Mike Goes To Movies

Onward (2020) While not its all-time best, Onward is, predictably, yet another great and highly enjoyable Pixar feature. The film is a prime example of the animation studio's unparalleled understanding of story structure and its unique ability to take a compelling premise/set up and tell a relatable story within it. In the case of Onward, it is a story of family - specifically, the bonding of brothers while each tries to come to terms with the premature loss of their father. What makes this story a Pixar story is that the film is set in a richly-detailed fantasy world that has since moved past its magical trappings to the point that it closely resembles our own world where people rely fully on technology and gadgets, albeit it is still filled with fantasy creatures like elves, dragons, cyclops, and so on.  Despite taking place in this fantasy setting, the story of the brothers, Ian and Barley (Tom Holland and Chris Pratt), actually plays out like a fairly conventional road ...

Thunder Road (2018) Thunder Road is an interesting film in many respects. The road leading to its making is arguably as well-known as the film itself. Coming largely from the singular mind of Jim Cummings, the film first began as a one-shot proof-of-concept short film in 2016 that took festivals by storm, winning the Short Film Grand Jury Prize award at Sundance. Cummings then went on to make a feature version of the film, which similarly did remarkably well, winning the Grand Jury Award at SXSW 2018 and generally received steadfast critical-acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Cummings has earned personal acclaim for his auteurship and for his economic success with the film. Astonishingly, the feature film was made on a micro-budget of $200,000. Cummings himself wrote, directed, composed, co-edited, managed VFX, and starred in the film - thus, making Thunder Road his film in every way imaginable. The film itself is about Jim Arnaud (Cummings), a struggling small-town sin...