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Review by Dan Skip Allen  The Boy and the Heron is directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the director of such films as Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and The Wind Rises, among others. He was rumored to have retired, but after ten years, he's back with another animated film. This time, it's of a more personal nature, taking the form of a love letter to his son. Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki) is a young boy who moved to a new home in a new town with his father, Shoichi (Takuya Kimura) after his mother died in a fire. He is not settling in very well because of that. When he sees a Grey Heron (Masaki Suda) while exploring the grounds of his new home, it tells him that his mom is still alive. The bird convinces him to go to an old rundown tower. When he enters, he ends up in a strange underground realm. Miyazaki has made his films in the past with many different kinds of themes. He has made films about nature, natives, and the environment in his career. Those are just a few of the things his movies are about. The fact that they are animated means they have to be relatable for children as well as adults. Many animation filmmakers have been taking this approach in the last thirty years or so. This film deals with adult themes as well. There are themes of life, death, and reawakening. These are complex themes for kids to understand, but their parents can explain them when they are older. Like many of Miyazaki's films, he creates fantastical worlds his characters — often kids — can explore. While in these worlds, the characters are exposed to wild and wacky situations but often have an important meaning in the context of the film or the outside world to some extent.  This movie has talking birds, old wise men, and little girl sidekicks. All of these things make the store more accessible to audiences, but they don't take away from the wacky nature of what the director/writer is doing. Themes of creation are very evident as this man is very old and uses his work to ponder death. These are tough topics to deject, but they are important for people of an older generation. Miyazaki knows how to weave these themes into his stories, even if they are adapted from other material.
The animation isn't anything to write home about, but it's similar to many other films Miyazaki has made in the past. Hand-drawn animation has all but gone the way of the dodo bird, but this man keeps reviving it. It's not about the animation that matters, though — it's more about the story and the themes he is trying to infuse into his films that matter. The animation has been better in some of his older films. I'm not the target audience for this movie, but I always give every film I see a fair shake. This one isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I found it half of a great movie. The first half was very good, and I was totally invested in this story. The second half goes off the rails when the boy enters this weird underworld realm. It gets too existential for me and drags on for too long. This version of The Boy and the Heron wasn't dubbed, so something may have been lost in translation. As a fan of Miyazaki's films, I'm disappointed that this one wasn't more to my liking. The themes were confusing and complicated to understand. I enjoyed the first half but not the second half. The animation was good but not great. This is just not one of the better films from this incredible filmmaker. The Boy and the Heron hits theaters on November 22. Rating: 3/5
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Review by Dan Skip Allen  I've been watching football my whole life. Ever since I was a kid, I sat with my father when he was home on Saturdays and Sundays, watching my teams play: Notre Dame and the Patriots. I've seen a lot of great players who played for my teams, but one of the greatest ever who played against my teams in college (at Oklahoma State) and the pros (for the Detroit Lions) was Barry Sanders. Bye Bye Barry depicts his great career from high school through his professional career. Ever since Barry was a little kid, he was great at football. His father, William Sanders, also his biggest fan, ensured everybody knew this. Every coach in the country wanted him on their teams, including Oklahoma, his father's favorite team. He fell in love with Oklahoma State, though, and ended up a cowboy. This was the beginning of his incredible career and the many accolades that followed, including the Heisman Trophy — the greatest honor any college football player could win. The pros were clamoring to get him in the draft. He ended up falling to the Detroit Lions at the 8th pick, and the rest is history. Barry is synonymous with one of the worst decisions in football when he retired from football as the number two overall rushing running back in history. He only played ten years for the Lions and hung up his cleats. Many fans and sports personalities alike were scratching their heads at this decision. People thought he had so much in the tank. He thought otherwise, though. His teams were that good, which was the main reason he retired early. The film, like a lot of other documentaries, uses talking heads to get across their opinions of what they think of his decision. Eminem, Jeff Daniels, and Dan Patrick are some big-name celebrities who chimed in on the decision, along with Sanders’s teammates. These are all old friends and diehard Lions fans, so you know they had a lot to say about what he did. The Lions haven't been the same ever since — and not in a good way.  With any film about an athlete, musician, or entertainer, filmmakers tend to use archival footage of the subject they are documenting. That goes the same with this film. There is quite a bit of material of Sanders playing football and making incredible runs, helping his team — even though they weren't that good, more often than not. Sanders had the ability to break ankles, as they say. He is one of the great running backs of all time, and his Hall of Fame induction five years after his retirement proved that.
