I've found that recently, Netflix originals have been pretty low quality (at least what I've watched and reviewed here). To add to that, I haven't really given Adam Sandler a very fair chance for some kind of personal comeback (and yes, I do still need to see 'Uncut Gems'), as I've found, for the most part, things have gotten pretty stale for the guy. But, quite honestly, I'm happy to say that I stand corrected on Sandler's quality (and not for the first time) as I keep forgetting that the dude CAN act and can act very well. 'Hustle' here provides its audience with another role from Sandler that ends up delivering the best of everything he has. He's good at comedy (obviously), but he's also very good at showing intensity along with deeper emotions, and it all sort of shines through here. In some ways, the film provides a big breath of fresh air because nothing about what's on its surface is very typical. It's not your average Adam Sandler movie, but not your average sports movie, either. Yet at the same time, it did make me think that it's been quite a while since I've sat and watched a good sports movie that I really liked. This story centers on the Philadelphia 76ers international scout, Stanley Sugarman (Sandler). He's liked by team owner, Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall), largely based on his "never-back-down" attitude. However, he butts heads with Rex's son, Vincent (Ben Foster). This all sort of comes to a head after the sudden passing of Rex, leaving Vincent in charge of the team, and therefore Stanley's new boss. Despite Stanley's being away from his wife, Teresa (Queen Latifah) and daughter, Alex (Jordan Hull) along with a recent promotion to assistant coach, all that pretty much becomes null and void when Vincent basically demands Stanley to find the 76ers next star player. It's not long before Stanley is sent overseas where he meets up with his former college teammate, Leon Rich (Kenny Smith) who tries to convince him to leave the 76ers and become a player agent. He also soon meets the likes of an incredible young player named Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez - now one of our own Toronto Raptors). Bringing Cruz to Vincent's attention, however, doesn't go well, and to make a long story short, it's not long before Stanley starts to consider Leon's advice and take this new talent under his wing, himself. As long as he can keep him out of any sort of trouble, and train him right. As the film unfolds, it does a good job of keeping things realistic in the sense that they use a lot of real NBA talent all throughout the film as opposed to just hiring extras and slapping uniforms on them. I was further impressed with (and I do this a lot) the film's soundtrack, as it exposes the audience to a lot of great underground and off-the-radar tunes. I will say there were a few I could have done without, but it was cool to see them not just pick and choose a bunch of easy-to-grab popular music. That's the sort of thing that helps give a movie a soul of its own and helps it to stand out. I think, quite honestly, whether you're a Sandler fan or not, whether you're even a basketball fan or not, there's still a lot to appreciate here. What stood out a lot to me was that it's inspirational, not only following Cruz's story but Stanley's as well - they both have something to prove to themselves. There's no over-the-top Sandler comedy going on here, but he'll still deliver a good line that'll give you a good laugh. You appreciate the development of each of these characters as the film goes on, and you love seeing them play off each other, largely just being a couple of "guys". I think this may have a safe spot on my list of best movies of the year. Just thank God hope hasn't become lost on these Netflix originals. 5/5 I'm not entirely sure why, but when I chose to check this out, I did so thinking it might be something more in the tradition of 'Detroit Rock City'. Instead, what we get isn't without its hints of charm, but it's also insanely formulaic. Having said that though, I don't pretend to know the first thing about metal music, its history and its culture. My knowledge of the genre doesn't extend much further than what I like from it and who's playing it. But there are hints throughout the film that it could lend itself more to the real fans out there. In the hopes of forming a duo metal band, super-fan Hunter Sylvester (Adrian Greensmith) and not-so-experienced Kevin Schlieb (Jaeden Martell) get to work, jamming in Hunter's garage. While Hunter can really wail on his guitar, Kevin needs a lot of practice with his drum kit, as his drumming experience comes from marching band. One night at a party, the pair learn about an upcoming Battle of the Bands and decide that this is the answer to making a name for themselves. This results in Hunter giving Kevin some "homework", having him study the drumming techniques