Looking Back at the Films of 2019 Part 10 - The Irishman/Doctor Sleep/A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood/Knives Out

 

Well, we're nearing the end of Looking Back at the Films of 2019. But before I finish the series in December let's review today movies. Those being The Irishman, Doctor Sleep, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and Knives Out.

Why Didn't I See The Irishman?

The reasons I didn't see The Irishman is because when it had it's run in select theaters mine wasn't the one to get a showing. And when it debuted on Netflix I wasn't interested because at that time I wasn't reviewing movies from Netflix.

What is The Irishman?

The Irishman (or as it's titled onscreen I Heard You Paint Houses) is an epic crime movie based on Charles Brandt's 2004 novel I Head You Paint Houses. The movie was produced by TriBeCa Productions, Sikelia Productions, and Winkler Films and distributed by Netflix. The Irishman was written by Steven Zaillian and directed by Martin Scorsese. The story is Frank Sheeran was just an ordinary truck driver. Until one day he got involved with the Bufalino and his crime family, afterwards he works his way to the top to become their best hitman. There is however a problem. Frank is friends with Jimmy Hoffa, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Now Frank must make a decision kill his friend and continue his work the Bufalinos or not kill his close friend.

My Thoughts

The Good: This first thing probably goes without saying but Martin Scorsese proves yet again why he is a fantastic director. Every shot almost looks like a work of art. It's an extremely well made and I just couldn't get enough of what Scorsese did for it. What also made The Irishman an amazing movie is the performances from Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. Pacino does go over the top but it's the kind of over the top you'll like. That scene where he's just insulting everybody was not only good but hilarious. And Joe Pesci played a marvelous villain. Sure he doesn't do much action BUT with his performance he made the character so much more threating. Now to Robert De Niro....wow. He was fantastic in this film, especially later on when his character is a crippling old man those scenes were great. Another thing I want to give the film credit for is the de-aging. When I first heard about I was worried, I thought it was gonna look weird/not convincing but I was proven wrong. The de-aging on De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci was great. It was flawless I could hardly tell it was there. What also makes the movie really good was the amount of character development. We get to know these people so well. We know what they've been through in life, we know what their thinking, and we get to know why they do the things they do. The final thing I'll praise the movie for is how it's a lot deeper than I thought it would be. I mean it, you can actually analyze this. In matter of fact someone brought it up (I forget what their username is) and they mentioned how Frank's family appears less and less throughout the movie and the less we see of them the more we see of the mob. Basically what they said was Frank is caring more for his mafia buddies than he is his family. I never knew that and because of that I want to rewatch the movie and see what else I didn't notice.

The Bad: None.

The Okay: None.

Final Verdict: A Must Watch

Why Didn't I See Doctor Sleep?

The reason why I didn't see Doctor Sleep was my theater didn't have of a showing. And by the time they did it was far too late to review because it technically wasn't a recently released movie, it was like I want to say seven weeks into it's theatrical run.

What is Doctor Sleep?

Doctor Sleep is a supernatural horror movie based on Stephen King's 2013 novel of the same name and serves as a direct sequel to film adaptation of The Shining which was directed by Stanley Kubrick. The movie was produced by Intrepid Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Doctor Sleep was written and directed by Mike Flanagan. The story is it's been decades since what happened at the Overlook hotel and Danny Torrance is all grown up. After recovering from hitting rock bottom Dan thinks his life is normal, until he meets someone with the same shining ability as him. Dan also finds out a cult is after is after her and wants to find upon her. Now, Dan must do everything in his power to protect this little girl.

My Thoughts

The Good: One of the many great things about the film is the performances by Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, and Kyliegh Curran. McGregor did a fantastic job with this now adult Danny (or Dan) who's struggle with his own problems. Rebecca really dialed up how sinister Rose the Hat is, and Kyliegh gave the best performance I've seen from a child actor. What also made the movie such a good watch was the atmosphere. Even when nothing really scary is happening you still get this feeling of dread and uneasiness. But and this is another thing I'm giving the movie credit for and that is there are quite a few horrifying moments. That scene with the baseball boy was probably the most disturbing scene throughout the whole film. What I also enjoyed about Doctor Sleep was how fleshed out the villains were. We really understand why they're doing the things they need to do but yet at the same time you really want them to get what they deserve.

