How "Thor: Love and Thunder" got the ending wrong (ish)

    SPOILER WARNING - if you haven't seen "Thor: Love and Thunder" then you shouldn't read this post because I will spoil the very ending of the movie (that's the point of this post basically).

    I had the chance to watch "Thor: Love and Thunder" on Thursday night (it was a nice surprise, after work, and after electrolysis, I went to the mall and then a movie with my daughter and niece and stayed out late even though I had work the next morning! Look at me livin' it up!). 

    Please note that I am not a Marvel fan. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was a DC comics fan, never a Marvel fan. And I will still admit that overall I like DC movies better even though they have mostly been trash lately (I did prefer the Snyder Cut of the Justice League much more - but not in the same toxic way as the fandom that demanded it's release). I think I have only seen the following Marvel movies: Iron Man 1 and 2, Captain America 1 and 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 (love em), Thor - all 4! Love me some Chris Hemsworth; Natalie Portman for the win! And I think I saw the first Avengers movie. I've also seen many of the non-Disney Marvel movies like the Sam Raimi Spiderman trilogy, the X-men triology, some of the First Class movies, and the two Andrew Garfield Spiderman movies. But given that there are like thousands more, it's fair to say that I don't really know (or care) much about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I say that so you better understand where I'm coming from with what I am about to say. 

    FINAL SPOILER REMINDER - I will ruin the ending of Thor 4 if you haven't seen it yet. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

    Aside from being a fan of Chris and Natalie, I like that the Thor movies have more or less been able to be enjoyed outside of the main Marvel continuity (obviously they are linked, but they stand on their own pretty well). I'm not going to review "Thor: Love and Thunder" here, but overall I liked it a lot, although I thought Chris's overacting in the first half was just a bit over the top (but forgivable). I really enjoyed that it blended camp with high-quality moviemaking in a way that most campy movies don't. I also loved how Stormbreaker was anthropomorphized and the very brief moment when the camera is framed on Chris and we just see Stormbreaker starting to come in from camera right in a nod to it's jealousy was so perfectly animated. The pace of Stormbreaker's movement, the only slight entrance into the frame, it shows just how powerful animation can be when executed well. It completely expresses emotion from an inanimate object! Definitely my favorite moment in the movie (I looked and I couldn't find a GIF and could only find phone caps of foreign language ones on youtube). So I'm not going to review the movie more than this, but suffice it to say I enjoyed it a lot (and found myself genuinely laughing out loud constantly at it's very dry humor).

    What I do want to talk about is the ending. And I want to talk about it from a literary standpoint, which is why I prefaced all this with the fact that I'm not a Marvel movie fan. I am not going to talk about how the ending that DID happen might have been necessary for the future things it sets up in the MCU (because I don't care about the MCU). I DO want to talk about why the ending didn't quite achieve as much as it could have from a literary standpoint and what I (and my daughter and niece independently) thought the better ending would have been if connections to future projects weren't part of the equation (and it is worth noting that I am okay with the fact that movie executives have to make money. So I am not blaming them that this was the ending they chose because I get that they need to keep this enterprise going. I just get to talk about what I wish it had been if that wasn't part of their need set).

    Here's the actual ending: Gorr, who lost his daughter, begged for help from a god who laughed at him, slaughtered that god, then starts slaughtering all gods in an attempt to find "Eternity" who will grant his wish, actually makes it to the eternal and basically defeats both Thors to get there. But there is a final moment when Chris Thor could stop him, but that means leaving Natalie Thor to die alone. And so Chris Thor decides to be with Natalie even though he knows that part of Gorr's wish will be to destroy all gods and so Chris Thor will end up dying with Natalie Thor. The Thors urge him to "choose love." It's unclear if Gorr's original wish was to kill all gods, bring back his daughter, or both, but it is implied that his original wish might have been just to kill all gods. But instead, seeing the love between the Thors, Gorr choses to bring back his daughter and leave the gods alive. However, although Chris Thor is left alive, Natalie Thor still dies of her cancer. Then Chris Thor adopts Gorr's daughter as Gorr dies from the influence of the sword (or whatever) and Thor mourns the loss of Natalie by becoming a good father to Gorr's daughter. (Which is an admittedly sweat/funny scene and the young actress who plays Gorr's daughter is brilliant).

    This is a perfectly fine ending, satisfying enough, and apparently done to fit with the larger marvel continuity if the end credit's scene is any indication. But it could have been even better if we don't care about the MCU's journey, and only care about quality writing. Here's how and why:

    It comes down to the journey Gorr takes and who Gorr is in his core being. The movie starts with Gorr and his daughters as the last survivors in an environmental wasteland. He is doing everything he can to keep her alive, sheltering her with his body from the elements, but she passes away. He buries her and cries over her body, and lays himself on top to die. But then he hears that god killing sword calling to him. Gorr stumbles on the oasis, finds his god, makes his case, and his god laughs at him. The sword comes to his hand and he kills the god who cares so little for the pain and suffering of Gorr. Gorr's feeling in that moment is completely understandable and the sword is drawn to him because of that emotion. It is then explained that the sword will continue corrupting him and it helps us understand why Gorr goes from being momentarily enraged at his unsympathetic god, to wanting all gods dead - a dramatic personality shift from the loving father. 

    But Gorr is fundamentally depicted, at all times in the movie really, as a sympathetic villain. His pain comes from the unnecessary death of his daughter. He is a devoted father. And his pain was laughed at by the one being who could help. Then the sword further messes him up. So this is a perfect set-up for a redemptive ending. Not to excuse the deaths Gorr has caused, but to resolve his journey and restore him to the devoted father, and presumably kind person, he originally was. 

    And in many ways, that's what the movie does. He stops killing gods and he brings his daughter back to life. He choses love. But he could have chosen love in an even bigger way. A way that is restorative and reparative, rather than somewhat selfish. Framed another way, the actual ending has Gorr allow one more god to die (Natalie Thor) and brings back his dead child who will now be a fatherless orphan. 

    What if, and here's the point of this belabored blog post, Gorr sees Chris Thor's willingness to die with Natalie Thor rather than stopping Gorr and so Gorr choses to use his wish not on himself (bringing back his already dead daughter) but instead to preserve Natalie Thor's life. What if he saves a god and saves their love showing that he has truly come full circle and remembering what his love meant to him and that he has the power in that moment to give that to another pair? 

    Chris Thor, when given the opportunity to finally stop Gorr, recognizes that doing so means that Natalie Thor will die alone. By going to Natalie Thor, Chris Thor is signing his and every other god's death warrant, but believes that being there in Natalie Thor's final moments, that intimate kindness, is more important. In watching this self-less act of kindness and love towards Natalie, Gorr is urged to chose love. Again, it is unclear if his original wish would have been ONLY to kill all the gods and he switches it to bring his daughter back, or if both were part of the original wish and he just leaves the god death part out. I suppose the stronger interpretation of the actual ending has him using his wish for vengeance alone and killing all the gods, but the Thors' love for each other convinces him to instead grant life in the form of his daughter. I just think that being self-less and choosing love and life in the form of Natalie Thor living rather than expending it on his own desire for his daughter to come back from the dead would have been even more redemptive. It also, as I said above, would have been reparative: he had killed all these gods, and now he can grant a god life. Instead, he spends it on his daughter while allowing another god to die. 

    So what do you think? Would it have been worth sacrificing future MCU plans to have Gorr save Natalie Thor instead of resurrecting his own daughter?

