Movie Fan Theories

January 22, 2016January 22, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

So I have to admit I get a kick out of fan theories. Most of them are nonsense but I think they are funny. I find it amusing how the good theorists can weave themes and characters together to create compelling arguments.

Of course most of us know the Pixar Theory. Basically it is a theory that all of the Pixar films are connected from Toy Story all the way to The Good Dinosaur. Here is how The Good Dinosaur fits into the theory

(Warning all of these videos I am posting have spoilers so if you haven’t seen the films beware!):

This Inside Out theory I thought was pretty good. Is Riley adopted?

There are also a lot of fun fan theories for Disney. This one about Elsa and Rapunzel being sisters is very solid and fun.

This one about Beauty and the Beast is great!

Harry Potter has a lot of fun one’s. Here is one that JK Rowling liked and said fits!

There is also a theory that Harry might not be the Chosen One after all

I also liked this one that merges Star Wars and Harry Potter- Is Kilo Ren Snape?

Here’s a fun one that supposes is the Joker in Batman v Superman Jason Todd not the Joker we see in other films?

This was pretty clever about James Bond. Is it just a code name?

In the world of Star Wars we have many fan theories and this one was legendary. Jar Jar is a Sith Lord!

Here is one I love debating who is Rey’s father?

Anyway, there are a ton of fun fan theories. What are some you like? Do you enjoy watching them?

A Review of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight

January 22, 2016January 22, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

I’m not going to see Hateful Eight as it is too violent for me but thought I would share with you guys my friend Conrado’s review. You should check out his blog. He always has bold well thought out opinions on particularly indy films.

700 Subscribers Answers

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Hi guys! A week or so ago I requested my blog readers and youtubers submit questions for me to answer in honor of my 700th youtube subscriber. Here is the video. You can jump right ahead to your question if you want using the time stamp in the description section. Thanks for the great questions!

If you have comments on my answers feel free to put it in the comments section and let’s talk. On to more vlogging and blogging fun!

Boy and the World Review

January 19, 2016January 20, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

If you guys read my response to the Oscar nominations you may recall my disappointment at The Peanuts Movie being snubbed for Best Animated Feature Film. In it’s place was a film called Boy and the World or o Menino eo Mundo in Portuguese. I had heard of this film but it had mostly fallen under my radar so the nomination was a big surprise. Today I had the chance to see the film and I can see why it got nominated. I don’t know if I would pick it over Peanuts Movie but a lot of that comes down to personal artistic taste.

Boy and the World is directed by Brazilian animator Ale Abreu and was released in that country back in 2013. It is made using mostly sketch animation with some live action imagery and paper mache thrown in. The film’s biggest strength is it’s wild imaginative artistry. It’s a real joy to watch.

It’s a simple story about a boy who is devastated when his father leaves the family to go and find work in the city.

They plant a tree on his departure but the boy is still very upset.

He goes on a journey to find his father and bring him back to the family but in so doing he dives into the city and confronts all kinds of people, industry, conflict and more.

At one point he ends up living at a trash dump.

As you can see the animation is quite beautiful but what adds to the appeal of the film is the wonderful music. Written by Ruben Feffer and Gustavo Kurlat it combines ‘pan-flute, samba and Brazilian hip hop’ into a delightful absorbing experience that made me smile. Here’s one of the main themes:

The visuals combined with the music at times feel like a kaleidoscope and I never grew weary of the imagery. It is a bit self indulgent and has little to do with the main plot of the boy looking for his Dad, but I liked it. However, I can picture that bothering some people but not me.

The ending of Boy and the World does try to say something about war, commerce, industry and waste but that wasn’t as effective as the rest of the visuals. It felt a little heavy handed where the rest of the film had spread the same message using joy and light. We didn’t really need the contrasting images.

There is little to no dialogue in Boy and the World so there are no cultural limitations or barriers. I know films with no dialogue aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but I enjoy them when done right and this is.

