The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Diesel

You know...I wanted to come up with a witty response to this...but...I can't...you win



Rose colored glasses seem to be quite popular these days don't they?

At least there are still some sane people who remember things as they actually were like you

I know, I am one of a kind am I not?

[Hep]

Originally Posted by volcomsocal

Once - 2006

[Show spoiler]Incredible movie about 2 strangers who meet on the street and end up making music together. A guy plays guitar, a girl plays piano. This movie has that magic to it, even though it was a low budget film. The ending, as sweet as it was, broke my heart. I can't go into any details because it would ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. But I just wished the two characters could have made things different. I can't say enough about how wonderful this movie was. I was skeptical about watching a musical, but this was far from the typical "musical". It had wonderful music in it that naturally flowed into the storyline. Two very big thumbs up!

PQ - n/a (dvd)
AQ - n/a (dvd)

5/5

That was a real gem of a movie which I gave top marks to. If you want a BD copy, the UK import is region free (although the extras wouldn't work for me, I believe they are PAL) and has a great lossless soundtrack to showcase the music. My review is here. This and The Lives of Others are two little diamonds in the rough from 2006 that have huge replay value for me.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by volcomsocal

Once - 2006

Incredible movie about 2 strangers who meet on the street and end up making music together. A guy plays guitar, a girl plays piano. This movie has that magic to it, even though it was a low budget film. The ending, as sweet as it was, broke my heart. I can't go into any details because it would ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. But I just wished the two characters could have made things different. I can't say enough about how wonderful this movie was. I was skeptical about watching a musical, but this was far from the typical "musical". It had wonderful music in it that naturally flowed into the storyline. Two very big thumbs up!

PQ - n/a (dvd)
AQ - n/a (dvd)

5/5

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

My review:

[Show spoiler]Low budget masterpiece

Directed by John Carney (musician, not the ex-Saints kicker)
Starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
85 minutes
Region free UK import

I checked out Once because I was placing a UK order, it was cheap, and Pro-B was plugging it.

Money well spent.

Here's how you'll know if you'll like it:

Do you like music? No, let me rephrase that. Does music possess you, move you, excite you and make you feel like nothing else? Andy Dufresne in Shawshank understood. If the answer is yes, you will get this film.

If you like your music packaged and your performers manufactured and given an image to make their product sell, this might not be for you.

Once is about a guy (we never learn his name) who busks on the streets of Dublin when he's not helping his dad repair vacuum cleaners. By day, he plays familiar songs. People give him money because they recognize the songs. By night, he plays his own material. It possesses him. He lives and breathes it. He's a conduit for this powerful expression of emotion.

He's not an actor, he's a musician (The Frames) and had a role in The Commitments.

While playing one of the songs at night, a girl (we never learn her name either) sees him performing and gives him 10c. She asks if he'll repair her vacuum cleaner.

She's not an actress either. She's a musician from the Czech Republic. The two have a real-life relationship.

A friendship is formed. She can play classical piano. They play a song together. Will their relationship become a romantic one, or is music and friendship the only thing they will share?

She helps him. He helps her. Stuff happens. Wonderful stuff.

The ending isn't conventional.

This film captures what it's like to be a musician. If you meet the first description I mentioned above, you could easily love this film. There are so many memorable scenes. I have been thinking about it for a week now.

It won an Oscar for best song, but don't think of it as a musical. It's not Hollywood. It's not Music & Lyrics. This is real.

It's shot on a digital camera so don't expect amazing PQ. It's decent enough though. Maybe 4/5. It doesn't matter. You won't care.

The special features will play on a region A player, but without a picture. Buy it for the film. It's worth it.

[Steve46]

Today's blog entry has been posted. Hopefully it will attract more traffic than Lolita did yesterday.

Tangled (animation, comedy, family, musical)
Directed by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard
Starring the voices of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi and Donna Murphy

Disney / Buena Vista | 2010 | 100 min | Rated PG | Released Mar 29, 2011

Video:
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
French: DTS-HD HR 7.1
Spanish: DTS-HD HR 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles:
English SDH, French, Spanish

Discs:
50GB Blu-ray Disc
DVD copy

The Film 4.5/5

Disney has been responsible for some wonderful films since releasing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. I remember being taken to the cinema as a child to see Bambi and The Jungle Book, and anxiously awaiting holiday specials showing classic Disney clips. What’s more, all of Disney’s releases are suitable for family viewing.

While I appreciate all of the above, many of Disney’s classic titles are formulaic. It seems like there’s a princess in every story, although there are only nine official Disney princesses. The movies feature numerous songs and often start with the image of a storybook which is used to set the scene. All of those things work, but it’s a little too predictable for my liking.

