Should I Give Grades?

November 17, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Hi friends! I want to ask your opinion. One thing as a movie blogger I have struggled with is rating or ranking the films I see. It’s one thing if it is the Pixar reviews or Disney Canon reviews and they are films I can watch multiple times really crafting an “expert” opinion. I feel more confident in those reviews; although, some of the early Canon reviews I think I was a little bit tough (particularly Bambi and Pinocchio) because I didn’t have much experience writing reviews. But when I am reviewing a new movie it is hard to have that kind of exposure to the film and it is mostly a response to my gut reaction. It’s tough to take notes although sometimes I do. I think most readers understand the difference between new and previously released films but I wonder if the grading system I use sometimes hinders me a bit in giving that response.

Here’s what I mean. There are a lot of films that I enjoy and would sincerely recommend them to people. That said, I see the flaws and feel they are an average film. There’s nothing wrong with that. This according to my grade gets a C grade. B is really good and A is in running for best of year. But it seems to me that people can become to fixated on the C grade and ignore all the positive things I said in the review. Sometimes I wonder if people read the review at all and just looked at the grade.

In general I think I’m actually a little bit too generous with the A grades. After all I gave 22 As in my Disney Canon ranking. That’s almost half. I gave 10 of the Pixar films A grades. And yet recently I’ve been accused of being a “tough critic”. This is mainly I think because of my disappointment in the Minions movie. However, if you actually read that review I think I was far nicer than many other animation bloggers I know. In fact I said:

“A friend of mine asked me if she should still see and I said yes. It’s fine but just know it is made for little kids without a ton of grown up appeal…However, it does look nice and is bright and colorful and the beginning 20 minutes is a lot of fun”

Here I was telling my friends go see it but my giving it a C- (just a hair below average) means I am a tough critic? I don’t get it?

One thing I have noticed is in my video reviews for my youtube channel I don’t give out grades. Not out of design but honestly most of the time I simply forget. I just give my response to the film and people seem very happy with that. I wonder sometimes if people listen to what I say a little bit more because I didn’t give a grade?

Sometimes I feel like the judges on Dancing with the Stars that get booed anytime they say anything negative about a performance. I’ll say tons of great things about a film and then have a few things I didn’t like and people focus on those instead of all the good stuff. That can be very frustrating as a writer.

I’ve had people say a ‘you should have given it a B’ but when we actually talk about our experiences and reactions they aren’t that different. It’s just what defines a C to me is a B for him or her. That makes me want to throw the grades out!

I don’t know. What do you think? Do you see value in having a grade at the end of the review? Is it something you care about? Do you think I am a tough critic? Sure I have my preferences but there are very few movies I totally dog (Maleficent I’m talking to you…).

Please give me some feedback my lovely readers. Do you like the grades or can I do away with them and just write my thoughts on the film? That’s what I did for Scrooge Month last year and it worked out great. No grades needed.

Thanks for your help with this!

Is Animation for Children?

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Today I want to talk about a topic that is constantly at the forefront of the online animation fandom discussion. Is animation for kids? In fact, just last week I called in with a question to the Rotoscopers about why Hotel Transylvania 2 would have Mel Brooks, a star probably not familiar to children, for only 15 minutes of the film? To me that makes no sense. They had some insight but Mason said ‘animation isn’t for kids’. So evidently Mel Brooks in his mind was brought into the film for the adults watching not the children.

Fair enough. I can buy that but I do have a few things to say on this topic.

As far as I can see it you have 3 groupings of animated films.

You have films made for just children.

movies for kids2 — This collage is just 4 movies made primarily for children. Whether the are good movies is up for debate. The target demographic is why I picked them.

These are movies you drop the kids off and they have a great experience. But they aren’t made for adults nor should they have to be. There are even different ages of children films like say Sesame Street is made for kindergarten aged children and it won’t appeal to older kids. Not everything should have to be everything to everyone. That said it is not an excuse to be lazy just because ‘it is for kids’.

Then you have movies that are made for adults.

These movies are often rated R or a hard PG-13. They are pretty rare but they can be a beautiful part of the animated landscape. In these films typically there is little to no attempt to appeal to small children as the content is not appropriate for them. Whether they are fine for older children and teenagers is up to parents, but the primary audience is mature adults. These films I treat like any live action film for adults. Some of them have content I can tolerate and others are too much.

Then we get to movies that are made for both children and adults.

I would say this is the majority of animated films. It certainly includes all the Disney Canon films, all Pixar, Dreamworks and Studio Ghibli. None of these studios have made films that are exclusively adult that I am aware of.

