Not Quite Christmas: Home Alone 3

The Lookback 

           Home Alone  is one of those things that really really didn't need sequels.  To me, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was alright, but not that good or necessary.  That is probably an opinion that will drive some to just leave or be mad, then again what opinion doesn't?  Home Alone 2 falls into a problem that a sequel made because a first film probably not intending to have a follow-up ends up having to make one , because money.  

         Even that movie  knows that it has the problem by the fact of how much it "winks" at the audience  most the start.  There are things that at least making it charming like Tim Curry.  Even if  90% of the movie works on repeating the first film -but in New York- and even kind of like putting the audience into knowing that "yeah we know".  It also did very well to the point where yes, the third film.

            Home Alone 2 came out in 1992 , Home Alone 3 came out in 1997.  They had seemingly planned to make a third with the 2nd but didn't. Probably for the best since if there's a third with the same people, we should start to ask the question of why do they keep trying to go on Christmas vacations?  Why does Kevin keep getting left behind?  Do they actually hate Kevin?   

             But here's Home Alone 3 anyway.    Home Alone 3 takes some different approaches to its story compared the first and second. The main thing is that it's not a Christmas movie.  It takes place after Christmas, which changes the reason why the main character is left home alone.   

             Fun fact: Fun is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.  There are six (as of this writing) Home Alone films. Yeah six.   Home Alone 4 , also called Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House,  came out in 2002 and was a TV film. That one is notable in the fact that the names of the characters are the same as 1 and 2 and it feels like you missed something in processing when watching.  In 2012, the launched another TV movie called  "Home Alone: The Holiday Heist"  which takes the concept of the films but wonders how can parents accidently leave their kid Home Alone in the year 2012? Uh well, they decide to just let the parents leave the kid(s) at home because they are mad at them.  Also there's a teenage girl to watch the main boy so... it's alright.  Then Disney gets weird, buys FOX and decides that since they  own Home Alone now to make a sixth one in 2021 called "Home Sweet Home Alone".   

             Saying all that, this was the last (so far?) one that was released in a theater.   Home Alone 3 introduces a different family. Probably for the best for a few reasons, but also having Kevin be home alone at this point he'd be a teenage boy so it would just be teen boy left at home  and somehow would be weirder if they used the same criminals a third time.   This is the last "Home Alone" film to be written by John Hughes.   

            The strangest thing about this movie is that it starts in Hong Kong. That also means this movie was done right around the change over happened.  But why is the movie in Hong Kong?  It sets up our villains as not just random dudes who want to just break into moderately wealthy people's homes and take some stuff and leave the water on, nah, they want to -checks notes- to steal a chip to sell to a terrorist group linked to North Korea.  Our four, yes four, criminals are named Peter Beaupre, Alice Ribbons, Burton Jernigan, and Earl Unger.   Stealing it wasn't that hard, some guy working at the company that makes the special chip that can make missiles undetectable sells it to them. He stole it. Movie over? 

Watch out! Heist movie ending walking here / Copyright FOX 

            They place the chip inside a toy RC car as a way to sneak it past airport security.  A bold strategy that I am sure will not cause any hijinks at all.  Again, the strangest thing about this movie is that it takes over 8 minutes to actually feel like a "Home Alone" movie. Because we get scene of the bad guys looking cool and getting through the airport security. Also, uh oh,  a lady took their bag because she has the same bag they had.  This seems like a very dumb plan, they should have used a more descript bag.  This movie travels more than the first two in the first 5 minutes as well. This will lead us to Chicago because Home Alone. 

            They lose track of the woman and find the taxi driver.  Also movie mentions the date incase, you didn't know, it takes place after Christmas and the date mentioned is January 8th. (Even Orthodox Christmas is over) The taxi driver gives private details away too easily. 

             Finally, the movie shows our main character.  Alex Pruitt is an eight-year-old boy played by  Alex D. Linz, whom you may know from The Young and the Restless,  Tarzan, Bruno, or the 2003 Disney Channel Original Movie "Full-Court Miracle".  He connects to the lady with the car chip as he's her neighbor.  Mrs. Hess, played by Marian Seldes,  wanted Alex to shovel her walk and she's not happy he's late.  She still plays him because she doesn't want to be seen as a bad person so she gives him the car.   If we're going to recycle anything from the first two movies guess what role she is there for?

I am here to deliver the plot device/ Copyright FOX 

         The movie is also setting up  how our main character will be left home alone. He's scratching and which we'll find out that he has chicken pox. (Because 90's)  The bad guys can't figure out which house has what they are looking for since this neighborhood seems to have everyone with an older house and hasn't removed their Christmas decorations. (Something is being implied here) 

            We also see that Alex is kind of smart as he's able to tinker, even made an a pretty neat, if not excessive, way of feeding his fish.  Alex's mom fills in the red haired mom quota for the films.  The best fun fact is that Karen Pruitt is played by Haviland Morris who played Caroline Mulford in Hughes' film Sixteen Candles.  The dad, Jack Pruitt, will not have much of a role in this film is played by Kevin Kilner whom fans of  "Earth: Final Conflict" or the Disney Channel Original movie "Smart House" will know. 

         This movie also has  Scarlett Johansson playing Alex's older sister named Molly.  His older brother is named Stan. They don't have much of a role in this movie either except to do quips, one liners  and make fun of Alex until the end.   Movie also gives us Home Alone  boy screaming in the bathroom scene. Checkmarks.  

Sorry son, we're gonna have to leave you home...alone/ Copyright FOX 

           Alex as a character is not remaking Kevin which is good to make him stand out. It also is fitting to him be someone who knows how to invent and tinker to set up the stuff he'll do later.  He shows he's also somewhat a genius type but still has childishness to him.   We see the criminals who are also set up to be a little bit different than our goofy duo from the other two movies. They are fast, efficient and effective. They're whole concept is that they are making sure they can sneak into a house, steal the toy car with the chip, and leave. It works well for later.

             How does this movie "Home Alone" you might be wondering? We'll Alex's mom was working from home, but her boss needs her at work and she gives him one hour because again Alex is home sick.  Alex asks a question about "What if crooks show up?" it's daytime and that's good time to crook. Hmm. I wonder what could happen?

