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Well, Dr No was the only time bond shot an unarmed villain in cold blood after he had first tried to kill Bond with a tarantula and then shot at him. That didnt happen in any other Bond film! 
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Transcendance (Depp, freeman)
acted like it might be going somewhere mildly interesting but iin just drifted into tosh. 3 out of 10. Maybe 4.
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Posted: |
Dec 4, 2016 - 12:19 PM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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Moana 4-5
Entertaining despite itself. Moana transverses most of the cliched Disney formula. Independent strong minded female lead, loss of a loved one, stern pig headed Father figure, a fun loving side kick, and a comical mascot. The film is laced with songs so we know what the characters are thinking and feeling. The beats are all there. While each major sequence were well executed, The film felt stitched together and lacked fluidness, or cohesion. Characters and situations present themselves never to be reverenced again.
The songs are okay, and I can’t say any of them really stand out. (for some reason I enjoyed them more on the OST) Moana belts out her signature song almost to the point of yelling. This is one of the major issues I had with Frozen. Fans be damned the songs were loud and annoying in that film. It’s times like this I really miss Alan Menken and Howard Ashman musical contributions. Sadly the score was generally forgettable, and it’s really a shame because the visuals and fantasy elements of the film are quite spectacular. How Mark Mancina missed the boat on this one is beyond me.
Production wise the animation was stunning, and visually speaking it’s one of Disney’s best 3D animated films. I would almost call this their 3D “Fantasia”. In fact it’s the most 2D feeling, 3D animated film I’ve ever seen. One aspect that took some getting used to were the movements of the human characters. It seemed largely motion captured, and it gave off a blatantly rotoscope feel which was a distraction until I got used to it.
Moana is a surprisingly dark film at times, and there's quite a few scary or unnerving imagery that I think would scare the bejesus out of kids under a certain age. I don’t think I’ve seen anything this edgy in a family animated film since The Secret of NIMH. There's lengthy scenes of character interaction which I found engaging because they limited the gags and focused more on the characters relationships. So be warned, kids might find the film a little to talky, and dull.
That’s not to say the film isn’t without humor. Moana’s mascot (a chicken) was insanely hilarious. I don’t know why because the character was insanely dumb. Which was the running gag I guess. But the stupidness of it all worked for me.
Maui is sort of Moana’s antagonist and side kick at the same time. He was fun enough, but sort of Robbin Williams Genie light. As a Demi-God he failed to be as epic as he could have been. His magic tricks really didn’t amount to much. I expected much more from this character.
While Moana was generally well written, she’s just all the other Disney Princesses rolled up into one. Strong and independent, defies authority, always knows whats right, and there's pretty much no growth for her in the film. Female empowerment is all fine, but I think Disney are really doing an injustice here. Is this the only kind of female character they can write? Is this the only persona the audience wants to see over and over again? That said the film benefits a lot from not having a romantic interest which is a breath of fresh air, and Moana has a more rounded personalty which makes her more interesting than the standard “Princess”. In many ways Moana feels like a character from a Hayao Miazaki film.
Though it had the potential of being something epic, and falls short dramatically speaking, it’s still a very entertaining film. It benefited by focusing on scenery, character interaction over jokes, and being a bit darker than your average Disney film. This along with it’s visual splendor held my interest. I liked it a lot more than Big Hero 6, Frozen or Zootopeia.
One last note, the story is suspiciously similar to a certain Jim Henson production from the 80’s. I don’t think anyone has made that connection yet!
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Wow, all that over MOANA? I have less to say about SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, which I'd give an 8.5 out of 10.
Haha! Yeah I probably bore many, but I'm a huge animation fan, so I have a lot to say about the subject.
What would you give Big Hero 6? I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would. Just wondered.
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CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
8/10
For a change, a film that I have been "dying to see" has lived up to expectations (for the most part)
Criterion has done a magnificent job with this release.
But no, it isn't his "masterpiece". He never topped KANE
check it out!
brm
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Manchester by the Sea, almost relentless sadness, downbeat, realistic drama without a neat and tidy ending.
Thor just rushed down to the cinema
LOL!
brm
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Revenge of the Green Dragons
scorsese does chinatown altho sadly only exec prod, directd by Lau and Loo. Reminded me of the mickey Rourke one, Year of the Dragon- but not as good.
Characters werent very engaging. You dont get absorbed by them in the same way you do with goodfellas, casino etc - perhaps mr scorsese should have had a bit more say in its story and production?
.lots of shouty and quite nasty cruel young chinese men waving guns around, with some extra shouting and some more shouting.
Unlike better films of this type, it just seems to skim the surface of everyone in it and you end up hoping most of them get shot.
6.5 out of ten
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Now You See Me 5/10
Although entertaing, a really stupid movie 
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Thunderball 8/10 Really fun and action-packed Bond film with lots of the kind of stuff that you think of pure Bond. And ends with a great underwater knife fight between two gangs of frogmen. There's a couple of brutal bits in it, speargun bolts to the eye and the head. Good stuff and a worthy climactic fight. The only pure dodgy stuff is right at the end with the runaway boat and the hilariously sped-up view outside of the window. And the attempted death by exercise stretching machine, which was very funny. It looked very expensive and seemed much bigger than even the previous film. it zipped around quickly from scene to scene and the Bond girl had much more to do than previously. Bond was slightly more sex pesty than even the last film, not sure he can take it much further than this. Looking forward to whatever is next.
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Thunderballs! I did a double post!
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