Let’s take a film like Hunchback of Notre Dame. I got a lot of flack in my review for pointing out the marketing of the film. I showed the Hunchback nursery rhyme tape and the Burger King kids meal tie-in. Why did I do this? Because it was to counter anyone who might claim ‘well that movie was made for adults’. My response is ‘no it’s not’. It was clearly made and marketed to children; therefore, I have the right to call it out when I feel like the content is not appropriate for children. If they wanted to make a movie like Akira or Chico and Rita that is for adults I would applaud them but that’s not what Disney did. They added singing gargoyles to appeal to children so when I see disturbing violence and sexuality frankly discussed it is within my rights to say ‘wait a minute…’.

If you are fine with that content for your kids no judgement from me, but I at least think it is worth discussing the value of such content in a film aimed at children. It was made with kids in mind therefore it should be judged as such.

Return to Oz is another one people claim ‘it wasn’t made for kids’. Hogwash. You don’t make a movie with a moose sled that sings if you aren’t trying to appeal to children. Therefore, it is appropriate to ask questions of whether the content is reasonable for kids. Some say yes, I say no. I guess that’s not animation but it scared the begeebees out of me as a kid. You’ve got a Dorothy tied down and given electro shock therapy and wheelies and a hallway of heads marketed and made for kids…Are you kidding me?

Minions is another recent example. It is a film clearly aimed at children. They are the one’s who love the Minions most and yet we get boob, butt and torture jokes. That’s not okay in a film for children in my book. Perhaps I would have been less annoyed if the movie had been funny but it wasn’t so the inappropriate stuff bothered me even more.

But I feel like when I point these things out some are quick to say ‘but Rachel animation isn’t just for kids’. I say some is, some isn’t and when something is made at least partially for them there are boundaries I don’t think should be crossed. I just don’t.

Kids have a very limited time period to mold their intellects, moral centers and judgement, so the entertainment they see should be carefully chosen. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be challenged by a film like Wall-e or Fantasia that is artistically difficult or have an occasional joke that goes over their heads, but we should error on the side of caution. It is also okay to introduce them to difficult topics like death, depression, or anxiety without it becoming unseemly. Song of the Sea, Inside Out even Lion King are great examples of films for kids that helped them contemplate adult topics in an appropriate way.

The other day a friend was asking me if I thought her kids would like Over the Garden Wall and as completely brilliant as I think the series is it was hard for me to answer. It is pretty scary for a child under 6. Scares are perhaps the area with the most leeway and variance depending on the kids. Some kids would have no problem with Return to Oz but I did. I hated The Rescuers because the idea of being abducted and forced down a cave was scary. Other kids love that movie so that’s where careful parenting comes in.

The truth is I ask the same question of live action films like Marvel or Harry Potter but most of those films are made for teenagers over 13. Most animated films are PG or lower and that means sometimes parents need guidance (Parental Guidance is what PG means after all!). So as bloggers we can provide a service to parents to help them know what elements of a film are not appropriate for children. I think that is a very good thing and I hope I help out my friends with kids in that department.

Regardless, I don’t think it is wrong to ask the question of an animated film ‘is this appropriate for kids’? With the exception of the adults only films, most animated movies are made with kids at least tangentially in mind. I don’t know how that can even be argued. As I see it, it is a fact and one the studios make billions of dollars on in merchandising and marketing.

So I will continue to ask if these animated films are for kids, and if they aren’t, I’ll tell you. That’s my commitment to all of you!

A Note on “Fun” Movies

August 21, 2015August 21, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

What do you think is fun? Aside from watching animated films, I think every reader to this blog would have a different answer to that question. And yet why do we assume that everyone will think the same movies are fun?

This years seems to be the year of “fun movies” and I must have heard 100 times “oh come on, just have fun with this movie”. I have also caught myself saying it on videos and with blogs.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because it seems to me fun movies are great when you enjoy them but when other people tell you to have fun and you’re not it is very annoying.

For example, I had fun with Jupiter Ascending because it was so over-the-top. To me it felt like a campy soap opera and I laughed but I don’t try to pretend it is a good movie. I totally get why most people hated it. In fact, I may have just been in a good mood that day. At the least it is bad in ways I’d never seen before which I found entertaining.

In contrast, San Andreas was not a fun movie for me because it didn’t show me anything new. The special effects looked tired and were things I had seen in many other movies. The dialogue was bad without being over the top enough soap opera silly bad (with a few exceptions). The acting is terrible but not in an especially entertaining way. It’s not so bad it’s good but just kind of lame. Other people had fun with San Andreas and that’s great but how can they expect everyone to have that same experience?

And then there are the films I do have fun with but I don’t seem to like as much as other people. For example, Jurassic World I thought was entertaining but I didn’t rave about it like others. I didn’t mind they liked it more than I did until I started getting flack for it. It seemed to bother some people that I didn’t have as much fun as they did. I find that fascinating because again I can’t think of any other activity where level of funness would matter? I had fun. I was entertained by it. Why isn’t that good enough?

