Brian Loves Crappy Movies Part Two: Electric Boogaloo
Okay, Again lots of movies since the last post so let's run them down, shall we?
TMNT : Wow, They really kept to the fomula that works on this one. The Turtles were definitely themselves. I've only a few points to sum up with this movie as nit-picks.
#1 They mixed up the turtles various incarnations for this one, as The turtles reference defeating Shredder as if it were following the movies previous plotlines. The Female ninja who was the head of the Foot Clan was from the comics and April was acting like the way she was written in the latest cartoon incarnation. It left me a bit confused as to what should be considered the previous canon for this movie.
#2 Apparently 6 ton stone statues can round up about a dozen huge rampaging monsters in New York with only a few new reports being made about them. Kinda lessens my faith in the media altogether.
#3 Donatello got to show very little of his "stuff" when it came to being a techie. While the Raph vs. Leo plot was VERY well done I with they would have given Don more than just deducing something from information April had already gathered, and rightfully could have figured out on her own.
Meet the Robinsons : Huh, guess Disney's finally learned a few things about making watchable cartoons in the here and now. Only took them, what? FIVE movies or so after Lilo and Stitch should have taught them a thing or two?
I liked this movie for several reasons, one of which being that it allows the audience to be smart and be rewarded for being so. Secondly, the jokes are actually kinda funny, though rapidly fired in a very stand-up-comedian sort of way. Thirdly, it actually reminds me of thoughts I had when I was younger; of having a time machine in the future, then coming back to meet myself in the past to say how my life will be fine and not to worry. Makes me feel like I should have a time machine now to accomplish that goal.
BTW: Did anyone else thing the dystopian future that occured looked like Rene Magrite had built the matrix?
Nitpick: I wish they'd have spent more time with the family, as only about 3 or 4 of the members of the extended family got ANY development whatsoever. Still, you've got to compact a story somewhere, and the tight package they wound up with does have a good pacing to it.
Grindhouse : Wow, what a crazy use of three hours, eh?
Part 1: Planet Terror : I probably should hand in my Pittsburgher badge for saying this, but I have never liked zombie movies. I think it's just my dislike for the entire horror genre in general that made this movie a bit of a drag to me. Now granted, I likes me some fun with having a machine gun for a leg, but watching Akira-inspired zombies plague the world isn't my idea of great movie. Still, there are a couple parts I liked, such as where the filmstrip breaks, obviously caused by people requesting to watch that reel over and over and over again. The scratches in the film were a perfect touch to give the movie that 70's feel, despite the use of cell phones, which grounded the movie totally in the modern day. Rodriguez obviously knew the real meaning of explotation film when he wrote this as he manages to put tons of gross stuff on screen, then he excuses it by giving it a "medical" context. The ONLY thing that was really missing was that Cherry's last words in the movie should have been "Hail to the queen, baby!"
Oh yes, and the nurse TOTALLY should have died, period.
Part 2: Death Proof : I know I'm going against the grain when I say this, but I liked this movie better than Planet Terror, if only for the fact that Terintino rewards a geek like myself with tons of in-jokes and references to TV and movies that fly over most people's heads. I loved the way the movie was (badly) cut together, with abrupt smash cuts that drop the music entirely, hard jumps in the dialogue, and having a missing reel that probably got destroyed in the same fashion the dead reel from Planet Terror got toasted. Kurt Russell plays his character to a T, and holds the whole film on his shoulders. Of course I expected as much from the man who made Snake Pliskin the icon of B cinema that he is. The chase scenes were utterly wonderful in execution, every last thing being done practically with barely a trace of computer graphics anywhere. I'm certain the only things that were touched up were a couple of the stunt rigs for the first chase between Stuntman Mike and the girls in the Dodge Challenger, as well as the slow motion effects during the crash that ends the first half of the movie.
Another thing I just about twitched myself to death over in joy was the fact that Death Proof occurs in the same world as the "Kill Bill" movies.
