Lady's Choice: Inside Out

Guess who's taking over!

Since Brian's schedule is a little out of whack right now, I though that I'd help by doing an extra blog post. And since Brian and I saw Ted 2 and Inside Out the other night , I thought we could split the new movies (plus I just did a top Pixar list). Besides he is much better suited to handle Ted 2. Inside Out is Pixar's latest creation and made over $90 million during its opening weekend. It was also released with a short film Lava. Now, we saw this with some little kids in front of us, and they were confused at first. I'm not sure if they liked it, but I know that I liked it. 

Lava is a musical about a volcano that is surrounded by various couples (two whales, two birds, etc.). He sings a song for someone to love. He sings until his lava goes out, aka becomes dormant. Under the waves is a girl volcano who has heard his song and erupts out of the ocean. Her eruption though causes him to sink beneath the ocean. That is until he hears her sing her version of the song. Lava erupts, and the two volcanoes end up being together. It was a really touching short film. 

As for Inside Out, on the surface it looks kind of like this:

When I first saw the trailer, I was extremely skeptical and thought that Pixar might have stretched too far; however, I can assure everyone that they have not. Pixar has created a story about growing up and all the emotions that go along with that. So of course they start with birth. Joy was the first emotion in Riley's head. Then came the rest: Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness. Each with their own job to help Riley grow up, and Joy was their leader. Joy explains to the audience that as Riley grows up core memories are made, and all of them are yellow (aka happy/Joy).

Each of the core memories link to islands of Riley's personality, from Goofball Island to Hokey Island to Family Island. They have also all been created in Minnesota, where Riley was born and has lived all 11 years of her live. This all changes suddenly when her father gets relocated to San Fransisco. Ask anyone, and they'll tell you that moving halfway across the country to a new city can be extremely difficult for any child. Through Joy's eyes this is made worse when Sadness starts to turn happy memories sad when she touches them.


When Riley tries to make the best of things, Joy tries to get everyone ready for the first day of school. Everything seems to go well until, as Fear predicts, the teacher calls on Riley. While telling the class about herself, Riley starts to cry because Sadness touches the console, creating a new sad core memory. Joy tries to stop the sad memory from becoming part of the core, causing all the core memories plus Joy and Sadness to be sucked up the tube to long term memory.

As Joy and Sadness try to return to Headquarters with the core memories, the three that remain to control Riley's emotions (Fear, Anger and Disgust) are not able to keep Riley her normal happy self. Also without the core memories, Riley begins to make decisions that lead to her personality islands disappearing. Joy must learn that life isn't always happy and to accept the new Riley. Same way that Riley has to adjust to being in a new place, even if that takes her the whole movie. In the end, the headquarters of Riley start to look different since the beginning of the movie.

Not to be punny or anything, but this movie is full of feels, both Human and actual Feelings. Like many of the Pixar movies, it is all about a change that most children and adults can relate to. It's about growing and up and learning that you don't have to be the same person all the time. Life is full of emotions that make up who we are. This movie really takes me back to my own childhood and the emotions and trials that I had growing up, which is a big draw for the adults of the movie. It's a different way to think about parts of our childhoods, and for the children, it is a lesson about what they are going through or will go through.Joy and Sadness also have learn that they need each other and that Riley needs both of them equally in  life.  Joy had the most to learn about Sadness, saying in the beginning that she wasn't even sure what Sadness did.

The CG for Inside Out is stunning, which is something that I have come to expect from Pixar. Each feeling and each human are distinct, from Riley and her parents to how Joy and Sadness glow different colors. The beauty in this CG is the attention to detail. It's harder to get realistic looking blonde hair compared to other colors, and Riley's hair looks convincing. The "insides" get the same type of treatment from the imaginary friend made of cotton candy to the glitter in feelings' hairs.

Overall, this is another fantastic film from Pixar. From the story to the visuals to the overall pacing of the movie,  time flew by while watching this movie. I was sad that it was over so quickly and that I didn't put it on my most anticipated for this year. Good job, Pixar.

Rating:  9/10

Buy on BluRay:  A feelings-filled YES!

So what did you think of Inside Out?  Was it as good as other Pixar movies?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Lady's Choice: Favorite Pixar Movies!

Guess who's taking over!

I promise that eventually I will get away from lists. I'm looking at doing my own "From the Vault" or "Date Night" articles for the blog, but for now, I keep wanting to do lists. June has seen the release of Disney/Pixar's newest movie: Inside Out. For the most part Pixar has put out a movie every year, and while not all of them have been smash hits, they all have been solid movies. Because of that, I had a really hard time limiting myself to just 5 movies.

