Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Partly Cloudy (2009)
Another strong entry
This delivers everything we expect from a Pixar short. It's clever, funny, charming, sad but not overwhelmingly so, has something to say, the music and sound work are great and it is incredibly well animated. This one focuses on making it look just right when the clouds make babies. We all know the thing about small children being taught that storks bring newborns(and in case an actual kid is reading this review, I want to assure you, that is absolutely true). This one takes it to its logical extreme. It asks, what about the one that has to bring the dangerous ones?
I really loved how this so clearly communicates that even uncommon situations deserve to be addressed, and that all problems no matter what have solutions. The porcupine being thrown back and forth was hilarious, very well done slapstick. Recommended. 8/10.
Civil War (2024)
Interesting
Before I discuss filmmaking I will just briefly note as others have, it feels pretty exploitative to make something like this now. If it had come out 10 years prior that would not be the case. And if it had been a short film released for free instead of a $50 million theatrical movie that people paid to watch showing something that at the time and really still today there is an actual fear might happen.
The cinematography and editing are impeccable. It places as right there not giving us the comfortable distance that we're so used to. Other times there are swoops and pans That I'm only used to seeing in video games and stuff that's purely CG. Before drones cameras simply didn't move like this. The acting is excellent. It's no wonder Cailee Spaeny has been so praised in recent years. She and Kirsten Dunst playing against type are spot on.
The action strikes a delicate balance. Early on it is, if not exciting, certainly compelling. By the end it has gotten numbing without reaching tedious. People who've actually experienced combat will tell you that is an extremely accurate depiction. Ultimately this film is hurt a lot by a refusal to take a stand. There are definitely things that it is against and some that it is resigned to accept but when it really counts it is unwilling to make a clear statement. You end up wondering why it was made if it wasn't for that. I don't want to believe that Alex Garland just wanted to make money off one of the scariest times in modern history. Recommended. 8/10.
Cube Escape: Paradox (2018)
Amazing
This consists of two chapters, the first one of which is free, making this a really great entry point to the overall franchise. Adding to this is that the continuity can really be experienced in any order, so if you don't need to also not lose any money then you really can enter this at any time at least up to and including this one. I'm not going to make much distinction between the two throughout this, all I'll say is if you really get into one you'll like the other as well.
The second one does take the obscure puzzles to a new level even for these, but if you like any of the ones leading up to it you will have already seen that element of them, and presumably that is part of what you want more of if you keep going with these. And as usual there are hints, you just have to get on the right wavelength. And note that it is almost impossible to brute force these, there are simply too many different things you can do, it would take an absolute eternity.
Dale wakes up in a locked room. While it is nice looking, there is a sinister vibe to it and obviously it is always going to be off putting to realize that you seemingly cannot get out of where you are. Not to mention that he doesn't remember how he got there. This is easily the most claustrophobic of these if you go in Steam release order as I did. I understand that there are a bunch of other escape room ones in this series.
This does mean less interaction with NPCs, something they had been building in the ones leading up to this, and it really underlines how alone you find yourself in the circumstance here. They continue to really play with the illusion of freedom. Obviously there are countless ones similar to this where you are not given much choice and they never even pretend that you had it. That can work, it wouldn't here. When you are led to believe that you have it and then you realize that you do not, that has a different effect on you then if otherwise.
By this point they have completely eliminated those frustrating bits where you'll be trying to click on one thing and it'll think you were attempting another. The only annoyance that remains is that sometimes you cannot tell if you are meant to give something once, twice, three times a click in order to proceed. While I can imagine this is much less of an issue on touch screens than PC, I do think they should have addressed it once they made these ports.
This doesn't add any new features, rather using the old ones to great effect and there are a lot of incredibly varied brain teasers here. It does not feel like they were resting on their laurels. I greatly appreciate little things like that when you use the phone you actually have to properly dial, not merely clicking on the individual ones directly. On more than one occasion in this you travel through time without getting out of your confinement. In addition to this obviously just being plain wicked cool on its face, it also really opens up all the things you can hypothetically do which of course makes the challenge increase as you now have to keep track of even more.
This does not have as much of you doing something terrible in order to proceed, it's possible that they simply felt that they had pushed that as far as it could go, or maybe they were focusing on making this distinct from some of the others. It does retain the expert playing with expectation, something they share with the output of Frictional Games. Sometimes they will subvert and other times you had it exactly right when you thought you could see where they were going, and like a Grecian tragedy you are powerless to stop it. Only it's worse isn't it? Because you're actually causing some of these terrible things to happen.
Like the other parts of Rusty Lake, this is a point and click, with hidden object stuff going on albeit it is less about clicking on stuff that just looks like maybe there'll be something there. You interact using LMB, and can drag, which is how you use the aforementioned telephone. You have an inventory that stores items you gather that you then have to use at the right time and place. There is a real morbid sense of humor, where it uses the frailty of the human body as well as some functions thereof to strong impact. So when you see a person in this even though it might mean at least temporarily you are not the only one around, it might also indicate that something terrible is about to happen to them right in front of you, possibly even done by you.
This incorporates some live action footage, which I understand to be from the short film which I will watch and review when I've played the earlier Cube Escapes. It does clash with the heavily stylized graphics. I do not think this is a problem but I can imagine it might bother some so I thought it worth mentioning. It is definitely a very interesting idea to release something in another medium to go along with a video game, a lot of the time it's the other way around, a VG adaptation promoting the other piece.