So is it better than The Peanuts Movie? Again, it just depends on what you like. They both have simple stories at their centers with depressed little boys and great music. Both are also visually innovative and beautiful. If you like more earthy, surreal art you’ll like Boy and the World better. If you like the more modern realistic pop art than you will like Peanuts Movie better. I personally have an attachment to Charlie Brown so I enjoyed his story more but I also loved the newness and creativity of Boy and the World.

Either way I can see why the academy nominated it. It’s a beautiful film and adds a strong artistic entry to 2015 that we really didn’t have outside of The Prophet. If you get a chance to see it let me know what you think.

My youtube review

Top 10 Worst Animated Films

January 16, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

So Norm of the North inspired me to create a top 10 list of the worst animated films I’ve ever seen. Here it is:

10. Lorax- This bright, messy film ruins Dr Seuss’ subtle message into a story of bland corporate greed.

9. Mars Needs Moms- Gray, drab, motion capture film with a strangely dark message for kids of Moms getting abducted by aliens.

8. Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return- Some of the worst animation I’ve ever seen. It does not look finished. The story is cluttered and I nodded off more than once. It is not worthy to bear the name of Oz.

7. Pound Puppies Movie- The worst of the corporate toy movies from the 80s with no creativity or cleverness. We get the origins of Puppy Power and that’s as lame as you might guess.

6. Fly Me to the Moon- Basically a script of unending fly puns and toilet humor. Poor animation, annoying characters, stupid story.

5. Hero of Color City- Terrible Toy Story rip-off about crayons who come to life. The animation is awful, the story is boring, humor falls flat.

4. Hunchback of Notre Dame 2- Takes the subtle dark message of the original and turns it into a maudlin atrocity. Terrible animation, horrible villain and a bell with jewels on the inside is stupid. The worst of the Disney sequels in my opinion.

3. Norm of the North- Call it recency bias but this may be the worst animated film I’ve seen in a theater. The story makes no sense, animation is sloppy, villain super lame. Not one good thing to say about it

2. Eight Crazy Nights- Disgusting animated film from Adam Sandler featuring jokes in poor taste to put it mildly. His vocal performances are insulting and annoying. The songs wouldn’t even work in a bad SNL skit. Terrible film in every way.

1. All Dogs Go to Heaven Christmas Carol- You guys know how dear Christmas Carol is to me and this film adds hypnotized dogs and a she-devil spirit called Belladonna who wants to destroy Christmas. Making Carface Scrooge doesn’t work because he isn’t the primary villain trying to ruin Christmas. The Tiny Tim dog is the worst and The animation is terrible and the songs unoriginal.

Norm of the North Review

January 16, 2016January 20, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

All right 2016 I issue you a challenge- I dare you to produce a movie worse than Norm of the North. Yes my friends, the new animated film Norm of the North is one of the worst animated (or otherwise) films I’ve ever seen. Please do not waste time and money seeing this total and complete garbage. Literally the best thing in the movie is Rob Schneider and when you can utter that statement about a film you know you are in trouble…

Schneider voices a bear who can talk to humans (a gift never explained). He’s a prince of the iceberg and they like to put on shows for the tourists who take cruises to the arctic (I know they go to Alaska but aortic I don’t think is a thing for cruises?).

Of course, Norm doesn’t fit in with everyone else and misses his Grandfather bear who disappeared years ago. But things are thrown into chaos when a model home lands on the iceberg (you read right). Evidently a developer has decided to build a housing development on the glacier (because that makes so much sense…).

Of course that means heading off to New York City where we get the evil corporate executive who is swindling the Arctic Conservation Board and shipping out the homes.

Norm also has these little lemmings that are obvious minions copy-cats.

Movies like this make you appreciate more movies like Elf and Enchanted that get this type of story right. In Norm of the North they settle for potty humor and pratfalls. Norm’s character is also kind of inconsistent. One moment he is nerdy. Another moment he is the coolest guy in town appearing on talk shows and the like.

The animation looks like something made 15 years ago not today and it’s not even so bad it’s good. I actually nodded off for a few minutes it was all so dull and stupid.

I’m normally not a harsh person but this movie is awful. I really don’t have anything good to say about it. I guess congrats for getting a movie made. I know how hard that is but please work on the script a little bit more next time. I know they had a small budget but a lot is forgiven if the story and script are decent and there’s nothing expensive about writing a good script!

