Fish and Cherries Productions

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is indescribably good. The first one was a hard contender with Toy Story 3 for best animated film of the year at their time and the sequel improves on everything significantly. All of the characters, even the minor ones, still have very distinct personalities, the animation is still beautiful, the flying scenes are still breathtaking, and there were some very emotional scenes that definitely hit harder than the ones in its predecessor. The ending seemed like a bit of a deus ex machina to me, but it was still within reason. Oddly enough, the thing that always impressed me the most about these movies is how they did the hair, as that is often the hardest thing to animate. But in this series, every single one is given a lot of detailed work and legitimately looks real. Overall, this is definitely a must-see. Here’s hoping that this one takes the Oscar home.

The Fault in Our Stars is a brilliant movie, but a very difficult one for me to talk about and an even harder one to sit through. Growing up, I have lost a lot of people, some young ones to cancer, so watching a movie nail the pain and experiences so well was like losing them all over again. So when I say that I’d have a difficult time watching it again, it has nothing to do with the quality and everything to do with the old wounds it reopened. Some of the lines even felt like they were directed specifically at me, which made the film hit even closer to home. It runs the gambit of emotions, from sadness to laughter to disappointment to joy and even to heartbreak, and ever one of them hit their mark. If you’re looking for a deep film making analysis from me, you won’t find it in this article. The acting, offbeat dialogue, cinematography, and interactions are all beautiful. That’s all I can really say at the moment.

Maleficent is not nearly as subversive as it thinks it is, but that does not make it a bad movie. A friend described it as feeling like a pro-Maleficent fan fiction where all of the other characters are made to look horrible and I can see where he is coming from. The three faeries are borderline useless and the people in the human kingdom are dark and evil with zero shades of gray or redeeming features. The only good one are Aurora and Prince Philip, but the latter is so bland and uninteresting that he was almost a non-presence (though his counterpart from the original Sleeping Beauty was probably the least interesting Disney Prince, so at least they’re consistent). There were other problems too, like the fact that certain relationship progressions progressions were relegated to rushed montages, there is a very unnecessary narrator that is really hard to put up with, and a few serious scenes are nearly ruined by some unintentionally hilarious moments in them. But there are some superb moments as well. The characters of Maleficent, Diaval, and Aurora are wonderfully written and lend themselves to some brilliant and funny moments. On top of that, the visuals of the film are drop dead gorgeous and may be some of the most beautiful you see in a while. On top of that, the second half of the movie is really engaging and the twist on the end, while already done in a much better Disney movie, is still refreshing to see, as is the part where the Prince says that he wouldn’t feel right kissing an unconscious girl. Those who are sick of the Disney tropes will not have a good time, but there are still quite a few gems in here to prevent it from being a bad movie. Just don’t go in expecting Wicked.

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a frustrating movie to talk about because it had some major, unavoidable, unforgivable flaws and just as many redeeming moments. Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Quite a few of the jokes fall flat or serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever, like the bewildering cameo by Doc Brown that comes out of nowhere and is never mentioned again. On top of that, the movie eschews comedy for action and drama in the third act to its detriment, the main girl not only becomes a shoehorned love interest when she and McFarlane’s character worked much better as friends, but also a dumbass in distress at the end, and the movie plays the standard coming-into-your-own story far too straight than a comedy like this should. But are their good parts? Absolutely. The humor is spot on when it’s not trying to mine gross out or shock humor, particularly in the middle section and about the time period, Neil Patrick Harris is enjoyable as always, and the songs are incredibly fun, because if nothing else, MacFarlane is a superb musician. Despite the laughs, though, I just found myself incredibly bored, and for a comedy, that’s just about the worst thing you can say.

X-Men: Days of Future Past went the extra mile of the path to redeeming the franchise that First Class started. While the apocalyptic future scenes kept the serious tone that the original trilogy had, the scenes in a past were refreshingly doused in the humor found in First Class. Seeing everyone return to their roles is a huge treat, but the new additions to the cast are also well in their element, such as Peter Dinklage as the creator of the Sentinels, Fan Bingbing as the mutant Blink who uses portal powers very creatively, and Evan Peters as Quicksilver who steals every scene he’s in. The scope is truly impressive too, as the mutants in this movie truly feel like the next step in evolution, even being something like gods to the normal humans and the future Sentinels are something out of nightmares. I wasn’t a huge fan of some of the costumes, but I can write that off as the future being light on materials. Days of Future Past is the hero the franchise deserved and needed and I would highly recommend it. And to those who are still a little burned from X-Men 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, let’s just say that problem is… fixed.

