Inside Out (2015)

This is old school Pixar right here! Like remember 15 years or so back when it seemed like every Pixar movie was near perfect? They were funny and hit all the right emotional notes. Inside Out feels like a return to that.

It's a very creative and inventive movie. I know just about every review is saying that, but it's really true. Throughout the film things would happen where you'd just go, "Ha, that's pretty clever!" Many of the film's biggest laughs come from these moments.

At it's heart it's a movie about feeling, and how emotions play off each other and are necessary, even the 'negative' ones. While it's ultimately not a sad movie, don't be surprised if you hear people crying at the end (I heard a bunch in the theater), if you aren't tearing up yourself (yeah, I did a little). It's very moving.

As you'd expect, the animation is great and the film is very colorful (although color is a big theme of the movie). I didn't see this in 3D, but this is the type of movie that wouldn't be hurt by that, so go for it if that's your only option.

Also, the voice cast is perfect! When you have Lewis Black as "Anger" and Phyllis Smith as "Sadness", that's about as spot on as you can get. Plus, Amy Poehler as "Joy", Bill Hader as "Fear", and Mindy Kaling as "Disgust". All of them are wonderful.

The only slight issue I had with the film is that it does drag a bit in the middle, but it recovers strongly.

Inside Out is the perfect example of the family film that will appeal to nearly everyone. There's as much in there for adults as there is for the kids. Expect this to be nominated for best animated film. I highly recommend this to everyone!

4.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Wreck-It Ralph (2012) - Movie Review

I miss the days of video arcades.  I'm all for progress, and I love how far computer games and consoles have come, but there was just something about the experience of going to the arcade with a pocket full of quarters, getting excited when a new game comes out, or standing around a game and watching someone beat it.

That's not what Wreck-It Ralph is about, but that's the kind of nostalgia it evoked while watching it.  There were lots of video game references that older gamers should get a kick out of.  They'll be over the head of younger audiences, but it illustrates how Wreck-It Ralph is an example of Disney at it's best.  It's great when you have a movie that's essentially for kid's, but it doesn't pander to them and there's enough for everyone to enjoy.  I rarely mention an executive producer, but in John Lasseter I trust.  His track record (with the exception of Cars 2) is insane, and I'm so excited at his potential involvement in LucasFilm and Star Wars.

Anyway, I'm getting way off track.  Even though he's the title character of the movie, Ralph (John C. Reilly) isn't even the title character of the game he's in.  He's been the 'bad guy' of Fix-It Felix, Jr., a Donkey Kong meets Rampage type video game, for 30 years.  Ralph's grown tired of his role, and just for once wants to be the hero.  Even the lesser characters of the game ignore Ralph to the point where he's not even invited  the 30th anniversary party being thrown.  They do, however, tell him that they'd accept him if he were to win a medal like Felix.  I wonder if Donkey Kong was treated this way.

Ralph abandons his game, called 'going turbo', in an effort to find his medal.  He hops from game to game, but spends most of his time in one called Sugar Rush, where he's sidetracked by Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a character that has her own issues being accepted within her game.  Ralph reluctantly helps Vanellope in exchange for the medal.  

Wreck-It Ralph sets up a detailed universe with it's own rules for how the characters and games behave when nobody is around.  When the arcade closes, they are free to mingle with characters from other games, similar to something like Night at the Museum, except good.  There are lots of nice touches, like how they handled a first-person shooter game, how many of the characters were animated, and how older games were treated versus new ones.  This is what was missing from Tron: Legacy, where the movie would have been more fun if it reflected how much things had changed with computers, rather than it just having updated visuals.  Speaking of the visuals, I really enjoyed everything about the look of the film.  The animation is top-notch, and it's extremely vibrant.  I didn't see this in 3D, so I can't comment on that this time.

It's also expertly voice cast.  Sarah Silverman's voice was just perfect, and it's almost kind of scary how much she nails the child-like voice of Vanellope.  John C. Reilly was also perfect for Ralph. He's not someone I normally think of when thinking of great voices, but it's a natural fit.  Jack McBrayer as Felix (if this guy doesn't have voice for animation, then I don't know who does) and Jane Lynch are also fantastic  I've often remarked about how sometimes a recognizable voice can be distracting and take you out of the movie.  That doesn't happen here.  In fact, the opposite happens, where I didn't notice the voices of many recognizable actors until reading the credits.  I was surprised to see names like Alan Tudyk, Adam Carolla, Mindy Kaling and Ed O'Neill all lent their voices to the movie.

The story by Rich Moore (who also directed), Jennifer Lee, Phil Johnston and Jim Reardon does fall into familiar Disney territory.  It's a minor complaint, as it's still a nice story and message.  I only wish we had gotten more of the game world and references.  When Ralph starts to jump between games, you only get to see a few before he lands in Sugar Rush, and that was a little disappointing.  Then again, it gives them a lot of options for potential sequels.  Let's see some Final Fantasy-type RPGs in there, and some team-ups from more games next time.  It interesting Disney is already involved in the Kingdom Hearts series as that's where I see this going.

Oh, and there's a nice post credit scene for the gamers.

