Inside Out

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Pixar Studios in association with Disney.


I might be slightly nostalgic, but I love having a cartoon before the movie. This was standard fair when I was a kid. Why do I bring it up? Because there is a pixar cartoon before Inside Out. It's called "Lava" and it's about a lonely volcano. As goofy as that premise is, the folks at Pixar made it work. It was fun and most enjoyable.

And then we get to watch a most clever and delightful film.

First of all, one might ask, "What is a slightly aged couple doing going to a children's animated film?The official excuse my wife and I came up with is "in the event we ever have grandchildren, we are making sure this film is okay for them to see." Hey, it's our story and we're sticking to it.

The film starts with the birth of a beautiful little baby. As her mother coos over her, she has a wonderful feeling....and we shift to inside her brain. And now there is someone there. It's Joy. Joy has short cropped blue hair and is always happy and looking for the upside. Soon however the baby becomes uncomfortable and starts to cry. And in the brain (officially known as 'headquarters'), we meet Sadness. Sadness is also blue. She is always down and can only see the down side of everything. As the little girl grows we are introduced to Fear, Disgust, and Anger. Let me just get the credits out of the way:
Joy: the amazing Amy Poeler, Sadness: Phyllis Smith, Fear: Bill Hader, Disgust: Mindy Kaling, Anger: Lewis Black, and an additional great character Bing Bong: Richard Kind.

The story takes us on a journey of a young girl who grows up in Minnesota and plays hockey and is suddenly uprooted and moved to San Francisco. We learn to love this girl, Riley (voice of Kaitlan Dias), as she interacts with her Mom (Diane Lane), and especially her Dad ( Kyle MacLachlan). When Joy and Sadness accidentally get sucked up out of Headquarters and end up in Long Term Memory, they gather up Riley's Core Memories and are determined to get them back to Headquarters. That is the gist of the movie.

But along the way, Riley and her Mom go to get a pizza in San Francisco and it has broccoli on it. Anger in Riley's brain screams "First the Hawaiians ruin pizza, and now you!"

Okay. After Joy and Sadness started their journey home, I had a problem at this point. I took at least TWO times longer than it needed to, to get back to Headquarters. It became overly frustrating. Great movie making until this, dummies.

But while they were in long term memory, they encountered "Bing Bong", Riley's imaginary friend when she was a kid. He was a mostly cotton candy elephant with a usable mouth. They had a lot of fun when Riley was a kid.

The story in Riley's life is that she is having great difficulty adjusting to life on the west coast, especially after joy and sadness have been sent to long term memory. In fact, she decides to go back to Minnesota.

So, see? There is drama here.

This film has many wonderful concepts, such as the library of long term memories. Whenever a memory is created, a sort of marble is manufactured and the long term ones are stored. There is also a dreaded pit of totally forgotten memories. These marbles have turned black and are discarded forever. Occasionally a crew has to go through and discard long term memories that really have no use anymore. The crew foreman was the unmistakeable voice of Paula Poundstone. That's all I know about that.

Bringing back the imaginary friend Bing-Bong was genius. And they show how he and Riley used to ride in the spaceship wagon they'd created and would fuel with "song power." And this actually becomes important eventually in the film. There are so many "outside the box" concepts here that it is really tough to review. There really isn't anything like it, or anything to compare it to. So....

This is a wonderful movie. For all ages. What a clever idea. Pixar and Disney went out on a limb with  a kind of goofy concept and wow, good going guys!

This is a wonderful movie for those of all ages. Amy Poeler as Joy, and Lewis Black as Anger. Can it get better than that? This was a delicious romp from start to finish. And as I always say at the end of one of these, "I wish Walt Disney could have seen this. He would be so thrilled."

The only flaw for me was milking the making it back to Headquarters WAY too long. For me, this kept if from being a totally tremendous motion picture.

I especially love one of the last narrated lines, "After all, she's 12 now, so what can happen from here?" And hey, don't leave during the credits! There is some wonderful stuff offered then!

See this. Make up some excuse, like my wife and I did.  It's worth it.

