The Founder is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Robert Siegel.

Starring Michael Keaton as businessman Ray Kroc, the film depicts how he took over McDonald’s fast-food restaurant  from the original founders.

Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch co-star as McDonald’s founders Richard and Maurice McDonald, with Laura Dern as Ray Kroc’s first wife Ethel and B. J. Novak as McDonald’s president and chief executive Harry J. Sonneborn.

An interesting story of how a sharp and often unethical businessman Kroc made McDonalds what it is today.

Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion is a 2018 French animated film co-directed by Alexandre Astier and Louis Clichy.

Based on the Asterix comic book characters created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.

When the druid Getafix falls from a tree, he worries about his mortality and resolves to find a successor to inherit the secret recipe of his magic potion which imbues the user with superhuman strength. The simple quest gets out of hand when more villagers join in, leaving the women to deal with the Romans.

This had me laughing out loud within two minutes. And it proved to be consistently funny and witty. Even if it had to divert at times to add to the drama of the story.

The graphics are not Dreamscape photo-realistic, but is works well with the excellent animation. And while a lot are old pratfall  jokes, they are done with style.

It may be French in origin, but there are English voices, even the Romans join in.

A fun film that managed to make twice it’s budget of $60 million (NZ).

Nude Tuesday is a 2022 New Zealand comedy film that was written by Armağan Ballantyne and Jackie van Beek, and directed by Ballantyne.

Set on a fictional island in the Pacific Ocean, (that looks suspiciously like Auckland) the film follows Laura and Bruno (played by Jackie van Beek and Damon Herriman respectively) as they attend a new-age retreat to save their marriage.

The film is unique in that the film’s dialogue is reordered entirely in a fictional language. Then English subtitles, are added but with no reference to the original script.

This results in three versions of the film: one with subtitles written by British comedian Julia Davis, one with a different storyline written by Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng and Australian comedian Celia Pacquola, and one without subtitles.

Overall, despite the premise and the addition of Jemaine Clement  it’s only mildly humorous. But I did appreciate the cover versions of Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love”, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s “Islands in the Stream”, The Zombies’ “Time of the Season” and Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere”, recorded in the fictional language.

I thought Jackie van Beek’s previous film, The Breaker Upperers was funnier.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights is a 1993 adventure comedy film and a parody of the Robin Hood story.

The film was produced and directed by Mel Brooks and stars Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, and Dave Chappelle in his film debut.

It includes frequent comedic references to previous Robin Hood films, particularly Prince of Thieves (upon which the plot is loosely structured), and the 1938 Errol Flynn adaptation The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Brooks himself had previously created the short-lived sitcom When Things Were Rotten in the mid-1970s, which also spoofed the Robin Hood legend.

Mildly funny, exceedingly silly. Frequent third wall breaking and modern references.  Cary Elwes gets the role and plays it straight.

Amy Yasbeck, also gets the genre, playing all of the film in a chastity belt !

But the best character is Roger Rees, as the Sheriff of Rotttingham and is clearly based on Alan Rickman’s portrayal of the same character in  Prince of Thieves.

Uglies is a 2024 sience fiction film directed by McG and written by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson.

Based on the novel Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, the plot centers around a future post-apocalyptic dystopian society.

The central premise of “Uglies” is that teenagers, when they
turn 16 they undergo a procedure to transform them from “Ugly” to make them pretty. A strange theme as teenagers are naturally disposed to look good, and the actors choses are all good looking. This may have worked in the book, but not in a movie.

When our protaganist leaves the city, she embarks on a quest to find a renegade group. This sets up the main conflict and from there a predictable third act. Then the plot holes, wild coincidences and easy victories just undermine any tension that can be generated.

There is and interesting science fiction story that could be told, maybe in a TV series where there would be less of a rush to conclude the narrative and set up for a possible sequel.

But given the generally unfavorable reviews, this seems unlikely.

Borderlands is a 2024 American science fiction action comedy film co-written and directed by Eli Roth, based on the video game series developed by Gearbox Software.

