It was fine I guess. I just don’t jive with Wes Anderson no matter which movie and how many times I try.
Rating: 3.0 stars
? Crossposted on Letterboxd
? Watch Asteroid City on Amazon Prime
Asteroid City – ★★★
The Boy and the Heron – ★★★★
Fantastically beautiful in both expected and unexpected ways. The animation in the fire scenes was remarkable and surprisingly evocative and scary. Not our favorite Miyazaki but the kids and I both really enjoyed it, though I wonder how much of it they followed in parts. My 8 year old is not exactly as familiar with World War II and metaphors for grief as most folks on Letterboxd.
Maybe seeing in the theater without distractions is why it worked better for me on first watch than some of Miyazaki’s other more fantastical, less narratively straightforward films have. Looking forward to rewatching it again to see if it rises any higher in my Ghibli rankings.
This is actually my first ever Miyazaki to see at release in theater. The third one on the big screen this year though as we saw Nausicaä and Mononoke as part of Ghibli Fest this year. Will definitely make it to a few more when the next one rolls around.
Rating: 4.0 stars
? Crossposted on Letterboxd
? Watch The Boy and the Heron in theaters
13: The Musical – ★★
This was rough. Best song by far is in the trailer and in general this is just awkward and sub average musical. A huge portion of this story and multiple bad songs are about the entire school of 12-13 year olds openly talking and planning so two of them can kiss including the two of them that want to kiss. It feels like a story about 13 year olds written by an 8 year old.
Based on other reviews they butchered the stage version so maybe I’ll get a chance to watch that sometime.
Rating: 2.0 stars
? Crossposted on Letterboxd
? Watch 13: The Musical on Netflix
Musicals Hiding the Fact That They’re Musicals
I noticed this when Mean Girls the Musical: The Movie’s first trailer came out and featured zero singing, but apparently trailers for musicals hiding the fact that they’re musicals is a trend:
The Sword in the Stone – ★★★★
I think this may have been the only hard plastic Disney VHS we had when I was a kid, but not sure how many times I actually watched it because Madam Mim scared the ever living crap out of me.
I had forgotten that this is just Merlin and Wart goofing around for 72 fun minutes before he actually finds the sword in last seven and becomes king for half a scene. I also forgot all the jokes about how Merlin knows the future, some of which resulted in some lol moments for my 8 year old watching with me.
Story and songs nowhere near as strong of some of the movies preceding it, but nostalgia factor for me still made it a quite enjoyable watch. That Madam Mim is still scary though.
Rating: 4 stars
? Crossposted on Letterboxd
? Watch The Sword in the Stone on Disney+
Sleeping Beauty – ★★★½
They waited 15 years and 364 days without using magic and then everyone lost their damn minds baking cakes and color changing dresses and getting drunk one day before her 16th birthday.
Really enjoyed this on this rewatch though. I think I previously had this as maybe my least favorite of the classic princess movies but this is light years better than Snow White and almost up there with Cinderella. Glad to be moving on to the 60s and 70s now though as part of my animated Disney chronological rewatch, there’s a good number of films there that are either blind spots or I haven’t watched in probably 30 years.
Rating: 3.5 stars
? Crossposted on Letterboxd
? Watch Sleeping Beauty on Disney+
Nintendo is making a live-action Zelda movie
Well excuuuuuse me Princess… but Nintendo is apparently making a live-action Zelda movie.
Not exactly super confident based on the producer and director (only on their recent films) that were announced. I also find it interesting that they’ve decided to make it a movie and not TV, is that a sign it’s going to be big and expensive? Seems like live-action is riskier or at least makes it more likely this is a complete disaster? Will they be able to keep this PG with the darkness and violence inherent in the story.
Interestingly, Avi Arad is also credited as the creator of the Netflix’s kid show Super Monsters which my kids at least sometimes watched and I found it actually pretty solid.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – ★★★★
Damnit Benjamin you may have been aging backwards but you knew where babies come from and if you didn’t want one put a damn condom on. You selfish ass.
(First time I’ve seen this since theaters. Really enjoyed rewatching it to keep up with The Curious Pod of Benjamin Buttcast.)
Rating: 4 stars
? Crossposted on Letterboxd
Transformers: Age of Extinction – ★½
I miss Sam Witwicky.
All the human stuff is so bad in this movie, even in comparison to the first three Bay Transformers movies. The actual Transformer related content and action are pretty on par though, which means it is sometimes fun, sometimes dumb, and almost always less intelligible than it should be.
This may be the worst representation of small town Texas ever put on film. Why does Paris, Texas have a nearby beach with surfing, roving bands of half naked models, and mid 20s Irish guys hanging out around high schools?
? View Letterboxd review
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – ★★★★
This is so cool to look at and funny as heck in a bunch of spots, but also kinda shallow maybe in ways I can’t put my finger on. Not that it doesn’t have heart, just maybe that a few too many of its jokes were references to other timely things?
Is the humor of this going to age poorly a la Shrek versus the timelessness of the Pixar classics?
It’s really amazing with this and Spider-Verse and Mitchells vs. the Machines how many really remarkable, beautiful animated movies are coming out recently.
? View Letterboxd review
? Buy TMNT: Mutant Mayhem on Blu-ray