I Hear Voices In My Head... "Inside Out"

Inside Out (2015)

Rated PG

Starring Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Richard Kind, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan

Written and Directed by Ronnie Del Carmen and Pete Doctor

The Story:

Riley (Dias) and her parents (Lane & MacLachlan) move from the Midwest to San Francisco. Starting over as an 11 year old is rough. But this tale is told from the perspective of the the little voices inside your head, the emotions that lead you through life: Sadness (Smith), Disgust (Kaling), Anger (Black), Fear (Hader), and their leader, Joy (Poehler). They've got Riley running like a well-oiled machine, but then Sadness keeps inexplicably ruining things. When she and Joy disappear from the command center, Riley is left to be controlled by Fear, Anger and Disgust while Sadness and Joy must try everything they can to get back to help Riley before it's too late.

Leave it to Pixar to take a simple concept and craft it into a funny, moving picture that will make you laugh and cry, often at the same time.

They make kids movies for the kid inside all of us, and never talk down to the little ones in the process.

They've had a few less than stellar offerings over the years, but what studio hasn't?

9 times out of 10, Pixar is going to deliver and give you one of the best movie-going experiences you have all year.

I say this as someone who was getting really, really, really annoyed with the character of Sadness at the beginning of the movie. I was liking everything about the film, except her, for the first 20 minutes or so and was actually about to say "if she doesn't get better really soon, I'm done!"

But patience, being the virtue that it is, won out. That's about when Sadness and Joy are sucked away and must scramble for their lives to get back to save Riley from making some really bad decisions that will affect her life in ways that are quite troubling for anyone.

Yet with the dark themes about how Riley's life is changing, Pixar manages to keep it as amusing as possible, thanks in no small part to all of the vocal cast. Black's distinct voice is so spot on for Anger, and he never fails to entertain.

Be warned, you're going to need a tissue or two before the film is over.

Unless you have no heart, then you're good.

:)

Final Grade: A-

Nobody Spends The Holidays Alone..."Unaccompanied Minors"

Nobody deserves to spend Christmas stuck in an airport.

Nobody.

 

The Story:

5 "Unaccompanied Minors" are snowed in at an airport on their way home for Christmas.  They sneak away from the room where all of the others are being held, and so the adventure begins!  They must outwit and outsmart the airport security and the airport director (Lewis Black) once they discover that all of the other minors, including one little sister, are back safely at the hotel.

An unconventional Christmas movie that owes quite a bit to Home Alone and the John Hughes school of storytelling.

That's a good thing.

The movie also shows the importance of family, especially during the holidays.  Plus, that those families may not always be traditional, and sometimes you might have to make your own family along the way.

Directed by Paul Feig, this is my favorite movie that he's directed.  As I've mentioned, I was underwhelmed with Bridesmaids and The Heat, but I think that has more to do with the scripts than with the director.

The 5 kids are all really good actors that I've seen pop up in a few other things in the years that have passed. 

The name stars of the movie, Lewis Black plays an excellent villain for the movie.  He's exasperated and evil, but like all good Scrooges, he's got a heart buried under the cold exterior.

Joining him as his right hand man is Wilmer Valderrama who gets beaten up for a bit before realizing that following orders is not in his best interest.

Finally, the always reliable Rob Corddry is hilarious as the parent of two of the children.  He drives to the airport to save his kids, and is hilarious in all of his scenes.

Released in 2006, I didn't get around to seeing this one until 2 or 3 years ago.  Searching Netflix for Christmas movies that we hadn't seen yet, this came and was an instant hit with the family. 

I found a copy for sale, and the rest is history.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Already own it, and it gets watched at least once during the holidays... and sometimes outside of the holiday season!

All Everyone Wants Is To Be "Accepted"

Where everyone that applies gets in!

The Story:

Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) has graduated, but no college said yes to the potential freshman.  He hatches a plan with his friends and their only friend who got accepted into a college, Sherman (Jonah Hill) to create a website for a faux college where these others that got rejected could go in the fall.  They rent an old insane asylum near the campus of Harmon University so they actually have a place.  Then using Sherman's uncle Ben (Lewis Black) to improve as the Dean, the parents are fooled and Bartleby and the gang are set to enjoy a year off on their parents dime.  The only problem, the accepted button actually works, and a week after the guys think they've got a semester of slacking, suddenly find themselves with several hundred new applicants.  What's a fake college to do, except get serious about their education!

I find this movie to be hysterical.  Funny, well written, and Justin Long and Jonah Hill are masters at playing themselves in these roles.  The laughs come fast and furious, with most working perfectly to execution.

One thing I realized having not seen this one in a few years, Jonah Hill used to be Huuuuuge!  Dangerously so.  I have to give him credit for slimming down over the years and not getting bigger and exploding!

In a sense, this is the antithesis of Animal House.  Whereas they really didn't care about college, these kids simply weren't good enough to get in.

Yet a funny thing happened on their way to not-learning.

They actually learned a great deal, and come out better for it in the end.

The impassioned speech at the end as to why their school should be accredited and not become a boring clone of what works in other schools is in reality a wake-up call for what is wrong with the education system today, and it's getting only worse, not any better.

But that's way too deep for this movie.

: )

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I own it, and considering how funny it really is, I don't watch it nearly enough.  I'll blame the language, as it's a pretty hardcore PG-13 film!

You Suck..No...You Suck! "Heckler"

 

If you don't like them, tell them how you feel!

The Story:

Jamie Kennedy hosts a documentary that's as much about him, as it is about stand-up comedians in particular, and performance artists in general.  With interviews and anecdotes from dozens of other comics, filmmakers, singers as well as counter points and opinions from a variety of hecklers and critics as to why they do what they do.

It's not always alcohol that fuels it.

Mostly, but not always.

: )

This is an interesting documentary that does focus a bit much on Jamie Kennedy and the disastrous reviews his movies (Malibu's Most Wanted and Son of the Mask) received.  But hey, it's his documentary, so fair enough.  He comes off a bit desperate in a few of the bits, but as the documentary plays out, you have to start feeling for him, and the rest of performance artists who are subject to critiques and reviews from critics both professional and amateur.

The bad thing is, and they talk to a real doozy in here, about reviewers who make the reviews personal.

It's one thing to give an opinion, "hey, I saw this movie, liked/didn't like it, you might feel the same way and spend/save your money".

That's what I attempt to do here, and one of the reasons I did my Greatest 100 movies, so you could peer back into my warped mind and see what I liked and what I didn't, and see if our opinions mesh more times than they diverge.

What I don't do, at least I don't think I've done here, is belittle a performer or their performance.

Even some of these direct to DVD features with big stars (Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta Jones, etc) I try and give the benefit of the doubt.  Have the stars done better? Yep! Do I wish them to be crucified because of a poor choice?  No way!

Some of the criticism that Kennedy and others endure in this film (and their careers) is downright brutal.

Wishing death on a performer?  Come on folks, dial it back a notch or twelve.

Anyway, it's interesting to watch, though realize that with a bunch of stand-ups, it's f-bombs galore in this otherwise interesting documentary that all reviewers (and performers to boot!) should watch to see how this relationship works.

 

Now available for streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: C+...B- range.

Would I Own It: No, the point was made, and again, replay value is low in this house due to language.