tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12537404493163786162024-03-05T13:32:49.635-05:00Recently Viewed MoviesThis blog features reviews on movies I have recently viewed.RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-26319188301406180082014-03-31T23:48:00.004-04:002014-04-02T20:23:49.833-04:00Films I am looking forward to in 2014Keeping up my tradition from last year, here are some films I'm looking forward to in 2014. This list is not comprehensive and in no particular order, but simply twenty movies coming out this year that I'm interested in right now.<br />
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<i><br />The Lego Movie</i><br />
I loved playing with Legos as a kid and this movie has been getting rave reviews with an astounding 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. If that isn't enough, <i>The Lego Movie</i> was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, creators of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, <i>Clone High</i>!<br />
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<i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</i><br />
While I'm looking forward to all future Marvel Studios movies, this is the one I'm most excited about other than <i>Avengers: Age of Ultron</i>. Although the recent films in this series have been getting more fantastical, <i>The Winter Soldier </i>looks like the most grounded Marvel Studios movie since <i>Iron Man</i>. Nick Fury and Black Widow seem to play crucial roles from the trailers and this is looking like what I wanted from The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show. Marvel has billed <i>The Winter Soldier</i> as a political thriller so it seems that this comic book movie will bring something new to the genre. I'm also hoping for some WWII flashback scenes as I loved the retro style of <i>Captain America</i>.<br />
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<i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i><br />
The Marvel Studios movies will show their full range this year as <i>Guardians of the Galaxy </i>heads in the opposite direction of <i>The Winter Soldier</i> by showcasing the cosmic aspects of the Marvel universe. I'm guessing that <i>Guardians of the Galaxy </i>will help set up Thanos for Avengers 3. Like the general public, I don't know anything about the comics this movie is based on. However, the trailers make this look like a lot of fun and Marvel Studios hasn't disappointed so far. If Marvel Studios can pull off a talking raccoon and giant tree guy then they can pull off anything, even Ant-Man!<br />
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<i><br />X-Men: Days of Future Past</i><br />
I don't think that the <i>X-Men</i> films get enough credit for popularizing superhero movies. Sure the first <i>Spider-Man</i> movie made more money (and had a bigger budget), but without the success of <i>X-Men</i> (2000) setting a precedent it's possible that things may have played out differently. It's also important to keep in mind the serious tone of <i>X-Men</i>, which opens with a scene at a concentration camp, just three years after the goofy <i>Batman & Robin</i>. While I haven't seen the X-Men trilogy in a while, I liked them a lot at the time. I also thought <i>X-Men: First Class </i>was very good and made up for the disappointing <i>X-Men: Origins Wolverine</i>. <i>X-Men: Days of Future Past </i>will use time travel to bring the older and younger casts together. I think this is a great idea (though maybe should've been saved for the final movie in this new trilogy) and can't wait to see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen together again as Professor X and Magneto.<br />
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<i>The Hobbit: There and Back Again</i><br />
I've read the book and seen the first two Hobbit movies, so of course I want to see the final part of this film trilogy, which will also be Peter Jackson's last adventure in Middle-earth. It will be interesting to see what is added this time as there isn't much material from the book left to cover.<i> </i><br />
<i><br />Godzilla</i><br />
I'm not too familiar with Godzilla but the trailers for this movie look fantastic and don't give away much. I was impressed with the visuals and tone and hope this movie will be as good as advertised. I might miss the <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> music used in the trailers though.<br />
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<i><br />The Raid 2: Berandal</i><br />
I liked <i>The Raid</i> and am interested in the sequel. It looks like <i>The Raid 2 </i>has a bigger budget, story, and scope so I think this movie has what it takes to be a good sequel.<br />
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<i>Muppets Most Wanted</i><br />
I liked <i>The Muppets</i> and am looking forward to the next one. While <i>The Muppets</i> was a "getting the band back together" movie with a plot reminiscent of <i>The Muppet Movie</i>, its follow-up <i>Muppets Most Wanted</i> seems to be a throwback to <i>The Great Muppet Caper</i>. <br />
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<i>Interstellar</i><br />
Now that I'm done with the franchise movies and sequels, it's time to get to the original films. <i>Interstellar</i> is the next film from director Christopher Nolan and will be released this November. Not much is known about the story other than that it deals with space travel, a topic Nolan hasn't covered yet. Now that we live in a post-<i>Gravity</i> world Nolan will have to step up and deliver a great film about space but I'm sure he's up for the challenge. <i>Interstellar </i>stars Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, and of course, Michael Caine.<br />
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<i><br />Transcendence</i><br />
Christopher Nolan's usual cinematographer, Wally Pfister, will make his directorial debut this year with <i>Transcendence</i>. Although the concept of uploading a human mind to a computer has been done before, it's particularly relevant in today's world with constant advances in technology. Besides Johnny Depp, <i>Transcendence </i>also<i> </i>stars Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy, who Pfister worked with on Christopher Nolan's Batman movies.<br />
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<i>Birdman</i><br />
No, this is not a movie based on the Hanna-Barbera Birdman cartoon or the Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. <i>Birdman </i>is a comedy film starring Michael Keaton as an actor best known for playing a superhero as he tries to star in a Broadway play. Keaton is famous for portraying Batman so it'll be interesting to see how <i>Birdman </i>plays off of that.<br />
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<i>Killing Hasselhoff</i><br />
<i>Birdman</i> is not the only comedy meta film coming out this year! <i>Killing Hasselhoff </i>is about a down on his luck man whose only chance at fixing his life is to have David Hasselhoff killed in order to win half a million dollars in a celebrity death pool. Hasselhoff stars as himself!<br />
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<i>The Imitation Game</i><br />
Benedict Cumberbatch has been all over Hollywood recently and this movie
could deliver his first Oscar nomination. The script for <i>The Imitation Game </i>came
out on top of the Black List (best unproduced screenplays) in 2011 and
quickly ignited a bidding war eventually won by The Weinstein Company
for $7 million. <i>The Imitation Game </i>stars Cumberbatch as Alan
Turing and tells the true story of how he helped break Nazi Germany's Enigma code but was later convicted by his (British) government for
being a homosexual.<br />
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<i><br />Foxcatcher</i><br />
Another movie based on real events, <i>Foxcatcher </i>is about Olympic wrestling gold medalist Mark Schultz and how his brother and fellow Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz was killed by Olympic sponsor John Eleuthère du Pont in 1996. It'll be interesting to see how Steve Carell and Channing Tatum will do in dramatic roles.<br />
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<i>Chef</i><br />
Jon Favreau rose to prominence after directing the<i> </i>first two Iron Man flicks but his last movie was the lackluster <i>Cowboys & Aliens</i> in 2011. <i>Chef </i>proves to be very different from his recent films as it's about a chef who decides to start a food truck business after losing his restaurant job while also trying to get his family life sorted out. <i>Chef </i>will star Favreau as the lead and also features Sofia Vergara, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, and John Leguizamo. <br />
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<i>The Judge</i><br />
The other Robert Downey Jr. movie before <i>Avengers: Age of Ultron</i>, <i><i>The Judge </i></i>is about a lawyer (Downey) who returns home to attend his mother's funeral. However, while back in his home town he finds out that his father, the town judge played by Robert Duvall, is suspected of murder.<br />
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<i>Frank</i><br />
I've been looking forward to <i>Frank</i> since I first saw the above photo from this movie. What I didn't know until recently is that the film is partly inspired by real life musician Chris Sievey. <i>Frank </i>also incorporates on-screen tweets instead of a voice-over. The more I hear about this odd-ball movie, which stars Michael Fassbender and Maggie Gyllenhaal, the more I want to see it.<br />
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<i>The Grand Budapest Hotel</i><br />
I've been meaning to watch a Wes Anderson film but simply haven't gotten around to it yet. <i>The Grand Budapest Hotel </i>may be a good place to start as it has an all-star cast and has been receiving rave reviews. <br />
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<i>Big Eyes</i><br />
Tim Burton has almost become a parody of himself in recent years in that
he's been directing the movies everyone would expect him to make.
However, <i>Big Eyes </i>seems to be a far cry from <i>Dark Shadows</i> and <i>Alice in Wonderland</i> as it's a biographical film about artist Margaret Keane. <i>Big Eyes </i>focuses
on Keane's success as a painter as well as her legal battle with
husband and fellow artist Walter Keane. Burton hasn't done a biopic
since <i>Ed Wood</i> so hopefully this will be a return to form for him. <br />
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<i><br />Under the Skin</i><br />
Although the basic plot for this movie sounds like <i>Species</i> (an alien takes the form of a beautiful woman to seduce men who are later killed), <i>Under the Skin </i>is actually based upon the novel of the same name by Michel Faber. Despite my comparison to <i>Species</i>, it seems that <i>Under the Skin</i>
goes in a different direction and is more serious. Parts of this movie
were unscripted and feature non-actors so it'll be interesting to see
how that experiment works. <i>Under the Skin</i> stars Scarlett Johansson as the main character, a sexy alien.<br />
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<b>Bonus 2015 movies:</b><i><br />Avengers: Age of Ultron</i><b><i><br /></i></b>It's the sequel to <i>The Avengers</i><b> </b>and the first Marvel Studios movie of 2015. 'Nuff said!<br />
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<i>Mad Max: Fury Road</i><br />
Last year I put the fourth Mad Max film in my bonus movies for 2014 section. However, <i>Mad Max: Fury Road</i> got pushed back again and is currently looking at a May 2015 release. The various delays are worrisome but I trust director George Miller. Hopefully a trailer will come out later this year and we'll get our first look at Tom Hardy in the title role. <br />
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<i>Crimson Peak</i><br />
2015 is gearing up the be the "year of the franchise" even with the Batman vs. Superman movie being pushed back to 2016. However, there will still be plenty of original movies coming out next year. <i>Crimson Peak</i>, described as a "gothic horror story," is the next film from director Guillermo del Toro and will star Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, and Mia Wasikowska. <i><br /></i>RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-37251089447279806992014-03-06T16:57:00.001-05:002014-03-12T16:56:12.245-04:00The 86th Academy Awards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I would've liked to have done a post on this year's Oscar
nominations back when they were announced but had to focus on getting caught up instead. It also doesn't help that, yet again, I didn't see a
ton of movies that came out in 2013. One year I'd like to see all the Best Picture
nominations before the awards. The 86th Academy Awards took place on March 2, 2014. This was a week later than usual due to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.</div>
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I missed most of the last two award shows so the last one I watched in full was the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27th 2011 which was hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco. I'm not familiar with Ellen DeGeneres outside of knowing who she is, but I thought she was fine and certainly performed better than Hathaway and Franco did. I think Ellen was a safe pick but it worked out as her show had a better reception than Seth MacFarlane's hosting duties last year.<br />
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While a pizza delivery and the 'selfie' seen around the world may have
been surprises, the awards pretty much lined up to what I thought would
win. I didn't expect Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, <i>20 Feet from Stardom</i>, or <i>Her</i> to win their awards but predicted everything else.<br />
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I only saw eight 2013 films so I'm going to do a brief run down of what I saw and how they did at the Oscars. <i>Gravity</i>,
which I felt the best film of what I saw last year, took home the most
awards with seven out of ten total nominations. A technical masterwork, <i>Gravity</i>
certainly deserved the attention of the Academy, winning such awards as
Best Director (Alfonso Cuaron) and Best Cinematography (Emmanuel