GRADE: A-

Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey.
PBS

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There was so much hype about this show, and people were posting how excited they were that a new season was starting, and it all seemed so contrived and weird to me. But how can one rationally criticize something they've never seen. One can in special circumstances, but this isn't one of them.

So I took the plunge and dived into the first season of Downton Abbey. I frankly didn't get why someone once again was trying to jam this format down our throats. I mean in the 70's there was "Upstairs, Downstairs", and the network version "Beacon Hill." But it is a bit like Todd Rungren releasing "Hello It's Me" again and again...."I wrote a great song, doggone it and I'll re-release until you all finally love it."

Downton Abbey is a soap opera with an unlimited budget. But that does not mean it's a bad thing. The storyline was interesting, and the costumes phenomenal, and it had Elizabeth McGovern. But after the first season I decided it wasn't my thing, and in a nonsexist way thought of it as more of a woman's story. And what wrong with that? I like women.

So I recommended it to my wife, and after only one episode she binged watched five seasons. So I think I was right. (Although she called the fourth season slow and her least favorite.)

Even though this show wasn't my thing, I cannot critically call it bad. And sure there are men that will like this and women that love the movie "Die Hard." But overall, I feel like I should just say, it wasn't for me, but that doesn't make it not good.

So if you're curious, give it a go. I found the hierarchy of the servant staff to be intriguing. The Butler is the top dog and it works its way down through Valets and Footman and Maids etc.

Worth a watch.

GRADE: B+

Dexter

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DEXTER.
Showtime

This show revolves around Miami Metro Police Department's Homicide Division. A couple of the folks that work there are the kid's of a late well respected veteran detective, Harry Morgan. Although in the beginning of the series, Deborah Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) was working vice, she eventually gets into Homicide, and in fact, as the seasons go by, she makes Lieutenant. Her step-brother Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), is on the forensics team. He is a "blood splatter analyst." And he's very good at his job.

Dexter has a secret though. When he was 3 years old, he witnessed his mother being murdered with a chainsaw. That left a profound affect on him and twisted him is such a way that he became a sociopath with a psychotic need to kill. His father Harry (the cop that rescued and later adopted him), sensed this early on, and decided to intervene as best he could. He knew there was going to be no stopping Dexter, but he (and as it turns out in the last season, a Dr.) came up with a "Code" for Dexter to live by. Harry (James Remar) started instilling it in Dexter from a very early age. Essentially the code, outlines how Dexter is to never get caught, and is to kill only those who absolutely deserve it, when the law lets them slip through the cracks. In other words, Dexter is a serial killer who only kills other serial killers.

Dexter is a guy who doesn't have feelings. He wishes he did. He carries with him what he calls his "Dark Passenger." It's that dark place inside of him that feels this overwhelming urge to kill. Along the way though he meets a woman that was severely abused and doesn't want any real male contact, and Dexter is thrilled to start dating her, because she isn't interested in any real human contact. Made to order for Dexter! Rita (Julie Benz), is standoffish at first but as time goes on she warms up to Dexter, and so much so that they eventually actually get married. In all the wedding pictures, Dexter is confused. He doesn't know what feelings he's supposed to be faking. Rita brings with her two kids, Astor (Christina Robinson), and Cody (Preston Bailey). So now Dexter is a father. And later on.....voila! Rita's pregnant and gives birth to Dexter's son Harrison! This makes it complicated for a serial killer who likes to spend a lot of evenings "out."

I cannot begin to describe all of the events and characters that come into Dexter and Deb's life. So many psychos. But there is a pivotable moment at the end of season 6 when Deb gets let in on who Dexter is, and everything changes.

Beyond that, one of the psychos Dexter encounters murders Rita, and Dexter is left alone with Harrison (the two step kids go to Grandparents).

I know this is old news because Dexter has been over for a couple years. But I watched the first season many years ago and never pursued it, but decided to go back and see it all. And man am I glad I did. Frankly, I don't know what I'm going to do without Dexter in my life.

Ironically, Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter were actually married for seasons 4, 5, and 6, and then divorced. In seasons 7 and 8 you'd never know it. They were committed professionals all the way. And there are two many great side-players here to mention them all, but they are all worthy and all deserve respect.

