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Trollhunters (2016)
The ultimate derivative adventure?
A merging of tropes, an reanimation of classics, a story to be enjoyed with caveats.
Gargoyles meets Reboot meets Highlander. Trollhunters has so many parallel story inspirations it becomes a bit trite in its execution. I enjoyed many parts of it, but something felt forced around the corners here and there.
My most interesting insight taken away is that Morgana's evil seems to originate from Merlin taking her hand to forge the daylight amulet. Merlin (in spite of his Sean Connery stylization) may be the epitome of misplaced trust. I see this as an allegory of how humanity's imperfect heart may lead to its own undoing.
Still, Trollhunters may be a touchstone for this generation's imagination built on the forgotten pillars of the past...just as those past pillars stand on their predecessors, and so on...
Sucker Punch (2011)
Creative Eyecandy on Fire
Sucker Punch smacks you down!
This movie is a softly violent blend of Kill Bill and Inception with a touch of Lord of the Rings, Terminator and Mortal Kombat thrown in for good measure. Unlike Inception, this movie succeeds because it isn't didactically trying to make you buy into the premise, it just lays out the story, and let's you decide what might or might not be going on.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the creative mix of both the action dream sequences, and to a lesser degree the character development. There is much subtlety crafted into this plot and the main character's subjugations and aspirations.
If I have one gripe, the use of sepia and dark grayscale tones throughout the movie is overused. This was obviously the film maker's intent to bring out color when it does appear, as in the dragonfire, alas I feel true color could have been used to more advantage, so long as it didn't rise to the over color saturation movies like Avatar fell prey to.
Absolutely recommended if you like intense kung fu surreality flicks!
Fringe: The Firefly (2011)
McFly!!!!
Cute Fringe homage to Back to the Future, esp. the reference year of 1985, when BTTF was in theaters alongside Christopher Lloyd's appearance.
Has me contemplating the general idea of time travel in fiction. Time travel backwards at its heart embodies the desire to change outcomes that have already come to past. Time travel forward has the core desire to adventure to a place unreachable. In reality we can do both, ironically, change outcomes and adventure beautifully at that place where past and future converge!
Overall, I'd have to say Fringe has been on a slide this season.
Bicentennial Man (1999)
A Glimpse of Asimovian Delights
The film is full of fine moments that will connect with an Asimov fan. It is those moments that make the viewing of this worthwhile in spite of a somewhat disjointed plot line. The dreamer of my teenage youth surfaces during Andrew's moments of realization, and as any good archetypal foil (be it vampire, immortal, or robot) serves to remind us of the elements of humanity we so treasure.
I think the film could have been more clever in general, making the characters a bit more three dimensional....most of them are flat, perhaps to accentuate Andrew's personality.
Spoiler: As an Asimov fan, the scene I am most critical of is when the daughter orders Andrew to jump from the window injuring himself in direct violation of the Third Law of Robotics. Perhaps if the Zeroth law were in place, there may be a way around it.
The Fountainhead (1949)
Rough around the edges, but with ideas to ponder.
Fountainhead bubbles with ideas, though the acting is stiff at times.
Overall, a worthy watch to stir contemplation. The integrity portrayed by Howard Roark is perhaps too extreme, especially in light of September 11. Sure no lives were taken in the destruction of his work, but a higher idealism will avoid violence and destruction especially as he relinquished ownership of his ideas for expediency to have the project style building built, more for his own pride than for the good of low income ownership.
I agree with many posts that Patricia Neal's googly eyed portrayals are a bit much. Still there are ideas flowing in this movie which require thoughtful perusal, embrace, and rejection.
I will definitely look into Rand's works, but the staunch pridefulness seems hint at extremism at the cost of all else.
Underworld (2003)
A horror movie with bite
It's been too long since a good horror movie has come out. Underworld isn't the greatest, but it does a fine job of creating a dark world full of mystery and action. At time the plot threads are a little tangled, but I think that adds to the overall immersion in the vampire/werewolf world.
My two main gripes were the werewolves when they ran on the walls and ceilings. Supernatural or not, it looked stupid. And the final scene death scene of Victor, specifically the delayed action decapitation is a total copy of the Kurgan's death in Highlander.
Oh one last gripe. Michael's super powerful were-vamp transformation was also a big let down. My imagination had some combination of Giger's alien integrated with bat and human features.
Overall though, the best classic horror genre flick since Brotherhood of the Wolf and Gingersnaps.
Gangs of New York (2002)
Suspended my suspension of disbelief
This movie was a recreation of history with a multi-color pallet that doesn't lend itself to realism. The characters are unconvincing for the most part, albeit a decent accent by Dan, Liam and even Leo. The fight scenes are a bloody work of faux wrestling with missed punches obvious as the bright red dripping from the musty brown landscape. Still I found a moment or two interesting; the backdrops were especially magnificent, though perhaps too well designed in that I never entirely felt I was in the 1800's, just on an expensive set of said era.
I give Gangs a hearty uppercut...without pulling the punch.
Signs (2002)
No coincidences here...just a horrible movie!
Deepak Chopra must have a credit in here somewhere! A horrible blend of faith and extraterrestrials.
A whole bunch of contrived and miraculous coincidences.
Uh, I guess God sent the UFOs to kill off a whole bunch of humans just to convert Mel's stoicly portrayed character back into a happy and faithful reverend.
Bad!
My nominee for MST3000 Movie of the Year!
The grey alien at the end must be clicking: "I'm melting! I'm melting!"
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Hollywood distortion
Good acting by Crowe. Good glossy package by Howard.