Lubezki). I'm glad Lubezki finally won his first Oscar since he was
previously nominated five times and always came up empty. Despite
receiving the most awards, <i>Gravity</i> was unable to win the big one, Best Picture, which went to <i>12 Years a Slave</i>. <i>American Hustle</i> matched the ten nominations of <i>Gravity</i>
but didn't win a single award. Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence
have recently won Oscars and with the stiff competition I wasn't
surprised <i>American Hustle</i> was left out in the cold. That said, I still thought
it would win something due to its sheer number of nominations. Given the
circumstances I wouldn't say the film was snubbed, but I felt <i>American Hustle</i> was certainly deserving of some wins.<br />
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Besides <i>Gravity</i> and <i>American Hustle</i> the rest of the most I saw didn't get many nominations, though this was to be expected. <i>The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug</i> received three nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing but lost out to <i>Gravity</i> in each category. <i>The Desolation of Smaug </i>did a great job in all of those areas, but had no chance against <i>Gravity</i><i>.</i> <i>Gravity</i> not only had revolutionary visual effects but also looked amazing on a relatively low budget ($100 million) given the film's huge scope.<br />
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I would've liked to have seen <i>The Desolation of Smaug </i>get a
nomination for Best Production Design but it was a very tough category
this year. I don't understand why the film didn't get nominated for Best
Makeup and Hairstyling as there were only three nominations, two of
which were <i>The Lone Ranger</i> and <i>Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa</i>. The previous Hobbit film, <i>An Unexpected Journey</i>, had nominations in both these categories but like its sequel was unable to win anything.</div>
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<i>Iron Man 3</i> got a nomination for Best Visual Effects. Like <i>The Desolation of Smaug </i>it was deserved but no contest when compared to <i>Gravity</i>. <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> also received a nomination in this category. I thought the movie had good special effects but they didn't blow me away. I was disappointed that <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> and <i>The Lone Ranger</i> (which to be fair I'm judging only by the trailers) were recognized here but <i>Pacific Rim</i> (which also had top notch production design) was unable to score a nomination. <i>Thor: The Dark World</i> (which had better visuals and production design than I was expecting) and <i>Man of Steel</i> didn't get any Oscar nominations which was no surprise. Still, they would've be decent choices in the Visual Effects category since <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> and <i>The Lone Ranger </i>did get nominations there.<br />
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It wouldn't be an Academy Awards post without discussing the Razzie awards! The winners of the 34th Golden Raspberry Awards were announced the day before the Oscars. <i>Grown Ups 2</i> received the most nominations with nine but got shutout. The dubious prize of Worst Picture went to the sketch comedy <i>Movie 43</i> which tied M. Night Shyamalan and Will Smith's <i>After Earth </i>with three award wins. I'd still like to see a version of the Razzies that includes non-Hollywood movies so stuff like <i>The Room</i> or <i>Birdemic</i> would have a shot!<br />
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Fun fact: Now that Matthew McConaughey has won an Oscar, the two leads of <i>Reign of Fire</i> (the other being Christian Bale) are now Academy Award winners. Does this mean Gerard Butler has an Oscar win in his future?!RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-31194494815900871152014-03-02T23:36:00.002-05:002014-03-12T21:19:12.597-04:00Gravity (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Gravity</i> (2013)<br />
My favorite movie released in 2013 is <i>Gravity</i>. I only saw eight theatrically released films in 2013 but was lucky to see two Best Picture nominations (the other being <i>American Hustle</i>).<br />
<i>Gravity </i>is an amazing cinematic experience. I'm sure it will look good on Blu-ray but see it in IMAX 3D if you still can. The IMAX 3D experience is immersive and will make you feel like you left Earth. It's also stressful to watch at times, especially on a first viewing!<br />
<i>Gravity</i> had a $100 million budget which for this type of movie
isn't as much as you would expect. They certainly got their money's
worth as <i>Gravity </i>is an incredible piece of filmmaking with fantastic visual effects.<br />
The excellent cinematography is from Emmanuel Lubezki, who finally won his first Oscar this year for <i>Gravity</i>. I was impressed with Lubezki's work on <i>The Tree of Life</i> and he knocked another one out of the park here. Lubezki frequently works with Terrence Malick and Alfonso Cuarón and has also been the director of photography for Tim Burton (<i>Sleepy Hollow</i>) and the Cohen Brothers (<i>Burn After Reading</i>). Somehow he worked on <i>The Cat in the Hat</i> so I guess the cinematography was the least of that movie's problems!<br />
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<i>Gravity</i> is the second movie I've seen from director Cuarón, the first being <i>Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban</i>. I know that I saw <i>A Little Princess</i> as a kid but don't really remember it. I still need to get around to seeing <i>Children of Men</i> at some point.<br />
Both leads, Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone and George Clooney as veteran astronaut Kowalski, do a good job. Clooney is likeable and witty while Bullock does a nice job portraying a vulnerable scientist trying to survive her first space mission.<br />
Stone's backstory of having a daughter who died didn't work for me. I think this could've been replaced with something that would have enhanced the themes of isolation and survival in a better way or perhaps simply been cut altogether.<br />
<i>Gravity </i>is not really science fiction as there are no aliens or advanced technology. The film is still in the realm of speculative fiction but more of a thriller set in space. <br />
If you want to know my thoughts on how <i>Gravity</i> did at the Oscars then read my post on the 86th Academy Awards.<br />
9/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-37812026690931970412014-03-01T23:01:00.002-05:002014-03-12T20:12:33.359-04:00American Hustle (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />American Hustle</i> (2013)<br />
This is the first movie I've seen from director David O. Russell and the final 2013 film I watched in a theater. <i>American Hustle </i>begins with the disclaimer "some of these things happened." I thought this was a good idea since it allows the film to use the true events (Abscam) as a starting point and tell the story in the most interesting way possible. I don't have a problem with films based on historical events doing this, as long as they state it up front like <i>American Hustle. </i>Most films based on true stories make changes anyway so it was nice to see a film, about con men no less, be honest about it. Plus this encourages people to find out more about the real people and events, which is always a good thing.<i> </i><br />
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The acting was great all around from the four leads to the supporting cast. Comedian Louis C.K. only has a minor role but steals every scene he is in. There's a fantastic surprise cameo which I didn't know about coming into the movie. I won't spoil it so you'll have to watch the film to find out who it is! There are a good amount of main characters but I thought they were all handled well, not just in regard to acting but also with the writing and their roles in the story. Jeremy Renner was fantastic as Mayor Carmine Polito and deserved an Oscar nomination even though he didn't get as much screen time as Christan Bale or Bradley Cooper. <i>American Hustle</i> became only the 15th film to score Oscar nominations in all four acting categories. Check out my post on the 86th Academy Awards for my thoughts on how <i>American Hustle</i> fared at the Oscars.<br />
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When I first saw the trailer for <i>American Hustle </i>I was very interested in the film but thought it looked like the characters were playing 1970s dress-up. While the clothes and hairstyles of the main characters are over the top, even for the period, it's there to hammer home the themes of the film. These con artists are affiliated with government agents in exchange for their freedom, but still must make use of fakery and deception, often on multiple levels and in several different ways.<br />
I was talking to somebody about the film and they mentioned "the villain." I stopped to think for a moment then asked who they thought the villain was because I didn't think this movie had one. The person viewed Bradley Cooper's character, Richie DiMaso, as the bad guy but I didn't see it that way. DiMaso is a government agent who doesn't have a great life and tries to turn nabbing a pair of con artists (Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser, played by Christian Bale and Amy Adams respectively) into improving his career and living a glamorous life. DiMaso is blinded by the pursuit of these goals as he is willing to stoop to entrapment to bust politicians, even honest ones. DiMaso's work with the con men is a form of escapism as he gets to leave his world (he lives with his shrill mother and has a fiancée only to make her happy) to work with the con artists. We see how eager DiMaso is when he keeps trying to skip to the climax of his boss's ice fishing story and therefore never gets to hear how it ends. DiMaso thinks he can hang with the big boys and take down anyone, con man, politician, or gangster. However, DiMaso may not have the amount of control he thinks he has over these convicted con artists and finds himself way out of his league. Since Irving and Sydney are our protagonists I guess DiMaso could be considered an antagonist, but he is on their side for most of the film.<br />
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Russell's directing is very good and there is also some nice cinematography, such as the dry cleaning scenes. While watching <i>American Hustle </i>I could definitely see the influences of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino. I could also hear the influences since like many Scorsese and Tarantino films, <i>American Hustle</i> has an awesome soundtrack! If there was an Oscar for best soundtrack made of up previously recorded songs <i>American Hustle </i>would easily win that category with its mix of great 70s songs from different genres such as pop, rock, R&B, and disco.<i><br /></i>Just before the movie began I looked around the theater and noticed the audience was a full house and made up mostly of senior citizens. <i>American Hustle</i> had already been out about a month so the packed house was a bit of a surprise, though to be fair this was around the time the Oscar nominations were announced. I expected the audience to be older, especially with a late afternoon showing, but not mostly made up of people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. Most of these people were older than I am now back when this movie takes place! <i><br /></i><i><i>American Hustle</i></i> has a running time of 138 minutes and while watching the film it felt even longer. I mean this in a good way though since I was never bored and always interested in what would happen to the characters. <i>American Hustle </i>seems like it would hold up on multiple viewings and I look forward to watching it again.<br />
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Fun Facts:<br />Before <i>American Hustle</i>, the last film to receive Oscar nominations in all four categories was David O. Russell's movie from the previous year, <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i>. But before <i>Silver Linings Playbook</i> this hadn't happened since <i>Reds </i>(1981). Besides <i>American Hustle</i>, the only films to have been nominated in all Oscar categories but not win any are <i>Sunset Boulevard</i> (1950) and <i>My Man Godfrey</i> (1936). None of these films won Best Picture either, with <i>My Man Godfrey</i> not even being nominated in that category.<br />
9/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-3664437392294477052014-02-27T23:10:00.001-05:002015-08-18T11:08:08.300-04:00The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug</i> (2013)</div>
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I wrote about my background on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in my post on <i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey </i>so I'm just going to jump right into this one and keep things fairly short. I found <i>The Desolation of Smaug </i>to be an improvement over the first. However, this is mostly because the characters and story are now set up and more fun by this point. </div>
Unlike the first Hobbit movie, I watched <i>The Desolation of Smaug </i>in the theater in IMAX 3D with the 48 frames per second frame rate. Overall I thought it was a great, immersive experience. I can see why some people didn't like the look of the 48 fps as it does kinda have a shot on video feel and exposes the makeup a bit. I don't think that 48 fps will ever catch on for all movies as it simply isn't meant for that. There is no reason a Will Ferrell movie needs the high frame rate! However, for a film like this one on a big scope with a lot of outside landscape shots the 48 fps generally looks magnificent and the pros outweigh the cons. <br />
The film's action and visual effects are excellent. My favorite scene was the barrel sequence which besides looking great flowed well and had nice choreography. <br />
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Other than the barrel scene, another standout moment for the special
effects is Smaug the dragon. Smaug is brought to life by Benedict
Cumberbatch who did a nice job not only voicing the character but also
performing the motion capture for the role.
