Coco review

COCO:

A VISUAL MARVEL THAT STRUMS YOUR HEARTSTRINGS LIKE A GUITAR AND FILLS YOU WITH EMOTION!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

DISNEY/PIXAR

Miguel and his family in Disney/Pixar’s Coco

            One day some executives from Pixar Animation Studios saw The Book of Life and thought “Not only can we do that but we’re going to make it even better!”. That’s where their latest animated feature, Coco comes in based around the Day of the Dead and focuses on a person with a music passion and a guitar, been there done that.

            While I thought Book of Life was a solid animated film, Coco pretty much knocked it to the ground. This movie is incredible with gorgeous animation, imaginative artistry dead or alive, a colorful cast of characters, and a story that shows the importance of family, culture, life, and death in a family-friendly yet very mature and effective way.

            The film follows a young boy in Mexico named Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez-The Bridge, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders) who is aspiring to become a musician and follow in the footsteps of his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voiced by Benjamin Bratt-Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, Despicable Me 2, Doctor Strange). Unfortunately, his family has a generations-old ban on music and forbids Miguel to pursue that dream and would rather have him work as a shoemaker.

            Determined to prove himself, Miguel finds Ernesto’s guitar, plays it, and magically ends up in the Land of the Dead. Along the way he meets a charming trickster named Hector (voiced by Gael García Bernal-Bad Education, The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel) and together they embark on an incredible journey to unlock the truth about his family’s history.

            The film also features the voices of Alanna Ubach (The Brady Bunch Movie, Legally Blonde, Rango) as Mamá Imelda, Renée Victor (Weeds, ER, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones) as Abuelita Elena, Alfonso Arau (Run Cougar Run, Romancing the Stone, Three Amigos) as Papá Julio, Selene Luna (The Cho Show, My Bloody Valentine 3D, Star-ving) as Tia Rosita, Jaime Camil (Zapata, Jane the Virgin, The Secret Life of Pets) as Papá Enrique, Sofía Espinosa (Capadocia, Gloria, Hasta Que Te Conoci) as Mamá Luisa, Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner, Stand & Deliver, 2 Guns) as Chicharrón, Carla Medina (Zapping Zone, Toy Story 3) as Tia Gloria, sprinter, Roberto Donati as Papá Franco, Luis Valdez (Which Way Is Up?, La Bamba, The Cisco Kid) as Tio Berto, Natalia Cordova-Buckley (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., McFarland, USA, Bates Motel) as Frida Kahlo, and John Ratzenberger (Superman I and II, Toy Story trilogy, Cars trilogy) as Juan Ortodoncia.

            Overall, Coco is a visually dazzling and emotional journey that takes a concept we’ve seen before in movies and manages to make something completely original out of it. I was hardly thinking about The Book of Life while I was watching this movie aside from a few comments, I was too busy being entranced in this eye-candy world that Pixar created and I was laughing and crying along for the ride.

            The animation is absolutely beautiful and the designs of the worlds are filled to the brim with imagination, and I’m not just talking about the Land of the Dead here. Despite the film taking place in a fictional village in Mexico the design of it seems extremely legit through its colors and lightings and depictions of Mexican culture, definitely looks like Pixar was doing its homework.

            The Land of the Dead is ironically very lively and overflowing with color and seeing all this imagination and magic on the big-screen makes you feel like you’re really there. It’s also very reminiscent of other Disney and Pixar fictional worlds from films like Monsters Inc. or Zootopia.

            What truly steals the show is the story and how it tackles themes of family, culture, life, and death in a poignant and intelligent way. This could easily be dumbed-down and clichéd fluff morals just for kids but through clever writing, strong characters, and unexpected twists and turns, you get an inspiring animated film that can touch the hearts of even the biggest sourpusses.

            Coco is up there with the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, Up, and Inside Out as one of the best Pixar films I’ve ever seen. Don’t be fooled by its cutesy marketing, there is something for everyone here and a worthy film to watch with your entire family after a big Thanksgiving meal.

            This is my go-to family film of the year after some underwhelming and even terrible duds in the family animation genre. I tolerated Cars 3 and Despicable Me 3 as serviceable family films and despised The Emoji Movie and The Nut Job 2, but unlike any of those movies Coco offers beautiful animation, engaging characters, and a powerful story that shows that Pixar respects children and they respect adults as well.

