Movie Review: Big Hero 6

Don Hall (Winnie the Pooh) and Chris Williams (Bolt) bring the Disney partnership with Marvel over to the animation studios with Big Hero 6.

In this film we follow the story of a 14 year old robotics genius named Hiro (Ryan Potter, Senior Project).  He lives with his older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney, The Last Stand) and his Aunt Cass (Maya Rudolph, The Way Way Back) (because his parents are dead, because it's a Disney animated movie) in the American/Japanese hybrid town of San Fransokyo.  Hiro has been using his gift to win illegal back-alley robot fights.  Tadashi thinks he is wasting his potential, so he tricks him into going with him to his "nerd school" to check out what he does.  Hiro thought the university would be below him, but finds out just how cool it really is.  While there, he is introduced to Hadashi's project, Baymax (Scott Adsit, We're the Millers).  Baymax is an inflatable robotic "nurse".  If in pain, he will inflate and scan & diagnose you.  Then he will attempt to cure you and deflate when you are satisfied with his care.  Hiro also meets several of Hadashi's friends.  He decides he'd like to attend the university.  To gain admission he creates a bunch of microbots that can be controlled with your mind to create anything you wish, which he enters at the university's annual exhibition.  While at the exhibition a fire breaks out destroying everything.  Hadashi runs back to rescue his professor and is killed in the explosion (seriously Disney, can no character have a whole family).  Turns out it wasn't an accident.  Hiro builds some armor for Baymax, and along with his new friends, goes out to find and capture the person responsible for his brother's death.

So, while Pixar has been steadily declining in my opinion over the last couple of years, Disney Animation Studios has picked up the pace.  The last several movies have been quite good in their own ways, and this is no exception.  This film may be formulaic, but it has heart and fun characters and good dialogue.  Some of the side characters are maybe a little to stereotype-y, but Hiro is fleshed out really well and goes through quite the emotional journey.  Baymax of course is the star.  His lines are delivered just pitch perfect by Adsit.  He is like a big, kind marshmallow that you just want to reach out and hug.  Again, the plot may be formulaic, but the dialogue and the pacing keep it going and entertaining.  The animation of course is visually stunning as well.

The real heart of the story is where this Disney film differs from most of it's predecessors.  As I mentioned before, this has the oh-so-common Disney theme of losing a loved one.  I feel like this movie dug deeper into this issue.  Baymax, being the robotic nurse that he is, is there throughout the movie to help Hiro with his emotional pain of losing his brother after having already lost his parents when he was young (while also flying around in his new suit and generally being awesome).  We watch for an hour and a half as Hiro goes through the 5 steps of grief.  Other Disney films may show these stages, possibly even all five, but I think Big Hero 6 does it much more extensively.  On top of showing the five stages, it really focuses on surrounding yourself with friends and loved ones when you are hurting from a loss.  This is a wonderful film to show your younger children to start a conversation about grief and loss and how to cope with it.  It helps that they encompass it in a superhero movie, so they can also thoroughly enjoy it as pure entertainment as well.

There is something missing from this movie that I just can't put my finger on, that makes it feel like it will not go down as one of the "classics".  However, it is a solid, entertaining film that can proudly sit next to all of those said classics.  Disney Animation Studios have been on a roll as of late, and if they can keep putting up this kind of quality I will happily anticipate their future endeavors.

Rating: ********-- (8 out of 10) [matinee]

Memorable Quote:

Baymax: Budda-ludda-ludda-la

Movie Review: Nightcrawler

Dan Gilroy shows us a dark, behind the scenes look at gathering news footage in his directorial debut, Nightcrawler.

Louis "Lou" Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal, Source Code) is a man looking for his calling in life.  Meanwhile, he's selling stolen items to a scrapyard.  One night he runs across an accident and stops to check it out.  He doesn't pay attention to the victim, rather the man (Bill Paxton, Edge of Tomorrow) getting footage of everything.  He talks to this man, Joe Loder, who tells him about the business of news footage gathering to sell to the highest bidding station.  The next day Bloom buys a camera and a police scanner and gets to work.  He sells his first footage to the morning show of a low-rated news station.  The news director, Nina (Renee Russo, Major League), love his work and they end up forming a sort of partnership.  Things escalate as Bloom goes to amoral and downright unlawful lengths to get the first and best scoop at tragic scenes in LA.  Nina is a news director in a flailing station who needs the ratings, so even knowing he can't be getting the footage legally, she turns a blind eye to his methods and uses it anyway.

Dan Gilroy both wrote and directed this film.  He does have some writing credit to his name, but this is his first directing gig, and boy what a debut it was.  It is a great, gritty look at news stations, paparazzi, and society in general.  You will watch this film being appalled at the lengths he goes to in getting footage for this small news station.  You'll hate the guy, but also realize that the kind of footage that he is getting in this fictional world is the kind of news footage we flock to in real life as a society.  We are fascinated by death and destruction.  With the things he does, you know this is exaggeration, but it makes you reflect on the fact that this is exactly the kind of footage we want to see.  Nina is coming into sweeps period at the station part way through the film and needs good footage and stories.  This resonated with me, because I work in a news station. (Sadly, I don't get paid for writing reviews, so I've gotta pay the bills somehow).  The station I work at is in the Midwest, but not in Chicago, so crime is pretty low, but I can see the work that gets put into finding good stories for sweeps periods.