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If you still can't get past the fact that Peter Jackson's Hobbit films are more prequels to his LOTR movies than an adaptation of the book, <i>The Desolation of Smaug </i>won't win you over. There is a love story added for the movie which involved one of the dwarves and a female elf. Although this subplot is unnecessary and could've been cut, I actually thought it worked well and fit naturally with the story. It also helped tie in the elves to this movie more which makes sense given the stronger connection to LOTR the Hobbit movies have when compared to the books. <br />
The decision to make three movies out of The Hobbit is still a stretch but the pacing is better this time around. That said, <i>The Desolation of Smaug </i>leaves the story off near the end of the book. I guess this means we'll see a lot more of the final battles and there will be more added material in the next one. The final part of this film trilogy, <i>The Hobbit: There and Back Again</i>, comes out in December 2014.<br />
7/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-42410449822943511222014-02-26T23:43:00.002-05:002014-03-04T00:44:57.931-05:00Thor: The Dark World (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Thor: The Dark World</i> (2013)<br />
As I wrote in my <i>Iron Man 3</i> review I am a fan of the Marvel Studios movies. My least favorite movie of the series was <i>Thor</i> so I wasn't too excited about this one. I held out hope that <i>Thor: The Dark World</i> would be an improvement over the original but found it to be a lateral move. Director Alan Taylor has mostly done TV work but I guess his Game
of Thrones credits helped get him this job. The only other
thing I've seen from Taylor was the pilot for the TV show The Playboy
Club. I didn't care for it but thought the premise could've made for a
good movie. Taylor's next film will be <i>Terminator: Genesis</i>.<br />
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The best part of <i>Thor: The Dark World</i>, like the first Thor movie, is Loki. Tom Hiddleston puts in yet another dynamic performance as Loki and does a great job drawing from his background as a Shakespearean actor. It's kinda funny that Loki is a more interesting and nuanced character than Thor, who is supposed to be our main character. But since Loki has been portrayed so well I can't really complain about this. I'm also not sure if there was much more to the Thor character in the comics as I have never read them. While Chris Hemsworth has a nice presence as Thor, he's not the greatest actor. However, he has a good chemistry with Hiddleston and their scenes together are not just the best in the movies of some of highlights of the entire franchise. Thor's companions, the Warriors Three along with Heimdall (Idris Elba) and Sif (Jaimie Alexander), get a bit more screen time in <i>The Dark World</i>. I particularly liked the scenes where they plan to break Loki out of prison and how each one kept telling Loki not to betray Thor, or else! I thought the humor worked in <i>Thor</i> and it's just as good this time around. Another strong point of the film are the stunning visuals ranging from the Aether to alien planets and even creative portal battles.<br />
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<i>The Dark World </i>has Loki and great production values but there are several flaws. The weakest part of the movie is the bad guy, the Dark Elf Malekith (Christopher Eccleston). Malekith's motivations aren't strong. He once battled Thor's grandfather, Bor, over a powerful weapon called the Aether. Bor defeated Malekith, gained the Aether, and hid it in safe place, but Malekith is able to escape into suspended animation. Malekith wakes up due to the release of the Aether and wants it back. Malekith doesn't even get that much screen time which is odd since he is supposed to be the main villain. We should've gotten to know this character and his motivations much better as it would've made the conflict and final battle more meaningful. <br />
The relationship between Thor and the human Jane Foster (Natalie
Portman) is phoned in again. It doesn't help that Portman is one of the
least convincing scientists I've ever seen in a movie. While Loki is
trying to discover who he is and what his place is in the universe,
Thor's biggest decision is whether his love interest should be Jane or
Sif. This brings in some conflict but is basically dropped as the story
progresses to include Loki more. <br />
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Also like in the original Thor movie, the scenes on Earth aren't as good as the Asgard and cosmic scenes. While it made sense for Thor to be on Earth a lot in the first movie, this time there is too much time spent on Earth that could've been used to play up the fantasy elements. <br />
Some people found Darcy (Kat Dennings) annoying in <i>Thor</i> but I thought she was fine as the comic relief and at the very least had more of a persona than Jane. This time I just didn't find her schtick funny except for one joke that was a callback to the first movie and the fact that she has her own intern despite being an intern herself. <br />
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<i>The Dark World </i>brings us a little more into the cosmic aspect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but not much is set up for Phase 2 outside of the after credits scene. I've been watching the TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and there was an episode, "The Well," which followed up on the events of <i>The Dark World</i>. I would've liked a stronger tie-in to the movie such as a cameo appearance but the Asgardian Beserker staff made for a cool MacGuffin.<br />
I don't need another Thor movie (honestly I'd rather have a solo Loki movie or give a new Marvel character a chance) but <i>Thor 3</i> was recently announced thanks to the success of the first two as well as the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. Next up for Marvel Studios is <i>Captain America: The Winter Soldier</i>, which will be released in April 2014.<br />
6/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-84727545512649797412014-02-25T23:56:00.000-05:002014-04-03T11:13:09.955-04:00Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Star Trek Into Darkness</i> (2013)<br />
As a Star Trek fan I was cautiously optimistic about <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i>. I liked the 2009 Star Trek reboot a lot when I first it in theaters but watched it a couple more times and enjoyed it less and less each time. I'm glad '09 Trek brought back the joyful optimism and fun of the original series but just wished it had more substance to it. I was hoping that the sequel would fix this problem now that the crew has been introduced but we still don't get much social commentary or philosophy here. I'm not asking for a dissertation, just something to think about while leaving the theater.<br />
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I didn't like the clunky title since it was first announced. I guess they wanted to avoid using numbers or the one
word subtitles of the Next Generation movies but is this really the best they could come up with? It also doesn't help that the acronym is close to both STD (sexually transmitted disease) and STI (sexually transmitted infection)!<br />
<i>Star Trek Into Darkness </i>was actually better than I expected and I liked it more than '09 Trek. The villain of this movie is much better than the over the top Eric "Fire everything!" Bana as Nero. I also liked how each main character had more to do this time around. I understand that this was partially because '09 Trek had to set up the characters but it was still nice to have Scotty do more than simply be comic relief. The opening scene felt like classic Trek to me and I would've liked to have seen more of it. I enjoyed this cast the first time around and thought they did a good job with the roles again. I particularly liked the addition of Peter Weller as Admiral Marcus, the father of Kirk's love interest, Carol Marcus. The Klingons are re-introduced and while I was glad to see them back instead of the Romulans yet again, I was not a fan of the re-design. It looked too CGI to me and if it ain't broke don't fix it. The planet Vulcan was destroyed in '09 Trek which I thought was interesting as it opened up a lot of new story telling possibilities. However, the idea is never followed up in this film other than a line from Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy does make a brief cameo, probably so his last movie didn't have to be <i>Transformers 3</i>!) about helping Vulcan survivors. I have a bad feeling that the destruction of Vulcan was not done as a commentary on attempted genocide or displaced persons but just because Alderaan blew up in <i>Star Wars</i> and to show that anything can happen in this new timeline.<br />
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Now it's time to get to the elephant in the room. By this point anybody who is a Star Trek fan and hasn't seen <i>Star Trek Into Darkness </i>yet probably knows that the villain of the movie is Khan from the original series episode "Space Seed" and <i>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</i>, one of my all-time favorite films. Unlike a lot of Star Trek fans, I had no problem with Khan being used in a reboot. In fact, I actually thought it could be a good idea as long as it was handled in a "what if" way. For instance, Khan could be discovered by a different Federation ship and then start to build up a new empire. This could shake things up in various ways by for example, causing a split in the Federation or making peace with the Klingons or starting a war with the Romulans. <i>Into Darkness </i>certainly does things different such as how Khan and Kirk interact as well as the lack of the Genesis device subplot. However, simply using Khan at all forces an unfair comparison. This isn't like when a comic book movie uses a well-known villain since Khan only has two canonical appearances while a character such as Joker for instance has had many incarnations over the years. <br />
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It also doesn't help that Khan is played by a white man when the character is supposed to Indian. Ricardo Montalban was not Indian either but first played the role in the 1960s when actors like him played a wide range of ethnic characters so it's understandable in that context. I don't think the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch was racist since the character is never referred to as Indian and really is a new character merely inspired by Khan. It seems to me that Cumberbatch was cast more for his marketability than fitting the role, even though he is a fine actor and does a good job here. Still, I don't know why somebody like Faran Tahir couldn't have played the part. Besides fitting the ethnicity of Khan, he is not unknown to audiences as was in <i>Iron Man</i> and even very briefly at the beginning of '09 Trek. I doubt that most viewers would've remembered him from the last film, and casting the same actor in different subsequent roles is nothing new for Star Trek. But what I really don't understand is why the marketing and movie go out of their way to make the reveal of Khan (who is referred to as "John Harrison" for half the film) a surprise. Maybe they were afraid of the fanboy backlash but if that was the case then why do it at all? I think this is just J.J. Abrams' mystery box at play but after all the buildup whatever is in the "box" will seem underwhelming no matter what.<br />
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I felt that <i>Into Darkness</i> was an improvement over the last one and had fun with it. But like '09 Trek it wasn't as memorable as other Star Trek movies, partially because it plays off of <i>Wrath of Khan </i>more than it tells a brand new story. I didn't have a problem with the callbacks as they usually changed things up from <i>Wrath of Khan </i>or other episodes/movies, but would've rather had something completely different than anything done before. I'm surprised that many Star Trek fans hated <i>Into Darkness</i> yet
had no problems with '09 Trek as the tone, style, and characters aren't
much different. If you couldn't accept Star Trek as a popcorn movie the
first time around then <i>Into Darkness</i> won't win you over. However, if you liked '09 Trek I think you will enjoy this one as well. I liked <i>Into Darkness </i>as a sci-fi action blockbuster. But as a Star Trek movie, like '09 Trek, it still misses the mark.<br />
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While there have been some very good Star Trek movies it really works best as a TV show and I hope to see it return to that medium at some point. In the meantime I just hope that the next Star Trek movie more evenly balances ideas and exploration with the action and villains. Many recent movies have tried to copy how <i>The Dark Knight</i> accomplished this but in the wrong ways ("dark" in the title, focus on the villain, etc.) instead of doing so in a unique and organic fashion like TDK did.<br />
Fun Fact: Two actors in this movie have voiced Batman (Bruce Greenwood and Peter Weller). We also have Robocop (Peter Weller), and Judge Dredd (Karl Urban).<br />
7/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-49478248687231219272014-02-24T23:58:00.000-05:002014-03-01T09:24:44.539-05:00Iron Man 3 (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Iron Man 3</i> (2013)<br />
As a fan of the Marvel Studios movie since I first saw <i>Iron Man</i> in the theaters in 2008, of course I was going to see <i>Iron Man 3 </i>the weekend it came out. <i>Iron Man 3 </i>was the first Marvel Studios movie to follow the huge 2012 blockbuster <i>The Avengers</i>
so even though it was highly anticipated, this was one of those movies
that was going to make a lot of money regardless of quality. <i>Iron Man 3</i> was the top grossing movie worldwide in 2013 (second in the USA behind <i>The Hunger Games: Catching Fire</i>) making over $1.2 billion internationally. Coming in to <i>Iron Man 3</i> I was just hoping it would be on par with <i>Iron Man 2</i>. <i>Iron Man 3</i> met my expectations, though the movie is pretty different than the last two films in both story and tone. <br />
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Jon Favreau directed the first two Iron Man movies but was replaced for <i>Iron Man 3</i> with Shane Black, who gives the film a noticeably different feel. I found this a refreshing change of pace as Black puts his own sense of style and humor into the picture. I found the comedy to be the film's strong point as I was already in stitches as soon as Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" started playing over the opening credits! Robert Downey Jr. is hilarious as usual in these movies with some great snappy dialogue. Downey tends to ad-lib a lot and there are some hilarious moments where he is basically riffing the movie with references to <i>A Christmas Story</i> and <i>Westworld</i>. I laughed more throughout this movie than I do for many straight-up comedies, though to be fair I tend to find humor can work better in non-comedies simply because it's not expected as much. There is more to <i>Iron Man 3 </i>than just comedy as there are some cool action sequences such as the "monkeys in a barrel" scene. It's also interesting to see Tony Stark out of the suit for the majority of the movie since he is Iron Man and the question is raised if he more than just a guy in powerful battle armor. This also allowed supporting characters Happy Hogan, Pepper Potts, and War Machine/Rhodey to be more involved with the story.<br />
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Besides directing <i>Iron Man 3</i>, Shane Black also has a writing credit on the film. I discovered that<br />
Black also worked on the screenplays for <i>The Monster Squad </i>and <i>Last Action Hero</i> which is evident in this one with the meta humor and way the kid (Harley played by Ty Simpkins) was handled. I liked the portrayal of the Mandarin and the tacked on kid sidekick as a satirical commentary on more serious superhero and action movies. I wonder if the Mandarin was intended as a parody of Ra's al Ghul and Bane in Christopher Nolan's Batman films. I'm guessing it was probably playing off them a little but was more of a riff on movie villains in general. Either way I liked the take on the Mandarin and thought it worked well here, but can see why fans of the Iron Man comics (which I never read) would've preferred a more traditional approach.<br />
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Despite the clever and witty writing there are some issues here. For example, what are Aldrich Killian's motivations? I understand his beef with Tony Stark but we're supposed to believe that he turned evil just because Stark, an idiosyncratic playboy, didn't show up for a meeting one time? I know this incident was supposed to be the last straw for Killian but it simply doesn't work. If we saw Killian pushed to the edge before meeting Stark or if he was truly wronged by Stark it would've been fine but it seems that he's only bad guy because that's what it says in the script. This is an odd incongruity given the meta stuff in the rest of the movie which you'd think would parody something like this. I'm guessing Killian came from the film's other writer (Drew Pearce) or they just ran out of time to develop Killian more.<br />
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I think the Iron Man trilogy may be a bit underrated as a whole since it is part of the Marvel Studios franchise and most people focus on the first one. I still think that the original <i>Iron Man</i> movie is the best of the three. To be fair though I need to re-watch that one as it's been a while since I've last seen it and I've watched the other two more recently. I had a ton of fun with <i>Iron Man 3</i> in the theaters and it held up a second time, which is great given the film's surprises and emphasis on humor. <i>Iron Man 3 </i>is neither as consistent as the first nor as thought provoking as the second, but despite some plot and pacing issues it's a still fun ride that is always entertaining<br />
It will be interesting to see how exactly Iron Man will come back for <i>Avengers: Age of Ultron</i> since <i>Iron Man 3 </i>felt like an ending story, especially with the montage over the closing credits.
