Movies - both new and old

The Common Room Film, Television, Music & Books
#1541

Just watched Norbit on Free-to-Air, and boy, was I glad that I did! Not a single penny of my cash was wasted on this piece of crap. Watching it is kind of like viewing a train wreck, there’s this morbid fascination with how bad Murphy’s morally-repugnant character Rasputia can get. I swear, she’s pure evil! :open_mouth:

The only two good things about it is the hilarious water slide sequence straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon, and the utterly adorable Thandie Newton (who I loved from Run Fatboy Run too) as Norbit’s childhood sweetheart. Other than that, it was a painful experience, and entirely forgettable once the credits rolled. :neutral_face:

Rating: 2/10

#1542

24 hour elapsed, double-post time!

Sorry, I take things quite literally.

So this morning, I watched what could quite possibly be Disney’s saddest film on Free-to-Air: The Fox and the Hound. If you’ve watched this before, you know what’s gonna happen, you know how Tod and Copper’s friendship was doomed from the very beginning. That’s what makes this movie so goshdarn heartbreaking. This is Disney at its most frank, ‘tell-it-like-it-is’ without the cliches.

Yeah, the beginning was adorable with the duo as kids and all that. A sparrow and a woodpecker’s relentless pursuit of a caterpillar provides the requisite comic relief. Todd’s romance with the sweet and friendly Vixey felt rushed, but provided a cute diversion. But, by golly, the rest of the movie had a surprising amount of realism to it. The closest films I can think of with similar aesthetics are Bambi and The Sword in the Stone, but none of them resonated as clearly with me as a kid as this one. Again, it’s probably because you know it’s not gonna be a happy ending for our protagonists.

Freakin’ heck, I tried my best not to cry, but the 'Goodbye may seem Forever" scene got me! :cry: It’s unbearable, I broke down and was all misty-eyed at the end. Oh, man… just thinking of it gives me a lump in my throat.

The characters are all well fleshed-out, even the unimportant supporting characters are charming and come up with their own personalities, tics, and views on life. Animation is old-school, meaning detailed and observant of animal locomotion. Voices are great, I liked Mickey Rooney as adult Tod, Paul Winchell (who also voices Tigger from Pooh) as Boomer, and Sandy Duncan as Vixey.

I remembered watching this so many times in my childhood, and though I didn’t comprehend the significance of them being mortal enemies, I still cried as a kid. It’s incredibly powerful to not understand the reason and yet be affected by the characters alone! And having watched it for the first time in years as an adult, I can now appreciate its deep wisdom. Seriously, it’s like a movie-length guide to the facts of life; how to treat a lady, how forgiving your enemies will set you free, and how the best of friendships can overcome anything.

God, I loved this film as a kid, and I still do now. Touching and bittersweet, it will melt, warm and break your heart. All at the freakin’ same time! A truly underrated classic.

Rating: 10/10

#1543

Yeah, I remember The Fox and the Hound, thedriveintheatre. It’s one of those Disney films which you look back on and realize that some parts were really quite scary and adult, and very, very sad. I really need to see this one again. Nice review, by the way!

I bought Burn After Reading on DVD the other day. Such a good film, just so, so funny. This is the review that I wrote on Facebook (I use that film profile thing where you can record which films you have watched and that sort of thing) - If you’re looking for a film with a deeper meaning that leaves a lasting, emotional impression on you, this is probably not it. But if you’re looking for something fun and quirky and thoroughly enjoyable, then Burn After Reading is just the thing. The storyline evolves out of practically nothing, and yet it manages to weave itself through the range of unique and satisfying characters until they are all connected with each other- without even knowing it!

This is definitely a Coen brothers film, quirky and laugh out loud funny at times, but it’s what the audience knows and the characters don’t that makes it so amusing. It’s like a snippet of humanity to demonstrate how pointless and silly it can be, and because of that it is perhaps difficult to emotionally connect with the characters, but they all still seem appealing, especially McDormand and Pitt’s characters. It’s a film with a lot of replay value and though it might contrast with the Coens’ meatier works, it’s definitely worth a watch.

#1544

Earlier on today, I went to see The Invention of Lying which was…well, amusing.

I dunno, to me it’s a movie that has a better idea that it does an execution. I feel as though some of the ideas it explores could have done with a bit more time focusing on them rather than the romance between the lead two characters, which was another problem to me. I’m as optimistic and hopeful as the next guy…but it’s just plain unrealistic. :laughing:

With that said, the movie does provide a fair amount of decent chuckles if you like Gervais’ style of humour. But, for me, it doesn’t have much to make you go back for repeat viewings, possibly a little disappointing just because of the output Ricky Gervais has previously been involved with.

I’d give it a 6.5, maybe more generously a 7/10 as I feel it has good intentions that just don’t pay off, but it has interesting ideas that boost it up a little bit with the score.

