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Posted: |
Sep 28, 2014 - 6:19 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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Tonight I wrap up my run of Tom Hanks comedies from the 1980's with one of his films from the early 90's, one that I'd never seen all the way through!
Sleepless in Seattle (1993) -- 7/10
A bit frothy and light, but in the end winningly evokes the old-fashioned romance pictures whose spirit it was trying to capture. Tom Hanks is just plain terrific in his role and totally shines, and his son (played by Ross Malinger) was just as good; holding your own onscreen with a blossoming Hanks towards the beginning of his career is no mean feat, particularly for a preteen. I enjoyed the small roles filled by Rob Reiner, Rosie O'Donnell, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, David Hyde Pierce, and so on. The cinematography was great and makes you fall in love with the cities from Chicago to New York to Seattle. The weak link in the movie though, is Meg Ryan. I know at the time she was somewhat of an American Sweetheart and possessed a 'cute quirky charm' but she grated on my nerves in this film, bouncy to the point of annoying, taking herself way too seriously at times and distracted from the buoyant romance at hand. I like her in some films and in fact, hypocrite as I may be, I found her delightful in French Kiss in which one might argue her 'cute quirky charm' factor was dialed up much higher but it worked for that film; here it just was nails on a chalkboard somehow. Otherwise, a sweet little film.
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Coincidentally, I also just watched a Hanks comedy -- Volunteers, which I hadn't seen in at least a decade and maybe two. Some of the lines have stuck with me even though I'd only seen it the once. Mostly watched it again to get an earful of Horner's score. The movie . . . it holds up pretty well, although there's some uncomfortable racism seemingly obliviously mixed in. Weirdly, a number of customer reviews I've read online complain about Hanks' on-again-off-again British accent . . . except he never sports a British accent, it's just an exaggerated New England upper-class blueblood accent. It doesn't concern me that people aren't familiar with that accent/affectation, but it does concern me that people would confuse it with an attempt at British speech. Oh well.
For a moment there I thought you were going to mention Horner's faux British accent. I for one loved Hank's accent in the film, especially during those all too brief, but oh so hilarious exchanges with his father (George Plimpton).
In retrospect, the film is an exceedingly lightweight and silly film, but still a quite fun affair. Horner on the other hand provided a run of the mill derivative score, functional but unmemorable.
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walk among the tombstones. liam neeson, 6 n half out of ten.
bit slow, not as pacey and as much action as Taken, but ok, ending was a bit formulaic but reasonably tense.
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Posted: |
Oct 18, 2014 - 6:12 AM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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My recent viewings, mostly first time except otherwise noted:
The Jerk (1979) -- 7/10 Lots of laughs, lots of fun, totally goofy Steve Martin.
Spies Like Us (1985) -- 4/10 Scarce on laughs, which surprised me. Decent adventure comedy, but not the best out-and-out comedy, John Landis can do much better (and so can Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd)
Fletch (1985) -- 7/10 Almost as funny as Funny Farm and consistently hilarious, with a rapid-fire joke-delivery-system from Chevy Chase who was terrific and never better.
Universal Soldier (1992) (revisit) -- 3/10 Some decent action, but this movie does not hold up well at all. Not that it was ever that great to begin with, but I'm pretty sure I saw it when I was around 13 or 14 and thought it was moderately cool. Not now.
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) -- 8/10 Typical satisfying whimsy fairytale from Wes Anderson. Despite having seen (and loved) Bottle Rocket, Royal Tenenbaums, and Life Aquatic, there is something about Anderson that keeps me at arm's length and keeps me from rushing out to see his newest films. I hated Rushmore, but considering how much I enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom, I am now really considering filling in the gaps of his CV.
and finally...
Her (2013) -- 10/10 One of the best films of last year, a total delightful surprise. Touching, interesting, heartfelt, probably Joaquin Phoenix's best performance. He was astounding in this role. This movie was wonderful.
