Movie Review Thread: The Remake

[Reply #160 on:]

Spider-Man 2: I agree somewhat with what davids said. This movie is way too overrated. I mean, seriously, the first movie was an action movie that was grounded with the MJ/Pete love story. This movie is a boring, run-of-the-mill romance with traces of action. Yeah, it has it's moments (and, of course, the effects are great), but it's too sappy to actually be enjoyed. Compared to the first Spider-Man (the writing was better in the first movie, in my opinion), this movie deserves about a D, but in and of itself, I'd give it a C.

EDIT: TOTPD! *Gorky commences to do a pathetic one-woman wave*
 

[Reply #161 on:]

Oscar time:

Finding Neverland

This was a nice, sentimental movie. Solid performances all around. The script is fine but some characters are very underdeveloped (especially Kate Winslet's character). The technical aspects are all very good even though they're not really outstanding. A solid movie, but it didn't really deserved its Best Picture nomination.

B+

Ray

I liked this movie, but it isn't really very good. It is overlong and kinda unfocused. Its saving grace are the performances and the music. Jamie Foxx is excellent and deserves the Oscar for this performance. But reallly, it can get a little boring at times.

B+

Sideways

This is a funny film with some great dialogue and performances, but incredibly overrated by the critics. I also can't get the love for Paul Giamatti, his performance was fine but nothing to really talk about. On the other side, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen were great and both deserved their nominations. The editing should have been nominated instead of Ray, and the score too. A funny little film.

A-

The Aviator

Martin Scorsese proves why he's one of the greatest living directors with this movie. Directed and edited with extreme presition, this one deserves all the nominations and wins it has received. Excellent performances, great music, some of the best technicals of the year, it all adds up to this entertaining and energetic presentation of Howard Hughes' life.

A+

Million Dollar Baby

Another outstanding movie. Clint Eastwood directs this simple and personal story and leaves it burned in our minds (at least mine). Great performances. Very haunting film. 

A+

Now, of the above movies, I think only The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby would enter my personal ballot, but the others are fine movies too. The two favorites to win are also Avaitor and M$B and it's very hard to judge which one deserves it more since they're so different. I'll be happy if any of the two wins Best Picture, but I sure hope they finally give Scorsese the Best Director Oscar. He deserves it.

[Reply #162 on:]

 

Originally posted by Gorky:
Spider-Man 2: I agree somewhat with what davids said. This movie is way too overrated. I mean, seriously, the first movie was an action movie that was grounded with the MJ/Pete love story. This movie is a boring, run-of-the-mill romance with traces of action. Yeah, it has it's moments (and, of course, the effects are great), but it's too sappy to actually be enjoyed. Compared to the first Spider-Man (the writing was better in the first movie, in my opinion), this movie deserves about a D, but in and of itself, I'd give it a C.

EDIT: TOTPD! *Gorky commences to do a pathetic one-woman wave*
 

You have to be kidding me it deserves a A

[Reply #163 on:]

Didn't see the Oscars, but I hope someone I liked won. Still pissed that Eternal Sunshine wasn't even in best film; one of the very few A movies last year!

[Reply #164 on:]

 

You have to be kidding me it deserves a A

That's your opinion, and what I said was just my opinion. Look, all I'm saying is that, I think, this movie could have been a lot better. The performances were okay and what little action there was was pretty good, but the writing was sort of...not as good as it could have been. I'm a sort of "writer" (in the loosest sense of the word, but that's still a writer), and clunky dialogue annoys me to no end. I'm not attacking your view point or anything (no matter how much fun that would be  ), it's just that we seem to have two different point of views. Nothing wrong with that.

Also, regarding the Oscars: I watched the first hour and a half or so, and I saw some of the bigger wins. My newspaper printed a bunch of the bigger wins, so here they are:

Picture: Million Dollar Baby (I would have loved to see Sideways win and surprise everyone, but this movie was a close second.)

Actor: Jamie Foxx, "Ray" (No surprises there--the guy deserved it. Teriffic job.)

Actress: Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby" (Again, not all that big a surprise. Like Foxx, she deserved it.)

Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby" (I really like Morgan Freeman, and I was glad to see him finally get the recognition he deserves.)

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator" (Pretty good performance.)

Director: Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby" (I would have really liked to see Scorsese win. Yes, "The Aviator" wasn't his best work, and Eastwood did a great job, but the Academy has to give this brilliant director his day. Scorsese needs an Oscar, man.)

Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, "Sideways" (I was hoping for a win for "Sideways", and here it is.)

Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (This movie apparently wasn't good enough for a best picture nod, but at least it got the recognition it deserved in this catergory. Like Futurama_Hil said, this was one of the best films of last year.)

Animated Feature: "The Incredibles" (It deserved it. Personally, I thought Shrek 2 was overrated, and Shark Tale was a Nemo rip-off.)

[Reply #165 on:]

 

Originally posted by Gorky:
 That's your opinion, and what I said was just my opinion. Look, all I'm saying is that, I think, this movie could have been a lot better. The performances were okay and what little action there was was pretty good, but the writing was sort of...not as good as it could have been. I'm a sort of "writer" (in the loosest sense of the word, but that's still a writer), and clunky dialogue annoys me to no end. I'm not attacking your view point or anything (no matter how much fun that would be    ), it's just that we seem to have two different point of views. Nothing wrong with that.

Then again if your still not statisfied you can allways get the comics, Watch the Animated series ETC.

[Reply #166 on:]

Dear Tom Bleecker, Marc Rocco, and Massy Tadjedin:

Hello! How are you? I am good. I hope you are good, too. I saw your movie today. It was good. I hope you are good, too. However, next time you make a movie, maybe you should try to vary the names a little. Are you sad because your names are kooky? Do not be sad. I hope you are good. For instance, if you call your movie The Jacket, please do not name your two main characters Jack and Jackie. That is lazy. That feels like shtick. There are many more names you can use. Just off the top of my head, I can think of five alternate names. Five! Wow! Names are good. I hope you are good, too. That would be like if I made a movie of myself, who is named Lee, playing with that sexy Leela action figure--you know the one I mean--for 102 minutes and then I called it Leeway. Actually, maybe that is not such a bad idea. The artsy indie stoner kids will go crazy for it. I withdraw my complaint.

Your pal,
Lee

P.S. First the good. The performances were mostly pretty good. I think this was the first time I was impressed by Keira Knightley's acting. Don't typically like her. I liked that it didn't get bogged down with that stupid, "Oh em jee! Is he crazy or is he really going forward in time?" stuff. I liked that we could go ahead and accept the weirdness for what it was. Plus, I'll automatically like anything with time travel, to some degree. In general, it was enjoyable to watch and had a nice broody bittersweet tone that I got into.

Now the bad. In fifteen years, a couple of the characters didn't really seem to age properly. The premise (this all comes out pretty early, so I doubt it needs spoiler tags) kind of confused me. I guess I can buy that the weird sadistic shrink would seclude his criminal patients in a morgue drawer dealie for hours on end, but I can't imagine him getting away with it without someone speaking up. The mental institution stuff was set in '92, not Cuckoo's Nest era or something. Putting that aside, there's still the matter that there's no way of knowing how the hell this process made him travel forward in time. Huh? There was no hint of a scientific or supernatural reason. It just... happened. Also, a couple characters felt kind of like they'd tried to have some depth injected into them at a late stage of the script (or had more earlier and then the bulk was cut out for the final version), that was almost detrimental to the characters themselves. Would've been better off with a little more mystery.

Then the ending. Ugh.

Show spoiler

Taken at face value, it sort of ruined everything for me. The stuff in the past and the stuff in the future were supporting each other and everything was coming together. Didn't make perfect logical sense, but worked in that skewed time travel way. Then he, like, fixed Jackie's life. And she, like, hadn't met him when she should've. And then everything imploded in on itself, starting with my brain. Then I decided that his stupid note didn't change anything and that last scene was just, like, a wistful dying fantasy about having succeeded at his little good deed, when in reality everything turned out just as hopeless and lame as before. 'Cause, while I like both, I'll choose an ending that makes Scifi-y sense over an emotionally satisfying ending. There're a lot of ways they could've reworked the script so it had both without me having to reinterpret it until I found it satisfying. Stupid writers. I hope they are good.

B-, I guess. Letter grades are hard.

[Reply #167 on:]

Hide and Seek

I was really looking forward to this one and I wasn't let down. The story is well crafted and has some of the best scares of the last couple of years. It's really enjoyable and incredibly tense throughout. Some people have complained about the ending but I thought it was great.

A

[Reply #168 on:]

Anyone who's seen Million Dollar Baby:
Is it just me or does the mom not look like she's over 300 pounds? 

[Reply #169 on:]

Went and saw The Incredibles at the dollar theater.

When I see a campfire and think "That is ----ing gorgeous," it means one of three things
1.  I'm watching a Pixar film
2.  I'm playing MGS3
3.  I'm imitating Mr. Tulip.

