legitimize the fact that they like the film. For example, if they’re being honest then they’ll say ‘it’s an OK Bond film, but not a really good movie’… (I’m looking at you Spectre…) Star Wars is not immune to this. When The Force Awakens came out many folks were relieved that Disney handled the transition very well and was a marked improvement since the forgettable later third of the sequels. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a stand-alone movie in the Star Wars universe and again marks the Death Star as one of its main villains.
I rolled my eyes too when I read the plot synopsis. Oh joy, more Death Star. While the villains are the same there is an entirely new group of heroes to figure out the threat and combat it. This fact brings about more humor and action than you’re expecting from a Star Wars film.
Rogue One is its own film. It’s a funny, action packed science fiction film that’s a joy to see on the big screen. Because the film is free from the narrative and characters in the previous installments it has a swagger and footloose quality that make the other films feel routine. Don’t get me wrong, I still love them, but compared to Rogue One they feel slightly forced because I know what’s going to happen next.
This is all the more amazing because the audience knows how Rogue One will end. Somehow the Death Star manages to go on to kill another day, giving Obi-Wan a big fat headache when Alderaan is blown up. In a way Rogue One is like a documentary of a celebrity. If I know that this celebrity overcomes drug abuse, a bad marriage and then manages to record a comeback single when they’re in their late 40’s why should I see the film?
You should see Rogue One because it’s a great film. The first half has more humor than any other Star Wars film and it all works. Said humor is provided by K-250, an Imperial droid who has been reprogrammed to help the Alliance. It’s voiced by Alan Tudyk and the interaction between him and Cassain Andor (Diego Luna) are some of the best parts in an already great film.
Legendary Chinese actor and martial arts star Donnie Yen is also a stand out in the film. His character is Chirrut Imwe, a blind man who uses the Force with humor and strength. This is Yen’s biggest film outside of China and I hope that it gives him a chance to make more films outside of the mold that he’s been cast in.
Old school Star Wars fans will appreciate the details in Rogue One. It’s a film that takes place before the first Star Wars and seamlessly fits in just before that film takes place. Some of the human casting is all but identical to the actors that portrayed the original scene performers almost 40 years ago.
These same fans will also love the colors in the film. Green, fields of green grass, lots of tropical green trees, blue water and more are mixed in the ever present black, red and white. Rogue One is a visual treat for the eyes. Storm Troopers on the beach! AT-AT’s on the island! This is fun stuff and it’s a reminder that movies can be the great escape.
Is Rogue One OK for children? The film is rated PG-13 for extended scenes of science fiction action and violence. The action sequences are longer than those in The Force Awakens and there isn’t as traumatic a death as (spoiler alert) Han Solo. That’s mainly due to the fact that the characters in Rogue One are all new and we haven’t had time to know them. Children 11 and up will be fine for Rogue One. If younger children have seen science fiction violence (laser blasts, ships colliding and such) then they’ll be OK with it. Our 7 year old will be fine with the violence, but might wince at some of the volume because it is packed with explosions.
So, I’ve only seen one Harry Potter film and that was the release from 2002, The Chamber of Secrets. As an adult watching it, having never read the book I was impressed, but not enough to read the books or see any more films from the characters. Flash forward 14 years and the prequel to the Harry Potter stories is out. But is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them OK for kids?
Well, let’s start out by saying that it is a very good film. I knew nothing about the plot and that fact served me quite well as the magic, beasts and characters came into their own. The only thing that I knew about the Harry Potter universe is that a muggle is a non-magical being and that the bulk of the previous Potter films had a kid-centered family focus.
As a review, I don’t mean that as a pejorative, it’s just that from what I saw in Secrets it was aimed at children. The true power of the Potter-Universe hadn’t been discovered at that point. After that film I know that they got more inventive, a little darker at times and much more popular. It only makes sense, as the characters in the film got older, so did their fan base.
So, is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them OK for kids?