Justice League review

JUSTICE LEAGUE:

A FUN BUT AWKWARDLY EXECUTED INSTALLMENT OF THE DC EXTENDED UNIVERSE THAT DOESN’T QUITE DO THE FRANCHISE “JUSTICE”!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

(From left to right) The Flash, Superman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Aquaman in DC’s Justice League

            After a series of blunders and the unexpected critical success of Wonder Woman earlier on this year, we finally reach the movie the DC Extended Universe was building up to, Justice League. Marvel has already proved that superhero team-ups can be done well with their Avengers movies so it makes sense for DC to try and do the same since they own some of the most beloved and iconic superhero characters of all time.

            Now I really, REALLY wanted to give this movie a chance because I love most of these characters. I may not have read all their comics but through other movies, cartoons, and even live-action TV shows every member of the Justice League have their own special places in my heart.

            Wonder Woman gave me a glimmer of hope that the DC Extended Universe was starting to get on the right track and I was open to see the Justice League movie despite Cyborg, Aquaman, and Flash movies not yet existing. Unfortunately, director, Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead (2004), 300, Watchmen) didn’t take notes while watching Wonder Woman and we have yet another disjointed and awkward installment of the franchise.

            I understand Snyder was having rough times with this film due to family issues that interfered and hopefully this doesn’t stop him from making movies. Fortunately, this movie is better than most of the other DC films in the franchise, has a much lighter tone compared to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, and there are attempts at being silly and funny which makes sense because they brought in Avengers director, Joss Whedon to finish the movie while Snyder was out (What a friend?) but because they both have different directing styles it feels cluttered in its execution.

            After the “Death of Superman” we find Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck-The Town, Argo, Gone Girl) enlisting the help of his new friend and ally, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot-Fast & Furious franchise, Date Night, Triple 9) to face an even greater enemy. An alien military officer known as Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds-Excalibur, Road to Perdition, There Will Be Blood) has been unleashed and plots to conquer and rebuild the world with the combined powers of the Mother Boxes (Think of them as 3 Tesseracts or Allsparks) for his lord and master, Darkseid.

            Bruce and Diana recruit a team of heroes consisting of Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller-Royal Pains, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa-Baywatch: Hawaii, Game of Thrones, Wolves), and Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher-The Astronaut Wives Club) to combat Steppenwolf’s wrath, however they might need to resurrect their fallen hero, Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill-The Tudors, Stardust, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) to even stand a chance in this battle (PS that’s not a spoiler because they already ruined it in the marketing and in Batman v. Superman).

            The film also stars Amy Adams (Enchanted, The Fighter, American Hustle) as Lois Lane, Jeremy Irons (The Lion King, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Margin Call) as Alfred Pennywise, Diane Lane (Chaplin, Inside Out, Trumbo) as Martha Kent, Connie Nielsen (Rushmore, Gladiator, The Good Wife) as Hippolyta, and J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man trilogy, Whiplash, Zootopia) as Commissioner James Gordon.

            Overall, Justice League is a mixed-bag of a superhero movie, while it has plenty of good things in it like the cast, a good chunk of the humor, much more color compared to Snyder’s other work, and plenty of chaotic action, the pacing and different directing styles of Snyder and Whedon really make the film go downhill. Don’t worry this isn’t even close to being one of the worst comic book films of all time, trust me this is Christopher Nolan Dark Knight compared to Batman & Robin or Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

            However as much as I enjoyed a good chunk of this film there was a lot that left me disappointed. For starters, the character development sucks hard with the exceptions of Batman and Wonder Woman because they already had a movie that established their characters (or in Wonder Woman’s case two) and since we haven’t seen a Flash, Aquaman, or Cyborg movie yet, that leaves two hurdles the film needs to jump over, establish the new characters so the audience can grow attached to them and give all the heroes screen-time, and because of the awkward set-up of the DC Extended Universe and mediocre directing, I don’t think Justice League does that very well.

            Also, the villain is extremely forgettable which adds more to the problems with the DC Extended Universe timeline, Steppenwolf has never appeared in an earlier DC film and it feels like he just got shoehorned into the movie with very little explanation outside of a backstory told by Wonder Woman at the beginning of the film. The villain in the first Avengers movie was Loki who was already established in the Marvel franchise and unlike DC’s franchise they gave the characters and worlds time to develop before their big team-up film, I’ll remember Loki far more than Steppenwolf, Hell, I’ll go on record and say I’ll probably forget about Steppenwolf in a few days he left so little impact, never thought I’d say this but Jesse Eisenberg Lex Luthor actually would have been an improvement here because at least he was already established in the universe.

            Do I regret seeing it? No, I’m glad I saw it, Justice League isn’t a terrible movie or even that bad of a movie but there is something about it that gets on my nerves. This was supposed to be DC’s big Avengers-like team-up movie which should have been amazing and if you can’t get it right the first time and the finished product comes off as “Meh!” then clearly something is wrong.

