Subjective Movie Reviews: July 2012

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Double

Should you go watch it?

No. Another good idea gone Hollywood.

Spoiler free review.

Hollywood has just been about money for a long time. When something gives them money they copy it over and over. One good example is "The Double" (and thousands of other movies like this). Since the James Bond films were blockbusters they just copy the formula. Even with the bad things. Even if they insert a new idea.

This movie has a very interesting idea for a story but it has 3 really major issues:

1) They want to make the Russians the bad guys again. Why don't just place it in cold war times?
2) The very common even-expert-assassins-cannot-hit-the-good-guy-2-meters-away-with-a-shotgun problem (James Bond inheritance like the bad-guy-never-kills-the-good-guy-when-he's-caught-him-and-then-tells-him-the-plan-giving-him-time-to-escape problem). I'm tired of this happening in every spy or action movie.
3) The also common problem of forcing a twist even if it doesn't make sense with everything else that happened. This is too big of a problem to ignore.

It also has 2 other problems:

1) The trailer spoils an early twist... why the hell did they do that?! It's revealed early in the movie but it's still a twist in the plot that may have surprised me had I not seen the trailer. If you want to see this movie, avoid the trailer.
2) Topher Grace. He's not Venom. He's not a spy. He's that's 70s show kid... give him something funny or at most romantic to do!

Richard Gere is ok as a spy actually.

So the film is entertaining (and even good?) if you ignore all of the above but I cannot do that anymore...

Friday, July 20, 2012

Cowboys & Aliens

Should you rent it?

Yes. It's quite entertaining.

Spoiler free review.

For some reason I postponed watching this movie for a long time. I love science fiction movies but I consider this movie not science fiction but SciFi... This is probably not an official differentiation but that's how I do it: movies with both science and fiction I call them science fiction. And then the movies about space, aliens, time travel and other topics often refer to in science fiction movies but without any good science I call SciFi. Here's an easy way to differentiate: if they never try to explain how the things happens or they give a bad shallow explanation: it's a SciFi flick.

So if you haven't seen any of these science fiction movies, do it soon: Gattaca, Star Wars, Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Total Recall, Contact...

BTW... I even consider science fiction some technically SciFi movies like The 6th Day because they at least imagine a different way in which some common day appliances would work in the future.

But back to Cowboys & Aliens: I was saying that I postponed watching this movie because the mixture of cowboys and aliens sounds a lot like SciFi (fiction but not science) and it doesn't make a lot of sense since, if you agree aliens as legitimate science fiction material, why not in the days of the old west? It may have more to do with the fact that I don't believe aliens have ever visited us and that they surely must exist but very very far away with no real way to reach here considering even the closest starts are light years away and that mass cannot really reach light speeds... unless Higg's field can be manipulated to... I think I digress again :)

But the movie is good. Daniel Craig is an amazingly badass cowboy (and to think I didn't like the idea of him becoming James Bond before that movie came out) and Harrison Ford is kind of a cute badass... like a puppy that you're supposed to be afraid of but just can't. Olivia Wilde is sexy as hell even with the unrevealing dresses she wears all the time.

Obviously it's not an eye opening movie with a deep message, it's just an action film with, well, cowboys & aliens. And they even bothered to show you what the aliens look like (unlike Contact by the way). The thing is: I was really enjoying the cowboys movie and the aliens kind of ruined it for me. I wish the "monsters" would've been something else and it could have become more than an action flick... something closer to the great movie I consider 3:10 to Yuma to be (if you haven't seen that one... leave work right now and head to blockbuster... I said now!).

So, a popcorn worthy movie that luckily spends most of the time on the cowboys and with good visual effects... go rent.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Grey

Should you rent it?

Hell NO.

Spoiler free review.

This is where I totally disagree with Movie Bob. In his review he speaks wonders of this movie. For this reason, I rented it as soon as it was available in Blockbuster (a couple of days ago). But as I watched it, I couldn't help but wondering if I remembered wrong about Bob giving it a good review because for me is one of the worst movies I've seen lately!

The thing about me is that I like to get into a movie and live it, so I hate when movies remind me (by bad acting, forced scenes, breaking the laws of physics, etc) that it's just a movie. When a victim in a horror movie acts in a stupid horror-movie-cliche way it takes me out of the character and I stop being afraid.

The Gray is about tough guys after a crash accident in the middle of nowhere. The toughest of them is Liam Neeson. And we can all agree that Neeson can play bad-ass characters (e.g. Zeus, Aslan, Qui-Gon Jinn, etc).

