Hey guys. So I've been doing a lot more movie viewing this year than I have last year. With the world kind of bringing some slight normalcy means more movies to watch. Granted the rising cases again makes for a more complicated future for movie theaters, I at least got some viewing experiences in. Let's get started with another round of brief movie reviews. What can I say? This is more time saving.
Luca
As for the movie itself, it is gorgeously animated. Per usual for Pixar, but so much of this movie is so photorealistic at times that it just continues to impress me how much better Pixar is at this in comparison to other studios out there. This is like the third movie in a row now where I'm highlighting how beautiful their animation is. They're just that good at it. I also really liked the voice acting. Especially by our two leads here voiced by Jacob Tremblay and Jack Dylan Grazer. They are just so good and so committed to their parts and even by voice acting standards, there is just so much depth to their voices that can add so much depth into their characters.
But the more I watched this movie, the more paper thin this story is. This is what feels like the eighth Disney movie in the last ten years or so to be about inclusion and racism. And yeah, it reflects the times so spot on no matter how many times they do this, but at the very least, TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT WITH THIS. They can be doing so much better with this type of story and I know it because they have. I mean I'm not asking for another Zootopia or Soul, but for fucks sake, raise the stakes. Because this story is as limp as they come. I also hate how we don't get any sort of explanation as to how this universe works. Because the only thing I get from this is that water makes the sea monsters revert away from their human forms. Otherwise, nothing else. We just have to accept that they can turn into humans. A little bit of backstory would be nice in that regard.
And I'll just be blunt, this is probably the worst Pixar antagonist ever. Like I can't picture a more uninteresting character with the most basic of motivations for what he does. He's not funny and his plan is just super basic. He's just a bully by the most basic sense and he should be picked on for being a fully grown man who picks on little kids. Just awful and stupid by every sense of the imagination.
If I only saw this once, I would have given it a light B, but the more I saw this over my previous vacation, the more its flaws just stuck out for me and honestly, this is bottom-tier Pixar. Debatable if this is better than Onward to be honest.
Final Grade: C
In The Heights
So remember how I said I was going to fully review by first movie I saw back in theaters? Well better late than never I assume. I told myself that Lin-Manuel Miranda's co-created theatrical musical was going to be my first movie I go back to theaters to go see. And what high praise that was because this movie...underperformed. Yes even in this day and age, where A LOT of movies are underperforming at the box office due to the coronavirus pandemic; this is probably one of the biggest financial busts of this era. Even though it got huge streaming numbers from HBO Max, per usual for the platform since they ushered us in to this new normal for studio streaming theater releases; its box office has been super lackluster. I'm kind of surprised by this since Lin-Manuel has become such a household name due to Hamilton, but I know that musicals are one of the tougher subgenres to sell when it comes to getting people to pay for movies.
Which is a damn shame because this is honestly one of the best musicals we've gotten in quite some time. I loved this movie. Not only because I'm a sucker for musicals, but because this story is quite excellent. As someone who has dated a "dreamer", I absolutely understand the story that is being told and what sort of prejudices they have to overcome. It is a very serious topic to make a full-length film about, but it is so much more than that. It's about chasing dreams, loving your roots (the main character's goal is to go back to where he came since he adored the Dominican Republic), and finding true love. And I had an absolute blast the entire time watching this. The musical numbers are great, the acting is phenomenal; Olga Merdez as Abuela Claudia deserves a damn Oscar after her musical number had me in tears. I had such a good time watching this. The movie's two hour plus runtime was even lost on me because I just had the biggest goofy smile on my face watching this and singing along to the songs under my mask.
If I had one minor complaint that prevents this from receiving my rare "A+" grade, and this is a super minor nitpick, but this is a Lin-Manuel Miranda movie. Don't get me wrong, as stated previously, I love Lin-Manuel. Its his style of musical that I really wish would take some more risks. Granted I've never seen the original play for "In The Heights" and I've been told that his rap-singing and fast-talking style of composing is exactly the same as it was in "Hamilton". If so, that's great; good on him. He still made a great movie. But part of me just stopped and thought to myself that so much of this reminded me of "Hamilton". And a lot of it was due to the songs being incredibly similar at times when it came to composition. Hell there was even a few "Hamilton" easter eggs in the movie itself. Which yes I did laugh at. But I really hope that the next Lin-Manuel adaptation we get does try to distance itself from the shadow of "Hamilton". Because while that will always be known as Miranda's magnum opus and what made him into the superstar that he is today, I want him to not constantly rely on what made "Hamilton" work for every one of his future projects.
But if that's the only nitpick I truly had with this, then expect me to talk about this more when the end of the year rolls around. I can't wait to watch this again!
Final Grade: A
Black Widow
Now this was a movie that probably should have gotten a full-length treatment. After all, its a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. This is the major film franchise that has me following so many of its moves at the moment. They've got me hooked on every single project, sub-project, etc. I've been a fan of what they are doing for the past thirteen years and I've got faith that they're going to be around for quite some time, no matter how many misses they take.
Which let's be honest, this was not one of their better films. Honestly, I would say that this is Bottom 10 MCU, which does not make this a bad movie. I still enjoyed plenty of it and am still going to recommend it when its all said and done. I'm glad that we FINALLY got this movie after years of waiting for it because Black Widow had too much depth for a character to not explore her story any further. I'm satisfied with what we got when it came to her story and learning more about her past and her history with her Soviet espionage history. Hands down, the highlight of this movie being Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova. This is a character I can just tell the MCU had future plans for the moment I saw her because she stole one too many scenes for her to be just a one-off character. And the interactions between Natasha and her spy family were just so good and full of great conversations and of course, clever Marvel humor.
Despite all the good though, I have to admit. This story could have been better written. There were times I was watching this thinking to myself, this feels thrown together out of fan demand and not a natural Marvel story. And with this taking place between Captain America: Civil War and the events of Infinity War/Endgame, the stakes were just not there. I hate to be that blunt but not once did I feel any real stakes with the events that were taking place and most of the action sequences if we are being honest. And of course, let's talk about that uneventful twist. Which does get into spoiler territory, but let's just say the reveal of whom The Taskmaster really is is not that surprising since Nat keeps bringing up this one past assignment over and over again. Oh and Dreykov is honestly one of the worst MCU villains. Period. His plan is utterly ridiculous and despite Ray Winstone giving it his best, I honestly forgot the character's name until I googled it thirty seconds ago while writing this. Nobody is going to remember this guy after the next few MCU movies. Mark my words.
And let's talk about that MCU comedy. I normally don't mind it. I know people are getting tired of it and its starting to become a trope in all these films that we get this one comedy character. I honestly think David Harbour does a good job in this role with what he's given. But let's just say that there is this one joke at around the midpoint of the movie. It is quite possibly one of the worst lines in a MCU movie. Ever. And this joke lingers for like a whole minute. They clearly are banking on a lot of people to laugh at this when every person I've talked to has hated this as much as I do.
Despite all my complaints, I don't think Black Widow is a bad movie. Not at all. But in terms of trying to lead us into the next phase of MCU movies, I was not impressed.
Final Grade: C
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