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Posted: |
Oct 19, 2014 - 4:07 PM
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By: |
TominAtl
(Member)
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Fury -
One of the better WWII movies to come in out in a while and one of the few action/war movies that do not require the use of hand held camera work to make a battle scene more vivid.
To be honest it is a bit decidedly old fashion in it's story telling but one that is told well, beautifully photographed and has a great cast, including Shia Labouf, who gives a subdued and even moving performance.
Set in the last days of WWII, an American tank crew under the command of Brad Pitts "seen it all/done it all" sergeant gets a new , raw and untrained recruit, ala Saving Private Ryan, after one of there own is killed. The usual story line follows: he is a green horn who doesn't belong there, everyone hates him, he is hesitant in killing anyone, gets severely hazed , and events lead up to him becoming a brutal soldier in his own right and ultimately his squad face insurmountable odds by the end against the Nazis.
But they tell this story very well and the battle scenes are extremely well done. One in particular is them and 3 other Sherman tanks going head to head against a lone German Tiger tank, one of the most feared weapons in the German arsenal. There is also during a quiet moment an awesome shot of hundreds of B-17 bombers flying overhead towards their targets in Germany on a bright and blue day, with their contrails flowing behind them.
It's not a classic film but one that certainly deserves to be seen in the theatre and I for one thoroughly enjoyed it.
8/10
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Posted: |
Oct 23, 2014 - 5:43 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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The Five-Year Engagement (2011) -- 7/10
Enjoyable comedy from Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, the guys who did Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was superior to this. Emily Blunt and Jason Segel's chemistry made the film, although the supporting characters were hit and miss (Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Mindy Kaling, Rhys Ifans). A bit overlong as Apatow productions tend to be, although sometimes that's ok, but this one needed some editing. Some very funny moments and some very sweet moments but a little uneven overall and too many jokes fell flat when they shouldn't have given this pedigree.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) -- 9/10
Boy, Marvel is bangin' on all cylinders these days. Iron Man 3 was far superior to the first two and this Captain America film was much more enjoyable to me than the first. I'm even considering giving the Thor sequel a go even though I didn't care for the first. A thrill ride from start to finish with great heroes, awesome bad guys, kickass action, and terrific fx. Loved the little winks here and there (like Fury's tombstone). The finale countdown was a bit of a cliché but can be overlooked thanks to its expert handling. The action sequences in this film were so fluid and so dynamically staged with such precision and grace -- Russo Bros, who knew? All attention is normally allotted the nomal folks so I'll give a shoutout to underrated excellent supporting players Emily Van Camp and Frank Grillo. Can't wait for the next one!
Sabotage (2014) -- 6/10
Hardcore violent action film that didn't connect. The carnage and graphic "let's mix pure adrenaline and steroids and attitude and put some stank on it" vibe of the film is often just plain ludicrous and zany; sometimes it works in the film's favor, sometimes it embarrasses the film. Entertaining enough and kept me interested for its duration, but aside from Schwarzenegger I just really didn't like any of the characters. There's a difference between writing streetwise, tough-talking badass warriors that you can like or enjoy and obnoxiously tough-talking, over-the-top badass alpha-males (and one alpha-female) with zero redeeming qualities. I get that the characters are hardened by their situation but I just couldn't care about anyone in the film aside from Arnold so all I could do was detachedly watch the bloodshed and follow the story, resulting in a no-brain, no-heart, all-guts (in every sense of the word) film experience. I will say this: Schwarzenegger's still got it.
