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Reviews
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Forgettable
I sat through it but my wife fell asleep (we weren't in a theater). The amount of explosions and damage inflicted on the Enterprise and that poor planet were excessive. Why did the director deem it necessary to have so much mayhem? The character development was minimal and very disappointing. The villain was a far cry from a Borg Queen or Khan. The opening angry little aliens could have been incorporated into the plot easily and the 'white-faced-with-strips' girl could have been used much more...hell Kirk didn't even try to kiss her! In the first "new Pine movie",young James T destroys a car from the Twentieth century - now an older Kirk uses a motor cycle. Why use this stupid idea again? It was amusing in the older film and is just silly now. Kirk is uninteresting in this film - in fact all of the principle characters are uninspiring and apparently lacking in humor or mischief. I hope and trust the next installment will be much much better.
La guerre du feu (1981)
Delightful take on early man
Since no one I know was around 80 millennia ago, it is up to the Director and Producers to set this film's stage in any way they choose. Our heroes demonstrate pretty basic human traits but there is a marked difference between them. The foreign "girl" adds wonder/advancement to many aspects of their adventurous dealings, from medicine, empathy, strategy, humour, sex, to the ultimate technological advance. The characters are believable, have depth and are thoroughly engaging (I know someone who is exactly like the Ron Pearlman character). If you have studied basic Anthropology (read Desmond Morris and Robert Ardrey), you might really enjoy this picture - there is a lot of very carefully designed 'script' material here. I enjoyed it back in the 80s when it came out and even more in 2016. It is clear there was huge effort put into the production (3 years preparation before filming). It is wonderful.
Noah (2014)
Some good elements but mediocre package overall
I found the first half of the picture to be quite good - some of the cinematography was excellent. A few scenes, in subdued light, were memorable and the acting decent. Both Noah and The King were very good, but Noah's wife was miscast. A much physically stronger looking wife (with inferior dental work) would have been more convincing. The worst member of the cast was the "barren" girl who gets repaired by Methuselah. I suppose the ancient man's fixation on berries was a hint at his power? A number of the scenes weren't sufficiently elaborated on and were lost CG entertainment opportunities - the animal loading scenes needed more and the scenes with Man defiling everything in sight, just before the flood, probably suffered from too much editing. The "Watchers" or were they transformers, were completely unnecessary, although they added credence to the survival of Noah's family. A much more interesting sequence allowing our heroes to escape attack needed to be penned. As with so many scripts and stories, the writers didn't know how to end this epic. And I sympathize... how do you hint at the renewed beginnings of mankind from six closely related people? Thank heavens they made Noah utterly God-fearing/obeying but didn't try to sprinkle, retroactively, the story with religions of The Book.
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
So close to being really good
The picture has all the necessary characteristics to be really good, but it misses the mark with too many glaring errors. First, the lead is wrong - Tracy is simply too old. Then there's the unnecessary character Anne Francis - not required at all. Robert Ryan never develops into any kind of pithy villain - his lines are shallow and not in keeping with someone who thinks himself "in charge". If Tracy wouldn't have had to do a "Yoda" on the big bad guy (the best character in the picture) Ernie Borgnine, the plot would have been almost believable. As it was presented, the characters weren't real enough in this "town" where everyone just sits around waiting for someone to come along and discover their secret. Dean Jagger was pretty good and even Brennan but they needed to be deeper in their inferiority. Lee Marvin is very good and should have been given a few more scenes. Secondly, the script was written as if it were telling a story 70 years earlier. Perhaps it could have been written as a Spaghetti Western - at least the music would have been memorable. This could have been a much better picture considering it deals with a subject rarely, if ever, discussed... that horrible post-war period when old scores are settled after the conflict is over, rightly or wrongly. This picture begs be remade with a much better script showing the subtle twists and intrigue of 60+ years hindsight. Mortensen as lead?
The Village (2013)
Bleak reality of British poverty in the Class System
Beautifully acted bleak reality of a poor village as The British Empire starts to wind down. The photography is wonderful with some of the scenes appearing to be black and white, which they are not. Typical of BBC, it's not always possible to hear what is being said but it will become clear when you view a second time. Mother Middleton is spectacular – they did make her red-haired! I really enjoyed her in "Silk", but this role is a triumph. The opening episode with our young Bert being punished for being left handed hits home for me – my own father forced me (not brutally thank heavens) to write with my right – it was a different time. Bert's way of making money by entertaining his village-mates is amazing and you instantly get the impression he is true leadership potential. His willingness to take what the teacher dishes out quickly makes him special - is he deliberately taunting his sadistic school master? The development of the characters is masterful, Moffat never tells all, but just enough that you eventually form your impression. The truth about The Lord of the Manor, the Vicar, Vicar's daughter, the Investigator, all become apparent in this first series, but nothing is crystal clear. I was struck by how close this mirrors so many societies where it's all too easy to make quick assumptions. The treatment of the immediate post-war de-mob situation might have been too gentle as perhaps was the treatment of the Spanish Flu epidemic. These were horrible times as returning soldiers discovered they were not needed anymore. Series 1 is probably the best I've seen from BBC, ever, but is not for the viewer who wants razz, colourful costumes and sparkling wit. There's a lot of "British understatement" here which makes it very real. I eagerly await the second series.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
Nothing to see here, move along, move along.
I gave the picture a 2 out of 10 because it's possible something interesting happened after we left. As a person who has suffered through some real stinkers, I must admit we couldn't take it and had to leave before the end of Birdman just to get some fresh air. The movie was awful - boring indulged people with boring lives. I suppose you could say this was meant to be artsy satire, but there wasn't anything to hold this audience. If it indeed was meant to be satirical, I would recommend the writer and director watch Strangelove. Not one character had any depth or interest and the entire story was irrelevant. Norton's character spoke and acted like numerous actors from the 1930s - exaggerated, artificial and not believable. Why Naomi Watt's agent let her "act" in this picture is a puzzle to me - it will probably be damaging to her career. I must punish myself for being so stupid as to have been in the audience - perhaps I'll watch some reruns of the Academy Awards.