of a few key metal bands. Meanwhile, Kevin's marching bandmate, Emily, rage-quits band due to her lack of skill with the clarinet. As Hunter is on the lookout for a band bassist, Kevin decides that Emily's probably a good fit. Ultimately, this leads to Kevin and Emily becoming an item, and Hunter claiming her to be some sort of "Yoko Ono". Of course, Kevin also starts to find new interests and isn't entirely sure he wants to perform the same music Hunter does. To no one's surprise, the film is largely about conflicting interests between these two friends with a love interest caught in the middle of it all. Formulas aside, however, there is something to be said about this being potentially entertaining enough to the real metalheads out there. Of course, the presence of an Ed Sheeran cover band doesn't help. But perhaps the appearance of legends Scott Ian of Anthrax, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Kirk Hammett of Metallica and Rob Halford of Judas Priest does (Yes, I had to Google that). There also might be something to be said about Greensmith's performance here. This guy's a newcomer and a talented musician and manages to become that character you kind of hate, but in the end, want to route for. If it's a familiar face you're looking for here, however, you'll find it in Jaeden Martell who played 'Bill' in the 'It' remake. Otherwise, I can say that this is a movie full of newcomers, as I don't think I recognized anyone else. So if you're on the lookout for something a bit new as far as the cast is concerned, this could be worth checking out. For me, it's another title that isn't without its moments (I did laugh out loud a few times), but it has all been done before. It's entertaining, but not something I feel the need to recommend so highly. I'd be curious to see what a real metalhead thinks of it, and might sooner direct you towards THAT review instead of this one. 3/5 This one was fascinating, to say the least. However, not in the sense that one might think. The fact of the matter is that the formula for an awesome movie is here, as it includes an all-star comedy cast, is written and directed by Judd Apatow, co-written by Pam Brady (who does a lot of 'South Park' material) and wants to take a stab at tackling a comedic angle to the Covid-19 pandemic. While on paper, that all sounds pretty good and edgy at this point in time (although understandably too soon for many, I'm sure), the final result isn't nearly as good as it could have been. It's an odd one to watch, following 'The King of Staten Island', which was really quite well done (I gave it a 5/5, anyway). Somehow or another, Apatow gave us something a little more parallel to a "Movie" movie ('Epic Movie', 'Disaster Movie', 'Superhero Movie', etc.) That's not to say the film isn't without a few good laughs, but we all know Apatow can do better. The film itself features the cast of a bad monster movie sequel, 'Cliff Beasts 6: Battle for Everest: Memories of a Requiem' (not a typo), as they are quarantined in a hotel to make the film during the Covid-19 pandemic. The apparent idea is to get across, in a humorous way, what actors "might" have to go through while shooting a movie during these hard times (that we're still not all the way out of yet, so again, "too soon" is far too understandable). The film looks at it from an extreme, and in so many ways it should be hilarious, but so much of the comedy seems to fall flat here. The main focus is on actress Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan), who is using the film as an opportunity to get back on top, following a disastrous role that almost ruined her career. While on set, she meets back up with the rest of the franchise cast, and some see Carol as a "walk-out" since she wasn't in 'Cliff Beasts 5'. Anyway, the project all starts with a Covid test, and a two-week quarantine before ANY filming takes place. That alone just about drives the cast insane, but be it quarantine or working together on set, the real question becomes "who will snap first?" In mentioning an all-star cast here, I feel it only appropriate to give it a role call. Among the acting crew, we have Dustin Mulray (David Duchovny), Howie Frangopolous (Guz Khan) and Sean Knox (Keegan-Michael Key), who welcome Carol back with open arms. However, Lauren Van Chance (Leslie Mann) remains the only one still miffed about her leaving. The film also brings newcomers Dieter Bravo (Pedro Pascal) and TikTok sensation, Krystal Kris (Iris Apatow), who befriends the film's stunt coordinator's daughter, Carla (Galen Hopper); a random goth, and probably my favourite character here. Just to continue the string, the crew starts with cheese-ball director Darren Eigan (Fred Armisen), whose vision is constantly clashing with the actors (namely Dustin). Outside of the set, the studio head, Carla (Kate McKinnon) controls things like the Emperor, and the Bubble