I love the X-Men movies. They're probably my favorite superhero franchise. I love how it's less villain-based and more of an "us against them" theme, which in turn creates and drives the inner conflicts within the mutant world. And this new installment is far from the exception. It was awesome--the special fx, the set pieces, the consistent pace, and the unique formula and storytelling. You can't really go wrong with time travel films because it's in their nature to not be formulaic.
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Friday, May 30, 2014
Quick Movie Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past
I love the X-Men movies. They're probably my favorite superhero franchise. I love how it's less villain-based and more of an "us against them" theme, which in turn creates and drives the inner conflicts within the mutant world. And this new installment is far from the exception. It was awesome--the special fx, the set pieces, the consistent pace, and the unique formula and storytelling. You can't really go wrong with time travel films because it's in their nature to not be formulaic.
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Monday, May 26, 2014
Quick Movie Review: The Bling Ring
This is a film about the rich stealing from the rich. There is a lot of social commentary expressed in the details of this movie. It parallels these kids aspiring to live the lives of celebrities and needing to have it all. Chasing something that they don't have and never realizing that it's still not there--even though the audience does. And the lack of privacy in the celebrities lives is how they end up being so "good" at burglarizing their homes, but it's that lack of privacy which ultimately does them in at the end.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Quick Movie Review: Godzilla (2014)
As much character depth as they tried to display in the beginning, it's mostly gone once Ford's father (Cranston) dies and we begin to even forget that. Towards the end i stop being attached to whether or not Ford makes it back to his family as the film doesn't really become about that anymore. My girlfriend said that she didn't even feel like crying and "it doesn't take a lot to make me cry in a movie." There wasn't a whole lot of development. The script was fine, as was its execution. However, at the end I felt like they could have really milked the moment where Godzilla gets up and walks back into the ocean by having everyone in the stadium cheer for him finally recognizing that he is not a monster but a hero. I mean, it gave me goosebumps, but I just wanted a tad bit more. The film felt stretched a little bit thin at parts, but I didn't feel too crammed with overly scientific banter.
Quick Movie Review: Brick Mansions
It's another movie where the bad guys suck at shooting the good guys, but only when it's convenient. Paul Walker is a great on-screen presence as always, and although never the greatest actor, he still brings a warmth and charisma to everything that he's in and makes his films that much more enjoyable.
Quick Movie Review: Observe and Report
This movie definitely has its moments. Although the tone was very inconsistent throughout--sometimes even annoyingly. It has a lot of moments where it gets deep and meaningful, but it is also tries to be too irreverent by forcing jokes that are easy, but not necessarily warranted. The film is a borderline dark comedy. I'm not sure if that's what the filmmakers were going for, but they somewhat succeeded. However, there are too many off-the-wall jokes (a la Happy Madison) that keep pulling it away from that consistency which would make it a solid dark comedy. The kind that requires an acquired taste. It's not easy to love like Bad Santa. The 3rd act is actually brilliant though. It really makes you forget that the first 2 acts were all over the place. Probably because now it doesn't even seem like they set that much story up to begin with.
Quick Movie Review: Neighbors
In general, there are two types of comedy films: unrealistic over-the-top ones, such as Anchorman or 21 Jump Street, and realistic ones, such as Animal House or The Hangover. Maybe in the realistic ones there will be a character or two who is, in fact, over-the-top, but in a unique way that is creative in respect to the film itself (e.g. Alan in The Hangover). However, Neighbors couldn't quite figure out which one it wanted to be. Here you are presented with a realistic premise but when necessary for the continuation of the plot, they sprinkle in some unrealistic characters and situations, as though straddling the fence between the two movies that they wanted to create.
Quick Movie Review: Draft Day
I feel like it would be tough to do a film about professional sports. It's like--who do you include? who do you leave out? Do we create a whole new league? It's tough because the people that follow these sports are fanatics. People who know the players, coaches, and personnel inside and out. These are the people that you have to trick into believing that these new made up players and coaches and owners are real for 2 hours. They know they're not real. These people are also your target market. I like what this film did by creating an alternate universe where the league and all of the teams in it are the same--even most of the history. What they DID change, however, is the names of everyone in the modern version of this reality. As though in the past couple years, this new film universe version of the league came to be. It provided a platform for the filmmakers to pretty much create and manipulate any stories and scenarios that they please. So as far as the target market goes--I think that they will be less annoyed and more excited about the upcoming draft and season.
