Disney/ Pixar Movie Review: ****^ Elio (2025)

 After his parents die, Elio (Yonas Kibreab) is lost.  He is being raised by his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña).  He has no friends, and in fact a couple kids who pick on him.  He keeps asking for aliens to pick him up and take him to another world.  His wish finally does come true, and he represents himself as the leader of earth so they will let him stay.  However he ends up having to face Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), leader of a race intent on taking over the universe.  Elio's attempt to reason with him fails; but then he meets Grigon's son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly) who is a large slug.  They fast become friends.  They duplicate Glordon, and the double is given to his father, while Glordon accidentally travels to earth.  Earth is not good for Glordon, it is too cold and he is week, and he is taken by scientists for study.  Grigon quickly sees through the clone, and Elio has to save Glordon.  He travels to eart where a clone double has been sitting in for him.  They get the aunt, and together the break into the facility to rescue Glordon.  They use his ship to flea earth.  The barely make it through the junk field.  When Grigon intercepts them his son is almost dead.  Grigon has to leave his battle shell to warm his son's body.  Grigon sees things differently and is appeased not to conquer the universe.  

This is a movie about belonging and finding purpose.  Purpose comes from relationships with others.  Elio finally finds a friend, one on earth too.  And he finally accepts his aunt as a caregiver and returns to earth.  I really enjoyed this story.  

 

Classic Disney: **** 101 Dalmatians (1961)

 In this Disney Classical musical we are introduced to Cruella De Vil (Betty Lou Gerson) with the song.  Roger (Ben Wright) writes the song based on experiences with Cruella.  Roger's wife, Anita (Lisa Davis) and her interest is to recruit pretty dogs to give herself a spotted fur coat.  Perdita (Cate Bauer) has had 15 puppies with her mate, Pongo (Rod Taylor).  Nanny (Martha Wentworth) nurses the 15th to life.  Pongo and Perdita are the dogs of Roger and Anita and helped bring them together.  Cruella steals the dogs; and sets off a an incredible rescue.  I really enjoy the dog chain, and so many animals being involved in the rescue, even a cow who gives milk.  Cruella has two bumbling henchmen, Jasper and Horace (J. Pat O'Malley and Frederick Worlock) who help give a light touch.  

Harrison Ford Movie Review: ***^ Air Force One (1997)

 The President (Harrison Ford) and his plane are under attack by a group of Russian Nationals who want a general restored.  Ivan Korshunov (Gary Oldman) is a retty violent person.  In fact he and his team kill many people taking over the plane, and then Korshunov kills more to get people to do what he wants.  He threatens the first lady (Wendy Crewson and his daughter (Liesel Mathews).  He kills a jr staff member and the security advisor.  The vice president (Glen Close) is in Washington and expresses to Russia our need.  She would not authorize a 25th amendment take over and declare the president compromised.  Important staff who die defending the president include his Chief of Staff (Paul Guilfoyle) and Major Caldwell (William H Macy).  On the other hand Agent Gibbs (Xander Berkeley) betrayed the president and was a mole for the terrorists.  He allowed them to access the weapons on board the plane.  They seem to succeed.  The general is being released.  But the president escapes and they retake the plane.  The general does not turn back when he is ordered to stop, and he is killed.

This movie is rated R with lots of violence and swearing.  There are more mellow edited version available.   It is very intense for a time.  They are able to rescue many of the passengers with parachutes, but the refuel plane explodes.  At times the dialogue seems off in my opinion.  But I did like the line, get off my plane.  Also with so many bullets flying around the plane would have been compromised at some point, but nothing happens as a result.  

Disney Pixar Movie Review: *** Elemental (2023)

 Ember and Wade meet.  Quite a feet in a world were elements don't inter mingle.  We have Fire, wind, rain and earth.  They are all different from each other, and in fact their properties can be harmful to each other.  Fire burns earth and water puts out fire.  Ember (Leah Lewis) is fire, and Wade (Mamoudou Athie) is water.  Ember sucks in Wade through a water leak she creates.  wade is an inspector, and writes notes to shut down the shops of Ember's parents (Ronnie Del Carmen and Shila Ommi).  The report already went to bosses so Ember and Wade are out to find it and get it back.  On the way the fall in love.  Eventually they decide to touch, and each practicing self control they find this is possible.  Their relationship goes against the standard segregation on this world.  But they make it work and are able to pursue their dreams.  

