Date: Sunday July 28 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 11am
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Director: Jon Favreau
Writers: Jeff Nathanson (screenplay) and Brenda Chapman (story)
Composers: Hans Zimmer (score), Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics)
Cast:
Simba- Donald Glover
Nala- Beyonce
Scar- Chiwetel Ejiofor
Zazu- John Oliver
Rafiki- John Kani
Sarabi- Alfre Woodard
Shenzi- Florence Kasumba
Keegan-Michael Key- Kamari
Eric Andre- Azizi
Timon- Billy Eichner
Pumbaa- Seth Rogen
Mufasa- James Earl Jones (seriously- who else?!)
JD McCrary- Young Simba
Shahadi Wright Joseph- Young Nala
(hopefully that's everyone... )
Duration: 118 minutes (+7 previews)
Introduction
OMG- I have been looking forward to this for a long time. I forgot where I ranked it in my top 100, but The Lion King is one of my all-time favorite movies. Not just animated or Disney, but all time. I think the only thing that beat it with animation was Spirited Away. But this one is very close to my heart and a big part of my childhood. Heck, I still have all of my lion plushies- a lion from the Ringling Bros. (a cirus that had no lion tamer, by the way- I'm still disappointed about that), a lioness and three Disney plushies of young Simba, Kiara and Kovu because I LOVED the direct-to-video sequel.
But after seeing Aladdin, I still had some nerves about what kind of adaptation this would be. Even with Beauty and the Beast, as good as it is, there were still some bits I didn't like how they changed it.
Just to get it out of the way, I am very pleased with this version of Lion King. In some respects, it's actually better than the original... or I just liked how they did some things in this version more. And there are parts I prefer from the original and that'll never change. This is one DVD I'll definitely be getting.
One thing I will add about the theater. It filled up a bit, but it wasn't full. But this felt like the stiffest audience. There was no cheering after the Circle of Life and no cheering after the credits. Maybe a chuckle or two, but still... was everyone still asleep or were they really not that impressed?
And I'm not easily impressed either- especially something I feel this strongly about.
Trailers
Clearly these trailers were geared towards kids more than adults... but there were a couple exceptions.
The Art of Racing in the Rain- I'm not seeing a dog movie in the theater again after "Marley & Me", but the fact Milo from "This Is Us" is in it, I might google spoilers to see if anyone dies in the end so I can spare myself the grief.
Playing With Fire- either John Cena has the same agent as Dwayne Johnson or his agent saw The Rock's successful crossover from wrestling to movies to Sexiest Man Alive and wants him to follow the same route. He was kinda funny in "Trainwreck," his acting debut, but a little over the top. Now he's doing a lot of Nickelodeon stuff like hosting "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" This movie-- it's almost as goofy looking as The Tooth Fairy was (somehow The Rock got past that and made something bigger out of his career... the Furious franchie might have helped with that). But John Cena and these firefighters adopt these kids after a fire destroys their house and it's full of stupid humor. Although the kid getting his mastiff to obey in an instant was hilarious...
Dora and the Lost City- this is a weird one for me... Dora the Explorer came around way after I was too old to like kiddie shows, but it's still kinda weird that they're making a live action version of her all grown up. I'm not sure if that same nostaglia factor will be in there. Plus it seems to have that self-aware humor a lot of Nickelodeon stuff has nowadays.
Cats- ooh, mixed feelings about this one... PBS aired the original musical on Greatest Performances years ago. I think I was in 8th grade at the time. I don't know if it was the music or the visuals or the fact the TV was on too loud, but I went to bed halfway through and couldn't sleep. Then I got out of bed, saw the end... and I barely slept and I had school the next day. I love cats in general, but something about this show, I find a little unsettling. Thinking about "Memory" and the ending-- it was a happy ending too... it makes me burst into tears.
I haven't read any comments on the trailer that was just released, but I'm already under the impression that a lot of people aren't going to like this version. The overall look of it is a little strange- although motion capture is a better move than what they did with Mike Meyers and the Cat in the Hat. Some of the same characters from the original I can pick out- like the lithe female white cat, Rum-Tum-Tugger and Deuteronomy (what, that's Judi Dench's character?! That's supposed to be a male character... not sure if I like that). But Jennifer Hudson seems to be playing Grizabella, the cat singing "Memory"... and she's just a diva cat that had her heyday and has become a hasbeen. I'm sure some die-hard fans of the play are not going to like that particular part of the adaptation. Not the diva angle or the race angle, but because she doesn't look old enough for that part. Elaine Paige's talent can't be denied, but the makeup and costume for Grizabella, for me, was scary beyond all reason. I mean, they had a song prior to "Memory" where the other cats were dismissive of her, almost like they were pegging her as a scary old woman that nobody should go near. So they're making her a little more approachable in this version... which I guess is good. It'd make me want to see what they do with it. But there are probably people hating also because Taylor Swift is in it somewhere... I cannot undersand why people constantly dump on her, or any of the clean cut nice girls in the entertainment business.
Yeah... for a musical I have unpleasant memories (haha, not an intended pun) about, I remember a lot... but I have this weird issue where I remember the unpleasant things far more than things that make me laugh and smile.
Angry Birds 2- Um... the fist movie wasn't a success, why are they making a sequel?! (although the dance battle was pretty hilarious)
Abominable- ok, are Bigfoots and Yetis IN now? What is what all of these movies lately about these guys? They're going from an Asian angle with this one and the girl who discovers it plays violin and the music brings the forest to life. That's kinda cool...but still, that's a little strange to me that this is trending and all of the studios are doing it. It's almost like the old days where Pixar and Dreamworks were ripping off each other's ideas-- Antz and A Bug's Life, anyone?
Maleficent- Mistress of Evil... I didn't like how they redid the story in the previous movie. Where Maleficent wakes Sleeping Beauty and King Stephen is actually the bad guy. I did like Angelia Jolie playing this role because I can't imagine anyone doing it better (and I don't like her that much). I don't know if this warranted a sequel. And she finds out that there are more dark fairies like her out there... I have a bit of a problem with that... she's like an evil unicorn, there should only be one of her or it just dilutes the whole evil formula.
Mulan- yet another live Disney remake that's in the works... but this looks completely different from the original... Mulan's suddenly a badass? And where the hell is Mushu? Is this not even a comedy? I'm sure it'll be more culturally accurate than the original, but the original was great because it had a lot of heart, Mulan was an underdog who had to find her own strength and poise being in the army, and it had lighthearted funny moments because of Mushu and the dynamic between him and the lucky cricket. Of course I'll have to see it myself so I can properly judge it, but it's almost like they've erased all of the things I liked about the original. The guy playing Shang better be handsome, that's all I'm gonna say.
The Main Event
In Case anyone by now hasn't seen the original... SPOILERS will be later on... although I can't imagine anyone not familiar with this movie at all...
Clearly I've already written a lot of things about things other than the movie so this isn't going to be a line for line thing where I go through every bit of dialogue or every scene across both movies and say which they did better... that can be its own entry in the future...
One thing about Aladdin that I didn't like so much was the fact that they had a lot of the same dialogue, but it didn't flow as naturally from the actors. It's almost as if they've looked down on the stage where they see the T-marker and realize they have to say this line at this particular moment.
The Lion King had this as well... there were some moments where they had lines identical to the original and they arrived at them without a proper build up. Like they copied and pasted parts of the original script into the new one.
That said, after the Circle of Life scene where everything had to be on point (but there were some things that they could have left out because it was an obvious callback to the original)... after that scene, everyone started to relax and do the movie like they're debuting it for the first time.
One notable difference... how the animals move and interact with one another... even how they look (Rafiki has no tail in this version because, I guess, some baboons don't have tails)... it was truer to life. And I kinda liked that. It made it feel more realistic and believable.
Overall, the story is identical to the original and they didn't add or change too much. That was good. A story this well written, you can't mess with it too much or that just gets lost.
One scene that was added was the circumstance where Nala leaves Pride Rock to find help. In the original, she just randomly shows up in the jungle and nearly eats Pumbaa. We get to see a bit of what the regime is like under Scar and how dire the situation is for the lionesses. It was BAD...
The characters had all of the same qualities as the originals, but some were improved upon quite a bit. Chiwetel Ejiofor has been getting a lot of good roles since he was in "12 Years a Slave" and he's done them well. As Scar, he's downright terrifying and that's what you need in a villain like this.
Scar in the original was oily like a snake and worked both sides with his keen intellect. But once he becomes king, he's a bit of a prima donna-- like where Sarabi tells him that there's no food and they need to leave, he says lines like "you're just not looking hard enough" and "I'm the king, I can do whatever I want"... really?!
So definitely a check in the remake column for Scar.
We also get a little more background about him, Mufasa and Sarabi and that was a nice touch. If you really thought about it, you could have made that same argument in the original. Although why Sarabi chooses Mufasa over him isn't that hard to imagine in the original.
One casting choice that hasn't been popular is John Oliver as Zazu... he's one of those political pundits that reads the news and skews it fully on the liberal angle. Maybe it's because I don't watch a lot of "Last Night with John Oliver"... but I didn't have a problem with him.
In fact, I really liked how they improved upon Zazu in this version. Granted, he's still a bit of a know-it-all who insists on following the rules, but he gets to play the unsung hero in a couple scenes. Not giving all that away, but that was a great way to move the story along. Plus, he has a running gag that throws back to some older Disney characters.
One key element I was following almost the entire movie that they had to get absolutely right or they'd lose me... the score... Hans Zimmer wrote an amazing score for the original and they brought it back with extra oomph in all of the key scenes.
Back to the characters... the hyenas still have that comic relief element, but Banzai and Ed are gone and got completely replaced by Kamari and Azizi. And they have some moments that reminded me of Pain and Panic from Hercules. Shenzi is not just scary, but she's even stronger of a character. In real life, hyenas aren't just scavangers, but they're top tier predators equal with lions. And females are the leaders. So they were definitely more accurate and respectful to hyenas. Taking everything into account, it makes the story even stronger.
One thing I didn't like as much... the dynamic between Timon and Pumbaa. They're still a dynamic duo and it's not like Timon was an angel in the original... but his snark and sarcasm is a little more produced. And their dynamic is a little closer to Laurel and Hardy where one is dismissive of the other, insisting they're the smarter one.
Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, though... dang, he WAS that character. Not that his voice isn't easy to pick out, but I forgot it was him that whole time. And he gets some moments to really shine.
There'd been so much in entertainment lately about female empowerment and while I'm all for it speaking as a female, a lot of it has been over the top. That was one thing about Aladdin I didn't like so much because they were trying too hard for that angle. I was a little afraid that they'd do that with Nala as well because she's such a great character. But they did it in a way that made sense. We see why and how she's the bravest of the lioness to go for help. And she has her own role to play in the final battle with Scar and the Hyenas. I'm not the biggest Beyonce fan, but she did this part well and brought her own spin to it. Sarabi also gets a little more screentime and backstory and she shows her strength in not succumbing to Scar's demands.
I haven't talked about Simba at all and this movie is about him, really... the young actor who played him did a really good job and Donald Glover wasn't bad playing the older version. I'd say on both accounts, the actors did a good job playing the roles in both versions. I'd read one or two comments saying he's not that great of a character or he's nothing special. But we get to see a little more of the struggle he goes through about what happened to his father and living with that guilt for something he didn't do. And there was more dialogue to bolster his character in the moments he needed it the most.
James Earl Jones as Mufasa... it's like he never left... and that's what makes him so good as an actor. He plays this role proudly and brings the strength absolutely needed for it. That's why it's such a shock when he gets killed off. Simba grows up believing his father was invincible and we see a little more of why he's such a strong king and just a good king. Rewatching the original again a week beforehand, I almost feel like Mufasa doesn't get enough screentime and we don't get enough to grasp why he's so beloved. We lose him as we're getting to know him. Here, we get to see this for ourselves more rather than relying on what everyone else says about him and taking their word for it.
The stampede scene is very iconic and it broke a lot of hearts the way Bambi's mom did decades before that... there were parts of it that were more impressive looking... but the moment where Scar throws Mufasa into the gore below... that's a hard scene to duplicate and improve upon. And the original still did it better...
I know this movie practically by heart, nearly every scene and bit of dialogue... I can recall that scene instantly in my mind and that still sends shockwaves through me. Mufasa falling to his death and Jonathan Tyler Thomas screaming "NOOO!!" as he sees it happening.