Will Tony Stark return to the suit or contribute to the team in a
different way? We'll have to wait until May 2015 to find out.<br />
7/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-88440039933271667172014-02-23T23:42:00.004-05:002014-03-01T09:16:47.405-05:00Pacific Rim (2013)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Pacific Rim</i> (2013)<br />
Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite current directors. I still need to catch up with some of his earlier work as <i>Pacific Rim </i>is the third del Toro film I have seen with the others being <i>Pan's Labyrinth</i> and <i>Hellboy</i>.<br />
<i>Pacific Rim</i> is a great summer movie and I wish that more
blockbusters could be like it since it's a fun ride that knows what it is without ever getting cheesy or stupid. The film is about giant monsters that come to Earth from an interdimensional portal located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. These monsters, dubbed Kaiju, (as a throwback to the Japanese giant creature feature films such as Godzilla) begin attacking major cities. Humanity responds by building Jaegers, giant robot machines controlled by human pilots, to fight the Kaiju. The Jaegers are successful at first but eventually most are destroyed by the Kaiju which are increasing in size and number. The Jaeger project is discontinued, but the remaining Jaegers and their pilots must band together in a last ditch effort planned by Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) to save Earth from the Kaiju. Our main character is Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), a former Jaeger pilot who retired after the death of his brother and co-pilot but returns in order to end the war between the humans and the Kaiju.<br />
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I liked the characters in <i>Pacfic Rim</i>. Sure, their arcs may not be the best ever, but this is a big action movie with a decent amount of characters not a one man character study. The characterizations are fine for what is required in a film like this and are done better than those in many of its peers. For example, the
Raleigh/Mako relationship was well written and felt organic, especially compared to the
forced, afterthought relationships in other blockbusters like <i>Thor </i>or <i>Transformers</i>. Mako is not just the requisite love interest but a three dimensional character. Idris Elba puts his great acting chops to good use and his character has an interesting backstory. I also enjoyed the scientists (who felt right out of a 50s sci-fi flick) who had important stuff to do
that fit in with the main story. The main mission for the scientists (one of whom is played by Charlie Day from the TV Show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) is go to Hong Kong to find a Kaiju brain. In order to do so they must first go through black market dealer Hannibal Chau (played by Ron Perlman who steals every scene he is in). While in Hong Kong a Kaiju attacks so we get to see the battle from the perspective of the scientists and Chau, as well as from our protagonists in Gipsy Danger who are fighting the beast. Both the plot and characters were more involved than many people expected when they heard the movie was about robots fighting aliens.<br />
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<i>Pacfic Rim </i>does a good job of world building and summarizing the backstory of the Kaiju attacks in the opening scenes. However, the title screen came up surprisingly late and took me out of the film a bit since I was already into it and just assumed we weren't getting opening credits. Other than that I thought the movie was well paced and just as long as it needed to be.<br />
The humans from other countries don't get to do much. I understand this from a storytelling perspective since it would mean more characters we would have to get to know better, but I was hoping to see the Chinese Jaeger (Crimson Typhoon) with three arms that piloted by triplets get more fighting time.<br />
Our main character, Raleigh, was fine but could've stood out a little more. Also, the Australian pilots are a father and son team but they looked fairly close in age so I thought they were brothers at first. I looked it up and the actor (Max Martini) who played Herc Hansen was only 14 years older than the man (Robert Kazinsky) playing his son. It might've been more interesting to cast an older actor in his late 50s or early 60s as Herc to mix things up a bit anyway.<br />
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The Kaiju wall and Kaiju categories (1-5) show how the humans mistakenly considered the monsters to be
merely animals or acts of nature. We find out later that there is more motivation to the Kaiju than simply being rampaging beasts, which I thought was an interesting development.<br />
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The use of colors in the movie is spectacular. Whether it is the neon lit streets of Hong Kong, the cool blue Kaiju blood, the shiny Jaegars, or the jars containing Kaiju organs in Hannibal Chau's hideout, <i>Pacific Rim</i> is feast for the eyes.<br />
The concept of the Drift is another neat idea the movie has
going for it. Each Jaeger needs to be controlled by two pilots through
the Drift, a mind meld of sorts in which memories and emotions are
shared. This means that pilots need to have a high level of
compatibility in order to control the Jaegars, which sort of reminded me of ice skating pairs. The comradery (and at times competitiveness) between the pilots also called to mind old war movies, with Jaegers being the substitute for fighter aircraft.<br />
The Hong Kong battle sequence was awesome and my favorite part of the movie. I found this scene even better than the final
battle, which may be a bit of a problem since that is supposed to be the
climax. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with that (swapping the scenes wouldn't have worked at all) so I just chalked it up as <i>Iron Man 2</i> syndrome where the best or biggest action scene isn't near the end of the movie.</div>
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It's clear that a lot of thought and effort was put into it <i>Pacific Rim</i>. The productions values and special effects are both excellent, with the detailed textures of the Kaiju bodies being particularly impressive. <i>Pacific Rim</i> had a big budget but every dollar of it is seen on screen and well spent. The great visuals are assisted by an awesome guitar heavy score from Ramin Djawadi, who also did the soundtrack for <i>Iron Man</i>.<br />
Del Toro really cared not just about making a good movie, but about paying respect to the Kaiju and giant robot movies that he loves. <i>Pacific Rim </i>has homages and references to other films and TV shows but they are done in a way that is never distracting, like in the original <i>Star Wars</i> or <i>Indiana Jones </i>movies. I haven't seen much of what <i>Pacific Rim</i> is paying tribute to, but didn't need to either. I noticed some references to<i> Alien</i> and <i>Aliens</i> such as a character named Newt, Kaiju acid blood, and the way the crew went inside the Kaiju to collect samples was similar to how the crew of the Nostromo investigated the derelict space ship in <i>Alien</i>. Was the pregnant Kaiju a callback to <i>Godzilla</i> '98?!<br />
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Although <i>Pacific Rim</i> did great at the international box office, especially in China, it underperformed domestically. The movie had several things going against it since it features no big name stars and the current film climate favors franchises. The fact that some people associated it as a <i>Transformers</i> knock-off from the poster and trailers didn't help. <i>Pacific Rim</i> received good reviews from critics and got positive word of mouth from audiences so it may get more popular in the U.S as time goes on. Del Toro says he is working on a script for a sequel with his <i>Pacific Rim </i>co-writer Travis Beacham so we'll have to wait and see if it gets the green-light. I loved <i>Pacific Rim </i>but feel it stands alone and don't need a sequel. Of course I would still watch one as long as del Toro is involved.<br />
I first saw <i>Pacific Rim </i>when it came out it theaters then watched it again after it was released on Blu-ray. It held up well the second time around which is always the sign of a good movie.<br />
8/10
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<i><br />Wild Wild West</i> (1999)<br />
Want to see a ridiculous Hollywood train wreck? Then watch <i>Wild Wild West</i>.
This movie is notorious for being a disaster and boy does it live up to
its reputation. Thanks to a heavy advertising campaign and star Will
Smith, the movie ended up making its budget back in its worldwide gross. Keep in mind
though that production budgets usually don't factor in the marketing budget
which was probably expensive. <i>Wild Wild West </i>is an infamous
example of "WTF Hollywood" and went on to win a lot of Razzie awards. The only thing this franchise non-starter
launched was the silly but catchy theme song. And the best part about
that is the sample from the song "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder!<br />
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I was about 10 years old when <i>Wild Wild West</i> came out in 1999 and remember
that it was heavily marketed to kids with a line of Burger King toys and even a
junior novelization! I saw the movie for the first time a few months ago and was
surprised that the film contained sexual innuendo, ass shots, an
attempted lynching, and a lot of racial jokes. Of course none of that
made it into the trailer! Maybe if <i>Wild Wild West</i> decided to be a movie for
kids or go all the way and be made for adults with an R rating it
would've clicked. Instead they tried too hard to please everyone and in
the process nobody was happy with the result. Speaking of the marketing,
Salma Hayek is all over it but disappears about halfway through the
movie. From the trailer I assumed she was a main character but she's not
in the movie as much as you would expect and doesn't have much to do either.<br />
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I should mention that <i>Wild Wild West </i>was based on the 1960s TV
show of the same name. Out of curiosity I watched a couple episodes of the show on YouTube and liked it a lot. It was playing off the popularity of both James Bond and Westerns at the time for
fun, anachronistic stories along the lines of steampunk. The show was
pretty violent for television which was actually why it was
canceled despite doing well in the ratings. The show was light years better than this movie in every aspect. The episodes I saw even dealt with race relations in the Old West in a
more respectful and nuanced way. Changing the race of Jim West for the movie was probably mistake since
you can either go two ways with it. The first would be to ignore the racism the character would've faced during this time period, which would then make it the elephant in the room. The second is what <i>Wild Wild West </i>chooses, to engage it head on, but this comes
with a lot of baggage that just shouldn't be there for what is supposed
to be a mainstream action movie intended for audiences of all ages. <i>Wild Wild West </i>makes an attempt
at a serious subplot with the New Liberty town of freed slaves but it
doesn't work at all. The racial jokes like "I haven't seen him in a
coon's age!" are just plain uncomfortable. Although Will Smith says he
turned down the title role in <i>Django Unchained</i> because he "wasn't the lead," I can't help but wonder if his involvement in <i>Wild Wild West</i> was part of the reason.</div>
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<i><br />Wild Wild West</i> takes place in the late 1860s and is about gun
slinging cowboy Jim West (Will Smith) and inventor/master of disguise
Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) who are secret service agents. The pair
are forced to team up in order to save President Grant from the evil
ex-Confederate scientist Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh). It's clear the producers of this movie were hoping for director Barry Sonnenfeld and Will Smith to duplicate their success of <i>Men in Black</i> in a different franchise with Kline being the stand-in for Tommy Lee Jones. Both movies even had a Will Smith theme song and accompanying music video to go along with them. Will Smith isn't the problem with <i>Wild Wild West</i>, but lacks chemistry with Kevin Kline who didn't seem into the role. George Clooney was the original choice for Gordon and made the right decision by dropping out even though he probably would've been a better fit. I know that this isn't Kline's fault, but I didn't like how the movie cheated by having President Grant and Gordon impersonating Grant both played by Kline. The 60s show didn't cheat when it came to this so I don't know they had to do that in this movie.<br />
Kenneth Branagh is hilarious as an over the top villain with a ridiculous Southern accent. His performance is enjoyable but Loveless never comes across as a serious threat as intended. I wonder if Branagh was originally considered for the role of Gordon, which would've made more sense, but somehow ended up as the villain.<br />
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<i><br />Wild Wild West </i>feels
like a long movie but not much happens. I was surprised that it was
only 106 minutes since it felt over two hours long. The movie doesn't
really have a middle as it's basically two halves. We have the
beginning and set-up for the story, which then leads to West and Gordon
being stranded in the desert by Loveless. The two must work together to escape in order to stop
Loveless in the climax and that is pretty much it. It doesn't help that
plot points are brought up then dropped and never
followed up on such as West telling Gordon he was raised by
Indians after the death of his family. I thought this would lead to a group of Native Americans helping them out or West using something he learned from then but instead its just forgotten about. These problems are probably due to the fact that this movie had six writers! The jokes are hit or miss but actually hit more than I expected.
