DISNEY+ GIVES JIM HENSON AN EMOTIONAL DOCUMENTARY WITH "IDEA MAN"

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - JIM HENSON IDEA MAN [2024] - Disney+ - Directed by Ron Howard. With personal notes from Rita Moreno, Frank Oz, Brian Henson, Dave Goelz, Fran Brill, Karen Prell, Jennifer Connelly and others.

Jim Henson was a passionate and dedicated artist who created an imaginary world of muppets that followed him his whole life. When he reached one plateau of success, he’d strive for another; never slowing down, never resting. This movie is a deep look into the man who brought us the humorous Kermit the Frog, the world of muppets, Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and many other puppet movies and shows that created a strong cult following of loyal fans young and old. 

THE GOOD - There was a on of never before seen footage of Jim Henson and his early family life. Many of his good, closest friends added their take on Henson’s rise in the entertainment industry. The documentary has the right pacing to keep you interested and the right artistic details to keep you  entertained with several good uses of animated story telling, show the step by step process in his creative footprints of bringing certain characters to life.

THE BAD -  Not that the film was rushed, but the documentary didn’t cover all of Henson’s creative works that touched pop culture, missing out on covering “Emmit Otter’s Jug Band Christmas” which was one of my personal favorites. IMO the movie could have been a little bit longer to cover those other shows that weren’t covered.

POST MORTEM - From life through to his death, Henson loved to entertain his family, friends, and fans. There was a lot humor and heart, tons of moment of deep emotion, including the painful loss of Henson at his death. It’s hard to believe that he is gone, but his work and his ideas continue on with the desire from his family. This was a touching, good documentary. Kudos to Ron Howard!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5 of 5 Stars)

"THIRTEEN LIVES" BRINGS DIRE MEASURES TO HEROIC THINKING [No Spoiler Review]

🎥🎞Movie Review🎞🎥 - THIRTEEN LIVES - Amazon Prime - PG13 - A movie directed by Ron Howard is literally a breathtaking "true to life" film about thirteen Thai soccer players who were trapped in a cave [during a pre-monsoon storm] for almost two weeks and were kept alive by remaining calm and being led by their young soccer coach who reassured them they would be saved, even though they had no food. The entire film was produced in Thailand, with a few scenes shot in England.

The movie has a semi-slow start, due to the language barrier where there is a bunch of closed captioning [which I detest], but once the movie hinted on the introductions of the characters soon to be in jeopardy, the movie got straight to the business at hand. Where I would have approached the story telling a little differently at the beginning; showing the soccer players side of seeing the waters rise around them in the caves, Howard brilliantly maneuvered the story telling to bring you to the main characters, led by Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell. Mortensen was at the top of his acting game again, but I was truly impressed by Farrell's new ability to morph into a different character, something I haven't ever seen him do in films before. Both leading characters were vulnerable to their inner fears of potential failure, but both gave each other strength through humor; something that I was exposed to during my time in the military.

Many of the supporting actors were "islanders" who had very little training in acting, but they presented their parts realistically; something that I'm sure that Howard had to work with to make presentable. The cinematography was simply, incredible. Sayombhu Mukdeeprom did a wonderful job capturing the tight quarters of diving through caves with turbulent currents, building the tension through some claustrophobic views.

As with any Howard film production, there's always a happy ending in every film he makes with a little loss to build up the climax, and this movie delivered it's punch in the plot with me sitting on the edge of the couch hoping all of the kids would all make it out alive. This being a film about true events, I am SO happy that Howard did not bend to Hollywood elitist and add a fictional female character who "stepped up" to save the day. Not one of his best films, but it's a film definitely worth watching.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [4 of 5 Stars]