Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
The Wild Robot
If you have seen the trailer for The Wild Robot, you might ask yourself, "Haven't I seen this movie before?" The Iron Giant gave us a robot that fell from the sky but didn't know its origin or purpose and eventually rebelled against its creators. Over the Hedge gave us animals that talk and must cooperate to survive, along with a bear that is a bad guy. Zootopia gave us an unscrupulous fox who helps the main character. Logan's Run gave us humans living in a dome. Silent Running gave us plants being grown in a dome. Wall-E gave us robots with compassion while on a voyage of self-discovery, along with an evil robot trying to do them harm. Bicentennial Man gave us a robot that rewrote his own programming to become more than he originally was, and so therefore the robot is wanted by his creators to find out what those changes are.
Many of the elements we have seen before, but the movie is so well-written and well-executed that it is one of the best films I have seen in a while. I was impressed.
Rating: A-.
The following section contains spoilers:
I have one big complaint about a plot point that doesn't make sense and is likely there to push an agenda. The robot is on an island with animals that normally compete with and kill each other. While the animals are hibernating for the winter, a massive snowstorm threatens life on the island. The robot takes it upon itself to bring some of the hibernating animals to a large shelter that it has built. While in the shelter the animals agree to overcome their natural instincts and cooperate for their mutual survival. Logically this makes no sense. If the animals are adapted to hibernate on the island, then they have already found shelter to survive the weather. The robot, which has overcome its own programming, gets the animals to do the same and make a permanent truce. So if the animals aren't going to hunt each other, how do they survive going forward? The message is that competition is bad, and cooperation is good, which reminds me of Our Daily Bread, a Great Depression-era movie with a socialist message. Both movies have a climactic scene about diverting water.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Why critics kinda hated the Empire Strikes Back
I was turning 20 when the movie came out. The critics loved it. The Louisville movie critic called it an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. The movie blew me away and it is still my favorite movie.
We spent 3 years wondering if Darth Vader was really Luke's father.
This was released just five months after Star Trek The Motion Picture which was a bit of a bore.
Man of Steel
I wrote of review of Man of Steel right after it came out. I simply noted that I liked it much better than the average review on Rotten Tomatoes. I am a sucker for Superman stories. I very much liked the slightly mundane Superman Returns, and I was a big fan of the television show Smallville until it overstayed its welcome by stretching out to ten seasons.
Man of Steel is a near-perfect Superman movie despite a few minor flaws that turned off a few people and critics.
Just to get this out of the way, the second half of the movie is dominated by over-the-top battle scenes between Superman and other Krytonians, like General Zod. These superbeings hit each other with such force that they send their opponent flying through multiple buildings doing enormous damage. Yet, the Kryptonians don't take much damage personally despite the force they inflict on each other. Superheroes in movies often do physically impossible things, which takes away from the believability, but if such powerful and nearly indestructible beings actually did fight each other on planet Earth, this is what it would look like.
What I like about Man of Steel is that this is the first Superman story to put extra emphasis on him being an alien from another world. We see Krytopn, and we see their technology and how it is more advanced than ours. On Earth, the people's initial reaction to Superman is to be fearful, and rightfully so.
Henry Cavill makes a good Superman. He portrays stoicism and morality in the face of lifelong adversity. He does a good job of displaying angst over trying to fit into a world that he wasn't meant for.
But a good hero needs a good villain and we get it in General Zod, who is Superman's apparent equal and played menacingly by Michael Shannon. Zod isn't just a cartoon character. He is pursuing the logical goal of preserving the Kryptonian race, even if he has to wipe out humanity to do it
Amy Adams is perfect as Louis Lane. Kevin Costner and Dianne Lane do superb jobs as Jonathan and Martha Kent. Many of the other cast members have small but memorable performances, like Laurance Fishburne as Perry White, and Christopher Meloni as a military officer who puts his life on the line.
However, I feel that Harry Lennix is typecast in most of his roles, always playing similar predictable characters, but he is memorable nevertheless.
I noticed television actors popping up in a bunch of different roles. I recognized Alessandro Juliani from Battlestar Galactica.
I cringed in just a few places where the dialog seemed simplistic or just unnecessary. Movies have a compulsion to explain what is going on in the simplest possible terms just to make sure that we get it.
I cringed in just a few places where the dialog seemed simplistic or just unnecessary. Movies have a compulsion to explain what is going on in the simplest possible terms just to make sure that we get it.
Rating: A-.
P.S. The CW series Superman & Lois feels very derivative of Man of Steel. The show uses a similar storyline, and similar props and effects. Since the show is 80% soap opera, I don't care for it. The 20% that is not a soap opera makes for a good Superman story, but it is not that different from what we have seen before.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
15 Years Later, I Finally Understand Inglorious Basterds
According to the video, Inglorious Bastards symbolizes American national identity, and the decline of film as a form of storytelling.
Monday, September 30, 2024
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Reagan
I did not think Dennis Quaid would be the right person to play Ronald Reagan. This is the same actor who played Gordon Cooper 40 years ago in The Right Stuff, one of my favorite movies. In that film, Quaid displayed his wide boyish grin, which is on display here as well, and gives away that under all that makeup we are watching Quaid and not Reagan. However, Quaid gives an Oscar-worthy performance as Reagan, capturing perfectly not only the voice but also the essence of who Reagan was.
