The Incredibles (2004)

Rating: 90%
Okay so right after I saw Ratatouille last night I watched this. So here's Pixar review #6: The Incredibles.


Plot: 15 years ago, the super heroes use to protect society. But after causing numerous damages in the process of defeating super villains or protecting people, the government passes a program where the super heroes are forced to live as civilians and to never use their superpowers again. Now former super hero, Mr. Incredible, is now Bob Parr and is married to former super hero Elastigirl and has three kids with her. Bob missed his former days as a hero while he's stuck in a job in an insurance company. But when a mysterious organization asks for his help, he seizes the chance to try to relive his old days as a super hero.

The story is nice considering how it give us a different view about super heroes. Part of it is a little similar to Watchmen, but that mostly has to do with the beginning. But the story is still pretty good all around despite that. The characters where very good, the action was well done, the comedy was cute, and I am fascinated about the animation. Mostly with how they did the zero-point energy with Syndrome and with Violet becoming invisible. I just wish I knew how exactly they did the animation with both of those things.

Characters:
Mr. Incredible: Now part of me doesn't like him too much with how he is having this whole secret from his family and things like that. But the rest of me likes him because of how he did change and how he was an okay bad-a as a super even if his power is nothing original.
Syndrome: While he's not the darkest villain, he was a little cool. He didn't care about other people's lives and his weapons were pretty handy. I mean I wouldn't mind having those kinds of weapons if I was to fight crime or join crime without actual superpowers...as long as they are part of an Iron Man suit. (duh.)


Music: I enjoyed a lot of the music. The theme is memorable...at least it is for me since I use to watch this movie a bunch of times when it was out on DVD. But it's still good even if that's the case.  


And that's my review for The Incredibles. it's a fairly clever story with nice characters, good action and comedy, and some interesting use of animation.

Ratatouille (2007)

Rating: 95%
Well after seeing Midnight in Paris, this movie seemed like a good idea since they both take place form Paris and all that. So here's Pixar review #5: Ratatouille.

Plot: Remy is a rat with a talent for detecting good food. His father who is the leader of the rat clan is against his interest in cooking and with humans. One day Remy is caught by the human whose house the clan is living at. After trying to escape getting killed by the human, he is separated from the clan and ends up in Paris. As he explores, he ends up at the restaurant of his favorite chef. After a mix up, he ends up using the garbage boy at the restaurant to cook.

Now first off, the plot is very creative and it's pretty clever too. They display very well the two different world of cooking and being a rat. You have some lovable characters, the voice acting is very well done, you have your comedy, you have your drama, you have things that are for both kids and adults to enjoy just like a Pixar film is suppose to be.

Actors/Characters:
Remy: He was an interesting character. I heard how people really liked how the voice actor for the character, Patton Oswalt did a especially good job when it came to saying "Change is nature and it all starts when we decide" or somewhere around that. hey really liked how he said it, and I have to admit, while the line isn't the most swell big of writing, he did seem to have portrayed it very well.
Chef Skinner: He was particularly fun. Some of his lines and how he kept getting a little crazy over Remy were pretty funny. Plus he's voiced by Ian Holm which is awesome.
Anton Ego: So this was the first character I really saw from Peter O'Toole. And his voice acting particularly was awesome. It was so menacing and he really displayed that well with the character and it was brilliantly done.

Music: The music was very nice.

And that's my review for Ratatouille. It's a fun, creative movie with some very good voice acting, and some comedy for both kids and adults to enjoy.

Wings (1927)

Rating: 95%
Well it's about time probably. The very first winner for best picture at the Academy Awards, and the first out of the two silent films to win (second one being The Artist). Now I have finally seen it, which leads to this review for Wings.

Plot: Jack and David are both rivals for the affection of a pretty girl named Sylvia. Unknown to Jack, Sylvia loves David and that the girl next door to him, Mary, is completely in love with him. The two men join the Air Service to fight World War I where they go from enemies to friends. Mary also joins the war to become an ambulance driver.

Now I know what I'm saying is very straight forward, and for the most part it is. If you've seen enough movies by the time you have seen this film, you may get a good idea what is going to happen in the end and chances are, that you'll be right. But it's not too terrible predictable, and even if it is for you, the movie is very entertaining anyway. It has comedy, it has suspense, it has excitement, and some action that while it was mostly just a lot of planes just flying around at first, during the end, you get some battle scenes that are especially pretty good considering its time. So at the end of the day, I for one recommend that you see this particular Best Picture winner for all those reasons rather than just because it was the first to win.

Acting/Characters:
Charles "Buddy" Rogers and Richard Arlen/Jack and David: I know they're separate characters, but it seemed to make a little more sense to mention both of them at once considering how often they were together in the film. They both did excellent jobs giving us two characters to enjoy. Rogers probably had most of the more emotional moments, but that doesn't necessarily make Arlen's performance any less good.
Clara Bow/Mary: She also did an excellent job. She kept making me think of Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller in The Artist because she was also this female character who had a fun charm. She didn't show as much as Bejo did in the slightest, but whatever charm she did have was fun and did made me keep thinking of Bejo when it comes to having that in a silent film.