7/10…but it’s a low 7. :laughing:

#1545

I’ve seen quite a a lot of movies this year in the theaters. I think I’ll go head and list all the films I’ve seen, and what ratings/rankings I would give them:

  1. Up - 10/10
  2. i Days of Summer[/i] - 10/10
  3. District 9 - 9.5/10
  4. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - 9/10
  5. The Hurt Locker - 9/10
  6. Coraline - 8.5/10
  7. Star Trek - 8.5/10
  8. Zombieland - 8/10
  9. Inglourious Basterds - 7/10
  10. Bruno - 7/10
  11. The Hangover - 7/10
  12. Monsters Vs. Aliens - 5/10
  13. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 2/10
#1546

TDIT: Real nice review! Now that I think about it, you’re right, it truly has a lot of reality in it, which is what makes it both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I remember seriously crying at the voices of memory at the end: “We’re always gonna be friends forever, right?” “Yeah, forever”. It’s such a bittersweet movie. It reminds me that when you’re younger, you really believe that everything great in your life, including who you’re with, will last. And man, the impact of how things changed…it was so honest it hurt. :cry:
The sequel ruined the masterpiece of the first, though. :stuck_out_tongue: It turned a truly touching story of friendships and hardship of changes over time into a story of break-ups and make-ups friendship-wise that you can find in any teen TV. show already. :stuck_out_tongue:

#1547

I wholeheartedly agree with you on all counts, BDD! I remember as a kid asking my aunt (who watched it with me) why Tod couldn’t just go back to the farm at the end. Obviously, I wasn’t old enough to understand why. :stuck_out_tongue: But seriously, it has to be one of the few tragic melodramas in animation. The only ones I could think of that have similarly moved me to tears is Grave of the Fireflies, Hercules (more because of its epicness, you know, Rocky-level man-tears), Pocahantas, and Watership Down. Up came pretty close, too, and Cars, as some of you would know, made me embarassingly tear at the final race (Seriously, I don’t know why, again, maybe it’s a Rocky ‘Epic Win’ thing). I missed the first third when they were kids, and I wished I hadn’t! Ah well, maybe next time.

And while we’re on the topic of animated film themes, are any of you sick with the simplistic morality messages Disney churns out nowadays? They’re along the variations of 1) Believe in yourself. 2) Don’t care what others think. 3) Don’t give up hope. Yes, they’re all good for the kids and all that, but I really missed the good old days when they didn’t have those same tired high-school settings and took you somewhere magical and faraway without any of those cliched ‘feel-good’ motivational speeches preached at you. The same can be said about most animated films nowadays. There are a whole lot more ‘moralities’ that can be explored, not to mention thousands of possible worlds to venture. But Disney and DreamWorks tend to stick to the conventional; if they’re not churning out mindless sequels (any Disney Classic sequel) and uninspired adolescent flicks (HSM trilogy, Camp Rock, Bandslam, Hannah Montana: The Movie), then it’s always the family-man-who-learns-the-importance-of-family genre (The Shaggy Dog, The Game Plan, Bedtime Stories, and the upcoming Old Dogs). I’m sick to the death of this, I really hope Disney pulls a second renaissance soon before it sinks into the depths of mediocrity. :confused:

/End Wall of Text Rant

lizardgirl: I wanted to watch Inglorious with my cinema’s loyalty points, but never got round to it. Don’t know whether it’s still running, although probably at more inconvenient times by now.

Taking Disney Guy’s lead, here’s the films I’ve watched from 2009. With the exception of Wolverine (Am I glad I didn’t see this in theatres!), I’ve watched every one of them in cinemas :mrgreen::

  1. Up
  2. District 9
  3. Star Trek
  4. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
  5. Public Enemies
  6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  7. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
  8. The Taking of Pelham 123
  9. Monsters Vs. Aliens
  10. G-Force
  11. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
  12. Fast & Furious
  13. Land of the Lost
  14. Terminator Salvation
  15. Bruno
  16. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
  17. Inkheart
  18. Push

Oh, and they’re ranked in order of awesomeness.

#1548

I totally agree with almost everything you said. I’m hoping Disney’s second renaissance will come this year with The Princess and the Frog. Even though it may not walk new ground in terms of story, it’s at least a return to Disney’s 2D roots.

I just wanted to correct you on something though, TDIT. Bandslam is not a Disney film, and is actually not in the same vein as HSM. I went to see it, with very little expectations, and left very surprised. It’s more mature than any of the HSM films, the music is good, and the screenwriter really knows their stuff about music and rock/punk rock history. It’s worth seeing, it’s a lot of fun.

#1549

From what I’ve been seeing, The Princess and the Frog seems to have the same believe in yourself message that your talking about, TDIT. I actually started crying when I saw one of the featurettes where Anika was saying that you can wish on a star, but it needs a little help to make your dreams come true. <3 It’s very appropriate to my situation right now.

