The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

That should tell you something. If you are paying attention.

Got me there.

(You do know he's in charge of Ebert's site now)

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

The existence of this Brechtian framing story, which is returned to several times, seems to be for no other reason but to remind us we are witnessing something constructed. However, this undercuts any possible tension the story had built up prior to the cross-cut and only adds to the bloated runtime.

That's certainly an interesting framing device, and one that has been put there intentionally to make a comment on something; do you think it's the artificiality of the story? Having an audience understand their detachment from a narrative is always a gamble, and I'm not sure if this kind of summer blockbuster is the one to try and make a go of it.

[legendarymatt92]

"Family's a messy business. Ain't nothing thicker than blood."

The Good Points: Alexandra Daddario. Slightly bold decision on the newer direction with Leatherface.

The Bad Points: Everything else: it's just absolute drivel. It's badly made, badly edited, constantly looks and sounds amateurish, the performances are piss-poor and it's almost exclusively tension-free. It has no real plot and the little it does expand upon is unexplained and abysmally written -- what, she's his cousin? And that means she has to look after him after everything he'd done? Excuse me, where's the logic or reason in that? And, even though the decision to bring out a more human-side of the killer is bold, it's terribly executed and feels like a cynical move to just continue the franchise for that little bit longer. Plus, Trey Songz? Seriously?!


Just when you thought classic horror reboots couldn't get any worse, Texas Chainsaw 3D comes and takes the crown. Misunderstanding the original's sincere and creative use of tension, Luessenhop carves a gore-fest that has no fun, menace or enjoyment about it, resulting in a 90 minute piece of amateurish garbage.

1/10

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

That's certainly an interesting framing device, and one that has been put there intentionally to make a comment on something; do you think it's the artificiality of the story? Having an audience understand their detachment from a narrative is always a gamble, and I'm not sure if this kind of summer blockbuster is the one to try and make a go of it.

I think It is there to be essentially to work on a sort of meta level (making a western a Pirates style roller coaster, messing with genre tropes), but it really doesn't work because the framing story goes nowhere. Tonto is basically recounting action set pieces and lame physical gags. There's no real narrative to get invested in the Lone Ranger, and that is not helped one bit by yet another limp Armie Hammer performance (he was actually better in Mirror Mirror) and Depp essentially doing a slightly muted Jack Sparrow.

[jvince]

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
dir. Sam Raimi

The Good: Oz's lovable sidekicks -- the adorable porcelain doll, China Girl (voiced by Joey King) and his loyal flying monkey bellhop, Finley (voiced by Zach Braff). The world of Oz is colorful, dazzling, and magical. Costume and set designs are gorgeous. Well-composed cinematography by Peter Deming (Evil Dead II, Mulholland Dr.).

The Bad: Mila Kunis is downright atrocious as the Wicked Witch. (James Franco also feels miscast at first, but he settles into his role nicely.) The relationship between Theodora and Oz is not fleshed out. Movie is overlong and stumbles between the second act and the final act. It also has some cheesy moments and shaky dialogue.

The Bottom Line: Raimi's Oz is neither great nor powerful, but what it is is an entertaining family film with plenty of eye candy and just the right amount of charm.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

The P.P.R.L.

[Show spoiler]Professional Profanity Review League

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

I think It is there to be essentially to work on a sort of meta level (making a western a Pirates style roller coaster, messing with genre tropes), but it really doesn't work because the framing story goes nowhere. Tonto is basically recounting action set pieces and lame physical gags. There's no real narrative to get invested in the Lone Ranger, and that is not helped one bit by yet another limp Armie Hammer performance (he was actually better in Mirror Mirror) and Depp essentially doing a slightly muted Jack Sparrow.

Ah, sounds like an interesting idea turned sour. I'll await its arrival on home media before I check it out.

Originally Posted by jvince

The Bad: Mila Kunis is downright atrocious as the Wicked Witch. (James Franco also feels miscast at first, but he settles into his role nicely.) The relationship between Theodora and Oz is not fleshed out. Movie is overlong and stumbles between the second act and the final act. It also has some cheesy moments and shaky dialogue.

Did you think Franco's performance was good? I hated the way he thought an inane smirk equalled decent characterisation.

[Steve46]

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel (1959-79)
Directed by François Truffaut
Starring Jean-Pierre Léaud
French Language

I didn't see The 400 Blows until 2010, and I've been interested in seeing the other four films featuring the character of Antoine Doinel ever since. When Turner Classic Movies decided to air them all last week, I finally had my chance. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't expecting the sequels to live up to the magic of The 400 Blows. However, I was pleasantly surprised. While the overall tone of the four additional entries in the series is quite different, I found that I was excited about seeing all of them.

