Movie Review: Fences

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland




















Michael's Movie Grade: A+

Review: Why, no seriously why can't we see more films like this in theaters (art-house theaters not included)? Movies that aren't afraid to take their time. That aren't afraid to make us think or have complex characters, that are not just cardboard cut outs. In other words this is an incredibly good movie.

On of the best things about this movie is the main character. He is both very well written and acted (shocker a character played by Denzel Washington  is well acted). This is a very complex and fascinating character. At times we don't know whether to admire him, or hate him. Because of this he is extremely fascinating and hard not to get caught up in him. Because the character is so fascinating, the story around him is much more interesting. The main character isn't the only great character his wife is also a fantastic character, as well as his kids. The scenes revolving around his mentally ill brother are extremely touching and profound. He is almost equally fascinating and real. In fact all the characters are so real that at times I had to remind myself this wasn't based off a true story because it felt so real. Screenwriter August Wilson (who also wrote the play this was based off of), and director (and star) Denzel Washington are obviously so passionate about the film and characters that it is hard for us not to be passionate about it as well.     

Despite this being such a dialogue heavy movie, it remains visually interesting. Charlotte Bruus Christensen's cinematography and David Gropman's design work are both absolutely fantastic. The whole film looks like the time period it takes place in, and because of this the film also stands out among most of the films coming out today.

The pacing in this movie is also amazing. The pace is much slower than your average modern movie, and this works perfectly for the story. Unlike too many other modern movies it takes enough time for us to become fully invested in the story and characters.

This is one of the best movies of this year and a must watch for all fans of great movies and all of those who want alternatives to most movies being put out today. It is beautiful, profound and extremely well done.

-Michael J. Ruhland   

Movie Review: Sing

 

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade: B+

Review: An excellent film. With this and The Secret Life of Pets, things are really looking up for Illumination.

One of the best things about this movie is the design work of Eric Guillon. Guillon also did the amazing design work for The Secret Life of Pets and he successeds just as well here. The whole film is just a joy to look at. While the animation may not be up to the standards of Disney or DreamWorks, this great look is so appealing, you may not care.

Important for a movie about a singing completion, the voice artists all have great voices. Many of you probably already know that Seth McFarland has a really good voice (though it probably surprised you at first as well), and as a fan of the old crooner type of music his singing Pennies From Heaven and My Way is a definite highlight to me. However just as great is Torri Kelly's beautiful vocal performance of Leonard Cohen's Halleluiah. In fact all of the voices are great. The song selection is very varied and though there are quite a few instances of songs I don't like, there were just as many that I did like.

The story is good but predictable. You could see just what was coming too often. Also there were too many side stories for the film's running time. Because of this we are not always given the time to appreciate or get sucked into them. However we do care enough about these characters for moment of these stories to work. The main story however is given enough time to be quite fleshed out, and while it is predictable it works surprisingly well.

I am looking forward to what the Illumination will bring us in the future.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

 

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade:F

Review: Pure and utter boredom, easily the worst Star Wars movie and yes I am including the prequels in that.

The biggest problem with this film is the characters. All of them are completely devoid of any personality. This is especially true of our two main protagonists. After watching the movie, I still can't tell you what their personalities are, because they don't have any. The side characters though are not much better.

As I've stated in previous reviews, if I don't like the characters, the action scenes are extremely boring. This is even worse in this film, because the action scenes are the slowest, and longest seeming scenes in the movie. In fact the pacing in this film is awful. I like Star Wars movies for the atmosphere more than anything else. However with the exception of the action scenes, the film jumps around from place to place and character to character much too quickly. This allows us no time to soak in what is the best part of these movies, despite making us sit through some of the most boring action scenes imaginable.

The only things good I can say about this movie is that I liked a very brief scene involving Darth Vader, and the score wasn't bad. That is it though. Everything else in this movie is awful and a pain to sit through. I sat through it all because I heard the movie gets better as it goes along. Well it didn't at all.

Since this takes place before episode 4, we know all that is going to happen. Combined with the boredom of the characters and action scenes. This gives me nothing to even care about.

To say this movie is a disappointment, is being kind to this horrible movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: La La Land

 

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade:A+

Review: Pure movie magic. Probably my favorite film of this year.

This is an incredibly passionate love letter to 1940's and 50's Hollywood movies (particularly the musicals), and to just the beauty of music and art. What makes this film so great is that you can tell writer/director Damiem Chazelle is truly passionate about what he is paying tribute to. The last musical number, a scene in a museum and quite a bit more of the movie captures nearly perfectly the art of an old movie musical. While there may be clichés in the story, these never feel like they are here because they are expected, but because Chazelle truly loves this type of film and wants to make a film close to the spirit of the classics, and due to his passion he actually captures it. Also very important to this movie being so good is that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are perfect in these roles. The perform the serious and the fun scenes with an equally commitment and excellence. Their performances of the musical numbers are especially excellent. As this film is a tribute to classic movie musicals, it looks fantastic. Color here is used much better than it is in most current movies. We are so used to color in movies that we take it for granted. However this movie doesn't it truly uses color to it's full advantage.

