Luca

This really had no damn reason to be as good as it is.




I have not heard anything about this movie at all, and I simply have to ask what in the cinnamon toast fuck is wrong with people? We have ourselves another modern Pixar classic, no doubt in production during the middle of a global pandemic, with a simple yet endearing story and not one single person I know of talked about it??? How do you fuck that up?! Granted yes, even I, when I first heard the premise and saw promotional material I thought it would be okay. Just this neat little story of a young sea monster child named Luca who akin to another sea faring youngster from Disney gains a fascination with the surface world, but no voices or souls need to be sold off here cause when sea monsters touch dry land they become human, and quickly Luca makes friends, learns about the surface more, and enters a race to win a Vespa to travel the world. The first thing I gotta say is, you show off-y bastards Pixar, like when it gets to the point I'm honestly pissed right the hell off how good a movie looks and you continue to barrage me with stunning environments, lavish color, and just unbelievable visuals do you really expect me to just not gush about it?? I adore just the revelry in the culture, language, and architecture of Italy, I'm all for that kind of thing! Even with movies like Encanto, wasn't too wild about the movie but goddamn did I love seeing the culture of a south american/hispanic family. But the big reason I feel the movie works as good as it does is the characters. The writers really and I mean really got the mannerisms and intellect of kids down in this! Luca is good kid at heart, he has daydreams, he has to build up the nerve to do certain things, and he has doubts but an openness to voice his feelings. Alberto is another sea monster who entices Luca to the surface, who has baggage of his own and thinks he knows everything in that teen sort of way, much more extroverted and yet reserved for reasons the movie explains, but undeniable friends to the end. Guilia, little red haired girl who's got some attitude and just a dash of overdramatic, I'm sold! She's class, obviously because she is our human window to our protagonist we spend a lot of time with her, getting to know her family and situation, her goals of winning the race herself, they do mighty good giving these characters emotions and identity. It's very easy to get involved and while I'll say the ending isn't a complete bummer, it does dip into that bittersweetness which if you've been here long enough you know that kind of shit is my jam. The music, good God the music had me before the movie even began, it's easily one of the best soundtracks to a Pixar film and in my estimation the music from them only gets better with each film. And the movie doesn't really go down any trope paths, it flirts with it but skirts clear thank Christ. I really can't complain about anything in this movie except the villain, mainly cause he's just an enormous sack of shit who is so hateable to the point where there was a moment where I was like, if this movie has him get gutted by a harpoon in a back alley I'm giving this movie a 20/10, but it's intentional from the filmmakers so I can't mark against it. Like I am reallllyyy flip flopping between a 9 and a 10 here guys! I'll give it a 9/10, it's not Soul kind of flawless but it's so close it's not even funny. Full 4 stars, could not recommend it greater, for God's sake spread the word about this movie. It's just the movie I needed and it capped off the week quite nicely. See you next week everybody!

Good Boys

Honestly guys...this could have been so much worse.

I genuinely enjoyed Good Boys, it has a lot of good humor and isn't just funny because a 12 year old said the F word and doesn't know what a sex swing is. It is really damn funny, and the writing for our main leads feels incredibly natural and real despite their young age. I was a bit shocked at first, but then I took a step back and looked at how I was when I was in 6th grade and it was pretty much spot on. Being able to cuss like a sailor but still be completely innocent and unknowing to the more adult areas in life, so I got an immediate connection to the kids. I especially love how they pretty much simultaneously cover all their bases, with Lucas being a kind and completely innocent soul while still having a bit of a mouth, Thor (yes really) being more of a punk but still has a heart of gold, and our main lead Max being a combination of both a genuinely good kid who can still be a wiseass. But not to the point they are unbearably stupid or needlessly mean spirited, they are kids and kids can be anything really. Also, the writing for them feels very natural and grounded while for the other kids it feels stereotypical almost to the point of being caricatures, thus making the audience enjoy and like our main leads. Now if it was just a decent comedy with really good kid actors that would be fine, but in the third act after you think the finale just happened and credits will start to roll it shifts gears into a more drama focused ending. Throughout the movie it has some genuine nice and even kind of emotional moments where they acknowledge their friendship and the fact that they sort of grow apart. Everyone has had a friend or even a group of friends they were thick as thieves with, but as time passed and you grew up, maybe they drifted away or perhaps you formed a stronger bond with one and not so much with the other. And it handles it incredibly well, making a somewhat bittersweet yet still funny ending which truthfully not a lot of movies can do. They put extra effort into the writing to give us that additional enjoyment, now the movie doesn't entirely focus on it but the moments that are there are pretty great if I'm being on the level with you. Now me personally, I've had great luck with friends that I've made, with the relationships already sort of formed in the status quo where nothing really major or bad happened, with friendships lasting years until eventually they or I moved on naturally, whether it be moving on to a brand new school or simply moving. And let's really be honest, that sucks man. You don't ever want to really lose friends after you've spent years hanging out with them. So I must give some serious credit to this movie for going that extra mile and not just being another comedy. It keeps it real and doesn't shy away from real life situations. So with that added on top, I give the film a solid 7/10, 3 stars definitely check it out if you need a funny movie with some genuine heart.

And so next week it begins. The longest marathon of television seasons I am probably ever going to do. 11 seasons, plus specials for the next two whole weeks. But what show holds that honor? Whatever it is, it's gonna be fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

The Predator

Well that was fun.

Okay good job Shane, I love what you did with this movie. He went straight for an R rated, no bullshit, true sequel to both Predator movies and the first Alien Vs. Predator film. It was really, really damn good. Odd choices were made but it worked mostly. Story is complicated but not in a bad way, there's just a lot that happens, but basically a rogue Predator is being hunted down by another Predator and a whole group of people get looped into it. We got a military side kinda like Predator 2, we get the forming of an odd team that has a lot of comradery like Predator, and we get a rad female scientist that kicks ass like AVP. So it's a real hodgepodge of previous elements from past films which is kinda cool to see. This film ain't afraid to show the gore or say so many cuss words, which is the way it should be. This oddball team of ex-military guys are great together, and the fact I must really commend is these people feel real (albeit very foul mouthed so I guess it still works) like they act like real people in heavy situations and it's really great to see. Granted I wasn't sure what to expect from the movie but I was very pleased with the end results and I'm not sure what they will do next which keeps things interested. I gotta admit though, I thought that ending was going to go waaaay different, cause if it went the way I thought it was going I would have just done lost my damn mind man but the ending was very different and something I didn't see coming. Is this my favorite Predator movie? I can't say for sure. I need to think about it, compare notes, it's very good and very well done, but I feel damn near every Predator movie has the same level of quality though I do like Predator 2 more than the first in some ways. So don't watch one, watch them all (or at least the ones I reviewed). May throw a In Retrospect this weekend before the next week of reviews. One more week till Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.....