I can't recall what it was like seeing it happening in the theater for the first time, the exact things I was feeling... I was maybe 8 at the time... but yeah... phew...
And I will concede to another criticsm... people talking about how having well known actors playing these roles takes away from it... my opinion on that is that this doesn't make me want to buy the soundtrack all over again. We do have it in the house somewhere, but I don't feel like I need to have these actors singing these songs.
And I don't mind well-known actors doing voiceovers, but it really depends on who they are. It's not as if in this case I felt like I was hanging around with them instead of the characters themselves and I've felt that way about other actors in the past. I'm someone who worships voice actors almost more than people that are in live action movies. Mostly because they have ties to my childhood. But for iconic characters, the voice actors ARE those characters for me. I wouldn't love these characters the same way if the right actors didn't play them.
That could be another post in itself so I won't yammer about that as well.
While not 100% perfect, this movie is definitely a solid A for me.
Showing posts with label remake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label remake. Show all posts
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Theatrical Review: Aladdin
Date: Saturday, June 1 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 1pm
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Director: Guy Ritchie (from the RDJudsie Sherlock franchise)
Writers: John August and Guy Ritchie
Composer: Alan Menken
Cast:
The Genie- Will Smith
Aladdin- Mena Massoud
Jasmine- Naomi Scott
Jafar- Marwan Kenzari
Iago- Alan Turdyk
The Sultan- Navid Negahban
Dalia- Nasim Pedrad
Hakim- Numan Acar
Prince Anders- Billy Magnussen
Duration: 128 minutes (+7 trailers)
Write-up:
Opening Comments
So this is kind of a trip... my first very trip to the movies was "Aladdin" way back in 1992. I even double checked to see if they came out around the same time... nope, Aladdin came out originally on Veteran's Day. I was 6 at the time. I don't remember much about it beside maybe the scene where Jafar throws him into the ocean. That was kinda traumatic and hard to watch. But little else comes to mind.
It was weird going to the theater for this one because they had assigned seating. That's never happened before. Why didn't they have this during the Avengers movie? We got in the back and that made for good seats for sure. I gotta say, though, the theater had a lot of people... it was a tough crowd. Nobody was laughing. Nobody was cheering after certain musical numbers. I wanted to, but I would have felt weird doing it if nobody else was going to join in.
What I will say for it in general... the original will still stand as a classic. Nothing will touch it. I will commend this movie for sticking to the script and not varying too far away from it and adding too much. It never felt overlong for me at any point.
But my main issue with it-- as much as they stuck to the script in a lot of places, it almost felt forced. Like they had to follow the original dialogue verbatim and it's like they were robotic about it.
The acting choices for Aladdin and Jasmine were very on point. In fact, I really liked Mena Massoud as Aladdin. I could see why Jasmine fell in love with him with his street smarts and cool attitude. As Prince Ali, he was a bit of a push-over and very inept in attempting to woo her and then around the time where he and Genie have that fight, he became unlikable. That scene in the original was kinda tough because they had a big following out. Here, the fight didn't feel genuine to me. Again, doing it for the sake of the storyline, but I didn't find it believable.
Anyway, just a preview before getting entrenched in....
Coming Attractions
None of these were for the Lion King, which I found odd because that's another upcoming live remake getting a lot of anticipation.
The Secret Life of Pets 2- I finally saw the original. It was a cute concept, but after seeing Zootopia (I know they're not exactly the same idea, but close enough), it fell a little short. Plus I saw it with commercials, which slowed things down considerably. It's an interesting concept here where Max gets mentored by this imposing dog he meets on a farm in the middle of nowhere. I found out later he's voiced by Harrison Ford... bad-ass.
The Art of Racing in the Rain- do we really need another talking dog movie? We already got A Dog's Journey Home with the shelter dog Bella. Then we had another one with Dennis Quaid where Bailey goes through several reincarnations. Now this... and the "human" protagonist is Milo Ventimiglia from "This is Us" who marries Amanda Seyfried and they have various difficulties and their dog is played by Kevin Costner... never mind if the dog dies, if something happens to Milo, it'd be a tough watch for me. There was one cute scene where Amanda's lying on the couch with this big round belly and the dog says "I would have hoped it looks just like me"
The Addams Family- I saw the movie poster for this going into the theater. It's an animated version, but it looks funny as hell. Oscar Isaac is somewhere in the cast, another attention grabber for me :P and one funny scene where Wednesday bemoans nothing exciting is happening and her brother falls out of a 2 story window and she says "thanks for trying"
Blinded by the Light- we're just in love with music fantasy movies lately, aren't we? Unlike Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, this isn't a bio pic. Instead, it's closer to the Yesterday movie where music from a certain artist is changing someone's life. This case- Bruce Springsteen. This Indian 20-something lives in a traditional Indian household and finds his voice in Bruce's musice. To the point he gets a plane ticket to the US to see him in concert.
Now I'm not a huge fan of his... my folks grew up in New Jersey and he was played in the car a lot when I was a kid. But I don't get him that same way. In fact, I'd say I like his lesser known singles better-- Tunnel of Love and Hungry Heart are more of my speed. As an artist, I do respect him so I think I'd really enjoy this movie. (His autobiography I've always wanted to read too)
Spider-Man: Far From Home-- after the last Avengers movie, I'm not sure how much of a mood I'll be in for these movies anymore... if this gets rave reviews, I might reconsider. But for now, I'm just not ready.
Maleficent- Mistress of Evil-- I'm not sure what to make of this one. They already did the movie, rewrote her backstory where she's a fairy that gets her wings cut off by her lover, she's the one who kisses Sleeping Beauty awake and King Stephen is the bad guy. Are they completely rewriting that movie and trying something closer to the original Disney movie? According to IMDB, Aurora is becoming Queen... I like the idea of the back story they rewrote for this infamous Disney baddie, but it was just way too much of a re-imagining for my tastes.
Toy Story 4- it's nice to finally get a proper trailer for this one. I'd seen a lot of teasers. Supposedly Bonnie's new toy Forky wants to run away because it wants to be in soup and be thrown away. So it's up to everyone to get it back. Then Woody meets up with Bo Peep again. Not only is she a strong feminist character, but she seems like an antagonist, trying to convince Woody there's more to a toy than just being a plaything for a child. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
The Main Attraction
I more or less am writing this as a fan of the original movie and talking how they adapted this from the original... therefore there will be a bunch of story spoilers, but I'm not giving everything away... at least I don't think so...
One thing I will say to preface everything-- I don't know this movie line for line like I do "The Lion King," but I was following the script in my head for the first half of the movie... then by the second half, I just threw the book out the window and just went with the flow because it clearly wasn't going to be identical.
First off-- Agrabah looks totally different. It's a port city instead of being in the middle of the desert. Jasmine is in the marketplace at the start, suggesting she sneaks out occasionally because she's caged in the palace all the time. She and Aladdin meet in the same manner, but it leads into his song "One Step Ahead" where he's dodging the guards.
The choreography for that scene is AMAZING. I loved how they had him going through the streets, knowing every corner like the back of his hand. But I was thinking-- why the hell is Jasmine part of all that? I felt very strange about it.
Follow that up-- he asks who she is, but she gives a false name. The name is of her handmaiden, a completely new character invented for this movie.
On the one hand, Dalia adds to the Genie's character arc, so that change I liked a lot. But the "false name" charade lasted way too long and it felt so forced. Plus, Dalia is played by an actress from the recent SNL cast. I found that distracting immediately because a lot of these SNL people try way too hard to be funny and it feels off. It was like having a correspondant from the Daily Show playing the Fire Lord from the live Avatar: The Last Airbender movie... one of MANY things that failed about that movie.
Then there's the whole #GirlPower thing. It's great that they made Jasmine a strong character and she even gets her own song, "Speechless." That's kinda cool. But the need of adding another female character to this movie (which only had Jasmine in the original) and pushing the feminist agenda, it just comes off incredibly forced. As a female, I'm all for it, but don't overplay that hand.
It's great that Jasmine cares for her people and wants to do right by them, but the whole idea of her wanting to be Sultan. I mean, her character was very critical about the princes sent her way for an arranged marriage, but she wanted to fall in love with her suitor instead of it being a forced marriage for the sake of the kingdom. (I think the original just had her bound by law to be married by her next birthday, which was impending...)
The guy playing Jafar... yeah, he's a bit of a creep. So he nailed that, but I'm not sure if I got the whole "evil" vibe from him. What I liked that they added-- he had this weird pet peeve about being labeled "second best"-- keep an eye out for that. It's a hint for when he really goes ballistic.
Iago, he sounds more like a parrot than Gilbert Gottefried ever did. But it was weird hearing someone else play him. I dont know if he wasn't asked because of the whole scandal that got him fired by AFLAC or they wanted to be more authentic. But I kinda missed having him in the movie.
One change that was kinda nice. They gave a character with minimal screen time in the original movie a bigger and more impactful role. In the original, Hakim was Jafar's first sacrifice to the Cave of Wonders because he thought he'd be worthy to find the lamp. Here, he's one of the palace guards and what he winds up contributing to the movie, that was a great rewrite. I'll say that much.
Back to the storyline-- Jasmine isn't told that Aladdin was beheaded for being accused of kidnapping her. He just agrees to meet her and he's caught by Jafar before he can. Fair enough.
The Cave of Wonder is AMAZING... one of many great set pieces in this movie.
Will Smith as The Genie is definitely a big talking point about this movie. He said he wanted to pay homage to Robin Williams with his performance, but also wanted to do his own twist on it. Some of the jokes were kinda lame, admittedly... need we talk about the jams (and I'm not talking about music here... bringing this up once was one thing, but multiple times in a span of 10 minutes... yikes)...
Anyway, he was a smooth customer and was a major highlight of the movie. It feels like forever since I'd seen Will Smith in anything. Since the 90's, he'd been doing a lot of serious roles in the types of movies I don't really get into. It's nice to see him in a comedic role again.
The IMDb trivia mentioned his work in "Hitch" where he helps hapless men land hot women.... this was a very similiar dynamic.
It worked, but it also didn't.
Aladdin was super confident in the animated version and even if he didn't really know what was what as far as being a prince, he certainly wasn't a bumbling idiot. In this version, I can understand why he'd had a difficult time adjusting to the Prince Ali character, but it's like he lost everything that made him appealing in the first place.
They had a cool dance scene, but it was a little odd to watch with the Genie kinda pulling puppet strings to make him a sick dancer.
The musical numbers from the movie were all hits and massive productions. Definitely well done and it helped sell the movie. The little moments in between, hit and miss.
Quick note about the Sultan- he wasn't as dim-witted and lovable in this version, but he still had a bit of a weak mind that Jafar could control
The scene where Jafar tries to kill Aladdin and the Genie has to save his life- I liked how they rewrote that so the high after "A Whole New World" isn't completely ruined...
then how Jafar got the lamp back from Aladdin went back to his roots-- pay attention to the dialogue, that was a clever move.
Then when Jafar gets the lamp and starts making wishes... the storyboard by this point gets really choppy.
It gives some big moments to other characters that didn't really get to show their strength. But how Jafar goes from Sultan to Sorcerer... it just felt weak... like he just realized nobody was going to take him seriously- some 15 minutes later- and then he makes that second wish.
Then how the movie ends... it's a good overall ending and everyone has that happily ever after. That was great.
Grade: B+
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 1pm
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Director: Guy Ritchie (from the RDJudsie Sherlock franchise)
Writers: John August and Guy Ritchie
Composer: Alan Menken
Cast:
The Genie- Will Smith
Aladdin- Mena Massoud
Jasmine- Naomi Scott
Jafar- Marwan Kenzari
Iago- Alan Turdyk
The Sultan- Navid Negahban
Dalia- Nasim Pedrad
Hakim- Numan Acar
Prince Anders- Billy Magnussen
Duration: 128 minutes (+7 trailers)
Write-up:
Opening Comments
So this is kind of a trip... my first very trip to the movies was "Aladdin" way back in 1992. I even double checked to see if they came out around the same time... nope, Aladdin came out originally on Veteran's Day. I was 6 at the time. I don't remember much about it beside maybe the scene where Jafar throws him into the ocean. That was kinda traumatic and hard to watch. But little else comes to mind.