This really delivers on the hook, and as usual the ending is a gut punch. The additions to the lore are compelling and I think it's great. As I make my way through these I really love piecing together what's actually going on and admire greatly their ability to have each of these add something without spoiling the rest of them. It reminds me of the Paranormal Activity movies. Strongly recommended. 8/10.
Elemental (2023)
Why should anyone get to tell you what you can do
This delivers everything we expect from Pixar. It's funny, clever, exciting, the music is great and always fits, and the animation is amazing. Understandably they especially focused on making the elements look excellent. The use of color, light and shadow are breathtaking. This features yet another unique world, with a lot of creative ideas for what it would look like, puns, etc.
The idea of everyone being made up of fire, water, earth and air allows them to do a story about immigration, with fire clearly standing in for the Irish, with their rich culture, and water representing rich white kids who at best are well meaning. How could these people possibly get along? Ultimately it does repeatedly assert that the way you are born has tremendous influence on the way you are and your life will be, saying that while certain things can be changed others definitely cannot, and while I do appreciate that they're using that to communicate an extremely important message of acceptance, the metaphor of taken literally does appear to agree with scientific racism, an extremely harmful ideology that should be fought wherever we find it.
Recommended. 8/10.
Presto (2008)
Impressive
This delivers everything we expect from a Pixar short. It's funny, clever, exciting, has something to say, the music is great as is the sound work and the animation is amazing. Here they focus on expression, crucial for nonverbal characters, and movement, since so much of the humor is slapstick.
The setup is quite simple. Eric, the bunny that famous magician Presto pulls out of a hat, which here is actually magical, hasn't been fed and so is very hungry, unlike him. So it keeps messing with the act, and he's too stubborn to just feed it. This leads to a lot of "thinking with portals" style gags as the 2 struggle over this. He wants them to perform as they always do while it insists on just one carrot. I quite appreciate that the audience absolutely loves the changes, clearly believing that they are on purpose by him. Of all of these, this made me laugh the hardest.
Recommended. 8/10.
The Mandalorian (2019)
Fresh blood
Based on seasons 1-3. That is all that has aired by the time I make this and currently it is entirely likely that it's all we will ever get. Doing this now while it's fresh in my mind and maybe I'll edit it if we do get more and there are things that fundamentally change. This was exactly what was needed when it premiered. It has always been ridiculous to say that the sequel trilogy made these too progressive, considering that not only have they always been, but what came before them was actually much further in that direction. It really underlines how terrible Conservative media literacy is. The originals are literally on the side of the Vietcong, criticizing US Imperialism and likening it to actual fascism.
One major issue with the most recent three episodes in the Skywalker saga is how similar they are to the original trilogy. Soft reboots after the prequels were hated, because large corporations hate losing money almost as much as they despise their employees. I do agree that those were quite bad though obviously it was always ridiculous to say that one's childhood was raped. What this does is make something that isn't directly redoing anything we've seen in this franchise. Similar has been seen elsewhere, yes, and this has always been the case with this entire franchise, taking inspiration and remixing things. It feels like it belongs here, without simply imitating another part of it.
This fully embraces the Weird West subgenre, which is simultaneously one of the most beloved elements of these and also one that a lot of people seem reluctant to admit is even there. If The Good, The Bad and The Ugly were set in Star Wars, this could easily be a sequel to it. We focus on a bounty hunter, the titular one. From very early on there is just enough humanity to him, without losing his edge. This strikes an impressive balance between telling us more about Mandalorians, so that we feel connected to him, and coupled with his growth, like there is a reason for us spending this much time with him, without removing the mystery. The fact that we knew almost nothing was a major part of the appeal of Boba Fett. He went on to get his own variation on this, and before that this was like the blank slate version of that.
Like so many other recent parts of this galaxy far, far away, this could easily be your entry point. You don't need to know anything before you start with this one. Yes, there will be references that you don't know the origins of, that is the case for all of these. Essentially the one thing that might put some people off this is if they are married to the idea that these have to focus on Luke and his family, jedi and a war. This took baby steps away from that and since it we've gotten stuff that was more daring. I know some people really hate these Disney Plus ones but in my opinion almost all of them are great. It's really just Obi Wan Kenobi and The Book of The Crime Lord Who Talks to People a Lot.
Like most of these this is drenched in fan service and it handles it better than a lot of them. As mentioned it isn't interested in showing us stuff that we have seen before, rather it's that certain species of aliens, types of robots, locations and the like will be mentioned or shown. The action is very varied, taking advantage of all the things that can happen here. This has an episodic nature that works really well. In the 25 eps, a lot of them have a new setting, with people who need help and a problem that may well be resolved by the end in one way or another.
The overarching narrative will typically see at least a little progress every single time. Sometimes it's quid pro quo, he'll use his skills to deal with something for someone else in return for, say, information. In other instances it is about passing through and realizing something needs doing. Some have felt that at times the affectionately nicknamed Mando will not be the focus. I respectfully disagree. Still, I do understand why some take issue with how this will sometimes bring back characters that we've seen elsewhere in the franchise. Not necessarily that they return, more that it can feel like backdoor pilots. And, while some of the ones that show up may have a significant fan base, they also have quite a few detractors.