I know I am guilty of this as much as anyone else particularly when it comes to animation I deem ‘fun’ . I am going to try and not do that any more. Going to try and stick to explaining why I think it is fun and be a little less defensive if others don’t have the same experience. I don’t think I’m terrible in that regard but I have done it and am going to try to avoid it in the future.

So let’s go have some fun at the movies!

Perils of Original Ideas

July 26, 2015July 26, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Often in the world of movie fandom you will hear complaints about Hollywood’s lack of originality. That all we get are sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots. I include myself in that number. If it isn’t a direct remake it is an adaptation of a popular book or a close copy of a popular franchise. It seems like it is pretty rare that something truly original comes along. Or so the argument typically starts out.

But wait, lately I’ve been wondering if that is actually the case? This year we have seen original ideas in Tomorrowland, Chappie, Jupiter Ascending, Strange Magic, Pixels and of course Inside Out (as well as I’m sure others I am overlooking). Last year we had Snowpiercer, Grand Budapest Hotel, Locke, Song of the Sea and more. Come to think of it last year was actually a pretty good year for original stories.

What’s the problem then? Well, most of those movies didn’t do very well at the box office and had often be hunted down rather than the big name sequels, and reboots which are so prominently marketed. Obviously something like Pixels, Tomorrowland and Inside Out get a lot of marketing but it does seem to me the tried and true franchises are more shoved in our face than the original ideas (Amazing Spiderman 2 great example of that kind of obnoxious marketing).

Franchises can also have original ideas. Christopher Nolan has certainly proven that with his Dark Knight saga.

But I was thinking about particularly this year. Aside from Inside Out we’ve seen original concept films tank at box office and with critics. I had fun with Jupiter Ascending but it isn’t a good movie. I just watched Chappie and it was terrible. Tomorrowland was a disappointment. We will see how Pixels does but I don’t anticipate great numbers George Lucas’ Strange Magic came and went with few people seeing it, making only 12.5 mil at box office.

So what’s the problem? Why aren’t audiences flocking to see these original ideas but showing up in droves to see Jurassic World? This year I think it is simply the original movies haven’t been that good. If Tomorrowland had been great it would have gotten tons of buzz and people would have gone to see it. Most were disappointed including myself and I’m certainly not going to give something a pass just because it is original.

The problem with Jupiter Ascending is it was trying to be a soap opera (or space opera) and was very campy and silly but it also has too much exposition and is full of dopey ‘so bad it’s good’ style dialogue. The filmmakers didn’t even seem to have a handle on the type of movie it was premiering it at Sundance of all places. That is not the right spot for a silly space opera. So it got booed at Sundance and the bad word spread till it did very poorly.

A lot of these original concepts are also difficult to market because they don’t have the established characters or worlds we know. Something like Mad Max Fury Road is in many ways an original movie but it had the benefits of a franchise that while many hadn’t seen the originals they recognized all the tropes and style of what a Mad Max film is. Tomorrowland in particular was very tough to market. Is it an AI movie? Is it sci-fi? Is it fantasy? A comedy? A coming of age story? An action movie? It’s kind of all of it but none of it completely.

Chappie didn’t work because it has some of the most obnoxious characters I’ve seen on screen in a long time. Pixels and Strange Magic had good ideas but the scripts were so lazy and characters so stupid.

Could it be that original concepts can be too caught up with their concept and forget to craft a compelling script? With a franchise you already have a framework to help you write said script and an eye for what works with the audience. In an original feature film you are throwing concepts out to see what sticks. You don’t know how the audience will respond because it is original so the pass fail ratio is naturally going to be higher. That’s why Hollywood loves franchises. They are safe and fairly predictable.

But then you have an Inside Out or The Artist- original concepts that people enjoy and tell their friends about. I still want to take anyone and everyone to see Inside Out. It inspired me so much with the original story and writing. So brilliant.

Maybe Pixar does it right spacing out their sequels with original movies in between? This gives a mixture of the predictable for both us and them and the new exciting risky concepts.

What do you think about original movies vs reboots, remakes and sequels? Why do you think at least this year so many original conepts have not worked (at least at the box office)? What’s the key to making an original movie a success both in content and at box office?

Regardless of the reason I hope the studios take heart from success stories like Ex-Machina and Inside Out and continue carving out room for new ideas. I hope they keep taking risks even if a lot of them don’t pay off critically or monetarily. Let’s hope!

Pixar Resurgence?

