Smallfoot Is A Solid Animated Musical Whose Best Traits Are Also Its Most Unique Ones

Smallfoot is a new animated family movie hailing from director Karey Kirkpatrick (director of the underappreciated Over the Hedge and the widely forgotten 2009 Eddie Murphy vehicle Imagine That) whose best qualities are the ways it tries to be unique and whose weaker aspects come from when it tries too hard to adhere to what it believes conventional American animated family fare has to be. The majority of our lead characters in Smallfoot are Yeti's who reside in a village located on the very top of a mountain. In this village, we find our lead character, Migo (Channing Tatum), who loves his simple life which is primarily spent preparing to take over the duties of his father, Dorgle (Danny DeVito), and adhering to ancient rules written on stones that nobody is supposed to question.

The Tale Provides A Haunting Glimpse Into Coping With Repressed Memories of Abuse

Content Warning: Discussions of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Everyone puts a piece of themselves into the art they create, frequently in a subconscious manner. Your likes and dislikes in all sorts of areas of your life find a way to be subtly imprinted on the art you create, though many artists go even further this and create works that intentionally reflect their own lives and experiences. Jennifer Fox has gone this particular route in directing the motion picture The Tale, which chronicles her process of coming to terms with the fact that she was sexually abused as a child. Her cinematic depiction of this event is so tied into reality that the main character isn't given a pseudonym, lead actor Laura Dern simply plays Jennifer Fox herself (though there text at the start of the end credits that does clarify that certain names and locations have been changed for this motion picture).

There's A Good Dog (Brent) At The Center of Megan Leavey

It has been said that war is Hell. By contrast, we know all doggies are pure and perfect creations. Combining the two of these contrasting entities would seem to be as odd of a pairing as Sardines & Mustard or Donald Trump and Codes To Launch Nuclear Weapons. Unlike those two awful duos though, dogs are a common presence in the world of warfare, with brave puppers going out on the front lines to perform all sorts of duties they're human companions can't. So, just to fully recap, not only are doggies cute, adorable and loveable, they're also bad-ass war heroes who put their lives on the lines for our country. Three cheers for doggies!

The Five Best 2015 Oscar Acceptance Speeches

Last nights Academy Awards ceremony was a predictable affair, with great films like Selma, Whiplash and especially Boyhood not getting as many awards as they deserved. In the end, Birdman took home the Best Director and Best Picture award, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the film (I found it audacious, but lacking in substance) I'm glad something a bit more unorthodox won at least. But that doesn't mean there weren't highlights of the ceremony, especially when it came time for Everything Is Awesome to be performed!