Quick Movie Review: Noah (2014)
Awesome movie! Someone on here said that it had a weak 3rd act, but I totally disagree. I actually thought that the 3rd act is where we saw the most character development. We saw some of them making tough decisions for the sake of all of mankind, and others realized that although God may give you signs to complete a humungous task, He also leaves most decisions up to us--even the biggest of decisions.
Quick Movie Review: The Other Woman
Throughout the setup of this film I thought I was going to completely hate it. I wasn't laughing at all and I was actually becoming annoyed with the characters--especially Nicki Minaj's. But it wasn't until Leslie Mann gets involved when it turns this stupid premise into a laughable movie. I've never been sure of how I felt about her, but her typical self-pitying character actually worked in this one, and I think she was at her career best with her role in this film. She was just hilarious. If it wasn't for her, I would have hated this movie. The jokes shouldn't even be all that funny, but her timing and wit make every gag that much better. You don't realize what she brings to a film until you see one where everything around seems to be caving except for her.
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Quick Movie Review: Rio 2
I really don't like when films are like this. You know the type--when it's all against one and everyone is opposing the main character. Kinda like Meet the Parents--except the humor in that film was way too good for it to matter, and the ending was so conclusive that it was worth the trouble. In THIS movie, the ending is all but heartwarming and it's definitely not worth all the trouble. I mean, when it gets to the point where even his wife takes everyone else's side it just makes you genuinely mad and frustrated, and it makes the film painful to watch.
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Quick Movie Review: Heaven Is For Real
Quick Movie Review: Stealing Harvard
I know most people hate this film, and I suppose I can see why. However, I personally liked it a lot. Although there's not much reason for the story and it is just a mashup of a bunch of funny ideas that are put into scenes, it actually has some really good bits. There are tons of quotables and running jokes in this one too.
Quick Movie Review: Encino Man
This is a really goofy, quotable, off-the-wall comedy that I actually liked a lot. Sure, as a "mature" moviegoer I should probably hate it, but I couldn't resist laughing at the chaos of everything that was happening in this fish-out-of-water film.
Quick Movie Review: Dazed and Confused (1993)
A pseudo American Graffiti that focuses more on teen life after the '60s got its hands on it, rather than before it took its naivety. It's a lot less innocent and not quite as insightful--although it does present the time period with the right amount of waywardness. It's somewhat depressing, but I think that's the point. It feels as though it's on the fence on whether or not it was good to grow up in that time.
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Quick Movie Review: Dickie Roberts - Former Child Star
The premise is ridiculous, but this ode to former child actors is really a fun watch with some pretty entertaining references. The problems lie in the fact that half way through you forget that it's even about former child stars and the issues that come with it because it starts focusing too much on the relationship between Dickie and his new family. It relies too heavily on its saccharine resolutions and doesn't have enough deserved tension beforehand to make it as worthwhile as it should be. Basically, it's too heartwarming too often--don't get me wrong, it might bring smiles to your face, but in hindsight you wish that there was more at stake.
Quick Movie Review: Grandma's Boy
The story is not all that great and it's a pretty stupid movie. Over time you'll forget what it was even about. However, it's also pretty enjoyable--and it has that going for it if nothing else, which isn't a bad thing to have. There are no stars here (Jonah Hill wasn't a household name yet). It's truly a sum of its parts--which are a funny bunch of character actors all getting their time to shine in this egoless comedy.
Quick Movie Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The art of the hotel is really cool, and so is the unexpected murder mystery twist in the hotel's backstory. However, the former may be a tad bit more interesting. Not that I didn't want to know how the story would resolve, but I just felt that, as a period piece, it would have been more entertaining if told through a different style. Anderson has a tendency to alienate his audiences through his too structured and thought-out direction. You feel like nothing just flows organically and that his hands are all over everything that you see. It definitely looks like a film that you SHOULD like, but you never end up truly liking it quite that much.
Quick Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
This is definitely a tipping point film in the Marvel Universe. Everything is kindof happening and culminating in one film. There are a lot more plot twists than usual (besides maybe Iron Man 3), which makes for a really fun ride. While having a really cool concept of the whole big brother thing and even dating it back to the '40s, this new installment is probably the most relatable of the bunch. And as a much darker, more character driven piece, we finally begin to tap into the secret life of Nick Fury himself--although still only slightly. Operating more as a thriller that the typical Marvel film, Captain America The Winter Soldier definitely stands out among the rest. An awesome blockbuster that doesn't really do a whole lot wrong.
