Analysis: The Musical Climax

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I love musicals, but I love musical climaxes even more.  No, not like that, get your mind out of the gutter!  I’ve always enjoyed movies that have either the climax of the story, or at least a major plot point, revolve around a musical number, particularly when it is unexpected.  I don’t mean in musicals, but in movies that otherwise have no musical numbers and are not about music.  In other words, not movies like Crazy Heart, Ray, or A Prairie Home Companion, all of which are in some way about music.

I also don’t mean scenes set to music, either as a montage or to set the mood for the scene, like in Rocky, The Breakfast Club or Cruel Intentions.  I’m not even talking about musical climaxes that are the obvious result of the plot, like in Dirty Dancing, Sister Act, or Little Miss Sunshine.  What I’m talking about are moments when characters in otherwise non-musical movies have some sort of musical performance/dance number/song that resolves their issues, expresses their feelings, or advances the plot in a way that’s unique compared to the rest of the film, and is often unexpected or completely surprising.  Here are some examples of what I mean: Continue reading →

Trailer Tuesday: The Great Gatsby

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Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found trailers to be endlessly fascinating.

Today I’m offering up three trailers from the upcoming 3D film, The Great Gatsby.  All of the trailers use interesting musical choices to highlight the setting and emphasize the emotion of the classic story, and the music is the biggest difference between the three.  Here’s the first one, read on after the jump for my thoughts on it and for the other two:

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Review: Jurassic Park 3D

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Jurassic Park is, to me, a perfect film, one of a very small handful of films which can not be improved in any way.  I’ve already talked at some length about my opinion of the film, so I’ll let that stand on its own and instead discuss the new 3D version here.  We’re currently living the era of 3D re-releases, when 3D screens are commonplace, 3D is the chosen viewing experience of the worldwide masses, and conversion technology has become not only cost effective but immensely profitable.  In fact, last weekend’s top release, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, was delayed almost a year so it could undergo conversion to 3D, a move that proved successful with $232 million in box office receipts so far.

Jurassic Park 3D is without a doubt the best 3D conversion I have seen. Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Favorite Idea – Star Trek: First Contact

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Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.  It could be a favorite character or casting choice, a favorite song or score, a favorite scene, line of dialogue, shot or simply a moment.  Anything is possible (costumes, sets, etc) and I’d love to hear your suggestions.  Note: Just because something appears here does not make it my absolute #1 favorite thing in that category, but it is simply “one of my favorites”.

Today is an important milestone in Star Trek lore; it is exactly 50 years before First Contact, the day on which humans will meet aliens for the first time.  So in honor of today’s significance (and inspired by my recent trip to one of the film’s locations), this Friday Favorite comes from Star Trek: First Contact, the film that shows us how those events will transpire, according to the Star Trek canon. Continue reading →

In Memoriam: Roger Ebert

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Anyone who has written a film review in the last 30 or so years owes a lot to Roger Ebert, who died today at age 70, just one day after announcing his cancer had returned.  Ebert was the first person to win a Pulitzer for film reviews and popularized film criticism in a way no one else can lay claim to.  Whether in his 46 years reviewing for the Chicago Sun-Times, any of his various TV shows, his blog or even his Twitter account, Ebert brought both humor and a sense of importance to film review that few others could ever match.

I’m somewhat ashamed to say that I was never a huge Ebert fan growing up. Continue reading →

Friday Favorites: Favorite Shot – High Noon

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Hello, and welcome to my new weekly feature.  I’m calling it “Friday Favorites” and it will highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.  It could be a favorite character or casting choice, a favorite song or score, a favorite scene, line of dialogue, shot or simply a moment.  Anything is possible (costumes, sets, etc) and I’d love to hear your suggestions.  Note: Just because something appears here does not make it my absolute #1 favorite thing in that category, but it is simply “one of my favorites”.