However, a lot of the humor does not come from simply being funny since
lines like "East meets West!" and the "That's a man's head" scene are so
cheesy and bizarre that I couldn't help but laugh. A lot of the humor simply falls flat like "Air Gordon" or when West tries to emulate Gordon's cross-dressing shenanigans.</div>
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While on the subject of strange moments in this movie, I must briefly discuss the giant mechanical spider. Jon Peters produced <i>Wild Wild West</i> and earlier in the 90s tried to get a Superman movie made. Peters hired Kevin Smith to write a script and one of his demands was that Superman must fight a giant spider. Peters apparently has a thing for spiders and eventually got his fix by putting it in <i>Wild Wild West</i>. While I get that Loveless has an obsession with spiders to overcompensate for the loss of his legs, I don't understand why there are a lot of sheep in this movie too. But these things are what make <i>Wild Wild West </i>a watchable bad movie, and even entertaining at times, as you never know what crazy thing will happen next!<br />
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<i></i><br />
There was an earlier attempt to bring The Wild Wild West to the silver
screen in the early 90s. Mel Gibson was attached to star as Jim West with Richard
Donner in line to direct and Shane Black to write the script. Donner actually directed a few episodes of the show and Mel Gibson even resembles the original actor who
played Jim
West, so this movie probably would've
ended up a lot better than what we actually got. Donner and Gibson decided to make a movie out of a different Western TV
show and did <i>Maverick</i> in 1994 instead. Hollywood has been all about rebooting franchises lately
but I bet they wouldn't touch The Wild Wild West with a ten foot pole. I think
this is a shame as the original TV series could still provide source
material for a good movie and a reboot of the 60s show would make more sense then the seemingly
endless remakes of 80s flicks.<br />
Fun Facts: <br />
The official website for <i>Wild Wild West</i> is still up <a href="http://wildwildwest.warnerbros.com/"><span style="color: yellow;">here</span></a>. Looks like it hasn't been updated since 1999!<br />
Director Barry Sonnenfeld started his career as a cinematographer and worked on several films directed by the Cohen brothers. Acclaimed cinematographer Michael Ballhaus did the cinematography for <i>Wild Wild West.</i><br />
5/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-81005331118191255522014-02-20T23:36:00.001-05:002014-02-24T20:37:48.927-05:00Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Rise of the Planet of the Apes</i> (2011)<br />
Coming into this movie I had only seen the original <i>Planet of the Apes</i> film, which I previously wrote about on this blog, and the 2001 remake directed by Tim Burton (Ape Lincoln!). <i>Rise of the Planet of the Apes </i>serves as both a reboot of the series and a prequel. It tries to have it both ways in this respect like <i>X-Men: First Class</i>
which also came out in 2011. This is a bit confusing as <i>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</i> sometimes goes out of its way to
tie itself into the original (mentions of the spaceship) but at other moments features<i> </i>new ideas and concepts from the sequels such as <i>Conquest of the Planet of the Apes</i>.
Honestly, this could've easily been its own movie not part of the POTA
series, which is apparently how it was originally conceived. Although I
love the original 1968 film, I never understood why this
became a franchise, other than the popularity of the first movie, which
felt very stand alone. <br />
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The original POTA film implies that a nuclear war caused human civilization to end and apes to rise, but this movie has the apes become intelligent as a result of drug testing while a related epidemic takes a huge bite out of the human population. There are also a lot of callbacks to the original film. While some of these are subtle such as Caesar playing with a toy Statue of Liberty, others are more obvious like the use of the line "Take your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape!" which occasionally took me out of the movie. To be fair these references are done well and fit in naturally (except for the spaceship stuff which was tacked on) and wouldn't be noticed by people who haven't seen the original. There are also parallels to the original such as the main characters being put in captivity and hosed down. I thought these generally worked even though inverting the original film is kinda strange since that story in itself was an inversion of humans and apes. You could title this movie Planet of the Humans!<br />
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In <i>Rise of the Planet of the Apes </i>a bio-tech company creates a drug that allows the brain to repair itself and is intended to be a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. When testing seems to go wrong, the apes being tested on the project are all put down except for one baby who is taken in by scientist Will Rodman (James Franco). Rodman only intends to keep the chimpanzee temporarily but discovers that the ape inherited high intelligence from its mother due to the drug and decides to raise it. The ape, named Caesar, learns more as he is raised by Rodman but craves to explore the outside world.<br />
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Caesar is the main character of the movie and despite not being human, this his story. The film really shines whenever Caesar is the focus. Caesar has a fascinating character arc going from a subservient chimp living with humans to leader of the apes. Caesar communicates with the other apes using sign language which is subtitled. I thought this was a creative spin on things as it differs from the original film with talking apes while also telling the story well without a ton of dialogue at times. Andy Serkis does a great job yet again with the motion capture acting. The CGI used for the apes was very good. I usually still realized I was watching effects but this was mainly with the eyes and faces. The textures of the hair were better than I anticipated and the movements from (I assume) motion capture are very fluid. <br />
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Both Rodman and his father (played by John Lithgow who I didn't know was in this movie coming in but puts in a nice performance as usual) with Alzheimer's Disease are interesting but there isn't much to the other human characters. Freida Pinto's character doesn't have much to do other than her introduction scene at the zoo and is nothing more than James Franco's girlfriend after that. If there must be a love interest can she at least be integrated into the story more? Tom Felton, best known as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movie series, does a good job of playing a mean villain. However, we never get any motivation as to why he is a bad guy. I think the intention was that he has a shitty life and is taking it out on the apes in the primate shelter but this never actually comes across. Besides Serkis, Felton and Lithgow are the acting bright spots but don't have that much screen time. Everyone else is average at best.<br />
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<i><br />Rise of the Planet of the Apes </i>is well paced. I've frequently
complained of recent Hollywood blockbusters being too long but this one
comes in at a sleek 105 minutes and doesn't overstay its welcome.<br />
The movie is not without some plot problems. For example, if you had a neighbor who has Alzheimer's disease and also owns a chimp, would you leave your car keys in your unlocked vehicle which is parked on a public street? It doesn't help that this is a pivotal scene which sets up the rest of the film.<br />
The climax is a cool action set piece on the Golden Gate Bridge. While the scene is well made and fun to watch, wouldn't it have made more sense for the apes to just get past the bridge (or find a more discreet way) to the Muir Woods as quick as possible instead of making a stand?<br />
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Despite some issues I still liked <i>Rise of the Planet of the Apes</i>. I would place <i>Rise </i>somewhere in the middle of the chasm between the great original film and the crappy 2001 remake. I can't say I'm excited for the sequel, <i>Dawn of the Planet of the Apes</i>, teased in the post-credits scene, but at least it will have Gary Oldman in it.<br />
6/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-60616322029518423672014-02-19T21:16:00.002-05:002014-04-03T11:11:45.546-04:00Prince of Space (1959)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Prince of Space</i> (1959)<br />
I'm going to follow up my last post on RiffTrax Live with an episode of the show that started it all, Mystery Science Theater 3000!<br />
<i>Prince of Space</i> is from season 8, which means it's a Mike episode from the Sci-Fi Channel era. I watched <i>Prince of Space </i>back in the fall so it's been a while since I've seen or written about a MST3K episode. <br />
This MST3K fodder is a 1950s Japanese kids show that has been poorly edited together and given a bad English dub. <i>Prince of Space </i>reminded me of another Tokusatsu<i> </i>(a Japanese term for a speculative fiction movie with a lot of special effects) superhero movie featured on MST3K,<i> Invasion of the Neptune Men</i>. <i>Prince of Space</i> is a little better than that movie, which isn't saying much of course!<br />
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The silly villain Krankor (pictured above) is pretty memorable. Krankor makes an "appearance" in a host segment and is even featured in this episode's stinger!<br />
<i>Prince of Space </i>is not that far off in tone from American serials of the time though with even cheaper production values. While this movie is pretty bad, it's still watchable for how ridiculous it is.<br />
This episode has some fun host segments, my favorite being the one where Mike gets turned into a robot which looks like a ventriloquist's dummy.<br />
2/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-76461580728978985582014-02-18T23:35:00.002-05:002016-09-30T13:52:37.309-04:00RiffTrax Live - Starship Troopers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>RiffTrax Live - Starship Troopers</b> <br />
As you may be able to tell from reading this blog, I love the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, as well as one of its present day incarnations, RiffTrax. This is the second RiffTrax Live I've seen. The first was a brand new live riff <i>Manos: The Hands of Fate</i> back in August 2012 which I wrote about in an earlier post.<br />
In February of 2013, the stars of RiffTrax (Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett) began a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the rights to riff <i>Twilight</i> in theaters. Despite raising almost five times their goal, the rights to <i>Twilight</i> could not be secured as the film distributors of <i>Twilight</i> (Summit Entertainment) felt they could still make money off the movie due to the ongoing popularity of the series. The only <i>Twilight</i> movie I've ever seen was the RiffTrax version of the first one, so I was disappointed when this didn't pan out. I was a little worried when I first heard that the backup plan was <i>Starship Troopers</i>. I like <i>Starship Troopers</i>
and consider it to be a good film. <i>Starship Troopers</i> has some flaws and is weaker
than Paul Verhoeven's other sci-fi action movies (<i>Robocop</i> and <i>Total
Recall</i>) but the satire is excellent and the special effects still hold up
well. The tone of <i>Starship Troopers</i> tongue-in-cheek unlike <i>Twilight</i> which is a serious attempt at a romantic story. I've never read the original Starship Troopers novel by Robert Heinlein but understand that the movie version is more satirizing
the source material than functioning as an adaptation. I've also heard that several elements from the book such as the powered armor suits didn't make it into Verhoeven's film version. Despite my concerns about the selection (I guess <i>Cool as Ice</i> was unavailable to riff?) I went into it with an open mind as the RiffTrax guys had never led my astray before.<br />
