REVIEW: Mr. Holmes

6/10 - Wasps?! Not in my backyard. 

Sherlock Holmes has become a massive media icon. The modern day BBC miniseries, Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes. Elementary, a CBS procedural features Johnny Lee Miller portraying Holmes in NYC. Other shows like House, Forever, and The Mentalist are essentially re-imaginings of Sherlock Holmes. Among the absolutely massive list of Sherlock Holmes films that have been created over the years, the 2009 Guy Richie franchise Sherlock Holmes was a recent success starring Robert Downey Jr. It's hard to get away from Holmes, whether it's in a summer blockbuster, straight to DVD movie, or a Japanese puppet show. The list of actors who have portrayed Sherlock Holmes is both impressive and infinite.

Added to that list is now Sir Ian McKellen.

Mr. Holmes is a family film about Holmes during his retirement. He returns to a home where he is cared for by his housekeeper, the underutilized Laura Linney, and her young son played by Milo Parker. Two immediate things came to mind when I began watching this film.

The first was "My GOD Ian McKellen has aged!" which I felt was a sentiment shared by many in the audience. Don't fret, he's actually playing older than he is in real life, if you can believe that. They hired a 70 year old actor to portray a man in his 90's. Hollywood has some fabulous makeup artists, and Ian McKellen is not as fragile as he appears in this film.

The second thing that struck me as unusual was that this was a live-action family film. Do those even get made anymore? Animated films have become so wildly popular (thanks to Pixar) that they have really swamped the kids film market. When I think back to all the great family films from the 90's it becomes really clear that they aren't being made anymore, just big budget blockbusters with a PG rating. Mr. Holmes is somewhat of a call back to that old fashioned idea of a family movie. Not a cheesy comedic kids movie, but a family film for everyone.

If you're wondering why I've spent most of this review talking about the context of Mr. Holmes as a movie, and not the movie itself it's because I found this film utterly forgettable. The characters were quite limited, and the emotional story for the leads was a bit strange to me. Holmes evokes images of the detective, someone only interested in cold hard facts. This Holmes tale is saturated with sentimentality. Holmes seems to bond with this young boy more than he ever did with his partner Watson, someone he worked with closely for many years. I also felt a disconnect between the three story-lines, as they felt like separate stories that didn't enhance one another.

Ian McKellen, however, gives a truly stellar performance as Sherlock Holmes. His character transforms from a younger version at the height of his career, to an older and frail man who needs tending to. He gives a sincere performance with tremendous subtly, without ever condescending the audience. I only wish there was a franchise of Sherlock Holmes films wherein McKellen could reprise the entire history of the fictional character.

Laura Linney and Milo Parker round out this cast as mother and son. Laura Linney is one of those fantastic actresses who tends to fall off the radar. I really enjoyed her acting in this, but I thought her role was a bit flat. I wish she had been given the opportunity to bring more depth to that character. On the other side of that coin, young Milo Parker as Roger is a delight. He is as much the main character of this story as Mr. Holmes is, and he does a great job carrying much of this film.

While the expectation for a jaw-dropping mystery reveal is somewhat unfair, the mysteries in this story simply felt unsatisfying. Perhaps I'm being heavily influenced by the previously mentioned Sherlock Holmes installments, but I don't think I would praise any film with such a wishy-washy ending. That being said, this film is a far way from being unwatchable, and I actually believe many audiences will enjoy Mr. Holmes. McKellen is brilliant, and it's a tense and fascinating story that isn't often portrayed on screen anymore. It's just not for me, someone who over thinks the plot.

IMDb - Mr. Holmes (7.6)
Wikipedia - Mr. Holmes
Rotten Tomatoes - Mr. Holmes (87%)

REVIEW: Big Hero 6

7/10 - Way to go Disney, you didn't totally mess this one up!

Disney's Big Hero 6

After ripping apart Frozen for the past year I was hesitant to even approach Big Hero 6 fearing it would be the far stupider step child of an already dumb family. What a terrible metaphor. I digress, Disney animation has cranked out some pretty poor family films in the last few years, with movies that have lots of shelf appeal and no substance. Big Hero 6 looked to be about the same. And after hearing Doug Loves Movies refer to the infamous "YEAAAAHHHH SCIENCE" line ad nauseum I was expecting something along the lines of Wreck It Ralph. A movie painfully paint-by-numbers.

So, when I put on Big Hero 6 it was because I was looking for something wafer thin, and as light and fluffy as a cloud. To my surprise, it's actually not a bad story.

Hero, a robotics-loving/prodigy kid. His older brother, Tadashi is working on a robot project of his own at his university, a personal healthcare robot named Baymax. Some spoilerish stuff happens and the group of friends band together with their robotics know-how to save San Fransokyo.