Has there been another series of films like this, showing different stages in the life of the main character over 20 years or more? I guess you could count series such as Die Hard, Rambo, or Rocky, but those titles focused more on the genre than on the development of the main character. As a fan of the Harry Potter movies, I'm also aware of how the younger members of the cast played their characters for almost half their lives up to the point that the story ended. While all of those movies are in my collection, none comes close to Antoine Doinel's story, and they are not meant to be serious studies of how someone changes through the course of their life.

Let's take a brief look at Truffaut's five Antoine Doinel stories:

The 400 Blows (1959)
Crime, Drama, 99 minutes

The 400 Blows begins Antoine's tale when his is a 12-year-old, living in Paris with his mother and stepfather. It's loosely based on Truffaut's own childhood, and we learn that Antoine's home life is not the easiest of existences. He's a bit of a rebel, and often in trouble at school, when he bothers to show up at all. His real love is cinema, and that's one of his main escapes from his troubled young life. Truffaut doesn't seem to judge Antoine. Instead, he shows us the facts and asks us to think about what we have seen. How would be react if we were in Antoine's situation. Is he good or bad? Should we root for him or not? Unlike the other four movies, this introduction is most definitely a drama. I appreciated it on first viewing, but it took a few more before I came to love the story. Because I'm hoping that you will eventually watch all five movies, I'm not going to ruin the plot of any by going into too much detail. All I will say is that it's one of the best coming-of-age stories I've ever seen.

Antoine and Colette (1962)
Comedy, Drama, 32 minutes

Antoine is now 17, and he's starting to focus on things other than his problems at home and his flirtation with crime. I found myself smiling that his life has taken a turn for the better. It was like meeting an old friend and seeing that they were suddenly thriving. The movie is a short, lasting just 32 minutes and ending rather abruptly, but it accomplishes a lot. At times, it feels closer in tone to The 400 Blows than the remaining three movies, but it has a fair amount of humor nonetheless. Antoine first sees Colette at a classical music concert, and he's immediately drawn to her. It's fun to watch his attempts to gain her attention, and interesting that he is so capable of impressing her parents, after struggling in that department with his own family. Antoine is somehow extremely likable, and it's easy to hope that wins Colette's affection. I felt as if I were in Antoine's shoes as I watched his audacious and inexperienced advances. I would love this to have been a full-length feature.

Stolen Kisses (1968)
Comedy, Drama, Romance, 90 minutes

After being given a dishonorable discharge from the army, 23-year-old Antoine seeks out Christine (Claude Jade), his former girlfriend. Continuing the theme from the previous short, Antoine is well-liked by the parents of the girl he is pursuing romantically. Her father even manages to find Antoine a job as a night clerk. This movie has its serious moments, but it almost plays out like a romantic comedy. The acting is excellent, and it's easy to laugh at Antoine's attempts to succeed as a private detective. He doesn't seem to care what he does for a living, and focuses more on women, and passions such as music. The best moments feature Antoine's meetings with Fabienne Tabard (Delphine Seyrig), and one of her monologues is particularly memorable and effective.

Bed & Board (1970)
Comedy, Drama, 100 minutes

Antoine is now 26, and married to Christine with a baby on the way. His latest job involves dying flowers different colors, but that doesn't last for long. After finally marrying the woman he loves, Antoine still isn't content. He always seems to be searching for something, although he rarely has a definite goal in mind. He's an opportunist, and things usually fall into place for him. Even when he has an affair, and occasionally seeks out the services of prostitutes, we never get the feeling that he means any harm to the women he loves. Why is that, I wonder? Bed & Board features plenty of amusing moments, and more than a few touching scenes. By this point, we know Antoine pretty well.

Love on the Run (1979)
Comedy, Drama, Romance, 94 minutes

What was to be Truffaut's final entry in the Antoine Doinel series is probably the weakest, but it does have some memorable moments. After divorcing his wife, Antoine still lacks focus in his life. He has published a book, which isn't shy about detailing many of his former relationships, and some of the best sequences in the movie happen when he has a chance encounter with Colette, who is now a lawyer. Antoine is fixated on yet another beautiful woman, Sabine (Dorothée), and there's a great scene in which he explains how she first caught his attention. Love on the Run relies too much on flashback footage from the first four movies, but the best scenes still make it a must-watch. It's fun to see two of his girlfriends meet, and characters from the earlier movies making an appearance. One encounter in particular is effective at showing how Antoine has evolved, and how people he once knew now view him differently.

The Adventures of Antoine Doinel is gripping entertainment and, at its best, features some of the most compelling storytelling I have witnessed on screen. Truffaut's way of narrating the story places you right in the middle of the action, except when he deliberately creates distance by placing you outside a room or a store, while concealing dialogue with noise from the street. Antoine is always fascinating, and Truffaut's characters are fully-developed, and often endearing. The five films feature good acting, comedy, drama, romance, and plenty to care about. His leading ladies are all beautiful in their own way, and I am sad that Truffaut's untimely death (from a brain tumor at 52) robbed us of the conclusion to Antoine's story. This is probably the best episodic character study that I've encountered, and I hope that Criterion upgrades the entire set to Blu-ray as it did with The 400 Blows. I'm looking forward to seeing other Truffaut titles that have eluded me thus far.