I decided to go with movies with Pixar as the studios and only including feature lengths. I also decided against putting The Incredibles (2004) on this list. My decision was mainly because it has already been highlighted as part of my of my superhero movie list. Even with this decision, I still had a really hard time limiting it to not all of them. So here's my top 5 Pixar movies in release date order.

Toy Story (1995)

Pixar's first movie put it front and center for children's movies from 1995 through today. They used the state of the art CG for the day, amazing audiences. It also left many children with the question of what their toys did while they were away or even lost. It also had a great message: it's not about what you think you are but what you mean to those around you. This is seen with Buzz thinking that he is the real Buzz Lightyear and goes through a crisis of both identity and purpose when he finds out that he actually is a toy. Woody shows him that while he might not be a real sheriff (space ranger for Buzz) but loves being Andy's toy and bringing joy to Andy. The voice acting with leading actors Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear is superb. The soundtrack is great. Everyone know "You've Got a Friend in Me." And to this day, most kids have seen this ground breaking Pixar classic.


Finding Nemo (2003)
Pixar took audiences on a wild, Australian ride with Finding Nemo. Again, audiences were amazed with the CG. The attention to detail was amazing. From studying how the fish actually move to how the currents affect the reef and other wildlife, Pixar took their time to get everything not only right but natural looking. I don't remember Toy Story in theaters, but I remember being in awe when Finding Nemo's opening scenes started playing. I was lost in the underwater world, and, thanks to a great script, still to this day quote this movie (Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming). Audiences loved the character Dory so much so that Pixar will have Finding Dory coming out in June 2016. I think this movie is also why children know clown fish as Nemos.


WALL - E (2008)
From underwater to outer space, once again Pixar upped the game by taking its audiences to the future and made us root for a little robot named Wall-E. Again, Pixar's attention to detail is evident in the CG, from the garbage filled, abandoned Earth to Wall-E and Eve dancing in space. Some adults railed against the environmentalist message from this movie, but I think it is a good message. It is also a love story. Wall-E and Eve are from different worlds essentially. Even though they are both robots made by human beings, they have different directives and end up loving each other all the same. And all of this was done with much less dialogue then other movies as Wall-E and Eve don't have very big vocabulary, and the humans are somewhat of side characters.


Up (2009)

Somewhat back down to Earth, Up is still a high flying adventure about a husband trying to live how his wife had dreamed of living. First, I'm going to state the obvious: The first like 8 minutes of this movie is better than Twilight. With that out of the way, Pixar has proven once again to be able to focus on what matters in the story, in this case it is the variety of characters and their interactions. Carl looses the love of his life Ellie and feels like she never got to go on the adventure that she wanted. So, when push comes to shove, he set sail for Paradise Falls with Russell (a stowaway). Along the way, they meet Dug the Dog, Kevin the Bird, and Carl's childhood hero Carles Muntz, and Carl learns what really mattered to Ellie and what matters now to him. Like Finding Nemo, this movie is still quoted among my friends and loved by many.


Brave (2012)
Brave is a very underrated Pixar/Disney movie. Merida herself, while the favorite of a friend, is an underrated princess. Today, many love Frozen because Ana saves Elsa and herself, it doesn't end in a wedding, etc. This leave me confused because Merida did it first. She is trying to get out of her parents arranging a marriage and wants to choose her own fate. In fact, Merida has mad bow skills, and the movie doesn't end with any love interest for her at all. Her fate, and that of her people, rests on her shoulders the entire movie. Maybe Brave wasn't as well received because she is so different or some other reason that I am not seeing; however, Merida is one of my favorite princess and well as the star of one of my favorite Pixar movies. Can I also point out that her hair was a nightmare to animate? Props to Pixar for giving her those beautiful, long, red curls. I also love that she is Scottish and has her own distinct look from the rest of Disney's princess line-up.

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Lady's Choice: Top Dino Movies!

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I cannot stop thinking about dinosaurs! Brian and I went to see Jurassic World opening weekend, and now I want to ride a motorcycle with a pack of velociraptors. This isn't a huge surprise for me though. I've been a huge fan of dinosaurs since I was little and checked out all of the dino books from the public library. I used to be able to name all of the dinosaurs that they showed in the original Jurassic Park.

