While up at my family cottage in the thousand islands, I watched Forbidden planet. The thing that made it notable was that it was 1: on Beta-max, 2: Recorded from television 3: Recorded in what I believe was 1989. The commercials were like some kind of advertising time capsule.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. You can see where it influenced Star Trek, and watching Leslie Nielsen play Proto-Kirk was a hoot.
The Purge was ok. I was pretty much what I expected it to be. I liked the world its set in and the premise of the film: every year for 12 hours all crime is legal so everyone can get it out of their systems. There is talk of the "new founding fathers" and "a nation reborn" and it has a sort of Stepford Wives feeling going on. There were some nice ideas in it that weren't really gone in depth, which is the problem. Besides "unleashing the beast" there are hints that the real reason the crime is down is that the purge kills off a lot of the poor and defenseless who might turn to crime and who can't afford expensive security systems and weapons. Unfortunately those are just tiny hints and the rest of the movie is just a home invasion story. I'm hoping the sequel goes more into the backstory and isn't just more of the same with a little twist.
Watched Atlas Shrugged Part II, it was better then the first movie but obviously has the trouble of the material it is based on.
I'd still rather watch the movie than read the book. In it's favor, unlike Rand, the movie actually shows some sense of restraint when it comes to long, boring monologs. At least by comparison.
Monsters University, though thinly-written at times, gets by on it's charm and our pre-established familiarity with the main characters. Pixar's animation also just keeps getting better and better, visually. There's a scene near the end of the film that just blew me away with how gosh dang good it looked.
Monsters University may be that rare film where I love the movie but I detest and abhor the message of it. I think Pixar definitely has the potential to return back to the glory days of their best movies, but they need to reflect on the importance of storytelling and the continuity of making sequels/prequels so they can reach that point again. Like, I love and hate the ending at the same time, mostly because Helen Mirren as the Headmaster was such an incredible bitch. The Mike/Sully chemistry is so on fire and touching that it really makes the movie great, but I do feel like the movie is padded on with fluff and some comedy cliches rather than reflecting on the consequences or going through that personal awakening of being at college.
What even was the message of Monsters U? That you don't have to go to college? Friendship and hard work conquers all? I saw it and I'm not even sure.
Everyone can be a scarier...
Except Mike. Including that Marshmallow, Dimple-Faced misfit has more potential to be a scarier than Mike. Even with all the tiny, non-threatening monsters there...Mike can't scare. BULL SHIT.
The ending is like. "That is sweet, good to know how the first movie begins but...why did I watch this movie?" The original remains superior.
If you are someone who works as hard as they can you can go and achieve anything that you go after (see revenge of the nerds, animal house, any other college movie).
What is really about (since I assume you seen the last Monsters Movie)
If you are someone who works as hard as they can and attempts to go and tries to do something, you will ultimately fail at it. Unless you have a natural ability you are going to be relegated to something else because your dedication is all for naut; you will fail at something you should never have going for in the first place.
Pro Tip: Listen to the Pixar TED talk instead of watching this movie.
I saw the Joss Whedon Much Ado About Nothing (sans das Greg). It is flat out the best Shakespeare I have ever seen on film. It captures the darkness that's at the heart of the comedy and also made me laugh. Amazing acting.
If you are someone who works as hard as they can you can go and achieve anything that you go after (see revenge of the nerds, animal house, any other college movie).
What is really about (since I assume you seen the last Monsters Movie)
If you are someone who works as hard as they can and attempts to go and tries to do something, you will ultimately fail at it. Unless you have a natural ability you are going to be relegated to something else because your dedication is all for naut; you will fail at something you should never have going for in the first place.
Pro Tip: Listen to the Pixar TED talk instead of watching this movie.
That's very true, I think one thing that irritated me about the film with that message is that it focused so much on the pride and importance of Monsters like Sully, but we see that every monster who works at Monsters, Inc. is apart of a TEAM. You have Sully who does the main work, and a Mike who does the technical/intellect work who makes everything go smoothly. There's splashes that show how great Mike is as a people person and motivator, but I think the movie forgot about those type of monsters.
Goon is a very, very good movie with an incredible concept. The lighting is gorgeous and very creative throughout. Sean William Scott does a great job playing a role that seems like it'd be difficult to play. Caveat: The violence is really, really intense in places.
Goon is a very, very good movie with an incredible concept. The lighting is gorgeous and very creative throughout. Sean William Scott does a great job playing a role that seems like it'd be difficult to play. Caveat: The violence is really, really intense in places.
I actually thought that Liev Schreiber's performance was the best in the thing. SWScott is doing a very good job, but Schreiber as Ross "The Boss" Rhea dominates every scene that he's in.
As a hockey fan, the film also hits every note it attempts.
Finally saw The Hunger Games after pretty much ignoring the whole franchise for the first 5 years of its existence. On the positive side, I liked most of the performances and the sets, and I appreciated its - generally very simple - symbolic messages. On the negative side, a significant chunk of individual character moments, plot points, and setting details just felt dumb, unrealistic, or underwhelming, preventing me from ever fully engaging with the movie emotionally. It felt like a late 60's - mid 70's sci-fi dystopia movie in a lot of ways, if that makes sense. Decent directing other than a bit more up-close shaky cam than I'd like.
