The Other Side of Hope (2017)

Aki Kaurismäki, Finland's best known director, is a man fascinated by the meeting of cultures, one of his best known films Le Havre is about an African immigrant boy in France, while Leningrad Cowboys Go America is an almost Christopher Guestian story a fake Russian bands first tour of the United States. The Other Side of Hope tells two stories that meet half way through, one about a recently separated middle-aged Finn (Sakari Kuosmanen) who sells his own business to buy a small restaurant, and the other about a Syrian refuge and illegal immigrant (Sherwan Haji) searching for his lost sister. Kaurismäki can be deeply empathetic and embraces a throwback populist style out of a Frank Capra film from the 1930's, yet he also openly confronts the thoughtlessness of war, prejudice and bureaucracy. This movie contains comic high points like the staff of the restaurant Goldin Pint's brief and ill-fated attempt to turn the place into a chic sushi joint, and the existential horror of the immigrant facing both the banal bureaucracy of the state, and the outright hatred of nativist gangs.  Kaurismäki balances these sides of his film well for a movie that at its heart is an ode to decency. ****

Coming to America (1988)

I remember seeing part of this in a network television showing in the early 1990's, and boy they had to edit this thing more then I would have thought. I wanted to like this movie more then I did, it's enjoyable enough I suppose, though seldom laugh out loud funny. Much of it is an excuse for Eddy Murphy and Arsenio Hall to get under heavy make up and play multiple parts, this being a tendency that Murphy would overexploit in the Nutty Professor films. Eddy Murphy plays prince Akeem as such an overly good and noble guy it becomes kind of annoying, it feels like he's trying too hard to show how much he respects women, and in a movie where his character enjoys the services of three beautiful shirtless bathing attendants. The ending to this movie feels really quick, tacked on, and inconsistent with Shari Headley's character arc. Can you believe this was the third highest grossing movie of 1988? **1/2

A Hologram for the King (2016)

The recently divorced Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) is a man in mid-life and mid-career crises when he takes a job pitching a holographic teleconferencing system to the King of Saudi Arabia. From its basic contours this kind of 'middle-aged man in a funk movie' doesn't seem like it will be much, and you might wonder why Tom Hanks would chose to make it. If seeing something one hasn't seen before can be considered one of the chief joys of the movie watching experience (and I think it is) this movie delivers. Depictions of Arabia in film tend toward the 'terrorism' and 'sword and sandal' camps, while A Hologram for a King gives you a sense of the domestic scene, in business, in the city and in the country, among ex-patriots and natives. Yousef, Alan's driver turned friend (Alexander Black) is the first principle native lens, an enthusiastic and wry personality and one of the most amusing character performances I've seen in a while. Sarita Choudhury is the second, a rare female doctor in a country where (at the time) women could not drive, who Alan meets after discovering a concerning growth on his back.

The film consists of much travelogue and culture shock, as well as waiting and hotel time, so it couldn't help but reminded me of Lost in Translation. You get to where you feel you have a pretty good grasp on what this movie is, but slowly and subtlety it becomes something different, something I hadn't expected. Towards the end the film started to feel increasingly like it must be based on a novel, and it is, one by McSweeney's founder Dave Eggers, this is a very literary work. I haven't had my expectations so enjoyably surprised in a movie since The Accountant, and been so surprised by a late shift in story since Into the Woods. This is kind of a stealth masterpiece, and one that flew so under the radar that it was Tom Hanks lowest grossing starrer since Every Time We Say Goodbye in 1986, which was also set in the middle east so that's kind of strange. There is some surprise nudity near the end, but if that's not a deal breaker I would heartily recommend this. ****

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Behind the Candelabra is an HBO movie about that really weird homosexual relationship that Liberace had with a much younger man, a man who Liberace convinced to have cosmetic surgery so that he'd look more like Liberace. At first this movie is fascinatingly strange, but as the relationship devolves into a really bad breakup it becomes more difficult and less rewarding viewing. Matt Damon plays Liberace's lover Scott Thompson, and Michael Douglas plays Mr. Showmanship himself and stretches some acting muscles because he becomes Liberace, and Michael Douglas ain't much like Liberace. The make up in this movie is such that I did not recognize Dan Aykroyd until late into the movie, and didn't even know that was Debbie Reynolds as Liberace's mom until the closing credits. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. **1/2

