Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Movie Review: Big Hero 6.

When Disney Enterprises purchased Marvel a few years ago, there was plenty of new creative material to add to Disney's production schedule. Some examples are The Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron (2015) and it's associated superhero stories. But they also now owned the rights to a whole library of comic books and graphic novels.John Lasseter saw some pitches from Disney creatives  and decided to make Big Hero 6 - an action comedy with a big heart.


Baymax and Hiro.



The creative aspects of this movie are splendidly excellent.The visual design is delightfully colorful but also classy and appealing. It has an aptly dramatic and emotionally moving score created by Henry Jackman (X-Men, First Class & Wreck-It Ralph.

This movie is well-crafted in it's writing - it is very funny. Many of the jokes are to do with the robot Baymax's unique way of thinking and saying things. Technical aspects like Baymax running out of battery power also give the audience lots of laughter.



There are grand, almost spiritual themes explored such as self-sacrifice and serving others. 
There is a theme of "the darkness within" as a character wrestles with the desire to seek vengeance on another character.  covers deep and personal themes of loss, family, friendship. 


I really enjoyed it. As a Disney movie, I found this was better than Frozen and way, way better than Wreck-It Ralph. There was fun and exciting action that adds to the story-line The movie also appeals to a slightly more mature audience than the other recent Disney films. This is due to the sophisticated story-line and more relate-able characters.




One thing I would say at this point is that it is refreshing  to see a young teenager depicted as the main character instead of a older teenager or young adult. This gives a different perspective to the story. It is also nice to see an animated Disney movie set in a modern city world, rather than a fairy-tale kingdom (Tangled, Frozen) or a fantasy Video Game world (Wreck-It Ralph. There was nothing wrong with those settings for those stories - but this dynamic is something I enjoyed with Big Hero 6.

I'm looking forward to finding out which other new stories Disney brings us - whether they be from Marvel's story bank or elsewhere. And I boldly declare it - we are definitely in a new golden age for Disney animation!

And one last thing - if you like extra scenes in the credits, then stay in the theater through the credits, and I don't think you'll be disappointed!






Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Top Ten Christian Genre Films: My Response

In this article I will be giving my thoughts on this list of the top-grossing Christian genre films of all time:

 Box Office Mojo: "Christian Movies at the Box Office"




Let me introduce you to the most popular Christian themed movies of all time: The top four on this list are 





Lucy and Mr Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.


These movies' place on this list are no surprise. Aside from The Passion, which was funded by Mel Gibson as I understand, the other three are multi-million-dollar-budget movies funded by Disney, Walden Media, Fox and Dune Entertainment. So with marketing budgets 10 times as large as most independent film budgets in their entirety, it is no surprise they can take in over $1.6 billion as a series, worldwide. The Narnia movies are also based on a successful book series known worldwide - and not only known in church circles, but to most people.

Next :






These three films were all released in 2014. Together they brought in $210 million for their studios - including Fox and Sony. These movies represent the maturity in the current Christian independent film industry. PureFlix, producers of God's Not Dead, has already released dozens of small budget movies for the Christian market. And this year they were somehow able to draw the crowds (and $60 million).

The marketers of Heaven is For Real initially thought the ceiling for a film like this could be $50 million, after the release of Courageous in 2011 only brought in $34 million. I am sure they are pleased that their expectation was exceeded by almost double.

Number 8 - Soul Surfer - is in the same category as these 3 mentioned above, and released by the same company as Heaven is for Real (number 5) and Courageous (number 10). This made a healthy $43 million.

The odd one out here is the Christmas-themed The Nativity Story, produced by New Line Cinema in the wake of The Passion of the Christ to cash in on this new-found Christian audience. Perhaps missing the mark in a few places (the films mood and pace are two issues), this film was most likely a loss for the studio, despite it's place in the Top 10.

The gloomy feel of The Nativity Story at time let it down.


A few notes - it's not usually all about the money for me, however in the entertainment industry, if a product doesn't sell, there will not be further opportunities for similar products to be produced. And a well told story deserves to be seen by many (hence why many Christian produced films should not be popular).

I am encouraged to see where this movement will go. Here's hoping we see lives and hearts changed by the stories that are told.






Monday, December 15, 2014

Christmas in the Summertime: #Thoughts

I grew up in the northern hemisphere, so summer holidays for me were from early June to early September: 3 months of holidays, water fights and watermelon.

Now I'm Down Under, which means that summer holidays are now a bit shorter, but with an added bonus - Christmas!

