Biggs' Zone

A Gamer Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

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Movie Review: 8-Bit Christmas

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On December 13, 2021

In Movies, Reviews

8-Bit Christmas IMDB Link

Directed By: Michael Dowse
Starring:  Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Zahn, Winslow Fegley

My Rating:★★★★★

It is rare to get to review a Christmas movie at Christmas time. I usually stick with watching all the Christmas movies I like instead of watching new ones. My brother-in-law sent me a text telling me I needed to watch this movie; so far I’ve watched it twice.

This movie is our generations version of “A Christmas Story”. I might even go so far as to say its a soft remake. The bulk of the film borrows several themes from A Christmas Story but applies them in its own unique way. It even goes so far as to include it’s own “F–––” moment. By the way, I have actually held that infamous Bill Ripken card in my hands; in fact my father still owns it.

Biggs’ Review

You can probably assume that I enjoyed this film since I have already mentioned I have watched it twice. It is rare to find a new Christmas movie to add to my cadre of Christmas movies I watch each year. This movie definitely makes the list. I remember getting my Nintendo, and playing it probably more often than I should have. It is the toy that defined our generation.

If you are a member of the Nintendo generation, I highly recommend this movie. If you don’t like “A Christmas Story”, you should still watch this movie because the beginning and ending is a lot different. Also, NPH is your narrator, the Jean Shephard, of this film. You can’t go wrong when Doogie Howser is telling the story.

film_reel“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.” 
– Stanley Kubrick

Movie Review: Mulan (2020)

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On September 28, 2021

In Movies, Reviews

Mulan

Directed By: Niki Caro
Starring: Liu Yifei, Donnie Yen, Jet Li

My Rating: ★★★★★

I know this movie came out over a year ago and it was not popular among Disney fans. They are complaining that it’s a terrible animated-to-live-action adaptation. I should know better than to listen to “fans”. These days the only thing “fans” do is complain (I’m looking at you alleged “Star Wars fans”). It wasn’t until my wife watched this movie on Disney+ that I finally saw it.

Unpopular opinion, I disagree with all the Disney princess fans. This is the Mulan movie we should have gotten back in 1998. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ming-Na Wen’s Mulan (who makes a cameo at the end), but it’s just another Disney princess love story.

It’s About Culture (and Kicking Ass)

A key indicator as to whether I really like a film is if I’m looking up the trivia on IMDB to learn more. I did this for this movie. It wasn’t a surprise to read that it was a conscious choice to stay “true to Chinese culture and traditions”. This is why Mushu is missing, which fans also hated. He is essentially replaced with the phoenix, a significant symbol in Chinese culture. Also, the phoenix happens to be one of my favorite mythical creatures. Martial arts is also a staple of Chinese culture and this is a Disney princess martial arts film.

Ask anyone that knows me well and they will tell you that I’m a sucker for a martial arts film. It’s exciting to see Jet Li back in a “martial arts” film although I think he’s retired from martial arts. This is probably why we don’t see him perform much in the film. However Donnie Yen and Liu Yifei make up for that. In fact Liu Yifei is a trained sword fighter. It turns out she is in a movie called The Forbidden Kingdom where she “held her own” against Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

Listen. If you want to see a live-action version of the 1998 film, then keep waiting. This movie is not it. However if you want to see Mulan kick ass as a sword fighter and martial artist, then you need to check out this movie.

Movie Review: The Tomorrow War

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On July 10, 2021

In Movies, Reviews

The Tomorrow WarThe Tomorrow War IMDB Link

Directed By: Chris McKay
Starring: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons

My Rating: ★★★★★

I heard different things about this movie, but I generally avoid most reviews. Since the days of Siskel and Ebert nobody has come close to their caliber of movie analysis. Granted, I rarely agreed with Ebert who once said that a comic book movie wasn’t “realistic enough” … because comic book characters are real. Anyway, enough soapboxing about those guys, may they rest in peace.