It was weird going to the theater for this one because they had assigned seating. That's never happened before. Why didn't they have this during the Avengers movie? We got in the back and that made for good seats for sure. I gotta say, though, the theater had a lot of people... it was a tough crowd. Nobody was laughing. Nobody was cheering after certain musical numbers. I wanted to, but I would have felt weird doing it if nobody else was going to join in.
What I will say for it in general... the original will still stand as a classic. Nothing will touch it. I will commend this movie for sticking to the script and not varying too far away from it and adding too much. It never felt overlong for me at any point.
But my main issue with it-- as much as they stuck to the script in a lot of places, it almost felt forced. Like they had to follow the original dialogue verbatim and it's like they were robotic about it.
The acting choices for Aladdin and Jasmine were very on point. In fact, I really liked Mena Massoud as Aladdin. I could see why Jasmine fell in love with him with his street smarts and cool attitude. As Prince Ali, he was a bit of a push-over and very inept in attempting to woo her and then around the time where he and Genie have that fight, he became unlikable. That scene in the original was kinda tough because they had a big following out. Here, the fight didn't feel genuine to me. Again, doing it for the sake of the storyline, but I didn't find it believable.
Anyway, just a preview before getting entrenched in....
Coming Attractions
None of these were for the Lion King, which I found odd because that's another upcoming live remake getting a lot of anticipation.
The Secret Life of Pets 2- I finally saw the original. It was a cute concept, but after seeing Zootopia (I know they're not exactly the same idea, but close enough), it fell a little short. Plus I saw it with commercials, which slowed things down considerably. It's an interesting concept here where Max gets mentored by this imposing dog he meets on a farm in the middle of nowhere. I found out later he's voiced by Harrison Ford... bad-ass.
The Art of Racing in the Rain- do we really need another talking dog movie? We already got A Dog's Journey Home with the shelter dog Bella. Then we had another one with Dennis Quaid where Bailey goes through several reincarnations. Now this... and the "human" protagonist is Milo Ventimiglia from "This is Us" who marries Amanda Seyfried and they have various difficulties and their dog is played by Kevin Costner... never mind if the dog dies, if something happens to Milo, it'd be a tough watch for me. There was one cute scene where Amanda's lying on the couch with this big round belly and the dog says "I would have hoped it looks just like me"
The Addams Family- I saw the movie poster for this going into the theater. It's an animated version, but it looks funny as hell. Oscar Isaac is somewhere in the cast, another attention grabber for me :P and one funny scene where Wednesday bemoans nothing exciting is happening and her brother falls out of a 2 story window and she says "thanks for trying"
Blinded by the Light- we're just in love with music fantasy movies lately, aren't we? Unlike Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, this isn't a bio pic. Instead, it's closer to the Yesterday movie where music from a certain artist is changing someone's life. This case- Bruce Springsteen. This Indian 20-something lives in a traditional Indian household and finds his voice in Bruce's musice. To the point he gets a plane ticket to the US to see him in concert.
Now I'm not a huge fan of his... my folks grew up in New Jersey and he was played in the car a lot when I was a kid. But I don't get him that same way. In fact, I'd say I like his lesser known singles better-- Tunnel of Love and Hungry Heart are more of my speed. As an artist, I do respect him so I think I'd really enjoy this movie. (His autobiography I've always wanted to read too)
Spider-Man: Far From Home-- after the last Avengers movie, I'm not sure how much of a mood I'll be in for these movies anymore... if this gets rave reviews, I might reconsider. But for now, I'm just not ready.
Maleficent- Mistress of Evil-- I'm not sure what to make of this one. They already did the movie, rewrote her backstory where she's a fairy that gets her wings cut off by her lover, she's the one who kisses Sleeping Beauty awake and King Stephen is the bad guy. Are they completely rewriting that movie and trying something closer to the original Disney movie? According to IMDB, Aurora is becoming Queen... I like the idea of the back story they rewrote for this infamous Disney baddie, but it was just way too much of a re-imagining for my tastes.
Toy Story 4- it's nice to finally get a proper trailer for this one. I'd seen a lot of teasers. Supposedly Bonnie's new toy Forky wants to run away because it wants to be in soup and be thrown away. So it's up to everyone to get it back. Then Woody meets up with Bo Peep again. Not only is she a strong feminist character, but she seems like an antagonist, trying to convince Woody there's more to a toy than just being a plaything for a child. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
The Main Attraction
I more or less am writing this as a fan of the original movie and talking how they adapted this from the original... therefore there will be a bunch of story spoilers, but I'm not giving everything away... at least I don't think so...
One thing I will say to preface everything-- I don't know this movie line for line like I do "The Lion King," but I was following the script in my head for the first half of the movie... then by the second half, I just threw the book out the window and just went with the flow because it clearly wasn't going to be identical.
First off-- Agrabah looks totally different. It's a port city instead of being in the middle of the desert. Jasmine is in the marketplace at the start, suggesting she sneaks out occasionally because she's caged in the palace all the time. She and Aladdin meet in the same manner, but it leads into his song "One Step Ahead" where he's dodging the guards.
The choreography for that scene is AMAZING. I loved how they had him going through the streets, knowing every corner like the back of his hand. But I was thinking-- why the hell is Jasmine part of all that? I felt very strange about it.
Follow that up-- he asks who she is, but she gives a false name. The name is of her handmaiden, a completely new character invented for this movie.
On the one hand, Dalia adds to the Genie's character arc, so that change I liked a lot. But the "false name" charade lasted way too long and it felt so forced. Plus, Dalia is played by an actress from the recent SNL cast. I found that distracting immediately because a lot of these SNL people try way too hard to be funny and it feels off. It was like having a correspondant from the Daily Show playing the Fire Lord from the live Avatar: The Last Airbender movie... one of MANY things that failed about that movie.
Then there's the whole #GirlPower thing. It's great that they made Jasmine a strong character and she even gets her own song, "Speechless." That's kinda cool. But the need of adding another female character to this movie (which only had Jasmine in the original) and pushing the feminist agenda, it just comes off incredibly forced. As a female, I'm all for it, but don't overplay that hand.
It's great that Jasmine cares for her people and wants to do right by them, but the whole idea of her wanting to be Sultan. I mean, her character was very critical about the princes sent her way for an arranged marriage, but she wanted to fall in love with her suitor instead of it being a forced marriage for the sake of the kingdom. (I think the original just had her bound by law to be married by her next birthday, which was impending...)
The guy playing Jafar... yeah, he's a bit of a creep. So he nailed that, but I'm not sure if I got the whole "evil" vibe from him. What I liked that they added-- he had this weird pet peeve about being labeled "second best"-- keep an eye out for that. It's a hint for when he really goes ballistic.
Iago, he sounds more like a parrot than Gilbert Gottefried ever did. But it was weird hearing someone else play him. I dont know if he wasn't asked because of the whole scandal that got him fired by AFLAC or they wanted to be more authentic. But I kinda missed having him in the movie.
One change that was kinda nice. They gave a character with minimal screen time in the original movie a bigger and more impactful role. In the original, Hakim was Jafar's first sacrifice to the Cave of Wonders because he thought he'd be worthy to find the lamp. Here, he's one of the palace guards and what he winds up contributing to the movie, that was a great rewrite. I'll say that much.
Back to the storyline-- Jasmine isn't told that Aladdin was beheaded for being accused of kidnapping her. He just agrees to meet her and he's caught by Jafar before he can. Fair enough.
The Cave of Wonder is AMAZING... one of many great set pieces in this movie.
Will Smith as The Genie is definitely a big talking point about this movie. He said he wanted to pay homage to Robin Williams with his performance, but also wanted to do his own twist on it. Some of the jokes were kinda lame, admittedly... need we talk about the jams (and I'm not talking about music here... bringing this up once was one thing, but multiple times in a span of 10 minutes... yikes)...
Anyway, he was a smooth customer and was a major highlight of the movie. It feels like forever since I'd seen Will Smith in anything. Since the 90's, he'd been doing a lot of serious roles in the types of movies I don't really get into. It's nice to see him in a comedic role again.
The IMDb trivia mentioned his work in "Hitch" where he helps hapless men land hot women.... this was a very similiar dynamic.
It worked, but it also didn't.
Aladdin was super confident in the animated version and even if he didn't really know what was what as far as being a prince, he certainly wasn't a bumbling idiot. In this version, I can understand why he'd had a difficult time adjusting to the Prince Ali character, but it's like he lost everything that made him appealing in the first place.
They had a cool dance scene, but it was a little odd to watch with the Genie kinda pulling puppet strings to make him a sick dancer.
The musical numbers from the movie were all hits and massive productions. Definitely well done and it helped sell the movie. The little moments in between, hit and miss.
Quick note about the Sultan- he wasn't as dim-witted and lovable in this version, but he still had a bit of a weak mind that Jafar could control
The scene where Jafar tries to kill Aladdin and the Genie has to save his life- I liked how they rewrote that so the high after "A Whole New World" isn't completely ruined...
then how Jafar got the lamp back from Aladdin went back to his roots-- pay attention to the dialogue, that was a clever move.
Then when Jafar gets the lamp and starts making wishes... the storyboard by this point gets really choppy.
It gives some big moments to other characters that didn't really get to show their strength. But how Jafar goes from Sultan to Sorcerer... it just felt weak... like he just realized nobody was going to take him seriously- some 15 minutes later- and then he makes that second wish.
Then how the movie ends... it's a good overall ending and everyone has that happily ever after. That was great.
Grade: B+
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Theatrical Review: A Star is Born (2018)
Date: Sunday, October 14 2018
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 12:10pm
Party: 2 (my mom and I)
Director: Bradley Cooper
Writers: Eric Roth ("Forrest Gump," etc.), Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters ("Remember Me")
Composers: [there's so much music in this movie that I can't list everyone... but Gaga and Bradley Cooper both have writing credits on the soundtrack, which is pretty awesome]
Notable Cast (for me, main characters and also people that stood out):
Jackson Maine- Bradley Cooper
Ally- Lady Gaga
Ally's father, Lorzeno- Andrew Dice "Dice-Man" Clay
Bobby Maine, Jack's brother [not father]- Sam Elliott
Rez Gavron- Rafi Gavron
Ally's friend, Ramon- Anthony Ramos
Jack's driver, Phil- Greg Grunberg (I had to include him cuz I recognized him from "Heroes")
Drag bar MC- Shangela
Emerald- Willam Belli
Duration: 136 minutes (+7 trailers... I sense a common theme in this theater, it's always 7 trailers...)
Opening Comments:
So this came out over a week ago and since my mom was going to a conference with my dad, she asked if I could wait a week to see it. No problem, just as long as I'd get to a theater to see it at some point. Not sure why, but it's been really hard getting me out to the movies this year. Maybe I'm over movies in general or having to drive half an hour to a theather takes the motivation out of it... we were so spoiled having the theater down the road from us.
I remember that this had been in the making for a long time. According to Wikipedia, it'd been even longer... but I did hear a couple years ago that Bradley Cooper was doing this with Gaga and now it's finally here.
A few things to say about these two people...
Bradley Cooper
I'm such a nerd for remembering this, but when he was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 2011, I didn't really get the hype (and Ryan Gosling not winning had nothing to do with that, I'm not that into him either). To me, he was just part of the Hangover wolf pack and the bully in Wedding Crashers at that point.
But after seeing him a bunch of dramatic roles, I really got to like him. He is good looking and the more I see him interviewed, I really think he's a nice guy that'd be cool to spend time with. The attraction still isn't at the level of some other famous people.
Whether it's The Words, Silver Linings Playbook or Burnt, he just becomes these characters to the point where I don't see him anymore. Not counting the Avengers movies, this is the third time I'm going to see him in a theater release. And again, it has more to do with the subject matter than him as a person. But he's still a highlight of the movie. And something in those movies always hits me in the gut or moves me so I'm crying... not ugly crying, just a tear or two and then we move onto the next scene.
Lady Gaga
Where to even start with her? I'd been a Little Monster since maybe 2011 after seeing the Monster Ball HBO special. I'd been listening to her and buying her stuff before that- I love pop music and her stuff was the first music in a while (since maybe 2002) I'd been enjoying off the radio. "Born this way" is still my favorite album. The message appeals to the outcast in all of us (I'm a straight white female, we're the same age, and still don't feel like I have my place a lot of the time... unless of course it's among people who love Prince on Facebook or Twitter). And the music has such creative amazing energy.