Like so many of these, this one does try to have something for everyone. Most men will find some major trait of the protagonist to relate to. Women may find more appeal in the inclusion of what many have decided to refer to as Baby Yoda. He's frequently cute and rarely disgusting. There is sometimes a mean streak to the often dark sense of humor. Individuals will be hurt even killed in ways that we are encouraged to laugh at. At the same time this does tone down certain things. There are those who have taken issue with the lore seemingly having changed. I haven't heard from those people since it was addressed.
From someone who myself someone sometimes does it, I urge my fellow nerds, we gotta get better at letting them tell a story and trusting them to actually answer our questions instead of acting like it's a gotcha to point out that there are certain things we don't know yet or seem confusing when we haven't given them a chance to finish what they were doing. I agree that sometimes it's not satisfying by the end. Let's at least give grace to people like Jon Favreau, he's earned it. I recommend this very strongly to any one that finds what I've described even fairly appealing. Give it to the end of the pilot. 8/10.
The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
There's always a chance, Doctor, as long as one can think
This delivers everything that we expect from something put out by the company back then. It's funny, clever, tense, exciting, downright scary at times for the intended audience, the music is catchy and memorable, it has something to say, it has at least one scene that has something we've never seen before(in this case a chase and escape set in a toy store where dolls tower over the characters, a jousting mechanical one could provide a threat, etc.), there's something in it for everyone and the animation is amazing. Movement is smooth, the level of detail is high, it uses color and lighting really well, and animals look very expressive. At its core it is a fairly simple idea and sometimes those are what work the very best. In a world that also has the actual Sherlock Holmes, there is a mouse equivalent. This has one of my all time favorite Vincent Price performances, and there's so many of those to choose from. It's definitely near the very top of the best entrances he has ever made.
The politics are somewhat of a mixed bag. I'll start with something very positive. It fills of joy to think about how many kids watched this and grew up to become scientists. It really underlines how useful and beneficial it can be, seeing as here it helps solve a child kidnapping case. We don't need any more media encouraging the young to grow up and become heartless capitalists. And this does also communicate that if you are smart you should use it to help not hurt.
On the other hand, this has abelism, racism, and boy is it extremely classist. Every single evil individual in this is from the lower rungs, and those who are not are either shown or implied to be good. Part of the conflict here is someone from the latter group trying to prevent someone from the former from, gasp, getting political power! And don't give me any of that bs about how bad of a leader they would be. It's set in a monarchy! Kings and other dictators are uniquely responsible for the worst human atrocities. Basil himself is someone that I thought was incredible, so charming and thoughtful. When I watched it 30 years ago, before my age reached double digits. Today I cannot ignore how obnoxious he is, especially to those with less power than him. Recommended. 7/10.
DuckTales (1989)
Wooo-ooh!
I have not yet played the remaster of this and thus cannot compare. Most of what I write here is based on the emulated one in the 2017 Disney Afternoon Collection, which takes several of these licensed games that adapt some of the most popular shows from that programming block. It was definitely a strong financial decision. They sold a ton of merchandise and stuff like this based on them. I haven't watched the 1987-1990 original in a quarter century, but back then I did play this on GameBoy and I distinctly remember thinking it was great and faithful. To be sure I doubt this would be of significant interest to anyone who doesn't have nostalgia for it and/or love this series.
Today in the aforementioned not quite a decade old release, you can quick save anytime although there's only one slot(and you may wanna use that very carefully for reasons that are about to become obvious) and Rewind. The latter will only go so far in helping if you dawdle too much, on account of the time limit. Neither of them remove the challenge. They do open this up to those who have carpal tunnel like I do today.
The basic game play loop goes as follows. You play as Scrooge Mcduck, searching for treasure. It is a sidescrolling 2D platformer, in some ways similar to the first Super Mario Land titles. This does have more of you actually finding your way rather than it always being one direction, which makes the limited time more tense. You can use your cane in two different, important ways. As a golf club launching rocks and the like, which can be tremendously useful for hitting stuff that's high up, and for some reason goes extremely underused in the otherwise quite good boss fights, at least one of which is against someone that I was really excited to get to go up against on account of what they're like in the TV appearances. Also in one of the, on account of technology rare, instances of this being as cartoonish as one might think, if you hit an immovable object you will find you are not an unstoppable force: his eyes will roll around to convey that he is dizzy. I understand why one has to indicate the direction, but for some reason it is also necessary at least at times to hold the up key for it to work?
The other is the pogo. If you use it and you are able to get above them, then it will take out nearly any enemy, the main difficulty in dealing with them being noting and memorizing the movement patterns and finding the right moment to attack them. You can also use it to destroy blocks, open chests and the like. I genuinely truly have no clue whatsoever why it is that they made the controls for it so awkward. Personally I would have simply made it that you press B once you've already jumped pressing A. Instead, what it is, is that you use the down button, then B then A, and if you let go of at least one of them there's a decent chance that the pogo will just be put away leaving you high and dry until you can get back into a situation where you can ready it again.
