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.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

***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!  Wait...so this isn't a Justice League that has Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser in it?

Justice League:  Gods and Monsters ? 4 out of 5

If you follow the blog, you know that I?m an unapologetic fan of superheroes and comic books (not that I understand why anyone would have to apologize for being a fan of this stuff).  I?m a big fan of all the Marvel films and I really dig DC?s animated features.  When I heard that Bruce Timm?the man who gave us the epic Batman:  The Animated Series and so many other awesome things?was creating a new Justice League story that would show a brand new look at DC?s Trinity (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman), I was all in.  Not only because this was another chance to see another DC animated film but because Justice League:  Gods and Monsters offers up a unique and original retelling?a new universe?for a completely different tale of the heroes to take place in.

One of the biggest changes is that Superman is dressed like he's trying
to join up with the goth kids.

In an alternate reality, Superman (Benjamin Bratt) is the son of General Zod and was raised by migrant farmers on Earth, Batman (Michael C. Hall) isn?t Bruce Wayne but Kirk Langstrom (the man who would be Man-Bat in the mainstream storyline) and is no longer a man seeking vengeance as a vigilante but a new form of vampire, and Wonder Woman (Tamara Taylor) is Bekka, a New God and the widow of Darkseid?s son.  Together, they form a new Justice League that protects the world but is looked upon with suspicion from the population.  After the deaths of brilliant men like Victor Fries, Ray Palmer and Silas Stone are made to look like it was done by the team, the world calls for an investigation.  Soon, the team learns they are being blackmailed by a diabolical villain in an effort to remove them before he initiates a plan to convert the world to his vision of perfection.

Amazing.  Her suit is somehow even more impractical.

 

 Despite coming out of the gate with some amazing features in their animated shared universe, I haven?t been that impressed with the last few DC features.  They?ve never been all out bad but too many of them have felt rushed and like they were pushing too much content into a seemingly short time span.  This is also seen in Gods and Monsters as the story has the harsh responsibility to craft a new world but it also juggles having a story that is deep and massive.  For the most part, the film does a great job of both feathering out the universe (this is also helped thanks to 3 short prequel animated features that can be found online...and I very much recommend watching them) and developing the mystery and intrigue of the story to a satisfying degree.

Kinda looks like the Commissioner Gordon/Robo-Batman a bit.

Like all DC?s features, the animation looks great and continues to keep a similar look with the other films (a look that fits perfectly with Batman:  TAS).  Additionally, the voice acting is pretty good.  Bratt, Hall and Taylor do a great job of bringing life to these new versions of the Justice League.  Finally, keeping with the trend of the other films, this feature is very mature and very dark.  Sure, the film gives you some robot nipples in order to, I guess, be mature but what really blew me away was how dark the feature goes.

Like Bat-nipples, only even more pointless.

Gods and Monsters gets gory to the point that this film would easily be skirting an R-rating if it was a live-action film but what I really dug about this was how Bruce Timm really wanted you to make sure these aren?t the heroes you were raised with.  Sure, some could argue that Timm was going a lazy route and making Supes, Bats, and WW darker for the sake of being dark but I saw it as an antithesis to what I?m used to.  Superman isn?t the Boy Scout we know but a bitter and angry man, this Batman will only kill bad dudes (and do so by drinking their blood) and Wonder Woman is barely a shadow of Princess Diana.  This new approach to their origins and going beyond by making completely different characters become these heroes rather just adjusting Bruce Wayne, Diana and Kal-El?s backstory really made for something interesting and not just a quick alternate universe throw-together.

This Batman does not suck...well, he actually does.
(Damn, did I really go with that awful joke?)

Justice League:  Gods and Monsters might be the best DC animated film I?ve seen in some time.  Its story is great, the voice acting is top notch, the new twist on the same old heroes is intriguing and the action is violent but exciting.  Bruce Timm crafted a universe that is rich and has the potential for many more stories and more unique takes on other DC characters.  I'm glad this world will return with online episodes and I'm excited to see what other neat routes this universe will take.