                  Alex decides to do some telescope looking around the neighborhood and I wonder what he'll— oh no He sees crooks.  He calls 9-1-1 and tells him at see crooks in the house across the street. The only problem, since this movie needs to have a plot and a runtime, is that they are able to get out before the cops show up and they didn't take anything so it looks like Alex called in a hoax.  We also get a supposed to be funny moment of the cops going "Freeze!" and a dog freezing.  One of the cops is the dad from "The Middle". 

This isn't Fargo?/ Copyright FOX 

            The movie cuts to federal investigators looking for the chip and the criminals. Meanwhile, the 4 of them are trying to figure out how the police showed up.  The second time the movie has Alex left home alone is his dad having to leave and his mom isn't back home yet. Yeah, this movie is more casual leaving him at home, versus oops! As a decision, is different than the first two movies where Kevin is accidently left at home [first movie] or accidently gets on wrong plane [second movie] and isn't even left home alone. It does cause the role of the parents, especially the mom, to be reduced since she's really just popping out and hoping the next door neighbor will check on him. 

Sorry, son I'm leaving , I got a job as an actor on some sci-fi show/ Copyright FOX

            Uh oh, Alex sees them again and decides to call the police again. Guess what? Time isn't on his side since there's way more movie.  I am only slightly curious as to why the family doesn't believe him,  he doesn't feel like a character that randomly call the police twice because he's bored or makes up things for reasons.  There's at least no reason seen or explained why they wouldn't believe him or at least be more curious as to why beyond their simple reason.  That's one of the weaknesses of the movie. 

There's nothing more 90's than this image/ Copyright FOX 

            The animals in this movie are fun, the parrot and Doris the rat are charming.  Alex figures out that the criminals are looking for something specific but doesn't know what.  He also decides he'll do it himself. (He's going to arrest the criminals?)  One could say that in our modern times it would be easier for Alex to show what's going on by recording it. You would be correct, he also decides to record it. In his own way he decides to tape a video camera to an RC car- The RC car- and sends it to the house he thinks will be "investigated" next.   Alex decides to scare his rat and a cat, interesting.

             Alex captures footage and decides to mess with Beaupre for a bit.  He calls the others in to help him  and this is also the first slapstick in this movie. I will say there's only a small amount that makes these guys interesting. Marv and Harry were more interesting and they had fun personalities. Here it kind of seems they blend together. We do get to see their slight role differences and they seem competent when the plot needed them to be, then well more on that later. 

             I'm surprised Alex's video link up didn't mean he didn't think to use a VCR to record in his house as he was watching the broadcast and so it wouldn't matter if the bad guy took the camera and destroyed the VHS tape.  Why yes, I over thought this.  

Alex, also gets the family free AMC / copyright FOX 

             Alex is able to lose the criminals with the car and camera, but no tape.  That was a different type of car chase.  He wonders why they were still chasing the car after they got the tape and finds the chip. He figures out it's an air force chip and decides to call the Air Force recruitment place. He gives the numbers on chip and hopes for the best. Meanwhile, Alice  has figured out a kid is on to them. 

Well, Doris, you're right they are working with the cats/ copyright FOX 

            Alice has done some sleuthing her of her own and figures out which house might have the car. Alex figures it out quickly that the caller isn't some kid's mom.   The criminals have a way to re-rout phone calls.  Alex decides he's gonna figure this out himself and set some of the traps, it's that part of a Home Alone movie. He let's his mother go to work and he's a home waiting. The music makes it sounds like he's going to die, or she's going to die, they need to calm down.  But first, a little more traps, and we should fear Alex. 

            In speaking of music, this is probably the only or the only mainstream movie where Cartoon Boyfriend gets a song in it. Mrs. Hess gets a call to check in on Alex and that proves to be bad for her.  Peter and Alice make up a story about a package and end up tying her up and leaving her in the garage and door open so she can freeze to death.  This movie has dark moments even when it will get silly. Burton sees Alex's electrical death trap and thinks it's a cute fake and ends up well getting shocked.  So does Unger.  Fear Alex, he's messed with electricity.  Not going to run through all the traps, but these people should be dead, like they should be more dead than Kevin's traps in the 2nd movie.  

shocking / Copyright FOX 

                Even if Mrs. Hess is a little annoyed by the Pruitts she is scared when Alice mentions Alex.  This movie proves that yes, you can play "Let it Snow" after Christmas.  I think it does work, actually, that these sophisticated criminals  would fall in Alex's plans. Mostly because they aren't expecting them and they are pure chaos and make no sense that one one would think of them.  Also again, they should really be dead.  Alex's cold disregard of their lives is somewhat funny. He's like they sealed their fate, they really could have quick after being shocked and hit with heavy stuff, but they chose to go further. Plus, compared to Marv and Harry these guys are slowly killing an elderly woman.   Also, oddly we find out later they had a gun, and no attempt was made.  I'm just saying, they chose this pain. 

           There's that part where something gets screwed up because of a variable Alex didn't account for.  His mom calls and he has to answer the phone. Peter overhears the call and is happy to hear this info.   Also, the good news is that the FBI agents are on their way to help Alex.  It was nice to see the brother and sister concerned about their brother and giving something to the plot for a minute. The agent describing what's going on then Stan's face is realization this is a "Home Alone" film. 

                    Doris and the parrot -who doesn't seem to have a name- both get a little role to mess with the criminals and a1990's hit to the groin joke.  Alex finds a real gun and throws it away, he also touched it noooo!  He uses the whole let's get the criminals outside thing and taunts them, which was an idea. Finds Mrs. Hess to help her and Peter is there to trap him. Alex's first concern is about Mrs. Hess, a good way to show he's only mean to bad people. Peter was willing to use a gun - even if Alex did switch them- (not sure how that man couldn't tell the weight difference)  so yes, Alex's traps were really justified. 

                He scares Peter away and helps Mrs. Hess inside. Yes, the movie did the thing where they fix two characters who misunderstand each other and bring them together. The FBI and police show up to arrest 3 of the 4 criminals.  They repeat the mom looking for her son and he calls her name and they run to each other thing.  The FBI agent asks if the guy who ran of was Peter, and yes. But don't worry, they figure it thanks to the parrot. That's a sentence.  It's funny that if Peter had one more cracker he would have been able to make it. 