The Bad: None.

The Okay: The only grey area I have or I should say I've noticed people have with the movie is the runtime. Yeah this movie is pretty long but for me I'm neutral about it. Sure it's long and maybe somethings didn't have to be so long but at the same time I enjoyed the movie so much that giving it a rating any lower would be a crime.

Final Verdict: Great

Why Didn't I See A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood?

It's simply really.....I was never fan of Mister Rogers. So If I never watched the show growing up (and by that I mean catch re-runs of it) why would I see a movie about the guy?

What is A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood?

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a biographical drama inspired by Tom Junod's 1998 Esquire article, Can You Say ... Hero?. The movie was produced by TriStar Pictures, Tencent Pictures, Big Beach, and Mr. Youree Productions and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster and directed by Marielle Heller. The story is Lloyd Vogel is a journalist known for his cynical writing style. One day his boss tells him that he is assigned to write about television icon Fred Rogers. Even though Lloyd finds the job beneath him he's determined to expose Fred's family-friendly personality as an act, but as time goes by maybe just maybe Lloyd might see what everybody else sees in Fred.

My Thoughts

The Good: What makes the movie so great is Tom Hank's performance. Yes he doesn't look like the real Fred Rogers but wow, he really did an amazing job at acting like the guy. From the way he speaks all the way to the mannerisms Hank did a great job at playing the guy. What I'll also give credit where it's due is Heller's directing. This is the only movie from her I watched but after seeing it I want to know what else she's done. Her directing was really spot on in this. Another thing that made the film great was it's truly a tribute to Mister Rogers. The opening scene is literally the opening to the show that Fred Rogers made even right down to the aspect ratio. But it's not only that the transitions are the sets that Mister Roger's Neighborhood would use. The last thing I'll give the movie credit for is...it's truly uplifting. I'm not joking when I say after watching it I felt better about myself.

The Bad: None.

The Okay: Now I do admit this movie is kind of predictable but, you can forgive it for that because the overall story is so good.

Final Verdict: Great

Why Didn't I See Knives Out?

It's the same reason as Doctor Sleep. While there was a showing it was too late for me to review at a proper time were the movie would've been considered recent.

What is Knives Out?

Knives Out is a mystery film. The movie is produced by T-Street and distributed by Lionsgate. Knives Out was written and directed by Rian Johnson. The story is famed mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey has supposedly committed suicide. But when things aren't quite adding up detective Benoit Blanc is on the case and is suspects are the members of the family. Now Blanc must find out who did and why?

My Thoughts

The Good: One good thing about Knives Out is the humor. The movie has a lot of good jokes and what really makes them work (other than being hilarious) is they don't overstep on the mystery/suspenseful aspect of the movie. Another thing that made the movie good was the performances. Especially from Daniel Craig, I never would've pictured him using this Southern accent and making it work but he does. And it's awesome. What also makes Knives Out a good watch is the mystery is done well. You really are thinking about who could've done it but at the same time the mystery is kept fresh with all of the twist and turns. The final thing I'll give the film credit for is Rian Johnson's directing. Yes, he's proving to be a good director in the past but you still gotta give him credit for it. I think my favorite shot in the film is the scene were Blanc is smoking but all you see is a slight bit of his face and the smoke coming off of his cigar.

The Bad: None.

The Okay: None.

Final Verdict: A Must Watch

Okay, I'm all done here. Come back on Thursday, Dec 3rd for my review of Frosty the Snowman. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

Superintelligence Review

Superintelligence is an action comedy. The movie is produced by New Line Cinema and On the Day Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Superintelligence is written by Steve Mallory and directed by Ben Falcone.

