Stubs - Red One

Red One (2024) starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J. K. Simmons. Directed by Jake Kasdan. Screenplay by Chris Morgan. Produced by Hiram Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Chris Morgan, Jake Kasdan, Melvin Mar. Run time: 123 minutes. Color. USA Christmas, Action, Mystery, Comedy, Adventure

Have you ever watched a movie and wondered who the intended target audience was? That was my reaction while watching Red One, an attempt at making Dwayne Johnson into a holiday tradition, when I watched it recently on Amazon Prime. Good thing it was free to watch.

Tokyo Godfathers

Note: This review contains spoilers for Tokyo Godfathers

Satoshi Kon, arguably one of Japan’s greatest anime film directors, was an absolute master of his craft, taking full advantage of hand-drawn animation by seamlessly blending fantasy and reality in ways that only that medium can. However, even though he had primarily directed dramas and psychological thrillers, in the case of Paranoia Agent even tackling various societal issues, his third feature, 2003’s Tokyo Godfathers, stands out from the rest of catalogue. Not only does it downplay the blending of fantasy and reality, it’s actually his most grounded work and, taking inspiration from the 1948 film 3 Godfathers, is more sentimental and uplifting. Despite this contrast with other works, however, Satoshi Kon never lost his unique touch and made a film worthy of adding to a Christmas rotation.

Stubs - X-Men: Apocalypse

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till. Directed by Bryan Singer. Screenplay by Simon Kinberg. Based on X-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Apocalypse by Louise Simonson, and  Jackson Guice. Produced by Simon Kinberg, Bryan Singer, Hutch Parker, Lauren Shuler Donner. Run time 144 minutes. Color. USA. Superhero, Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

What happened?

Even before X-Men: Days of Future Past (2013) was even released, the followup was already in the planning stages. According to director Bryan Singer, the next film would concentrate on the origins of the X-Men and feature younger actors in the roles of Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm. The idea was to complete the trilogy of X-Men films that began with X-Men: First Class (2011) and would take place in 1983, 20 years after First Class and ten years after Days of Future Past.

Filming began on April 27, 2015 with Singer back in the director’s chair in Montreal, Canada and production would last until late August, with additional filming in January 2016. The film was released on May 6, 2016 in London and not until May 27 in the U.S.

Stubs - X-Men: The Last Stand

 

X-Men: The Last Stand aka X-Men III (2006) starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen. Directed by Brett Ratner. Screenplay by Simon Kinberg, Zak Penn Based on the comic book series X-Men created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Ralph Winter, Avi Arad Run time: 104 minutes. Color. United Kingdom, United States. Adventure, Science Fiction

Following the success of X2 (2003), it seemed only natural that there would be a third film in the series. However, the director of the previous two films wasn’t all that interested in pursuing it. Singer stated that he "didn't fully have X-Men 3 in my mind" and was more interested in making the next Superman film, Superman Returns (2006) at Warner Bros.

Finding a replacement was not easy. Hugh Jackman's contract included the approval of director, and the job was offered to Darren Aronofsky, with whom he had just finished filming on The Fountain (2006). But Aronofsky was not the last person to be offered the position. Joss Whedon, Rob Bowman, Alex Proyas, Zack Snyder, Peter Berg, and Guillermo del Toro were all approached, but had other projects that kept them from taking the job.

In February 2005, even without a director, Fox announced the film’s release date (May 5, 2006) and that production would start in July 2005. A month later, it was announced that Matthew Vaughn had been secured to direct, but family issues would force him to resign from the project. Apparently, Vaughn also wasn’t happy about the tight deadlines imposed by Fox, stating that he "didn't have the time to make the movie that I wanted to make".

Little Kitty, Big City (Switch)

Although I’m personally not the biggest Nintendo fan, their Nintendo Directs have made me aware of some interesting third-party games for their platforms. Such was the case with Little Kitty, Big City, which I first heard about through their 2023 Indie World presentation, thanks to its art direction and atmosphere. Though I played a demo of the game on PC through Steam and enjoyed it, I intended to play the full game on console, which I did when it launched for the Switch due to it having a reduced launch price on there compared with the Xbox Series X. I then got to playing the game as soon as I could, finding it overall fun in the short time it lasted.