I'll give Gilroy a nod for writing the film, but it is Gyllenhaal that brings the script to life.  I'm going to join the bandwagon and say that he definitely deserves an Oscar nod for this role.  He took this character and made it his own, even down to little nuances such as his habit of putting his hair in a little ponytail right before he's going to do something bad.  Louis Bloom is a complete sociopath.  He is meticulous and manipulative and is always one step ahead of everyone.  He's great at reading people and knows how to exploit their needs to get what he wants.  His actions will appall you, and you know you can't root for him.  Somehow you respect him though for his drive and his ambition to be the best at what he does.  With Bloom's actions being so appalling, Gilroy was smart in writing in an "intern", Rick (Riz Ahmed, Closed Circuit).  Rick is with Bloom through all of his filming escapades.  He provides a little comic relief to ease the tension without being over the top.  He also provides our scapegoat for a reason to root for Bloom to get away with things, because you don't want to see Rick get caught in the crossfire.  The character of Nina is the perfect companion to Bloom because she is kind of his doorway into the real world so to speak.  Being a sociopath, Bloom has a bit of a disconnect with other people.  Nina has that same drive and ambition as him, so she can relate, but she has a better connection with people and helps him to meet everyone at the station.  Bill Paxton plays a bit role as Bloom's introduction into this world and later competition.  It is always good to see him pop up.

With a great script and a phenomenal performance by Gyllenhaal, this is a must see film this fall.  It is also another solid directorial debut for the year.  This film is dark and tense and it will get under your skin.

Rating: *********- (9 out of 10) [Full price!]

Memorable Quote:

Rick: I could've gotten more, couldn't I?

Lou: Absolutely.

Movie Review: John Wick

Chad Stahelski and David Leitch (both in directorial debut) bring down the wrath of the mystery man, John Wick.

John Wick (Keanu Reeves, The Replacements) is a retired hit man for the Russian mob.  He was happily married, but his wife died of cancer.  All he has left is his car and his new dog.  A couple of thugs take both of those from him and that's what lights the fuse.  One of the thugs ends up being the son of his former boss, so he takes up vengeance on the whole mob in spectacular fashion.  That's it in a nutshell.  You want plot/story/character development, then go home, this is not the movie for you.  You want some kick-ass action and amazing close range gun fights, then stick around.

The story is pretty ridiculous if you think about it too hard.  It is sheer coincidence that the mob boss's son goes after Wick's car.  Later he finds out that everyone and their mother knows who Wick is, and not to mess with him.  Growing up with Wick's boss, how did he not have a flippin' clue?  Wick just wants the son, but of course he's got to go through the entire mob to get to him.  There is even a contract put out on him to keep him away.  The son is kind of a douche, so obviously they all take the contract for the money, not necessarily to protect the kid, right?  The mob in this film is kind of a secret society.  Luckily Wick kept a stash of their secret gold coins to get into their fun club houses (along with a cache of weapons).  He stays at a hotel called the Continental to find out information.  Remember when you played tag as a kid and you had a home base where you were "safe" and couldn't be tagged?  That's essentially what the Continental was in this film, only with assassins.  Ha, ha....I'm in the Continental, you can't shoot me.  Them's the rules.  Well, someone breaks the rules and even more hell breaks loose than has already broken loose.  You know where it all ends, half the population of New York dead.

I don't want to crap on the film too much, because all that nonsense doesn't mean anything.  Where the movie succeeds, is where it is meant to succeed.....the action.  This is the first time directing for both of the directors, but they each have a long line of films where they did the stunts/stunt coordination, and it shows.  The choreography of some of the fighting was just fantastic to watch.  John Wick uses handguns throughout the film, but it's all close range in the middle of hand to hand fighting.  I found it quite unique and refreshing.  Reeves is no stranger to martial arts, and does a great job.  This is also one of those roles that fits him well.  He plays the straight-faced, no bulls*** killer well.  This is 100% his movie.  (Although, John Leguizamo had a brief part, and they could have used him more in my opinion).  The rest of the characters have no background, and no development, but you just don't care because Reeves is so much fun to watch.  All my complaints about the plot and story kind of go by the wayside a bit also, because once the action starts it doesn't really let up for the remainder of the film.

I think these directors have something going for them in the world of action.  They did a competent job with what little they were give with this script.  They will be two to watch out for in the future of action movies.  Story issues aside, this was a fun ride that's worth a look if you're in for a slick, mindless action film.  The good mostly outweighs the bad.

Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10) [rental]

Memorable Quote:

Viggo: He's not the boogeyman.  He's the guy you'd send to kill the boogeyman.