Tag: Phil Lord

The Mitchells vs. the Machines vs. Pleasing the Masses

Despite borrowing from the likes of past works I’ve enjoyed, this animated film shines with its kinetic production design.

MitchellsMachinesPoster.jpgBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available on Netflix 

The Mitchells vs. the Machines is certainly a very colourful and crazy mixed media movie about a not so normal family. Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) is about to leave the nest. She’s an artist and a videographer. Her love for theatrics (aka storytelling) is something her dad doesn’t get. He refused to take challenges and was unadaptable. He’s hilariously sad since staying up to date is as foreign to him as kids of today are to punch card technology.

Even the younger brother Aaron (Mike Rianda) is odd. He loves dinosaurs, which is typical for any lad, and is obsessive as Hudson Harper from Lego Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar. Linda (Maya Rudolph), her mom, is about the only voice of reason to keep the clan together. The family dynamics are at the heart of why this film is adorable. This oddball clan is just that, and honestly, it’s Munch the dog who steals the show. This exotropia and bug eyed pug is very familiar tho’, and when I’ve seen a whole ton of animated shows, it’s easy to see what series Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and the writing crew picked from when creating this film.

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The Webs that Bind Into the Spider-Verse Together

Spider-VerseBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Very soon, if not already, a ranking of all the Spider-Man movies made to date will appear. In my list, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 is the best. I am hard pressed to say which is number two, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse or Homecoming. Both are terrific in their own ways. For visual direction, the Spider-verse wins hands down. The same applies to Aquaman–both films are competing for holiday dollars. Both are worth seeing together; it can make for a fun night during the holiday week! Fans can feed off the energy of one to continue into the other.

The mix of different design elements made presenting a comic book in the big screen format truly come alive. This movie is a game changer for future works to come, much like how Dick Tracy stuck to a specific colour palette. The 3D presentation did not always pop. When it did, the illusion was to have the webhead navigate in a space like I was watching it with VR goggles. Unlike Ghostbusters (2016), where part of the IMAX screen was cropped to have effects blast out of the screen, this one keeps it all within the frame. The illusion of flying on air was certainly there.

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Heroes Never Die — Greatest American Hero To Make Comeback

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

GreatestAmericanHeroAccording to Deadline, 20th Century Fox TV has committed to a television pilot of The Greatest American Hero

The original production was a comedy-drama created by late writer-producer Stephen J. Cannell and aired for three seasons on ABC. The cast starred actors William Katt, Robert Culp, and Connie Sellecca.

The series saw Katt playing special education teacher Ralph Hinkley who is given a red suit by aliens from another galaxy. Upon acquiring the suit Hinkley loses the instructions only to learn of the suits powers through trial and error. With FBI special agent Bill Maxwell (Culp) and Pam Davidson (Sellecca), Hinkley would solve national and international crimes using his new found powers.

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Desconstructing the Purpose of the LEGO Movie, A Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The_Lego_Movie_poster*Spoiler Alert

Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) certainly know their LEGO product; they philosophically understand what playing with these bricks is all about. But when it comes to cobbling together a well-meaning tale, the time wasted to get to the point is long. People watching The LEGO Movie may need a reality check later. They may wonder what goes on with their toys when no one is around.

If this movie is beginning to sound like Toy Story then maybe that’s this movie’s greatest secret let out. There is another potential reference, but do audiences really need another never-ending story? At least this product is a decent watch. Just where this film succeeds is with the final act when all the pieces of the puzzle start fitting together. However, the rest is a different entity altogether.

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Cloudy with a Chance of No More Sequels?

Cloudy_with_a_Chance_of_Meatballs_2By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Some viewers might be gasping for air after watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. A huge part of this movie relies on sight gags and figuring out the names of the various foodimals—creatures born from food before they are identified. Deep in the torrid jungle of leeks, apple-piethons and widebeets is a plethora of puns that are only really effective to hear once. When the best parts of the movie are revealed in the early trailers, to finally see those moments on the big screen falls flat. If there is a part of the film that works, that’s with the end-credits since no one has seen an early preview of.

The story here is borrowed from a familiar concept: Chester V (Will Forte) is a wealthy and much adored scientist who runs The Live Corp Company. He rides on the work and success of other scientists’ ideas. If he has created anything new lately, the movie does not show any sign of it. He’s a mishmash of innovators—like that of Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs—who has more than a futurists’ vision of how life should be like in the next century. Even Walt Disney had a foresight to create a wonderful world; in this movie, it’s an island paradise occupied by living plants and manufactured food products.

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