The story is Carol lives a pretty normal life, but that all changes when her TV, phone, and microwave start talking back. At first she thinks she's losing her mind but it's actually an A.I. who's observing her and deciding if he should destroy humanity. Now Carol must convince the A.I. that humanity isn't as bad as he thinks it is.

Initial Reaction

So far HBO Max has released movies that haven't disappointed me, so natural I was looking forward to another one of their films. Although this time around I was worried. Because 1) I'm not a big fan of Melissa McCarthy, sure she's done some great job but most of the time some of her movies haven't impressed me and 2) the trailer does make this movie come off as a generic comedy despite the premise. But as always I was willing to give this movie a shot.

Cons

One of the biggest issues with Superintelligence is the writer doesn't seem to know what genre the movie belongs in. First it's seems like it's a sci-fi comedy then it's a rom com then it's back to a sci-fi comedy then it's a drama then right back to sci-fi comedy. The other problem with the movie is Carol's love interest is oblivious. Like this all this news about solar flares, blackouts, and riots going on and yet he still goes about his day like nothing's happening. What also is bad thing for the film is the decisions our characters make. For example, why would government officials hire a guy who works at Microsoft to help them stop the superintelligence? I didn't get that. Just because he works at Microsoft that doesn't mean he'll know a plan to stop an A.I.

Middle Ground

The only grey area is the humor. I'll admit there were a few jokes that got me to laugh, and yeah you do get some scenes that just aren't funny. But I felt for the most part the humor worked.

Pros

Now even though the movie has a lot of issues going on with it I still feel like a majority of people will find some enjoyment in it.

Superintelligence isn't a good movie but I don't think audience members nor critics should put it in the worst category. Even though the movie genre hopes a lot, the boyfriend in this is oblivious, and there's questionable decisions with our characters. However there are quite a few laughs to be had and there's still some sort of enjoyment you can get from it.

My final rating is Bad But Harmless

Alright everybody I'm done here. Due come back on Monday, Nov 30th for part 10 of my review series Looking Back at the Films of 2019. The movies I'll be reviewing for that are The Irishman, Doctor Sleep, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and Knives Out. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

Wakko's Wish Review

 

Wakko's Wish is a 1999 direct-to-video animated musical comedy. The show is based on the hit TV show Animaniacs and serves as the series finale. The movie was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Warner Bros. Family Entertainment, TMS Entertainment, and Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Warner Home Video. Wakko's Wish was written by Tom Ruegger and directed by Rusty Mills, Liz Holzman, and Tom Ruegger.

The story is it's a dark time for the Warner Bros but mostly for the Warner Sister Dot. She needs an operation but sadly the siblings have no cash. This all changes when a fairy tells Wakko a fallen star has landed a grant him one wish, however things aren't going to be easy because word gets out. Now it's a race to see who gets to the star first.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Mix

The only mix bag is the beginning of the movie is kind of slow. But in the grand scheme of things you can forgive the movie for it. Because once that's all over the film is very fast paced to the point where it almost doesn't even feel like an hour long.

• Positives

One positive about the film is the songs. They're all quite catchy and fun to sing-a-long to. And yes some of them are taken from old songs but remixed but that still doesn't make them any less fun.

What I also loved about Wakko's Wish is how fast it is. Like I said when you get past the slow beginning this movie goes by really quick, yet at the same time it knows when it needs to slow down that way everybody can take a break from all the craziness that just happened.

Another thing that makes the movie good is the animation. Yes it's pretty much the same as the show but that's not a bad thing. And beside this is a direct-to-video movie so of course the animation was going to be something too theatrical. BUT, there are quite a few shots where things do look a little cinematic. So despite a tight budget the animators did a great job pulling off those shots.

The other thing that makes Wakko's Wish is fun flick is the humor. I think the best humorous bit is whenever the Animaniacs are teasing/making fun of King Salazar. Those were great scenes.

The final thing I'll give Wakko's Wish credit for is the voice work. Much like the show everyone does a fantastic job voicing their characters and just like the show everybody has good chemistry with each other.