    

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Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Metal Lords (movie review)

    Random movie review: "Metal Lords." I was bored, it was on Netflix, so I watched it. And, it was actually pretty decent. How to describe it? It's a light teen comedy/drama movie about metal and friendship and growing up. It definitely doesn't have the realism of something like "We Are the Best" and it doesn't have the quite the emotional depth of "Edge of Seventeen" (2016 - god I love that movie). But it's also not as funny nor as sweet as "School of Rock." But despite some uneven parts and some unnecessary gross-out moments, there were enough genuine laughs and bright spots to be worth watching for anyone who likes light teen movies and likes music. 

    The basic premise is that there are two high-school best friend outcasts, one who is domineering (but deeply hurting inside) who loves metal and plays the guitar, and the more emotionally centered kid he had previously befriended (and who is the fulcrum, so to speak, for the movie) who plays drums. They form a "band" if you could call it that. The guitarist is determined to enter the school's battle of the bands to show everyone that they are "somebodies" and become stars like a prior metal band that came out of the school.

    But can they do it as a duo? And therein lies some of the best moments of the movie. Our drummer watches as a girl in the marching band goes ape-shit crazy on a teacher and then stumbles on her later playing cello - and she's good. Couldn't she join the band? Not if the guitarist has anything to say about it. 

    So we get a burgeoning teen love (drummer and cellist) that conflicts with an old friendship (guitarist and drummer) and that conflict propels some emotional growth in all three. But oh, the conflict between the guitarist and cellist reaches a peak in one of the best scenes in the movie (I won't spoil it).

    There's also healing family wounds, coming out of your shell, and romance. Unfortunately, for all the good, there are a few uneven moments, and the film as a whole has a less-than-believable overall tone. But that's not to say it doesn't work, it's just light, fun, fare - and that's okay.

    All three leads are wonderfully cast. There are some funny cameos from actual metal musicians and there's a great twist with a psychiatrist. There are also some interesting moments with the "rival" band - showing how as douchey as their music is, they're actually decent people. It's nice to see a teen movie where there is a mix of personalities, not just the good ones and the bad ones. But a whole bunch of average people being somewhat decent.

    Interestingly, there is also the regular appearance of a side character with Down Syndrome, played by an actor who has Down Syndrome. I'm a bit torn about this character, and I would be interested in hearing from some folks with even greater knowledge of disabilities than I do as to whether it is positive representation. My hunch is that, it is. The scenes with that character and the guitarist have a gentleness and humanity that I liked, it didn't feel forced to me, it didn't feel exploitative, and I think visibility is great. But, I also might be missing things that might have bothered others about that role (or maybe not, maybe it was good representation?). At the very least they tried and that's something too.

    Other kvetches: it didn't pass the Bechdel Test. There was only one female lead. She did not interact with any other female. There was another girl thrown in just to tempt the drummer. There was no interaction between any female characters at all. 

    And on another note, there was one gay joke. It started really badly with the guitarist calling having the girl in the band "gay." But then the other two look around at posters in the guitarist's room and the sight gag of all those singers with makeup, tight pants, and crotches packed with socks poked fun at the machismo of metal mixed with the innate queerness of many metal bands - and their infatuation with dicks. It was a funny turnaround to be sure. But that's still an uneven commentary on using "gay" as a pejorative. While they did manage to turn it back on the person who said it, it didn't quite resolve in a way that makes being gay okay. All it basically said is that all metal is gay, not that it's not okay to call things "gay" to demean them. On the whole, I wish they didn't make that joke, but there's been worse. 

    So on the whole, the movie was nice, it was sweet, but it isn't one I'm likely to watch again. There really were some laugh-out-loud moments, and the cellist's explosive temper is so well done by the actress. The overall tone was a bit mixed - veering more towards light teen comedy than anything really meaningful - but uneven at times too. And yet, there was some growth in several characters. So as imperfect as it is, if you're bored, like music, and like teen comedies, it might be worth watching.

    

✩🚺

Please legitimately purchase or borrow manga and anime. Never read scanlations or watch fansubs. Those rob the creators of the income they need to survive and reduce the chance of manga and anime being legitimately released in English.

All comments are moderated by a real person who only checks them once a day. Therefore, comments may take a while before they show up. Thanks for understanding. It's how we keep this a community of lovingkindness.

Star Trek The Motion Picture 4k UHD Director's cut Remastered(Movie Review)

    Today was one of only two days to see Star Trek The Motion Picture in 4k, completely remastered, UHD, director's cut IN THEATERS! So naturally I was there! I won't bore you with too many details, but basically, they went back to the original footage in three different formats that it was shot in, cleaned it up, used the previous director's cut edit, and truly color-graded it for the first time. I have always liked this movie, far more than most people, but I also was well aware of its weaknesses. So I was definitely looking forward to seeing what they did with it. Let's do a quick good vs. bad to get things rolling:

Missed it Monday - Fireworks (2017) is a gross male fantasy (Anime Review)

Missed it Monday is the recurring column where I review manga/anime that I didn't read/watch when they first came out.

Fireworks (2017) - 3.5/10

It turns out I had already tried to watch "Fireworks" once. When I started watching it the other day, the first few minutes seemed familiar. And terrible. I now remember starting it and refusing to finish it because it was so bad. This time I plowed through just in case it got better. It didn't. It got worse. It is an overwrought male fantasy that masquerades as a coming of age, time-travel, love story. "Your Name" or "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" it is not.

In order to do justice to this review, I will be spoiling the whole way through, particularly when talking about the absolutely awful ending. You've been warned. But the movie sucks so bad that at least I'm saving you from needing to watch it.

Missed it Monday - Tales from Earthsea (Anime Review)

Missed it Monday is the ongoing column where I review anime/manga that I didn't watch/read when they first came out.

Tales from Earthsea (anime) - 5.5/10

I put off watching Tales from Earthsea (Studio Ghibli) for a looooooong time. I am a huge Studio Ghibli fan. And even though Hayao Miyazaki is undeniably a genius, my favorite Studio Ghibli movie is actually From Up On Poppy Hill which was directed by his son, Goro.

Goro also directed a Tales from Earthsea and the reviews at the time were not kind. Coupled with the fact that I have read and reread the original Earthsea trilogy (now 5 books) by Ursula Le Guin countless times, it just didn't seem like I should tarnish my thoughts of Earthsea by watching the movie.

Finally though, I felt I could watch it and not have it affect my love for the books. I'm sad to say that it isn't a very good Earthsea movie. It also isn't a telling of the stories from the novels. But more so, it isn't really a very good movie in its own right. That being said, it also isn't a bad movie, so long as one does not try and compare it to the books, and the world those books describe.

Booksmart is absolutely adorable (Movie Review)

Booksmart - 8/10

I don't review movies often on this site, but "Booksmart" was so adorable and has a really well-done lesbian lead character so I couldn't resist. All you really need to know is that this film is absolutely adorable, and even if not quite perfect, it's well worth watching.

The movie is about Molly and Amy, two studious, awkward high school seniors about to graduate who face the realization that while they spent their entire high school careers studying to get into great colleges, many of their peers managed to balance studying and fun and still get into great colleges. Right there we see what separates this film from other typical teen comedies, and especially the "we're geeks who squandered our time and now we must leave in a blaze of redemptive glory" type movies. For while it is that second one, it consistently delivers welcome messages along the way - queer acceptance (nonchalance really), active consent, and no visible peer pressure to drink or do drugs (although there is a little of both in the film).

The plot follows Molly and Amy, who aren't exactly popular, as they attempt to make their way to a giant house party on the night before graduation. The goal is for Amy to finally tell her feelings to the girl (Ryan) she likes, and maybe hook up along the way. For Molly, it's mostly about having people see a more complete side to her, but also a little about her crush on the popular boy too.

