Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
dir. Amy Heckerling
The Good:Sean Penn as a f*cking surfer stoner of all things. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Robert Romanus, and Ray Walston are all solid. "You dick!" Awesome 80s soundtrack. The ridiculously smoking hot Phoebe Cates in a red bikini emerging from a pool and taking her top off in slow-motion as The Cars' 'Moving in Stereo' plays in the background -- quite possibly the greatest sequence ever filmed in the history of cinema.
The Bad:Tries to cram all sorts of storylines into just 90 minutes and as a result, the issues are glossed over and resolved rather too quickly.
The Bottom Line:Teen sex comedies are often pretty shitty, so it's nice to finally see one that doesn't suck and actually has a thoughtful story to tell.
By the way, the editor of the college paper wants me to sign on as film critic. I will get the job details on Monday, but I'm hoping for the space for at least one review a week
Fantastic!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abdrewes
Engineering has already gotten too dry for me . I hope to go to film school after I get my bachelors degree this December (hopefully). I spend too much time reading, writing and watching film to not do something with it...
I'm sure the film industry has a demand for engineers. Find a way to work that in.
I agree. I think it's a fantastic film and while I very seldom disagree with DJ, I have to hear. In regards to the hipster opinion, I personally don't think anything in the film evokes or conveys the word hipster, either intentionally or accidentally. It's almost like there was a search for a trendy adjective to use to describe one's opinion of the film. Based on the most recent DJ post, it seems as though authenticity is a major issue for him.
It was only one factor to why the film failed to work for me. I was out of sync with the main character for a majority of the film. Eye-rolling dialogue too.
No. I do not watch any shows as they air. I always wait for the Blu-ray. Been doing it this way since 2007. A commercial for diapers in the middle of an intense scene on Mad Men kinda kills the mood for me. And, for me, the weekly wait ruins the pacing. I like experiencing the flow the way the writers created it. Like reading a book at your desired pace. PQ and AQ are really important to me as well. So for me it is 12 months wait, 3-4 days marathoning, 12 months wait, 3-4 days marathoning, repeat, repeat.
I am the same way. This is the first time I have ever followed a season of any show live.
That said, I also can't do binge-watching. Still not sure how my friends do it.
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What would you say is better about this season? Drama, action, character development, story advancement? I can't wait to explore more of what is North of the wall.
Character development, flow, plot advancement, and writing in general. I found it to be a more interesting season in general. I loved the second season but it didn't come close to the first. This one certainly does.
I loved it. It delivered almost exactly what I wanted out of it.
I wanted the first half to be extended by another 15-30 minutes or so to give us more time with Jor-El and Jonathan to make their roles feel a little less rushed...also Lois' investigation and his 'journey'. It feels like there is a 2.5+ hour movie hidden in there.
Once the action really hits in the second half...
There was really only one instance where the effects I felt were rough and it looked way too CGI. But in such an effects heavy movie, that is forgivable.
Cavill was fantastic as Supes I thought. Shannon's Zod was honestly the weakest part of the film for me. He was good, but I never got that feeling I think Zod needs to convey.
I could probably ramble on and on about what I liked about it...and a few things that I did dislike but its late and in the end the dislikes I had are just nitpicks. This is one hell of a good fun watch in my opinion and I can't wait to watch it again after work tomorrow.
This movie has a story to tell (even if it should have been fleshed out a little more...for me at least ) and has all the spectacle you could ever want from a Superman movie.
Iron Man 3 was okay, Star Trek Into Darkness was quite good, but this was much better than both of them for me.
This is the Superman movie I've been waiting for since I was a little boy. Thank you Zack Snyder.
4.5/5
After seeing the film, here's my reaction to your review...
Pi is dark, weird, has stuff that initially went way over my head...and I liked it. I originally got it as a double-feature with Requiem for a Dream, and the two could go together pretty well.
And what a pleasant double feature evening it would be.
I won't say that I expected this to be the runaway success of the Summer because that isn't true, but after seeing the trailers for the film, I felt that if the film hit the mark it was giving off by the marketing, then this would of been the lofty film to beat for the Summer crown.
And as it started off, it began to look that way, after we open with what looks like the Superhero version of the Lion King, we see Krypton quite literally collapsing on itself, the people in charge of the planet have made the wrong decision and stuck in a situation where all they can do is stand around and wait for it to finally end. It's quite interesting to see this play out and makes for the best part of the film.