Murder on the Orient Express review

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS:

NOT KENNETH BRANAGH’S STRONGEST BUT A SOLID REMAKE AND MYSTERY FILM OVERFLOWING WITH TALENT!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Everyone is a suspect in the Murder on the Orient Express

            Do not be fooled by the trailers, this is not a film adaptation of the board game, Clue…we already had that back in the 80s. Anyway, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh (Thor, Cinderella (2015), Dunkirk) comes a remake of the 1974 classic mystery film, Murder on the Orient Express based on the novel of the same name by Agatha Christie.

            I’m not familiar with the original book but I have seen the 1974 film adaptation before that starred Albert Finney and was directed by Sidney Lumet. It was considered a classic by many, both a financial and critical success, and even nabbed six Oscar nominations with Ingrid Bergman winning for Best Supporting Actress.

            We’re all familiar with the traditional reaction that occurs every time a beloved film gets a remake, I’M LOOKING AT YOU HAUNTING 1999! However once in a while a remake will come along that ends up being decent in its own way and sometimes even better than the original like the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, so where does Murder on the Orient Express fit in? Eh.

            This movie probably didn’t need to exist and doesn’t come close to topping the original or even being as good as it. But like the 1974 film it has a star-studded cast, gorgeous production design, and a mystery that keeps you on your toes which results in a perfectly serviceable remake.

            The film follows Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Branagh) boarding the Orient Express train for a vacation from his detective work. He makes the acquaintance of twelve other strangers on the train and it starts off as a relaxing ride.

            That is until one of the passengers is murdered and the train gets stuck in an avalanche thus delaying their arrival. Upon realizing a passenger was killed in the middle of the night Hercule must find out who the suspect is before that person strikes again, however he’s trapped on a train with twelve other people it could be anyone and he might discover a dark truth behind the murder.

            The film also stars Tom Bateman (Da Vinci’s Demons, Jekyll and Hyde, Snatched) as Bouc, Penélope Cruz (Volver, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) as Pilar Estravados, Willem Dafoe (Platoon, Spider-Man, John Wick) as Gerhard, Judi Dench (James Bond franchise, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Philomena) as Princess Dragomiroff, Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) as Samuel Ratchett, Josh Gad (Frozen, Beauty and the Beast (2017), Marshall) as Hector MacQueen, Derek Jacobi (Gosford Park, The King’s Speech, Cinderella (2015)) as Edward Henry Masterman, Leslie Odom Jr. (CSI: Miami, Big Day, Red Tails) as Dr. Arbuthnot, Michelle Pfeiffer (The Witches of Eastwick, Batman Returns, Mother!) as Caroline Hubbard, Daisy Ridley (Scrawl, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Only Yesterday) as Mary Debenham, Marwan Kenzari (Collide, Ben-Hur (2016), The Mummy (2017)) as Pierre Michel, Olivia Colman (Peep Show, Hot Fuzz, The Lobster) as Hildegarde Schmidt, Lucy Boynton (Miss Potter, Sing Street, Gypsy) as Countess Elena Andrenyi, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (One for the Road, From Dusk till Dawn: The Series, The Magnificent Seven (2016)) as Biniamino Marquez, dancer, Sergei Polunin as Count Rudolph Andrenyi, and Miranda Raison (Doctor Who, Plus One, My Week with Marilyn) as Sonia Armstrong.

            Overall, Murder on the Orient Express is a decently made remake even if it doesn’t quite capture the chills of the original or add much new to the story. If you’ve seen the 1974 film then you know exactly how it’s going to end and what’s going to happen which is both a strength and a huge flaw of the movie, it’s great if you’ve never seen the original and hopefully you’ll be shocked but outside of the production design (which is absolutely beautiful) and some of the performances this one doesn’t amount to much for people who are already familiar with the source material.

            It’s a Kenneth Branagh production after all so of course the cinematography and production design would be epic and gorgeous to look at. And damn does this guy know how to shoot winter? He manages to make the season both beautiful and creepy at the same time and I’m shocked this movie wasn’t released in IMAX because a film like this should be on a bigger screen.

            Besides the cinematography most of the performances by the film’s star-studded cast are spot on despite many of them being supporting roles especially Branagh, Depp, Pfeiffer, and Dench, they own every scene in the movie whenever they’re on-screen. It’s hard to say whether or not Kenneth Branagh surpassed Albert Finney in the role of Hercule but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t as good.

            If you’re looking for a movie that has a sense of mystery and suspense as well as impressive production design and a star-studded cast this might be worth a viewing in the cinema. However, if you’re expecting a remake of the original that expands on the source material and gives a fresh new take on the story then this might be a train to miss.