Displaying Category: Rating_3

One of the iconic monsters in movie history gets a fresh coat of paint so that it can look pretty much just like it did in the 1941 original. That is not to say the movie isn't visually impressive, the digital effects are generally convincing, my problems with the creature stem more from how not-horrifying the creature design actually is.

Speaking of horror, this movie basically subsists on consistently startling the viewer with tension-building music and camera angles designed to make you think something is right there, about to leap out. There's also a fair bit of gore in the form of beheadings and guts strewn about the earth, but most of this happens in dim light leaving much of it up to the viewer to imagine the full extent of the carnage. That said, I would still recommend parents respect the R rating and not take their children under 12 to this movie. Yes, we did see several younger children in the theater.

I did like Danny Elfman's score, it was suitably retro-horror sounding. The werewolf transformations were pretty cool, but still don't quite rival the spectacular displays of An American Werewolf in London, even considering those were practical effects and not CG. Speaking of which, I realized The Wolfman presents a scenario in which we basically have an American werewolf in London. Well, it made me snicker, anyway.

I had some issues with the pacing of the film. As I said before, this movie has an intense focus on startling the viewer, which means there are long sections where basically nothing at all happens in order to build tension. I felt these lulls dragged the movie down a little too much. There's also this problem about mid-way through the movie where there's a full moon for only one night. Oops. And it's not like this is a problem with editing, it's just how the story was written. We need the wolf here, we just don't want to deal with him for a full three days. There's also the primary message of the movie, this issue of fate. Do we have control of our destiny or is it all decided for us? Obviously well-traveled ground and there's nothing new here. I did get a distinct feeling of helplessness, though. Out of no where, a person could be cursed, whether it's being bitten by a supernatural werewolf creature, or having one's house destroyed by a tornado. These are powerful forces we can't control and we get this feeling that anything outside of our control is the raw power of fate at work in our lives. Do we accept it and let the beast free or do we fight fate and kill ourselves. I feel like there should be other options. It shouldn't be any surprise that in the end fate wins, but I'm not sure how I am supposed to feel about that.

Decent movie. Lots of scares. A message that makes you fear the futility of life. Decent effects. Somewhat poor pacing. Rawr.

3/5

Oh come on, no one is surprised I went to see this movie. Alone. On Valentine's Day. I consider it one of my responsibilities to meet expectations. Now, back to the review...

Hey look, another romantic comedy featuring a huge ensemble cast of pretty people! How could this possibly go wrong? The thing about these large ensemble cast movies is trying juggle all the various stories and often being left with the feeling that you never really get enough time with any of them. So I was relatively pleased to find myself fairly satisfied by the movie in terms of getting around to everyone. Of course, the deal here is that everyone is connected in some way. They're friends or coworkers or parents or whatever... As the movie progresses you are able to pick out who hasn't had their connections yet and fit them in to the proper slots, so not so much a mystery, but still fun. In the end, the bad people get their due and the good people find happiness and everything is right with world. I'm not complaining. With regard to the movie, anyway.

3/5

Leap Year is another fairly typical romantic comedy utilizing the "fish-out-of-water" scenario. Boston upper-middle-class woman travels to Ireland on a quest to propose to her boyfriend of four years who has yet to propose to her. Unfortunately, instead of landing in Dublin, the plane is diverted to England, and she is forced to work her way across sea and land to find love and ends up discovering it in the one place she would never have expected. You know you're in well-trod territory when the female lead is trying to walk in stiletto heals on dirt roads. Still, I enjoyed the movie for what it was and found the actors charming and the resolution fairly satisfying.

3/5

I don't think I have ever seen such creative and artistic ways to conduct mass slaughter with blades. There was slaughter in rain. Slaughter in fire. Slaughter on the highway. Slaughter in an old castle. Slaughter in darkened apartments. Slaughter in warehouses. Slaughter in a bar. I can't remember exactly, but I think that's pretty much it. On the downside, and not unexpectedly, the plot was weak. But hey, did I mention there's lots of slaughter?

3/5

Basically, go watch director Shane Acker's original short film that the feature length movie 9 is based on. While the stories differ, you pretty much get the idea of what goes on in this world and it doesn't consume an hour and a half of your life. That isn't to say there is anything especially wrong with 9, it's an entertaining action movie, it's just not a thinking movie. There aren't any particularly challenging issues to consider, it's just a simple and fun ride. Really, the most interesting parts to me were the tiny flashbacks to the times of the humans and to see glimpses of how they brought about their own destruction. I know, dark, right?

3/5

Post Grad follows a fairly predictable trajectory as recent college graduate Ryden (Alexis Bledel) discovers that life after school isn't so much under her control. When she fails to get her dream job and is forced to live at home with her perfectly normal abnormal family, her confidence in herself and her dreams begins to waver. Most of this is handled well and convincingly, though I kind of felt like Michael Keaton as Ryden's Dad was attracting way too much attention to himself. What really attracted me to the movie, though, was the romantic sub-plot between Ryden and her best (and as far as we can tell, only) friend Adam, who has clearly been in love with Ryden for years and clearly dealt with her "just friends" response for just as long. There were some really good juicy slivers of romance in there, but it rarely got as intense as it was suggesting it might. So while I was finally choked up a little at the end, I still felt like some really great potential was squandered on less interesting sub-sub-plots involving Dad.

