Category: Daddy Mojo at the Movies

Why does this film have two directors? I wondered as the credits rolled in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms started. By the middle of the film I was wondering how much worse the film could’ve been had it not actually had two directors. Much like any number of recent films (Solo, The Last Jedi, JLA) that have had integral people behind the scenes replaced; the result is a jumbled mess that’s barely entertaining and leave you wondering how this all came about.

Continue reading The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, a mixed-up bag of coal

We were provided tickets to see the film-all thoughts are our own. I’m a history buff. I’m also a movie guy. I’m always optimistic when a film comes out that is truly based on actual historic events comes out. I want it to be good, but too often my hopes are dashed by one thing or another. Operation Finale opens in movie theaters on August 29. It’s the true story of the hunt for Adolf Eichmann after WWII.

Continue reading Operation Finale, opening in theaters on Wednesday August 29

Action movies don’t have to be mindless and there are many examples smart action films. Even mindless action films can be enjoyable if they have characters or fun sequences. Mile 22 aims high on paper and falters badly in execution. It has Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Conrad from The Walking Dead and Iko Uwais among others in a film that’s directed by Peter Berg. Some folks will look at Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg and hope for a repeat of one of their earlier successes. If you’re like me you’ll watch Mile 22 because it stars martial arts super star Iko Uwais. Others will look at Lauren Conrad and are curious to see how she does when she’s not acting opposite some zombies.

Continue reading Mile 22 fails to deliver despite it being set up for success              

If you look inside yourself and are honest, you know what to expect from a movie before you step inside the movie theater. Even if you don’t know what to expect, you probably have an inclining of how you’ll enjoy the film. “This is more of an animated feature, it’s not really a film” I glibly said to an adult next to me before Teen Titans GO! To The Movies started. It was partially because our 8 YO son had just asked what the film would be about and I had absolutely no idea. Within five minutes of the film starting I still had no idea what the film would be about, but I was laughing more than I had at any movie in years. Continue reading Teen Titans GO! To The Movies, the best family film of the year

Kids absolutely love Hotel Transylvania. Our 8 year old tolerated the first one the first time he saw it and has grown to love the second one. Hotel Transylvania 3 is his movie du summer. For him, Hotel Transylvania 3 is what being an 8 year old kid is about. It’s got monsters, laughs, familiar characters; just enough scares to be OK for any parent and twists that he imagines will entertain him for hours. For the elementary set that description is 100% accurate.

Hotel Transylvania 3 starts in the castle with Drac and his friends running the inn. Mavis and Johnny‘s son Dennis is growing up, their dog is as big as a dragon and Drac is seriously stressed out. Mavis books a vacation for Drac and their friends are inexplicably along for the ride. Apparently where Drac goes all monsters must follow, but this is the adult in me thinking. For this film your elementary school id needs to be in complete and total control.

<id drives>

Now that an 8 year old is controlling the ship-let’s have a montage of monster clichés that anybody over 15 has already seen! We’ll include some of these in the trailer, like the skeleton pulling up a table and then all of the food going through his body! But, we’ll extend it to about five minutes then, divide it into two segments so that short attention span audiences will laugh out loud.

<id smells bacon and sees a kitten outside, leaves to investigate>

Super ego here, driving the bus. Have you parents seen the introduction to Music and Lyrics, Pop Goes My Heart? Do you know that video montage where Hugh Grant cheesily runs with his girlfriend while a series of intentionally camp backgrounds flash behind him? Think of a training sequence from a Rocky film with predictable behavior that one would expect from a character in a situation that they’re in. This is mindless, benign fodder that is the equivalent of a candy bar laced with tryptophan. It’s a trite ploy that lazy film makers use to lull adults into thinking that the kid’s film that they’re watching will actually be entertaining for them. This is what you’ll think of Hotel Transylvania 3.

<id enters the room again and whops super ego over the head with a sack of stale potatoes, rendering him unconscious for 90 minutes>

What a buffoon. I couldn’t stand listening to their nonsense. That film was great! My friends in third grade have wanted to see this since January. I hope we have Mrs. Smith for our teacher this year. Can you believe school starts soon? And that finale!? With the octopus creature rising from the deep that Super Ego said was a Kraken! Awesome ending that I did not see coming!

<Ego thankfully takes control>

To older viewers the Hotel Transylvania series will seem a bit long in the tooth and Hotel Transylvania 3 doesn’t do anything to assuage their beliefs.  The film ends in a manner that the other two films did in that it can provide a jumping off point as a new relationship status between humans and monsters. It was a human, then it was a kid and now it’s a long forgotten grudge that upsets the monster apple cart. When Hotel Transylvania 3 finishes older viewers won’t really care if Drac comes back, but elementary school kids will absolute enthralled. See it as a matinee show and have the kid’s buy their own snacks and this will be a fun day out for all except the one that drove. Your Ego will rationally say that kids need to have their own movie, one that adults won’t try to make too emotional or pack with songs. It’s great for kids to have their own jam. Just tell mom and dad to bide their time until Wreck it Ralph or Toy Story 4 come out to bond with the animated features again.

Rare is the Disney PIXAR film that is action based. The only one that stands out with more action than humor or emotion is Cars 2, which was a silly-but still mildly entertaining, James Bond style romp with Mater taking center stage in Europe. Incredibles 2 picks up exactly where the first film left off in 2004. It also doesn’t miss a beat and quickly lays waste to any skeptical parents that thought the film was merely a cash grab trying to reel in memories of the first film.

Instead, what older viewers will find in Incredibles 2 is a quickly paced film that tells a fun chapter in the story of a normal family with super powers. This film does not reinvent the wheel. It’s the continuation of the family, their mannerisms, attitudes and people around them that people enjoyed from the first film. ‘Older viewers’ should be taken with a grain of salt as I say that just because they will possibly remember Incredibles more than some of the children in the audience.

Continue reading Incredibles 2, what it lacks in title, it makes up for in entertainment and fun