Molly and Amy's dialogue, actions, and general awkwardness are exactly like real teens. They reminded me so much of my teen daughter and her friends. Unlike most media with teens who don't act anything like true teens, these two come off very authentic (for a comedy movie that is). Because in real life, even the popular kids are still awkward teens, the way they move in their still growing bodies, the way they speak somewhere between childhood and adulthood, and this movie nails it for the two leads. Sadly, it doesn't totally hold true for the side characters who are mostly played for stereotypes (and all seem much older than 18), but at least the stereotypes are so well written (and the actors seem to be having a lot of fun with them) that it's excusable.

I love the queer representation in this film. Having an out lesbian lead character where the film isn't about coming out is awesome. Unlike "Love Simon" which was okay, but not great, this film normalizes being queer. In addition to Amy, there are at least several other likely queer characters, and even though it isn't made explicit, having at least 3 queer characters is starting the process of eliminating tokenism. Also, actor Austin Crute absolutely crushes his scene playing some sort of Norma Desmond/Carol Channing over-the-hill 1920s actress in a murder mystery themed party they end up at (he pretty much kills every scene he's in). The writing is just so sharp, and manages to be funny without ever making fun of any category or group of people.

Some of the other great things in this film:
1) Active consent - although it occasionally feels forced, the film explicitly advocates for active consent (usually in a funny way) at least three times. Even if it is a bit obvious, I'd rather my kids get obvious affirmation on consent than other things that are usually in teen films. Way to go!
2) There are so many subtly funny lines. Punchlines that had me giggling even if most in the audience thought were just throwaways. There are also so many honest scenes and moments. There is a scene where Molly and Amy are watching something inappropriate on their phone and the subtly different ways each character reacts is a testament to the acting and also the truth of where each is at - its comedy without being broad or mean.
3) The actress who plays Gigi steals nearly every scene she is in. She's a recurring gag that really works. The actress sells it so well.
4) There was an absolutely perfect joke about coming out. It went more or less like this:
     Ryan (the girl Amy likes): "I always wished you'd come out."
     Amy: "Oh, uh, I did, like in 10th grade."
     Ryan: "No, I meant on the weekend to hang out."
It was done with some simplicity, like, "duh Amy, we all know your gay, no big deal." And was both funny and sweet at the same time.

However, despite my raves so far. The film isn't quite perfect. Here are some things I wished had been tightened up:
1) Some early scenes drag - the film could have used another pass at editing, especially the first act where some scenes just went on too long, or might have been able to be left out. In fact, cutting 10 minutes out of the film would have helped its pacing overall.
2) While most of the writing is SOOOOO good, there were a few moments, a few scenes, where it just went a little too "teen movie" for my taste and broke from the sincere (but funny) realism of the majority of the film.
3) The vomit gag. This really really should have been cut out. There's actually another perfect spot (pun intended for those who have seen the film) that could have been used instead to end the scene between Amy and Hope instead of needing a gross-out joke. This was one of the few times where I felt like the writing let the film's otherwise consistent over-achievement down.
4) Molly, one of our two leads, wasn't given enough background. I think there's more there that I would have liked to see explored. There is a hint that maybe her parents aren't around. They aren't in the film, she lives in a weird apartment complex, and no one is home to greet her after she gets back from the party. But I didn't totally know her motivation, and although they set up her character well early on, she isn't actually given as much growth as it might seem (although the actress nails what she has to work with).
5) There was a teacher hooking up with a student - AND THIS IS NEVER OKAY - no matter that the student was held back and is 20. This demeans teachers, it teaches kids the wrong thing about adults and people they should trust, and just served ABSOLUTELY NO NARRATIVE PURPOSE in the story. It also undermined a really great character in the teacher. She had some great lines and this hurt.
6) Which brings me to diversity. This film was better than some, with a black student, a black teacher, a probably bi-racial student (or two), a latinix student, an Asian student, the gay and queer students. But in truth, we had two white leads, and it seemed like very little diversity in the extras that filled out the scenes. Sadly, it was the funny black teacher who was the one that slept with a student. Now, it's not that I needed her to be lionized either, it just sucked that they gave her such a shitty moment. Also, let's get some disability and neuro-diversity in a film too while we're at it (if I'm being greedy, that is).

Now that feels like a whole lot of problems. But the truth is that 95% of the film was great, with some areas where it could have been slightly improved. Nothing is perfect, but the writing is so strong, the lead actresses are amazing, the queer rep is great, the comedy so kindly funny, and just the whole thing had this adorably charming quality to it. It wasn't trying to be "Superbad" even though everyone compares it to that (I'm a huge Michael Cera fan, and that's actually one of my least favorite of his films). Booksmart proved that comedy can be kind and still funny and that teen coming-of-age comedies don't have to be gross-out, drunken, make-out fests (because really, very little in high-school is actually ever like that). I highly recommend seeing this film. I'm 39 and enjoyed it, I bet teens will too. Booksmart gets an 8/10.

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Liz and the Blue Bird is a soft quiet delicate and surprisingly deep movie (Anime Review)

Liz and the Blue Bird - 7.5/10

For no apparent reason this time, I've decided to review the movie Liz and the Blue Bird in the form of an acrostic poem. It's probably because my early notes were more a list of experiences than my normal more narrative notes (which fits the ethereal nature of the film). I've never seen the show that this movie was spun off from, so I went into it totally blind and with no real expectations (other than hearing it had yuri elements). I hope you enjoy:

Lots of character nuance, and even some change, but little plot. That's not a bad thing.
Interesting lack of any exploration of the characters broader lives.
Zoom in on the movie and you'll realize it basically all takes place within the school.

Amazingly quiet for an animated film, there is almost no dialogue at all, and the whole thing moves at such a slow, but lovely and delicate pace.
Notable for how the entire media industry in Japan seems more willing to make a wide range of movies, and isn't limited to just big blockbuster-type storytelling, especially in animation. I really appreciate that.
Don't know whether I really find the main character believable, as she's so quiet and withdrawn, but not in a way like any real person I've met, more in a 'this is what I think internalizing girls are like' sort of way. But that doesn't make her less engaging as a character, and could provide a mirror for some young women's internal feelings rather than needing to be an authentic representation of an actual person. So it works in animation, in a way it wouldn't in a live action film, which is why animation is such a vital medium.

The basic story is of two bandmates in high-school as they work through a piece of music, their relationship, and their future while also reading and thinking through the story in a picture book.
How they bring the children's book into this, when I think back, seems pretty arbitrary. I'm not sure I really buy that a highschooler would carry a children's book around, then loan it to a friend, but the contents of that book form an important metaphor for the leads' story, more on that to come...
Even though I praised the diversity of stories and story-telling approaches in Japanese animation (and I am glad that this was released in the US), I'm still never-the-less reminded how many great manga never got translated into English or turned into anime.  I recognize that an unusually soft and subtle film like this only got a US release (and maybe only got made) largely because of the reception and popularity of Sound! Euphonium (the original show).

Broad sense of time, starting in the middle of their story and ending still in the middle of their story, so we know there was so much before and so much still to come, that nothing is fully resolved, with leaps of time throughout from hours to days to even months that pass between scenes.
Lots of room to add your own yuri vibes, it hints at some of the purest forms of yuri (the intimacy of close relationships) without ever reducing it to sexuality, service, or even necessarily romance.
Understated use of dialogue, it's has some of the least of any film in recent memory, and leaves us without any internal dialogue either, so we are left to scan faces, look at lighting, read timing, and subtle gestures to understand their inner thoughts, there is no exposition at all.
Excellent, even if you don't know or haven't watched the series it's spun off from (and I hadn't).

