Reviews

This film has acquired a great amount of criticism over the past 2 years. And just about all of the main points can be summarized into one category: Illogical Subversion. Every big twist in this film, from Luke's lack of ambition for the Jedi, to Snoke's abrupt death, to the revealing of Rey's unimportant parents succeeds at surprising the audience. Luke is a loyal Jedi master who would never throw away his identity just because of one mistake he made. But I bet you weren't expecting that. Snoke is built up to be an all powerful being that will have a great impact on the entire trilogy. They wouldn't just kill him off for no reason in the second film of the trilogy. But I bet you weren't expecting that. Rey has the powers of the force which means the force must be in her bloodline. It wouldn't make sense for her parents to be absolute nobodies. BUT I BET YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING THAT! The entire film succeeds at surprising us at the expense of the logic of the Star Wars Universe, and the plot of the film. I'm sure we all would have rather accepted a predictable yet logical film than what we got. However out of all the problems in this film, the one that makes me mad the most is Finn's death (or lack there of) at the end. Finn started in the Force Awakens killing for the first order, however in an epiphany moment decided to leave and join the resistance. He is now at the point where he is instead trying to save the resistance by fighting the First Order. It would have been a poetic and monumental death in the sequel trilogy. However, Rose just HAD to save him at the last second. Her logic for saving Finn is that "we shouldn't fight for what we hate, but instead save what we love." Ironically, this is EXACTLY what Finn was doing. He was saving the small amount of remaining Resistance members in the cave, but I guess Rose and Finn just needed to have a romantic endeavor even though it wasn't built up anywhere in the film. In fact Finn and Rey had romantic tension remaining from the Force Awakens, but Rian Johnson just forgot. I guess. However there was some good in this film, but none of it overpowers the high amount of criticism contained in it. Let's just hope JJ Abrams fixes everything with Rise of Skywalker. It's our only hope.

Taking a step back and viewing The Force Awakens, the film isn't all that bad. Many things were left up for speculation for it to be solved in the next two films of the trilogy, which is expected considering how incredibly popular and beloved this franchise is. Thinking back to when it first came out, everyone loved it because they were excited for where it would be taken from there. And I think that's what makes this film passable. The feeling of revival to this franchise is exactly what it needed. It's no wonder that the film is quite similar to A New Hope, Disney wanted to play it safe to please everyone. In my opinion, I think the two films are separate enough to justify The Force Awakens' existence. This film's job was to create these new characters, and establish the time setting in the universe. I believe it succeeded as the characters are well done, and the time period makes sense in the context of the rest of the franchise. Obviously there needed to be cliffhangers and unanswered questions as this is the first film in the trilogy. By the end of the film, the remaining two films have the opportunity to go anywhere which is what kept people looking forward to episode 8. When you take the unfortunate existence of episode 8 out of context when watching the film, it can be enjoyable and will feel faithful to Star Wars. Let's just hope Rise of Skywalker is able to fix up the damage done by The Last Jedi.

Disney delivers a much more mature and grounded film for its sequel to Frozen. To my surprise, the film is not just a nostalgia cash grab, they actually had an interesting brand new setting, set of characters, and story to explore. The beginning of the film was a little bit slow and lacked a good theme, which worried me at first. Elsa didn't really have a good reason to go into the forest other than feeling (through her powers) that the forest had some good in it, but since the audience doesn't exactly know how her powers work since it wasn't ever explored, we are just forced to accept this fact without knowing why. The whole subplot of Christoff trying to purpose to Anna was quite forced and uninteresting. It was the only justification as to why Christoff and Sven were even in the movie, but I feel if they had just cut them from the movie and focused more on Anna and Elsa, it would have been a lot more powerful. Once they found their parents' crashed ship, the film got so much better! This film at its core is about how to deal with change. It can be hard at times and we may not understand everything, but we need to choose to not give up and to do the right thing. As someone who thought that the previous Frozen soundtrack was filled with songs that were either forgettable or alright, I am absolutely blown away by how great the soundtrack is in this film! "Into the Unknown" is miles better than "Let it Go", as well as "Show Yourself". However "The Next Right Thing" is among one of the greatest Disney songs in my opinion! It is so dark and uncomfortably candid for a film targeted at kids. The song works in the context of the story, however could also work in much more dark and real contexts. "When I Am Older" and "Lost in the Woods" are okay, but are definitely the slacking songs of the soundtrack. The climax of the film was intense and exciting like a fantasy adventure, but a little bit convenient and rushed when it comes to the aftermath of Arendelle. Even the fire scene in the middle of the film was exciting which was surprising considering there weren't much exciting action scenes in the original Frozen. Overall, I have a lot of small problems with this film that don't seem to tip me over too much, and with the original, I have a few big problems that ruined what could have been one of Disney's greatest films. Frozen II is better than the original in its ambition, story, music, themes, and grittiness.

