Thursday 30 July 2015

Inside Out


Inside Out is the new Pixar film, directed by Pete Docter. Docters previous Pixar film was Up - one of Pixars most emotional films to date. Any fan will tell you, the opening 10-15 minutes of Up is a feat unto itself. A dialogue free, emotionally resonant tale of a married couple growing old together - truly exquisite!
Coincidentally Inside Out is a film all about emotions - emotions characterised as colourful beings within our mind.
The trailers and spots for Inside Out were fun, but I wasn't wholly convinced. This film appeared to be skewing quite young. On the surface of course, every Pixar film could be approached this way. On reflection however, most Pixar movies will leave you surprised, entertained and even educated!

Inside Out is no different. Eleven year-old Riley is the focus of Docters film and Rileys emotions are the driving force of this tale.
Amy Poehler leads this small group of characters as Joy. Essentially the leader of the group, Joy is joined by Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Anger (Lewis Black), and Fear (Bill Hader).
For years Joy has lead this dynamic quintet in relative harmony. The emotions are colour-coded and Rileys lasting memories are on view in their control centre for all to see. Of course the memories are predominately yellow - the colour of Joy!
Things are set to change however, as we join Riley during the first big upheaval in her life - a big move from the country to the city, on account of her fathers work.

We are subject to the misadventures of each emotion in Rileys mind. Running relatively smoothly at first, but then spiralling out of control.
The inquisitiveness of Sadness gets them all into trouble early on, then in an emotional meltdown of sorts, Joy and Sadness are exiled for a time. The absence of these emotions are evident in Rileys life, as she goes through the motions of starting life afresh.
Joy and Sadness have always been separate entities in Rileys life, but in this adventure they must learn to work as a team!
Navigating the wasteland of long-forgotten memories, Joy and Sadness must return to the control centre in an effort to restore balance to Rileys life. Via abstract thought and the perilous islands of personality, Sadness and Joy must catch the (actual) train of thought, despite the sporadic nature of it's arrival/departure times!
All the aforementioned elements of Rileys mind are expertly realised. On hand to lead Joy and Sadness through Rileys mind is Bing Bong (Richard Kind) - Rileys imaginary friend from old. Perhaps now just another fading memory, but not without his attributes!
Rileys innocence is crumbling away. Along with the other emotions, Joy and Sadness must learn to coexist, even encouraging one another to take a turn at the controls, when the opportunity permits.

Inside Out is a very fine film by Docter - and a great addition to the Pixar stable. The lasting impression is just how incredibly clever it is! Inside Out has some of the best advice and life-lessons to come out of any film, animated or not.
Ultimately life is forever changing. We each experience the same core emotions as Riley (watch the core emotions alter in dynamism slightly within other people). Some obviously fair better at dealing with these emotions, than others.
What Inside Out does is explain to us why. Fundamentally our emotions can be at odds with one another, just as we can with our neighbour. Learn to coexist. Learn to be diplomatic and understanding. Understand no single entity has all the answers, but together - collectively they/we can achieve greatness! It's a great lesson in functionality - both singularly and as a group!

4/5


Poster image courtesy: http://insidetherockposterframe.blogspot.com.au

Found these other great posters during my search. Love the Asian take (Japanese/Chinese)?!

The Cronenberg-esque art by Jeff Victor is pretty awesome too!!







Friday 10 July 2015

Jurassic World


How about that - another forth entry to another beloved franchise, in almost as many weeks!
Brought to us by director Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed), Jurassic World returns us to the original island of Isla Nubar, where a fully functional park has been operating and welcoming visitors for a decade.

Playing almost like a marketing video, we accompany two young brothers to the park - from their flight to Costa Rica, via the official Jurassic World ferry to the park itself. Witnessing first-hand, just as they do, the thrill of arriving at their destination and the wondrous sights and sounds to behold. No time is wasted as the younger of the two siblings pulls his older brother from one exhibit to another.

