Movie Review Round Up!
I Totally Recall Brave and Lawless!
First up on our Marvelous Movie Review Triple Bill is....
Total Recall (2012)
NO SPOILERS
The good news is that there's no spoilers here at all. 'That's not like you, Scotty', you may be thinking. The simple reason is that I didn't really follow the plot well enough, to know enough about it, to spoil it!
Damn, this movie doesn't let up. It's just 2 hours of constant action. Bizarre camera movements that make you feel sick, a consistently overwhelming score and ALOT of leaping! Seriously, every 2 seconds the actors are making some death defying leap in slow motion. Oh and everyone chases everyone a lot, it's like a big futuristic game of tag. Is there actually a plot to this film? Oh, there was? I wouldn't know because after about 45 minutes of action and fast cutting without a break my brain died a bit and I just couldn't take any more of it in. Alot of it feels pointless and dragged out- the script really took a back seat here.
I haven't seen the original Arnie version of the film so I can't compare, but I do imagine it couldn't be much worse.
Proof that you need more than 2 hours of (albeit awesome) special effects and action to make a good film. (What do you mean I'm a hypocrite? At least The Expendables had an awesome cast!)
Overall: 2.1/5
Brave
SPOILERS
I actually did a full in depth review of Brave about a week ago, but Blogger thought it would be hilarious to delete it -.- I'll try and quickly sum it up here.
First of this is not your typical Pixar film and that works both in favour and against Brave. Experimenting styles, Brave is Pixar's first attempt at a fairytale. It contains a simpler plot and more generic, more recognisable but arguably less imaginative characters- the princess, the bear an the king. It's certainly more memorable than Disney's Tangled which is impressive, as it is an original story. The characters are all likeable enough, with the Scottish accents and adding a certain charm. Similarly the Scottish music and settings are a nice change in a largely Americanised cinema landscape.
I didn't feel the same connection to Merida though as I usually do with Pixar's other films. She wasn't as particularly memorable or even likeable as characters such as Woody, Wall.E or even Mike Wac..... Mike from Monsters Inc. Maybe it's simply because she's a girl, but I did like her, I just couldn't completely warm to her. I also would have liked to have seen Merida and her mum fighting side by side in the final 'boss battle' as a nicer way of showing their evolved 'level grounds' relationship and understanding, rather than Merida appearing weak and fairly useless while her mum saves her. I suppose Pixar's chosen ending is more fairytale like, though. Debatable.
The CGI and animation itself is nice, especially on Merida's hair and the landscapes, but overall it still lacked the life, energy and even detail of Toy Story 3. 3D was ok, didn't really add anything, but when does 3D ever enhance it, really?
This may have came off very negative but I promise my lost review did have more praise for Brave and in particular Pixar's Brave decision to move away from their existing formula and franchises and try something new.....
Are Pixar losing their ground though as the undisputed king of the animation studios? After the disappointing reception to Cars 2, is Brave enough to keep them on top above Dreamworks?
Overall 3.7/5
But do go see it because of a) orignal Pixar is always worth watching and b) the fantastic short La Luna attached on the front.
Lawless
SPOILERS
I dont't even know where to start with this one to be honest apart from LAWLESS IS AWESOME.
This movie has given me a newfound respect for Tom Hardy, Shia Laboeuf and Guy Pearce who all put in tremendous performances. Yes, it's official everyone, we can now take Mr Laboeuf seriously as an actor. Guy Pearce is eccentric, over the top, out of place looking anda bit of a ponce overall, with kudos going to the make up team (although apparently the image was all Pearce's idea) and this makes him a memorable villain, not just another generic deep talking, butch gangster. It's Tom Hardy who steals the show though. His character is both feared and loved and Hardy is able to portray this and even inject some humour into it, without it becoming a pisstake. He is THE badass. Great plot as well, the typical youngster wanting to step up his game and win the respect of his older brothers lark but told in a tale of cowboys and gangsters set in the Great Depression.
I do have one small gripe about it though and that is Gary Oldman's character. He's introduced and appears that he could fit into the villain role, tearing up a car with a machine gun as a terrified Laboeuf watches on helplessly. But then he just disappears and makes a brief appearance giving Shia a piece of paper, with no purpose other than to advance the plot. Really wish he could have showed up in the final gunfight to seal the deal.
I got to see an advanced screening of it last week with a live video stream to the director and screenwriter who were answering questions. In that Q&A session we learned that Tom Hardy based his character on a mixture of the Granny out of the Tweetie Pie Loony Tunes cartoon and mature lesbians. Hmmm. So how could you not go see it out of curiosity now?
Overall 4.1/5
Ok lunch hour's over!
Back to work!
Next DREDD!
I Totally Recall Brave and Lawless!
First up on our Marvelous Movie Review Triple Bill is....