also communicates with the studio chairman, Tom (John Lithgow), executive chairman, Li (Austin Ku) and last but not least, Carla's Dad, Steve (John Cena)... oh, and Beck. Beck is here too. Anyway, now that I've written two paragraphs of filler, perhaps I should just wrap it up. I will say this about the film. Despite it being quite honestly pretty bad, and (once again) understandably not very well-timed in the grand scheme of things, it does have the potential to become a guilty pleasure of sorts for yours truly. I mean, it's not entirely without laughs, and the idea of it is stupid humour surrounding an otherwise serious issue. While the film was a let-down, it's also not something I feel like I can just toss aside because it's so fascinatingly bad despite everything surrounding it. If you're willing to throw your brain out the window for just over two hours (by the way, it's also far too long for what it is) it can be entertaining in the wrong ways. But make no mistake with my perspective - it's still bad, and not everyone is gonna feel the same way. 2/5 Folks, it would appear that there is a director out there who has captured my interest with his titles lately, and that is Shawn Levy. Up until now, Levy has been a name with a familiar ring to it for me, but not someone whose film library I'd be able to list very easily. For those who might fall under the same category, his directorial credits include 'Free Guy', eight episodes of 'Stranger Things', 'Date Night', and a few other "lesser" titles. Like a fine wine, however, this guy seems to improve with age. Although I feel like this could have been good for a big-screen experience, it (along with several other Netflix originals lately) finds itself entertaining us perfectly fine in the comfort of our own homes. It's getting very cool to see streaming service originals sort of "upgraded" from what they once were, and this one is no exception. I mean, this thing opens up with an incredible parallel to 'Guardians of the Galaxy', as our lead, Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds), steels a time jet and escapes his chasers through a wormhole, taking him back from 2050 to 2022. Here, he meets his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell), whose father (Mark Ruffalo) has recently been killed in a car accident, and mother (Jennifer Garner) has been dealing with it since. Part of her dealing is Adam getting suspended from school, and being somewhat distant from her. As a result, a good chunk of this movie addresses the idea of going back to give your younger self some life advice - something I think we'd all love to be able to do. But the cool thing is that things work the other way around, too, suggesting that we were never once "just dumb kids". Anyway, back to the plot, older Adam has accidentally crash-landed in 2022 due to a struggle during his escape. His aim, however, was to get to 2018, where he has learned that his wife, Laura (Zoe Saldaña) may have travelled back to and gotten herself trapped. All the while, he's being chased by the leader of a 2050's dystopian future, Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) and her badass lieutenant, Christos (Alex Mallari Jr.). Maya, basically being the self-proclaimed mother of time travel (unofficially). There's a twist here and a turn there, and soon it becomes less about the rescue mission and more about doing what's right. Now, can we just take a second to talk about Walker Scobell? This his his screen debut at 13 years old, and he Ryan Reynolds' the hell out of his role here. I swear, they found the perfect kid to play him, and that much is evident the second we're introduced. I've said this in the past (and on my past site) about young, rising stars (including Chloe Grace Moretz after 'Kick-Ass', Saoirse Ronan after 'The Lovely Bones') but this is a kid to keep an eye on. Let's face it, being a good match for a young Ryan Reynolds would probably be a good start if you're just starting your acting career. As for the rest of the film, it does appear that I'm a bit of an odd man out when it comes to how much I enjoyed this. But what can I say? It just struck a chord with me. And I'm not necessarily bias towards Ryan Reynolds, as you might see in my review for 'The Voices'. I also wasn't too fond of 2005's 'Amityville Horror'. As a person, he seems pretty awesome though, and I'd like to have a beer or two with the guy. I don't know if it's the idea of talking to your younger self, the wonderful casting or the fact that I experienced a good range of emotions with it, but I loved it! 4/5 Once again, we have a film that isn't doing so wonderfully on the critical side - but it definitely has a fairly solid following from your average fan. As for myself, I think we have a movie that, at this point in time, we really, truly need, and just about everyone needs to check out. Not to preach, but it's the