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Posted: |
Oct 24, 2014 - 3:17 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) -- 8/10
I thought this movie was hilarious. I really don't find myself laughing out loud on a consistent basis during one movie lately, but I did during this. Constant throwaway gags, some don't land but enough did to make this comedy worthwhile. Tremendous supporting cast and roster of cameos (Kanye West, though, no thank you). I would say that this movie is on par with the first one, they are nearly identical in enough aspects (I mean that in a good way) to make them close companions but different enough to make the sequel necessary. I hope they make another. Steve Carell continues to steal the show and Paul Rudd can turn anything into comedy gold. I still think it's complete and utter bulls*** though, that only the Blu-Ray contains over double the amount of material (deleted scenes, extended film, outtakes, etc), basically another version of the movie. I shouldn't be denied hours and hours of content simply because I choose to view a different format, but that's another rant for another time.
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Posted: |
Oct 24, 2014 - 4:18 PM
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By: |
riotengine
(Member)
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FURY (2014) "Idealism is peaceful. History is violent." Saw the WWII drama, Fury, yesterday. Thought it was very good. Director David Ayer successfully rebounds from the failure of his last film, Sabotage.
Brad Pitt plays a tank commander at the end of WWII in Germany, trying his best to keep his crew alive, taking on a raw recruit (Logan Lerman) from the typing pool as a crew replacement, giving him a lesson in the harsh realities of warfare. The film also stars Jon Bernthal, (The Walking Dead) Michael Pena, Jason Isaacs, and Shia LaBeouf (who I can't stand, but he's good in this).
This is a hard and gritty movie movie that downplays any sort of flag waving and the characters are depicted as hardened and brutalized by their long term day-to-day survival. The combat sequences are well done and there is a battle sequence halfway the film that that will have you on the edge of your seat. Excellent score by Steven Price (Gravity).
I don't want to spoil anything, but there is an aspect to this film I will talk about regarding one of Ayer's unfilmed projects which this film echoes, once more people have seen the film.
Greg Espinoza
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The Fighter (2010) - 9/10
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this considering the trailers always seemed so dark and hopeless. Thankfully after seeing the director's later efforts I had to go back and see this on blu ray. I also never realized that it was a biopic. Musically I don't recall a single note of a score if there was one because the director likes to use so many songs.
I really found myself pulled in to the characters, including some of those that I really wanted to punch in the face. Great acting all around.
Yes, Siriusjr, David O. Russell is one of the few real movie directors operating in the movie establishment right now.
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Posted: |
Oct 30, 2014 - 2:47 PM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) -- 8/10
...I would say that this movie is on par with the first one...
I agree, great sequel and enjoyed it as well!
Some recent viewings:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) 7,5/10
I warmed up to the designs of the characters (I initially found them a bit too "shrek" like), however Splinter doesn't look all too convincing. Really like that for once they got a great Shredder. The chemistry was good, perhaps the best live action portrayal of the characters I know from the cartoon. The movie moves along fine though it's evident most of the budget went into the turtles animation and there are only a handful of big action set pieces. What annoyed me is yet again the boring origin story with additional done to death "let's poison the city by releasing a virus from the top of a building" threat, there is little plot in this movie. A lot of humor though and most of it was funny and hit the right note. Tyler's score is a one-trick pony, the theme is ok but fits a cartoon hero movie better than it does the Turtles. As someone who grew up with TMHT (it was hero over here), I enjoyed the movie but again, when are we going to see Rocksteady, Bebop, Krang and the freaking terrordome?!? 
Mercy (2014) 7/10
This Stephen King adaptation seems to have gone under the radar as it went straight to on-demand. It stars Carl from the Walking Dead as a kid who together with his brother and single parent mom has to take care of his senile grandmother. The latter used to dabble in pagan rituals and as such has a bad bedside manner. I've seen this one adapted as part of tv series, didn't quite enjoy it then, but here it works good. The cast is also ok and its one of the few movies where you can feel King's writing while watching it. So definitely above average and unlike that other recent King adaptation "A good marriage" this one stayed interesting till the end.
Stolen (2012) 6/10
Mildly entertaining Nic Cage vehicle that goes from heist movie to kidnapping movie with some "the fugitive" thrown in. It was entertaining in a bad way and the score by Mark Isham is totally phoned in, but I can't blame him. xD
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