Check out my latest podcast with Charlie Juhl. This week, Charlie and I clash over Zootopia, London Has Fallen, and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. He thinks my tastes are shallow. I think his are pretentious. Take a listen, and let us know what YOU think!
Did you listen? If not, or you just want my quick take on the movies we clashed over, here you go…
Zootopia is my favorite animated film since Inside Out and one of my top movies of the year so far. It’s about a bunny named Judy Hopps who defies the odds to become the first rabbit cop in Zootopia, where animals big and small, predator and prey, live together in relative peace. She teams up with a misunderstood con artist fox named Nick Wilde and together they crack a missing mammals case and teach the community and each other an important lesson about stereotypes, profiling, and pursuing your dreams.
London Has Fallen is basically Olympus Has Fallen set in London instead of DC… an adrenaline rush with some major carnage but also a solid bromance between the President (played by Aaron Eckhart) and his secret service agent bodyguard (Gerard Butler). Sure, the ‘Fallen’ movies are formulaic, but if you take them for what they are, and can handle the bloodshed, you’ll discover that they’re basically buddy chick flicks wrapped in an action movie. I kinda liked it. 🙂
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was disappointing. The trailer makes it out to be some sort of comedy, but it’s not. It has some funny moments, but it never settles into any sort of cohesive or engaging narrative. Tina Fey plays a journalist named Kim Barker who goes overseas to help cover the ongoing war in Afghanistan when most of the U.S. (and media resources) are focused on the war in Iraq. The movie is based on a true story/book that is a series of anecdotes about the journalist’s war zone adventures. From a journalist/producer perspective, it all rings true, but it fails to grip the viewer.
Mark Rylance (pronounced RYE-lance, not Rye-LANCE) is one of my favorite actors. He was incredible in Wolf Hall. He was incredible in Bridge of Spies. I didn’t recognize him at first–he is such a chameleon.