Blends several styles of animation pretty seamlessly, especially the art on the internal storybook which reminds me of how Chica Umino draws faces (Honey and Clover) and has a lovely crayon-like quality which is so different than the animation and character designs for the main story.
It doesn't completely resolve anything, but hey, that's life, and I like hopefully melancholy endings!
Respectfully kept the feeling small and didn't try to make it a giant epic just because it was a full-length movie rather than a 20 minute episode.
Deceptively rich, the metaphor of the storybook within the story seems to parallel the characters in one way early one, but it's actually not what you might think. The "flip" in our expectations (how the book relates to the main story) as we move to the later parts of the movie makes both so much more rewarding. We're like: "oh, I didn't see that coming, but it makes so much more sense" and adds a real richness and depth to the character's inner lives. I can't tell you what that flip is without giving away the magic of the final parts of the movie.

So there you have it. Basically, I really liked it because it was a delicate story of the relationship between two young women, told mostly without words, at a lovely, slow pace, with no real plot, drama, or much of anything you could easily grab at, with no pandering or service.

However, it didn't make as immediate and indelible an impact on me as some other recent anime films have, and it's not going to go down in the pantheon as a classic, I may not ever rewatch it (I probably will), but it's still important because of just how different it is for a full-length anime. It's perhaps overly sentimental in ways, and with some unrealistic depictions of teen angst (maybe teen angst is always unrealisticly real?), but it is a beautiful watch if you're in the right mood. I'm giving Liz and the Blue Bird a strong 7.5/10 (I really struggled not giving it an 8/10, so YMMV).

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Alita, Battle Angel - a review and thoughts - lots of them (Movie Review)

Alita: Battle Angel - 5.5/10

I finally went out to see Alita: Battle Angel. I have never read the manga so I had no pre-conceived notions. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, nor was it as good as it could have been. I'm going to do a summary of the story for people who might not know much about it, and then proceed to list what worked and what didn't. Trying something new with this review.

So the movie's plot is as messed up and overly-dense as could be and only had minimal internal explanation (often through stupid exposition), so I could be very wrong with this summary, but let me give it a try: Centuries (?) before the movie takes place, humans had colonized Mars. As things went on, the mars humans ended up attacking (did they really start it or was it the Earth humans?) the Earth. At the time, there were these big flying cities over Earth. As part of the attacks (including on the moon - which was a pretty cool flashback) the flying cities were targeted. Now, only one remains after the defeat of the Mars humans. The Earth elite live on that flying city while the rest of Earth humanity lives in various slums on the surface.

The major sporting event is a type of roller-ball/roller-derby with cyborg people. There is a big underground market for their parts and gangs of people who go out and attack cyborgs to steal their parts. There are also bounty hunters who get paid cash to catch criminals of all sorts. One of the best cybernetic engineers (Doctor Ido) also happens to be a bounty hunter and on one of his scavenging trips for parts in the local dump, finds the head of a cyborg young-lady that contains a living human brain, but is otherwise completely synthetic.

He connects this head to the body he made for his now dead daughter (plot plot plot plot) and we meet Alita for the first time. She doesn't know who she is, but is presumed to be a teenager and in one scene, proves she's got some special fighting skills. As her memories slowly return, she pursues various means of understanding her past while also pissing lots of bad people off. As part of this, she finds another body, what turned out to be her true body, that of an elite cybernetic martian warrior. After a horrible situation, the doctor has no choice but to plug her in to this new body and suddenly we (and she) come to understand that she's really a young adult elite fighting machine left over from the Martian/Earth war.

Then comes so much more plot, Ido's ex-wife, the guy in the city above, the cyborg sport, etc...I mean more plot than it is possible to describe, and in fact, it's all but incomprehensible really. There's also a romantic sub plot that ties into some of the action (more on that later). There's lots of fighting, etc... I won't give you any more details, other than to suggest that the movie is leading towards a reckoning between Alita and those running things up in the floating city.

So here's what works:
1) We don't actually get the final reckoning. Much like the ending of the first (and only?) Matrix movie, we're left understanding Alita's untouchable power and nearly divine calling, and we know what's coming, but it ends with that promise on the horizon. Leaving the audience knowing she'll be awesome and the salvation but not actually depicting it worked so well for the Matrix (and was ruined in its sequels by actually showing it - but showing it differently than any of us would have imagined). It will be interesting to see if this cliff-hanger or sorts spawns sequels or not and how well they do at fulfilling the vision.

2) For all the weirdness of how Alita's face is depicted (see below), the actress and the motion capture end up creating someone we do genuinely root for. She is an engaging screen presence, somehow despite being completely CGI against live-action actors.

3) This has some of the best fight scene editing in decades. Normally fight scenes are so frenetically edited that you can't tell a single thing that is happening (see Michael Bay). But here, through long shots, careful planning, lots of slo-mo, and other maneuvers, the fights are incredible clear and worthy of our time. Very very well done.

Here's what didn't work:
1) the plot. Oh my god. There was soooooo much plot. And more annoying than the long running time and over-abundance of plot points, was the poor editing where out of nowhere a character would know something they didn't previously know but we have no idea how they could have learned that new information. It suggests that there were lots of scenes cut out. And even though the theatrical release was too long, it might actually be improved with an even longer director's cut that restores the missing scenes. Better, would have been a much more streamlined narrative. I don't know what the narrative in the manga was, but whether this was true to it or not, sometimes things have to be different in a film to make it work. This plot did not. Overly complex but under emotional.

2) The eyes and the CGI in general. Much has been made of the decision to have Alita have large anime-influenced eyes but in a live-action envisioning. Many have commented with concern that she is the only character with the large eyes, but I actually think that all the Martian soldiers had them, so maybe they developed large eyes due to low light on Mars or it is part of their cybernetic designs. Whatever. It neither worked nor didn't work, but was a bit strange. You get used to it after a few minutes, so it's not distracting.

But the problem isn't their size, the problem is that they are CGI which means they're dead. The eyes are so important in a live action film and this hurt here because we never really feel that she is real, we know she is animated. Further, because Alita was all CGI, they didn't get her arm movements right during her non-fighting scenes. There's a weird balletic movement to the arms and hands and fingers in so many CGI characters in films that many in the audience won't notice it (having become used to it), but it simply is not how real people carry their upper bodies or use their arms. One particular moment that stood out was as she is coming down the stairs, squatting and looking through the railing, the way her hands too gracefully glide over the rails, just took me right out of the scene.

I'm also a fan of practical effects because they have a weight that CGI doesn't. Whether it is people, explosions, backgrounds, sets, etc... I like as much practical effects as possible (including good old matte paintings). What really really really kills me is that every background in CGI films has this ethereal, misty, soft-lighted approach. Maybe it worked for Lord of the Rings, but it isn't realistic, it looks animated, and it takes me out of the film. Also, everyone had cybernetic parts, but few (if any) were done practically so again, there is a lack of grounding, a lack of solidity. I almost wish the film had been a complete CGI animation like a Pixar film rather than live-action with CGI everywhere. Most people aren't bothered by this the way I am, but hell, it's my blog.

3) The romance - yuck. One, we don't need every heroine to have a love interest for us to connect with her. But if you're going to do it, do it well. So first, the guy they have her fall for is not a good actor, is not beautiful, but nor is he unique or quirky either. He's like someone who would have been the second choice actor to be on some soap opera, not a leading man or up and coming true actor for a big budget film. I don't know anything about him or his relationship with the director, but of all the men on the planet, why cast him? So then all the scenes with him, all his relationship to the plot, all her scenes of caring about him, being led astray by him, etc... are wasted because we don't care about him and don't want them to actually get together. She's too good for him but that isn't explored. Instead, we're supposed to root for them and be pained with the way things get "resolved." Could have cut this whole thing out entirely, focused more on her and Ido in a father/daughter way, and it would have been a much better film.

