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Posted: |
Jul 21, 2020 - 7:52 AM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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The Greatest Showman- 1-5 Ugh, that was cringe worthy. There's so much wrong with this film. The characterization, messaging and drama were overly simplistic.The morality was questionable. The history, a wretched twist on reality. The singing was so fake. By that I mean obviously dubbed. Why can't they do realistic dubs like Sound of Music, West Side Story, even something as current as Grease or FAME anymore? Apparently all they do at the circus is song and dance numbers. I thought they performed stunts and did acts. Where were the circus animals? Speaking of the songs they're generic and forgettable. They had a few outcasts known as freaks, (like the bearded lady) but most were just everyday freaks, not circus material freaks. I gave it one star because I enjoyed Hugh Jackman's lively performance and enthusiasm in the film. To bad the rest of it was awful. By "obviously dubbed," do you mean that someone else did the singing for the actors, or that the actors badly lip-synced to their own pre-records? So, to summarize, a fanciful musical entertainment was bad because it was not historically accurate, didn't spend enough screen time on non-musical events, and didn't have enough human deformity on display. (1) I don't know how to explain it. I know the singing is recorded in the studio and dubbed in post regardless if the actors sing their own songs or sing on set. Maybe its the over use of auto-tune. I don't think Its bad lip-sicing. But when I watch someone sing in a movie, television show or music video nowadays it "sounds" dubbed and fake. Where in older musicals there's a suspension of disbelief. (2) As far as historical accuracy. Yes films can take some artistic license but they kinda took it to the next level here now didn't they? Turning PT Barnum into a sympathetic guy who wanted the world to see his performers as "people" not "freaks". That's as perverted as making a movie about a ruthless dictator just wanting to help his people. (3) The messaging was weird. The protagonist made a freak show out of people who are physically different. They're oddities were the attraction. But the songs were about being proud of who they are and social acceptance. Which is it? (4) I'm no expert (nor a fan) of circuses, but nothing in the film felt like a circus. Just a bunch of people getting up on stage singing and dancing. Yeah its a musical but I never felt like I was experiencing the life of circus performers. (5) Why did they have to bring in racism? Like wasn't there enough story to tell about ppl with physical disabilities and deformities and how they're treated as outcasts in the world? Like OMG, a white boy falls in love with a black girl! This is unacceptable! And wasn't it unintentionally hilarious when the white boy runs into a burning building to save his girlfriend and comes out with "black face"?!
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Posted: |
Jul 21, 2020 - 11:57 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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DOWN MISSOURI WAY (1946) - 6/10 This is the first PRC production I've seen that wasn't a western. It's a full-blown musical comedy that fits nine songs into its 75-minute running time. And the surprise is that they are generally pretty good songs, all composed by the team of Kim Gannon and Walter Kent. That pair were no slouches in the songwriting department. During their career, they received two Oscar nominations for Best Song, and their biggest non-film-related song was "I'll Be Home for Christmas," which was a top 10 hit for Bing Crosby in 1943. Kent also wrote the music to "The White Cliffs of Dover." What brings the film down is its silly plot, which involves a film company shooting a hillbilly saga on location in the Ozarks. So far, so good, but it goes off the rails when too much time is spent in convincing a college professor, played by Martha O'Driscoll, to allow a hyper-intelligent mule she's been "teaching" to apppear in the film. Will the mule appear or won't he? Is the mule under contract or not? Who cares? Get on with the singing. Less than a year earlier, O'Driscoll had been the female lead to John Carradine in Universal's HOUSE OF DRACULA. Carradine is here, too, as the laconic film director. The film's love triangle involves O'Driscoll, William Wright (as the harried film producer trying to sign that mule) and Renee Godfrey, as the film's leading lady. And cowboy Eddie Dean and his sidekick Roscoe Ates show up, as the professor's assistant and a local hillbilly, respectively. It's a good cast and they give it their all. The songs are tuneful and lively (except for the love ballads, of course). If only they had figured out some way to have the professor and producer meet that didn't involve that darn mule.
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Ad astra Painfully slow crock. In a way, it was Apocalypse now in space. Astronaut sent to far side of solar system to kill/find astronaut gone rogue/mad. Only difference being the errand boy sent my grocery clerks this time is his son. Tedious. Avoid. 4 out of 10.
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THE BEAST 2019 Korean cop thriller. Tense. Well-made. At times, even Hitchcockian. 8 out of 10.
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Posted: |
Jul 26, 2020 - 1:32 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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The Last Boy Scout (1991) ... 8/10 Many viewings and still great fun (my better-half watched, too!) ... of its specific genre (comic book, high action, buddy-buddy shoot-em-up) this is probably my favourite. Bruce Willis may be John McClane but in this he comes over as someone different and Damon Wayans is excellent as the disgraced football player. The language bothers me, as usual, but I accept it, though the daughter's portrayal (Danielle Harris, then aged about 13) does raise questions ... at least the script makes a point about it. Unlike Willis/McClane, the score by Michael Kamen, when heard, consists of off-cuts from his Die Hard scores ... it doesn't distract but doesn't add anything to the mix. The awful title song is best ignored ... enjoy Pat Boone's Moody River play-out classic instead Mitch
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Starblack 7/10 western with the watchable Robert Woods in the title role. He's a kind of robin hood/batman masked avenger. Quite decently made, the German blu ray looks good. Music by Benedetto Ghiglia is also fine ,a little different. Novelty value - Woods wrote the lyrics to the title song and sang it. He was ok but don't give up the day job. Followed by - Conspiracy of Hearts 8/10 with Lily Palmer,Ronald Lewis. I have watched this numerous times on TV but here it was on dvd, someone gave it to me. It's still a great little film with more than you usual stereotypes. Bad German, Peter Arne, decent German , Albert Lieven. Some scenes still pack an emotional punchnabd also some humour. I have always loved Lavagnino's score. It's subtle all the way with a great main title (Stefan, any news ).
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The Long Haul 6/10 with Victor Mature ( we like Vic in our house),Diana Dors ( not such a moose in this) and Patrick Allen ( playing a nasty gobshite ). Set in Liverpool, mostly. Samson in Liverpool, hoodathawtit. Pretty decent film about cream off the top in the trucking game. Vic is honest though, at least at first.
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Posted: |
Jul 29, 2020 - 8:48 PM
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By: |
Xebec
(Member)
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Da 5 Bloods 2.5/10 Ponderous, laboured, tiresome. And that's just the first 45 minutes. It is incredibly tedious. Stopping often for what feels like a wiki page excerpt or sermon about modern or 60s racial injustice or politics or a sports hero or something else. Usually with a photograph chucked in and maybe a text name and date. The American government was/is bad. The French were/are bad. (Nothing is said against the North Vietnamese). It included interesting moments and people, they'd just be better in a documentary. Delroy Lindo is a great actor and makes this watchable, even though his character is pretty terrible. There's some really bad editing, particularly near the beginning of the film. Overlong scenes everywhere. It's a 2.5 hour film that really needn't be. Noticeably dodgy CGI on several occasions. I think just don't like Spike Lee's style of storytelling. It seems very clumsy here, as much as it did in BlackKklansman, just throwing in photos and sermonising. It just feels like you're being talked at by somebody who has a lot of knowledge but can't tell a story to save their life. There's unintentionally hilarious moments of people stepping on landmines, which made me laugh out loud. the emotional moments weren't much better. One death by gunfire has really bad muzzle flash and blood effects, rendering it very funny. The score i know is good, as I've heard it on youtube, but it doesn't get the chance to breath in the film, often buried way down. The film is a decent idea too, much like BlackKklansman, so it's a shame I found it to be so bad.
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