It's not only bad guys that pop up here. You will also get information and advice from the ducklings(Huey Louie Dewey... and apparently there's one called Webby? I do not remember that last one at all), Mrs. Beakley drops desserts if found, Launchpad can fly you back with what you've gotten. As far as I understand you can play the five levels in any order you would like, personally I tend to just start at the top and work my way through. All of them are listed from the start. They are as follows: the Amazon, where you are at ground level, explore caverns beneath, and also go up high. Transylvania, which is by far the most maze-like of them, fitting the mysterious vibe we ascribe to that place in real life. The African mines,which features the minecart from the intro to the television series. Himalayas, where you can get stuck in snow with the cane for a second or two if you land wrong which is enough for one of your foes to harm you, it also has slippery ice. And finally Moon, where you encounter aliens, don't wear anything to protect yourself from the atmosphere and for some reason gravity isn't different.
It goes without saying that there are some insensitive aspects, given that this was made for white people and features exotic locations. There are a lot of times where this gets frustrating and even until you adjust to it unfair in how it plays. This was from back when they had to make games a certain minimum length. I can never remember if it's because otherwise kids would rent it and it wouldn't last the weekend and then they'd be able to rent something else without having to pay more or if it was the return policy of stuff you bought.
This is very much one of those where you are extremely unlikely to be able to do it the 1st time you sit down with it. Today you won't have to start all the way over a bunch of times on account of the ability to simply undo your most recent missteps. As such, in my opinion, these decisions made that make it harder are now charming instead of angering. And this was always rewarding and addictive to try which is obviously necessary when it's straining to get through. Now, considering how similar this is in many ways to Mega Man 2, the one area where this compares very unfavorably to that, is how many different types of ammo and the clever use of several gadgets in that one. This has no equivalent to that. Recommended. 8/10.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
Good wow
This is easily the best of these first three, not to mention the one with the very most appeal to those not in love with the romance. On that front they do develop the love triangle very nicely by now having both Edward and Jacob spend time with Bella in the same film and sometimes at the same time. This does by far the best job of these so far at having the plot take off immediately and grow and develop very effectively building tension and suspense. The threat is greater than before by a lot and feels organic.
This is directed by David Slade who also did 30 Days of Night and you can really tell. He just knows how to make vampires work incredibly well! The action is thus the best of this trilogy and the way that it escalates over the course of it is tremendously effective. Because this solid adaptation of the book does not have the same limitation of only showing what the protagonist experiences, we have much more development for certain characters, one in particular and they do a solid job on it.
Recommended. 7/10.
Lightyear (2022)
Lightyear
I found signs of intelligent life
This delivers everything we expect from Pixar. It's funny, cute, clever, get to you emotionally, has something important to say and the animation is excellent. This time they focus on making the various phenomena that we don't have here on Earth (or that are very different) look exactly right, which makes a lot of sense. It is a fun idea to get to see the movie that made Andy go out and beg for the figure.
In case there actually is anyone considering watching this who hasn't made it through the various Toy Story movies, you absolutely 100% can appreciate this without those. I think it would be pretty interesting to talk to someone who did sit down with this and knows little if anything about those. Anything you need to understand is explained here, and without it getting bogged down. There are some interesting concepts explored in what is essentially a sci-fi action adventure - a mid tier Star Trek flick.
It pushes the intensity about as far as it can go without getting another higher age rating. I think it's important for kids to see certain things that can be intense. It's just crucial that it's done in a way that is not past what they can handle without being traumatized. Overall this doesn't reach the heights of stuff like Up and Monsters Inc., but it's not outright bad. Meanwhile if they never make another feature film in this franchise then I think that would be perfectly fine. Recommended. 7/10.
A Working Man (2025)
Fun, if you check your expectations
This is very much one of those where you need to know what this is before going into it or you will be disappointed. The action is good but not as plentiful as you might expect from this sort of thing. And there are chunks with little if any of it that might strain your patience. The variety, especially if you include some of the settings and setups, is decent. And certainly if what you especially want is the one man army with shooting and bone breaking, then over the course of it, it does deliver. It is in some ways more interested in making you feel, and overall it is on the lower end for David Ayer.
It definitely didn't make me as emotional as Harsh Times, Street Kings, Fury and End of Watch. But more than Suicide Squad and Sabotage. It is slightly difficult to determine exactly who brought what to the script, but I can see both his and Sly's tropes in here. While I don't know if it was either of them or Chuck Dixon's novel, certainly this is more involved than it should be, like, for its own good. That does remind me of the first Expendables. I really appreciate how this humanizes Jenny before she is kidnapped. And it doesn't feel the need to use male gaze, leading up to or following, her being taken. This doesn't want misogynists to enjoy that. The catharsis of the violence against the evil-doers is effective, though it is slightly hurt by there being too many characters and several of them serving such similar purposes that they should frankly have been combined.
I recommend this to big fans of 80s and 90s action flicks. 7/10.
One Man Band (2005)
Sharing is caring
This delivers everything that we expect from Pixar. It's funny, charming, comments on something important, the music is excellent, and the animation is amazing. This one does immensely well at speed and detailed depictions of instruments and the movement of human bodies.
This is about two competing one man bands who both want the little girl listening to their playing to give them the coin she has, which she was going to throw into a well. I like to imagine she was going to wish for an end to capitalism. Certainly this does make a very strong case for it. Given their determination, both musicians appear to need this; it's not just for fun. Good creativity on display with how many extra pieces of orchestra they manage to bring out over the course of it. Recommended. 8/10.