Still, Alexis is good and I am always happy watching her do... whatever.

3/5

Ponyo is a Hayao Miyazaki film from studio Ghibli about a 5-year old boy who befriends a goldfish who longs to become human. While the film featured the typically great qualities of a Miyazaki film, great writing, good story, decent animation, and really great sound effects (maybe it's just me that notices), I felt like the target audience was just way too young for me to get much out of the movie. Obviously with main characters who are five years old, you can't really expect an adult perspective on things. That would be the major difference between movies from say, Pixar, that, while targeted toward children, still have significant content for adults to enjoy... Ponyo really doesn't have that interest. The movie is purely a fantasy that young children are going to love.

That isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, I just wasn't especially engaged by it. To be honest, I actually found myself distracted by the notion that a couple of 5-year old children know enough about love to commit to each other for the rest of their lives. This is the central theme of the story and I just couldn't buy into it. I also felt like the animation was "old" by today's standards... maybe simplified is the proper term. Of course, this makes sense if the target audience is young children, they certainly don't care about the details, but again, I found myself distracted by the art and not drawn in by it. In many ways, I also felt like the story mirrored that of The Little Mermaid which is also a Disney film (Ponyo is distributed by Disney in the US). So, not a bad movie, just not for me.

3/5

When I saw the trailer for this movie my initial thoughts were "Now there is a good romantic movie sure to twist and manipulate my heartstrings. I can't wait!" I hate being disappointed by something that seems so easy (seriously, commercials make me cry). I think I actually did get choked up once, but I don't remember what it was about and it definitely wasn't anything central to the story. Anyway, the basic premise is, guy travels back and forth within his own lifetime (yes, just like Quantum Leap and Journeyman). That's pretty much it. This traveling means he knows who he's going to marry and how he's going to die and what his daughter's name will be, etc. The key idea here is what it means to know one's destiny. That should introduce all sorts of interesting questions and ponderings, but TTTW just doesn't care. They'd rather whine about how much it sucks that he travels and that he can't control it, which really emphasizes how stupid it is to whine about.

It isn't a terrible movie, I found it reasonably well put together, I just didn't feel like it accomplished anything it was really set up to satisfy. I walked out feeling moderately entertained, but rather more significantly disappointed.

3/5

I heard an interview on NPR earlier in the week with two of the three leads of Paper Heart, Charlyne Yi and Jake Johnson, which included several clips from the movie and commentary from these two on what the interviews meant to them and, well, let me explain what's going on... Paper Heart is a faux documentary in which Charlyne is searching for love. Both what love is and maybe to find love herself or at least discover whether she is capable of love. The scenes between Charlyne, Jake (as Nick) and Michael Cera are all scripted. Seriously. These real actors are playing characters similar to themselves, but still not themselves. Everything else, all of the interviews with celebrities and "real" people across America are completely real.

This knowledge maybe sort of damaged it for me a little, because, while the interviews are nice, it's the developing relationship between Charlyne and Michael that is really compelling, and the whole way through I kept reminding myself it was all staged. And now some of you are probably wondering why I'm even bothering to disclose this if it's going to ruin the impact. Well, you would have worked it out. The credits basically open with writing credits, so it's far from a secret that these segments are staged.

Oddly, the most satisfying segments of the film come in the form of paper puppet recreations, which are, I believe, created and controlled by Charlyne Yi. These are used to recreate a few of the stories told by some of the people being interviewed and capture this beautiful space between crude and artistic and somehow adorable. In fact, the best sequence of the entire film is the closing puppet play filled with high action and a great soundtrack and some really funny writing. I'd have no problem recommending people watch it just for that final scene.

3/5

Oh look, another Judd Apatow movie. This time, instead of foul-mouthed teenagers we have foul-mouthed comedians (who are kind of like teenagers, I guess). The movie is set up to be a fairly straightforward "seize the day" idea wherein Adam Sandler's character is pushed close to death by a rare disease. But, in a miraculous turn, the experimental Canadian drugs work and he's gunna live! No mystery there, it's all in the trailer. Also in the trailer is Sandler's growing relationship with an old ex, Leslie Mann. The thing is, the movie isn't about seizing the day and hooking up with your exes, it's about the importance of relationships and friends in particular. In this case, the growing and sometimes rocky friendship between Sandler and Seth Rogan. Friends are an invaluable currency in the economy of life (I just made that up).

Overall, the movie was decent. There were some funny moments and some offensively graphic language (which is why we all love Apatow movies, right?) There are some emotionally touching moments, but it never really goes full tilt one way or the other. It's not full-on comedy or full-on romance or full-on buddy movie. It's a solid movie, but just not excellent.

3/5