Marty (1955)

Rating: 95%
Well almost exactly a month ago, we lost Ernest Borgnine which has been a terrible tragedy for many fans and film buffs who know his work. Sadly, I have hardly seen a thing from him besides voicing as Mermaid Man in Spongebob Squarepants. So after hearing his tragic death, I decided that it's long time that I take a look at what he seems to be best known for; being the star in the 1955 Best Picture winning movie, Marty.

Plot: Marty is a 34 year old Italian-American man who works as a butcher living with his mother. He's known to be socially awkward yet good-natured and his family and friends keep nagging at him over the matter that he hasn't gotten married while all of his siblings are married and some even have a couple of kids. Marty wants to get married but is tired of always being let down whenever he's interested in a girl. But one Saturday night, he and his best friend Angie go to a ballroom to find dates and along the way he meets this girl named Clara and they start to spend the evening together.

This is a very charming movie. The comedy is cute, the characters are entertaining, the story has been herd before, but you don't really care since it feels like this is the first time anyone has told it more or less and the way they tell is has some pretty good charm. I think my only problem would be that certain parts of the dialogue keep repeating just about every single time throughout the movie. I mean it's fine when it's done for comedy or something, but even when it makes a little bit of sense it seems a little off when it's happening even in the most dramatic parts of the movie. But I guess that's just the kind of world that the characters live in and sometimes such as during the very end, it can turn out to be utterly awesome.

Actors/Characters:
Ernest Borgnine/Marty: Borgnine was excellent in this movie. He perfectly displayed this really kind - hearted guy that really has it hard socially and with trying to date women. I mean his performance from when he's finding out he's not getting a date from a girl earlier in the film is so perfectly done. You really care about what this guy goes through and with the situations that he's facing and Borgnine makes that happens very well.

And that's my review for Marty. It's a charming movie with a simple story, fun characters, splendid acting and just an excellent movie to watch that I think deserved to win Best Picture during its time.       

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Rating: 75%
FINALLY!!!! It took me long enough to finally watch this movie. Practically everyone's talking about how this movie is ssssssoooooooooo wonderful or something around that and telling me to watch it and I haven't really given myself the time up till about a week ago. So let's finally look into my thoughts about How to Train Your Dragon.

Plot: Hiccup is the son of a Viking chieftain in an island where the village is constantly attacked by dragons. Hiccup is considered a disgrace in the village because he can hardly do anything useful let alone kill dragons like everyone else. So during a dragon attack, Hiccup uses a cannon to capture a dragon that no one has ever seen called a Night Fury to try to no longer be an embarrassment to his father. But when he finds the dragon, he decides to set it free. But the dragon's tail is injured, keeping if from properly flying so slowly but surely, Hiccup begins to earn the dragon's trust and along the way names it 'Toothless' and invents a prosthetic tail for it and begin to learn to fly it.

Now I'll admit that this movie is not spectacular, but it still pretty good. The world's a little creative with the locations and the different kinds of dragons, the characters are good, and the comedy has some cute parts. The animation is also very good and the process of Hiccup and Tothless' relationship is interesting. My main problem would be the structure of the movie. I mean with Hiccup having his crush on Astrid, his secret about Toothless, his relationship with his dad and how it turns out in the end, it's roughly no different then a couple of other films. But it's still a good movie on how it's entertaining and while the way it's structured isn't great, it at least has a couple of things go differently, which I liked.

Characters:
Hiccup: Well he was a nice characters but he wasn't all that unique. I mean he's trying to be a somebody and trying to get his dad's approval and all that jazz. So while he was still entertaining, that didn't stop him from not exactly being the most unique character in the film.
Toothless: Now I've heard how Toothless was suppose to look a little like Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and...yeah I can see that. But honestly, whenever I saw Toothless I kept thinking of my dog Saddie. I know that sounds weird but as the movie progressed, Toothless had this sort of cuteness and just friendly animal personality that makes me keep thinking of my dog...that and they're both black I mean Toothless is a Night Fury and Saddie's a Black Lab. But anyway, Toothless was a pretty fun and likable character and I did like how he bonded with Hiccup.

And that's my review for How to Train Your Dragon. It's not structured super well, but it's still a little creative and has stuff that makes it a fun film to enjoy. So I only mostly agree with practically everyone who says that this movie's super awesome or whatever.
 

