Movie Review: Jason Bourne

 

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland










Michael's Movie Grade:C+

Review: Fun action movie.

What really makes this movie is the characters and action. The characters are very relatable and understandable and this is what makes the action scenes so exciting.  It doesn't hurt that most of these characters are played very well by the actors. The action scenes are also very well done, though there is a lot of action in this film, it rarely becomes too overwhelming. Also the action scenes and the characters lead for a good amount of excitement that manages to hold for most of the film.

On the downside the camera feels like it can't stay still. It is constantly moving and sometimes you just wish it would stop for at least a few seconds. Rather than enhancing the action this becomes simply very distracting. This is a huge fault. Also this film covers nothing that hasn't been done in various action movies before. It does it well, but still if you want something new this may disappoint.

Overall a fun movie that is definitely worth a watch even if it has big faults.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: Ice Age Collision Course

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland













Michael's Movie Grade:D

Review: Bland forgettable movie has little of the charm that made the first one so great.

When I think of Ice Age, I think of a film that had a great sense of humor along with some great emotional moments. This film is lacking in both departments. Few of the jokes are ever funny, and the emotional scenes just seem phoned in. In fact this whole film seems like it is just going through the motions. Everything here feels like the film is just doing what the filmmakers believe people expect. It doesn't feel like the writers of the film put any effort into this movie. The basic story idea for this film, while far from original could have worked quite well if the same love and effort was put into this movie that was so obviously put into the first one. But instead there is little love put into anything and it leaves little to no reaction.

With what this movie could have been, and what the talent behind it was capable of bringing us, this film can only be called a major disappointment. Oh well the first film (and the second to a lesser extant) is still a great movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Overlooked Classics: The Adventures of the Roadrunner (1962)

 

No matter how many great cartoon series are made Looney Tunes will always be the greatest (or at least my favorite). These series not only contains many of the greatest cartoons ever made, but also some of the greatest films ever made. I am obviously not the only one to feel this way. These cartoons have found away into many of our subconscious minds. We can quote these cartoons without even thinking about it. The characters have become old friends and have been burned strongly into our minds for our whole lives. 

In the late 1950's and early 1960's Looney Tunes were becoming not just big hits in movie theaters, but also had a huge television following thanks to The Bugs Bunny Show. It was because of this that Chuck Jones decided to make a TV series based off of his Coyote and Roadrunner characters. The result was this pilot episode. This episode was directed by Chuck Jones as well as by his current layout artist, Maurice Noble and one of his animators, Tom Ray. It would be animated by Chuck's usual team of animators (at this time) including Ken Harris, Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Tom Ray and Bob Bransford. However for whatever reason, this pilot was not picked up by any TV networks. Because of this it would be released in theaters as a single near half an hour short film.

The film begins with a theme song written by Looney Tunes composer Milt Franklin. After that it starts as your normal Roadrunner cartoon as the Coyote tries many ways to catch the Roadrunner and of course constantly fails. However this time Wile E. Coyote speaks directly to the audience about his plans. He had spoken before in some Bugs Bunny cartoons, but this is the first time the character talked in a Roadrunner cartoon. Then we see the characters are been watched on TV by Looney Tunes character Ralph Philips and his brother. Ralph admits sometimes he thinks he is the Roadrunner. Ralph's brother decides (since he wants to be a psychiatrist) to psychologically look at the root of Ralph's problem. This leads to the classic Ralph Philips cartoon From A to ZZZZZ. Then we see more of the Coyote's failed attempts to catch the Roadrunner. Ralph then asks his brother why the Coyote would want to eat the Roadrunner. Wile E. Coyote breaks the fourth wall and explains to the kids about all the delicious foods, roadrunners are made of.

This is a very funny short with much of the charms of the best Roadrunner cartoons. The timing is perfect, the animation great, and the humor is fantastic. This definitely needs to be watched by all Looney Tunes fans.

Because of its length this film was cut into two shorts for TV, Road Runner A Go Go and Zip Zip Hooray. Some of the jokes from this film were reused in the theatrical cartoon To Beep or Not to Beep released the next year. The Adventures of the Roadrunner is available as a bonus feature on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Recourses Used
Toonheads: The Lost Cartoons (TV documentary)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154117/?ref_=rvi_tt

Movie Review: Star Trek Beyond

 

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland






















Michael's Movie Grade:B+

Review: Really good film.

This movie has great characters, a good sense of humor and a good story. The characters in this film are just as likable as these characters have always been. Though these roles have been taken on by different actors all of them do a very good job. This is especially true of Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, who turns in a great performance here. The writing on these characters is also great. This film contains quite good humor. Most of the jokes hit, and none leave a bad taste in your mouth. This film is simply fun from beginning to end.