Sadly I never realised this when watching and got the false sense that the film was going to be continually building from this point on. But the sudden realisation happened when we see Superman just about to land on Earth when...
...the film cuts many years into the future where we see Superman now grown up and near the end of his journey to self discovery aboard a spacecraft deep within the snow (how he came to find this place is never explained).
This is where the film flunked for me. I'm not a big fan of David S. Goyer and don't know where his fan worship has come from (he had a one off special leading up to his new TV show called 'The mind of a genius' if that gives you a sense of his ego) considering he's been a part of some of the worst Blockbuster of the last decade. Granted a few good ones as well, but he's usually with others, like Nolan on the Batman series, where his only contribution was being sat in the corner of the room and shouting out what The Joker should blow up next.
Here, he attempts to outwit the audience, "hey you guys keep complaining about how you're sick of origin stories, well I'm going to skip that!" I won't say the guy has bad ideas but he has lousy delivery.
The fractured storyline has no rhyme or rhythm, it's essentially dropping key information at the ideal time they need it, and the whole film would flow a lot better and feature better development of scenes if he allowed the film to play in chronological order. I want to know how Clark dealt with the grief of his dead father, I want to know how they covered up the story of him saving the kids, I want to know how they reacted to him after saving them. But of course, that would require some emotional writing while Goyer and Snyder are more concerned with what they can blow up next and how unsubtle they can make the religious subtext of the film that develops to nothing.
Of course it's unfair to blame Goyer for this, maybe there was a mad producer at Warner Bros pressing on about how he needs to get Superman in his suit by the 30 minute mark, and the only way he could do this was through flashbacks.
And also, Zack Snyder can't go completely unblamed. Through his body of work, there's always one issue I see with him, he needs to mature, he got away with it in 300 because it was a violent masculine wet dream of a movie, but Watchmen, you could tell he didn't get a thing around that book and simply copied it to live action form hoping the subtext will move with it, but he was wrong. And don't get me started on Sucker Punch...
So here we have Zack Snyder pretending to be mature, and you can tell the guy is completely restrained, he wants to do his "speed up slow mo" thing and do outrageous things, but he's not allowed because babysitter Nolan is sat over his shoulder shaking his head.
And this lack of maturity shows through the acting, both Nolan and Snyder struggle with directing actors, but they mainly get away with it because they have such great actors attached to their films. So here you have Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon stealing the show (I know a few people have problems with Shannon as Zod which is understandable, but I liked his more desperate portrayal of the villain) because they are capable actors, but sadly I feel Henery Carvill is left unattended to and suffers the most.
Yes, there are moments where he is great and he does wear the suit well in action scenes, but there are moments where he looks direction less and he seems to be doing something between looking like an adorable puppy and looking completely docile but with no emotions. I get he's an alien but the point is his humanity is what overthrows the villains.
So why three stars...
Well, Goyer and Snyder know how to make something look completely awesome. And by god, if there is something they finally got right, it's how to make Superman look awesome in action.
Giant earth shattering Dubstep machines are sent down, Superman beating ten whistles out of Zod with that decent enough Hans Zimmer soundtrack beating your ear drums with the sound mixing erupting out of the speakers, I can't deny, when the film gets to what it does best, it does it better than any other film out there at the moment.
From the sounds of it, I pretty much hated this film, and that is not true, the film is very watchable in fact and never hits outright awfulness. But you know the film could be so much better and it hits you so hard with that fact it really hurts. And really, this is looking to be the most polarising film of the Summer, some loving it and others out right hating it. So ironically, I say this is a film that hits as neutral as it gets. Some people will love the way the story is told in a non-linear fashion and some will hate the cgi fueled finale with nothing to attach to. I hated the way the story was told but enjoyed the spectacle on offer, and I can only hope Snyder, Goyer, Nolan and co learn from their mistakes this way around.
I have to disagree with you entirely on the film needing to play out chronologically. When first seeing that jarring cut to years later I was thrown for a loop...but as the movie went on with this method of story telling, I actually came to love it and think it was the perfect way to show us what we needed to see. I do however, agree that I would have liked to see more of that past stuff like I mentioned in my 'review'. This is just up to personal taste I suppose as I loved it and you hated it
As far as the ship incident...he was a drifter and worked job to job. The one he is on just happened to find that ship. It's not like he knew it was there.