Home Alone but with a body count/ Copyright FOX 

               First, I do think that this movie takes story beats from the first movie, which the second movie did too,  and uses them because that's the Home Alone formula.  Especially this one being by the same guy.  It also does its own things like the main character boy isn't mad at his family really at all. Even when the points come when he calls the cops and everyone thinks it's fake, there's not a lot tension there.  It kind of seems to be something that mildly annoys the mom, and the brother and sister are like there just to make jokes at his expense, but nothing more than that.   

             Alex as a character is an alright lead. These movies rely on the idea of the eight-year-old kid having to be somewhat smarter than an average person and that's kind of hard to do. Here he's setup as a kid with some smarts and able to make his own things. The way he talks does mesh between average 8-year-old and something a writer would think would be fun an 8-year-old says. I can believe this character knows what he's saying it feels like it's real for the reality its in.  Linz really had to hold the movie down the most.  Stan and Molly are here really serviceable they kind of just exist. The mom is alright, but she really doesn't have a story goal until she's there at the end to worry about Alex.  The dad has about the same amount of role as the siblings.  Mrs. Hess is alright too, but again she's kind of there for Alex to mess with then they become real friends or something.  

             The criminals are alright, I say that a lot. (it's alright)  They don't have much personality. They couldn't be too competent  because they have to be taken down by an eight-year-old boy but they also can't be idiots because you'd be wondering how they work for big terrorist groups and stuff.  I liked how they did clean up quickly and were efficient  and it seems that Alex was able to mess with them because he was a wild card in how things are done for them. 

            I like this movie, myself, I personally think there's an overreaction to it. I enjoy it more than Home Alone 2, though I like the first one the most.  This one is way better than 4,5,6  but that's not a even a contest.   I think that if it wasn't called "Home Alone" in the title it would have probably just been a serviceable movie that probably wouldn't have been rerun as much, but it probably wouldn't have a lightning rod on it.  I find the movie funny too. 

          I like the moments where Alex is politely mean too. This movie easily could have had Alex have quips and be one of those movie kid archetypes, but he politely bluntly gets his point across.   It's not overly the best movie, but it is the best sequel of Home Alone.  It's a fun movie that doesn't take itself too seriously. It some of it's own charm and uses some things you expect in a Home Alone movie, but does its own things. 

        That's it for now, tune in next time when we leave a kid at home and see what happens. (oh no) 

                

            

            

Something Something Movies: Mummies

Movies

        I haven't done a movie in a while on this blog.  This is an interesting case of a movie,  not because it's new [made in the same year as I am posting about it].  Is that it did well, but not well-known?  That's because this movie is from Spain, but did get some worldwide release. I had heard about the movie and was kind of surprised it did well and even was like "I heard about this movie" when it was brought up.  "Mummies" not to be confused with "The Mummy", "The Mummy", "The Mummy" , or "The Mummy", or "Mummy Dearest" (that last one isn't real, yet), is again a 2023 movie, and is Spanish animation that Warner Bros. decided "eh let's distribute it". This is a movie I thought that would end as a random movie in a couple years on Tubi, but it didn't it was Hulu. (moving up!)   Mummies is directed by Juan Jesús García Galocha  and the screenplay by  Javier López Barreira and Jordi Gasull.   

        Mummies grossed  $52 million worldwide, against its budget of $12 million. It's the number 9th Spanish made movie in that ranking outside of its home market. (source)  That's pretty cool. 

        As I said before, I heard about this movie coming out, it was apparently delayed a bit, it was supposed to come out 2021, apparently. [I wonder why it was delayed what was going on then? Hmm anyway]  I didn't even know what it was but did see a quick trailer thing and wrote it down it to pick up on later, which might be a bad idea- for me.  Of course, you use a song like "Walk Like an Egyptian" or any other Bangles song, you've got me, well maybe. 

            I am also interested in media/animation that comes from outside the US. which is another reason why this movie made it my radar, before it was more known or whatever. Also, this is the part where I say the movie has an English dub, that's what we're working from.  They apparently worked with the United Kingdom to the dub, so it's British talk, so we have a Spanish movie about kind of Egypt (more on that soon), with a British English dub.   

            The movie starts with what be an incident where a character named Thut (too-it) [spell check is going to hate this post today] was a chariot racer but one day his wheel fell off and crashed. The awkward cut could make one think he died.  Umm... hmm.  The movie also sets our villain an archeologist. What's his goal? To be famous, that's what drives him. A simple goal. His name is Lord Sylvester Carnaby, voiced by   Hugh Bonneville , whom you may know from Downton Abbey or at least know of the series like I do, since didn't watch it.   There's also a running gag with him where his mom calls and they used the "Psycho" sound. Which someone found funny.  I'm not going to be saying the movie is perfect. Though I do hope they had his mother be a running gag ,because mummy, mummy. British... I'm going back now. 

         Silvester has found a tomb, like archeologists do, and notices that the mummy is not in the tomb. (He should have really checked if the mummy is in the museum)   He also notices there's a portal that leads to the underworld where mummies reside. I'm not sure why the mummies or Egyptians or whomever, yeah this going to be something I'll mention soon, would just everyone about the underworld. but I guess we need plot.  Also Silvester has two bumbling people working with him because sure. I do think it was funny later on in the movie, he can't even tell them apart- he was aware after all. 

He should really go after whoever made his moustache like that 

        I will also give a post spoiler: I didn't hate or dislike the movie, but it does have some things that do make it bit weak and could been improved slightly.  A balanced approach as always. (Also, it's really hard to be angry in text form, except on Twitter... Facebook.. Pinterest?) 

