Oz the Great and Powerful

Oz the Great and Powerful - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623205/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Hi, so this one I really liked, I wasn't expecting it to be so good, before I saw it it had a few facts that got me interested, first it was a prequel to the Wizard of OZ, (and know that I saw I regret a bit not viewing the original again so it would be fresher in my head, so if you go see this one see the Wizard of Oz first), this also has one of my favorite actors, Zack Braff. So obviously I was going to see it. 

The initial sequence is a little weird  and at the same time interesting, it show OZ, a magician with little success trying to make a living on a circus at the same time as he seduces women. There is one particular line that resonates with me, he says something along the lines of I wasn't made to be good I was made to be great, inspiring stuff in my opinion.

So we have this Magician (with a few strokes of selfishness and a player attitude) that has to run of the circus because he slept with the wrong women, this first act really sets up the hole movie and that it is why it is so good in my opinion. I'm not going to reveal much more because the movie really is worth paying the ticket.

One other thing that I liked was how the movie goes back to the origin of the films and its ability to tell a good story without a body count, movies don't have to be violent, not that I don't enjoy violent movies but it's refreshing  to see a good one go back to the Disney concepts of movies.

The movie really does a good job showing the internal change in the Oz character, and that is what makes the movie, at least for me.

Just awful        - O
Not for me      - O
1 time only      - O
Good              - X
Brilliant           - O

A beautiful movie, like they used to be, the story is good and the movie is well done, few jokes make it light and fun.

Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths -  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1931533/?ref_=sr_1

Hi, it's been a long long time but I hadn't really been seeing that many movies, Honestly I only saw the
Schwarzenegger movie, and as expected it wasn't worth of the little time that I would spend writing the review, but to sum it up, it has an interesting first act but it goes downhill from there to the end, but to tell you the truth it could have been almost acceptable.

Moving on to the movie that I want to write about, it was very good well at least in my opinion, but some of the people that were in the movie didn't thought that, but fack it their lost if their little brains don't see good this is. 

The plot goes something like this, a writer is having trouble finishing his screenplay (that's a bit of a understatement he only has the title of the screenplay, that is the same of the movie and one psychopath) so the movie moves around two different worlds, the real and the world of the screenplay. It's a bit hard to explain.

So why is it good, well for me it was particularly good because I understand the rules (that's not the more correct word but, it has to do) of writing a screenplay, but I believe that almost everyone would enjoy it ( I would remove the almost, but I was proven wrong by the people that exited earlier).

The only think I would point out as a negative is that the trailer doesn't do the movie justice, the trailer makes it seem like a completely different flick and I understand if some people might feel deceived, but that is something that is happening more and more lately, for me it was a pleasant surprise.

The cast is also good, what can a say about a movie that has Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson, two of my favorites, the other are also good.

I would say that there are only a few women in the movie but again that is one of the jokes that plays well when the characters talk about that, It's hard to explain what I'm talking about, but this one reminds me about Adaptation, and a particular line in Dan in real Life, when the two main characters talk about books  and to some one up Dan just does a synopse of the movie it self, it's like an inside joke.

My final thoughts, go see it, it's not a movie for everyone, well not everyone will understand all the subtext but if you know some basics about movies you will enjoy it much more.

Just awful        - O
Not for me      - O
1 time only      - O
Good              - X
Brilliant           - O

Two reviews in the same day, next in a few minutes I will write about Oz the Great and Powerful.

Les Misérables

Les Misérables - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/

Hi, I've been talking about seeing this for a while and I finally got to see it, I must confess I wasn't impressed, this one didn't do anything for me. Like I wrote before, I find a bit weird that people start singing out of nowhere, but that doesn't make me loose interest in a movie, I like the Phantom  (from the Batman killer Schumacher) and other musicals like Moulin Rouge or Sweeney Todd, but this one won't be one of those.

I'm not completely sure why i didn't like it but one of the reasons was the bad performance of the actors, I'm not talking about the acting itself but the singing, the worst of all was Russel, damn he sounded bad. Also the style of the songs was so... , it's hard to explain, well it sounded really old and boring, the constant singing didn't help I was craving for some normal speaking, because of that the singing became blend and apart from the last song (the one from the trailer) they weren't very impressive.

The usage of song in movies, even in musicals, has to be controlled, it's like a nice meal, if you go to a restaurant and ask of a grilled stake, they don't bring you just the stake, they bring you the stake and maybe some vegetables, some french fries or some rice, they don't just bring you the stake, for me that's what all the singing does.

