106 - Small Apartments

Connection To MONSTERS UNIVERSITY - Billy Crystal.

You know I ended up liking this movie more then I thought I would I think I might have entered it with a little bit of prejudice, maybe because I'd heard the word quirky being mentioned (see Ghost World for me talking about quirky) and the film gradually got more enjoyable as the film went on.

While the beginning - the aftermath of what looks like a murder - is not really as intriguing, I wasn't wondering what had happened - Matt Lucas with the dead body of his landlord and Lucas is clearly not running on all cylinders, and over this we meet a series of characters, which is where the more time we spend with them the better it gets.

We have residents of the apartment block played by James Caan, Johnny Knoxville and Juno Temple among others and I chose them three particularly because they stood out the most for me - there is also none resident roles for Dolph Lundgren and James Marsden who I won't spoil their roles too much but are enjoyable. The film however belongs to none-resident Billy Crystal and a fire chief detective investigating the murder (makes sense in the context of the film), which to me proves Crystal is still capable of great work if the material is right.

Overall it's probably a film I may never watch again but it did creep up on me, by the end I had forgot about not been interested in the beginning but I would say watch it, like me you might end up liking it.

105 - Monsters University

Connection To GHOST WORLD - Steve Buscemi

Behind Toy Story, Monster's Inc. was probably the Pixar film that I would most welcome a sequel too, more so then A Bug's Life, more so then Finding Nemo (which is getting one), more so then The Incredibles... wait scratch that Incredibles and Monster's Inc. where probably neck and neck when it came to which one I wanted a sequel and certainly more so then Cars - which made a load of money and it did get a sequel, Cars remains among my least favourite of the Pixar output.

But it turns out we wasn't going to get a Monster's Inc. sequel but rather a prequel... which mean't no Boo, her and Sully's relationship in the first movie was a great element of it, but I guess we miss out on having potentially a 13 year old Boo which probably would have been a bad thing.

Monsters University does a credit to Monster's Inc. - even adding another dimension to that great film - a nice opening quelled the fears I had that this had the potential to be a film that I would enjoy. Though the film as the college movie cliches it works because - obviously - they are monsters the ones doing this.

I expected that Sully and Mike would not be instant friends - I knew we was going to see the birth of their friendship which again it was enjoyable seeing them on opposite ends before learning to accept each other then the friendship. I had no idea Randall (Steve Buscemi) was in this movie, so was great to see him not be the villain, I kind of wish - to use a wrestling term - showed his heel turn (he starts good, joins a frat but there is no evil turn for him).

I would say the new side characters are not quite as memorable here on the role, the rest of their frat are great but many of them don't stay in the memory quite the same way the predecessor did but it's not a complaint - they've had years to imprint themselves maybe a second viewing of this could change that.

Overall, a film I enjoyed watching from start to finish - Pixar on their game, such as here means adults and kids can watch it together and both love it, this comes recommended for me (like it means something).