Movie Review Thread: The Remake

[Reply #80 on:]

I went to the cinema to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and I thought the movie was really good. Jim Carrey was really good as Count Olaf and he was pretty scary too. I love Sunny, the little baby in the movie. She was really cute.

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[Reply #81 on:]

Dr.T: 4.5!?!
It was better than that!

Also, you should use number for star reviews, you should say it was "**** out of ********!"

(Heh, I originally wrote, "It was better tahn taht!" )

[Reply #82 on:]

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: A Dissenting Opinion

I did not enjoy this movie as much as I thought I would.  On the other hand, I've read the first 3 books of the series the movie's based on (the 3 this film adapts).  Daniel Handler's "Lemony Snicket" books are probably the darkest, funniest kid's books everm and I wish they were around when I was in the target age group.  The movie however, isn't what you'd call respectful to the source material.  So I'm probably biased.

But let's start with what I did like:
*The change in dialouge.  In the books, all the characters talk in a stilted, artificial way.  While that works very well in enhancing the humour of the books, I was afraid it would kill the movie.  Luckily, one of the things the screenwritier did right is turn the dialogue into words that sound like something a real person would say.
*The set design.  Dickensian England by way of the World's Fair... brilliant!  Although I have to disagree with Faze that it was Burtonesque - he angles were far too straight.  It did look an awful lot like Casper though... not suprising, considering both films have the same director.
*Emily Browning.  I couldn't have asked for a better Violet.
*Billy Conelly.  I probably just misselt his name, but he was great.
*Jim Carrey.  Sorta.  More on that later.
*The train sequence.  That wasn't in any of the books, but it could have been.
*The first few minutes.  How funny was that?

What I disliked:
*Jim Carrey.  Okay... He was funny.  I'll give him that, I lauged several times.  The problem is, Count Olaf is not that funny a character.  He's a vile, murderous threat who must be avoided at all costs, and Jim Carrey never really projected any sense of menace, choosing to play a clownish character instead.
*The Screenplay.  Aside from the changes in dialouge, there's not a lot I found to admire in the script.  I was worried that the fact that 3 books were encompassed would give the movie an episodic feel... and I was right.  And I've heard of compression of events, but that was ridiculous!  (The Uncle Monty section takes up a week and a half in the books, and is a lot more tense.  In fact, of the 3 books the did, I'd say The Reptile Room is the best, making me wonder why they spent the least amount of time on it.)
And I have to wonder about the secret society they allude to.  It's not mentioned in any of the books I've read.  If it was created specifically for the movie, that I can forgive (what else should I expect from Hollywood?), but if it's giving away secrets the next books in the series hold, I'm going to be very pissed.
*Sunny.  I know I just finished praising the change of the dialogue, but they should have kept Sunny's the same.  The baby talk being translated as the book's artifical phrasing is a lot funnier (to me) then lines like "Someone's been to crazy town."
*The Ending.

Show spoiler

It's a series of UNfortunate events, dammit!  What's with the happy ending?  The clouds break, allowing Klaus to stop Olaf... that's not unfortunate!  Count Olaf captured, even for a short while... NO!  The letter from the parents... NO!  This shold not end on an upbeat note, it should end on an atmosphere of doom and uncertainty.  I can understand them wrapping it up in case their's no sequel, but this isn't the way the story ends.  I suppose I shouldn't complain, this is Hollywood, but I'm-a complain' anyway.

Still, most of the film is decent, and I can see why someone who hasn't read the books would like this film a whole lot more... there's definaltly things to enjoy as long as you have no prior knowlegde.  But if you like the movie, you really should read the books - they're much better.

Grade: C+

[Reply #83 on:]

 

Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:
(Heh, I originally wrote, "It was better tahn taht!" )

I'm sorry, I don't speak Irish.

Also, I stand behind my obscure rating system as well as the rating I gave the film.

Boingo: you may have just answered one of my concerns.  Unfortunately, this makes me even more disappointed with the film.  I was under the impression that the secret spyglass society (or whatever it was) played a more important role in the books, and that it wasn't as irrelevant as it was in the film.

[Reply #84 on:]

I totally agree with everything boingo said. I was so excited that the movie was coming out (I'm a huge fan of the books) and when it was over, I was kinda dissapointed at all the stuff they added, i.e. the car on the train tracks, and the scenes they switched around. To me it seemed like Daniel Handler (Snicket) didn't have any say about the movie.

Grade: C

[Reply #85 on:]

 

Originally posted by Doc Thunder:
Emily Browning. I couldn't have asked for a better Violet.

She's an Aussie girl, isn't she?

[Reply #86 on:]

 

Originally posted by M0le:
 

Originally posted by Doc Thunder:
Emily Browning. I couldn't have asked for a better Violet.

