Awesome

Big Hero 6 – JenEric Movie Review

by

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2014 film Big Hero 6.

Story

A beautiful blend of superhero, buddy cop, coming of age, and science fiction. The story is firmly fixed on Hiro and does a great job of realistically portraying loss.

Score: 1

Characters

Despite the team, each character goes through a mini arc that revolves around their grief, which is a major theme of the film.

Every character moment feeds the story and vice-versa.

Score: 1

Dialogue

There are little quotes that just break your heart but also help the audience feel the grief of the characters. There’s also a lot of great jokes and quips.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

A decade later, the film still looks stunning. The shot of the café or the wind turbines leaves me in awe.

The music is a perfect representation of the mid 2010’s and works great with the film.

Score: 1

Fun

I love this movie. There are a few things that bug me though. Hiro should have mass produced Baymax as a nurse. He could have helped so many people. Also, Baymax needs a medical ethics subroutine and lessons on diagnostic consent.

That being said, it’s a flawless superhero film with a lot of emotion behind it.

Score: 1

Overall

Super heroes, grief, and found family. The movie has everything you could want with gorgeous art and fun music.

Final Score: 5 Stars out of 5*

*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.

Aurora Awards Voting is Open

by

Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

The Travelling TARDIS is nominated for the Aurora Awards.

The Voter’s Package is available for download! Make sure you’re logged in, and then go get your books.

Voting started June 8 and runs until July 13. Please consider The Travelling TARDIS, nominated in the Fan Writing and Publication category. Thank you to all who nominated us!

Happy reading!!!

What are the Aurora Awards?

aurora

The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

It’s a fan-voted award with awesome people.

In Conclusion

Sign up, get ebooks, read, and then vote for your favourites. It’s a great deal and you’ll love the books.

So go to https://www.csffa.ca/ and click on the “Become a Member” button.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Aurora Awards Voter’s Package

by

Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;

As we’ve mentioned The Travelling TARDIS is nominated for the Aurora Awards.

Now the Voter’s Package is available for download! Make sure you’re logged in, and then go get your books.

Voting starts on June 8 and runs until July 13. Please consider The Travelling TARDIS, nominated in the Fan Writing and Publication category. Thank you to all who nominated us!

Happy reading!!!

What are the Aurora Awards?

aurora

The Aurora Awards are awards “for excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy works and activities.” They are administered by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

It’s a fan-voted award with awesome people.

In Conclusion

Sign up, get ebooks, read, and then vote for your favourites. It’s a great deal and you’ll love the books.

So go to https://www.csffa.ca/ and click on the “Become a Member” button.

Stay safe and be kind,

Éric

Travelling TARDIS Nominated for Aurora

by

Hello friends, family, and fans!

The nominations are up!!!

I’m so proud of Jen, this is her 7th nomination in seven years. It’s the TARDIS’s sixth.

The Travelling TARDIS

The Travelling TARDIS moves, with the power of timey-yarney crochet, through time and space visiting and taking pictures with cosplayers, landmarks, celebrities, and cute babies.

Thanks to all who nominated. You really made a difference.

Now, it’s onto the voting! You will receive an email on how to download the voters package sometime in mid-May. If not, check the website when you’re logged in, and follow the instructions.

The Travelling TARDIS isn’t part of the package because you can access it for free on this site.

Voting

If you think The Travelling TARDIS is worthy of your vote, voting for the Auroras will be open on June 8th.

Thank you to everyone who nominated and especially to everyone who reads and enjoys our content.

Thank you!

Éric

Totally Killer – JenEric Movie Review

by

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2023 film Totally Killer.

Story

A fascinating homage to both time travel and slasher movies. The story is well thought-out and avoids a lot of over explanation of time travel.

Score: 1

Characters

The characters are an interesting mish-mash of tropes. The 1987 group seem cartoony at first, but then remind me heavily of the way people behaved in my high school years (ten years later but still similar).

They managed to have a nice balance between the façade of the character and who they really are, using the quiet moments after the murders for character depth.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue is peppered with science fiction references and digs at the innocence of the eighties. The complete insensitivity of 1980s vs the much more progressive ideas of the 2020’s.

There’s also a few really funny lines.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals were not as stylised as I feel they should have been, but the sets, costumes, and makeup were perfect.

I would have liked more music from the time period and the score was little bland.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The movie is a lot of fun and fits great with both time travel and slasher films. It’s not scary but I still wouldn’t watch it with the kids. It’s first and foremost a dark comedy and works great in that sense.

Score: 1

Overall

A dark comedy with time travel, generational humour, and lots of 80’s nostalgia. It’s fun, funny, and a great mash up of the two genres.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Kim Possible – JenEric Movie Review

by

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2019 film Kim Possible.

Story

Kim Possible isn’t and hasn’t ever been a spy but the stories follow all the spy tropes with a few superhero ones thrown in. The movie does a great job of being faithful to the spirit of the original while updating it to modern audiences. (It’s shocking how much changed between 2007 and 2019.)

The story is mostly nostalgic for older audiences and the story is quite simple. Perfect spy/superhero intro for kids. There is some cartoony ridiculousness that is a little annoying but overall good.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Kim is great and it was nice to see her going through the awkwardness of change.

Ron was portrayed perfectly, one of those super awkward kids with a giant heart. I always cringe at Ron to start and then he quickly becomes my favourite character.

The villains are wonderfully portrayed with the perfect level of overacting.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue is cheesy and irreverent. Lots of good lines but I found the mixture of mid 2000’s slang and late 2010’s a little weird. Hearing Lit and Fam followed by Booya, felt wrong.

The scene between Kim and her Grandmother was one of the best training dialogues I’ve heard.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The action sequences are very Disney Channel but overall they did a great job with the visuals and the music was acceptable.

