RealityChuck
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Everything posted by RealityChuck
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Disney's animated films are . . . consistent. You won't find a bad one, but it's been a long time since there was a great one (the most recent I can think of was Mulan). Aardmann and Laika are making far better movies, and even Pixar -- which lately has had some duds -- managed with Inside Out The problem with Disney is that they always play it safe. Moana is fine, but pretty much routine.
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It is.
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I liked it a lot. I don't usually care for car chase films, but the staging and the (non-CGI) stunts made it great to watch. Interesting characters, sharp dialog, and they knew exactly when to ease off on the tension and when to ramp it up again.
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Film by Edgar Wright about a young getaway driver who constantly listens to music, and gets caught up as he tries to put the heists behind him.
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Some of the songs: Dangerous Business [youtube:xwzztid2]PiN3SL7SZ-Q[/youtube:xwzztid2] This what they think about it. [youtube:xwzztid2]WjU9_bXgD0U[/youtube:xwzztid2]
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Ishtar was never reviewed fairly, except by Newsday (which gave it a generally positive one) and the Times (which gave it an honorable mention on its ten best list of the year). The film was Extraordinarily expensive for its time, and had little spectacle to show for it, and many of the critics went into it saying "it can't be any good because it was so over budget" (literally; some critics actually said that). It quickly developed a reputation for being an awful film. In reality, it's a generally good, but uneven film. The first twenty minutes are comedy gold, showing two untalented songwriters who can't see how awful they are. (Paul Williams's songs are hilariously bad.) The film flags a bit when they get to Ishtar, but picks up when they look for the blind camel. The gun auction scene is classic comedy. The ending, though is rushed and very lame, like they had no idea how to end it and just did something to give it an end. There's a lot to like in the film. It's not great, but it doesn't deserve the reputation it has as one of the worst films ever.
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Great film that deserves to be on the Mount Rushmore of comic superhero movies with the Christopher Reeve Superman, the Tim Burton Batman and The Dark Knight. The final confrontation was the usual dull CGI fight, though it worked better because it had some ideas behind it. And the No Man's Land scene reached the level of cinema classic.
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BTW, Alfred Newman was the inspiration if the name "Alfred E. Neumann" ( though not the appearance)
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Oh Oscar, Oscar, Oscar (2017 Version)
RealityChuck replied to Frayed Knot's topic in Film Review Forum
As a big fan of La La Land, I'm delighted. It's also great the "Audition (The Dreamers that Dream)" is up for best song. I am disappointed the Amy Adams and Taraji P. Henson didn't get Best Actress nods. -
I think it will go down as one of the great films of the 21st century. It shows the magic of movies and musicals, while at the same time subverting the expectations. The "meet cute," for instance, is an acknowledgment of the trope while also taking it into a loving absurdity. I don't get the criticism of Emma Stone's singing -- she did play Sally Bowles on Broadway. I think it's because people are used to belters, but the songs are performed more like older jazz -- small, more intimate, quieter. (Note the singer in the opening number, for instance. She had to be chosen for her voice, and she's singing in the same style). And her rendition of "The Fools That Dream" nails the song -- a song she and the songwriter had to nail to make the movie work.
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A new movie musical following the lives and love of an aspiring actress and a jazz musician trying to make it in Los Angeles.
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Pretty routine and by-the-numbers. Interminable battle scenes that grew pretty tedious, and which started to look like the deathtrap on Galaxy Quest. The mechanics of the story were pretty clunky; things were done not because the story demanded it, but to keep the fanboys happy. The characters weren't particularly interesting (except for the robot) and were as clichéd as they could be, and they never transcended the stereotypes like in the original film. Not actively bad, but at the level of 1930s programmers. I'd rate it as the fifth best SW film. It's better than 1, 2, and 3, but not as good as the others.
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Saw it today. It is the best sf film since 12 Monkeys. Sophisticated storytelling, real sf problems, and amazing emotional depth. Nice use of suspense, and nothing but smart characters. Ted Chaing, who wrote the original story, is an amazing writer and the movie takes all the strengths of his story and uses it perfectly. Fine acting, too, and the ending gives you a lot to think about. Definitely see it.
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While not a great film, Wilder's role in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex shows just how great an actor he was. Say what you can, but any actor who can show he's falling in love with a sheep -- almost entirely by his expression and body language -- is truly an excellent one.
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Good enough, but the damn bit about the sloth was completely unfunny after the first visual. It milked the joke ever worse than Family Guy. Overall, though, it was pretty standard and by-the-numbers.
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I just read the column. What a whiney little temper tantrum. "They can't afford to live in that apartment! Civilization is ending! Movies hare a duty to be 100% accurate! The slightest variation from reality deserves a mob with pitchforks! Everyone bow down to the God of Realism!"
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Haven't seen many this year, but my list would be: Mr. Holmes. Ian McKellan was brilliant as Holmes, in a movie that was extremely well written and cleverly plotted. It possibly was the most complex and smart movie I've seen in a long time. Inside Out. Pixar has been weak lately; this is their best in a while.. The Martian. Nicely acted and a breath of fresh air. Like Mr Holmes, it actually has a smart protagonist. Trainwreck. Very funny, and also gets the romance right. Schumer was excellent. The Hateful Eight. Not Tarantino's best, but plenty to like. Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Good, but no real depth or characterization Star Wars ripped off many other movies, this only ripped off Star Wars. Shaun the Sheep. A children's film and good as such. Also the lack of dialog gets a big plus.
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I saw it today (hence the topic) and loved it. I do disagree that Tarantino runs out of ideas, though. The plot is well constructed and little things that get introduced as digressions early on turn out to have importance in the final act. I didn't find it slow; the dialogue carries it in the early parts, and Tarantino is subtly building character and plot for the end. It reminded me in a way of H. P. Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls," a story that starts out with things that seem dull, but which end up making everything work. He's also a master storyteller, doing things with the form that no one else could carry off. I wouldn't call this his best (that's still Pulp Fiction, but he still hasn't made a bad movie.
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Tarantino's latest: lots of fake blood and killer dialog about a bunch of people holed up in a store during a blizzard.
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I find Scott to be wildly uneven, with a lot of crap and a few good movies. Thelma and Louise is his greatest film, but he did some good work on Blade Runner (though it's not as good as people think it is) and Matchstick Men deserved better. Gladiator is tedious nonsense and I'm surprised it's so well regarded. Cinema Sins covers it well: mF61wAxlDPY The Martian, however, is first class, maybe the second best film he's ever done. I think it worked pretty well at all levels.
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Star Wars, Episode 7 The Force Awakens (2015) [SPOILERS]
RealityChuck replied to Elster88's topic in Film Review Forum
It was pretty good. The difference between this and the original film is that Lucas ripped off a long list of films, where n this just ripped off Star Wars sometimes slavishly so. Entertaining, but not a great film. -
Utterly charming. I'm a big fan of Aardman Animation, who have a long streak of great films (their worst -- Flushed Away -- is still very good). The movie took a bit to get going, but one it hit its stride, it was wonderful.
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I haven't read the book, but I would think the movie took much from it. You rarely get plotting that clever from Hollywood alone.
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A version of the legend, starring Ian McKellen as a 90-year-old version Holmes living in retirement and raising bees. His memory foggy, he attempts to write the truth about on particular case.
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Pixar animated offering about the anthropomorphized emotions in an 11-year-old girl's head.