June 21, 2015June 22, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Nobody could be more thrilled with the recent overwhelmingly positive response to Inside Out than I am. It is a spectacular film in every way and deserves to be heralded as such. It’s one of those movies I could watch every week for the rest of my life and never get tired of. It is emotional, funny, bright, colorful, heartfelt, smart and creative. But there is one thing in these responses that has annoyed me a little bit. People are way over-doing it on the Pixar ‘return to form’. Pixar had a few less good pictures but they were by no means the bottom of the barrel when it comes to animated movies.

I have to be careful because I don’t want to spoil my reviews for Brave, Monsters University and Cars 2 but these movies are flawed but they are not that bad. All 3 of them lie strictly in my C average movie category which for Pixar is a failure but seriously let’s have a little bit of perspective here.

You want to know what is a truly awful animated film? How about 8 Crazy Nights which has a character named Whitey who is frozen in outhouse feces. You are going to stand here and tell me that Cars 2 is worse than that? Give me a break.

How about Fly Me to the Moon which is 85 minutes of terrible fly puns including a fly exclaiming “lord of the flies!”. It’s mind numbingly bad. It’s bad in every way something can be bad- it looks awful, jokes are puns and cringe-inducing, story is stupid, voice performances lame. You going to claim Brave is worse than that?

How about last years Hero of Color City? A movie that took me a week to watch it was so painful. In a year that had The Nut Job, Hero of Color City swooped in and took the crown as not only the worst animated film of the year but one of the worst MOVIES I’ve ever seen. The animation is awful, characters are all grating and awful, voice performances suck, it’s a cheap rip off of Toy Story and the humor is all in poor taste. I’d like to hear anyone try to claim Monsters University is worse than that garbage.

And I haven’t even seen either of the Titanic animated movies, Doogle, or Foodfight, which I have on good authority from many sources, are the actual worst animated films ever made. I’d certainly rather watch any of the bottom 3 Pixars than The Lorax ruin a Dr Seuss’ book. At least Cars 2 just took aim at itself and not a beloved literary classic.

I could probably think of 50 animated movies that I think are worse than Cars 2 or Brave. I would certainly way rather watch either of those again than Dinosaur, Brother Bear, Chicken Little, or Home on the Range from the Disney canon. I’d rather watch both all day than nearly all of the Disneytoons library minus the Tinkerbell films. Have you seen Hunchback 2? It’s nauseatingly bad.

Anyway, you probably get my point. Yes, the last 3 Pixar movies have problems but they are not terrible films. They are still beautiful to look at with a lot of creativity, color and care put into them. In fact, I own all 3 and enjoy watching them on occasion. I realize that Pixar set the bar very high for themselves and so perhaps the negativity is natural. People expect brilliance when you create one masterpiece after another. So much so that when I do my Pixar ranking it is going to be nearly impossible. The lowest grade I will probably give a Pixar movie is a C- because they all have elements that I like and are at least an average animated film.

On the other hand, maybe this response is a good thing? Perhaps it makes sure they know they can’t be lazy and expect people to accept it. It’s a message that I wish Dreamworks would get more of but instead their lazy films like Home get rewarded and their ambitious films struggle (speaking of Dreamworks I can think of about 6 maybe more of their movies I would put below any of the Pixar bottom 3).

Everyone is of course entitled to their own opinion but I’ve just heard this so much this week that I decided to say something. With that off my chest, watch Inside Out. It’s one of the greats.

Turn Your Brain Off?

June 14, 2015June 14, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Today I found myself thinking about big budget studio movies (intended blockbusters). Typically if I am anywhere on the ‘it’s ok’ to ‘I hated it’ track I will hear “why can’t you just turn your brain off and like the movie?”. The answer is that I can turn my brain off- kind of.

I can be entertained by a stupid movie. For example, Furious 7 I gave a B and that is a definite turn your brain off movie. Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift on the other hand would get a D and I was not able to turn my brain off for that one. What’s the difference?

I don’t know…

Why did Amazing Spiderman 2 drive me nuts but Guardians of the Galaxy dazzled me? On an individual level I can explain it. AS2 was cluttered, poorly written and felt like it wasn’t trying to make a good movie just preparing for the sequel. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were pretty good but I found Jaimie Fox to be unconvincing as a villain and nothing else engaged me in the story.

Guardians in contrast is about a group of vigilantes who each have a backstory that is interesting, with good writing, small nods and puzzle pieces to the MCU, great music, and likable characters. It has a lot of smaller roles that are done very well with great actors like John C. Reilly, Glen Close and Benicio Del Torro. I also loved Gamora and Nebulla and felt their stories had real heart (as well as Starlord and his mother). It was something new and different and very funny too. For me it had enough layers to not be a ‘turn off your brain’ movie but again a space opera adventure mystery.

I don’t want to get too bogged down on individual movies but that’s just an example of why one version I could enjoy and another didn’t work.