The Boxtrolls

***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, 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! Trolls come in boxes now...but those boxes better be biodegradable.

The Boxtrolls ? 5 out of 5

When I first saw the trailer for The Boxtrolls, I thought it looked like it would be a fun movie but it wasn?t enough to make me run out to the theater to see it?however, I should have because I absolutely loved every single second of this film?it was so fun, so well made, and so adorable that I can?t help but gush in my review here.

Dear me...that is freakin' cute as hell!

In the fictional town of Cheesebridge, underground dwelling trolls called the boxtrolls roam the night.  The citizens are scared and exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Ben Kingsley) strikes up a deal with the town?s mayor (Jared Harris) to take out all the boxtrolls and when they are all eliminated he will get a seat on the town?s high council; The White Hats.  Snatcher takes his team?the unsure Mr. Trout (Nick Frost) and Mr. Pickles (Richard Ayoade) and the simple and volatile Mr. Gristle (Tracy Morgan)?and set out to take out the creatures and spread vicious rumors about them, claiming they eat children.  Meanwhile, the boxtrolls are trying to live a simple life of being trash scavengers and raise a small human boy they call Eggs (Game of Thrones? Isaac Hempstead Wright).  Unfortunately, the same time Eggs discovers he isn?t a boxtroll from the mayor?s daughter Winnie (Elle Fanning) is the same time he learns a shocking truth about his past and has to gather up the courage to save his friends from Snatcher.

Great, now they are going to be abducted by aliens.

Laika, the animation studio that gave us Coraline and one of my favorite animated films ever; ParaNorman, brought that same level of quality animation to the animated loose adaptation of Alan Snow?s book Here Be Monsters! (I said ?animated? and ?animation? a lot in that sentence).  The thing about this studio that continues to blow me away is the realistic motions they create with their characters.  Everyone in this film moves so life-like that it is nearly mind-blowing.  There is such an attention to detail that they make the characters really come to life and pushes the film away from just being another stop-motion film for kids. 

Maybe if trolls stopped acting like trolls this sort of violence wouldn't happen.

The moment that sticks out for me was the sequence where Fish, the boxtroll that became Eggs? adapted father, is taken by Archibald Snatcher and Eggs can?t save him.  When Fish is taken away, Eggs? entire body slumps down with sadness and overwhelming sense of failure.  It?s a simple bit of bodily acting from the animated character but it spoke volumes to me and made me realize that once again Laika studios were here to deliver something incredible.  The way they make the characters move and the facial expressions they are able to capture not only helps dish out the emotion, drama, and humor the film was soaked in but they were able to ride that line where the characters move fluid and realistic and have them be over-the-top enough to look like they belong in this wondrous cartoonish reality they exist in.

Look at that smile...I wanna be his best friend.

I was just thinking the other day that my blog lacked greatly
in the troll butt department.

Like Coraline and ParaNorman, this stop-motion affair was perfectly crafted to be a family film where kids can have fun with the adorable boxtrolls and adults can appreciate the tender story?and both parties can appreciate the fact that the film doesn?t talk down to either of them.  The story is loaded with heart, humor, and fun that I was pretty much smiling and overwhelmingly enjoying myself the entire running length.  The story made me laugh (and it is damn funny) and even made me cry when it explored Eggs? tragic past and the relationship that he has with the boxtrolls.  Just like ParaNorman, this movie absolutely and perfectly blended having tender moments with humor and action.

"Tell my boxtroll wife that I love her!!!!"

Believe it or not, I've met people who look like this.

Every time I review an animated film, I always have to talk about the voice acting because without it, you can ruin an animated film really fast.  Like everything else about this movie, the voice acting is top notch and some of the best I?ve seen.  Ben Kingsley is absolutely FANTASTIC as Archibald Snatcher?he was so awesome that I had to capitalize the word ?fantastic.?  I honestly didn?t even realize it was him because he did such a great job of crafting a voice that fits the character perfectly.  And the team that Snatcher has is backed up so effectively by the trio of Richard Ayoade, Nick Frost, and Tracy Morgan.  All three of these actors fit like a glove with their characters and they brought so many funny moments.  Morgan especially was hysterical as he really nailed the simple lines of Mr. Gristle and really knew how to make the character hilarious.