And who doesn't love survival movies with a though guy? I love them for sure.

The problem is that it never makes any sense. Specially since the villains are wolves. As soon as you see the clearly-computer-generated wolves behaving like monsters instead of wolves you can't enjoy the movie. Wolves would never behave in the way they do in this movie. I won't tell you what they do in it because I don't spoil even bad movies. But there's not one scene with a wolf or more in it that makes any sense. The wolves are even way bigger than they really are with no explanation.

So I tried to get passed that and assumed they were some kind of different monsters that the movie just failed to explain about and try to enjoy as a pure action/horror/survival/badass film. Still, I couldn't enjoy it.

The human characters are forced and stupid. They are not developed. Even Liam's character is supposed to have some important past that, when revealed, it's not shocking or even important to the story as I believe the director intended to be.

And as if that was not enough, there was not survival guide either! Liam starts running the show but does nothing useful! Well, a thing or two, but not enough to really survive in a real-not-movie-set environment. You won't learn a thing about survival in this movie.

So better go rent Alive if you haven't seen that one.

I really hated this movie and it could have been a great one. I can't still believe the good score in IMDB and Bob's review. Just can't. If you see it, it's probably a good thermometer to learn if you have similar taste to mine.

Spoilerish review.

There's still one way to have SOME fun with this movie... Show/Hide the rest of the spoilerish review

...see, as you'll probably guess really early into the film (if you see it), a lot of the guys will die. And they will die one by one (believe me: no big spoiler there). The only fun you can get out of this movie is by trying to guess:

1) Who will be alive at the end of the movie.
2) Who will die next (as someone dies).

Actually it would be a great betting game.

I won't give you an example of un-wolf-like behavior but I'll give you an example of how useless Liam was... there is a scene where someone is stuck in a river and about to drawn. Liam does 1 smart thing to keep him alive but never tries to help him get un-stuck!

And then you don't get to learn how to survive after being wet in a -10 degrees weather... it seems you just get out of the water and survive as if it was the beach!

Save your money...

Oh, and if you have seen it, you probably didn't stay through the credits (I know I didn't) and you missed a bit more of the ending. No surprise there. We all knew it was going to be a good fight... so what?

A Dangerous Method

Should you go see it?

Yes, but read this review first because this movie is not for everybody.

Spoiler free review.

This movie is really good. I loved it for 3 main reasons:

The acting of the four main characters is amazing.
I love historic films.
When I was young I studied a lot of psychology, and I read Jung back then (and this movie is about Jung, by the way).

But... the truth is that it is a slow movie. If you are not into non-Hollywood-like movies and you're not studying psychology you may not like this film. You can still amaze at Keira's acting as a very crazy but intelligent woman, but you may find the story boring at times.

Even if you are a Cronenberg fan, you'll find that this is no usual Cronenberg (if there's a thing as "usual Cronenberg"). But for me is one of his best films (almost as good as The Fly or Spider) because it really takes you into the life of Jung, his friendship with Freud and his interesting relationship with Sabina Spielrein (unknown to me before this movie, but important part of Jung's story).

So if you happen to know who Carl Jung is; go see this movie immediately. It's still showing in some theaters hidden by Not-Amazing-Spider-Man.

Note: the trailer is a bit misleading. It kind of shows a different type of movie.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Dark Shadows

Should you go see it?

Yes, but don't expect it to be the best Burton ever.

Spoiler free review.

It is hard for me to review this movie because I want to like Tim Burton really bad but every day I part further away from him.

From Burton I really like Big Fish and 9 (that last one not being directed by him). I also like Batman, Batman 2 and Bettlejuice (and now Dark Shadows). So how come I have a hard time liking him? Many reasons:

1) I suspect that if I watch Batman, Batman 2 or Bettlejuice today I won't like them that much. I watched those as a kid and they were scary at the time.
2) He made some movies I hate: Mars Attacks! (yes I know it's a parody but I still can't enjoy a second of it), Planet of the Apes, Corpse Bride (yes, it's not that bad but it's a waste of money).
3) Even some movies he's praised for I really don't like: Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland.
4) The best Burton movie I've seen, was not made by Burton! (long story).

So, I'm a tough target for Burton movies but I really don't want to be. I love the idea of mixing comedy and horror.

Back to Dark Shadows... Bob said it was kind of bad and I believed him so I was not going to go see it but recently a friend told me it was really good and she even told me it was going to win me back.

