Category: Movies

If you know me, or have been reading this site for a while you know that I love Guillermo del Toro‘s work, so there was no chance I was not going to see his latest film, The Shape of Water.  Like almost all his movies it is visually stunning, but it also has a lot of heart to go with that visual splendor.  There is no better purveyor of adult fairy tales than Mr. del Toro.

If you have heard anything about The Shape of Water than you know it is about a mute woman (Sally Hawkins) who falls in love with a fish-man/monster (Doug Jones) in a secret government lab, and for most movies that would be enough, but there are so many little things that go along with the main plot that fill in this film’s world beautifully.  Things I will not spoil for you.

In del Toro’s movies it is never a surprise that the monster of the movie isn’t really the monster, and that is true here as well.  What is surprise is how easy it is to empathize with Doug Jones’ fish-man.  The character is beautifully brought to life and somehow feels completely normal in the strange world that is being shown on the screen.  Sally Hawkins somehow makes her love of this ‘being’ believable.  The rest of the cast is fantastic as well, but with the likes of Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Richard Jenkins that is hardly a surprise.

While the story and the acting are fantastic, half of the reason to see a del Toro movie is because he will always show you something incredible.  He has a unique visual flair, and he keeps finding new wonderful things to show us.  He also loves to use extremes.  There are no half measures, while the movie is sweet and tender, the violence is graphic and harsh.  The Shape of Water is rated ‘R’ for a reason.  All the reasons.

The Shape of Water is a delightfully strange tale, and it is a perfect film for a weirdo like me.  It will take more than a little graphic violence and some nudity to keep me from succumbing to The Shape of Water’s charms.  Apparently I am not the only one because The Shape of Water earned Guillermo del Toro his first Golden Globe for directing.  An award that was well deserved.

It has been over twenty years since the original Jumanji came out, and if you are studio executive it has been killing you that such a successful movie didn’t get a sequel.  That changes now!  Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is out in theaters!  Despite the fact this movie was obviously concocted in a boardroom, it is pretty good.  It is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but much better than it probably should have been.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle takes place some time after the original, and the cursed board game has changed itself in to a video game because it figures out that kids like video games better.  Enter the standard squad of teenagers: The Jock, The Nerd, The Hot Girl, and Smart Girl.  They all get detention for various reason, and then instead of doing the work they were told to do, they play a video game, Jumanji.  Of course they all get sucked up inside it, and then hilarious body swapping action packed hijinks ensue.

It is clear this script was not written by Shakespeare, but it gets the job done.  It even makes sense.  Which is kind of a minor miracle.  The only problem I had with it is the strangely high number of penis jokes.  While at least one was a given since there is a teenage girl trapped in Jack Black’s body, it seemed like it was the go to joke if there was ever a lull.  Also, the joke that the girl character wouldn’t be wearing enough clothing in the jungle because she is based off 90’s Lara Croft is funny, but then it seems to undermine itself by gawking at her anyway.

The casting has executive hit list all over it.  You need Dwayne Johnson because he guarantees a $50 Million opening weekend.  Hopefully Kevin Hart will bring in the African American crowd, and Jack Black is always good at selling jokes even if they are poorly written.  Then you need a woman who is popular enough that people recognize her, but not so popular that you need to pay her a lot of money.  Amy Pond Karen Gillan will do perfectly!  Thankfully all these people are also very talented, and they do a good job with what they are given.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was never going to be a classic, but if we are honest with our childhood selves, neither was the original, so this is a pretty good follow up.  I am sure that we will not have to wait another twenty years for a sequel to this flick.  Once it comes out to Netflix/Video Rental it is well worth watching, or if you are a Movie Pass card holder like me there are worse things in the theaters right now.  In other words, Sony’s executive team got the job done.

We know that Hugh Jackman is a long time song and dance man, and that he will usually jump at the chance to be in a big budget musical, so it is no surprise that he excels in The Greatest Showman.  What is a surprise is that while the music was fabulous almost no effort was put in to making the story around the music coherent.

The Greatest Showman is a tale about how P.T. Barnum rose from rags to riches selling tickets to see his ‘wonders’.  Almost all of which were either exaggerations at best, or out and out lies at worst, but of course it was all in the name of entertainment, so it was okay.

The Greatest Showman is a mostly a feel good film about empowerment, and how Barnum gave a stage to people who would have otherwise been cast to the shadows.  Of course it leaves out the part were he leased slaves, he couldn’t buy them since his show was based in New York, a free state, or that he barely paid or mistreated the rest.  Not the you should ever go to biopic looking for historical accuracy, but The Greatest Showman doesn’t even try.  All this movie wants to be is an uplifting film with great music, and the music is what you are coming for.

Every time someone opens their mouth a catchy tune comes out, and the dance numbers are all magical.  They got such good performers to be in the movie, that even though no time is wasted on character development, you feel emotional every time a song is getting to its peak.  There are no major misses on The Greatest Showman’s soundtrack.

If you are wondering if The Greatest Showman is for you, just ask yourself, “Do I like musicals?”  If the answer is ‘yes’, you will probably love it.  If the answer is ‘no’, than there is nothing in The Greatest Showman to change your mind.  It is a movie filled with wonderful musical numbers and little else, but based off what I saw in the theater, it knows its audience well, and they were thrilled by it.  Even I was swept up by its charms, but much like P.T. Barnum, charm is all there is.

You have a week off with your kid, and it is cold outside, so what do you do? You go see a movie of course.  This was true for me and the Missus as well.  We had already seen the great Coco, so all that was left for our young daughter was Ferdinand.  I wasn’t sure about Blue Sky’s latest release.  Their movies have been hit and miss, but Ferdinand was very well done.  Not a classic by any means, but good family entertainment.

Ferdinand is about the titular bull, voiced by John Cena, who doesn’t want to grow up and fight in the ring with a matador.  He would rather grow and smell flowers then lock horns with his pals.  The other bulls can’t understand this and make fun of him, so he runs away in search of a new life.

There is not a lot of story in Ferdinand, and the path the simplistic tale takes will not surprise anyone, but it has a good amount of heart, and John Cena does a real good job of making Ferdinand believable and sympathetic.  If his goal is to follow Dwayne Johnson out of the ring, he may be well on his way.  They also cover up their lack of material with a lot of silly sequences.  Which may go on a little long for adults, but I can tell you Lil’ Shmee loved them.

The rest of the voice cast is pretty good too, but I will say there are some hedgehogs with some of the best talent, on paper, in the movie that are completely wasted.  I don’t think I, or anyone else in the theater, laughed once at their gags.  Thankfully they are not in it a lot.

Ferdinand will not be an animated movie that adults will love.  They will probably enjoy it, but they will not remember it long.  Kids on the other hand seemed to be delighted by the on screen antics of Ferdinand the Bull and his friends.  Which means the movie did its job.  If you need to see movie with your family, and you have already seen Coco, Ferdinand is more than up to the task.