This is a time travel movie and we all know how I feel about time travel movies, it’s rarely done right. However I really like Chris Pratt and I was very curious about this movie so why not check it out.

Quick Synopsis and My Review

A wormhole opens suddenly and armed soldiers come through. They say they are from the year 2050 and the humans are losing a war with an alien race. The population of the planet has been decimated to the point of extinction so they need to draft people from the past to fight a war in the future. The entire human race is at stake.

spoiler alert!!!

The following content contains spoilers for The Tomorrow War.

My father-in-law said this is “definitely a Matt movie” and I can’t argue with that. I did enjoy this movie and I may even watch it again some time. It does rely heavily on the suspension of disbelief and I will get to that in a bit. I cannot recall very many (if any) dramatic roles for Chris Pratt. I know the Jurassic World movies had their dramatic moments but those are more adventure driven than drama. However he’s always been Andy Dwyer and Starlord so this movie is definitely outside his typical range. In all honesty I think he did a pretty good job.

Also, J.K. Simmons is jacked in this. I mean, for 66 years old the dude looks like he could arm wrestle a grizzly bear. You may also recognize Hanna from the Dexter series.

A Paradox On Both Your Timelines

This is where the spoiler comes in so if you want to see the movie first, then stop reading. When Chris Pratt’s character is drafted and he’s sent into the future to fight the aliens his team is receiving their orders from a Colonel. It turns out that this Colonel is Pratt’s characters daughter, now an adult. In fact, not only is she a Colonel, she’s also an MIT trained bioengineer and she’s working on a toxin to kill the aliens.

When she creates the toxin she asks her dad (Pratt) to return to the past and synthesize the toxin and return to the future to eradicate the aliens. Things happen and he can’t return to the future, however they discover that the aliens have been on the planet for 1,000 years buried in ice in Russia.

This is where that suspension of disbelief comes into play. This movie creates a time paradox. Chris Pratt gets the toxin from biological material extracted from the alien in the future. Then he returns to the past and kills the alien using the toxin. So if he kills the alien in the past, how does it exist in the future to create the toxin in the first place? It’s a paradox but I think it’s just subtle enough that the suspension of disbelief works here.

Did you see it? What did you think of The Tomorrow War?

film_reel“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick

 

Movie Review: Wonder Woman 1984

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On January 4, 2021

In DC, Movies, Reviews

Wonder Woman 1984Wonder Woman 1984 IMDB Link

Directed By: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Gal Gadot, Kristin Wiig, Pedro Pascal

My Rating: ★★★★★

While this is my first movie review of 2021, I did not see this movie in 2021. In fact we watched this film on New Years Eve, so technically I saw this movie last year. However since it was a movie we watched in the evening, I did not have time to write up a review before 2020 ended. I think we were all ready for 2020 to be over.

The year is 1984 (obviously, by the title) and Diana is still going about her day covertly rescuing people and stopping crime. Although it’s been 40 years, she still laments the death of Steve Trevor and seems to accept the fact that she will always be alone. She befriends Barbara Minerva, a socially awkward archeologist and anthropologist who finds a particularly powerful artifact. An artifact that grants wishes, but at a terrible cost. Now she must stop The Cheetah and Max Lord from abusing the power of this “dream stone”. 

Biggs’ Review

I am really surprised to find so many low and harsh reviews of this movie. I’ll admit it isn’t as good as the first movie but I, honestly, didn’t think it was terrible. There isn’t as much action but Chris Pine provides sufficient comic relief. I really enjoyed Pedro Pascal’s (aka The Mandalorian) performance as Max Lord. Actually, if I’m being honest, Kristin Wiig is an excellent villain. I’m used to seeing her in more comedic roles (ex: Bridesmaids) so when she becomes full on Cheetah, she looks pretty damn badass.

My harshest criticism would probably be the end. The tactic Wonder Woman uses to “defeat” Max Lord is a little corny. Granted Wonder Woman’s whole philosophy is built on the power of truth (hence the “Lasso of Truth”) so it fits the character. Unfortunately human kind is not so willing to embrace truth so its difficult to believe that she can easily convince the world to “renounce their wishes”. I’m also not really sold on the way in which Max Lord “touches” millions of people via a satellite broadcast. I feel like that whole scenario wasn’t entirely thought out.

