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A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
Holds up well for a classic Western
I find most 1950s Westerns to be rather stuffy and dated by modern standards, but this one is actually a lot of fun. The dialog is witty, the characters are unique and well written, and the plot, while absurd in practical terms, makes for good comedy and has plenty of fun twists. While there are a few lines of dialog here and there that haven't aged well, there's a lot less of them than a typical movie from the era, and even the Native American characters are given a brief part to play in the story (although they unfortunately do serve as cannon fodder, in typical 1950s Western fashion, in some other scenes.) There's also lots of awesome train action, and even a strong female main protagonist in Kit Dodge Jr., a witty sharpshooting sheriff's deputy played by the legendary Ann Baxter. All in all, not perfect, but definitely one of the better movies to come out of that era of Colorado-based railroad Westerns.
Need for Speed (2014)
A beautiful mess of a movie
First of all, let's be clear: by objective standards, this movie isn't very good. The plot is very thin and pretty generic, and is only there to somehow tie together all the driving scenes. The dialog and writing is hilariously bad, and the characters are shallower than an inflatable kiddie pool. Obviously, this is a movie based on a video game, but it's so badly written that it kind of gives the impression that it was written as a video game and adapted to film at the last minute.
That said, this is a very fun movie to watch. The cinematography is surprisingly good, especially in the racing scenes, and there is a fantastic sense of speed and realism that a lot of other similar movies lack. It's refreshing to watch car action scenes that don't have so much blinding shakey-cam and constant cuts that you can't even tell what's going on (looking at you, Bad Boys II). It's worth watching just for how well done the driving scenes are, assuming you can suspend disbelief for the action scenes and follow along with a protagonist who's a bit of a jerk to almost everyone in his life.
All of the street racers who are supposedly the heroes are immature, selfish and hugely irresponsible, although I guess that's par for the course in a street racing movie. Aaron Paul's character is supposed to be some kind of macho badass, but is a pretty big jerk to almost everyone, especially Imogen Poots' character, who has very little character development and is mostly only there as eye candy for male viewers, and could be written out completely with no major changes to the storyline. Not that the male characters are much better, mind you - there's one guy whose entire personality is that he has a toothpick in his mouth all the time. Characters are not this movie's strong suit.
It's not exactly a gearhead movie, either. The script pays little attention to the car enthusiast audience, and focuses more on making the cars look cool than making them plausible. The Mustang seems to have a manual transmission in some scenes and an automatic in others, there are numerous over-the-top crashes that get sillier the closer you look, and of course, there's the obligatory big jump scene that every car chase movie has, which the car inexplicably survives with no damage at all. It's hard to tell if this movie is paying homage to the cheesy chase movies of the past, or if the writers actually thought they were working on a Smokey & The Bandit reboot. Either way, it will be tons of fun for some viewers and tiresome (hehe) for others.
The plot is a pretty standard revenge story. It tries to wring out a moral of some sort at the end, and when I was a teenager, I thought it was a fantastic ending. From an adult perspective, it's painfully predictable, but I will give it points for being much better than the ending of the first Fast & Furious movie.
Bottom line: if you enjoy car chases and "so bad it's good" movies, you'll love this one. It's a decent addition to the canon of cheesy car chase movie. If you're looking for good characters and a meaningful story, keep looking.
Ted 2 (2015)
Funny but disjointed
First of all, if you're reading this, I assume you saw and enjoyed the first Ted movie. The good news is that Ted 2 has a lot - and I mean a lot - of the off-color humor that characterized Ted 1. Ted and Johnny smoke weed a lot, watch TV a lot and say "fuck" a lot. If you thought Ted 1 was funny, chances are you'll find this movie funny as well.
