Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) | by volcanolam - "The 16 yr old Casual Blogger" [Movie Reviews, Opinions, Essays & More!!]

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Rating: 8/10

There is something weirdly cool about this movie. It connects to me deeply for some reasons I can't fully describe. Some of its weak points work for me somehow and the fortes bewitches and panders to me even more. As a once whole-heartedly devoted Harry Potter fan I consider myself liking the film more than a lot of the pro critics do, who together produce a just decent 7X% rating on RT, citing reasons ranging from the film being banal and lacking characterization. I on the other hand see this film from other perspectives. I think its awesome!

First and foremost, the most striking feature about this movie is its ingenious story. We know of course this time the producers didn't have an exact source material to adapt from, for we are presently far from the "straight adaptation from an HP book" territory we were back then. It all boiled down to how JK was going to react to the situation and concoct a brand new script that has to offer something different from the HP stuff we know but also remaining inextricable with the HP universe. It opens up to a lot of space for creation, but still there is a possibility it could flop. I believe that she pulled it off excellently. There is just that old style of JK's all over the place, from its characters, its grandiose and imaginative set pieces, to its extensive coverage of detailed elements that exists in the fictional wizarding world. Seeing this film is so much fun because it kinda captures the buoyant zest we saw from the earlier Harry Potter books, except that this time we don't get to know about the stuff happening in the movie beforehand by reading the novel. This fantasy world. It just never gets boring.

As for the other good facets, I like Eddie Redmayne very much as his performance as a nerdy eccentric protagonist with copious lore of magical beasts is pretty on point. The others are solid, and I enjoy all the characters in this movie, even that Muggle baker Jacob who does an eye popping expression for like the first half of the movie. The ending scene with him is poignant as well, a melancholy moment that capitalizes on the interesting concepts of obliviation that is unique to this backdrop. David Yates warm welcome to the franchise bolsters JK's confident writing with his signature dark take and brilliantly shot and edited action sequences, reminding the audience of the ever so memorable late installments in the franchise which he directed. And at last for the CGI, which is great, and that's all I'm gonna say because we all stepped into the theatre expecting modern technology to hold up to the film's ambitions if they decided to greenlight it.

One thing that bogs down the movie is its pacing, which is a bit off throughout the runtime. This is my main concern and that really depends on the overall style the director wanted to employ, so I can't say it's really that big of a matter but it did affect my viewing experience. The first act can drag and bore you. But all in all this is such a cool movie that strikes me right in the heart. It didn't actually bring up that much of a nostalgia in me to my surprise, interesting considering how much of an HP fan I was back like 7 years ago. Perhaps the reason behind this is that the HP world doesn't feel like waning to an extent other franchises are. It remains quite active over the years, holds up well, and with future installments imminent and awaiting I can't see this beloved fictional universe stopping at any point in the future, well as long as JK Rowling continues to live for certain. For now, allow me to toast the success of HP for the years to come.

Movie Review: Moana (2016) | by volcanolam - "The 16 yr old Casual Blogger" [Movie Reviews, Opinions, Essays & More!!]

Rating: 6/10

The fortes of Moana include some very nice songs and state of the art animation that floored me throughout the entire run time. It isn't necessary a classic or the best animation the year has seen so far either, but it is an adventure tale that delivers to its audience, particularly the younger viewers. An overall solid film that continues Disney's ostensibly endless streak of high quality production that doesn't seem like its about to end any soon.

As the film starts, we are given quite a similar opening to Beauty and the Beast, a series of moving graphics setting up the backdrop and giving out basic information. The film then leads to a montage redolent to the old Disney Renaissance film Pocahontas, which strikes an alarming bell in my mind considering I am not a fan of that movie. Indeed I knew there would be quite a lot of resemblance to older Disney flicks like Lilo & Stich, and it can't help it since that the setting of the story. It might look fresh at first glance, but think deeper you will realize that Moana starts off in a familiar note. It isn't any more original than fellow 2016 Disney animation Zootopia, but considering that Zootopia did an exceptionally good job critically and financially I don't see many people entering this one with much doubt on that aspect.