One of the best musical films in years a must watch for all movie lovers.

By the way the ending, while I won't give it away really made me cry.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: Toy Tinkers (1949)

 

Most Disney histories while having a very detailed history of the short cartoons made before the Disney features, skip over many of the animated short films made after the studio's first feature, and this is unfortunate because so many of these cartoons are great films in their own right. One of my favorite of these cartoons is the Donald Duck film Toy Tinkers.

This cartoon was directed by Jack Hannah. At this time there were three main directors for Disney short cartoons. These directors were Jack Kinney, Charles Nicholas, and Jack Hannah. While they directed for other characters as well, each had a character they can be more associated with then others. Jack Kinney worked heavily with Goofy, Charles Nicholas worked most with Pluto and Jack Hannah was associated with Donald Duck. Jack Kinney and Jack Hannah were very important directors who signaled a huge change in the style of Disney shorts. As Warner Brothers and MGM were now making the most popular cartoon shorts (just as Disney made the most popular of the 1930's) Kinney and Hannah were able to add this new fast paced chaotic cartoon style of humor, while still having the cartoons remain pure Disney, something very evident in this film.

Two more characters Jack Hannah grew to be associated with are Chip and Dale. Though these two had first appeared in a 1943 Clyde Geronimi directed cartoon called Private Pluto, most of their films were directed by Hannah. This began with the duo's second cartoon short released 3 years later called Squatter's Rights. Though this cartoon paired the two with Mickey and Pluto, the next year Hannah would team them with Donald in Chip an' Dale. The three characters worked perfectly together, and Hannah would make more films where he pit Donald against Chip and Dale, Toy Tinkers being one of them.

The cartoon begins as Donald unknowingly chops down Chip and Dale's home for his Christmas tree. As they follow Donald in they see Donald enjoying some nuts. Chip and Dale sneak into Donald's house to get some nuts for themselves. This leads to a slapstick battle between the three using toys under the Christmas tree.

This cartoon is laugh out loud funny. The slapstick is spot on and timed perfectly. Every joke works and they are all very funny. The humor is also displayed perfectly through the great character animation one should expect form a Disney cartoon. While Disney cartoons are often called sweet and cute in contrast to the hilarious antics at studios like Warner Brothers and MGM, the Disney studio could make slapstick cartoons as great as the rest of them (this is not an insult to Warner Brothers and MGM as I love there cartoons a lot as well). This stands as one of Disney's funniest shorts (a joke involving a telephone never fails to make me laugh out loud).

The animators on this film were Bob Carlson, Volus Jones and Bill Justice. All three of them worked on many Jack Hannah shorts. Bill Justice and Bob Carson also animated on various Disney animated features as well, such as Peter Pan, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, Fantasia and Pinocchio. However Volus Jones only worked on shorts.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used 
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041978/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: Yogi's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper (1982)

 

I have stated before how much I love Hanna-Barbera cartoons and because of this just seeing all the characters together just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. This is completely true of Yogi's All Star Comedy Christmas Caper (long title isn't it). This made for TV short film includes more characters in it that most of the Hanna-Barbera feature films that combined characters, and it does it in a charming way. Of course this film revolving around my favorite time of year doesn't hurt at all.

The story of this film begins when Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf, Snooper, Blabber, Augie Doggie and Augie Daddy decide to visit Jellystone to spend Christmas with their good friends Yogi Bear and Boo Boo. However once they arrive they discover Yogi and Boo Boo have gone to the big city to see them. While in the big city Yogi and Boo Boo meet a little girl who is running away from home. Her rich father loves her but has always been to busy to spend time with her. Yogi and Boo Boo befriend the little girl, but also want to bring her back home. After finding out her name is Judy Jones, they think they simply have to find where the Joneses live in town. They happen to quickly find out that there are many many Joneses in town. Their friends find the trio and help Yogi and Boo Boo find out which Joneses she belongs to.

The story may sound cliché and it is. However this cartoon works very well because the characters are so likable they make it work. Also the humor is often quite good and there aren't any jokes that fall flat (a laugh out loud moment involving a cameo by Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble that is fantastic). The sentiment is never too sugary as it easy could be, and this is again because the characters and the humor are so good. 

This film was directed by Steve Lumley, who also directed two other Hanna-Barbera made for TV films (both features), The Secret World of Og and The Bunjee Venture. He had been working at Hanna-Barbera as a layout supervisor since 1972. The writer was Mark Evanier, who may be better known for being one of the main writers for Garfield and Friends. The animators on this film were Sue Beak, Chris Dawson, Chris Codington, Dick Dunn, Peter Gardiner, Greg Ingram, John Martin, Henry Nevilleand Mike Stapleton. These were mostly a new wave of animators for the studio, none of them had worked with the studio since the beginning. The furthest back any of them worked for Hanna-Barbera was 1970 (Chris Cuddinton and Peter Gardiner (both started on the made for TV movie A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).

