^I really like that movie.
I saw the Croods. I really enjoyed it, lots of fun, but there were some parts that I felt were forced and unconvincing.
pixarfan9099: Oh yeah, The Muppets. I liked that movie. 
I only saw it one time in theaters, though. Maybe it would make a good Christmas present. And I would like to see John Carter. So many moooooovieeeeees!
ellie-jessie-eve: I’m glad you liked The Croods! It’s definitely on my must-see list now! Let’s hope I see it sooner than later.
little_chef: I enjoyed Captain America, but a Marvel-fan friend of mine didn’t like it cos’ he felt the action scenes were too short (like the montage of the Captain fighting in different battles). I personally enjoyed it for the storyline and Chris Evans’ everyman hero (Tommy Lee Jones was also great as the grumpy commander guy). And, of course, Hugo Weaving of The Matrix, LOTR and LOTG fame as the Red Skull.
Like EJE, I recommend Thor. It’s actually my favourite Marvel prequel movie after seeing Hulk, The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 1 & 2 (yeah I basically watched the entire canon). I watched it in cinemas with my bro and he loves it too.
Cos’ unlike the other superheroes, he already starts off as an uber-awesome bad-*ss, but he’s arrogant and immature. He gets brought down to earth (quite literally) and spends the rest of the movie trying to become a God again. His Crowning Moment of Awesome (when he finally learns the meaning of humility) brought me to tears, it’s just a great tale of redemption. It also helps that Tom Hiddleston’s character, Loki, is much adored by fangirls, although the other characters are equally endearing too.
And The Avengers is when it all comes together in one glorious ensemble piece. While it does help to watch the earlier movies to appreciate where the characters come from and why they behave that way, it’s not necessary, as the film does a good job of filling in the gaps for newcomers. But you’ll appreciate the references more if you’re familiar with Marvel lore.
pixarfan9099: I saw it with two of my friends in IMAX and we really got a kick out of the twist ending. I might be biased, seeing that I’m a fan of Stanton’s works and I designed a spoof cover for the magazine I used to work at.
The only qualms I had was that it was confusing at some parts, it was too long, and Carter was a massive jerk to Sola, but I think the movie’s heart was in the right place and they captured most of the spirit of Burrough’s masterpiece. You can see traces of Andrew’s whimsy in scenes like Carter’s first zero-gravity walk and the cute dog-like creature running around.
I saw an article on it last week in the Chinese section of the paper I work for and got a colleague to translate the headline. Apparently, Carter could be the biggest box-office bomb of all-time.
Honestly, I think it’s a great film, period. Doesn’t quite hit Avatar’s level of pure escapism, but it’s one of my better movie experiences last year.
EJE: I read your review on The Croods thread, I’m glad you had fun. 
I assume you’ve seen Sanders’ earlier works? How would you rank it?
LQstudiesPixar: John Carter’s definitely worth a watch, but it’s a movie that demands a lot of patience and paying attention to.
And I highly recommend The Croods if you’re a fan of squash-and-stretch animation and cute character designs!
…
[size=85]Qu èst -ce qui se passe?[/size]
I’ll be attending yet another press screening tomorrow, this one’s for the French flick Dans La Maison (In The House) by the director of Swimming Pool.
This is uncharted territory for me, as my only exposure to foreign-language films are either Luc Besson action flicks (Taxi series) and critically-acclaimed animation (Waltz With Bashir, Persepolis).
But French is my third language, so trying to understand as much of it as possible without reading the subtitles should be fun!
TDIT’s mini review of Thor is spot on, and explains why I like that film. (And I am one of those Loki fangirls he mentioned).
Yes, I have. Sanders is one of my favorite people (currently) in the animation industry. Lilo and Stitch is my 5th favorite Disney film (I’m currently writing an article about my top 10 Disney films) and How to Train Your Dragon is just brilliant.
I suppose it’d go like this:
- Lilo and Stitch
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Croods
The Croods will be released later, but so far, I like HTTYD more than Lilo&Stitch, which is a very good film nevertheless.
Yes, HTTYD and L&S come super close for me. But personally L&S rises above it because of the subject matter, and the use of watercolor and lack of the multiplane camera makes it visually unique.
Needed to see more of Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino’s work after Grindhouse, so I decided to watch both of their debut films back-to-back (Reservoir Dogs and El Mariachi)
Tarantino’s film Reservoir Dogs (1992) was a movie WELL worth watching in my view. It’s probably one of the best crime films I’ve ever seen. What I thought worked so well was the non-linear story structure. I was slightly confused at first but as the film progresses, everything started to piece together. Everything else, such as the colourful characters, the well-written dialogue and memorable scenes made the film an instant classic for me. The cast members in the film such as Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Harvey Keital and Steve Buscemi (my personal favorite character) also did a brilliant job with their roles. The ONLY complaint I had was the fact that [spoil]you don’t actually see the robbery taking place[/spoil], though I believe it leaves it up to the viewer to imagine what happened. I also found some scenes particularly brutal, including the infamous “ear-cutting scene”. Overall, I was very impressed, I will definitely be watching more of Tarantino’s work. 10/10 (yes, I WENT there)
Rodriquez’s film El Mariachi (1992) was an interesting sort of film. It was originally shot on an ULTRA low-budget of $7000 and just intended for the Latin video market, until Columbia picked it up and made it a theatrical release. Despite the low-budget, the direction is very powerful and the idea is original and well executed. It does have that shoestring budget feel throughout the movie, but has more charisma than some big-budget Hollywood movies today. Many of the cast are nobodies, but do okay jobs. The version I watched was dubbed in English from Spanish, and rather poorly like alot of dubbed films. As for the protagonist himself (Mariachi), I felt quite sorry for him throughout. He just enters a random city looking for work involving musical talent and gets confused with an escaped convict who also happens to be wearing black and carrying a guitar case. As you’d imagine, this does lead to some confusion. I found the ending to be quite tragic and brutal. Good film overall, shows that no matter how low a budget is, a film can still be great. I need to watch it’s sequel Desperado some time. 8/10
Sorry for such a long post, but I feel I wanted to post my thoughts on these movies.
But Sean Penn isn’t in Reservoir Dogs.
I agree with your review, but I do think that the fact that they don’t show what they don’t show is a stroke of genius.
I haven’t seen How to Train Your Dragon or The Croods yet, but I think my opinion would be similar to ellie-jessie-eve’s. Hopefully I will like How to Train Your Dragon as much as Lilo and Stitch, but if I like Lilo and Stitch more, it will probably be because it is just very unique and because I was very fond of it as a child.
Haha, just curious, were you a fan before Thor? I think it was his breakthrough role, cos’ he was doing mostly TV movies before he played Marvel’s villain (according to Wikipedia). I can’t say I was even aware of his existence before Thor, just like how Joseph Gordon-Levitt burst into my “consciousness” last year and Anne Hathaway did in Rio (although I saw her in The Devil Wears Prada and The Princess Diaries as a kid).
Re Sander’s anthology, I’d go with the same ranking as you did, if only because L&S has a firm place in my childhood for making me cry during the “Ohana” duckling scene. It hit me real deep at that point in my life because I felt like an outcast in my family and was going through puberty and all that teenage angst and having arguments with my family members, so I really empathised with poor Stitch during that scene (we watched it as a family in theatres because of the good review in The Straits Times, Singapore’s national broadsheet and one of the papers of the print organisation I now work for).
HTTYD also gave me good memories because I was already stoked to see it but I had to convince my mates to see it (they were very reluctant). I showed them the trailer and their opinion changed when the Future World Music song kicked in (also why I’m so excited for Blue Sky’s Epic, which used the same music, I’m just a big sucker for good promos like that). We didn’t regret our cinema outing, they said they enjoyed it after watching it and were impressed with how it exceeded their expectations.
Unfortunately, I flew solo for The Croods in my advanced screening, and I’m not sure if I’ll go for a rewatch seeing most of my office colleagues are not the animation-film types. But the kids and mums (must be a lot of female critics!) had a great time, and I was glad my audience members enjoyed it. It was also my first published review for an animated movie (I’ve been reviewing live-action films before this).
What the heck, I just gave reviews of my theatrical experiences instead of the films themselves! 
But yes, every Sander movie has a place in my heart, including his latest one.
SoA: Well, I’d say The Croods is more “childish” than HTTYD and Lilo & Stitch, because there’s a lot more slapstick and goofy antics. Of course, with films like Beavis & Butthead Do America and Dumb & Dumber, what can be considered “childish” is entirely subjective.
But I’d say I had an enjoyable experience, and the emotional payoff was worth it for me. I highly recommend it if you like bright, colourful and heartwarming flicks like Horton Hears A Who, Rio and Up, as it’s in the same vein.
Geoff: Isn’t Reservoir Dogs a heist movie? I love heist movies (Heat and The Town are my faves)! I read in a magazine yesterday that it’s the Tarantino flick with the highest number of F-bombs. 
Been meaning to watch it, kinda in a Tarantino mood seeing Django Unchained is now playing in cinemas here. I heard they cut away (pun unintended) during the ear-cutting scene. But I guess it’s even more gruesome when it’s left to the imagination!
Also wanna check out Dog Day Afternoon, Al Pacino is one of my fave old-school actors, he was excellent as the incorruptible cop in Serpico and I want to see Scarface.
LQstudiesPixar: Go see them nooowww!!! 
Haha, trust me, you won’t regret anything by Sanders.
Well, Reservoir Dogs is a heist film without [spoil]the actual heist[/spoil]. It’s a monumental piece of filmmaking no matter what genre you consider it to be, and everyone should watch it.
