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Kirk09
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Chappie (2015)
This film will have the same fate as Blade Runner
In regards of all the bad buzz around this misunderstood film, in my opinion, this film will become a classic in several years and will be rediscovered when hitting Blu Ray market. I cannot find a logical explanation for this weak performance at BO other than bad marketing strategy from Sony Pictures who did not target a particular audience, giving the wrong impression that Chappie was a reboot of Short Circuit (which was not of course). This is definitely a punk science-fiction fairytale for adult and not a feel good movie for kids. I really think that Chappie will gain respect along the years. The same fate happened in 1982 when Blade Runner hit the theaters. I remember seeing it and disliking it (unklike Chappie which I liked instantly) a lot. But with the years and multiple viewing, people started to get the Genius in the film. Same thing with Kubrick's movies. Every time critics dismissed his films and every time they became classics on the long run. Take a look at his last film, eyes wide shut which actually is in the process of becoming a classic. This film had been scrapped by critics at the time. I cannot think of another fate for this marvelous tale that is Chappie.
Lucy (2014)
Awful...Just Awful.....
Luc Besson has cannibalized his own past work and other movie classics in this film. Too much scenes that tries to emulate The fifth element, Leon, Nikita, Taxi, 2001 A space odyssey, The time machine, Inception and so on....
This film is a rare case in itself. Try to find another film in cinematic history that blends metaphysics, James Bond car chases, dolphins, endless shoot outs (preferably with Mozart requiem) in slow motion and lyrical cosmos athmospheric scenes.
I give this film 3 stars out of 10 for Scarlett Black Widow style performance and great cinematography but it ends there. Anyone who are familiar with past Besson's work will know that this is one lazy accomplishment from Luc Besson who just remashed old ideas in a script that goes in every direction known to man.
Fargo (2014)
An all around hit, thanks Billy Bob !!
Great cast. Newcomer Allison Tolman is surprisingly good. Superstar Martin Freeman has sold me to the idea that he is now a guy from Minnesota and not a Brit. And I love watching Keith Carradine in anything he is in. But, let's face it. Billy Bob Thornton steals the show here. With his stoical persona, he is to me a twins-representation of cerebral Mr. Spock (with haircut accordingly) meeting the almost indestructible Luc Besson's hit-man Leon.
Best show on TV since Breaking Bad. A bit over-stylish at times since camera work and soundtrack are sometimes in the way of the narrative flow, but hey, we cannot complain about pushing the TV media to its limit which this show does superbly. A must see.
Man of Steel (2013)
The one scene wonder of summer
Like everyone else, me and my son waited impatiently all winter for this movie, somewhat wishful victims of the DC-WB over-hype. The verdict after seeing the film? Well, you know you are in trouble when all you can find at the same level of a Marvel film is one scene in the movie (The tornado scene which in my opinion was heartbreaking and showed a Kevin Costner with juggernaut charisma).
Sorry fan-boys, this film was a shallow movie with HUGE pacing problems. You truly had a feel that the film was a 4 hours movie re-cut to make the 2 hours 20 minutes barrier. In short, Too much choppy narrative that distracted from the story.
I am certain that DC-WB had put enough money in there to almost buy McDonald's in a blink of an eye. So with this kind of budget, you can have yourself the best people there is in every field of the movie making process right?
Well then, explain to me why the Krypton universe is looking so much as if the film's art designers just borrowed old sets from George Lucas Geonosis planet? In fact, Kryptonian people seems like a pretty cerebral, sophisticated, and optimistic race (so much in fact that they did not want to realize their end was coming...) So why such bland sets? Remember the 1978 Krypton universe? Where is the wow factor? Too much of a Krull or Flash Gordon feel here. And god, why those giant dragonflies? Didn't we have enough of these kind of flying horses in Avatar? Even if you retrofit them with lights to make them look like Close encounter of the third kind UFOs, it doesn't make them more interesting. Nice try with the CGI version of the pin-screen effect though. If you think about it,last summer Prometheus minus all of his narrative problems was a real treat to look at. Maybe it would be a good decision to leave Vancouver for Pinewood for the next Superman WB?
Unlike many people, camera work was not so much annoying to me as the soundtrack was. I thought i did my effort by going through all of TDKR without earplugs but I forgot about how Christopher Nolan LOVES to assault our senses with never ending Japanese drums punching and Trombone mono note with levels of sound near skull cracking intensity. THIS for me was the main Christopher Nolan influence I could see in this picture (BTW, Comparing the complex masterpiece John Williams composed for Superman back in the 70's to this 2013 thunderous mess is like comparing Dom Pérignon champagne to a warm Budweiser beer. Thank you Mr. Zimmer).
The only aspect I thought money was on screen was with the actor lead parts. They are all good and competent actors. But aside from ineffective editing, their performances had to deal with ineffective writing as well. And why for god's sake making Russell Crowe's ghost into some kind of a VIP's usher at the Oscars in his final appearance? To me it was an awkward scene.
One of the main reason I looked forward for this film so much was Michael Shannon as Zod. I LOVE Michael Shannon and have a field day every time he is on screen in Boardwalk Empire as agent Van Alden. Again, I felt disappointed, not so much because of the actor performance but about the blandness of his character. All of the superhero nemesis cliché lines were on screen with no emotional ambiguity that could have made his character more interesting. Emotional grey zones or ambiguous motives are bad guys best friends as far as writing is concerned but all are sadly missed in Man of Steel. We only deal with a Hitler wannabe here.