Auto Focus (2002)

Chronicles the descent of the seemingly decent Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crain (Greg Kinnear) into the world of porn and lose sex, which resulted in his 1978 murder. Willem Dafoe is creepy as Crain's friend, sexual facilitator, and likely murderer John Henry Carpenter. The film can't help but feel exploitive, but also very effectively makes the case for the destructive power of unchecked sexual avarice, even if its consensual. ***

Why Him? (2016)

A 'father disapproves of daughters boyfriend' comedy, staring Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch and James Franco. Often crude this movie loves the F-word, though it has its funny moments and takes on the form of a family comedy, even if its not one. There is still a warm, serviceable chemistry between the leads. **1/2

Bowfinger (1999)

Cult comedy has Frank Oz directing Steve Martin from a Steve Martin script. The thing to remember about much of Martin's comedy is that its based on the premise that most of the characters he writes are well meaning idiots, even when they are trying to pull over a scam. This movie poked fun at Scientology before doing so was cool. ***

The Post (2017)

"The Pentagon Papers" is a name popularly adopted in the press to a confidential report, commissioned in the mid 1960's by Defense Secret Robert McNamara, surveying American involvement in Vietnam, including the covert stuff, from the Truman administration on. Daniel Ellsberg, a participant in the complication of said report, leaked large sections from it to the New York Times in 1971. When a court order bared the Times from continuing its publication, The Washington Post was able to come by the martial and publish it. Doing so earned The Post a co-diffident position along with the Times before the U.S. Supreme Court,(the decision would ultimately come out in their favor), prompted other papers to also publish, and made The Washington Post a nationally significant paper, something it had not really been before. The movie The Post tells the story of how the paper came to the decision to publish "The Papers".

Meryl Streep (excellent as always) plays Post publisher Katharine Graham. Graham's father Eugene Meyer had purchased the bankrupt Post in 1933, he stepped down from the publisher position in 1946 and that job was taken over by Katherine's husband Philip, until his death (a suicide) in 1963. Having been principally a home maker running the paper was essentially Katharine's first job. As depicted in the film Katharine's was not a particularly combative personality, and  she was not taken seriously by many in the male dominated newspaper industry. Her decision to publish "The Papers", an action that could be seen as treasonous, had the added complication of coming on the heels of the The Posts initial public offering on The New York Stock Exchange, the papers financial security was in real danger.

Tom Hanks plays The Post's managing editor Ben Bradlee, a role that won Jason Robards a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in All The Presidents Men. There is a large and capable supporting cast here as well, with Bob Odenkirk the stand out as reporter Ben Bagdikian. While the film does not break any new ground, it is exceptionally well made and another fine entry in Spielberg's cinematic catalog of historical narratives about doing what one thinks is right, even when it is hard (Schindlers List, Amistad, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies). The film also works as a prequel to All The President's Men, featuring some of the same characters, and helping to cement the adversarial relationship between the Nixon administration and their local paper. In this, another era in which the White House and the press are in unusually strong tension, The Post has amplified resonance ****

All the Way (2016)

Bryan Cranston returns to the role of LBJ, in this HBO film adaption of the play of the same name, which Cranston did on Broadway. All the Way tells the story of the Johnson presidency from the moment he is told Kennedy is dead in 1963 to his victory on election night 1964. As such this movie makes a perfect companion piece to Path to War, a 2002 HBO film that picks the story up at the 1965 inauguration. While that movie tells the story of the fall of the Johnson presidency, crippled by the trap of the Vietnam War, All the Way tells of its rise. All the Way with LBJ was one of the presidents campaign slogans in 64, and most of this movie is set in that year, and principally built around the effort to pass the 1964 Voting Rights Acts, and the fall out from that decision which caused Johnson no end of political grief in his native south.