Besides, when the film progresses, it starts to shake its association with the predecessors and begin a journey of its own. It is a great adventure, nevertheless. I would say that the story does not contain much of a pop, like it pales in comparison to the enticing neo-noir crime thriller that Zootopia is. Sometimes, on that account, the film tries to add a few more elements in it, either comical or dramatic, with the intention to spice things up a little bit. The pacing suffers a tad because of that, and I can see that in parts of the second act. There is also that inexplicable, incongruous scene featuring a singing, haughty lobster-like monster that gives a musical performance that looks out of place, which I cringed upon watching. I really think that part could be treated a better way. Aside from that matter I do think the relationship between Moana and Maui changes quite too often and I would prefer a clear, smooth changing from bad to good if I could change it, which is cliched but looks better this way. For my last thing about the plot, I do think things are too predictable from start to finish. It does not do like anything very special and iconic or so, and because of that the story isn't as effective or seductive as Disney's recent efforts. Then again this is an adventure film, and the underlying tone of the film as shown in the comic relief moment sand dialogue  panders to kids, so I guess this is what they go for and the reason why they didn't make the adventure too dark. No less considering that the people behind Moana, the legendary duo John Muskers and Ron Clement, have gone some distance before into realms of darker adventure tales.

I wasn't so mad as I may sound, because there are certainly some substantial strong points. Job is well done on world building, and I think the leads are pretty solid. Dwayne The Rock Johnson brought charisma to the character of Moui and Moana is a decent strong female character which, although cliched and can be inconsistent sometimes, still is likable. But the biggest standout facets of Moana, ones which I think are what Moana is going to be remembered for, are its songs and animation. Moana is a legit musical, and the muscial numbers are admittedly catchy, like they did put some effort into engendering those. The animation is stunning as hell - its colours so vibrant and stark, the water and waves so photorealistic and sumptuous. Technology has given Moana its place today as one of the big checkpoints in animation technology advancement, and along with The Good Dinosaur, endows firm testament of how much Disney has grown from being the CGI animation neophyte it was on the onset of this century. It is a good sign that we are entering an era where CG films are getting more and more gorgeously looking and delivering better cinematic experiences.

All in all, this is a solid adventure film, which frankly speaking is not as significant as other Disney films like Frozen, Tangled, or even Wreck It Ralph. I would opine that Zootopia is a hands down better film overall, though Moana has the upper hand in the songs and animation aspects. I'd love to see it get nominated, but not to win it because I adore Zootopia. And also, give way to some dark horses like Kubo and the Two Strings and The Red Turtle.

Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets (2016) | by volcanolam - "The 16 yr old Casual Blogger" [Movie Reviews, Opinions, Essays & More!!]

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Rating: 5.5/10

The Secret Life of Pets comes from Illumination Entertainment (whose reverence that comes with the success of Despicable Me franchise has been largely overshadowed and adulterated by the abominable Minions spinoff), and has been one of the biggest hits in the summer, surprising pocketing the #3 spot and triumphing fellow "animation about anthropomorphic animals" Zootopia in domestic gross. But is it really the wildly fun and sweet tale Zootopia is? Well it kinda wants to be. But quality control outside Disney is pretty hard to do nowadays. There are some problems in Secret Life of Pets, but which can be condoned if you just want a decent, average entertaining picture to spend your Friday night on.

I'll talk about the pros first. This film has a plot, and it sure can crack some decent jokes and engender some interesting characters. The protagonist is nothing special, but still he is kinda a likable person and works as a protagonist. The villain is pretty interesting and I think he is one of the aspects of the film that I still remember. The voice acting is spot on and I love it very much. The world building is very nicely done too, as the film is not reluctant to show its audience places from San Francisco to New York featuring a variety of pets under different customs and under different social statuses. Despite of that, I won't call it as genius because the concept of showing such, or the concept of the film itself, often feels overshadowed by other animated pictures I have seen in the past decade or so, especially...Toy Story?

On this note I will move on to the cons. I have published a post before about the masterful world building in Toy Story 3 that perfectly serves as the coda of one of the best trilogies ever. So, isn't it a logical for other animated films in the future to try avoid treading the same path that is taken by the first CGI animated picture ever? Secret Life of Pets doesn't seem to acknowledge that, and it appears to have taken page from the Toy Story franchise in a lot of plot elements. Yes it might be 6 years after Toy Story 3, but its no denying that this film has rendered itself a tad less original and cannot stand out among other animations of this decade. Another point to make is that the film's structure overall is not very well handled. I personally think the third act should be made much longer and more emphasis should be allocated onto the climax given the premise that is in the former acts.