Bye Bye Barry showed two things about Sanders. One is that he was very humble. In one instance, he refused to get in the game to break a rushing record. The second is he saw multiple players in his career get paralyzed while playing football. He didn't want that to happen to him. He also was a father of four boys. He wanted to be there for them and not be some injured ex-player who couldn't be around for his kids' games and activities. His boys mean the world to him; a framing sequence in the documentary shows that very abundantly. The film gives an all-encompassing look at this man, his career, his decisions, and the rest of his life. Bye Bye Barry is a film that shows a man who knows what his priorities are. His father raised him right, and he took that into his NFL career. Even though the documentary focuses on fans of the Lions and their futility over the years, the main focus is on Sanders's decision to leave the game he loved at the height of his career. The filmmakers make that abundantly clear. The talking heads and archival footage talk about the fact that this man was a great Hall of Fame player. Football fans should be able to digest this meal quite nicely on the week of Thanksgiving, the day the Detroit Lions played every year. Bye Bye Barry streams on Prime Video beginning November 21. Rating: 3.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen  Disney is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, and they have been taking out all the stops. Their films, on the other hand, haven't been doing as well as they'd hoped. Their latest offering from Disney Animation, one of the building blocks of their studio, is Wish. They've made dozens of great animated films in their hundred-year history, and hope this is another film in their storied history. For their sake, it better be good because they need to rescue their lackluster year as a whole. Asha (Ariana Debose) is a young girl who has her life all figured out. She has a happy family and a group of friends she loves and cares about. She even has a pet goat. The only thing that would make her life better is if she got the assistant job to King Magnifico (Chris Pine) she is vying for. The only problem is when she finally meets the man she thinks will change her life — he isn't what she'd hoped he would be like. In fact, he was a bit of a fraud, and she hoped to reveal his true nature to the townspeople of Rosas. Disney has made dozens of princess movies or films featuring female protagonists such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle. They all have one thing in common: they have a feisty personality and try to defeat evil in some way. That's exactly the type of character Asha is. Even though she has a caring heart, she has a drive to prove that the people in her town deserve better than what they've got regarding their king and leader of their community. She goes out into the woods and does what any girl her age and in her situation would do: wish upon a star. That is a pretty familiar line from the Disney anthem. Go figure it would play a major role in this film. Directors Fawn Veerasunthorn and Chris Buck have infused this film with more Disney magic than can be imagined — literally and figuratively. The plot suggests you should wish upon a star, and everything will be alright. Your wish will come true, and you'll live happily ever after. That's the motto of Disney itself. As an added bonus, the filmmaker threw in a lot of Disney cameos and Easter eggs referring to the Disney classics from the past. This movie is a glorified tribute to the 100-year history of Disney Animation.  As mentioned, Disney has been making animated films for quite a while. Steamboat Willie was the first with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs shortly thereafter. They take pride in reinventing themselves, like they did in the late ‘80s and ‘90s with The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, The Lion King, and many others soon afterwards that were among the best they've ever made. Wish advances their animation again with a vivid colorful look with well-defined characters and a depth and layering that creates a gorgeous animated film, and one of the year's best by far. This is a definite Academy Award contender for animated features at next year's Oscars.
One of the stalwarts of Disney animated films is the music and the songs that accompany their films. This one has a few memorable songs, such as “Welcome to Rosas,” “This Wish,” and “This Is the Thanks I Get?!” These songs and the music of the film from Dave Metsger are very catchy. They are sure to be sung by kids and adults alike this holiday season. They are infused into the narrative nicely, and “This Wish” in particular has a good shot at being nominated for Best Song come next year's Academy Awards. It has a beautiful message a lot of people can get behind. Moms and dads should let their kids hear this as often as possible. Wish is another success as far as I'm concerned from Disney Animation. It has a great message of hope and dreams, and standing up for others, as well as what you believe in. There is a very relatable protagonist voiced by Ariana DeBose, who is an amazing singer in her own right and villain voiced by Pine. The songs are terrific and surely will catch on with kids and families that see the movie over the holidays. The animation is some of the best of the year thus far. This film will surely garner much awards attention later this year and next. The main reason I loved this movie so much is that it was a love letter to all the great Disney films of the past 100 years. Wish hits theaters on November 22. Rating: 4.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen  Image Courtesy of Netflix. Adam Sandler hasn't done many animated films in his career. He has done the Hotel Transylvania series, though, where he played Count Dracula. Now, he is in a new animated film produced by his own Happy Madison called Leo, where he voices a lizard. He takes this role very seriously, and this reptile ends up being a good role model for a class full of bratty kids. Leo (Adam Sandler) and Squirtle (Bill Burr) are two captive animals in a class full of fifth graders. They sit in their cage, commenting on everything that goes on around them. When the teacher gets pregnant, a substitute teacher takes over the class. She's a lot harder on the kids than the last teacher. One of the things she implements is that the kids have to take one of the pets home for the weekend. Leo ends up being the one who goes. When he's with the kids, they learn that he can talk, and he starts to give them advice on home and school lives. The animation is pretty straightforward computer animation. The kids and adults all look similar to many other humans in other animated films. It's the animals — specifically Leo and Squirtle — that have a distinct look to them. I think that was on purpose. The animals had to have a different look to set them apart from all the humans in the film. The humans did have some famous people voicing them, though.  Image Courtesy of Netflix. Jason Alexander, Cecily Strong, Jo Koy, and Rob Schneider (a Happy Madison regular), all voice adults in the film. The kids are voiced by a group of unknowns, as far as I could see. They were all fine, though, in their roles. All the kids had various issues that set them apart from the others. When the story gets to the climax, they all come together for a common goal. The cast as a whole is pretty good.
