Moana

In the ancient Polynesian Islands, Moana is the daughter of a chieftain who feels the ocean calling to her as if it wanted her to leave her island and explore. Since she was a little girl, she's heard stories from her grandmother of the demigod Maui about how he stole the gem-like heart of Te Fiti, the goddess of the ocean and creator of the world. In the stories, due to Maui's actions the world is slowly dying,  and the only way to save it is to force Maui to return the heart back to Te Fiti. Moana hears these stories and longs for adventure, not realizing just how real the stories really are.

I didn't see Moana while it was out in theaters, I waited until it was on Netflix. I'm not sure why, but it never really sparked my interest. Even then it took me searching Netflix and not finding anything else interesting to watch before I saw it. Having now seen it, I wish I had while it was still in theaters, because it was just as good as pretty much all the reviews I'd read said it was.

While Moana may be the main character, it's Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui who steals the show. I think he's grown considerably as an actor since making his debut as the Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns. In Moana, he's still got his trademark goofy humor that he's become known for, and it's a good thing too, because a few of the other humorous moments - especially the ones involving a chicken who's a few fries short of a Happy Meal and always getting into trouble - fall somewhat flat. I'm sure younger kids will find the movie as a whole humorous, but for me as a young adult guy I found myself not laughing as much as I probably would have liked. But while the humor can be 'meh' at times, the rest of the movie holds up well. The songs featured throughout the movie are really catchy, I caught myself humming along to each of them. No surprise, really, seeing as how it's a Disney animated movie and they've always been good at the musical aspect over the years. Auli'i Cravalho also does a fantastic job as Moana.

If you have young kids and didn't get a chance to see Moana while it was in theaters, do yourself a favor and go rent it, or find it on Netflix. It's a fun little film that the whole family will enjoy.

Baby Driver

It takes more than just purely good luck to survive the dog-eat-dog environment of the criminal underworld. Thankfully, Baby has the skills as a getaway driver to pave his own way. As a kid, he suffered major hearing loss due to a car accident that also cost his parents their lives. Since then, Baby constantly listens to music to drown out the ringing in his ears from the accident; and to hold hostage the memories of his parents. Baby also uses his music as a way to help him concentrate while driving. Which is a good thing, because his boss is a crime lord named Doc who makes it clear just what will happen if Baby double-crosses him. Whether it was fate or chance, after finishing a job driving for a group of bank thieves, Baby heads to a local diner where he meets a lovely girl named Deborah. They instantly bond over their mutual love of music, and Baby sees the budding relationship as a potential opportunity to leave his criminal past behind and maybe have a shot at a normal life.

There are dozens of action movies where the protagonist is caught in the web of a criminal life trying to make their way out of it somehow, but what makes Baby Driver so refreshingly original that caught my attention is the main character's use of his disability to his advantage (it might be just me, but I found that to be similar in *some* ways to Ben Affleck's character Christian Wolff in The Accountant), as well as the eclectic soundtrack seamlessly infused within the narrative, similar to that of a musical/song & dance movie minus the characters themselves randomly breaking out into songs. Almost every scene is infused with a song, and the editing is creatively done to make it so every little thing from footsteps to major car chases hit the same beats as the song playing at the time, no matter what genre. Not to mention, Baby's got the driving skills that would make Dom Toretto and his Fast and the Furious crew green with envy. The car chases alone are some of the most creative and thrilling that I've seen in quite awhile. Another thing that got me was how funny it actually was. I know I've touched on this a few times before, but Baby Driver is one of those rare R-rated movies I actually kept constantly laughing at instead of finding the humor to be too unnecessarily vulgar and cringe-worthy. That was personally refreshing to see.

The only thing I really was hoping for and would consider a negative, is I wish Jon Bernthal's character named Griff had been given a slightly bigger part. He, along with the rest of the cast, did a fantastic job, but I felt like he was a bit underused. Same for Eiza González as Darling, though not quite as badly.

Baby Driver is easily on my top 10 of the year, possibly even top 5, and I have no doubt it'll stay there unless there's just a massive surprise out of left field. It's only July though, so we'll see. Until then, this is one I will be seeing multiple times while it's out in the theater, and more than likely getting on DVD once it's out.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Ever since almost destroying Earth with the ongoing war between Decepticons and Autobots, more and more Transformers are crashing down on the planet frantically searching for something. That thing is an ancient artifact - a staff dating back to the time of King Arthur that belonged to Merlin. As it turns out, the staff was given to him by Transformers who had come to our planet in order to hide it from an evil robot named Quintessa. In his search for answers about his home planet Cybertron, Optimus Prime meets Quintessa and becomes entangled in her deception to destroy Earth and restore Cybertron.

Another year, another Transformers movie. It's getting harder and harder to keep track of the timeline, as well as characters who died or are still alive. There are a couple robots of both Autobots and Decepticons where I was like "Wait...didn't they die already?" Somehow Megatron is still alive, and is apparently fully recovered from having half of his face ripped off in either Dark of the Moon or Age of Extinction (see what I mean about confusing?). Despite other reviews that have described The Last Knight as the worst in the franchise - a particularly difficult feat considering none of them are truly great movies to begin with - I disagree. I disliked Age of Extinction more than I disliked The Last Knight.

Normally I'd go on some spiel about how good/bad the acting was, or whether the story was good or not, but let's face it....pretty much the only reason people still go to see these movies is to see giant robots fight each other. I've gotta give Michael Bay credit here - somehow he's managed to make a series based on fighting robots with a minimalistic story, barely decent acting from *most* characters involved, and action scenes where you can barely see what the heck is going on onscreen...actually FUN. As mentioned, none of them are really all that great (first one's still the best, but that's not really saying much), but for me it's still a fun time-waster type series, especially the latest installment. I can forgive the stupidity of it all, if only for the fact that I have fun watching them. I can't explain it, but there it is.

Now, that's not to say I'm actually looking forward to anymore future installments. I'm not. The only way for me to be legitimately excited for another one is if the rumors are true that The Last Knight is Michael Bay's final Transformers movie, and someone else will be directing future sequels. True, I've shamelessly enjoyed the series so far despite Bay being in charge, but I'd be interested to see what someone else can do with the series. There's been a lot of debate on whether or not the series can be "saved". I think it can, as long as the right person is in charge. Who that is right now, I'm not sure. For now, I'll shamelessly head to the theater and watch Transformers for as long as they keep releasing them. What can I say, I'm easily entertained.