Tuesday's With Movies: 10/29/13

Monsters University: Each year for many years in a row Pixar has released a film, and it is pretty much appointment viewing for me and my family. So, of course this one was on my list to see this summer. Review is here. I definitely look forward to seeing it again.

R.I.P.D.: This took some hits from the critics - it looks a lot like Men in Black which I happen to really like. So, of course I will give this one a try. I try my hardest not to listen to critics - or even what the public says - I like to my my own decisions. Perhaps this might be decent - at least to me.

Byzantium: Wow, even with just three movies releasing this week they still manage to sneak in a 'horror'-type flick. Honestly, for the week of Halloween I was expecting a ton more

Theater Review: Monsters University

For the first time that I can remember, I was actually late to a film. I read the times wrong and I showed up for the wrong showing. Luckily, I don't believe we missed much - but still, I definitely hate missing anything. Heck, I don't even like missing previews.

Anyway, onto the film.

Monsters University is the Pixar release of the year. It's sort of been a rough going for Pixar the past few years since the amazing Toy Story 3.

In 2011, they released Cars 2 which I can totally understand why. A lot of critics and adults seem to hate the Cars films, but kids love them. It's probably the most kid-centric of the Pixar films. My son loves them both and I have seen it a ton of times - I don't hate them. In fact, I still enjoy them. But, it isn't the best of the Pixar bunch.

Last year they released Brave, which was a pretty decent, fun film. But, even it wasn't quite up to the standards that we have come to expect from Pixar. It did win the Oscar, but I don't think it deserved it. Disney's own Wreck-It Ralph was a much better film than Brave, in my opinion.

So, we head back in time. Literally.

We return to the world of monsters that we loved in Monters, Inc. and our fiends Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman).

But, we already know their story at Monsters, Inc. - so we are brought back in time for this prequel, to the time that Mike and Sully meet at Monsters University.

Mike is the quintessential over-achiever - and he has to be. He is going to try and become a scarer - and quite frankly he isn't scary. So, he studies and studies to get good grades and try to stand out.

Sully, meanwhile, is a legacy. And, he doesn't study at all - he parties and plays tricks on people, the perfect frat boy.

At first, of course, Mike and Sully despise each other. And, during a test, they are cornered by Dean Abigail Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) to pass the test, and both fail and are kicked out of the scaring program.

Heartbroken, Mike makes a deal with the Dean - if he wins the annual Scare Games he can get back into the scare program. Unfortunately, he must be in a Fraternity - and must have at least six members. So, he has to do it with Oozma Kappa - a Fraternity of castoffs - Don Carlton (Joel Murray), Squishy Squibbles (Peter Sohn), Art (Charlie Day) and Terry/Teri Perry (Dave Foley/Sean Hayes).

He also has another issue, including himself Oozma Kappa only has five members - as Terry/Terri only count as one. That is until Sully himself gets wind of the deal and looks to join - against Mike's wishes, he must allow his enemy in so that he can fulfill his dreams.

A pretty fun and decent origins story of Sully and Mike's current relationship that we see in Monsters, Inc. I feel it was better than the Cars sequel and even Brave - but doesn't live up to the Toy Story sequels, and probably not even the original Monsters, Inc.

It was cool to see some of the other monsters that we see in the original in the background throughout the film. And, we get the return of Randall (Steve Buscemi), who apparently started out as Mike's roommate, and not such a bad guy.

The new characters, other than the Oozma Kappa gang, really didn't stand out. I loved Oozma Kappa though. Art was hilarious and the other members each bring something fun to the table.

The film is still carried by Mike and Sully, however, and Goodman and Crystal work so well together, which is why this film works again. And, you get to see how the two are such a good team in the future, as together they work much better than when they are apart.

Grade:

Top 10: Summer 2013

Every so often there is a summer that is robust with films that I want to see. Occasionally, there is a pretty bland summer with just a few, but looking over summer 2013 it looks like another great year for movies.

I know that the summer movie season seems to be moving further and further into the spring (and sometimes end of winter) months, with G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Oblivion and even Jurassic Park: 3D being released already. But, I am only going to count the months of May-August for my list.

 So, here are my Top 10 movies I am most anticipating this summer.

Honorable Mentions: The Internship, Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim. All three of these movies look like they could be good, but as of now they did not crack my Top 10.

10) The Wolverine

This would probably be higher because of how much I have enjoyed the X-Men series, and I even liked the Wolverine origin story. So, I will no doubt enjoy this as well. But, the first couple trailers have not pulled me in as much as some of the other films on this list. Although I am anticipating seeing this, for now it is at No. 10.

9) Elysium

Last week this may not have even been on this list. I don't think I had even heard of it, but I finally was able to check out the trailer a couple days ago and it looks amazing. Although I wasn't as big a fan of District 9 as everyone else seemed to be, it did look great. This one, so far, looks like it may look great and have a good story to go with it.

8) Now You See Me

Probably the least likely film on this list out of all the summer blockbusters. However, I love me a good heist film - the Ocean's Eleven movies will always hold a special place in my heart. This looks great - using magic to pull off the heist. And, it has a ton of fun actors in it as well.

7) This is the End

This will be incredibly stupid, but also - I am hoping - incredibly funny. The red-band trailer that came out a few weeks ago was down-right hilarious and if all of the gags weren't in that trailer than this film should not disappoint.

6) Monsters University

Honestly, as much as I love Pixar, even I am getting a bit irratated about the amount of sequels they are churning out. But, if the story is funny and has that Pixar heart involved, I am definitely going to be checking it out. Knowing the main characters already just helps with the attachment to the film - and looks like some of the new ones will be just as funny.

5) Man of Steel

I guess it's a good thing that I have slowly gotten into superheroes, mostly because of my son, because there are an absolute ton of superhero movies being released. I really thought about making this No. 4, but as cool as Superman is there just has not been a great movie made about him, in my opinion. This one has the chance to be the first, but I was burned with Superman Returns. Hopefully, they got it right this time.

4) Fast and Furious 6

Though I might be more interested in Man of Steel in the end I went with what was more familiar and what has worked in the past. It's odd that we are now on the sixth film of this franchise (seven if you count Tokyo Drift) but, for the most part, all of the films are really enjoyable. And, with the gang back together it's even better.

3) Kick-Ass 2

Didn't check the first film out in the theater, and I think it took me awhile before I finally checked it out on DVD, but I absolutely loved it. Hit-Girl is an amazing character and I have probably watched the trailer for this movie 15 times. Very excited to check this one out.

2) Iron Man 3

As of right now, Kick-Ass 2 is pretty darn close to being No. 2 on this list - but my love for The Avengers last year and knowing how great the Marvel films have been I am still expecting a lot from this movie. I really don't think they will let us down with the first film after Avengers.

1) Star Trek: Into Darkness

Was there even any doubt? When Star Trek came out in 2009 I was so pumped - and for the film to not only live up to my expectations but to surpass them was amazing. One of the first films in awhile I absolutely had to see again as soon as I stepped out of the theater. And, I feel this new film may even have a chance to out do the original - which may have been my favorite movie in the past four years.