There are elements of the film that will be great for 8 year old children. However, on the whole, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is fine for 10 year olds and in some cases 9 year old. It’s rated PG-13 and is really on the soft side of that rating. The film is such a soft PG-13 one wonders if the producers asked for it so that audiences wouldn’t think that it was too soft. To this point: it’s worth noting what worldwide audiences have their ‘official’ age recommendations as. ‘G’ in Japan, Netherlands 9 and 12 in the UK/Canada and elsewhere.
Our 7 year old would’ve been too bothered by some of the action sequences which are fraught with tension. For parents there isn’t any discernible instance of bad language. The lead character, Newt does say ‘bugger’ a couple of times. However, that’s only offensive if you’re in the UK and even then mildly so in the British colloquial vocabulary.
If our oldest were 9, I would’ve stopped watching Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and immediately gone home and gotten him. For that age (given proper adult supervision…..) this is a great film, jammed with humor, good/bad decisions, plus a couple solid references to Hogwarts.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is Harry Potter without the kid-centric title figure. The content in the film is A-Ok with ages 10 and up, as well as adults-who are willing to grade the film on a curve. Take the middle school and upper elementary kids, they’ll love this film and you’ll be the cool parent, just possibly enough o make them forgive you for the dreck that you thought they would’ve liked. This one is the real family deal.
Personally, Kubo and the Two Strings is our most anticipated movie of the year. We’re big fans of stop animation, the Shimasen (that 3-stringed instrument synonymous with Japanese music) and Japan, in theory this film combines three massive elements that we love in entertainment. If you’ve seen any of our historical twitter stream you’ll see elements of those three things all over the place. I took off my ‘me’ hat, put on the ‘reviewer’ hat and took a friend to see Kubo and the Two Strings, just to double check my thoughts on the film.
Continue reading Kubo and the Two Strings review, poetry in stop motion
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There are many ways to approach a Suicide Squad review. Is this late summer popcorn fare, the redemption of DC Comics in film or a combination of them and other angles? Suicide Squad is a group of villains from the DC Comics lineup who are doing good deeds under duress in exchange for getting time removed from their jail sentences. In a nutshell, Suicide Squad is not the horrid mess that some make it out to be, nor is it the savior that DC was looking for.
Continue reading Suicide Squad review-not the end of DC in film, but not Super either
The Secret Life of Pets is a great example of the less you know about a film the more it surpasses expectations. Prior to seeing the film the only thing I knew about it was what I saw from the main trailer. It’s rather pedestrian stuff with lots of sight gags about what your pet might do when you’re not home. Having seen The Secret Life of Pets I can assert that they saved the best stuff for what is not in the preview. This is the most even handed and consistently paced Illumination Entertainment film yet that is a fun ride from beginning to end.
If you’re going to the film arrive early because there is a five minute short film starring the Minions. It’s short, funny and leaves you wanting more of the chatty yellow creatures.
The first four minutes of The Secret Life of Pets is essentially the above trailer. They’ve crammed all the good stuff into the first couple of minutes, I thought. In reality it’s exactly the opposite and the film hammers home the funny with absurd pairings, excellent vocal work, dazzling visuals and a surreal plot that will all but take you down the rabbit hole. Read no further if you don’t want spoilers…….
In April I attended Disney Social Media Moms at Walt Disney World. One of the things that they gave attendees was a copy of Roald Dahl’s book, The BFG. I had never read it and picked it up one night when I was bored and it absolutely blew me away. It’s a fabulous book for older elementary school kids to read or a great one for parents to read to ages 5 and up. We were provided with the book because the movie version of The BFG is now a big movie directed by Steven Spielberg. The book is a classic and one of the most imaginative ones that we’ve ever read-the film couldn’t possibly stand up to those expectations, could it?
Continue reading The BFG, Spielberg’s best (children’s) film since E.T.
20 years between sequels is a curse or a blessing. It happens because there wasn’t enough interest for a sequel or it’s happening just for nostalgia. Independence Day: Resurgence is a happy mix between the two and then some. It’s a worthy successor to what kicked off the expectations of a summer movie blockbuster in 1996.
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