Wakko's Wish is a fun animated movie for the whole family. The songs are entertaining, it's a very fast paced film, the animation is top notch, the humor got a laugh out of me, and the voice acting gets a two thumbs up. The only slight problem is the slow start but that can be forgiven.

My final rating is Great

Okay I'm all done here. Guys, the revival of Animaniacs come out tomorrow and I couldn't be anymore excited than I already am. Anyhow Come back on Friday, Nov 27th for my review of the new HBO Max feature film, Superintelligence. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

A Look Back at Animaniacs

 

With the Animaniacs revival arriving in three days I figured I'd review the original series before the newest show comes out. Let's get started.

Animaniacs was an animated comedy television series that premiered on Fox Kids before it was moved to Kids' WB. The show ran from Sept 13th, 1993 to Nov 14th, 1998, giving the show a total of five seasons and 99 episodes. Animaniacs was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution. The series was created by Tom Ruegger.

The story is the Warner siblings named Yakko, Wakko, and Dot live in the water tower at Warner Bros. studios in California. The siblings get into wacky hijinks with all sorts of people, from celebrities of the past and present, mythological characters and characters from all sorts of pop culture.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Mix

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Positives

One of the best things about this show was the animation. It feels so alive and energic. I truly mean it, the animation is great and it's really aged well.

Another thing that makes the Animaniacs one of the best is the humor. Some of it is slapstick, but there's also jokes about pop culture, politics, and of course those jokes that are gonna go over kids heads. I especially like it when they broke the fourth wall I don't know why but that's also make favorite type of joke.

What also makes the series fun to watch is the voice work. So many talented actors in so many great roles. Everyone does an amazing job voicing their characters. The voice work is so great that I can't really think of a bad performance.

The final thing I'll praise the show for is the characters. I really love a lot them. Other than the Warner Bros and Warner Sister my favorites are also Pinky and the Brain (I really enjoyed a lot of their segments) and Slappy Squirrel, she's awesome. I just love how sarcastic she could be sometimes or I should a lot of times.

Guys, I mean it when I say Animaniacs is one of my favorite old cartoons. It has great animation, a wonderful sense of humor, great voice acting, and even greater characters.

My final rating is A Must Watch

So that's going to do it for me. Come back next time on Thursday, August 19th for my review of the Animaniacs feature film, Wakko's Wish. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.

Underrated Films - Atlantis: The Lost Empire Review

Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 animated sci-fi fantasy action adventure film. It's the 41st film in Disney's animated features and their first sci-fi movie. The film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. Atlantis: The Lost Empire was written by Tab Murphy and directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.

The story is a young adventurer has been hired to help solve an ancient mystery. Him and a group of other explorers will go and unravel what happened to the lost city of the mythical Atlantis. But their maybe some people who have other motives.

Why It's Underrated

The reason that Atlantis: The Lost Empire is considered because Disney just doesn't give it enough love. They hardly mentions it and I do believe I haven't seen a TV showing for it in years. Which sucks because this is such a good movie, the animation alone makes it fantastic.

My Thoughts

One of the best things about this is the characters. I really liked them, they were written very well. Other than Milo I think my other favorite would be Vinny. I loved also every word of dialogue that he said. That line about how they've done a lot of things they're not proud of. That line was just hilarious.

What I also loved about the film was the animation. This was just gorgeous. I mean right from the opening you can tell you're going to great animation no matter what.

Another thing that makes Atlantis: The Lost Empire such an amazing film is the voice acting. Everyone from Michael J. Fox to James Garner to Cree Summer everyone does such a great job voicing their respected character. Honestly I could say Michael was the best but I really don't have a favorite performance for this one.

The final thing I'll praise the film for is the mythology the writers made for this version of Atlantis. When I first watched this movie as a kid I was expecting the typically Atlantis were they're all fish-like humans in a city under water, sure you do get the sunken city but the writers did do many different things that help separate this Atlantis for all of the other stories you've might of heard about.

