MOVIE: Finch (2021)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Finch Year: 2021 Rating: PG-13 Length: 115 minutes / 1.92 hours As time goes on, one starts to wonder if all the best post-apocalyptic stories have already been told. With the current state of the world looking more depressing with each passing year, many visions of dystopia from years past are coming true, while stories of our near future are looking a lot more post-apocalyptic. Finch (2021) fits into this latter category but only has a few newer twists to this common problem: how do humans survive on a planet that is no longer hospitable toward life? Visually, I was most impressed by "Jeff" (Caleb Landry Jones), the humanoid robot Finch (Tom Hanks) builds to ensure his dog Goodyear has a caretaker. Of course, movies like Chappie (2015) have shown that CG artists figured out how to do this well over five years ago. Regardless, it's still a visual feat and treat to see realistic-looking CG robots in movies like this. I can also appreciate...
Read More

MOVIE: Wolfwalkers (2020)

by benmweilertNo Comments
WolfwalkersYear: 2020Rating: PGLength: 103 minutes / 1.72 hours I wasn't sure what to expect when I sat down to watch the third installment in Tomm Moore's "Irish Folklore Trilogy." The Secret of Kells (2009) was a unique animation style that also carried over to Song of the Sea (2014). Wolfwalkers (2020) continues this "rough" visual style but perhaps has the strongest story of all three films. That's not to say its predecessors don't have interesting stories, it's more that Wolfwalkers builds upon the foundations established by these previous entries of this loose trilogy. As is the case with these films, Wolfwalkers follows a young girl (Robyn Goodfellowe (Honor Kneafsey)) who encounters the fantasy of the world adjacent to her own. Shapeshifting wolves and disappearing forests are more complex than she first realizes. Many stories based on ancient lore are meant to teach lessons to children, and this movie is no different. Granted, there are quite a few cliches in how the plot progresses,...
Read More