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Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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Hawkmumbler

EARWIG AND THE WITCH

The latest in the Ghibli library is probably a text book example of 'vibes do not make a movie alone' as as comfy and charming as scenes are in isolation, if there was a plot to be discerned it was certainly lost in the mist of cottagecore twee and shortbread tin niceties. Hayao Miyazaki hasn't said anything about it but considering Goro's two big directorial features for Ghibli (the other one being the woeful adaptation of Le Guins Earthsea saga) are both flatter than pancakes, I'm concerned for what direction the studio will go in when the big man does eventually pass on.

pictsy

Quote from: Hawkmumbler on 11 May, 2021, 08:42:54 AM
EARWIG AND THE WITCH

The latest in the Ghibli library is probably a text book example of 'vibes do not make a movie alone' as as comfy and charming as scenes are in isolation, if there was a plot to be discerned it was certainly lost...

Not entirely an uncommon problem with Ghibli films, I find.  Some instances can be worse than others, but I do find this describes my feelings towards My Neighbour Totoro.

TordelBack

The Mitchells versus the Machines. Overlong speechifying and unnecessarily blunt homilies to the indisputable wonder of family life hamstring what is a very pretty, often very funny film. It's a largely successful mash-up of The Incredibles (mainly this), Tron, Into the Spiderverse and The Lego Movie, with the now-ubiquitous Olivia Colman shining as a sarky Siri. Some oddly out-of-place reinforcing of conventional gender roles and middle-class lifeways, an understandably predictable get-to-the-off-switch plot, and some genuinely good gags and inventive visuals but it's telling that the best bit is the family dog. Not boring, but not great.

wedgeski

Quote from: TordelBack on 11 May, 2021, 10:08:22 AM
The Mitchells versus the Machines. Overlong speechifying and unnecessarily blunt homilies to the indisputable wonder of family life hamstring what is a very pretty, often very funny film. It's a largely successful mash-up of The Incredibles (mainly this)
I'm in.

CalHab

The Mitchells is now my seven-year-old's favourite film. I thought it was very, very good but I'm worried about what's going to happen when she outgrows my sense of humour in a year or two.

TordelBack

#15695
Quote from: CalHab on 11 May, 2021, 11:47:11 AM
The Mitchells is now my seven-year-old's favourite film. I thought it was very, very good ...

My youngest loved it too. It's well made, and best of all it's funny, but I just felt I'd seen the same family dynamic so many times that I (a joyless 50 year old man) was frustrated that so many scenes took up so much of the run-time by explicitly setting out the same points, rather than being a bit more oblique about it.

But like I say, my jaded palate is hardly what was being catered for, and nor should it have been.

None of this bitterness has anything to do with the fact that my children kept pointing at me and laughing  during the learning-to-use-a-computer, carrying-a-screwdriver and - particularly hurtfully - the gibbon-hooting scenes.

milstar

Short Circuit

Yawn... One of my least favorite John Badham efforts. I still consider Blue Thunder as the top in military sf movies from the 1980s. But, to be fair to Short Circuit, the two movies couldn't be miles apart from each other. After awesome introduction sequence, followed by even more awesome demonstration, the movie quickly falls to bore, to me. Okay, there are some touches of humor that mostly come from Steve Guttenberg and Fisher Steven (the latter playing banter ready Indian) and G. W Bailey, who is essentially doing his Captain Harris schtick from Police Academy. On the other hand, I find Ally Sheedy as source of constant annoyance and unfortunately, the movie seems to favor her scenes over Guttenberg-Stevens. The story couldn't be more simple. A robot goes rogue while being hit by surge of electricity, becoming sentient and aware of himself in the process. Escaping from military facility he's been kept, he goes on the run from the "evil" military guys who want to claim him back. Call me cynical, but I prefer[spoiler] that the movie ended with military getting him back; but I suppose it is naive from me to expect anything else than a happy ending in a typical Hollywood blockbuster.[/spoiler]
Reyt, you lot. Shut up, belt up, 'n if ye can't see t' bloody exit, ye must be bloody blind.

sheridan

Quote from: TordelBack on 10 May, 2021, 08:31:48 AM
Tamara Drewe. It warms my heart to think of the last of the Holy Trinity of British Writer-Artists*



*Eddie Campbell and Raymond Briggs. Am I being very mean to Don Lawrence, Frank Hampson and Leo Baxendale? Probably, but the Sacred Six-Pack doesn't scan well.

