I saw Casablanca yesterday afternoon for the first time. It was pretty good, even if the last scene was filled with cliches I'd heard a million times before.
Is that any different than Seven Samurai, though? It wasn't cliche back then. Very likely, it was the first movie to do whatever the cliches are that you noticed.
The Other Guys - Over all a rather good movie, it was not 100% amazing all the time, just most of the time. It was a better send up of Starsky and Hutch than the Starsky and Hutch movie. It was great to see
Before you decide if you should see this in theatres, you must ask yourself this question:
Do I like cool things?
If the answer that comes back is an emphatic 'Yes', then you know where you need to park your butt. In a theatre showing this film, that is.
This movie is a fantastic ride. It features quirky, funny dialogue pared with eye-popping action and visuals as well as comic and video-game related visual gags, accompanied by gritty, grungy rock. What more could you want? My eyes were, if you'll excuse the cliched phrase, glued to the screen the entire time. Plenty of times whilst sitting in a theare, I have experienced discomfort in the posterior area due to sitting too long in an uncomfortable seat. Not so in this picture. It wasn't until the credits were over that I realized my rumpus was in discomfort.
Edgar Wright has not only done it again, he has topped himself (in my opinion, anyway) for the third time in a row.
Things I loved (mild spoilers) - read after watching:
The character of Wallace
The part in which Edgar Wright spoofed the quick montage cuts of the type used in Hot Fuzz - i.e., when Scott had to pause extra long to tie his shoe before rushing out
Vegan Police high-five - everyone in the theatre erupted in laughter!
The battle of the bands with the twins
The awesomeness and variety in the fights - when Scott was used involuntarily to fight the girl (whose name I cannot remember), I nearly died laughing
On the whole, I felt that the movie worked exceptionally well, and there was not a major complaint that I can think of.
I have yet to read the comic (something I will now remedy soon!), but regardless of how it was adapted, it certainly stands on its own well.
I apologize, that part of the review looks really crass now that I look at it again. I don't even know why that physical description suggested itself in the absence of knowing her character's name. I thought the actress was great in that role. Actually, the whole movie had an amazing supporting cast. Kieran Culkin in particular had better get a whole lot more roles after this!
I apologize, that part of the review looks really crass now that I look at it again. I don't even know why that physical description suggested itself in the absence of knowing her character's name. I thought the actress was great in that role. Actually, the whole movie had an amazing supporting cast. Kieran Culkin in particular had better get a whole lot more roles after this![/QUOTE]
Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells was indeed spectacular. He stole nearly every scene he was in.
I apologize, that part of the review looks really crass now that I look at it again. I don't even know why that physical description suggested itself in the absence of knowing her character's name. I thought the actress was great in that role. Actually, the whole movie had an amazing supporting cast. Kieran Culkin in particular had better get a whole lot more roles after this![/QUOTE]
Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells was indeed spectacular. He stole nearly every scene he was in.[/QUOTE]
Wallace Wells did steal every scene he was in, even scenes that he had no business being in.
I apologize, that part of the review looks really crass now that I look at it again. I don't even know why that physical description suggested itself in the absence of knowing her character's name. I thought the actress was great in that role. Actually, the whole movie had an amazing supporting cast. Kieran Culkin in particular had better get a whole lot more roles after this![/QUOTE]
Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells was indeed spectacular. He stole nearly every scene he was in.[/QUOTE]
Wallace Wells did steal every scene he was in, even scenes that he had no business being in.[/QUOTE]
I finally saw The Good, The Bad and the Ugly yesterday. As a kid, my parents were always trying to get me to watch the westerns that they love so much and I could never really get into most of them. Now that I actually have an attention span though, and as I plan on doing a western parody for my final thesis film, I sat down to watch it for reference yesterday.
I really enjoyed it. I think it was still a little slow paced, and some of the suspense building moments drag on for so long they kind of lose their suspense and just become absurd. That Looney Tunes cartoon with Daffy Duck was not that far off, really. But overall, it was really good. A really entertaining story, and its pretty clear that it was an influence on directors like Tarantino and Ritchie. I love a good backstabbing, chase film.
I saw The Dark Knight for free in a park on a 4-story screen. The third act is still definitely weak, but I think I liked it a little more than previous times. Ledger's performance is still spell-binding and terrifying. I love how audiences nervously laugh at some of the horrific shit he does/says. His Joker is one of the most fascinating characters on film I can think of in the last several years.
Last movie I saw was Inception. I thought it was a great movie. The effects were impressive, sure, but the core of the story was the characters, especially Cobb. It was his inner turmoil that churned through every dreamscape, his guilt and grief. And, although it was a relatively small thing, I liked the "excuse" given for the violence: the projections are just constructs of imagination, and people killed in a dream are just released from the dream they're in, so they're not actually killing anyone, unlike in The Matrix where the heroes kill dozens of actual people. It makes sense in the context of the dream-sharing technology having been begun as a tactical simulator by the military, as well.
Funny movie, though perhaps not gut-bustingly so. I honestly liked it more than I thought I would after some reviews I read at the time it came out. Perhaps it could've used a stronger conflict, but I liked it.
Favorite moments:
Clooney lying back and remote viewing.
The very end shot.
Saw the riff of Reefer Madness and a few other old timey shorts in the theatre last night. I know I was disturbing the people around me with my howling laughter, but I couldn't help it. It was so funny... those guys still have it!
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