‘Inside Out,’ ‘Pixels,’ ‘Southpaw’ worth checking out
“Inside Out”
Pixar has brought into the lives of toys and robots and bugs and cars and grumpy old men. Throughout these stories, it’s become clear that Pixar doesn’t pander to kids, nor do they spare the feelings of adults. Yes kids, it’s a tough world out there. And yes parents, you can screw up your kids if you don’t deal with this tough world in the right way. And guess what, we’re all human, and we’re bound to screw up. The great thing about Pixar is they’re not human, they’re cartoons, but they always seem to get the right humans to voice their characters, or in this case, emotions, because this story climbs into the psyche to see how we tick. Amy Poehler leads the cast as Joy, but the it really is an ensemble – Bill Hader as Fear, Lewis Black as Anger, Phyllis Smith as Sadness Mindy Kaling as Disgust. Veterans, Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan, disappear into the roles of mom and dad as this movie makes you laugh, then cry, then laugh again. Yeah, it’ll rip you inside out, in a good way – worth a watch.
“Southpaw”
Big budget boxing movies don’t come along every day. Okay, they may be making a comeback with “Creed” also being released this year, but the days of steady “Rocky” films are probably done. This one keeps to the official rules of the boxing movie commission – a rags to riches tale where the brawler battles back from zero to hero. Seasoned director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) and writer Kurt Sutter (“Sons of Anarchy”) made sure to include all the tropes – the street-wise trainer, corrupt promoters, deadbeat friends and over-the-top boxing dynamics. The main character is even named, Billy Hope – how on the nose is that? Sutter and Fuqua have never been known for their subtlety. The film’s saving graces are the performances of Jake Gyllenhaal and young actress, Oona Laurence. Any time Gyllenhaal has to deliver gritty drama or Laurence needs to break your heart, they’ll knock you out and make this worth a watch.
“Pixels”
Anyone who reads these reviews regularly knows I watch Adam Sandler movies just so I can rip them apart. It’s not just that Sandler makes bad films. It’s that he makes the same horrible film over and over with small story variations. So, I’m having such a hard time here. Part of this film is the same reheated piece of crap as all the others. These are the scenes with Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Michelle Monaghan. Then, there are the scenes with Peter Dinklage and Josh Gad where the dialogue comes alive. The script and action sequences are unbelievably cool with ’80’s video games invading earth and making old geeky gamers the heroes. Director Chris Columbus (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone”) keeps it bright and moving fast. Which brings us to this tossup – on one hand, it’s a good family film – on the other, it’s trite and overdone. Let’s call it barely worth a watch.
This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 3:31 AM with the headline "‘Inside Out,’ ‘Pixels,’ ‘Southpaw’ worth checking out."