Music: I enjoyed the score, they put it together very well. And the main theme was very nice giving a very light happy tune.

Editing: One issue I did have a real problem with was how sometimes when they are going from a medium shot to a close-up of someone, the use cross-dissolve to get there rather then just cutting from one to the other. But other than that, I thought the editing was just fine.

And that's my review for Wings, the plot could be predictable for you and the editing had a couple of issues, but regardless, it's an awesome, and very entertaining silent film that I would recommend.

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Rating: 70%
Well at long last I have gotten my hands on this film. I remember very well how interested I was to see it just because of how different the poster was. Sadly I didn't find much time to see it in theaters, so I had to wait until it was on DVD, and at long last I have it and just finished watching it about eight minutes ago or so. So here is my review of Midnight in Paris. 

Plot: Gil Pender is a writer who is currently engaged and is in vacation with his fiancee and her parents. Gil is in love with Paris and he wants to live there unlike his fiancee. This leads to Gil taking a lot of walks around Paris at night. One night a car from the 20's comes up and the group of people dressed in 20's clothing take him to a party where he meets famous writers and artists from the 20's. This leads Gil to realize that while he's in the present by day, when he comes to the same spot and meets the same car at night, he is being taken back to the 1920s.

This is a very nice movie but I don't think it was really worthy to be nominated for best picture per say. I mean it had some nice characters, awesome cast members from Owen Wilson, to Kathy Bates, to Tom Hiddleston, and a some of cinematography were just awesome. But I have mixed views when it comes to the plot. I mean it's partly like Narnia mixed with this one movie that I don't remember the name of where a guy that was engaged was sending letters to a woman who was form the time of the civil war that he falls in love with. So it's not super creative. But at the same time I like it anyway because it was interesting to see Gil go back in time and meet all these people from that certain time, and how it gives us this interesting view about the life of people who think they are in the wrong era. But while some of the characters that were writers and artists from the 20's were very good, I feel like they could've given the audience more to know what is it about them that makes them so wonderful to so many people of our time. I mean you do have all the poetic talk with Ernest Hemingway and you have a look of one of the paintings of Pablo Picasso. But the rest of them you mostly just guess that they are famous because the only development you get is Owen Wilson going "Oh my gosh! It's this guy! I love you work!" I mean they didn't say much about the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who I know because I read his book, The Great Gatsby in my junior English class back in high school. But not everyone knows him or his work so I'm sure people who didn't would've loved to know what is so famous about this guy that he is being portrayed in this movie by Loki from Thor and The Avengers. So I would've liked to have seen more development in those kinds of characters so that we would all know or get an idea of why they are so awesome and remarkable to people like Gil.

Actors/Characters:
Owen Wilson/Gil Pender: I really liked how Wilson had a little more drama. I mean I know that it's a romantic comedy, but the way it was set up gave us an Owen Wilson that was not just all comedy like he is on the Night at the Museum movies or anything like that. So I liked that. The one thing I didn't get was that he seemed to have taken it too well that he was going back in time. Like he never really to time to be in denial or get beyond super excited over what was happening. Sure he'll say it dialogue wise, but on a whole he seemed to be into it almost right away.


Music: The music was very nice. I mean I'm not to big on Paris music, but it was enjoyable to listen to while watching Gil experience the things that happen in the film.

Editing: There were a couple of times where the film stays on a shot of one person, and they stick to that shot even while that characters is talking to someone. That may not be a big deal, but it seemed weird to see only one of the two people that are dialoguing during a large portion of their conversation.

And that's my review for Midnight in Paris. It's an entertaining film that just doesn't have a completely original plot but otherwise only needed a couple adjustments with some of the characters development. 

Cars 2 (2011)

Rating: 45%
Alright so last night I saw this movie after watching and writing my review for the first movie. But I waited until this morning to start writing it. So here is Pixar review # 4: Cars 2.


Plot: After winning his fourth Piston Cup, McQueen is challenged to race at the first Grand World Prix. Sally suggests that he takes Mater to the trip since he has never taken him to any of his races. But while preparing for the first race, a secret agent secretly plants information onto Mater at a bathroom before he is about to be captured by an evil oil corporation that is trying to sabotage the race. This leads two other secret agents, Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell are lead to believe that Mater is the secret agent that they were suppose to meet.

Now while the plot is not original and was fairly predictable, it sure as heck was much more original and interesting then what the first movie had to offer. I mean I'd take main character mistaken for a secret agent over a guy that has it all until he meets a bunch people that he eventually likes any day. The action was alright, at the very least a little clever with how they come up with it in the world of Cars. But altogether, while the plot is better and not as predictable, just doesn't really...I want to say shine as much as the first movie did, or any other Pixar film for that matter.

Characters:
Mater: He was still a fun character. He has his annoying parts or stuff that you know he's going to do so you - or at least I - have to roll my eyes over. But the still had his nice moments.
Finn McMissile: Now this guy I easily liked. I mean why not? He would transform from car to submarine, he would totally beat the crap out of a lot of bad guys, and there's of coarse the main attraction which was that he was voice by Michael Cain.