underlying message the movie delivers (and even punctuates with a bit, fat exclamation mark). What's the message? Well, read on. As the film opens, we meet an astronomy Ph.D. candidate named Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), working with the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. She discovers a comet, and reports it to her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio). But what's initially cause for celebration turns into cause for panic, as Mindy calculates that the comet is on a path directly towards Earth. The impact will make for an extinction level event, so is immediately reported to NASA, who then confirms the details. Kate and Randall are then sent to the White House to report their findings, along with NASA's head of Planetary Defense Coordination, Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan). Once there, however, the scientists are met passively by President Janie Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), whose position has something kind of hilarious behind it, but I'm not going to spoil that. From there, all I'll really say is that Randall and Kate become sort of accidental celebrities, and a lot of it is to push Orlean's campaign, as presidential midterms are just around the corner. While Randall begins to make a name for himself through no real fault of his own, he experiences the pressures of being a celebrity while alternately trying very hard to get the important message of impending doom through. Meanwhile, Kate becomes a little more of a meme, and famous for all the wrong reasons. She wants nothing more than to warn the world of what's about to happen, and can't stand how ignorant the world gets when it comes right down to it. It further dabbles in things like conspiracy theories, and people creating their own stories and theories even though there's clear-as-day data staring them right in the face. Indeed, this is another movie that will make us all take a good, hard look at ourselves. It's also done as a dark comedy, so with that, in a lot of ways, I'd compare it to something like 'Idiocracy' (but not as "dumb-fun"). I suppose I can see where critics are actually coming from when it comes to looking at the movie as a whole. The idea that the film doesn't really know what it wants to be springs to mind, and with that, perhaps there's a point. However, my personal taste sees this as something meant to be taken seriously with its message, but the execution of it is meant to be taken as a comedy about the world's general ignorance and apathy when something catastrophic comes along. We really do have it sort of programmed into us to assume that things are well in hand for worst case scenarios. But do we? I mean, do we really? Anyway, I should point out that the underlying message of the film is just one of the better pieces of it. Otherwise, you have a pretty stellar cast of talent, and the performances are all great. Other than those mentioned, we also get the likes of Cate Blanchett, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Michael Chiklis and a few more I'm sure I'm missing. But damn, for a Netflix original, they went all out with the casting. To top it off, this is written and directed by Adam McKay; the guy who gave us the 'Anchorman' movies, and who worked alongside Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish for the 'Ant-Man' screenplay. So, while I highly recommend this movie to people right now, I will admit that it won't necessarily be for everyone. There is a bit of an acquired taste going on here with things like cinematography and the darkness of the comedy within the script. This is one of those movies that just might make you start yelling at your screen in frustration; but that's what the comedy is all about here. Personally, I think it's a brilliant film in its execution, but there's a lot of my personal taste scattered throughout this movie as well. I tend to be a bit odd at times (just look at my passion for 'Scott Pilgrim vs The World'). Anyway, if you have Netflix and about 2.5 hours to kill (yeah, sorry, it's a bit long) I say go for it. If nothing else, it'll make you think. 5/5 Netflix originals are pretty interesting altogether. They started out as very "straight-to-TV" quality films, but as time has gone on (and other streaming services have blossomed), Netflix is one that seems to keep progressing in quality, and keeping up with its competition. While Disney+ is great for big budget quality, and Amazon is great for story (usually), Netflix does a great job of meeting it all in the middle most of the time. 