Porco Rosso (1992)

Rating: 80%
Alright so a little after seeing Ponyo, I got to this Miyazaki film. So here's my review for Porco Rosso.

Plot: Porco Rosso is a man that has been cursed which turns him into a pig. Since then he has become a famous bounty hunter in the Adriatic Sea in the interwar period, defending people from airborne pirates. One day the pirates hire an American fighter pilot named Curtis to help them get rid of Porco. Porco tries to fly away from them to Milan for repairs to his plane but Curtis shoots his plane down and leaves believing he's dead. So Porco has to sneak to Milan despite the fact that he's wanted all over Italy to repair his plane and get back at Curtis.

I think I'm starting to make it officially my point of view that a very well done Miyazaki film is a film that gives us a world/story that is so unique and creative and sometimes complex that I have to watch it twice to make sure I understand everything before reviewing it. So that would fall in line to part of why I particularly like Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, Kiki's Delivery Service... maybe it's that way with Spirited Away (I am not sure if the times that I saw it years ago would really count for a couple of reasons) and I expect to feel the need to do that for that when I get to Princess Mononoke. Porco Rosso was a movie that I had to watch twice before reviewing it so, yeah it's a good movie. The story is creative, the setting is pretty cool particularly when we get more into Porco's past, the comedy if enjoyable and the characters (especially the Mamma Aiuto gang) are very fun to watch. There are a couple of things that I wish they got into more like how exactly Porco got his curse and all of that, but at the same time I'm kind of alright with it because that kind of makes the world of Porco Rosso still something of a mystery more or less which make it a little more interesting. Plus, (as per usual) we get a nice cast in the Disney version to this film with Michael Keaton, Cary Elwes, Susan Egan, Brad Garrett and David Ogden Stiers.

Characters:
Porco Rosso: Normally I wouldn't be too big about a bounty hunter with a dark past or something like that since character more or less like that has been done plenty of times before, but I admit that this was not the case here. I think that's mostly because his past is more unique with the fact that it's mostly about him being turned into a pig and how we don't find out about every single thing about who he was before the events of the film. So that helped me care more about Porco and therefore be more willing to enjoy how he's a guy who looks after himself and yet has a sort of soft side about him.
Mamma Aiuto Gang Boss: Personally I liked the Mamma Aiuto Gang Boss the best because he was really hilarious. It seemed like everything was going wrong for him and he'd keep yelling at the top of his lungs over it and combining that with the animation to this movie made him a lot of fun to watch.

Music; Short answer. Well done just like any other Miyazaki film.

And that's my review for Porco Rosso. It's a creative, funny and all around an entertaining film though and through.

Ponyo (2008)

Rating: 70%Alright so after this movie, there's only two movies left to review from Miyazaki from movies he did in Studio Ghibli. So let's move on to one I've been really curious about from looking at posters and stuff for, Ponyo.

Plot: Brunhilde is a fish-girl that lives with her magical father in his underwater aquarium. One day she sneaks out and floats away in a jellyfish to see more of the world. She then comes across a little boy named Sōsuke who rescues her when she gets stuck inside a class cup. But in the process, he cuts his finger from the glass and Brunhilde licks the cut healing him. They become attached to one another and Brunhilde starts talking, and Sōsuke starts to call her Ponyo.

Well I will admit that this is a very nice movie. The characters were pretty nice, the animation and all around world is pretty darn creative as it should as a Miyazaki film should, the cast is awesome with it containing, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, and Betty White. But while the story is nice and creative, it has its odd points. *WARNING SPOILERS* My main example is how there's the whole situation about the moon and the whole thing about the balance in the world. Then there's the something of a subplot with Fujimoto hating humans or something like that. Both of them were very odd because I don't think they went very far on which made both parts of the story kind of off. But by biggest issue was that they made the whole test over Sōsuke's love for Ponyo that is also deciding the fate of the earth really stupid simple: asking him if he loves her either as a fish or a human. I mean sure this movie is probably a little more intended for little kids around the age of the main characters of this film, but considering that this is about the fate of the earth and that they're testing Sōsuke's love for Ponyo, I thought it was a little too simple. And on top of it, Granmamare and especially Fujimoto seemed to take it a little too well that they're letting a little boy decide whether or not to have their VERY young daughter be human for good. I mean I'm sure his love is true and he means it that he'll protect her and he has his mom to help, but... I don't know, to be that big of a change for such young kids. Frankley, it kind of sounds more concerning then teenagers falling in love and getting married in most of the Disney film. But that's my opinion. * END OF SPOILERS*  But I digress, Ponyo is a very fun creative film to enjoy.