Diving in to the story, I didn't get why Valjean and Javert where in each other throats (by the way when you are seeing something, the argument can never been made by saying "you should already know that before entering the theater"), Jarvert character was so flat. Another thing that boggled me was why did Fantine died of. I felt like there were so many pieces missing that made the story seem sloppy. And the end of the movie takes forever, there is at least 20 more minutes there that shouldn't be there.

That being said, the director did a great job, the sets where impressive and the photography as also very good, the characterization was impeccable and very realistic even the teeth were up to the date, no million dollar teeth on poor people from 200 years ago. On the technical specs I didn't saw anything that wasn't at least good, so congratz on that.

To sum it up, too much singing, too much movie, didn't care for the characters and bad singing (I don't blame the actors it's not their job to sing but on the other hand it sound awful).


Just awful        - O
Not for me      - X
1 time only      - O
Good              - O
Brilliant           - O


Valjean, the man that crawled out a river of shit and came out on the other side... dirty as fack... (I've been thinking about this one since I saw the scene on the film and I'm particularly found of the joke, happy face)

A Good Day to Die Hard

A Good Day to Die Hard - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606378/?ref_=hm_cht_t1

Hi, first let me just say this, respect the fans, they are the ones that buy the tickets don't fack with us, I was really disappointed to see how low people go to get an extra buck, this movie is one of the worsts I've payed a full ticket to see, shame on you Bruce Willis, as for the director and writer, looking at your previous work I shouldn't have expected better.

What's wrong with this movie? There are so many things it's hard to write them all, starting from the script, there are so many basic rules broke that it sickens me, so many unnecessary scenes that break the pace of the movie that it's hard to mention them all, to be more exact the first act of the movie is completely redundant, the next scene has the same information that the previous scene had already convened to us, the scene with the fellow detective, the scene with the daughter and the scene with the taxi driver in Moscow, all facking boring, them he finds his son in the mist of a terrorist attack in a police guarded court of law, how very incompetent of the police, I don't know what is more unbelievable the police stupidity or the chance of the both of them meeting,

Them we move to a high speed chase, I don't really know if I should call it high speed, because we are talking about a van trying to escape from a "Tank" I suppose I could call it that, as you can imagine the high speed can be a bit confusing, again the Russian police never gets in scene, maybe they where just drinking vodka, who knows. I forgot chasing the Tank is McClane, he is chasing it on a truck and them on a jeep, fack I swear there is a beat where he drives over cars and trucks, just pathetic, also pathetic is the fact that he managed to hit the Tank making it go of road, I shit you not a facking jeep made a dent in a Tank.

I was with a friend at the theater, in the end we came out he told me that he looked at me at that point and I was with my hand in my forehead, in desperation shaking my head...

So they are able to escape the tank, by crashing it, something that should have happened, I don't know by  hitting the gas pedal and just escape it because it was a TANK, okay i'll stop it.

Them we are informed that his son doesn't like him very much, don't know why, apparently it's not important, on the other hand, I kind of understand him Bruce Willis in this movie is like that annoying old grumpy guy that fucks everything up, until he out of nowhere takes out a bottle of motivation to kick his son ass so that he wakes up, I felt sad looking at McClane and how silly he was.

After that they go to Chernobyl in a car, what's a 12 hour trip in a car when the other guys have helicopters and can get there is an hour do what they want to do an leave, apparently it made sense to the writer, but to him everything does.

I'll finish this soon and just to point out the main flaw:
- Repetitive scene.
- Defying gravity in every action scene
- Poorly constructed characters
- No structure (I didn't mention this above but like I wrote in a previous post the movie can't be a strait line it has to have something that changes thing up, in this one they are almost none existent)
- McClane is just a sad old fart in this one.


Just awful        - X
Not for me      - O
1 time only      - O
Good              - O
Brilliant           - O

There where two reason I didn't walk out, first I wasn't alone, secondly until the end I was hoping it was still able to come back, I'm a dreamer, what can I say, If you go see it prepare to be disappointed, if you go and you like it, you are, putting it nicely a facking moron.

I still have a date with Les Mis, it's like a platonic relationship, I want to see it but it looks so complicated I just push it aside. Peace out....

Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/?ref_=sr_1

Hi, I wasn't going to post this, but I just saw this and I had to write about it, this might be a movie for kids, but the script was so good that I had to mention it.

This has so many writers that it's hard to figure out to whom I should give my congratulations, I liked how every thing was interconnected, how every action has it's payoff in something that will happen in the next minute, how every information is useful know and later it gets an even deeper meaning.

