In The Heart of the Sea

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade:B+

Review: Excellent film that is not afraid to take it's time, and by doing such makes itself a much better movie.

This film has excellent atmosphere, and fantastic characters. Unlike too many modern films this one does not rush into the action, but rather lets you get absorbed into the world of the film, before the story really gets underway. This makes the film more intense and engaging when the story really does get under way. The characters are complex yet we understand and relate to them quite well.

The whale hunting scenes are quite exciting. They look fantastic, and are full of suspense. This film is in fact full of visual amazement.

On the downside, the dialog often feels forced and the film sometimes feels like it is trying to hard to be deep and meaningful (though often times it is). These faults may hinder some people's enjoyment of the film, but as for me they were surrounded by so much greatness, that I couldn't help but love this movie.

For those who also like slower moving films, this is an excellent experience that can be both entertaining and thought provoking.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland




















Michael's Movie Grade: B

Review: New Stars Wars film plays it safe, maybe too safe, but is fun and atmospheric, which is exactly what a Star Wars film should be.

When I say the movie plays it safe, I don't mean a lack of good and surprising plot twists, but rather that the film at times is very close to A New Hope. A few scenes seem lifted from there. However these scenes are still done well, and there is enough different that this film is by no means pointless.

The film is fun, and offers us a great visit back to the world we enjoyed in the previous films. The characters both old and new are quite likable, the world is awe-inspiring, and the film is engaging. The film is just really fun. Though it may go on a bit long, it never loses the viewers interest, and you never become really bored by it. At times it's predictable, and there is little we haven't seen before, but again the film is too well done to harp too much on these faults.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Good Dinosaur

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade:A-

Review: While more "safe" than Inside Out, this is still an excellent film in it's own right. Peter Sohg, a Pixar animator since Finding Nemo, makes his first feature film a great worthwhile movie, and I am happy to see what he does in the future.

The best thing about this film is the interactions with the characters, and it's respect for it's audience. It never cops out, and treats it's audience like they have minds in their heads. It is not afraid to have quiet nice scenes that never feel they have to over-explain anything to it's audience. One scene with Spot and Arlo talking about their families is simply fantastic, and very beautiful. This film has many moments like this that make the film well worth watching.

The film has a fantastic folk music score, and as a folk fan I love it. It is truly lovely, and I recommend staying through the credits just to listen to this music.

Though some may have problems with Arlo's design (I didn't), the animation is beautiful of the type we have grown to except from Pixar.

While this lacks the experimentation and originality of Inside Out, it shouldn't be judged by that but instead enjoyed as the great film it is.

But don't go away we have a short to review...

Michael's Short Grade:A

Review: Sanjay's Super Team is an excellent semi-autobiographical film about the film's director Sanjay Patel's childhood. It is touching and sweet, as well as having excellent animation. The relationship between the father and son is sweet. The character design is fantastic. This is a personal film and you can see watching it why this short was so important to the director.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Peanuts Movie

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade:A+

Review: Peanuts' fifth theatrical feature is the best one since the first, and the best film to come from Blue Sky Studios thus far. This is a greatly written, and perfectly animated movie, and a must see for every Peanuts fan. Charles Schultz would be proud of this excellent film.

The animation in this film is perfect. It embraces the art of the classic comic strips and animated specials and movies, while adding something unique along the way. This movie is just a joy to look at.

The characters are written perfectly. They are still the people we have grown to love. Charlie Brown is just as Charlie Browny as ever. Snoopy and Woodstock are a delight to see. Linus, Lucy, Franklin, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Pig Pen, Patty, and really just everybody else were perfectly realized.  However every scene with Sally was just perfect. She has always been one of my favorite cartoon characters and this film just perfectly shows why. Look around for quite a few characters thrown in their specifically for us Peanuts fans.

The Peanuts Movie needs to go down and history as a classic, this is one of the greatest family films, and maybe even films of any kind of recent years.

However we are not done here we have a short to review...

Michael's Short Film Grade:C

Review: This film feels like it is over as soon as it begins, but it is still a fun short with some good slapstick. While not as funny as Scrat was in the first Ice Age film, he is still in good form here. This cartoon is quite entertaining but feels like it need more time to truly take off (pun intended).

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Last Witch Hunter

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade:D+

Review: A mediocre film that has a surprisingly well done climax.

The characters are extremely cliche, and none of them are truly interesting. Much of the plot also we have seen elsewhere and done better, though it is watchable here. In fact, nearly everything in this film has been done too much in other films.

However this film has a surprisingly good climax. It works, because director Breck Eisner, lets this scene be told just as much in the atmosphere as in the action. This scene is exciting, and very well done. It is unfortunate none of the rest of the film is on par with this climax.

A twist at the end feels unnecessary, and unfortunately brings the worst part of the film directly after the best scene. This is poorly handled and feels like the filmmakers are just trying too hard to play it safe.

Overall this is not that good of a film, but the climax is so good it may make it worth seeing.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Goosebumps

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade:C-

Review: Enjoyable time passer, nothing more, nothing less. This film is unspectacular, but nothing you will regret seeing.

The best thing about this film is Slappy the Dummy. The puppetry on him was fantastic, and he was voiced great by Jack Black (I prefered this performance over his live action one in this film where he has an accent that is impossible to guess what accent it is). While not exactly terrifying, he is legitimately creepy. Unfortunately with all the monsters in this film he is the only one given enough to do to be an actual character (though the camera seems to fixate on a clown that is barely given anything to do).

The romance is cliche and overly predictable, but harmless. The jokes are hit and miss, but those that do hit are surprisingly good. Unfortunately a twist on a twist happens near the end and without giving anything away is awful.

Overall an enjoyable time passer, but will never be remembered as a great movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Hotel Transylvania 2

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: C

Review:Only occasionally funny animated comedy is helped by good characters and great animation.

The greatest thing about this film is that there is a lot of great character animation in it. The animation brings the characters alive, and brings a great energy to the film. It is very expressive, and very energetic and is just fun to watch.

If not as developed as they could be, the characters are quite likable. They may not be the most memorable characters, but they do have a real likability.

 The main problem with the film is that it is only funny at times, and it has more times where it is not funny than times where it is funny. None of those funny moments though are laugh at loud funny as they are kind of humorous. For a comedy there just weren't as many good laughs as there should have been.

Overall an enjoyable film with great animation, and good characters, but sadly fairly low on laughs.

-Michael J. Ruhland