Overall score 4.5/5

[Al_The_Strange]

Next greatest blind-buy: The Thief of Bagdad 1924

When it comes to works of fantasy and myth, it takes effort to relay the sense of wonder or whimsey that accompanies such things as magic or otherworldly creatures. It's always been easy to relay such things through books, poetry, or even reciting it verbally to others. On film, it's a far bigger challenge, and 1924's The Thief of Bagdad stands as one of the earliest and most ambitious attempts to conceptualize and execute a work of fantasy for the big screen. It's a big production, with huge sets, a huge crowd of extras, lavish costumes, and convincing special effects. It all works together to bring to life a fantastic world of flying carpets, magic ropes, mermaids, giant apes, and invading foreign armies, all contained within an exotic Arabian backdrop.

The film is pretty long, and it drags at certain parts (mostly the middle). However, it does have a lighthearted whimsey to the tone, and in the characters, which keeps it entertaining and fun, even after all these years.

This story is a big and sprawling adventure, but thanks to the way it's told, with simple dialogue and exaggerated acting, it's never convoluted. It's successful at telling a complicated series of events without losing the audience, and with a cast of decent and lovable characters. I have no idea how this film compares to its original novel, but it appears to maintain the appropriate tone and all the right elements of a proper Arabian fantasy.

This film uses solid photography and editing. Acting is very exaggerated and over-the-top, which can be laughable at times, but for a silent film it's quite forgivable. Writing is simple but effective enough. This production has huge sets, props, and costumes; a lot of it seems to reflect a more stereotypical view of Arabian and Asian culture, rather than trying to be anything realistic. Special effects are great though; even after all these years, there are many shots that you can look at and wonder, how did they do that? In spite of that, the imagery is often great. The music score is great too.

The Thief of Bagdad is not only a seminal classic for fantasy films, it's also one of the biggest and most imaginative silent-era films I've seen.

Recommended!

4.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Very Good | Film: Very Good)

[Al_The_Strange]

Next greatest random selection: Unbreakable

Strength is one of the resounding themes of superheroes; they protect the innocent lives around them because they are weaker, and it's their responsibility to use their superior strength for the greater good. Superman, Spiderman, Captain America...they've all learned to use their powers for the good of humanity through various experiences.

Unbreakable is a unique movie that does this very same thing, only without superheroes per se. It still draws strong parallels between the world of comic books and reality, building on the idea that everybody has varying levels of strength and weaknesses. Most of this movie is about the main character discovering his strengths, and then figuring out what to do with it. There's no real action to this, but the film maintains interest because it's laid out as a series of mysteries (first, the mystery of the protagonist's strengths, then the mystery of surrounding events). The last act provides the most suspenseful and thrilling moments, but the film overall has a dark and emotional tone that makes it compelling throughout. I almost can't help but to relate to these characters, thanks to all these aspects, and thanks to the quality acting and writing.

The story for this is what's most incredible though. Even though it takes its time to get anywhere, it's layered on quite cleverly, slowly revealing the ideas and aspects until the fundamental core is exposed. There is a big reveal at the film's end (customary to M. Night Shyamalan's earlier work, of course), which brilliantly puts the story and characters into a refreshing and smart context. This is also a story that feels very creditable and realistic, thanks to its delivery. Above all, the characters are very delicately and thoroughly well-developed.

This film uses very good photography and editing. Acting is strong: Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson both deliver very somber and understated performances, which accentuate the mood of the whole film. Writing is good; M. Night Shyamalan's scripts aren't always gold, but with this film, he manages to find the perfect balance between exposition, characterization, plot-building, and everything else. This production uses fairly spartan sets, props, and costumes. The music score is really cool too.

Unbreakable is a smart, moody, powerful thriller. Recommended!

4.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Perfect | Film: Very Good)

[Abdrewes]

Correctamundo on Thief of Bagdad , AlTheStrange

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Abdrewes

Got me there.

(You do know he's in charge of Ebert's site now)

Yeah what is the deal there? Is the site retaining Ebert's name just for hits?

[Abdrewes]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Yeah what is the deal there? Is the site retaining Ebert's name just for hits?

I think Chaz (his wife) owns it, and MZS is managing it. The site is still producing exclusive content (its virtually the same seeing as Roger hardly published reviews in his last months).

Hopefully the quality stays at a decent level. It's a risky move to be sure, so they have to pull it off for Rogers' sake.

