Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Diary of a Wimpy Kid written by Jeff Kinney.

My son started reading this series so I figured I would give it a go and see how it started out with this book.  Kinney has really tapped into what makes a kid, a kid with some heart felt and honest writing that matches the illustrations perfectly.  I like how the humor of the story isn't about one liners or just flat out jokes.  It's about characters and how their decisions shape what happens around them - in this sense the humor has a Seinfeldian quality in a childhood setting.  

Minions

Minions directors Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin, with the voices of Sandra Bullock, John Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Geoffrey Rush, Jennifer Saunders, and Steve Carell.

Not much to say about this film other than that it was highly entertaining but also very forgettable.  I did like how it explored the world of the Minions from their past to their present.  All of that I thought was handled with some wit and humor.  That being said I did find the humans around them more interesting than the actually minions themselves and when the humans weren't on screen with the minions I found the story and what was happening lacking with depth.

Inside Out

Inside Out directed by Pete Docter, with the voices of Amy Poehler, Phylis Smith, Bill Harder, Richard Kind, Lewis Black, Frank Oz, Mindy Kaling, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan.

 Easily one of Pixar's best films.  The sheer depth of this movie was astounding.  The story line is simplistic but all the characters are written with such complexity and honesty that the story line becomes more than simplistic as the movie progresses forward.  The idea itself it completely out there: giving emotions a persona - this shouldn't work but Pixar pulls it off and builds a movie unlike any I have seen before.  Proving, what my brother and I having been saying for a long time, if you make good characters no matter how insane or crazy an idea or movie becomes - the characters will easily move the story line forward and the audience will respond to the characters not the utter chaotic idea or what happens with in the movie.  Characters or lack of characters will either make or break a story.    

Down to the visual elements (which are astounding) and production design of a person's mind (which are simply put breath taking) everything about this movie elevates it beyond just a movie.  It's a story about going up.  Going from a simple mindset of emotions from childhood into the teenage years of complex emotions is handled with such intelligence and humor but yet in an honest way.  Everything about this movie is believable even what goes on inside a person's head but what goes on outside the head only adds to what happens inside a person's head.  From how the emotional characters interact and evolve as the child moves through the tangled web of growing up.  It all feels so real.

Just when I was thinking Pixar was starting to loose it way with it's last few movies Inside Out proves once again they aren't in any way slowing down. 

Jupiter Ascending

Jupiter Ascending written and directed by the Wachowski siblings (formerly brothers),  starring Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, and Eddie Redmayne.

I've got to admit I haven't liked any of the Wachowski films since the horrendous Matrix Revolutions.  They seem to have kind of bought into their own hype and pretentiousness,  instead of just making good movies.  They went the George Lucas and M. Night Shyamalan route - they got caught up in either technology or technique that they forgot about story lines and characters, which is what helped to get them to the heights of their careers.

All of that being said I found this movie highly enjoyable despite the glaring flaws in about every aspect of the film.  It was just a fun movie that didn't get bogged down in philosophical or metaphysical ideas (something most of their films after The Matrix seem to be abound in) but instead reveled in the weirdness and oddity that is this movie.  It is all the better for it.  As directors these two still have a good visual eye giving this movie all kinds of eye candy with action scenes that pop with vigor but yet doesn't seem confused.  The characters here are still rather bland and cliche but at least the siblings seem to be actually trying to make some characters instead of just card board cut out people spouting meaningless, idle mumbo jumbo.

It's just a fun movie to turn your brain off and have a good time.

No Easy Day

No Easy Day written by Mark Owen.

Been really getting into learning about the SEALs lately.  This book is just another open door into their world.  Proving once again what a special elite fighting force these guys are.  This one ultimately focuses on the Osama Bin Laden raid.  That mission takes up about the last half of this book and is some great insight into everything that goes into preparing for, executing, and completing a mission.  The first half of the book is in building the main character and showing some things that goes into making a SEAL, a SEAL from BUDS down to selecting SEALs for SEAL Team Six, which is essentially selecting the best of the best of the best.

This is some good reading giving a much deep respect for the men defending our right for freedom.  I highly recommend this book.

Paddington

Paddington written and directed by Paul King, starring Tim Downe, Madeleine Worrall, Nicole Kidman, with the voices of Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon, and Ben Whishaw.

All in all it was a very good family movie.  Very British and not in an biased, exploiting kind of way but in a way that shares British culture. One of the better family movies to come out of Hollywood without being politically preachy: it focuses on the theme of family.  

Dirk Gently

Dirk Gently - TV show.

I would call this the red headed step child of Sherlock Holmes.  It's in the same type of humor as Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, mainly because Douglas Adams is the author of both.  His brand of sly, sarcastic, and flat out strange humor are woven throughout these three stories of which each are 90 minutes long - just long the Sherlock Holmes TV shows.  All of the stories are equally bizarre and wacky but fit in with the world created with this show.  All the actors fully step up to the plate and deliver on bringing these characters to life as only British actors can do as they prove once again just how versatile and flat out awesome they are at the craft of acting. 

All in all it was a good time of watching something a little strange and slightly off from what other shows are doing.  A real breath of fresh air from all the "normal" criminal, CSI shows out there right now.