I know a lot of the turn off your brain movies I don’t like don’t deliver what they are promising. Lone Ranger for instance was sold as a fun Western movie . We knew the show and wanted something like Mask of Zorro with Antonio Banderas. Instead we got a tedious story of unlikable characters arguing. It’s also insanely long and the attempts at humor fall flat. It was a brutal time at the movies.

Furious 7 on the other hand worked because it has likable characters, it never stops with the silly action and the humor works. It never takes itself too seriously. In contrast, the Transformers movies have action that is supposed to be epic but feels plodding, terrible dialogue, unlikable characters, pointless explosions and it feels so long. It wears out my patience.

I think the key is the pacing, likable actors, new special effects, and not too much that is cringe-worthy. I can ignore some bad dialogue or plot holes but give me bad dialogue, plot holes and be 3 hours long you are pushing it. I could ignore a lame romance or cliched character but give me lame romance, cliched characters and boring special effects or bad dialogue forget it.

A movie like Jurassic World has just enough of the likable aspects for me to give it a pass but not enough for me to LOVE it like some people.

It’s like I have some kind of scale in my brain where I tick off good things and bad things and overall I walk away either liking it, thinking its ok, or loving it. Here’s what I came up with:

That’s the best I can think of to explain why some movies work for me and others don’t. It can have the silliness. It can have items on both sides of this chart but when it tips the balance on the left side and not enough of the right it’s a problem.

So I’m not really turning off my brain but ignoring my brain. I’m certainly aware of all the bad things in a movie. My brain knows the flaws of a film (no perfect movie) but there’s enough good things to still be entertained, even enamored with a movie.

What do you guys think? Can you turn off your brain for a movie? What’s the factor in allowing that to happen and not? What would you have on your chart? What’s a turn off your brain movie you like and one you hated?

Movies I Think are Boring

May 25, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Since I started doing this blog I have noticed a lot of my favorite movies others will claim are boring and yet movies they love I will find boring. In fact, I have moved away from using the word boring in my reviews (I call it the B word) because I find it doesn’t tell you that much. It’s kind of like calling something nice, a bland adjective.

So what do I mean by boring? Well, basically a movie that puts me to sleep, that I found tedious and slow. A movie like Boyhood which others found to be boring to me was extremely compelling because its about real life. I could have watched that for days. Boyhood knows what it is trying to be so it is very compelling.

A lot of people find Fantasia to be boring but I do not because it is so different and it continually surprises me with music and visual delight. I think if the sequences were longer I might have more of an issue but each one is just enough to dazzle me.

Some also find Tale of Princess Kaguya to be boring but it is kind of like Boyhood in the sense that it was trying to be the story of young girl growing up and it executes that world and story so well I was engrossed.

Tree of Life, Where the Wild Things Are, Bambi, are all movies others find boring but for me they have a heart that drew me in, visuals that surprised me and enough happens to keep me engaged. They all know what they are trying to be and execute it well.

Unfortunately some movies fail to achieve their vision. Recently Woman in Gold was boring because it was trying to be a drama but everything was so predictable and flat that I fell asleep in the theater. If I nod off in your movie it is probably a bad sign…

Another example is Treasure Planet. It’s not a bad movie and in many ways it is very ambitious; however, despite a unique visual style it fails to create new or compelling characters. The world building is beautiful but because it is so new a lot of the scenes that should be tense weren’t. I know what is going to happen to a ship in a storm with water. I do not know in an air storm; therefore, it becomes boring when it should be exciting. It also doesn’t help that Treasure Island is one of the most famous and thereby predictable stories in all of literature. Made me fall asleep.

There are a lot of bad movies I find boring. Again because they fail to do what they want to do so it becomes a slog to sit through. On the surface you would think a movie like Transformers 4 would be exciting with all the action but because I don’t care about any of the characters or where the action is taking place it becomes very repetitive and boring.

The Last Airbender definitely lands on my boring list. It fails so spectacularly at being what it is trying to be which is a mythical action adventure. Instead we get long passages of exposition and terrible special effects that are good only for insomnia.

The Star Wars prequels have the same problem. We want to see an exciting adventure and instead we get lots of discussion about trade and land rights mixed in with terrible special effects and bad acting. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I know many like Man of Steel but I thought it was awful. It takes it self far too seriously with reverential and annoying music. It has a confused lead character that is bland and uninteresting and supporting characters I didn’t care about. The flashback structure doesn’t work, the special effects I’ve seen before and the romance has no chemistry. I found the product placement obnoxious and the ending gratuitous. Another good one for my insomnia.

Lone Ranger another movie that should have been good but instead is a tedious series of action pieces with unlikable characters I didn’t care about. It’s handsomely mounted but that’s about all you can say for it. Rarely have I been so restless in my seat in a theater .