'Red Notice' was one that caught my eye, mostly due to the cast seen on the movie poster. I almost always have fun when Dwayne Johnson is involved, I DO always have fun when Ryan Reynolds is involved, and it's an opportunity to see Gal Gadot in something where she isn't Wonder Woman (although that first film is still awesome). On top of that, director Rawson Marshall Thurber is an interesting specimen - directing movies like 'We're the Millers' and 'Dodgeball', and even playing the Subway Guy in 'Easy A'. Being a fan of all of this, it was a bit of a no-brainer for me to check it out. We start off with a tale of love taking place in ancient Egypt, where Marcus Antonius presents Cleopatra with three bejeweled eggs as a wedding gift. Two of these eggs are eventually found in 1907, but the third remains a mystery. In present day, FBI Agent John Hartley (Johnson) is assigned to help Interpol agent Urvashi Das (Ritu Arya) with investigating a possible theft involving one of the eggs, which resides at the Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. This is where he runs into professional art thief, Nolan Booth (Reynolds), who manages to take the egg. However, after a good, long chase, Hatley manages to place him under arrest, and take the egg back. This, however, leads to two unfortunate things for Hartley. On one hand, the egg is unknowingly stolen again by other professional art thief, Sarah Black (Gadot), also known as "The Bishop". This leads to Das' mistrust of Hartley, and placing him under arrest, as he looks so suspicious. And then that leads to Hartley sharing a cell with Booth where eventually they end up working together. Hartley can bring down the Bishop once and for all, while Hartley promises Booth that he'd gain a reputation as the world's greatest art thief. Plus if, if they can find all three eggs and deliver them to an Egyptian billionaire by his daughter's wedding, there's plenty of wealth to be had in rewards. All in all, this feels like your average summer blockbuster to me. It uses the "buddy" formula, there's a whole lot of suspension of disbelief necessary. But in the long run, I have to say that this is a fun action, crime comedy where Reynolds and Rocky actually play very well off each other. Think about what it would look like to see the 'Fast & Furious' Hobbs teamed up with Deadpool, because that's essentially what you get here. That may not be the greatest combo for some, as their characters may feel a touch redundant altogether, but I had a lot of fun with this despite any problems it may have had. 4/5 Here we have one of those titles you can play a fun game with. The game? How many times did this take from 'Aladdin'. No word of a lie, that's basically what this is - a redo of the '92 Disney flick with similarities plastered all over the place, and subtle differences here and there. Right around the third act, this does sort of come into its own though, and I have to admit to enjoying some of the characters here - namely a couple of henchmen who are actually very sweet. It's one of those movies I see as a carbon copy of something else, but I'm not going to accuse it of being a terrible film either. As the film opens, we soon meet Din (Jimmy Wong - even the lead's name is the last three letters of "Aladdin") and his new best friend, Li Na (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). We see them having an awesome time as kids together, but it's all interrupted when Li Na's father, Mr. Wang (Will Yun Lee) takes her away to start a life in the lap of luxury. Meanwhile, Din stays in his neighbourhood with his Mom (Constance Wu) and grows up to be a college student, but a bit of a slacker. He takes the time to visit a billboard with Li Na's grown up model face on it, and knowing she's coming to town, prepares a welcome-home gift for her. One day, Din is handed a teapot (magic lamp) that unleashes Long (John Cho); a wish dragon (genie) who tells Din all about how he'll grant him three wishes, as Din is his new master. If things go well for Long, he will be released from his servitude - in 'Aladdin' it's about making it the final wish, but here, it's about Long serving his tenth and final master. This will ultimately give him access to the spirit world. Din's wishes pretty much revolve around him being good enough for Li Na; a woman of higher class, but more to have his former friend back as opposed to anything romantic (although the notion really still feels like it's there). Long even establishes the rules that include not being able to make people fall in love, and not being able to kill anyone. Not being able to bring people back from the dead ('Aladdin'), however, is replaced here with not being able to time travel. Meanwhile, Wang has hired three henchmen to retrieve the magic teapot from this boy (who he doesn't recognize anymore) for his failing business. The henchmen probably are my favourite part of this, but are still fairly typical for cartoon characters. They are lead by a martial arts expert known as Pockets (Aaron Yoo) who constantly fights with his feet while his hands are in his pockets, and further consist of "Small Goon" (Jimmy O. Yang) and "Tall Goon" (Bobby Lee) who are there for the work, but would seemingly rather open up a pet store and sell cute little puppies. There's something about that polar opposite personality of what a goon should be that just gets me. While this does seem to take a hell of a lot from 'Aladdin', I do think that this is a passable flick that embraces a good bit of Chinese culture here, and who's to say that this isn't just the Chinese version of 'Aladdin'? That sounds like an excuse, I know, but it did feel like the way Chinese culture might tell the same story. There's enough difference here that it can still separate itself and be its own thing. Think 'Avatar' vs 'Dances with Wolves', 'Pocahontas', 'Fern Gully', etc. 