Day 136: Waking Sleeping Beauty

Directed By- Don Hahn

Written By- Patrick Pacheco

Narrated By- Don Hahn

Critics Review- "Waking Sleeping Beauty will matter only to those who grew up on Walt Disney's animated films. In other words, all of us."- Robert W. Butler "Kansas City Star"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 71%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars

My Review-

This documentary is told entirely from archive footage by the people who worked at Disney Animation narrated by one of them. We get too see how the Disney Animation works, the people behind some of our favorite animated movies, what made them what they are. We also get a look at how the Animation at Disney was almost know more. The entrance of Eisner and Katzenberg, the riff between the animators and Katzenberg, the highs and lows of the great animation company and how they came back to be the makes of great animated features. We get a look at how The Little Mermaid was made along with Beauty and the Beast and what is considered their crowning achievement, The Lion King. This is what make this documentary works is that we see everything first hand and how everything worked at the Disney Animation Studio, and how for awhile it was not going so well, then boom everything starts falling into place, and if it was not for all the hard work of all the animators and the frustration that everyone went through you can tell that it all paid off for them. It was never boring it was always interesting to see what everyone thought about working there during that time, and how they had trouble with Katzenberg and what he was doing to the animation studio, how he moved and wanted to cut certain scenes out of movies, that today stand has some of the best ones in those animated features. This documentary is told from the year 1984-1994, from the first computer animated movie, The Rescuers: Down Under to the team up of Pixar, the Death of the man who made the music for 3 of Disney's most cherished films and how he helped the animator movies reach its glory again along with the animators who never gave up on making these films. This documentary made me respect animators and the animation they work so hard on even more. And if you watch this it will too, it seemed like this documentary was made for all Disney fans to see the hard work that was put into these movies that we love and how it is a long process filled with ups and downs and shows at the same time they can still find time to have fun. This is one documentary that should be watched by all Disney fans.

Day 135: The Full Monty

Directed By- Peter Cattaneo

Written By- Simon Beaufoy

Starring- Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Hulson, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber, Hugo Speer

Critics Review- "Who knew male strippers could be so sweet?"- Joyce Slaton "Common Sense Media"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 95% Audience- 73%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars

My Review-

I have been wanting to see this movie for a long time now, and I have to admit this movie was really funny. I think it is because I'am starting to like British comedies more and more. Also with this movie it introduced the characters one by one and you got to know the characters and enjoy them which I really liked about this movie we got to see the reasoning behind their motive on why they wanted to go "Full Monty". There was not one character that you could be drawn too, each character is like able in their own way because of their own unique personalities. One thing that also drove the movie was the comedic timing of certain scenes and the musical cues that went with it. At times the movie was too much of a downer, but then it would change back to a funny scene, I kind of wish I could have seen the play since it came out years after this film, as well because I am hoping that it is just as funny as with these actors. After seeing this movie I saw that these actors fit the roles perfectly and no one else could play them, the highlight of the film was seeing Tom Wilkinson in a comedic role which I rarely see with his films, it was good to see him in a less dramatic roll, the same with Robert Carlyle, if you have not seen this movie watch it, its pretty damn funny and the music is great. The film also tackles a lot of subjects in funny ways that make the movie go a little smoother and does not take itself to seriously at times since it seems like it was made with all the actors just having a good time filming the movie. This is one of those movies that should not be missed because of the such odd casting in this type of movie you want to see them sort of succeed even if they are probably going to be the worst strippers ever. Its a good movie, its funny so just watch it.

Day 134: Police Academy: Mission to Moscow

Directed By- Alan Metter

Writer(s)- Randolph Davis, Michael S. Chodos

Starring- Michael Winslow, G.W. Baily, Ron Perlman, Claire Forlani, Christopher Lee

Critics Review- "Desperately, aggressively, obnoxiously incept slapstick fare."- Scott Weinberg "eFilmcritic.com"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- No Score Audience- 36%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 2 stars

My Review-

Yeah this movie is not as good as I kinda hoped it would be, since I did like the other ones. It just was not the same without some of the original cast, some of the comedy in the movie seemed forced and the only funny person in the movie was Ron Perlman. Too me he made the film better.

