THE GOOD DINOSAUR

(2015) 93 Minutes, Rated  PG

A.C.’s Review:  The best way I can sum up this movie is that the decline of PIXAR is complete. You wouldn’t even guess this was the same company that made the superior TOY STORY movies.

Here we have a set-up of…what if the asteroid missed earth and didn’t wipe out the dinosaurs. Since that didn’t happen dinosaurs rule the earth and when men evolve they are just animals. A young human boy the lead dinosaur boy takes on as a pet is named “Spot” ho, ho ho…all the humor seems to come from the notion of a human being the “dog” sidekick of the movie as the young dinosaur tries to make his way home after being carried away in a flood.

As in all “road” movies they meet a plethora of characters along the way. The twist here is that it’s supposed to be a dinosaur “western”. You’ve bot “rustlers” played by Raptors. Cowboy/herders played by a T-Rex family (I will admit I liked the idea of the T-Rex being a good guy) and everybody talks with a Texas twang. And get this…the young dinosaur’s farm appears to be the homestead from SHANE with the Grand Tetons looming over head!

Completely un-entertaining and not very funny. PIXAR used to make movies adults could enjoy but they have had a successive streak of terrible offering...from BRAVE…to INSIDE OUT and now this. Plus the “short films” are so excruciating I can barely comment on them. Basically they have Politically Correct agendas they are pushing with these shorts and little kids in the audience I doubt will understand them ore like them.

I await PIXAR’s redemption with TOY STORY 4.

Best Scene: No one scene but the animation is so realistic you would have thought they had actually shot on location.

A.C.’s Rating:  Free on television.

POINT BREAK

(2015) 114 Minutes, Rated  PG-13

A.C.’s Review: This movie is apparently a remake of a Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze movie of the same name but never having seen the original I can’t speak to the complaints that it is a pale imitation.

The basic set up is a group of daredevil extreme athletes are committing Robin Hood type crimes around the world. Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor in an attempt to achieve a spiritual quest.

A former extreme athlete with a haunted past due to him getting his friend killed in a stunt is now an FBI agent and goes under cover with the rogue group in an attempt to bring  them down. The crux of the movie is the agent begins to identify with this group as he is somewhat cut from the same cloth. Will he be able to overcome his sympathies and due is job or will he fall into the same life of crime the group is enmeshed in.

On the positive side the movie had incredible stunts. The real ones were quite impressive but the ones with CGI less so because..well its CGI and not real. The around the world locations were interesting to look at.

On the negative side I didn’t really care about the characters at all so I was basically just along for the ride until the movie ended. Plus realty went out the window when two characters leaped off a waterfall that looked higher than a 40 story building and lived.

Best Scene: Extreme snowboarding down a mountain in the alps.

A.C.’s Rating:  DVD

CAROL

(2015) 118 Minutes, Rated  R

A.C.’s Review: As always I like to go see a film that I that wouldn’t normally be on my radar so recently I went to the local art house cinema to see the film CAROL which I knew very little about other than it was a 1950’s period piece about two women who are drawn to each other.

In the movie Cate Blanchett plays Carol…an older woman currently in the midst of a divorce from her husband and father of her five year old daughter played by Kyle Chandler. Prior to her marriage Carol’s interest lie in the opposite sex and as to why she married the man in the first place it was never revealed. To no surprise the marriage didn’t last as the husband was constantly jealous of her ex-lover Abby (Sarah Paulson) who remains her best friend.

Carol’s life intersects with a young woman working at a big NYC department store selling dolls. The woman Therese (Rooney Mara) who until this point never had interest other than men is immediately intrigued by Carol. After Therese mails back Carol’s gloves left at her counter she is invited over as a thank you and from that point on the movie follow the developing relationship of the two women and the many obstacles in their way…most notably her husband threatening to deny her access to her child through the courts under a “morality clause”…a very real possibility in 1950’s America.

This was a really excellent movie. I liked the period setting and I liked the story it had to tell. The two lead characters were very engaging and I was invested in their story. It wasn’t the sort of film you see every day so it was a welcome change of pace for my viewing habits.