'Avatar' told a story we had seen before, but still managed to be its own execution of said story while blowing us away with visual effects. This doesn't blow us away with effects or much that's very special, but its embrace of the culture, including the voice acting, is what makes this one stand apart from 'Aladdin'. While I can't say I loved it, and the whole 'Aladdin' thing does have me teetering on a fence, I think it's safe to say that there's still enough here to make this enjoyable. I can't deny that it made me laugh a few times - my favourite thing being a running gag involving the Small Goon making a funny sound every time he falls or wipes out. Sometimes it feels like it might be trying too hard with its humour, but it's easy enough to shrug off and remember that this is a Sony Animation family/kids movie, so there's bound to be a bit of cheesiness to it. At the end of the day, I might suggest that as a Netflix original, it's pretty much exactly where it belongs. 3/5 Another Netflix title that has been floating in front of my face for quite some time without me clicking on it has been 'Love and Monsters'. I don't really know what took me so long, considering this is a concept so far up my alley it kinda hurts when I think about it. I love a good survival movie, I love a lot of creativity when it comes to creatures, and I love when a character takes time to develop as we learn more and more about them; the "zero to hero" situation, but not too rapidly. The story opens with a little backstory in which an asteroid has crash-landed into Earth (and even the film makes a jab at it being unoriginal). The chemical fallout from the destruction has caused cold-blooded creatures to mutate into giant monsters, decimating most of the human race. When his hometown of Fairfield is evacuated, Joel Dawson (Dylan O'Brien) gets separated from his parents (Andrew Buchanan and Tandi Wright) and girlfriend, Aimee (Jessica Henwick). He is picked up by a group of survivors, and has since been living underground with the knowledge that his parents are now dead, and Aimee is far away at another underground colony. As the next seven years pass, Colonies are able to keep in touch via radio, and everyone within Joel's colony has paired off. One day, Joel gets in touch with Aimee through the radio. Remembering a promise he made to find her again, he's nudged into action and decides to roam through the dangers of the surface in order to see his promise through - even if it has been seven years since he last saw her. His colony isn't entirely supportive, however, as Joel has a pretty serious problem when it comes to these mutant monsters; he freezes. To them, he might as well be a worm dangling on a hook. Joel won't let them keep him down though, and he heads out, as he feels he doesn't have much else to lose. Along the way, Joel befriends several characters. It starts with a dog named Boy (Hero/Dodge) who happens to be a faithful and protective companion. This is one of those animal roles where you fall in love with him almost instantly. On top of that, we also get survivalists Clyde (Michael Rooker) and Minnow (Ariana Greenblatt) who teach Joel a thing or two about what it means to survive on the surface. Perhaps the most important lesson is that, though dangerous, some of these creatures aren't just out for blood. There is definitely an underlying message here about environment and human treatment of animals, but thankfully, it's not in your face. This is an adventure story first, and a message second. The film's CG might look a touch low-budget here and there, but for a Netflix original, it's entirely passable. The truth is, I found a lot of the creature designs really cool, creative, and even gruesome in all the right ways. What makes this one really special for me is the idea that Joel has set out on his own for this adventure. It could be compared to something like 'Into the Wild' in that sense, and personally, I have a real thing for the solo adventurer. I feel like there's a bit more room for development, and in this, we laugh, cry, and even get a little anxious while we take this adventure with Joel. While there are certainly movies similar to it, and a lot of things here might remind you of 'Zombieland', I found it interesting that one of the biggest nods I found here was towards 'Stand by Me'. This wasn't a constant, but it does combine a long journey, the song itself, and even a scene involving leaches - which are much worse than the ones found in 'Stand by Me'. In my opinion, this is one that's really worth checking out for just about anyone. It may have a few creepy-crawly frightening scenes for younger viewers, but the story is solid, and I found myself routing for Joel quite often. You want him to get over his fears and succeed, especially when certain scenes stop the movie to warm your heart up. Despite a few little odds and ends, this is one I can easily recommend. 