So with with Jurassic World dominating the box office this weekend, I thought that I'd give my top 5 dinosaur movies. This was actually harder than I originally thought. There are a lot of bad dinosaur movies out, most I don't even want to see, so those don't get counted
. Now, I also am not counting movies like Godzilla because I consider them firmly in the kaiju or monster movie category. So without further a do:


5) We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993)

Now, about half the people that I have mentioned this movie to have never seen it or even heard of it. In fact, after the first time I saw it, I wasn't entirely sure if I hadn't dreamt it. This animated movie (based on the children's book by the same name) is in some ways if Jurassic Park didn't end in death and closure. Rex (guess what dinosaur he is) and a hand full of other dinosaurs are brought to the future by Captain Neweyes. He's force fed Brain Cereal that transforms him from ferocious, pre-historic killer to a lovable guy who is just looking to have a good time. Everyone is transported to the future, a.k.a. 1993 New York City, to bring wonder to children. They are given some rules, including staying away from Professor Screweyes who wants to reverse the dinos back to their terrifying states to scare children. Add into the mix two kids, Louie and Cecilia, who are both in need of some friends, and you have a 72 minute dinosaur adventure.

4) Dinosaur (2000)

Now, I know for a fact that Brian is not a fan of this 2000 Disney movie. I, on the other hand, really do like this movie.  Due to a series of events an Iguanadon egg finds its way to an island that is inhabited by lemurs, who adopt the baby Iguanadon and name him Aladar. Years later, Aladar and his family have to escape a meteor by heading to the mainland. Once there, they quickly learn that they need a herd to  survive. Aladar meets Neera who is the sister of the herd leader Kron as they are heading to the herd's mating grounds. Kron is all about survival of the fittest, including letting members of the herd die to the horror of Aladar. I'm pretty sure you can see where this movie is going. I think that this movie, while not Disney's best, is still a good watch for the family and even have it as part of my movie collection.

3) Jurassic World (2015)

I saw Jurassic World opening night with Brian and a friend. We had to sit in the front rows of the theater to watch it, but it was so totally worth it. I wanted a dinosaur leaving that movie. Brian's got the full review of the movie for you, so I will try to keep this brief. Jurassic World is the sequel to the first Jurassic Park. As far as I can tell, this movie ignores the other sequels, which (spoiler alert) will not be making this list at all. This movie still brought up the question of whether humans should be messing around with dinosaur DNA but without rehashing it in the same exact way. The park is up and working with 20+ species of dinosaurs including velociraptors. I think they learned some lessons from the first attempt. For example, the raptors are kept away from visitors because they are considered too dangerous. That's where Chris Pratt's character steps in. He was brought in when the raptors where hatched, imprinted on him, and have been trying to train them to follow commands from him. The investors want bigger attractions to increase attendants and profits, thus leading to the genetically modified Indominus Rex. This movie is full of the scares of being chased by dinosaurs but also those touching moments that make you think of the dinosaurs as more than just "scary monsters." I can't wait to see this movie again.

2) The Land Before Time (1988)

This is the last animated movie on the list. From the animation to the script to the music, the movie had just the right balance of wonder, adventure, and little bit of fright. I can't remember a time when my family didn't own The Land Before Time, or as my sister called them: "The Littlefoot Movies." This movie is at heart a kids movie from the simplification of the names of the dinosaurs (Long Neck, Three Horn, Spike Tail, etc.) to stating the moral and the epilogue at the end of the movie. Little Foot, the little Long Neck, is traveling with his mother and grandparents to the Great Valley, a place of abundance and no predators (Sharp Teeth). He wants to make friends with others but is told that different kinds of herds stick to their own kind. After the death of his mother by a T-Rex and a cataclysmic earthquake, Little Foot has to make his way to the Great Valley. Along the way, he makes friends with other young dinosaurs, and they have to work together to make it past the obsticales in their way to make it to the Great Valley. Brian and I quote this movie often. I can't imagine not showing The Land Before Time to my children.

1) Jurassic Park (1993)

If you were wondering where Jurassic Park was on my list, you've found it. Yep. My top dinosaur movie is the original Jurassic Park. While I didn't see this one until it was out on VHS (I was like 3 when it hit the theaters), I remember my grandmother worrying about if it would give me nightmares. It didn't. It sparked my love afair with dinosaurs. I love the mix of different visual effects in the movie. Your eyes never get to seeing one giving this movie a lot of visual longevity. All of the sound effects combined with the amazing soundtrack make for an emmersive experience. All of the actors give spectacular performances, making me actually feel the excitement of first seeing the dinosaurs to the terror of running from them. This movie is the standard for live action dinosaur movies. As for the following two sequels, don't bother with them. They aren't any where near as good. Watch Jurassic Park and jump straight to Jurassic World.