Atrocious movie, because it captures the mind, falsely, as a documentary, and leaves out too much of the controversial and true facts: Nash's bisexuality, divorce, and spontaneous remission of his disorder, to name a few.
Oliver Stone would be proud of this commercially recreated biography.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Donnie Dorko
This movie's aspect of being dark and deep is all pretense; the plot is a convoluted and non-sequitur growth, but without any compelling central matrix for the ideas to root.
Noah, Barrymore and Swayze have thankfully minor roles, the first two give especially poor B movie performances.
But it is Jake's performance who is at the center of this mess, and his jerky, schizophrenic performance may have been intentional, but simply doesn't work, though he does have a few moments standing up for life's complexity vice the love-fear model.
Yet it is the plot which brings this movie down. Unlike Memento, Sliding Doors, Groundhog's Day, or even the Prince of Darkness, which use the nuances of a time continuum slyly, Donnie Darko succeeds in knotting up the stream of time. Hawking's ideas for spatial wormholes is weakly presented, but they have no direct connection to time travel.
Altogether this movie is a sloppy mix of 12 Monkeys, It's A Wonderful Life, Magnolia, Harvey, the Abyss and a pinch of ET. An eerie blend, for sure, and many may mistake the remix as originality.
Left Behind (2000)
A devilish movie!
This movie has a potentially good premise; I mean the "what if" of the christian storybook god collecting his believers is a fine foundation for a fantastical movie. Unfortunately the adaptation of the idea to a movie comes across as campy too often, and the acting is quite flat. The instant removal of all these kith and kin believers provides an emotional shotgun, a shallow tactic to convince others to believe. The underlying theme is a didactic one.
The Omen series was much more interesting play on the antichrist. The
The ratings here at IMDB are quite revealing...so many voted either 1 or 10 voting with their beliefs rather than their senses.
In my opinion, it would be a blessing for the schizophrenic god to take away all these fundamentalist believers. The world would be a better place for it.
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Monkeydom
I was captured for a moment, perhaps two. The plotline was marginal. In a nutshell, I nodded off a few times. You think Burton would have researched apes a little more behaviorly...one would think jumping around was the primary emotional response of apes. Get real...and please no sequel...much rather see the intelligent dolphin and apes of the Uplift War saga made into film.
The Family Man (2000)
Propaganda or pro-choice
The Family Man simply hammers home the christian-monogamous-reproduce-and-be-happy mentality with modestly contrived, feel-good blows. The acting was good, but the film is geared to be a superficial tearjerker filled with the warm, christian "Merry christmas"s of content supporting extras and the occasional highly placed cross attempting to burn its image into the viewer's psyche. Overall, I'm sure this movie will help reinforce the catholic dreams of those doubters who chose marriage and family, and now regret the choice somewhat. The underlying theme that we who choose not to go down that path and cannot be truly happy, is rediculous. Though the film has an iota at its core to contemplate so far as making choices makes a life, it utterly fails to honestly look at the Angst that can arise in a person when society, family and religion pressure a person into one particular way of life.
Subtle propaganda can be the very worst.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A schizophrenic mix of camp and CGI
There is no doubt Spielberg was "attempting" to capture the flare of Kubrick in this film. All in all, he fails. The silken patchwork of a few good ideas, a few great effects, and an the occasional good performance, is haphazardly bolted together with the most campy scenes since Judge Dread.
There are moments when I want to embrace this film as a modern faerie tale, but I keep slipping out of the experience, as my belief is suspended as from a noose, with the horrible explanatory voice overs at the end, and the contrived jumping from one storyline to the next.
If you want a decent contemplation where advanced artificial intelligence meets sentience, check out the Voyager episode, where the holographic doctor seeks vindication of his rights.
As far as AI goes, flush and watch it spin thankfully into the distance.
Evolution (2001)
Ghostbusters Alien-style
I laughed a good deal, but I found myself yearning for a little more gritty realism with the aliens. The 2001 Space Odyssey tribute to the primates was especially disappointing and campy. And my biggest gripe is that Block is obviously contaminated with the alien spore and they have left the thread dangling purely to port to Evolution 2. Nevertheless, it's good eatin' even though Hollywood has watered down the sci-fi broth once again. Overall, worth the matinee price to see on the big screen!
Life of Brian (1979)
Not their best
I bit disappointed especially since I am a Brian myself. The religious satire does not go far enough. Some chuckle scenes, but only the closing song Look on the Bright Side of Life is thoroughly worthy of Monty's stamp.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
An Eye Opener
This movie was a thought provoker. Overall, the acting and atmosphere are a bit over the top and the slow pace detracts a bit, but as any work of art, the spectator needs to fathom a message for him or herself.
The central theme explores the theme of how much truth one should share with ones lover. Can one live with a charade, especially with ones most intimate confidant? Whether a sexual fantasy or an entanglement in a murder, do we kill a part of ourselves by lying or not revealing this truth, or does sanity necessitate a scheme of white lies within and without oneself.
This film makes a daring attempt to get people talking about what they really think and feel.
Tarzan (1999)
An enjoyable Disney film which breaks Disney trends
I always look forward to Disney's releases with the simultaneous fear of seeing a G watered down story. Like Mulan however, Tarzan transcends being simply a child's story with realistic and, at times, dark moments. The shadow hanging of Tarzan's nemesis at the end is particularly eerie. The animation and humor excel but only sometimes. Jane and her father are flat as the pre-Copernican world, both in character and animation. Yet this Disney film is worth seeing, if not alone for the underlying theme of wildlife preservation.