Many people were annoyed by the level of destruction in Metropolis and they are right. They are also spot on when they compare the final battle with any Michael Bay extravaganza. I don't know for Zach Snyder but Christopher Nolan used to be way more focused in the action scenes of his Dark knight trilogy if we compare it to the visual mishmash of Man of steel, which prompt me to ask myself if he was in the editing room in anyway or had made any creative decision on the set of this movie.
In short, bad narrative, been there done that visuals, no complex characters to root for, too much messy Michael Bay action and please, can we expect a real musical score next time?
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012)
Decent effort but would have need some script polishing
Interesting plot, overall OK special effects (some very good ones, some well... below the par. Weakest part in visuals is definitely in the beginning where we have to cope with some YouTube quality green screen work and J.J. Abrams lens flares festival.
Luke Pasqualino is OK as Adama but not sparkling. But he would have been a lot better by the end of a whole season. He is a good actor. Ben Cotton is easily the best of the bunch while Lili Bordan as Dr. Becca Kelly have refrigerator charisma. To me, this is the main problem of the film. She add no energy and credibility to her character, even if I can admit that some dialogues are enough to make you eyeroll several times.
Looking at this web film as a whole, there must have been a very tight budget for it which could explain the uneven quality but with a good showrunner and more script polishing, it could have reach new BSG original quality.
So, one is left to wonder WHY SyFy pulled the plug on this? Anyone?
Alien (1979)
ALIEN: Losing my innocence on LV-426
Back in 1979, for some strange reason I do not remember, I waited impatiently for weeks (or months?) to finally see Alien. Maybe I got a glimpse of the surreal trailer on TV and was hooked by its impressionistic images and stroboscopic editing. That makes sense, I had plenty of time to watch TV in those days. I was only thirteen at the time and watching plenty of American shows.
I remember finally seeing it at the RIO cinema in my little french- speaking town of Sorel near Montreal during Christmas time '79. That was not a great cinema by today's standard. Bad screen, bad anamorphic lens and bad monophonic sound. But when the dissonant strings of Jerry Goldsmith started after the FOX logo, with the slow appearance of the title, I was hooked. And what I remember in my mind of that first screening is in 70mm with THX sound...
I did not know what to expect at all from that movie. I was of course a sci-fi geek who had seen Star Wars at least five times and Battlestar Galactica a couple of times too. But NOTHING prepared me for what I was about to see.
We were introduced to a sci-fi world but in a way that was almost "cinéma-vérité". Unlike most sci-fi films of this time, the story was not written to accommodate big sets and expensive special effects but the other way around. So much details in everything. And all that was casually presented as we were discovering the crew of the Nostromo, waking-up with them in their futuristic environnement but at the same time, feeling at home with them, feeling ourselves part of the crew.
Then, the story shifted to the Alien's planet and it became an odyssey into the unknown. My thirteen year-old mind was petrified from that moment on.
In retrospect, I can say I lost what was remaining of my childhood innocence on LV-426 (The Alien's planet)...
Today, I am waiting for Fox to release the Blu-Ray edition of this movie and I am thinking: NOTHING had ever been presented on a movie screen with such majestic horror.
The biomechanical Gothic design of H.R. Giger for the Alien's environnement and the Alien itself was the biggest contribution of pure art in a movie since "Un chien Andalou".
That contribution, along with the visual panache of a young director named Ridley Scott, a flawless Terry Rawling's editing and powerful score by Jerry Goldsmith achieved what could be one of the most complete work of art that Hollywood ever made.
1941 (1979)
An anachronistic ride or why 1941 failed at the box-office
"1941" was a brave attempt (and only one to date) at slapstick comedy from Steven Spielberg's part. He already said years ago that when he first read the Gale and Zemeckis script, he couldn't stop laughing. So, how come this promising comedy with a #1 director at the helm was coldly received by audiences and reviewers alike as "unfunny" in 1979? Clearly, the major problem with this film was that the way Spielberg created this movie in 1979 was not in phase with the standards of the time.
One remark that was often used in many '70s reviews of "1941" was that it was too loud! Too noisy!! People felt the need to put their hands on their ears while watching it. Everybody in that film was screaming!!... The sometimes fast paced editing was VERY intense too for audiences who were almost scandalized by such attack on their senses. Remember, we were in 1979. Disco was at its peak and worst, WWII movies were as outdated as the western genre back in those days. At the box-office, Grease was still the big picture.
In 1979, comedy was mainly on TV with shows like "Three's company", "M*A*S*H, All in the family, etc... In fact, one of the last successful comedy at the box office before "1941" was the smooth 1978 "Heaven can wait" with Warren Beatty. It is not hard to understand that within this context, the enormous and noisy "1941" could not find its place. This film would have been much more successful in the late 90's or early 2000's with the video game generation. The proof is that it has now reach a cult status much deserved.
Full of wonderful actors with plenty of references about the golden age era of Hollywood slapstick comedies, "1941" was truly a labor of love from Spielberg, who I wish had not disavowed his own creation and should have stand by it over the years.