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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Onward (2020) in Movies
Oct 5, 2020 (Updated Oct 5, 2020)
Heartwarmingly funny
For me Pixar films usually fall into one of two categories: very good (Cars, Brave, Coco) and brilliant (Up, Wall-E, Toy Story). However there is no such thing as a bad Pixar film, and Onward does not prove this wrong.
A Pixar film with a fantasy setting, what's not to like? It's a great take on elves, wizards and mythical creatures and also relevant to today's society with it's cultural references and technological advancements. And unicorns acting like stray cats? Genius. The plot itself is exactly the type of quest you'd expect in a fantasy, with your typical Disney/Pixar tropes (dead parent). However this story doesn't necessarily turn out the way you'd expect and I have to commend Pixar for not being predictable. Like Frozen before it, this plays out in a rather emotional and heartwarming yet fairly unexpected way. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get any "feels" watching this!
There's no real need to say that this film looks amazing. I think it'd be more surprising if a Pixar film didn't. It also has a great voice cast although my only real negative of this film is that I felt like the cast could've been given more to work with. It may have just been me not paying attention, but I struggled to even notice John Ratzenberger (which is like missing the late Stan Lee in a Marvel film).
Onward is an unusual Pixar film. For me it falls between the aforementioned categories. It's not "bad" enough to just be very good but it's not quite brilliant, although I did enjoy it very much and laughed a lot more than I was expecting.
A Pixar film with a fantasy setting, what's not to like? It's a great take on elves, wizards and mythical creatures and also relevant to today's society with it's cultural references and technological advancements. And unicorns acting like stray cats? Genius. The plot itself is exactly the type of quest you'd expect in a fantasy, with your typical Disney/Pixar tropes (dead parent). However this story doesn't necessarily turn out the way you'd expect and I have to commend Pixar for not being predictable. Like Frozen before it, this plays out in a rather emotional and heartwarming yet fairly unexpected way. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get any "feels" watching this!
There's no real need to say that this film looks amazing. I think it'd be more surprising if a Pixar film didn't. It also has a great voice cast although my only real negative of this film is that I felt like the cast could've been given more to work with. It may have just been me not paying attention, but I struggled to even notice John Ratzenberger (which is like missing the late Stan Lee in a Marvel film).
Onward is an unusual Pixar film. For me it falls between the aforementioned categories. It's not "bad" enough to just be very good but it's not quite brilliant, although I did enjoy it very much and laughed a lot more than I was expecting.
Birds and People
Book
There are 10,500 species of bird worldwide and wherever they occur people marvel at their glorious...
Dead Island
7.0
Rate It
Video Game
Get into character by choosing one of four different personalities to enjoy your stay on Dead Island...
Survival horror
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) in Movies
Sep 30, 2020 (Updated Sep 30, 2020)
Exhibit no. 853928706 on why DC has been *crushing* Marvel these past four years. I do have my grievances: they pretty much skip all the actual Birds of Prey stuff (you know, what the movie is titled lmao) until the last twenty minutes, it takes a bit too much time at points, and not to mention this is a completely different character than what was presented in đđ¶đȘđ€đȘđ„đŠ đđČđ¶đąđ„ (for better and for worse) which I confess I would have liked to have seen more psychotic. Otherwise though this is pretty much exactly what movies were made for - a candy-coated live action cartoon sprinkled heavily with orgasmically choreographed savage violence, plentiful vulgarity, and the cheerfully dark edge that the aforementioned đđČđ¶đąđ„ (which I still defend for at least being a good time) desperately craved. Robbie, Messina, and McGregor knock it out of the park and it's just great seeing Rosie Perez punch people in the face with brass knuckles. Furthermore this is one of the precious few recent studio 'girl power' movies where I actually bought that it gave a shit about the girls beyond superficial, insincere, and reductive woke points. At its core lies a legitimately poignant story about these women being chastised, abused, undermined, and taken advantage of for having the same traits (in a world that would already jump at the opportunity to eat them alive even if they didn't have them) that men get a pass and/or are even encouraged for having - so they respond by beating the ever-loving, merciless fuck out of them and it's deeply satisfying. No wonder usual superhero audiences who are used to female characters with zero personality or dynamism let this flop. Though I'm probably the only person on the planet who though that Leto's cracked-out Joker would have made a perfect addition to this.