And that is a sign of a really good writing script. you might not like the story, well it's a little childish, it hasn't got the depth of a more serious movie, but the writing and I can't say that enough is brilliant, all the different techniques of used is this script, genius.


Just awful        - O
Not for me      - O
1 time only      - O
Good              - X
Brilliant           - O

The Flowers of War

 The Flowers of War - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1410063/

Hi, as promised my review on this movie, by the best Chinese director Yimou Zhang, the guy that captured movies like, Hero, House of flying daggers and the last I saw from him Curse of the golden flower. This one is nothing like the previous there is no martial arts and you can say to some extent that it's the only one that doesn't defies the laws of physic (not entirely truth but I'll talk about it a bit later).

The movie is about a westerner (Christian Bale) that has to take the position of priests in a cathedral during the Japanese invasion of China in WW2. Against his will he takes care of a group of catholic girls, a young boy and a group of prostitutes, oh and by the way he isn't even a priest he is more like a selfish, drunk, mortician. This set up is a good example  of one of the fundamental laws of story writing: create conflict, every time there is conflict there is a good story. Prostitutes vs College catholic girls, think of a great movie and you will see I'm right.

Moving on, as you might have figured out this isn't a american movie, but apart from a couple of details it could pass as one, in my opinion those details turn the movie into a weaker experience, I'm not saying that because I prefer american movies. I'm only saying it because they make it less authentic. The movie clearly glorifies the Chinese soldiers, nothing wrong with that I suppose, but they do it by making them do impossible things, like rigging a rooftop with grenades after being blown up. You will understand if you see it.

Look I'm not saying that impossible things can't happen in movies all I'm saying is that you can't go for realism and then pull shit out of your mind just to make it look good. This one is also weird in the way that they show the war, their taught process must have been something like this, we have this movie about a group of girls that seek safety in a church during WW2, let's fuck it up by adding a sub-plot about the chinese soldiers that add nothing to it - okay let's do it. Then they stuff it up in the start of the movie and that time tread is never mentioned again.

Okay I think I slammed it too much, the movie is cool and worth watching but the little details leave me really upset.

Just awful        - O
Not for me      - O
1 time only      - X
Good              - O
Brilliant           - O

This isn't nowhere as good as any of the films that I mentioned first, but if the sub-plot that I mention had been cut off I might have been better, how it was I can't do better then 1 time only.

I'm afraid to what Les Mis, the movie is so big that makes me scary. Another thing you really should go and watch the Disney animated short Paperman, really good. Be well.

Flight

Flight - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1907668/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Hi, so when I start seeing the movie I didn't knew what to expect. I only knew that it was about a pilot that saved a bunch of people from dying in a plane crash, while he was drunk.

The core theme of the movie in my point of view, is redemption, more then that it's about the question: how low do you have to go until you have the courage to fight back? the writer does a good job creating a likable character, I guess that can be shared with how the actor plays it, but the same old me always looks to the writer, so we see this likable drunk, half of his life is already destroyed when the movie starts, but he manages to destroy everything that he has and that he gets during the movie

Then he has to stand up for what he did or can choose to on with his life unhindered if he continues in his current path, I'm not going to tell you with one is it, go see it to find out.

The hole movie is pretty solid, good performances by everyone, the plane crash sequence is very good, the rest of the movie moves at cruise speed, the story will keep you interested in seeing what happens, even if it goes in a downward spiral.

There were also a few things I didn't get, in the start we see the story of the girl that ends up having some sort of relationship with the pilot, how she get to the hospital, the first note that I made was about that, why was that sequence showed, often times it leads to something that will happen further in movie but what we saw added nothing to it, it could all have been imprinted in the movie without actually showing it, further more it was very predictable, a girl has a drug addiction, has no money and O.D., what's original about that. (I know why that was there, it was to make the pilot a likable character, but I also know that is lazy writing.)

The other thing that I didn't liked was the religion theme that also showed up, this isn't technical a point, but the movie could have also avoided that, but I'm just saying that because I'm not a religious person, so if you are you might think it was okay.

And that's it, another review, damn, this movies are getting long, on one hand when you buy the movie ticket you fill that you are getting something cheap, more minutes for the same money, on the other hand when I review it I loose a little more time, but that's okay because I'm the one who decided to see it and write this. .

Just awful        - O
Not for me      - O
1 time only      - O
Good              - X
Brilliant           - O

So good night and good luck. Now piss off.