Change Your Image
Crentapa
Reviews
Monk: Mr. Monk and the Genius (2008)
Need I Say Anything?
Personally, this was one of the worst Monk episodes I've ever seen. I may be a tad biased because it's a bit of an insult to the genera it tried to emulate but none the less.
The "geaera" I refer to is not biased on how much everyone knows about each other, but on how theatrical they can present that information. And, well, to be honest... Monk's character isn't really suited for the job and the "Genius" only complements monks own character. Basically instead of theatricality we have a bunch of old men bickering.
Hell, they further kill the genera by "humanizing" Monk (he tried to plant evidence that he would later "discover") and even making him incompetent in chess (yes, it's Monks character... but this is a battle of the MINDS, you can't turn down the opportunity to have Adrian beat the sorry fellow in his own game before solving the case) The worse thing is they spend so much time trying to emulate the genera that the case barely gets any notice. They spend more time having these isles "clashes" (I knew my wife would hire you before I killed her, I know you drink Sierra Springs, I noticed a car sitting in my drive way for 2 hours.) The whole case was solved in the first 10 min... which is particularly why the whole episode seemed desperate. There was no battle of wits to fill the space, just Monk trying not to lose and failing at that.
WALL·E (2008)
Wall-E
I truly don't understand why people insist on bringing down movie ratings instead of voting their true opinion (fortunately, most are too... ignorant... to understand how IMDb works: unfortunately, these same... ignoramus'... don't understand the top 250 is a dynamic list).
Wall-E is a great movie, if you're willing to be a kid. If you want to be that hypercritical grouch that nobody likes you'll probably hate Wall-E. I read about people complaining about how unrealistic x y and z is... but if they were actually paying attention they would realize that there is NOTHING realistic about Wall-E.
Stop complaining about how we could never actually bury ourselves in trash... or that humanity would never become fat-lazy-slobs... or even the whole Corporate Nation that Pixar envisioned.
Complain about the simple things, such as why a probe would be equip with a military grade plasma weapon... or how a Twinkie is perfectly preserved for 700 years... why tilting a ship that is equip with artificial gravity would change the direction of the gravitational force. Or even WHY every robot has it's own personality, instead of acting... like a robot.
There seriously is nothing factual in Wall-E, so why are people rating it like there SHOULD be? It's a G Movie, EXPECT it to be aimed towards the younger generation. And since the current generation is filled with immature child beating sloths, Pixar's decision to teach the little kiddies a few moral lessons really isn't that bad. Those parents who complain about how they took their child out of the movie because they didn't agree with the message only proves the point. Why would you take your child to a movie that you knew nothing about? If you, as a parent, are unwilling to even read up on something as simple as that... then it only lends to the possibility that your methods of 'parenting' include little more than the TV.
Sigh, Wall-E is a great movie... it tells it's story in a completely different manner than most movies (cue haters who are use to falling asleep and still knowing what's going on) using an artistic direction rather than audio. But, none the less, is quite well planned and executed... there are just the usual grouches who insist on making everyone else miserable raising hell about nothing at all.
Ranma ½: Chûgoku Nekonron daikessen! Okite yaburi no gekitô hen (1991)
Severely Underpar
Who can forget that opening scene... I know I can't, Ten whole minutes of nothing happening, and in an inexplicable moment, the aura of an elephant fills joins the chase and beats everyone up. Unfortunately we don't get to see her actually preform this type of manuver again, and on a whole, she does nothing else; besides settle 1 fight by flirting.
Then on, there are more overly drawn out scenes and futile attempts at humor. For instance, Akane serves her 'home cooking' to the prince, who has only eaten pickles and rice since birth because of a condition that only allows his metabolism to handle pickels and rice. (Naturally, the pickels end up getting dumped out). The thing is, this scene is only 'referenced' to, but has no part of the overall story, and end run, really isn't that funny.
In the end, Ranma only faces two (I believe) of the seven opponents... the rest beat him up and are distracted or knocked out by the others. Heck, I thought Ranma was this egotistical fool who wouldn't accept defeat... sure looked like he was defeated a lot.
Heck, the 'final' boss was easier on Ranma then the other seven, having an impenitrable "chopstick" defense, Ranma brings forth a gyser and broke through by hurtling globlets of water at him.
Solaris (2002)
Hard to Follow
Personally, I have nothing wrong with movies that have no action, so had no problem watching the first few min of solaris. Well, to me it looks like nothing happened. Lets try again, another few min. No, still nothing. Personally, I admit that I may have missed the "Cruicial Element of the Movie" in those few min, but if it was there, it would only be there for the most attentive viewers.
Solaris drove me to a state of madness where I continually fast-forwarded parts of the movie trying to figure out what was going on. The end scene said it all, what I originally took as flashbacks from a clinically depressed guy appeared to be in correspondence to reality, and what you really have is a love story with a sub story embedded inside.
This type of movie would have been better left to story. To those who disagree try actually reading. A book can offer a more driving story then a movie can, it can better reflect on the emotional aspect because words can touch multiple senses. In that regard, the emotional transition between the movie and yourself would be better facilitated in words then by sights and sounds.