Frozen is a good film. Not amazing, and defiantly not the best since the Lion King, but it is a good film. The story is quite obviously reminiscent of the Renaissance era of Disney, and it does a great job at reviving that energy. However, of course with Disney trying to stay fresh, the film challenges some of the ideologies of the 90s Disney films. Some work, some don't. Anna, Christoff and Olaf are a great comedic trio. They all have their own set of goals (other than olaf who is quite obviously just there for comic relief) and their disagreements become amusing because of this. That's probably the best I can say about the characters, because the other two main characters of the film aren't all that great. Let's start with Elsa: At a young age, she was locked into isolation by her parents to keep Anna away from her dangerous powers. Once their parents died, or better yet, once Anna was no longer a child, Elsa should reveal her powers to Anna, because keeping it a secret is no longer going to help her. But instead she waits until the worst time possible, causing her to run away from her problems, and everyone who is willing to help her. If Elsa had just revealed her powers, then Anna and Elsa's relationship could have been built up stronger, causing the "act of true love" scene at the end to be much more powerful. As Olaf describes true love, it is "putting someone else's needs before theirs." Elsa NEVER does this in the movie. Also how on earth did hugging Anna stop the frozen summer? It was made quite obvious that Elsa's powers are controlled by her anxiety, but loving your sister does not kill your anxiety. However, Elsa is not the worst character in the film. That goes to the villain of this film. Hans. So for the entire movie, Hans is, and therefore acts, as if he is Anna's humble boyfriend who wants to protect her. However in the last 15 minutes of the film, it is revealed that he is actually an evil psychopathic murderer who is trying to commit treason. Literally every action before this reveal presents Hans as a very different character. And yes, I know it is because he is acting, but in the times he isn't acting, like when he smiles at Anna after falling in the water, he is still being the "nice" Hans. Also, if his plan was to eventually kill Elsa, then why did he save her life from those two guys trying to murder her? All he had to do was let them kill her, and then deal with Anna when he gets back to the Castle. Despite all of this criticism, I still think this movie is good. The story is compelling, the good characters are cute, even some of the comedy is pretty good. I like what they were trying to do, with making the villain the man Anna had just fallen in love with, and with Anna having her sister break the ice spell, but in the context of the story, it doesn't necessarily work well. Which is a shame since it could have easily been fixed with a better script and character writing. Frozen 2 is coming out this Friday, and I judging by the trailers, it looks much more mature and will deal more with Elsa's character. It honestly looks great, and I'm excited to see it. Let's just hope it isn't ruined with questionable character writing.

This film is absolutely incredible! Not only is it a chilling representation of society that makes the audience question their place, and if they have been living wrong, but it's portrayal of real life feels uncomfortably accurate throughout the film. It surprises me that people find it controversial for its portrayal of life. I'm pretty sure just about everyone knows that an anti-hero film that successfully makes the audience empathize with the villain is not excusing their twisted actions. In fact the whole point of the movie is to point out what exactly caused him to turn to violence, and how we can change to avoid that. My biggest criticism with the film is that I wish the film had just ended with him on top of the car. The scene at the end isn't necessarily needed, it's more of an epilogue. It would have been very powerful if it had cut to black and the credits started rolling with eerie music playing. Speaking of the scene of him on top of the car, I think that is one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema now. Throughout the entire film, Arthur had been searching for someone to reach out to. Someone who understood him. He killed his own mother, and friend after learning they had been hiding something from him. And the relationship with his neighbor ended up being in his head the whole time. Even his Television Idle Murray only wanted to poke fun at him. But by the end of the film, he has found a group of people who appriciate him for his twisted acts, and for the first time, he actually feels happy, because he is with people who understand him. Obviously it is for very messed up things he did, and this in no way excuses him from killing many people, but that feeling of belonging is what the film reached for, and succeeded at. This will probably be my Movie of the Year and I hope it wins best picture or at least Joaquin Phoenix wins best actor.