The problem with any two-hour biography is that it is going to be rushed. Ronald Reagan's entire life was much more complicated than what can be shown in two hours. A single event in his life might take two hours to tell perfectly. The movie is more of a collection of brief highlights of Reagan's life. There are so many details left out that I feel shortchanged. For example, we see David Stockman for only about 5 seconds, and the film barely covers the Iran-Contra scandal. However, the movie succeeds brilliantly at capturing the emotional feel of Reagan.
Had this been a three-hour movie like Oppenheimer, it could have captured more detail about Reagan's life, but Oppenheimer didn't do this very well and was more of a soap opera. However, a longer run time wouldn't have made the film any more entertaining. You can tell that the movie had a limited budget and they did the best they could with the budget they had.
I'm impressed by the performances of a great many supporting actors.
The negative reviews have much to do with how people feel about Ronald Reagan. If you lived through the 1970s and 1980s then you are going to have a different perspective than people who didn't. The 1970s was likely the worst decade for the nation in my lifetime. There was the Watergate scandal, the oil crisis, and then during the Jimmy Carter presidency, we had monstrous inflation, high interest rates, unemployment, a deep recession, and the Iranian hostage crisis. Ronald Reagan came along and said that we as a nation are better than this, and we have only forgotten what a great nation we are. Things did improve significantly under his presidency.
The rushed presentation reminds me of "The Iron Lady", but the difference is that "The Iron Lady" is highly critical of Margaret Thatcher, and this film adores Ronald Reagan. For older Americans who also adore Reagan, it is preaching to the choir.
The story is told from the perspective of a fictional KGB political analyst whose job was to monitor Reagan as a potential threat to the Soviet Union. I have no doubt that such people existed, but here it comes off as a gimmick, but it also works by putting Reagan into the context of the Cold War. Reagan was such a strong anti-communist that the movie made that the main focus of his life.
Since the movie was released during an election year some people might view it as political propaganda. However, the plan was to release three years ago but the film was delayed by COVID and the writer's strike.
I was so impressed that I wanted to applaud at the end. I didn't at first because I thought that it might look silly to applaud a motion picture, but when the rest of the audience applauded, I joined in.
Rating: A-. Although far from a complete biography, the movie does an excellent job of capturing who Ronald Reagan was.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Monday, September 23, 2024
Friday, September 20, 2024
The Jetsons - 1950s Super Panavision 70
What you can generate with AI these days, is just astonishing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOnC8hdX8k
@frankpoperowitzmusic 2 days ago
I could watch two straight hours of Jane just strolling around the apartment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOnC8hdX8k
@frankpoperowitzmusic 2 days ago
I could watch two straight hours of Jane just strolling around the apartment.
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Disney Plus: You paying more for less is their brilliant business strategy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DppIlEH3GaU
Good video!
A Google search shows that Disney+ is offering three months for $1.99 per month. This is the version with ads.
Last year on Black Friday I got a combination of Disney+ and Hulu for a year for $3 per month.
There was a similar offer on HBO Max, now just called Max. It is my favorite streaming service.
Years ago, I got the Disney+ pre-start discount where I was paying around $4 per month by paying for three years in advance. The problem is that I didn't see a ton of new content that I wanted to watch. I had already seen most of the stuff worth watching.
Good video!
A Google search shows that Disney+ is offering three months for $1.99 per month. This is the version with ads.
Last year on Black Friday I got a combination of Disney+ and Hulu for a year for $3 per month.
There was a similar offer on HBO Max, now just called Max. It is my favorite streaming service.
Years ago, I got the Disney+ pre-start discount where I was paying around $4 per month by paying for three years in advance. The problem is that I didn't see a ton of new content that I wanted to watch. I had already seen most of the stuff worth watching.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Saturday, September 14, 2024
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Monday, September 9, 2024
Why is "The Empire Strikes Back" considered the best Star Wars film? (Star Wars Discussion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbUdTONl8MY
I had just barely graduated High School when I drove to Indianapolis to see TESB at a big theater with a large curved screen. I sat in the front row. At one point my head had to turn quite a ways to follow a ship flying across the big curved screen. It felt almost 3D.
I grew up in the 1970s. The country was in a state of malaise for the entire decade. We had suffered through the Vietnam War, Watergate, the oil crisis, stagnation, and inflation. China and Russia were evil empires trying to take over their neighbors.
Star Wars was a beacon of hope. It said that good could stand against evil. The Empire Strikes Back became my favorite movie and it still is.
I'm slowly turning into an old man but I am still a die-hard Star Wars fan.
@john2001plus
0 seconds agoI had just barely graduated High School when I drove to Indianapolis to see TESB at a big theater with a large curved screen. I sat in the front row. At one point my head had to turn quite a ways to follow a ship flying across the big curved screen. It felt almost 3D.
I grew up in the 1970s. The country was in a state of malaise for the entire decade. We had suffered through the Vietnam War, Watergate, the oil crisis, stagnation, and inflation. China and Russia were evil empires trying to take over their neighbors.
Star Wars was a beacon of hope. It said that good could stand against evil. The Empire Strikes Back became my favorite movie and it still is.
I'm slowly turning into an old man but I am still a die-hard Star Wars fan.
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