This is a superb introduction to Jurassic World, as it feels like you're a visitor to the park yourself. No stone has been left unturned in bringing this park to life - the detail is immense!
Like any park or museum, Jurassic World forces it's visitors to explore and navigate the park themselves. At it's heart and primary point of contact are exhibits detailing the science and construction of the park, with many an interactive display to view. If you look carefully you'll find many of these exhibits have been sponsored by one investing corporation or another - contemporary and logical!
Shortly thereafter, many of the live attractions are over-burdened by visitors (as any living dinosaur exhibit would be). This causes the younger of the two brothers to shove and push his way to the front of each and every enthusiastic crowd.

Grey (Ty Simpkins - great!) and Zach (Nick Robinson - burdened with the roll of emotional adolescent!) are nephews of Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) - a senior, park supervisor of Jurassic World. With their parents hammering out an amicable divorce back home, Claire is charged with taking care of the boys - taking their minds off more pressing matters with VIP access to the park.
Obviously single and with no family of her own, Claire instead hands care-taking duties over to her assistant.

Meanwhile, in an equally thrilling introduction, we're returned to the raptor pen! This time Owen (Chris Pratt) is chief raptor wrangler - making clear headway in actually communicating and to some degree, training raptors.
I believe there was some fear surrounding the "domestication" of the raptors in this entry. Taking a cue from an early draft of the script, Trevorrow has instead arrived at the next logical step in the evolution of Dinosaurs "in our time" - communication and training! After lions and tigers it makes sense that we'd give dinosaurs a go!!
Despite the park being established for ten years already, Owen and his team are only now just making some progress. With progress comes outside interest however. In this instance it's in the form of Ingen - former owners of the park, now seemingly military influenced?
Anyway, these early scenes of Owen and his team with the raptors are equally impressive - and prove clearly that the raptors are far from tame.

We then reach the crux of the movie. In an effort to increase visitation to the park and up the ante for new and returning guests, a new dinosaur has been engineered. The gene pool of said animal is classified (duh)?! The fully grown animal is behaving distinctly odd, resulting in Owen being called in to advise.

Jurassic World begins to fall apart at his point. Surely any and all decisions made in a dinosaur park would be heavily scrutinised. The day-to-day running of a park like this would involve a 24 hour steam of conciousness - with mandatory communication at every level?!

That aside, the inevitable escape of this tricky new animal (named Indominus Rex) is executed with verve and gusto! This beast has considerable attributes, not least is it's ability to camouflage itself - a particular highlight!
The Indominus Rex has been housed away from the park on the other side of the island. Having escaped, it spends the rest of the movie heading for heat signatures (it's form of vision) to prey upon. The most notable of which is the endless supply of white meat meandering around the hub of the park!

Ingen and it's lead representative at the park (Vincent D'Onofrio) see this as a perfect opportunity to test the raptors hunting capability, under the instruction of humans. As the park loses more and more control, the absurd prospect of releasing the raptors on the Imdominus Rex becomes more likely.

From here on in Jurassic World becomes a by-the-numbers monster movie, where the humans are all but disregarded. The impressive visual effects take precedence at this juncture, as the inevitable carnage unfolds.
Some may argue that the better monster movies out there follow this formula to great success - even the likes of the original Jurassic Park. Unfortunately Jurassic World lacks interesting characters to root for and dare I say it, even care for. The park is run by idiots predominately - people who should't even be in the industry, let alone a dinosaur-themed leisure attraction.
Jurassic Park was screwed by Dennis Nedry - a man of questionable morality, out for personal gain. Obviously no one wants to repeat a storyline, but there must be a better way of collapsing the integrity of the park, without relying on the lack of integrity within the parks management and staff?!

Films like this frustrate me more than anything. They have a built-in audience who ultimately represent a safety-net of sorts. It's so seldom that sequels get made with the same integrity as the originals which spark them.
You're never gonna please all the people, all the time - but I wish I could just get in there sometimes and; trim a scene there, add a component there! A Larry David quote springs to mind, "I'm not an inventor, I'm an improver"! Ultimately I'd only be improving it for myself of course. And on the evidence of the (financial) success of Jurassic World, it would appear nothing is wrong!!

3/5


Poster image courtesy: http://www.slashfilm.com