Theatrical Review: The Addams Family

Date: Sunday October 20 2019
Time: 11:30am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)

Directors: Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon
Writers: Matt Lieberman and Charles Addams (based on his characters)
Composers: Jeff and Mychael Danna (not often we see 2 composers in one movie... although Frozen had husband/wife songwriters)

Cast:
Gomez- Oscar Isaac
Morticia- Charlize Theron
Wednesday- Chloe Grace Moretz
Pugsley- Finn Wolfhard 
Lurch- Conrad Vernon
Uncle Fester- Nick Kroll
Margaux Needler -Allison Janney
Parker Needler- Elsie Fisher

Duration: minutes (96 minutes +7 trailers)

Coming Attractions 

Arctic Dogs
Jeremy Renner plays the lead character, a fox who wants to deliver packages like the dogs (or was it wolves?) that deliver the mail. It's kinda cool that he's doing the lead and it's animated. Something a little different from the Avengers movies where he's rarely in the lead role.

Playing with Fire
Yeah, this movie again... John Cena and a few firefighters look after some kids and things happen. There was one comment someone made in the movie about kids being kids or whatever... and I'm thinking "most kids aren't this precocious or crazy" so it's not exactly realistic. They're just over the top for this movie becaue that's what these movies are like.

Playmobil the movie
Somebody is after the Lego movie money... there's something about a secret agent that uses 2 civillians to help him. The secret agent is Daniel Radcliffe... like seriously? That's crazy :P But that's not gonna make me see this movie. 

Spies in Disguise
Will Smith is the spy, Tom Holland (Spider-Man) is his geeky assistant. And the spy turns into a pigeon to go incognito... yeah, okay... 

Trolls: World Tour
I didn't see the first Trolls movie, so I don't really care too much about this one. (That Justin Timberlake song still annoys me... actually all of his songs since he went solo... I really don't care for him). The idea is that the world is full of different music and someone wants to collect the guitar strings so they can destroy them and only rock music prevails. It's an interesting concept that I almost bought into... then they introduced a hip-hop troll... I don't consider hip-hop music (I only support real music by real musicians... but I do disgree on that from time to time... I'm a sucker for a good pop song, assuming it's not played to death on the radio), so I'm immediately thinking "ok, that movie's ruined for me"

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway
OMG... why does this movie need a sequel? The first one wasn't even reviewed that well. Heck, some parents wanted it pulled from theaters because there's a scene where an aggressive food allergy is used for comedy and they were afraid of it giving children bad ideas. 
Peter Rabbit is part of my childhood, but as much as I like James Corden, I hate what he's done to this character. Or the writers really... making him like this pompous celebrity... 

Frozen 2
Of all the trailers, this is the only movie I really want to see. But even though this was the first proper trailer we've gotten, it has me a little nervous. I loved the original movie and the dynamic with Anna and Elsa. But it looks like it's a little darker than the original. There's an enchanted forest that doesn't let anyone in or out and there's a plot point where Anna is told that magic comes with temptation and she might lose Elsa to it. Then again, the Snow Queen was originally a villain, so maybe that's what they're going for.
Once Upon a Time did a REALLY good follow-up to this story when they brought these characters into the show. The actresses were so good. Especially the one who played Elsa. And they talked about how their parents found the gloves to conceal her powers and that her aunt had the ice powers as well. 


Opening Comments

I usually start writing these with a time/place/people plus the cast and trailers, but I actually wrote this part first. I spend so much time on the other things that it's ages before I get to the movie.

The theater was mostly full and it was the good audience. Not just for a couple laughs, but when the finger snaps came in (you'll know when ;) ), it's such a cool effect hearing everyone doing it. Except I didn't because I liked to sit back and marvel at the phenomenon.
One negative that kinda tarnished overall experience a bit was that some parents brought little kids that were either crying or couldn't sit still. Oddly enough, it kinda worked in this movie because it added to the spooky atmosphere of the castle, but after a while, it got annoying. No kids should go to the movies until they can sit still for 90 minutes. I didn't go to my first movie until I was 6 because my dad knew I was mature enough to handle it.

I'm not super familiar with this series myself other than some character names and how a bunch of people have said Morticia and Gomez are the best couple because they love each other so much. The other day, I actually watched Nostalgia Critic (man I haven't seen his videos in ages... now I'm getting old cuz that was only 10 years ago and I was in college when I watched his stuff a lot) and he did top 11 best strange couples and they were at the top. I didn't recognize many of the couples, but that really made sense as #1. 

