Evil_Herbivore

Full disclosure: I watched Drones pretty much knowing what to expect. As a long time fan of The Thrilling Adventure Hour I'm well acquainted with Acker & Blacker's style of writing. So it's no wonder that I found the movie highly enjoyable.

The writing is just brilliant, creating a dialogue-driven story about aliens AND office romance at the same time. The absurd sci-fi elements are interwoven with the mundane problems of office workers dealing with their daily tasks and messy personal lives. There's no big action scenes and yet the movie keeps the viewer engaged the whole time.

The cast is also quite perfect. Jonathan M. Woodward is great in the main role, and as already mentioned in many other reviews, he channels Bill Murray wonderfuly. Samm Levine and Angela Bettis as the aliens - each from a different race - are both brilliant and a pleasure to watch. It's also great that the movie features a number of actors I loved in the Thrilling Adventure Hour, including James Urbaniak, Marc Evan Jackson, and a voice appearance by the one and only Paul F. Tompkins.

All in all, Drones is a tiny little gem that is easy to overlook due to its comparatively low budget and action which is much slower than in blockbuster sci-fi movies. But anyone who enjoys witty comedy with a touch of slice-of-life truth about the human condition will surely find it a really enjoyable watch.

There is a huge number of television series dealing with time travel. Some are more action-oriented, some are comedies, some are dramas. Most of them are sci-fi, with a minority being more of a fantasy story. The choice is really big and yet it is hard to find a series that would be truly enticing from the very first episode right to the show finale. And then there is The Ministry of Time, which does just that.

The premise is quite simple: Spain has a secret Ministry of Time, which guards the country's history by using special doors leading to different places in different eras (but always only within whatever Spanish borders were in a particular era). Whenever history is in peril, the Ministry sends a group of agents to protect it. We follow the adventures of one such group, consisting of a 16th century warrior, a 19th century feminist (and Spain's first female university student), and a 21st century paramedic.

The stories told in the series are a perfect mix of all the ingredients I mentioned before. We get a lot of adventure, some mystery and intrigue, some comedy and some drama. Some episodes are more comedic in nature, while others are more dramatic and focus on characters' development and relationships. The acting is always wonderful, whether we are following a man dealing with the loss of his wife, a boss trying to do his best in the most dramatic situations or a nosy secretary who serves as the series' comic relief. In the later seasons new characters are introduced and they are always distinct and interesting, with their own motivations and personality.

Another aspect worth mentioning - and one of the things I liked the most about the show - is that it allows the viewer to learn a lot about Spanish history. We witness a diverse collection of historical events, sometimes touching painful moments in the country's history (e.g. Spain's involvement in the slave trade or Franco's fascist rule). It is truly refreshing to see things from a perspective that is not American or British.

To sum up, I would recommend The Ministry of Time to anyone who enjoys good TV. It is a rollercoaster of emotions, often going from funny to dramatic in mere minutes, with great characters and intriguing plots. And it is also a brilliant history lesson, told from a less known perspective of a non-English speaking country.

Howard is a biography of Howard Ashman, telling the story of his life from his childhood telling stories to his baby sister to his acting days to finding huge success writing lyrics for Disney animations to his death from AIDS at the age of 40. Having seen a number of biographical documentaries I was expecting another pretty boring piece presenting a collection of facts concerning one man's life (especially considering the fact that lately I don't have the best opinion about Disney). What I got was a pretty extraordinary portrait of an incredible artist.

The thing that first comes to mind when I think about my feelings after watching the movie is how tender it was in talking about Ashman. We see him as a talented actor, a gifted storyteller, a genius lirycist, and later as a man hiding his disease and trying to reconcile the fact that he is dying, but even when his most diva-like moments are discussed, it is always in a caring tone. It is really moving seeing how many people where touched by Ashman's life and work.

Secondly, the movie is a great treat for any fan of musical theatre. A lot of insight into Ashman's creative process is given, both when looking at his early career writing for theatre, and at his later work on Disney movies. A number of people who worked with him talk about their experiences, discussing different issues connected with creation process of both theatre and movies. We also see how Disney animation classics The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin came to be, which should interest any fan of both musicals and cinema in general.

Thirdly, it is impossible to talk about Howard without talking about the AIDS crisis. It's like a dark, ominous presence haunting the viewer throughout the whole movie, as during the first three minutes we are made aware of how the story ends. In this respect Howard can be seen as a document of the dark times when AIDS was claiming thousands of lives every month and bigotry and homophobia were so rampant that Ashman felt it necessary to hide the fact that he was sick untill the last possible moment.

To sum up, the movie is beautifully tender and deeply touching. It is in a big part about Ashman's tragic premature death and the feeling of emptiness and loss it created for many people, but most of all it is a celebration of his life and work. I would recommend watching it to anyone who likes good and moving movies.