I won't be like other fans who've given Artpop and Joanne a lot of crap. There's still something on both albums I can latch onto and really get behind.
A lot of her activism is really admirable: supporting gay rights, anti-bullying... I wouldn't have watched the "Hunting Ground" documentary if she hadn't written a song for it, which SHOULD have won an Oscar.
But hopefully with this movie, she will finally will cuz she REALLY deserves it for this one.
Trailers:
A full length trailer of "The Crimes of Grindewalld" from the Fantastic Beasts franchise. I swear I'd have to watch it a dozen times to catch everything in it. I think there was a snake in a scene that was actually called Nagini and it was an Animagus. Makes me wonder if Voldemort's snake was an Animagus that never changed back.
The Mule- apparently Clint Eastwood is pushing/transporting drugs in his old age? It seems like a very odd concept and I don't know if it'll work.
The Girl in the Spider's Web- for whatever reason, the sequel to the Dragon Tattoo, "The Girl who played with fire" got completely scrapped (along with the whole cast) and they decided to focus on the sequel to the trilogy... I struggled to read the first book and gave up before getting to page 100 and the movie was so risqué that I didn't want to see it on those grounds alone. This looks more like a solid R-rating than NC17, but I feel kinda bad for Rooney Mara not reprising the role that earned her an Oscar nomination. Also, Lisabeth Slander doesn't seem nearly as autistic as she did in whatever trailers I saw of the first movie.
Rocketman- a teaser trailer, really, about Elton John's life... why not? Queen is getting one that looks AMAZING. Although it seems weird that Elton John is getting a biopic and he's still alive. Don't you usually only do those for dead people? Not to be rude, but isn't that usually the case?
Beautiful Boy- it's been getting a lot of air play on TV already. It looks like a really good movie that deals with addiction and family. Starring Steve Carrel and the actor from "Call me by your name"
The Upside- it seems to be a pattern that Kevin Hart always does a movie that comes out in January... and it's almost always terrible, which is unfortunate cuz that dude's hilarious. But this seems like a sweet movie where he's down on his luck and gets a job helping quadriplegic Bryan Cranston. Some of the comedy might be over the top, but some of it seems well written. Either that or this trailer was shot REALLY well. (Makes me think of that scene from "The Holiday" where Cameron Diaz does a trailer for a Lindsay Lohan/James Franco movie that makes it look amazing, but she and everyone else knows it's crap)
The Favourite- apparently the Queen (whoever this queen is, I have no idea, don't really care) is really depressed and Emma Stone (maybe searching for her next Oscar?) and Rachel Weisz are vieing for her attention. I honestly don't know if this meant to be a comedy or a drama... it's just hard to take completely seriously.
The Main Event:
I'll just preface in saying I'd never seen any of the original versions of this movie and at some point, I should at least watch the Judy Garland version. But I knew this was an older movie being remade, so I thought maybe Bradley Cooper and Gaga were paying homage to old Hollywood like La-La Land and The Artist. While they certainly could have pulled that off, it wasn't the case. This take is very modern and current and that's why it's so compelling.
Bradley Cooper plays an established country singer with addiction issues (drugs and alcohol) to deal with hearing issues he's starting to have in his left ear. (I think the term is tinnitus, which is an incessent ringing. The titular character in "Baby Driver" also had it, which is why he always played music in his ear buds on the job... still need to see that movie). It's a constant struggle. At one point, his brother (yes, his brother) played by Sam Elliot suggests he wear inner ears to perserve what he still has, but he refuses because it cuts him off from the energy of the audience.
I've seen it on American Idol and The Voice a lot. Singers wear these inner ear inserts so they can hear themselves, but sometimes they'll take one out so they can hear the music or the audience. When you're not used to them, they make it difficult to do your job, but they can also be helpeful. (I'm sure I'd seen Prince wear them a couple of times in concert footage- one was at Hong Kong in 2003 where he did "Shh"... amazing... ok, moving on).
By chance, Bradley Cooper stops by the one bar that Gaga's character is performing. Not a gay bar (although a lot of the crowd probably fit the description), but a drag bar.
There was a lot of hype, particularly from my favorite reality singing competition blogger, Lyndsey Parker, about the fact Gaga had the idea for the drag bar in this movie and she recruited two "RuPaul's Drag Race" alums to having speaking roles. (According to Wikipedia, they were from season 3 and they also appeared in her "Applause" lyric video). I'd never seen that series, but it has a huge following and recently won an Emmy for best reality show (RuPaul won three years in a row for reality show host... which is great, but I feel bad for Cat Deeley for not winning one for SYTYCD- she's such a sweetheart, always great with the contestants. And unlike Carson Daly on The Voice, when she asks them questions after they perform or get eliminated, it doesn't sound scripted. It sounds like she actually cares about them and I know she does).
But it got me thinking that maybe at some point, I might watch the show to see what all the hype is about. (I also thought I was going to binge sometime on Project Runaway- another reality show I'd never seen and I have yet to do that either... I have so little time for any sort of binging, unless of course it's YouTube videos on video games...)
Gaga plays Ally (sounds stupid, but I was upset at the spelling of her name- I always imagined it as "Ali", anyway, moving on)- waitress by day and singer by night. And this drag club is a place where she feels comfortable and at home. And it's a really sweet relationship she has with the people there.
Anyway, Ally and Jackson (Bradley Cooper) start hanging out and he finds himself fascinated by her. He thinks she's an amazing singer and songwriter, but she's afraid to give it that extra shot. She said record companies rejected her because her nose is too big: the whole conundrum of "you sound great, but you don't look great"
But he gives her the opportunity to sing her song on stage with him and the wheels start to go into motion... and what a wild ride it is. And sadly he does spend a good chunk of it drunk or wasted and the people around him struggling to help him.
Ally's character arc was really cool to watch over the course of the movie because it was very similiar to Gaga's own career. She was a struggling singer/songwriter playing at all the clubs and wanting desperately to make the big time. I came across a website that had a bunch of her songs from before she became Gaga. Of course there were one or two comments on the link, saying "you're not a real fan if you're just finding this now"... it's kinda sad that there's a little of that arrogance in every fandom and I'm occasionally guilty of that myself.
But Joanne was also meant to be a return to that- stripping away all the gimmicks and focusing on vocals and raw songwriting. If anything, Ally's songs from this early part of the movie were even more stripped down than that and that's why there's so good. This is a soundtrack I'll definitely be getting in the future. It's also cool that Gaga and Bradley Cooper co-wrote a lot of it. And his singing voice isn't bad, either.
Later, Ally is approached by a record producer who wants to help her do an album. An offer she ultimately takes and the tide of the movie turns for better and for worse.
And funny enough, it does follow the arc of Gaga's career where she went from the singer/songwriter thing to the pop thing. Some aspects are similiar, but others... it kinda speaks against pop music and the whole machine of record companies. How they make their artists adhere to a certain image and they have to stick with that or else they get dropped, therefore real artistry is extinguished.
Gaga's music had a lot of flash and polish, but her lyrics weren't this explicit. Ally's first hit song under the label and she performed on SNL had a chorus saying something like "how are you walking around with an ass like that"... I know butts and asses sell records, but give me a break... a lot of the songs just took her completely away from what made her great in the first place. That, coupled with Jackson's addiction issues, created a lot of problems.
I think one issue I had with this movie was that there was good chunks of plot, but there were also huge chunks where nothing was happening. Montages of sex scenes (which were done tactfully, not too overdone) or hitting different venues and performing and such.
For me, while the movie was 2 hours and 16 minutes long... it felt a little too long. I spent maybe the last 20 minutes waiting for the movie to be over.
I won't give away everything that happened, but there were a couple times throughout the movie I wanted to punch her manager in the face. Just because he has a cute British accent doesn't mean he's excused from some of the stuff he does.
And by the end of the movie, Ally returns to form and does one last song... and it's amazing and a bit of a tearjerker.
My mom called this a "three tissue movie" and that's totally a good way to describe it. I think I cried at least three times and they were at good parts, during good songs. One was when she finally took the spotlight for the first time in front of a huge crowd- we were all just so happy that she finally owned what made her so good. It was also a tad awkward cuz I think we were the only ones in the audience clapping or cheering and it wasn't even loud cheering either. There wasn't a lot of people in the theater, but a lot of them were a little older and it was crazy that they were seeing something with Gaga in it. I guess cuz she stripped away that whole image and all that risque quirky stuff, she's now more approachable. On the one hand, it's great that more people are appreciating her, but part of me hates that it took this long... kinda like how it suddenly became cool to like Taylor Swift because of her 1989 album- SNL did a whole sketch about that. Kinda funny, but kinda lame cuz a lot of her stuff before that album is really good. (Her "Red" album is my favorite, although "Reputation" I've really gotten into these last few months).
And yeah, the final song is meant to be a tearjerker and the lyrics are very manipulative cuz of what happens in the movie to bring it out... but yeah, it was so good.
Other than the length, I really couldn't complain. It was a great movie.
It was also kinda funny seeing Andrew Dice Clay playing her father... I didn't have any idea it was him until the end credits rolled. Talk about playing against type. I first saw him years ago on an old VHS where we recorded a bunch of stuff off the TV and I got to see his "Little Miss Moffet" routine. I also saw him in "The Adventures of Ford Faraline"- for him, but also cuz Morris Day (he was in "Purple Rain" with Prince), although his role was very small. It's not the greatest movie, but it was entertaining in its own little way. And recently I saw him on this reality show where celebrity couples threw dinner parties and he won just because his girlfriend did all the cooking and was really good. There was this hilarious scene at his house where Lance Bass stumbles into his closet and comes out wearing one of his leather jackets. Suddenly, everyone is wearing one :P classic!
As Ally's father, though, he's a driver who also likes to gamble and has a lot of his friends hanging around the house all the time. He also keeps telling a story, saying how he could have been bigger than Sinatra. And he's always bragging to his friends how great a singer she is- long before she became famous.
Probably the best part of the movie was that the two main actors were so good. They didn't feel like people playing roles- they WERE these characters and I really enjoyed spending time with them through all the ups and downs of their lives and careers.
If Bradley Cooper gets nominated and wins, I'm sure there's going to be a big uproar about it that goes back to the whole #Oscarssowhite movement. The movie hasn't even come out yet, but I can totally see Rami Malek winning for playing Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody"- that movie looks really good.
But I really hope Gaga gets nominated AND wins- there's a lot of momentum going her way, between her Julie Andrews tribute, her SuperBowl performance (the best one since Prince- which will forever set the standard for me), and " 'Till it happens to you" being nominated (and losing to Sam Smith cuz he did the latest James Bond theme). If she has any shot of getting an Oscar, this is it and it has to be now. I think she also won an Emmy for "American Horror Story" so if she does Broadway, she has a shot at the EGOT title, something that Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, and, most recently, John Legend have won. And of course, Robert Lopez- half of the husband/wife duo who wrote the songs for "Frozen" and are responsbile for "Let it go" becoming one of the most beloved/hated songs of all time cuz EVERYONE had to cover it on some YouTube video or singing competition.
Lyndsey Parker mentioned this on a podcast where she and Jeffery Austin (4th place finisher on The Voice, season 8... I'm still mad he didn't win) bemoaned the fact that the songs from "A Star is Born" are destined to be covered a million times on every possible reality show that involves song and dance.
I didn't realize it until they said it, but they're right and that fills me with dread. Especially considering how overdone the songs from "The Greatest Showman" are already- "This is Me" in particular. Fun fact: Jenny Lynd's song "Never Enough" was dubbed by someone from season 3 of The Voice, Loren Allred. I don't remember her from the show at all, although I don't remember a lot of people unless they're in the top 12 and I really wanted them to win (and a lot of the time, they don't- I think Cassadee Pope was the only winner I really backed, all the way from the blinds through the whol show- I loved her voice and she sung a lot of pop songs I loved). But I read about Loren after finding this out from The Voice, when someone auditioned with her song, and she said that the producers were trying to create an image around her that she just wasn't buying into. I think she was eliminated in the Live Playoffs.