Overall, the translation of the characters to screen and animation was great. It really suited them well and the new actors did a good job bringing them to life. Gotta say how nice it was for Oscar Isaac to do Gomez cuz he doesn't get a lot of these family-friendly accessible roles. Charlize Theron as Morticia and Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday, they were spot on (as Gordon Ramsey would say). In the end, the movie is about family and how strong their bond is and even though things aren't always perfect, they somehow make it work. 

The premise is that the couple moves to New Jersey (omg, the cheers in the audience are awesome, haha) to get away from the torches and pitchforks. And they live on a house on a hill away from the nearest town. And they've stayed there for 13 years without being noticed.
You know what happens after that... eventually someone notices and the plot starts moving. 

It seems like all animated movies now are a bit smarter because they're trying to teach something as well as entertain. The kids watching might not pick it up, but surely the adults will. The "villain" is played by Allison Janney (again, great casting choice, you can't picture anyone else doing this once you've seen this movie). Margaux Needler is the host of a home makeover show where she's helped create this town. I think it's called Assimilation... yeah, real subtle. And unbeknownest to the people in town, she'd rigged all of their homes with hidden cameras. Social media also plays a huge role and it's a lot scarier than everyone thinks that Addams family is. As great a platform as it is in reality, it has the propensity to create a mob mentality if a post is shared hitting all the right pressure points and it upsets enough people. It's to the point you can't state an opinion without fear of being jumped on because so many people with louder voices disagree with. That's why I stick to the topics I do on Twitter and avoid everything else best I can. 
So this woman finds out about the Addams and she spouts lies about them that everyone instantly believes and metaphoric torches and pitchforks get involved. 

At the same time, the Addams children are having some growing pains. Wednesday finds about the outside world and wants to be part of it despite Morticia being protective. And Pugsley needs to do a traditional sword ceremony as a rite of passage to manhood and he kinda lacks the talent for it. But he does have talents in other areas and when that acceptence finally arrives, it's the best thing. Especially because it comes into play in the final action scene of the movie. 
Seeing Wednesday integrate into the local junior high is kinda crazy, but she earns some friends with her sheningians. One of them is Parker, whose mom is the crazy home makeover lady. Parker is kinda into the social media thing too, but she wants to be an Instagram influencer or something. She even gets a goth makeover and tries to make that her new persona. 
But again, we learn something. Being yourself is more important than trying to fit in and be like everyone else. And nothing beats family, which is the biggest part of this movie. All of us to a degree can relate to that, I think. All of our families have their quirks. Not as kooky as the Addams family, of course, but as much as they embarass us or they might not get our hobbies, they still love us. 

The set designs were also great with the great contrast between the castle and Assimilation. After spending so much time in the castle, it kinda burns your eyes to see anything with color. I had a similiar thing happen with Sweeny Todd where we get to "By the Sea" where there's so much color popping up. It's crazy when it initially happens, but it's crazy to think how much we get accustomed to one set of stimuli and the different is staggering. 

Some of my favorite little bits of the movie was some of the unorthodox kooky things about the Addams. Wednesday creeping on her parents. One scene where Morticia wanted to do tea and a seance in the garden with Wednesday and she gets her parents to come in on the crystal ball by dialing them on a Ouija board... omg, I loved that so much. It wasn't even that long of a scene, but I just found that fascinating. The Ouija board has been fuel for so many jokes and horror movies that it's nice to see it in a tamer capacity. 
Lurch is great because we see his softer side. He loves this organ and among the books he has hanging around, I noticed one that mentioned 80's organ songs. 
And Fester is the quirkiest of them all... but also the victim of some sheninigans, but he's so used to it that he doesn't seem to care. 