However on the other hand the film goes by too fast. I really wish we could have had more scenes establishing atmosphere. I enjoyed the atmosphere in this film but I felt I could of gotten more out of it if the movie was just a little longer. Also the story is a bit predictable at times. There are many twist that are too easy to see coming. However the faults of this film are outweighed by what is good about it.

This film also includes a great tribute to Leonard Nimoy.

Overall a really good movie that is just a lot of fun.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: The Shallows

 

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland




















Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: Good enjoyable thriller, if unspectacular.

This movie may be predictable and unoriginal, but it is heavily helped by a good performance from Blake Lively and clever film making touches from director Jaume Collet Serra. It is also a fun movie. Blake Lively's performance needs to be good because she pretty much has the whole movie to herself (Ok credit where credit is due, she co-stars with the very talented Sully 'Steven' Seagall).  Luckily her performance is quite good. Also helping a lot here is little visual touches like the way we see what's on her phone to the side of her as she's using it, and the clock at the bottom of the screen in an important scene. However despite all this movie is very predictable and it feels like we have seen it before. It is well done here even if not enough for the unoriginality and predictability to be big faults.

Overall faulty but still good movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: The Secret Life of Pets

 

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade:B+

Review: The best film Illumination Entertainment has done so far, and an excellent film.

I can't say this is a perfect movie or that it doesn't have any big faults, but what I can say is that the entire time I was watching the film, I was enjoying my self very much. This film was just plain fun from the beginning to end. It had great energy. This film is never boring nor is it ever annoying, it is plain fun. The characters are very likable, and both the animation and voice work feel like part of characters. In other words you just believe the characters. Speaking of the characters their designs are just fantastic. In fact this whole film is just lovely to look at.

On the downside, the humor is rarely laugh out loud funny. There are  a few laugh out loud jokes but not as many as there could be. However there is still a great energy to these jokes and many of these jokes are still amusing. Also there is one sad scene in this movie that doesn't really work. The movie never slows down to let you feel sad about this scene. Because of this the scene feels very out of place and is a major fault in this otherwise great movie.

Overall this film may have it's faults (including one major one) but this film is very, very fun and definitely a film I strongly recommend you see.

But don't go away we have a short to review.
Mower Minions









Michael's Short Film Grade:C

Review: Not the Minions finest hour, but still entertaining.

This film has a good sense of humor and some quite funny jokes, but the timing feels a bit off. This cartoon is quite funny at times, but there are also quite a few jokes where the timing lessens what could have been a much funnier short.

Overall enjoyable, but not near as good as the feature it accompanied.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: Independence Day: Resurgence

 

Review written by Michael J. Ruhland
























Michael's Movie Grade:C-

Review: Entertaining time passer but little else.

This film has a nice (but not exactly great) atmosphere, and well done action scenes, but is lacking in both the characters and story. The main problem is that this film tries to focus on too many characters and their own story lines. Because of this while the characters are likable, they aren't fleshed out anywhere near as good as they should be. You just don't get to know these characters as well as you should. Also with this many little story lines we see to little of all of them for them to be as effective as they should. The main story has been done many times before and this film does it decently here, it still has been done better elsewhere. The humor is hit and miss though there are still some good jokes in here.

Overall this is an enjoyable film, but there is little to make it stand out among better similar films.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Overlooked Classics: Any Bonds Today (1942)

 

Happy Fourth of July everybody. What better way to celebrate the birthday of this great country than with cartoons, and what better cartoons to celebrate it with than Looney Tunes? That is why today we are going to take a look at a short staring Bugs Bunny and made to sell war bonds called Any Bonds Today.

During World War 2, Bugs Bunny was at the height of his popularity. Many historians have stated that they think this is hugely because of two reasons. One of them is that Bugs reflects how America viewed itself at this time. As a nation that didn't want war, but when you messed with it you'd better watch out. This outlook did of course reflect the country during this time as America did not want to enter World War 2, until Pearl Harbor happened. The other reason is that these were not sweet, cute little cartoons and the world was not sweet and cute at the time. I think it is safe to say that another reason was that Bugs Bunny cartoons were very good. Because of this it seemed natural that Bugs would become a symbol of the U.S.A., therefore he was a great candidate to promote war bonds.

Any Bonds Today was not released as a Looney Tunes or a Merrie Melodies short but rather as a stand alone short. The film was directed by Bob Clampett, who directed many fantastic Looney Tunes cartoons and created Tweety and Beaky Buzzard. The song that is sung in this cartoon was written by Irving Berlin, of God Bless America and White Christmas fame. I do not know who all the animators on this film are but the dancing scene was animated by Virgil Ross, and Bugs throwing out war bonds and doing his Al Jolson impression were animated by Robert McKimson.

