Showing posts with label Lewis Black. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lewis Black. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 December 2015

Inside Out

***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion (or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching!  There's no way mortals work at Pixar.  The creators there have to be gods of some kind.



Inside Out ? 5 out of 5

I?m quite the fan of Pixar?s work.  Ever since I first saw Toy Story, I was hooked with their films.  I hold them completely responsible for the renaissance of animated films that happened and the new golden era of family films we have.  They showed us that animated features don?t have to be song and dance numbers with bright colors and dumb characters meant to occupy your child while you sneak off to power nap or wolf down candy you hide in a secret stash.  Pixar showed us that the stories can by dynamic and deep and the characters can be rich and fun while all existing in a premise unlike everything else out there.  With the exception of the Cars films, I?ve never been disappointed with a Pixar movie and that?s why I bought this one on Blu-ray without actually seeing it.  I figured with their track record, purchasing Inside Out before seeing it was a completely safe bet?and boy was it.

For now on, I'm just going to pretend I have anthropomorphic emotions in my head.

Inside the mind of a small girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), deep within the center of her mind, exists her emotions:  Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling).  These emotions find their work cut out for them when Riley?s mother (Diane Lane) and father (Kyle MacLachlan) packed up their life in the Midwest and moves them to San Francisco.  While the stress of moving comes into play, Sadness starts to act up and begins to turn happier memories into sad ones.  After Sadness takes control of Riley?s mind and ends up creating a sad core memory?the memories that create who and what we are?Joy attempts to stop her from creating any more sadness but accidentally ends up getting her and Sadness lost in the deep recesses of Riley?s brain.  Now they must figure out a way to get back and take control before Fear, Anger and Disgust does something drastic that can change Riley?s life forever.

In all seriousness, Inside Out really creatively captured the difficulties that kids
face as they grow up and their world changes around them.

Like all Pixar films, this feature has some absolutely amazing animation and voice acting.  I really loved the look the emotions had with their glowing appearance and a texture that made them look a bit like Muppets.  The core cast of Poehler, Smith, Hader, Black and Kaling are incredible at bringing to life these characters but the film also has a great supporting cast that helps really give this world life and depth?and yes, John Ratzenberger continues his streak of doing a cameo voice.  Furthermore, and once again like all other Pixar films, the concept of this story is incredibly creative and imaginative.

I get the same way when I see the posts my racist uncle puts on Facebook.

Joy is looking at her hand...she must be high.
That's probably why she's so upbeat.
This unique look at what drives a young girl trying to come to terms with moving across country perfectly illustrates the difficulty that comes with being a kid and growing up.  Seeing inside Riley?s mind and seeing things like memories fading and being forgotten or, more importantly, meeting an imaginary friend from Riley?s childhood help Joy and Sadness on their journey really crafted some incredibly emotional scenes.  It?s never surprising that Pixar creates stories that will fill the viewer with happiness and incredible sadness (dang, Up makes you cry within the first five minutes) but it?s always impressive how they can create dynamic characters that you get invested with and then have a very strong emotional reaction to.  So, yes, I will admit that Inside Out made me cry.  I watched it with my girlfriend and tried my hardest to not bawl in front of her but the story was so strong and the characters so likable and sympathetic that fighting those feelings were impossible.  So, once again, you made tears come out of my face, Pixar, and I?m not mad at all for you doing it. 

Bing Bong's part in the story really had me in tears.  I don't know if I should be
openly admitting how often this film made me cry.
 

What's that?  No, I'm not crying again.
With its excellent animation, perfecting voice acting cast and a story that is overflowing with creativity, wit, humor and drama Inside Out is just another epic feature from a studio that keeps churning out amazing films.  I find it hard to category which films they?ve done that are their best because their level of creativity is beyond so many other animation studios in existence but I do think that this is definitely one of my top five films they?ve done.  I walked out of this one with no complaints and the only regret being not seeing this one in the theater when it was out?but if I did it then, I would have been trying even harder to not cry because as much as I don?t want my girlfriend to see me shed some tears, I REALLY don?t want complete strangers to see me bawl over the heartbreak of some animated emotions.

Sunday, 1 November 2015

Pixar?s INSIDE OUT Pulls Every Heartstring There Is


Now playing at a multiplex near you:

INSIDE OUT 

(Dirs. Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen, 2015)


Pixar?s entry into this year?s summer event movie sweepstakes is one of the trusty animation studios? most purely pleasurable productions.

Its strengths are many: it?s not another sequel, it has an incredibly solid comic cast headed by Amy Poehler, it?s a dazzling display of colorful concepts, it has the right amount of light, the right amount of darkness, it?s hilarious, it?s heartfelt, and it has a much better female-centric scenario than BRAVE.

Most of INSIDE OUT takes place inside the psyche of an 11-year old girl named Riley, voiced by Kaitlyn Dais. We learn right off the bat that there are five emotions behind the control panel of Riley?s mind: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear, which are respectively personified by Poehler, Phyllis Smith (best known as Phyllis from The Office), Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling (another Office alumni), and Bill Hader (Poehler?s former SNL co-star).

When Riley and her parents (voiced by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move from Minnesota to San Francisco, Sadness starts to affect her core memories (represented by glowing orbs which are gathered on shelves in a vast long-term storage library). These core memories power personality islands ? i.e. essential components of Riley?s identity ? with names like Friendship Island, Hockey Island, Goofball Island, and Honesty Island, which are connected to the central control room via thin bridges.

Joy tries to stop a sad core memory of Riley crying in front of her class on the first day at her new school from becoming part of her being, but ends up getting sucked with Sadness, and other core memories, through a vacuum tube and deposited into the far reaches of the ever-growing more despondent girl?s mind.