Into the Wild (2007)
Appeal to youth but not age
This over-long film has its moments (the cameo by Ben being enjoyable) but breaks down to yet another privileged kid abandoning all his blessings in a self-indulgent quest for finding his true self. Hirsch plays the part very well, no unnecessary facial expressions or gestures. His character even shows maturity with the people he meets – in particular the young girl singer. That maturity does not extend to himself, although there are ample opportunities for him to wake up. As with many run-aways, he decides who's to blame but somehow ends up lumping his sibling in the same pot. Of course, the misery and abandonment he cavalierly leaves behind takes a back seat to his quest for enlightenment. Hal Holbrook steals the show but is just another pawn to be sacrificed along the way. In fact, with the exception of a single experience, "Super-tramp" receives nothing but kindness and understanding from everyone he meets, but still he perseveres. The film is too long by about 20 minutes and should have had the entire river canyon sequence and associated scenes as cuttings on the editorial floor. I had the impression there were some religious-reference scenes that were edited out – if so, thank you Mr. Penn. In the end, McCandless's life can be seen as a futile waste, having little or no relevance to anyone – not even himself. Should this film have been made? I think yes, it is a warning.
Babe (1995)
As good as family entertainment gets
I've watched this flick many times now and can find nothing negative about the script, characters, narration, story-book sets or production. The contrast between Mother Hoggett and farmer Hoggett, as well as the dog's take on the order of things vs sheep's take, is utterly delightful. The development of the principal animals is electric with the frustrated duck, as the common man, being brilliant. Warning, PETA adherents and cat lovers, of which I can not number myself, might be offended. There is plenty of action and suspense to keep you riveted to the screen, yet everything falls within the bounds of talking-animal reality. The Director doesn't beat you over the head with the subtle morals (loyalty, pitfalls of "tribalism" (species-ism?), having the courage-of-your-own-convictions) that underline this story. A workmate of mine, the most oppressively cynical man on the face of the earth, was jumping around for days after seeing this film - it was as if he had been reborn. Any film that can have such a profound positive effect on a person is truly special. This film ranks up there with Ratatouille, The Gods Must be Crazy, It's a Wonderful Life and Waking Ned Devine as the cream of the crop.
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Imagination overload?
Disclaimer: The writer is an old guy who never played video games, or frequented Arcades. This is a very imaginative kid's picture that might have benefited from a decrease in visual intensity. The use of pinks and purples everywhere did something negative to my older brain (I found Sesame Street to be too frenetic) and so had to look away numerous times and go to the 'fridge often. The main character is quite good - the ultimate "blunt instrument"- but the little girl didn't come across as well as any of the little girls in 'Despicable Me'. The strange green-sphere character reminded me of the depressed robot in Douglas Adams'"The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy", but strangely, wasn't developed at all. In a way, this is a blended LSD-enhanced sequel of "Toy Story" and "Cars" with a 'situation' to decide who belongs and who's best. The car race should have been dumped - it's been done to death - and some sort of intelligence or loyalty (veiled morality?) puzzle used to end the show in Ralph's favour. This isn't a bad picture, it just pales in comparison to other animations. I sympathize with the writers and get the strong impression that good novel scripts are elusive.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Yet another bad 'action picture'
In a strange way I feel guilty for writing this critique because I knew I wouldn't enjoy this picture and so shouldn't have wasted the time and money. Still, in a misguided attempt to keep up with popular "culture", I endured this shoot-em-up to the end. Here's my take... While the main character has his moments and was actually almost convincing in his deadpan sincerity, the Black Widow girl seemed silly, with no subtlety at all - her facetious lines were bad instruments of girl power and didn't come across at all with almost no reaction from the audience. The super-bad guy has already been done in a recent Batman movie and came across as a very poor copy of Darth Vader (without any presence or enjoyable lines). Redford was completely miscast - Robert de Niro or Viggo Mortensen (although I bet they would have turned the dismal part down), or hell, Martin Short could have done a better job! Instead of an interesting, hopefully novel plot line, once again, the Writers/Director chose to moralize (in a hackneyed way) and expend unlimited ordnance; do the exploding/flying cars thing yet again. To top it off, there were stupid flying vessels and helicopter hijinx. None of the CG flying machines are as much fun as in 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'. This picture is a roaring dud and simply shows how good the 'Bourne' pictures were.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Big disappointment; wasted opportunity.
What a disappointment! The story starts really slowly but had just enough detail and setting to keep me in my seat - at the 1 hour mark I wanted to leave. The sets are visually pleasing particularly the heavily wood panelled rooms and staircases of the buildings. The little models of the hotel are obviously that. The characters are bland as hell perhaps with the exception of the neurotic old lady near the beginning. The acting is deliberately very deadpan with some (correct?) idea that central Europeans are ultra reserved, uptight, solitary. The cameos are really annoying as they add absolutely nothing - no humour or intrigue. The script is wanting in the extreme and contains N. American language/swearing/syntax that is completely out of place in this film. The screen play needed desperately to be reworked a few more times with a twist or two to satisfy the audience. The audience - many older, seasoned movie veterans, sat in silence almost all of the time - two brave souls tried to applaud at the end but thought better of it. I had the impression this was an American film, with potential, that should have been handed over, in toto, to the Brits to make it much much better. In summary, it was a waste of $12 X 2.