So overall a really good adaptation... but maybe a little too much emphasis on social media. There aren't many scenes, but as much as I appreciate how it was used, I don't like the aspect of mob mentality... especially when the people involved don't have all the facts. I'd say lemmings would be a perfect way to describe them, but someone in the movie beat me to it ;) 

Grade: B+

Theatrical Review: Kubo and the Two Strings

Date: Sunday August 21 2016
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 12:30pm
Party: 2 (my sister & I)

Director: Travis Knight (1st time director, worked on "Boxtrolls" and "Coraline")
Writers: Marc Haimes, Chris Butler (wrote/directed "ParaNorman") and Shannon Tidle
Composer: Dario Marianelli

Cast:
Kubo- Art Parkinson
Monkey- Charlize Theron
Beetle- Matthew McConaughey
The Sisters- Rooney Mara
Moon King- Ralph Fiennes

Duration: 101 minutes (+3 trailers... that seems to be the standard)

The Audience:

It was a decent group of people. Mostly families with kids between the ages of 8 and 13. They enjoyed it right along with us. Laughed at all the same moments.

Coming Attractions:

A Monster Calls
I had the hardest time deciding whether this was a kid-friendly movie or a horror movie. It's about a boy who goes to private school who is bullied and his mom is also diagnosed with cancer. He summons an imaginary friend, who I think at first is might be Slenderman (an Internet phenomenon that is reportedly behind some gruesome murders committed by kids). But there's more to it than that.
Plus, a monster voiced by Liam Neeson can't be all bad, right? I think this monster is a metaphor for helping this kid deal with his mom's cancer.

Sing
Looking at the first trailers of this, I thought it was a cute gimmick, but didn't know how much substance it could possibly have. Animals singing pop songs. But after seeing this full-length trailer... I think I might actually want to see it.
This singing competition was created to help save a dying theater, but there are all these animals that are just trying to achieve their dreams or change their lives. Who isn't gonna relate to that?

Storks
I'd already discussed this trailer in a previous movie. It'll be interesting to see how it goes when it's released, but I don't have a lot of expectations about it.

The Main Event:

Speaking of not having a lot of expectations...

My sister wanted to see it and I had absolutely no idea what to expect.

This movie is seriously so good that I really don't want to go into too much detail about it. I bet it probably be great in 3D with the animation. Really impressive. And you get sucked into it and it's hard to break free from it.

The story is also really good for an animated film. It could appeal to people of all ages. I'm sure people that are older than the intended age group might get a little more out of it. But I see this as the type of movie where, if you grow up watching it, it will be a different movie each time and you'll get a different message from it.

Kubo is an 11-year old boy who lives with his mother. During the day, he goes to a local village where he entertains them with stories, which he tells with his trusty guitar and the magic to make origami figures move. But he has to return home before the sun goes down. Not only to take care of his mother, but also because the two of them are hiding from her family. And they come out at night.

This family is her two sisters and her father, who murdered her husband (Kubo's father), and want to steal Kubo's remaining eye and steal him away to the heavens where they live an immortal life away from humanity.
There's a little more to it than that, but I don't want to go into it. Other than saying that there is some deep stuff here. Including what it is to be human and whether immortality is worth it when you consider what you're sacrificing.

The gist of the story is that there's the one time Kubo stays out after sunset (he wants to take part in a village tradition of honoring the spirits of loved ones and he loses track of time), his aunts find him and using her last bit of magic, his mother sends him away and brings the monkey charm he carries with him to life.
And along the way they meet this guy they call Beetle who says he was with Kubo's father's legion of samurai.
Their journey is to find the three pieces of legendary armor, which they will use to defeat Kubo's grandfather the Moon King.

The rest of it... I'll let play out as it does on the screen.
There are some funny moments, a lot of heart, some drama, action... just a little bit of everything. Something for everybody like I said before.
I'm surprised that it only made $12.6 million so far because it is definitely worth seeing.
As much as I liked "Finding Dory," this is the movie that really should win Best Animated Film at the Oscars next year. It's something special and unique.
I'm sure there will be a handful of people who will complain that, despite the fact this takes place in Japan and it deals with a lot of Japanese culture and values, none of the main characters are played by Japanese people. There are several Japanese cast members, but none play characters that are referred to by name in the actual movie.

At the same time, I think this would be a great film for my college animé club to go out and see. The values and symbolism used throughout the movie, I'd seen explored in some of the series we watched. If the movie is still playing by the time the club has its first meeting, I really hope they give it a shot.
But of course I'd been out of college for 7 years now (OMG!), so what I say really doesn't count for all that much. It's still worth a shot, though.

One final thing: stick around for some of the credits. Regina Specktor sings a really cool version of "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" while some animation plays out in the background. We also get a unique behind-the-scenes look at one of the film's big action scenes.

Grade: A
(If not for a bittersweet ending, I might have given it an A+.)