Free Guy

Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews

A mild-mannered bank teller finds out that he’s actually an NPC in a video game.

Okay, I’ll admit it: I really really like Ryan Reynolds. He’s not a Serious Honey, but he’s cute and charming and funny. And I have one of those movie passes where you can see all the movies you want to for one monthly fee. So, I thought, why not?

And I was glad I saw this. Yes, it’s silly and kind of predictable, but it was really charming. Reynolds is perfect for Normal Guy Rising to the Occasion, the writing was good, the plotting was solid and of course the special effects and animation were excellent. Following the Hero’s Journey as he realizes what his world is really like, and searches for a way out, is a great ride.

This was a really fun movie, and highly recommended.

Bill

Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews

William Shakespeare leaves home to pursue his dream of becoming a writer…

It was 2020, and Mr. Otter and I spent much of that year watching various things on television…including streaming all eight seasons of Horrible Histories (well, we had to buy the last two from England, they don’t stream here…) We also looked for other things the same cast had done, and this was one of them.

This was funny and charming; Shakespeare is in London trying to make it as a writer and gets mixed up in all sorts of other things including murder and a plot to blow up Queen Elizabeth I. There is madcap humor and silliness galore, and overall it’s a fun romp.

Well worth watching the next time you’re locked up for a year!

The Addams Family (2019)

Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews

The Addams Family is on a collision course with a reality show host who is trying to keep her town (near the Addams family home) perfect and neat and clean and homogenous. Shenanigans!

The thing I love about the Addams Family, in any incarnation (the original books of cartoons by Charles Addams, which I grew up reading; the extremely silly television show from the 1960s; the Sonnenfeld movie from 1991; and this version) is what a great family they are and how much they all care about each other. I still remember how happy the 1991 version made me…at that point, I would gladly have traded my family for them!

In this version, Gomez and Morticia are run out of their home by a mob, and vow to go live somewhree away from the ordinary humans who persecute them; they buy a haunted house near a swamp and set up there. 13 years later, they have two kids and Pugsley is practicing for his coming-of-age celebration.

Then the part of the swamp between the picture-perfect town of Assimilation and their house is drained, the mists go away, and the townspeople (especially the reality show star Margaux, who is Big Brothering the town to keep it perfect) are on a collision course with the Addamses.

I love anything Addams, so I rented this one night when Mr. Otter and I were looking for something different to watch; we didn’t have high expectations, but we both thought it was excellent. The writing is witty, the plot is good, and all the things that one hopes for (humor, especially riffing on the original cartoons; the culture shock when ‘normal’ people and the Addams clan collide; wonderful caring family togetherness) were all there.

This was a fun movie, highly recommended by The Otter!

Onward

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Another animated movie about a (young person/young animal/cute being that is not human) looking for (his/her) (missing/gone/dead) (mother/father/other role model) with the help of (cute animals/friends/enemies/siblings) and (learning a lesson/bonding with companions/forgiving parent) by the end.

And having just explained the whole formula for every doggone Pixar movie ever made…this one was pretty damn awesome.

It’s a world that is pretty much like ours but with magic added. Ian is a teenaged elf who lives in a normal suburban house with his mother and brother, and on his birthday gets a magical staff that will allow him one more day with his father. OF course the spell goes awry, and he and his older brother spend the whole movie trying to make it work before it expires.

But this one (unlike many others, and I’m looking at you, Wall-E) has a heart. The characters really make you care about them (well, this geeky D&D loving otter did) and the story is touching and funny and made me cheer for the teens. I loved the brothers, the kickass mom, and all the amusing characters and plot twists.

See it for yourself, you’ll be glad you did.

Duck Soup

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Groucho ends up running a country. Wheee!

Who doesn’t love the Marx Brothers? Well, at least we Chez Otter do! CoyoteRambles was visiting, and movies are a big part of his visits, so we all decided on having some fun and watching this again.

It’s one of my fav Marx Bro movies; the ridiculousness of the plot (Groucho is made the leader of a fictional country that is on the brink of war with another country. You can guess how well that turns out…), the Hail Freedonia song (as well as Hurray for Captain Spaulding), the costumes and settings, the silliness of everything going on…this movie has it all!

Whether or not you have seen it before, or even if you have never seen the Marx Brothers at the top of their game, this is a great one to watch over and over and over…

Once Upon A Time….In Hollywood

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A pretty-much-washed up TV actor and his driver move through 1969 Hollywood, interacting with the movie/TV community and the Manson family…

 

Mr. Otter and I had to vacate the house for most of a day to let our awesome contractor, WonderPaul, do his thing.

I”m going to go see the new Tarantino flick at our local Emporium du Movies, I said. Wanna come?

Hm, said Mr. Otter, I didn’t much like his last couple of movies, and I’m not sure about this one…on the other hand, we have to be out of the house, so okay!

Thus we hied ourselves downtown, managed with help to find the almost-invisible parking garage, and armed with popcorn and coffee for Mr. Otter….were treated to half an hour of previews. Most of which we enjoyed.

But not half as much as we enjoyed this movie.

Bad boy, self-involved asshole, provacateur, annoying git…call Tarantino what you like, the fact is that along with all those things, he is brilliant. He knows his movies, TV shows and Hollywood history. And all of that knowledge makes this story wonderful. There is so much richness here, so many details that are just right, so many things to say Wow! and exclaim over. There are great characters, wonderful settings, good storytelling. A lot of the movie is just people talking to each other, and none of it is dull.