Tangled is different.

Instead of using a storybook for the exposition, it uses a narrator. The narrator is Flynn Rider, our hero, and he’s sarcastic and genuinely funny. There are songs, but they are short, infrequent, and also funny. There’s a princess, but she doesn’t act like one. This is a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It feels fresh and contemporary. Quite frankly, I was surprised and delighted with the whole thing.

We learn during the opening scenes that an old woman, Mother Gothel (Murphy), possesses a golden flower with the power to heal and reverse the effects of aging. The queen is sick and needs the flower to heal her, so a party of soldiers is sent to find it. It works and newly-born princess Rapunzel (Moore) is infused with the plant’s powers. Mother Gothel wants to appear young so she kidnaps the princess and keeps her in a tower. The king and queen release floating lanterns each year on Rapunzel's birthday and hope that she will eventually be found.

Rapunzel thinks that Mother Gothel is her real mother and that she’s being kept in the tower to protect her from the dangers of the real world. Her main wish is to see the lights that appear on her birthday. Her only friend is Pascal, a chameleon. He doesn’t speak, but does a good job of expressing his feelings through body language.

Flynn Rider is a notorious thief who stumbles across Rapunzel’s tower while evading capture from the king’s soldiers. Rapunzel hits him over the head with a frying pan and locks him in her closet. She’s convinced that the outside world poses no threat to her.

We learn that her hair has many uses. It’s one way into the tower, but she also uses it to pick things up and to tie Flynn to a chair. The two enter into a bargain; he’ll take her to see the floating lanterns and she’ll give him back the tiara he stole. She sends Mother Gothel on an errand and leaves the tower with Flynn.

Flynn takes Rapunzel to the Snuggly Duckling inn which is supposed to represent a sort of biker pub. The patrons aren’t what they seem and end up liking her. Mother Gothel tracks the pair down and Flynn is also found by one of the king’s horses, Maximus. The horse doesn’t speak either, but is one of the funniest characters in the movie. He feels that he isn’t appreciated, but Rapunzel wins his loyalty.

There’s plenty of action during the ensuing chase scenes, and the pair are forced to use their wits to escape all kinds of peril. Mother Gothel is the most evil character in the story, although her selfish actions are understandable when you consider that she’ll die without the effects of Rapunzel’s magic hair.

There’s considerable character development in the story and, being Disney, it has a happy ending. The mix of humor, action and romance works well. The characters are easy to like and there’s always something interesting happening.

Video Quality 5/5
I recently reviewed Megamind and mentioned that, as well as aliasing, the backgrounds appeared unfinished. Watching Tangled, the difference is easy to spot. There is so much detail and depth in each frame. Take a look at the background shots and you’ll see what I mean. Leaves rustle in the breeze, clouds drift and water ripples. This image is comparable to Bolt or the recent Pixar releases. It’s another perfect transfer from Disney.

Audio Quality 5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix also receives a perfect score. There’s a lot happening at times, and every little sound is heard. Background noises such as hooves or running water enhance the experience and you’ll hear things coming at you from all directions. Dialogue and music also receive the correct treatment. It’s hard to fault anything in the presentation.

Special Features 3/5

Deleted Scenes (13 minutes) – Directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard introduce this segment and explain how and why certain scenes were changed. The scenes are unfinished and appear as storyboards or partially animated.

Original Storybook Openings (8 minutes) – These are early versions of what may have been and are similar to the deleted scenes.

50th Animated Feature Countdown (2 minutes) – Tangled is Disney’s 50th animated feature. See a brief glimpse of them all, in release order.

Extended Songs (8 minutes) – Full versions of two songs from the movie.

Untangled: The Making of a Fairy Tale (12 minutes) – A light-hearted feature with actors Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, talking about the movie and the history of Disney.

Tangled Teasers (9 minutes) – Amusing fake ads featuring characters from the movie.

Discover Blu-ray 3D With Timon and Pumbaa

Learn How to Take Your Favorite Movies on the Go

Trailers

DVD copy

Tangled was a nice surprise with its fresh take on traditional Disney themes. There’s plenty here for children to enjoy. The characters are cute and friendly and the action is never far away. Adults will enjoy it too. Disney’s 50th animated feature is one of the best releases the studio has made and its modern animation style is a pleasure to watch.

Overall score 4.5/5

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Oops on the L, but I frequently intentionally leave out apostrophes. I have a pet peeve against apostrophes. They are unnecessary because the context of the sentence already (and sufficiently) indicates the words meaning, be it plural or possessive. Also, because it's (it is) used to replace letters, it simply adds confusion. It has multiple uses, and that forces you to think "which use is being applied in this sentence?". Why not just let the sentence dictate that? Apostrophes are an utter waste.

