movies
The Go-Getter
(-) concept
(+) story
(+) characters
(+) dialog
(+) pacing
(-) cinematography
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music - M. Ward, the reason we rented the movie.
(+) subjective rating - 7/10 (Liked it). It's got a lot of Bad Indie Movie tropes, but manages to be a pleasant romantic comedy despite itself.
Total: 8/10
- - -
from IMDb's Top 250:
202. Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Dayton (dir.), Valerie Faris (dir.), Michael Arndt (wr.), Abigail Breslin, 2006.
(+) concept
(+) story
(+) characters
(+) dialog
(+) pacing
(-) cinematography
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music - A simple score would have been much more effective than the standard hip indie rock soundtrack, but whatever, it's still good music.
(+) subjective rating - 8/10 (Liked it a lot). This is the second time we've seen it, and it was actually a lot funnier this time around, probably from knowing what things were building to.
Total: 9/10
201. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu), F.W. Murnau (dir.), Henrik Galeen (wr.), Max Schreck, 1922.
(+) concept
(-) story - They've got one of the greatest horror stories ever written, but instead of just abridging it, they replace the ending with some nonsense that doesn't make any sense.
(-) characters
(-) dialog - I understand there are different versions out there, but at least the one Netflix has is pretty terrible.
(-) pacing - How can you get bored out of your mind by an 80-minute movie that's adapting material that could fill a mini series? How do they even manage that?
(+) cinematography - For the most part it's crap, but I'll give them credit for the one or two iconic shots.
(+) special effects/design
(-) acting - It's the era where people seemed to think a medium combining photography and theater called for holding a series of theatrical poses.
(-) music - Again, I'm sure there are better versions out there. This one they just put on Dvorak's New World symphony, which would have been terribly inappropriate and silly even they'd bothered cutting it to match the cues, which they didn't. Should you rent Nosferatu from Netflix, just turn the TV's sound down and put on some music of your own and maybe the poor movie will get a chance.
(-) subjective rating - 3/10 (Didn't like it). Schreck's vampire is very cool and creepy. But he's only on screen for five or ten minutes, and everything else in the movie is terrible.
Total: 3/10
197. Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Ang Lee (dir.), Hui-Ling Wang (wr.), James Schamus (wr.), Kuo Jung Tsai (wr.), Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, 2000.
(-) concept
(-) story
(-) characters - Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh's characters are fine, but everyone else is either undeveloped or a douchebag.
(+) dialog
(-) pacing - I seem to recall the fight scenes seeming pretty damn cool back in 2000, but only 8 years later they're already dated and boring and basically just amount to slowing down the already tedious dramatic stuff.
(+) cinematography
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music
(-) subjective rating - 5/10 (Indifferent). I guess it's ground-breaking and pretty, but wow I so do not care about a period rich brat's angst. Hero might have been a stylistic rip-off, but it's also an infinitely better movie.
Total: 5/10
194. Ed Wood, Tim Burton (dir.), Scott Alexander (wr.), Larry Karaszewski (wr.), Johnny Depp, 1994.
(+) concept
(+) story
(+) characters
(+) dialog
(-) pacing - Bela Lugosi is the real story here - they really should have cut down or sped up everything that happens after he dies. I mean, they ended the movie in the right place, but the portion between Bela's death and the end is disproportionately long.
(+) cinematography - Tim Burton's style comes across interestingly here when he's shooting things that otherwise don't look remotely like a Tim Burton movie.
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music - One of Howard Shore's only good scores.
(+) subjective rating - 8/10 (Liked it a lot).
Total: 9/10
(-) concept
(+) story
(+) characters
(+) dialog
(+) pacing
(-) cinematography
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music - M. Ward, the reason we rented the movie.
(+) subjective rating - 7/10 (Liked it). It's got a lot of Bad Indie Movie tropes, but manages to be a pleasant romantic comedy despite itself.
Total: 8/10
- - -
from IMDb's Top 250:
202. Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Dayton (dir.), Valerie Faris (dir.), Michael Arndt (wr.), Abigail Breslin, 2006.
(+) concept
(+) story
(+) characters
(+) dialog
(+) pacing
(-) cinematography
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music - A simple score would have been much more effective than the standard hip indie rock soundtrack, but whatever, it's still good music.
(+) subjective rating - 8/10 (Liked it a lot). This is the second time we've seen it, and it was actually a lot funnier this time around, probably from knowing what things were building to.
Total: 9/10
201. Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu), F.W. Murnau (dir.), Henrik Galeen (wr.), Max Schreck, 1922.
(+) concept
(-) story - They've got one of the greatest horror stories ever written, but instead of just abridging it, they replace the ending with some nonsense that doesn't make any sense.
(-) characters
(-) dialog - I understand there are different versions out there, but at least the one Netflix has is pretty terrible.
(-) pacing - How can you get bored out of your mind by an 80-minute movie that's adapting material that could fill a mini series? How do they even manage that?
(+) cinematography - For the most part it's crap, but I'll give them credit for the one or two iconic shots.
(+) special effects/design
(-) acting - It's the era where people seemed to think a medium combining photography and theater called for holding a series of theatrical poses.
(-) music - Again, I'm sure there are better versions out there. This one they just put on Dvorak's New World symphony, which would have been terribly inappropriate and silly even they'd bothered cutting it to match the cues, which they didn't. Should you rent Nosferatu from Netflix, just turn the TV's sound down and put on some music of your own and maybe the poor movie will get a chance.
(-) subjective rating - 3/10 (Didn't like it). Schreck's vampire is very cool and creepy. But he's only on screen for five or ten minutes, and everything else in the movie is terrible.
Total: 3/10
197. Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Ang Lee (dir.), Hui-Ling Wang (wr.), James Schamus (wr.), Kuo Jung Tsai (wr.), Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, 2000.
(-) concept
(-) story
(-) characters - Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh's characters are fine, but everyone else is either undeveloped or a douchebag.
(+) dialog
(-) pacing - I seem to recall the fight scenes seeming pretty damn cool back in 2000, but only 8 years later they're already dated and boring and basically just amount to slowing down the already tedious dramatic stuff.
(+) cinematography
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music
(-) subjective rating - 5/10 (Indifferent). I guess it's ground-breaking and pretty, but wow I so do not care about a period rich brat's angst. Hero might have been a stylistic rip-off, but it's also an infinitely better movie.
Total: 5/10
194. Ed Wood, Tim Burton (dir.), Scott Alexander (wr.), Larry Karaszewski (wr.), Johnny Depp, 1994.
(+) concept
(+) story
(+) characters
(+) dialog
(-) pacing - Bela Lugosi is the real story here - they really should have cut down or sped up everything that happens after he dies. I mean, they ended the movie in the right place, but the portion between Bela's death and the end is disproportionately long.
(+) cinematography - Tim Burton's style comes across interestingly here when he's shooting things that otherwise don't look remotely like a Tim Burton movie.
(+) special effects/design
(+) acting
(+) music - One of Howard Shore's only good scores.
(+) subjective rating - 8/10 (Liked it a lot).
Total: 9/10