4/5 This is a movie that hits the ground running, and then takes us back to find out how we got to such chaos. We're introduced to the Mitchell family, consisting of Dad, Rick (Danny McBride); Mom, Linda (Maya Rudolph); little brother, Aaron (Michael Rianda); and big sister, Katie (Abbi Jacobson), who is our narrator and lead for this feature. The introduction involves them whipping through town in an orange station wagon, as they're on the run from a robot uprising. Right away, you're gonna see the stylistic animation style that kind of reminds me of a combination of 'Scott Pilgrim' and 'Into the Spider-Verse'. Katie sees her family as very weird and unusual, and sees herself as not fitting in at all. This was one thing that bugged me a little bit about the movie though - this is by no means a very weird family. I kept looking for it, but could only find a dash of it in Aaron and their dog, Monchi (Doug the Pug). Anyway, Katie doesn't fit in, but finds solace in movies; both watching them and making them. Think of her as someone who you might hook up with Adam Goldberg of 'The Goldbergs'. She gets accepted to college, and becomes very excited about getting away from this "disaster" of a family. However, seeing her start to slip away, Rick is realizing that he's missing his chance on really getting to know and understand his daughter. This results in a family road trip, as Rick cancels Katie's flight, and decides the family if going to drive there and spend time together before she's gone. In the meantime, entrepreneur Mark Bowman (this movie's answer to Steve Jobs, played by Eric André) introduces us to an upgrade of a virtual assistant named PAL (this movie's answer to SIRI) in the form of robots who pretty much act as maids or butlers. So think of a SIRI that can cook and deliver food. Right off the bat he points out the "kill code" that will prevent a robot uprising, but it's overridden, and the uprising ensues pretty much instantly. So now, in the midst of a family road trip, the very average Mitchell family find themselves face to face with a collective of machines who are enslaving all of mankind. This was directed by Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe, who both worked on various episodes of 'Gravity Falls', of which I am actually a huge fan. I must say that the overall personality of the characters, and feel of the film are very parallel. In fact, the hit-the-ground-running opening of this is almost exactly the same as the opening to 'Gravity Falls'. That said, the style is a little in-your-face, and that might not be for everyone. I find it important to take the style as something that's just on the surface though, and take the storytelling and characters to heart the most. Once again, using 'Gravity Falls' as the comparison, it starts out as goofy fun, but it has all these pockets of heart-felt moments we can relate to. On the whole, I enjoyed it. I've always admired something that brings a lot of in-your-face style with it, especially if I can get a decent laugh or two out of it. Here, I laughed plenty, but I did have a real problem trying to take this family as being as weird as suggested. Despite that, however, it's still a lot of fun, and you can still enjoy these characters while overlooking what could be a nit-pick. After all, we all think our families are pretty weird, right? I personally enjoyed the relationship Katie has with Aaron; that "best friend" deal where they get each other, but no one else seems to get them... and again, I find that hard to believe when her thing is movies and his thing is dinosaurs. But I digress. This is a film that's pretty high-ranking as far as reviews go, and most of that is with good reason. For as fun and crazy as this movie is, it seems to have the same heart as 'WALL-E' did; once again being a bit of a message about how we allow technology to consume us just for the sake of being lazy, and I am definitely guilty of this. Although nowadays, I always take the time to get some fresh air... while on my phone, taking pictures. It doesn't feel quite as eye-opening as something like 'WALL-E', but the right message is still there. This is one that can certainly be fun for the whole family. 4/5 |