It’s disheartening when this type of film gets a wide release because I think it adds to the stereotype that animation is only for kids and that the medium is on the decline. In my eyes it is just a momentary glitch and every medium has those. Let’s just smile and move on.

At least I think the bar has been set very low for me to enjoy Kung fu Panda 3 this month! That’s for sure!

Overall Grade- F

Remembering Alan Rickman

January 15, 2016January 15, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

My brother joined me today to talk about some of the most memorable roles of Alan Rickman who passed away today. From Hans Gruber in Die Hard to Severus Snape in Harry Potter he gave us some memorable characters and great performances. I don’t normally do this for all celebrities that pass but I just felt like doing it for Rickman so I did.

What is your favorite Alan Rickman performance? Die Hard, Galaxy Quest, Sense and Sensibility, Sweeney Todd, Harry Potter etc. Put in the comments section and let’s talk about it.

Thanks

RIP Alan Rickman.

Oscar Nomination Reactions

January 14, 2016January 14, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Hey guys! Today the Academy released it’s Oscar nominations and here are my reactions:

If you don’t want to watch the video basically I will sum it up. I don’t get the love for Bridge of Spies. It was dull, conventional and average. Particularly the nomination for best screenplay I find baffling but as I seem to be one of the only people I know who feels that way I can’t say I am surprised. At least it isn’t offensive like last year’s baffling nominee and winner Birdman.

I was surprised to see no nomination for Aaron Sorkin for Steve Jobs– especially with how much the liberal Hollywood love his writing. Steve Jobs was way better written than Bridge of Spies. Come on? Nice to see Adam McKay get nominated for Best Director for Big Short and was surprised he took Ridley Scott’s spot for The Martian. There was little love for Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful Eight and that surprised me a little bit.

I’ve actually seen all 8 of the best picture nominations and aside from Bridge of Spies they are fine. I would have subbed out Creed or Inside Out for Bridge of Spies but again in minority on that one.

I was glad to see Inside Out get a nomination for best original screenplay and Brooklyn for adapted screenplay.

I think the documentary Amy is overrated and uses too much home video. I didn’t find out anything I didn’t already know. To me it was kind of shallow but again in minority on that one.

The most absurd nomination of the night is The Revenant for production design. The whole thing is basically set in the snow! Are we giving the team credit for designing the snow, forest and river? Ridiculous. Brooklyn, Carol, Cinderella, Star Wars: The Force Awakens all had much better production design than The Revenant.

But expect The Revenant and Spotlight to take home big awards come February. Sylvester Stallone in Creed and Kate Winslet will win supporting actor trophies.

I was glad to see A Bear’s Story, World of Tomorrow and Sanjay’s Super Team all get nominated for Animated Short. They are all excellent. World of Tomorrow should win if enough voters have seen. I don’t even understand it completely but it should win.

And now for the big snub….

No nomination for the Peanuts Movie. It is ridiculous. To me it was exactly what a Peanuts movie should be. If you think about the specials they are about Charlie Brown trying to gain confidence. The Great Pumpkin is really the only one that has a complex plot. Think about the Christmas special it is about Charlie Brown worrying about the holidays. The Thanksgiving special is about him trying to make a meal for his friends. What were people expecting storywise? I don’t get it!

I at least got exactly what I wanted. A story about Charlie Brown gaining confidence to talk to the Red Haired Girl. It was sweet. It was emotional, and it was funny. And even if you don’t love the plot the animation was so great. The use of the hybrid animation with a flat 2D style combined with CG was brilliant and groundbreaking and deserved a nomination. It really did.

All I know is Boy and the World better be really great. That came out of nowhere but maybe it will be 2015’s Song of the Sea and it will all make sense after I see it.

For now I’m sad for Peanuts but in the end it’s the Oscars. They usually get it wrong (Birdman winning over Boyhood…) so I don’t really care.

And we have to listen to Chris Rock host. Groan. But I’m sure there will be a few nice moments and at least this year I’ve seen all 8 nominees, so there’s that.