4) The whole film was very white. Yes, there were some side characters and background characters of color, and I won't get into the debate about whether the doctor and Alita should have been Japanese as even the manga creator isn't committing one way or another on that.  BUT, by hundreds of years in the future, there should have been a lot more diversity. The one black actor who had a sizable part was of course the villian. Why couldn't the love interest have been black, or Asian, or latinx, or Persian, or anything other than a mediocre, not-quite-good-looking, can't act white dude? I expect more diversity in the 24th century or whenever it was set. I also expect more diversity in the 21st century.

5) Alita's characterization. Wow has she got a screw loose, but not in a good fun way. Some scenes she's a starry-eyed teen, others she's a battle hardened young woman, other's she's super in love, other's she's a badass, other's she's getting manipulated and willing to give up everything for the stupid dude, other's she's running away, other's she deferential. Basically, it feels like what an adult man thinks a teenage girl is like - all hormones and inconsistency. And then I notice the script was co-written by James Cameron and I said to myself: "Oh, it really is what a old man thinks a teenage girl is like." But it's not what they are like, and the constantly labile personality is jarring and has no real motivational or emotional thread running through it. Hire a woman to write the script next time, would ya?!

So sounds like a lot more that didn't work than did. And that's true. And yet, I didn't hate it. It was big and bold and had some amazing moments, and the joy of the fight scenes and Alita's overall engaging performance (motion captured though it was), managed to turn the tides. This is a film I would watch again to see what more I could make of it, but I hope that will be in an extended director's cut that may help even out some of the plot and characterization problems mentioned above. As it stands in its theatrical version, I can only give it a 5.5/10, as being just enough of an enjoyment to overcome it's many problems, but not one I'd recommend to people either.

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Improving Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (cause it wasn't as awful as I thought it would be)

So I finally watched "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets." (Currently free on Amazon Prime) I thought it would be absolutely awful and it actually wasn't, but it wasn't exactly good either. I'm a huge fan of Luc Besson's film "The Fifth Element" and while it wasn't anywhere near that monumental triumph, it also wasn't a burning pile of poo like the Wackowski's "Jupiter Ascending" or James Cameron's over-hyped and nearly unwatchable "Avatar." (Yes, I really really dislike that film)

However, this isn't a review of Valerian. Instead, it's a list of what could have been done to improve it. Because that's more fun to write. Go read someone else's review if you want to know what it's about and whether you might like it. Try this one from Rolling Stone.

So how do we improve a super expensive and mediocre movie:

1) Cast actors who can act. Sounds simple given the planet's overabundance of talented and under-employed actors. However, we're stuck with the two absolute worst actors in the lead roles. While there is no doubting that Cara Delevigne is stunningly beautiful, there is also no doubting that she is a horrific actress. Her face is useless for expressions, she can't deliver a line with any timing, she has zero emotional range, and you absolutely will never feel any connection to her. Pairing her Dane DeHaan, who can best be described as being from the Keanu Reeves school of acting, has zero screen presence at all and no emotional skill. Now I love, I mean LOVE, Keanu Reeves, and he is perfect at all he does, but the man can't act. I mean, I don't know what he's doing on screen, but it just isn't acting. But for him, it works. It works so very well. For Dane...not so much. And unlike the eye candy of Cara Delevigne, Dane DeHaan doesn't even have that going for him. So he can't act and he isn't anything much to look at. What was the casting director going for exactly?

2) Cast diverse actors. There was absolutely no meaningful diversity in this movie. Not only are our two leads incapable of acting, they, and the vast majority of the cast, are as white as they come. Yes, I know there are many aliens and so we can't expect racial diversity as it is meaningful in American society to matter amongst alien species, BUT most of the speaking roles are given to human characters, and most of those are white. Three small exceptions are a shape shifting blue squid that often dons the guise of a black woman and a few moments of black man who we think is the head of the humans as well as a black solider who was killed for trying to hold his commander accountable for genocide. However, the shapeshifting alien/black woman dies saving Valerian who has promised (as the white hero) to save her from a life of human trafficking. The black leader of the humans has three meaningless lines, delivered through a computer screen, in 137 minutes of film time (pure tokenism). As I said, the black solider is killed for trying to hold the white commander accountable but has no meaningful dialogue. So two of the three end up martyred to save either a white lead (who can't act) or a race of VERY white humanoid aliens. There is a token Asian character, but all the rest of the soldiers, generals, commanders, merchants, tourists, etc... are white (and almost exclusively men). Why not cast actors of Indian, Persian, Hispanic, black, Asian, or any background who can act in both the lead and side roles? Why go out of your way to have a very white film made with people who can't act when whiteness serves no story-related purpose? You can't argue they were the best for the roles, because ANYONE on the planet would have been a better actor and being white had nothing to do with the role. Whether it was a conscious choice to cast mostly white actors or evidence of long-standing implicit bias, it was a very very white film.

3) Move your gender roles beyond the 1960s. So where is Laureline's name in the title? Her name is in the French comic it's based on. But no, we're going to give the film an incredibly long title but have no room for the female lead's name in the title, just the man's. Further, although there is a moment that plays off this, Laureline is frequently made to stay back by Valerian in classic chauvinist fashion. But why does Valerian have to be a male chauvinist whose heart changes over the course of the film at all? I haven't read the comics, but I don't care what he's like there. We could do with some sensitive, compassionate leading men who can also still be good space agents. And we could do with the two of them sorting out their feelings as two equals, not as an asshole man being changed by the love of a woman. Laureline is presented as great at what she does and there is no meaningful reason why she couldn't be the focus of the film. But it's Valerian who gets most of the big combat scenes even though Laureline shows that she can handle herself in a fight just fine. And she also is put in the place to get rescued by Valerian for no good reason. In fact, the entire episode that has her get captured and him saving her only exists to show off his skills and ultimately introduces and kills off the black/shape-shifting blue squid. It doesn't actually drive the plot forward and could have been completely left out of the movie. The one time she rescues him, it's not so much a rescue as it is just finding him and then she gets herself into trouble requiring him to rescue her anyway. Let's make them equals and let's make the emotional struggle between them not about her undoing his chauvinism, but about genuinely trying to decide if they are compatible as people who talk and think about interesting things. The Han Solo/Princess Leia thing they try to do just didn't work. We had one of those, it was of the times in 1977, but this is the 20-teens and we deserve a kind and balanced leading man along with a strong, competent, and doesn't-need-to-prove-herself to anyone leading lady who engage in meaningful dialogue not just banter.

4) Hire a better editor. The editing was terrible at times. Not only was it long, with some scenes that could have been dramatically shortened and whole segments (see above) removed entirely, but the editing on the timing of dialogue quips to end scenes was awful. Lines were delivered just a hair late, making the comedy fall flat. I don't care whether the actor's really had bad timing, or if this occurred in ADR, but the beauty of editing is the ability to remove a little time to make the line hit better. Given that the actor's couldn't act at all, this is the least they could have done. Further, most of those end quips weren't necessary. A little eye roll or facial expression would have done the trick. But sadly, most of these moments are given to Cara Delevigne who clearly can't manage a convincing eye roll anyway so they needed to give her actual dialogue to make the joke. Then they botched it with poor editing. And don't get me started on the poor ADR where entire paragraphs of speech didn't match the lip movements. Yuck. Given that terrible syncing, they could have hired someone else to overdub the two leads and at least improve the acting.

