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The Book of Life
First things first. The Day of the Dead holiday and Halloween are two separate things. I understand why they are marketing this movie around this time, but let’s make sure we know that beforehand. Mini-rant over.
“The Book of Life” is a visual trip for the eyes. I mean, anything that Guillermo del Toro has to do with always looks stunning. The movie doesn’t look like any other animated movie that has appeared on the big screen before. The characters in the movie look like little wooden puppets that you try (or at least, I did) to see if there are strings making them move around.
The story of “The Book of Life” is about three friends, Manolo (Diego Luna), Maria (Zoe Saldana) and Joaquin (Channing Tatum). The two boys like Maria and they each try in their own way to win her heart. If you think this is going to be a basic love story, you are wrong.
The movie not only deals with a Manolo following his heart in trying to win Maria, but it also deals with him doing what his family wants him to do. Manolo’s family has a long line of great bull fighters, but Manolo doesn’t want to go that route, he wants to be a singer.
To prevent spoilers, the trailer tricks you a little, in a good way, in telling you about the movie, but not too much about why Manolo ends up in the “Land of the Remembered”. I think that this is great because you do not go into the movie already knowing what’s going to happen.
“Book” has some great life lessons in the movie along with some great music. If you haven’t already heard the soundtrack, see if you can catch the reinterpretations of some popular songs within the movie.
I highly recommend this movie for families because it is a lot of fun. The movie is about doing what you feel is right, listening to your heart and knowing when to be your own person and “step out of the shadows” of others. If you see this movie, tell your friends and family to check it out, they won’t be disappointed.
Fury
“Fury” takes place in 1945 in Germany where a Sherman tank crew is given a mission that could help sway the outcome of war. The characters in this movie give us an insight into how war changes people, but it the actual battle scenes that really show you the horrors of war.
Without much dialogue Brad Pitt commands the screen like he commands his team: Shia LeBeouf, Jon Bernthal, Michael Pena and Logan Lerman. We see how the chemistry of the team is mixed up a little when the rookie (Lerman) joins the team to replace the previous gunner.
One fault of the movie was that I felt there really wasn’t that much character development. There were some questions that I wanted answered, but I felt like the movie wanted to focus on the horrors of war and to show us those battle scenes.
When we see the tanks in action, director David Ayer films the scenes in such an intense way that you might find yourself clutching the armrest. These scenes are so intense and quick paced that you almost sigh with relief when they are over. I feel this is where the movie stand out, by not holding back during these scenes.
As far as spoilers, the trailers and commercials pretty much let you know how this movie will end, but the voyage there is worth the price of admission alone. There are many war movies that try to capture a certain moment of the wars that they are a part of and I feel that “Fury” does that. It captures how men were faced with hard decisions and what they had to do to tell themselves that they did the right thing.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the movies.
Remember to enter our Fury Prize Pack giveaway.