Interesting how it all comes full circle- all this talk about artistic integrity and record companies trying to package artists to fit a certain mold or image. It's probably the biggest issue this movie goes into and it's sadly true in real life. Particularly when artists are thrust into the spotlight, don't get to hone their craft and unless they have the right machine behind them or they sell out to a certain market, they're not going to lost beyond their first album or two.
That's probably a big reason why these days, I really don't buy into a lot of new music. There doesn't feel like anything original anymore and it's all about flash with no substance. Not to mention more rap and hip-hop than I ever want to have in my life... when I listen to the radio, I try to find stations that at least mix up different decades and there's more variety.
The last albums I have bought: Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and Jessica Meuse, who I'd been following since she was on American Idol back in 2014 and that album was worth the wait for sure. I'm sure some of their image is being produced in some way, but they feel like the few people that have their own sense of artistry and haven't completely sold out to an image just to sell records. "Reputation" can be argued that it was a move to be edgier and get rid of that squeaky clean image, but some of the old Taylor is still in there. It's just knowing where to look.
Even Prince (sorry for all the references to him, they just have so much relevence I can't help myself) had to deal with the industry trying to package him a certain way- early in his career, he told his manager and his label that he didn't want to be just another black artist. And he did albums like 1999 and Purple Rain to crossover to the white audeince and gain appeal across all the demographics. (Although he did such a good job creating that image for himself, it sadly defined his career and created a ceaseless battle where people wanted him to always be that guy from Purple Rain when he just wanted to keep going forward and evolving).
What I've noticed is that the industry always tries to put artists into boxes, but the artists that are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, the peaks of their careers were in the 80's or earlier and they played their own instruments and wrote their own material. There was a craft of performing and songwriting and playing instruments and that's why older music is so good. I try not to say that current music is crap. Heck, my dad refuses to listen to anything later than 80's music and the only reasons he knows who Gaga and Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars are either because I follow them myself or he saw them on HBO or as part of the Victoria's Secret fashion show. He also loved that song, "Shut up and dance"- I think because it sounds like an 80's song, but I think he found about it by random chance on some YouTube binge. Somehow, I think we're all guilty of binging something on Youtube :P but with good wi-fi and so many videos to choose from, it's hard to resist. But it's almost gotten to a point for me where, sadly, I may be over current music and the only people I invest in are ones I'd followed for a long time and/or I see a part of me in their work.
...well, that got out of hand quickly... but I'll leave it in cuz all of it ultimately fits the point. Record companies work at what they do, but at what cost to the artists?
Grade: A-
(I swear, if it didn't feel too long, I would have given it a higher score... and there was maybe one loose end at the end of the movie I wish they had tied up... and it goes back to that damn manager... just wanna punch him)
Location: Cinemark Theater in Stroud Mall
Time: 12:10pm
Party: 2 (my mom and I)
Director: Bradley Cooper
Writers: Eric Roth ("Forrest Gump," etc.), Bradley Cooper, and Will Fetters ("Remember Me")
Composers: [there's so much music in this movie that I can't list everyone... but Gaga and Bradley Cooper both have writing credits on the soundtrack, which is pretty awesome]
Notable Cast (for me, main characters and also people that stood out):
Jackson Maine- Bradley Cooper
Ally- Lady Gaga
Ally's father, Lorzeno- Andrew Dice "Dice-Man" Clay
Bobby Maine, Jack's brother [not father]- Sam Elliott
Rez Gavron- Rafi Gavron
Ally's friend, Ramon- Anthony Ramos
Jack's driver, Phil- Greg Grunberg (I had to include him cuz I recognized him from "Heroes")
Drag bar MC- Shangela
Emerald- Willam Belli
Duration: 136 minutes (+7 trailers... I sense a common theme in this theater, it's always 7 trailers...)
Opening Comments:
So this came out over a week ago and since my mom was going to a conference with my dad, she asked if I could wait a week to see it. No problem, just as long as I'd get to a theater to see it at some point. Not sure why, but it's been really hard getting me out to the movies this year. Maybe I'm over movies in general or having to drive half an hour to a theather takes the motivation out of it... we were so spoiled having the theater down the road from us.
I remember that this had been in the making for a long time. According to Wikipedia, it'd been even longer... but I did hear a couple years ago that Bradley Cooper was doing this with Gaga and now it's finally here.
A few things to say about these two people...
Bradley Cooper
I'm such a nerd for remembering this, but when he was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 2011, I didn't really get the hype (and Ryan Gosling not winning had nothing to do with that, I'm not that into him either). To me, he was just part of the Hangover wolf pack and the bully in Wedding Crashers at that point.
But after seeing him a bunch of dramatic roles, I really got to like him. He is good looking and the more I see him interviewed, I really think he's a nice guy that'd be cool to spend time with. The attraction still isn't at the level of some other famous people.
Whether it's The Words, Silver Linings Playbook or Burnt, he just becomes these characters to the point where I don't see him anymore. Not counting the Avengers movies, this is the third time I'm going to see him in a theater release. And again, it has more to do with the subject matter than him as a person. But he's still a highlight of the movie. And something in those movies always hits me in the gut or moves me so I'm crying... not ugly crying, just a tear or two and then we move onto the next scene.
Lady Gaga
Where to even start with her? I'd been a Little Monster since maybe 2011 after seeing the Monster Ball HBO special. I'd been listening to her and buying her stuff before that- I love pop music and her stuff was the first music in a while (since maybe 2002) I'd been enjoying off the radio. "Born this way" is still my favorite album. The message appeals to the outcast in all of us (I'm a straight white female, we're the same age, and still don't feel like I have my place a lot of the time... unless of course it's among people who love Prince on Facebook or Twitter). And the music has such creative amazing energy.
I won't be like other fans who've given Artpop and Joanne a lot of crap. There's still something on both albums I can latch onto and really get behind.
A lot of her activism is really admirable: supporting gay rights, anti-bullying... I wouldn't have watched the "Hunting Ground" documentary if she hadn't written a song for it, which SHOULD have won an Oscar.
But hopefully with this movie, she will finally will cuz she REALLY deserves it for this one.
Trailers:
A full length trailer of "The Crimes of Grindewalld" from the Fantastic Beasts franchise. I swear I'd have to watch it a dozen times to catch everything in it. I think there was a snake in a scene that was actually called Nagini and it was an Animagus. Makes me wonder if Voldemort's snake was an Animagus that never changed back.
The Mule- apparently Clint Eastwood is pushing/transporting drugs in his old age? It seems like a very odd concept and I don't know if it'll work.
The Girl in the Spider's Web- for whatever reason, the sequel to the Dragon Tattoo, "The Girl who played with fire" got completely scrapped (along with the whole cast) and they decided to focus on the sequel to the trilogy... I struggled to read the first book and gave up before getting to page 100 and the movie was so risqué that I didn't want to see it on those grounds alone. This looks more like a solid R-rating than NC17, but I feel kinda bad for Rooney Mara not reprising the role that earned her an Oscar nomination. Also, Lisabeth Slander doesn't seem nearly as autistic as she did in whatever trailers I saw of the first movie.
Rocketman- a teaser trailer, really, about Elton John's life... why not? Queen is getting one that looks AMAZING. Although it seems weird that Elton John is getting a biopic and he's still alive. Don't you usually only do those for dead people? Not to be rude, but isn't that usually the case?
Beautiful Boy- it's been getting a lot of air play on TV already. It looks like a really good movie that deals with addiction and family. Starring Steve Carrel and the actor from "Call me by your name"
The Upside- it seems to be a pattern that Kevin Hart always does a movie that comes out in January... and it's almost always terrible, which is unfortunate cuz that dude's hilarious. But this seems like a sweet movie where he's down on his luck and gets a job helping quadriplegic Bryan Cranston. Some of the comedy might be over the top, but some of it seems well written. Either that or this trailer was shot REALLY well. (Makes me think of that scene from "The Holiday" where Cameron Diaz does a trailer for a Lindsay Lohan/James Franco movie that makes it look amazing, but she and everyone else knows it's crap)
The Favourite- apparently the Queen (whoever this queen is, I have no idea, don't really care) is really depressed and Emma Stone (maybe searching for her next Oscar?) and Rachel Weisz are vieing for her attention. I honestly don't know if this meant to be a comedy or a drama... it's just hard to take completely seriously.
The Main Event:
I'll just preface in saying I'd never seen any of the original versions of this movie and at some point, I should at least watch the Judy Garland version. But I knew this was an older movie being remade, so I thought maybe Bradley Cooper and Gaga were paying homage to old Hollywood like La-La Land and The Artist. While they certainly could have pulled that off, it wasn't the case. This take is very modern and current and that's why it's so compelling.
Bradley Cooper plays an established country singer with addiction issues (drugs and alcohol) to deal with hearing issues he's starting to have in his left ear. (I think the term is tinnitus, which is an incessent ringing. The titular character in "Baby Driver" also had it, which is why he always played music in his ear buds on the job... still need to see that movie). It's a constant struggle. At one point, his brother (yes, his brother) played by Sam Elliot suggests he wear inner ears to perserve what he still has, but he refuses because it cuts him off from the energy of the audience.
I've seen it on American Idol and The Voice a lot. Singers wear these inner ear inserts so they can hear themselves, but sometimes they'll take one out so they can hear the music or the audience. When you're not used to them, they make it difficult to do your job, but they can also be helpeful. (I'm sure I'd seen Prince wear them a couple of times in concert footage- one was at Hong Kong in 2003 where he did "Shh"... amazing... ok, moving on).
By chance, Bradley Cooper stops by the one bar that Gaga's character is performing. Not a gay bar (although a lot of the crowd probably fit the description), but a drag bar.
There was a lot of hype, particularly from my favorite reality singing competition blogger, Lyndsey Parker, about the fact Gaga had the idea for the drag bar in this movie and she recruited two "RuPaul's Drag Race" alums to having speaking roles. (According to Wikipedia, they were from season 3 and they also appeared in her "Applause" lyric video). I'd never seen that series, but it has a huge following and recently won an Emmy for best reality show (RuPaul won three years in a row for reality show host... which is great, but I feel bad for Cat Deeley for not winning one for SYTYCD- she's such a sweetheart, always great with the contestants. And unlike Carson Daly on The Voice, when she asks them questions after they perform or get eliminated, it doesn't sound scripted. It sounds like she actually cares about them and I know she does).
But it got me thinking that maybe at some point, I might watch the show to see what all the hype is about. (I also thought I was going to binge sometime on Project Runaway- another reality show I'd never seen and I have yet to do that either... I have so little time for any sort of binging, unless of course it's YouTube videos on video games...)
Gaga plays Ally (sounds stupid, but I was upset at the spelling of her name- I always imagined it as "Ali", anyway, moving on)- waitress by day and singer by night. And this drag club is a place where she feels comfortable and at home. And it's a really sweet relationship she has with the people there.
Anyway, Ally and Jackson (Bradley Cooper) start hanging out and he finds himself fascinated by her. He thinks she's an amazing singer and songwriter, but she's afraid to give it that extra shot. She said record companies rejected her because her nose is too big: the whole conundrum of "you sound great, but you don't look great"
But he gives her the opportunity to sing her song on stage with him and the wheels start to go into motion... and what a wild ride it is. And sadly he does spend a good chunk of it drunk or wasted and the people around him struggling to help him.
Ally's character arc was really cool to watch over the course of the movie because it was very similiar to Gaga's own career. She was a struggling singer/songwriter playing at all the clubs and wanting desperately to make the big time. I came across a website that had a bunch of her songs from before she became Gaga. Of course there were one or two comments on the link, saying "you're not a real fan if you're just finding this now"... it's kinda sad that there's a little of that arrogance in every fandom and I'm occasionally guilty of that myself.
But Joanne was also meant to be a return to that- stripping away all the gimmicks and focusing on vocals and raw songwriting. If anything, Ally's songs from this early part of the movie were even more stripped down than that and that's why there's so good. This is a soundtrack I'll definitely be getting in the future. It's also cool that Gaga and Bradley Cooper co-wrote a lot of it. And his singing voice isn't bad, either.
Later, Ally is approached by a record producer who wants to help her do an album. An offer she ultimately takes and the tide of the movie turns for better and for worse.
And funny enough, it does follow the arc of Gaga's career where she went from the singer/songwriter thing to the pop thing. Some aspects are similiar, but others... it kinda speaks against pop music and the whole machine of record companies. How they make their artists adhere to a certain image and they have to stick with that or else they get dropped, therefore real artistry is extinguished.
