Movie Review Monday: Zootopia

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's film is the 2016 animated movie, Zootopia, featuring a stellar voice cast including Jason Bateman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Idris Elba, and Jenny Slate.

I really enjoyed this movie and was glad I was able to catch it on Netflix recently. It follows a bunny, Judy (Goodwin) who becomes a cop and must work with a deceptive fox, Nick (Bateman) to solve a mysterious case in the city of Zootopia.

The plot is basically a classic buddy cop movie with animals, but the topics they get into about prejudice, stereotypes, and bias is powerful and cunning since it is under the guise of cute animated animals. It is movies like this and Big Hero Six for example that I would want to show my future children since they're fun but have a positive message. It's better than simple princess tales, which is the typical Disney fare. I appreciate Disney going for something like this, especially in addition to their current slate of Marvel movies and shows that also are fun, and explore different topics like PTSD (Jessica Jones) or life on the streets of Harlem (Luke Cage).

Zootopia isn't a perfect movie for me by any means. Some of the jokes fall flat and it felt like it ran a little long, but I highly recommend it as something that reminds us movies can be both fun and have an important, positive message.

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What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 01/15/16

Greetings!

Here's what is going on in my world this week:

• True Detective, Season 1

My partner and I blew through this over this past weekend, and we really enjoyed it. We had friends who had recommended it to us for a bit, and with my trial of HBO Now that I was playing around with (more on that later) we decided to check the show out. It's a slow burning, haunting, journey into a dark world of crime and mystery. Led masterfully by the two main actors, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the show pulls you in and takes you on this long, winding journey towards the truth about what happened in this bizarre fictional case that took place several years before. We haven't checked out season two yet (I've heard conflicting reports of its quality) but at the very least, I'm glad we checked out season one.

• Silicon Valley

This was another show that I had heard some good things about. I am a fan of some of the actors and creative people behind this show, but unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of this show. It isn't bad or off-putting in any way, it just felt bland to me. Granted, I only watched the first handful of episodes, but still, there is so much good, scripted television out there that I don't feel the need to invest a bunch of time into a show that just doesn't feel like it is worth my time. Maybe the show gets better, but I gave it a chance and am going to move on. It doesn't feel like it is groundbreaking in any way or at all doing anything terribly creative so I don't feel like I am missing much. It had a sort of Big Bang Theory vibe to me, which while it at times celebrates geeks and nerds, sometimes it is laughing at us rather than with us.

• HBO Now

I've been playing around with the free trial of HBO Now for the past month, and I've enjoyed what it has to offer. You get your pick of all of HBO's past shows, documentaries, and their current selection of both modern and classic movies. The quality is good and the interface works pretty well too. It works on my Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku Stick, and a myriad of other devices like my iPhone, iPad, or laptop. While the price tag of $15/month is a little steep, I do feel like it is staking a claim to a pretty robust, unique, and competitive viewing library. Nowhere else can I instantly stream Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies unless I am deliberately paying to rent or buy just that movie.

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Movie Review Monday: Nightcrawler

Welcome to another edition of Movie Review Monday!

This week's film is the 2014 crime thriller, Nightcrawler, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

The story follows Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal), who searches for crime scenes around Los Angeles to film and sell to local news channels. The more violent and sensational, the better. From the first scenes of the movie where we meet Bloom, we immediately see him as an amoral, anti-social character who is intense and is willing to do whatever he needs to to get what he wants.

After some initial stumbles, Bloom eventually becomes very good at getting the shots he needs, going to whatever lengths he has to. The stakes increasingly get higher, and the movie does really well building the tension. Bloom is a strange character, but you can't help but be fixated by his wild exploits and behavior. Gyllenhaal carries the movie wonderfully, with only a few brief supporting roles. Rene Russo is the main supporting character we see, with her playing Bloom's local news station contact, Nina.

The film reminded me a lot of the Ryan Gosling movie, Drive, which is appropriate since Nightcrawler was produced by the same people who made Drive. Both are great, dark, character driven thrillers that you can't help but watch.

I definitely recommend checking out Nightcrawler (even if it isn't about the X-Men character of the same name). You can stream it right now on Netflix!

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Movie Review Monthly: July 2014

Greetings!

Hard to believe July is already over! Here is the month's movie reviews from Netflix for you to enjoy in one bite sized cinematic morsel.

• Mr. Nobody
• The Untouchables
• Short Term 12
• Fargo

We had a nice slate of movies this past month. Hope you enjoy them all! Keep coming back every Monday for another movie review for you to stream instantly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Movie Review Monday: Fargo

Hey there and welcome to another edition of my continuing series of reviewing movies available to stream (for now) on Netflix. This week I had the pleasure of watching 1996's Fargo, starring Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, and Steve Buscemi. I have heard a lot about this movie over the years and it is a modern classic to be sure, being inducted into the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress the first year it was eligible. I think this was mostly for the fact that it is sort of pure Americana, and essentially American. The premise that is the hook of this movie is how a grisly murder takes place in a small town out in Minnesota/South Dakota. The folksy characters and context of these small town American environment is what gives the movie its unique flavor. If you were to take that away, it would be a pretty dull, average movie.

Each of the characters in this movie are great in their own way. Macy is a schmuck ne'er'do'well who is in over his head trying to make ends meet, and Buscemi as the criminal Macy hires to try to get some quick cash, but in turn accidentally murders a police officer and two witnesses to the aforementioned killing. McDormand is great as her classic detective investigating the slayings, and seems to be the only decent main character in the whole film.

This film is a dark comedic crime film, a unique blend to be sure, especially due to its setting. I enjoyed it now even almost twenty years after its original release, it's just that good. I can't pinpoint a favorite part about it but just the original, quirky, unique flair to it had me hooked. I definitely recommend it as a great film, and an American cinema classic.

Check out Fargo, streaming now on Netflix and let me know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by!