Chrismastime in the winter is magical - it literally lights up winter. I remember ice on the roads on Christmas Eve, and snow on my birthday a few weeks later. Christmas in Australia still has the lights, the trees and the gifts, but in my heart of hearts, I would prefer a white Christmas:




Watch Michael Buble: White Christmas.

It's funny though - although Christmas Day itself is in late December, many of the recent Christmas days recently have been cooler than expected- or had more dastardly weather like a hailstorm in 2010.

Christmas in Australia has it's own quirky songs:


Watch Colin Buchanan: Aussie Jingle Bells

The food in Australia at Christmas falls into 3 categories: Traditional, Cold or BBQ.

Traditional: The usual ham and turkey:




Cold: Seafood or salads and cold ham"




Or a good old Aussie Barbecue!



I loved my childhood wintry Christamases, and though I would prefer those today, I still value and enjoy the family time in the sun, with the flies, sunscreen, backyard cricket and the occasional hailstorm, making an Aussie "White Christmas".






Tuesday, December 2, 2014

The Adventures of VeggieTales Fans, circa 2014

Since the day I was looking up a Veggie Tales film on IMDB.com in a few years ago, I have followed the creator Phil Vischer on his blog, and now the Phil Vischer Podcast. The podcast is entertaining and educational about current events in America to do with religious faith, art and Christian figures.

On a recent podcast, entitled "The History of Bob and Larry", Phil told the story of his involvement with VeggieTales since the bankruptcy of Big Idea Productions in 2004. It was a highly illuminating story, including great insight into God working in his life over that season. I won't go into all of it, but you can see it at the link here.

An interesting thing that happened during the podcast was Phil mentioning that the Veggie characters now have a new look:


Compared to their classic look:


Now, many fans on Facebook and twitter were livid at the new designs. "Creepy", "heretical", "terrible," were some of the words they used.

I don't mind the new look, and I will get used to them. Conceived for the new Netflix show "VeggieTales in the House", they will be the look for the DVD series too, from 2015.

One thing for fans to realise is that the classic look is not going anywhere. Dreamworks would be silly to get rid of 20 years of VeggieTales products. The DVDs will still be selling and the books and other products will be available online still. The classic look will remain, just not in the new episodes.

Also, for Dreamworks and Big Idea to bring Veggie Tales forward and successful for many years, a change was needed. Something obvious to say "We're doing something new! Come and watch!" Many Veggie fans of the late 90s had not watched a new episode for 7 to 10 years, since the release of Jonah and when they moved on to reading Ted Dekker books.

Now they can show their kids the new series - with a style that is from their world, the world of Ben 10 and Spongebob.

As for me, I haven't seen any of the new episodes yet. I'm in Australia, and Netflix is only coming here from March 2015. So my verdict on the new show is up in the air until then!


Quirky Petunia.


Saturday, November 29, 2014

Interstellar and Star Wars



I saw Interstellar at my local multiplex recently. Director Christopher Nolan had impressed me with Inception in 2010 as an original film which was far more engaging and challenging to the mind than most big budget movies. I also appreciate the Dark Knight trilogy which he has directed - even if my Batman fanboy friends don't enjoy them as true Batman stories.

Interstellar was, as one friend of mine put it, a movie that sticks in your head. It follows a farmer in the US, 50 or so years in the future from now. The biggest industry in that time is farming, since the world had run out of food (apparently resulting in world wars). Matthew McConaughey deftly portrays a father who needs to go very far to save humanity from disappearing.



I agree, Interstellar does indeed stick in your mind. From a passionate speech on the powerful value of love from Oscar- winner Anne Hathaway, to the courageous, colourful and fast paced climax, the film puts pictures - and music from Hans Zimmer - in your memory.



Which brings me to Star Wars. With the teaser trailer for Episode VII: The Force Awakens online this week, it makes me draw a comparison between the two. Interstellar accesses deep emotions and covers epic themes of humanity, family and destiny. To me, Star Wars should do the same thing. Anakin's descent into the dark side and ultimate redemption has set a benchmark for the types of stories the Star Wars films should cover. But I wonder if the producers at Disney are on the same wavelength as me?



I'm not a Disney basher... all the time. I find many of their family movies heartwarming and entertaining (see my review for Saving Mr Banks, for an example). One thing I find, though, is that Disney likes to make money. So much so, they don't keep the integrity of their characters throughout all licensed products. You can find Belle from Beauty and the Beast presented with 5 different faces along different product lines of toys, books and DVDs. I just hope that they respect the Star Wars fans better than they respect young girls who buy princesses and fairies.