I completely forgot to mention Crowe in my review...he was probably the best thing about the movie acting wise. And like I mentioned, Cavill's performance worked much more for me than it did for you.
At least it didn't end up being a waste of your time even with all of your issues with it
I have to disagree with you entirely on the film needing to play out chronologically. When first seeing that jarring cut to years later I was thrown for a loop...but as the movie went on with this method of story telling, I actually came to love it and think it was the perfect way to show us what we needed to see. I do however, agree that I would have liked to see more of that past stuff like I mentioned in my 'review'. This is just up to personal taste I suppose as I loved it and you hated it
As far as the ship incident...he was a drifter and worked job to job. The one he is on just happened to find that ship. It's not like he knew it was there.
I completely forgot to mention Crowe in my review...he was probably the best thing about the movie acting wise. And like I mentioned, Cavill's performance worked much more for me than it did for you.
At least it didn't end up being a waste of your time even with all of your issues with it
Crowe really is fantastic in the film, and to me his the part of the film that clicked the most, he really fit that role and has such a great presence. And yeah, I didn't hate the film (even the structure although it's where the film fumbles for me) and at least it wasn't a Green Lantern-esque cataclysmic disaster.
I enjoy comic book and superhero flicks. But not Superman. He was always too wholesome and straightlaced for me.
Plus there is the whole leotard thing.......just wrong IMO.
[Show spoiler]
He actually does something in this film that is very much against the traditional Superman stigma that really shocked me.
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Originally Posted by Foggy
Crowe really is fantastic in the film, and to me his the part of the film that clicked the most, he really fit that role and has such a great presence. And yeah, I didn't hate the film (even the structure although it's where the film fumbles for me) and at least it wasn't a Green Lantern-esque cataclysmic disaster.
I really want to watch Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind now
I enjoy comic book and superhero flicks. But not Superman. He was always too wholesome and straightlaced for me.
My dad absolutely adores him, but he's much too boring as a character to make incredibly exciting films out of; he has no real angst with his life, no real emotion relating to anything or anyone, he's just this robotic, pseudo-human who saves everyone because he feels like he should and not for any other reason.
That sounds really pessimistic and slightly hypocritical, considering I'm rather looking forward to Man of Steel.
He actually does something in this film that is very much against the traditional Superman stigma that really shocked me.
What did he do? Dont worry about spoilers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by legendarymatt92
My dad absolutely adores him, but he's much too boring as a character to make incredibly exciting films out of; he has no real angst with his life, no real emotion relating to anything or anyone, he's just this robotic, pseudo-human who saves everyone because he feels like he should and not for any other reason.
That sounds really pessimistic and slightly hypocritical, considering I'm rather looking forward to Man of Steel.
Thats exactly it for me too. Iron Man, Batman, Hulk, etc all have "issues". Superman is too simple and FAR too clean cut for my tastes.
My dad absolutely adores him, but he's much too boring as a character to make incredibly exciting films out of; he has no real angst with his life, no real emotion relating to anything or anyone, he's just this robotic, pseudo-human who saves everyone because he feels like he should and not for any other reason.
That sounds really pessimistic and slightly hypocritical, considering I'm rather looking forward to Man of Steel.
The sense of being an outcast? Feeling like he is different than everyone? Having to find his own place in this world. How is that not relatable?
The character has just been portrayed incorrectly in the past to let viewers in and identify with him. It's very easy to find a 'common ground' for people to be on with Superman...it just gets ignored in favor of being Mr. Boyscout like in the Reeve film.
He actually does something in this film that is very much against the traditional Superman stigma that really shocked me.
I really want to watch Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind now
Oh geez...
What did you think about Superman actually
[Show spoiler]killing Zod?
I was not expecting that at all.
It got spoiled for me.
But
[Show spoiler]I'm hoping it's explored in the next film, as it seemed pretty devastating on Superman's part, but then it cut to the scene with the lady saying he's kinda hot so hopefully it won't be dropped completely.
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. I hope to go to film school after I get my bachelors degree this December (hopefully). I spend too much time reading, writing and watching film to not do something with it...
And, for me, the weekly wait ruins the pacing. I like experiencing the flow the way the writers created it. Like reading a book at your desired pace. PQ and AQ are really important to me as well. So for me it is 12 months wait, 3-4 days marathoning, 12 months wait, 3-4 days marathoning, repeat, repeat. 
) and has all the spectacle you could ever want from a Superman movie.
so hopefully it won't be dropped completely.
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