Characters:
Sōsuke and Ponyo: They are very lovable characters. I mean that probably goes without saying since they're like, only 4 or 5 years old, but they do display that very well with the animation and the voice acting that makes them very fun to enjoy and make the film all around enjoyable for kids around that very young age.
Lisa: Well firstly, it was awesome to hear Tina Fey in one of the Disney versions to these films, but secondly, Lisa was kind of a strange character. I mean she was a crazy driver, and she kind of adapted to believing that Ponyo is what she really is surprisingly quickly. I mean she had her conversaion with Ponyo's mother about what was going to happen at the end of the movie, I bet rather then being concerned she just more or less went "Okay" and there you go.

Music: The music had a much more cheery tone then most Miyazaki films do which I think turned out very nicely to set up how this film is mostly set for very young kids.

And that's my review for Ponyo. I have a few issues with the story and the ending especially, but it's still a very fun, creative film from Miyazaki for people of all ages to enjoy.

Astro Boy (2009)

Rating: 20%
So...yeah I was looking for movie to put on hold at the library website and all of the sudden I thought of this movie and went, "what the heck" and decided to see it...so...here's my review for Astro Boy.

Plot: Toby is the son of Dr. Tamna who has trouble spending time with his son because of work for the president of the floating city, Metro City. Wanting to see his dad after school, he goes to his lab to watch what his father is doing. But Dr. Tamna's experiment goes wrong which results in getting Toby vaporized. Over come with grief, Dr. Tamna build a clone robot of Toby that is powered by one of the energy spheres that he's been working on called the Blue Core. The robot clone, while having Toby's memories, turns out to be much smarter and have more physical powers then the original Toby. So Dr. Tamna, tormented as to how the robot is not really Toby, he tells the robot Toby that he's not the real Toby and so it run away only to be chased by President Stone who is after the Blue Core that's keeping it alive.

Yeah...this is not a good movie. I mean sure, the animation is good and I thought the design for the villain during the final battle and all of that was kind of cool. But it's generally predictable, the characters are from okay to you've seen these character before countless times, and the voice acting - under the exception of Bill Nightly more or less, Nathan Lane and Samuel L. Jackson - was not that spectacular. If you're a fan of Astro Boy or just like these same kind of story that this movie tells, you're probably going to enjoy this anyway. But if you're like me and you find this to be plain cheesy and predictable you're only going to enjoy this because of some of the cast and the cool animation.

Characters:
Astro: Like the movie itself, Astro (or Toby, whatever you prefer) was pretty cheesy and predictable. You know what he is, you know what heroic thing he's going to do, he just wasn't much of a character.
Dr. Tamna: Now I have to admit it, while Nicolas Cage wasn't much in terms of voice acting, I did like how this character was a little more realistic halfway through that movie. Cause when I was seeing trailers and tv spots for this film, I thought he was going to be this two-dimensional character who is giving Astro just undying love and encouragement. But then he starts realizing how this robot is not his real son and I liked that because that made him a more realistic character. It's a shame as to how he progresses as a character during the climax which I won't spoil for people who haven't seen it, but still, I liked how things were starting to go at first with this character.

And that's my review for Astro Boy. It has nice animation and some good casting in a couple of areas, but at the end of the day, it's just a predictable movie and I don't recommend it unless you're a die hard fan of Astro Boy.

Monster House (2006)

Rating: 80%
Oh my gosh did I hate that this movie did not win best animated feature at the Oscars. I mean Cars was just okay, hardly one of Pixar's strongest, and Happy Feet was cheesy and had a couple to adult content stuff that were surprising to find in a kid's movie, and it really won just because of it's environmental message to me. But this film was actually good and I find it an outrage that it didn't win. Why is that? let's find out.