            The movie's intro is kind of creative, while the music for the start sounds generic, the intro is colorful and nice.   The movie has a setting of being a world were apparently mummies are alive and the people though look more like they would be if they weren't mummies. The world seems to be like an ancient city you'd think of as in ancient Egypt but also feeling doing like an ancient spin of current things.  There's a guy being a traffic light we see kids throwing around small piece of stones to send messages and look kind of like phones. I do like the concept here of having a kind of blend thing going on.  I will mention though, overthinking it might hurt a bit. The people -mummies look like they aren't dead, so they weren't going for a "Tutenstein" vibe of being a dead person but alive, uh undead. The only really mummy thing the characters have here is that they are wrapped up in gauze and if a bright enough light, in our world is shown upon them they give off a 'skeleton'? look.  Everything seems fine other wise, there's no jokes about body parts falling off or in that vain. I don't think it was a bad idea , there is some sense to the idea that this the after life and they have full skin and stuff.  The other ways the movie could have made the look work was have it be an alternate parallel  universe where ancient Egypt still runs the way it did or the fun part that that we think of, or time travel, time travel works. 

It's downtown Hartford 

        I will talk about how it looks with characters more soon, but the animation is good. They spent $12 million on this movie and doesn't look bad, they could have really cut some corners, but they didn't- or give the appearance.  Some would try to compare it to Pixar/ Disney or DreamWorks/Illumination which is a dumb thing to do. This is a smaller operation and not even a Warner Bros. made the movie affair, from the country of Spain. I'm not going to say wow it doesn't look like "Minions Rise of Gru" or "The Good Dinosaur" which had budgets higher than this movie, where you could make Mummies , Mummies 2: Electric Tomb-alo, Mummies 3: Return of the Mummies,  Sekhem: the Movie,  Mummies 4: The Last Pharoah: Part 1, Mummies 5: The Last Pharaoh: Part 2: Part 1 , Sekhem 2, and Mummies 6: The Last Pharaoh :Part 2 :The Final Beginning, if you used the same budget of this movie each time. (Really went long on that huh?) I think it looks good.  I don't think it would be bad to look at for the 88 minutes it goes. 

            Back to the story, Thut (voiced in English by Joe Thomas, whom the UK readers, hello! will know from "The Inbetweeners")  was the guy we saw at the start, he is now like those retired sports stars who lives off his past, he meets with fans and ladies want him. (Just like umm nevermind) It also helps that he's young....uhhhh ok. He's also afraid of commitment an doesn't want to marry, I wonder how that will end up in the - uh oh. The next character is his little brother, Sekhem (sek-him)(voiced by Santiago Winder, whom you may know as the voice of Noddy from "Noddy, Toyland Detective", random)  He plays the spunky younger brother role who looks up to his older brother.  It also looks like Thut takes takes care of his brother like a single parent. They never showed any parents, which also makes me wonder, did-can-their parents die?  There is mention of like Thut being afraid of being killed at times in the movie, so I'm a little confused.   Sekhem wants his brother to get back into racing because he thinks it's really cool and thinks his brother was really good at it.  But because of the INCENIDENT  mentioned earlier - he won't. 

That crash was pretty cool 

          Starting with Thut, I do like how the character is introduced, while he's being embraced by fans and ladies, and taking autographs, he does give a bit of confidence without feeling too arrogant or unlikeable, With his brother, he's happy to see him, and seems to take care of him.  You also see he's not as confident as he showed by remembering the fear of the bad incident. I like how he does put on a fake confidence or maybe it's a bit of it he had from before the bad thing, either way, it works. We see him be kind like helping an elderly lady across the street.  The story isn't really about having to change as a person because of being over arrogant or unlikable to being someone who isn't and is, but someone who is shaken by an event that was bad and feels kind of lost about who they are; I think they went a good direction. I'll do a bit more on him, later. 

Weren't you in Downton Abbey? 

         The third main character in this movie runs into Thut, literally. Their first interaction is brief.  She is the princess and even does that thing where she wants to be more than just the princess. This is Nefer, (voiced by Elanor Tomlinson in English, I'm going to mention she was in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging because I want to mention that. Her signing voice is Karina Pasian, who  is an American singer, and can speak multiple languages). Nefer gets a song , she sings that she's kind of tired of things being monotonous and wants to do more. Yes, one of those songs. No, it's a musical movie, but will have some music, but there's a reason for she wants to be a singer- but princesses can't do that.  I also kind of have to like that they decided that it wasn't just some random song, but that she was singing it and some others heard her singing, that was kind of funny. The other part of her plot is the plot she doesn't want to get married. I wonder who will get picked? 

She wants a whole new world.be part of our world... also is surprised to see you

         Her father , the pharaoh (voiced by Sean Bean, that's right Sean Bean!) tells his daughter that the phoenix bird with the help the goddess of love be picking her husband today. (That's helpful) Yes, they are doing a standard thing here where she doesn't want to, doesn't feel ready and wants things to move on.  The pharaoh seems to be a nice guy, but he also wants to keep tradition and hopes that his daughter will understand and want to keep tradition. Also, there's a stargate... what? 

I have a meeting some guy named Moses at 3pm 

        

            Sekhem is playing with a boomerang. (But wait a minute...how is)  This is the part where'd say that the mummy movie about living mummies that also have their normal skin and flesh and also can do pop music is being silly in having a boomerang, but (big but) no they did their homework. Ancient Egypt had boomerangs. Though not a really a children's toy, but the movie gets points for doing that, it's alright to have some fun too.  He's trying to throw it into a ringed statue and a lady opens a window at the same time throwing the boomerang off course, and hits the phoenix of love which lands where Skehem and Thut live.  Of course, you can see where this is going. 

This thing will help you get a mate, but not get channel 58. 

              Now that we have our three mummies and a pet croc of Skehem's named Croc, we can get to the characters' styling.  It is pretty basic, the people-mummies plus the livings are kind of basic there's that a lot that stands out for them. Except for the two henchmen they did make the people look different from each other to stand out.  When the movie enters the mummy world and goes to the children I can tell Sekhem out from the other kids.  Thut and Nefer don't look each other.  Humans in the living world don't look the same, and it works.   Also someone really wanted to make Thut and Nefer have an attractive look, so good for those character designers.  Croc is interesting as the only creature we really see in the film, it's a classic every animal acts like a dog thing, but he's cute and if this was a bigger movie there'd be Croc toys and plushies all over the place.  Of the mummy trio, Sekhem stands out the most in design, not just because he's a kid -whatever that means here-  though that make him the shortest, he's also bald minus the little side lock there.  I think if they had more budget or had a way to work in more expressions especially for him, it would have been even more interesting.   I can't say I feel they didn't put any though in the designs and the effort, again I think the movie works well with its limitation. 

