Movies Watched The Week of 2/8 - 2/14

Welcome back gang, to an all new and still continuing blog entry of my Disney kick.  Yes, I still get the Disney stuff going, with a look at a live action flick.  But cartoons dominate, and they’re all really good.  It’s a great week for movies, so sit back and enjoy.  

Robin Hood (February 8th, 2015)

Director: Wolfgang Reitherman

Starring: Brian Bedford, Phil Harris, Monica Evans, and Peter Ustinov

Robin Hood is a post Walt movie, being made and released after his death.  So it’s not crazy to say that some of the magic in the movies released during his time is gone from this.  But while this isn’t a groundbreaker or something truly special with that certain something, this is a damn fun movie.  Like many Disney movies, it is a family version of a classic story.  This time it is the story of that archer from Sherwood forrest.  But instead of being a little british ninny or drunk Russell Crowe, Robin is a fox.  All the characters are anthropomorphic animals, fitting their characteristics.  And if you know the story, it’s fairly faithful to that.  The voices are great fits for the roles, Ustinov as Prince John being a standout.  It’s a good looking movie and is just fun.  It’s like the Disney version of Oceans Eleven.  That’s about it.  Good ole time and fun for all ages.  Give it a look.  

Rating: 9/10

Whiplash (February 10th, 2015)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Miles Teller, JK Simmons, Paul Reiser, and Melissa Benoist

Fuck man.  Just…fuck.  This is a god damned movie.  What seemed like a too serious, self important movie about music (the Birdman of music), we got a very musical and well crafted story about the obsessive drive to be the best.  What can’t be sold in a trailer is the perfectly antagonistic relationship between Miles Teller and JK Simmons.  Teller is a young man in college, desperate to be the best Jazz drummer in the world.  When he is tapped to join Simmons band in school, he is ecstatic.  But Simmons isn’t any old teacher. He’s like a Nazi, abusing all his students verbally, emotionally and physically.  He is a firestorm.  For most of the movie, we think he’s just an asshole with a perfectionist stick up his ass.  But it’s not that simple.  He’s trying to bring the best out of people and does that by breaking them down to see if they get up stronger.  Simmons is the best thing in the movie and is going to get himself an Oscar.  Teller himself is no slouch either, nailing that almost spectrum like drive that his character has.  He’s almost inhuman, unable to understand others behaviors.  This role actually does give hint that he could make a great Reed Richards.  They are the only two we really focus on, giving the movie a razor focus.  The unsung star though is Chazelle, a first time director.  He shows a hell of an eye for story and for editing, bringing his musical background to the movie, giving it a good flow that feels like a Jazz performance.  He also knows how to wring tension out of scenes that aren’t typical tension scenes.  But the story he lays out gives them an edge and the fact that Simmons can do anything is unsettling.  This is a great fucking movie that features on of the best endings of all time, a perfectly calibrated scene of tension and narrative momentum climaxing perfectly.  It’s a hell of a flick, the best movie that’s nominated for Best Picture, and one that sadly won’t win.  But it’ll have a better future than The Theory of Everything.

Rating: 10/10

Sleeping Beauty (February 12th, 2015)
Directors: Eric Larson and Les Clark
Starring: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Taylor Holmes, and Eleanor Audley

I’ll just get the negative out of the way quick.  The story at hand here, of the arranged marriage between a prince and princess who actually fall in love with each other, isn’t for me.  This is the blueprint for all these fairy tale love stories, with the princess and the prince and blah.  But that’s all fine, being that this is the best looking animated movie ever.  It’s really quite insane how gorgeous this looks, being as it was made in 1959.  It is absolutely stunning to look at.  Every frame is like a stain glass piece of art.  It is an ambitious piece of work and the high mark for animation.  Nothing has topped it since.  And the love story nonsense may not be for me, there is Maleficent.  She’s got the simplest motivation for setting the plot into motion.  She wasn’t invited to a party, so she gets all pissy and places a curse on an infant.  She’s a wretched bitch, and its all because she’s petty.  Fantastic stuff.  That and it all ends with one of the most gorgeous scenes in cinema, a fight between the prince and Maleficent who turned into a dragon. 

Rating: 9.5/10

101 Dalmatians (February 14th, 2015)
Directors: Clyde Geronimi and Hamilton S. Luske
Starring: Rod Taylor, Cate Bauer, J. Pat O'Malley, and Betty Lou Gerson

If there’s a simple reason for why I love this movie, it’s because there’s a shit ton of dogs doing dog things.  Simple as that, cute dogs are abundant.  But there’s more to it than that.  For one, it’s funny.  Pongo is a great Disney hero, the patriarch Dalmatian with a great positive attitude.  Always got a smile on his face, and he is such a bro.  That and the two henchmen for Cruella are great little idiots, english dirtbags.  And the other dogs besides from the Dalmatians are great too, one of whom is a old codger and that’s great.  There’s a cat too, and he’s a skittish little guy.  But the story itself is simple.  Pongo helps his pet (the human) get a woman who also has a dalmatian, Perdita, and they end up having pups.  When those pups are kidnapped by the fur coat loving shitbird Cruella Deville, it’s up to Pongo and the underground society of English Dogs to bring them back.  It’s a nice little adventure with some darkness to it, fitting into the Disney mold.  It’s a nice looking movie too, a step down right after Sleeping Beauty but it’s still good to look at.  This is a nice little movie with fun for all ages.  Give it a go.

Rating: 9.5/10





Top Movies

1. Whiplash
2. 101 Dalmatians
3. Sleeping Beauty
4. Robin Hood






Top 5 Performances

1. JK Simmons - Whiplash
2. Miles Teller - Whiplash
3. Rod Taylor - 101 Dalmatians
4. Peter Ustinov - Robin Hood
5. Eleanor Audley - Sleeping Beauty




Top 5 Moments

1. The Final Scene - Whiplash
2. The Dragon Fight - Sleeping Beauty
3. The Car Wreck - Whiplash
4. The Archery Contest - Robin Hood
5. The Family Watches TV - 101 Dalmatians

- Tom Lorenzo