Wreck-It Ralph is a fun, nostalgic film, that while falls into typical, family-friendly territory, still provides enough wit and originality to make it stand out over other animated films.  It's enjoyable for all audiences, and a movie that I think kids won't take out of the DVD player, but that just will give you more opportunities to catch all the references.  I highly recommend it.

4 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Five-Year Engagement (2012) - Movie Review

Jason Segel and Emily Blunt star as Tom and Violet, a couple living in San Francisco that have been dating for a year.  In what shouldn't be a spoiler to anyone, since it's the title of the frigging movie, they get engaged.  Due to career changes and other issues that come up, they have to keep delaying their wedding.  This gets stretched out over several years, once again illustrated by the title.  Can you have spoilers when the title is, in itself, a spoiler?

Right out of the gate, The Five-Year Engagement is very funny and San Francisco natives will probably get a kick out of seeing many familiar sites.  At one point, even I laughed when they went to a neighborhood a friend of mine used to live in and I was like, "Hey, I've been there a bunch before!"  The familiarity helped me get into the movie and identify with it.

Anyway, shortly after their engagement, Violet gets accepted to a two-year graduate program at the University of Michigan. As a compromise, they decide to postpone the wedding and Tom quits his chef job.  Unfortunately, this happens just as he's about to be named head chef of a new restaurant, so as they are leaving there's already an element of 'what could have been' for Tom. Things are going well for Violet after the move, but Tom has difficulty getting work and has too much time on his hands.  Having a lot of time to think probably isn't the best thing in this situation.

As the movie progresses, Violet's stay in Michigan is extended further due to her success and things continue to get worse for Tom.  It becomes less about their engagement and more about how they keep dealing with the strains of their careers, being away from their family and friends and Tom's resentment and depression about the whole situation.  Eventually, it gets to the point where they doubt their whole relationship. 

While that may make it sound like the movie is depressing, it managed to be consistently funny.  It's one of those movies where people were laughing enough that sometimes you couldn't always hear the next thing said.  Like many Judd Apatow-produced comedies, it's a little on the raunchier side for a rom-com.  However, it still manages to feel realistic and have a little more substance that you would normally expect.  I'm reminded of Funny People, another movie that was very funny but ended up dealing with some serious issues.  While The Five-Year Engagement is not a totally conventional rom-com, the way the story develops doesn't leave you with many places to go, so you know how it's going to play out.  The ending had an almost magical, fairy tale feel to it, but at the same time didn't seem cheesy.  

A comedy is usually only as good as it's supporting cast and this doesn't disappoint.  Many of the supporting roles really stand out.  Alison Brie is great as Violet's sister and fans of Community may be surprised to see her speaking with a British accent.  She ends up in a relationship with one of Tom's chef friends, played by fellow NBC Thursday night alum, Chris Pratt.  Those two steal every scene they are in.  Tom's co-worker, played by comedian Brian Posehn, has some great lines, and Chris Parnell was funny as a 'faculty husband'.  The research team Violet works with, featuring Rhys Ifans, Kevin Hart, Mindy Kaling and Randall Park are consistently funny.  I think I enjoyed the supporting characters more than the leads.

That doesn't mean I have an issue Blunt or Segel though.  Emily Blunt keeps up her streak of having great chemistry with whoever she seems to be cast against.  I think she might be the reigning queen of romantic comedies.  Jason Segel gives another good performance as well and it's hard not to sympathize with what his character is going though.  Together, they make for a cute couple and you want to see them work things out.

Director/co-writer Nicholas Stoller teamed up with Jason Segel again and did a pretty good job balancing out the cast and all the elements of the story.  They previously collaborated on Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek and The Muppets, so you can find a lot of similarities to all of their previous films in The Five-Year Engagement.

It's not a perfect film though. The main problem with the movie is that it's a little long and starts to drag on a bit.  Granted, with it being 'The Five-Year Engagement' and not 'The One-Year Engagement', they have to cover a lot of time, but it gets to a point where you start to wonder exactly how much of their life we going to witness and if it was actually going to end.  This seems to be a recurring thing with other films in the Apatow family in that they run just a tad too long.  It's a minor complaint though.

There's a part (and I will try not to spoil it) that seemed to be edited very poorly, where a character is getting progressively drunker despite that you haven't seen him drink anything for a while.  While this is happening, their state of undress is also extremely inconsistent.  The scene was done for laughs, so it's easy to forgive and some may not even notice it, but it really stuck out to me as odd.  Oh and speaking of undress, I can probably use a little less nudity from Jason Segel moving forward.

As I commented in my Think Like a Man review, this is the second comedy I've seen in two weeks where one of the characters is a chef and eventually opens his own food truck.  Why is this becoming so common in films now?  I can imagine the start-up costs for a food truck are much lower than opening a restaurant, but they are always super successful and have great food, when normally I don't associate food trucks with either.  It just seems like it's getting to be an overused profession and plot device when they aren't sure what they should do with a character.

Sure, I'm nit-picking a little, but that's my thing.

At it's heart, The Five-Year Engagement is still a consistently funny and sweet romantic comedy about how love and relationships are never perfect, but when you find the right one, you'll find a way to make it work.  While it ultimately doesn't stray too far from typical rom-com conventions and runs a little long, the strong supporting cast helps makes it very enjoyable to watch.  It's a really good date movie to check out this weekend.

4 (out of 5) Death Stars