Inside Out movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews...

Inside Out is the latest animated film from Pixar, and seems to me like a major comeback for this awesome animation studio, after a while there where everything they made wasn't all that good. Inside Out tells a fairly familiar idea, basically it follows the emotions of a young girl, as she moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, which as you could have guessed causes some emotional termoil. The film stars Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, and Bill Hader as the central emotions.

Now with an animated film, the first thing that would need to be addressed is the animation, and if this movie does anything, it proves that Pixar can still make a film with stellar animation. The visuals in this movie have both high detail and fluid movement on screen, but also rich and vivid colors. Pixar isn't a studio known to slack off with their animation, and Inside Out presents some of their best work yet, with a film that has both incredible visuals, and an original art style for said visuals.

I doubt I've ever seen a role in a film more fitting of Lewis Black.

However, all that being said, animation isn't everything, and each animated film also has to have both good voice acting and good writing. In recent years, this is where Pixar has heavily lacked, however thankfully they're stepping up their game with one of their best scripts and voice casts since Monsters Inc. The actors in this movie are all perfect fits for each of their roles, and play them in a hilariously believable way, especially Lewis Black. As for the writing, it's funny, it's witty, and it has tons of jokes that will likely go right over most kids heads.

On that point, there's another thing I really loved about Inside Out, and it's something I love about most Pixar films, which is that this movie is by no means at all a kids movie. Most Pixar films are usually enjoyed by people of any age group, however (although the look of the film may suggest otherwise) adults will likely enjoy this movie way more than kids will, because this movie has a lot of themes and deeper meanings that kids won't understand, but adults will, and will probably love this movie way more for that.

Final Rating

If you have ever experiences any kind of emotion in your life, chances are you will be able to relate to this movie on some level. It's funny, it's charming, it has some really effective themes, and it's surprisingly mature, even for a Pixar movie, a company known for making movies more for adults than for kids. If you can find the time, go see Inside Out. If you can't find the time, make time, because this movie is worth it.

Inside Out

5/5

Jurassic World movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews...

Jurassic World is the reboot of the Jurassic Park series, having been fourteen years after the last film, and twenty two years since the last good film in the series. This film is directed by Colin Trevorrow, who also made Safety Not Guarenteed (a film I love), and stars Chris Pratt & Bryce Dallas Howard. This film is set way after the events of the first movie, and essentially ignores the other two (rightfully so), being set after Jurassic Park (now called Jurassic World) has opened to the public. However, as theme parks do, they have to keep adding more stuff because people are stubborn and get bored easily, which leads them to creating this super predator, which of course manages to break out and causes mass terror.

Now, the first thing you gotta know about Jurassic World is that this is by no means a Jurassic Park movie. A better way of describing it would be that it's a monster movie set within the storyline of Jurassic Park, because everything about this movie works like a monster movie. The genetic hybrid known as the "Indominus Rex" is essentially the deadliest thing ever created, and causes chaos throughout Jurassic World. So, in that, if you go into this expecting riveting discussions about nature, and evolution, and playing god, you won't get that. However, it's clear that that's not what Jurassic World was trying to be, this movie is trying to be a monster movie. And in being a monster movie, I think Jurassic World mostly succeeded, and turned out to be a pretty entertaining movie, even if it has some big flaws.

Jurassic World has a lot of good things going for it, I don't want this to sound like a bad review. For starters, the action in this movie is really well done, whenever this monster of a dinosaur is on or even off screen, you feel a lot of tension for the characters trying to survive this thing, which is the ultimate predator. There's also the fact that it's not the only dinosaur in the movie, which leads to some pretty cool action sequences, most of which involve Chris Pratt. Speaking of Chris Pratt, he did an awesome job in the lead role of this movie. He was likable, he was funny, but he was also a bit of a badass, but he also isn't typecast in this role, this is a very different role from Guardians of the Galaxy, which I liked to see. This and Guardians have essentially solidified Chris Pratt as an action star, and I'm glad that has happened.

However, this movie is far from perfect. One of the biggest problems to me with this movie was the writing, both dialogue and character wise. In terms of the dialogue, there are a lot of really cheesy and cartoony moments with some of the lines in this movie, and not cheesy in a good "Army of Darkness" way, because it doesn't work with the rest of the films serious tone. As for the characters writing, these characters are very carbon cut characters, and seem really cliched. Chris Pratt essentially plays the adventurer tough guy, Bryce Dallas Howard plays the obsessive business person, and the two kids in this movie are almost no different from the kids in the first movie, except here they serve even less purpose.

Final Rating

I know I just listed a lot of flaws with Jurassic World, however that should by no means mean you shouldn't go. It's not a great movie, but it's certainly a good movie, and probably worth your time. If you want to see a good monster movie this weekend, or just something entertaining that may give you some callings to your childhood, then totally go check out Jurassic World.

Jurassic World

3.7/5

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl movie review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic reviews....

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a comedy/drama based on the novel of the same name by Jesse Andrews. It's directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, and stars Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, and Olivia Cooke. The film follows a socially awkward teenager named Greg, and his friendship with Rachel, a girl who has been recently diagnosed with cancer. Alongside that, it also follows his friendship with Earl, a guy who he makes these Be Kind Rewind style parodies of popular movies with.

Watching this movie, the first thing that will catch everyones eyes will be the films style. This movie has a really unique style, seemingly like nothing I've really seen before in a movie like this. This movie uses really quirky characters to its advantage to bring this movie to life, as well as some of the best and most well thought out shots I've seen in a high school movie. It has some of the stuff you'd expect from a high school movie, such as narration, and cutting the scenes into parts with text separating every part, but what makes this movie so great is how it uses these things to its advantage.

If you remember from my Ouija movie review (worst movie of 2014), I said in that movie I didn't think much of Olivia Cooke. So, when I saw she was starring in this movie, I wasn't optimistic by any stretch of the imagination. However, a lot apparently changed for Cooke in the time between Ouija and this movie, as she's surprisingly good, and plays the emotional centre of this film. A lot of her scenes really hit you where you live, and not in a bad way. Thomas Mann as Greg the lead, he's also really good in this movie. I mentioned earlier that he's socially awkward, and I mean really socially awkward. And he plays it really well, he's really convincing, and you feel for him as well. All the characters in this movie also have really good back & forth, the chemistry here is fantastic.

What I love about this movie is how well balanced it is. As I said, this movie deals with the subject of cancer, and I think this movie deserves a lot of credits for handling this topic in a really mature way. It's never too sappy, and it's never a straight up comedy. In fact, even with it's quirky characters and quirky world, this movie has this feeling of being apologetically real. Even better is how well the two themes of comedy and drama are blended, and how high those points are. When this movie is sad, it is downright depressing, and when it's funny, it's hilarious. It can go from a really funny moment to an absolutely heartbreaking one in a second, and the transition is just about seamless.

Final Rating
Really, I had no problems with this movie. I'd say it's the best high school movies I've seen since The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which anyone who knows me knows I love that movie. In fact, I'd say this goes even further than that movie. It's touching when it needs to be, funny when it needs to be, and by the end, downright heartbreaking. Really, regardless of whether or not you like high school movies, I think pretty much everyone should go see this movie. It should come out June 12th, and I highly recommend you see this as soon as possible.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

4.7/5