Seriously, except for the stylized character design, the visuals looked realer than most live action films

[Syndrome]I'm still geekin' out about it![/Syndrome]

By the way, this movie had the best supervillain ever.  Not Syndrome, he was too cliché and made all the classic villain mistakes.  Bomb Voyage.  I challenge anyone to come up with a better character concept than an explosives-crazy French mime.

Yada yada yada, best animated film since ever, obvious plot but excellent presentation, blah blah SamueL and the guy who played Vizzini were in it, yada yada all the positive stuff everyone else said when it came out.

A+/10

[Reply #170 on:]

Super Size Me

Old I know but I just got the DVD.

Amazing and pretty scary. It put me off McDonalds anyway. I really felt for the guy towards the end and acually felt concerned for him despite the fact that I knew he would be OK. Deserved the oscar!

B+

[Reply #171 on:]

The Motorcycle Diaries
This movie rules. They need to get the guy who played Alberto his own show, he's that great. The only thing that could have made this movie better was ninjas.
A+

[Reply #172 on:]

It had a crappy bike that kept falling over. And Communists. Genius.

[Reply #173 on:]

Communist ninjas?

[Reply #174 on:]

Communist robot ninjas.

[Reply #175 on:]

I'm gonna try to do this as nicely as I can. Just saw Cursed and yes I was stupid enought to take notes during the movie. This might contain spoliers so if you really want to see this movie, skip that last part.

Cursed

Horrible. Just a waste of time. I mean if you want a good werewolf movie than go shoot your dog chasing your little brother around. This was a piece of shit.

Wes Craven has let me down. And so has Kevin Williamson. They did Scream and if you're looking for the same quality, then jump off a bridge.

Overall Grade: D- 

[Reply #176 on:]

The Aviator
Eeee it was beautiful. And Alan Alda was in it, +10 points.
A

[Reply #177 on:]

Be cool
...so not. F minus

[Reply #178 on:]

Did Be Cool have Mr T in it? It sounds as if it should.

[Reply #179 on:]

Hitch
One of the few romantic comedys that I can stand. Good, entertaining performances especially from Will Smith. One of 2005s best so far. Plus I got to see the Star Wars Episode III full trailer! 
A-

[Reply #180 on:]

 

Originally posted by alexvilagosh:
Did Be Cool have Mr T in it? It sounds as if it should.

Would I give an F to any Mr T incorporated movie? I doubt it. He's got to many T skills to not pass up this movie.

[Reply #181 on:]

I ain't takin' no orders from no chipmunk!

[Reply #182 on:]

The Aviator
I didn't see what the big deal was. Average, really. Once he crashed his plane the second time and nearly died it got really boring and I nearly fell asleep. Granted, I was really tired when I started watching but it was so goddamn boring.
Did I mention it was boring?
F to the power of infinity plus one

[Reply #183 on:]

Hey, that guy (Howard Hughes) apparently went to Rice.  His movie deserves at least the C I got in Economics last semester.

[Reply #184 on:]

The Incredibles

Didn't seem to be that long of a movie. It ended up better than I thought it was going to be. It wasn't as great has everyone is saying it is but it's ok. B

[Reply #185 on:]

The Incredibles
It did go quick, didn't it? And yet it's about 25 minutes longer than most animated films.
I'm a huge long time Pixar fan. They seem to go for more subsrance whereas Dreamworks tends to go for the fart joke.
The Incredibles had just the right mix of DC/Marvel inspired heroes and one of the best representations of the problems of maintaining a secret identity I've ever seen.
New Cult Hero - Edna.
Somebody has been designing superhero outfits all these years, but never really addressed in the comics in quite this fascinating way.
(One of my faves was a Batman prose short story is where a gadget maker has to kick Bruce Wayne out of his shop because it's time for his next client - Edward Nigma.)
Deserving of a sequel.
A+

[Reply #186 on:]

The life aquatic with Steve Zissou
A+++++
Incredible, fantastic, Bill murray, kickass. I will buy this on DVD. Ill take people spreading heat on napoleon dynamite, which was last years favourite. But this takes it a step further. Noah Taylor had an Australian accent. Top's onya!

[Reply #187 on:]

The Incredibles

For a CGI/animated movie, it did go pretty fast.
I'm a big Disney/Pixar fan, and I've gotten pretty bored of Dreamworks after the over-hyped Shrek 2 and the Nemo-rip Shark Tale.
Great original idea in the comic-to-movie era.
Edna was one of the most flexible and funny characters in the movie, other than Frozone.
Showed all the usual superpowers that there should be mentioned, and some I didn't even remember about. Showed some flashback to old comic book heros with their powers.
Didn't have any fart jokes, though it could've at any point.
A++

[Reply #188 on:]

Steamboy (Subtitled Version)

17 years ago, Director Katsuhiro Otomo unleashed what would soon become aguably the greatest anime of all time, Akira. Now, after 9 years of development, studio changes, and technological advances (I'll get to that later), He unleashes a new beast, that beast is called Steamboy.