The Long Song
10.0
Rate It
Book
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, The Long Song by multi-million-copy bestselling author Andrea...
The Removed
Book
In the 15 years since their teenage son, Ray-Ray, was killed in a police shooting, the Echota family...
Exploding KittensÂź - The Official Game
Games and Entertainment
7.0
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App
New ways to play! Play with friends or strangers in online play, or play offline with friends...
Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium
Elizabeth Peters and Kristen Whitbread
8.0
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Book
The Egypt that so enticed and enchanted intrepid archaeologist-sleuth Amelia Peabody in the late...
170 of 235
Kindle
Taâaloâs Tribe: Project Armageddon (The Marvel-ous Mates of Artaxa prime 1)
By Remy Cavilich
âïžâïž
When the UGH taps Dr. Celeste Ballatine to run a space junk retrieval mission with a higher-than-normal commission and very few restrictions, she doesn't hesitate, and neither do her crewmates, Jax and Yuri. There's just one problem--there weren't supposed to be survivors on Artaxa Prime, but there are. The only hope for survival is to make contact with the natives and hope for the best.
Celeste stumbles across a tribe of primitive alien hybrids with the strange ability to understand her, but they want something in exchange for their help, something she's not sure she's willing to give.
They want her to take an alien mate.
With their literal lives on the line, Celeste must make the ultimate sacrifice--herself--to save the guys. As if things weren't bad enough, her crewmates are rather attached to her, and the idea of adding a fourth to their balanced triangle doesn't sit well with them.
The longer she stays on this planet, the more her collection of mates will grow. Turns out there are many alien races on the planet, and all of them will want to stake their claim on the new human female.
I donât know how I stuck with it at first the 2 âhuman malesâ at the beginning really put me off and Iâm not sure of it was meant to make us think that human men are all leaches maybe? But I stuck with it and I actually liked the idea of these alien lions. It was definitely ropey in places but Iâm intrigued to see where it goes.
Kindle
Taâaloâs Tribe: Project Armageddon (The Marvel-ous Mates of Artaxa prime 1)
By Remy Cavilich
âïžâïž
When the UGH taps Dr. Celeste Ballatine to run a space junk retrieval mission with a higher-than-normal commission and very few restrictions, she doesn't hesitate, and neither do her crewmates, Jax and Yuri. There's just one problem--there weren't supposed to be survivors on Artaxa Prime, but there are. The only hope for survival is to make contact with the natives and hope for the best.
Celeste stumbles across a tribe of primitive alien hybrids with the strange ability to understand her, but they want something in exchange for their help, something she's not sure she's willing to give.
They want her to take an alien mate.
With their literal lives on the line, Celeste must make the ultimate sacrifice--herself--to save the guys. As if things weren't bad enough, her crewmates are rather attached to her, and the idea of adding a fourth to their balanced triangle doesn't sit well with them.
The longer she stays on this planet, the more her collection of mates will grow. Turns out there are many alien races on the planet, and all of them will want to stake their claim on the new human female.
I donât know how I stuck with it at first the 2 âhuman malesâ at the beginning really put me off and Iâm not sure of it was meant to make us think that human men are all leaches maybe? But I stuck with it and I actually liked the idea of these alien lions. It was definitely ropey in places but Iâm intrigued to see where it goes.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
Zoltar Rides Again!
All work and no play makes Bob the Movie Man a dull reviewer. Due to work commitments, this is the first film Iâve been able to see at the cinema for over a month. Thereâs a whole slew of films I wanted to see that have already come and gone. Big sigh. So I might be about the last of the crowd to review this, but Iâm glad I caught it before it shuffled off its silver screen coil.
