Tag: PG

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)

Just under a year ago, I remember a hangout with some of my best friends. We decided to watch a movie in the backyard with the big screen. The movie chosen beforehand was Hocus Pocus, a movie familiar to many 90s children like myself. I had revisited the film at least once before as an adult, and was sadly underwhelmed, for the nostalgia did not hold up. Yet I care for my friends and wanted to have a good time, so I persisted.

As I looked back at Roger Ebert’s review of the original, he said it was “like attending a party you weren’t invited to, and where you don’t know anybody, and they’re all in on a joke but won’t explain it to you.”

Tags 2022, Belissa Escobedo, Bette Milder, Disney, Disney Plus, Doug Jones, Halloween, Hocus Pocus, Hocus Pocus 2, Lilia Buckingham, PG, Rated PG, Sam Richardson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tony Hale, Whitney Peak

1 Star Movies

Pinocchio (2022)

There is no way I can discuss the live action remake of Pinocchio without talking in depth about the 1940 animated masterpiece.

Maybe I just can’t see past the end of my nose, but it is what it is.

Tags 2022, Cynthia Erivo, Disney, Keegan-Michael Key, Lewin Lloyd, Live Action Remake, Lorraine Bracco, Luke Evans, Movie Reviews, PG, Pinocchio, Rated PG, Remake, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks

4 1/2 Stars

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)

Post author By Mark A. Lester
Post date August 22, 2022
No Comments on Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)

Sometimes, I really can walk into a movie with high expectations, but in the case of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, can you blame me?

Afterall, it isn’t easy getting a score of 98% on Rottentomatoes with over a hundred reviews (not to mention a 92% audience score with over 500 reviews), nor to be a film based off of a series of short films. Add in the fact that the film is literally about a living breathing Shell trying to find his family and it is no wonder one could consider this film nothing short of a long shot.

Tags 2022, Comedy, Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Marcel, Marcel the shell, Marcel the shell with shoes on, mockumentary, Movie Reviews, PG, Rated PG

3 Stars Movies

Lightyear (2022)

Right from the get go, we see in the opening credits that Lightyear is not at all related to the semi-kooky but lovable Buzz we have seen grow since we first met him over a quarter century ago. Instead, it is the movie that would become the favorite of young Andy back in 1995 (when the original Toy Story was released.)

Well, I knew I was not likely to get any call backs to Buzz being called “Mrs. Nesbit”(“DO YOU SEE THE HAT?”), but oh well. A framing device is a framing device.

Tags 2022, Chris Evans, Disney, Disney/Pixar, James Brolin, Keke Palmer, Lightyear, Movie Reviews, Peter Souhn, PG, Rated PG, Taiki Waititi, Tim Allen, Toy Story

4 Stars

Encanto (2021)

I am a sucker for many things in the movies, and one most definitely is when a film (animated or otherwise) has to do with a big family.

(Not to get too personal, but I have 6-8 siblings.)

4 Stars Movies

Luca (2021)

Dear Link,

From all the stories and photos you mom put on social media, it did not take me long to realize you and your younger brother Lenny had a blast during your first ever trip to Disney World.

This, of course, has been a bit of a family tradition going back long before you were even born. It’s been nearly two decades since I was last there: Pirates of the Caribbean was not even a movie yet. It was also brought to my attention that, before you guys left, you and Lenny watched most of the Disney classics to prepare you. Take it from me, that is a lot of movies for two brothers who are only five and four!

Tags 2021, Disney, Disney/Pixar, Jack Dylan Grazer, Jim Gaffigan, Luca, Maya Rudolph, PG, Rated PG

4 Stars Movies

The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

Post author By Mark A. Lester
Post date May 14, 2021
2 Comments on The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

This time of year, we normally get some original Netflix films that are not worth mentioning (such as the atrocity that is Thunder Force, a movie I detested so much I keep forgetting it is not called Thunder Rush). That irrelevant film took the superhero premise and made a family film that was not fun for anyone in the family. Thankfully, that film will be forgotten once families discover a film that was made for any member of the family: The Mitchells vs the Machines.

Tags 2021, Chrissy Teigen, Danny McBride, Eric Andre, Hotel Transylvania, John Legend, Maya Rudolph, Michael Rianda, Olivia Colman, PG, Rated PG, Spider-Man Into the Spiderverse, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, The Emoji Movie, The Mitchells vs the Machines, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, The Smurfs, Thunder Force

4 1/2 Stars Movies Vintage

Remember the Titans (2000)

Post author By Mark A. Lester
Post date June 5, 2020
No Comments on Remember the Titans (2000)

The first time I discovered Remember the Titans was not until a year after its release, but it was just at the perfect time.

I was in 8^th grade, so I would always be sure to hang out at the Friday night high school (DGS Mustangs!) football games with my friends. As a senior who played center, my older brother Adam would normally have some of the players over on weekends . It also helped that it was the year the school won it’s first (and so far only) State Championship in football. The second to last game of that season is still the best football game I ever saw, professional or otherwise. It was also when a player on the team had died the previous summer in a road accident. There are a lot of parallels between that time and this film (other parallels to be mentioned later).

Tags Denzel Washington, Disney, George Floyd, PG, Rated PG, Remember the Titans, Ryan Gosling, Will Patton

5 Stars Movies Vintage

Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)

Post author By Mark A. Lester
Post date May 15, 2020
No Comments on Au Revoir les Enfants (1987)

As we reach our teen years, world events start to play a bigger part in our lives in the classroom.

When I entered middle school back in 2000 (!), more people were talking about the election, only to be followed a year later by the 9/11 attacks. I can only imagine what the talks will be like with young people now regarding the COVID-19 pandemic (especially those like my brother Jackson who are in the graduating class of 2020). These were evident in my mind as I was watching Louis Malle’s Au Revoir les Enfants, a reflection of his own childhood during World War II in France.

Tags 1987, Au Revoir Les Enfants, Coming of Age, Film Friday, Foreign, Foreign Language, France, holocaust, Louis Malle, Movie Review, PG, Rated PG, World War Two

5 Stars Movies Vintage

The Searchers (1956)

At the 92^nd Academy Awards, when Bong Joon Ho was accepting his Oscar for Best Director (for Parasite), he paid tributes to each of his fellow nominees. The first (and most memorable) was toward Martin Scorsese, which prompted an unexpected standing ovation. It was clear that Bong Joon Ho was paying tribute to a mentor.

In the filming industry, perhaps no other career is more vocal of paying tribute to mentors than that of a director. Most (if not all) have stated they have been in total admiration of a certain director that came before them, often rewatching their films almost to a degree of pure obsession. Certain names come to mind: Hitchcock, Kubrick, Welles, Kurosawa, Spielberg, Scorsese, Eastwood, Coppola, Lucas, Tarantino, and Spike Lee, to name a few. However, all the big named directors seem to have one person they all agree on that had influenced their career. That name is John Ford. Famously, when Orson Welles was asked the directors he admired most, he said, “John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.”

Tags 1956, Alfred Hitchcock, BOng Joon Ho, Classic, Clint Eastwood, Hitchcock, John Ford, John Wayne, Martin Scorsese, Oscars, PG, Rated PG, The Quiet Man, Ward Bond, Western