I finally got to see Isle of Dogs which for some reason had a limited release. Wes Anderson is a very interesting director. His movies don’t seem too funny to be comedies and they don’t seem too dramatic to be dramas. Isle of Dogs like most of Wes Anderson’s other movies is shot wonderfully. In my opinion Wes’s visual style reminds me a lot of Stanley Kubrick who also has an interesting visual style. The stop motion while not Laika is still really impressive.

Wes Anderson’s movie are also known for having a huge cast full of celebrities (usually Bill Murry). The voices match with the character’s personalities and help give them life. The characters themselves are enjoyable too like Jeff Goldblum as this rumor telling dog, and Edward Norton as the decider dog but the one that really stood out to me was Chief played by Bryan Cranston. Chief starts off as a tough disobedient street dog but after bonding with Atari grows more protective of him. The bath he gets represents his character growth.

Spoiler warning: If I had one problem with Isle of Dogs, it’s near the end. After Atari delivers a haiku his uncle Mayor Kobayashi suddenly has a change of heart and is willing to give one of his kidneys to save Atari. Kobayashi’s heal face turn seems a bit too weird for me. You could argue this is like the Grinch or Scrooge but FYI, this guy killed a scientist though to be fair he does go to prison in the end.

Isle of Dogs is an emotional, funny, and beautifully made stop motion movie. I think this has the biggest chance of winning the Academy Award for Best Animated movie this year. You don’t have to be dog lover to enjoy Isle of Dogs.

Verdict:
+ Balance of comedy and drama
+ Chief
+ Voice talent
+ Wonderfully shot and animated
– Mayor Kobayashi’s change of heart

Score: A

I never read the book but when I heard Steven Spielberg was directing I was hyped. Steven Spielberg is my favorite filmworker. Not only do I love the movies he directs but also the ones he produces too. I’ll be talking more about his movies next month in my top 15 favorite movies list. The Oasis is a cool location and an interesting look at how we use the internet today. The Oasis is also full of references from movies, video games, TV shows, and more. Notable ones include the Iron Giant, the DeLorean, Chucky, and even Tracer from Overwatch which is cool.

The characters however were the weakest part of the movie. The main character is just your generic young adult main character and the villain is just your generic corrupt businessman villain. Art3mis and H were okay but Sho and Daito were forgettable. It was entertaining hearing T.J. Miller’s voice come out of this intimidating character. James Halliday seemed too awkward for the creator of the Oasis and Ogden Morrow was barely in it though I did like that one twist involving him.

I really liked the race, the movie scene and the climax. Both the race and final battle have a lot of references. I have an embarrassing relationship with The Shining. I used to be afraid of The Shining, mostly because of the DVD cover, but now that I’m older it doesn’t bother me anymore. There are so many references in this scene including the creepy twins, blood elevator, and rotting old woman that also swings the ax (sorry no Jack Torrance). It looks just like the movie from the sets, the atmosphere, and the music. What really stood out to me in these scenes were that the characters had to figure out how to get the keys through clues and thinking. That’s really clever.

The tasks were the highlight of the movie. Ready Player One was one of the most fun Steven Spielberg movies I’ve seen in a very long time considering he’s been doing mostly dramas lately. It’s a very enjoyable movie about the internet but let’s face it, it’ll be hard to compete with Ralph Breaks the Internet later this year.

Verdict:
+ References
+ The Oasis
+ The tasks especially….
+ The Shining scene
–  Weak characters

Score: A-