She's an Aussie girl, isn't she?

A Melbournian, no less, I think.

[Reply #87 on:]

 

Originally posted by M0le:
   

Originally posted by Doc Thunder:
Emily Browning. I couldn't have asked for a better Violet.

I am totally, totally not boingo.

The Life Aquatic

This is one of those films where I laughed almost the whole way through...and then the end was a real downer.  Even The Royal Tennenbaums, which this film resembled in a number of ways, had a bit of humorous redemption at the end.  Still, it was a great piece of film with a semi-all-star cast, and I can't say that Zissou's single-mindedness on destroying the 'jaguar shark' wasn't one of the more hilarious things I've seen on screen in a while.  The look of the film is surreal, as the setting doesn't exist nor do the various species encountered on the adventure (I must note, the animation was either stop-motion or not-so-good CGI).

Bill Murray, playing Steve Zissou, was in top form.  He wasn't in the form seen in his earlier movies like Scrooged and Ghostbusters (although it was a treat to see him playing a terrible scientist again), but he played with a more subtle, deadpan humor that is almost just as good.  Owen Wilson played Zissou's alleged illegitimate and estranged son, Ned Plimpton.  Wilson's ever-present cluelessness did not disappoint.  I don't know if he and Murray had the chemistry that Zissou sensed with his son, but they seemed to compliment each other.  The rest of the cast included one of my favorite actors of all time, Jeff Goldblum, as well as the much more popular Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett, and Anjelica Huston.  It was strange to see Michael Gambon in this role.  I've only ever seen him as Albus Dumbledore in the last Harry Potter movie.

It's a good romp up until the end.  If you want to avoid a tragic ending, leave the theater after Owen and Bill go to find the shark in the helicopter and assume everything went according to plan.

7 of 8 stars.

[Reply #88 on:]

I just went and saw 'The Incredibles'.
IT. IS. EXCELLENT!!!
The best movie I've seen all year!!
I rate it an A+!!!

[Reply #89 on:]

 

Originally posted by DrThunder88:
(I must note, the animation was either stop-motion or not-so-good CGI).

It's stop-motion by animation genius Henry Selick who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas.

[Reply #90 on:]

....and Monkeybone!

[Reply #91 on:]

DrT: I don't know how I mixed that up. Probably because both of you gave long reviews.

[Reply #92 on:]

 

Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:
whens that House of The Flying Daggers coming to my local cinema?

Oh geeze, that movie is so good. It's gorgeous and awesome and stars my cute asian girlfriend (who apparently has westernized the order of her name - Ziyi Zhang). And it's got even more plot than is typical in the genre and a couple good plot twists. Ziyi plays a blind prostitute/resistance fighter who men all want to rape. Many, many daggers are thrown. Pretty scenery. Awesome costumes. One of the few movies of 2004 that lived up to or exceeded my expectations. 500 out of 499.

Unfortunate Events was pretty cute, I thought. My brother is 9 and he's reading the books and likes them better. I'm 23 and haven't read the books and therefore thought the movie was well made and fun. Jim Carrey needs to just shut the hell up or else people need to just stop hiring him, because I'm sick of him expanding all over ever movie he's in. Let the adorable children have some screen time, Jim! It's pretty sad to see him standing on screen, making random faces and noises while some tweens and a baby are trying their hardest to actually be professional actors. (3.5 out of 5)

And Life Aquatic was the suckiest movie ever. It broke my heart to have to hate it, because I love Wes Anderson movies as much as I love breathing. I fell asleep for a little bit and was hoping that explained all the unanswered questions, but Jeff said it didn't. It was too Wes Andersony for it's own good. People just said and did random things for no reason other than to try and be Wes Anderson-y. And what's with all the casual deaths? Remember when he made movies where the worst thing that happened was a kid's bike got ruined and his teacher didn't make out with him? And that was played as tragic. Two people (and more- I lost count of the pirates) die in this movie and the other characters barely react at all. I liked the dog though. (-300 out of 5)

[Reply #93 on:]

Raise Your Voice
I went in there expecting a good chick flick, but this was way too sad and depressing. Bumkins! There will be all these depressed 12 year old girls running around now.

[Reply #94 on:]

Any respect I might have had for you, alex, is completely and totally gone now.

[Reply #95 on:]

I love Hilary Duff. I also love chick flicks.

I also found out how bad Hilary Duff is at singing. And acting for that matter.

And the mother was in two episodes of MASH. Automatic awesomeness.

[Reply #96 on:]

Just to reiterate:

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
Any respect I might have had for you, alex, is completely and totally gone now.

[Reply #97 on:]

Finding Neverland.

Mother said: "Let's go see a movie," so I went along, why not?