Migration (2023)

Following the original Despicable Me, Illumination has had a very spotty track record in terms of story quality, with incredible highs with The Super Mario Bros. Movie and varying lows with films like The Secret Life of Pets and Minions. What they have consistently improved on, however is their animation quality, to the point where I had some interest in viewing their latest film, Migration, for that sole reason, preferably without spending too much money in the endeavor. Fortunately, I got the chance to watch it as an offering of free in-flight (heh) entertainment, even if the airline made me watch it on my phone (RIP phone battery). Unfortunately, while Migration is a visual step up from Illumination's usual output, the story holds it back from really spreading its wings.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

While Dragon Ball remains a popular franchise, due in part to the franchise’s second wind in the wake of the success of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, the newer films had more of a focus on the characters Goku and Vegeta at the expense of just about everyone else. This would change with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Super Hero), which released in 2022 to critical acclaim and became the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, as well as the first one independently distributed by Toei following the Disney/Fox merger. Apart from a switch to CG animation in place of traditional, the film would also focus on the relationship between Gohan and Piccolo and revisit the Red Ribbon Army as antagonists. Although we admittedly still haven’t seen the original Dragon Ball (DB), we still found ourselves enjoying the film and its welcome change in focus.

Transformers: EarthSpark - Expedition

As most Transformers fans are familiar with, the franchise goes through a refresh every three years in an effort to attract new fans. 2022 saw the launch of the most recent incarnation, Transformers: EarthSpark, on Paramount+, which follows the batch release format and completed its first Season last year, with a second on the way as of this writing. As someone who has been watching it in an effort to stay current with the TV side of the franchise as much as possible, I so far don’t find it to be on the same level as Prime or Animated in terms of story, but I think it has some great animation and interesting ideas, such as the concept of the Terrans and the Season 1 antagonist Mandroid, and I’m at least curious to see what the second season will bring (that said, the Season 1 ending was a little rough).

Last year, a video game based on the cartoon was also announced called Transformers: EarthSpark – Expedition (Expedition), which caught my interest due to being what seemed more like the sort of Transformers console gaming experience I been wanting since Fall of Cybertron, though I had already tempered my expectations due to it being a family-oriented game published by Outright Games. Said expectations were met just by glancing at gameplay on display at Comic-Con that year, but I still wanted to experience it myself, eventually getting it on sale for Black Friday after it came out later in the year. Despite a PS5 version having been announced, I could not find any evidence of its availability in the US, which led me to get the PS4 version with a free PS5 upgrade. While the game did meet my already tempered expectations, I feel like it could still have been better.

Rohan at the Louvre

Even if you’ve never heard of mangaka Hirohiko Araki, chances are you’ve at least heard of his best-known and longest-running work, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, a multigenerational epic about the Joestar family and their battle against evil (currently at Part 9 in Japan as of this writing). Following the publication of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable, Araki made the one-shot “At a Confessional,” the first in what would become a series of one-shots in the spin-off series Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan (TSKR), centered around the character Rohan Kishibe from Diamond is Unbreakable. During the run of the Diamond is Unbreakable anime, a handful of these one-shots were adapted into a series of OVAs, later followed by an unrelated live-action drama adaptation with the same name that currently runs at 3 Seasons. When I first heard about the drama series, I assumed it would remain exclusive to Japan, which I also assumed of the related live-action film, Rohan at the Louvre (JP: Rohan au Louvre, Kishibe Rohan Rūvuru e Iku), itself based on the similarly-named one-shot, when it was first announced. Once I heard that Amazon would bring the film overseas via Prime Video, I also learned that the drama was also available on the same platform, sub-only and free for Prime members, so I finally got to watch the drama in preparation for watching the film.

As someone who has read the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan one-shots currently available in English, after watching the drama and seeing some of the liberties taken with it to form a more cohesive narrative across each Season, as well as to wholly disconnect it from the original context of Diamond is Unbreakable to make it more accessible to those unfamiliar with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, I would say that they did a fantastic job in this regard and that it’s the perfect way for someone to dip their toe in the world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure without having to commit to starting from Phantom Blood. As someone who has also read the English translation of the Rohan at the Louvre one-shot, I felt it worked as both a faithful adaptation of the source material and an enjoyable movie in its own right.

Stubs - Barbie

Barbie (2023) starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Michael Cera, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman Narrator: Helen Mirren. Directed by Greta Gerwig. Screenplay by Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach. Based on Barbie by Mattel. Produced by David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner. Run time: 114 minutes. Color. USA. Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure

Note: This review contains spoilers for Barbie.

The summer of 2023 may well be remembered as the summer of Barbie, as it, perhaps surprisingly, turned out to be the biggest movie of the year. The film’s boffo box office, which is already over $1 Billion worldwide when this is written, had a bit of a built-in audience as it is based on the iconic fashion doll invented by Ruth Handler in 1959, with over a billion sold to date.

