April may turn out to be a tough month to pick a clear top 25 with all of the films that are becoming available to watch that I have wanted to see. Today’s film is definitely one that could be challenging for the top spot in the movie Creed. Creed is the latest installment in the Rocky series that follows Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan), the child of the late Apollo Creed’s infidelity. Throughout his whole life, Adonis has been fighting for what is his, but all he wants to do is prove that he can be like his father int he ring. Adonis decides that he needs to move to Philadelphia to get trained by the great Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). With the guidance of Rocky, can he finally prove himself in the ring as the heavyweight champion comes calling. The film also stars Tessa Thompson (Dear White People) as Bianca, Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show) as Mary Anne Creed, Andre Ward as Danny Wheeler, Tony Bellew as Pretty Ricky Conlon, Ritchie Coster (The Dark Knight) as Pete Sporino, Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran (Here Comes The Boom) as Stitch, Graham McTavish (Rambo) as Tommy Holiday, Gabe Rosado as Leo “The Lion” Sporino, and the film was directed by Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station).
I have always been a huge fan of all the Rocky films because not only is there boxing, but there’s drama and their’s the human factor. What I mean by the human factor is that you see the struggle that Rocky went through for every fight in and out of the ring and the same holds true for Adonis in the film Creed. Ryan Coogler did an amazing job taking the franchise into the future in my opinion as he wrote and directed this one. This was also the first film in the whole series that Sylvester Stallone had nothing to do with the writing, he just starred and produced the film. The other thing I love about these movies is that they make you feel like these are authentic fights and that you really are watching them on HBO for HBO Boxing as Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman, and Michael Buffer all make appearances in the film. The other great thing about the film is that they don’t forget about the history of the franchise and in fact, it’s a very important piece. I’m not going to spoil the details, but that secret fight behind closed doors that Rocky had with Apollo at the end of Rocky III, well the winner is revealed in this film. If you are a fan of the Rocky franchise or boxing films in general, then take the time an check this one out. The cinematography, fight choreography, set designs, acting, etc. are all amazing in this film in my opinion. This could be the number one movie for the month of April as of this point. There is still 22 days left to the month to decide. With that being said, I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.
I am a huge fan of Disney Pixar animation as they seem to get it right almost every single time they come out with a film. With that being said, I had to check out their latest offering The Good Dinosaur (to which I am surprised it wasn’t nominated for an oscar). In a world where Dinosaurs live among the humans, a Apatosaurus named Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) is just trying to figure out what his place is among his family. Every single member of his family seems to know what there purpose is except for the skiddish and smaller Arlo. One day after the death of his father, Arlo goes after a human named Spot (Jack Bright) who Arlo feels is responsible. While he is going after him, the two end up getting lost and they have to stick together if they want to find their way back home and that means figuring out who he really is deep inside for Arlo. The film also stars Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire) as Poppa, Frances McDormand (Fargo) as Momma, Marcus Scribner (Black-ish) as Buck, Maleah Nipay-Padilla (Fruitvale Station) as Libby, Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club) as Thunderclap, A.J. Buckley (Happy Feet) as Nash, Anna Paquin (X-Men: Days Of Future Past) as Ramsey, Sam Elliot (Tombstone) as Butch, and the film was directed by Peter Sohn (who also voices Pet Collector).
I want to start this paragraph by saying that there is always a character that helps drive these children’s animated films. They are the characters that children always laugh at because they are the comedic relief like Tow Mater in Cars, the Minions in Despicable Me, and so on and so forth. In this film, Spot is that character that helps drive the film forward and is the comedic relief. Without him, I don’t think the film would be as awesome as it was. It would be a great tear jerking story, but he makes it incredible. He is so essential to the story that Arlo couldn’t grow up and find who he was without him. There are so many great appearances in this film like a family of T-Rex’s voiced by Paquin and Elliot or Zahn who is brilliant as the pterodactyl Thunderclap. The film also features some incredible animation that I was blown away by how far we have come. When they do close ups of Arlo, you can see all the detail in his scales along with the bruises and anything else. Even the details in the river are amazing especially when it floods. Again, I don’t know why this film wasn’t nominated for an Oscar, but it certainly deserved a nod at least. It’s truly a film that is full of adventure and it even pulls on your heart strings like any great Disney film would. If you are a fan of animated films, then do yourself a favor and check out The Good Dinosaur. So with that being said, I am going to give this film an A- for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 