How you do fellow, mummies

           You can see where part of the plot is going.  Nefer and Thut are arranged to be married.  Thut doesn't want to marry Nefer and she doesn't want to marry her. They have the clear goal of not wanting that. To be frank, the movie is not going really going to do anything of a surprise any different of where you might be expecting it to go. (Unless you were expecting something different.) It's a simple movie, simple doesn't mean bad, it means it's not going for high complexity. I do like they do at least add nuance a bit. I do wonder how different anything they say or do is different in the original Spanish.  Yes, Nefer has simple motivations she wants to be a singer and do that and that's fine. Thut finds out that if he goes against wishes of the god, he'll lose his eyes and tongue. (That's a bit much)  One more thing to um set up for other part of the plot is a ring (I don't mean on the phone, Santa Baby) that they give to Thut to hold until the wedding day. Which is kind of stupid thing to do, like why? Hold the thing until the day of the wedding. 

Here's your plot device, sir.

             Since that's coming up soon, I'm kind of sad that this whole movie won't be taking place in this strange version of whatever they are trying do here. The idea of ancient world that also things like old fashion phones, the ones where you hold it up to your mouth and speak with the ear piece on the side  held up to the ear. [ This thing]  You see kids playing on stone smart phone shaped things. It's kind of messy fun. There's a part where apparently some guys are called to make it night time. There's a lot of fun moving parts to this movie that I wish had more going on here.  I'll this here, this environment and still having Nefer and Thut get to know each other as they find ways to not get married and have Sekhem and Croc there doing stuff could have worked too, no need for a villain and etc. Oh well. 

          Good thing, the guards picked the right one, would have been odd if they thought it was him or Croc. 

        I do like Thut and Nefer's interactions and yeah you can kind of tell that it's written that way. It also could have been badly done. Thut works well in this because he's not some playboy or big shot acting character who is like "Hey I get to marry a Princess and be all rich and stuff";  He doesn't act the way they could have stock had him act. Nefer does point out that he's some chariot racer, but that's her way of trying to make sure the wedding doesn't happen and that she didn't have a good view of him when she thought he was just standing the road there, but she's more against this whole thing than being against him for being "beneath her or something". Their banter is kind of fun and they are at least likeable, we're not supposed to be annoyed by them so, good work? 

They look like people who just met... oh yeah that's right 

more after the jump

The Lookback: The Peanut Butter Solution

The Flashback   Joshuaonline Canada 

      We can call segment random stuff we found on Tubi TV, which sadly is not a sponsor, but we'll mention them anyway. Unless it's a few years from now and this movie isn't on there anymore, good we wasted our time on that. 

            Today we are looking at a movie, that's kind of well-known but too well known, that's kind of weird to say. It's an 80's family film called "The Peanut Butter Solution" from 1985, it's  a movie part of a series of books and movies called "Tales for All" the second one.  It's a fantasy movie from Canada. 

      

    The movie starts with narration  by our main character named Michael Baskin, mentioning his   sister  named Susan who is making a smoothie and wearing an oversized robe because  its their mother's who has  oh well this is a movie so ...died?  Oh no, she's just away tending to her dead father's needs in Australia.  (what a twist) I wonder if that will be part of the plot in anyway later on. 

                         There's raw egg in that drink / Copyright Les Productions La Fête

         Their father is a stressed artist who is stressed because he is an artist and his wife is missing (that might do it).   Michael's friend, Connie, comes over because we have to introduce the cast. They also mention that Michael plays soccer.  A house had a fire, it's an old spooky house.  This movie feels like it is all introspective then goes back to what it was doing. It's trying to be artsy. (Yes artsy) 

Standing here and wondering that's the sent of Al Orange/ Copyright  Les Productions La Fête

More after the jump

One Shot Posts: Mirai

Anime Movies Reviews 

  Yes, Yes TV focused blog is doing a movie because why not?  This is one of our One Shot Posts, for things that don't fit with our normal posts or series of posts.


   The 2018 film Mirai  is  directed and written by Mamoru Hosoda  the man who  worked the "Digimon Movie" also created films like "The Girl Who Leap Through Time", "Summer Wars" , "Wolf Children", and "The Boy and The Beast"  This movie was his latest one. 

        Mirai is a movie about a little boy at the age of 4  who's life gets changed with the birth of his little sister named Mirai.    Mirai means future.  This movie starts with showing us Kun (the boy) and how is first happy then turns against the baby because of all the attention she's getting from the parents as newborns tend to get by necessity.  While the audience gets Kun's perspective primarily, we also see that those of his parents with their everyday lives shown maybe a little more naturally. The father character has decided to be a stay at home while working from home while the mother has gone back to work.

          Since Kun is a 4-year-old boy he has has the tendency to go into tantrums when he is un-happy. He lashes at his sister, mother, and father at different parts of the movie. The house they live in is pretty much the main setting it's a unique house built around a tree which personally, I like the design of the house, I'd love to live there. The center part provides a place for plot to work out.   It's kind of a spot where Kun goes to let off some steam.

      Gonna do this part mostly spoiler free.  This movie is very much a slice-of-life style of movie where the added element is Kun's immigration when he's in that middle part of the house.  For the first time he meets a man who says he was the prince of the house , which turns out to be his dog Yukko.  Yukko was in the same position as Kun when Kun was born. Kun steals the dog's tail and turns  into a dog boy.  Later Kun, tells his parents  that the dog prefers the better dog food.   The rest of the movie goes into different little stories  where Kun helps his sister by meeting his sister older from the future, learns a little more about his mother by meeting with her as a child,   and learns how to ride a bike with help from his younger grandpa  Each time from going to the middle of the house the imagination scenes helps Kun learn more about life.

