Disney Trailer Round Up

We've seen a lot of new trailers recently from Disney, now you can watch them all right here!

Cinderella

March 13, 2015

Another of the live-action retellings of Disney animated stories. This time, Cate Blanchett plays Lady Tremaine and Helena Bonham Carter is the fairy godmother. Looks fun.

Inside Out

June 19, 2015

Go inside a young girl's mind and meet her emotions. The visuals seem really cool and the characterizations of emotions seems pretty funny.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

December 18, 2015

What more can I say about this trailer than this - Millennium Falcon. Desert landscape and clunky looking machines. A new lightsaber. Let's see what you got J.J. 

Review: Doctor Who Season Finale

Doctor Who

Dark Water & Death in Heaven

I decided to do the finale of Doctor Who: Season 8 together, as they were best experienced back to back.

Dark Water, the first of the two episodes, finds the Doctor and Clara embroiled in a rather strange scheme that involves the dead, some rather interesting water, and Missy. Danny Pink, a character who seemed a little directionless in the season (besides being a soldier, which foreshadowed events in the finale) is killed off immediately in this episode catalyzing the events that follow. Danny's death leads to Clara acting out towards the Doctor in an attempt get him to change time and bring back Danny. The Doctor agrees, in a wonderful exchange about friendship. 

The Tardis locates where Clara and Danny's timelines were most likely to cross paths again - a building filled with underwater skeletons. Missy is there waiting for them and introduces herself as an android with a heart. We also get to meet the incredibly good looking Dr. Cheng. Here we learn more about the Nethersphere (where Danny Pink is currently learning about the afterlife). We also learn that Missy is up to no good with a plot to harness the dead to create an army.

The skeletons in the water, Dark Water to be exact, a water that Dr. Cheng says is x-ray water, allowing only organic matter to be seen hiding the exoskeletons that are keeping the skeletons upright, begin to come alive. As the water falls, it reveals the Cybermen! The return of a great foe! Who are working with none other than Missy, who also happens to be the Master! The return of another great foe!

Death in Heaven, the second episode, reveals what Missy's plan is and introduces UNIT back into the series. Missy, also known as the Master (who is wonderfully regenerated into a woman!) is planning on taking the dead of Earth and making them into a controllable army of Cybermen, including P.E. (that's Danny Pink)! This army will be raised by a cloud that rains cyber pollen on the Earth's graveyards, creating a storm of mechanical madness.

The Doctor, in the meantime, has been taken by UNIT to be the President of Earth. Clara stalls for time and is saved by the Danny Pink Cyberman. Missy is held captive and an Eleventh Doctor reference is made (bow ties are cool!). Some deaths occur and a reference to a long lost character is made to delight of fans.

In the end, things work out quite nicely. There is a wonderful monologue by the Doctor that harkens back to a question that has plagued the Doctor throughout this season, "Am I a good man?"

The answer to that question is yes. Yes, the Doctor is a good man, but he is so much more than that! 

Final Thoughts:

This was a good season finale that brought back some old enemies that deserved a revisit. It was especially wonderful to see the Master regenerated as a woman who just wanted her childhood friend back. Logic aside, it was a fun plan with two unlikely allies, the Cybermen and the Master. It also brought up some interesting ideas about the afterlife that left one wondering. 

Big Hooray for Big Hero 6!

Big Hero 6 is a triumph! The new wave of Disney movies proved that Disney can tell a heart-warming story no matter the medium. Action-packed, often hilarious, fast paced, full of heart, and never losing site of the overall message, Big Hero 6 delivers on all levels.

Set in the city of San Fransokyo, Hiro is a boy genius who uses his intelligence to enter bot fights. His older brother, Tadashi, encourages him to enroll into college to use his intelligence for good rather than making money at winning bot fights. Eventually, Hiro enters the colleges science fair and shows off his nanobots: tiny robots that can create anything Hiro imagines. Hiro is then accepted into the college by Prof. Callaghan, who gives him the choice of entering into the college or selling his design to Callaghan's rival, a shrewd tech guru who seeks profit rather than knowledge. After celebrating Hiro's acceptance,the building burns to the ground, where Tadashi goes back in to save Callaghan. Both perish in the fire. I'll let you see the rest of the movie so you can be as surprised as I was.

The story begins here, with the death of Hiro's brother (Hiro and Tadashi are also being raised by their aunt after both their parents death). Introduce Baymax, the lovable, squeezable, primary healthcare giver and Hiro's only link to his dead brother. What begins as an unlikely friendship soon blossoms into something truly special. This is the main focus of the movie, healing and dealing with loss. Not just physically but emotionally. Baymax never lets us forget that with every upgrade Hiro makes, he is deviating from is primary function: a care giver.

