Ocean’s Eight (2018)

Before we start this review, perhaps a few things need to laid out. If you watched my What’s Up, you will know that I already talked about this. While I’ve seen Ocean’s 11 and that trilogy (or maybe I haven’t seen Ocean’s 13 because I can’t remember), I honestly can’t remember a whole lot of what goes on except that Ocean’s 11 was pretty fun and had some big stars in it. With that said, Ocean’s 8 is kind of a new slate for me which works because it turns out that its a standalone story with a few nods in terms of characters and such. I usually don’t go to watch films like this at theatres but one of my good friends took me so who am I to argue with time with friends, right? Plus, would you look at the cast here? A ton of my faves all in one movie sounds like a ton of fun. Let’s hope it is!

Ocean’s 8 (2018)

Director: Gary Ross

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Sara Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Awkwafina, Rhianna, Richard Armitage, James Corden

Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City’s yearly Met Gala. – IMDB

Judging from my above comment, you could say that I enjoyed the Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve heist movies but then I’m not exactly remembering a ton from it so maybe not exactly my favorite movies ever. With that said, my appreciation for Ocean’s 8 draws exactly from the little things I remember from the male centric ones and that is the cast. Ocean’s 8 hook is its fantastic ladies. Everyone delivers in absolutely glory.

The movie starts off with quite a few comedic moments as we see Debbie Ocean, played by Sandra Bullock be released from prison. There is this sarcastic and fun humor as Debbie and Lou (Cate Blanchett) go to find the other members for this epic heist she has in mind which leads to some comedic moments of knowing a little more about each of them as we get a glimpse of their life and their pressures but also their fortes that make them an asset to the group. Rhianna, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, Sara Paulson and Awkwafina as well as Anne Hathaway all fall into place for this plan to work out. And they all deliver so well. I have only heard of Awkwafina and haven’t seen Mindy Kaling before so I don’t know what to say much but Rhianna has grown so much as an actress. I am not a big fan of her music but she gets involved in some great movies now. Helena Bonham Carter also has some awkward movies before but in this one, she fits well in it. At the same time, I am telling you that I have a huge lady crush on Sara Paulson. She always delivers so well and I just love her.

In terms of the heist, I have always been a fan on seeing the movie magic happen because it is both entertaining and fun when it is thought out well and puts all the pieces into motion and there is always a twist and some tension. With Ocean’s 8, it delivers a lot of these fronts. While the setup had a lot of comedic moments, the heist actually had a fair amount of tensions. The heist also stands out in not only watching the plan roll out with whichever snag it hits because what movie would it be without (I guess some might say that its a tad formulaic) but also these ladies and their beautiful outfits. Its impossible to not feel this beauty and intelligence in one package as well as triumph. These ladies are what makes the heist happen and I think the biggest accomplishment is that we see them as a unit because of their differences and connect to them so we care about what happens.

These movies are all about the star power and while these all female casts cause so much talk, I’d like to stray away and just talk about how fantastic these star-powered casts bring to the table. Hence, the long chat about. However, Ocean’s Eight did bring in some humor from the men as well. For one, we have Richard Armitage which I haven’t seen in anything for a long time. The man is super charming and well, he got what he deserves. Let’s just put it that way. While small, it still had its significance. We had  cameo of sorts by James Corden and I’m telling you that lately I’ve started watching those Carpool Karaoke videos and this guy is pretty hilarious and I think he pulls off some great comedic moments as well here.

Overall, Ocean’s Eight is a fun and entertaining time. There’s a lot of comedic moments and my fave sarcastic humor. There is a slew of beautiful and talented cast here who work so well with each other. That is the true star plus the outfits are so pretty and lovely. The heist itself works fairly well and had its tense moments. There’s a lot of like about Ocean’s Eight and while I might not remember from Ocean’s Eleven in terms of specifics, I remember that fun feeling I had when the film ended and we get the same thing here.

Inside Out (2015)

Going to the theatres two weeks in a row! Yay!  I’m catching up to my once a month theatre visit goal 😉 That seems easy but its not…

Yesterday night, we decided to head out to see Inside Out and we ended up having 4 friends join us as well.  It was absolutely crazy since it was Canada Day so everyone was out and about.  It was intense to find space in the parking lot and I thank the whole buying tickets online thing and being able to pick it up.  Technology rules, at least sometimes, right? 😉

Let’s check out Inside Out!!