Why did I think Eddie was from the antipodes?

CalHab

He lived there up until a few years ago. He's originally from Scotland, but lives in London now (I think).

milstar

#15699
Runaway

One of the cop movies of the 80s with a robotic twist. Honestly, I find this movie on the edge of self-parodying and not in a good way. I can't even say it's so bad it's good, because it rather treats itself as serious material, even though it's totally bonkers. Michael Crichton did the Westworld decade back, a movie which I enjoyed; Runaway I did not. Tom Selleck plays as he's bored with very limited range of facial expressions; Gene Simmons the same - he just gives a menacing look as if he glances far away and that's it (although, he may be the best part of the film; too bad we the movie doesn't give him much screentime) and Cynthia Rhodes - just meh. In fact, the whole buddy-cop dynamic between Selleck and Rhodes is pretty bland. The plot is silly and filled with numerous plot holes, nor we get the explanation behind the evil guy's scheme - ever and dialogues are even more ludicrous. For the movie where robots practically dictate our lives, its theme was done in a pretty hackneyed manner and subordinated to the typical cops and robbers routine. The music score by Jerry Goldsmith must be one of the poorest in the celebrated composer's filmography. Oh, and staring at the Runaway's poster, Tom Selleck is holding the gun with thermal guidance bullets, but he never uses that weapon in the film (actually Gene Simmons did). All in all, forgettable wreck.

Oh, and for a futuristic movie where the invention of the thermal bullet is considered an unheard achievement, I must say it's already done in a Judge Dredd strip (whose prog name escapes me). So, 2000ad indeed was ahead of its time.
Reyt, you lot. Shut up, belt up, 'n if ye can't see t' bloody exit, ye must be bloody blind.

zombemybabynow

Solomon Kane - yet again !

magnificent
Good manners & bad breath get you nowhere

CalHab

Dating Amber (2020, on Amazon Prime). An Irish coming of age film set in the mid-90s in a barracks town outside Dublin. The two teenage protagonists are coming to terms with their homosexuality and dealing with the prejudice and lack of understanding in their community. Tonaly, this seems a bit all over the shop. There are comedy elements that verge on the fantastical, but they're isolated and seem out of step with the rest of the film. The first and second acts are promising, developing the leads (Amber and Eddie) and their struggle. Amber's development is pretty much abandoned for the final act, though. Her relationship with her late father is alluded to, but not explored beyond the surface. [spoiler]She also sacrifices her dream for Eddie in the end. This seems like a betrayal of her character and didn't sit well with me.[/spoiler] Interesting, but a flawed film.

Hawkmumbler

THE GREEN KNIGHT

I was very lucky to be invited to an advanced screening of this as part of my local indis test screening before reopening tomorrow.
Its pretty damn good, naturally I can't say a lot until its hit wide release but I know it will satisfy the dark fantasy fans and Arthuriana lovers here.

TordelBack

Blimey, an endorsement from a genuine cineaste like Hawkie ups my anticipation even further!  My brother-in-law worked on this what seems like years ago now, and it's the film project I've seen him the most enthusiastic about in 25 years.

pictsy

The Mitchells versus the Machines

ugh.  No.  I can't even bother to complain about it, it's not worth the effort.  I should have stopped watching it when I knew I hated it... with the opening.  At least then I would have had time to watch something else.

The animation is well done.  It's nice to see creative and talented people get paid for work.  Even if the sum of their efforts is garbage and undervalues their worth as human beings.

In the end, this is the quality I expect from the Emoji movie or the Angry Birds movie (neither of which I have seen.... thankfully).