I know a lot of people love it but I found Life of Pi to be very boring. We know what is going to happen because the boy on the raft is narrating the story to a newsman. This takes away tension and left me on a boat with a tiger for 2 hours. I watched Cast Away about a man on an island and was riveted. Life of Pi just didn’t do it for me.

Romances can be incredibly dull too. The drama The Lucky One with the chemistry-free couple of Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling is a good example. The dialogue is terrible. The story is ridiculous and full of tropes (like you know the liar reveal is coming a mile away…). The filming looks like a million other dewy filled romance movies. It all becomes very tedious and slow.

A movie that is on my Movies I Hate list is Contact. It’s so preachy about the foolishness of religion and the grandeur of science. All of the religious characters are nefarious and suspect in some way. But even put that aside it’s so slow moving in its story and I remember seeing it in the theater and praying someone would pull the fire alarm so I could leave. It’s the first movie I had that response too.

Whenever they try to split a book into multiple movies it always makes for at least one boring movie. In the case of the Hobbit movies it made 2. In the second movie it takes 2 hours to get to Smaug!! 2 hours of filler. Ugh. The third is a bunch of battles with a few fun moments for fans thrown in. They are watchable but definitely on the boring side because the story is stretched out.

I know some people love it but I find the 7th pt 1 Harry Potter movie to be very tedious. It’s basically our threesome going around getting clues that will all become exciting for the great final movie. I remember looking at my watch again and again at the theater. Not a good sign for a girl that loves the Harry Potter movies.

You could put almost any M Night Shyamalan movie on this list but The Village certainly belongs. It fails to give us one compelling character. Instead we get a tedious fairytale with an obnoxious twist. It’s a slogfest.

Magnolia is an extremely polarizing movie but at over 3 hours I lose patience with its pretentiousness. The acting is good but Paul Thomas Anderson forgets to give all these great actors a compelling story. Instead its a lot of dramatic speeches that don’t mean anything which makes it very hard to sit through. It’s on a lot of people’s best ever list but I found it insufferable and very hard to sit through.

Comedies can certainly be boring and one of the worst I’ve seen is How Do You Know. This movie had huge potential with James L Brooks directing and a great cast but man is it a tough sit-through. A bad comedy will have jokes that don’t work but this doesn’t even tell any jokes. It is like they just made it up every day at set. The story is non-existent, characters just talk a lot without anything behind it and it isn’t remotely funny. It’s very boring. I honestly think watching these 4 actors eating lunch would be more interesting.

I love the Wizard of Oz. I think it is one of the best examples of storytelling ever put to film. I love the music, cinematography, story, villain everything. That said I’ve hated any time we’ve gone back to Oz. Return to Oz was one of the worst experiences I had at the cinema as a little girl and recent Legends of Oz was dreadful. However, they at least tried to do something visually interesting. Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful is so bland it barely resembles the Oz I know and love . James Franco is completely flat as Oz, all the female actors are shrill and annoying (such a waste of great actresses) and the land of Oz looks like a CGI world we’ve seen a million times. Boring!

Everyone knows how much I love period pieces. Howard’s End is one of my favorite movies of all time and I love anything with Dickens, Austen or Downton Abbey in the title. Brideshead Revisited, however, I was not a fan of. Great actors can not save the melodrama of Charles and Sebastian’s bromance. I didn’t like any of the people so I didn’t really care what happened to them, making the life-long back and forth a tough watch. Even Emma Thompson can’t make this movie interesting for me…

I know there are a bunch of other boring movies I could list off but I think this gives you some idea. Basically a movie is boring when it fails to execute its vision. It might try to be a great action adventure and instead it is just a series of stunts without any character or story to go along with it and that will bore me. If the story doesn’t work and it doesn’t keep moving in interesting ways it is going to bore me. It can be slow and leisurely paced but it has to have something to engage me- a character I like, a message I respond too, an artistry that is new and different. And the artistry can only carry you so long. After about 15 minutes if you don’t have other layers (like Fantasia has the music and the segments are short) then you could still lose me.

In the end it is all subjective and what I like you might not and vice versa. So don’t get offended if I said your movie is boring. If you like it that is awesome.

Now that I have this out I will continue try to not use the B word in my reviews and give you more context as to why a movie felt boring.

It’s All About the Story

May 4, 2015May 4, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

I thought before I posted my review of Toy Story I would comment a little bit on the big hand drawn vs CG debate. Some in the blogosphere have put hand drawn animation on a bit of a pedestal bemoaning its reduction. People will paint hand drawn in very glorious pictures and CG as its ugly tyrannical cousin.

