Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution (GUEST Film Review)

Written by my special guest and close friend Joel Coppadge!

Frozen II (Quick Review)

Frozen II is one of those strange examples where a lot of stuff occurs yet it feels like very little happens.

How to Train Your Dragon Part 2: How Visual and Sound Turn a Good Story into Something Amazing (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 1!!!

Using the knowledge gained from his time with Toothless, Hiccup succeeds in passively defeating and/or befriending the training dragons in fighting class.  Despite such successes gaining his peers’s praise (aside from Astrid, who grows jealous over Hiccup becoming the new star student), Hiccup is more preoccupied with getting Toothless back in the air again—for a more accurate lesson Hiccup was taught is that a downed dragon is a dead dragon.  Being the inventor that he is, Hiccups begins designing a tail flap to replace Toothless's missing scale.  Hiccup discovers, however, that the artificial wing will not remain open when Toothless flies alone.  As such, Hiccup builds a saddle for him to ride and help assist Toothless in flying.  The film’s excellent pacing is shown off here with a split montage of Hiccup building the flying device while training at classes.  I love how naturally the scenes move from Hiccup just trying to build an artificial scale for Toothless to saddling up to fly with him.

How to Train Your Dragon Part 1: How Visual and Sound Turn a Good Story into Something Amazing (Film Analysis)

Take a story about a boy’s bond with his dog.  Turn the dog into a wild animal the boy needs to tame.  Turn the wild animal into a mystical species the boy’s family is at war with.  Make the family a tribe of Vikings, the species dragons, and the boy the mediator for the two groups to finally end their differences, and you got the core construct to How to Train Your Dragon.  

Ralph Breaks the Internet (Film Review)

No, there are no porn references in Ralph Breaks the Internet.  And no, I do not care for the film either.

A Complete Analysis of Wreck-It Ralph Part 4 (FINALE): Going Beyond Mere Cameos and References (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 3:

A Complete Analysis of Wreck-It Ralph Part 3: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Super Smash Bros, and Licensed Cameos (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 2:

A Complete Analysis of Wreck-It Ralph Part 2: World Building, Level Design, and Strange Thematic Shifts (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 1:

A Complete Analysis of Wreck-It Ralph Part 1: The Hypest Trailer (Film Analysis)

On June 6^th, 2012, Disney released its first trailer for Wreck-It Ralph—an upcoming animated feature about a sentient arcade game character who wants to be more than his designated role.  Sounded like the standard Disney story, and it looked that way too…that is until the above scene appeared in the trailer.

Bao (A "Short" Review)

Director(s): Domee Shi

Date Released: 2018

Theatrically Released Alongside: The Incredibles 2

Bao is an interesting short story about a lonely woman whose cooked bao dumpling comes to life.  The woman raises the dumpling as it grows from a jolly child to a moody teenager to an ungrateful adult.  It turns out the situation is all an allegory for the woman’s actual son, who returns home to “apologize” and make amends with his mother.

My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (Film Review)

My Hero Academia.  The Japanese superhero manga created by Kōhei Horikoshi.  This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about My Hero Academia on my blog.  I referred to it in my The Last Jedi review, comparing the two favorably in their villains’s development.  Yet here I get to make a direct post about the series, or more accurately, about its first feature-length film My Hero Academia: Two Heroes.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Quick Review)

The Hotel Transylvania series reminds me of the Madagascar series in that it’s steadily grown on me with each new film made. I had a lukewarm response to the first Hotel Transylvania, while Hotel Transylvania 2 improves upon its predecessor in all areas to be an unexpectedly enjoyable sequel.  Now comes Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, quite possibly the series’s best film to date.  The film is the equivalent to a long Saturday Morning Cartoon—containing all the wacky antics, cartoon physics and idiot ball moments you’d expect, but in a good way.  The film isn’t trying to take itself seriously or be logical (the series never has), it’s just out to have a grand, silly time and entertain with a variety of fun hijinks and colorful, likable characters.

The Incredibles 2 (Film Review)

………….Sigh.

No, I didn’t dislike The Incredibles 2.  The Incredibles 2 is a good film with beautiful animation, solid voice acting, and is a fun superhero film for all ages.

But man, is it a disappointing sequel!

The Bill Murray Experience (Link Review)

Another VOD review I did for The Nerd Mentality.


THE BILL MURRAY EXPERIENCE (link to the review)

FRJ's Top 5 Superhero Films of 2017 (Film List)

It’s staggering how far superhero films have come.

Coco (Film Review)

A funny thing happened while watching Coco.

Lou (A "Short" Review)

Director(s): Dave Mullins

Date Released: 2017

Theatrically Released Alongside: Cars 3

Micro Reviews #16: Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie & Death Note (Micro Reviews)

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie:

FRJ’s Mid-Year Top 10 Films of 2017 (Film List)

The summer blockbuster season of 2017 cinema is officially over, and with it brings the incoming hustle and bustle of the fall-winter Oscar season (just as soon as we get out of this dry month known as September).  Last year’s Oscar season was an absolute disappointment, with only two of its releases placing in my top 10.  It’s difficult to say how different 2017’s Oscar Season will be compared to 2016’s, but with the bar set so low, I’m hopeful to see some kind of improvement.

Our Trip to Universal Studios Hollywood Part 3: Shrek 4-D & The Simpsons Ride (Trips & Travels)

I forgot to mention in Part 2 how the Transformers’ ride attendants were dressed up in military outfits, amusingly causing my wife and me to act overly respectful towards them.