240. Monsters, Inc.

• Year of release: 2001
• Director: Pete Docter & David Silverman & Lee Unkrich
• Genre: Animation, Comedy
• IMDB Page

Monsters, Inc is the second Pixar product I'll be reviewing. I watched this movie a few years ago, but to be honest I didn't remember much of it, which isn't really a good sign. Let's see how well it fares.

The story can be boiled down to a few lines. James Sullivan, friends call him Sulley, is a monster and an employee in a scream converting company. His job consists of scaring small children. His best friend and colleague Mike Wazowski (the eyeball) catches the energy let out by the screams and that energy is used to power the city of monsters. Lately children have grown to be more tolerant towards scary monsters and as a result the city is getting less and less power. To make things worse, a small child, nicknamed Boo, manages to enter the city of monsters and the city falls into chaos as Sully and Mike try to get Boo back to her wold.

I'm pretty sure you can figure out the rest of the story, there's no groundbreaking plot twisting happening throughout the movie. That's not to say the story isn't original, which it is. The pacing is also done well. I only have one issue and that's how fast Sully got back out of his banishment from his city. But that's a minor pacing issue and nothing bothersome.

lol

The animations are nice as well, although I find that Toy Story 2 (1999) has better textures and feels more finished concerning design. Not that any kid would care, because kids don't care about that kind of stuff, they just want to be entertained. And that's what this movie does. The movie kept me interested all the way through and it was an enjoyable watch.

Buy It

241. His Girl Friday

• Year of release: 1940
• Director: Howard Hanks
• Comedy: Comedy, Drama
• IMDB Page

90 odd minutes. I was somewhat relieved to see that this movie was shorter than the previous ones. I had grown tired of long movies. Unfortunately this movie did not take advantage of the shorter length.

The story is a romantic story. Ex-reporter Hildy Johnson is getting married to Bruce Baldwin and visits her old newspaper headquarters. Her old editor and ex-husband, Walter Burns, realizes he still loves her and desperately tries to stop her from getting married all the while politicians come and go and criminals escape. Ms. Johnson realizing she cannot forget who she really is, a reporter, and who she loved/loves, Mr. Burns, returns to the newspaper and her old love.

Does Cary Grant have to slap a bitch?

This movie is rather boring. Or so it seemed the first 4/5ths. It never drew me in, it never made me interested in following it. In fact, I'd rather watch a few long movies than short ones like this one. Sure, it may be a realistic image of what happens when reporters want a story and how far they're willing to go, but it never really entertained.

Don't get me wrong, this movie is not crap or anything of that sort, it is a valid and solid image of the press, but I didn't find it that good.

Borrow It

243. Toy Story 2

• Year of release: 1999
• Director: John Lasseter & Ash Brannon & Lee Unkrich
  
• Genre: Animation, Comedy
• IMDB Page

To tell the truth here, I've actually been avoiding this movie ever since it came out. I saw the promotional artwork and posters of the girl-woody and thought that this movie was just a sequel where Woody falls in love and has to rescue the girl or something lame like that. Unfortunately I wasn't that far off. It might be the high expectations and/or the nostalgia speaking but I don't feel this movie is a worthy follow-up to Toy Story 1.

The plot is almost the same from what I can recall, I know someone needed rescuing in Toy Story 1, I think it was Buzz, but now it's Woody who needs to be rescued. So, it's the same old again, but the movie still entertained while watching it. So, in short, Woody gets kidnapped by an evil collector. His toybuddies try to retrieve Woody by going all the way across the city. Woody finds three other toys who were in "Woody's Roundup", which was an old collection of Wild West toy figurines starring Woody. The collector wants to sell them to a Japanese museum and he leaves for the airport with Woody and his friends. I do not need to tell you the ending as this is a Disney movie after all.

The point of the plot is entirely MOOt, go watch Toy Story 1

The jokes and funny scenes in this movie are very entertaining and it kept a good pace. I never got bored watching it, but the nagging déja-vu feeling never went away. But, whatever, it is a sequel after all.

I'm not saying this movie is utter crap, but it doesn't really deserve a top 250 spot, especially not if Toy Story 1 is already in it.

Borrow It
(unless if you have kids, then buy it as they can watch the same crap over and over again)

246. Arsenic and Old Lace

• Year of release: 1944
• Director: Frank Capra
• Genre: Comedy
• IMDB Page

Our first comedy is one from 1944. And it apparently stars Cary Grant.

The story starts with the marriage of Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic, and Eileen. When informing his aunts and packing his suitcase he stumbles upon a dead man's body in the window seat. He asks his aunts about the man and they playfully admit they poisoned him. But before Mortimer can recover from the shock, they tell him the dead man is their twelfth murder. Mortimer doesn't want to report his aunts out of love and tries to make the stop their killing spree. Later that evening, Mortimer's brother, Jonathan, breaks in and seeks refuge from the police while carrying a dead body along.

First off, this movie is a tad too long. It misses the two hour mark by a few minutes and in my opinion should have been a bit shorter. Of course, where to shave off some time? You could say the scenes with Eileen, but then we'd miss out on seeing the beauty that is Priscilla Lane. We wouldn't want that, would we?

Does Cary Grant have to slap a bitch?

The comedy in this movie is entertaining. There are some scenes which will make you laugh or put a smile on your face. One of the best scenes is the fight at the end in the Brewster house. Mortimer's speech and behavior throughout the fight and the way he smokes his cigarette through it all are classic. One letdown was the relative living in the house who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt. It was cute and funny at first, but seeing him run up that staircase shouting "charge" the entire movie got old. Fast.

One final remark before the conclusion is perhaps that the movie takes place in mainly one setting, the Brewster house. It fits this movie perfectly. The house is alive and the atmosphere is right.

Buy It