This is a show I loved and I am going to miss. I watched an episode every day at the gym on the treadmill as I did my 3 or 3.25 miles on the treadmill. It's over now. What am I going to do? What is there to watch?

DEXTER is a masterful work of writers coming together with directors and acting talent and the magic happened. This was an interesting idea explored to the Nth degree and I thank all the people involved in it for that. Although, I know it was set in Miami, many scenes looked amazing like Long Beach, California where I used to live........yuk-yuk

I cannot, and I mean cannot recommend this show enough. I loved every moment of this. Even when Dexter was killing. Because by killing the animals he was killing he was saving lives. And that is how weird this show is. Let's root for a serial killer!!

DEXTER explores a lot of human nuances that maybe we are uncomfortable with. And that's the beauty of this show.

Grade: A+

Jurassic World

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I put this review right after my review of "San Andreas," because they are so similar. Four separate writers had to be called in a various times to cobble together a script that was right in front of them had they watched the first "Jurassic Park." Kids, massive dinosaurs, tense situations....you get the idea.

One of the hardest things for me watching this movie was taking Chris Pitt seriously; he is such a supreme comic on "Parks and Recreation." But I guess he buffed up for "Guardians of the Galaxy" and for this movie and eventually sold me as an action hero. At one point I even thought "this guy could be an Indiana Jones type. Turns out, he will be in some up-coming Indiana Jones films.

It seems that Jurassic Park, after that terrible series of events that happened so long ago, has come back to life in the name of "Jurassic World." The management, always the bad guys in the movie world and the real world, push to get more creepy, crazy, dangerous Dinosaurs. So they finally come up the "Six Million Dollar Man" of Dinosaurs and the fun ensues.

Of course there are two kids in the mix. Did you not see the first movie? And of course they are stupid and make bad choices. That's the things movies are made of.

I have to say one thing. Even if all of these rides would have gone off flawlessly, to me, this is still the most boring park ever. Hey, please, can we go back to Knott's Berry Farm? This crap would not keep a kid entertained for more than 15 minutes. Reality check.

The park obviously creates a mega-dinosaur and then has to deal with the consequences when it gets out. Naturally. And this one doesn't kill for food, it kills for fun.

Of course it gets out, blah-blah-blah. Predictable and boring. I have to be honest. I thought 2 minutes into this film that the final scene would be the super-dino fighting the normal T-Rex. 2 minutes. I was not disappointed.

Jurassic World was a boring and predictable piece of mish-mash that will make millions and millions of dollars. But this is not good on any level.

Like my wife says, whose seen it twice says,  "It's not thought provoking. You won't have deep thoughts. It's not inspiring. But darn it, I like it." I guess I get that.  There is a definite market out there for the mindless. In fact, it's most of us.

I am ashamed of the fact that I have seen this and as of yet have not seen "The Theory of Everything." But I live in a small town and our theater only shows sure-fire hits.

Grade: C-

San Andreas

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San Andreas is not a film that will make you think deep thoughts. It does not have clever intellectual plot twists. In fact it's plot is tragically predictable. But the film does exactly what it's designed to do: Give you 114 minutes of simple escapism by way of some pretty impressive special effects.

Dwyane Johnson plays Ray, a guy who is a trained Rescue Firefighter, who was being sent to assist in a situation and then the big one hit. A giant earthquake the whole length of the San Andreas fault. From Los Angeles to San Francisco the earth has opened up. This in reality is not what would happen in this situation, but it's Hollywood. So just go with it. His estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino) is now engaged to a wealthy building developer, but Ray is sort of ok with that. Their daughter Blake (Alexandria Daddario) is in San Francisco, and is working for mom's new finance. On this particular day, a young man Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd) is interviewing for a job at the mom's boyfriend's company and he has been forced to bring along his younger brother Ollie (Art Parkinson). This happens about the time the big one makes it's way up to San Francisco.

Meanwhile, somewhere else a top meteorologist, Prof. Lawrence (Paul Giamatti) has just discovered, along with a colleague, a way to accurately predict earthquakes before they happen. Unfortunately the colleague is inside the Hoover Dam when the biggie hit, and it was strong enough to take the Dam down.

