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Monthly Archives: September 2016

Gravity Falls Review: “The Inconveniencing” (S01E05)

26 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by UpOnTheShelf in Gravity Falls Reviews

≈ 2 Comments

If you’re new to the blog or just want to revisit from the beginning, click HERE to read the review for “Tourist Trapped”.

Previously on Gravity Falls:
Dipper and Mabel Pines are sent to Gravity Falls to spend the summer with their Grunkle Stan, who runs a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack. Dipper finds a journal in which the enigmatic Author has chronicled some of the unusual happenings and inhabitants of the town, and he vows to follow in his (or her) footsteps to unravel Gravity Falls’ mysteries while bonding with his wild sister and cranky Grunkle.

Wendy’s made a few appearances in the show so far but hasn’t done anything to write home about. Now we have an episode that involves her and Dipper. Let’s see how she stacks up to the rest of the cast.

It’s a slow day at the Mystery Shack and Dipper is reading Journal 3. He asks Mabel if she believes in ghosts and she jokes that she believes he’s a dork…which doesn’t sound that much like her, but whatever. Stan runs out telling Wendy and Soos to clean the bathroom, but Wendy ditches Soos and takes Dipper and Mabel up to her secret hangout spot on the roof of the Shack. There she’s set up a beach chair and umbrella, a cooler, and a bucket full of pinecones to chuck at targets in the woods. All in all, it’s a pretty cool spot. They have fun tossing pinecones and Dipper even manages to impress Wendy by accidentally setting off a car alarm. He goes in for a high five and I bet you’ll never guess how he feels by the way Wendy’s framed in the next shot.

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Close and intimate, hair blowing in the wind, go on, guess.

Wendy’s friends show up in the parking lot and call out to her. She asks them not to tell Stan that she’s cutting work and Dipper promises with the old zip-lock-and-key over the mouth-thing. Wendy jumps down from the roof using the trees like a boss and drives away. Mabel jokes that Dipper’s got a crush which Dipper denies. He doesn’t even stay up at night thinking about her or anything like that.

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Oh dear.

The next day Mabel starts a dance party for no reason (God I love her) and she and Wendy try to get Dipper to join them. Dipper declines but Mabel brings up one of those embarrassing stories siblings love to mention in front of people that you like, namely his mom used to dress him up in a lamb costume when he was little and make him do the “Lamby-Lamby Dance”. Luckily before Dipper can be humiliated further it’s quitting time and Wendy clocks out to meet her friends. Dipper asks if he and Mabel can join her and lies about being thirteen instead of twelve so she’ll think  they’re mature enough to go on her “hardcore” adventures. He asks Mabel to play along so he can fit in with the cool kids.

…We’re going in that direction, huh?

All right, let’s meet the jerks – uh, kids:

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Tambry; aka the one who barely looks up from her phone and speaks in hashtags…

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Lee and Nate; aka Bro and Bro-er…

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Thompson; aka the butt monkey who does literally anything to be accepted and manages to have a semblance of a personality other than douchey teen…

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and finally Robbie, the emo-goth played by TJ Miller who – wait, TJ MILLER?! This…this could actually be funny…proceed with the teenage shenanigans!

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Gravity Falls Review: “The Hand That Rocks the Mabel” (S01E04)

12 Monday Sep 2016

Posted by UpOnTheShelf in Gravity Falls Reviews

≈ 3 Comments

If you’re new to the blog or just want to revisit from the beginning, click HERE to read the review for the first Gravity Falls episode, “Tourist Trapped”.

Previously on Gravity Falls:
Dipper and Mabel Pines are sent to Gravity Falls to spend the summer with their Grunkle Stan, who runs a tourist trap called the Mystery Shack. Dipper finds a journal in which the enigmatic Author has chronicled some of the unusual happenings and inhabitants of the town, and he vows to follow in his (or her) footsteps to unravel Gravity Falls’ mysteries while bonding with his wild sister and cranky Grunkle.

So Grunkle Stan is trying out his latest scam on some tourists – a mysterious bag where you put your money in and it doesn’t come out – while Soos, Dipper and Mabel are enjoying Gravity Fall’s hit show second only to Ducktective, Tiger Fist (think Bionic Woman but with a tiger and a fist. Sounds simple enough.) Then a commercial airs advertising the Mystery Shack’s rival, the Tent of Telepathy and its mysterious master, a psychic named Gideon. This piques Mabel’s curiosity, but Stan forbids them to go because Gideon steals away most of the Shack’s customers – not that this stops them from going anyway.

The three arrive at the Tent of Telepathy that evening. Dipper describes as a bizzarro version of the Shack but I don’t really see it. It’s a huge tent with a stage and bleachers set up, not a fake museum. The only thing I can say mirrors the Shack is that they have their own anti-Soos.