This short doesn't really have much of a story. Bugs Bunny comes out and starts singing the title song. He is later joined by Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd. Bugs then dons blackface and does an imitation of Al Jolson.

This cartoon is excellent. The animation is great, the song is very catchy and the whole film just has a great energy.

One may notice that Elmer Fudd is designed quite different in this film. That is because during this brief period he was designed to look like Arthur Q. Brain, who provided his voice. He appeared in this design in four other cartoons, Wabbit Trouble, The Wabbit Who Came to Supper, Fresh Hare and The Wacky Wabbit, this design did not catch on the way the creative team thought it would and the character went back to looking how he did before.

After this cartoon the studio would receive a complimentary letter from Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau.  Later this same year Bugs would be made an honorary Sargent in the U.S. Marine Corps, for the ending in a cartoon called Super Rabbit.

Happy Fourth of July and Bye Bye and Buy Bonds.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Recourses Used
tralfaz.blogspot.com/2016/06/any-bonds-today.html

Movie Review: The BFG

 

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade: B+

Review: Excellent atmospheric fantasy film.

What is really great about this film is the atmosphere. This is handled fantastically. The scene involving the catching of dreams is breathtaking. Many of the best scenes of this film simply build up atmosphere, and in these scenes you are really pulled into the movie. On top of this the characters are just as likable as they were in the book, the story is quite charming and most of the humor is funny.

The only real problem with this film is the pacing, but sometimes it feels quite off. It seems to rush through the opening scenes, and the climax goes by much too fast. Also since many of the scenes with the mean giants are rushed, they don't feel as threating as they would if these scenes were slowed down more. This fault is really a shame with how good the rest of the film is.

Overall this is an excellent film due to great atmosphere, characters, and story, despite some pacing that doesn't always work.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Silent Film of the Month: 100% American (1918)

 

Run Time: 14 minutes. Studio: Paramount.  Director: Arthur Rosson. Cinematographers: Hugh McClung, Glen MacWilliams. Main Cast: Mary Pickford, Loretta Blake, Monte Blue, Henry Bergman, Ted Reed.

I feel that for July since we celebrate America's birth this month, it feels natural for the silent film of the month to be a patriotic film. So today we are going to look at a short film made to help sell Liberty Loan bonds for World War 1, called 100% American. 

This is not the only film made to sell these bonds. Hollywood supported the war effort strongly, and made many short films to help sell bonds. It was very common for these shorts to star some of Hollywood's biggest names. This film stars America's Sweetheart, Mary Pickford, who was declared the country's favorite star in 1918 the year this film was made. Pickford was especially strongly in support of the war effort, and was glad to be in this film.

This film was directed by Arthur Rosson. He is best known today for be the co-director of Red River (Howard Hawks was the other director). He was also a unit director on Cecil B. Demille's The Ten Commandments (the 1956 version). Most of his career was spent directing westerns such as Boots of Destiny, Trailin' Trouble,  The Burning Trail and Taming The West.

In this film Mayme (played by Mary Pickford) tries to contribute to the war effort in any way she can. She gives up more expensive things to save money for bonds. There is a ball held for Patriotic Americans. Mayme friend (played by Loretta Blake) is sad she can't go because she doesn't have any bonds. Mayme gives her friend her own bonds. This film ends with a more surreal scene, similar to one in Charlie Chaplin's The Bond against a stark black background. In this scene Mayme defeats the Kaiser with a baseball (representing Liberty Bonds).

With the simplicity of the plot this films hangs heavily on Mary Pickford, and luckily it succeeds  fantastically on that account. Mary Pickford is extremely likable as always. She exerts a greatly addicting energy. Her character can even talk directly to the audience (through intertitles) without losing a sense of her reality. Mary brings great energy, likability, humor and just plain fun to this film. It is certain that without Mary Pickford's performance this would be a well made film, but one with not much interest outside of the most dedicated film buffs and history buffs. However thanks to her this film is not only well made but remains a great piece of entertainment today. 

At this time Mary Pickford also was performing live for many bond rallies, and for U.S. troops overseas. She would tour with such big stars as Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler, and her future husband Douglas Fairbanks. Mary became quite popular in her appearances for the U.S. military. She became known as the Navy's little sister. The 143rd California Field Artillery would make her an honorary colonel. There exists newsreel footage of Colonel Mary Pickford leading her troops. She would also provide many soldiers with tobacco and candy, two luxuries they did not have much of over there. 100% American is a great example of Mary Pickford's patriotism on full display, and a must watch for fans of America's Sweetheart.

Recourses Used

 http://www.jbkaufman.com/movie-of-the-month/100-american-1918

http://www.silentsaregolden.com/articles/pickfordandww1.html

-Michael J. Ruhland