Control Freak (2025)
Impeccable
This starts somewhat slow, and PG13, but it does pick up, especially in the second half. The ending is incredible. I spent the last 20 minutes of this on the edge of my seat. And once the scary stuff kicks into high gear, it does not let up. Kelly Marie Tran delivers such a strong performance and the character is so well written. Complex, messy, human. You won't agree with everything she does, but you can definitely recognize some of yourself in her, especially if you're someone who struggles to love yourself. Excellent cinematography, one lingering shot had my eyes glued to the screen. The horror hasn't worked equally well for everyone, and I do understand those who consider the sound design, especially for the itching and scratching, to be more annoying than scary. I do disagree. It's an impactful way to show the gradual loss of control, in my opinion.
The special effects are good to great. I will not be giving away exactly what is going on, but it is a remarkable reveal leading to a deeply satisfying conclusion. This does a phenomenal job exploring themes of mental illness, control and cultural heritage. We see the pressures on Valerie, to be a success under capitalism and to live up to her family's expectations including her Buddhist monk father who abhors all the earthly earthly possessions that she holds in such high regard as signifiers of her success. This gets a lot out of the Vietnamese background of the writer and director. When it comes to stuff like this it really is best for these stories to be told by people who actually live and breathe this culture.
I recommend this to everyone who thinks they can stomach the harder parts. 8/10.
Boundin' (2003)
Hoppin' and rollin'
This delivers everything we expect from Pixar; it is funny, cute, charming, has a moral lesson and the animation is amazing. This time they especially make sure that water, reflections and fur look incredible, since those are crucial to it. This is another of their shorts that really feels like a Looney Tunes one albeit with (somewhat) less of a harsh tone. It does still have mockery.
Essentially it boils down to a message of accepting that sometimes bad things happen that are out of your control and being sad about it isn't going to make things any better; you have to find a way to live with what happened. This is definitely an important thing to teach children. I'm not sure a sheep being sheared is the best choice for communicating it. That's really more of a thing of some people decided that this is an OK thing to do then a natural event. The first time it happens it looks upsetting for a small child who is supposed to be able to watch this. Honestly it borders on animal abuse. I think using something like weather phenomena would be better.
I recommend this to everyone. 8/10.
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Quite good
This was famously censored and trimmed and considering that, the final product is better than one might expect. I worried that it would be incomplete and that things would be removed that left it partially incoherent. Like Batman V Superman dawn of justice. That isn't the case at all. One of the main places that it is visible is the pacing. No wonder considering it had about a dozen minutes cut. And there are places where you can tell it was supposed to go a little further and end up R rated. It's really too bad that this didn't become a huge success. It manages to marry something like Willow or Legend with the Disney formula. Very dark and letting us sit with disturbing content just long enough that it makes an impression, and also has the humor, fun and a message. Not to mention that animation! Liquids, hair and fur and such look incredible. The integration of digital effects is impressive for it being so early in that even being feasible. Yes it has been topped since but that doesn't mean that it's bad here. This is not like how in the 90s CGI was not quite ready to be heavily featured in live action and yet they relied on it entirely too much.
Moving on to the politics. When it comes to gender it is a little bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side there is a conflict between a boy and a girl where it is made clear that the real problem is that he is self obsessed and his ego makes too many of his decisions. She points this out and instead of him taking it to heart he uses sexist language with her and the resolution is for him to apologize rather than the other way around. On the other hand the three witches are depicted in a very misogynistic way. Them not being conventionally attractive is a major focus of their screen time which is not insignificant and them not performing femininity in a traditional way is contrasted with someone who does. One of them is especially meant to be unappealing and we are encouraged to side with or possibly laugh at a guy that she is really into for his embarrassment at this situation. I was surprised that a product of such a capitalist system would feature such salient criticisms of the laissez-faire approach. Bargaining is shown as bordering on a scam, something usually done by selfish people. And the villains right hand is terrified of being punished by him even when he's done nothing wrong. What could possibly better describe working in a large corporation!
I recommend this to every fan of fantasy. 7/10.
Nightbitch (2024)
Woof!
This does a really excellent job showing how bad being a stay-at-home mom can be. It's especially effective with the verbal descriptions, some monologue others narration, and the montages such as that damned bit of butter on the pan day in day out. The acting is phenomenal. Amy Adams does not hold back at all. It also does a great job on the husband being more clueless than indifferent. This is the case for a lot of couples. He has never been asked to do these things let alone get any good at them. So he just didn't and he complains as he is doing it. I recommend this to anyone who wants a better appreciation for what mothers go through. 6/10.
For the Birds (2000)
Cute
This delivers everything we expect from Pixar. It's funny, clever, charming, and the animation is great for the standards of the time it came out. Like some of the other shorts this one feels like Looney Tunes with higher visual quality. I do get that some people believe the only way to get kids to stop bullying is to flip it and reverse it. Personally I completely disagree with that idea and approach. I'm not sure anyone's really going to leave this having more empathy than they did before. Perhaps it's more wishfulment for the targets of harassment. Basically a bunch of birds are sitting on a wire. They bicker amongst themselves over social distancing and start mocking a larger somewhat goofier looking one.
I recommend this primarily to completionists. 7/10.