Back to Interstellar. Upon the credits rolling, I felt inspired. Inspired that stories can change me - change the world. I hope that we see more such movies - and maybe some called Star Wars.


Friday, April 4, 2014

The Lego Movie - Movie Review




No beating around the bush, The Lego Movie is a very fun, very funny movie. I went to a screening on opening night – one of only a few times I have done so. Why rush out to see a movie like this? Because to me, The Lego Movie is one of a select group of movies that are hilarious, pure fun. It was obvious from the promotional material that this movie would be really fun – and it delivers on that promise.

The Lego Movie is about a regular guy – Emmett – who has a great adventure before him. With friends like the mysterious girl Wyldstyle and Batman, Unikitty (yes, a cat who is a unicorn) and Random 80's Lego Astronaut, the fate of the whole Lego world rests in Emmett’s plungers... I mean, plastic lego hands.

There was a new logo tacked on the front of the movie: WAG “Warner Animation Group”. It was a cool design for a logo and one I hadn't seen before. Perhaps this indicates a renewed focus on animation for Warner Bros. That would be a welcome trend, if the Lego Movie is anything to go by.



Let me go a bit deeper. There are two things I don't like about some family movies.

Case study #1: the Madagascar syndrome. These are the problems with the Madagascar movies: The humour is too crazy and too quick. I need time to think between jokes. This was the case x 1000 with the Spongebob movie which I had the burden of seeing at a school once. And the Madagascar movies are not one big story like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. They are too episodic for my liking.

Case Study #2: Kinda Happy Feet. So, Happy Feet was animated by the same studio as The Lego Movie, Aussie group Animal Logic. But I have a feeling that The Lego Movie was written in Hollywood by different people than Happy Feet. Anyway, The villains in Happy Feet were the elders of the penguin community, of whom the spokesperson was a grizzly old male penguin. The thing I didn't like was that he used religious jargon and all of it was used negatively. I didn't appreciate words I was familiar with through my faith being used in that way. That is was ruined the film for me. That and the egotistic artistry and mostly un-engaging storyline.

So I like to avoid movies I think will fall in the areas of crazy-random-empty to serious-miguided-empty. To me, The Lego Movie was fun, family friendly and hilarious! I wasn't the only audience member laughing their socks off in the theatre. I had to pick all the socks up when the lights came up :P

By Jonathan 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Saving Mr Banks - Movie Review

Saving Mr Banks tells the story of Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) and his attempt to bring the Mary Poppins film to the screen in the early 1960s. The other lead is Pamela Travers (or Mrs Travers, as she insists on being called), the author of the Mary Poppins books, portrayed remarkably by Emma Thompson. Remarkable indeed- for whenever has her acting work disappointed? She bring a raw emotional core and her expert comical delivery to this unique movie.


Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks in Saving Mr Banks.
Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks in Saving Mr Banks.


Saving Mr Banks is a bit similar to the 2006 film The Queen starring Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. The similarity I am fascinated by is the fact that these movies are almost biopics, but not quite. The Queen tells the story of Queen Elizabeth while she is dealing with the aftermath of Princess Diana’s death in 1997. So it is a film about a certain part of her life. Saving Mr Banks is the first “almost biopic” of Walt Disney, however we do not see much of his life - we see photos of his kids and much of the outcomes of his company’s success.But what we see is his interactions with Mrs Travers. This film is much closer to a biopic on Mrs Travers - the film alternates between 1961 L.A. and 1906 rural Australia, where the writer grew up.




Colin Farrell and Annie Rose Buckley in Saving Mr Banks.
Colin Farrell and Annie Rose Buckley in Saving Mr Banks.
This movie was quite emotional for me. Not the Walt Disney stuff, I enjoyed that and I loved all the little references to Disney culture and characters. The story in Australia depicting Pamela’s father and his descent into irresponsible alcoholism brought me to tears - thinking about times I have failed my parents. And thinking about the uncertainty of life at the moment. I spent a few minutes during the second act of this movie in tears. This was something quite cathartic for me. It was painful and healing at the same time.

So after a quite different review for me, I will make the statement that the people at Walt Disney have not lost the art of producing well-written stories that touch the heart of people all around the world. During Saving Mr Banks I laughed, cried, felt deeply and reflected upon my own life. This is what the art of film is meant to do. 

By Jonathan