Category: Movies (Page 1 of 3)

The Wild Robot is good, but not great. 7/10

October 19, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

The Wild Robot is an animated movie about a robot that is shipwrecked on an island with no humans, but plenty of wild life. The robot needs a task, so ends up with the job of raising a baby goose.

IMDB seems to have been review bombed by studio shills. The movie is pretty good, but not “an instant classic” or “destined to win multiple Oscars”. The animation looks good, and occasionally great, but the animals can be too cutesy. The first half of the movie is witty, and takes some risks. It’s not the typical sugary sweet depiction of nature. In the second half, the movie is going in too many directions.

The Message for children: “work together” or “let’s all just get along”. Since everyone is an animal or robot, there are no degenerates. Nothing WOKE.

The Message for adults: Who knows? It’s stupid. The robot saves all of the animals, and gets them to be friends. It isn’t explained what the predators are going to eat. In the last third of the movie, the bad guy is the company that is responsibly attempting to recover a rogue robot.

The Wild Robot is a good movie, but not great, maybe 7/10. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is far superior.

The Welle is an engaging take on a real-life high school event. 8/10

October 8, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Die Welle, aka The Wave, is 2008 German movie about a free-spirit teacher who gets in over his head. It’s got sub-titles, but worth watching anyway.

Weller gets the bright idea to show them, rather than tell them. He takes on the role of a charismatic leader, and gradually introduces fascistic policies. Kids are gullible, and are eager to finally hear from someone with all of the answers. The students love it, and surprisingly, so does Mr. Weller. The whole thing goes tits-up by the end of the week.

Seven Psychopaths is a perfect movie. 9/10

September 5, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Seven Psychopaths is a perfect movie.

To me, a perfect movie is one where the cast, dialogue and plot are so much better than I could imagine, there is nothing that could be changed to improve it. It couldn’t get any better.

The Blues Brothers is a perfect movie. The plot is understandable, but it’s impossible to predict what happens next. Every word of the dialogue is important, but no words are wasted. The cast has popular actors, plus Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

Disney is wrecked.

August 27, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

There is something wrong with Disney that will be difficult to fix. The Acolyte was in trouble before it even aired. Snow White opens next year, and will fail.

Tank Girl beats Borderlands

August 16, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Borderlands is a women-led, quirky, post-apocalyptic action movie, but it fails to be entertaining. Tank Girl is a more entertaining women-led, quirky, post-apocalyptic movie.

Tank Girl is a fun, bizarre movie, based on a comic book, that isn’t for everyone. I enjoyed it, but it’s only got a 5.4 on IMDB. Borderlands, based on a video game, doesn’t seem to be for anyone, and has a rating of 4.3.

I’m not smart enough to point out all of the differences, but suspect that casting is an issue. Borderlands stars 55 year-old Cate Blanchett and 66 year-old Jamie Lee Curtis. The two grandma-bosses are expensive and don’t bring anything to the movie. Tank Girl has 32 year-old Lori Petty and 27 year-old Naomi Watts. Those two may not have the acting chops, but these movies don’t require it. They do bring energy and fun.

Both movies lost money in the theaters, but nobody will remember Borderlands. After thirty years, Tank Girl is still considered a cult classic with passionate fans.

The Fall Guy movie is only okay at 6.5/10.

July 7, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

The Fall Guy is a movie that should have been better than it was. Ryan Gosling plays a stuntman who had a relationship with a character, played by Emily Blunt, who wants to move up into directing. He gets hurt on set, and drops off the map. A couple of years later, when Blunt’s character is directing a movie, he is brought back ostensibly to work on the movie, but actually to be framed for a murder.

Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes 8/10

June 20, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

With the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in theaters, it seemed like a good time to watch the series of movies in close succession.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, showing on Hulu, is the first movie in this series and has a theme entirely different from the original Planet of the Apes. They aren’t comparable. Which is good, because it’s difficult to beat the gravitas of Charlton Heston. He had some great lines and really sells them. The 1968 series has a racial tension theme, and while the first movie is enjoyable, the rest of the movies in that series are a weak.

Movie theaters are dinosaurs.

June 6, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Box Office Mojo provides up-to-date ticket sales for movies that are in theatrical release. Looking back 20 years, there is a trend that hasn’t been commented on elsewhere. Based on the trend, movie theaters will close and more movies will be sequels.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is watchable, but forgettable. 7/10

June 4, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a movie made for streaming, but it opened in theaters 6 weeks ago and only pulled $21 million domestically. It has a good cast, used poorly.

Godzilla Minus One is more than a monster movie. 9/10

June 2, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

When was the last time a Godzilla movie was a good movie? Not good for a monster movie, but a good movie? Godzilla Minus One is a good movie and is available on Netflix. It won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, has a 7.9 on IMDB and 98%/98% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Godzilla Minus One cost $15 million to make and pulled $56 million at the domestic box office. For comparison, Godzilla x Kong has an IMDB rating of 6.2, cost $150 million to make and pulled $196 million in domestic ticket sales. Godzilla x Kong turned a profit, but is a forgettable movie.