I’m sorry I just don’t buy it. Whether stop motion, 2D, 3D, CG or whatever else it all comes down to the story. As last years Rocks in My Pockets showed you can have sketches, doodles and with the right kind of execution and story it will be compelling.

Toy Story, Up, Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-e, Lego Movie, are not masterpieces because of the animation. It is the story. It is always the story. Same with the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Spirited Away etc. The stories are amazing; thereby making the movie something that will last forever. Occasionally you will have an artistic film like Fantasia that tries something new- mainly presenting a concert in the form of an animated movie. In that case the story takes second fiddle to the art but it is the exception rather than the rule.

Still got 2D on that pedestal? Well think for a second that hand drawn animation gave us this little gem…

But I won’t be too defensive about CG either because it gave us this monstrosity.

But hand drawn can give us this glorious, emotional scene

CG can provide us with this. For my money one of the greatest scenes ever in any film, animated or not.

If that doesn’t convince you both mediums are capable of great artistry and dreck than I don’t know what will. I am an equal opportunity animation format lover. I love great CG animation. I love great 2D animation. I love great stop motion animation. I love great live action movies. But in the end it all comes down to the story (I’ll say it a million times).

And I just have to believe in a world where an entire studio makes stop motion films- one of the hardest most laborious types of filmmaking there is, we will always be a space for 2D animation. It just might not be from the big 2 (currently Disney and Dreamworks) and you know what? That’s fine with me. (I can just hear some of you shouting at the screen). If the only 2D films we get are masterpieces like Song of the Sea from small studios in Europe sign me up.

I really see a 2D studio in the states starting up like Laika and putting out low budget films with an old school feel. If that happens all it takes is for one of these studios to score a big hit with their 2D project and the bigger studios will take interest. Even if it is smaller vanity projects I just don’t believe 2D is dead. Check out Over the Garden Wall which was a stunning miniseries last year. Watch the Simpsons which despite what some think has gotten artistically more interesting in the last few years. Watch Song of the Sea, or this year we have When Marnie was There or The Prophet coming out. We also will get Shaun the Sheep from the Aardman stop motion folks. As I see it the world of animation is as rich and diverse as it has ever been. Last year we had 20 animated films. 20! I remember when we were lucky to get 2. And really how great to not just get the big voices but a wide range of artists using different mediums that help them tell their stories. I know I’m in the minority but I feel very optimistic.

But I digress. My main point is I am not going to defend CG or its dominance in these Pixar reviews because I fundamentally don’t think it is a bad thing. I would put the animation in Ratatouille or Wall-e up against anything in the Disney Renaissance. I really would.

But like I said, in the end CG, 2D, stop motion, live action whatever it might be the story trumps all. Last year there was a movie about a man sitting in a car talking on his phone for 2 hours called Locke and I was completely immersed because it was a good story.

If you like 2D better that is awesome. We all have our artistic preferences but just make sure you aren’t seeing it through rose tinted glasses nostalgia can provide. It’s great. I love it but I also remember the 70’s and 80s when the good animated films could be counted on one hand and we waited years to get them and that was a 2D world! Give me the last 20 years over that 20 any day CG and all.

Anyway, I am certainly grateful for the new tools Pixar gave us and the incredible stories CG animation has told. Because they are special, life changing stories however they might come to fruition in an artists hands.

So let’s enjoy these masterpieces and get started talking about what started it all for CG Toy Story!

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE STORY!

Getting to Know My Tastes

March 17, 2015March 18, 2015 | Rachel's Reviews

Ever since I did my post on superhero movies I’ve been wanting to make a post explaining a little bit more about me and my likes and dislikes. Hopefully this will give my reviews some context and help them make a little more sense.

1. If someone asks me what my favorite movie is my go to answer is Up. To me it is perfect. In fact I like it so much I had this cake made for my birthday party/open house

2. My favorite book is North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

3. My favorite modern book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

In general I do not love YA novels and in particular could do away with vampires, warewolves and dystopian novels for the rest of my life and be a happy girl. I try to be open minded but I generally like memoirs about interesting people and the classics the best.

4. I am Mormon and served a mission for my church from 2003-2005 so for the most part if a movie came out during those years I haven’t seen it.

5. A follow up to the previous item I tend to enjoy Christian based films with positive messages or films with those values and there are a wide range of films I will not see because of content including all Scorsese films except for Hugo and all the Tarantino films. I take films on a case-by-case basis because I think the MPAA is a complete joke. I don’t think I am the biggest prude in the world but I will not be seeing The Wolf of Wall Street with 508 f words anytime soon…

6. I do not like to be scared. I know others enjoy the sensation and I respect that, I do not. Even movies which are overly grim and cynical do not appeal to me.

