So here is the first ranking of an animated movie. Most everything remains identical to a ranking for a live action film, except that the ACTING category encompasses the work the animators did creating the characters in support of the voice work done by the actors. In that sense, the category should be called CHARACTERIZATION, but since I have OCD that would screw up the headings in my excel file.
I don’t think I’ve been so unpleasantly surprised by a movie in awhile. I really expected to dig 300. I just didn’t. Sure, the action sequences were pretty cool, but anything involving dialogue or plot or motivation was jarringly comical. I’m not even one of those people who dislike it because it wasn’t historically accurate (it’s a fuckin comic book movie for Christ’s sake), I was just disappointed in it overall. I liked director Zack Snyder’s DAWN OF THE DEAD remake, and I anxiously await his upcoming WATCHMEN movie. But 300 wasn’t for me.
As Liz and I talked about this movie, she pointed out that she liked it partly because she did not live through the Watergate scandal, so everything she knew about it was the glossing over it gets in the media these days. FROST/NIXON worked for her because it put a human face to the caracature that is Richard Nixon. And while he wasn’t sympathetic, per se, it was at least easier to understand his motivation. I couldn’t have expressed it better myself. And, as I think about it now, I feel like that will be this movie’s endearing legacy.
This is one of those movies that makes me reevaluate my ranking process. Because I loved this movie. But the score is lower than you might think. But, then, I realize that this movie works primarily on an entertainment level. It’s not one of the all time greats. But it can be considered one of the most entertainining movies I’ve seen in a long time. And my ranking reflects that. So… my evaluation is done, and my ranking system still rocks. On to the movie…
Watched Denis Leary on Funny or Die doing a three minute review of a bunch of his movies ( http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6fc5cf60e3/denis-leary-remembers-denis-leary-movies-from-fod-team ). He mentions that he thinks THE REF is “the greatest Christmas movie ever made.” While I’m not sure that THE REF is your traditional Christmas movie, and can’t really disagree with his thesis. I’ve been meaning to watch it again since I saw the video a month or so ago. So I did.
I know the reboot of Friday the 13th is coming out this weekend. My initial reaction was to be outraged that they would consider remaking a classic. The only problem with that, is that I’ve never actually seen the original. So how can I have a position?
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks FRIDAY THE 13TH 1 & 2 (1980; 1981)1)’
It’s been a good couple months for movies. You can usually count on Oscar season for that. January becomes a weird mashing of movies. On one hand you have those which are being held over from December that count for the Oscars, but which are released at a slow pace so that the nominations help create box office sales. On the other hand, you have the late January dumping ground for movies which studios are disappointed in, and which they’ve been holding off for a long time. Sometimes those movies get confused… TAKEN for example, has been delayed for years, is not an Oscar nominee by any standards (from what I hear, I have not seen it), yet it has been able to garner a whole lot of buzz.
Continue reading ‘johnlink ranks SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008)’
I’m trying to figure out what this decade’s ROBOCOP is. The criteria is fairly simple. Take a movie which has a moderate (but obvious) message, but which otherwise is an average action flick, and let it gestate in culture for fifteen years. It will get beat up, laughed at maybe, but then public opinion will be resurgent because defenders will say its not as bad as everyone says. Then make the longer, more violent, and stronger edition of the movie readily available. It then becomes overhyped, and overrated.
Sometimes a movie comes along where you hear all the negative reviews, all the negative feedback. You think the premise sounds promising, and you like the actors and the director. You are sure that people are misguided, and that they just don’t get the movie. I’m sad to say that this does not describe THE NUMBER 23 at all.
I heard a lot of negative reviews on this one, but was still hopeful. A lot of the slander being tossed used words like ‘confusing’ and ‘weird.’ I heard some people say that it didn’t make sense, and others say they didn’t get it. Basically, it sounded like a movie for me!
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