Fish and Cherries Productions

Waitress can definitely be described as a good movie, but that doesn’t get across how uncomfortable the experience is. Throughout the movie, you’re taken on an emotional roller coaster of a woman dealing with a pregnancy from an abusive husband. You’re made to feel all of those emotions that she does and not all of those are pretty. One big plus for this feature is that all of the characters, especially the male ones, are three-dimensional. However, three-dimensional doesn’t necessarily mean they’re likable, especially in the case of the husband Earl, who has an incredibly disturbed psyche. However, the ending is incredibly sweet and will make all the bitterness before completely worth it and is satisfying to boot. If you have emotional triggers linked to abuse or adultery, approach this movie with caution. But if you do watch it, and most of you should, then have some pie on standby because this movie will definitely make you crave pie.

The Muppets is a movie that’s very odd for me to talk about, since I really liked it and yet still found it incredibly cheesy. And that was probably the whole point. Also, Chris Cooper raps. There exists a page on TV Tropes called Sweet Dreams Fuel for works that will put people in a good mood and make them feel great inside, which describes this movie perfectly. The sets and costumes are bright, colorful, and inviting, the entire cast plays well off of each other, and the villain, played by Chris Cooper, is cheesy and over the top while still being effectual. And he raps. There’s two ways to look at this movie. The first is as the anti-Ted; both have a human and a stuffed being living together in a state of arrested development that perturbs the human’s lady love, but not only is it a lot less raunchy and cynical than Ted, but in this case, it’s more of the stuffed guy’s journey that acts as the pivotal point for their relationship to work. Another is as a meta commentary of the Muppet phenomenon as a whole; in the modern day of the movie (as well as real life), the Muppets have fallen out of favor in the public eye and they have to put on a performance to try and win back the crowd and see if they can get enough money to keep their name alive. Taken out of context, that could easily describe the stakes of the movie itself. In which Chris Cooper raps. Apart from that, I don’t know what else to say. It’s the Muppets. It’s got songs, it’s got really witty humor, it’s got celebrity guests like you wouldn’t believe, it’s got everything that put the Muppets on the map in the first place. And it’s got Chris Cooper rapping. So after all is said and done, especially after the reprise of The Rainbow Connection brought actual tears to my eyes (something very few movies have achieved), I can’t give anything but a glowing recommendation.

Seriously, though, why did Chris Cooper rap? And why did I not know that I needed that in my life until now?

SPOILER WARNING

Man of Steel was complete garbage and one of the most joyless experiences I’ve ever experienced in the theater. It goes against everything that the Superman character stands for and doesn’t even have the intelligence to realize that it isn’t an intelligent redesign. Almost everything is wrong with this film, from the script to the washed out pallet to its failed attempts at being “mature” to the fact that Superman, the ultimate hero of our time, saves no one and actually causes more destruction than the villains. The fact that Superman actually kills General Zod doesn’t help either, not only because it’s a betrayal of the character, but because there were any number of ways that he could have solved that problem, like flying away or sending him back to the Phantom Zone earlier. Hell, the entire movie runs an idiot plot because Zod could have just made the new Krypton on Mars or Venus and never would have had to fight anyone. And Jonathan Kent, Superman’s moral center growing up, suggesting that it might be acceptable to let a bus full of children die when he could have done something about it? If I may drop the pretense of professionalism for a bit…

FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKK
YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

There is nothing to be gained from watching this cinematic stillbirth except the growing realization that you wasted good money and hours of your time. This has officially set my new standard for bad movies. It’s drab, it’s depressing, it’s downright worthless. And do you want to know what the real kicker is? I never knew how much I cared about Superman until I saw him butchered on the big screen.

Saving Mr. Banks is a very moving piece that nearly brought me to tears. I have no doubt that several aspects of the story are romanticized as is expected of Disney’s films that are based on true stories, but that did not stop it from hitting a lot of the right notes. The cast is brilliant, especially Emma Thompson as P.L. Travers and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, but I personally give credit to Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak as the Sherman brothers, which is a fun little cameo for anyone who knows enough Disney history. Whether the film is Oscar-worthy or not is up for debate, but any film that tugs at your heartstrings this much is definitely worth a recommendation.

Frozen is not only an enjoyable movie to sit through, but an amazing one to appreciate afterwards, which is surprising given the horrendous advertisements for it. This movie manages to completely subvert the Disney Princess formula that we have all come to expect, setting the standard for future generations. The animation is the best and most subtle I have ever seen, the songs are great and memorable, and the dialogue is sharp and witty. The only slight downside is that the comic relief feels a little out of place at times, but even then, there is still enough wit to them to still be enjoyable. I would honestly recommend this to everyone: fans of Disney, people who are sick of the Disney Princess formula, people who have never seen a Disney movie before. If it does not win best animated film at the Oscars, I will be very, very surprised.