1952’s High Noon, is widely considered one of the best of all Westerns. Continue reading →

Analysis: Jurassic Park, Our Generation’s Star Wars

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Before our recent IMAX 3D viewing of Oz the Great and Powerful we were treated to a preview for the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park on April 5th (coincidentally, exactly 50 years before First Contact between humans and Vulcans, according to Star Trek).  This preview was in the form of a 3 or 4 minute clip, slightly edited to make it “suitable for all audiences”, from the T. rex attack on the tour vehicles.  Despite the volume being at levels that could do permanent hearing damage, my biggest recurring complaint about our local IMAX screen, and my general negative feelings about 2D-3D converted films, as opposed to movies filmed with 3D cameras, the scene was still absolutely captivating.  And while I wish they would just re-release Jurassic Park in 2D IMAX like they did with Raiders of the Lost Ark, and even considering that I saw Jurassic Park on the big screen at our local 1920s Fox Theatre, I’m still now officially excited for April 5th.

I still have vivid memories of first seeing Jurassic Park, almost 20 years ago. Continue reading →

Review: Tomb Raider (2013 Video Game)

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(Disclaimer: I have never reviewed a video game before despite being a lifelong gamer, and I’m going to approach this more as I would a film, as a means for telling a story.  For reference, I played the Xbox 360 version of the game.)

Lara Croft, wealthy young archeologist, is off on her first expedition, to find the lost Japanese kingdom of Yamatai, along with a shipful of assorted characters.  They’re heading into the Dragon’s Triangle, a dangerous area of the ocean that’s the source of many strange rumors, when a violent storm appears and causes their ship to sink.  Lara plunges into the sea, scrambling to shore, pulling herself up on the sand.  She spots the other survivors further down the beach, but as she calls for them an unseen attacker strikes her head, knocking her out.  She awakes hanging in a cave by her ankles, bound and unable to move.  She swings herself back and forth, knocking things over and causing a fire.  As she prepares to set her bindings aflame in order to free herself she mutters, “This is going to hurt,” and as the fire cuts through her ropes she plunges into a pit, where she is impaled through the side by a piece of rebar.  She pulls it from her, and she staggers deeper into the cave, trying to find a way out.  She eventually does, but not before struggling with her attacker, creating an explosion that causes the cave to collapse, and crawling on her hands and knees up through the falling rocks towards a point of light that means escape. Continue reading →

Review/Analysis: Oz the Great and Powerful

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Oz the Great and Powerful is a good film but not a great one, and is in fact fairly interesting, though not perhaps for the intended reasons.  It’s an unfortunate fact that any Wizard of Oz related story, particularly a prequel, is going to be compared to the musical, Wicked, and will most likely suffer from that comparison.  I went into Oz with an open mind, even if I had low expectations, and I came away having generally enjoyed it.  It’s neither as deep nor emotional as Wicked, but you shouldn’t expect it to be.  It’s fun and funny, and while it has its faults, I’d still recommend it, especially considering my larger impressions that I’ll get to in the analysis section after the review. Continue reading →

Star Wars Prequels: A Good Foundation for the New Trilogy

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I’ve never had a spot on the anti-Star Wars prequels bandwagon.  When The Phantom Menace came out in 1999, I was 14 and a huge Star Wars fan.  I was too young at the time to go to a midnight showing, so I had to wait all day to see the film that evening, and I could not sit still.  By the time the 20th Century Fox fanfare started playing, I was in tears, and stayed that way through most of the film.  I remember everyone in the theater enjoying it immensely, laughing and cheering throughout, and I saw it again two days later.  Needless to say, I’m a Star Wars fanboy, and while my 28 viewings of the Star Wars saga films in the theater are not anything close to a record, it’s safe to say that I was in no way disappointed by the prequels.

With the announcement that Disney and Lucasfilm will be making (at minimum) Episodes VII-IX, many people have found themselves revisiting that last Star Wars films that were released, giving the internet new justification for one of its favorite pastimes: prequel bashing.  Many of these have been presented as “Lessons J.J. Abrams Can Learn from the Prequels” containing a list of grievances against the film.  IGN recently featured an article of this type, and I want to address some of its complaints.  I’m going to do my best to set aside my fanboyism because I truly feel that Episodes I-III are great films, and have been unfairly maligned in the last 14 years.
Continue reading →