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The RiffTrax Live for <i>Starship Troopers</i> was on August 15th 2013. This was a Thursday night as usual for Rifftrax Live since new movies come out every Friday. I went with a bunch of friends who are fans of MST3K and RiffTrax, though not all of them had seen <i>Starship Troopers </i>before. I found this one to be hilarious! My initial concerns about the choice of movie went away pretty quickly as I was immediately laughing my head off which continued throughout the course of the film. Below was one of my favorite riffs:<br />
Movie: "I need a corporal. You're it until you're dead or 'til I find somebody better." <br />
Mike's Riff: "Awww, my wedding vows!"<br />
RiffTrax doesn't use as many obscure references as MST3K did, but I was probably one of the few people to get the Teapot Dome scandal joke. The RiffTrax crew also had a great host segment of sorts which dealt with the nudity. I'm not sure why these scenes were censored since the rest of this violent R-rated movie is not, but the gorilla-grams were so funny that it ended up being a perfect way to handle those scenes.<br />
Watching this movie again made me think that <i>Starship Troopers</i> is more of a propaganda piece from that universe than just a satire of propaganda with emphasis on the romance of the "teens" and the information scenes of "Would You Like to Know More?" I'm glad I got to see this movie on on the big screen, even with the riffs. My friends who hadn't seen <i>Starship Troopers</i> were even interested in seeing the movie without the riffs. I still think <i>Starship Troopers</i> is a good movie, but there is plenty of material prime for riffing such as Denise Richards' performance (which made for some great recurring jokes), the romance subplots (they go on too long though I think this is part of the satire), and all the opportunities for bug/crustacean jokes such as "David Cronenberg's <i>A Bug's Life</i>" and "All the best meat is in the claw!"<br />
I had a blast and highly recommend this RiffTrax. This riff is be available for download <a href="http://www.rifftrax.com/riff/starship-troopers"><span style="color: yellow;">here</span></a>, so if you're a fan of RiffTrax and have already seen <i>Starship Troopers</i> but somehow missed this in theaters, be sure to check it out. Like that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wwilCs4Jqg"><span style="color: yellow;">70s disco song</span></a>, you will lose your heart to a Starship Trooper!RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-39359437944905081682014-02-17T23:52:00.005-05:002014-02-22T13:27:47.756-05:00The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />The Seven-Per-Cent Solution</i> (1976)<br />
I watched <i>The Seven-Per-Cent Solution </i>on a recommendation from my Dad and am glad I did as I probably wouldn't have seen it otherwise. I have read some of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories but not recently. The only Sherlock Holmes film I have seen besides <i>The Seven-Per-Cent Solution</i> was the 2009 Robert Downey Jr. movie which I wrote about previously on this blog. Unless of course you count <i>The Great Mouse Detective</i>! <i><br />The Seven-Per-Cent Solution</i> was kind of a Sherlock Holmes reboot for its time as it is different from both the Doyle stories and previous film adaptations. The story is that Watson (Robert Duvall) tricks Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson) into going to Vienna in order to be treated for his cocaine addiction by Dr. Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin). The addition of a historical figure with Holmes is interesting and two characters complement each other nicely. There is also a different take on Watson from the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce film series as this Watson is physically fit and intelligent. Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) functions differently here though he is just as important to Holmes albeit in a very different way. The acting is great all around with Joel Grey and Vanessa Redgrave rounding out the superb cast.<br />
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The cinematography in <i>The Seven-Per-Cent Solution</i> is interesting since some parts feel like you are watching a play, while other scenes are very cinematic and have great camera work. There is a nice balance between quieter scenes focusing on characters and creative action scenes or dream sequences. The opening credits are done in the style of a program for a stage drama while the sword fight on top of a train would be tough to replicate in a theater!<br />
The film received two Oscar nominations: one for Best Costume Design and another for Best Adapted Screenplay. The costume and set design do an excellent job of depicting London and Vienna in this era. The movie is well-written as it has a solid mystery with clever twists and turns and a satisfying conclusion that does a good job of wrapping things up. There are some great setups and payoffs such as with the tennis scene.<br />
<i>The Seven-Per-Cent Solution </i>is based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Nicolas Meyer who also wrote the screenplay. Meyer directed <i>Time After Time</i>,
<i>Star Trek II</i>, and <i>Star Trek VI</i> and also wrote <i>Star Trek IV</i>. Herbert Ross directed <i>The Seven-Per-Cent Solution</i>. I've actually seen two of his movies before (<i>Footloose</i> and <i>The Secret of My Succe$s</i>), both of which I've written about on this blog.<br />
Hardcore Holmes fans might not like the new spin on things such as its new explanation for Holmes' three year absence after his "death" or Holmes' backstory with Moriarty. I didn't have that baggage so it didn't bother me, especially since I'm used to multiple interpretations of characters and stories. <br />
Fun Fact: Stephen Sondheim wrote the song "The Madame's Song (I Never Do Anything Twice)" used in the film.<br />
8/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-7747022618101702612014-02-16T22:54:00.002-05:002014-02-17T03:22:27.113-05:00The Running Man (1987)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />The Running Man</i> (1987)<br />
I'm a big Arnold Schwarzenegger fan so it was only a matter of time before I watched <i>The Running Man</i>. Somehow I still need to see <i>Conan the Barbarian</i>, but after that I should be caught up on all the major Arnie movies.<br />
Stephen King wrote the novel this movie is loosely based on under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. <i>The Running Man </i>takes place in a dystopian future where convicted criminals are put on a game show and forced to fight for their lives. Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a policeman framed for a massacre he didn't commit. Richards is put on the show as punishment and tries to survive and clear his name.<br />
<i>The Running Man </i>shares some similar themes to <i>Videodrome</i> and <i>They Live</i>, such as the effect of TV and the media on the masses, but is lighter in tone than those two movies. <i>The Running Man </i>is hilarious at times, but still tells a good story with something to think about. The satire continues to be relevant today, perhaps even more so than in 1987, thanks to the popularity of reality TV and the internet.<br />
Arnold is fun as always bringing a bunch of great one liners (like "you're the asshole from TV!") to the table as usual. However, it is Richard Dawson as The Running Man's host, Killian, who steals the show. Dawson hosted many game shows such as Match Game and Family Feud in real life and does a great job parodying himself as a sleazy and egotistical host. Jesse Ventura (as Captain Freedom!), Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, and Maria Conchita Alonso also put in memorable performances.<br />
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Besides the humor and satire, another strong point of the film are the creative action scenes. As part of the game show, contestants are hunted in different game zones by "stalkers" with gimmicks such as Buzzsaw and his chainsaw, Fireball and his flamethrower, and Dynamo who has a suit that can arc electricity.<br />
<i>The Running Man </i>was directed by Paul Michael Glaser. This is his most well known film but he is also infamous for being the director of <i>Kazaam</i>! That movie effectively killed Glaser's career though he has done some TV work since. Although Glaser was not the first choice to direct, I think his background in TV helped the film given its subject matter.<br />
The music is dated and the dance scenes featuring choreography from Paula Abdul go on too long. While I understand that the cheesy music and scantily clad women dancing for no reason in the TV show are part of the parody, it still could have been limited since it felt like overkill at times.<br />
<i>The Running Man </i>is not on the quite on the same level as other Sci-Fi action movies starring Arnold Schwarzenegger such as the <i>Terminator</i> movies or <i>Total Recall</i>, but <i>The Running Man</i> is still a fun ride and a must watch for fans of Arnie.<br />
8/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-19726510938344893012014-02-15T22:56:00.001-05:002014-02-16T22:58:49.008-05:00Moneyball (2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Moneyball</i> (2011)<br />
I'm a huge baseball fan so I had read the non-fiction
book Moneyball a few years before I watching the movie. I was also
already familiar with the events before reading the book and am very
knowledgeable about the sport. I heard about a film adaptation after I finished the book and wondered how it would be done. While I loved the book and
think it's a great story, it didn't seem to lend itself to film like
other real life events. Although I liked the movie version, I still
feel that the best way to tell this story would be as a documentary. That said, <i>Moneyball</i> is a nice attempt that
manages to be as good a movie as possible with the source material.<br />
Director Bennet Miller does a solid job given the high degree of
difficulty here. This is Miller's third film having previously directed the documentary <i>The
Cruise</i> as well as <i>Capote</i>. As you can see, Miller is no stranger to making movies based on true events and was therefore a good choice to direct. Steven Soderbergh was originally supposed to direct
<i>Moneyball</i> but left the project after creative disagreements.
Soderbergh wanted to make the film more like a docudrama and feature
interviews with the actual players. I think I would've preferred his
version though I still liked the movie we ended up with.</div>
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<i>Moneyball </i>chronicles the<i> </i>2002 Oakland A's as they try to win the World Series despite competing with 29 other teams who have more money than they do to acquire good players. The A's general manager, Billy Beane, uses sabermetrics (analysis of baseball statistics) to find players who are undervalued by other teams but will help the A's win ball games.<br />
As a baseball fan I was able to jump right in with the terms,
statistics, and even names of players. I saw the film with my Dad who liked it, though admitted that there was stuff which went over his head. For example,
the movie frequently throws around the phrase "five tool player," which
is even used to describe the playing career of Billy Beane,
without ever explaining what those five tools are. Therefore it seems that
<i>Moneyball</i> was made more for baseball fans than the masses. <br />
Unlike a lot of sports movies, <i>Moneyball </i>focuses on the off the field business side of the sport which is a nice change of pace for the genre. Not a lot of baseball action is shown, and most of the games we see are real footage of the 2002 A's.<br />
The acting is very good all around. Brad Pitt and the now
late Phillip Seymour Hoffman put in stand out performances. This is only the second movie of his I've seen with Phillip Seymour Hoffman so I'll need to check out more of his films. Jonah Hill is fine but I don't think his performance was worthy of an Oscar nomination (which was one of this movie's six nominations despite not winning any awards). </div>
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Some of the facts are changed or conflated but this seems to have been done mostly
to shape a narrative out of a series of events that didn't really have one.