Well this one really bombed. Box Office was $31 Million based on a $120 Budget. 10 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Cate Blanchett as miscast as Lillith, an outlaw who forms an alliance with a team of misfits to find the missing daughter of the most powerful man in the universe. Kevin Hart is as usual not funny. Jack Black tries and partially succeeds to tell jokes as a second rate Star Wars robot. Jamie Lee Curtis seems to get it and has some fun with her role.

The story is a mess and concludes with the usual CGI pyrotechnics.

There is some fun on the silly stunts and races. But my favourite character was Janina Gavankar as Commander Knoxx, who seems to know she is in a bad Judge Dredd movie and just goes for it.

Fly Me to the Moon is a 2024 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Greg Berlanti from a screenplay by Rose Gilroy, based on a story by Bill Kirstein and Keenan Flynn. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jim Rash, Ray Romano, and Woody Harrelson.

To call this a comedy would be like calling Titanic a fun Holiday Flick.  Not one laugh, titter or smirk could this raise.

Then there are the characters. Channing Tatum is the good looking flight director and he does a good impression of a cardboard box. And when you have Scarlett Johansson playing opposite, you know they will get together at the end. This is a horrible character with no redeeming characteristics. She lies, bribes and cons her way through the entire story. Even when they try to crowbar in a redemption near the end,  it falls flat.

Then there is Jim Rash as Lance Vespertine the director. If all the stuff-ups he caused were true, he would not have a job.

There are some better characters. Ray Romano , unrecognizable in a beard is great. Woody Harrelson is great as a slime-ball government official, something he excels at.

But to add insults to the engineers at NASA, they add in a fake moon landing video.

There was scope to make this an entertaining film. With a more farcical directing style, it could have satirized the commercialization  of space. But that would require different lead actors.

I did watch it to the end, just to find out where it was going. But in the end this is just a horrible film the undermines what was achieved at NASA with what tries to be a “romantic comedy”.

Inside Out 2 is a 2024 American film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The sequel to Inside Out (2015), it was directed by Kelsey Mann (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Mark Nielsen, from a screenplay written by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein.

Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Diane Lane, and Kyle MacLachlan reprise their roles from the first film, with Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Tony Hale, Liza Lapira, Ayo Edebiri, Lilimar, Grace Lu, Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Paul Walter Hauser joining the cast.

The film tells the story of Riley’s emotions as they find themselves joined by new emotions that want to take over Riley’s head.

While this explores new territory, of being a teenager where things are a lot more complicated, it’s still as fun as the original.

Kishōtenketsu describes the structure and development of classic Chinese, Korean and Japanese narratives.

The structure originated in China and used in poetry as a four-line composition. From there, it moved to Korea and Japan

Sometimes described as a narrative structure devoid of conflict, particularly in opposition to Western narrative styles.

Parts
1. Start or introduction, usually meaning the reason a thing begins
2. Handling, process, or hardships
3. Turn, turning point, crescendo
4. Result.

This is in contrast to the traditional three act western structure.

1, Setup
2. Confrontation
3. Resolution.

As the following video explains, this is the structure of the Studio Ghibli and the director Hayao Miyazaki. It is what makes the films different and unique to westerners.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is a 2023 film. Directed by Kirk DeMicco, co-directed by Faryn Pearl, and written by Brian C. Brown, Elliott DiGuiseppi and Pam Brady.

It stars  Toni Collette and Jane Fonda as Grandma.

The film follows a shy Kraken girl named Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) who is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High. When she breaks her mother’s rule by going into the ocean with any would-be friends, she discovers that she is a direct descendant of battle-hardened krakens who have protected the sea from evil mermaids for generations.

Although one of the least successful DreamWorks films, I liked it.  It has sharp dialogue, a bright fast moving story and a few insights into human behavior.

Thematically, it is similar to Turning Red. Being mainly about a girl, growing up and her relationship with her mother and grandmother.