Movie Reviews

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

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  • Title: Mr. Peabody & Sherman
  • IMDB: link

Mr. Peabody & ShermanBased on the Mr. Peabody shorts from The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show the new full-length feature film from writer Craig Wright and director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, The Forbidden Kingdom) may not as be as clever as the original, but it turns out to enjoyable and far more fun than I expected.

Tweaking the story of the genius dog and his adopted son Sherman who travel in time through the use of the WABAC Machine (originally constructed in the TV-series as a way to keep Sherman occupied an teach him history), Mr. Peabody & Sherman uses the machine as a linchpin of a story involving Sherman’s (Max Charles) trouble with a girl at school named Penny (Ariel Winter) and the pair’s unauthorized use of the time travel machine which leads to serious repercussions.

While trying to stop a nosy social worker (Allison Janney) from removing Sherman from an unsuitable home, and dealing with Penny’s parents (Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann), Mr. Peabody (Ty Burrell) takes the kids back to set things right.

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The Wind Rises

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  • Title: Kaze tachinu
  • IMDB: link

“All I wanted to do was to make something beautiful.”

The Wind RisesOver a lifetime in animation Japanese film director Hayao Miyazaki has made a name for himself as one of the premiere filmmakers of his generation. Although I haven’t always loved his films, I found Princess Mononoke too bizarre for my tastes and a bit unwieldy with its 133-minute running time, it’s impossible to come out of any Miyazaki film without a profound respect for the talented man who brought them to the screen.

For his final film Miyazaki delivers a love story to aviation in the fictionalized biography of Japanese aircraft designer Jiro Horikoshi (Hideaki Anno), a young man with dreams of building beautiful flying machines who would design the Mitsubishi A5M and Mitsubishi A6M Zero which Japan used during WWII. Adapted from the novel by Hori Tatsuo, The Wind Rises may not quite be the all-ages adventure some might be hoping for, but it beautifully captures the fire of imagination that drives Jiro in his designs and the lively but ill Naoko (Miori Takimoto) whom he falls desperately in love with. As he approaches his life’s ambition he feels the other great love of his life slowly fading away.

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3 Days to Kill

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  • Title: 3 Days to Kill
  • IMDB: link

3 Days to KillIt would be easy to simply call 3 Days to Kill as a bad movie and move on, and I certainly wouldn’t blame anyone one for doing so. The inconsistent thriller concerning the final mission of dying spy Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) dealing with apartment full of an extended family of squatters, reconnecting with his estranged wife (Connie Nielsen) and daughter (Hailee Steinfeld), and working for a sexy spy (Amber Heard), immediately after promising his wife he was done with the the agency, to find and kill a target known only as The Wolf (Richard Sammel), is one hell of a B-movie mess.

Costner, who has had some notable voice issues earlier this year causing him to pull out of planned appearances, could give Christian Bale‘s gruff Batman voice a run for its money with his gravel monotone performance here. Despite making assurances he’s given up the life, and without explaining to his wife and daughter how killing dozens of people where they live in Paris might come back to haunt them, Renner agrees to slowly kill his way to The Wolf and his top lieutenant The Albino (Tómas Lemarquis).

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RoboCop Redux

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  • Title: RoboCop (2014)
  • IMDB: link

RobocopReleased in 1987, RoboCop holds a special spot in the pantheon of 80’s action movies for anyone who has seen it (and its various lesser sequels and spin-offs). Written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner (by far the best script either has done), director Paul Verhoeven‘s satirical, violent, and over-the-top tale of a critically wounded Detroit police officer turned into the first cybernetic soldier by an ominous corporation with its own agenda gets an obligatory, and completely unnecessary, remake. Thankfully this one fares better than the last Verhoeven film Hollywood decided to remake.

Missing the original’s biting wit (none of those terrific commercials this time around) or primal sense of justice and revenge, and substituting a PG-13 gruesomeness for the original’s R-rated violence (meaning we get a much smaller body count but several shots of scientists poking around inside of the still-human pieces of our hero), the new film makes several interesting choices that allow the story to take a slightly different path than the original.

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Everything is Awesome

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  • Title: The LEGO Movie
  • IMDB: link

The LEGO MovieWith a mix of stop-motion and CGI effects (some purposely cheesy enough to show you the string holding figures in frame) The LEGO Movie delivers an energetic and enjoyable story with a nice message for kids. A cynical person would note that the film is basically a 100-minute commercial to sell the various (mostly over-priced) specialized sets and figures that make up the LEGO franchise. However, the movie (for the most part) puts the story and characters first while also promoting the basic message of the building blocks that allow you to build anything you can imagine.

Beginning with an awkward opening scene involving a wizard (Morgan Freeman), the film’s villain Lord Business (Will Ferrell), and a prophecy about “The Special,” the movie gets off to a bit of a shaky start (although it does eventually backtrack to put the events into context). Jumping years in the future we’re introduced to our hero, unremarkable construction worker Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt), who finds the mythical Piece of Resistance which can prevent Business’ plans of destruction.

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