   The last  part of the movie,all I will say is kind of the unsettling part of the movie where it doesn't even feel like the rest of the movie, all I will say I was surprised.  I enjoyed this movie  while slow in pace it had a great mark to it and very engaging where it never felt too slow or wandering. The imagination sciences are creative and kind  of above maybe what a 4-year-old would think but, that's not a bad thing. The most tedious part would be Kun's tantrums because tanturms are uncomfortable to be around in the first place so those are hard to watch.  Otherwise, I think it was a strong and entertaining movie that had a good mixture of heart, comedy, drama, imagination, and realism that I think makes it well done.  Mostly, it's a movie about the main character trying to figure out life still and understand new things that are happening that is a message that I think any age can understand as new things and concepts are being added to life. You see that in the movie with the parents as well as  Mom tires to figure out her job and her family and Dad tries to bond with the new baby while also taking care of Kun.  It's also a very family movie meaning that it's focused on family and learning about the family and how things from the past can be passed down to the future. (Wait a minute) 

    The animation is really great as well, the details were strong. They had an actual architect design the home and it shows well to make a unique home that also fits will with the story. I also like use of paper animation in the end of the film and the details used for the trains.

   I do recommend this movie and you can get it on DVD/Blu Ray, currently. It was a worthy movie to be nominated for awards this year and enjoyed it.

  If you have an idea for the blog you can email it to mychiller@gmx.com

Scooby Doo 50 : Finally, They Caught the 13th Ghost

Scooby Doo 

       Scooby Doo celebrates it's 50 year this year. This series began with "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" that aried on CBS in 1969 then it exploded in popularity that it later received more series and later movies. Toys and prodcuts were made and sold well, it became big.   Hanna-Barbera  even tried copying themselves with making shows that kind of copied the formula of Scooby Doo.   The characters have had a long lasting effect in our media so here at Joshuaonline, we are going to be taking a look each month at a piece of Scooby-Doo media in commemoration.

   
            Back in 1985 it's December  and a couple of children (let's say a boy and girl) are watching the final episode of "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo" and not knowing it was the last episode.

       Almost 34 Years later :  Warner Brothers Animation releases "Scooby Doo and The Curse of The 13th Ghost"   finally a finale.

           Personal story time: I grew up watching my Scooby Doo Media on Cartoon Network (and possibly TNT)  and remember watching the 13 th Ghost of Scooby Doo , swearing they did catch all 13, even thinking with 13 episodes they did catch them all but nope.  (Pokemon Fail) I do love that series though.

        The 13th Ghosts of Scooby Doo was the 7th series and to explain it  in short talk.  Scooby Doo had  kind of fallen out of popularity by the 1980's the series had been seen as kind of predictable and over saturated.  That did stop them from making Scooby Doo series instead they tried new things like adding Scrappy , removing everyone that wasn't Shaggy (don't do the joke , don't do the joke) and Scooby.  They did add Daphne back to the series for the 6th series "The New Scooby and Scrappy Show" in 1983.   So this series has All those plus a boy named Flim-Flam (why would you name your child that?).  Anyway, this series decided to something different to make Scooby Doo hip! fresh! amazing! new! wow! to the audience. This time the ghosts are real! (I may use this line again)

       For you Scrappy haters out there (mean), this is the last series with him in it.  The series ran from 1985 for 3 months on CBS  worked on by the man who created the 90's animation hits "Animanics, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Pinky and The Brain" ,  Tom Ruegger.   (He also created Histera! which needs to be loved you!)   So, 33 years later , Warner Bros , who now was the rights to Scooby announced they were going to release a new movie that will finally wrap up the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo.


     Our fake children are now in their 40's  are jumping with joy.  Let's begin.  After the Jump because we talked too much.

What? :The Visitor 1979

What? The Flashback 

         This might be a new segment or a one time thing, who knows?  But this is something that makes me go What? .   Anyway,  I call this a TV blog blah blah, we are doing a movie.  Today we are looking at a movie from 1979 , by chance it's turning 40 this year.  Not just some random movie not even really a famous movie, because that would be easy or something. I decided to talk about our first horror film. Wait a minute this is a horror film?  Or it's science fiction film. You know what all we know is that it's an Italian and American film directed by  Giulio Paradisi.

  Ok plot time oh great. (cries in a corner)

         The movie starts by saying thank you to the then governor of Georgia  George Busbee and the then mayor of Atlanta , Maynard Jackson, for which without them this movie couldn't be made. (So it's their fault?)   This movie has some big actors in it too, like we start with John Huston who is playing someone named  Jerzy Colsowicz, who is from space, I think.  Jerzy sees  some person in a clock who's all covered up while wind blows and snow?  The clock reveals a little girl that then dissolves away. The storm clears up and the Jerzy walks away.

Let that be in your dreams

  Meanwhile there's a guy who descriptions say he's like a Christ like figure but has no name.  He never gives a name, is talking to bald children about a prisoner named  Zatteen who was evil who was captured but then escaped from a space ship and found a hiding place, guess where?   If you said anywhere but Earth then you were wrong. Zatteen continued to use his powers on Earth , but his rival  Yahweh (I see what you are doing movie) used birds to try to stop Zatten  but he turned into an Eagle but did get killed.   He had another trick up his sleeve, he had mated with Earth women. (of course?)  So, his powers and evil live on in his children.

Welcome, he's wearing our hair on his face. 

     Meanwhile Jerzy shows up and sits down the bald children gather around him and says her names is Katy Collins and she will be 8 years old  which causes the camera to zoom into the other guy and the theme music to play and taking us to Atlanta. (woah, Atlanta) I'm guessing she's a Zatteen child.
Meanwhile there's a basketball game (also, cameo by  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.) and there's more basketball in this movie than I was expecting. There's also a little girl wearing sun glasses at the game. I think she might be Katy.  So there's an owner named Raymond Armstead he's being asked questions about where's his "open check book" for the team where's the money coming from?  He says God.    When like 2 seconds left the game the girl looks at the ball that a player was going to score with and it blows up. (Alright then)



more after the jump

The Peanuts Film Festival : The Peanuts Movie (Part 2)

Peanuts

  Previously, we started talking about the Peanuts Movie (2015) and then we stopped (yeah what's up with that ?)    But before we continue with the movie plot it's time to talk about the music.  (Oh, great this is going to take forever!) 
 
