Movie\Video Mini Review Roundup..
I've watched quite a bit of movies in the past year and while I have a few things to say about each I don't have TONS to say about any one of them so I'm making one entry for all of these. Here's some of the latest movies I've watched and a few thoughts about them....
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012): This film was pretty suprising to me just how much I liked it. For a film that takes place in the 1800's it was quite stylish looking and I enjoyed all the action and effects. The story was in my opinion a pretty good fusion of fiction and non-fiction. It was interesting to me how they integrated vampire lore into the historical setting.
Total Recall (2012):
I tend to be fairly open minded when it comes to reboots or remakes and I tend to at least give them a chance. But this is one of those movies that was probably best left alone. While the new movie has scenes that are quite good looking such as the city scenes and all the tech that's in them as a whole the entire movie wasn't nearly as special as the original 1990 Paul Verhoeven film. First of all while some of the scenery was very flashy and the asian city that Quaid lives in is very slick in its architecture the whole thing feels a lot less exotic than being on a different planet especially considering the lack of mutants other than the most famous three breasted prostitute. The resistance leader was just Bill Nighy and not nearly as special as Kuato which had practial effects done so well that some people where convinced he was a real conjoined twin.
The original movie was full of intrigue, pulpy stuff was a mind trip that made you question whether what was happening to the character was real. The new movie was a pale rehash constantly overshadowed by the original and at the end I didn't give a flip whether or not anything happened to him was real or not. I'm also not a big fan of Collin Farrel in general so I felt his being in the movie was kind of a negative more than a positive. I also didn't like him in the Fright Night remake much.
Prometheus (2012):
This was a film that was greatly anticipated by yours truly especially since the original Alien film which this is a prequel to is one of my favorite movies of all time and it was great for me to see a movie that is more or less direct followup to that movie rather than a rehashed sequel to the more popular Aliens. I can see why people might say the story is confusing and the characters where stupid as they tend to be in horror films to drive the story forward. I mean, if the character didn't run into the haunted house the story would end there pretty much. This is the type of movie to watch when you want to specifically see stuff like scientists make stupid mistakes.
But I digress.. some of my favorite things about this film where the intro part that showed David the android doing his routine in the ship which had the vibe of classic Sci-Fi films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I liked the style of the whole movie especially of the epinimous ship and it's interior design. I really enjoyed all the designs brought over from Alien and the expansion to them so we got to see how the Space Jockey's chair actually works and the holographic imaging systems they used. I really liked the proto-alien they call the Deacon at the end. The technical aspects of how the entire film was made was top notch with great visuals and sound much like Blade Runner was and still is. I look forward to seeing what direction Ridley Scott is going to take it in with the sequel. People complain that it doesn't answer all the questions and raises more than it answers but that's what Alien and this film was all about at the end of the day. Stuff is meant to be ambiguous and there's meant to be mystery.. that's part of the mystique and allure of those films.
Brave (2012):
Another film I don't have as much to say about. To be honest I don't think the story here was as inspired as Pixar's other films and it didn't tug at my heart strings the way almost all their other films have. There was a bunch of cute stuff in it though especially concerning the protaganist and her little brothers.... but again it didn't rock my world the way Up or Wall-E did for example.
John Carter (2012):
Terrible.. I don't tend to be a bored person but I felt this movie was rather boring. I'd rather watch Avatar again than watch this again. Also I hate the name of the movie and thought they should have kept the book's name... Princess of Mars... that was a nagging thought while watching the film. I can't think of a single thing that stood out to me as great about this film. I didn't even particularly like the design of any of the aliens or tech in the movie all that much.
The Lorax (2012): Horton Hears a Who was a fun romp with lots of amusing and cute stuff..... The Lorax was suessy in its design but was a bit too preachy for my tastes making it less fun than Horton. I'd recomment people watch Horton and skip over the Lorax. I did like Betty White as the Grandma and Danny Devito as The Lorax and the singing fish where really cute and I liked the part where they threw the Oncler and his bed into the river but those things weren't enough to make it match Horton.
That'll be all for now I'll probably do another roundup later.