Frozen

Last week, there was Catching Fire. Now for the opposite end of the weather spectrum as this is Disney's latest, Frozen. It's their version of The Snow Queen, sort of.

Princess Anna (Kristen Bell) of Arendelle is excited for her sister, Elsa (Idina Menzel). For so long, they've been shut out from the people by their late mother and father. Now, Elsa's going to be the Queen and they'll be shut out for no longer. She even meets Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) and falls for him. Things go wrong when Elsa accidentally reveals her hidden powers to create snow and ice to the people of Arendelle.

Elsa retreats to the mountains and blankets the entire Kingdom into winter. Anna decides to follow her to reason with her. Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) the mountain man, his reindeer Sven and Olaf the Snowman (Josh Gad) join her. It's not going to be easy, considering she has to get between her insecure sister and bad guys who want to kill her.

The film has many things going right for it. Songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez create some of the most memorable Disney songs since the early 90's. The instrumental score, by Christophe Beck, is equally memorable. Its artistic design, especially its snowy scenes, are also great.

It also helps to have an excellent cast of characters. Anna and Elsa are compelling and likable leads, even after the latter embraces her powers too much. Kristoff is also likable and so is Prince Hans, at first. The comic relief sidekicks, namely Sven and Olaf, are also much welcome. A minor villain, the Duke of Weaseltown ... Weselton (Alan Tudyk), was also enjoyable. 

Unlike most of the animated films this year, Frozen is better than OK. It's just great. As usual, whether you see it in 3D or Flatscreen is up to you. You're getting an amazing animated movie either way.

The film is preceded by a new Mickey Mouse cartoon, Get A Horse!, starring Walt Disney himself. It seems like a novelty feature, but its true nature was a pleasant surprise. It's a great opening to an already great feature.

Dallas Buyers Club

The only film I can remember from director Jean-Marc Vallée was the dull The Young Victoria. His latest, Dallas Buyers Club, ought to make me pay attention to his filmography now.

In 1985, Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is a good ol' boy with a bad attitude. He likes partying, gambling, women and to mock the plight of AIDS victims. When he himself is diagnosed with AIDS, he's left with thirty days to live. His good ol' buddies shun him, the experimental cure AZT is a mess and the only feasible treatments are illegal in the U.S.

Ron uses his know-how to acquire all these treatments. He forms the Dallas Buyers Club to share them with others for $400 bucks a month (chump-change compared to the annual costs of AZT). Ron's business partners are his doctor, Eve Saks (Jennifer Garner) and Rayon (Jared Leto), a transgender woman. But as business starts booming, Ron finds himself facing the very angry FDA.

McConaughey's performance as Ron Woodroof drives the film. It's all about him going from an initially amusing jerk into a selfless crusader for the rights of the sick. And it's a compelling character arc all the way through. His ghastly condition is made possible by good makeup work and extreme weight loss.

Leto is by far the most memorable of the supporting cast. As Rayon, he goes great with Ron because both try to act tough in the face of their insecurities. Their scenes together are great, as are Leto's scenes on his own.

The film's screenplay is a compelling look at these people and their world. I, for one, didn't even know about the health risks of AZT or much about it at all. It's a balanced look, as evidenced by the climactic scene in the San Francisco district court. In it, the Judge rules against the FDA's crackdown on Ron AND Ron's activities.

The real life Ron Woodroof died seven years after his diagnosis. This film is the story of how he survived longer than anyone anticipated. And it is a great story all the way through.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Last year, The Hunger Games got the world watching and invested in one of fiction's most ghastly competitions. Now, the next book of Suzanne Collins's series, Catching Fire, has its turn on the big screen.

Ever since she and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) bucked the system to allow themselves co-championship of The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has become a slave to PR. Folks in Panem have been rising up against their evil masters. So the evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland) wants her and Peeta to act like a couple for the masses. Otherwise, everyone they know will be slaughtered.

Still not satisfied, Snow ropes the two back into the next Hunger Games. This time, they'll face past winners of the death-sport competition. Fortunately, they find themselves with more people who want to join their side.

This sequel replaces director/co-writer Gary Ross with director Francis Lawrence, who brings with him Oscar-winning writers Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt. It feels slower than the first one, even though both are roughly 2 1/2 hours, but the story development is well-paced. One thing: most of the "established killers" Katniss and Peeta face are dispatched off-screen. None of them get to antagonize them.

Katniss and Peeta make for a great pair of lead characters; thanks to their actors, their chemistry is believable and enjoyable. Sutherland, meanwhile, makes for a really, really contemptible villain from his first minutes on-screen. The best of the new cast are Philip Seymour Hoffman as head of the Games and Jeffrey Wright and Jena Malone as two of the past winners.

There's plenty of great visual effects, costume and set design and music to go with this blockbuster. They should help keep fans and casual moviegoers glued to the screen for this installment. Mockingjay is the next book and it's going to be split into two movies throughout the next two years. I can already imagine the plot point where it splits; as for this one, it ends with a shocking plot twist.