Later, after Ray and his ex have teamed up to go find their daughter (we know about 5 minutes into the movie that they are going to end up reuniting, like I say predictable), Prof. Lawrence is being interviewed by a newswoman Serena (played by the incredibly hot Archie Punjab) and later they team up to save not only themselves but potentially many other lives.

Of course, Ray and Emma get back together. Of course Blake drowns, but a couple of chest pumps brings her back to life. Of course Daniel saves Blake at one point so they'll fall in love. Of course the cowardly fiance gets his. Of course the little brother Ollie is the comic relief. So predictable. But exactly what you signed up for when you bought a ticket.

So, can I fault this movie? Not really.

It didn't promise something it didn't deliver. It was a disaster movie, and it showed us disaster. So I cannot fault that.

Perhaps the ones that are at fault for low-level cinema are us. We that buy so many tickets that these things and they make a lot of money and foster more. Perhaps it started with "A Night To Remember", and then there was "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno", and "Airport!" and the biggie "Titanic". So, we have no one to blame but ourselves. But, who's the victim? We paid for escapism, and we got it. So I guess it's all good.

I was given 114 minutes of what I paid to get. But the fact we didn't get a better movie with better actors than WWE cast outs, is our fault. But having said that, the special effects were phenomenal.

Grade: C

Paul Blart, Mall Cop 2

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Kevin James is at it again as Paul Blart, the Mall Cop that somehow in a bumbling way seems to save the day. His inflated sense of importance is part of his charm. I liked the first movie, and when the wife suggested we go see this, I didn't flinch. Kevin James has a way of entertaining one for and hour and a half no matter how mundane the storyline is.

But this is not a mundane storyline. In fact there is a lot to like about it. In the first film Paul saves the day on a Black Friday and gets the girl and apparently they were married. What we didn't get to see is that the marriage lasted nine days, and then she was out of the picture. However that is old history. In this story Paul receives a letter that he has been invited to come to a Mall Security Conference being held in Las Vegas, and since all expenses are paid, he assumes he is the keynote speaker for his heroics five years earlier in his Black Friday heroism.

As part of the convention they arrive and visit the expo where vendors are demonstrating the latest in non-lethal weaponry. There is the gun that sprays marbles all over the floor, or the gun that is an automatic rifle for bean bag ammo. Through the course of trying to check in, Paul has a lot of trouble, so he ends up talking to the hotel manager Davina (Daniella Alonso), and Paul mistakenly believes she is hitting on him and resents it. He then meets the head of hotel security Edwardo Furtillo (Edwardo Verastegis) who puts Paul down for being only a Mall cop.

Meanwhile, while all this is happening to Paul, a very wealthy patron has arrived with his entourage. Vincent (Neal McDonugh) is a high roller who lost a bundle here on his last visit, and secretly is plotting revenge. He and his crew headed by Robinson (DB Woodside) are involved in a intricate plot to swap out all the art in the hotel for duplicates, as they have a wealthy buyer waiting.

I must also mention that while Paul is in attendance he meets up with a crew of other Mall Cops that come from Malls all over America. One even comes from Mall of America. Most notably is Saul Gundermutt, who works at a Mall in Orange, New Jersey. He and his haircut are a stitch. Saul is played by Gary Valentine (who happens to be Kevin James' real life brother.)

Kevin James is once again joined by Ramis Rodriguez who plays his lovely daughter Maya like she did in the first movie. Maya has received news that she's been accepted at UCLA, but Paul has made a big deal out of the fact that without her he'd be all alone. So she is conflicted about telling him about it.

There are many more side stories going on here, and they somehow all seem to intertwine nicely. I love the corniness of Paul eventually by accident actually being the keynote speaker, and his speech says it all about his inflated sense of service to mankind. But it makes Davina fall in love with him.

And when Maya accidentally stumbles into the hands of the bad guys, Paul has to go to work. And this turns into nothing but zany fun.

Is this great cinema? No. Is this great fun? Yes.  So if you feel like letting your hair down and just being entertained and laughing a lot for an hour and a half, this is the movie for you. Kevin James is a big man, but he uses his size to his advantage, doing lots of physical sight gags that always make me laugh.

Go escape from it all for 90 minutes. It's fun.