Midnight in Paris was a wistful and thoughtful trip through French history and faces. Throughout the film, the idea of nostalgia for times long gone that a person wasn’t even a part of is destructed by showing its progression throughout the passing eras, a point which is admittedly spelled out in the end, but sometimes it’s best to abandon subtlety. There are other themes too, like the interactions of different creative minds, but the former is certainly the main focus. I’ll freely admit that I don’t think Owen Wilson is the greatest actor, but he fits perfectly here as a wide-eyed Francophile writer surrounded by strangeness, often embodying some of the traits of Woody Allen’s younger roles. Speaking of, one cannot ignore the all star cast that makes up the famous faces of Paris’ past, my personal favorite being Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali. Some people may be thrown off by the daytime scenes in the present day feeling a lot more mundane than the night scenes of the past, but rest assured that that was the whole idea and not a filmmaking fault. Overall, I feel like this movie was made specifically for me and encourage the rest of you to enjoy it like a rich eclair. Unless you’re vegan, in which case you should enjoy it like a dark chocolate-dipped strawberry.

Mass Effect: Paragon Lost initially came off as a very run-of-the-mill tie-in movie to a game. Bogging it down was rather sub par animation, inconsistent characterization, and a character the was annoying at best and hazardous to his teammates at worst. However, this all changed in the end when the story took a gut-wrenching turn that lingered with me long after the movie ended and made this really feel like a Mass Effect story. From a fan’s perspective, it’s great to see the action of the games translated into full animation, but it’s also a little jarring when en effect happens that’s wildly different from the source material. The last five or ten minutes truly are gold and make up for the rest of the movie, making this a strange inversion to the original cut of Mass Effect 3. Ironic, seeing as this was supposed to promote that game. I’m not sure if I can recommend this to non-fans of the series, but fans will find a bit to love, even if they find themselves slogging through the mud and trenches to get there.

Godzilla was a huge step above the Roland Emmerich movie from the 90s and a pretty good monster movie too. While the meat of the story (as well as the overarching theme) is family, Godzilla is the crux and focal point of the story, meaning the the Godzilla movie is still about Godzilla, a mistake that quite a few adaptations make. Originally, I was going to dock the movie for not having enough Godzilla in it, but then I remembered that was true of all (if not most) of the old Japanese Godzilla movies, so I cannot begrudge it for that. What I can begrudge it for is completely failing the Bechdel Test and even employing the Women in Refrigerators tactic, so no points on the feminism front. On top of that, the child actors are so bland that they are practically a non-presence. However, I still enjoyed the movie and liked the fact that none of the human characters who died were too dumb to live. It may not be one of my favorites, but I daresay it is the Godzilla movie that I’ve been waiting for for a long time.

Neighbors has some entertaining laughs, but overall left me feeling very uncomfortable. The setup has some openings for a very zany comedy, but starts taking some dark turns and even though it’s still played for laughs, it’s hard to root for either side because each of them has done their share of reprehensible things that should have gotten them arrested. On top of that, it’s wildly inconsistent with its characterization, particularly with Zac Efron, whose character starts out as reasonably likable and even the more sympathetic party before taking a dive into outright villainy. The other side isn’t much better, being petty at best and instigators at worst. All in all, it’s hard to believe that either side got the ending it deserved. Like I said, there are some good laughs, but if either side had acted remotely intelligently, there wouldn’t have been a movie, so it’s really nothing to write home about. Even though that’s technically what I’m doing right now.

Brick is a film that I don’t think gets enough attention, which is a shame because it’s a rare movie that can be enjoyed on two levels: for its quality and for the novelty. For all intents and purposes, this is a film noir, but set inside a rundown suburban high school and the fact is that it works too perfectly not to be enjoyable. Like Pacific Rim, if this had been played for parody instead of completely straight, it would not have worked as well. But the different spots that the cliques hang out in serving like dive bars or Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s world-loathing loner Brendan standing in as the hard-boiled detective make this a very firm fit. The plot itself is very engaging on its own too and while it can get a little complicated, it never leaves the viewer behind for long. So when you’ve got the chance to rent or stream Brick, do so. It’s grim, it’s gritty, it’s great.