Turning Red (2022)
It's a good color on her
This delivers everything we expect from Pixar. It's funny, clever, charming, well acted(I literally only recognized two names in the end credits but I'd be down for watching something else with any of the actors here, they're all phenomenal), has great, catchy music, has something to say and is incredibly well animated. The highly expressive designs work really well and fur looks photorealistic. This is an excellent time capsule. It's set 20 years prior to when it came out. And feels like it was made irl by the protagonist. With nearly two decades more wisdom. That way it can speak to the 30 somethings who may have had a somewhat similar experience. Remind them what it was like so they go easy on their own kids when they start acting like teenagers.
This continues their trend of moving away from stories that were way too focused on the group most catered to in media. In other words, the young white cis-het man. This time we're focusing on Chinese immigrants in Canada, especially when coming of age in 2002. The entire panda thing works incredibly well as a metaphor for puberty. Mei-Mei starts seeing and doing things that she never would have before she turned 13. She's struggling to focus on the things that are valued. She's developing crushes and they mean a lot to her. And through it all some of the people that help her the most are her three female friends of the same age. The group is diverse in a way that is empowering but might actually also shut up the bigots. It is a stone cold fact that immigrants from different ethnic groups form friendships across that line. Particularly when there aren't as many people of their own. All four of these have distinct personalities that are partially informed by their cultural identity. And don't get me started on how much it manages to fit in of these overlooked groups' signifiers. Food, work ethic, music etc. They get the balance exactly right with the teens. Adorkable and relatable. We laugh with them more than at them. And yes it has more depth than you might think based on the first chunk of it.
I recommend this to everyone. 8/10.
Jûôki (1988)
Addictive
Ancient Greece. A story that might actually be from their mythology certainly it sounds right out of it. How many parents do you think heard about this and realize it could make their kid excited about that part of culture? There is a war between the gods so Zeus can't spare any of his main forces when the demon Neff takes his daughter (not his own but Big Daddy Z's) Athena as a hostage. Instead he resurrects a fallen soldier and that's who you play as. You will have to make your way to, into, and through the underworld fighting various undead along the way. I was only able to learn this story from an online faq since it's not in cutscenes or the like, what there is of that is minimal and clearly assumes you already know what is going on. If I had bought this back in the day I'm sure there would have been a manual or something.
I played this through the Sega Mega Genesis and Megadrive Collection that used to be on sale on Steam and I'm reviewing these in the hopes of increasing interest to the point where the parent company feels compelled to make them available again. Certainly in recent years we have seen more willingness from such to just sell us the ROMs. We're happy to find a free emulator ourselves but we cannot play these legally without those and for years they refuse to just take our money. Literally every single time during that period that I encountered anyone who played games back then they expressed frustration and not being able to play them anymore because of this.
I don't have an awful lot to say about the specific version; they've largely left the original untouched. They've added quick saving and rewind both of which help tremendously in allowing you to retry parts. When this first came out nearly four decades ago the idea was that you had to do it over and over until you eventually got good enough to be able to clear the entire thing in one sitting. Someone on Youtube was able to do a flawless run in 10 minutes. It took me about an hour, which I understand is the average. Basically if you agree to use aforementioned features you can keep trying a part that's causing trouble for you until you get past it or perhaps tire of it. It doesn't take away the overall challenge. Merely makes it accessible for people who don't want the frustration of having to start all the way over after enough it's taken. And those like myself who have carpal tunnel syndrome and literally wouldn't be able to make it all the way through this without any long breaks.
This is a side scrolling beat 'em up. You can punch and kick and there is a slightly different version of those moves if you crouch or jump. Enemies will come from all sides and some of them are fast, some have great reach, some have movement patterns that make them difficult to deal with. And at times there will be several on the screen at the same time and they won't give you the courtesy so often seen in action movies of only attacking 1 at a time. One way that this is challenging enough that you can't do it all the very first time you sit down with it is that your attacks, especially early on, are not very effective. There are also a number of cheap and cheesy bits. At least one foe will fly above you and if they are right over you make a bee line directly for you which if you already are in the middle of fighting someone else can be tough. Power ups do increase your stats and after several you transform.
You can become a beast through this skin changing. It varies in the different levels exactly which one. Those are well designed, some have multiple platforms others are plain. They genuinely do get across a sense of where you are. The creature design is great for everyone. Your attacks are better when you are in one of these animal forms. Some even have ranged. One can fly and you control that with the arrow keys. Bosses are memorable. It was a little annoying that the one with multiple eyes had you thinking you were damaging it because of the visual when really all you were doing was destroying some of the projectiles.
I do find interesting the context of why video games from back then were so punishing. For some reason I can never recall the exact details and as already mentioned I struggle with wrist pain so I can't look it up. This entire review is voice typed with minimal need for manual correction. But it's something about that they needed the individual titles to last basically through an entire weekend. Now I don't remember if that's because if it lasted less you could get your rental money back. Or if it's on account of that being the amount of time that you had to return a game that you bought and paid for. But basically they wanted you devoted to getting all the way through it. Since rage quitting wasn't beneficial for them either. And having to spend a lot of time to git gud before you were able to get all the way through it.
The sound design is good; it feels like it actually hurts when someone is hit. I wouldn't say that any of the individual areas go on for too long and it helps that the first power up you're able to get and also collect despite the opposition often happens fairly early. It does reset at the end of each. Daring you to apply yourself sufficiently that you can get back to that level again. I strongly recommend this to everyone that what I've described sounds even vaguely appealing to. Lotta fun. 8/10.