BONUS!!!
There is another dinosaur movie coming to theaters later this year from Disney, and that is The Good Dinosaur. A young dinosaur named Arlo lives in a world that was never struck by astroid that killed all the dinosaurs. Arlo gets swept away in a river and has to find his way back home. On the way, he finds a little human boy and names him Spot. Its being released on November 15, 2015, and I can't wait to see it.

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Lady's Choice: Favorite Superhero Movies!

Guess who's taking over!

Hello, everyone! If you don't know who it could possibly be, then you might want to go back and read a few of Brian's posts. I'm Becky, and I am taking over....well every now and again. Brian will still be doing articles on my behalf, but since I'm done with school for the summer, I'll do a few. This series is basically about whatever I want. And with Avengers: Age of Ultron out for about a month now, I though I'd start off with some of my favorite superhero movies!

Now, some full disclosure is probably needed. I am a Marvel fangirl for the most part. I do love some DC; however, when compared to how much a like, Marvel wins. That's a topic for another day. I am going to do a "Top 10 List" with no actually ranking. I'm including animated and live action, newer and older. But these are all incredible watches.

Let's start this off with some honorable mentions (a.k.a. Top 22)

• Batman Forever (1995)
• X-Men: First Class(2011)
• Thor (2011)
• Man of Steel (2013)
• Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015)
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
• Green Lantern (2011)
• Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
• Batman Begins (2005)
• The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014)
• Megamind (2010)
• X-Men (200)

Now on to the top ten! (Reminder: They are not ranked.)

The Incredibles (2004)

If you haven't read any previous posts involving me, then it be known that I am a huge Disney and Pixar fan. Sometimes The Incredibles is forgotten by people for Finding Nemo or Toy Story, which is sad. This movie is more than just about a super family. It is about being comfortable in your own skin and with the world around you. Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is a grown man becoming more comfortable with who he was and who he has become with being a husband and father. Helen Parr (Elastigirl) has to come to terms with being a superhero and a mother. All three of the kids, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack, are having to learn to embrace the balance of being super and having a secret identity, though Jack-Jack not so much. The supporting cast is also incredible from the family's best bud Fro-Zone to the world famous fashion designer to the superheroes Edna Mode.

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

When it comes to passions aside from movies, history is probably top of the list. This is probably one of the reason I went ga-ga over the first Captain America movie (and yes it is not real history). It also helps that it is treated as a historical drama before it is a superhero movie. All of the actors are also on point, from Tommy Lee Jones to our main man himself Chris Evans. Chris was not a new comer to superhero movies when he took up the iconic shield. However, from start to end I only saw him as Captain America, not the Human Torch (Fantastic Four - 2005). Brian has already reviewed this movie if you want his point of view. I love so much about this movie from Steve's progression from a simple boy from Brooklyn to the hero who defeats Hydra and being willing to sacrifice everything in order to do so. As usual with Marvel movies, the dialogue is just as good as the action sequences. There was a love interest but it didn't dominate the movie. As with a lot of other superhero origin stories, Steve has to deal with the fact that he is no longer a "normal" person, that he has responsibility. Visually it is also stunning. The attention to detail is great. Combine everything, the visuals, the script, the acting, the special effects, and it makes for one of the best superhero movies. 

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Yes, another Marvel movie. I promise that not all the movies are Marvel based. Thor: The Dark World is more along the lines of a "fallout" movie. We see what the god of thunder has been up to since returning to Asgard with Loki. We see how his interactions with Asgardians and other worlds has matured and become less like those of a spoiled boy and more like that of a leader. He and Jane just can't be kept apart. She's put in danger while looking for Thor, so Thor does his best to try and protect her. We also see a different side of Loki. Now I was never a Loki fan when it came to the comics. However, from the first Thor movie through this one, my love of this Loki has grown. A good part of that is how well Tom Hiddleston portrays Thor's half brother. The other part has to be all of the changes that Loki goes through from movie to movie, particularly the humanizing emotions portrayed in Dark World. The main villain was wasted, but that did not make a huge difference to me. 

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Uga-Chaka. Uga-Chaka. Guardians of the Galaxy is that movie that I can watch over and over and over again. In the long run it fits in with all of the Earth based movie, but I think a huge part of its draw is just how different it is from all of the other Marvel movies and franchises. Guardians has an amazing soundtrack with both Starlord's mix tape and the score for the movie. Between the talking tree and raccoon duo (neither of which I could tell who was doing the voice work for them ) to the wrestler turned big-screen actor portraying Drax, the cast of characters was completely left field. I honestly think the script was written kind of like the Captain America script with it being a superhero movie second. This time though the dialogue lends me to think that it was written as a comedy first. The visuals are breathtaking and work well with the story. Overall, this was one of my favorite movies of 2014. 

