|
|
I guess I am a purest when it comes to movies based off books. The more I think about this movie, the less I like it. Don’t get me wrong, there are several high points to the film:
- Cinematography
- Some extremely funny moments (especially Ron with the love potion and Harry with the luck potion)
- Jim Broadbent (as Horace Slughorn)
- Alan Rickman (as Severus Snape)
- The whole underground cave sequence
But, as a whole, I found the movie extremely lacking. I found the general pace of the movie to be slow and found that David Yates (director) tended to focus a lot of screen time to items that seemed inconsequential. And then there was the whole “lack of climax” during the third act. Yes, there is an important event that takes place and it is sad, for those who love the books. However, when a book has several large sequences that, in my opinion, MAKE the book great, one would expect those sequences to get the film treatment. Not so much in HP6. Where was the Battle of Hogwarts? Where was the White Tomb? I sit through this 2+ hour film and am not treated to, arguably, the best scenes in the entire series? How disappointing… By the end of the movie, I have forgotten why I even care who the Half-Blood Prince really is…
Yes, I know I have plenty of complaints… it doesn’t mean this movie is necessarily bad, just lacking. If you haven’t read the books, you will probably love this movie. I am just a bit picky when it comes to film adaptations of novels… I would encourage you to see the film because there are some truly great moments, just go into with a heads-up on what to expect.
This past weekend, we gathered a group of friends and went to the local cinema to watch “Star Trek” as directed by J.J. Abrams. I didn’t fully know what to expect when we walked into the theater. The level of hype around this movie equaled that of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and we know how that panned out.We were all pleasantly surprised to be treated to a fantastic film.
Who would’ve thought that this movie could live up to the hype and standards set by, not only, hardcore Star Trek fans, but avid Abrams followers? There are so many reasons this movie could have failed: poor casting, blackhole-sized plot holes, terrible script, lack of respect for the source material… and this film managed to walk all of these tightropes with grace and ease. And to top it off, it was an exciting journey from the first frame to the final fanfare.
Most Star Trek folks know that the series focuses on the characters… and this film is no different. All of the players enter the story as the plot demands, which allows for the proper introductions to be made for each and every character. And while Scotty shows up a bit late in the film for my tastes, it makes sense in the grand scheme of the movie.
The cast was spot on for each role. Chris Pine took command of James T. Kirk with reckless abandon. Zachary Quinto embodied the youthful Spock. I could take you through the entire list, but I will leave you with these two: Simon Pegg as Scotty (excellent, if underused) and the return of Leonard Nemoy (trust me, it just worked).
There is plenty of action to go around. In fact, there are only a few lulls in the entire 2 hour running time. The starship battles are spectacular, the halo-jumping skydive is amazing, and well… plenty of handy fisticuffs.
There is no better review for a movie than wanting to go right back into the theater and watch it again immediately. If I hadn’t have had plans already for the evening, that’s exactly what I would’ve done. This franchise reboot worked and worked well. It got my excited about Star Trek and anxious to see the next installment. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a theater viewing of this movie.
I am not very familiar with Amos Lee and his catalog of music, but what I am hearing from his latest album “Last Days At The Lodge” are fairly mellow, R&B inspired songs that resonate with something personal to Lee. Apparently, he wrote all the songs that appear on this album, which I applaud. You can tell there is a great production quality to each song.
Few of the songs are of such outstanding quality (lyrically, musically, or what have you) that you will want to listen to them for days on end. However, I haven’t heard a song that I immediately wanted to skip right past, which is a good thing for me. One song that stands out to me is “Street Corner Preacher.” The blues-ish feel just takes me to a good place.
If you are in the market for good music to work to in an office environment, this could be a good choice to add to your collection. All in all, it’s worth a listen, and if you are a fan of Amos Lee, then a must buy.
Rating: 7/10
After a busy weekend or partying, house-cleaning, and hosting, Brandy and I went to relax at the theaters. We obviously went to see “Get Smart” according to the title of this post. Here is a brief synopsis:
Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is a CONTROL Analyst who dreams to be a field-agent, working alongside his favorite agent, Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson). CONTROL is then infilitrated by KAOS and compromises the identities of all current field-agents. So the chief (Alan Arkin) promotes Smart to the field as Agent 86 and teams him with the beautiful and deadly Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). It is up to Agents 86 and 99 to thwart KAOS and save the world from certain destruction.
Ok, so there’s the premise of the movie. Since it is based off the comic screwball TV series, I was expecting a series of goofball sight gags and a Maxwell Smart that was equal parts Michael Scott (The Office) and Evan Baxter (Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty). However, I was pleasantly surprised to see Carell play Maxwell Smart as the straight man and not the incompetent boob. Not to say he wasn’t funny, which he was.
I would say overall that Get Smart was a good summer comedy, but definitely not one for the ages. The throwbacks to the original series were quaint and obviously treated with a respectful nostalgia. I don’t think this is one of Carell’s best performances, because it didn’t require him to stretch himself. It was safe, but sufficient. Anne Hathaway brought an elegance to the film as a fashionable, yet strong agent. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has certainly come a long way from “The Scorpion King” in this flick. It’s really hard to not like any of these characters. But, my favorite actor in this film has to be Alan Arkin. He steals pretty much every scene he is in. And let’s just mention this… the cameos were great… with the exception of Bill Murray’s odd casting choice. I’m still scratching my head over that one.
All in all, Get Smart is good summer comedy. It will not be the best film of the year, nor will it make it to your top 10 comedies of all time. What it is, though, is satisfying film… just don’t expect the sun, moon, and stars. 7/10
If you couldn’t tell from the title of this post, I was a little less than pleased with my time spent with the latest, and hopefully last, installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise. I knew going in that I should keep my expectations low, because let’s face it — George Lucas hasn’t had a great track record when it comes to bringing back beloved movie franchises from my childhood. Wow — I had no idea what to expect, but what I got wasn’t it.
First off, some positive notes. It was great to see Harrison Ford back in action wielding the legendary whip and donning the infamous fedora. He definitely not the action star he used to be, but I wasn’t expecting him to be either. Shia LeBeouf handled his character as well as he could have. Both actors did quite well, provided the schlock they were given. The musical score was a total throwback to the original series – great! Spielberg can create some amazingly beautiful shots. The ant sequence was entertaining as well.
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the meat of the matter. I figure I’ll present my complaints in a bulleted format.
- The script was just pitiful. It was said the powers that be were waiting for the perfect script to come along — I’m wondering why they stopped waiting. Since when did Indiana Jones become a sci-fi character? As my friend Christian mentioned, the plot seemed to fit around action-sequences as opposed to the action fitting around the plot. Moving along…
- Did we need the gratuitous crotch-shot, and I use this word loosely, joke?
- I was not aware that George of the Jungle was a part of the Indiana Jones mythos.
- Gophers? Monkeys? Aliens? Really?
- I wasn’t aware that Cate Blanchett’s character was supposed to be psychic until well after the movie was over.
- Many of the action sequences left me bored. There were several times I found myself just staring at the screen wondering why I wasn’t more involved with the story. There was little to draw me into the film and make me really truly care about the adventure that was being spoon-fed to the audience.
This was another reason to dislike George Lucas, or at least what he has become. Without his vision, we wouldn’t have such fond childhood memories, but did he really have to come back and spit on these memories? The acting was decent, the visuals were appealing, the score was exciting, the story was terrible, the dialog was bland. Would I recommend seeing the movie? Yes, but in the comfort of your own home. That way, you won’t feel bad when you want to turn it off and go do something else.
|
Misc.
News
Shopping
Tech
|