Guys Atlantis: The Lost Empire is one of favorite animated movies. It has great characters, beautiful animation, great voice work, and the world of this Atlantis is very interesting. Seriously, if you don't watch this film you're missing out.

My final rating is A Must Watch

Accomplishments

Now Atlantis: The Lost Empire only won one award, that being Best Sound Editing for an animated feature film from the 2002 Golden Reel Awards. Not bad but at the same time not a very memorable award, but I think the movie won big when it gained a cult following.

Okay that's all for me. Come back on Monday, Aug 16th for my A Look Back at review for the Animaniacs. Until then enjoy the rest of your day and please give this one a watch.

Raiders of The Lost Media - Thrill Kill

Hey everyone and welcome to another edition of my segment for this blog, Raiders of The Lost Media. And today I tell you the story about a controversial video game called Thrill Kill.

Part One - What is Thrill Kill?

Thrill Kill is an unreleased 1998 fighting video game. It was probably the most controversial video game what with it's rating of AO meaning Adults Only. It was the first game to ever receive this rating, not only for the violence that the game contained but for also containing a lot of sexual suggestive content. The game would've been available for the PlayStation.

Part Two - Plot

The story for Thrill Kill was ten damned souls who are the physical manifestations of either their mental illness or the very evil hidden within them have been sent to Hell. Marukka, the Goddess of Secrets has decided to use these damned ones for her own amusement. She comes up with a combative tournament and the prize is reincarnation. With said prize each character isn't fighting for glory, honor, or respect but the selfish reason of getting out of Hell in the hope of being reborn.

Part Three - Gameplay

Much like Mortal Kombat characters would fight to the death and whoever won would be able to kill their opponent with Thrill Kills. In order to get these the life bar or as it was dubbed in the game the "kill meter" would be full and with each attack the character's bloodlust would increase. Once bloodlust was at it's fullest the fighters would be given superhuman strength that would help them pull off their Thrill Kill, and in order to do that it all depended on what button the player pressed upon grabbing their competitor. But what really helped Thrill Kill stand out from Mortal Kombat was four players could fight each other at the same time in the same exact location, which other than the controversary surrounding it was a major selling point for the game.

Part Four - History

Development for Thrill Kill started in the late 90s. The studio that was creating the game was called Paradox Development (later changing it's name to Midway Studios - Los Angeles in 2004) and their publishers would've been Virgin Interactive, until 1998 when the business was acquired by Electronic Arts as part of EA's buyout of Westwood Studios. Because of this EA bought the publishing rights to the game thus becoming the new distributor for Thrill Kill.

At that point in time Thrill Kill was finished and all the creators had to do was wait for their game to be released.....until EA decided to cancel shipping for the game with only a few weeks to go! The reasoning for this was they didn't wait to release a "senselessly violent game" fearing it go ruin their good image. They also said the game was so offensive that they would not even attempt to sell the game nor would they let be released to other publishers.

Part Five - The Big Controversary

So what's the big controversary surrounding the game you might ask? Well a lot of the people would point to the violence because of course we always to violence in any form of media, but what made Thrill Kill truly controversial was there were a lot of sexual content in it. Some of which contained stuff related to BDSM and a lot of costumes that looked like fetish attire. And if that doesn't shock get a load of these names for special moves. Moves such as "Head Muncher", "Bitch Slap", "Going Down", and my personal favorite "Shallow This". I'm not making this up folks, these are actually moves in the game.

Part Six - Bootlegs

Now the game wasn't lost like some many other cancelled games. It turns former employees released the game to a group called T@STY who would go on to complete the game before releasing it onto the internet with various betas and bootlegs. All the files are still widely available through filesharing and playable emulators.

Part Seven - Videos

There's three videos I also go back to that talk about the game. My favorite being one from Maximilian Dood from his series Fighting History. You should really give these videos a watch.

 

 

Okay I'm all done here. Due come back on Thursday, Nov 5th for my Underrated Films review of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Until then enjoy the rest of your day.