Melissa Leo plays "Lady Bird" Johnson, Anthony Mackie MLK, Frank Langella Georgia Senator and Johnson mentor Richard Russell Jr., and Stephen Root J. Edger Hoover. All do a fine job but this is Cranston's film, his is easily my favorite performance of Johnson on screen. Lyndon is typically shown as a supporting character in JFK's story, or as a colorful character in something like Lee Daniels The Butler, but Cranston's is the most human and rounded portrayal I've ever seen of the man. While there is of course some foreshadowing here, you mostly see the man at the moment, as he was, unburdened from the later context we know but he wouldn't. Cranston's a fine actor and this is a fine film, I often find fault in movies like this because I know my history pretty well and have a high standard for realism, and this movie more then meet that standard. The best point of reference might be Spielberg's Lincoln, which also deals chiefly with behind the scenes legislative finagling. A fine history lesson and a compelling film. ****

Lost in La Mancha (2002), The Imaginaruim of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Like Orson Wells, Terry Gilliam is a director with a long history of both unfinished and troubled projects, which is why its particularly ironic that both started filming on never finished cinematic adaptions of the story of Don Quixote. Gilliam's version was to have combined that story with elements take out of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, with Johnny Depp a contemporary advertising man whisked back to Don Quixote's 17th century Spain. The production was plagued with problems, including a budget around half of what it should have been, and the ill timed health problems of the films Quixote, French actor Jean Rochefort. The film had to be scraped in the early weeks of shooting, but a 'making of' documentary crew happened to be on hand to capture the projects implosion. This is interesting, but not as interesting as I was hopping it would be, much of the film is standard pre production stuff, which has worn thin because I've seen so much of that kind of thing, and the doc plays long at just over an hour and half. I'm glad this doc exists, at least Gilliam got something out the experience and I know this film has some devoted fans, but to me it was just kind of so so. Which is a real shame because I waited so long, years, to do my review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Because I wanted to review these to films together.

The Imaginaruim of Doctor Parnassus, like Gilliam's earlier Don Quixote project, could have very easily been an unfinished film. The movies star Heath Ledger died around a month into production, but the bazaar nature and structure of the project made it perfectly suited for some unusual recasting. Much of the movie takes place in 'The Imaginaruim', an ethereal realm where dreams can become reality, and where a person may not look the way they do in the outside world. This enabled Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law to all play Ledgers character Tony inside The Imaginarium. Fortunately the 'real world' sequences were largely shot first, so except for the fact that Ledger never returns as Tony at the end of the film, and they find a pretty good method of justifying this within the logic of the film, it's pretty air tight and coherent. Or rather the casting and editing are, the story is intentionally not that coherent, but works well enough as one of Gilliam's oddities. Andrew Garfield, oddly kind of a successor to Ledger, is here in an early role, with Christopher Plummer, Vern Troyer, and the striking but unusual looking English model Lily Cole rounding out the cast. Tom Waits plays the devil.


Lost in La Mancha (2002) **
The Imaginaruim of Doctor Parnassus (2009) **1/2

I, Tonya (2017)

At first glance Tonya Harding seems something of an odd choice for a bio-pic, especially a sympathetic one, but the new film I, Tonya works remarkably well. I came out of the movie thinking very differently about it's subject then I did going in. Tonya Harding's life came just shy of being one of those feel good, inspiring true stories. Coming from a background that Harding herself called poor and redneck, through talent and determination she rose to remarkable heights in the world of competitive figure skating, generally a domain of the privileged, and was the first woman to successfully execute two triple axels in a single competition, and the first to complete a triple axel in combination with a double toe loop. These were big deals. However some poor decisions by those in her orbit, particularly her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly derailed her. In a darkly comic turn of events a botched attempt to cripple one of Tonya's chief competitors, Nancy Kerrigan, insured that Tonya would forever be associated with the tabloids and little else.

While something like I, Tonya could have easily been a forgettable Lifetime movie, the material here is somehow elevated, by the script, direction, a pretty rad 80's heavy soundtrack, and the performances. As of now lead Margot Robbie is my preferred pick for the best actress Oscar, she really nailed it, humanizing her and making us feel for a woman who had become cultural shorthand for scheming villain. Allison Janney (who has already won a best supporting actress Golden Globe as Tonya's mom) and Sebastian Stan as Gillooly are both excellent as well. The film manages to stick just shy of being outright farce, sees the ridiculousness of the situation she found herself caught in, and the tragic consequences it had for a career that had been her entire life. Easily one of the five best films of last year. ****

Witness (1985)