Every review Iâve seen of this starts off with the hackneyed comment that âAt last, DC have produced a fun filmâ â so I wonât (even though itâs true!).
The Plot
âShazam!â harks back, strongly, to the vehicle that helped launch Tom Hanksâ illustrious career â Penny Marshallâs âBigâ from 1988. In that film the young teen Josh (David Moscow) visits a deserted fairground where âZoltarâ mystically (and without explanation) morphs Josh into his adult self (Hanks). Much fun is had with Hanks showing his best friend Billy the joys (and sometimes otherwise) of booze, girls and other adult pastimes. In similar vein, in âShazam!â we see the parent-less Billy Batson (Asher Angel) hijacked on a Philadelphia subway train and transformed into a DC superhero as a last-gasp effort of the ancient-wizard (Djimon Hounsou) to find someone âgoodâ to pass his magic onto. âGrab onto my staff with both handsâ (Ugh) and say my name â âJumanâŠ.ââŠ. no, sorry, wrong filmâŠ. âShazam!â. And as in âBigâ, Billy has to explore his new superhero powers with the only person vaguely close to him; his new foster-brother Freddie (Jack Dylan Grazer from âItâ).
Billy is not the first to have met the wizard â not by a long shot. There has been a long line of potential candidates examined and rejected on this road, one of which, back in 1974, was the unhappy youngster Thaddeus Sivana (Ethan Pugiotto, but now grown up as Mark Cross), who has a seething chip on his shoulder as big as the Liberty Bell. Gaining evil super-powers of his own, the race is on to see if Dr Sivana can track down the fledgling Billy before he can learn to master his superhero skills and so take him down.
Wizards with red capes?
With the loose exception of possibly Scarlet Witch, I donât think itâs actually ever been explored before that âsuperheroesâ are actually âmagiciansâ with different coloured capes⊠itâs a novel take. Before the Marvel/DC wheels eventually come off â which before another twenty years are up they surely must? â will we see a âHarry Potter vs Supermanâ crossover? âYOUR MOTHERâS NAME WAS LILY AND MINE WAS MARTHAâŠ. L AND M ARE NEXT TO EACH OTHER IN THE DICTIONARY!!!!â The mind boggles.
What does make âShazam!â interesting is that the story is consciously set in a DC world where Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the rest all live and breathe. Freddie has a Bat-a-rang (âonly a replicaâ) and a carefully shrink-wrapped squashed bullet that had impacted on Supermanâs body. So when Billy â in superhero form â makes his appearances on the streets of Philly, this makes âShazamâ an âoh look, thereâs another oneâ curiosity rather than an out-and-out marvel.
(Source: Warner Brothers). Lightning from the fingers! Proving very useful for Shazamâs ownâŠ.
Much fun is obviously had with âShazamâ testing out his powers. Freddieâs Youtube videos gather thousands of hits baas Billy tries to fly; tries to burn; tries to use his âlaser sightâ; etc.
What works well.
Itâs a fun flick that delivers the Marvel laughs of âRagnarokâ and âAnt Manâ without ever really getting to the gravitas of either. The screenplay writer (Henry Gayden) is clearly a lover of cinema, as there are numerous references to other movies scattered throughout the film: the victory run of âRockyâ (obviously); the cracking windshield of âThe Lost Worldâ; the scary-gross-out body disintegrations of âIndiana Jonesâ; the portal entry doors of âMonsters, Incâ. Even making an appearance briefly, as a respectful nod presumably to the storyâs plagiarism, is the toy-store floor piano of âBigâ. There are probably a load of other movie Easter Eggs that I missed.
Playing Billy, the relatively unknown Zachary Levi also charms in a similarly goofball way as Hanks did all those years ago. (Actually, heâs more reminiscent of the wide-eyed delight of Brendan Fraserâs âGeorge of the Jungleâ rather than Hanks). In turns, his character is genuinely delighted then shocked at his successes and failures (âLeaping buildings with a single boundâ â LOL!). Also holding up their own admirably are the young leads Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer.