For example, Art Howe is portrayed as a villainous figure which wasn't the case
even though he didn't always get along with Billy Beane. Jonah Hill's
character is a composite based on A's assistant General manager Paul
DePodesta as well as other scouts and advisers on
the A's. Hardcore baseball fans will notice other inaccuracies but this
almost always comes with the territory of Hollywood adapting true events into movies. These changes do make sense from a storytelling perspective as they were a way to raise the stakes and add more tension. <br />
I understand why <i>Moneyball</i> didn't discuss how the A's chose players to draft since the movie is
only about the 2002 Oakland A's and not Billy Beane's entire tenure as their general manager. However, I still feel that this could've been included briefly as it would've paralleled nicely with Beane's
story of being a top draft pick for the New York Mets in the 80s.<br />
<i>Moneyball</i> has slow pacing. The movie didn't need to be over two hours long and several
individual scenes could've easily been cut down or out. The editing is fine as I liked
how the story scenes were inter-cut with the real footage to give the movie a the feel of docudrama at times. However, Beane's backstory should've been told straight through at the beginning since flashing back to it several times didn't
add anything to the story for me. <br />
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The book shows that while the use of sabermetrics by Beane and the A's was successful, the system wasn't perfect. Both the movie and book place an emphasis on how moneyball doesn't work in small sample sizes. However, the movie doesn't get much into the fact the playoffs themselves are a small sample size. The book discusses players the A's selected in the draft only for their statistics who ended up failing in ways that regular scouting would've foreseen such as an overweight catcher who can't run and a pitcher who had an arm deformity which ultimately ended his career in the minor leagues. <i>Moneyball</i> implies that sabermetrics alone work while the book doesn't completely discount the old way of scouting and suggests it should be part of the moneyball process. I feel that the film would've benefited by showing that Beane and sabermetrics aren't always right.<br />
I think most baseball fans will enjoy this movie but your mileage may vary if you are a novice to the sport. Still, even as a hardcore baseball fan there are more fun (<i>Major League</i>) and better (<i>The Natural</i>, <i>Field of Dreams</i>) baseball movies out there.<br />
Fun Fact: Spike Jonze has an uncredited cameo!<br />
7/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-89007818909580725162014-02-14T23:45:00.000-05:002014-02-16T22:59:04.789-05:00Arthur (1981)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Arthur (1981)</i><br />
Looking over my recent posts I realized that this is the first comedy (not counting <i>Manborg</i>) film I've talked about in 2014. <i>Arthur </i>is slow paced for a comedy and features a lot of dry humor. The story is pretty basic but told well with good acting to support the solid writing. The jokes are great but the writing is more than just funny with well-developed characters and good setups and payoffs. <br />
Dudley Moore plays Arthur, a rich drunk who will only inherit his family's fortune if he marries Susan, the daughter of a wealthy businessman. However, Arthur instead falls in love with a working-class woman named Linda (Liza Minnelli). The relationship between Arthur and his butler Hobson (John Gielgud) is surprisingly touching for a comedy. Hobson is much closer to Arthur and a better father figure for him that Arthur's actual father. Hobson is the typical British butler, but truly cares about Arthur like a son (think Jeeves from the stories of P.G. Wodehouse or Alfred from Batman) thanks to Gielgud's top notch performance and wonderful chemistry with Dudley Moore.<br />
It's impossible for me to pick a favorite scene or line as I found the movie hilarious as a whole. One scene in particular that I loved involved a moose!<br />
The Academy Awards tend not to recognize comedies but <i>Arthur</i> proved to be an exception. Gielgud won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the theme song by Christopher Cross won Best Original Song. Dudley Moore was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Steve Gordon received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay. <br />
Sadly, <i>Arthur </i>is the only film directed by Steve Gordon (who also was the writer) as he died the year after it was released.<br />
8/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-40026481864757888052014-02-13T23:48:00.001-05:002014-02-16T22:59:28.120-05:00Fallen (1998)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Fallen</i> (1998)<br />
<i>Fallen </i>is an creepy thriller that features good acting, great writing, and nice cinematography. Denzel Washington plays John Hobbes, a detective who recently captured a serial killer named Edgar Reese. Edgar Reese is put to death for his crimes, but the murders continue in Reese's style. Is there a copycat killer on the loose or is something supernatural at play? <br />
<i>Fallen </i>has a tightly written script, which is especially
impressive for a work of speculative fiction. Writer Nicholas Kazan is
the son of director Elia Kazan so it looks like the film making gene was
passed down. Nicholas Kazan was nominated for an Oscar for Best
Screenplay based on material from another medium for <i>Reversal of Fortune</i>. The story of <i>Fallen</i>
has good twists and turns which kept things fresh. We have high stakes
and insurmountable odds combined with well-written characters to make us care
about what is happening. The theme of "evil among us" has been done since
the beginning of human history, but the inclusion of the Azazael demon
and use of scapegoats put a different spin on it.<br />
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Director Gregory Hoblit has made one movie I have seen before, <i>Frequency</i>. I remember liking that film but I saw it so long ago that I don't remember much about it. The directing in <i>Fallen</i> is very good with one of my favorite scenes being a creative "whisper down the lane" chase scene which features fantastic choreography. The "demon vision" is a unique look that I haven't quite seen before. The Rolling Stones cover of the song "Time Is on My Side" is used multiple times in the movie in an interesting and effective way.<br />
John Goodman is hilarious as Hobbes' fellow detective, Jonesy. Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz, and James Gandolfini also put in solid supporting performances.<br />
I found <i>Fallen</i> to be underrated since it's a movie most people haven't heard of despite being a major Hollywood film with plenty of recognizable actors. If you haven't seen it, check it out sometime.<br />
Fun Facts: <i>Fallen </i>is one of the few movies to feature the Assyrian Neo-Aramaic language.<br />
<i>Fallen</i> was filmed in part at Philadelphia and showcases locations such as 30th Street Station and Pat's King of Steaks. <br />
8/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-81887099937127676592014-02-12T20:59:00.004-05:002014-02-16T23:01:23.060-05:00Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie</i> (1995)<br />
I never really watched Power Rangers as a kid but remember it being a big thing at the time. I saw this movie about a year ago and can't remember much so I'm going to keep this post short. I didn't bother to take copious notes on this one! Despite <i>Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie </i>being forgettable and stupid, it's still kinda fun as a bad movie to watch with a bunch of friends. <br />
The production values felt more like a TV movie or direct to video than a theatrical release, which is not surprising considered it's based on a low budget TV show. This was probably done on purpose to turn a quick profit as the property was hugely popular with kids who would go see it no matter what. The tactic worked as MMPR:TM grossed over $66 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. Another reason why this movie has more of a TV look and feel is because director Bryan Spicer has mostly directed TV shows. MMPR:TM was Spicer's first theatrical film. He also directed <i>McHale's Navy</i> and <i>For Richer or Poorer</i> in the mid-90s before returning to TV where he is still active today with shows such as Hawaii Five-0.<br />
The story about the production of MMPR:TM is more interesting than the movie itself! Read all about it <a href="http://schoolpa.com.au/~paul/Zordmaker/zordreal2.html"><span style="color: yellow;">here.</span></a><br />
3/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-88475380018722702992014-02-11T23:23:00.000-05:002014-02-16T23:04:46.123-05:00Real Steel (2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Real Steel</i> (2011)<br />
As promised in my <i>Flight</i> write-up last week when talking about John Gatins, here is my review of <i>Real Steel</i>. Writer John Gatins followed up <i>Real Steel</i> with <i>Flight</i>, and his next movie will be <i>Need for Speed</i> which comes out next month. Director Shawn Levy got his start in TV and now mostly makes typical Hollywood fare like <i>Night at the Museum</i>, <i>Date Night</i>, and <i>The Internship</i>.<br />
Although <i>Real Steel</i> is billed as being an adaptation of the Richard Matheson short story "Steel," I doubt it has much in common with it. I've never read the original story but I've seen the Twilight Zone version which is also titled Steel. The only similarity between the two is that they feature robots and boxing.<br />
I didn't expect much coming into <i>Real Steel</i>, but was pleasantly surprised with a solid family film. <i>Real Steel</i> takes place in the near future where boxers have been replaced with robots. Former boxer Charlie (played by Hugh Jackman who puts in a nice performance) now uses robots to fight for him but has had bad luck and is now in a lot of debt. Charlie discovers that he has an 11 year old son and the two bond while working together on turning a robot found in the scrap heap into a champion.<i> </i><br />
<i><i>Real Steel </i></i>clocks in at 127 minutes which is too long for this
type of movie. Several scenes went on too long and could've easily
been trimmed. I've had this complaint about a decent amount of
recent movies. I don't have a problem with long Hollywood blockbusters if they deserve their running time, but most movies that have followed this trend (such as <i>Real Steel</i>) usually do not.<i><br />Real Steel</i> is basically <i>Rocky </i>with robots but at least this movie has heart and emotion, unlike the live action <i>Transformers</i> movies. Although <i>Real Steel</i> is predictable, it's still well executed for what it is (an action family movie for all ages) and the cinematography is better than expected. The visual effects are quite good and received an Oscar nomination before losing out to <i>Hugo.</i><br />
6/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-62765918316747900902014-02-10T23:52:00.002-05:002014-02-16T23:05:06.189-05:00Manborg (2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Manborg</i> (2011)<br />
I don't think you are prepared for the plot of <i>Manborg</i>, but I'm going to throw it at you anyway. During the Hell Wars between humans and Nazi Vampires, a human solider is killed in combat by the vampire leader, Count Draculon. The soldier's body is given robotics and he returns to life as Manborg, who vows to get his revenge by defeating Count Draculon with help from the resistance. His comrades are Mina who looks like she fell in a vat of New Wave, her brother who is a gunslinger and Billy Idol look-alike, and a martial arts fighter called "Number One Man" voiced by anime voice actor Kyle Hebert.<br />
<i>Manborg </i>is a pastiche, parody, and homage to 1980s action and science fiction movies. Of course there are
references to <i>The Terminator</i>, <i>Robocop</i>, and <i>Blade Runner</i>, but <i>Manborg</i> is more
focused on emulating the style of 80s B sci-fi flicks such as <i>Eliminators</i>,
<i>Robot Holocaust</i>, <i>Future War</i>, <i>The Dungeonmaster</i> aka <i>Ragewar</i>, etc. As somebody
who has seen those movies and had fun with them (thanks in part to
MST3K!) I completely understood what they were doing. The tongue is planted firmly in
cheek here and great efforts were made to capture the look and feel of these movies.<br />
I love the above poster for <i>Manborg</i>. It looks like a VHS cover you would see on the shelf of a video store in the 1980s or a comic book cover circa 1990!<br />
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<i>Manborg</i> uses green screen to create a unique look in a way that I haven't really
seen before, which is sometimes combined with stop motion animation. The art direction is inspired by 1980s neon and pastels, cyberpunk imagery, and video games. <i>Manborg </i>was made on a $1,000
Canadian budget and while the movie looks low budget, that number surprised me
as it doesn't look THAT cheap.<br />
If you have seen movies like <i>Cyborg</i>, <i>Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe</i> or any of the ones I mentioned earlier, you'll have fun with <i>Manborg</i> as a loving parody of low budget 80s sci-fi movies. Otherwise you probably won't get it. I can easily see people who have never heard of movies like <i>Robo Vampire</i> mistaking <i>Manborg</i> as an honest to goodness terrible Z grade sci-fi flick. Although I enjoyed <i>Manborg</i> for what it was, I couldn't help but think it would've worked better as a fake trailer, short film, or internet mini-series in the vein of "Ninja the Mission Force." <i>Manborg </i>is only 75 minutes long but still overstays its welcome as this sort of thing generally works better in short bursts.<br />
I had never heard of Astron-6, the Canadian production company behind <i>Manborg</i>, but looked them up after I watched this movie. Astron-6 has a bunch of cool 70s and 80s homage stuff on their website, most of which is shorter than <i>Manborg</i>. Check them out<span style="color: yellow;"> </span>if you are into that type of thing. They nail the clothing style and film look of the 70s and 80s. If you do watch <i>Manborg</i>, be sure to stick around for the fake Bio-Cop trailer shown after the movie!<br />
5/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-5928775545470036462014-02-09T23:53:00.002-05:002014-02-16T23:06:10.522-05:00Dredd vs. The Raid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Dredd</i> vs. <i>The Raid</i><br />
<br />
This article is going to compare and contrast <i>The Raid</i> and <i>Dredd</i>. I preferred <i>Dredd</i> but quite liked both films. While the two movies were released the same year and had a lot in common, there are also some big differences.<br />