GRADE: B+

The Last Man On Earth

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FOX

Will Forte stars as Phil Miller, the last man on Earth. He spends his days roaming from town to town but finally decides to stay awhile in Tucson, Arizona. On the off chance there is anyone left on Earth, he paints on a few billboards along the way "Alive in Tucson."

When Phil arrives in Tucson he finds a very nice home on a very wealthy cul-de-sac, and sets up residence filling it with items he as collected around the country. The carpet from the Oval Office bearing the Seal of The President of the United States, several Monets and Picassos, the Ruby Slippers, and on and on. He then goes about his daily life of being totally bored. He has a child-like mind to begin with, so he spends days building the worlds tallest Jenga tower, or donning a suit of armor and letting a tennis ball serving machine pelt him with tennis balls. He gives up on continually filling the toilet tank with water, so he cuts a round hole on the end of the swimming pools diving board and voila! A large toilet.

He creates electricity with generators and is able to watch the Tom Hanks movie "Cast Away" and during it he scoffs at Hanks talking to the volley ball Wilson. Not long afterward he's seen playing pool while all around there are balls of every ilk: volleyball, a basketball, a baseball, a ping-pong ball, and even a badminton birdie, all with faces drawn on, and all with names. He not only talks to them but they in turn somehow give him advice. Oh, and by the way Phil, they make generators that power your house, so you could have running water and the toilet would have worked....just a reminder writers....

Finally after two years of being totally lonely and bored, Phil comes to the conclusion that he can't take it anymore and decides to kill himself. He paints a big target on a boulder and while drinking a lot (which he did a lot of anyway), he puts the pedal to the metal and is speeding towards the boulder. I'm okay with that because these couple episodes were getting tedious and I was about to check out anyway. But while speeding toward his death, Phil glances to his left and hits the brakes, barely stopping before hitting the rock. Off in the distance he sees the smoke from a campfire!

After checking out the fire, Phil discovers a woman! Her name is Carol and she somehow, too, has survived. (There are vague references to "the virus"). So naturally they decide to hang together. Now, Carol is not the least bit attractive, even leaning to the homely side, and she has a nasally squeaky voice. But that's not the worst of it. She's the anal retentive annoying type that still thinks they should stop at stop signs and not park in the handicapped parking spots. All while there is no one else on Earth.

One day she comes to the conclusion that it is their responsibility to re-populate the Earth. Phil is appalled at the notion of sleeping with this woman, and even says "I wouldn't sleep with you if you were, and we know you are, the last woman on Earth" but eventually, finally, reluctantly agrees. But then of course in Carol's world this means they have to get married first. Phil is flabbergasted because really, what's the point? But finally, what the hey, what real difference does it make? They are the last two people on Earth after all. So they get married in their own little ceremony in a Church, her in full Wedding gown, he in a tee shirt and shorts. She then used crayons to draw their wedding pictures because apparently we don't know how to fire up a generator and use a computer to download pictures. Any now they are "married" and Carol loves the sex but Phil is appalled. It ain't good.

One day they are driving along and out of nowhere BAM!! They get hit by another car!! And when the dust clears, out of this car steps an exquisitely beautiful blonde bombshell. Her name is Melissa (played by January Jones, Mrs. Draper to "Mad Men" fans), and this is where it got interesting. I decided to hang with this show.

Phil is so in love with Melissa it hurts, but now he's married and this provides lots of comic opportunities. And Phil is truly a bumbling idiot, not even worthy of Carol, but he tries to woo Melissa, who is put off because he's married to Carol after all. And she would have been put off anyway, because he's a jerk. (This is a guy that likes to paint the walls in his house by feeding full paint cans into a wood chipper). And the plot thickens and thickens and thickens. In very, very funny ways.

I have seen all the episodes available, and encouraged my bride to take a look too. She liked it and binged watched them all. I don't know if this was just a one-season wonder, but it is definitely worth a look. Phil Miller is a one of a kind. Will Forte is an old alum of Saturday Night Live, and has written for lots of shows, and he is very good here. I don't want to say much more about the show, because I don't want to give too much away, but there are lots of funny things going on here.

If you get a chance, check this out. I think you'll enjoy it.


Grade: B