Mark Cross, although having flaunted with being the good guy in the âKingsmanâ films, is now firmly back in baddie territory as the âsupervillainâ: and very good he is at it too; I thought he was the best thing in the whole film.
Finally, the movieâs got a satisfying story arc, with Billy undergoing an emotional journey that emphasises the importance of family. But itâs not done in a slushy manipulative way.
What works less well.
As many of you know, I have a few rules-of-thumb for movies, one of which is that a comedy had better by bloody good if itâs going to have a run-time of much more than 90 minutes. At 132 minutes, âShazam!â overstayed its welcome for me by a good 20 or 30 minutes. Director David F. Sandberg could have made a much tighter and better film if he had wielded the editing knife a bit more freely. I typically enjoy getting backstory to characters, and in many ways this film delivers where many donât. The pre-credit scenes with Thaddeus nicely paint the character for his (hideous) actions that follow. However, Billy is over-burdened with backstory, and it takes wayyyyyyy too long for the âShazam!â to happen and the fun to begin. We also lapse into an overlong superhero finale. I didnât actually see the twist in the plot coming, which was good, but once there then the denouement could and should have been much swifter.
The film also has its scary moments and deserves its 12A certificate. As a film rather painted as kid-friendly from the trailer and the poster, there is probably the potential to traumatise young children here, particularly in a terrifying scene in a board room (with a view). As well as the physical scares there is also a dark streak running under the story that reminded me of both the original âJumanjiâ and âGhostbustersâ. Parents beware.
Monkeys?
Following on from the Marvel expectations, there are a couple of âmonkeysâ (see Glossary) in the title roll: one mid-titles, featuring Dr Sivana and implying an undoubted sequel, and one right at the end pointing fun at the otherwise ignored âAquamanâ.
Final thoughts.
Itâs clearly been a long overdue hit for DC, and on the whole I enjoyed it. If the film had been a bit tighter, this would have had the potential to be a classic.
Every review Iâve seen of this starts off with the hackneyed comment that âAt last, DC have produced a fun filmâ â so I wonât (even though itâs true!).
The Plot
âShazam!â harks back, strongly, to the vehicle that helped launch Tom Hanksâ illustrious career â Penny Marshallâs âBigâ from 1988. In that film the young teen Josh (David Moscow) visits a deserted fairground where âZoltarâ mystically (and without explanation) morphs Josh into his adult self (Hanks). Much fun is had with Hanks showing his best friend Billy the joys (and sometimes otherwise) of booze, girls and other adult pastimes. In similar vein, in âShazam!â we see the parent-less Billy Batson (Asher Angel) hijacked on a Philadelphia subway train and transformed into a DC superhero as a last-gasp effort of the ancient-wizard (Djimon Hounsou) to find someone âgoodâ to pass his magic onto. âGrab onto my staff with both handsâ (Ugh) and say my name â âJumanâŠ.ââŠ. no, sorry, wrong filmâŠ. âShazam!â. And as in âBigâ, Billy has to explore his new superhero powers with the only person vaguely close to him; his new foster-brother Freddie (Jack Dylan Grazer from âItâ).
Billy is not the first to have met the wizard â not by a long shot. There has been a long line of potential candidates examined and rejected on this road, one of which, back in 1974, was the unhappy youngster Thaddeus Sivana (Ethan Pugiotto, but now grown up as Mark Cross), who has a seething chip on his shoulder as big as the Liberty Bell. Gaining evil super-powers of his own, the race is on to see if Dr Sivana can track down the fledgling Billy before he can learn to master his superhero skills and so take him down.
Wizards with red capes?
With the loose exception of possibly Scarlet Witch, I donât think itâs actually ever been explored before that âsuperheroesâ are actually âmagiciansâ with different coloured capes⊠itâs a novel take. Before the Marvel/DC wheels eventually come off â which before another twenty years are up they surely must? â will we see a âHarry Potter vs Supermanâ crossover? âYOUR MOTHERâS NAME WAS LILY AND MINE WAS MARTHAâŠ. L AND M ARE NEXT TO EACH OTHER IN THE DICTIONARY!!!!â The mind boggles.
