Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch

Director: Rich Moore

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Rating: A+

Okay, so I'm just going to stick this out there: I was looking up the movie's cast list for this review when I saw that Alan Tudyk is in this as King Candy.  Nothing bad comes from having Alan Tudyk in your movie or TV show - hell, he was even great in Dollhouse, and Dollhouse wasn't all that great despite being from the mind of Joss Whedon.  He's not starring, but he should be because his role is significant and he's awesome.  Adding to this awesomeness is Jane Lynch, who is equally as awesome!  She is by far the best part of Glee, and I have to say I love watching old shows from the late 90s and early 00s, and seeing her randomly appear.

Wreck-It Ralph is about an old arcade game villain, Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly) who is tired of being the villain.  He is never appreciated for what he does and the essential role that he plays in the game, and wants to be appreciated in some way - to get the kind of recognition that his game's hero, Fix-It Felix, Jr. (McBrayer), gets. After an argument with one of the game's Nicelanders, Mayor Gene (Raymond S. Persi), Ralph decides to leave his game and go in search of one where he can win a medal, like the one that Felix gets daily.  He travels to the first-person shooter Hero's Duty, where he can win a medal for climbing a tower and killing bugs.  In between games, Ralph does just that - but in the process he accidentally hatches a Cy-Bug, which clings to him as he stumbles into an escape pod.  The bug and Ralph fly into the kart-racing game Sugar Rush.  Here Ralph meets game glitch Vanellope von Schweetz (Silverman), who dreams of becoming a racer, despite the hatred that the other citizens of Sugar Rush hold for her.  Meanwhile, Felix has also left Fix-It Felix, Jr, with the realization that if he doesn't find Ralph the game will be unplugged an everyone in it will be left homeless in Game Central Station.  Felix pairs up with Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun (Lynch), the hardened lead character of Hero's Duty, who realizes just how bad the escape of the Cy-Bug is.  The bug doesn't realize it's a video game character, and will set out to destroy any game that it's in - before moving on to Game Central Station and infesting other games.

I love the many dimensions to this movie.  There's a lot going on with the plot, but it never feels like it's too much.  The one thing that I didn't like, at least at first, were the many references to "going Turbo", which I felt could have been explained earlier.  To me, "turbo" is the power charge that you get in race type games, and so I had no clue what it meant in the video game land - something that they realize in Wreck-It Ralph, because they do set out to explain it after awhile, but in my mind not soon enough.  I understood why Ralph's disappearance was a threat, but not why they called Ralph's actions "Turbo."  It worked out in the end, but there was that momentary annoyance whenever they mentioned it.

Beyond that, however, there's a lot going on in this movie.  Each of the main characters, really, has their own plot and has to come to different realizations.  I love that, especially given as it's a children's movie.  While I've come to expect depth in a children's movie, I don't expect this much.  I loved it.  Including this, there's also a lot of really little details to this film.  Stuff like the way that Felix and the Nicelanders moved, as if they actually were pixelated creatures - I think it would have been really nice had this continued on to Ralph as well.  There are other things too - early on in the film Vanellope tells Ralph that double striped candy canes disappear when you grab them, and throughout the film you see double striped candy canes.

There's also the humour to this film.  The thing that I love about Disney is that it really nicely balances the juvenile and adult humour.  The relationship between Ralph and Vanellope is so cute and childish that you can't help but love it.  At the same time there are so many little things that bring a smile to your face and are completely for the adult viewer. I love the fact that this is a video game movie that makes references to an entire history of video games.  I loved it.

Take This Waltz (2011)

Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman

Director: Sarah Polley

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Rating: B

"Life has a gap in it, it just does. You don't go crazy trying to fill it."

I had three major problems with Take This Waltz.  The first is that this movie is too long.  There were a lot of points in the movie that could have been cut or simplified without affecting the plot.  The second is that it’s really similar to Blue Valentine in terms of plot, nature, and tone, which is exacerbated by the fact that both star Michelle Williams.  Finally, this is a very Canadian movie - almost ridiculously so – and yet its protagonist is played by American Michelle Williams.  Normally I have no problem with Americans playing Canadians or Canadians playing Americans, but when a movie is placing such a huge emphasis on being Canadian and yet has an American in the central role I can’t help but feel as though the casting is because of the attention that a name like Williams’ can garner – which begs the question of, how is the Canadian film industry supposed to grow if Canadian films can’t hire Canadian actresses?  There are many Canadian actresses who could have filled the role just as well, and in casting one of them Polley could have solved two of my three major issues – without Williams in the lead role, the comparison to Blue Valentine is diminished.

Take This Waltz follows Margot (Williams), a happily married freelance writer who falls in love with her neighbour. Margot has a very child-like relationship with her husband, Lou (Rogen), that seems to be based more on juvenile games than any adult connection.  When they try to have any sort of intimacy one of them very quickly puts an end to it.  With neighbour Daniel (Kirby) Margot is still awkward but there’s a sexual attraction that she doesn’t seem to have with her husband.  Despite her desire to remain with Lou she cannot seem to help pursuing an emotional affair with Daniel that constantly threatens to become physical.

The character of Margot is really annoying - like, ridiculously annoying.  She's insecure and childlike and flighty.  She doesn't seem to want to talk to her husband about her problems, she just seems to want to wish them all away.  There are some really cute moments between Margot and Lou that, to me, suggested that he really loved her and that if the two of them had just sat down and discussed their problems earlier on they would have been able to resolve them. Margot isn't capable of that, however, as she seems to treat life like it's supposed to just be perfect - like you're supposed to be happy and satisfied and everything is supposed to be good all the time.  Life isn't like that, and Margot's failure to understand as much is a big part of why I disliked this movie - I spent so much of it wanting to yell at the protagonist for being an idiot.  Making things worse is the fact that while Lou seems like he's this really great guy where as Daniel.... I really didn't like Daniel. Or Margot.  When a film is all about an affair, you'd think the people having it might be likeable.

The one thing that I did like about this film is the ending.  While it was ridiculously slow and drawn out throughout the beginning and middle sections, the end really brought things together.  Obviously I can't really go into the details without spoiling, so I'm just going to say that I like the conclusions that Margot appears to come to in the end.