Gaga's music had a lot of flash and polish, but her lyrics weren't this explicit. Ally's first hit song under the label and she performed on SNL had a chorus saying something like "how are you walking around with an ass like that"... I know butts and asses sell records, but give me a break... a lot of the songs just took her completely away from what made her great in the first place. That, coupled with Jackson's addiction issues, created a lot of problems.
I think one issue I had with this movie was that there was good chunks of plot, but there were also huge chunks where nothing was happening. Montages of sex scenes (which were done tactfully, not too overdone) or hitting different venues and performing and such.
For me, while the movie was 2 hours and 16 minutes long... it felt a little too long. I spent maybe the last 20 minutes waiting for the movie to be over.
I won't give away everything that happened, but there were a couple times throughout the movie I wanted to punch her manager in the face. Just because he has a cute British accent doesn't mean he's excused from some of the stuff he does.
And by the end of the movie, Ally returns to form and does one last song... and it's amazing and a bit of a tearjerker.
My mom called this a "three tissue movie" and that's totally a good way to describe it. I think I cried at least three times and they were at good parts, during good songs. One was when she finally took the spotlight for the first time in front of a huge crowd- we were all just so happy that she finally owned what made her so good. It was also a tad awkward cuz I think we were the only ones in the audience clapping or cheering and it wasn't even loud cheering either. There wasn't a lot of people in the theater, but a lot of them were a little older and it was crazy that they were seeing something with Gaga in it. I guess cuz she stripped away that whole image and all that risque quirky stuff, she's now more approachable. On the one hand, it's great that more people are appreciating her, but part of me hates that it took this long... kinda like how it suddenly became cool to like Taylor Swift because of her 1989 album- SNL did a whole sketch about that. Kinda funny, but kinda lame cuz a lot of her stuff before that album is really good. (Her "Red" album is my favorite, although "Reputation" I've really gotten into these last few months).
And yeah, the final song is meant to be a tearjerker and the lyrics are very manipulative cuz of what happens in the movie to bring it out... but yeah, it was so good.
Other than the length, I really couldn't complain. It was a great movie.
It was also kinda funny seeing Andrew Dice Clay playing her father... I didn't have any idea it was him until the end credits rolled. Talk about playing against type. I first saw him years ago on an old VHS where we recorded a bunch of stuff off the TV and I got to see his "Little Miss Moffet" routine. I also saw him in "The Adventures of Ford Faraline"- for him, but also cuz Morris Day (he was in "Purple Rain" with Prince), although his role was very small. It's not the greatest movie, but it was entertaining in its own little way. And recently I saw him on this reality show where celebrity couples threw dinner parties and he won just because his girlfriend did all the cooking and was really good. There was this hilarious scene at his house where Lance Bass stumbles into his closet and comes out wearing one of his leather jackets. Suddenly, everyone is wearing one :P classic!
As Ally's father, though, he's a driver who also likes to gamble and has a lot of his friends hanging around the house all the time. He also keeps telling a story, saying how he could have been bigger than Sinatra. And he's always bragging to his friends how great a singer she is- long before she became famous.
Probably the best part of the movie was that the two main actors were so good. They didn't feel like people playing roles- they WERE these characters and I really enjoyed spending time with them through all the ups and downs of their lives and careers.
If Bradley Cooper gets nominated and wins, I'm sure there's going to be a big uproar about it that goes back to the whole #Oscarssowhite movement. The movie hasn't even come out yet, but I can totally see Rami Malek winning for playing Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody"- that movie looks really good.
But I really hope Gaga gets nominated AND wins- there's a lot of momentum going her way, between her Julie Andrews tribute, her SuperBowl performance (the best one since Prince- which will forever set the standard for me), and " 'Till it happens to you" being nominated (and losing to Sam Smith cuz he did the latest James Bond theme). If she has any shot of getting an Oscar, this is it and it has to be now. I think she also won an Emmy for "American Horror Story" so if she does Broadway, she has a shot at the EGOT title, something that Whoopi Goldberg, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Moreno, and, most recently, John Legend have won. And of course, Robert Lopez- half of the husband/wife duo who wrote the songs for "Frozen" and are responsbile for "Let it go" becoming one of the most beloved/hated songs of all time cuz EVERYONE had to cover it on some YouTube video or singing competition.
Lyndsey Parker mentioned this on a podcast where she and Jeffery Austin (4th place finisher on The Voice, season 8... I'm still mad he didn't win) bemoaned the fact that the songs from "A Star is Born" are destined to be covered a million times on every possible reality show that involves song and dance.
I didn't realize it until they said it, but they're right and that fills me with dread. Especially considering how overdone the songs from "The Greatest Showman" are already- "This is Me" in particular. Fun fact: Jenny Lynd's song "Never Enough" was dubbed by someone from season 3 of The Voice, Loren Allred. I don't remember her from the show at all, although I don't remember a lot of people unless they're in the top 12 and I really wanted them to win (and a lot of the time, they don't- I think Cassadee Pope was the only winner I really backed, all the way from the blinds through the whol show- I loved her voice and she sung a lot of pop songs I loved). But I read about Loren after finding this out from The Voice, when someone auditioned with her song, and she said that the producers were trying to create an image around her that she just wasn't buying into. I think she was eliminated in the Live Playoffs.
Interesting how it all comes full circle- all this talk about artistic integrity and record companies trying to package artists to fit a certain mold or image. It's probably the biggest issue this movie goes into and it's sadly true in real life. Particularly when artists are thrust into the spotlight, don't get to hone their craft and unless they have the right machine behind them or they sell out to a certain market, they're not going to lost beyond their first album or two.
That's probably a big reason why these days, I really don't buy into a lot of new music. There doesn't feel like anything original anymore and it's all about flash with no substance. Not to mention more rap and hip-hop than I ever want to have in my life... when I listen to the radio, I try to find stations that at least mix up different decades and there's more variety.
The last albums I have bought: Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and Jessica Meuse, who I'd been following since she was on American Idol back in 2014 and that album was worth the wait for sure. I'm sure some of their image is being produced in some way, but they feel like the few people that have their own sense of artistry and haven't completely sold out to an image just to sell records. "Reputation" can be argued that it was a move to be edgier and get rid of that squeaky clean image, but some of the old Taylor is still in there. It's just knowing where to look.
Even Prince (sorry for all the references to him, they just have so much relevence I can't help myself) had to deal with the industry trying to package him a certain way- early in his career, he told his manager and his label that he didn't want to be just another black artist. And he did albums like 1999 and Purple Rain to crossover to the white audeince and gain appeal across all the demographics. (Although he did such a good job creating that image for himself, it sadly defined his career and created a ceaseless battle where people wanted him to always be that guy from Purple Rain when he just wanted to keep going forward and evolving).
What I've noticed is that the industry always tries to put artists into boxes, but the artists that are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, the peaks of their careers were in the 80's or earlier and they played their own instruments and wrote their own material. There was a craft of performing and songwriting and playing instruments and that's why older music is so good. I try not to say that current music is crap. Heck, my dad refuses to listen to anything later than 80's music and the only reasons he knows who Gaga and Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars are either because I follow them myself or he saw them on HBO or as part of the Victoria's Secret fashion show. He also loved that song, "Shut up and dance"- I think because it sounds like an 80's song, but I think he found about it by random chance on some YouTube binge. Somehow, I think we're all guilty of binging something on Youtube :P but with good wi-fi and so many videos to choose from, it's hard to resist. But it's almost gotten to a point for me where, sadly, I may be over current music and the only people I invest in are ones I'd followed for a long time and/or I see a part of me in their work.
...well, that got out of hand quickly... but I'll leave it in cuz all of it ultimately fits the point. Record companies work at what they do, but at what cost to the artists?
Grade: A-
(I swear, if it didn't feel too long, I would have given it a higher score... and there was maybe one loose end at the end of the movie I wish they had tied up... and it goes back to that damn manager... just wanna punch him)
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Theatrical Review: The Magnificiant Seven
Date: Sunday September 25, 2016
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 12:30pm
Party: 2 (my mom & I)
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Based on Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai"
Cast:
The Seven
Sam Chisolm- Denzel Washington
Josh Faraday- Chris Pratt
Vasquez- Manuel Garcia-Rulfo
Goodnight Robicheaux- Ethan Hawke
Billy Rocks- Byun-hun Lee
Jack Horn- Vincent D'Onofrio
Red Harvest- Martin Sensmeier
The Farmers
Matthew Cullen- Matt Bomer
Emma Cullen- Haley Bennett
Teddy Q- Luke Grimes
The Villain
Bartholomew Bogue- Peter Sarsgaard
McCann- Cam Gigandet
One Eyed Lucas- Jackson Beals
Duration: 132 minutes (+3 previews)
Write-up:
Opening Remarks
Easily one of the best audiences I'd been in for a long time. We got in kinda late (not so late that we missed previews, however) so it was too dark to see who was there. Just enough light to find seats.
But it was lively. Lots of laughs, oohing and aahing during the gun fights.
Why this movie got bad reviews, I have no idea. I mean, it wasn't a masterpiece, but it wasn't terrible. It was a fine callback to old westerns with some current big names.
And seriously, people these days want more diversity in movies yet when they get it, they complain... I just don't get it.
Backstory
I'd never seen the original "Seven Samurai," but one day, I hope I get that chance. If not on YouTube, then hopefully TCM will compensate me one of these days.
When I was younger, "A Bug's Life" was one of my favorite movies and I found out later on that was a version of this story.
But I know something about the original story thanks to my college animé club. Now that I think about... I think the story I'm about to relay took place 10 years ago almost to this day.
(after checking a calendar)
I believe our first meeting was September 27, 2006. And my first series ever (not counting Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh or CardCaptors- which some die-hards don't consider true animé series, but kiddie versions. Although the 4Kids English dubbing might have contributed... ok, moving on)...
My first ever series at the club was "Samurai 7." It's about these farmers whose land is taken over by bandits. In this version, they were robotic and mechanical. So a small party consisting of the village high priestess, her younger sister and a farmer goes into town to hire an army of samurai to defeat the bandits so they can have their village back.
Along the way, we meet these remarkable men who agree to fight for payments of rice. All with their unique personalities and contribute something different to help the overall cause.
The series only lasts 24 half-hour episodes, so it isn't a massive undertaking. I'd highly recommend it.
Previews
There were three. None of which were movies I really want to see.
Although with "Arrival" starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, it's hard to say 100% no to it. Maybe not in the theater, but in the future when it arrives on network television. It looks like a modern take on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." But since I hadn't seen that movie, I can't be 100% sure of that.
"Incarnate" stars Aaron Eckhart as this man who gets inside the heads of possession victims and helps them break Satan's hold on them. I don't know what a better movie would be to air this trailer at, but I sure didn't appreciate it. Those kind of movies freak me out and really shouldn't have been attempted after "The Exorcist" succeeded over 40 years ago.
"Kong: Skull Island"- I saw Tom Hiddleston and I immediately got a feeling that I knew what movie this would be before it got 10 seconds in. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I retained that fact and the fact that Universal Studios is putting together a new attraction with this same title.
My question: they already remade King Kong 10 years ago with Peter Jackson. Why do they need to do another one? Unless they're leading up to another King Kong vs. Godzilla movie, I don't really see the point.
But then again, I didn't grow up on these movies like some people in the previous generations.
The Main Event
The movie is very nicely split into three parts. Four if you include the prologue.
The prologue sets up how Bartholomew Bogue came to take over this particular town. We meet some characters that become important later on (namely, Haley Bennett's character, Emma Cullen) and the audience is set up to HATE the villain.
Part 1: we get to meet and know our seven outlaws. Emma and one of the other townfolk, Teddy, approach Sam Chisolm, an ex-outlaw turned bounty hunter to help them build an army to defend the town and take it back from the bad guys.
One by one, we meet the outlaws. Some are developed more than others, but everyone is free to judge them for themselves and find favorites.
Of course, Chris Pratt was a huge reason I wanted to see the movie in addition to knowing/loving the story of it. He'd been riding high (pun absolutely intended) in the box office between Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. His character isn't nearly as stupid as he looks (like his Guardian's character, Peter Quill/Star-Lord), but not surprisingly draws the most laughs of anyone in the movie.