The Fox and the Hound (1981)
Amazing
Let's not mince words here. This is probably the best animated Disney film prior to the hot streak that started with the Little Mermaid. It delivers absolutely everything that we expect from one of these. It's fun, cute, teaches lessons, has catchy songs, it absolutely breaks your heart and it has great animation. This one especially focuses on getting nature, including rain, fur and such exactly right. It looks very convincing, important considering how big a part of this it is. Like all of its kin, at least up to and including this one, this was based on a written story and by this point they didn't only do fairy tales.
Where this does somewhat differ from what came before and some of what came after is its social commentary, which has kept it relevant over four decades later. This is just general enough that today it can apply to any minority. I really read a lot of immigration and LGBTQIA+ into it. It definitely was originally about black people, evident in the character of Big Mamma who in addition to being played by one is portrayed as one. Which does bring up why they couldn't cast someone like that in a lead role. But that is of course a sign of the times sadly. She has the role of the experienced elder and I don't think it's accidental that she is also a woman. It is a fact that it is exactly them who teach younger generations the dangers of this existence, this marginalized identity.
Tod being a fox is something he has no control over. In the words of Lady Gaga, he was born that way. Given when it was made it is unsurprising albeit slightly frustrating that indeed he has absolutely no flaws. I guess if he had been played by an African American it would have been Sidney Poitier. The closest they come is that he is naive and curious, and I'm told the latter has been convicted of feline homicide. They were clearly worried that people would latch on to the one negative aspect so they try to minimize it as much as possible. He is prejudged based entirely on looks by the representations of mainstream society; the hunter Amos who works as a stand-in for your average bigot as well as a politician, and also Chief, an aging dog who you could easily read as law enforcement. It is definitely not an accident that the puppy (which comes extremely close to Kristi Noem materializing and shooting it) is literally named Copper. Being a victim of circumstance is a major theme here. This unmistakably communicates that society has to change to accept those who are different. I think this is due for a remake. There's very little that you would have to fix but a lot of people are only going to watch a new version.
I recommend this to absolutely everyone. 8/10.
Luxo Jr. (1986)
Sweet
In case you ever wondered what the deal was with the hopping lamp in the Pixar logo here it is. This delivers everything that we think of inherent to the company. It's fun, cute, has great, expressive animation for non-human characters, and communicates something(albeit in the case of these shorts it is often fairly simple which I don't think is to their detriment). Basically we're seeing a parent watch as their baby plays with a bouncy ball. It just so happens that they're both appliances. Depending on your age you'll relate more to one or the other of them. I could definitely remember having the kind of energy and curiosity that we see in Junior. And recall the reaction that the, I'm going to guess mother, has to that, having seen it in my own. Like a lot of the other early ones, this isn't something you absolutely have to rush out and see. It is currently on Disney plus so if you already have a subscription it's just the tiny bit of time spent rather than any money. It is great to watch for small children, their family, and honestly really everyone.
Recommended. 8/10.
Divergent (2014)
Underappreciated
On account of various similarities this has been compared to the Hunger Games so I will be comparing this to that first movie and to be clear I do love both of these I just think this is the better one. This one has a more interesting better explained and more impactful system in the factions compared to the districts. I'm not sure I agree that the action is less plentiful but it definitely is more varied more emotionally engaging here. The last 20 or 30 minutes are significantly more impactful for reasons I can't get into without spoiling which I don't intend to do here. Ultimately part of it is the superior setup and payoff which does unfortunately come at the cost of pacing; this one has one chunk that is fairly samey and doesn't utilize as many distinct locations and situations. The love interest is more compelling.
For some reason there are people who think this is juvenile and talks down to its audience; I disagree. I definitely think it is approaching it right considering this is for teenagers whose brains literally have not fully developed yet. Besides which yes what is being conveyed here is obvious but it hasn't been taken to heart by those in power. Go yell at them for not understanding something like this instead of pieces of media that put in the effort to make sure future generations do. Teenagers watching this grow up to become voters; it's extremely important that we influence them in the right direction, away from fascism, and this is doing that. The casting and acting are excellent everyone felt like their character from the book as I listened to it. I would recommend the novel to those who like the film and vice versa. 7/10.
Luca (2021)
Enthralling
This delightful coming-of-age story is wonderfully, unabashedly LGBT-coded. Let's go over every single way in which that's the case-without giving away too much.
The protagonist, a teenager, lives with overprotective parents who keep him away from supposedly "regular" people, despite his yearning to experience that world. Someone slightly older than him guides him through the experience when he finally does go. He struggles with self-doubt and worries that people will realize he is different. He encounters many people who display a hatred of his identity-not knowing they're talking to a member of the very community they're disparaging.
There is a threat of being sent to live far away as a way of "keeping safe," and the central antagonist-who I swear is a distant cousin of Gaston-is a petty bully that no one dares question, as he picks on those with less social power than he has. Even so, it's clear that no one actually likes him as a person.
Other than that, I really loved how this almost immediately endears us to the titular Luca. We see that he has a normal life. I'm sure the vast majority of kids watching this can recognize a lot of themselves in him-he just happens to also live under the sea.