Day 132: American Psycho

Directed By- Mary Harron

Written By- Mary Harron; Based on the book by- Bret Easton Ellis

Starring- Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto, Josh Lucas, Reese Witherspoon

Critics Review- "The best monster movie in years."- Michael Thomson "BBC"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics-67% Audience- 83%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 5 stars

My Review-

I think I found one of my new favorite movies. I had only heard, but not seen this movie until today. I can see why Bale has possibly gone down as one of the best villains of all time 5 possibly scariest in my opinion. This was possibly one of the strangest movies I have seen with Bale and after watching this one I can see that he is one of the best actors out there, he already won an Oscar for the Fighter, and I believe that he should get the change to be nominated for another Oscar, even though this movie is about 12 years old, you can see how versatile he is as an actor and the different parts he choose he just makes the movie stand out more, like with this one and the Batman series with Nolan. This movie had some confusing parts, but also some really brutal parts as well, it was shocking at times to see Bale in this kind of a role because you never see him in a role like this before, well I have never seen him in one like this but I enjoyed it because I got to see a different side of his acting. I was just as surprised with the movie, and I would like to read the book now to see how good the book is because the movie was really good as well. Also I can see why it as the following that it has the characters are not hard to follow, the acting is really good, as some actors I did not expect to be in this movie. And Bale has created an character for people to remember for years to come and that character is Patrick Bateman. Even though a direct to DVD sequel did come out which had nothing to do with the original movie, which sucks for these times of films, because it just kind of ruins it. This is another movie that I would like to own on Blu Ray, and watch again another time to try to understand the movie a little bit more, or watch just for the acting by Bale and the others actors. Especially to see how I can try to understand the ending because I was a little bit confused. If you have not seen this movie watch it for how well this movie is acted and so you can see why it gained the following that it did. The critic was right in way, Bale's character can be considered a monster.

Day 131: Next

Directed By- Lee Tamahori

Writer(s)- Jonathan Hensleigh, Paul Bernbaum

Starring- Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Troy Kittles

Critics Review- "Next isn't a great movie, but I enjoyed it anyway."- Scott Nash "Three Movie Buffs"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 28% Audience- 59%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 2 1/2 stars

My Review-

I thought this movie could have been a little better, with a different actor other than Nicolas Cage as the main character.  I do not know who else could play this role but I believe it could have been a lot better if it was not for him in it. Other than that I liked some of the other actors in the movie, the story was okay, but that is about it. It is also the right length in running time, not too long, not too short, just right. However I would not recommend renting this movie, wait for it to come on TV, it will get rid of most of the boring parts in it.

Day 130: Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Directed By- Alexander Witt

Written By- Paul W.S. Anderson

Starring- Mila Jovovich, Sienna Gillory, Oded Fehr, Mike Epps

Critics Review-"...dreadful piece of work."-Richard Roeper "Ebert & Roeper"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 21% Audience- 70%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 1 star

My Review-

This movie was not  good at all, there were a few characters that I liked in the film and hope they are in the next one. This movie was all over the place and was ridiculous at times and I will not watch it again, but glad I got it out of the way for this list.

Day 129: Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Directed By- Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Written By- Dan Fogelman

Starring- Steve Carell, Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Marissa Tomei, Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon

Critics Review- "It's romantic, touching, a little risque and screwball, yet reassuringly down-to-earth."-Colin Covert "Minneapolis Star Tribune"

Rotten Tomatoes Rating- Critics- 78% Audience- 81%

Out of a possible 5 stars- 4 stars

My Review-

When I first saw this trailer I wanted to see it right away, maybe it was because of the music that was in the trailer made it worth watching, and it was. This movie was both funny and sad at the same time, with certain scenes, I was a little surprised that Kevin Bacon, and Marissa Tomei were not in the movie as much as I thought they were going to be. This movie had me into from start to finish, it was funny where it need to be funny and had heart where it was supposed to be. Some of the funniest parts were with Carell and Gosling, I think they worked well on screen together and I am hoping to see them in another film together if it will ever be possible. One of the main reasons why I wanted to watch this movie was because of Emma Stone, and she was funny in it as well funny then I thought she would be. I was surprised to see the boy from Zathura in this movie as Carell's son I liked him more in this movie then I did the other one. Everyone in the cast played their character well and made their characters believable as family and friends. While this movie most likely will not be everybody, if you want to watch it, it is an enjoyable watch and a good comedy/drama. It is worth the almost 2 hour watch to see these actors be funny and romantic in the film, especially the chemistry between Carell, and Gosling,  and Gosling and Stone. I am glad to have watch this movie and it was everything that I expected out of a romantic comedy. So if you want to watch a good romantic comedy. Watch this movie.