-Michael J. Ruhland        

Michael's Christmas Movie Guide: Santa's Workshop (1932)

 

My passion for Disney is by no means just for the feature films. I love the short films just as much. This is especially true of the short cartoons from the 1930's. And since this is Walt's 115th birthday what better time to write about one of these great shorts. Since it is also the Christmas season, why not write about a Santa's Workshop, one of my favorite Silly Symphonies.

This film was the fourth color Silly Symphony. The first was Flowers and Trees released earlier the same year. That cartoon became such a huge hit that afterwards all Silly Symphonies would be in color.

This film was directed by Wilfred Jackson one of the best Disney directors at this time. He had directed such previous Disney shorts as The Fox Hunt, The Ugly Duckling, The Whoopee Party, The Spider and the Fly and Mickey's Follies.

This cartoon went through the assembly line very quickly. The story was completed in September 1932, and by October animation had already begun. The film was released on December 10th of the same year. Despite this the cartoon maintained a high quality. The animation was fantastic, the story was sweet and simple, and the humor was really good. On top of this the film just has a great sense of energy that is a joy to watch.

The story is very simple. Here Santa and his elves get ready for the Christmas Eve flight.

The animators on this cartoon include Les Clark, Art Babbitt, Norm Ferguson, Tom Palmer, Ben Sharpsteen, Jack King, Fred Moore, Eddie Donnelly, Jack Kinney, Ed Love, Clyde Germoni, Nick George, Jack Cutting, Joe D'Igalo, Marvin Woodward, Dick Williams, Harry Reeves, Louie Schmidt, Paul Fennel, George Drake, and Chuck Couch. The animators were not yet assigned specifically to characters as would be common in later Disney animation. For instance Santa is animated by Norm Ferguson when he is reading his list, by Jack King when checking the dolls, by Clyde Germoni when marching out the door, by Eddie Donnell when saying goodbye and by Louie Schmidt when flying off into the night. The only character to be handled by one animator was the bookkeeping elf, who was animated by Tom Palmer. Art Babbitt's scenes of the elves taking care of the reindeer are great examples of the animator at his best. In fact Art Babbitt and Norm Ferguson are probably the two animators whose work in this film would be most recognizable to Disney buffs familiar with their animators as both are completely in their element here and their work looks like them. Despite this every animator does a fantastic job in this cartoon and the whole film is lovely to look at.

Overall this is a fantastic cartoon, showing the Disney studio was at the top of their game before they ever made a feature. By the way listen to hear an elf voiced by Walt himself.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons by Leonard Maltin
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-santa-workshop-1932/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023422/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Silent Film of the Month: A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus (1907)

 

Runtime: 14 minutes. Studio: Edison Manufacturing Company. Directors: J. Searle Dawley, Edwin S. Porter. Cast: Gitchner Hartman, Mr. Lehapmen, Bessie Schrednecky, William Sorelle, Miss Sullivan.

I love Christmas. It is in my mind it is easily the best time of the year. Naturally as a film lover, this also means I love Christmas movies. This of course includes well established classics such as It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Chirstmas Story and so forth, but this also includes some of the more forgotten films, such as the one I am discussing here.

The directors of this film were J. Searle Dawley and Edwin S. Porter. J. Seale Dawley often called himself the first motion picture director. The reason he called himself this is because he felt that before he started directing (in 1907) that the cameraman was the one in charge of the movie. Over his career he directed such early cinema classics as the 1910 film version of Frankenstein, the 1916 version of Snow White (which helped inspire Walt Disney to make the 1937 animated classic), and the 1918 film version of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Interestingly he was first hired by his co-director here Edwin S. Porter. Edwin S. Porter was one of the greatest pre-Griffith directors. He started directing in 1898 with a short film called The Caviler's Dream. He also directed such classics as The Great Train Robbery, the 1902 film version of Jack and the Beanstalk, Dream of a Rarebit Fiend and The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog.

As the title indicates the story involves a little girl who does not believe in Santa Claus. The little girl here does not believe in Santa, because her family is so poor. One day she meets a boy who is disheartened to hear about her lack of belief and even more that she has never got anything from Santa. The little boy decides he is going to help her get presents this year. I am not going to give away how he goes about this, but it is honestly quite shocking and unexpected.

This is an excellent film. The story and characters are very likable and charming and the filmmaking is quite sophisticated (especially considering the time it was made). This film was well ahead of it's time both story and visual wise. Fantasies were not the common type of film at this time period, despite the success of such films as A Trip to The Moon. Most films were documentaries when this short was made. Storytelling was not the main goal of cinema at this time. That is why it is so amazing how well this story is told. On top of that the special effects, such as the little girl's dream and seeing Santa travel, are very convincing in a way that would even be rare later in the silent era. In fact these special effects still hold up today, 109 years later. However all of this would be wasted if the story wasn't good, and luckily the story is very charming. This is a must see for all those interested in early cinema.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Resources Used
Film Before Griffith by John L. Fell
imdb.com