The biggest problem Disney's live-action remakes have encountered centers around the personification of real-life animals. In animation, the artist has the ability to express emotions on an animal's face, because the canvas is not heavily based upon the reality of the animal. However, in the Lion King 2019, the animals are CG and rendered to look like real animals, and they do, however it is at the expense of the ability to personify the characters. And since literally every single character in this movie is a computer generated animal, every single one of them cannot show emotion on screen. This absolutely kills all emotional sequences in the movie that touched viewers in the original animated version. You know that there is a problem when I am laughing at one of the saddest scenes in all of Disney movies (Mufasa's Death). The way Simba looked when he saw his father falling to his death was just how any normal lion would look if their mouth was open. Taking away the personification of the characters made the entire movie feel Lifeless. Every new thing added to this movie felt unnecessary. Right at the beginning, after the Circle of Life, we get an extended sequence of a mouse moving around the dirt and grass to eventually fall victim to Scar. Why was this in the movie? Because Disney wanted to show off their photo realism (which I cannot deny, does look very impressive) and fill more time in the movie. Not much story aspects were changed, probably because the average person considers the original Lion King to be a masterpiece, but the main thing I noticed, was that the leader of the Hyenas was much more assertive, and powerful. This caused the 2 other Hyenas of the trio were intimidated by her, and even go as far as to lying to the leader about Simba's "Death". This never really got a payoff, and just feels plain unnecessary, and just a second but lesser version of Scar. Speaking of Scar, "Be Prepared", one of the most epic Disney Villain songs, was downgraded by 50. The entire song was building up to the climax of the familiar chorus, and then when it got there, it just stopped. The entire song was only buildup meant to excite. Overall, everything new added to the movie just felt like a way to show off, or get a positive reaction, even if what was being shown wasn't anything too extraordinary, and came off as Pretentious. However, in all the rubble, there are still some good things in this. The voice acting was pretty good, (however this doesn't serve as a substitute for the lack of visible emotion in the characters). The CGI looks real, and the opening scene with the Circle of Life is actually really cool! The songs aren't even that bad either. Most Disney live-action remakes have an abundance of auto tune in their remastered songs, however this movie doesn't seem to have that much. And that's it. That's all the good I can say about this movie. I don't hate all Disney Live-Action remakes. I liked Aladdin, because it had a lot of changes to the original, and even improved upon it in some areas. (also the main characters are humans not animals) Judging from the trailer, Mulan looks like it will be much more dramatic, and will twist up the original story with new elements, and that is great. However, I cannot bring myself to say that I liked this film, when the characters all have the same emotionless expression, and it barley has any new elements, and those new elements feel unnecessary. If you want to watch this movie, just watch the original 1994 animated version instead, because it is the same thing with actual emotion heart.

The Lion King is an artistic masterpiece. The combination of different colors and shapes portraying this Shakespearean story result in a cinematic experience you will not want to miss. All of the characters leave an impact on the audience through the beautiful character development and relationships. This makes the meat of the film engaging and heart-breaking. Mufasa's death scene is sad, because we sympathize with Simba and his father's relationship that was previously established. Some consider it to be the saddest scene in cinema history, and I can't argue against that. When Nala finds Simba after many years of sorrow in the Pride Land, their love which was foreshadowed at the beginning feels deserved and romantic. Even as a kid I always found that scene compelling. The main thing that makes this story and the characters work is the animation. Nobody would have cried over Mufasa's death if we couldn't see Simba's emotion portrayed in the animation. Every character is personified, because in animation you are able to do this. This is why I am not excited at all for the Live Action remake. You can't take away emotion from the movie and expect the audience to relate. Disney remaking their animated films in live action in general is not a good artistic idea. It is always a downgrade from the original, because you cannot portray emotion on inanimate objects or animals in the real world. That is why the animated versions are always better. But in the end, even though the live action version will most likely be terrible, at least we still have the beauty of the original.

I didn't expect too much from this film, because I had thought that Endgame had met their amazing-ness quota for the year, but I guess I was wrong. Spider-Man: Far From Home was better than Homecoming and better than every stand-alone Marvel film since Guardians Vol 1! The thing I loved so much about Homecoming was that it put a relatable high school student into the MCU, and this film continues with that, while having some of the most entertaining Action Sequences in the entire MCU! The movie felt air-tight and didn't lag on with unnecessary scenes. Every scene felt important from a character or plot stand-point. It felt great to see another Marvel movie after the events of Endgame and Infinity War, and to see how the world learned to adapt and then re-adapt with the "Bliped" back in the world The movie is pretty funny and had me laughing quite a lot. Of course this is thanks to the great character writing accompanied by great dialogue. Peter Parker and MJ's relationship felt so real and so awkward at times. The scene right before the Opera starts, you can really feel Peter's emotion and his want to not be spider-man and just be a normal high school kid. His dilemma of choosing Spider-Man to fill in Tony Stark's shoes, or just be a regular kid is quite daunting, and the audience relates to Peter when he finally does make a decision. Mysterio being the villain was something in the works for a while, and it definitely payed off, because he was a really interesting vilian that could do a lot of Doctor Strange-esque things. This of course made the action really tripy while getting into the minds of the characters. At its very core, Mysterio is a lot like Syndrome from The Incredibles. He wants to be a super hero, so he creates his own villain that he knows he can destroy, so he looks good in the public eye. Syndrome in my opinion did this better, however Mysterio is still great and is definitely not just a Syndrome Knock off. Overall, this movie felt much more alive and deep than its predecessor. And that's saying a lot, because I really liked Homecoming! The action was better, the villain was better, and the 2 twists in the credits get me really excited for what comes next in the MCU.