There is either one of two things in that box...a boxtroll or something that Justin Timberlake
sang about.

Winnie kinda looks like she can start fires with her mind.

Isaac Hempstead Wright has already won my favor because of Game of Thrones but he was so good as Eggs.  The emotion he was able to convey and the confusion over the realization he discovers was tremendously displayed in his acting.  The same level is brought by Elle Fanning as Winnie.  There isn?t a single actor within this film that doesn?t deliver.  Jared Harris is great as Lord Portly-Rind, the mayor of Cheesebridge, Simon Pegg is great as the significant person from Eggs? past, and the list of talented voice actors like Dee Bradley Baker, Fred Tatasciore, Maurice LaMarche, Tom Kenny, Pat Fraley, Steven Blum, and more really helped bring this wonderful fantasy world to life and made it fun and colorful.

But when I do that to my Subway Sandwich Artist I'm called a creep.

I have absolutely no complaints about The Boxtrolls.  It was fun, dramatic, emotional, hilarious, cute, whimsical, entertaining, delightful, adorable?it was all the good words that my little brain can think of.  Nothing about it felt out of place or like it didn?t belong.  It will definitely go down as one of the best animated films I?ve seen and it absolutely deserved my perfect score.  It was just that epic.

Big Hero 6

***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, 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 must have been a redneck comedian out there who made a bad joke about how his "Big Hero 6" is the six-pack of beer.

Big Hero 6 ? 5 out of 5

I love comic books.  This isn?t really a surprise to any loyal readers of mine?with my never ending references to superheroes and the way I pretty give perfect scores to all the comic adaptations that come out (even this one), I?ve made it painfully clear that I?m nuts about those books that old people call cartoons and funny pages.  However, I haven?t read every comic to ever exist and there are tons and tons of stories from various publishers that I haven?t known about, haven?t glanced at, or haven?t got to yet.  When the Big Hero 6 miniseries came out in 1998, I think I read one issue (maybe two) and never bothered to finish it.  I just wasn?t into it?however, when Disney Animation Studios did a very loose adaptation and complete re-imagining of it, I was very sold.

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The adorable-factor with Baymax helped sell me, too.

Set in an alternate future in the new city of San Fransokyo, the brilliant (but unfocused) Hiro (Ryan Potter) ends up seeing his future put into a spiral after his brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) and his brother?s mentor; Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell), die in a fire.  Hiro?s resulting depression becomes the focus of his late brother?s work when his healthcare robot, the loveable and balloon-y Baymax (Scott Adsit), makes it his mission to cure him.  Soon, however, Hiro discovers that his brother?s death came about after a mysterious man stole microbot technology from him and now Hiro wants to get to the bottom of the crime and bring about justice for his brother.  So, he forms the superhero team Big Hero 6 with some of his brother?s friends; Fred (T.J. Miller), GoGo (Jamie Chung), Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), and Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez).  The heroes set out to bring down the villain using the microbots but discover a horrifying secret about him? 

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"Let's seek out Tony Stark...and to make things fair, he can wear his Hulk-Buster armor."

Like I stated in the opening paragraph, I read one issue of Big Hero 6 and didn?t really care for it.  I don?t recall what exactly I wasn?t digging about it but I remember it just not grabbing my attention.  Either way, I was a little surprised when I found out that Disney was going to adapt it to a cartoon (that is not connected to the live-action MCU, by the way?although, it would have been kinda neat if it was).  I knew I wasn?t going to see the team?s big names like Silver Samurai and Sunfire in the film because of the rights to those characters belonging elsewhere but I really had no idea how they were going to adapt it.  The comic didn?t really seem like a Disney affair?so, I guess that?s why so many changes were made.

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Will GoGo share her gum with the rest of the team?

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A misspelling in her invite email made Honey Lemon
show up with balls on.