I haven't laughed this hard in a movie in a long time. Baymax, with his overly-friendly and marshmallow design offers so many laughs. There is a scene about 10 minutes long that I simply did not stop laughing. Not a chuckle or a snicker, but a good laugh out loud moment. The dynamic between Hiro and Baymax remains fresh throughout the movie and both are dynamic characters.

There are also very heart warming and sad moments. From the death of Hiro's brother to Hiro's need to avenge his brothers death. One particularly horrifying moment is when Hiro changes Baymax's program card from Tadashi's original healthcare one to his karate and defense card. You can feel Hiro's anger, but also your angry for knowing that is not what Tadashi ever wanted Baymax to be capable off.

The supporting cast is sound and doesn't detract from the movie. GoGo, Honey Lemon, Fred, and Wasabi round out the Big Hero 6 team nicely and, as their names suggests, add a lot of unique and appetizing flavors to the mix. There are wonderfully choreographed fight scenes with all the characters and the action and pacing is relentless. Never did I feel I had to wait for something to happen. Constantly things were being propelled forward and pacing was never an issue. If anything, it was too short and I wanted to see more.

The look and feel is phenomenal. Sanfransokyo is fully realized, with a wonderful colorful pallet both at night and during the day. Neon shines bright, the sun set is awesome, and all in contrast with the darkness of the city streets and buildings.

Overall, Big Hero 6 has a Big Hero Heart and Big Hero Action. It is the perfect balance of action, sci-fi, heart, and laughs that anyone of any age could enjoy. I will be going back again to catch all the action and look for easter eggs!

P.S. Stitch is in the movie, look hard! Oh, and an after end credits scene as well.

Profiles: Baymax

First Appearance: Disney's Big Hero 6

Baymax cares. That's what he was designed to do. The plus-sized inflatable robot's job title is technically healthcare companion: with a simple scan, Baymax can detect vital stats, and, given a patient's level of pain, can treat nearly any ailment.

Conceived and built by Tadashi Hamada, Baymax just might revolutionize the healthcare industry. But to the inventor's kid brother Hiro, the nurturing, guileless but turns out to be more than what he was built for-he's a hero, and quite possibly Hiro's closest friend. And after some deft programming that includes rocket fist, super strength. and rocket thrusters that allow him to fly, Baymax becomes one of the "Big Hero 6."

Note: Based loosely on Marvel's "Big Hero 6," Baymax is a robotic synthformer created by the young genius Hiro Takachiho when Hiro lost his father. Baymax was seemingly built to be just a bodyguard but soon helped fill the void left by his father's death, certainly helped by the fact that Hiro installed many of his father's memories and emotions into Baymax's core programming. When Hiro was drafted into the Japanese hero group, Big Hero 6, Baymax came along for the ride.

Disney Originals out today!

Today marks the release of the Disney Infinity 2.0 Disney Original characters. I'll be picking up all of mine after work today so look for another update later today. Hopefully I get some really awesome power discs! Below are all the characters being released today!

Happy 60th Birthday Godzilla!

The biggest star in the world turns 60 today! The image above honors Godzilla in all his forms and as you can see he's probably had more face lifts than Joan Rivers. 

Review: Doctor Who - In the Forest of the Night

Doctor Who

In the Forest of the Night

This episode of Doctor Who finds Clara, the Doctor, Danny, and some school children facing a home invasion! But this home invasion is of the Earth and not by sinister aliens, but by nature itself.

This episode didn't really do too much for me or move the characters forward too much. The premise was an interesting one, with a massive forest sprouting up over night. At first, no one is sure what is going on and assumes something sinister is about to strike the Earth. 

I quite liked the ultimate idea that came out near the end, that the Earth was fighting back against a solar flare, protecting the inhabitants of the planet by creating excess oxygen that would burn off when the solar flare hit the planet. However, this story was mucked up by some trivial relationship issues between Clara, Danny, and the school children. 

I would have loved to have seen more with the firefly-like creatures that did not get enough screen time or explanation to really understand what they were all about. The addition of children into this series seems interesting, as if to keep some sort of child-like presence in a series and themes that are more adult than previous series. The kids just kind of slow down the action and the story and do not always fit well into this version of Doctor Who. Perhaps there is a bigger message about growing up here that I'm missing. 

Final Thoughts:

I liked the premise quite a bit, but something was off in this episode. The story did not get the attention it deserved and the characters seemed a little flat in this one. But overall, I really like the idea of trees saving the Earth!