I then convinced my wife to go check it out in hopes of coming back to the Burton fan-base (again, I really want to).

I did like the movie but it didn't win me back. It has a lot of failures that Bob covers really well so go check out his review instead.

Don't get me wrong: it's a beautiful environment, great acting, funny lines (a few) and an appealing story but it just doesn't add up to a complete really good movie. A lot of things don't make sense and feel forced and it should be either funnier or darker.

Spoilerish review.

For example, I just cannot see the main character... Show/Hide the rest of the spoilerish review

...having sex with the witch that did REALLY bad things to him. It's supposed to be a funny scene but it's not. The family member characters are never built and then you are supposed to get shocked when one of them converts to... let's just call it "a furry thing". The love everybody feels towards Barnabas just doesn't make sense. I really agree with Bob: this movie is just about having 3 great actors having unrestricted acting fun.

The Artist

Should you rent it?

Definitively! It is a great movie.

Spoiler free review.

You surely know that this movie won best movie at the Oscars this year but maybe, like me, you hadn't seen it. Was it the best movie of 2011? Probably not. But the "best motion picture" rarely are, but they are never really BAD (Titanic being the only exception I can remember). And this movie is really good.

It starts a bit slow but the story is amazingly well written and put together. The main character and the story evolve as the film industry evolves so you get 2 good stories for the price of one. If, like me, you liked the second part (2nd inner-movie?) of Hugo you'll love this one.

The acting from unknown-to-me-before-this-movie Jean Dujardin is amazing. He can pull off an old-time gentleman like a magician. And you'll really love this character and root for him and suffer with him... trust me.

Spoilerish review.

If you know anything about this movie you already know... Show/Hide the rest of the spoilerish review

...that it is a silent black and white movie. And it's not really a problem but, as the story progresses (and the film industry in the movie does too), it seems that the movie is going to change into a talkie movie. And it is kind of annoying at the beginning to watch a silent movie in 2012 so when that scene makes you believe the actor is going to talk you're really grateful. But then he doesn't.

You tend to rationalize this because the character itself doesn't move on with the times but I can't help but wonder if the real reason is that the actor is french and his accent would've ruined it...

Madagascar 3 / Ice Age 4

Should you see them?

Yes, they are both good. And I know that taking your kids is just the excuse, you want to go anyway... If you have to choose between the 2: choose Madagascar.

Spoiler free review.

I'm reviewing these movies together because they are both good, they are both funny, none of them is as good as the first one, both have new characters, new adventures, new jokes, old jokes, etc.

Madagascar's story seems forced and it's nowhere near as good as the first one but it's just really funny. A lot of jokes from beginning to the end so you'll have a great time. My preference is now: Madagascar 1, then 3, then 2.

Ice Age 4's story is also somewhat forced and back to the same but it ends up begin a better story than Madagascar 3's. And it also has a lot of good jokes, the problem is that it starts with very lame jokes at the beginning (when building up "the story") so it takes it a long time to be funny. My preference is: Ice Age 1, then 3, then 2, then 4.

The Tree Of Life

Should you rent it?

Yes, but only to test your high definition TV and maybe your home theater sound too. I would buy this blu-ray just for this reason.

Spoiler free review.

If you have to sum up this movie in one word it will probably be "beautiful". It's like watching somewhat animated HD photographs, or those videos from national geographic (but with music instead of Morgan Freeman narrating). Actually, I'm convinced that all convenience stores should replace their Sony HD demonstration videos and use this movie instead. This is what I'm talking about.

Yes, I kid you not. This movie is practically a very long HD demonstration video and as such it has it all: classical music, space videos, nature, landscapes, amazing buildings, etc.

Oh, and it is a movie too, with a story and everything, but as you can probably guess, the story is too slow. The acting is great (specially the kid's and Brad Pitt's) and the story intriguing. And I love the idea of mixing a good story with beautiful scenes, but they spent so much time on the other scenes that the story is never built properly.

At some point the extremely slow story reaches an almost normal speed and you get really invested in it (specially since the acting is so good) but it's a little too little too late.

So I do recommend you to rent it but more to awe at how good your 1080p screen is (and maybe have as a background) than to see the story...

Spoilerish review.

The biggest problem with the story is... Show/Hide the rest of the spoilerish review

...that it doesn't have a proper ending. Or even an explanation (unless I fell asleep during the nature scenes and missed it) of how the only thing that really happens in the movie happened in the first place! I could've tolerated the lack of speed in the story if it had beginning, climax and ending but it's just about feelings and "the loss of innocence".