Before murder mysteries involving the Amish were a staple of The Hallmark Channel there was Witness. This is a great movie, a Harrison Ford vehicle that transcends mere Harrison Ford vehicle. After a young Amish boy (Lukas Haas, a cute kid but now an odd looking man) witnesses a murder in a Philadelphia train station, Ford's Det. John Book must keep him and his mother (Kelly McGillis, whatever happened to her?) safe when it becomes clear that corrupt cops are involved. The film largely breaks from its traditional thriller angle for a protracted, near anthropological stay, hiding in the Amish community. This is where the movie excels, the mystery is fine, but its Ford dealing with his new, forced surroundings that is most engaging, this must have been particularly novel in the mid 1980's, I can't think of an Amish themed film older then this. Quite ably directed by Australian Peter Weir. There is some beautiful cinematography here and a nice score as well. I loved this movie. ****

Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

While the original Kick-Ass was novel and transgressive its sequel felt for the most part tired and pointless. Most of the original cast returns, and we have the addition of Jim Carey, in a part that there was no good reason to have Jim Carey play other then to pad the cast with a fading star, a role Nicholas Cage filled in the first film. The 'Mean Girls' type subplot with Chloë Grace Moretz was at least something new, Christopher Mintz-Plasse just seemed sad in this. Towards the end the film seems to be wrapping its franchise up, then second guesses itself and lightly teases another sequel, something which hasn't yet happened, and likely and hopefully will not. *1/2

Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Walt Disney spent the better part of 20 years trying to get the rights to make a film version of Mary Poppins, a book and a character much beloved by his own daughters. These efforts finally culminated in a series of meetings in 1961 between Poppins creator P.L. Travers and various folks at the Disney studios, where they hammered out an agreement acceptable to the very reluctant author. Tapes of these meetings survive and form much of the basis for Saving Mr. Banks, a film not so much about the making of 1964 Disney classic, as about how it came to be.

Tom Hanks is perfectly cast as Walt Disney, sunny and ingratiating, but shrewd. He is surrounded by a capable supporting cast including Bradley Whitford, Kathy Baker, Melanie Paxson, and B. J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman as the Sherman brothers, veritable music making machines for Disney from the 50's through the 70's. The bustling Disney studio and the sunny, optimistic California of the early 60's are well represented here and a treat. But the central character is Travers, a difficult woman, at least in the context of signing over her treasured creation.

The events of the Disney negotiations are counterpointed with a flash back narrative of Travers, born Helen Lyndon Goff, childhood in Australia circa 1906. Her father Travers Robert Goff, from whom she would take her pen name, was a fanciful and alcoholically Irishman, with whom she would have a loving, but ultimately scaring relationship. The genesis of Mary Poppins seemed to come from a woman who stayed with the family to help care for her father when he was dying of tuberculosis. Colin Farrell does an excellent job of playing Travers Goff, and the whole flash back portion of the film has an unexpectedly dark tone, contrasting with the sunny ambiance of the 1960's sequences.

Emma Thompson plays the grown Travers, and its a perfect part for her, she gets to be all persnickety. While the scenes with Walt, of which there are surprisingly few, are of course central to the story, Paul Giamatti is brought in as an affable limo driver with a disabled daughter as yet another counterpoint to the grumpy Travers, and this is actually pulled off as a nice little arc. The movie ends with an emotional catharses experienced by Travers watching the films depiction of Mr. Banks, a surrogate for her father, finding a redemption his real counterpart never quite received in life. The fact that Travers was always luke warm at best about the film adaption is somewhat brushed over, but hey its a Disney movie. Watch for Mary Poppins Returns, coming this Christmas. ***1/2

How to Steal a Million (1966)

William Wyler, the director who made Audrey Hepburn a star with Roman Holiday, and later directed her in a well made downer called The Children's Hour, teamed up with the muse for a third and final time in How to Steal a Million, a chic heist comedy co-staring a then very in demand Peter O'Toole. The films a light caper, set in Paris, about the two leads efforts to steal a purported  renaissance sculpture before testing can prove it a forgery, and possibly land Hepburn's pop (Hugh Griffith) in jail. There is a nice, easy going chemistry between Hepburn and O'Toole, which is really the whole point of the film. It's actually a bit boring for the first half, but once the caper proper gets going its thoroughly enchanting and cleaver. Eli Wallach plays an American business man smitten by both Hepburn and the statue. I'm pretty sure I saw part of this film as a young child, there is a sequence where O'Toole uses a boomerang to trip some security sensors and it triggered a faint memory, I would have been very into anything with a boomerang in it between the ages of say 3 and 7. ***1/2

Othello (1951)

The production of Orson Wells theatrical version of Shakespeare's Othello was notably troubled, even by the standard of a director with a history of troubled productions. After the films Italian producer went bankrupt in the early stages of shooting, Wells production become an on and off effort for the next three years, with the director/star halting production to make other movies so he'd have enough money to resume production. At one point Wells and several of the principal cast members even went on a theatrical tour of other plays to raise money. The production was such and odd and straining experience that actor Micheál Mac Liammóir, who plays Iago, wrote two memoirs just about it.