5) Get rid of CGI (or at least reduce its use). Give me some damn space ship models, some matte paintings for backgrounds, and some honest to goodness latex costumes for aliens. It's not that I hate CGI, but there's just too damn much of it. I'll take practical special effects any day. It has a tangibleness that you can't get with CGI; there's no weight to CGI, no gravity. Use CGI to clean it up, use it to supplement, but come on, for someone who used practical effects so well in The Fifth Element, there is just no excuse here. I don't care if some things are un-filmable unless you use CGI, maybe it would make a film better if writers and directors were forced to find meaningful writing, characters, and plot approaches to solve the filmmaking dilemmas rather than just adding more CGI to achieve what's in their heads.

The thing is, all of these problems were avoidable. Who's doing quality control on these $200 million movies? Yes, I know the financing was very different on this one giving Luc Besson a lot of control, but what about those trash heaps I mentioned above like Jupiter Ascending and Avatar (not to mention many many many...most big CGI movies)? Someone needs to ask, "really, these are the BEST two actors you could find? I have two baristas at the Starbucks near Broadway who would love these roles and can actually act!" Same with the diversity, either you find it meaningful to cast the incredible beauty of the human species or you don't. And if you don't, it says a lot about you. There was nothing in this story that needed even a single white actor. So you can't blame it on taking place in the corporate world of the 1960s or at Yale (pretty much any time) as to why there were so many white actors. And for the writing (gender stereotypes), poor editing, and bland special effects, those are production decisions that also show more about the people making the film than the potential of the project itself. In other hands, this could have been a great film. As it was, it wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't what it could have been.

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My 14-year-old daughter reviews Blade Runner (The Final Cut) and likes it!

We have our first guest blogger! My 14-year-old daughter and I sat down to watch Blade Runner(The Final Cut) after finding it used in a local store. I consider it possibly the greatest science fiction movie ever and was glad when she wanted to watch it. I was even more proud when she noted how different the film-making was from modern movies. I think she was more enthralled studying the cinematography than she was the movie's plot, but that's okay. It IS an amazing movie not only because of its story, but because it shows so much movie-making art that has been lost (or at least is different now). So without any further ado, here's my daughter's thoughts on Blade Runner (the Final Cut). ONLY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW.

As a fan of the original (Dad says only) Star Wars movies and a full blown Harrison Ford fan, I found this movie perfectly enjoyable. I've never been super interested in sci-fi films and books but I do enjoy Star Wars. This movie definitely broadened my scope of what Sci-Fi should be. Many of the Sci-Fi/Fantasy films I've seen have been fairly recent such as many of the Star Wars continuations (which Dad refuses to see). But Blade Runner was unlike anything I've ever seen.

The music was so unique and don't even get me started on the subtleness of the acting... absolute perfection! Possibly my favorite aspect of the film was the lighting. As a budding photographer, I spend a lot of time and energy looking at light, so I have a special appreciation for the original and uncommon use of light and its sources in this film. Particularly so in the scenes that take place in J.F Sebastian's apartment. The beams of light appear to be coming from helicopters or flying cars outside which assists in enhancing the illusion that we are in the future. The use, as well as the timing, of the beams helps the audience understand that this is a risky situation without the use of narration/exposition or clichéd music (ed. note: she means like big dramatic orchestral scores).

But by far the most astounding component of this film was the pacing... you actually got a chance to breathe! In many recent science fiction movies as well as similar genres, the plot and acting gets lost in a mixture of fast paced scenes and way too many explosions. Blade Runner has a very complex plot, so without those well placed pauses in action and dialogue the viewers would be completely lost. (It also has the perfect amount of explosions - none.)

My only problem with the movie has to do with what seems to me like a missed opportunity at an even richer plot. Rachael delivers a line Deckard about the possibility of him being a Nexus 6 himself "Did you ever take that test yourself?"  Deckard considers the thought for a moment then the possible plot line is dropped for the rest of the film (ed note: after she wrote this, we did discuss his unicorn dream and the origami unicorn left for him and the possible meanings - I'm so proud she picked up on this plot point!).

 Wow! What a wonderful movie! As a child of Generation Z and a movie fanatic it is simply refreshing to see such a well done movie. I highly recommend Blade Runner (the Final Cut) to anyone and everyone who loves well-made movies in general and science fiction specifically.

Stargirl here, thanks daughter for your insight. I'm happy to have another generation see and appreciate this seminal film and find value in it even though it is so (and maybe because of how) distinctly different it is than contemporary main-stream movie-making. She actually came away from the Han Solo movie saying how boring it is. That's right Hollywood, are you listening, more explosions don't make something more interesting. Emotions do! Thanks Daughter! Hope to get you back here soon for more of your perspectives on life, movies, and anything else!

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Incredibles 2...more like The Acceptibles 2

So I didn't love it and I didn't hate it, but The Incredibles 2 just didn't have any of the heart or magic that made the first one my number 2 Pixar film of all time. Also, the second half of this review will highlight some equity issues presented by this film. Hold on tight. LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD.

The movie was fine. There were only a few glaring plot holes (how can this business man assemble all the world leaders to write new legislation? For being "all the world leaders" why were there only like 10 of them in the room?) and the original cast are still amazing voices and the animation was also top-notch. That ocean just looked so good. Also, the baby. My wife turns and says: "The baby saved the film" not literally (perhaps unfortunately) but just because he's got a couple killer scenes.

But, the problem is that is all we get, just fine. The framing device: the world hates superheroes and deems them illegal, has been done TO DEATH. I mean, for almost 70 years in the X-men universe and more recently in the Avengers/Captain-America Civil War movies and like EVERY OTHER post-superhereo "gritty" graphic novel/movie/book/video game. But whatever, they don't really harp on it, and actually the movie didn't really need it.

So moving on, what about the plot itself? Well, it's pretty much The Incredibles 1 with the gender reversed between the two parents. This time instead of Mr. Incredible going out alone and the mom and kids going to save him, it's Elasti-girl who goes out alone, then Mr. Incredible, then the kids go out to save them. At one point, about 1/3rd of the way through, I thought they were going to go somewhere interesting. The villain (at the time) starts giving a monologue about how people don't do anything anymore, they just stare at screens, they don't play games, they watch game-shows, they don't cook, they watch cooking shows, they don't travel, they watch travel shows. If this movie went in this direction it would have been so great on so many levels 1) actually an important thing to think about in our modern world, and 2) it's a movie (on a screen) telling us not to watch things on screens (so meta). But this was it, one monologue and then that whole potential big idea was absent the rest of the way and it turns into a avenge mommy and daddy movie.

Perhaps even more unforgivable than a predictable plot (of which most movies have) was the fact that the first 2/3rds of the movie were SO BORING. I don't mean that they needed more action, because there were plenty of action scenes. I mean that the action scenes were boring and predictable, the family scenes were bereft of the complex family nuances that drove the first film, and the various comedic set pieces were just so-so. The conclusion was at least interesting to watch, but also ultimately totally predictable in each of the points it hit. It just wasn't a very emotionally engaging movie, sort of hollow.

So fine, it was a well done, well acted predictable movie. More often than not, those are enjoyable, here though the boredom got to me and that was a problem for the filmmakers as it let me see two other things that ended up being distractions for me the rest of the way through, things I might have missed if I were invested in the story and characters.

The first, and which hit me early on watching the crowd in the background of a couple scenes, was the complete whiteness of this film. Yes, Frozone continues to be amazing (super powerful and always timely, but as a person was underused in this film) and there was a new black minor superpowered character in a couple scenes, but I'm talking bigger things. The crowds were white, the side characters were all mostly white.

And I'm not talking just a black/white divide (although that was definitely concerning here). Where are the Asians, the Indians, the Pakistanis, the middle easterners and Persians, where are the people of Hispanic or South American background, where are those of native dissent as well as black, African American (is this movie set in America?) and/or African individuals (along with the far greater world diversity than I can list in one sentence)? This was a very white film at a time when there is no excusing it. It didn't reflect the diversity in the suburban audience I saw it with, nor the diversity I encounter every day at work an in the community. And I don't live in a particularly diverse part of the country either. I'm not talking Manhattan here.

