Blu Ray Review: Coco

I would do more Blu Ray reviews but A) the excellent site The-Numbers usually has it covered, and B) I had to sell 90% of my collection to be able to afford this one.

It's cool, I rarely even take the shrink wrap off of them. Or buy them.

 Seriously, besides a used copy of Moana last month, my last Blu-Ray purchase was in 2016. And this review took so long to do, I ended up scouring the recently-added used movie collection at Books A Million and finding a 5$ DVD of one of my favorite movies - Rocknrolla, about three weeks later.

The duality of man.

 However! I do have a plethora of Disney Blu-Rays, and the newest one is one of Pixar's best,Coco. I'll probably look at the other ones too, including the aforementioned Moana, and also my favorite Disney movie - Tarzan.

My copy looks like this, cost me 28$ from FYE. 30$ with taxes. I have no idea where the taxes go to in this city.

You can get a version with an art book for about 24$ at Target, and I wish I had. FYE is a sham!

The inside plastic case has the same image, but I wish it looked like this mockup;

#28: Phantom Boy

Pop-art esque undead ghosts fight Picasso crime. 

From the studio - Folimage - that bought us A Cat in Paris.

I'm starting to add in the posters or screenshots of the movies to not only give it some visual flair, but because this is one of the coolest posters I have ever seen.

It has the same narrative style as that film too; Here's an ordinary family with a young child going through a hardship...meanwhile, someone else is involved with a crime, and the two groups are going to come together.

Note: There are mild spoilers for A Cat in Paris.

Book 2: Zuko Alone / The Chase

He is indeed.

This story is basically "How does Zuko act when Iroh is not around to be his guiding light of wisdom?"

It's as alone and self-isolated (Refusing to stay for dinner, even though he's starving, until the family offers work) as you think, with a touch of smart-assery ("Maybe a chicken flew overhead." in response to soldiers trying to pick a fight).

He's done giving a single, solitary fuck, and I love it.

It's also peppered with flashbacks of a younger Zuko, Azula, and...who is that lady...

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil S3 E 33 & 34

WHOA BOY.

"It's called a tail. And I think I look great with it."

Ponyhead shows back up at St. Olga's to party and brunch until Princess Arms says she has to pass a Brunch Exam.

#27: Pacific Rim: Uprising

This month, Festibration came in with a brightly colored bang, continued with a terribly accented whimper, and ends with a pretty entertaining metal roar.

Pacific Rim Uprising stars John Boyega, Rinko Kikuchi, and some other people.

Book 2: The Blind Bandit

Aang finds an Earthbending teacher - a shit-talking blind girl.

This is a single post for a single episode because it introduces my favorite character;

This girl, for the next seventy-some odd years, held the title of the greatest Earthbender in the world - starting from twelve years old.

Also this was supposed to go out way earlier, sorry to anyone who was hotly anticipating it or something.

#26: Wizards (1977)

I'm too bemused for a snappy one-liner. 

Can you believe it, this came out the same year as Star Wars: A New Hope.

Two movies about fantasy heroes fighting fascists that involve Mark Hamill. Exactly what we needed in 2018.

#25 : Miss Hokusai

Dedication + Imagination = Sensation

I once read a snippet of a review for this movie, saying that unless one was Japanese, you would miss a lot of the nuance in this movie.

Maybe it did. I still enjoyed it.

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil S3 E 31 & 32

Once again, a pair of episodes I wasn't looking forward to that ended up being very interesting.

"Maybe everyone's out grocery shopping or on a picnic. That's what peasants do, right?"

#24: Annihilation

Mutant science vs. world biology. Guess which one wins.

The real reason this movie was in the Festibration was because of Oscar Isaac...who isn't here a ton and man, he's great at playing creepy, but I've always liked Natalie Portman too, so call it a win/win.

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil S3 E 29 & 30

I was fairly prepared just to talk about The Butterfly Trap because that's where the plot is, but damn if Ludo Where Art Thou didn't completely blow that one away.

"What did you do with my daughter?"

#23: The Hurricane Heist

A government stooge, a redneck ex-soldier, and his meteorologist brother stop poor people from stealing 600$m dollars at 600 MPH.

And they're the "good" guys!

#22: A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

A love letter to depressed black girls.

This may be a very popular book - It's not one I ever read personally - but I have heard how difficult it is to make a movie out of. There was a previous attempt by Disney in the early 2000's that didn't do so hot.

There's a lot of flurry online about how there will not be genuine reviews for this movie because no one wants to stomp on diversity.

As a black, female film critic, I say go ahead.

No one can improve without honest, thoughtful, helpful criticism. If you're being vitriolic to be a jerk, that's your cue to shut up.

#21: Train to Busan

Holy fuck why did this take me so long to watch.

My second perfect score of the year.

Welcome to 2018

Hey, there's a lot more people (read - maybe twenty a day) checking out my space here. Welcome!

Check out me watching every movie with my favorite actors in it this year at this tag.

I finally got a letterboxd! And a twitter!

Feel free to comment, I'm sure you won't be, well, stupid. Go ahead and disagree, all film is subjective.

(I guess I should change my icon here to match my Twitter profile).

Star Vs The Forces Of Evil S3 E28: Total Eclipsa The Moon

Should I have started this from the first season and episode?

Yeah, probably, but anyway!

A cursory look at The Bog Beast of Boggabah - it exists. Nothing wrong with it, but I have never been fond of those episodes where Star was pulled away from discovering her history to go on a wild goose chase (See; "Starfari").

I will give River's speech to Star near the end as a special moment.

"You have so much greatness in you, dear, I don't want anything to stand in your way. Especially yourself."

Me and Star are so similar, I love her so much.

Onto "Total Eclipsa The Moon"!

"I had a daughter. I'd like to know what happened to her."

#20: Banking on Bitcoin

A recurring theme in each of the three documentaries I've watched so far this year have been "...and then the US government comes in and fucks it up!"

The consequences of the government's poor ability to protect and serve the people is not as bad as in Abacus. At its heart, in this movie (which is an impressive rundown), that uses its time effectively - it takes a while to explain this stuff and move us through the pieces.

Some of the speaker's voices do drone on and simply aren't engaging to listen to.

Book 2: Return to Omashu / The Swamp / Avatar Day

Just kidding; Omashu has been occupied by the Fire Nation.

Aang, Katara and Sokka head to Omashu to ask King Bumi to teach Aang earthbending, only to discover upon their arrival that the city has fallen to the Fire Nation. 

Meanwhile, Azula decides to get rid of the royal procession and assemble a small, elite team of fighters to capture Zuko and Iroh. 

#19: Doom (2005)

A bunch of people shoot guns in a dark-ass room trying to hunt aliens.