Music: the music was okay, it was mostly just secret agent music, nothing spectacular.

And that's my review for Cars 2. It has its nice points, but it falls hard enough to definitely be the worst that Pixar has done. This is were we definitely must hope that Brave does a much better job than that.

Cars (2006)

Rating: 60%
Alright so I just got this movie and its sequel from the Library. I just finished watching it for the first time since like...thanksgiving 2007 when we rented it. So here's Pixar review # 3: Cars.


Plot: Lightning McQueen is a racecar rookie who is trying to be the first rookie to win the Piston Cup. But after making a few mistakes, McQueen ties the race with two other cars and his pit crew quits for his arrogance. On the way to California to break the tie, he makes his big rig truck, Mack, not let him rest on the way to California which leads Mack to accidentally and unknowingly make McQueen fall out of his trailer which leads McQueen to panic and accidentally destroy the road to a small town called Radiator Springs. as punishment, the people there make him fix their road before they let him go back to California to win the race.

Okay what makes this movie not as swell and most of the Pixar films is just that the plot is really freaking far from original. You know exactly what is going to happen. It's pretty much one of those movies where the main character thinks he has it all until a group of people come in and all of the sudden they're his/her family. Now when it comes to the concept of the world of Cars, it was decent. I mean it's pleasant but it's far from the first time anyone's made something where all the characters are vehicles or some kind...*coughs* Thomas The Tank Engine! Theodore Tugboat! But aside from all that, some of the characters were a little cute, and some of the stuff mostly between Mater and McQueen were fun to watch.

Characters:
Lightning McQueen: I didn't really care for him. Because since the plot revolved a lot around him, that made him just like the plot: predictable. The only likable thing was that he was voiced by Owen Wilson.
Mater: I didn't think much of him when I first saw him. But watching him again, I admit he was pretty fun. He was this silly, goofy tow truck that was being totally friendly to McQueen. He may not be one of my total favorite characters, but he still was really fun.
Doc Hudson: Doc gets a part in this section not just because he was a decent character, but because he was voiced by Paul Newman which automatically makes him awesome. 

Music: I liked a lot of the music. I particularly liked the song, I think it was "Real Gone" that was at the very beginning. But what really did the trick was "Live is a Highway" I admit that I watched the scene that has that song four or five times just to listen to that song when I was watching it again. And why not? that song is awesome. the song that was nominated for best original song "Our Town," I didn't think was anything special, but that was just me.

And that's my review for Cars. The plot is terrible but it had some nice characters, fun scenes and a couple of awesome songs for the soundtrack. Now I am moving on to Cars 2. See you there.       

The Simpsons Movie

Rating: 80%
FINALLY!!! years ago I made a plan to never see this movie again until I was caught up with The Simpsons up to season 18 where shortly afterwords came this movie! It's been a long process, but after starting about three-ish years ago, I finally got through all of the first 400 episodes. So I have finished seeing the movie again for the first time in years about fifteen minutes ago or so, and at long last here is my review for it.


Plot: Lisa with the help a new love interest named Colin, convinces Springfield to stop polluting the lake. But Homer doesn't listen, so he dumps all the waste from his new pet pig into the lake which leads the Environmental Protection Agency to seal a big dome all over Springfield. The town finds out what Homer does and attempts to kill him which leads the Simpsons to escape the dome and be on the run from the law.

Now one or two episodes aside, this was the first Simpsons thing that I ever fully watched, and I freaking loved it! If I loved it for just one reason, it would be just because of how funny it is. There were so many things that I found to be hilarious. A lot of the jokes to me just kept coming out the blue and it was awesome. Now the one problem with this movie is that you don’t get to see a lot of the characters that you love in the series. But it goes without saying that it’s expected, especially since the numbers of characters on this show are countless.  But when it comes to the suspenseful parts of the movie, especially during the beginning, I thought they over did it a little. I mean yes that’s the idea, but with the music, the dramatic close ups, and even little bits of the dialogue, I feel like they over did it a little too much. But the story was nice, the characters are even so lovable, and the comedy was pretty spot on.

Characters:

The Simpsons: Well what’s to say? It’s the freaking Simpsons. They were just the way they were supposed to be. Homer getting into complete trouble, Lisa being the logical one, Bart getting into mischief, Marge being just the protective mom and ever having such a temper whenever Homer does something stupid. And then Maggie acting innocent but not having a problem ready to defend herself or her family. It was just the Simpsons just the way we loved them all the way.

Music: theme song is awesome.  But the drama music is just like the drama itself. It seemed a bit overdone. Which sucks considering that it’s done by Hans Zimmer. Which is giving me the official thought that he’s a guy that is mostly a hit and miss kind of composer when it comes to his work. I don’t know, we’ll have to see. We still have Dark Knight Rises soon, so let’s hope he gives us some excellent pieces there.

And that’s my review of The Simpsons Movie. The drama may be over dome and some fans may not to get a good look at some of the other characters that aren’t the Simpsons that they really love, but it’s still an awesome film with awesome comedy for everyone to love.