"Its time to go to the movis." Did anyone NOT understand that I meant "it is"? Did you think I was talking about multiple "Its"?

"Dannys movie tickets are in his wallet." Did anyone NOT understand that the tickets belong to Danny, and that I wasnt ("was not" for you slow folks) referring to multiple Dannys?" I didnt ("did not" for you slow folks) think so.

The person who invented the false "need" for apostrophes simply complicated things and did so because he had a raging starvation for attention. "Look at me, look at me, I invented something"

I think you might appreciate the writing of one Cormac McCarthy, if you don't already. His pages are almost completely void of any punctuation. He doesn't use quotation marks for the very same reason you don't like apostrophes and he leaves out commas where other writers would use them heavily.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Alright, I've had this movie sitting on my shelf for months, and it's been staring at me in the face so way too long now, waiting to be watched for the first time ever...

Next greatest blind-buy: "Let Me In."

[Show spoiler]After one careless viewing and one fully-attentive analytical viewing, I grew to appreciate the nuances of the original Swedish film "Let the Right One In," which is a rather touching story and a poetic film. The Americanized "Let Me In" is pretty much the same stuff; both films are slowly and deliberately paced and both feature most of the same scenes.

It still has a sound story with a group of decent-enough characters. It is also a pretty decent film with solid photography, a slick style, and a decent-enough production value. On its own merits, the film will probably appeal to the casual American audience pretty well.

Compared to "LTROI" though, there are oodles of small differences and nuances that make the two totally separate. And there are a bunch of differences I really don't agree with. The actors in "LMI" just don't seem nearly as distinctive or characteristic as the originals. The bullies seem a little meaner (which is good and tense), but for whatever reason they seemed a little more menacing in the first film. The love story seemed more touching in the first film. The settings and atmosphere seemed more genuine and fitting in the first film (maybe because Sweden > New Mexico ). And the final straw is, I think the final pool scene is done much better in the original.

So, in the end...

3.5/5 (entertainment: 3.5/5, story: 4/5, film: 3.5/5)

Recommendation: As a rental. I prefer and recommend "Let the Right One In" instead. Subtitle haters be damned.

The Blu-Ray looks okay; it's very dark, but has good color/contrast in some scenes, and is adequately sharp. Sound quality is often very low.

PQ: 4/5, AQ: 4/5

I agree with this review, I think I liked it a little more, and a few of the changes are nice, like the car stunt is amazing

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by volcomsocal

once - 2006

incredible movie about 2 strangers who meet on the street and end up making music together. A guy plays guitar, a girl plays piano. This movie has that magic to it, even though it was a low budget film. The ending, as sweet as it was, broke my heart. I can't go into any details because it would ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. But i just wished the two characters could have made things different. I can't say enough about how wonderful this movie was. I was skeptical about watching a musical, but this was far from the typical "musical". It had wonderful music in it that naturally flowed into the storyline. Two very big thumbs up!

Pq - n/a (dvd)
aq - n/a (dvd)

5/5

5.5/5

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Steve46

Tangled .

Instead of using a storybook for the exposition, it uses a narrator. The narrator is Flynn Rider, our hero, and he’s sarcastic and genuinely funny. There are songs, but they are short, infrequent, and also funny. There’s a princess, but she doesn’t act like one. This is a story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It feels fresh and contemporary. Quite frankly, I was surprised and delighted with the whole thing.

Yippeeee! Glad you liked it. It seems like the very definition of "rewatchable" too.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

I think you might appreciate the writing of one Cormac McCarthy, if you don't already. His pages are almost completely void of any punctuation. He doesn't use quotation marks for the very same reason you don't like apostrophes and he leaves out commas where other writers would use them heavily.

Commas are important, though, as pacing is critical, and I enjoy using them, frequently. Apostrophes, however, are wholly illogical.

[Show spoiler]He wrote The Road.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Steve46

Today's blog entry has been posted. Hopefully it will attract more traffic than Lolita did yesterday.

Tangled (animation, comedy, family, musical)

I truly enjoyed Tangled, very good movie. It was fun, the music was good and there was good characters into it. I hope I can find it at a good price at one point.

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Yippeeee! Glad you liked it. It seem like the very definition of "rewatchable" too.

Yep, I'm glad I bought it

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I truly enjoyed Tangled, very good movie. It was fun, the music was good and there was good characters into it. I hope I can find it at a good price at one point.

I bought it used from here for $12.99.

Used 1-disc version, so no DVD. It contains all the special features on the BD though and guaranteed to play perfectly. I use them all the time.

