The Departures was an absolutely great movie. Interesting story, funny and serious moments, and absolutely beautiful music. I had no idea this won the academy award for best foreign movie, but it totally deserved it.
So Im ten minuets into American Sniper so I can see what the fuss is about. With in five minuets the dad is some crazy person who's cool with beating kids and turning them into some strange soldiers cum devout warriors. He has thrown out if girlfriend for sleeping with another guy and ignoring any faults in himself. This dude is bat shit crazy! Its some strange southern fight against the world wank fantasy, its in then minuets in.
Edit; they are now throwing darts at each other. What the fuck is this.
Edit 2: Now he's a living god in Iraq showing Marines basic shit like he's John Rambo.
Karate Kid, a movie I watched over and over when a kid myself, is still really good fun. It's just a classically well-made movie, relying on acting and storytelling to move through scenes, often in a single take, in a way I hardly ever see in more modern movies.
The Drop Basically what it feels like to be at the bottom of a laundering operation for organised crime, the people and characters encountered and social interactions. Really interesting perspective on organised crime that is able to tell a very different simply by changing the point of view.
It didn't turn out how I thought it would and is better for it.
The movie doesn't treat the audience like an idiot so paying attention will reap you more rewards.
The depth and intricacy of the plot however is shallow however as noted the story telling does try to make up for it.
Watched The Interview. It was mostly bad. There were a handful of moments that got me really laughing simply because they played up the ridiculousness so well. It is not a movie that will age well.
Chappie is a movie that made me very happy. After District 9, Hollywood gave Niell Blomkamp a lot of money to make a Hollywood movie and he came up with Elysium. Which was utter garbage.
Chappie is like someone said "Hey, actually, just do what you want this time" and Blomkamp made District 9 again, but with robots instead of aliens. And it turns out that's exactly what I wanted. Moral ambiguity and explosive gunfights in Johannesburg, not heavy handed preaching in space paradise.
Watched Whiplash, I was pretty unsettled by the whole thing. A piece of shit music teacher breaks down a promising music student so he can be perfect as the next great jazz drummer like Buddy Rich.
I didn't like the movie for moralistic reasons. It has great acting, music editing, and cinematography. However, I believe the movie wants to be this next inspirational movie the glorifies JK Simmon's abusive teacher character that "Even though he was abusive, his student did achieve perfection!" Man, there is a limit to where that shit is tolerable and reasonable. But there is not real justification or payback in his actions punishing this kid. The kid turns out to be an egotistic too wanting to die like the next Charlie Parker. It just hit a point to where I stopped caring about them.
And although people tell me "No, the message of the movie was that he IS evil! He just doesn't care! He's perfect, but hollow creatively" that's not what a lot of other people see. Many see this as another Rocky, where the underdog tries as hard as he can to win the big competition. I am completely baffled by people who say the movie was funny, fun, inspirational, or how JK Simmons was not a real bad guy.
Every year there's always one Oscar movie that rubs me the wrong way. Sadly, Whiplash was that. This might be well made, but I never want to see it again.
Big Hero 6 This movie was so close to being a great movie but fell short in a few aspects.
When you have the entire movie centre on a death it has to be insanely powerful. When the older brother dies at the early stage in the film it doesn't really hold much weight. When you compare that death to the death of Mufasa in the Lion King, it is night and day. You had the memory of Mufasa's death even after you finish the movie, there are many portions to it which also build on the protagonist and antagonist, forming them very clearly in the film.
More time with the brother and the death of the parents would have been interesting. As it stood I didn't really relate with the protagonist's arc. Starting a cocky super genius and ending it in the same manner was part of a problem as this paradigm of the character seemed to be focused. I understand the progression of the story was to assist the protagonist in grieving and letting go but it could have been a bit better.
The side characters were okay, not great. However I did love the car chase, first animated car chase which I really enjoyed.
I loved Baymax, it was great, I'm a sucker for positive android characters though maybe I read too much into their blunt understanding of weighing the worth of life.
The super hero aspect was too forced and they chose some shockingly outdated people to help them on this part - Scott Lobdell, Joe Queseda and Chris Claremont (90's X-men writers).
The chaser was worth the wait and the credits were fun as in most Pixar movies.
The animation was quite insanely detailed, I 100% think that Pixar could make creepy real characters but they do the smart thing of keeping characters cartoony but leaving the rest of the world almost realistic.