At first I wasn't sure I would bring this up, but then I realized, if I don't, who will? I see it as each of our jobs to highlight when we don't see media echo the world around us because we cannot let another generation fail to see themselves on screen. These kids need to know they are valued and unique and the same and special and...I just can't believe how we continue to be willing to cast aside other human beings, other unique individual people, just because they are not from north west Europe. What we continue to allow to happen in this country and around the world goes beyond a Human Rights violation. When we use the term Human Rights violation it again depersonalizes the individuals who make up the group and while it is critical to look at groups in the aggregate so we don't miss disproportionate treatment, it is also essential that we recognize that in each group are persons. Persons who dream, think, hope, love, hate, create, sleep, snore, and all the other small things that make them a person and not a number. It is too easy to depersonalize, and thus legislate against people, when we look only at aggregate numbers or aggregate labels. It is easier to be wrong to a label than to admit we are directly harming another human being. But there are very real individual stories in each and every person on this planet and we should never allow ourselves to turn from that. Yet, it is also critical we look at this in the aggregate so we don't include individuals without representing and valuing larger pieces of culture that go beyond skin tone. Both are critical facets of true inclusiveness and both are missing in this film. I work on this issue in a different way in my work, and I'm choosing to use this movie to highlight another place where it needs to be addressed and corrected.

Wow, that was intense. So here's the second thing that the boringness of this film let me concentrate on. When Helen Parr (Elasti-girl) is introduced to some mediocre wanna-be supers, are two or three of them meant to be LGBTQ? It was played both really subtly but also maybe really ham-fistedly. I just felt like during the introductions several of those characters had very stereotypically affected speech patterns and/or body movements. I'm going to assume this was no accident but, I'm presuming positive intentions here, an attempt to be more inclusive in a Disney film, maybe. Then here's my problem if it wasn't an accident: it was both so minor as to have nearly been missed, so what good does it do, and if we continue to only present LGBTQ characters as those with stereotypical affects, we continue to not really honor the breadth and depth of the lived reality of the 20% of people who identify as LGBTQ. On the other side, if this wasn't an intentional inclusive moment then it 1) either used those stereotypes for comedy (the sparky guy was way lame - look at his facial expressions) or 2) the movie just had zero LGBTQ representation at all. I don't know which is worse, no representation or stereotypical representation. But I do know, that much like a more racially/ethnically diverse movie that this should have been, is that there can be nods in the background as well as the foreground to LGBTQ lives. Where were the fathers pushing the stroller down the street in the background, two same-sex individuals making out in Violet's school, some gender noncomforming clothing choices, anything!?

So basically, you have a boring movie that caused me to focus on social justice issues. Not what Pixar/Disney had in mind I'm sure. But, that's what you're going to get from an adult and we're certainly going to talk about it with our kid so she doesn't perpetuate this when she gets to make choices as an adult.

My rating: 5/10 "Probably not worth your time/money" and almost creeping into the "actively dangerous" territory. Yikes, didn't see that coming when we bought our tickets.

MOVIES: Pixar moving rankings

So in honor of Incredibles 2 (which we hope to see tomorrow), Vox ranked all 20 Pixar movies to date. You can find their list HERE. However, I strongly disagree with some of their rankings, so here are mine (minus the ones I haven't seen yet, sorry)

1) Toy Story - the animation may look a bit dated, but the story is so good, the voice acting amazing, the character designs incredible, the set pieces amazing, just on and on with its sheer awesomeness. This has to be the best.

2) The Incredibles - so close to being the best, as it is brilliantly animated, plotted, acted, etc... the voice casting is amazing all around, the plot winning and well structured, every character memorable but part of a cohesive story that blends action and truly real family dynamics. A classic.

3) Monster's Inc. - what's not to love about Mike, Sully and Boo? So inventive, cute, well acted, well animated, totally holds up to rewatching.

4) Brave - I might be in the minority for how much I enjoyed this, but it's totally re-watchable, the animation brilliant (I could stare at her hair all day - yes, yes, I know I have a thing for red-heads, but seriously, the physics of animating those curls! wow). The mother/daughter story is crucial, the real stakes that are at play. There is some great humor and strong set pieces. This is a complete movie even if it doesn't quite rank against the top three which are all perfect.

5) Finding Nemo - I really struggled with having this fifth and not fourth, but I thought about which one I would watch more often, and Brave won out on that. But the story is heartwarming, there is some great comedy, and some beautiful animation. Somehow though, it just didn't have the staying power for me.


6) Toy Story 2 - The traffic cone scene. Every time I think about whether I really liked or just kinda liked this one, that's what I think of.

7) Wall-E - Beautiful animation, creative story, wonderful choreography, but not really re-watchable in the same way as the top ones. I love EVE's design both physically and the sound design. There's a lot to like here and a lot to be technically impressed by, but somehow it doesn't really live for me.

8) A Bug's Life - A really underrated movie. It holds up to repeated viewings. Sadly, the colors are strangely washed-out, and the plot pretty simple, but there is something really winning about this movie, even if its only for the memories of watching it with some friends on a small TV in the dorm.

9) UP - The first half is brilliant, the second half sorta drags for me. Love the talking dogs, love the kid, love the old man, hate the bird.

10) Inside Out - Didn't like this nearly as much as you (or the rest of the world did). I thought it was mostly garishly animated, nonsensical psychobabble, and had a chance to do some really great things with the humans who were chronically neglected. If it had been just about the human characters, it would have been much more daring for an American animated movie - moving into her head, while on the surface seeming like it was a novel thing, actually ruined any chance of intimate emotional connection for me. In some ways, it also felt like a poor knock-off of Wreck-It Ralph. I know you're saying, "WHAT? are you nuts? They aren't anything alike." Not in plot certainly, but in set designs and animation, there are some surprising overlaps and this one didn't do it for me.

11) Cars - Can't argue with it's staying power or the uniqueness of its character designs the first time you saw it. Some great humor and a pretty important plot for the young ones. Really not a bad movie by any stretch.

12) Ratatouille - I'm one of those who really was underwhelmed by this movie. I also don't like thinking about rodents in commercial kitchens. Just didn't really like the character designs, the set pieces, the plot, etc...just meh.

13) Monster's University - I sort of wish I hadn't seen it since I loved Monster's Inc. so much. Not that it was bad, but it was missing everything that made the original special and tender.

14) Toy Story 3 - I HATED this movie no matter how many other people liked it. First, I acknowledge that they lost all the digital infrastructure from the original two and so had to completely recreate the character models, and while they did a decent job, it just felt off. The colors are harsh and super saturated throughout, the plot is dark and not redeeming, the humor mostly missing, the sweetness gone, just a tragic end to the series. The only reason I hope for a Toy Story 4 is to bring it back to the joys of playing with toys, not pathos and evil.

15) Cars 2 - I unfortunately saw this in 3D, one of the only movies I've ever seen in 3D and I'm not a fan (of 3D or this movie). The only reason it isn't last on my list is because The Good Dinosaur was such as a waste of money, time, and the resources devoted to creating it.

16) Good Dinosaur - how could this script have been green-lit? It's empty, hollow, and devoid of anything Pixar or Disney would ever do for a theatrically released feature film. If it had been a direct to DVD by some 3rd rate company it still would have been terrible, but that Pixar thought this should ever see the light of day is a direct insult to every Pixar staff person that worked on any of the other films. AND....AND DINOSAURS AND PEOPLE DID NOT COEXIST and even though they created an alternate universe to make the movie work any time we give biblical literalists and flat earthers anything in the media that even smacks of their beliefs the tiniest bit, it does more harm than good by reinforcing their unscientific world-view. Shame on you Pixar for this movie. For Shame!