Oh wait! Before that, as usual there’s a short before the main feature called Lava.  It looks something like this.

In short, animation was great, the music was cute but somehow hmmm, not quite as great as the past few that I’ve seen.

Inside Out (2015)

Director: Pete Docter, Ronaldo Del Carmen

Cast: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Richard Kind, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Kaitlyn Dias, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan

After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness – conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.-IMDB

At its 15th movie, Pixar has had generally a good run.  I think a lot of us can agree on that.  Although most of the movies are box office gems, how many are actually worthy of whipping up those emotions and being just totally epic? That’s a question I started asking myself.  Inside Out is one that does that.  Just like Toy Story works on the whole childhood thing, Inside Out flips around and lets us see whats going on in our brains as the emotions fight for their spot while a young girl is uprooted and moved to San Francisco.  While the initial concept of Inside Out had me doubting it a little, its easy to say that the trailers won me over fairly quickly and I was totally sold for this idea. The story itself is unique and the way they told it made us not only connect with the emotions, especially Joy and Sadness but lets us also connect with our main girl, Riley.

Pixar has wonderful animation.  There’s also something so beautiful about how they lay out the whole scene.  Inside Out is no exception.  Its simply wonderful to look at and perfectly sets the mood for where it wants the story to head.  Our characters all have their distinct feature, making them easy to connect to.  For example, Anger is red and Sadness is blue.  Our emotions are color-coded as well and that simplifies this plot a little.  I’m pretty sure that kids can relate with the imaginary friend and memories they have with parents, older children might connect with the whole puberty or school or new environment and adults will go in maybe churning up and remembering some of their childhood memories.  At the same time, we also get to remember that sadness and joy (and the other emotions) come hand in hand.  They all connect together to make us appreciate each moment even more.  Whats a story without having something we can take away from it, right? Right!

Plus, the voice acting.  Man, it was so fun.  The voice cast is outstanding with Amy Poehler being the bright and positive Joy and Phyllis Smith being the depressed Sadness. Disgust was believable with an attitude with Mindy Kaling adding some style and sass.  Whereas, Anger, voiced by Lewis Black was by far the most hotheaded one that brought on a ton of humor and his whole dynamic with Fear (voiced by Bill Hader) was awesome.  Having great vocal talents adds to any animation because its who brings the characters to life and the enthusiasm and personality each character had was completely believable. Moving on to the outside, Mom was voiced by Diane Lane, very much to my surprise.  Especially since I’ve been thinking of rewatching Unfaithful.  Besides the point, Mom and Dad’s emotions was great (as we saw in the trailer).  That part was hilarious.

I really want to give it a little more mention to Riley.  She’s an eleven year old girl.  While I can’t relate to the whole moving to a new city and starting over and that sort of emotional burden, there’s a lot of Riley’s life that we see in memories.  She’s just like any girl out there.  Seeing her life as seen from the inside, you can’t help be wonder a little because Pixar thought it out so well of how to portray the stages of life and the importance of our emotions.  Connecting to Riley’s life is kind of like a journey through our own.  Some of those memories, especially core ones (as they call it), like family really turns this into a heartwarming and emotional journey.

Overall, Inside Out is a unique story and has a great vocal cast to back it up.  Its able to mix a good balance of humor and emotions into the plot to make it memorable, while carrying a message about the importance of our memories and how certain memories stay with us while others are forgotten, about moving on, about changes and most importantly, that no emotion can stand-alone because one emotion will trigger another one to make things even better.  Why is Inside Out a definitely hit and a must see? Its because it connects well with the audience through our own memories and how we can relate to Riley even if we’re not a child anymore.  It’ll tug a little on our heartstrings and play on our own emotions.  I can tell you, at a few parts, I started getting all teary eyed.  Inside Out is quite simply awesome.  There are no other words to describe it.  There are fun characters and lots of laughs to be had between all the emotional moments.

Have you seen Inside Out? What did you think about it?