What does make âShazam!â interesting is that the story is consciously set in a DC world where Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the rest all live and breathe. Freddie has a Bat-a-rang (âonly a replicaâ) and a carefully shrink-wrapped squashed bullet that had impacted on Supermanâs body. So when Billy â in superhero form â makes his appearances on the streets of Philly, this makes âShazamâ an âoh look, thereâs another oneâ curiosity rather than an out-and-out marvel.
(Source: Warner Brothers). Lightning from the fingers! Proving very useful for Shazamâs ownâŠ.
Much fun is obviously had with âShazamâ testing out his powers. Freddieâs Youtube videos gather thousands of hits baas Billy tries to fly; tries to burn; tries to use his âlaser sightâ; etc.
What works well.
Itâs a fun flick that delivers the Marvel laughs of âRagnarokâ and âAnt Manâ without ever really getting to the gravitas of either. The screenplay writer (Henry Gayden) is clearly a lover of cinema, as there are numerous references to other movies scattered throughout the film: the victory run of âRockyâ (obviously); the cracking windshield of âThe Lost Worldâ; the scary-gross-out body disintegrations of âIndiana Jonesâ; the portal entry doors of âMonsters, Incâ. Even making an appearance briefly, as a respectful nod presumably to the storyâs plagiarism, is the toy-store floor piano of âBigâ. There are probably a load of other movie Easter Eggs that I missed.
Playing Billy, the relatively unknown Zachary Levi also charms in a similarly goofball way as Hanks did all those years ago. (Actually, heâs more reminiscent of the wide-eyed delight of Brendan Fraserâs âGeorge of the Jungleâ rather than Hanks). In turns, his character is genuinely delighted then shocked at his successes and failures (âLeaping buildings with a single boundâ â LOL!). Also holding up their own admirably are the young leads Asher Angel and Jack Dylan Grazer.
Mark Cross, although having flaunted with being the good guy in the âKingsmanâ films, is now firmly back in baddie territory as the âsupervillainâ: and very good he is at it too; I thought he was the best thing in the whole film.
Finally, the movieâs got a satisfying story arc, with Billy undergoing an emotional journey that emphasises the importance of family. But itâs not done in a slushy manipulative way.
What works less well.
As many of you know, I have a few rules-of-thumb for movies, one of which is that a comedy had better by bloody good if itâs going to have a run-time of much more than 90 minutes. At 132 minutes, âShazam!â overstayed its welcome for me by a good 20 or 30 minutes. Director David F. Sandberg could have made a much tighter and better film if he had wielded the editing knife a bit more freely. I typically enjoy getting backstory to characters, and in many ways this film delivers where many donât. The pre-credit scenes with Thaddeus nicely paint the character for his (hideous) actions that follow. However, Billy is over-burdened with backstory, and it takes wayyyyyyy too long for the âShazam!â to happen and the fun to begin. We also lapse into an overlong superhero finale. I didnât actually see the twist in the plot coming, which was good, but once there then the denouement could and should have been much swifter.
The film also has its scary moments and deserves its 12A certificate. As a film rather painted as kid-friendly from the trailer and the poster, there is probably the potential to traumatise young children here, particularly in a terrifying scene in a board room (with a view). As well as the physical scares there is also a dark streak running under the story that reminded me of both the original âJumanjiâ and âGhostbustersâ. Parents beware.
Monkeys?
Following on from the Marvel expectations, there are a couple of âmonkeysâ (see Glossary) in the title roll: one mid-titles, featuring Dr Sivana and implying an undoubted sequel, and one right at the end pointing fun at the otherwise ignored âAquamanâ.
Final thoughts.
Itâs clearly been a long overdue hit for DC, and on the whole I enjoyed it. If the film had been a bit tighter, this would have had the potential to be a classic.
Kristy H (1252 KP) Oct 5, 2020