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Reviews
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Just because you're a badguy, doesn't mean you're a bad guy.
Wow, this is such a good movie. I loved it, from beginning to end. The characters are engaging and memorable. I love all the little details going on in the background. The story was brilliant. I cried at the end.
The plot is a textbook example of the hero's journey, fleshed out with a story of self discovery and transformation. Ralph wants a medal, to prove that he can do good things. But he ends up learning that he got it backwards. You have to do good things to prove that you deserve the medal. And the medal itself doesn't even need to be real.
Half the characters are female, and they have real personalities, not defined by their gender. The romantic side plot makes sense and it breaks the usual pattern of cliches. This is a great movie for kids and adults alike.
Parts of it may be a bit too scary for kids under seven.
The Door Into Summer (2021)
well-done rendering of a wonderful story
People always say, "The movie wasn't as good as the book." Well, this is the exception to that rule. They took a really good book and actually made it better! The original Heinlein novel had a couple flaws, and this movie fixes those flaws, while leaving all the essential elements of the story intact.
The novel includes personal robots marketed in 1970, and antigravity in 2000. The movie pushes personal robots back to 1995, and gets rid of antigravity altogether. The novel has an 11-year-old Ricky in love with the 30-something protagonist (creepy) but the movie makes Riko 17 years old (not as creepy).
It's a wonderful story about perseverance and hope. It's a lesson about not giving up, taught to us by the real hero of the story: a cat named Pete. This is about as close to a perfect movie as anyone could wish for. I just wish I spoke Japanese so I wouldn't need the subtitles.
Spoiler alert:
I thought it was a little campy to include a robot which is so humanoid that it can pass for human, in the year 2025. It's a well-worn sci-fi trope, seen everywhere from Westworld, to Austin Powers, to Battlestar Galactica. But I'll forgive this indulgence because it provides a little comedy.
Singularity (2017)
Wow this is such a bad movie.
I wanted to give this movie 1/10. But I have to admit that it's not as bad as Plan 9 From Outer Space, or Manos The Hands of Fate. The special effects look better than paper mache and string. The background music is passable. The acting is slightly better than your average high school drama club. But all of this is overshadowed by the sheer stupidity of the plot and the dialog. I've seen some awful post-apocalyptic movies, from Logan's Run to Wall-E. Singularity blows them all away. It's terrible.
It seems that whoever wrote this screenplay lacks the ability to predict what real people would do or say in a given situation. Scene after scene, the characters act in ways that make no sense and say things that no sane person would ever say. But at least they speak in sentences rather than gibberish. And I can understand the actors' accents. So kudos for that.