  The Peanuts specials (most of them ) are known for their musical scores, especially the early specials and the use of Vince Guaraldi Trio music .  So this movie  had to have that in it.  It was going to be music we already knew because Guaraldi is no longer with us.   They tapped Christophe Beck to score the movie. He was the main composer for "Buffy"  during season 2-4 and did many a music score.  David Benoit , who did music in many of the specials, also returned to help contribute.  They did get contemporary   pop stars to also do some music like  Meghan Trainor, and Flo Rida.  They had a couple songs made for this movie and are sprinkled in.   For some, it might be jarring but I don't think it feels too out of place.   The background music fits the scenes where used pretty good, Beck's scores really don't feel out of place.

   Now back to the movie itself.  (again some spoilers)

    Previously: Charlie Brown gets a high score on a test and everyone (not Lucy) is impressed and trying to gain his "wisdom" and understand his genius. I think he even started a cult. (not really)

maybe / copyright Blue Sky 

     Charlie Brown remembers he has a book report due by Monday, and he needs to get it finished.  The special decides to "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown" reference itself and have Charlie Brown look for "War and Peace".  He's going to try and read "War and Peace" in a weekend. (Oh my)  He does a better job at reading it here than in the New Year special.   They even got his not used to pens gag in there. He writes the book report with Red's pen. (that might be used again)  Sally made Charlie Brown merchandise as he's expected to get an award.    That thing that I didn't mention except in passing happens here where Charlie Brown gets his test back and figures out it wasn't his after he bumped into Peppermint Patty putting his name on her test by accident in hurry.  He decides to admit the truth.   Later on as  Linus was explaining to Red (told ya) about the book report, it gets destroyed after it gets out of Charlie Brown's hands and flies in the sky and gets destroyed.

Even Lucy joined/ Copyright Blue Sky

                                 

despair , I'm with you C.B/ Copyright Blue Sky 

     In despair, Charlie Brown throws away his kite, puts away the football, and baseball glove.  The movie does cross back between more of  Snoopy's story.  Now the movie skips ahead to spring because we need some spring in this movie.  A kid  who I think it might be one of the minor characters asks for help from Charlie Brown to fly a kite , which works but for Charlie Brown because reasons. Snoopy does get his girl in  the end of his story. The critics (Lucy) don't like this story though.
                   

   Now , it's the last day of school.  In class there's a summer pen pal project, Patty jumps for PigPen's (woah alright) of course, Lucy jumps up to be Schroeder's.  When it's Charlie Brown's turn , Red gets up and says that she will be his pen pal.  Charlie Brown thinks she picked him because she felt sorry for him. Finally, Charlie Brown decides to go up an talk to her using her pencil that he grabbed at the first day.  She's on her way to summer camp  and he chargers his way there. He also flew a kite.  Which amazes everyone and they start following him.  Finally, he talks to her.  She says what she liked about him that he's honest, compassionate, brave , and his never give up attitude.  Even Lucy is nice at the end,

  woo hoo/ Copyright Blue Sky 

         Now I talk about  some other aspect of the movie,  the voice acting.  They kept the vain of Peanuts tradition and used child actors.  They once again used voice cuts of the late Bill Melendez to voice Snoopy and Woodstock. Which has been done in Peanuts media post his death.   The voices are fine, though I was thrown  off by Peppermint Patty's voice because usually her voice was more raspy sound  (they did alternate from boy and girl voicing her in the specials  and past movies)  so I was a little taken a back but that doesn't take away.  Though if Linus didn't sound as Lispy as before either.

        The movie itself is a Peanuts fan-service it  has everything you expect from Peanuts, so it did play it safe , in a sense.  The movie was thought by Charles Schulz son and grandson, and if anyone understands the Peanuts  fully it would be them.  I think a lot of thoughtfulness went into it and paid off well. I am also glad, the animation was well done.

    Watching this movie, I do expect bad things to happen to Charlie Brown  the one thing that did break me was the part where the book report got destroyed I  paused it and just said no no no for like 10 minutes because I felt bad for C.B. after he invested all the hard work in reading that book then  writing that paper all night.  Guess I got invested in it.  The movie showed  that Charlie Brown gave up a chance to what looked like an impressive magic show to help his sister, Sally, showing that he tries hard  when he practiced dancing, his honesty ,and perseverance.   They pay off at the end was nice it's the kind of win you hoped for in some of the specials.  The ending did make me smile and slightly tear up with joy again this movie had me invested.  (And I have watched it before)  Snoopy's plot kind of mirrored Charlie Brown's in away, but his was a story he was doing but his quest for Fifi matched Charlie Brown with the little red head girl. 

     Peanuts is timeless yet not timeless at the same time, and so this movie did that well. The typewriters,  kids not having cell phones , even the clothing kind of is back in time. (As stated before the comics and later specials did change some of the clothing) I wouldn't expect any different from anything with the Peanuts.  The movie will be timeless for a long time ,because it didn't do anything to really lock it to a time in the first place.

   Yes, it's not a complex movie and it's not meant to be  none of the Peanuts movies overly complex (and I do mean movies not the specials) we have strong characters that are always interesting to see. The simple story telling is  because Peanuts is what we simply call "Slice of Life".  One of the themes for Charlie Brown was failure and disappointment ,yet  never quitting. Like with me being really annoyed that the book report got destroyed because  he is someone we are rooting for to succeed and when he's happy we are happy.
     
    It's not forced appealing to people's nostalgia but can please it anyway. It's there to tell a story and it does that greatly. If the fear for the movie was that it was going to be like other movies that were trying  what  gets  accusations of trying to cash in on the nostalgia factor  and nothing else, then this movie from its creation was shown more as a labor of love and to bring its audience something they'd enjoy.  Peanuts has a special  place in our world , it ran as a comic strip for 50 years, it had over 40 specials , a few movies, a couple TV series and more. That brings people a shared experience that can be passed down generations . It also was both a familiar Peanuts story and a new story because for once, Charlie Brown actually mustered up and talked to the Little Red Headed Girl something we've not seen before. They still kept  him Charlie Brown  with knowing that C.B may have failures and mishaps , but that he always tries his best, he has a good character.  We know that sometimes the others are rough on on him , but there's still even them caring for him.
 