#1550

R2-D2: Well, I have the rule I should not judge a movie before I’ve seen it, so maybe I should practice what I preach for Bandslam. I’ll give it a rent and see how it goes. Thanks for the correction on its studio, and it’s cool that you support me on the Disney renaissance thing. Fingers crossed, man… :wink:

woody: Well, okay, on hindsight, there are some exceptions to the ‘Believe in Yourself’ thing. Like Hercules and Mulan, for example. While Hercules has already proven to be a hero, he still faces his moments of self-doubt and has to prove he’s willing to give up his life to save the ones he loves. Mulan has to overcome a male-chauvinistic society and prove a woman can do as good a job as any man. They take the simple ‘Believe Yourself’ morality and elevate it to something grander and bolder. Not to say high-school preppies don’t have as much courage or anything, but it does get tiresome when they don’t quite push their heroes to the limit either. Oh, nasty cheerleader tries to sabotage their plans in an immature way, and their parents don’t like them singing in the musical. Minor setback. Not exactly life-threatening or emotionally-conflicting.

And modern Disney/animated characters always have to say the message out loud ‘Stan-from-South Park-style’ at the end (ex. Kung Fu Panda), while older classics just went out and ‘did the right thing’. It’s condescending and underestimates the intelligence of kids to ‘get the message’.

I’m hoping The Princess and the Frog doesn’t ‘talk down’ to the audience or preach too much, but I like the obvious themes of overcoming societal rules and whatnot. A bit like Ratatouille. Again, I’m being optimistic. December can’t come soon enough. :slight_smile:

Excuse me for my massive Wall of Text.

#1551

I just bought Lilo & Stitch and The Road to El Dorado. :slight_smile:

#1552

Haha, I thought you were referring to ‘Wall of Text’ as a member there, thedriveintheatre. :laughing:

Started watching Come Fly with Me as right after it was a special on Up, so out of curiosity I thought I’d watch a bit, and after about half an hour I changed channel. My god, that movie is bad. Aside from the poor animation and bad character design, the story itself seemed to go off on random tangents and I wasn’t particularly keen on the targeting of the Russians as these evil bad guys (though I know that unfortunately happens a lot). Just generally it was a bit rubbish. Makes me realise just how great Pixar is, having watched some of a movie like that.

#1553

Don’t worry, lizardgirl, Up will be the most heartwarming story you ever seen! And don’t forget to catch my fanfic after you watched Up.

#1554

I should create a character named after that in my fanfics… :wink:

Is this the movie you watched, lizardgirl? Reminds me of that cheesy Renee Zellweger movie View from the Top. Why hasn’t there be an intelligent stewardess movie? :confused:

Oh my god, these two movies, are like, among my top favourites animation-wise! You’re in for a treat! :wink:

#1555

thedriveintheatre - I was referring to that movie about flies going to space, that animated movie. It is called Come Fly with Me, isn’t it? It was obviously very bad if I’ve forgotten the title. :laughing:

#1556

I believe the title was actually Fly Me to the Moon, lizardgirl. I feel like I should be sad I know that. Never saw it, though.

I’ve been watching a bunch of old movies lately, both on my own time, and as part of class I am taking on Hollywood during the 70’s. I’m just gonna do a list of what I’ve seen, instead of reviewing each one.

  1. The Maltese Falcon
  2. Casablanca
  3. Jaws
  4. American Graffiti
  5. The Odd Couple
  6. Dracula
  7. Lawrence of Arabia
  8. Mean Streets
  9. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
  10. Dirty Harry
  11. Shaft

Most of these movies were pretty good, with a few exceptions. There were quite a few that I didn’t really like, though were certainly well-made movies. The ones I did really like were Jaws, American Graffiti, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and Lawrence of Arabia. These movies were just exceptional, and very entertaining.

#1557

Ah, that’s the one! I missed the beginning of it, so I didn’t see the title. Plus, it was very bad so obviously not worth remembering. :laughing:

We studied Jaws in English a few years ago. It’s a great film, but once you’ve watched it at least twenty times and analyzed it in detail, it gets boring. A real classic, though.

#1558

This was actually the first time I saw Jaws, and it really blew me away in terms of just how entertaining it was in every respect. Plus, I really like Richard Dreyfuss in that movie.

I can totally see how watching it a lot, and having to analyze it can detract from how much you enjoy something. That’s why I try to pace myself with things I really like, so I don’t get sick of them.

#1559

Same here. You’d be amazed how few times I’ve watched Pixar films compared to more enthusiastic fans here, but the films I love most are the ones I watch least. Actually, wait, the ones I hate most are the ones I watch least, but you get the idea; better to savour in small quantities, much like fine wine. Nothing better than dusting off an old classic you haven’t watched in months (or in some cases, years), and rediscovering its magic. :smiley:

I really want to watch either Surrogates or Mao’s Last Dancer at the moment, but knowing my mates, they’d rather watch the former at the moment. We’re up to our necks in homework now, but I’m gonna take time out on Sunday to use my Gold Class upgrade before it expires next week (you get a free one with a purchase of a certain ice cream brand). :wink:

#1560

Right now, I’m watching the famous 5 hour long movie - Titanic.