7. The first movie I remember going to see in the theaters and really loving was Little Mermaid.

8. The worst movie I saw as a kid was Return to Oz. The scene with the all the heads scarred me for life. It’s so dark and unpleasant and not in a good way.

Another prime candidate would be The Rescuers. The idea of a girl getting kidnapped by a mean lady and getting forced down into a tiny cave still gives me the creeps.

9. As a teen my passion was theater and less movies with Les Miserables being my obsession. I knew every line and saw it when I was 14 on Broadway and it blew me away. Just saw it a few weeks ago and it still has that power.

10. 2 movies I’ve walked out of in the theater are

Drop Dead Gorgeous (will always be my least favorite movie of all time)

And Superstar

11. The movie which made me laugh the hardest first was Home Alone and it still makes me laugh.

12. What I used to watch with my siblings- The Simpsons. Still watch it every Sunday.

13. I love scenes in movies where characters fly! So if it is in there I am going to be kinder to it than I might otherwise be.

14. I hate what I call ‘wink wink’ humor meant for adults in kids movies. Just be funny for both kids and adults.

15. In college I majored in political science with an emphasis on political philosophy so I love movies which dive a little deeper into human behavior and why we do what we do.

16. My family talks incessantly about Sherlock Holmes- how great Benedict is, how we hate the Downy versions, love the old Jeremy Brett, reading and discussing the stories. It’s kind of strange actually.

17. My favorite show growing up aside from the Simpsons was Boy Meets World.

18. My literary muse is Nora Ephron. I love her writing so much.

19. One of my heroes is Julia Child for daring to start over in her life and graduating from Le Cordon Blu when she was nearly 40. She inspires me daily.

20. I love action adventure stories that don’t take themselves too seriously.

21. I love movies about work. Why we work? When do we overwork? What do we accomplish from work? What is too much to sacrifice for work etc? Most of my favorite movies involve that in some way.

22. I love a good romantic comedy when it is done right. I highly resent the term ‘chick flick’

23. I love being in the water especially the Ocean and especially Hawaii. One of my biggest hobbies is open water swimming in the summer and I love being out in nature and swimming, so any movie that involves that I am going to be predisposed to like it.

24. I quit a job I was miserable at in 2007 and started blogging as part of my healing process in 2008. Check out my regular blog which is more personal and occasionally religious at http://smilingldsgirl.com.

25. I’m a reality TV game show fan particularly Survivor and Amazing Race although haven’t watched the Race this season.

26. I’m a pretty staunch Republican particularly Libertarian causes and issues and I believe the arts can be a tool to teach and promote empathy and understanding amongst all people no matter their viewpoints.

27. I consider myself a feminist when it comes to equal pay and a positive representation in the media but not on most politically charged issues.

28. In general am not a huge fantasy fan and enjoy things more grounded in characters I can relate to and worlds I understand but there are exceptions

29. Most of my friends are not big movie watchers hence my need to blog my thoughts and talk about them with all of you!

30. Things I think are boring (bc everyone’s definition differs so wildly) Contact, Dinner with Andre, Star Wars prequels, Dinosaur, Harry Potter 7 pt 1, The English Patient, Transformers 4, American Beauty, Last Airbender, Life of Pi, Terms of Endearment but for the most part movies that others think are boring I don’t mind.

31. I have a lazy eye and have had surgery twice on it in recent years. This is why I tend to not see 3D and do not play video games.

32. I love stories about redemption and think Christmas Carol is the best story ever written.

33. I’m from a family of 6 of kids and my Mom was pregnant when I went to college. Have siblings 16 and 18 years younger than me.

34. If I had to pick British loves I’d go with Austen and Dickens over Tolkien and Rowling.

35. I do not like violence in movies. It sticks in my head in a way it doesn’t seem to for others. Movies that most find harmless bother me.

Sorry Quentin can't go with you on this one. I know you are very talented but movies aren't for me! — Sorry Quentin can’t go with you on this one. I know you are very talented but your movies aren’t for me!

36. I do not watch Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Newsroom, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Dexter or whatever R rated drama is the current rage. I do watch Once Upon a Time, Sherlock and Downton Abby though!

37. Current favorite scripted TV shows are The Goldbergs, Hindsight, Mindy Project and The Middle.

38. I hate the recent fairytale retelling trend but we’ll see if Cinderella changes my mind.

39. I loved How I Met Your Mother. After the Simpsons it is my second favorite series ever but hated the finale so much there are not words to express. Hard for me to watch episodes because I know how it ended. Darn you Carter Bays and Craig Thomas!

40. As far as music goes I love Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Norah Jones, Ingrid Michaelson, and Sara Barielles. But I like a wide variety with everything from jazz to hip-hop to classical to broadway on my playlists. And Disney soundtracks of course!