We barely meet humans before we're already on board with Luca and everyone like him being just as deserving of respect. Thus, we also get yet another secret society where things function in a way very similar to our own. The message is clear: the danger is a matter of miscommunication and propaganda rather than any real threat.
Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen this from the studio. That theme is present in a lot of their work-comparable to Monsters, Inc. In particular.
This delivers everything we've come to expect from Pixar. It rips your heart out, it's funny, it's cute, and there's something in it for everyone. The animation is amazing. The use of color and lighting is especially strong, and they manage to make the ocean look significantly more appealing than I'm told it really is-for people to live in, I mean.
I recommend this to everyone. 8/10.
Geri's Game (1997)
You played yourself
This is about an elderly man going to the park to play chess against himself. It has the usual Pixar hallmarks; it's charming, funny, heartwarming and animated well, including the details of the man struggling to move particularly fast at least as one of the two personas. It's got this wonderful air of making one's own fun. A lot of senior citizens are lonely. I can imagine a lot of grandkids watching this and insisting to their parents that they visit one of their forgotten relatives.
It's paced well, managing to start, not exactly slow but certainly taking its time, and then getting into a surprisingly kind of tense game despite the fact that there's no opposing individual; it's all just Geri. And I just realized Geri is probably a pun on the term geriatric - nicely played.
This is currently found on Disney Plus. It's not something you have to drop everything and watch immediately but it is undeniably sweet. I recommend this to everyone. 8/10.
Command & Conquer Remastered (2020)
Well worth it
I will be covering both Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert 1 since both are packaged together under the same title. It is not my intention to restate anything I have already written here on IMDb, and since I've done a thousand words on both of the original games as well as their 3 expansion packs that came out for PC, I'm going to focus instead here on how this differs from those since it contains all of them. This has the console only missions. Note that in order to play them you will have to beat the campaigns the same is true for the bonus videos and music tracks. I'm not going to detail all of those; it's in the promotional materials. Also to be clear I am not at all criticizing the choice to have the player forced into earning those. That's part of the idea here. You put effort in and you get something out of it. That's why we play video games, at least the ones that are like this. That always baffled me when reading reviews of Just Cause 3, and people were complaining that some of the stuff that is the most compelling to use is not available for immediate use. After all, they're not putting in all this effort just to have people pick and choose and just go immediately to the dessert. They want us to redo all of the stuff leading up to it as well understandably so.
This does indeed come with a massive upgrade in both visual and audio quality. And if you're feeling nostalgic you can revert to the originals. It runs smoothly on modern systems. When it comes to multiplayer you can change around some settings depending on if you do or do not want the units introduced in DLC. Which is a quite good addition considering that a lot of people never played those and it completely alters the way you strategize. It also features CTF, No Base and other things that really keep this fresh. There is a map editor that is fairly reminiscent of the one for Starcraft and Brood War, more so than for example what Age of Empires 2 had. So yes, you can really put your signature all over the ones you make here, placing as far as I could tell basically everything that you want that is in one of these. I'm not the best judge of how active a community for this sort of thing is, but I could definitely tell some people had gone out and made a bunch of stuff and since this is on Steam it's very easy to find, download and the like.
This addresses certain things that were already annoyances in the old releases and would for many be complete no-goes for something put out today. I will briefly note before I detail them, unfortunately there is a lot left intact. I'm going to try to get into the stuff that has been improved. Sadly that does not include something like significantly(only somewhat) better AI pathfinding. For some reason your harvester will still travel away from the refinery instead of focusing on the raw material literally right in front of it, wasting valuable time. Anyway. This enables you to move your view faster by holding down RMB. There are also certain things where you can include that key, instead of only LMB. You can save camera setups at will extremely, useful for large bases, whether your own or someone else's once discovered. There is Select All, including one that is global so you don't have to go around choosing manually. Also, there is Attack Move, finally! I am still baffled as to how they didn't add that until they got to Generals in 2003, when some of its contemporaries had it in 1998. Possibly earlier but those are definitely ones I can confirm.
So in various ways it limits the micromanaging that these had so much of. It also changes around some strengths of armor and such making things more even. This is of course a huge relief as that was a weakness of these that was for example not shared by aforementioned competitors. And all four factions can now produce Rocket Soldiers, something that was always quite the ridiculous oversight considering that no other infantrymen can shoot down flying units, even though they're a major part of quite a few successful attack forces in these. This is all accomplished without negating them being asymmetric, since that is one of the things we love these for. And was actually significantly limited once EA took over and did what they always do. When these first came out I barely paid attention to who was developing what but I could immediately tell that there was a completely different philosophy of design behind Yuri's Revenge and its parent game. And then we got stuff like Zero Hour. You can really tell that they are deeply unwilling to let these different sides have certain things that the others don't.
I personally did not run into any issues with this at all. And every negative review I've read of it(which I'm not sure exceeds a dozen. All the same thing) appear to be talking about stuff that's also true of the quarter century old ones that this is redoing. Which is of course 100 percent fair. I'm not saying they can't do that. My point is I haven't come across someone who took issue with the changes or the new stuff who weren't saying that they wish it had gone further. A bunch of them seemed to have not played these before at all and I can 100% sympathize with trying to get into these all these years later and with so many competitors that do still top these in a number of ways. This really is primarily for returning players who don't want to deal with the outdated stuff and newcomers who are rather very forgiving. 8/10.