Now for the bad news: while it has lots of good moments, this movie does suffer from a mild case of "sequel-itis". It doesn't fit together as well as the first movie did, there are quite a few scenes that don't move the plot along at all and would work just as well as standalone comedy skits. The movie also falls short of Ted 1 in a few other ways. So let's figure out exactly what's wrong with this movie:
1. Mila Kunis isn't in it. Now, technically this flaw applies to all movies that don't have Mila Kunis in them, but in this case, it makes a noticeable difference. Mila's character was often the voice of reason in the first film, and while Amanda Seyfried's character in Ted 2 is hugely entertaining, she is as goofy, if not goofier, than Ted and Johnny. 2. In the first film, Ted and Johnny were obnoxious and vulgar, but essentially good-hearted. In Ted 2, our heroes and their friends seem to have lost their kind touch, and descended into simply being unhindered assholes. They harass strangers for fun, cause at least two vehicle accidents and make one or two mildly racist, sexist and homophobic jokes - hardly surprising, considering Mark Wahlberg's past, but still a letdown. 3. For some reason, this movie decided to try and be a legal drama as well as a screwball comedy. While it manages not to get too boring, there are still one or two courtroom scenes that feel out of place in this movie, to the point where it's a relief when the protagonists inevitably start shouting obscenities. 4. There quite a few running gags that feel very forced and unnatural. The celebrity cameos are also fun at first, but get a bit old after a while. 5. The ending seems a bit anticlimactic, especially after the brilliant ending of the first film. It mostly fits the characters, but it seems tacked on and pointless, and missed the obvious opportunity to be much cleverer than it was. 6. They don't sing the Thunder Buddy song.
Now, just for the sake of fairness, let me point out some of the utterly brilliant things in this movie that make me love it in spite of its flaws: 1. There are a couple of scenes that parody other films in utterly genius ways. I won't name any names, but if you're at all familiar with the biggest films of the '80s and '90s, you should have no trouble getting the references. 2. Ted really comes into his own as a character in this movie. The first film, despite its name, was really about Johnny, but in this one, Ted really is the one we're supposed to identify with, and Johnny feels almost like Ted's sidekick more than the other way around. 3. Amanda Seyfried is fantastic in this movie, and manages to fit in perfectly with Ted and Johnny's weird rapport. She has a few specific moments that really improve the film overall, and while I won't spoil anything, I will say that this movie would have mostly sucked without her. 4. They don't sing the Octopussy song.
In conclusion, if you enjoyed the first Ted, I think you'll enjoy this one. It doesn't really work as a standalone film, but few sequels do. As long as you don't expect it to be better than the first film, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Thomas & Friends: The Great Race (2016)
Quite possibly the best Thomas CGI special
Thomas CGI specials cover the entire range from great to terrible, and I'm happy to say that this one is probably the best (although Blue Mountain Mystery is another contender for that title). It has a huge cast of new characters, and while it sometimes feels like the writers were trying a little too hard to make Thomas the focus of the story, all the engines we know and love are not forgotten by any means.
There's one new character whose wheels and running gear appear extremely unusual. When I first watched the special, I was disappointed in the show for just making up a silly-looking engine with totally implausible workings, especially given how well the show usually incorporates real-life bits and pieces of railway history. Then I looked it up and found out the character actually is based on a real engine, albeit a very obscure one, and the real thing is every bit as bizarre as it looks on screen. I won't say who this character is, to keep this review spoiler-free, but keep an eye out for weird running gear and you'll know when you see the character.
There's one other thing that makes this special my favorite: the music. I usually don't like the songs in Thomas specials very much, but this one has two songs that are actually quite good (although, for adult viewers, all of the songs are still a painfully obvious reminder that the show is intended for little kids). I won't claim to actually enjoy a song from a Thomas special (heck, no!) but I will say that The Great Race has two of the most...tolerable songs of any Thomas special - and for once, these songs actually do help advance the story. I still think these specials would work better if they weren't pretending to be musicals, but these two songs don't feel quite as forced and out of place as most of the songs in other specials. (This special also has a couple of typically clunky songs, as well.)
Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery (2012)
One of the better CGI Thomas specials
Having watched most of the CGI specials, I think this one has one of the best stories. It's one of the few specials that feels like a movie and not just a really long version of a normal Thomas story. There's plenty of action, the narrow-gauge engines play a major part in the story, and it really gave me a new appreciation for certain existing characters.
Like most of the CGI specials, there are a few errors in the animation, some more noticeable than others. (Example: in one brief shot, an engine is moving but his wheels clearly aren't.) This seems to be an inescapable curse of CGI Thomas - I guess someone just didn't pay attention at the animation studio, or they cut a few corners hoping nobody would notice. It doesn't detract from the experience too much, but it's ripe fodder for those who like to nitpick.
The one thing I have never liked much about Thomas specials is the songs. They are always very corny and add nothing to the story, and they all sound almost exactly alike. But then, this is a show for kids, so it's not like you can expect musical masterpieces out of it. I just wish they'd leave the songs out altogether - it would make the specials a lot more enjoyable for those of us who aren't kids anymore (I'm 20 years old) but still enjoy Thomas. For the record, I also vastly prefer the original Thomas TV theme over the newer one with lyrics.
Cars 3 (2017)
Third time's the charm!
Cars (2006) was pretty good. Cars 2 (2011) was a total mess, but the third time's the charm for Lightning McQueen and company. I looked forward to this movie for a long time, watching and re-watching every trailer and clip. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. This movie has everything - nostalgia, conflict, a great story, a terrific soundtrack and plenty of homages to the original film. The only thing it's missing, strangely, is McQueen's famous catchphrases "Ka-chow!" and "Float like a Cadillac, sting like a Beemer" (although variations of his "I am speed" monologue are there in abundance). Then again, this movie definitely has a more serious tone than the previous Cars films, so perhaps cheesy catchphrases would seem out of place. I certainly didn't miss them. The events of Cars 2 are not mentioned at all, which is a good thing if you ask me. Oh, and can I just mention how spectacular Pixar's graphics are these days? The best thing about this film, thought, is not that Lightning is a much more sympathetic character than he used to be (let's face it, he was pretty self- centered through most of Cars, and was barely in Cars 2 at all). Nor is it the fact that Mater, who we saw far too much of in Cars 2, is largely kept in the background for this film (and thank goodness!). He only features prominently in a few brief scenes, and for the first time since the first film, his comedy bits are actually funny. No, the best part of this film is a cheerful, spunky yellow sports car (she doesn't seem to be based on any real- life make and model, although she loosely resembles a Jaguar F-type) named Cruz Ramirez. She steals the show (in a good way) and I found myself rooting for her even more than McQueen. More than anything else, this movie is Cruz's story, and her character could even be seen as a feminist message of hope. It's no Wonder Woman, but Cars 3 certainly does more to help close the gender gap than its predecessors (in fact, one scene directly addresses sexism in the racing world, though it's not strictly about Cruz). A few moments even reminded me of another excellent sentient-race-car film, Herbie Fully Loaded (which I highly recommend, even if you're not a NASCAR fan). There's also a number of touching tributes to the late Doc Hudson, whose character arc in the first film is clearly echoed in parts of McQueen's journey in this one. Rusty and Dusty, who were voiced by the Car Talk guys in the first film, are in this one as well, although, since one of them died, his character doesn't say much (although what few lines he does have are expertly edited together, seemingly from old Car Talk recordings, the same way Doc's lines were derived from Paul Newman's voice recordings left over from Cars). The only real downside to Cars 3 is that it doesn't work very well as a standalone film. While you could get the overall gist of it if you've never seen Cars, it works much better when thought of as a continuation of the first film. If I were watching the trilogy for the first time, I would watch Cars and Cars 3 back-to- back, skipping Cars 2 (it contributes nothing relevant to the time line, and if you're really in love with the Cars universe, you can always go back and watch it later.) TLDR: Cars 3 was better than either of the two previous films. Watch the first Cars if you haven't already, then go see Cars 3. It rocks!