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 

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.

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.

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 

Movie Review: Disney's Frozen

I had the pleasure of seeing Disney’s new animated film Frozen in a Drive-In movie theatre. It was a special experience, and one I won’t forget soon.

Frozen is loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen. I am not familiar with this story, but my guess is that the story of Frozen is essentially an original story for the screen, and not a direct adaptation of The Snow Queen.

Elsa is a princess with special powers: she can make things frozen with her hands. But she doesn’t have full control over her powers. Her sister Anna doesn’t know about these powers, but finds herself face to face with them on the day of her engagement. Anna now goes on a journey with a new friend Kristoff to help her sister Elsa.

The main characters of Frozen.

This film was always going to get comparisons with 2010’s Tangled, Disney’s adaptation of Rapunzel. In my opinion, Frozen is a much better movie. In Tangled the presentations of the backstory felt rushed. In Frozen the introduction to the story is carefully told, not rushed at all. In fact, Frozen’s pacing is incredibly well handled. The music and animation made me feel something grand and classic was happening, right from the opening sequences.

The animation is excellent, as you would expect from a Disney animation. The music, by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez is much better than Alan Menken’s songs for Tangled, mainly in the fact that they are more singable and memorable.

The characters are well defined and appropriately lovable. And there is some great quality humour throughout the story.

Kristoff on a mission!

A concern for me in Frozen was that the ending came upon us quite quickly. And the fact that  (spoiler ahead!) the inhabitants of Arendelle call the winter that Elsa imposes “an eternal winter” just reminds me too much of the Narnia stories. Plus, it doesn’t make sense, since they have no proof that it is eternal when it’s only been for a few days!

I loved Frozen. It feels like, with Wreck It Ralph, a number of the Pixar movies and now Frozen, that we are in a new golden age of Disney animation. I can’t wait to see more from this current generation of Disney filmmakers. I can’t wait for next year’s Big Hero 6 and The Good Dinosaur.

I gave Frozen 4 stars since it was a very enjoyable movie and I want to see it again.

By Jonathan

Movie Review - The Delivery Man starring Vince Vaughn

By Jonathan Parsons

Just the other day, I was lamenting to a friend the fact that no one in the movie business is making good natured, innocent-eyed comedies anymore. I was referring to the romcoms I was brought up on - PG-rated fare like While You Were Sleeping, Sleepless in Seattle and Runaway Bride. I feel that most comedies these days are given an MA rating (or R in the USA) for sexual references or coarse language. These factors might draw some audiences, but they turn me off for the most part. I was complaining all about this issue, and then this little movie came along.

The Delivery Man, starring Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers) and Cobie Smulders (TV’s How I Met Your Mother, The Avengers) has a quirky and complex premise. David Wozniak (Vaughn) is a grown man who works delivering meat for his family business. It turns out that his young adult sperm donation practice has led him - due to a clerical error - to be the biological father of 533 children. David now has the related court case looming and a girlfriend (Smulders) who is quite disappointed in him, for a variety of reasons.

This picture is from the Disney- owned brand named Touchstone Pictures and also Dreamworks Pictures. Touchstone brought to us series like Home Improvement and movies such as Sister Act and Pretty Woman. More recently, they released Dan in Real Life - a comedy which definitely fits into the warm and memorable category I described in my introduction. I feel The Delivery Man fits into this category too. I really enjoyed it. And, funnily enough for a movie labelled a comedy, it is highly funny! My friend and I were laughing in the same places - and different places too. It was just funny. I think you would like it, unless you felt you were above this type of film, you were put off by the premise, or you don’t speak English!

This film showcased a host of young adult actors who played David’s children. The acting was world class. The casting was brilliant, with many personalities and types fitting perfectly to the characters.

I can not remember much memorable music - except for the score in one comedic scene.That’s a shame - but one I can live with for such a great movie. The themes of taking responsibility, keeping your word and family love are important themes for us to explore.

I give this movie 3 ½ stars out of 5.

It is good enough to enjoy once or twice, but I won’t be buying it on DVD.

New stories ... and Mary Poppins

This is what I got for a good bargain at my local Coles Supermarket:

I have seen all these movies before, except I first saw Mary Poppins - on about five different occasions in snippets - on TV, at a friends home and so on. I think I saw Mary Poppins all the way through for the first time in 2007. I saw the stage show in Melbourne in 2012. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I wasn't impressed with the oversized umbrella. I thought that was a bit of Disney overkill. I loved Marina Prior in that show as Mrs Banks.

On that note, have you seen the recent trailer for "Saving Mr. Banks"? Take a look. I'll post a review after I have seen it ... IN 2014! Gee, when did time start moving so fast?

Movie Reviews Behind the Scenes

Movie Reviews - Behind the Scenes

By Jonathan C. Parsons

Rise of the Guardians Movie Review

I really enjoyed this Dreamwork's Animation Christmas movie. Click on the above link to see my review over at the Light FM website.

I wrote this review very soon after I saw the movie in the cinemas. I find it much easier to write a review as soon after I see the movie as possible. For Les Miserables, below, I wrote the review almost two weeks after I saw the movie, so it wasn't as fresh in my mind.

I looked at heaps of images to find the right one for this review, and went with the official poster eventually. I am not happy that it is so small - you can't really see the faces well. That's my fault, I guess. I guess I should use the "size" filter on Google images next time.


Les Miserable Movie Review

As I said above, I wrote this review much later than I saw the film. It made it difficult to write the review, so in the future I will be writing the review straight after seeing the movie.

I likes this movie a lot, which I hope comes across in the review.

I was re-reading this online the other day and I noticed that the flow is not very good in parts of the review. It is a balance between writing for meaning, and writing so it is good writing!

Writing movie reviews for public publication is difficult, but I'm glad I do it. I'm contributing to good in the community and giving people ideas for entertainment.

Jonathan's Favourite Things: Anti-Slavery Links

I realised today that I have visited several anti-slavery or anti-trafficking websites this week. So I have put together a list of these sites:

If you are not familiar with the issue of slavery, please go to one or two of these links. This is important for everyone to be aware of.

>>

"Unslaved" article at Relevant Magazine

Picture Credit: Relevant Magazine

>>

The Anti-Slavery Quiz

Picture Credit: AntiSlavery.org

>>

The Slavery Footprint Lifestyle Test

Picture Credit:

Media Voices For Children

I would love your feedback in the comments section. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Jonathan