The plot is abot young Ray Steam, an "inventor of junk", so like some bullies call him (they regret that in 30 seconds). One day, he receives a mysterious box from his grandfather, Loyd, that contains a object called the Steam Ball. Nearly seconds after receving the ball, men from the famed O'Hara foundation, attempt to steal the ball. They catch the ball, along with Ray in the process.

After meeting snooty rich girl Scarlett O'Hara (*Cough!* Gone With The Wind! *Cough!*), Ray discoveres his father, Eddie, has become half machine after a horrific accident with (you guessed it) steam. I'd rather not say more. All I could tell you, is that the film culminates into a huge battle sequence that will be remembered for years to come.

Aside from a stupid theater audience, the film was absolutely fantastic.

The voice acting was terrific (saw the japanese version), all the characters had great delivery with their lines, not too dramatic, but not unserious either.

The music was some of the best I've heard. I bought the soundtrack hours after viewing the film. It perfectly matches the action on screen.

The animation was also some of the best. In fact, the film took 9 years to make because they had to develop new technology to digitally paint the animation. The mixture of animation and CGI was perfectly blended.

The charcters were well developed. The character of Scarlett annoyed me for a bit, but later on, she got better as the film progressed.

The humor was spot on. Like the part when

Show spoiler

Loyd was having one of those goodbye speeches, he begins to dissappear dramatically into the smoke, when suddenly, Ray goes "But the steam tower is over london!" He suddenly bursts out of the smoke, the music stops, and he goes "What!?" Funny.

The only complaint I have to give is not to the movie, but the audience, they were so immature. They laughed at the most unfunny things. "Oh look! A tank came out of the water! HAHAHA!!!"      !!

Other than that, the film itself was great. I reccomend it to everyone. Not just anime fans, but also mainstream movie fans. It's one of the most mainstream anime films you'll ever see.

Overall: It it a masterpeice? Close. Is it better than Akira? Maybe. Is it a heart pounding, seat grabbing, eye popping action movie that brings all Jerry Bruckhiemer movies to shame? Absolutely.

Grade: A

Ps. Stick for the credits.

Show spoiler

It shows pictures of further adventures of Ray and Scarlett.

[Reply #189 on:]

I saw The Passion of the Christ for free at my church.  I thought that it was pretty good.  I still don't understand what all the fuss over this movie was about, though.

[Reply #190 on:]

There's an un-cut version out here, how different is it? More boobs or what? 

[Reply #191 on:]

Jesus-boobs!


... I'll see myself out...

[Reply #192 on:]

Constantine
This really surprised me, I really enjoyed it. The effects are fantastic, the story is solid if a little confusing towards the end. There are also some great scares and laughs. And a BIG plus is that although there is a love story it doesn't force feed it to you and take up valuable running time. People criticise Keano Reeves acting but he suits this role perfectly.
In terms of comic book adaptations I would rate this much higher than the Spider-Man films but not quite as good as the recent Hellboy.

A

[Reply #193 on:]

Robots

Enjoyable, but not up to Pixars standards. It was more inline with Dreamworks style, too much parody and not enough originality. This however made up for that in it's amazing backgrounds and designs of Robot City. The morals were too forced and not subtle enough, but the story fitted the robot theme. A clool film, but not of the highest quality...

B

[Reply #194 on:]

 

Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:
There's an un-cut version out here, how different is it? More boobs or what?   

I thought the new version out was more-cut, with less Gore for Republican audiences.

[Reply #195 on:]

Then it would be "The Passion: More Cut" instead of "Un-cut".

[Reply #196 on:]

In The Age (Australian paper):

The Passion: Recut
"By softening some of its more wrenching aspects, I hope to make my film and its message of love available to a wider audience." - Mel Gibson

See the Recut version, now showing exlusively at Hoyts Northland & Village Sunshine.

[Reply #197 on:]

Oh right, I thought it was "Uncut".

[Reply #198 on:]

 

with less Gore for Republican audiences.

That's clever.   

[Reply #199 on:]

The Incredibles review:

It was awesome, the best CGI film I've ever seen, and that counts the Toy Story sequels. It's not exactly laugh-a-minute funny, but it's funny enough at all the right points. It's much more action-adventure than I expected, but there's nothing wrong with that. It definately deserves all the accolades.

A+