First of all, San Fransokyo. That's where they live. A semi-futuristic version of San Francisco meets Tokyo. That also means many of the main characters are Asian inspired white people. There's something about white washing the characters that doesn't sit well with me. It would have been nice to see some racial diversity in a Disney movie, aside from aliens and talking animals. It doesn't really help that all the friend characters are themselves MASSIVE cliches.

Main Cast from Disney's Big Hero 6

The robotic lead, Baymax is like someone made a robot out of a Wii U. It's got none of the
functionality you actually want in a robot, and it's "non threatening hug-able" appearance is accompanied by soft lights and synthetic tones. It's an inflatable Wii Fit game.

Once you get past that, the fantastic performance by Scott Adsit makes Baymax a great character. His actions are a reflection of the person who did the programming and that's a delightfully fresh approach to robots on film.

I really enjoyed the overall story arc and the approach to themes in this film. It's a collision of violent vengeance with compassion and healing. Although there are some annoying cliches that come with an "origin story" the superhero aspect is somewhat of a b-plot. It's an excellent adventure movie along the lines of How to Train Your Dragon. It's charming with a lot of humanity.

Big Hero 6 also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature this year so congratulations! You beat The Lego Movie because it wasn't nominated.

• IMDb - Big Hero 6 (8.0)
• Wikipedia - Big Hero 6
• Rotten Tomatoes - Big Hero 6 (90%)
• Amazon.ca - Big Hero 6

REVIEW: How to Train Your Dragon 2

5/10 - Of all the most unnecessary sequels, this is one of the most unnecessary. 

If you missed America's favorite Cat-Dog then you'll be happy to see toothless, the firebreathing domestic cuddle-bug return to the big screen. Surprisingly, the entire cast of the original How to Train Your Dragon returned to this animated franchise along with a few other delightful cast additions.

Here are some stray oberservations as I watch the movie live:

-Why did they have two introductions? They introduce all the minor characters playing quidditch or something, and then they introduce Toothless and Jay Baruchel doing some stunt flying for giggles. Reminds me of the Frozen introduction where they opted to have a music intro that was entirely unrelated to the rest of the movie.

-Running theory: Since they decided to "man-up" Hiccup, I'm operating under the impression that this is the puberty edition of the franchise. Let's see how this pans out.

-Am I supposed to like this Astrid character? She seems like Bad News Bears to me.

-I hate villains that are bad for the sake of being bad. In this case, Drago is described as being "a bad man without conscious or mercy."

-HIS LONG LOST MOTHER?! Come on. Sometimes people just don't have parents. I'm a little irritated by this.

-I've reached the point in the movie where I wish I hadn't started. It's beginning to ruin essential plot points of the original film. The first movie tells a great story about one boy changing the world. None of this unexplained rivalry business. No rewriting history. This sequel is about some bullshit.

-The idea that the mom couldn't come back home because she sided with the dragons is making my eyes twitch. Why did these people listen to a kid in the first movie, and not her years before? Somebody? Anybody?

-These super-mega dragons remind me of when Pirates of the Caribbean had the Kraken in one of the sequels. It was a great idea to talk about but stupid on film. This alpha-predator idea is stupid. It also doesn't really feel like an increase in stakes, it feels like they're cheating and rewriting the rules.

-Nope. I'm over this parental bullshit storyline. They ruined this franchise for me. This is bad, lazy writing. Boo. I'm booing this movie. Boo!

-Honestly, this Alpha Dragon bit is infuriating to me. Protection and loyalty? More like contrived and ineffectual.

Alright so that was majorly disappointing. For a sequel that has been receiving so much critical and audience praise, I was incredibly bummed out. It's not a sequel that adds anything to the original, so the unnecessary factor is high. There were no major themes, particularly none that bettered the original film. Many of the minor characters have no purpose or value other then being brought back from the original.

There's a side of me that does understand why people would at least enjoy this flick. For an animated adventure it clicks along and motivates the audience to root for the hero.

It's just not for me, and never will be. I may have to rewatch the original in the future to scrub my brain from this nightmarish hell.

IMDb - How to Train Your Dragon 2 (8.2)
Wikipedia - How to Train Your Dragon 2
Rotten Tomatoes - How to Train Your Dragon 2 (92%)
Amazon.ca - How to Train Your Dragon 2

REVIEW: Oz the Great and Powerful

6/10 - The great and powerful cash grab. 

Does this movie add anything to The Wizard of Oz that makes a prequel worthwhile? No, not really.

Is it a great movie that makes you think? Absolutely not.

Compared to some other big budget bombs that have come out lately, this movie really isn't that bad. Zack Braff is very entertaining. The combination of the beautiful score, with the imaginative, saturated visuals engages the senses. I never found it predictable, as the whole movie relies on a suspension of belief. There is a lot of charm in this movie, as it tries to show hope for "goodness", bordering on cavity-inducing sweetness.