It is overall an average fun film. Definitely not big enough to fight for the Oscar trophy, but nice job for killing it in the box office.

Movie Review: The Iron Giant (1999) | by volcanolam - "The 16 yr old Casual Blogger" [Movie Reviews, Opinions, Essays & More!!]

The Iron Giant (1999)

Rating: 8/10

The Iron Giant was not a hit back in its time of release. Yet, box office results are never a true testament to the film quality, and this film proved just that. Brad Bird is a total genius and is currently my favorite director working at Pixar. This debut animation of his is an exhibition of his storytelling prowess - nifty, swift scenes that are extremely terse while not skimming in characterization, humor and heart. There was barely a boring scene throughout, and thanks to the incredible animation (in hand drawn animation standards) and a plot that appeals to audience with all ages (with childish slapstick humor while also capable of being dark and dramatic), The Iron Giant is a film that is riveting with action, fun, and emotion that successfully entertains me.

2016 Summer Movie Season: Overview & Comments | by volcanolam - "The 16 yr old Casual Blogger" [Movie Reviews, Opinions, Essays & More!!]

Worst Summer of the 2010s?

Without really looking into what professionals and industry insiders say, I am largely "underwhelmed" by this year's summer posing as an ordinary moviegoer and film lover. Well, there's nothing with the schedule, which is sure as tightly-packed as people might have expected from the industry in recent years. I was thrilled by the sight of big films coming out every week in the future months back in May, and with Civil War coming out and preceding Disney flicks fresh in my mind I must say I was once enticed by what the cinema had to offer imminently.

The summer started off sluggishly. A bunch of sequels like TMNT2 and Looking Glass fell short of expectations, so as the long anticipated Resurgence. As the Civil War craze ebbed away and the latest X men addition - Apocalypse, performed in midddling fashion both critically and financially I was shaking my head saying, "this does not look good. This is disappointing". This was the portent of what would follow up in the rest of the summer - superhero films proving that they are no longer impervious, comedies failing to acheive box office heights despite being not bad in 2016, and action films reaching the trough in terms of quality as few to no entry was able to live up to the barrage of hits from 2015: MI5, Fury Road, Kingsman, and even Spectre (decent action film). For such a while I was eager, enthusiastic and excited for the happening of Dory, the entry that would sure deal ripples on the animation canon and the family film genre. I will say I was gratified as the 94% RT rating met my expectation and it went on to upset Civil War for the Summer Box Office Crown domestically, even though it failed to match Zootopia internationally. Yes, I was satisfied for just a brief week or two, then there came the barren wasteland that was all the summer was about.

Who can stand the utter disgrace Suicide Squad has displayed during its run in mid August? Unable to prove to critics the potential of DCEU and once again has to resort to the comfort zone of DC fanboys support; such causing so much division in the Internet. Such can be said the same to Ghostbusters, one of the most hated films prior to release and couldn't really do much else except mustering a fairly handsome rating and minimizing the financial losses. Sadly, these two films were already the biggest talks of August 2016.

The much anticipated Jason Bourne was as unlikely to be a flop as it was unlikely to break the 2016 summer movie jinx. As its reviews came it was close to certain that 2016 is having some dismal luck. Paul Greengrass plus Matt Damon duel was somehow not effective enough to live up to the towering standards of its predecessors. (I think Bourne's actually good, 7/10) Well, it is still considered by far the best action movie of the year so... Idk. The standards of 2016 cinema...

Sometimes the problem is not with the film quality, but with the audience's taste. Simply put films that were clearly receiving the praises saw poor returns in box office - the likes of "Star Trek Beyond", "The Nice Guys", "The BFG", while some others were largely popular while exhibiting subpar quality. One of such films I'd want to note is "The Secret Life of Pets" from Illumination (the diabolical maker of the infamous Minions) which, despite being a fun, average animated adventure, it surely doesn't deserve a #3 spot when it comes to summer domestic totals. The film structure is wobbly and plot elements are vastly ordinary (lazy remake of Toy Story, simply put), so if without the factor of marketing there is no way they should have made this far.

