Quick Movie Review: Finding Dory (2016)

Boy, Pixar sure needed this one. After mostly marginal efforts since 2010's Toy Story 3, they had to deliver something to raise our expectations back up. Something undeniable.

This sequel to 2003's Finding Nemo acts as an origins story for everyone's favorite absent-minded fish, Dory. It shows her as a cute little baby, stumbling over her words and innocently gazing into her parents' eyes. Then, one day, her short-term memory loss gets the best of her and she loses her family, unable to remember how.

While most animated films abandon the cute, young version of the main character early on in the film, Finding Dory finds a way to utilize it throughout the whole thing, in the form of of Dory's flashbacks.

It's not necessarily as phenomenal as its predecessor, but Finding Dory is definitely a fantastic movie! We get some new characters who are just as hilarious as the ones from the last--including two British sea lions who won't allow Gerald to sit on their rock.

It's the funniest Pixar film since Toy Story 3. Some jokes had me laughing long after the credits rolled.

The one and only things that really bothers me are the one or two contrived plot devices. In a deus ex machina fashion, the film takes minor liberties with echolocation and features a ridiculous scene where an octopus drives a truck. But I guess, in Pixar's world, where even toys can talk, anything is possible. But the studio has always been good about walking the line between realistic and impossible--even amidst their own well-crafted impossible universes. But the octopus car sequence throws all that out the window. And it's kinda silly. Your kids will get a kick out of it though.

Still, Finding Dory is something to behold. It's so enjoyable and packed with unforced emotion and unique outlooks on mental handicaps, that we can shrug off even the largest of its minor pitfalls. You can only quibble so much before you realize that the pros far outweigh the cons. To the point where you just can't deny how good it is. it's undeniable.

Twizard Rating: 98

Quick Movie Review: A Most Violent (2014)

While "A Most Violent Year" is a really well done, entertaining movie, and I liked it a lot, it's just not necessarily my style. Which isn't a bad thing, just a matter of taste. But with that in mind, there are still pretty much only positives to talk about.

I enjoyed the tension between the anti-gun husband and his gang-raised wife. It's a portrayal of marriage as being a partnership, even to a fault--that even the biggest differences can be worked through and superseded.

It's slow, but never boring. It keeps you in the moment while letting you anticipate Abel's (Oscar Isaac) next move. You love this character and admire his strength and integrity. So then when we see him finally at his most vulnerable, we feel close to him. We feel privileged that he shared with us a moment of weakness, much similar to how we feel the first time we watch our dad cry. Jessica Chastain, as his wife Anna, is a magnificent juxtaposition to her husband. She sells the role so well. You don't want to like her, but you do anyway out of respect for Abel.

It's one of those movies that is really well done, but will probably be overlooked for all the awards. It's good but it just doesn't sweep you off your feet like you're hoping it does.

Twizard Rating: 92