Filmed on two continents the movie is beautifully and inventively shot, the perspective skewering opening sequence alone is worth seeing the movie for. As is inherent to Shakespeare plays the dialogue can be somewhat tough going if your unfamiliar, rusty, or just not in the mood. Othello is not a play I was that familiar with, the plot is about a vengeful man sabotaging an interracial marriage, so it feels way more current then its 16th century setting. One of relatively few films for Canadian actress Suzanne Cloutier, who plays Desdemona and was married to the actor Peter Ustinov. ***1/2

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012)

This is not a good movie. Based on the same titled 'mash up novel' by Seth Grahame-Smith, whose Pride and Prejudice and Zombies worked far better as a film, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is just that, our 16th president hunting vampires. The movie wedges the undead menace into a very simplified narrative of Lincoln's life, this movie hates superfluous characters, leaving out any real world siblings, romantic interests, children, friends and associates not absolutely necessary to the plot, and replacing them (when it can be bothered to) with composites. The early parts, particularly the young Mr. Lincoln in Illinois parts, work best, once he's president it becomes a whole new level or ridiculous. Jefferson Davis countenanced slavery, but would he have countenanced vampires? Still, it was strangely watchable. **

Captain Phillips (2013)

For as many times as Tom Hanks has faced life threatening danger on screen its remarkable that his performances can still seem fresh, emotionally honest and earned. Captain Phillips, done in the signature realist style its director Paul Greengrass brings to his true story films, tells the tale of Richard Phillips, the American commercial freighter captain taken hostage by Somali pirates in early 2009. I remember when this story happened, it was the first real 'foreign policy crises' of the new Obama administration, which was kind of funny because its African pirates, the kind of thing that the Adams and Jefferson administrations had to worry about 200 years earlier. I remember very few details about the events so it was nice going into the film largely unawares. This is one of those movies where everything is left on the screen, so there is not a lot to analyze, its very straight forward and its very good. A gripping watch. ****

Cop Land (1997)

I remember the movie Cop Land as having been pretty well received, I also remember a story on Entertainment Tonight about it having a White House screening and that Bill Clinton really liked the film and had a long conversation with Sylvester Stallone about it. Watching the picture for the first time 20 years after its release I felt it might have been pushing the whole 'serious 90's cop movie' thing over hard, and playing it too much on the nose. A film about moral compromise and corruption in law enforcement with an all star cast. its no surprise when Harvey Keitel proves a corrupt cop, Stallone a soulful cop, Ray Liotta a compromised cop, and Robert Patrick a terminator cop. It has its moments, and while its a good enough film its just not as powerful and deep as it would like to think it is. ***

Darkest Hour (2017)

The recent uptick in cinematic depictions of Winston Churchill, three films since 2016 as well as a prominent role in the Netflix series The Crown, could suggest in these uncertain times a wider cultural longing for the kind of dynamic, principled leadership he has come to embody, or it could just be a coincidence. Darkest Hour centers on the tumultuous first month or so of Churchill's tenure as U.K. prime minister in the spring of 1940. A compromise choice for a war time unity government, Winston took on the role after Chamberlin's forced resignation and the demurral of the Conservative parties preferred successor Lord Halifax (who is kind of a villain of the piece). A Conservative who had spent 20 years as a member of the Liberal party, and twice First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill was a sort of perpetual outsider, but had been right about the threat posed by Hitler and the Germans long before most of his contemporaries, and so was finally given the big job to which he had long aspired. The situation into which he entered such power however was dire, with 300,000 British solders in retreat in France. This film is about how Churchill handled the crises, and seemingly against the odds managed to rally his countrymen, and a skeptical parliament, to the war time cause.

