I’ve been doing this blog so long that even when a sequel takes nearly a decade to come out, I have the original back in the bowels. Inside Out was an instant classic, so it’s no surprise Disney returned to it at some point. Set two years later, the sequel picks up on 13-year-old Riley on the cusp of big changes in her life. Her 5 emotions (Anger, Disgust, Fear, Sadness, and Joy, who sort of runs things) have been cruising comfortably, as Riley’s life has been pretty good of late. But then the Puberty Alarm goes off, and things will never be the same. New emotions just show up one day, including Ennui, Embarrassment, Envy, and their ringleader, Anxiety, who will play an important role in teenager Riley’s life for a little while. Riley gets an invite to a hockey camp, run by the high school varsity coach. Riley jumps at the opportunity to make an impression. Inside, her emotions are a wreck. Anxiety is exerting more and more influence, harming Riley’s “sense of self,” hopefully not irreparably, while in the real world, Riley starts alienating her longtime friends in an effort to “be cool” to the older high school girls at the camp. Joy and the original emotions need to fight back before Anxiety takes it too far. It’s a very good movie, cute and funny and still feeling fresh with the new emotions, and it does a good job of portraying the crazy emotional roller coaster that is being a teenager. Great for kids and adults alike. ★★★★½
Rebel Ridge is a fantastic action film currently on Netflix, and it’s one that will make your blood boil in anger and frustration from the very beginning. Terry (Aaron Pierre with a tremendous performance) is biking through a little town when he is pulled over by a local cop. “Pulled over” is a bit understated, as his bike is rammed from behind, throwing Terry to the ground. Being black in a predominantly white area, Terry is cool, calm, and collected, and doesn’t escalate the situation. He is respectful and complies with all orders. Two cops search him, turning up over $30k in money, which obviously raises eyebrows, but Terry has a good excuse: he sold his car and his minor stake in a restaurant for the money to bail his cousin out of jail (there’s a very good reason for that mess too, which comes later). Rather than let him go his way, the cops seize the money and tell Terry to get out of town. Terry is not leaving without his cousin though, so he goes to the courthouse to explain his side, and when that goes nowhere, he goes to the police station to tell his side to the police chief. They railroad him at every step, threatening him until it seems the whole world is out to get Terry. Still, he doesn’t resort to violence until much later in the film, long past when any rational person would just lash out in resentment at the biased system. And Terry, being a marine who taught classes at the academy in hand-to-hand combat, certainly has the skills to take care of himself. When it’s good, it’s REALLY good. Like blood pressure-rising, heart quickening, edge-of-your-seat good. But it does bog down in some of the dialogue and mystery-unraveling sections, as to why the police are so headstrong to keep things off the books, killing some of the momentum at least a couple times throughout the film. Still, I think it is a highly rewatchable film for the action and excitement. ★★★★
Gotta admit, I didn’t run to see Young Woman and the Sea when it first hit Disney+. Despite great reviews, I wasn’t a fan of another based-on-a-true-story film about a swimmer (Nyad, which also got good reviews), so bad on me for lumping this one with that one. This film is fantastic. It stars Daisy Ridley as Trudy, who lives in New York with her Jewish-German immigrant family. The film begins in 1914, when little Trudy is on death’s door from the measles. She survives, but is left with diminished hearing, and the doctor tells her parents to keep her out of the water for fear of infection that could make it worse. Trudy isn’t having it, as she has fallen in love with swimming. 10 years later, she has become one of the premier women swimmers in the country, but her conservative father is planning her future and arranged marriage with little thought for what she wants. Trudy is able to get to Paris in the 2024 Olympics, but a poor trainer doesn’t have her ready and she fails to medal, derailing the entirety of the sport for women. Just when she is about to give up and marry whoever papa picks, she meets Bill Burgess, an Englishman who successfully swam across the English Channel. He motivates her to try the feat herself, but again, her trainer hampers her attempt. All seems lost, and Trudy returns to NY. Don’t despair, as she will get her chance to try again. I knew nothing about Trudy before the movie, and didn’t know what was going to happen. If it had been an indie film, I would have half expected Trudy to die there in the sea, but being Disney, I figured this one was going to have a happy ending. What I wasn’t ready for was how emotional it was going to be. Outstanding performance by Ridley in the lead, and it’s a great feel-good story that I could watch again and again. ★★★★★
LaRoy, Texas takes place in the fictional tiny eponymous town and follows a man named Ray. Ray is submissive and you can tell he’s never been particularly popular or good at anything in life; even when shown evidence that his wife is cheating on him, he just sort of shrugs and says, “ok.” But his life is about to get exciting. He buys a gun and pulls his car off the road, to commit suicide, but just before he does, a stranger pops into the passenger seat to his car. The stranger hands Ray an envelope of cash and says that he (Ray) must kill his target the next day; he’s obviously confused Ray with a contract killer he was supposed to meet right here, and Ray picked the wrong spot to park. Ray decides to do the job, hoping that the money will lure his wife to stay with him, and that decision will start a zany story involving blackmail, double-crossing, and lots and lots of death, because the real killer is around, and he wants his promised money. There’s some funny side stories, because in a little town like LaRoy, everyone knows everyone, so paths cross a whole lot in the first hour or so of the movie, but ultimately it tries to be too smart for its own good. By the time the third or fourth backstabbing hits, I was almost rolling my eyes. No big stars in this one, but lots of familiar faces, including John Magaro, Steven Zahn (and who doesn’t love Steve Zahn?!) and Dylan Baker as the killer. ★★½
IF looked like a very cute movie from its first trailers, and, for the most part, it delivers what you’d expect. 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming, young Judith from The Walking Dead) is living with her grandmother in an old apartment in New York while her dad (John Krasinski, who also wrote and directed) is in the hospital. Grandma tries to show Bea old pictures and art she (Bea) did when she was young and would visit, but Bea isn’t having it, as “she’s too old for that kid stuff.” But apparently she’s not too old to see imaginary friends, as she soon learns. Turns out she’s one of very few who can see these characters, “IF’s” as they like to be called, first meeting a large furry creature named Blue and an old-timey Betty Boop-looking drawn girl named Blossom. The only other person that we know who can see them is an adult named Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who has been unsuccessfully trying to get these IF’s to new kids, as they’ve all been abandoned by their original kids once those children grew up. Bea decides to help out, so her and Cal set out to find new homes for all the IF’s in the area. It is indeed a cute little film, with plenty of color and childlike laughs for the kids, but some nostalgia for kids-at-heart who may fondly remember playing with nothing more than your imagination when young (is that even a thing for today’s generation?). Not a stellar movie, and the acting from the lead isn’t great (sorry Cailey fans), but not terrible and certainly a fun movie for family film night. ★★★
Jons Movie Takes 