The Grinch (2018) - Movie Review

 

While their version of The Lorax may strongly argue against this, if any animation studio was to bring another iteration of The Grinch to cinemas, Illumination are the guys to do it. Between their cartoon revivalism and their love for animated slapstick and their championing of villains that audiences love to hate, they have the aesthetic foundation to at least give this a shred of hope. I mean, the last time we got a Grinch movie, audiences landed on either the "this is awful" or "this is lame but fun" sides of the debate. Thankfully, this film is off to a good start because, whatever it has going for it, it doesn’t need to be defended as strongly.

Despicable Me 3 (2017) - Movie Review

I think I owe Illumination Entertainment something of an apology. For the longest time, I always judged them mainly off of their take on Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, which still stands as one of the single worst films I’ve ever sat through in so many ways. However, that is honestly an outlier of their work: The rest of their films, in one way or another, have tapped into a sense of nostalgia for the olden days of animation and translated it quite remarkably for today’s audiences. Whether it’s the 2-D throwback of The Secret Life Of Pets to the tribute to all things musical with Sing, Illumination has secured its place in the industry as the most retro-minded studio working right now.

 

And the crown jewel of their work to date, the series that put them on the map, is Despicable Me. Or, more specifically, the Minions that have now taken a life of their own and, whenever a new film featuring them comes out, you will doubtless see them everywhere. So, in light of the studio’s pedigree and my admitted sensitivity to overblown marketing, how does this latest instalment turn out?

Hidden Figures (2017) - Movie Review

One of the relatively smaller drawbacks of the Oscar season is that you end up finding certain releases that make a little too much sense in terms of why they were made. Between how space exploration has been framed as an example of where and why humanity should unite under a common cause, and anything involving racial prejudices makes for easy Oscar bait, it’s no wonder that this film exists. Of course, it’s not like I’m not complaining about this; we’re just reaching the end of February and I’ve already seen a handful of films that have pretty much no reason to exist. Films with rather obvious intents aren’t inherently bad things, so long as the people behind them can make those intents ring true in the work proper. So, with all that said, which side of the Oscar bait line does this land in?

Dope (2015) - Movie Review

 

It was inevitable that I’d come across a film like this during my December endurance run. I wasn’t expecting this to be the first time I’d officially run into it this year, though. With how many new releases come out and the different opinions on each one, there will undoubtedly be films that I disagree with the consensus on. In fact, come January, you’ll see just how many I disagreed with others on. However, prior to today’s subject, I’ve always gotten on the defensive: Excusing Jupiter Ascending’s sheer idiocy because it transcended into the realms of unintentional comedy gold, forgiving The Transporter Refueled as I genuinely think that series has gotten a bad rap overall, and pretty much any new films involving Adam Sandler since, at this rate, the hate for him is getting really dull by now. Here, I find myself looking at the product presented and going "What was so great about that?"

Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Movie Review