GF0104-01

Soos is silently judging you. And he never judges. That’s a big deal.

Finally the show starts and we meet Stan’s greatest enemy, Lil’ Gideon.

GF0104-02

Do NOT be fooled by the cuteness, people.

Gideon is voiced by Orman Thropp, the creator and voice of Flapjack. I’ve never actually watched that show but what little I’ve seen is…interesting, to say the least. His voice for Gideon along with his attire makes me think of those tv evangelists and preachers from the South, though the psychic aspect and hair was most likely inspired by Zelda Rubenstein’s psychic from Poltergeist (but Gideon is nowhere near as cool as she was).

Gideon’s show consists of pandering to the crowd with his adorability and “predicting” things based on what he sees in the audience, impressing everyone but Dipper. He even performs a musical number “Widdle Ol’ Me”. The gospel style reminds me of the church song from Blues Brothers.

The next morning Gideon calls on Mabel at the Mystery Shack. He was quite taken with her at the show the previous night and wants to get to know her better. They start by bonding over the one thing a twelve year-old girl and a Southern pampered stage kid have in common – makeovers.

GF0104-04

I see the Princess Logan look is in this season.

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September Review: Zootopia (2016)

09 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by UpOnTheShelf in 2010's, Action-Adventure, Comedy, Disney, Movie Reviews

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

alan tudyk, animated movie review, anthropomorphic, anthropomorphic animal, anthropomorphic animals, bellweather, bogo, buffalo, bunny, chief bogo, child-friendly, classism, clawhauser, cop movie, Disney, disney animated, disney animated feature, disney animated movie, disney animation, disney review, finnick, flash, fox, furries, furry, gazelle, gideon grey, ginnifer goodwin, idris elba, jason bateman, jenny slate, jk simmons, judy hopps, mayor lionheart, movie review, mr. big, nick wilde, nighthowlers, octavia spencer, police, predator, prey, rabbit, racism, raymond persi, sexism, shakira, sloth, subvert ropes, themes, zootopia

(DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. All images and footage used below are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. I do not claim ownership of this material.)

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“Tell me if this sounds familiar – naive little kid with good grades and big ideals says ‘Hey look at me, I’m gonna move to Zootopia where predators and prey live in harmony and sing Kumbaya!’…Only to find, whoopsie! We don’t all get along.”

-Nick Wilde, stating the film’s premise in a nutshell

Sigh…

Have you ever had an idea for something, something you knew was right up your alley, that you could pull off spectacularly without having to rely on anyone else’s words or opinions or worry about stealing someone else’s punchlines, only to have someone with more experience and followers not only beat you to it but do it in such a way that YOU look like the copycat?

Because I did.

When I announced that I’d be going on hiatus until September and returning with a surprise movie of my own choosing, I already had a movie in mind – Disney’s latest animated hit Zootopia.

Then a short time later, Unshaved Mouse announced he would be going on hiatus and returning with Zootopia (or Zootropolis as it’s called in some countries). I’ve mentioned before he’s one of my influences, but it’s especially hard to review Disney movies because I’ve noticed we have similar tastes and opinions when it comes to them (Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan and Chicken Little notwithstanding), and, I have to admit, Zootopia is just another one he wrote long before I could, and even better than me at that.

Yeah I’m a bit miffed that someone beat me to the punch, but there’s plenty of things to talk about when it comes to Zootopia that can’t be covered in one review, and that’s a GOOD thing! This movie should be talked about, not just by fans or Disney lovers or even furries, but people in general. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Disney openly address issues that are alarmingly relevant today in any of their films (Hunchback came close, but it wasn’t the central focus). In a climate where racism, homophobia, and misogyny is out in the open, even in my country which prides itself on being the land of the free and home of the brave, Zootopia is a film that needed to be made. It’d be easy to write it off as a cute talking animal movie (hell, the first few trailers made it look like something shipped out of Dreamworks), but because it uses the animal society as an allegory, it works wonders. This was a movie a long time in the making and it shows; not only is the storytelling tight but Disney’s long climb to make good CGI-animated films pays off in spades. The animation’s elastic and cartoony when it needs to be while staying true to each animal’s anatomy, and the designs combine the big-eyed softness of the 90’s with the aesthetics of movies like The Jungle Book and Robin Hood.

But don’t take my word for it…even though I’m the one writing the review so it is my word. How good is Zootopia?

The movie opens on a surprisingly dark note with scary music and a darkened jungle. A cute little rabbit hops through the undergrowth, unaware that it is being stalked by a savage predator just out of sight. The predator attacks in a frenzy of blood and gore!

Zoo001

Damn, this movie EARNS its PG rating!

