I probably should have posted this about a week or so ago, but I’m just now getting to it. Honestly, I think I was a little bit too ambitious at the film festival this year. I took Friday, the first day of movies at the fest, off of work and made plans to see SEVEN movies. And I did. I saw all seven of them. It was less each day. I saw five on Saturday, five again on Sunday, and then I skipped the weeknights just to recover from my weekend! It really was a good weekend, though… I had a blast seeing what were mostly great movies. I was joined for most of the fest by my friend Haley and also by Michelle for a couple of movies. And then the following week I ended up getting sick, which I’m still recovering from. At any rate, I’m finally taking the opportunity to sit down and write about my experience. I thought I’d do my recap first, and then follow up with some blog post reviews of my faves. How’s that sound? So here we go… the fifteen movies I saw at Phoenix Film Festival 2016, along with their ratings. (I’m using a 4-star rating system, since that’s what they used for the audience votes during the fest.)

Hey, guess what?  I’m back!  I know, I know… here I go talking about how I’m going to blog more and then I disappear for an entire month.  But honestly, that is pretty much how long it has taken me to recover from Star Wars Celebration.  It was a blast, and yes, I will write about it.  But that will be hopefully later this week.  I want to get back to this whole  “Movie Mondays” idea.  It’s Monday, so I’m going to write a movie review.

Big Hero 6 is actually a film that I watched a while back, and really liked it, and I’ve wanted to post a review of it ever since, but just never quite got around to it.  Well, I ended up re-watching it the other day, so why not post a review of it now?  Perfect, right?

So, I know I had heard of Big Hero 6 when it was out in theaters.  And while I kind of wanted to see it, it just wasn’t high up on my list, so I never made it.  But I eventually got around to it once it came out on DVD.  And I ended up really, really liking it.

Honestly, Big Hero 6 is just one smart, fun little movie.  I’m still not entirely sure where the title comes from (feel free to explain it to me in the comments and make me feel stupid).  Big Hero 6 is about a kid that’s basically a genius, who really goes through some very tough stuff in life.  Then he finds some friends, a villain shows up, and adventure ensues.  Sounds like pretty much every other animated movie made recently, right?  Eh, yes and no.  Big Hero 6 is just more clever and interesting than most, at least in my book.

Then, there’s Baymax.  Honestly, Baymax steals the show in Big Hero 6.  I don’t want to describe too much what he is, because I don’t want to spoil too much of the movie for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet.  But let me just say this… it’s hard not to fall in love with Baymax.  We’ll just say, for now, that he’s basically a robot, but with a personality.  Heck, if I can compare to Star Wars (you can’t be surprised)… he’s a droid.  He’s cute, and simple, and funny.  And without him, this movie wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.  But you knew that by the movie posters, right?

I still feel like I’m not that great with movie reviews, but to sum up Big Hero 6… you have a decent story, fun characters that suck you in, and a (sort of) robot that will keep you laughing as well as cheering the heroes on until the end.  So if you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out soon if you can.  You won’t regret it.

Here it is, my last review for the Phoenix Film Festival. It was a fun ride, folks, as always. It’s always a blast to spend a few days basically watching really good films non-stop. I highly advocate everyone that likes movies at all to come out and join me next year. My friend Haley tagged along this year on Saturday and Sunday, and I think she had a really good time checking out the films with me.

Sleeping with Other People was the closing movie on Sunday night at the festival. There’s always a movie to close out the weekend, since that’s when the awards are given out and a lot of the filmmakers start heading back to their respective homes. While the festival technically goes on through Thursday, the rest of the week is basically a re-showing of the award winners and other good films from the weekend.

So, Sleeping with Other People. This movie stars some pretty big names like Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Natasha Lyonne, Amanda Peet, and Adam Scott. And first of all, I have to admit that I spent the better part of the movie building up a pretty big movie star crush on Jason Sudeikis. His character comes off as a pretty likable guy (even in a movie called Sleeping with Other People), and he plays him pretty darn well. Makes me wonder what the guy is like in real life… is he actually this cool for real?

Let’s talk about the plot. Sleeping with Other People is kind of a more modern retelling of When Harry Met Sally. A guy and a girl meet in college (admittedly under some somewhat strange circumstances), have sex – well, actually lose their virginity to each other, and then don’t see each other for years. When they run into each other on the street one day, they end up becoming best friends. And then trying to maintain that friendship.  You can kind of guess what happens from there.

Although you know how Sleeping with Other People will likely end, it’s still quite a fun ride. And pretty freaking hilarious along the way. I ended up reading some comments about the film on other review sites, and one word I kept seeing about it was “charm”. Yep, that’s a good thing to say about this movie. It definitely has its charm. Predictable, yes, but also just a cute, fun ride. It’s nothing too deep, and honestly When Harry Met Sally did do the “guys and girls can’t be friends” bit much better, but what other movie are you going to see where a guy shows a girl (using his finger and a jar, no nudity needed) how to pleasure herself, and actually has some good tips?

If you’re a fan of romantic comedies, Sleeping with Other People I’d recommend.  You won’t have to think too deep about relationships, but you will get quite a few laughs in.