12 Years a Slave

His last film was the NC-17 rated Shame. Now, director Steve McQueen adapts Solomon Northup's autobiography 12 Years a Slave. 

In 1841, Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a Freeman musician living in New York with his family. Two "upstanding gentlemen" offer him a job out of state which he accepts. The offer is a complete and utter scam; it's just a pretense to get Solomon sold into a lifetime of slavery.

Now named "Platt," Solomon is first sold to the kindly William Ford (Benedict Cumberbatch). He's then sold to the evil Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), where most of his 12 years are spent. One slave in particular, Patsey (Lupita Nyong'o), is the target of Mr. Epps's lust and Mrs. Epps's (Sarah Paulson) wrath. In spite of these injustices, Solomon tries to find the one chance to get himself to salvation.

The film succeeds because of Ejiofor's performance. In his first few minutes on-screen, Solomon is introduced as a likable, caring husband and father. He earns the audience's trust right away so they can feel righteous anger at his situation. And although others may consider him a pushover for accepting this cruelty, he's really a strong-willed man. His final freedom is beyond satisfactory; it is exhilarating.

Editor Joe Walker and cinematographer Sean Bobbitt emphasize the cruelty of Slavery with their contributions. They do this often with uninterrupted takes of slaves being subjected to cruelty. The makeup department headed by Ma Kalaadevi Ananda creates the unsettling results of these acts. The end result helps the audience hate the villains straightaway; it helps that they are portrayed by excellent actors.

12 Years a Slave is not an easy film to sit through. But it's still a great film about perseverance in the face of cruelty. It has earned its status as an Oscar front-runner for this reason.

Thor: The Dark World

The Avenger with the hammer is back.

Once again played by Chris Hemsworth, the mythical Marvel is the star of his own movie. This one is Thor: The Dark World, and its prospects are bright.

As he did in the first Thor, the mighty All-Father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) relates the tale of how some evil beings were vanquished long ago. These were the Dark Elves of Svartalfeim, led by the evil Malekith the Accursed (Christopher Eccelston). They tried to use the magical Aether stone to conquer all of existence, but they were thwarted by Bor, father of the All-Father himself.

The Aether stone was supposed to have been hidden away. But Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor's mortal crush, finds it and becomes its host. And now, the evil elves have come back looking for their Doomsday MacGuffin. Whether he likes it or not, Thor will have to team up with Loki (Tom Hiddelston) to save the day.

This sequel, directed by Alan Taylor, is a lot more fun than its predecessor. There's a more constant sense of humor here and it even appears during the fight scenes. A portal device the heroes intend to use on the Dark Elves instead frustrates Thor's fight against them in the funniest ways, for example.

Per the course with the Marvel films is its visual style. Its computerized visual effects are good, but some of the practical effects with the Elves were better. The makeup and costume design on them were quite unique, as was the interior of their spaceship.

At some points, you'll realize a few characters are too genre blind for their own good. I'm naming Odin the Prime Suspect. How many points you'll take off the film for this depends on how frustrated you get with it. For me, it took off a few points from this fine sequel. That's because the fun factor was more predominant than this.

Thor: The Dark World is in 3D and Flatscreen, as usual. You'll still get one of the best of the Marvel Studios movies either way.

Stay during the credits and you'll get a tease for Marvel's August release of Guardians of the Galaxy. Stay even further for something funnier.

Ender's Game

After twenty-eight years, writer/director Gavin Hood did what no one did before. And that was to make a film off of Orson Scott Card's career-making novel Ender's Game. Even if it did change parts of the story, it still gets its point across devastatingly clear.

In this far-off future, Earth was attacked by the Insectoid Aliens, the Formics. Only the sacrifice of their greatest pilot, Mazer Rackham, stopped the invasion. For the next fifty years, Earth has stood waiting for the Formics to return. And when they do return, they'll have their greatest weapon ready: child soldiers.

One of these child soldiers is Andrew "Ender" Wiggin (Asa Butterfield). Wiggin's strategy of dealing with school bullies, "beat them down and they'll never hurt me again" impresses Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford). So Graff decides to train Ender to lead child soldiers like him in simulation battles. Only then will they be ready to neutralize the Formic threat.

What makes the film quite watchable is Butterfield as Ender. This reluctant hero is capable of violence, but he never tries to justify what he did. In fact, when he does lash out, he's quite remorseful. When the novel's final twist plays out on-screen, we'll just be shocked as he is.

The film's visual effects are, pun somewhat intended, stellar. One of the best uses of them is the anti-gravity room where Ender and his fellow soldiers play their war-games. Who wouldn't want to play around in there? The film's production design uses physical sets as much as digital ones; both look cool. Its score by Steve Jablonsky is just as memorable as his work on Transformers.

Ender's Game is an involving story with great visuals. It lasts for 114 minutes and I wasn't bored once. It's not in 3D, so any price is worth it for this well-realized movie.