What did you think of the nominations? Put in the comments section. Thanks!

Blindspot 1: Blade Runner Review

January 14, 2016January 14, 2016 | Rachel's Reviews

Today I got to see the first in my Blindspot series where each month I will review a well regarded film I’ve never seen before. To see the full list click here. This month’s selection is the 1982 Ridley Scott science fiction classic Blade Runner.

With this film I had the special opportunity to see it on the big screen as part of the Cinemark Classic Series (good timing!), and I ended up having a unique experience.

First of all, the movie is extremely immersive. Set in a dystopian Los Angeles Ridley Scott creates a rainy city landscape that is textured and layered unlike I have seen in many other movies. It was beautiful and almost overwhelming to take it all in.

The plot is based on a Phillip K. Dick story and it stars Harrison Ford as Deckard, a cop (or blade runner) who is assigned to hunt down creatures called ‘replicants’.

There are 4 on earth and a giant corporation called Tyrell has set them up to only live for 4 years. The movie is basically a cat and mouse chase between the humans and the replicants but it is so much more than that.

I’ll be honest with you guys about 30 minutes into Blade Runner I was feeling extremely frustrated. I had no idea what was going on and didn’t understand who was hunting who and what all the characters were doing. It was so much new and different I found it overwhelming and confusing.

Finally in frustration I did something unorthodox. I went into the hallway and read the Wikipedia synopsis. This helped me have some kind of framework to understand all the characters and world being thrown at me. I know most people would bristle at reading a plot synopsis giving away the ending and other details but for me it helped to enjoy the film much more.

And like I said there is so much going on that knowing the basic framework really doesn’t spoil much in Blade Runner, so I’m glad I did it. It might be unconventional but it worked for me!

The acting is all fine in Blade Runner. The characters and performances take a back seat to the story and setting but they work with what they’ve got. In major roles we see Edward James Olmos, M Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Joanna Cassidy and more.

I particularly liked Sean Young as Rachael, an ‘experimental replicant’ who becomes entangled with Deckard. William Sanderson is also good as JF Sebastian, a strange man who collects replicants and robots.

Daryl Hannah is very good as Pris, one of the 4 replicants.

Harrison Ford is a little bit bland here compared to his charisma in films like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark but it works. Contrary to some popular opinion not every character in a movie has to be dynamic- especially in a world and plot so dazzlingly complex as this one!

Once I wasn’t confused any more I started to pick up on the main message of Blade Runner (all good scifi should have a metaphor IMO).

The theme I took from it was the replicants know they have a limited time period to live and they want life so much. They will even go to violent methods to preserve it and lengthen it. On the other hand, the humans who have a plethora of days are kind of faceless and bland, without any passion.

This robotic human existence is exemplified by the billboards we see projected onto the cityscape of women mindlessly taking pills. The emotional climax of the film for me at least was when Rachel and Deckard admit they love each other. It’s like both realize the value of time and decide to stop wasting it.

It might sound strange but in many ways it is a similar theme we see in Wall-e. If you think of Wall-e as a replicant and not a robot doesn’t he teach the humans to value their time instead of mindlessly absorbing entertainment? Wall-e’s time is limited by his battery power, where the humans just need to wake up and live a full life.

Even with a plot synopsis not everyone is going to like this movie. It’s just too out there and different to appeal to everyone. Plus, it can be deliberately paced, confusing, and rather drab.

However, I am certainly glad I saw it and will look forward to seeing it more times and gaining further insight into the story and characters. At the very least, it was a good reminder to me that sometimes I have to make the moviegoing experience work for ME, even if that means stepping out into the hallway and reading a synopsis! If it helps me enjoy the movie more than isn’t that a good thing?

It’s at least worth seeing for the amazing visuals and world building. The music by Vangelis is a little heavy on the saxophone at times but I did really like it. The whole film is very well crafted and a wonderful sci-fi dystopian movie.

What do you think of Blade Runner? Too weird for you or a favorite?

As far as content goes there is some sensuality and violence especially a scene where a characters eyes are stabbed. The over all feel can also be dark and depressing like most dystopian settings.

Overall Grade- A-