And we saw this. Pretty good. Kind of a mish mash between Ed Wood (the movie, not the director), and Big Fish. Made me a little sad. Ruined my macho image.

B, I suppose. You want a decent review? Um... go look in the paper, or something.

[Reply #98 on:]

Shaun of the Dead

Not only is it the best film of '04, it's the best film to arrive in the past several years. It's clever, hilarious, and at times surprisingly touching. A damn near flawless horror/comedy.

[Reply #99 on:]

I went to see National Treasure with my brother last night and thought it was ok, not great. There were a few action moments but I finding the movie too long.

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[Reply #100 on:]

Garden State

I rented this tonight. It's a very good little movie with great performances by Natalie Portman and Peter Saarsgard but Zach Braff just didn't do it to me. His directing was good but the script was too filled with these "What family is", "What's really love?" conversations that were just too preachy for me. Also, he wrote himself some of the hardest dialogue in the movie and just couldn't handle it all. But aside from that, everything's good. Especially the music.

A-

[Reply #101 on:]

Meet the Fockers

Saw it with my girlfriend and kept us laughing all day. Just as funny as "Meet the Parents" with many of the old jokes creaping up again in one form or another. Great movie.

A-

[Reply #102 on:]

Spongebob
Not quite as funny as people seem to be saying, but it was funny as the same. The theme at the start is golden. There was a lot of Patrick which is definatly a good thing too.
B

[Reply #103 on:]

Finding Neverland
An excellent film. There are 4 things that make this film:

1. Jonny Depp: Of course, this is must be one of the things. He was much more calm in this film than in any other, I think. I'm used to seeing him with scissor hands, fighting horseman or sword fighting with skeleton pirates, but he is really good at a serious role like this. I also liked his accent.

2. Freddie Highmore: This kid was very god in this. He was great in Two Brothers, too.
He reflected so much emotion

Show spoiler

When his mother was ill and when she died

Very good actor, that kid is.

3. The fantasy scenes: The fantasy scene really showed how imaginative Barrie was.
I liked the pirate one the most.

4. The camera shots: The many camera techics where very intresting, like

Show spoiler

When Peter destroyed the set of his play. The home-video-style camera techices really showed he emotion

I give it ****.

[Reply #104 on:]

Napoleon Dynamite

Wow. This has got to be one of the best movies I have ever seen. There's hardly a plot at all, not much of a story, but the characters are unique and very well-developed. It seemed like anytime somebody opened their mouth, I was laughing. It's not your typical movie, it's just some dork and his Mexican friend.

"What're you gonna do today, Napoleon?"
"Whatever I FEEL like I wanna do! GOSHH!"

Rating: Flippin' Sweet! (A+)

[Reply #105 on:]

The Little Rascals – 1994

I saw this movie yesterday with my dad when I was at my parent’s house. I thought the movie was really cute and funny. Those little kids really acted well especially the boy who played Alfalfa and the girl who played Darla.

This movie is adorable. 

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[Reply #106 on:]

Hellboy
Pretty cool movie with some funny moments and scenes as well as some kick arse action bits. Seeing Colonel Gas Mask (My brother kept making noise and I missed his name) without his mask was a disgusting highlight, as well as the bit when Hellboy wakes up the dead man, only to have him cough all over Hellboy and start swearing at him in Russian. 
B+

[Reply #107 on:]

Finding Neverland
As per the "bought" thread, my mommmy took me and my brother to see this. He didn't want to go and once he saw the movie poster featuring some guy in a suit, he knew we'd hoodwinked him. I thought the movie was good. I was almost bored, but the movie was just good enough to keep me from looking at my watch. It's pretty and the actors rock, even the children. The story is predictable, but fun, except for the very predictable ending, which is not fun. The emotional devices are pretty annoying, and predictable, but I was about to cry at the end, so I guess they got me. I like the imagination scenes, where the boys and Barrie are transported into real scenes they are playing at, like the old west, or a pirate ship. Pretty, pretty. B.25

[Reply #108 on:]

What is your brother, a dummy? 

[Reply #109 on:]

Or 9 years old or something?

[Reply #110 on:]

Aren't all 9 year olds?

Except those Super 9 year old geniuses... I can't compete with them... they're just packed with nutrients...   

Are the battle sequences in Alexandar worth it?
Are we talking Gladiator or ROTK?

[Reply #111 on:]

White Noise

This movie has a very good foundation story that has, as far as I am aware never been portrayed in a film before. I'm talking about EVP - Electronic Voice Phenomena. The premise is very creepy and scary and fortunately the film manages to keep up a high level of tension throughout even though there are very few actual scares, but when they come they are good ones.