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Quick Movie Review: Muppets Most Wanted
While the plot is middle-of-the-road, the hilarious jokes and constant self-awareness that have always made the Muppets an amazing wonder are still present in this sequel to 2011's eponymous The Muppets. The songs in this one are on par with the ones from the first film. And although the story is slightly weaker than Segel and Stoller's, and not as uplifting and exhilarating, it's a pretty enjoyable follow up altogether, yet would have served fine as a stand-alone film.
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Quick Movie Review: Bad Words
What an amazing directorial debut for Bateman, who has shown that he is a force to be reckoned with in this industry. Although it leaves you wanting a little more redeeming value from the third act, the story as a whole definitely takes quite a few unexpected, and at times hilarious turns. The acting is tremendous, especially from youngster Rohan Chand. Yeah, I guess I can see the similarities to Bad Santa, except for there being actual motives for Guy Trilby in this film as opposed to the unexplained poor judgement of Willie Stokes in Santa. And although not AS perfect of a film, it is just different enough to still be enjoyed for its own reasons. It will offend many, but those who find intrigue in character analysis or pure vulgarity will enjoy this thoroughly.
Quick Movie Review: The Girl Next Door (2004)
The reason why I enjoyed this film actually wasn't because of its humor, but because it was really intriguing. I was so curious the entire time as to how it would unfold. Although it's not laugh-out-loud funny throughout, it really keeps you guessing as to what will happen next. For a sub-genre that is known for inexpensively shot films, this one was actually really nice to look at and it never made you feel like you were watching a high school comedy about pornography. The acting was pretty impressive--especially Timothy Olyphant. Yeah, the sudden and semi-random change of character for Matthew (Hirsch) seemed a little too convenient and somewhat unbelievable, but if you put that aside, this film was consistent from beginning to end with some cool callbacks.
Quick Movie Review: National Lampoon's Van Wilder
With tons of one-liners, a great main character, and an ending that will make you smile, Van Wilder is very much a product of the early 2000s. It also happens to contain probably the grossest scene I've ever seen in a movie (you'll know what it is when you see it). Although I was impressed with the direction, the story is middle of the road and the acting is just average. However, I do like this movie and would not hesitate to watch it again if I had the chance--especially to let some of the lines sink in my brain better for my own personal use.
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Saturday, May 24, 2014
Quick Movie Review: Lovelace
Not sure why this film got such mediocre reviews. I liked it actually. The story telling was really cool how they told the same story twice in a row showing it in a different light each time. It helped to juxtapose what everyone else saw with what reality was. To some, this way of showcasing events may have been this film's downfall as they felt as though it should have used all of that time to gradually show the rise and fall of Linda Lovelace instead. I'm not sure I agree 100% because the rise and fall wasn't gradual at all--it was only 17 days. It's supposed to feel somewhat quick, otherwise we would feel fooled that the timeline was a lot longer than it actually was. The filmmakers do a good job ot expressing their opinions at first and letting the story speak for itself, remaining unbiased. Then as events unfold, the audience is as surprised as the readers of Ordeal probably were. Linda's own introspect was fully realized until her monologue at the end. But I think that was slightly the point--it's not that the filmmakers didn't want to show Linda addressing how she felt about everything that was happening, but they knew that she DIDN'T address how she felt because she felt like she couldn't. This is why the story was told in such a unique way--to be as muted as Linda had to be back then.
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Quick Movie Review: The Lords of Flatbush (1974)
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Quick Movie Review: Cocktail
This is one of those guilty pleasure movies. It's bad and you're not sure why you like it--but maybe that means you could call it somewhat good. I dunno. The downfall is in the direction and the script. Many of the scenarios seem ridiculous and odd. Like, how does he go from not knowing what's in a martini to perfecting the skill of bar tending within what seems to be all of 2 days. But that's what the norm is in this film--everything is too rushed. It could've actually used some more scenes in my opinion--especially towards the beginning--so that we feel as though we are actually on the journey with Tom Cruise's character, Brian (although most would probably say that it's 103 minutes too long to begin with). The depth we see in Bryan Brown's character, Doug, is actually the most intriguing aspect of the script. Other than that, the characters are paper thin. Brian is so hard to tack down that it's almost annoying, and there's no background on him at all so it's not like you can deduce much. None of his actions fall in line with the actions that he makes prior to that and vice-versa. It also doesn't make much sense why Brian would be best friends with the biggest backstabbing douche in the world (Doug) and value his friendship as much as he does.