[SquidPuppet]

Au Revoir Les Enfants

1987 PG 101 minutes

DVD

As World War II rages on, two students at a boarding school -- the French-Catholic Julien Quintin (Gaspard Manesse) and the Jewish Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejto) -- form an unlikely friendship in director Louis Malle's powerfully moving drama based on events from his own life. Although the boys begin as adversaries, they soon find common ground, especially when it becomes clear that Jean is merely trying to survive the tyranny of the Nazis

I liked everything about this movie. A good story, well told, paced, and acted. It is another good film about WWII era Europe from a childs perspective.

4.5/5

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Commas are important, though, as pacing is critical, and I enjoy using them, frequently. Apostrophes, however, are wholly illogical.

[Show spoiler]He wrote The Road.

Yeah, there are times when i wish he'd use more commas, but it makes you reread things and really forces you to "get inside" the cadence of his sentences. His abandonment of quotation marks, however, is transcendent, IMO. He was quoted as saying, "I don't want my text cluttered up with a bunch of marks."
Yeah, his last two books were "NO Country" and "The Road." He's almost 80 and those are two of his most "mainstream" books along with "All the Pretty Horses."

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Au Revoir Les Enfants

1987 PG 101 minutes

DVD

As World War II rages on, two students at a boarding school -- the French-Catholic Julien Quintin (Gaspard Manesse) and the Jewish Jean Bonnet (Raphael Fejto) -- form an unlikely friendship in director Louis Malle's powerfully moving drama based on events from his own life. Although the boys begin as adversaries, they soon find common ground, especially when it becomes clear that Jean is merely trying to survive the tyranny of the Nazis

I liked everything about this movie. A good story, well told, paced, and acted. It is another good film about WWII era Europe from a childs perspective.

4.5/5

Sounds like you had a similar reaction to me. Review is in this thread or on my blog. I picked it up during the recent Amazon sale.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

Yeah, there are times when i wish he'd use more commas, but it makes you reread things and really forces you to "get inside" the cadence of his sentences. His abandonment of quotation marks, however, is transcendent, IMO. He was quoted as saying, "I don't want my text cluttered up with a bunch of marks."
Yeah, his last two books were "NO Country" and "The Road." He's almost 80 and those are two of his most "mainstream" books along with "All the Pretty Horses."

He sounds like a KooK, like me.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

He sounds like a KooK, like me.

He is, but he's stone brilliant. No one can even come close to his command of the english language.
Did you read The Road? It's actually one of his more "hopeful" books.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

He is, but he's stone brilliant. No one can even come close to his command of the english language.
Did you read The Road? It's actually one of his more "hopeful" books.

No I did not. Maybe I should pick up one of his darker ones. Can you recommend on that is full of dread and dispair?

[Foggy]

This week I should be tearing through a rapid and vass collection of films here's my list that I'm going to try and get through at least, maybe less, maybe more

X-Men: First Class
The Hangover: Part II
The Hurt Locker
The Shining
Gladiator
Amadeus
Office Space
Big Trouble in Little China
My Name Is Bruce
Leaving Las Vegas
Once Upon A Time In America
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Schindler's List
Young Frankenstein
The Silence of The Lambs
Saving Private Ryan
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
L.A Confidential
Unforgiven
The Evil Dead
The Seventh Seal
Trainspotting
Casino
Rocky
Infernal Affairs trilogy
The Shawshank Redemption
Battle Royale

Any I should prioritise over the others guys, like highlight must sees, must not sees, and ones you think will appeal to me

Probably won't get through all, but I'll attempt to get through most

[Steve46]

Originally Posted by Foggy

This week I should be tearing through a rapid and vass collection of films here's my list that I'm going to try and get through at least, maybe less, maybe more

X-Men: First Class
The Hangover: Part II
The Hurt Locker
The Shining
Gladiator
Amadeus
Office Space
Big Trouble in Little China
My Name Is Bruce
Leaving Las Vegas
Once Upon A Time In America
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Schindler's List
Young Frankenstein
The Silence of The Lambs
Saving Private Ryan
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
L.A Confidential
Unforgiven
The Evil Dead
The Seventh Seal
Trainspotting
Casino
Rocky
Infernal Affairs trilogy
The Shawshank Redemption
Battle Royale

Any I should prioritise over the others guys, like highlight must sees, must not sees, and ones you think will appeal to me

Probably won't get through all, but I'll attempt to get through most

My favorites from that list include:

The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
L.A. Confidential
The Shining
Gladiator
The Hurt Locker

I sold my copies of Big Trouble in Little China, but everyone's tastes are different.