So Joy and Sadness have to make their way back to headquarters, which is faltering due to Anger, Disgust, and Fear being in charge. Joy and Sadness journey through realms such as the Center for Abstract Thinking, Imagination Land, and Dream Production, but most significantly they encounter Riley?s long forgotten imaginary friend, Bing Bong, adorably voiced by Richard Kind.

Bing Bong, a hot pink hybrid of elephant, cat, and dolphin outfitted with a porkpie hat and bowtie, who cries hard candy, is eager to help the stranded emotions get back by way of the Train of Thought though Riley?s subconscious. Meanwhile, the identity islands are collapsing, and Anger plants the idea to have Riley run away back to Minnesota in a misguided attempt to fix things.

Poehler brings a can-do gusto to her lead role of Joy that would make her Parks and Recreation character Leslie Knope proud, while Smith?s Sadness gets to do more than just amusingly mope through ? her developmental arc is key. The remaining emotions have their funny moments, especially Black?s red hot Anger, whose concern for learning curse words is a great running gag. I wouldn?t have minded more of Kaling and Hader?s takes on Disgust and Fear, but maybe less really is more.

As for the outside of Riley, Lane and MacLachlan provide a grounded parental presence ? we get to see inside their heads in one of the film?s funniest scenes ? that we see in flashes as being as stressed in adjusting to the move as their daughter. Dias does a good job as the everygirl Riley, wonderfully capturing the awkwardness, confusion, and pain that any kid and adult can relate to.

INSIDE OUT is on par with the best of Pixar. It maybe doesn?t scale the heights of Docter?s previous masterpiece UP, but that it gets so close is reason to rejoice. Its screenplay, courtesy of Docter, Josh Cooley, and Meg LeFauve, definitely re-establishes the studio's high standards of humor, invention, and emotional pull that had gotten a little misplaced in one too many sequels (that one being CARS 2).

As usual, the obligatory 3D presentation didn?t do much for me, but I was glad that I had the glasses on throughout as they helped to hide how much I kept tearing up. Consider every heartstring pulled.

More later...

Saturday, 31 October 2015

Pixar?s INSIDE OUT Pulls Every Heartstring There Is


Now playing at a multiplex near you:

INSIDE OUT 

(Dirs. Pete Docter & Ronaldo Del Carmen, 2015)


Pixar?s entry into this year?s summer event movie sweepstakes is one of the trusty animation studios? most purely pleasurable productions.

Its strengths are many: it?s not another sequel, it has an incredibly solid comic cast headed by Amy Poehler, it?s a dazzling display of colorful concepts, it has the right amount of light, the right amount of darkness, it?s hilarious, it?s heartfelt, and it has a much better female-centric scenario than BRAVE.

Most of INSIDE OUT takes place inside the psyche of an 11-year old girl named Riley, voiced by Kaitlyn Dais. We learn right off the bat that there are five emotions behind the control panel of Riley?s mind: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear, which are respectively personified by Poehler, Phyllis Smith (best known as Phyllis from The Office), Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling (another Office alumni), and Bill Hader (Poehler?s former SNL co-star).

When Riley and her parents (voiced by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan) move from Minnesota to San Francisco, Sadness starts to affect her core memories (represented by glowing orbs which are gathered on shelves in a vast long-term storage library). These core memories power personality islands ? i.e. essential components of Riley?s identity ? with names like Friendship Island, Hockey Island, Goofball Island, and Honesty Island, which are connected to the central control room via thin bridges.

Joy tries to stop a sad core memory of Riley crying in front of her class on the first day at her new school from becoming part of her being, but ends up getting sucked with Sadness, and other core memories, through a vacuum tube and deposited into the far reaches of the ever-growing more despondent girl?s mind.

So Joy and Sadness have to make their way back to headquarters, which is faltering due to Anger, Disgust, and Fear being in charge. Joy and Sadness journey through realms such as the Center for Abstract Thinking, Imagination Land, and Dream Production, but most significantly they encounter Riley?s long forgotten imaginary friend, Bing Bong, adorably voiced by Richard Kind.

Bing Bong, a hot pink hybrid of elephant, cat, and dolphin outfitted with a porkpie hat and bowtie, who cries hard candy, is eager to help the stranded emotions get back by way of the Train of Thought though Riley?s subconscious. Meanwhile, the identity islands are collapsing, and Anger plants the idea to have Riley run away back to Minnesota in a misguided attempt to fix things.

Poehler brings a can-do gusto to her lead role of Joy that would make her Parks and Recreation character Leslie Knope proud, while Smith?s Sadness gets to do more than just amusingly mope through ? her developmental arc is key. The remaining emotions have their funny moments, especially Black?s red hot Anger, whose concern for learning curse words is a great running gag. I wouldn?t have minded more of Kaling and Hader?s takes on Disgust and Fear, but maybe less really is more.

As for the outside of Riley, Lane and MacLachlan provide a grounded parental presence ? we get to see inside their heads in one of the film?s funniest scenes ? that we see in flashes as being as stressed in adjusting to the move as their daughter. Dias does a good job as the everygirl Riley, wonderfully capturing the awkwardness, confusion, and pain that any kid and adult can relate to.

INSIDE OUT is on par with the best of Pixar. It maybe doesn?t scale the heights of Docter?s previous masterpiece UP, but that it gets so close is reason to rejoice. Its screenplay, courtesy of Docter, Josh Cooley, and Meg LeFauve, definitely re-establishes the studio's high standards of humor, invention, and emotional pull that had gotten a little misplaced in one too many sequels (that one being CARS 2).

As usual, the obligatory 3D presentation didn?t do much for me, but I was glad that I had the glasses on throughout as they helped to hide how much I kept tearing up. Consider every heartstring pulled.

More later...