Total Recall (2012)
 |
| You will not remember anything.... Yep that sounds about right. |
The good news is that there's no spoilers here at all. 'That's not like you, Scotty', you may be thinking. The simple reason is that I didn't really follow the plot well enough, to know enough about it, to spoil it!
Damn, this movie doesn't let up. It's just 2 hours of constant action. Bizarre camera movements that make you feel sick, a consistently overwhelming score and ALOT of leaping! Seriously, every 2 seconds the actors are making some death defying leap in slow motion. Oh and everyone chases everyone a lot, it's like a big futuristic game of tag. Is there actually a plot to this film? Oh, there was? I wouldn't know because after about 45 minutes of action and fast cutting without a break my brain died a bit and I just couldn't take any more of it in. Alot of it feels pointless and dragged out- the script really took a back seat here.
I haven't seen the original Arnie version of the film so I can't compare, but I do imagine it couldn't be much worse.
Proof that you need more than 2 hours of (albeit awesome) special effects and action to make a good film. (What do you mean I'm a hypocrite? At least The Expendables had an awesome cast!)
Overall: 2.1/5
Brave
 |
| Brave- Proving Gingers have souls better than that guy on Youtube ever could. |
SPOILERS
I actually did a full in depth review of Brave about a week ago, but Blogger thought it would be hilarious to delete it -.- I'll try and quickly sum it up here.
First of this is not your typical Pixar film and that works both in favour and against Brave. Experimenting styles, Brave is Pixar's first attempt at a fairytale. It contains a simpler plot and more generic, more recognisable but arguably less imaginative characters- the princess, the bear an the king. It's certainly more memorable than Disney's Tangled which is impressive, as it is an original story. The characters are all likeable enough, with the Scottish accents and adding a certain charm. Similarly the Scottish music and settings are a nice change in a largely Americanised cinema landscape.
I didn't feel the same connection to Merida though as I usually do with Pixar's other films. She wasn't as particularly memorable or even likeable as characters such as Woody, Wall.E or even Mike Wac..... Mike from Monsters Inc. Maybe it's simply because she's a girl, but I did like her, I just couldn't completely warm to her. I also would have liked to have seen Merida and her mum fighting side by side in the final 'boss battle' as a nicer way of showing their evolved 'level grounds' relationship and understanding, rather than Merida appearing weak and fairly useless while her mum saves her. I suppose Pixar's chosen ending is more fairytale like, though. Debatable.
The CGI and animation itself is nice, especially on Merida's hair and the landscapes, but overall it still lacked the life, energy and even detail of Toy Story 3. 3D was ok, didn't really add anything, but when does 3D ever enhance it, really?
This may have came off very negative but I promise my lost review did have more praise for Brave and in particular Pixar's Brave decision to move away from their existing formula and franchises and try something new.....
Are Pixar losing their ground though as the undisputed king of the animation studios? After the disappointing reception to Cars 2, is Brave enough to keep them on top above Dreamworks?
Overall 3.7/5
But do go see it because of a) orignal Pixar is always worth watching and b) the fantastic short La Luna attached on the front.
Lawless
 |
| It's Shia Laboeuf starring with Tom Hardy who is arguably MORE built than Optimus Prime. |
I dont't even know where to start with this one to be honest apart from LAWLESS IS AWESOME.
This movie has given me a newfound respect for Tom Hardy, Shia Laboeuf and Guy Pearce who all put in tremendous performances. Yes, it's official everyone, we can now take Mr Laboeuf seriously as an actor. Guy Pearce is eccentric, over the top, out of place looking anda bit of a ponce overall, with kudos going to the make up team (although apparently the image was all Pearce's idea) and this makes him a memorable villain, not just another generic deep talking, butch gangster. It's Tom Hardy who steals the show though. His character is both feared and loved and Hardy is able to portray this and even inject some humour into it, without it becoming a pisstake. He is THE badass. Great plot as well, the typical youngster wanting to step up his game and win the respect of his older brothers lark but told in a tale of cowboys and gangsters set in the Great Depression.
I do have one small gripe about it though and that is Gary Oldman's character. He's introduced and appears that he could fit into the villain role, tearing up a car with a machine gun as a terrified Laboeuf watches on helplessly. But then he just disappears and makes a brief appearance giving Shia a piece of paper, with no purpose other than to advance the plot. Really wish he could have showed up in the final gunfight to seal the deal.
I got to see an advanced screening of it last week with a live video stream to the director and screenwriter who were answering questions. In that Q&A session we learned that Tom Hardy based his character on a mixture of the Granny out of the Tweetie Pie Loony Tunes cartoon and mature lesbians. Hmmm. So how could you not go see it out of curiosity now?
Overall 4.1/5
Ok lunch hour's over!
Back to work!
Next DREDD!
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