And then there’s the Manson family thing…because Di Caprio lives next door to Roman Polanski, his wife Sharon Tate, and their semi-permanent houseguest Jay Sebring. In 1969. And anyone in the audience who knows anything about the horror that was the Manson Family knows that this is not going to end well. I loved watching this movie. I enjoyed the characters, especially Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate. I loved the carefully crafted cameos of well-known Hollywood figures who showed up here and there. I loved the dynamics, the jokes, the look of the movie. And every time the date on the narrative got closer to the end, my fingernails dug into the seat arms. Because even though I knew (from other reviews) that Tarantino, as is his wont, had played a bit fast and loose with the actual events…I was still expecting a bloody horror at the end.

And I will say no more, except that i was right, and it was both awesome and satisfying. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie and can’t wait to see it again.

I know there are a lot of people who are unhappy with the things Tarantino rewrote, but at both the beginning and end he emphasizes that this is a FABLE of Hollywood, not actual truth. And a very good one it is too.

A masterpiece, says the Otter. Go see it right now.

 

Deadpool 2

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The Merc with a Mouth is back, and just as rude and violent as ever.

I can’t talk a lot about the plot of this one without giving out a HUGE SPOILER…and for once, I hesitate to do so, more fun to see it played out.

I will say that Deadpool is great and funny and totally not PC. His enemy in this one is Cable, a warrior from the future, played by Josh Brolin (who now has a huge part in both the Marvel and DC universes, so go Josh!). Yes, his ‘buddies’ from the X-Men mansion are back as well, and they’re great.

And…I can’t say a whole lot more. But go see this one, if you liked the first you won’t be disappointed. Trust the Otter. (In fact, trust both of them…Mr. Otter was surprised to find that he liked this one too.)

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

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From the book by Chris Van Allsburg

Four teens end up inside a video game and must win it to escape.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a librarian. And for most of my career, I’ve worked in Youth Services, aka the Children’s Room. So I read Jumanji when the book first came out, and loved it. Different, funny, beautiful black and white illustrations.

I saw the first movie, which was a pretty good take on the book, when it came out in 1995. And really liked it too (although I haven’t seen it since I started reviewing movies in 2002, so there’s no review of it on this site.) Well done, a good translation of the book to film.

And then, twenty-two years later…it’s BA-AAACK.

I saw the poster for this and rolled my eyes. Do they have to remake every single successful children’s film twenty years later? Really? I said to myself or whoever was with me.

But then I swathe trailer…and loved it. It looked like a really funny fresh new take on the story, with good people in it, and maybe even good writing.

So last week, I went to my favorite local ‘plex and saw three movies in a row, because they were all about to leave town and I had the time free. And this was the first of the day. And the trailer (for once) did not lie- I loved it.

This movie is smart, funny, sassy, well written and very tongue-in-cheek both about the situation and about video games in general. Yup, video games…the board game in the book and the movie has been changed to an old-school cartridge-run video game, and the kids who find it and play it (and are stuck in the story until they complete it) are literally transferred inside the game, rather than having the occurances of the game happen to them in their home.

And of course, when they enter the video game, they are turned into characters, two of whom are played very well by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jack Black. The other two are good too, I just didn’t recall seeing them in anything (turns out I had seen Karen Gillan, as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but didn’t recognize her without a ton of makeup and costume…!)

Anyway. Even though the end is not much in doubt, this is a fast funny ride of a movie, very enjoyable, and worth your time. And I don’t want to say any more, the jokes and plot twists are too good to give away.

What We Do In The Shadows

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A group of vampires living in a house together in Wellington, New Zealand, decides to tell their side of the story.

The New Year’s Day Videofest for 2018 had the theme Hollywood Around the World. When we were putting together the movies, there was one we couldn’t find anywhere, so I started looking for something from Australia and New Zealand, came across a review of this and said, that’s it!

And we were glad of it, because it’s really funny. Three vampire from 200-500 years old, and their 800 year old master (who looks like Nosferatu, and lives in the cellar) are sharing a house. They have let a documentary film crew into their lives because they want to go public and change how the world sees them.

They are all hilarious in their own ways, all the ancillary people in their lives who are interviewedand when a modern vampire complete with smartphone is added to the mix, it gets even better.

This is smart and funny, the characters are great, and I just don’t want to say too much for fear of giving away all the good stuff. See it, you’ll love it too.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Internet Movie Database          Movie Reviews

A company is excavating a remote mountain in Finland to unearth a long-frozen Santa Claus, but a local kid does research and realizes that this is not a good idea…

We had dinner on Christmas Eve with Maid-of-Awesome and Soccer Sam, and he was all about this movie and how good it was. So on Christmas afternoon, Mr. Otter, Ottersis and I settled down to watch it…and we agreed with Soccer Sam.

This is a well-written and often funny movie that takes legends and brings them to life in the modern world, and points out the difference between the old version of Santa and our jolly friendly Santa Claus. The villagers in the tiny Finnish town where it takes place are funny and interesting, and the action (given the premise) is believeable.

The kid is really cute, without being icky, and the ending is perfect.

This is a (pretty bloody and violent) Christmas gem, watch it if you get a chance.