Robert Smigel, Robert Marianetti, and David Wachtenheim directed this movie from a script by Smigel, Sandler and Paul Sado. They infused themes kids can get behind as well as adults. Plot points involving parental problems, separation, bullying, and body issues are littered throughout this story. The main one I am dealing with in my personal life is aging. That was a surprise to me. I didn't think a story point about an aging lizard would be a key in the story, but it was. It's not fun getting old, so I can relate to that in the film. Leo isn't going to be labeled one of the best animated films of the year, but it is quite interesting in its story, and some of the animation was good. Sandler and company do an adequate job bringing these characters to life. The various story elements are the reason to see the movie on Netflix when it streams. A plot device of talking animals proves to be a good idea in this context. Giving advice and an aging story beat were my favorite parts of what is mostly an average animated film. Leo is now in theaters and streams on Netflix beginning November 21. Rating: 3/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen  Photo Credit: Daniel Escale/Netflix. The Crown has always been one of my favorite Netflix shows ever since it premiered in 2016. I had always been fascinated by the Royals, but this show let me and millions of others into the inner circle of the royals like never before. Sure, Peter Morgan took some liberties with the narrative and the truth of what happened, but that is what we like about the show. It's not the definitive story of these people's lives. Season 6 is a hard one to digest because the true events were only about twenty years ago. Fans of the show will eat it up anyway. I loved it, like I did with previous seasons of the show. Season 5 of The Crown left fans of the show with Diana Spencer (Elizabeth Debicki) and Prince Charles (Dominic West) getting divorced and going their separate ways. Season 6 Part 1 starts with the framing device of a car racing down a Paris street, with a pack of men on motorcycles following it very speedily. It then flashes back to eight months before this moment in time, where Diana is with her boys and others swimming in a lake. This starts the relationship with Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla), the son of a Middle Eastern billionaire, Mohamed al-Fayed (Salim Daw). The Crown Season 6 is split into two parts. The first four episodes of Season 6 focus mainly on the burgeoning relationship between Diana and Dodi. There are two seemingly outcasts in their respective circles. They start to become acquainted because of their outcast status. They find they are kindred spirits, and unbeknownst to them, they were photographed on Fayed's father's yacht. This started the news cycles swirling as a bidding war for the photos to get underway. Paparazzi is nothing new to Diana, though. As a member of the Royal Family, she dealt with this frequently. Now, she doesn't have the protection of the Royal Family's security force. The paparazzi would be her undoing, as the world already knows. They didn't stop her from having a fun summer in the Caribbean with Fayed, though. Peter Morgan, the creator of The Crown and its head writer, along with the directors Alex Gabassi and Christian Schwochow, decided to do something a little different with the narrative in episode four of Season 6. They made a distinct effort to try a different narrative approach that serves the audience watching at home on Netflix. I feel this choice was well warranted. Morgan and company put the dialogue of various characters into first-person style. How they were thinking and feeling was a key to these scenes in the series. The viewers needed to see this aspect of the story. Everybody knows how this story ends, but it's the narrative decisions Morgan uses that make for interesting television for fans of the show.  Photo Credit: Keith Bernstein. The Crown has always had great technical aspects, and this season is no different. There is a dichotomy of two of the main three characters in the Caribbean, where they are on the water with sunny backdrops with beautiful vistas surrounding them. Then there is the rainy, cold, and damp of Scotland, where the third main character lives in his castle. When members of the Royal Family venture outside, there are beautiful green hills with a stream flowing at the bottom between them, or wooded areas where characters go for walks and get air from stressful moments in their lives. The two locations are fascinating because of the characters and the situation they are in. The emotions of the characters also have an interesting juxtaposition regarding the location they are in as well. Morgan did a nice job with this plot point.
One episode in particular shows the true nature of what all these people were dealing with, and that's where two photographers were being interviewed in a documentary style. They feature heavily in episode two. The paparazzi and the local photographer, who does their job in different ways. One is looking for the next payday, and the other is looking to show the Royal Family respectfully. Each has their own way of going about their jobs, but have different motivations entirely. Thus, the episode truly showed what the Royals were dealing with 24/7, 365 days a year. And Diana, more than all the rest, felt it once she divorced Charles. She was fair game after that, as far as the paparazzi were concerned. The Crown Season 6 Part 1 is dubbed at the beginning of the end of this great show. We all know the story of Diana and what happened to her on that Paris road twenty years ago. It's just how all this transpired, and what led to that fateful car ride that is what's most interesting. The little details and why she was there that fretful day are what makes Season 6 Part 1 so good. All the little minutiae that goes along with them is why this show works. Morgan knows how to infuse the little things into each episode and season. This season will go down as one of the best, and surely will gather awards consideration next summer at the 2024 Emmy Awards and maybe the Golden Globes in January. Debicki is surely going to blow people's minds with her performance. She once again gives a tour de force performance as this world famous woman, Diana Spencer. The Crown is now streaming on Netflix, with the second part streaming December 16. Four out of ten episodes reviewed. Rating: 4.5/5 |