<br />
Similarities:<br />
- Released in the USA in 2012.<br />
- Violent R-rated contained action films that take place in a locked down apartment building.<br />
- The protagonists are lawmen who must fight their way to the top of said apartment complex (with some help) to take down the crime lord in charge of the criminal operation.<br />
- Both protagonists are able to convince civilians to let them seek refuge in a room.<br />
- The villains in both films kill some of their own henchmen.<br />
- <i>The Raid</i> features corrupt policemen while <i>Dredd</i> has corrupt Judges.<br />
- Both films were released with unnecessary subtitles, <i>The Raid: Redemption</i> and <i>Dredd: 3D</i>.<br />
- Prior to <i>Dredd</i>, director Pete Travis had made two feature length movies: <i>Vantage Point </i>(2008) and <i>Endgame</i> (2009). Prior to <i>The Raid</i>, director Gareth Evans had made two feature length movies: <i>Footsteps</i> (2006) and <i>Merantau</i> (2009).<br />
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Differences:<br />
- <i>Dredd</i> is an English language US/UK production that was also filmed in South Africa. <i>The Raid</i> is an Indonesian language film made in Indonesia.<br />
- <i>The Raid</i> is a martial arts movie. <i>Dredd</i> is not, though it does feature some hand-to-hand combat.<br />
-<i> Dredd </i>is based on the long running Judge Dredd comic book franchise. The first attempt at bringing Judge Dredd to film was <i>Judge Dredd</i> (1995) starring Sylvester Stallone. <i>The Raid</i> is a brand new story not based on any pre-existing media.<br />
- The only female character I remember in <i>The Raid</i> was Rama's pregnant wife. In <i>Dredd</i> both the main villain and Judge Dredd's partner Anderson are women.<br />
- <i>Dredd</i> takes places in the future while <i>The Raid</i> is set in the present.<br />
- <i>The Raid</i> will have a sequel, <i>The Raid 2: Berandal</i>, which will be released later in 2014. There are no current plans for a <i>Dredd</i> sequel, so buy the Blu-ray if you haven't yet to support the cause!<br />
- <i>Dredd</i> features actors Lena Headey and Karl Urban who previously appeared in the international blockbusters <i>300</i> (2007) and <i>Star Trek</i> (2009). The actors in <i>The Raid</i> are unknown outside of Indonesia.<br />
- According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, <i>Dredd</i> had a $50 million production budget and made $35 million worldwide in theaters. It was considered a commercial failure but would later make back a lot of money thanks to DVD/Blu-ray sales from good word of mouth. <i>The Raid</i> had an estimated $1.1 million budget and grossed $15 million globally.<br />
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Are there any similarities or differences that I missed? If so, let me know in the comments section.RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-78604600105891451642014-02-08T23:21:00.001-05:002014-03-10T00:33:44.501-04:00Dredd (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Dredd</i> (2012)<br />
I'm going to start off by discussing the elephant in the room. I saw <i>Judge Dredd </i>starring Sylvester Stallone a while ago and wrote about it on this blog. Even though that movie does not have a good reputation I enjoyed it for what it was. It probably helped that I had not read the comics before watching it. Coming into <i>Dredd </i>I knew it had very good reviews and was billed as the Judge Dredd movie everyone had always wanted. Luckily <i>Dredd</i> met my high expectations. In fact, I liked it so much that it actually inspired me to go read some Judge Dredd comics, which I enjoyed.<br />
<i>Dredd</i> is a contained action film that mostly takes place inside Peach Trees, an apartment building with over 200 floors. Judge Dredd and his Judge in training Anderson, go to Peach Trees on a mission to take down a gang run by the drug lord Ma-Ma. Ma-Ma's clan is selling the drug SLO-MO, which slows down the perception of reality in its users. <i>Dredd </i>is a relatively small scale story which is unusual for a comic book/super hero movie. Instead of the whole city or world being at stake, the focus is just on stopping a crime gang in one building and hoping that Dredd and Anderson will make it out alive. I found this a refreshing change of pace and wouldn't mind seeing other comic book movies, like the Batman franchise for instance, do something similar.<br />
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The acting is quite good, with the standouts being the three leads. Karl Urban (who I remembered as Dr. McCoy in the 2009 <i>Star Trek</i> movie), plays the title role of Judge Dredd. Unlike the Stallone Judge Dredd, Urban never takes his helmet off. Urban's voice and presence are perfect for the character. The rookie Judge, Anderson, is played by Olivia Thirlby. Anderson just misses the minimum requirements for being a Judge, but is given another chance due to her psychic abilities. Thirlby does a nice job of portraying a character who has to face her first true test in the brutal crime ridden Mega-City One. While Dredd is the law, Anderson is a much more human character. Making the two partners allows for the audience to have a character we can relate to both emotionally and story wise since Anderson is new to being a Judge. Since Anderson fulfills that role, it doesn't have to go to Judge Dredd, which therefore means Dredd's helmet gets to stay on! Thirlby does a good job portraying Anderson as a multifaceted character who is inexperienced as a Judge, yet still strong willed and determined. Our villain is the crime lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey), whose gang runs the Peach Trees apartment complex. It was interesting to see a female play the heavy in this type of movie and Headey does a great job. Headey is no stranger to playing tough, violent female characters having previous roles such as Queen Gorgo in <i>300</i> and Sarah Connor in the TV show "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." Besides our three leads, Wood Harris puts in a nice supporting performance as Kay, one of Ma-Ma's henchmen.<br />
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Although I loved <i>Dredd </i>I did have a few quibbles. One member of Ma-Ma's clan is a computer expert with what appears to be a cybernetic eye that can interface with computers. I found the concept and character interesting, but think he could've been explained better as I found it confusing at times. He wasn't even given a name and only credited as "clan techie."<br />
CGI
blood almost always looks like crap and its appearance here is no exception. I guess that CGI blood was used because the SLO-MO special effects were also used in that scene, which off-hand I believe was the only time it was used. If there was no other way to show the blood during these SLO-MO scenes then I understand. But I'm still not sure why fake blood couldn't have just been sprayed in slow motion. No matter what, it still looks bad and briefly took me out of the film since the rest of the special effects (practical or CGI) looked great.<br />
Personally I would've liked to have seen more satire in the style of <i>Robocop</i>. <i>Dredd </i>certainly
isn't worse for a lack of satire, but a bit more well-placed humor
could have given the tone some more balance as the film can be quite grim at
times. However, the tone is consistent and when the film uses humor it works
well, which is what counts.<br />
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Although I watched <i>Dredd</i> in 2-D and thought it looked great, I bet the SLO-MO scenes are fantastic in 3-D. However, I think that the emphasis on the 3-D in the marketing was one of the reasons that <i>Dredd</i> didn't do well in theaters. I've heard that 2-D showings were hard to come by, so I imagine many people who don't like 3-D just decided to wait for it to hit video.<br />
I saw <i>Dredd</i> right when it came out on Blu-ray and then watched it again a couple of months ago. <i>Dredd</i> holds up on repeat viewings as I liked it just as much the second time around. Although <i>Dredd</i> didn't do well at the box office, it has been selling like hotcakes on Blu-ray. I would love to see another Judge Dredd movie in this universe so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel.<br />
My next post will compare and contrast <i>Dredd </i>with<i> The Raid</i>.<br />
8/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-52232561465995204112014-02-07T18:22:00.002-05:002015-08-18T11:06:56.233-04:00The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i> (2012)<br />
Before I talk about <i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i> let me give you some background on my experience with this series. I watched <i>The Fellowship of the Ring</i>
around the time it hit video and quite liked it. I then watched the
extended edition when it became available. I went on to <i>The Two Towers</i> extended edition which I got halfway through before stopping after the first disk. I loved <i>The Two Towers</i> but got busy and simply never got around to finishing the rest of that movie or starting <i>The Return of the King</i>.
Around the time I was watching the LOTR movies I decided to give the books a try. I got
about 30 pages in before giving up as I found them dense and not my cup of tea despite liking
the movies.<br />
My brother is a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings books
and movies and wanted to see The Hobbit movies. I wasn't really
interested at first but he convinced me to read book before watching the
films by telling me it's a shorter and easier read than The Lord of the Rings. Unlike The
Lord of the Rings, I was able to finish The Hobbit and quite enjoyed it.
It is aimed for a younger audience than LOTR which makes it
easier to get into but it's still a fun read . After reading the book the decision to split The
Hobbit into three movies made even less sense to me, but I still wanted to see what
director Peter Jackson had in mind.<br />
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I watched <i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i> at home so I saw it in HD and the regular frame rate. I recently watched <i>The Desolation of Smaug</i> in IMAX 3D with the high frame rate, but you'll have to wait for that post to see what I thought of it. While I liked<i> The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i>,
I think it is the weakest of the LOTR and Hobbit movies thus far. The
book is the story of Bilbo Baggins and his journey for a share of
treasure guarded by Smaug the dragon. This is still the plot of the
movie, but <i>An Unexpected Journey</i> serves more to set up the events of LOTR since those books weren't planned at the time J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit. Therefore <i>An Unexpected Journey </i>is
not just an adaptation of the book, but also a direct prequel to
Jackson's LOTR films. Gandalf and Thorin are featured more than in the
books, and there are characters from LOTR (played by the same actors, except for Radagast the Brown who was not featured in Jackson's LOTR movies)
present who do not appear in The Hobbit book. Once you get over
this, the long run time, and the overuse of CGI, <i>An Unexpected Journey </i>is
still a pretty entertaining flick. Jackson's choice to make his Hobbit movies
more direct prequels to LOTR does not seem to be a cash grab but out of
his love for Tolkien. In the book there are times when Gandalf goes off
to do things and in the movie we actually get to see these adventures.
Although we don't get to know all of the dwarves individually, Thorin
and his motivations are fleshed out more than in the book. Despite the
changes from the novel, many lines are used verbatim in the movie. </div>
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I still feel that adapting The Hobbit into two movies instead of three would've been fine and even improved the pacing a bit. Purists might not be thrilled with the changes (mostly additions to the story) but I think Jackson took advantage of a unique opportunity to put his own spin on The Hobbit by tying it in closer to his LOTR films. Those who liked Jackson's LOTR movies but never read the books won't have to worry about the changes. However, they may still feel it runs too long for the story, especially considering the fact that the LOTR got as many movies as The Hobbit, which is a much shorter book in comparison. But at the end of the day if you liked the LOTR movies, you will probably still enjoy this one, though probably not as much.<br />
6/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1253740449316378616.post-85609252510386264242014-02-06T23:51:00.001-05:002014-02-16T23:08:09.390-05:00Flight (2012)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br />Flight</i> (2012)<br />
Director Robert Zemeckis is back in (live) action after doing three CGI/Motion capture movies.
I wouldn't have expected Zemeckis to do a hard hitting drama like this
one (though to be fair I haven't seen his other most recent live action films <i>Cast Away</i> and <i>What Lies Beneath</i>) but he did a great job.<i> Flight </i>and writer John Gatins received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.<i> </i>Gatins has done some acting and also has a writing credit on<i> Real Steel</i>, which I will write about later.<br />
<i>Flight </i>is about a brilliant airline pilot, Whip Whitaker, who is also an alcoholic. One day he gets drunk and uses cocaine before flying a plane. The plane encounters turbulence and has mechanical problems but Whip manages to crash land the plane with very few casualties. However, a blood test reveals that Whip was intoxicated at the time, which he denies, and an investigation begins. <br />
The acting is great all around starting with our leading man, Denzel Washington, who received a well deserved Oscar nomination for his performance. John Goodman is hilarious as Harling Mays, Whip's old friend and drug dealer. <i>Flight</i> was surprisingly funny as Goodman stole every scene he was in and there was a humorous scene about a porno version of Othello. Don't be fooled though, this is an intense film about addiction and those scenes, though funny, didn't feel out of place.<br />
Kelly Reilly, Don Cheadle, and Bruce Greenwood and are solid in supporting roles. Some scenes in <i>Flight</i>, such as one in a hospital stairwell, felt out of a stage play which is a tribute to the great acting.<br />
<i>Flight </i>does run a little long and the ending could've been better as it's too on the nose. A shorter, less obvious moment between father and son would've sufficed. It was nice to see Robert Zemeckis come back to the world of live action film making and I look forward to whatever he has in store next.<br />
8/10RVChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10475379868308526845noreply@blogger.com0