     I did get laughs , enjoyment , tears, anger, and happiness from this movie.  If you like Peanuts you'll love this movie. If you want to start someone on Peanuts maybe start with this movie.  (read the comic strips too)   I am glad it exists.

 

That's it for now, tune in next time when we get the movie where Charlie Brown finally kicks that football.

     

The Peanuts Film Festival : The Peanuts Movie (Part 1)

Peanuts 

             The Peanuts started as a comic strip in 1950 and ran until 2000 meaning it ran 50 years , 50 years amassed with a legacy and people growing up with it, passing it on, and then it was passed on again to the next until its apart of our world like Shakespeare. (Maybe we are stretching it, maybe not.)  The one thing the Peanuts has amassed is nostalgia that connects people to the characters and stories it told.  The Christmas special has run since 1965 non stop only switching networks once.

        After the comics stopped and Schulz's death there was still more Peanuts media made.  From new Christmas specials, new Valentine's Day special, to a few random non specific specials.  There is 50 years of comics to pull stuff from and make it work. The biggest thing would be a movie.   Now we have had these movies that took something nostalgic and put together that did well but maybe aren't received well so hearing the idea of  a Peanuts movie seems to be something to fear.  But it was done with loving hands by the family of Charles Schulz meaning we didn't get a  movie that would be somewhat a disappointment at best, or  worst, terrifying.

    The point for all this is our talk about the 2015 movie , "The Peanuts Movie".   I am breaking this up into 2 parts because it gives us a little more room to breathe.

   First the animation.
          This isn't a long winded talk about every part of the animation in the movie, this is to talk about  Peanuts and animation.    The comics were hand drawn by hand for the entirety so it has that style plus Schulz drawing style.  In 1965, the comics were translated into their first animation special (not their first animated appearance though)  and when you see the specials like " A Charlie Brown Christmas" you see  they have a style to them.  As animation changed it kind of where it followed the new techniques but didn't change the characteristics.    "It was my Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown" used parts of digital ink. Other specials used that tech after that.   They didn't go for a traditional 2D hand drawn or flash made movie, they also knew not to use 3D CGI that many animated movies use now.

     The animation style is CGI and does give a hint of the 3rd dimension but it still feels like the comics.   I will pick up they went with the more classic designs meaning that characters like , Lucy, are back in dresses when they started wearing pants in the 1980's.    The animation was seemly carefully thought out as a way to make sure that it didn't make Peanuts fans go ugh in disgust and condemn the movie  or something. Personal line:   I do think it would have been nice to have a traditional style of animation movie  but,  they did a nice compromise.

      I'll talk about the music later.

      Let's talk about the movie ,(there are spoilers ahead ) and again I am breaking this up into __ parts so we aren't going to be doing it all in this post.

more after the jump

Oscar Nominees Announced

Oscars Awards 

    The 89th  annual Academy Awards or Oscars nominations have been announced. They  are hosted by Jimmy Kimmel  , will air on ABC on February 26th  at 8:30PMET.

Best Picture

“Arrival”
”Fences”
”Hacksaw Ridge”
”Hell or High Water”
”Hidden Figures”
”La La Land”
”Lion”
”Manchester by the Sea”
”Moonlight”

Best Director

Denis Villeneuve, “Arrival”
Mel Gibson, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Damien Chazelle, “La La Land”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Manchester by the Sea”
Barry Jenkins, “Moonlight”

Best Actress

Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”

Best Actor

Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Ryan Gosling, La La Land”
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”

Best Supporting Actress

Viola Davis, “Fences”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion” 
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures” 
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges,”Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

Best Adapted Screenplay

“Arrival”
”Fences”
”Hidden Figures”
”Lion”
”Moonlight”

Best Original Screenplay

“Hell or High Water”
”La La Land”
”The Lobster”
”Manchester by the Sea”
”20th Century Women”

Best Foreign Language Film

“Land of Mine,” Martin Zandvliet, Denmark
”A Man Called Ove,” Hannes Holm,  Sweden
”The Salesman,”  Asghar Farhadi, Iran
”Tanna,” Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, Australia,
”Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade, Germany 

Best Documentary Feature

“Fire at Sea”
“I Am Not Your Negro”
“Life, Animated”
”13th”
“O.J.: Made in America”

Best Animated Feature

“Kubo and the Two Strings”
”Moana”
”My Life as a Zucchini”
”The Red Turtle”
”Zootopia” 

Best Film Editing

“Arrival”
”Hacksaw Ridge”
”Hell or High Water”
”La La Land”
”Moonlight”

Best Original Song

 “Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” “La La Land”
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” “Trolls”
“City of Stars,” “La La Land”
“The Empty Chair,” “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“How Far I’ll Go,” “Moana”

Best Original Score

“Jackie”
”La La Land”
”Lion”
”Moonlight”
”Passengers” 

Best Cinematography

“Arrival,” Bradford Young
”La La Land,” Linus Sandgren
”Silence,” Rodrigo Prieto
”Lion,” Grieg Fraser
”Moonlight,” James Laxton

Best Costume Design

“Allied”
”Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
”Florence Foster Jenkins”
”Jackie”
”La La Land”   

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

“A Man Called Ove”
”Star Trek Beyond”
”Suicide Squad”

Best Production Design

“Arrival”
”Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
”Hail, Caesar!”
”La La Land”
”Passengers”

Best Sound Editing

“Arrival”
”Deepwater Horizon”
”Hacksaw Ridge”
”La La Land”
”Sully” 

Best Sound Mixing

 “Arrival”
”Hacksaw Ridge”
”La La Land”
”Rogue One”
”13  Hours”

Best Visual Effects

“Rogue One”
”The Jungle Book”
”Doctor Strange”
”Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them”
”Arrival”
”The BFG”
”Kubo and the Two Strings”
”A Monster Calls”

Best Short Film, Live Action

“Ennemis Intérieurs”
”La Femme et le TGV”
”Silent Nights”
”Sing”
”Timecode”

Best Short Film, Animated

“Blind Vaysha”
”Borrowed Time”
”Pear Cider and Cigarettes”
”Pearl”
”Piper”

Best Documentary, Short Subject

“Extremis”
”4.1 Miles”
”Joe’s Violin”
”Watani: My Homeland”
”The White Helmets”