Harrison Ford Movie: **** Call of the Wild (2020)

 This movie is about the dog, Buck, and Bob Thornton (Harrison Ford) who inherits the dog when his master insists on overworking the dogs and making them travel a treacherous river that the ice is breaking up.  But I am ahead of myself.

Buck is a city dog; a big dog none the less and prone to getting into trouble.  He is Judge Miller's (Bradley Whitford) dog in Santa Clara County, California.  There is a need for dogs in the Yukon and people buying dogs; so Buck is stolen and sent upstream.  (Harrison Ford narrates).  Buck is tamed with a club, but he still manages to get away.  He is a very strong dog.  But the club tames him.  When he gets north he is purchased by Perrault (Omar Sy) and his wife Francoise (Cara Gee).  Buck has to learn what to do, but he eventually takes over as the lead dog; and he is able to help them get the mail to the Yukon on time.  However as they arrive, they are informed by telegram that the mail will no longer run to Yukon and they are to return south for reassignment.  They have to sell the dogs, and Hal, (Dan Stevens) buys them.  He is leading his sister, Mercedes (Karen Gillam) and her husband, Charles (Colin Woodell).  They over load the sled and let the runners freeze and stick to the road.  Thornton and Hal have several run ins, including about the treatment of the dogs, and the location of gold.  

Thornton is in the north trying to refind himself after his son passed away.  His son always wanted to travel in the north.  He is drinking.  He advises Hal not to take the dogs on the river that it is breaking up.  Hal insists.  Buck refuses to go.  In the book they do go and all drown when the river breaks up.  In the movie it is unclear, other than that Hal comes back alone and says the dogs ran off.  We assume Charles and Mercedes are lost.  

Buck and Thornton travel into the back country.  The find an abandoned cabin and make a life.  Buck meets a lady wolf and they have a courtship.  Thornton finds gold in the giver, and collects quite a bit, when Hal shows up seeking his revenge.  He shoots Thornton, and then Buck attacks him; even with a clube.  In the struggle a fire had been started in the cabin and Buck pushes Hal into the fire.  Thornton succombs to his wound, and Buck returns to the wild with his female wolf.  

Japanese Graphic Novel: Goodbye, Ari

 Goodbye Ari by Tatsuki Fujimoto, translation Amanda Haley, VIZ Media, San Francisco, 2022.

This book confused me at first until I was told back to front and right to left.  This is a subject of death and dying and grieving.  The main character's mother asks him to record her death as she is dying of cancer.  He makes a movie, but blows everything up at the end.  He couldn't face the death so made it a joke.  It was not well received.  He then tries again when his friend asks him to record her death.  He carries through this time.  He goes through life feeling something was wrong however; always tweaking his film.  He marries, has kids, but they all die in a car accident.  He then returns to where he and his friend hung out, and she is there.  She explains she is a vampire and just needs to regenerate from time to time.

The theme of dealing with loss is good, however the author was fixated on body functions which made this book flippant.  

Tom Hanks Movie Review: ***^ Here (2024)

 This is a non linear presentation of several different generations, all from the dining, living room of a house across from the William Franklin (son of Benjamin Franklin) estate.  Richard and Margaret (Tom Hanks and Robin Wright) are living in his father's home, which father gave to them in which to raise their daughter, Vanessa (Zsa Zsa Zemeckis).  Father moved to Florida after his wife had a stroke.  When she dies he moves back in with them.  The move shows scenes of the same area from the dinosaur age, to the original owners of the home, John and Pauline Harter (Gwylim Lee and Michelle Dockery) never make it big.  Paul likes planes, but dies in a flu epidemic.  One resident (David Flynn) of the home makes the first LaZ Boy chair.  After WWII, Al and Rose Young (Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly) but the home.  They raise three children, Richard, Elizabeth (Lauren McQueen) and Jimmy (Harry Marcus).  As noted it is Richard who stays in the home, much to the chagrin of Margaret who always wants to move to her own home.  However Margaret becomes pregnant early and Richard, who aspires to be an artist, instead sell insurance to provide for his family.  This creates a wedge and they eventually divorce but remain friends.  At the end of the show, Richard brings his wife to the home which he had sold some years before, and there helps her to remember the good times they had there as she has dementia.  She remembers a special incident with their daughter when she lost a blue ribbon and she found it for her.  

So what starts as a convoluted jumble becomes a remember your past with dementia movie like Lake House.