Pretty much everything about the team, the setting, the story, and the characters were changed for this adaptation and, honestly, that wasn?t a bad thing.  I?ve never been one for strict adherence to source material and the changes made to Big Hero 6 did something the comics didn?t and that was create interest in me (that makes me sound a tad narcissistic).  Baymax is no longer the robot that changes into looking like some kind of reptile beast and is now a lovable and ridiculously adorable balloon robot that gets all kinds of badass when he gets the armor treatment.  Wasabi gets the rest of his name dropped (originally named Wasabi-No-Ginger) and is no longer a trained chef who fights with all kinds of bladed weaponry.  GoGo is given a simpler advance suit to wear into combat and Honey Lemon is almost unrecognizable from her comic counterpart.  Also, the way they handled the change to Fred (called Fredzilla in the comics) was pretty entertaining.  He?s not creating monster auras anymore and, instead, he is simply wearing a suit that breaths fire and gives him super jumping abilities and it made for some very amusing moments.  All the alterations made to the source material were an improvement, in my opinion.  It turned an obscure comic into something that worked for a mass audience and it ended up being one of the examples where adjustments for a wider appeal ended up succeeding and not feeling like the source material was being watered down.

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T.J. Miller as Fred is seconded only to Baymax as the show-stealer!

The story in Big Hero 6 (also greatly different from the comics) is your typical superhero origin affair but it never felt played out or like some sort of rehash.  It hits all the numbers that are synonymous with hero origin stories?like a death of a loved one sparking the need to take justice into one?s own hands, the connection between the first villain and the heroes' story and, of course, a training montage.  However, Big Hero 6 took all these clich?s and made them feel less weary and more entertaining.  From watching Hiro design a suit for Baymax to watching the team learn how to use their new supersuits to watching their first, and inevitably losing, battle was filled with heart and humor.  The addition of having characters that were entertaining, interesting, and very diverse made these classic tropes feel refreshing and new.

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Hey...I wanna wowwy-pop.

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And with that, Wasabi started to ask Pizza Hut to
never cut his pizzas again.

The characters, and all their changes, were all fantastic in Big Hero 6.  Everyone from Hiro to Baymax to Honey Lemon and Wasabi to Tadashi and Hiro?s Aunt Cass (voiced by Maya Rudolph) to Robert Callaghan and the industrialist Alistair Krei (voiced by Alan Tudyk and may, or may not, be the one behind the mask of Yokai because of the interest he had in Hiro?s microbots)?they are all very interesting and fun to watch.  While characters like GoGo may not have as much screen time or be as overwhelmingly hilarious as someone like Fred, no one felt unwarranted or complete superfluous in their role.  They are all dynamic, interesting, fun, and even intimidating when it concerns Yokai.

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In all seriousness, Yokai is a pretty badass bad guy!

The voice acting helps greatly in creating the world of Big Hero 6 and is one of the biggest reasons that the characters are so easy to get behind and invest in.  While T.J. Miller is, without a doubt, one of the biggest highlights as Fred because they guy is just ridiculously hilarious, no one in the cast was any real slouch.  Ryan Potter is fantastic as Hiro and nailed the emotion needed for the boy genius, Scott Adsit helps makes Baymax the loveable and sweet character he is, and veteran James Cromwell is incredible as Robert Cromwell.  In fact, everyone in the cast felt right at home in their characters and really brought everyone to life and helped make the story move fluidly.

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Big Hero 6 is what a douche bag version of Hiro would call his six pack...

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Bring on Part 2!

Big Hero 6 holds no surprises with its story of a newly formed superhero team but it never feels tired or dated.  With spectacular animation, a perfect blend of heart and humor (I cried and laughed in this one), and a talented cast, Disney Studios was able to showcase the standard of Marvel-infused action alongside Disney wonder and magic.  The film is heartwarming, hilarious, action-packed, and, most of all, ridiculously fun from beginning to end.  Finally, the film proves that a Disney animated version of a Marvel comic can work and work extremely effectively!

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Maybe the best Stan Lee cameo yet!