Show spoiler

The woman at the car window is a particular highlight

However there are a few minor points that let the film down, Michael Keaton performance is exactly Oscar winning and very rarely looks even a little scared when events are occurring around him. The trio of “ghosts?” is also never really explained leaving you feeling like the ending was cut down for time. One final point, if like me you thought the ghost effects in the trailer look rubbish, then good news they are much better!
Overall though if you want some scares and entertainment this is a very good film to see.

B+

[Reply #112 on:]

 

Originally posted by ~FazeShift~:
Aren't all 9 year olds?

:beats you up:
Only I'm allowed to talk crap about my brother!

I debated saying "my 9 year old brother" but I figured I say his age every other time, so you should have my life memorized by now, Fazey. Don't you? ::sniffle::

[Reply #113 on:]

Nonsense, your pre-teen years I ignored completely.

[Reply #114 on:]

I finally saw

House of Flying Daggers
(It's amazing what I can talk my girlfriend into seeing the day before I leave town...)

Anyway, I wound up getting to the theater about 20-30 minutes late, thanks to a few scheduling issues and the flick only playing at three theaters in the entire metroplex at this point.  Anyway, I got the premise easily enough, since I'd read a short synop in the paper.  What I wasn't expecting was the emphasis on romance in the movie.  Usually, these Wuxia films concentrate more on politics and rivalry between warriors.  This one, while set against a political background, is almost entirely about the love triangle between three of the main characters, and some rather random but not too complicated revelations and double crosses.

Show spoiler

Basically, everyone's a spy/impostor.  It's like Metal Gear Solid 3 with fewer robots and handgestures.

The battle sequences disappointed me somewhat, but only because I don't like Swordsman vs. Flunky battles, even when the flunkies are relatively good like the Imperial soldiers in this one.  (Also, something I thought was a cool gimmick turned out not to be true.  You'll see what I mean if you see it.)  I'll take Swordsman vs. Swordsman any day, which is why Hero is still my favorite Yimou film.

Until the last half hour or so, the movie's honestly pretty plodding for my taste.  Then you have possibly one of the coolest, most emotional and least physics-denying (keep in mind this is a relative expression) swordfight I've seen in this genre.  It doesn't seem to be very often that the combatants are really pissed at each other when they're fighing, but these guys bring real emotionality to the conflict.  And everyone takes 30 fucking minutes to die, as usual.

Anyway, this post is running long, so I won't go into any more detail.  To sum up: less history and  more romance and backstabbing than usual.  Also, I want some of those knives.  I mean, Jesus.

A-
A Wuxia I didn't mind taking my girlfriend to see.

EDIT: FazeShift's idea sounds right.  All references to this genre as "Chinese-sword-flick" changed so I don't look like a dumbass.  This comment retained so I don't look like an arrogant poser.  Hopefully.

[Reply #115 on:]

Wuxia is the genre I believe: "military chivalry" or basically Chinese swords and sorcery.

[Reply #116 on:]

 

Originally posted by M0le:
Hellboy
Pretty cool movie with some funny moments and scenes as well as some kick arse action bits. Seeing Colonel Gas Mask (My brother kept making noise and I missed his name) without his mask was a disgusting highlight, as well as the bit when Hellboy wakes up the dead man, only to have him cough all over Hellboy and start swearing at him in Russian.   
B+

His name is Kroenen; one of my favorite characters.

[Reply #117 on:]

   

Originally posted by Nerd-o-rama:House of Flying Daggers
(It's amazing what I can talk my girlfriend into seeing the day before I leave town...)

Your girlfriend should be the one dragging  you to see that, dork.

NoR's girlfriend - 0 stars
Me, VF - 5 stars

   

Originally posted by Nerd-o-rama:[The battle sequences disappointed me somewhat, but only because I don't like Swordsman vs. Flunky battles, even when the flunkies are relatively good like the Imperial soldiers in this one.

maybe because you missed the first 30 minutes? You missed the echo game, which kicked ass. And at least one other fight. Did you see the field part?

[Reply #118 on:]

Finding Neverland
Meh... I dunno. It wasn't bad. It was just shy from being boring as fuck though. Lots of bonus points for no American accents though, a refreshing change from other movies I've seen recently. Damn you Americans.
C+

"Excuse me sir you're standing on my sleave", or something.

[Reply #119 on:]

Hellboy

Disappointing, I couldn't really get into it. I didn't really like any of the actors, they washed over me with their blandness. Hellboy himself was well acted, but I wasn't that keen on his character. And the old guy, his father was also reasonably acted, but it just wasn't enough. The movie seemed a bit over the place, and not that strong to me. Some really nice lighting, and a few nice sets and action sequences added to, but didn't turn a bland movie into something special...

C-