The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

What can I say about this movie that Brian hasn't already. It was amazing. I loved the inclusion of Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Vision. The best part of this movie wasn't the action sequences. The interactions between the Avengers themselves as well as the other character. The party scene towards the beginning of the movie is one of Marvel's best so far. I laughed so hard the entire time including during Stan Lee's cameo and the competition to left Thor's hammer. Ultron was cool and definitely a threat, but I felt like this movie was more about good friends learning more about each other and where they would go from here. Hawkeye also played a much bigger part which made me extremely happy. Overall, it's an extremely good movie but I'm already looking forward to Ant-Man later this summer.

Batman: Assault on Arkham (2014)

And DC makes its first appearance on my top 10. I will definitely give DC this: its animated movies are spectacular. Assault on Arkham was the first one to grab my attention. I am a huge Harley Quinn fan. I grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series on TV and loved her and the Joker. When I saw this at the video rental store, I grabbed it off the shelf so fast that Brian knew we'd be watching it the moment we got home. In fact, Brian reviewed this movie that week as one of his Diamond in the Rough posts. This movie is wonderfully drawn and voice acted and it excels where DC tends to: the villains. This rag-tag group known as the Suicide Squad shows the variety of villains that are present in the DC universes. Though out the movie, you only really know Deadshot's true motives and come to questions everyone else's motives. Batman doesn't actually make an appearance until a good way into the movie, making it more of a Suicide Squad movie rather than a Batman movie.

The Avengers (2012)

This is movie is where I started to see a trend in Marvel movies: it isn't all about the action. Yes, the action sequences are done really well, but the strength of the movie lies in the overall story and the characters themselves. While all of the actors give really good performances, Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson are probably the two that stand out. Hiddleston/Loki found a huge fangirl following after this movie that wasn't really present after Thor. Gregg/Coulson had been present in most of the previous movies leading to this superhero team up. He was Captain's biggest fan and became the uniting force behind the team. The dialogue in the movie has some extremely memorable moments. A personal favorite of mine is when Iron Man and Thor are fighting over Loki in the woods. Iron Man: "Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" There is a reason that it resonated so well with audiences worldwide.

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Technically this is a Marvel property, but I'm classifying it as a Disney movie since it was made by Disney. Big Hero 6 is somewhat about a team becoming superheroes. Mostly it is a story about Hiro Hamada and dealing with the loss of his brother Tadashi. Baymax's role in the whole movie is to be Hiro caretaker. He becomes a superhero to help Hiro's emotional state but ends up becoming his best friend. This movie was about family and striving to be more than you currently are. Big Hero 6 follows its Marvel roots with being about Hiro and his friends' journey first and being superheroes second. All the members of the team become superheroes to help Hiro then stay to help others. While I am hesitant for a sequel to Big Hero 6, I wouldn't be entirely opposed to it either.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Batman Begins made my honorable mentions list, and The Dark Knight has made it here onto my top 10 list. This movie is dark and pushes Batman to the point of breaking. Performances were all good with the best being Heather Ledger as the Joker and Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. As I have said before, I'm a huge fan of DC villains, and Harley Quinn and Joker are my favorite Batman villains. Harley doesn't make an appearance in this movie, but the Joker lives up to his reputation of being Batman's #1 villain. Ledger put everything into what ended up being his last performance. He puts this edge on Joker that made him all that more compelling, especially with having others make the choices of who will live and who will die. My only hope is that the Joker in the Suicide Squad can live up to this high standard.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

To round out the list, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This was Brian's #1 of Phase 2 (not including Ant-Man which isn't out yet). Above everything else, this movie feels like a natural progression for Steve Rogers. He's been S.H.I.E.L.D.'s go to guy for awhile, but remember that Steve's a soldier not a spy. His actions lead to bringing down what S.H.I.E.L.D. has become, but he doesn't do it alone. Every person within this movie has to make the same choice that Rogers has to make: who am I and where do I stand? Again, Marvel made this a superhero movie with great dialogue, great visuals, great costumes, great sound, etc. I think they also threw in a bit of a spy movie. Rogers and Black Widow being tracked down reminds me of chase scenes that I have seen in the Bourne movies or the Bond series. I am doing the impatience dance to see what comes next for the Cap' in the upcoming movies. 

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