Tag Archives: Movies

Friday Favorites: Favorite Shot – High Noon

Posted on by
4

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

Posted on by
12

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/Analysis: Oz the Great and Powerful

Posted on by
10

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

Posted on by
46

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 →

Review: Quartet

Posted on by
Reply

2012 was a busy year for Maggie Smith.  In addition to her role in season 3 of “Downton Abbey,” she was featured in two, very similar films: Quartet and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  The two movies are so similar that it’s almost impossible to review one without comparing it to the other.  Both films feature aging retirees, adjusting to both a new phase in their lives and to new environments.  However, while The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was energetic, and uplifting, Quartet is more subtle, quiet and slightly more serious.
Continue reading →

Review: A Good Day to Die Hard

Posted on by
4

25 years after his first adventure, NYPD Detective John McClane is back, in his fifth film, A Good Day to Die Hard.  McClane’s last outing, in 2007, we were given man left behind by the modern world and confronted with a threat he couldn’t fully comprehend.  He was partnered with a geeky companion, and the juxtaposition was the perfect way to reintroduce Die Hard for the modern era.  This time out, McClane travels to Russia in an attempt to help his son, who has been arrested for an assassination.  I can see how this seemed like the perfect setup, offering plenty of opportunity for McClane to be a fish-out-of-water in a similar way to the very first film.  The only problem is that I think the filmmakers have never seen a Die Hard movie before.
Continue reading →

Analysis: Argo and Filmmakers’ Responsibility

Posted on by
3

Even before Argo won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Hollywood’s top honor, it was already being plagued by controversy.  (Nevermind the fact that every other nominee was controversial in some way: Lincoln got easy facts wrong, Silver Linings Playbook mishandled mental illness, Beasts of the Southern Wild romanticized poverty, Zero Dark Thirty lied about torture’s effectiveness, Django Unchained was racist and used the n-word too much, Russell Crowe’s singing was horrible in Les Miserables, Life of Pi misrepresented Indians and religion, and Amour advocates assisted suicide and wasn’t even in English!)  It’s nothing unusual for films to encounter controversy, or even to court it, but the debates this year about facts and politics in film have raised questions (none of them new) about the responsibility of filmmakers to the audience.
Continue reading →

2013 Oscars Recap

Posted on by
1

Another Academy Awards ceremony has come and gone, and overall it was an enjoyable evening.  There were few surprises among the award winners, though I only correctly predicted 16/24 winners correctly (equaling my score from last year, at least I’m consistent).  In addition to there being no real surprises there are also no winners that I feel were not deserving to win; even if I disagree with the outcomes, the awards went to quality films/performances which makes it hard to complain too loudly.  The show itself was enjoyable, if not spectacular, with some wonderful moments and some bits that fell flat, and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed Seth MacFarlane.  Read on to see my thoughts in a bit more detail.
Continue reading →

Review: Life of Pi

Posted on by
Reply

“He said you had a story that would make me believe in God.”  This is both the essence and the greatest fault of Life of Pi.  It tells the beautiful and exciting story of the young Indian man, Pi, and his adventure adrift on a lifeboat with an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.  It’s a gorgeous film, with amazing effects, and based on a book that most people thought to be unfilmable.  It has some impressive acting, is filled with many interesting and stimulating ideas and is in many ways a remarkable achievement, but throughout the movie that quote kept ringing through my head.
Continue reading →

Review: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Posted on by
1

Beasts of the Southern Wild is the sort of film that defies classification or description, by nature of its inherent simplicity and the complexity of interpretation.  It’s nominally the story of a girl whose community is devastated by a hurricane, but that’s merely the surface.  Beasts of the Southern Wild is one part environmental fable, one part coming of age story (maybe), one part morality tale about the links of the universe, and possibly many more things, all wrapped around one truly remarkable and unique performance.

Continue reading →