Another of my favorites was Billy Rocks. He was part of a package deal with the legendary Goodnight Robicheaux and his specialty is knives. He is some kind of bad-ass and a good-looking one at that.
Red Harvest, an outcast Native American, also has some cool moments.
And Jack Horn got some good laughs as well. Vincent D'Onofrio, it feels like, has been everywhere since I saw him in "The Judge" and this is somewhat different than the past two times I've seen him. And it's kind of a nice change of pace.
Certain outlaws reminded me of certain samurai from that series.
Sam Chisolm is obviously Kambei, the strong, solemn leader of the group.
Jack Horn is like Kikuchiyo, who is a large mechanical samurai that's a klutz and the comic relief of the series.
And Red Harvest is like Kyuzo, although with a slightly different backstory. They're both men of few words that favor a bow and arrow. But Kyuzo originally started as an antagonist- a samurai employed as the bodyguard of the city's royal family (that's another side-story entirely and it doesn't carry enough relevance to this movie for me to dive into it too far).
Other than that, I don't see any other distinct similarities worth bringing up.
Part two is them getting to the town and making preparations for battle. This includes a montage or two good for a few laughs. Particularly when trying to teach the townsfolk how to shoot or handle knives (the latter was one of my favorite moments).
The movie slows down a little bit at this point, but that's made better with the comic relief moments as well as some back and forth between the town and what's going in the enemy's camp in Sacramento.
Part three is our big battle scene where anything and everything can happen. Lots of excitement, some heartbreak, but some pretty awesome conclusions to all this.
Emma Cullen also has a great moment towards the end that makes it all worthwhile. She's every bit as bad-ass as the high priestess Kirara in the animé, but she gets to do some actual fighting. Which is nice. #GirlPower
Conclusion
What can I say? I had fun with this one. Other than some pacing issues and running a tiny bit long in places... just don't listen to the critics on this one. Especially if you like Chris Pratt or Denzel being awesome ;)
Grade: A-
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 12:30pm
Party: 2 (my mom & I)
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Based on Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai"
Cast:
The Seven
Sam Chisolm- Denzel Washington
Josh Faraday- Chris Pratt
Vasquez- Manuel Garcia-Rulfo
Goodnight Robicheaux- Ethan Hawke
Billy Rocks- Byun-hun Lee
Jack Horn- Vincent D'Onofrio
Red Harvest- Martin Sensmeier
The Farmers
Matthew Cullen- Matt Bomer
Emma Cullen- Haley Bennett
Teddy Q- Luke Grimes
The Villain
Bartholomew Bogue- Peter Sarsgaard
McCann- Cam Gigandet
One Eyed Lucas- Jackson Beals
Duration: 132 minutes (+3 previews)
Write-up:
Opening Remarks
Easily one of the best audiences I'd been in for a long time. We got in kinda late (not so late that we missed previews, however) so it was too dark to see who was there. Just enough light to find seats.
But it was lively. Lots of laughs, oohing and aahing during the gun fights.
Why this movie got bad reviews, I have no idea. I mean, it wasn't a masterpiece, but it wasn't terrible. It was a fine callback to old westerns with some current big names.
And seriously, people these days want more diversity in movies yet when they get it, they complain... I just don't get it.
Backstory
I'd never seen the original "Seven Samurai," but one day, I hope I get that chance. If not on YouTube, then hopefully TCM will compensate me one of these days.
When I was younger, "A Bug's Life" was one of my favorite movies and I found out later on that was a version of this story.
But I know something about the original story thanks to my college animé club. Now that I think about... I think the story I'm about to relay took place 10 years ago almost to this day.
(after checking a calendar)
I believe our first meeting was September 27, 2006. And my first series ever (not counting Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Yu-Gi-Oh or CardCaptors- which some die-hards don't consider true animé series, but kiddie versions. Although the 4Kids English dubbing might have contributed... ok, moving on)...
My first ever series at the club was "Samurai 7." It's about these farmers whose land is taken over by bandits. In this version, they were robotic and mechanical. So a small party consisting of the village high priestess, her younger sister and a farmer goes into town to hire an army of samurai to defeat the bandits so they can have their village back.
Along the way, we meet these remarkable men who agree to fight for payments of rice. All with their unique personalities and contribute something different to help the overall cause.
The series only lasts 24 half-hour episodes, so it isn't a massive undertaking. I'd highly recommend it.
Previews
There were three. None of which were movies I really want to see.
Although with "Arrival" starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, it's hard to say 100% no to it. Maybe not in the theater, but in the future when it arrives on network television. It looks like a modern take on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." But since I hadn't seen that movie, I can't be 100% sure of that.
"Incarnate" stars Aaron Eckhart as this man who gets inside the heads of possession victims and helps them break Satan's hold on them. I don't know what a better movie would be to air this trailer at, but I sure didn't appreciate it. Those kind of movies freak me out and really shouldn't have been attempted after "The Exorcist" succeeded over 40 years ago.
"Kong: Skull Island"- I saw Tom Hiddleston and I immediately got a feeling that I knew what movie this would be before it got 10 seconds in. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I retained that fact and the fact that Universal Studios is putting together a new attraction with this same title.
My question: they already remade King Kong 10 years ago with Peter Jackson. Why do they need to do another one? Unless they're leading up to another King Kong vs. Godzilla movie, I don't really see the point.
But then again, I didn't grow up on these movies like some people in the previous generations.
The Main Event
The movie is very nicely split into three parts. Four if you include the prologue.
The prologue sets up how Bartholomew Bogue came to take over this particular town. We meet some characters that become important later on (namely, Haley Bennett's character, Emma Cullen) and the audience is set up to HATE the villain.
Part 1: we get to meet and know our seven outlaws. Emma and one of the other townfolk, Teddy, approach Sam Chisolm, an ex-outlaw turned bounty hunter to help them build an army to defend the town and take it back from the bad guys.
One by one, we meet the outlaws. Some are developed more than others, but everyone is free to judge them for themselves and find favorites.
Of course, Chris Pratt was a huge reason I wanted to see the movie in addition to knowing/loving the story of it. He'd been riding high (pun absolutely intended) in the box office between Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. His character isn't nearly as stupid as he looks (like his Guardian's character, Peter Quill/Star-Lord), but not surprisingly draws the most laughs of anyone in the movie.
Another of my favorites was Billy Rocks. He was part of a package deal with the legendary Goodnight Robicheaux and his specialty is knives. He is some kind of bad-ass and a good-looking one at that.
Red Harvest, an outcast Native American, also has some cool moments.
And Jack Horn got some good laughs as well. Vincent D'Onofrio, it feels like, has been everywhere since I saw him in "The Judge" and this is somewhat different than the past two times I've seen him. And it's kind of a nice change of pace.
Certain outlaws reminded me of certain samurai from that series.
Sam Chisolm is obviously Kambei, the strong, solemn leader of the group.
Jack Horn is like Kikuchiyo, who is a large mechanical samurai that's a klutz and the comic relief of the series.
And Red Harvest is like Kyuzo, although with a slightly different backstory. They're both men of few words that favor a bow and arrow. But Kyuzo originally started as an antagonist- a samurai employed as the bodyguard of the city's royal family (that's another side-story entirely and it doesn't carry enough relevance to this movie for me to dive into it too far).
Other than that, I don't see any other distinct similarities worth bringing up.
Part two is them getting to the town and making preparations for battle. This includes a montage or two good for a few laughs. Particularly when trying to teach the townsfolk how to shoot or handle knives (the latter was one of my favorite moments).
The movie slows down a little bit at this point, but that's made better with the comic relief moments as well as some back and forth between the town and what's going in the enemy's camp in Sacramento.
Part three is our big battle scene where anything and everything can happen. Lots of excitement, some heartbreak, but some pretty awesome conclusions to all this.
Emma Cullen also has a great moment towards the end that makes it all worthwhile. She's every bit as bad-ass as the high priestess Kirara in the animé, but she gets to do some actual fighting. Which is nice. #GirlPower
Conclusion
What can I say? I had fun with this one. Other than some pacing issues and running a tiny bit long in places... just don't listen to the critics on this one. Especially if you like Chris Pratt or Denzel being awesome ;)
Grade: A-
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Theatrical Review: Ghostbusters
Date: Tuesday July 19 2016
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 1:45pm
Party: 1 (me, myself and I)
Director: Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids" and practically all of Melissa McCarthy's "good" movies)
Writers: Paul Feig and Kate Dippold (and a lot of uncredited ad-libs from the cast)
Notable Cast:
Abby Yates- Melissa McCarthy
Erin Gilbert- Kristen Wiig
Jillian Holtzmann- Kate McKinnon
Patty Tolan- Leslie Jones
Kevin- Chris Hemsworth
Mayor of New York- Andy Garcia
Mayor's aide- Cecily Strong (another SNL alum)
Benny the take-out guy- Karan Soni (check it out- it's the taxi driver from "Deadpool"!)
Duration: 116 minutes (+3 trailers)
Write-up:
Opening Comments
"Ghostbusters" was one of the 80's most iconic movies. There'd been talk for years of a third movie that never materialized. (At one point, I believe Bill Hader was attached). Finally, it happened and it wound up being a reboot with an all female cast.
It's crazy enough to work. Yet everyone was so quick to come down on it.
Why? I have no idea :P Are they that attached to the original?
I mean, the actor who played the dude from the EPA in "Ghostbusters... people actually started fights with him because of what his character did. Not much of a spoiler, but he did something that complicated things SEVERLY.
And the firehouse where they filmed the movie, I heard it was being shut down or demolished and people rallied to save it.
And yes, "Ghostbusters" is one of the funniest movies of all time. So why not be a little protective of that?
At the same time, I'm up for something new when it involves people I know are capable of being hilarious and putting their own spin on it.
Of course I know Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig from "Bridesmaids"... which I was completely against when it was released because it was promoted as the female version of "The Hangover." Speaking as a woman, I'm not jazzed about the idea of girls doing gross-out comedy. No offence, but guys are more natural at being gross.
But "Bridesmaids" was more than just the "dressing shopping after Brazilian food" scene. It was freaking hilarious. Especially when Kristen Wiig was hopped up on pills on the airplane.
Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, I know very well from Saturday Night Live over these past couple years.
On the one hand, Kate was someone who always kinda bothered me :/ because she plays a lot of famous people I don't like. With this being an election year, SNL hasn't exactly been my favorite place. But on the other, this is the kind of role I'd been dying to see from her. Just playing an original character that is inherently quirky. I'm writing this part of the review before seeing the movie and I have a feeling this will be a break-out role for her.
Then with Leslie Jones- dude, she is freaking hilarious! Nearly every time she's in an SNL sketch, I'm laughing my ass off. She's so over the top vocal and blunt.
The Oscars this year did this whole sketch about putting black people in Oscar-nominated movies to mock the lack of diversity in nominations. [FYI- there were two characters in "The Martian" played by black actors and they played significant roles that saved Matt Damon's life, so it wasn't as if the movie was entirely lacking in diversity].
Her part was the biggest laugh by far. She played the bear that attacked Leo in "The Revanent." Seriously, if that was in the movie, maybe I would have seen it. [I like Leo, but it's too damn serious for my tastes].
I was listening to the radio last week and during their news segment, they were talking about this movie coming out and Leslie Jones said how everyone needs a laugh right now- citing all the recent shootings and attacks that had occurred
And even if the laughs are forced and kinda stupid, I kinda need to laugh today. Seriously, is it 2017 yet? With the except of my working life, which is stable and still enjoyable, and one pretty cool concert, it's been a miserable year.
Trailers:
Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
Kind of a teaser trailer really... asking if we want to return to the wizarding world and how Eddie Redmayne says how his suitcase opened just a smidge and had accidentally let loose some magical creatures.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar ChildrenDirected by Tim Burton and starring Helena Bonham Carter in the titular role (well, of course)- based on a YA novel. The title kinda speaks for itself.
The special effects are amazing.
Also- this is the third YA novel Asa Butterfield starred in. He'd been in "Hugo" (which I've yet to see) and "Ender's Game" (which I struggled to read and the movie was slightly better). After I first saw him as a kid, I pegged him to play a character in a YA book I wrote. Sadly, nobody wanted to publish it and now he'll be too old to play my teenage character by the time it is published. If it is at all.
