Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of November 27, 2017
Coco
Rated PG for thematic elements
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
In Theaters
For those of you who have it in your heads that Pixar is just trying to copycat the 2014 animated flick “The Book of Life” – well think again. Pixar has had its moments of retreads and spotty creativity lately, but they have completely resurrected themselves with this new adventure. Set in a small but charming Mexican town, a young boy named Miguel dreams of becoming a musician like his idol from the movies. But his grandmother will hear nothing of it, believing that music was what ruined her life and the lives of her family. But through a series of strange events, Miguel finds himself in the land of the dead, determined to learn his history and gain his grandfather’s blessing. Let me tell you, this film just works on every level. It’s Pixar, so its expected to have top-notch, eye-popping animation, and it most certainly does, but it also has a visionary tapestry of art and production behind it. It becomes quickly apparent that the spectacular animation is there for one purpose: to serve the story. The writing on display is smart, clever and thoughtful. Then you have the stellar voice talent by an almost entirely Latino cast (they had to add John Ratzenberger of course) and a score from the always fantastic Michael Giacchino. There’s so much more to complement but I am running out of adjectives, and besides – I’m sure you get the point. This is a family flick not to be missed. A
Logan Lucky
Rated PG-13 for language and some crude comments
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%
On DVD and Blu-ray
In this wacky Steven Soderbergh heist film, Channing Tatum and Adam Driver are the Logan brothers, two down and out war vets with a mountain of bad luck who pull together a group of redneck bandits, including Daniel Craig, to rip off a big NASCAR event. The film itself is decent enough, but the antics work better than the heist, which I found to be a bit tedious. And while the film tries hard to be Raising Arizona, the story struggles under its ambition. But the film is not nearly as bad as its horrible, horrible title, which I single-handedly blame for its box office demise. Overall I just felt this could have and should have been better than the end result. C+