I swear I'm not watching the same movies as everyone else. What was so good about it? What was different than any other action-guy-murdering-tons-of-dudes movie?
Well, not much to be said for the plot, pretty standard roaring rampage of revenge stuff. But the action is ridiculously tight, the cinematography is great, the acting is pretty good, and it's excellent at show-don't-tell storytelling.
For example, we see Wick's stash, with the massive stacks of gold coins in his stash. Then, shortly after, we find out it's one coin per body. Just from three brief shots without a word about it, we're shown, but never explicitly told why Wick has a reputation like he does.
Hmm, I thought the whole assassin society was kind of dumb. So they've got this hotel where killing is off limits, ok cool. Except this lady jumps at the first chance to break the rules. Why even bother with the whole deal?
Also highly irritating that Keanu has perfect aim shooting at everyone but Theon Greyjoy.
Hmm, I thought the whole assassin society was kind of dumb. So they've got this hotel where killing is off limits, ok cool. Except this lady jumps at the first chance to break the rules. Why even bother with the whole deal?
I thought so at first, but then I thought about it - You're an indpendent assassin. You need certain things - discreet acquisition of cars, weaponry, explosives, certain services(ie, medical, information), ammo, space to practice, neutral ground to meet with other assassins, so on. People who see a gap in a market will often try to fill it, and it would also be incredibly problematic for each assassin to build up their own network for all of these things. Thinking about it that way, some sort of support organization became not only likely, but almost an inevitability.
As for Perkins breaking the rules - there's always one asshole.
Watched The Secret of Kells this weekend. Song of the Sea is next.
Finally got around to seeing Song of the Sea. Fucking amazing.
So well told. Cartoon Saloon's animation is so gorgeous and fluid. So many wonderful shades of blue. Their style works really well between cute, human, and even spiritual. Love how everything folded out as a story of mythology and adventure. SoK would have been an 8 out of 10...but Song gets a flat 10 out of 10. It's perfect. Like seeing an incredible featurette from a museum.
Also, I found a lot of parallels I could connect between this film and Kaguya. Both have the same ending, but Song of the Sea does it in a more satisfying manner. Plus, Kaguya spends too much time meandering on the plot and message in the middle.
As for Perkins breaking the rules - there's always one asshole.
And she got what she deserved.
John Wick Actually a really fucking fun movie to watch. The makers of this film knew it was going to be all about the action, guns, fights and cars so they concentrated on those things and made sure the acting, calibre of actors and sets hit a certain quality. More action movies need to be this and not pretend to have an intellectual storyline. Everyone knew what was going to happen to the dog as soon as he got it, the way it was shot and the sound still made the audience's attention empathise with the protagonist before revealing who he really is, smart story telling with a very basic plot.
Theon Greyjoy, will always be typecast as a rejected Daddy's boy.
Edit: Forgot to note the person in charge of the soundtrack and sound effects make this movie.
Watched The Secret of Kells this weekend. Song of the Sea is next.
Finally got around to seeing Song of the Sea. Fucking amazing.
So well told. Cartoon Saloon's animation is so gorgeous and fluid. So many wonderful shades of blue. Their style works really well between cute, human, and even spiritual. Love how everything folded out as a story of mythology and adventure. SoK would have been an 8 out of 10...but Song gets a flat 10 out of 10. It's perfect. Like seeing an incredible featurette from a museum.
Also, I found a lot of parallels I could connect between this film and Kaguya. Both have the same ending, but Song of the Sea does it in a more satisfying manner. Plus, Kaguya spends too much time meandering on the plot and message in the middle.
Had friends over to watch Song of the Sea. It was my kid's second time viewing it, and it held her attention non-stop, which is great praise for a second viewing. Friends loved it. I wound up catching things in the first 20 minutes that went over my head previously. Gonna watch it with commentary on at some point soon.
Comments
Edit; they are now throwing darts at each other. What the fuck is this.
Edit 2: Now he's a living god in Iraq showing Marines basic shit like he's John Rambo.
It was long and slow, but I definitely enjoyed it.
Basically what it feels like to be at the bottom of a laundering operation for organised crime, the people and characters encountered and social interactions.
Really interesting perspective on organised crime that is able to tell a very different simply by changing the point of view.
It didn't turn out how I thought it would and is better for it.
The movie doesn't treat the audience like an idiot so paying attention will reap you more rewards.
The depth and intricacy of the plot however is shallow however as noted the story telling does try to make up for it.
That was a well done moment. I choked up right there.