Beauty & The Beast
Another teaser trailer, but it's one I had heard a lot of good things about. Well, just a lot of buzz and excitement without a lot of detail.
I saw the Disney logo, marveled at the interior design of the castle, and when the music started playing, I gasped and almost started crying. It's the same music from the animated movie.
And yes, even in flashes and voices (we hear briefly from Lumiere, Cocksworth and Emma Watson as Belle)...
I cannot wait for March 17th 2017- OMG!
The Main Event:
For starters, I liked the movie a lot. It might not be perfect, but it doesn't deserve all of the flack it's been getting from people. I got exactly what I came for and it was to have a good time and escape for a while.
We start, as we did in the original, with our first haunting. And our unlikely librarian, er, tour guide is played by Zach Woods. Whom a lot of people know as Gabe from "The Office" and is also in the HBO series "Silicon Valley." Don't worry, he makes it out okay. But it got pretty intense for a while.
They overdo it a little bit with the slime gags and the CGI renderings of the ghosts aren't all scary. But it does have some intense moments. Maybe it's because I hadn't seen this before, but I did gasp and jump once or twice.
or I'm just a freaking lightweight.
We cut to Erin (Kristen Wiig) who's trying to get tenure at a university, but her past (haha, you know where this is going) comes back to haunt her. In the form of a book she co-wrote with her ex-bestie Abby (Melissa McCarthy).
She tracks Abby down at her place of work where she has a new partner in Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). Originally, she wants her to take their book off Amazon, but the three of them wind up going to the site of the opening haunting.
Erin regains her belief in ghosts and winds up losing her job over a YouTube video they posted.
Patty (Leslie Jones) joins them after reporting a haunting in the subway where she works. And they put out an ad for a receptionist and Thor himself Chris Hemsworth (but we just call him Kevin) was the sole applicant.
Oh don't worry, Kevin actually plays a big role in the third act, so he's not just there for eye candy and dumb jokes.
The kinda cool thing about this movie that they didn't do in the original... they had a reason behind the hauntings. It wasn't just random. And some government agent isn't the bad guy. Although the mayor's office (which has their own SNL alum... Cecily Strong is another member I didn't always find funny) is no help regarding the Ghostbusters' credibility.
And as I predicted, Kate McKinnon was the funniest one there, but they all did have their moments. One movie blogger I follow said that Holtzmann was quirky for no apparent reason and didn't have much of a backstory to her.
I honestly don't care. She needs more original roles like this.
For whatever reason, Leslie Jones is getting a lot of flack right now. People suck. She was awesome in this movie. Although I do miss her saying "It's a Cadillac!" when referring to their new vehicle- that was only in the trailer), I hope to see her in more comedies.
There are seriously nights watching SNL where there are few laughs to be had and she saves the show for me. As much as I don't want her to leave, she could easily carry a comedy better than Melissa McCarthy in "Tammy" and "The Boss."
Melissa hosts SNL last season and I didn't laugh at her once :/
In this movie, though, she has a lot of heart and is genuinely funny without trying too hard. There's a running joke with her and Benny the delivery guy throughout the movie.
Kristen Wiig is the sanest one of the bunch. And maybe some of her jokes were a little forced, but in the plot, she does come through where it counts. Especially in the third act.
This is one of those rare movies where the third act was maybe the best part.
There are also a bunch of cameos in this movie. You could call them Easter Eggs from the original movie. And the roles vary from passing by to comic relief to have some baring on the actual plot.
Again, it's also worth sticking around through the credits. Lots of extra goodies. Some great music ("Get Ghost" by Mark Ronson, Ray Parker Jr. and a bunch of other guys was the easy highlight). And even a dance number choreographed by Twitch (I tell you, he has to be the most successful 2nd place winner of any reality show ever- dude's freaking everywhere and he's an amazing dancer/choreographer and person).
Side-note: They DO run the movies even when people aren't in the theater. Except I was the only person in the theater and they shut the movie down halfway through cuz they forgot I was there :P but they quickly realized the mistake, apologized and restarted it within 5 minutes of where it was stopped.
Grade: A
(I had fun- that's all that matters...)
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 1:45pm
Party: 1 (me, myself and I)
Director: Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids" and practically all of Melissa McCarthy's "good" movies)
Writers: Paul Feig and Kate Dippold (and a lot of uncredited ad-libs from the cast)
Notable Cast:
Abby Yates- Melissa McCarthy
Erin Gilbert- Kristen Wiig
Jillian Holtzmann- Kate McKinnon
Patty Tolan- Leslie Jones
Kevin- Chris Hemsworth
Mayor of New York- Andy Garcia
Mayor's aide- Cecily Strong (another SNL alum)
Benny the take-out guy- Karan Soni (check it out- it's the taxi driver from "Deadpool"!)
Duration: 116 minutes (+3 trailers)
Write-up:
Opening Comments
"Ghostbusters" was one of the 80's most iconic movies. There'd been talk for years of a third movie that never materialized. (At one point, I believe Bill Hader was attached). Finally, it happened and it wound up being a reboot with an all female cast.
It's crazy enough to work. Yet everyone was so quick to come down on it.
Why? I have no idea :P Are they that attached to the original?
I mean, the actor who played the dude from the EPA in "Ghostbusters... people actually started fights with him because of what his character did. Not much of a spoiler, but he did something that complicated things SEVERLY.
And the firehouse where they filmed the movie, I heard it was being shut down or demolished and people rallied to save it.
And yes, "Ghostbusters" is one of the funniest movies of all time. So why not be a little protective of that?
At the same time, I'm up for something new when it involves people I know are capable of being hilarious and putting their own spin on it.
Of course I know Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig from "Bridesmaids"... which I was completely against when it was released because it was promoted as the female version of "The Hangover." Speaking as a woman, I'm not jazzed about the idea of girls doing gross-out comedy. No offence, but guys are more natural at being gross.
But "Bridesmaids" was more than just the "dressing shopping after Brazilian food" scene. It was freaking hilarious. Especially when Kristen Wiig was hopped up on pills on the airplane.
Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, I know very well from Saturday Night Live over these past couple years.
On the one hand, Kate was someone who always kinda bothered me :/ because she plays a lot of famous people I don't like. With this being an election year, SNL hasn't exactly been my favorite place. But on the other, this is the kind of role I'd been dying to see from her. Just playing an original character that is inherently quirky. I'm writing this part of the review before seeing the movie and I have a feeling this will be a break-out role for her.
Then with Leslie Jones- dude, she is freaking hilarious! Nearly every time she's in an SNL sketch, I'm laughing my ass off. She's so over the top vocal and blunt.
The Oscars this year did this whole sketch about putting black people in Oscar-nominated movies to mock the lack of diversity in nominations. [FYI- there were two characters in "The Martian" played by black actors and they played significant roles that saved Matt Damon's life, so it wasn't as if the movie was entirely lacking in diversity].
Her part was the biggest laugh by far. She played the bear that attacked Leo in "The Revanent." Seriously, if that was in the movie, maybe I would have seen it. [I like Leo, but it's too damn serious for my tastes].
I was listening to the radio last week and during their news segment, they were talking about this movie coming out and Leslie Jones said how everyone needs a laugh right now- citing all the recent shootings and attacks that had occurred
And even if the laughs are forced and kinda stupid, I kinda need to laugh today. Seriously, is it 2017 yet? With the except of my working life, which is stable and still enjoyable, and one pretty cool concert, it's been a miserable year.
Trailers:
Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them
Kind of a teaser trailer really... asking if we want to return to the wizarding world and how Eddie Redmayne says how his suitcase opened just a smidge and had accidentally let loose some magical creatures.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar ChildrenDirected by Tim Burton and starring Helena Bonham Carter in the titular role (well, of course)- based on a YA novel. The title kinda speaks for itself.
The special effects are amazing.
Also- this is the third YA novel Asa Butterfield starred in. He'd been in "Hugo" (which I've yet to see) and "Ender's Game" (which I struggled to read and the movie was slightly better). After I first saw him as a kid, I pegged him to play a character in a YA book I wrote. Sadly, nobody wanted to publish it and now he'll be too old to play my teenage character by the time it is published. If it is at all.
Beauty & The Beast
Another teaser trailer, but it's one I had heard a lot of good things about. Well, just a lot of buzz and excitement without a lot of detail.
I saw the Disney logo, marveled at the interior design of the castle, and when the music started playing, I gasped and almost started crying. It's the same music from the animated movie.
And yes, even in flashes and voices (we hear briefly from Lumiere, Cocksworth and Emma Watson as Belle)...
I cannot wait for March 17th 2017- OMG!
The Main Event:
Spoilers!!
you know... in case anyone cares...
just kidding... there's only one or two and they're minor
just kidding... there's only one or two and they're minor
For starters, I liked the movie a lot. It might not be perfect, but it doesn't deserve all of the flack it's been getting from people. I got exactly what I came for and it was to have a good time and escape for a while.
We start, as we did in the original, with our first haunting. And our unlikely librarian, er, tour guide is played by Zach Woods. Whom a lot of people know as Gabe from "The Office" and is also in the HBO series "Silicon Valley." Don't worry, he makes it out okay. But it got pretty intense for a while.
They overdo it a little bit with the slime gags and the CGI renderings of the ghosts aren't all scary. But it does have some intense moments. Maybe it's because I hadn't seen this before, but I did gasp and jump once or twice.
or I'm just a freaking lightweight.
We cut to Erin (Kristen Wiig) who's trying to get tenure at a university, but her past (haha, you know where this is going) comes back to haunt her. In the form of a book she co-wrote with her ex-bestie Abby (Melissa McCarthy).
She tracks Abby down at her place of work where she has a new partner in Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). Originally, she wants her to take their book off Amazon, but the three of them wind up going to the site of the opening haunting.
Erin regains her belief in ghosts and winds up losing her job over a YouTube video they posted.
Patty (Leslie Jones) joins them after reporting a haunting in the subway where she works. And they put out an ad for a receptionist and Thor himself Chris Hemsworth (but we just call him Kevin) was the sole applicant.
Oh don't worry, Kevin actually plays a big role in the third act, so he's not just there for eye candy and dumb jokes.
The kinda cool thing about this movie that they didn't do in the original... they had a reason behind the hauntings. It wasn't just random. And some government agent isn't the bad guy. Although the mayor's office (which has their own SNL alum... Cecily Strong is another member I didn't always find funny) is no help regarding the Ghostbusters' credibility.
And as I predicted, Kate McKinnon was the funniest one there, but they all did have their moments. One movie blogger I follow said that Holtzmann was quirky for no apparent reason and didn't have much of a backstory to her.
I honestly don't care. She needs more original roles like this.
For whatever reason, Leslie Jones is getting a lot of flack right now. People suck. She was awesome in this movie. Although I do miss her saying "It's a Cadillac!" when referring to their new vehicle- that was only in the trailer), I hope to see her in more comedies.
There are seriously nights watching SNL where there are few laughs to be had and she saves the show for me. As much as I don't want her to leave, she could easily carry a comedy better than Melissa McCarthy in "Tammy" and "The Boss."
Melissa hosts SNL last season and I didn't laugh at her once :/
In this movie, though, she has a lot of heart and is genuinely funny without trying too hard. There's a running joke with her and Benny the delivery guy throughout the movie.
Kristen Wiig is the sanest one of the bunch. And maybe some of her jokes were a little forced, but in the plot, she does come through where it counts. Especially in the third act.
This is one of those rare movies where the third act was maybe the best part.
There are also a bunch of cameos in this movie. You could call them Easter Eggs from the original movie. And the roles vary from passing by to comic relief to have some baring on the actual plot.
Again, it's also worth sticking around through the credits. Lots of extra goodies. Some great music ("Get Ghost" by Mark Ronson, Ray Parker Jr. and a bunch of other guys was the easy highlight). And even a dance number choreographed by Twitch (I tell you, he has to be the most successful 2nd place winner of any reality show ever- dude's freaking everywhere and he's an amazing dancer/choreographer and person).
Side-note: They DO run the movies even when people aren't in the theater. Except I was the only person in the theater and they shut the movie down halfway through cuz they forgot I was there :P but they quickly realized the mistake, apologized and restarted it within 5 minutes of where it was stopped.
Grade: A
(I had fun- that's all that matters...)
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