[jvince]

Legally Blonde (2001)
dir. Robert Luketic

The Good: Solid turn from Reese Witherspoon. Mildly amusing. Nice message.

The Bad: Cheesy. Formulaic. Predictable. Safe.

The Bottom Line: Clueless 2: The College Years. Yay, girl power. (Aw no... I think I just grew a vagina.)

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by jvince

The Bottom Line: Clueless 2: The College Years. Yay, girl power. (Aw no... I think I just grew a vagina.)

[Al_The_Strange]

The Heat

Watching this film's trailer, I certainly wasn't expecting anything deep or groundbreaking, but I was hoping for a riot of a good time. With the premise of two totally opposite characters - a introverted by-the-books FBI agent, and a crass down-to-Earth cop - colliding with explosive force, it seemed like it'd be a sure thing.

Did the film deliver? Well, sorta. The characters were definitely the thing that kept me hooked on the film; I did find their chemistry enjoyable. It drives a lot of the outrageous dialogue and crazy situations that develop. The problem is, even though I saw comedy on-screen, I didn't really laugh much. There are plenty of physical gags and plenty of amusing lines, which should have elicited some kind of laugh from me, but it rarely happened. And as far as action goes, forget about it; aside from some stuff at the end, most of this film is built on the (alleged) comedy and the chemistry of the characters.

The plot is a pretty lightweight affair as well; the actual investigation seems to get pushed aside often by the character development, so there are quite a few scenes that felt like they could have been cut, and quite a few character beats that could have been dropped. It's also rather formulaic, drawing upon the same buddy-cop formulas that have already come to pass with 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon, and even Showtime. The best that can be said is that the characters are very colorful. It's pretty clear from the start that these characters are meant to bond and change in time; I wish such aspects were more subtle and transparent, because such developments feel very contrived here. But even if the characters are flat and static, they are fun to watch.

This film uses pretty standard photography and editing. Acting is appropriately over-the-top. Writing is passable at best; the plot jerks along frequently with exposition, but the actual dialogue is amusing. This production uses okay-looking sets, props, and costumes. What few special effects are used are a bit gaudy. Music choices are a mixed bag; lots of high-energy rock, which I love, and some weird rap and pop, which seemed out of place.

The Heat is not the hot s**t I was hoping for, but it has its moments.

3/5 (Entertainment: Average | Story: Average | Film: Average)

Recommendation: Only if you're really not picky about your comedy/action films.

[CoolRanch]

The Lone Ranger




Disney's The Lone Ranger has been receiving not only a harsh critical response, but a lackluster box office performance as well. With all the negative talk about it, one can imagine that my expectations were none too high when I went to see it this past evening. However, as on many other occasions in my movie-viewing past, I must once again disagree with the critics: I enjoyed "The Lone Ranger!"

The cinematography was spectacular, the music was great (Hans Zimmer ), the acting was great, the dialogue was humorous, and the action was exciting!

I have one big complaint however and that's

[Show spoiler]the cliché of the big bad white business man villain. I know there are people out there who are actually like that, but it's been done a million times in film and it just seemed like they bashed you over the head with it. So the villain could have used some subtlety.

The movie did redeem itself though, especially with that finale! The little cowboy in me wanted to rise up from my theater seat and cheer . Overall not flawless, but very enjoyable, and I hope to pick it up on blu-ray when it is available. 8/10

[Al_The_Strange]

Killer's Kiss

Film noir has always eluded me, but Killer's Kiss is one rare exception. Maybe it's because it's so short, or because the photography is so stylish, or because it has an excellent fight scene at the end. Drag is pretty minimal, as is the story, but what it lacks, the film makes up for in its visual prowess. In fact, with only limited dialogue and plot, the film is best seen as a visual experience: it's a story told with the images, rather than with words or narrative.

I've shown this film off to a few folks, and they all find the plot to be pretty stupid and silly. I can't deny that there's not a whole lot to it. It's a very simple story with minimal character development. It is framed as a flashback story, lending some strength to the narrative.

What I find most notable, however, is the filming. The photography is top-notch, with superb camera angles, lighting, and composition. Editing is solid. Acting is not too bad, and the writing gets the job done. This production uses very simple, but also very real-looking, sets, props, and costumes. Music is appropriate as well.

I find this film to be a quick and easily-accessible dose of quality film noir entertainment. I recommend it.

4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Average | Film: Perfect)

Recommendation: Yeah.

[jvince]

Unknown (2011)
dir. Jaume Collet-Serra

The Good: Badass Liam Neeson. Hot Diane Kruger. Hot January Jones.

The Bad: Dull and boring. Predictable and contrived. Wooden January Jones.

The Bottom Line: Bourne plus Taken equals a waste of time. Better just go watch Mr. Neeson save Jews or punch some wolves (in your mind) or some other shit.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange