Before I start my review I need to complain a little first. I hate it when people talk during a movie that I am really trying to watch. I also hate it when people get a phone call and answer the phone but don't leave the room. Now, with both of these little pet peeves, I was about to yell at my dad when I was watching this weeks movie, The Wild Bunch, and he was on the phone and decided to sit down and watch the movie while still on the phone. Really dad, really!? Anywho... I knew next to nothing about this film before I watched it other then previews made for movies in the 60s are very different then previews now. I did know that no matter what that this movie had to be better then The Philadelphia Story (and yes I will keep using this as the standard of bad movies until I watch a worse AFI movie) so I was excited for that.
Now this movie really helped change the landscape of film making. For its time it used revolutionary techniques such as multi-angle editing and using normal and slow motion. This was interesting to learn since for me techniques like those have always been part of the action movies I watch, so to think of how audiences must have felt when they saw these techniques must have been awesome (why doesn't awful mean to be full of awe?). Also this movie was controversial for being graphically violent. Meaning this movie let us have this:
The graphic violence in The Wild Bunch is nothing compared to movies like Kill Bill or Saving Private Ryan, but to be that movie to really push the graphic violence envelope I can see how this movie earned its way to being a big part of American cinema history. This film was nominated for two academy awards for Best Original Score and Best Screenplay.
According to the internet we can see that The Wild Bunch got the following reviews:
IMDB= 8.1 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes (Critic Rating)= 97%
Rotten Tomatoes (Audience Rating)= 89%
We can see here that this movie seems to vary in its ratings. We have one rating which gives it a vary high 97% while another rating gives it almost a 7 out of 10 (for those who don't know math that would be a score in the 70-79% range).
Now its the time you have all been waiting for, my opinion. This movie seems to have lots of characters all sort of forming different sides in this crazy Western. First we have the Mexicans, who were hard to understand, mainly cause all they did was speak Spanish. What ever happened to making everyone no matter their nationality speak English so the audience can understand? Anyways, the Mexicans were just a big pile of racial stereotypes. They sorta reminded me of drunk versions of this:
Then we have the bad guys? Okay I have been curious about this issue for a while now. When the main characters in a movie are outlaws are they still the good guys? For example in Ocean's 11 are they good guys? If they are the good guys does that make the people who are out to stop them the bad guys? If so this means its possible to have our good guys to be criminals and our bad guys to be cops. I guess we will chalk it up to perspective. So in this movie (according to our perspective) the bad guys are funny. There weren't much a point to a few of the characters other then to be obstacles for the "good guys" but I was entertained by them. The main bad guy was an interesting character but I did have a hard time telling him apart from the main good guy in some scenes. I guess I have to admit a weakness of mine... in old movies I have a hard telling main characters apart from one another because I feel that they all sort of look a like. So, now lets talk about the "good guys". Fist up we have an old crazy drunk man who is awesome, though it does seem that every Western needs an old crazy drunk guys who just looks gross and laughs the whole time. Next we have Angel the token Mexican "good guy". He isn't a walking stereotypes like the other Mexicans in this film but that's all I can say about him. I don't really like him or dislike him:
Then we have this duo of friends who seem to do everything together. They are always getting drunk, causing trouble, and just being entertaining. They were very funny to watch and just made being an outlaw to seem like it was a blast, they even sorta reminded me of pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean. Earnest Borgnine plays the main "good guys" right hand man and he is fantastic. I really liked this character. Then we have the main character of the film played by William Holden. He was a decent character but a little to unemotional for me to really get behind. I enjoyed the other "good guy" characters more then him. Overall the acting was decent and I am getting used to the idea that acting styles have changed over time so I guess I am learning that though sometimes the acing can seem cheesy doesn't mean its bad it just means that old movies are cheesy.
#1: Being a bad guy/outlaw is awesome.
#2: I don't think I would last long in the Old West (too dirty).
#3: Cowboys don't drink mixed drinks (I wonder when those became popular).
#4: Racism is funny.
#5: Chin straps are really meant to be worn on the chin.
The stunts in this movie were great but I did begin to wonder... can horses swim? If not there was a lot of animal cruelty in the making of this film. Also how do they do stunts with animals without the animals getting hurt? Also the gun fights in this movie were awesome and crazy though I couldn't help to this of this
every time there was a gun fight. The sound dubbing was horrible at points in this movie but the music I enjoyed and really helped adding to the enjoyment of the film.
In conclusion, I felt this was a good movie but could be better. The fact this movie broke new ground in both its styling and violence and gore is the reason this film made the AFI Top 100, because I do not think the story itself was good enough. I give this movie a C-.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
#50: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
OMG! This is the greatest movie I have ever seen in my life! Well, not really, but I did think so when this movie first came out. This week I am reviewing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Unlike all the other movies I have watched from the AFI Top 100 to date, this one I was extremely excited to watch. I love this movie. I would say I am a fanboy but then I have seen people who go to Comic-Con so I guess I'll just say I am a fan. Just to give you some background on how much I love these movies and stories here are some of the things I have done:
See this movie in theaters either five or six times
Read the whole trilogy of books every year before each movie came out
Watch the cartoon (which did have some awesome songs)
Attend a special screening of Return of the King where I also got to watch Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers extended cuts in theaters (that was a very long day)
Anyways, all this to say that this review will be very positive.
This was the first movie in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy made by Peter Jackson. All movies were shot at the same time over a eight year span. I know this film isn't the first to do this but I also know it was the first time I heard of a franchise doing that and I hear about it a lot more now. Also this film was so big that it made the fantasy genre main stream and even "cool" to like. References to this movie are made all the time
All of us nerds should be thankful movies like this do well. This film was also nominated for thirteen academy awards winning four of them for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Original Score.
Now since the internet is always right we will take a look at how it scores there:
IMDB= 8.8 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes (Critic Rating)= 92%
Rotten Tomatoes (Audience Rating)= 92%
These scores really show just how well this fantasy movie was received. I do honestly believe that franchises like this made it possible for fantasy movies to be taken seriously.
Now lets talk about what I think of this movie (get ready for a very biased review) starting with the characters. Okay, so there are a lot of characters in this movie like Bilbo, Gollum, and Agent Smith who don't really play a big role, at least in this movie. We also have a pair of girls, Liv Tyler playing Arwen and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel. Now though I really don't care for either of these characters there is one thing that really bugged me about them and the story. In the movie it is talked about how beautiful and attractive Galadriel is yet Arwen is talked about in the same manner. This pisses me off like there is no tomorrow (why is this a saying?). I hate it when there is obviously a more attractive actress playing a role yet another actress' character is seen to be more beautiful by the characters in the story. Anyways.... lets look at the bad guys. First off we have the dark riders though they aren't much character wise they did give my girlfriend and her mom nightmares so I guess they did their job. We also have Sauron who is just an eyeball in the sky and the traitor white wizard Saruman (sorry if calling him a traitor is a spoiler but their names are practically the same). Now we come to the Fellowship, our main heroes. First off we have Boromir which I'm just glad he kept his head on in this movie. Then we have Gimli who is okay in this movie but he is still often used a comedic relief and it makes me a little mad because in the books he is a little more of a BAMF. As we talk about the next character I need to admit that this will be extremely biased as this character has helped shape my life and make me the man I am today. Legolas is a bad-ass elf who shoots arrows and is awesome and kills people and is awesome and has cool elf skills/powers and is awesome. This character alone has made me obsessed with elves. When I play WoW I am a elf, when I play D&D I am an elf, and when Skyrim comes I will be an elf. He just showed me how awesome elves are. Aragorn played by Viggo Mortensen is also a bad-ass and both my mom and my girlfriend felt that he looks the best as this character though neither could explain why. We have Gandolf, the anti-Dumbledore, who is wise yet more human then typical characters in this role. He does do magic but it seems to most of the time to just be fireworks, which in that case China used to have a lot of wizards. Hobbits are awesome, funny, and I love them a ton. Merry and Pippin are just hilarious and a ton of fun. It is great to see what I feel is a normal person going on a huge adventure where they are way over their heads. Though it is weird to look at Merry and not think of Charlie. Sam (Rudy) is great and his relationship with Frodo is endearing though many people got a gay vibe from the two of them. To those people I say, I guess you haven't seen the cartoon:
I bet the look pretty straight in the live action movie now, huh? This leads me to Frodo who is my least favorite person in the Fellowship mainly cause he is a annoying whiner the whole time. I guess his burden is hard but, its still annoying. Though thinking of Frodo does remind me of this:
My friend tried to reenact this for hours as he continued to fall on his back and catch his ring on his finger. He never did it.
The story is great. I really like the epic adventure and though there are differences between the books and the films I was able to look past them and enjoy the movie for what it was. The movie is really really really really long especially since I had the extended version. Those there is one thing that I always was curious about, why is it called Middle-Earth? Is it the middle of our Earth? is it in the Earth's core? Where is Right or Left Earth? As I ask these questions I guarantee there are nerds out there who know this answer. The script was great as well with only a few times where I laughed at the lines when they weren't meant to be funny (there is one point when Gandolf mentions following his nose and all I can think of is Fruit Loops). There are also great lines such as:
I cannot have beer with most of my friends without this line being quoted.
The Academy Awards got the awards right. This film excels in music, costumes, makeup, special effects, and settings. All these thing really aid in getting the audience sucked into the film. The Hobbits are smaller then the other characters. The building look awesome and have a ton of detail. The orcs look great. The music is so epic that I used to listen to it to motivate me to do things. All of these little things really add to this movie that already has a great story and fantastic characters to make a film worth of all the nominations and wins they got.
In Conclusion, if you couldn't tell, I love this movie, but if I am honest with myself I don't really know if this movie belongs on the AFI Top 100 and I would not be surprised if it is gone when they update the list. With that said if I made my own list (and I am) it would for sure be on it and most likely near the top. This movie gets an A-.
See this movie in theaters either five or six times
Read the whole trilogy of books every year before each movie came out
Watch the cartoon (which did have some awesome songs)
Attend a special screening of Return of the King where I also got to watch Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers extended cuts in theaters (that was a very long day)
Anyways, all this to say that this review will be very positive.
This was the first movie in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy made by Peter Jackson. All movies were shot at the same time over a eight year span. I know this film isn't the first to do this but I also know it was the first time I heard of a franchise doing that and I hear about it a lot more now. Also this film was so big that it made the fantasy genre main stream and even "cool" to like. References to this movie are made all the time
All of us nerds should be thankful movies like this do well. This film was also nominated for thirteen academy awards winning four of them for Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Original Score.
Now since the internet is always right we will take a look at how it scores there:
IMDB= 8.8 out of 10
Rotten Tomatoes (Critic Rating)= 92%
Rotten Tomatoes (Audience Rating)= 92%
These scores really show just how well this fantasy movie was received. I do honestly believe that franchises like this made it possible for fantasy movies to be taken seriously.
Now lets talk about what I think of this movie (get ready for a very biased review) starting with the characters. Okay, so there are a lot of characters in this movie like Bilbo, Gollum, and Agent Smith who don't really play a big role, at least in this movie. We also have a pair of girls, Liv Tyler playing Arwen and Cate Blanchett as Galadriel. Now though I really don't care for either of these characters there is one thing that really bugged me about them and the story. In the movie it is talked about how beautiful and attractive Galadriel is yet Arwen is talked about in the same manner. This pisses me off like there is no tomorrow (why is this a saying?). I hate it when there is obviously a more attractive actress playing a role yet another actress' character is seen to be more beautiful by the characters in the story. Anyways.... lets look at the bad guys. First off we have the dark riders though they aren't much character wise they did give my girlfriend and her mom nightmares so I guess they did their job. We also have Sauron who is just an eyeball in the sky and the traitor white wizard Saruman (sorry if calling him a traitor is a spoiler but their names are practically the same). Now we come to the Fellowship, our main heroes. First off we have Boromir which I'm just glad he kept his head on in this movie. Then we have Gimli who is okay in this movie but he is still often used a comedic relief and it makes me a little mad because in the books he is a little more of a BAMF. As we talk about the next character I need to admit that this will be extremely biased as this character has helped shape my life and make me the man I am today. Legolas is a bad-ass elf who shoots arrows and is awesome and kills people and is awesome and has cool elf skills/powers and is awesome. This character alone has made me obsessed with elves. When I play WoW I am a elf, when I play D&D I am an elf, and when Skyrim comes I will be an elf. He just showed me how awesome elves are. Aragorn played by Viggo Mortensen is also a bad-ass and both my mom and my girlfriend felt that he looks the best as this character though neither could explain why. We have Gandolf, the anti-Dumbledore, who is wise yet more human then typical characters in this role. He does do magic but it seems to most of the time to just be fireworks, which in that case China used to have a lot of wizards. Hobbits are awesome, funny, and I love them a ton. Merry and Pippin are just hilarious and a ton of fun. It is great to see what I feel is a normal person going on a huge adventure where they are way over their heads. Though it is weird to look at Merry and not think of Charlie. Sam (Rudy) is great and his relationship with Frodo is endearing though many people got a gay vibe from the two of them. To those people I say, I guess you haven't seen the cartoon:
I bet the look pretty straight in the live action movie now, huh? This leads me to Frodo who is my least favorite person in the Fellowship mainly cause he is a annoying whiner the whole time. I guess his burden is hard but, its still annoying. Though thinking of Frodo does remind me of this:
My friend tried to reenact this for hours as he continued to fall on his back and catch his ring on his finger. He never did it.
The story is great. I really like the epic adventure and though there are differences between the books and the films I was able to look past them and enjoy the movie for what it was. The movie is really really really really long especially since I had the extended version. Those there is one thing that I always was curious about, why is it called Middle-Earth? Is it the middle of our Earth? is it in the Earth's core? Where is Right or Left Earth? As I ask these questions I guarantee there are nerds out there who know this answer. The script was great as well with only a few times where I laughed at the lines when they weren't meant to be funny (there is one point when Gandolf mentions following his nose and all I can think of is Fruit Loops). There are also great lines such as:
I cannot have beer with most of my friends without this line being quoted.
The Academy Awards got the awards right. This film excels in music, costumes, makeup, special effects, and settings. All these thing really aid in getting the audience sucked into the film. The Hobbits are smaller then the other characters. The building look awesome and have a ton of detail. The orcs look great. The music is so epic that I used to listen to it to motivate me to do things. All of these little things really add to this movie that already has a great story and fantastic characters to make a film worth of all the nominations and wins they got.
In Conclusion, if you couldn't tell, I love this movie, but if I am honest with myself I don't really know if this movie belongs on the AFI Top 100 and I would not be surprised if it is gone when they update the list. With that said if I made my own list (and I am) it would for sure be on it and most likely near the top. This movie gets an A-.
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