Initially I wanted to give this movie 3.5 stars but the addon only supports whole numbers. Since I would consider watching this movie again I decided to go ahead and bump it up to 4 stars. I think Patty Jenkins did the best she could with the script she was given. I’m excited to see what she does for the Rogue Squadron movie; hopefully she will have better screenplay writers.

What did you think of Wonder Woman 1984?

film_reel“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick

 

Movie Review: Saving Mr. Banks

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On July 28, 2020

In Movies, Reviews

Saving Mr. BanksSaving Mr. Banks IMDB Link

Directed By: John Lee Hancock
Starring:  Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson
Release Year: 2013

My Rating: ★★★★★

I realize this movie is 7 years old but nobody is really going to the theater right now so I might as well review something new I’ve watched. Perhaps others on the fence about this movie will finally reach their decision about whether or not to watch it.

Tom Hanks must be one of those actors that can be made to look like anybody. It’s an uncanny transformation to be able to go from Fred Rogers to Walt Disney. Personally I think his portrayal as Fred Rogers is nearly spot on, while he mostly just nailed the look and mannerisms of Walt Disney. He never actually sounds like Disney, however, that is not a deterrent in this film.

Brief Synopsis and Biggs’ Review

This movie is based on true events about the adaptation of Mary Poppins to film. Walt Disney has been pursuing the rights to produce Mary Poppins for 20 years but the author, P. L. Travers, refuses to give them up. Finally, in 1961, she agrees to travel to Los Angeles to oversee the adaptation of the film. However, she is not very forthcoming and really pushes Walt Disney to his wits end.

Maybe its my love for Mary Poppins but I really enjoyed this movie. Based on some of the reading I’ve done, the events in this movie, for the most part, are historically accurate. They took a few poetic liberties, but since they had the actual tapes of her and one of the Sherman brothers, you know they couldn’t bend the truth too much. I love how they incorporated some of the real life Disney culture into the film, such as the “man is in the forest” phrase animators would say when they heard Disney approaching.

There isn’t a lot of humor in this, it’s pretty much your typical heart-strings drama however it gave me an immense amount of nostalgia. I doubt the real P.L. Travers would ever approve of this film but it’s really interesting to see the story of this beloved Disney classic was, almost, never made.

I definitely recommend this movie, especially if you are a Disney fan and/or love Mary Poppins.

film_reel“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick

 

Trolls World Tour Review

Movie Review: Trolls World Tour

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On April 30, 2020

In Movies, Reviews

Trolls World Tour ReviewTrolls World Tour

Directed By: Walt Dohrn
Starring:  Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake

My Rating: ★★★★★

This is one of the first films to go straight to a streaming release instead of theaters due to the coronavirus pandemic. Coincidentally the movie studio made quite a bit of money. The films digital success was even discussed on the morning news. The numbers indicate that the movie studio probably made more money because of the digital release than they might have from a theatrical release. I doubt that dooms theaters … at least I hope not.

Be that as it may, the film itself was just OK. Most of the original cast reprise their roles, except Jeffrey Tambor as King Peppy. We rented it for my daughter’s birthday because she really likes Trolls. There are points in the film where you wonder if it was made while under the influence of illicit substances. Perhaps the same kind used when making the “Charlie, the Unicorn” videos. (At least the Charlie videos were funny).

It ends in the same old “love conquers all” sappy crap however I feel like the movie uses music as a metaphor. Everyone likes different kinds of music and no one particular genre of music should be eliminated. The movie makes the point that we should all respect each other no matter which music we listen to. Granted I don’t know if the metaphor is intentional but considering all the divisiveness in the world today, I think the same rule applies.

I watched it for my daughter, but I’m not in a hurry to see it again.

film_reel“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick

 

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