It's not that bleak though. A few genres managed to survive the catastrophic days and provide consistent contenders to the playing field. Aside from the great animation genre as mentioned (not counting the excellent Zootopia, we have Finding Dory, Kubo and the two Strings, Sausage Party), horror movies has been enjoying the best of times. Conjuring 2, Election year subverted the prominent phenomenon of underperforming sequels, and Lights Out, The Shallows, Don't Breathe had established themselves as the big motion pictures of the season. I mean, seeing a horror film wrapping up the summer as consecutive weekend #1 s is a sight to behold.

Last but not least, Disney under Buena Vista extended its complete domination with most of its big hitters doing just right. Releasing slightly less films than its miserable counterparts but still managed to amass twice the amount of returns earned by the #2 studio and pocketing the top four highest grossers worldwide, with three of them topping the domestic list, Disney may as well avenge successfully after straight years being the #2 in annual box office showdowns, on the pretext that it will go smooth for the rest of the year.

That's all Im gonna say about the summer movies of 2016. One of the worst summers in recent years, probably. I even think the months prior to June had given us more fruitful, memorable, high-standard films than the dreaded summer, which is not a common scenario and might prove to be an interesting trend to hold on to for future meditations. But for now, let's just cling onto those better films and cross fingers for an auspicious fall movie season so to end 2016 on an uplifting note.

Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon (2010) | by volcanolam - "The 16 yr old Casual Blogger" [Movie Reviews, Opinions, Essays & More!!]

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Rating:9/10

Dreamworks has made it big time with How to Train Your Dragon. The studio managed to wrap a generic plot with underdeveloped characters with a stunning mix of a "shrieking" high quality script, score, and pacing, along with an original, fresh setting about Vikings and dragons. It is like a well-known story being retold in the best possible methods. The fun. The charm. The spirit. All of these pervaded through the picture. I would highly recommend this film not only to kids but also to some young adults which for reasons that I'll explain in later paragraphs.

It is story about a young Viking discovering the true nature of dragons which is contradictory to his tribe's traditional belief. With a darker force impending, he must have to settle down conflicts with his own people, while utilizing his knowledge about dragons to fight of the evil brute.

Like its titular dragon, the film has its soft side, vulnerabilities. But what makes up for that is the cuteness and warmth that oozes out of the screen every time we see the dragon romps around playfully, and that is just like the film itself. Even for the most cynical critics the tale is too endearing and sweet to be taken seriously. The plotholes and lack of character development don't seem relevant anymore when everyone is mesmerized by the movies' endless charisma. 

The score in particular has to be lauded. This has to be the best scores ever put into animation and it stands along some other Pixar efforts. It is riveting, epic, and spot on with the settings of this movie. As the flying theme kicks off, along with the flying scenes featuring the two protagonists, we audience are given a perfectly paced, perfectly shot, and perfectly fitting to 3D sequence - a unique, gripping, absorbing set piece that is unprecedented in film history. This very sequence is certainly the best of what DreamWorks had made and can probably rival the first 10 minutes of "Up" or any other creations by its Pixar counterpart. Yes, it is really that insane. How can you not love a movie with such kinda stuff in it.

After engendering a movie so warm to the heart, DreamWorks literally has another chance to develop a flagship trilogy, just like "Kung Fu Panda" and "Shrek". But unlike "Kung Fu Panda" the producers do not want this franchise to wallow in the same formula of its first installment, just like how Panda 2 and Panda 3 stick with the fast paced action comedy aimed blatantly for kids. HTTYD 2 is a whole different experience, a coming of age tale that tells are darker, more mature story. The sequel alone is the reason why young adults should see this because the themes are actually quite fitting for such age group, and with the final installment we audience can fully experience Hiccup's growing up and find the franchise an emotionally resonant movie-going experience. Do not expect this to be something stupid. With HTTYD 3 coming up in 2018, we might look back and refer HTTYD as Dreamworks' "Toy Story". So, guys, just wait and see. I have high hopes in this one.