So, till more movies come out, I'll be in the balcony, waiting.
TMNT : Wow, They really kept to the fomula that works on this one. The Turtles were definitely themselves. I've only a few points to sum up with this movie as nit-picks.
#1 They mixed up the turtles various incarnations for this one, as The turtles reference defeating Shredder as if it were following the movies previous plotlines. The Female ninja who was the head of the Foot Clan was from the comics and April was acting like the way she was written in the latest cartoon incarnation. It left me a bit confused as to what should be considered the previous canon for this movie.
#2 Apparently 6 ton stone statues can round up about a dozen huge rampaging monsters in New York with only a few new reports being made about them. Kinda lessens my faith in the media altogether.
#3 Donatello got to show very little of his "stuff" when it came to being a techie. While the Raph vs. Leo plot was VERY well done I with they would have given Don more than just deducing something from information April had already gathered, and rightfully could have figured out on her own.
Meet the Robinsons : Huh, guess Disney's finally learned a few things about making watchable cartoons in the here and now. Only took them, what? FIVE movies or so after Lilo and Stitch should have taught them a thing or two?
I liked this movie for several reasons, one of which being that it allows the audience to be smart and be rewarded for being so. Secondly, the jokes are actually kinda funny, though rapidly fired in a very stand-up-comedian sort of way. Thirdly, it actually reminds me of thoughts I had when I was younger; of having a time machine in the future, then coming back to meet myself in the past to say how my life will be fine and not to worry. Makes me feel like I should have a time machine now to accomplish that goal.
BTW: Did anyone else thing the dystopian future that occured looked like Rene Magrite had built the matrix?
Nitpick: I wish they'd have spent more time with the family, as only about 3 or 4 of the members of the extended family got ANY development whatsoever. Still, you've got to compact a story somewhere, and the tight package they wound up with does have a good pacing to it.
Grindhouse : Wow, what a crazy use of three hours, eh?
Part 1: Planet Terror : I probably should hand in my Pittsburgher badge for saying this, but I have never liked zombie movies. I think it's just my dislike for the entire horror genre in general that made this movie a bit of a drag to me. Now granted, I likes me some fun with having a machine gun for a leg, but watching Akira-inspired zombies plague the world isn't my idea of great movie. Still, there are a couple parts I liked, such as where the filmstrip breaks, obviously caused by people requesting to watch that reel over and over and over again. The scratches in the film were a perfect touch to give the movie that 70's feel, despite the use of cell phones, which grounded the movie totally in the modern day. Rodriguez obviously knew the real meaning of explotation film when he wrote this as he manages to put tons of gross stuff on screen, then he excuses it by giving it a "medical" context. The ONLY thing that was really missing was that Cherry's last words in the movie should have been "Hail to the queen, baby!"
Oh yes, and the nurse TOTALLY should have died, period.
Part 2: Death Proof : I know I'm going against the grain when I say this, but I liked this movie better than Planet Terror, if only for the fact that Terintino rewards a geek like myself with tons of in-jokes and references to TV and movies that fly over most people's heads. I loved the way the movie was (badly) cut together, with abrupt smash cuts that drop the music entirely, hard jumps in the dialogue, and having a missing reel that probably got destroyed in the same fashion the dead reel from Planet Terror got toasted. Kurt Russell plays his character to a T, and holds the whole film on his shoulders. Of course I expected as much from the man who made Snake Pliskin the icon of B cinema that he is. The chase scenes were utterly wonderful in execution, every last thing being done practically with barely a trace of computer graphics anywhere. I'm certain the only things that were touched up were a couple of the stunt rigs for the first chase between Stuntman Mike and the girls in the Dodge Challenger, as well as the slow motion effects during the crash that ends the first half of the movie.
Another thing I just about twitched myself to death over in joy was the fact that Death Proof occurs in the same world as the "Kill Bill" movies.
So, till more movies come out, I'll be in the balcony, waiting.