Plot: DJ is a 12 year old boy who spies on his elderly neighbor, Mr. Nebbercracker who keeps taking toys that lands on his front lawn. While his parents are out to a convention, He plays some basketball with his best friend Chowder until the ball accidentally lands on Mr. Nebbercracker's lawn. They try to get it back until Mr. Nebbercracker chases them until he gets a heart attack and is sent to the hospital leaving the kids to believe that he's dead. But then the house comes alive and tries to eat Chowder and later a girl named Penny. So it's up to the three kids to figure out how to stop the house from eating the entire neighborhood.

This is a very nice movie. The characters are fun, the story is very nice and it gets much more interesting as the movie goes on, and most of the animation is pretty good. But I will admit that there's a very good reason I said most of the animation was pretty good. I do think they didn't go very big on quite a few facial expressions and body movement at some points in the movie. I mostly say this with DJ and Chowder during the first half of the movie where they lack a good amount of expression, and sometimes the body movement was so poorly done that there's been points where DJ's suppose to be so made that he kicks a piece of furniture, but really just touches it with his foot even though he's suppose to act mad over what had just happened. But otherwise, the animation is good. I especially like what they did with animating the house during the second half of the movie.

Music: It was pretty good. It had a decent Halloween tone to it that worked well in setting the movie.

And that's my review for Monster House. It's a fun animated movie that may have some issues like with facial expressions and body movement when it comes to the animation, but it's still a nice movie and it really should've won best animated feature instead of Happy Feet.

Robots (2005)

Rating: 60%
So I was looking at movies I could watch to make a nice head start of reviews after 300 besides Princess Diaries and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And then I decided to take a look at a movie I haven't fully seen since I saw it in theaters at a best friend's birthday party. So here's my review for Robots.

Plot: Rodney is a young robot who becomes an inventor who dreams of making the robot world a better place. He eventually decides to go to Robot City to show his latest invention - a robot named Wonderbot - to his idol, Bigweld, owner of Bigweld Industries. But when he gets there, he finds out that Bigweld is no longer in control of his company and that it is now controlled by Ratchet who stops manufacturing spare parts for old robots and decides to manufacture upgrades instead. An if robots can't get upgrades, they will end up in the under ground chop shop where they would be shredded and melted by Ratchet's mother, Madame Gasket. So while trying to find Bigweld and try to ask him to stop Ratchet, it's up to Rodney to keep older robots fixed before they end up in the Chop Shop.

Now for the most part, the story is not that original, but at least some of the other things in this movie were alright. The characters were fun, some of the comedy was fairly funny and even memorable at some particular points, and the animation was very good when it came to giving us a very creative world that these characters live in. Plus the casting is pretty cool with Mel Brooks, Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor surprisingly pulling off an American accent, and more surprisingly, we have Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn in the Harry Potter movies and Professor Kirkein the Narnia movies) turned out to be Madame Gasket. All around, Robots is an okay movies that you'll mostly enjoy because of it's cast, characters and the creativity they put into the world of this movie.

Characters:
Rodney: Well like I said before, hats off to Ewan McGregor for pulling of an American accent for this movie. Otherwise, while Rodney is a fun character he's not terribly original like the plot itself. He has his dream, he's really good at something, and he just happens to come up with things that help everything to work out in the end. So while he is a fun character, his part in the movie isn't to creative.
Fender: Well he may not be The Genie or Adrian Cronauer, but for the most part he still was funny. Bringing us some good ol' Robin Wililams charm whether he's just using a really thick accent or referencing a movie or song like Braveheart or "Singin' in the Rain. Just a fun character all around from the guy. One of the very few he's given us in the very recent years.

Music: Most of the music in not that bad. I mean the score isn't swell but there's some points. Like the track for when we first meet Madame Gasket may not be swell especially with the singer who I thought sort of killed the move for the song. I mean he's not a bad singer or anything but I think it would've worked more it he was a little deeper. But otherwise found it to have a very nice rhythmic tone to it that if it just had one or two tweaks (such as the singer) it would've been probably awesome. As far as actual songs, the movie did have some nice moments. My personal favorite in both song and really moment in the film all around was when all of the sudden they were playing "Hit Me Baby One More Time." It was at such a random part of the movie which made it so, freaking, hilarious that when I saw it in theaters, I just could hardly stop laughing.

And that's my review for Robots. It's not much in story, but it's characters and the all around world still gives us a nice movie with some nice comedy and fun that you can enjoy.