Chappie is a movie that made me very happy. After District 9, Hollywood gave Niell Blomkamp a lot of money to make a Hollywood movie and he came up with Elysium. Which was utter garbage.
Chappie is like someone said "Hey, actually, just do what you want this time" and Blomkamp made District 9 again, but with robots instead of aliens. And it turns out that's exactly what I wanted. Moral ambiguity and explosive gunfights in Johannesburg, not heavy handed preaching in space paradise.
I didn't like the movie for moralistic reasons. It has great acting, music editing, and cinematography. However, I believe the movie wants to be this next inspirational movie the glorifies JK Simmon's abusive teacher character that "Even though he was abusive, his student did achieve perfection!" Man, there is a limit to where that shit is tolerable and reasonable. But there is not real justification or payback in his actions punishing this kid. The kid turns out to be an egotistic too wanting to die like the next Charlie Parker. It just hit a point to where I stopped caring about them.
And although people tell me "No, the message of the movie was that he IS evil! He just doesn't care! He's perfect, but hollow creatively" that's not what a lot of other people see. Many see this as another Rocky, where the underdog tries as hard as he can to win the big competition. I am completely baffled by people who say the movie was funny, fun, inspirational, or how JK Simmons was not a real bad guy.
Every year there's always one Oscar movie that rubs me the wrong way. Sadly, Whiplash was that. This might be well made, but I never want to see it again.
This movie was so close to being a great movie but fell short in a few aspects.
When you have the entire movie centre on a death it has to be insanely powerful. When the older brother dies at the early stage in the film it doesn't really hold much weight.
When you compare that death to the death of Mufasa in the Lion King, it is night and day. You had the memory of Mufasa's death even after you finish the movie, there are many portions to it which also build on the protagonist and antagonist, forming them very clearly in the film.
More time with the brother and the death of the parents would have been interesting. As it stood I didn't really relate with the protagonist's arc. Starting a cocky super genius and ending it in the same manner was part of a problem as this paradigm of the character seemed to be focused. I understand the progression of the story was to assist the protagonist in grieving and letting go but it could have been a bit better.
The side characters were okay, not great. However I did love the car chase, first animated car chase which I really enjoyed.
I loved Baymax, it was great, I'm a sucker for positive android characters though maybe I read too much into their blunt understanding of weighing the worth of life.
The super hero aspect was too forced and they chose some shockingly outdated people to help them on this part - Scott Lobdell, Joe Queseda and Chris Claremont (90's X-men writers).
The chaser was worth the wait and the credits were fun as in most Pixar movies.
The animation was quite insanely detailed, I 100% think that Pixar could make creepy real characters but they do the smart thing of keeping characters cartoony but leaving the rest of the world almost realistic.
For example, we see Wick's stash, with the massive stacks of gold coins in his stash. Then, shortly after, we find out it's one coin per body. Just from three brief shots without a word about it, we're shown, but never explicitly told why Wick has a reputation like he does.
Also highly irritating that Keanu has perfect aim shooting at everyone but Theon Greyjoy.
As for Perkins breaking the rules - there's always one asshole.
So well told. Cartoon Saloon's animation is so gorgeous and fluid. So many wonderful shades of blue. Their style works really well between cute, human, and even spiritual. Love how everything folded out as a story of mythology and adventure. SoK would have been an 8 out of 10...but Song gets a flat 10 out of 10. It's perfect. Like seeing an incredible featurette from a museum.
Also, I found a lot of parallels I could connect between this film and Kaguya. Both have the same ending, but Song of the Sea does it in a more satisfying manner. Plus, Kaguya spends too much time meandering on the plot and message in the middle.
John Wick
Actually a really fucking fun movie to watch. The makers of this film knew it was going to be all about the action, guns, fights and cars so they concentrated on those things and made sure the acting, calibre of actors and sets hit a certain quality. More action movies need to be this and not pretend to have an intellectual storyline.
Everyone knew what was going to happen to the dog as soon as he got it, the way it was shot and the sound still made the audience's attention empathise with the protagonist before revealing who he really is, smart story telling with a very basic plot.
Theon Greyjoy, will always be typecast as a rejected Daddy's boy.
Edit:
Forgot to note the person in charge of the soundtrack and sound effects make this movie.
Song of the sea = Samurai jack + Pan's Labyrinth
+ Zelda + Atlantis + Spirited Away + a bit of Repunzle/ TangledEnchanting and endearing, I do recommend.