Best Scene: It’s a tie between the women’s initial meeting at the department store counter or the final scene where there is great suspense as to whether or not they will be together or go their separate ways.

A.C.’s Rating: Full Admission

THE FOREST

(2016) 93 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review: You can always count on there being at least one horror movie released per month as the genre has an audience to satisfy. The January 2016 offering is THE FOREST. The basic set up is that in real life there is a forest at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan where thousands who have lost hope for one reason or another have gone to commit suicide over the years.

A west coast business woman named Sarah learns that her twin sister Jess who is living in Japan and teaching English to students has gone into the forest and has not returned. Hopping a jet she travels to the forest in search of her sister. She is joined by an American reporter who may or may not be as trustworthy as he seems and perhaps even may have had something to do with Jess disappearance.

Sarah is repeatedly warned by the locals that the forest is haunted and will play tricks with the mind making things that aren’t real appear as if they are very real indeed. Undeterred Sarah and the reporter set about the search. And as you would expect things quickly devolve into paranoia and terror as the couple spends the night in Jess’s abandoned tent.

I didn’t go in expecting to be scared…and I wasn’t. I was more interested in this movie for the sole reason that the twins are played by Natalie Dormer. This young British actress is best known for playing Cressida in the last two HUNGER GAMES movie. This actress just exudes appeal…there is something very striking and unique about her face that the camera just seems to love. She’s a natural and did not disappoint. I hope to see her in more lead roles in the future.

Back to the movie itself. There are worse ways to spend an hour and a half. I didn’t walk away dissatisfied…it was…I guess the word I’m looking for is adequate for its entertainment value. The best I can say about it was is Dormer was great and the atmosphere appropriately creepy for the subject matter.

Best Scene: Sarah paranoid about the reporter flees from him and falls down into an ice cave.

A.C.’s Rating: Matinee

KRAMPUS

(2015) 98 Minutes, Rated PG-13

A.C.’s Review: If you loved GREMLINS from 1984 this movie is for you. If you hated GREMLINS you would want to give this movie a wide berth. I write this because the tone of KRAMPUS is lifted straight out of GREMLINS with its bizarre mix of horror and comedy set at Christmas time.

It seems there is an ancient German legend of sort of an Anti-Saint Nick. He’s described in the movie as the shadow of Santa Clause. When he shows up at Christmas time it’s not to reward but to punish…punish those who have lost their Christmas spirit.

And that is what has happened to a young boy named Max whose Christmas is ruined by visiting relatives who are just about every negative stereotype you can come up with for relatives you don’t want to spend the holidays with- from the boorish husband of his Aunt and their children to a Great Aunt whose sole purpose is to bitch and complain while nursing her alcoholism. Fed up he tears up his note to Santa and throws it out the window where it is blown into the sky. 

Somehow this alerts Krampus and soon the neighborhood is shrouded in a blizzard and the electricity fails. Not long after that Krampus and his demented minions of dark elves, evil toys and gleefully sinister gingerbread mean (yeah, that’s right gingerbread men) are tormenting the family before capturing them one by one. I will stop there with the details so as not to spoil anyone’s enjoyment of the movie.

This was simply a delightful experience in that it does what a movie is supposed to do…entertain and keep you in suspense as to what will happen next. Not only that but its got an amazing cast- Adam Scott, Conchetta Farrel and the gorgeous Toni Collette have some of the lead roles…and the actress playing the old grandmother who knows the legend of Krampus steals her scenes.

The set design of a desolate and isolated neighborhood was phenomenal.

I know to some people it will suffer from this complaint…either not enough horror or not enough comedy. I think it probably found as best of a balance as possible. It’s a don’t miss this holiday season.

Best Scene: While I greatly enjoyed the slow motion “Black Friday” type stampede at the mall as the credits open the movie, without a doubt I think the best scene is the very last scene as you see what happens to the family at the end of the movie…two words best sum it  up…. Christmas Hell.

A.C.’s Rating: Full Price