Quick Movie Review: 300: Rise of An Empire
Quick Movie Review: The Change-Up
The story is unoriginal and the setup is very much rushed, but where it lacks in the screenplay it makes up for in its amazing talent. Reynolds is at as close to the top of his game as I've pretty much ever seen him and Bateman taking a break from the straight-man and does an excellent job being the second banana for once. I mean, a lot of the character depth was told to us via other characters rather than actually shown to us, but when it was shown to us it was really funny.
Quick Movie Review: Once Upon A Time In Mexico
Not as mindless as it probably should be, the final act in Rodriguez' Mexico Trilogy is only slightly better than the previous film, Desperado. The movie has some really good scenes and lines, but the screenplay is full of things that don't make sense at times. Like, why were they fighting with Marquez to begin with? And when and why was Carolina with Marquez? And why was there hardly any emphasis on their daughter and her being murdered? El Mariachi seemed more concerned about his wife and appeared to have forgotten that his daughter was also killed. A lot was happening in this film and there seemed to not be enough initial motive for the characters besides the fact that this film was about to happen. However, Once Upon a Time in Mexico was more enjoyable than the 2nd act of this trilogy and the acting and characters were amazing. This is definitely the creepiest of all three films. Depp stole the show as Sands and a lot of the supporting characters were very interesting and good. However, the main character hardly seemed to get very much screen time. Also, I kinda wished that they had revisited the boy from the 2nd film that El Mariachi saved and brought to the hospital. It would have been nice to see some of that carryover from the previous movie.
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Quick Movie Review: Desperado
Not as consistently entertaining as the first installment and feeling a tad bit recycled in the plot area, Desperado is still a fun movie in its own right. Highlights include some scene-stealing bits from Tarantino and Buscemi. However, its hard to favor this film over El Mariachi since the only improvements in this sequel are the acting, the visual aesthetics, and slightly more appealing dialogue. The 2nd act feels very repetitive and even unexplained at some parts, but the setup and resolution are what makes you not help but further your appreciation for this franchise. The characters are much thinner and it doesn't seem to have quite as much heart, but Desparado is still worth the watch!
Quick Movie Review: El Mariachi
I know that most people know this, but I still find it amazing that it only cost Rodriguez $7000 to make this film! It's incredible and it's proof that storytelling and the writing are the most important things in engaging your audience. Although pretty violent, El Mariachi is a pretty clean cut movie that is a lot of fun to watch and free of a lot of BS that most other action films contain. The acting isn't great, but it works with the low budget feel of this film. There are a lot of awesome scenes in this unforgettable movie. After watching it you'll feel like everyone who hasn't seen it is missing out. Above all, the movie has a lot of self-awareness and never takes itself too seriously!
The Twizard Rating System
So I have been developing my own system of reviewing films by giving them a score out of 100 instead of the 1-10 or the 5 stars approach. There is so much that goes into movies and so many details to consider when critiquing them that how can we just grade them out of 5 or 10 points. Wine is graded using the 100-point system, so why shouldn't something that is equally as complex, such as film, do the same?
I'm still open to tweak so that it's at its best, so let me know if you have any suggestions! Here's how I broke it down:
1-60 pts = How much I personally like the movie. Let's say that I would give a film an 87% based off of my personal taste, I would calculate it so that it would come out to a portion of 60 points ((87 * 60)/100 = 52.2, but I would just round to 52). I'm still trying to figure out if this number (60) is too high. However, the amount that a person likes a movie is a really huge part of their final consensus. And I'm trying to find a number that would be acceptable while not taking up too big a fraction of the total.
1-10 pts = Script
1-10 pts = Story. I've dedicated 20 points to the script and story because I feel that it is the most important aspect to a film being technically sound. The script and story greatly contribute to the film as a whole, as they are the foundation. As for the story specifically, its points may also reflect the direction of the movie.
1-10 pts = Character depth and development. I usually break it up as 5 points for the depth/complexity of the character and 5 points for the overall story arc of the character. Like you said, some of this also reflects how well the actor portrays the character (which is another category on its own)
1-5 pts = Acting.
Other Categories: These are 5 categories that are allocated one point each if they succeed at doing a good job. If they do a great or exceptional job, they can be given 2 or 3 points, respectively. These categories are Directing/Editing, Cinematography, Art, Sound/Music, and Fx. So, although a film could technically get up to 110 points, it will just be rounded down the the 100 point ceiling.
So, the total point values are equal to a school-like grade. In other words:
94-100 = A
90-93 = A-
87-89 = B+
84-86 = B
80-83 = B-
77-79 = C+
74-46 = C
70-73 = C-
67-69 = D+
64-66 = D
60-63 = D-
59 or lower = F
*Detailed breakdowns for each film are available upon request.
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