If I remember right, the much studied ear scene does pan away to a wall when the actual cutting off occurs, so the film isn’t really as gory as one feels it is. It’s just a sensation, and a testimony to how well-done it is. One could argue that Tarantino has never topped himself since his début feature.
Dog Day Afternoon is another gem. Scarface is enjoyable, but with some low points.
And yes, Tom Hiddleston was quite unknown till Thor. Then he appeared in War Horse and Midnight in Paris, but that was afterwards.
Both Gordon-Levitt and Hathaway had breakthrough years ago, though, so in those cases it’s more about your personal “consciousness”, as you say.
TDIT: I shall, I shall!
Poor Dean DeBlois and Kirk DeMicco! I’ve just recently noticed how they’re always overlooked by the equally great Chris Sanders. Why is that I ask (somewhat rhetorically)? I guess it’s because he’s the artist, unless they all are. Seriously though, is that the only reason why? But I’m not talking down to him, he’s good. I think people just recognize his name more than his co-directors. Maybe it’s also because he’s famous for voicing this guy:
When I heard the Belt character in the trailer for The Croods, I thought “Hold on, is that…?” Sure enough, it is him, so that’s cool!
And also, I think I take back what I said about Madagascar 2. I don’t dislike it, I actually remember having a few laughs. Maybe the Melman/Gloria thing was random, but I didn’t really mind. It was fine, I just prefer the first, but the third one looks like it’s quite the most interesting.
SoA: I’m very tempted to unhighlight the spoiler, but I think it’s best to go in ‘blind’ for Reservoir Dogs. I heard there’s a twist at the end, and I want to keep it a surprise!
I love War Horse, I like those kinda films where they follow different stories with a central running character or theme (the recent Cloud Atlas comes to mind). The ending with the German and British helping the central character was so powerful, it condensed what took Joyeaux Noel (also another great movie, in French) its entire running length to convey.
Yeah, I’m aware JGL and AH were stars before I was aware of them, haha. John Lasster, my hero, also didn’t appear on my “movie radar” until Cars, although I watched Toy Story in theatres as a kid and A Bug’s Life and Toy Story 2 on bootleg VCDs!
LQstudiesPixar: I can’t say I’m familiar with Dean and Kirk. I mean, I know Dean was the co-director of HTTYD, but a search on Wikipedia also revealed to me he’s a storyboard artist on the criminally-underappreciated Atlantis: The Lost Empire. You see, I didn’t know that! I learnt something new today! As for Kirk, a check on Wiki shows he did Racing Stripes and some other movies which I haven’t seen, so I think it was “forgivable” that I don’t know who he is.
I knew Chris voiced Stitch, but I didn’t know he voiced Belt too until a few days after my screening! I really can’t believe he did, I wonder if they modulated his voice or is it full-on Sanders?
I highly recommend Madagascar 3, it was my fifth most favourite film of last year. Way, way better than 2, but I’d have to watch 1 again as it’s been some time, before I can compare it to 3. Watch out for the French lady cop DuBois, voiced by Frances McDormand, she’s “scary” hilarious!
TDIT: Don’t worry, I don’t blame you or anyone for not knowing who they are, I didn’t even know much about them myself. I just find it interesting how everyone seems to recognize Chris Sanders though, including me. The only reason he stuck out to me when I was younger was that he voiced Stitch, I didn’t really know about his animation career outside of that. And about Belt. Yeah, I wonder if they altered it through the chipmunk-voice system thing? They could have done that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just him.
Well, that isn’t really a big spoiler, and certainly not one of the ending twists. It’s more about the film’s structure.
And yes, I agree with what you say about Sanders getting all the attention over his colleagues. I feel kind of bad for them.
SoA: Okay I unspoilerised (is that the right word) your redacted word. Interesting, I wonder how that can be possible. It’s like apple pie without the apple. I think? Darn it, I just gotta see it for myself, I suppose.
I actually didn’t become a fan of his until the Avengers. I then watched his previous works. Midnight in Paris is my favorite because I like Woody Allen, I love the Lost Generation, and I can relate to Owen Wilson’s character.
I like your story about how Stitch is your favorite of his films. I love it when films have those connections. Even bad connections like that one, because you’re able to relate and attach to something, which can be very helpful.
And I think you’re spot on about it being “childish”. It was manic and full of slapstick, during the movie it reminded me of an old Tex Avery cartoon, something of that sorts.
My mistake, I meant his brother Chris Penn, not Sean Penn. Must have been from watching Carlito’s Way as Sean Penn does star in that.
Well you don’t actually see the heist taking place but rather the events before and after, which is a clever approach. I also need to see Heat, Pacino and De Niro make a great combination if you ask me.
Heat is one of the greatest crime films ever. But don’t expect much combination of DeNiro and Pacino, because they spend most of the film apart.
I warn you because some feel disappointed at that, but it doesn’t detract from the film’s greatness.
I saw Life of Pi and Lés Miserables(1998). I thought theyw ere both pretty awesome. Though I will probably like the newer Lés Mis better, since it is a musical.