Dungeons & Dragons (Film)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dungeons & Dragons (Film) and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

While modern audiences may be more familiar with the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) tabletop game nowadays, including the recent Honor Among Thieves film, few may be aware that there was another D&D film, simply titled Dungeons & Dragons, released all the way back in 2000. The backstory behind the film is actually interesting, but the short version is that director Courtney Solomon obtained the film rights from TSR, the original D&D publisher, when he was 19. However, the film wouldn’t come to fruition for ten years, partly from most of Solomon’s ambitions, including securing big names like Francis Ford Coppola or James Cameron in the director’s chair, either rejected or toned down. As such, he had to direct it himself through his own production company, Sweetpea Entertainment, resulting in a critical and box office flop that didn’t even make back its $45 million budget. Having finally watched the film ourselves, born from curiosity after watching and enjoying Honor Among Thieves, we can personally confirm that this take on the property is best left in the dungeon where you found it.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Mario is a character who needs no introduction. Even if you’ve never played a video game before, chances are you recognize the Italian plumber, or at the very least heard of him or any of the literally hundreds of games he’s been in. He’s also no stranger to adaptations, with three dedicated TV series (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World) and two films (the animated Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! and the live-action Super Mario Bros.) under his belt. After a nearly 30-year absence from the silver screen, a second theatrical film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was announced with animation studio Illumination at the helm. Considering Illumination’s rather contentious output following Despicable Me, their first feature, their involvement invited some understandable skepticism that continued even during the first round of marketing. Mario fans can rest assured, however, knowing that in spite of the studio behind it, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, while not flawless, is indeed the film they’ve been waiting for.

Puss in Boots (2011) - Somebody Once Told Me...

Only a year after the release of Shrek Forever After, DreamWorks began releasing a series of spin-offs starring the supporting character Puss in Boots, who more or less took over the franchise for over a decade. The first entry, simply titled Puss in Boots, came out in 2011 during the studio’s partnership with Paramount, who notably distributed Kung Fu Panda, a film that influenced them to focus more on strong storytelling over celebrity cameos and pop culture references (among other aspects brought on by the success of Shrek). While I was aware of Puss in Boots, I didn’t actually watch it until the strength of its sequel, The Last Wish, fueled my curiosity in how well it stacks up by comparison. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the original isn’t as good, though it’s still pretty good on its own merits and helps demonstrate that even early on, DreamWorks’ pivot was for the better.

Oliver & Company

 

Following the financial failure of The Black Cauldron, Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg invited Disney animators to pitch ideas for future animated features. Among the many pitches, story artist Pete Young suggested “Oliver Twist with dogs”, which manifested in 1988 as Oliver & Company, the final film in Disney’s “Dark Age” of animation. Although critics had a divisive reaction on release, it still did very well enough at the box office, making an estimated $121 million against a budget of $31 million, enough that justified Katzenberg’s mandated yearly release schedule.

In the years since its original release, Oliver & Company has also gained a cult following, much like other overlooked Disney films like Treasure Planet or Atlantis: The Lost Empire. One key factor in this film receiving comparatively little attention, however, may be that it came out only one year before Disney’s take on The Little Mermaid, which kicked off the Disney Renaissance. Regardless, there are plenty of things to like about Oliver & Company that make it worth watching it today, even if the finished product is far from perfect.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - All That Glitters is Gold

As the Shrek franchise dwindled in popularity back in the 2000s, a process that began with the poor reception to Shrek the Third, DreamWorks officially spun of the franchise to center more around Puss in Boots, an anthropomorphic cat parody of Zorro introduced in Shrek 2. Puss, notably voiced by Antonio Banderas, first received a theatrically-released spin-off, Puss in Boots, back in 2011, then a perhaps lesser-known Netflix series, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, which ran from 2015 to 2018. During Puss’ time in the spotlight, effectively taking over the franchise, DreamWorks had announced a Shrek 5, which has yet to see a proper release, let alone any solid news on its development.

In the meantime, Puss in Boots recently received a sequel, The Last Wish, in late 2022. Considering the 11-year gap, the announcement came as quite a surprise and I initially didn’t have much interest, as I hadn’t seen the previous film out of a lack of interest. Its very positive reception, however, convinced me otherwise and I finally saw a theatrical screening after it received an Oscar nomination for “Best Animated Feature”. As it turns out, not only does The Last Wish live up to the hype, it may have actually surpassed the quality of most of Disney and Pixar’s own output from the last few years.

