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SCENE IT ALL BEFORE

Calaveras Y Diablitos

11/26/2017

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Coco Reviewed

Pixar has, by this point, put out enough iconic movies that I know whatever they make has a good chance of being the best movies of the year. When I saw they were doing a movie about Mexican culture that didn’t involve Donald Duck in a sombrero I thought: about time. Though a movie about the Day of the Dead did give me pause; would a story about dead relatives be too much for kids? Not at all–rest assured, Pixar once again makes a thoughtful film that can be enjoyed by the entire family.

Coco follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) who loves music but is forbidden from it in all forms because his great-great-grandfather abandoned the family to follow his dreams. Refusing to let his family stop him, Miguel steals a guitar from the tomb of the famed musician Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt), so that he can compete in the talent show held on Día de los Muertos. But by committing a sin against the deceased on the day of the dead, he winds up in the land of the dead; in order to get back home, he needs a blessing from his deceased ancestors.    

Coco may be the most predictable Disney/Pixar movie I have ever seen. Beat by beat I knew what was going to happen, with shades of the story resembling past Pixar movies such as Inside Out and Finding Dory. Did that stop me from crying? Absolutely not. Even though I knew what was coming, the story is so well-executed that the emotional payoff wasn’t diminished at all. That is a credit to the writers and to director Lee Unkrich.
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I enjoyed that the characters never broke out into song in this movie—rather, the music was worked into the narrative. However, I wasn’t wowed at first. The music starts off slow, and as the story progressed and I became more connected to the characters, the songs landed with a larger emotional impact. By the time I was driving home I had the soundtrack for Coco playing on Spotify and tried my best to sing along with the Spanish versions of the song.

It never felt like Pixar was appropriating Mexican culture, either (well, maybe in the beginning when a mariachi band played as the star flew over the iconic Disney castle). The story that is mostly about family felt universal, one that just happened to be set in Mexico. And Disney wisely used Latin voice actors, including Papa, the ultimate brogelio (Jane the Virgin fans holler). But even beyond that, the movie pays a loving tribute to our neighbors down south, with a spotlight on the food, the wrestlers, and Frida Kahlo.

While a majority of the film is filled with walking skeletons, the story never feels scary.  Coco takes a wonderful cultural tradition and brings it to life with vibrant visuals and a plot that will undoubtedly give the older members in the audience the feels. A-

Be warned there is a 21 minute long Frozen short ahead of Coco. You read that right: 21 minutes. It is painful. Previous Disney/Pixar shorts such as Paperman, Feast, and Piper have been nominated for and won Academy Awards. Olaf’s Frozen Adventure felt like a holiday shill that wasn’t good enough to broadcast on TV. I would say show up late, but rumor is the short is being so poorly received they are thinking of removing it from future screenings, and already have in Mexico. If you do get stuck seeing it, consider it your last chance to go out and get snacks.
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...And Justice For Some

11/18/2017

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Justice League Reviewed

In the world of DC vs. Marvel, Marvel has been killing it. Most of the Marvel movies have been fun and lighthearted with strong action sequences that look great on screen. DC movies, for the most part, have been a drag and usually take themselves way too seriously, with their last movie, Wonder Woman, being the exception. One would hope that Warner Brothers and DC would try to use some of those Wonder Woman moves to achieve similar success, but Zack Snyder is going to do Zack Snyder.  

The heroes of the Justice League are, for the most part, pretty good. While Ben Affleck was the best part of Batman vs. Superman, here his job is to keep the story moving, so he comes off a little bland, while Cyborg (Ray Fisher) seems to be in the movie only to service the plot. Cyborg has too much CGI to be expressive and is too stiffly written to be interesting. The Flash (Ezra Miller) was great, and while Grant Gustin will always be my Flash, Miller bought a lot of levity to the movie. I also enjoyed Khal Drogo as Aquaman (Jason Mamoa); he showed off some of his comedic chops and he’s easy on the eyes. Last but certainly not least is Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) who was obviously fantastic; however, with so many other characters around she didn’t shine as brightly as she did in her solo movie.

With a strong team in place, you would think DC would want to pick an iconic villain to face them, or at the very least one vaguely familiar to the audience. Instead, they went with Steppenwolf. I am a pretty big comic nerd and I had no idea who this guy was. After doing some research, his selection made more sense as a way to introduce and save Darkseid for a later movie. I also now understand his true power: wearing people out through long monologues of exposition. 