I'm a huge sucker for dystopias in general, so overall I enjoyed what it was doing enough to give the sequel a shot when it comes out later this year.
I saw Independence Day on Monday. It's really good fun. I did a podcast episode about it too. This video gets it wrong though:
ID4 doesn't casually murder millions of people but not harm a dog. Instead it makes you look into their eyes the moment before they die, and then kills them at the low point in the movie. Unlike more recent scifi movies which kill thousands/millions in the triumphant finale of their movies without even acknowledging people might be in the buildings so casually destroyed.
I saw The Lone Ranger on Friday with my Dad. The movie isn't perfect, but it far exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed it, and so did my Dad, who installed carpet for the original Lone Ranger actor when he was touring for rodeos and such. Johnny Depp was entertaining, as usual. The rest of the cast gave good performances as well. The movie could have been shorter (it's 2 hours 39 minutes), but it never seemed to drag on too much, or for too long. I am not a film student, but I wouldn't have removed more than 5-10 minutes from the film, and that would have only been cutting down a few long scenery shots, and a few seconds here and there.
I actually thought that Liev Schreiber's performance was the best in the thing. SWScott is doing a very good job, but Schreiber as Ross "The Boss" Rhea dominates every scene that he's in.
I'll give you that. I liked the notion of Rhea just being an older, wiser, but still just as stupid hockey player as Doug.
I'm looking forward to "Only god forgives." It's looking to be like what "Drive" should have been.
Drive was an incredible film!
It was absolute genius! If only it had also been anything other than boring, meandering and predictable past roughly the halfway mark. It's inarguable that it's a fantastically shot, scored, and impeccably acted film, but it didn't take too long before I was really struggling to give a shit about anyone in the film. I would have given them bonus points if they'd have had the balls to just go with how the ending appears at first, instead of the whole GASP oh look five more minutes of meandering, wistful long takes.
Also, OGF will be right up your alley, WUB - Drive's director, Ryan Gosling, Hong Kong sleaze, Drive's style, simple-but-tight story, and apparently a 100% excellent soundtrack in a similar style to Drive.
Just finished Iron Sky. That movie was sorely disappointing. It had a great premise, amazing design, but was too damn American. At its core, it had nothing to do with the moon or Nazis, it was all about American politics. There's a whole subplot about how Sarah Palin would be total bros with Nazis -- and this is coming from the Finnish! It's simply sickening.
But Greg, how many movies give you a Nazi woman, performing an elbow drop on a crazy homeless dude in whiteface, in the middle of Times Square?
Also, I've noticed that Americans do tend to review it rather harshly, compared to anyone from outside America. Not that it's exactly the world's greatest film, but for some reason, Americans hate it and people from Europe and other places tend to hate it far less.
I'm not unkind enough to Americans to speculate that this is entirely because it's a movie whose sole purpose is to take the piss out of America and Americans. Americans are usually alright at taking jokes like that.
Comments
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. You can see where it influenced Star Trek, and watching Leslie Nielsen play Proto-Kirk was a hoot.
The ending is like. "That is sweet, good to know how the first movie begins but...why did I watch this movie?" The original remains superior.
If you are someone who works as hard as they can you can go and achieve anything that you go after (see revenge of the nerds, animal house, any other college movie).
What is really about (since I assume you seen the last Monsters Movie)
If you are someone who works as hard as they can and attempts to go and tries to do something, you will ultimately fail at it. Unless you have a natural ability you are going to be relegated to something else because your dedication is all for naut; you will fail at something you should never have going for in the first place.
Pro Tip: Listen to the Pixar TED talk instead of watching this movie.
As a hockey fan, the film also hits every note it attempts.
I'm a huge sucker for dystopias in general, so overall I enjoyed what it was doing enough to give the sequel a shot when it comes out later this year.
ID4 doesn't casually murder millions of people but not harm a dog. Instead it makes you look into their eyes the moment before they die, and then kills them at the low point in the movie. Unlike more recent scifi movies which kill thousands/millions in the triumphant finale of their movies without even acknowledging people might be in the buildings so casually destroyed.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/502666
Only God Forgives looks killer, but I've heard very mixed things from the advance screenings. Bet there's a screener on IPT.
Also, OGF will be right up your alley, WUB - Drive's director, Ryan Gosling, Hong Kong sleaze, Drive's style, simple-but-tight story, and apparently a 100% excellent soundtrack in a similar style to Drive.
Also, I've noticed that Americans do tend to review it rather harshly, compared to anyone from outside America. Not that it's exactly the world's greatest film, but for some reason, Americans hate it and people from Europe and other places tend to hate it far less.
I'm not unkind enough to Americans to speculate that this is entirely because it's a movie whose sole purpose is to take the piss out of America and Americans. Americans are usually alright at taking jokes like that.