It's never lacking in something to look at, or laugh at. It also has lots of those "did you like that part?" moments.

That stuff kind of kills me, as a movie fan. Moments that are cinematic but totally not stimulating. Writer's have to put in those moments, and for the most part I think that's why people see movies, for the big action scene at the end, or that super funny part that they can quote with their friends. It's the overabundance of cinematic sequences that are either predictable, pandering, or irreverent in terms of story. Moments that are either visually stunning, engaging with action, incredibly funny, or obviously emotional. It's movie paint-by-numbers. Sad-part here. Funny-part here.

That's the essential problem with Oz the Great and Powerful- The story doesn't actually make sense, it just wants the audience to feel like it does.

Does Oz learn anything in the end? No. What's the deal with the witches? Why did the evil one become not important, the good one become evil, and the other good one, stay kind of goodish? I still can't make sense of that. And just to get the story straight... They free The Emerald City from the oppressive witch who pretends to be good so that Oz (the guy) can pretend to be good instead? Is this an improvement? It's thin. At best.

I think what lacked in story, translated to some of the performances, on screen. Playing a Wicked Witch ought to be the role of a lifetime. But the three witches are bland and boring. Does Michelle Williams pour her heart out while retelling Oz of the terrible lies her sister has told, about killing her own father? No. It's not even a big deal. She's just stating a fact.

Mila Kunis seems to want to bring the drama, but her role doesn't make any sense. She's a witch, doing nothing, who becomes love sick, and then turns evil against her will. She should be a powerful central figure, but she floats through it all. Should a powerful witch be so easily crushed by a broken heart?

Rachel Weisz has one of the best roles in the film, being the one major schemer who's truly evil and sinister. But she is hardly remarkable. Not to mention James Franco. I will admit, that their must not have had an easy task, presumably filming most of this on green screen. Perhaps that's why these characters don't seem to react or resonate. The original Glinda was glorious to behold. Oz ought to be smart as a whip, and charming beyond belief.

The movie also drags it's heels, trying to make unimportant sequences grandiose. It runs at around 2 hours and it should be 90 minutes, max.

I have a lot to pick apart in this movie, but that might be because on first watch I saw that it was technically sound, very entertaining, and the scenes kept rolling, as it should in a big budget spectacle. It's not really a terrible film, as long as you don't think about it afterwards.

IMDb - Oz the Great and Powerful (6.6)
Wikipedia - Oz the Great and Powerful
Rotten Tomatoes - Oz the Great and Powerful (59%)
Amazon.ca - Oz the Great and Powerful

REVIEW: Jack the Giant Slayer

2/10 - What did I just watch? 

Oh boy.

What was I thinking?

This is a movie no one should have made.

Okay, it's not that bad, but it's pretty bad.

This is a modern Jack and the Beanstalk, blah blah, blah.

The characters are flat, one dimensional, and even with phenomenal casting can only be compared to watching a movie played by oatmeal. Did you know that Stanley Tucci was in this? Because I watched it and I already forgot. Nicholas Hoult, I will admit, is alright. He is a charmer, and a great young actor. Eleanor Tomlinson, on the other hand, is so forgettable I cannot even recall her characters name. The only other actor worth mentioning is Ewan McGregor, who definitely tried to squeeze the lemonade out of this lemon, and stole the show. Unfortunately it didn't improve this crap movie.

Jack and the Giant Slayer is long and dull. There is so much emphasis on action and showing off this CGI universe, that it becomes monotonous and dry.

This is a guy's story, and I am getting VERY tired of the token female roll. We can do better than this, Hollywood! A princess who is out of his league,  who is helplessly engaged to someone she does not love, who tries to help and shows a brave face, but is saved by the guy at the end. It's so dull and predictable. Aren't we over this, yet?

The fatal flaw in this boring movie is the central antagonist being the giants. They are slow, dull, dimwitted, dirty, and uninteresting. There's a cheat built into the story where the hero doesn't even need to beat the giants. What a huge waste. Instead of creating a insurmountable enemy, who looks impossible to defeat, but the hero manages to squeeze by with this wits at the last second... no wits are needed and the enemy is pathetic.

The kicker is that this movie is so long. It's fifteen minutes before he even gets the beans. Why wasn't that the first scene? Wasting time on something that should have been in the title is insufferable.

I'll lighten up a bit and say that it does have some entertaining qualities. I was quite shocked by the end when it goes all Lord of the Rings and there is a big violent battle, considering the rest of the film panders to a very young audience.

Sure you can make it though a screening, with it's big budget and special effects. But I doubt you'll want to see it again.

IMDB - Jack the Giant Slayer
Wikipedia - Jack the Giant Slayer
Rotten Tomatoes - Jack the Giant Slayer (52%)
Amazon.ca - Jack the Giant Slayer