No, it’s just a school play put on by a group of young animals, one that exposits the story of the world we’re in, Zootopia – over time, animals evolved from savage predator and meek prey to overcome their biological urges and live in harmony. As someone who’s watched and been in a lot of these kinds of pageants, they get the awkward acting and scene changes down perfectly. Also, providing the background music, we have the unsung hero of the movie.

Zoo002

Behold, the humble beginnings of Keyboard Cat.

The rabbit, Judy Hopps, tells the audience that in Zootopia, animals are free to be what they want to, and reveals that she wants to be the first bunny cop. After the show her parents (Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake) try to discourage her dreams in a way that’s both heartbreakingly honest and yet comically brutal. While they prattle on about the joys of complacency, Judy notices some of her friends’ fair tickets being stolen by local bully Gideon Gray, a Southern-accented fox with a big ego and violent streak who…

Hang on a second!

Gideon

We’ll get to YOU later, you demented little munchkin.

Judy tries to stand up to Gideon but he mocks her because he’s a predator and the urge to kill is still in his DNA, while she’s just a dumb cowardly bunny. It gets surprisingly intense as he knocks her to the ground and scratches her face. He snarls at her to remember this moment when she thinks she can be anything other than what she is. Now when I heard that the first few minutes of the film would be scary for younger kids, I thought that there would be some kind of horrific accident or traumatizing death along the lines of, you know, the usual parental loss that spurs a number of Disney animated movies. I did not expect this one bit. I may have mentioned once or twice that I was bullied as a kid –

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“I’ll go put Dr. Angela on standby.”

Will you get out of here?!

Anyway, though my experiences were more psychological and verbal than physical, they still run pretty deep when invoked, and this scene captures the intensity and fear of when you’re humiliated and put down at the hands of someone stronger than you.

Judy’s determination does not go unrewarded, however. She swiped the tickets from Gideon while he was monologuing and tells her friends that he was right about one thing  – she doesn’t know when to quit.

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“Just ask my third grade teacher!”

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“She never knew when to quit.”

Cut to an adult Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) attending police academy and having more than a hard time working with a regimen fit for larger and more brutal animals. Through sheer willpower, the use of her own size and agility against her bigger opponents and one Mulan-worthy training montage, she graduates the top of her class. At the ceremony overseen by Mayor Lionheart (JK Simmons), we learn that Judy’s induction was part of a “mammal inclusion initiative”, not unlike Affirmative-Action programs we have in the states. Assistant Mayor Bellweather (Jenny Slate) gives her her badge and comments on how “it’s a great day for us little guys” before Lionheart pushes her away for a photo op.

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“Bad guy! Bad guy! She’s the bad guy!”

Oh come on Cynicism, just because Disney did the whole third-act bad guy switcheroo for its past three movies doesn’t mean they’ll do it a fourth time. In a movie that’s as progressive as Zootopia,they wouldn’t be that repetitive, right?

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“I don’t know, you’re the one who’s practicing screenwriting in between five-hour periods of Sort the Court. You should know how these things work by now.”

Anyway, Judy bids her family a fond farewell at the train where they act as all concerned parents do when their kids go off to the city and…give her a taser to keep foxes at bay. They remind her of the incident with Gideon when she was a kid, but Judy tells them that Gideon was a jerk who happened to be a fox, and she knows plenty of bunnies that are jerks (sound familiar?). Judy mollifies them by taking some fox pepper spray (seriously, I know there’s racism against other species – specism? – but who the hell gives the right to make products intended to cause harm to one particular animal in this kind of world?!) and she hops on the train that takes her out of the Bunny Boroughs to the heart of Zootopia. And what follows…my God.

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Coming This September…

01 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by UpOnTheShelf in Voting & Results

≈ 7 Comments

I’m baaaaaack! Hope you guys had a fun summer! August was, for the most part, a nice change of pace. I relaxed by the pool, caught up with friends (and Steven Universe!), and got started with the Gravity Falls reviews, which seem to be going over pretty well so far. Now fall is here and it’s time to get back to work. I announced a few months back that I’d be returning with a movie I’d be picking myself, and if you were wondering what it could be this whole time, then wait no more.

 

In a few weeks I’ll be reviewing…

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I hope nobody’s disappointed that I’m looking at a recent film, but I have a lot to say about Zootopia and I’m eager to make my thoughts known.


Halloween will be upon us sooner than you think, and what better way to set the mood than a spooky movie for October? Here are a few that are on the Shelf:

• The Addams Family

• Coraline

• Corpse Bride

• Ghostbusters (1984)

• Paranorman

• Poltergeist

• Young Frankenstein

• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (come on, it’s got candy, it’s got scary stuff…)

And remember, these are only recommendations. You can vote for any film that’s featured On The Shelf by leaving your choice in the comments or emailing me at upontheshelfshow@gmail.com

Happy voting!

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