EDIT: CALLED IT!

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was a superb sequel to a great movie. What really stands out, apart from the amazing Jennifer Lawrence, is the vastly improved camerawork that has abandoned the obnoxious shaky cam of the previous film. The material carried a lot more weight and I felt a lot more for Peeta’s plight than I did in the first film. Overall, this movie comes highly recommended, even if you haven’t seen the first one.

2 Guns, at the end of the day, is a movie that is just good enough. It does not excel anywhere, but it is not horrible either. The character interactions are the high points of the movie, especially between Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, who give some very funny lines. Wahlberg is growing to be a very accomplished action-comedian, even if he seems to be typecast as cops constantly. However, the film’s downfall is that it takes itself too seriously at times and attempts to juggle the serious and comedic elements quite unevenly. Had it gone for a full action-comedy, it would have been much better for it. But as it stands, 2 Guns is good enough.

Thor: The Dark World is an immensely funny, action-packed, and very strong entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The fight scenes were amazing, the dialogue was sharp and punchy, and Loki once again, stole the show right from under Thor’s feet. Admittedly, there are some awkward elements, like the Darcie and Ian scenes which feel like they belong in a different movie altogether and a few of the jokes did leave me less than amused. However, this barely detracts from a very intense story that culminates in an incredibly creative and epic final battle. This is my second favorite Marvel movie, right under The Avengers, possibly under the first Iron Man as well.

EDIT: Admittedly, after a little while has passed, some of the flaws because more apparent, but that still doesn’t make this a bad movie by any means.

The Wind Rises is a beautiful testament to all of Hayao Miyazaki’s finest storytelling devices: slow and steady pacing, beautifully detailed animation, contemplative and soothing atmosphere, and heartwarming moments found in life’s simplicities. Describing the movie is kind of hard because in truth, there’s no real focus. There’s no villain, no problem that needs the entire movie to solve, or really any one genre focus. It just explores ten years in the life of an upcoming aeronautical designer who is trying to make beautiful planes around the time of World War II when the Japanese are demanding fighter planes. The huge selling point really is the atmosphere as the entire film is like a dreamlike nature hike; Jiro, the protagonist, encounters something, dwells on it or solves the problem, and then the movie moves on. It’s not even bound by a strict story structure, like there’s an old German guy that sits by Jiro in a restaurant, says some cryptic stuff, hangs around for a few more scenes, and then just leaves the country, only to be mentioned once afterwards. He’s not even in a third of the movie. Normally, this stuff would drag down other movies, but that doesn’t even matter here because the movie is so beautiful in everything it does. The only downsides are that the pacing can be a bit too slow at times and Joseph Gordon-Levitt sounded really flat as Jiro, like his voice wasn’t expressive enough for voice acting. The entire film leaves the audience with a really heartwarming feeling, even though the ending has a melancholic and tragic undertone (which I don’t think is a spoiler because we should all know by now how the Japanese fared in World War II). If you have to compare it to Miyazaki’s other works, this is more akin to the slice-of-life style of My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service rather than the adventure style of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. As this is the final film of Miyazaki’s career, I can say that the note he ended on was as high as one of Jiro’s planes.

Mr. Peabody and Sherman was a fairly good movie that also left me a little disappointed. One of the movie’s biggest strengths is that it’s very intelligent, both in most of its humor and Peabody being portrayed as a Holmesian genius prodigy, which is a nice touch. However, the film’s greatest strength is also a potential drawback, as some of the humor might be so sophisticated that it might leave some of the younger viewers feeling lost. But the biggest drawback is the character of Ms. Grunion, whose only purpose is to be a one-dimensional antagonist that simply exists to harass Peabody and make him miserable, even getting excited about him getting possibly put down, with no believable motive or reason for doing so apart from “he’s a dog and dogs shouldn’t raise humans.” That does stand aside some other heavy and well thought out conflicts and themes too, like parenting techniques, what family truly is, and other such things that really have a lot of heart and make you feel for these characters. However, this comes at the expense of a rather cliched story and some fairly tired tropes, like the aforementioned bully in Ms. Grunion and also isn’t as strong in the laugh department. So as you can tell, I’m fairly mixed about this movie. It’s much more mature than the advertisements make it out to be and it’s very smart, but the intelligence is held back by a rather formulaic plot. But it is far superior to any of the other adaptation of the segments of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show that came before it, so take that for what it’s worth.