Is Toy Story 4 a necessary film? This is the question that I has been wondering since they announced the film back a few years ago. Toy Story 3 had what was in my opinion the greatest ending to a trilogy ever! Not only did it punch you in the heart, but it just felt right. Andy is grown up and his story is over. However as we learn in this movie, not everyone's story is over. Yes. I think Toy Story 4 was a necessary film. As mentioned near the beginning of the movie, Woody never got over Andy, and Bonnie has grown out of Woody. His character kind of went full circle since Bonnie didn't care too much for him anymore just like how Andy didn't care too much for him when he got Buzz. But of course in this movie, Woody doesn't try to kill Buzz so there's that. Woody's adventure in this movie shows that there was still a story left. It was Woody's retirement as a kid's toy. They didn't focus too much on the other characters, because THEIR story was completed at the end of the 3rd. All of the new characters are great. Forky, Bunny and Ducky, and Duke Ca boom, are all hilarious. Gabby Gabby however is such a great character. She isn't the villain, she is instead a lost toy longing for a kid. Her moment at the very end when she gets her kid feels so rewarding, because we saw how devastated she was when Melody rejected her. The amount of cohesion and foreshadowing in this movie just shows how self-aware they are about every little decision. The moment we see Bo Peep again, we already know just from one line of dialogue that she has moved on from her previous owner, and loves the life of a lost toy! And at the end when Woody stays with Bo Peep it feels perfect, because Woody's purpose as a child's toy has been fulfilled, and now he wants to retire with the love of his life. However I do still have some issues, such as what they did with Buzz's character. Buzz Light-year is much more than just a funny gag. They made him seem stupid in the movie for not understanding what a conscious is, and even in serious moments using his voice box for guidance. We have seen Buzz make meaningful decisions in all Toy Story movies. He is a wise and good minded character. I was expecting him to eventually go against what his voice was telling him because his REAL voice (conscious) would tell him otherwise. However in the one scene where that could have worked perfectly, he still listens to his voice box. Very much a missed opportunity, but at the end of the day, it isn't really his movie. Ducky and Bunny got kind of annoying at some points. I kind of wish they expanded on what it means to be a living toy. They had a good opportunity in there with Forky, but it didn't really go anywhere. The comedy in this movie is actually pretty great. It balances the tastes of the new generation, and the generation that grew up with the first 3 pretty evenly. There are a few edgy jokes like something you would find in the first and second movies, and there are some light heart-ed kid type jokes for the little ones. At its essence, this movie is a welcomed epilogue. It gives closure to the main character of the films, and is just a really fun ride. You could watch Toy Stories 1 2 and 3 and feel fulfilled, but something about Woody and who he is just gives the impression that HIS story isn't over. Pixar were well aware of this and made sure to focus the movie on HIM and not the others. Honestly, this movie very easily could have been Hot garbage, but what we got was not that. That is why I am satisfied with this movie, even if it doesn't outdo the 2nd and 3rd in my opinion. My rankings of the movies: 1, 4, 2, 3. I dearly love all of these movies, and 1 and 4 feel interchangeable when I think about it, but I think that since Pixar was able to pull off another satisfying conclusion to this series, it needs to be just SLIGHTLY above the 1st. Also the 1st is the only Toy Story movie that doesn't make me cry. Yes I cried during the 4th, but it took me 2 times to watch the ending to get to that. Every character in this series has a satisfying ending that we can stick with for Infinity and Beyond.

Wow. This film incredibly wraps the entire trilogy in an emotional bow that will leave you with tears. The beginning sets the mood for this film as dark and unlike the others which were much more playful and exciting. Seeing Andy call his toys "Junk" at the beginning and then saying "thanks guys" at the end perfectly sums up the teenage attitude while keeping Andy's character. This entire film happened because of the Toys' decision to go to sunny side and not believe Woody. I see why they wouldn't believe him but at the same time I think they should have given him the benefit of the doubt. Lotso is an amazing Villain. They don't try to keep it too much of a secret that he is a villain by revealing it within the beginning of the 2nd act. This allowed the film to develop Lotso's evil side so at the end when we see him nearly murder everyone, we understand why. His motivations for taking over Sunny Side make sense because he wants to feel in control of something. I love the "Prison break" scene. I guess it's just me, but seeing elaborate plans in action is really satisfying to me, and this plan was super creative so of course I enjoyed every second and was on the edge of my seat. The ending is so sad. Not the part where they all almost die, but the part when Andy gives him toys away. Andy has realized that he can make someone else happy with Woody and he doesn't need to keep him for himself. Andy's character is almost a mirror of Woody's in the original. This ending is the perfect ending to this perfect trilogy. However it isn't, because the 4th one is coming out in a week. I only hope that it has purpose and is a good film. All of the positive reviews I have seen of it give me hope that maybe the 4th one has something interesting to offer.