Inside Out

Inside Out, 2015. Personified emotions that pilot a girl's mind get lost.

Directed by Pete Docter, & Ronaldo Del Carmen. Written by Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley, & Docter; story by Docter, & Del Carmen. Starring Amy Poehler, & Phyllis Smith, with Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, & Kaitlyn Dias.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: It's not one of Pixar's best, but that's an unfair standard. It is one of their most unusual, though. There's a lot to like about it, and I expect it will grow on me with time. A+

GPA: 3.5/4

"Lava"

"Lava" (short), 2015. A volcano wants to be loved.

Written & directed by James Ford Murphy. Starring Napua Greig, & Kuana Torres Kahele.

Concept: C
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: It's good at pulling emotional strings, although it doesn't make much sense. B

GPA: 2.5/4

"Tom Thumb in Trouble"

"Tom Thumb in Trouble" (short), 1940. Tom Thumb has some trouble.

Directed by Chuck Jones. Written by Rich Hogan. Starring Margaret Hill-Talbot, & Shepperd Strudwick.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: D
Pacing: F
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: It's so boring it made me a little angry. F

GPA: 1.6/4

"A Gander at Mother Goose"

"A Gander at Mother Goose" (short), 1940. Nursery rhymes with punchlines.

Directed by Tex Avery. Written by Dave Monahan. Starring Sara Berner, Mel Blanc, Robert C. Bruce, & Bernice Hansen.

Concept: D
Story: F
Characters: F
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: A series of bad gags with overly elaborate setups. D

GPA: 1.6/4

Donnie Brasco

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 63 of 100



Donnie Brasco, 1997. An undercover FBI agent infiltrates the mob.

Directed by Mike Newell. Written by Paul Attanasio, based on a book by Joseph D. Pistone, & Richard Woodley. Starring Al Pacino, & Johnny Depp, with Michael Madsen, & Anne Heche.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: D
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: A
Music: B
Enjoyment: It's too slow; the relationship stuff in particular is boring. It's an interesting story, though, and would have been a great movie with some better editing. B

GPA: 2.8/4

Jurassic World

Jurassic World, 2015. Jurassic Park is open for business and nothing could possibly go wrong.

Directed by Colin Trevorrow. Written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Trevorrow, & Derek Connolly; story by Jaffa, & Silver. Starring Chris Pratt, & Bryce Dallas Howard; with Vincent D'Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, & Irrfan Khan.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: D
Dialog: C
Pacing: A
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: Lots of fun. They take advantage of the 22 years of perspective to recognize what people like about the original, and basically just pack this movie with that sort of thing - only on a larger scale, with every type of dinosaur they could think of. B

GPA: 2.6/4

True Romance

from my 100 Popular Movies Marathon, part 62 of 100



True Romance, 1993. Newlyweds go to Hollywood with a suitcase full of stolen cocaine.

Directed by Tony Scott. Written by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Christian Slater, & Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, Bronson Pinchot, Michael Rapaport, Saul Rubinek, & James Gandolfini.

Concept: C
Story: C
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: How does a movie about a guy obsessed with Elvis have such shitty music? D
Enjoyment: The tone doesn't mesh with the material. It seems like Tarantino wrote a satire, but Scott didn't notice. C

GPA: 2.5/4

"Sniffles Takes a Trip"

"Sniffles Takes a Trip" (short), 1940. A mouse visits the countryside.

Directed by Chuck Jones. Written by Dave Monahan. Starring Margaret Hill-Talbot.

Concept: D
Story: F
Characters: C
Dialog: D
Pacing: F
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: B
Enjoyment: Sniffles is cute. The animation and artwork are good. The cartoon is awful. D

GPA: 1.6/4

Lucky Number Slevin

Lucky Number Slevin, 2006. Rival gangsters try to use a guy who's not who they think he is.

Directed by Paul McGuigan. Written by Jason Smilovic. Starring Josh Hartnett, with Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, & Stanley Tucci.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: C
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: C
Enjoyment: It's a lot of fun for the first two thirds. Then, after a twist, it essentially loses its protagonist and becomes pretty dull. It's especially frustrating since Lucy Liu's character is standing by, perfectly good to fill the vacuum, but instead she inexplicably loses all agency. C

GPA: 2.4/4

Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice, 2014. A stoner detective stumbles into a conspiracy.

Written & directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on a book by Thomas Pynchon. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, with Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, & Benicio Del Toro.

Concept: I get the distinct impression that this is one of those books that cannot possibly be made into a movie. D
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: B
Pacing: D
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: A
Enjoyment: A two-and-a-half-hour stoner movie, with a story so convoluted, I don't it's possible to make sense out of it. I guess it's supposed to be like a paranoid drug trip? Why do I want to watch that? D

GPA: 2.1/4

"Porky's Poor Fish"

"Porky's Poor Fish" (short), 1940. Fish in a store defend themselves against a cat.

Directed by Robert Clampett. Written by Melvin Millar. Starring Mel Blanc.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: A
Enjoyment: It's basically an early 30's cartoon, only with better artwork and a Porky Pig cameo. C

GPA: 1.8/4

Chappelle's Show: Season Three

Chappelle's Show: Season Three ("The Lost Episodes"), 2006. Sketch comedy.

Created & written by Dave Chappelle, & Neal Brennan. Directed by Rusty Cundieff. Starring Charlie Murphy, & Donnell Rawlings, with Chappelle.

Concept: D
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: D
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: B
Enjoyment: If these skits were the best they could come up with, I can understand why Chappelle quit the show. A couple of them are funny. Others aren't. I have to wonder if some of them were actually outtakes from earlier seasons that didn't make the cut for the "greatest misses" episode. C

GPA: 1.9/4

Chappelle's Show: Season Two

Chappelle's Show: Season Two, 2004. Sketch comedy.

Created & written by Dave Chappelle, & Neal Brennan. Directed by Andre Allen, Brennan, Rusty Cundieff, & Scott Vincent. Starring Chappelle.

Concept: B
Story: D
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: D
Special effects/design: C
Acting: C
Music: B
Enjoyment: Season one was disappointing, re-watching it 12 years later. Season two, on the other hand, has even more great sketches than I remember. It's still uneven, but at its best, it's amazing. B

GPA: 2.3/4

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, 2014. A vampire lives in a seedy Iranian town.

Written & directed by Ana Lily Amirpour. Starring Sheila Vand, & Arash Marandi, with Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnò, Dominic Rains, Rome Shadanloo, & Milad Eghbali.

Concept: A
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: A
Enjoyment: I don't really understand everything, but there are enough great scenes to make up for that. I was promised an Iranian-vampire-spaghetti-western, and I was not disappointed. A

GPA: 3.2/4