Stubs - Plymouth Adventure

Plymouth Adventure  (1952) Starring: Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, Van Johnson, Leo Genn, Lloyd Bridges. Directed by Clarence Brown. Screenplay by Helen Deutsch. Based on the novel The Plymouth Adventure by Ernest Gebler (New York, 1950). Produced by Dore Schary. Run time: 105 minutes. Color. USA. Adventure, Romance.

The landing of the Mayflower in New England is one of the touchstone moments in American History. It is from this settlement that many of the ideals we hold dear to an American way of life were born, including religious freedom and a government of the people by the people and for the people.

This very historical event gets a fictionalized treatment in Plymouth Adventure while still basically telling the story of the Pilgrim's journey to the New World. Based on Ernest Gebler’s 1950 novel of the same name, many real-life people, including John Howland, with whom I am related, are either ignored or mushed together into other characters, it’s hard to tell. There are some real figures who are represented in the film: John Alden, Miles Standish, William Brewster, Edward Winslow, William Butten, etc., so it’s a little like the film Titanic (1997), in which real life and fiction are mixed together as if the real-life story wasn’t interesting enough.

Stubs - Pinocchio (1940)

Pinocchio (1940) Voices of Dickie Jones, Cliff Edwards, Christian Rub, Walter Catlett. Directed by Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, David Hand (Supervising Directors). Screenplay by Ted Sears, Webb Smith, Joseph Sabo, Otto Englander, William Cottrell, Erdman Penner, Aurie Battaglia (Story Adapted by). Based on the novel L'avventure di Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (Rome, 1882). Produced by Walt Disney (Presented by). USA Run time: 87 min. Animated, Fantasy

Work on Disney's second animated feature began while Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was being completed in 1937. But as soon as 1938, there was talk that Bambi would be the second animated film released as there were story difficulties with Pinocchio. Disney discarded 2300 feet of the film, or what is believed to have been 5 months of work. This was apparently footage supervised by David Hand, who would not receive onscreen credit when the film was released.

Pinocchio’s look was probably part of the problem, as according to Bob Jones, the supervisor of the department at Disney to design and manufacture character models, “at least 12 Disney artists struggled over an 18-month period--each contributing their own ideas--before the design [for Pinocchio] was finalized."

Jiminy Cricket was a bit of an afterthought. There is a cricket in Collodi’s original story, but rather than being the puppet boy's conscience, the puppet kills the cricket. Naming him Jiminy, Disney asked his artists to create a cricket who looked "like a human being" and "talked and wore clothes."

All-in-all, a contemporary study guide for the picture stated that 2,000,000 drawings were created, of which 300,000 were used in the final film. The budget was $2.5 million, much of which went into the scenes filmed by the multiplane camera, single sequences of which cost up to $48,000.

The film had its premiere in New York on February 7, 1940, and was in general release on February 23, 1940. While the film is now considered a classic, when it was first released, the film was considered a box-office bomb. Such were the times, when World War II cut off Europe and Asian markets. The film didn’t turn a profit until its 1945 re-release.

Stubs - Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) Starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis. Directed by Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert. Screenplay by Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert. Produced by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang. Run time: 140 minutes. Color. USA Absurdist, Science Fiction, Adventure, Comedy-Drama

Multiverses seem to be all the rage recently with such films as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) all taking shots at the concept. While the superhero movies have been hit and miss with it another entry into the genre succeeds; Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known collectively as Daniels.

Stray (PS5)

Those who have seen the initial PS5 reveal may remember an announcement for a game called Stray, in which you play as a stray cat. Of the announcements at the reveal, this was one that instantly caught my attention, though I opted not to look at anything else related to it until it came out, and even then, I patiently waited for a physical release first. Although I didn’t have any expectations going in, my patience paid off and I found the short experience worth it.

101 Dalmatians (1996)

Note: This review contains spoilers for 101 Dalmatians (1961) and 101 Dalmatians (1996).

Long before Disney’s current stream of unnecessary live-action remakes, they had dabbled in a scant few. One of these was 101 Dalmatians, the 1996 remake of the 1961 animated classic One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Although this remake evidently did well enough to spawn a sequel, 102 Dalmatians, critics weren’t too fond of it, at least according to the 41% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which calls it as a “bland and pointless remake” in the critic consensus. Among many other films from the 90s, the live-action 101 Dalmatians is one that I have a vague memory of watching as a young child, but no real memory of the actual content. After watching the original animated film again not too long ago, I felt more in the mood to give the remake a real watch and, to my surprise, it was a bit better than I thought it would be.