This movie could just as easily be called The Prime Ministers Speech, as it builds to Winston's stirring "We shall fight on the beaches" speech to parliament on June 4th. King George VI of course plays a part in this story, his stuttering only hinted at here. Gary Oldman, excellent and unrecognizable in heavy makeup, plays Churchill a little less strident and vociferous then we are typically used to seeing him, but as most of the action here takes place behind the scenes, much of it in a command bunker, it makes sense that Winston would present himself differently to his inner circle then to the wider public. There is also a very crowd pleasing sequence here where Winston rides the London underground to get a better sense of what the common people are thinking about the war, now I'm not sure if this sequence is true but its fun to watch. The films capable cast is rounded out with various fine character actors, as well as Lily James who plays Churchill's personal secretary Elizabeth Layton, who didn't actually start in that position until the next year but we'll forgive the movie that. This is a movie that I am liking even more after having seen it, then I was when I was watching it. The films narrative takes events up to the launching of the civilian rescue fleet to France, so this would make an excellent double feature with Dunkirk. ***1/2

All the Money in the World (2017)

All the Money in the World is doubtless still best known as the movie that Kevin Spacey was edited entirely out of. In fact Christopher Plummer, who replaced Spacey in the role of oil billionaire J. Paul Getty, filmed all of his scenes in only 9 days, these scenes are set and presumably filmed in multiple countries, and Plummer was 87 years old at the time. His performance is impressive, already landing him a best supporting actor Golden Globe nomination, with an Oscar nod in the same category seemingly inevitable. Getty is a fascinating and difficult man.

The films story concerns the kidnaping of Getty's grandson John Paul Getty III (Charlie (no relation) Plummer from the BYU TV series Granite Flats) off the street in Italy in 1973, the months of his captivity and the efforts to free him, and to save money while doing so. The movie is based on the book Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty by John Pearson and feels at least mostly real, though I suspect that Mark Wahlberg's character Fletcher Chase, a former CIA agent and "fixer" for Getty is probably a composite. Also a very strong performance from Michelle Williams as the younger Getty's mother Gail. This is a beautiful looking film and reasonably taught, though not quite as much as I'd expected it be. A goodly number of twists and turns in this one. ****

The Best of 2017 Version 2.0

Your right about the omission. I think my issue with Dunkirk is that I had impossibly high standards for it. I guess World War II is my Star Wars. I think I can add it to the list if I do some bundling.

10.Our Souls at Night
9.All The Money in the World
8.Logan
7.The Big Sick/ Columbus
6.Dunkrik/ Darkest Hour
5.Baby Driver
4.Get Out
3.Ladybird
2.The Florida Project
1.Wind River

Cleanflix (2009)

Before VidAngel there was Cleanflicks, a video rental chain that edited PG-13 and R rated films to remove morally objectionable content for more conservative or family oriented viewers. Like VidAngel, Cleanflicks business model was upended by court rulings regarding copyright infringement. The documentary Cleanflix (available in both edited and non edited versions) charts the rise and fall of the Utah based chain, and some of its imitators, between roughly 2000 and 2008. As with many documentaries this film started out about one thing (movie editing rental services) but by the end events picked up by the filmmakers, largely by chance, made it about another. This is still a good overview of the film editing service, but things that happen in the personal life of a prominent Utah distributor, take  center stage in the films final act. 

As far as the controversy over the service Cleanflicks provided goes, I agree with some in the film that if the studios are already making edited versions of their films for television and airline distribution, why not offer those to willing buyers, there is certainly a market. Now if individual film makers, especially those whose products are more artistic expression then commercial venture don't want to participate that's fine, but supposedly 'big tent' Hollywood fair why wouldn't you?  I suspect that in the end Hollywood will come around, because money.  ***

Also seeing all the brick and mortar video stores in this film was  nostalgic.

Heavy Metal (1981)

Heavy Metal is an anthology film comprised of stories adapted from or inspired by the pulp magazine of the same name, all held together the through-line of an evil orb. Done in a variety of animation styles, some even look colored pencil-ish, this is a pretty juvenile film that really likes to animate large breasts. John Candy and Eugene Levy are among the  voice cast. **

The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014)

The second in the second series of Spider-Man movies is held together mostly by the chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, despite a not entirely earned ending and Jamie Foxx playing the villain like he was in a Christopher Reeve Superman film. **1/2