Ones I haven't seen and so couldn't rate:
Coco
Incredibles 2 (hope to see this soon!)
Finding Dory
Cars 3 (really, they made this? I guess everyone's gotta eat...)

What's your list look like?

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Ranking the Studio Ghibli films

Today, because you asked (even though you didn't), I'm going to give you my rankings of my favorite Studio Ghibli films. One caveat, I have not seen every film from the studio, particularly those not directed by Hayao Miyazaki, so I won't rank films I haven't seen. So without further ado, here are my favorite Studio Ghibli films in order:

#1 - From Up on Poppy Hill
A surprise top 1 since it's actually directed by Hayao's son Goro who had some uneven work with his adaptation of Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earth Sea. This has stunning animation, voice acting, soundtrack, story, emotions, it's just a perfect film in every way. It's about a girl whose father is presumably lost at sea, the school she attends with its madcap boys clubs, a budding romance, and so much more. Sad, melancholy, funny, sweet, romantic...absolutely my number 1 Ghibli film.

#2 - The Secret World of Arrietty
Based off the classic novel, The Borrowers, this is a perfect re-imagining through the lens of Ghibli. Great character and set designs, wonderful scenic set pieces, comedy, drama, romance, and soft unspoken emotions. Heartwarming, cute, well animated. A classic.

#3 - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Not technically a Studio Ghibli film as it predates the founding of Ghibli, but it is truly Miyazaki's masterpiece. I finished reading the collected manga that he began at the same time, and to be honest, although the film leaves a lot out, and is somewhat unresolved at the end, it is far superior to the manga and its much longer and more meandering story. This is the story of a world partially overrun by dangerous fungus forests that destroy other life. It's also the story of tribalism and war. It features Miyazaki's greatest heroine, amazing animation (and guest animation by another great one in Hideaki Anno), and the dub features Patrick Stewart in one of his all-time best roles. If this film had another hour or two to really resolve the story it would be far and away my number 1, but even in it's slightly imperfect state, it is an amazing and epic film.

#4 - Howl's Moving Castle
What's not to love about a young woman turned into an old woman to takes up residence with a weird young wizard, a demon flame, and a pumpkin-headed scarecrow in a living castle that walks around the land with doors into different towns? One of the best villains of all time with an amazing redemption and one of his strongest female leads. A beautiful, funny, dreamy, gorgeously animated film. On any other list, this would be number 1, it's just he has so many incredible films.

#5 - Princess Mononoke
This film made Ghibli and Miyazaki household names in the U.S. I actually didn't watch it until after seeing many of his other films. At first blush, I felt it a pale redo of Nausicaa. Needless to say, after my second (and then countless more) viewings my mind has changed. This is an incredible film with excellent voice acting in both the subbed version (Update 6/16/18 - I just re-watched the dubbed version with Claire Danes with my daughter and decided the English voice acting isn't very good even though I thought it was okay at first - definitely watch the subbed version if you can) About the destruction of earth for natural resources, reclaiming feminine power and autonomy, nature overcoming obstacles, the destructiveness of man, and a bit of romance. The more I watch it, the more I get out of it. Still not my top, but worthy of all the praise lavished on it. It's pretty violent and bloody, so not for young ones.

#6 - Kiki's Delivery Service
The Disney dub of this is amazing with Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman in the leads. It's so sweet and funny and kind. Great animation, winning characters. Just an all-around treat. Very family friendly. It's about a young witch who gets a job at a bakery doing deliveries in a small town. Yup, that's it! Just totally cute. And her cat played by Phil Hartman!

#7 - Spirited Away
Alongside Princess Mononoke, this is the other big one to make American's aware of Miyazaki. It is an epic-ly scripted and animated tour de force. It captures so much that is quintessentially Miyazaki. It features a girl whose parents go missing in a tunnel when the car stops. As she seeks to find them, she finds herself in a spirit world navigating it's rules in an attempt to free her parents without being lost in it herself. Just like all these, it would be number 1 on any other studio's best of list. 

#8 - Only Yesterday
Probably a surprise choice compared to most of your lists. This one is also directed by someone other than Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli regular Isao Takahata. It's about a young woman, returning to her hometown to help with summer farming as an escape from her city life. It is a reflection on her childhood, her current life, and where she wants to go. It is about where true joy and peace comes from and is sweet, real, and wonderful. Very different animation style than Miyazaki's work but the story is resonant if you're in your 20s or 30s.

#9 - My Neighbor Totoro
"How can you have this so low?" I know you're all asking this, but while it's cute and I love the characters, the plot itself is very slight. I still don't get the "cat bus" which sort of pulls me out of the rest of the film. Our family's favorite line is: "Stupid Bucket!" which we say all the time. Sweet and perfect for the family with some amazing visual set pieces as well as imagery (Totoro in the rain with the umbrella), but just not quite a deep or polished as the ones above. It's about a family whose mother is sick so the two girls and the father are living in a house in the country. The girls stumble upon the magical creatures of the forest who come to their aide when one is lost.

#10 - The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Based on a classical folk tale and directed by Isao Takahata as well, this is the story of a girl born in bamboo, raised by a peasant family, who becomes royalty, and ascends as a Bodhisattva. Wow! The film is so startlingly different than other Ghibli films it's not really fair to compare them. It's well worth a watch, but could be confusing to young ones, and those less familiar with imagery and tales from Japan. 



#11 - Ponyo
Some wonderful humor (just watch Ponyo eat ramen) and a cool take on the story of the little mermaid, it suffers from bland animation compared to many of Miyazaki's other works. I can only describe the animation as less detailed and slightly more bubbly than his other work, so along with very bright primary colors, just didn't have the visual resonance with me.  It's one of the ones I've watched the least, which by no means makes it a poor film, it's better than 99% of the films ever made, just low on this list because of the genius work that came before.

#12 - Castle in the Sky
A fairly complex movie and plot that seemed better served by later movies. This is officially the first Studio Ghibli film and it seems as though much of what was attempted here was improved in later films. Not bad, just not one that's ever really endeared itself to me like the others.

#13 - Whisper of the Heart
I struggled with where to put this as it is not a Hayao Miyazaki nor Isao Takahata directed film and I think that shows. The animation is okay, but not amazing, the plot has some good romance and there are some wonderful scenes, but it's reliance on one song that I shall not name because it plays way too often in the film to the point of being a distracting ear worm, sort of undercuts a lot of it for me. It's about a bookworm girl who tracks down a boy who takes out the same books as her, finds a cat statue (linked to other Ghibli films) and finds a young man who is learning to make violins. It has promise, and is sweet, but not a classic by any stretch.

#14 - When Marnie Was There
This was sort of disappointing, first because the name Marnie is awesome, and second because it just wasn't very good. It's about a kid who meets another kid in a weird house across a lake (or something like that) and it just doesn't ring emotionally true and doesn't seem like a very important film. Nice enough animation, and plenty enjoyable, but I've only watched it once because it just didn't do anything for me.

#15 - The Wind Rises
Clearly, much like Porco Rosso below, this is a film that catered to some very particular interests of Hayao Miyazaki and feels like a labor of love, but that doesn't mean it's terribly interesting to other people. It's about planes and flying (two things I love) and yet it didn't do much for me. Ah well.

#16 - Porco Rosso
A weird flying ace that's a pig. Lots of people love this film, and while it's okay, I'm just not that into it. If I want something animated about animals flying planes, then I'm going to watch Disney's Jungle Book TV show because that plane is EPIC!

Okay, so I guess I've seen most of them! Anyway, what's your ranking? See you in the comments.

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