And there is a lot of exposition, which is crazy because the plot of this movie didn't matter at all. Essentially, parademons showed up on Earth looking for the three mother boxes that, when joined together, could end the world. If you don’t know the boxes’ backstories, which most people won’t, it might as well have been magical keys or puppies, and the narrative weight imbued in these boxes comes off as lazy.
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Zack Snyder is great at one thing, and that is directing action scenes. Since Snyder is going for a certain look with these sequences, he strives for visual continuity throughout, which makes sense. But when one character is lying on the grass trying to collect himself you can’t help but wonder — did that scene really need to be shot on a green screen? Couldn’t we have found a patch of grass somewhere?  

That continuity is also broken because Zack Snyder had to drop out of the movie during reshoots due to a family tragedy. Warner Brothers brought in Joss Wheaton (The Avengers) to finish the last bit of filming. And while executives promised that there would be no tonal difference, you could not find two more different storytellers. All the scenes in which the actors are scowling were probably Snyder; the times where we get a smirk or silly quip feel like Whedon, and the shifts take you out of the story.

Justice League is better than some of the other movies in the DC universe, but it’s still a step in the wrong direction. This kind of blockbuster should have mass appeal, but it seems to be designed for hardcore DC readers or Zack Snyder fanboys. The action is great and parts are funny, but the CGI looks like it belongs in a video game and the story doesn’t have any value. Not even the Man of Steel would be powerful enough to save this movie from itself. C-
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There's A Movie For That

11/6/2017

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​Episode 4: Bachelor Parties

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This week Zach and Ryan take a break from talking about what's going on in the news, to talk about something that's going on in their lives. Plus they talk about the new movies Suburbicon and 1922.
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Waiting For The Hammer To Fall

11/3/2017

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Thor: Ragnarok Reviewed

When the newest Thor movie was announced, I had a lukewarm reaction. While Marvel has made some of the best blockbuster movies to come out over the past decade, the Thor series has been bland at best. Sure I would watch the first movie any time it came on FX, but the only redeeming part of the two prior movies was Loki (the Dark Elves? Come on guys). But thanks to the success of Guardians of the Galaxy the Marvel studio figured out it was okay to get silly. Thank Odin they did, because Thor: Ragnarok was a fun movie.

As you may remember, the last time we saw Thor (Chris Hemsworth) was in Age of Ultron. He missed all the fighting in Civil War because he was looking for the Infinity Stones, but to no avail. Then Thor's sister, Hela, (Cate Blanchett) shows up and wants to rule Asgard. She essentially kicks both Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Thor’s asses and sends them to the planet Sakaar. While on Sakaar, Thor gets captured and forced to fight in a gladiator battle to the death against their toughest opponent.

Director Taika Waititi deserves a lot of the credit for taking the Norse Thunder God and not making his story so stiff. All the previous Thor movies were basically a story of good vs. evil and done to advance the overall plot of the Marvel movie series. While Ragnarok does do a bunch to set up for the upcoming Infinity Wars during the middle parts of the movie, the story is there to entertain. 

A big part of that came from the decision to finally let Chris Hemsworth be Chris Hemsworth. He has leading man good looks and with those looks come a lot of parts where he plays an honest, noble protagonist, but that leads to the character being milquetoast. In Ragnarok they let the goofy parts of his personality come out. From the opening scene, we see the Hemsworth we saw in Ghostbusters and the Vacation reboots. His awkward stylings add to a lot to the jokes in the movie.
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But he's not the only one. Hulk was one of the best parts of the Avenger movies and in this movie they let Hulk speak in full sentences, which makes him even more delightful. They also cast Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster so that he could do his thing – and he is peak Goldblum. Also great in the movie is director Taika Waititi, who plays Korg the rock monster. Not only is his character there to guide Thor through the gladiator games, but he is another piece of comic relief - and my favorite character in the movie. 

This is the best Thor movie of the three, but is it the funniest Marvel movie? The edge probably still goes to Guardians of the Galaxy because it came out of nowhere. This time, from the trailers Marvel let us know we were getting something sillier, and they delivered. 

This should go without saying, but in order to enjoy this movie, you have to like superhero movies. While the movie is funny and has good fighting scenes - if you don't like the Marvel series then no matter how weird Goldblum gets you will still be left counting the minutes. For fans of the Marvel Universe let’s count our blessings that they decided to stop taking Thor so seriously. Strip away all the jokes and this would be a convoluted mess, but thanks to the colors, comedy, and the CGI Thor: Ragnarok is a good time at the movies. ​
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