The Film Corner

[Buster's Uncle]

A-MEN.

If I played King Arthur in Camelot, I'd watch some Richard Burton doing it, not to imitate, but to burn Richard Harris out of my head so I could sing the songs like me, not Harris.  I don't find his performance definitive, merely very Richard Harris; and he did make it work, but I wanna do my own Arthur.

But If I was playing Vultan, I'd be doing the BEST Brian Blessed I could, because he owned the part, now and forever -for all his derivative Vultan owed the original- better a pale quasi-Blessed imitation Vultan than anything else, and I'd do it without shame.

-Those are parts feel like I could really do justice...

[Rusty Edge]

Well, I came down on the side of pretending to be somebody else in some other situation is acting, and pretending to be yourself in that same imaginary situation is not.

What I should have said was -

Well, I came down on the side of pretending to be somebody else in some other situation is acting, and pretending to be yourself in that same imaginary situation is simply called "pretending".

[Buster's Uncle]

I think the teacher was trying to point out that I was playing George C. Scott, not the character.

[classroom exercise - not like I had time to score my roll and methodize it.]

[Rusty Edge]

Fair enough.
I'm just going for coinable/ quotable.

[Unorthodox]

Got both Krampus and The VVitch for gorging on this weekend. 

[Lord Avalon]

Some movies I watched in recent weeks/months: Run Silent, Run Deep; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Charlie Wilson's War; Trouble with the Curve; Jurassic World; Jurassic Park III; The Expendables 2; Batman: the Dark Knight Returns pt 1 & 2; Lucy; Weird Science, The Thomas Crown Affair.

[Unorthodox]

Today I learned:


apparently [fuddle-duddle] is fair game for PG-13 movies....

[Unorthodox]

Got both Krampus and The VVitch for gorging on this weekend. 

Krampus:  Talia: "It's like a cross between Devil's Carnival and Gremlins"

That's a fair assessment.  Like Trick or Treat, Michael Dougherty falls just short of an enjoyable experience with curious choices. 


The VVithch:

I understand the very mixed reviews this film has:

Challenge 1: period piece with period puritanical English being spoken.
Challenge 2: ABSOLUTELY ZERO explaination of what is going on.  The movie expects you to understand witch superstitions, signs, symbols, and fears enough on your own merit. 

I had no trouble with challenge 2.  I noticed all kinds of otherwise sidebar scenes that were hinting as signs of witchcraft.  Kyle not so much. 

Challenge 1, I struggled mightily, but more because I couldn't understand the male lead.  I don't know if he was mumbling or just his deep voice was low enough my ears didn't pick it up so much.  Kyle, fresh off an english class study of The Crucible and with younger ears didn't struggle here. 

The soundtrack and setting carry most of the movie, though the soundtrack occasionally drifts into a 2001 direction that feels misplaced. 

Overall, I'd place this alongside Häxan as a curious piece worth viewing only for those who are fans of pure oldschool (ancient school) horror that uses pure horror rather than jump scares.   

[Unorthodox]

The Hobbit  Battle of the 5 boredoms. 


Big loud and dumb I expected.  Downright poor special effects were a surprise. 

[Unorthodox]

10 Cloverfield Lane

Preface:  The boys and I loved the first one.  Saw this one opening weekend, even though I knew it was not a sequel proper.  Watched with Talia this weekend. 

This plays out as a very by the numbers thriller with near perfect pacing, a protagonist that is surprisingly smart, and a compelling premise that rewards you for not seeking out spoilers.  Confined and trapped, with minimal cast, and near perfect pacing, doling out revelations at the requisite pitch, and leave you wondering if the antagonist is insane, or the only sane one around. 

Was Goodman's character a good natured, if slightly deranged, prepper who saved everyone from an attack?  Or a sick [progeny of unmarried parents] who has abducted the protagonist?  You alternate between questioning and cautiously believing in Goodman, to maybe even moments of trusting him as the savior. 

And then there's the 15 minutes at the end. 

(click to show/hide)

When we find out Goodman has abducted a girl before, and the heroine makes her daring escape, only to find his most crazy theories were right, and aliens have invaded.  Things quickly go over the top with the heroine fighting off the aliens.

Watching with Alec in the theater:  He nervously chomped on popcorn through the movie followed by shocked horror and finger biting the last 15. 
On Video:  Gleefully watched up until that last 15, then fled the room, unwilling to watch that part again. 

Talia:  Hook line and sinker through the first of the movie, the movie playing every beat to her perfectly.  Terrified right before the final 15...to look at me amused. 

(click to show/hide)

"OF COURSE there are mutant alien space slugs!"

  Those final moments moving it from a great movie to ridiculous in her eyes. 

I fall somewhere in the middle.  The final moments are nowhere near as good as everything leading up to them, but they don't ruin it for me, either. 

[Unorthodox]

The Jungle Book

Surprisingly good.  Superb voice talent abounds, and the child actor is passable.  Shere Kahn steals every scene he's near.  Get's a cold blooded and "shocking" murder on film, and implied mass slaughter on the side. 

Watched with kids from age 4 and up.  Younger ones hit that perfect scared enough to keep interest and grab onto parents or jump into laps, but not in tears level. 

[Spacy]

Independance Day 2

Um, boring.  Just boring.

Special effects were OK, but not anything to write home about.  Plot was lackluster at best.  Didn't even have those couple of tear jerker moments of "proud to be a human" like the first one had.  And the badguy alien.... sorry, complete rip off from Alien. 

[Buster's Uncle]

-And the original was deeply, deeply flawed, at that...

[Spacy]

-And the original was deeply, deeply flawed, at that...

Yes, but entertaining.  This one wasn't really entertaining.  I walked away feeling like the $4 could have given me much better entertainment for the 2 hours. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Let me do a cut of Independence Day - without changing anything, I'll make it look like the dog didn't make it, and take over a half hour out -the eternal before-final-battle sequence, mostly- and make it tighter and better and a lot more fun - (except for for dog fanciers, but they'll be a lot more into seeing the nasty ETs die die die, which was the whole point, storywise, of the attack-and-'splosions sequence).  The pacing went into the toilet right before the end, which largely ruined a serviceable, if uninspired, by-the-numbers bestseller of a 'splosions flick for me.  Too long bored before the final pew-pew and swelling music...