What to Watch This Weekend: Without Remorse, Tu Me Manques, Golden Arm, Limbo, Mitchell vs. Machines, Nomadland, Guns Akimbo, Marijuana Conspiracy

For Michael B. Jordan Action: Without Remorse (Amazon)
Without Remorse is a good action movie made great by Michael B. Jordan, some exciting effects and sound, and a story with plenty of intrigue.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Powerful Love Drama: Tu Me Manques (Digital)

Tu Me Manques is a beautiful, bittersweet, and poignant look into love, the need to be yourself, and the homosexual stigma in Latino culture.  For more information, check out the review!

For An Over-the-Top Sports Comedy: Golden Arm (Theaters and Digital)

Golden Arm flexes its movie biceps with its over the top characters, fun cameos, and strong female protagonists, making for a golden opportunity for a good time!  For more information, check out the review! 

For A Subdued and Entertaining Refugee Drama: Limbo (Hulu)

Limbo uses its stylish, subdued cinematography and stoic performances to tell a poignant and utterly entertaining tale that both entertains, humanizes, and provides biting commentary about the refugee experience.  For more information, check out our review!

For A Hilarious Family Trip: The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Netflix)

The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a modern animated film, with a great use of memes and internet culture, laugh out loud moments, and a story that has #allthefeels.   For more information, check out the review!

For Those Longing To Go Outside: Nomadland (Redbox and Hulu)
Nomadland highlights a different, beautiful lifestyle with a very human performance by McDormand, amazing cinematography, and a wonderful sense of community.  For more information, check out the review!

For The Gamer In Your Life: Guns Akimbo (Amazon)

Guns Akimbo is a thoroughly enjoyable video game-style movie with a ridiculously entertaining premise and plenty of video game effects and references to make sure you don’t say game over.  For more information, check out our review!

For Those Looking For A Drama Based on A True Story: The Marijuana Conspiracy (Digital)
Critically panned but with good reviews, Kin is not a great movie, but it is an enjoyable science fiction film with some fresh new talent.  For more information, check out the review!

Screening: Watch The Mitchells vs. The Machines Early And Free

We have partnered with Netflix for a contest to see The Mitchells vs. The Machines early and free!  Winners will get to see this film 4 days early and you don't even need a Netflix account to watch it!   

Netflix will be hosting a virtual screening on Monday, April 26th at 6:00pm EST for Washington, DC area residents as part of a series of Regional Road Trip Premieres, as The Mitchell Family is taking a road trip of their own across the country!

There will be a pre-show that begins at 5:15pm EST with trivia games and a DJ playing music so viewers can have some fun together before the screening begins.

The Mitchells vs. The Machines

April 26, 2021

Pre-Show - 5:15 pm EST

Screening Starts - 6:00 pm EST

To enter for your chance to attend the screening, enter via the Rafflecopter below.  

Synopsis:

From the humans who brought you the Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and The LEGO Movie comes The Mitchells vs. The Machines, an animated action-comedy about an ordinary family who find themselves in the middle of their biggest family challenge yet…saving the world from the robot apocalypse. No big deal, right? It all starts when creative outsider Katie Mitchell is accepted into the film school of her dreams and is eager to leave home and find “her people,” when her nature-loving dad insists on having the whole family drive her to school and bond during one last totally-not-awkward-or-forced road trip. But just when the trip can’t get any worse, the family suddenly finds itself in the middle of the robot uprising! Everything from smart phones, to roombas, to evil Furbys are employed to capture every human on the planet. Now it’s up to the Mitchells, including upbeat mom Linda, quirky little brother Aaron, their squishy pug, Monchi, and two friendly, but simple-minded robots to save humanity.

 

Director: Mike Rianda

Writers: Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe

Producers: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kurt Albrecht

Voice Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Mike Rianda, Eric Andre, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Charlyne Yi, Blake Griffin, Conan O'Brien, Doug the Pug, Sasheer Zamata, Elle Mills, Alex Hirsch, Jay Pharoah

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ak5dFt8Ar0

The contest runs from now until tomorrow.  

Please include your full name and email address in the entry as I need that information to send out winner links.  If your full name is not in the form your entry will be ignored.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Mitchells vs. The Machines Review: A Genuinely Funny and Heartfelt Animated Crazy Family Trip

Release date: April 30, 2021
Running time: 113 minutes
Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Mike Rianda, Eric Andre, Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen
Written and Directed By: Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe

From the humans who brought you Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and The LEGO Movie comes The Mitchells vs. The Machines, an animated action-comedy about an ordinary family who find themselves in the middle of their biggest family challenge yet…saving the world from the robot apocalypse. It all starts when creative outsider Katie Mitchell is accepted into the film school of her dreams and is eager to leave home and find “her people,” when her nature-loving dad insists on having the whole family drive her to school and bond during one last totally-not-awkward-or-forced road trip. But just when the trip can’t get any worse, the family suddenly finds itself in the middle of the robot uprising! Now it’s up to the Mitchells, including upbeat mom Linda, quirky little brother Aaron, their squishy pug, Monchi, and two friendly, but simple-minded robots to save humanity. 

The Mitchells vs. The Machines comes from the same studio that brought you Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and it definitely shows in all the right ways.  The animation style is more on the cartoon side, but it still has aspects of the cell shading technology that made Into the Spiderverse look so unique.  The character's facial expressions can have hand drawn elements, and certain surfaces can have a cell-shaded look.  The characters don't have the comic book look that Into the Spiderverse had, but still have some pencil lines and other hand drawn aspects.  But the film also feels decidedly more modern than Into the Spiderverse, with an embrace of artistic and internet culture woven into the fabric of this film.  You have YouTube videos mixed into the film, memes popping up here and there, and asides with hand drawn, comic style images.  It gives the film both an artistic and a very internet age feel to it.  And the animation is also just plain beautiful, with some really great uses of color and lights to sell this modern family adventure.  

But after you notice the beautiful animation, you will notice that this film is just funny.  There are so many random laugh out loud moments in this movie that the whole family will love.  There are plenty of great jokes for the kids, but also plenty of humor that adults will be able to enjoy.  But on top of the humor, the film also has a lot of heart.  It deals with learning who you are but also appreciating what you have.  Amid the flashy chaos and funny humor, it has some scenes that are genuinely emotional and will make you hug those around you.  It is a really wonderful film that builds on a series of very good animated features.

And the movie also feels modern in that it has diverse characters but does not call attention to that aspect.  One of the characters is either gay or bisexual, but the film doesn't mention this at all other than having one character ask about their partner and if you are paying attention, you will hear that it is a person of the same gender.  It is a great touch and one that I really appreciated; gay and bisexual people are just is a part of our society now and the film did not need some big reveal to show this aspect of her character.  If there is any negative about this film, it is that the story is a long one.  For kids, it might be a little too long (not for my kids, they loved it, but some kids).  But that also gave me an excuse to spend more time with my family watching this film, and more time with this quirky family on screen!  

The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a modern animated film, with a great use of memes and internet culture, laugh out loud moments, and a story that has #allthefeels.

Watch it.

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The Mitchells vs. the Machines is available on Netflix on April 30, 2021.