Score: 0.5

Fun

The kids loved it. The adults, who watched the original in university also loved it.

It was fun and struck a great balance.

As an adult it was nice to see the kids and family talking instead of hiding things.

Score: 1

Overall

Cheesy, fun, and angst free. The story might be a little young and cartoony but they commit and there are some genius scenes.

Final Score: 4 Stars out of 5

Prey – JenEric Movie Review

by

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Prey.

Story

The story is fairly simple and predictable but extremely satisfying. Everything is set up and everything pays off perfectly.

There are some excellent emotional moments and I am impressed with how tight the script was.

Score: 1

Characters

The main character is awesome. She is the perfect underdog in this sort of story and she kicks a lot of ass. I loved her brother. Their individual arcs and their sibling arc were wonderful.

I was impressed with how accurate the French was for the time period.

I’m a little sad I didn’t know there was a full Comanchi version before I watched.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue was well done. In the version I watched, they transitioned from Comanchi to English and it worked well. I liked the nods to previous Predator movies.

The main character’s body language helped with the intensity of the movie. She reacts realistically and viscerally to the horror.

Score: 1 

Visuals and Music

The great plains are a great backdrop for something so epic. The wild is just so big and the predator is so much more terrifying in comparison to the bears and mountain lions. They are also beautiful.

The camera work is clean and lets us see the impressive fighting.

The music was understated but effective.

Score: 1

Fun

The movie didn’t grab my attention right away and could have used a little more action right at the beginning but I think that’s because I was expecting an action movie not a horror.

Overall it was a lot of fun though.

Score: 1

Overall

An intense action horror with enough references to make Predator fans happy but not so much as to make it unwatchable on it’s own.

The action is amazing, the acting is fantastic, and I want a whole series of kick ass woman throughout history fighting off predators.

Final Score: 5 Stars out of 5*

*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.

Hocus Pocus 2 – JenEric Movie Review

by

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Hocus Pocus 2.

Story

It felt like the first closed the book on the Sanderson Sisters, but the sequel uses a clever linguistic loophole (the best kind) to bring them back. The structure of the movie is close enough to the original to have callbacks, but different to be unique.

I’m really impressed with the tighness of the story. There are elements that seem like they were meant as one of gags, but then come back later in a great way.

Score: 1

Characters

The sisters, and Billy, are 29 years older and it show in little things like the timbre of their voices and the way they move. That being said, they are completely beleivable.

The new characters are very much like the first set of kids, except instead of the awkward romance, we have the story of friends who’ve drifted apart. Much less secondhand awkward and more fun.

I also enjoyed the clueless boyfriend who didn’t realize he was a bully.

I liked the evolution of Book from a malevolent force to a loving friend.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The dialogue was quipy and a lot of fun. I liked the self awareness of the film.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The visuals were beautiful. They were sparing with the CGI and what little they used was well done. (Looking at you Book)

The music was fantastic. I loved the musical numbers and the other music was great. I’m buying the soundtrack if I can.

Score: 1

Fun

This had all the fun of the first with no angst, awkwardness, or child death.

It was fun and spooky in all the right ways. The entire family loved it.

Score: 1

Overall

A new Halloween tradition is here! With all the charm and fun of the first with more songs, more magic, and less awkwardness. In most ways, it’s just as good if not better than the original.

Final Score: 5*

*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle  – JenEric Movie Review

by

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2017 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Story

A rare sequel which is more coherent and better all around. Possibly the best video game themed movie of all time, it both relies on and mocks the usual tropes.

Score: 1

Characters

The main five actors do a phenomenal job at being the kids. It’s mostly believable and impressively detailed. Jack Black is amazing.

Score: 1

Dialogue

The problem with trying to capture the dialogue of teens is how quickly it changes. The dialogue already sounds dated after just five years. Although the quips, jokes, and overall tone is well done.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The movie looks great and I greatly appreciate that they didn’t try to animate it like a video game.

The music is haunting and exciting all at once.

Score: 1

Fun

The five year old found it a little scary, but she loved the action and humour. It’s nice to see her starting to appreciate word-based humour more.

The rest of us enjoyed it as much as the first few times. I particularly appreciate that the humour around Jack Black’s character was so wholesome.

Score: 1

Overall

A wonderful adventure that balances action, humour, and character development for a near perfect movie.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5

The Emperor’s New Groove – JenEric Movie Review

by

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2000 film The Emperor’s New Groove.

Story

Irreverent to the point of absurd, this movie does a great job at setting up all its major plot points with clever jokes and gags. Simple plot that seems like unconnected gags at first, but ties everything together by the end.

Score: 1

Characters

I love these characters. Kuzco is a perfect jerk, Pacha is the sweetest, Yzma is great evil, and Kronk is utterly adorable. Each plays their part perfectly and I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the roles.

That being said, it’s a bunch of white people playing South Americans (with the exception of the kids and the fantastic Eartha Kitt.) The movie is quite clearly supposed to be set in a fictional version of the Incan Empire, but that’s only set dressing and doesn’t mean anything.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue in this is burned into my subconscious and speech patterns. The jokes are so expertly crafted that even after having seen this hundreds of times, I still laugh.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The detail in the animation and the background jokes are excellent. It’s pretty and very well animated.

They got Tom Jones and Sting to do songs for this. If I had a complaint, it’s that a few times the music was a little generic turn of the millennium Disney. But that still means it was excellent.

Score: 1

Fun

We waited a little to let my oldest start to understand the wordplay and it was worth it; she giggled throughout. I laughed a lot, as did the rest of the family. This is just a fun movie.

Score: 1

Overall

A classic comedy that relies as much on word play as it does physical gags. It has aged impressively well and is tightly scripted.

I loved this movie when it came out and still do.

Final Score: 4.5 Stars out of 5