Very affecting portrait of a great artist. Doesn't even try to justify his greatness, but to look at the thought process that made him arrive. While it would have been nice to focus on his individual works most would be over theatrical runtime. But we don't need an explainer about West Side Story, because the artist is the subject and not the art.
The hardest part is that you'd have to be a big fan of his and his life and accomplishments to even try to grasp the story. References to Americana composer and fellow gay man Aaron Copland are literally fleetingly referenced, and the movie's biggest scene is an argument about a time and place not shown in the film.
Worse than the original, virtually every bad element of the original is still intact. Now it's leaden beyond belief, centered on a character that is maddenly ill conceived, and full of plot holes that are larger than many in BvS.
We've been lead to believe for years that Whedon fundamentally changed the vision for the film, when everyone knew that wasn't the case. Snyder is the most powerful conman of the century, the sheer audacity of the badness is actually a positive feature of the movie.
Instead of rage that I felt after BvS I felt nothing but schadenfreude for the people he conned into supporting this lazy riff. He pulled off the heist of the century with this garbage. He set 5 billion dollars on fire and was too lazy to frame the flames. He chipped the paint off the Michelangelo/Da Vinci fresco, smeared his poop on the wall, and laughed at those he charged to look where the great work of others should be.
Extremely faithful remake of The Heiress, almost too similar at times. See it for the performances, as all four leads put in intriguingly ambiguous work throughout.
This was very good but is far from the classic of the Browning version. In particular the outsider nature of Van Helsing and Dracula in the story is utterly lost by the plainness of the accents. Although there is some incredible lighting design and some characters are better acted (Juan Harker in particular), the story falls flat. The allure added by Lugosi is utterly absent (as it is in the book). This version is best viewed as a curiosity piece.
The Bronze was an attempt from writer/star Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory) to break into serious cinema that doesn't quite gel. In particular much of the ending jars with the tone of nearly every other scene. It's an ending a studio making a comedy with a network star would want, in a movie that such audiences would never embrace.
The movie commercially was probably doomed from the start, even the best movie in the genre of arrested development (Young Adult) struggled and that had much better acting.
All that being said it is often a compelling and interesting look at destructive characters, unachievable goals, overcompensation, and the meagerness of sporting accomplishment.
I recently rewatched this without knowing I had seen the film previously during a MAT3K presentation at a convention. Truthfully the jokes at the show were more considered than the plot. If I heard Shin-Gojira took such a virulently militaristic and nationalistic stand as a response to this film I'd believe it. Unless you have a crowd of 500 nerds to chant "Ragna, Ragna" along with you the movie is unwatchable excepting its brilliant animation.
The character of Hussein was brilliantly played, one of the most moving and true portrayals of inner agony I've ever seen. Much of the time he is lost in a state of shock at the cruelty of existence, the
comfy shoes dislodged from the innocent deliveryman moments ahead of him
. His avoidance of life and disconnection speak to me as loudly as a trumpet.
The grimmest failure of this or any film is when it could easily be mistaken as a parody of its intentions. Ironically parodies may be the opposite, but that's a topic for another day. This is easily the best criticism I could make, that McCarthy accidentally parodied his own work.
Comments 1 - 8 of 8
Movie comment on Maestro
darth_nevets
Very affecting portrait of a great artist. Doesn't even try to justify his greatness, but to look at the thought process that made him arrive. While it would have been nice to focus on his individual works most would be over theatrical runtime. But we don't need an explainer about West Side Story, because the artist is the subject and not the art.The hardest part is that you'd have to be a big fan of his and his life and accomplishments to even try to grasp the story. References to Americana composer and fellow gay man Aaron Copland are literally fleetingly referenced, and the movie's biggest scene is an argument about a time and place not shown in the film.
Movie comment on Zack Snyder's Justice League
darth_nevets
Worse than the original, virtually every bad element of the original is still intact. Now it's leaden beyond belief, centered on a character that is maddenly ill conceived, and full of plot holes that are larger than many in BvS.We've been lead to believe for years that Whedon fundamentally changed the vision for the film, when everyone knew that wasn't the case. Snyder is the most powerful conman of the century, the sheer audacity of the badness is actually a positive feature of the movie.
Instead of rage that I felt after BvS I felt nothing but schadenfreude for the people he conned into supporting this lazy riff. He pulled off the heist of the century with this garbage. He set 5 billion dollars on fire and was too lazy to frame the flames. He chipped the paint off the Michelangelo/Da Vinci fresco, smeared his poop on the wall, and laughed at those he charged to look where the great work of others should be.
Movie comment on Washington Square
darth_nevets
Extremely faithful remake of The Heiress, almost too similar at times. See it for the performances, as all four leads put in intriguingly ambiguous work throughout.Movie comment on Drácula
darth_nevets
This was very good but is far from the classic of the Browning version. In particular the outsider nature of Van Helsing and Dracula in the story is utterly lost by the plainness of the accents. Although there is some incredible lighting design and some characters are better acted (Juan Harker in particular), the story falls flat. The allure added by Lugosi is utterly absent (as it is in the book). This version is best viewed as a curiosity piece.Movie comment on The Bronze
darth_nevets
The Bronze was an attempt from writer/star Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory) to break into serious cinema that doesn't quite gel. In particular much of the ending jars with the tone of nearly every other scene. It's an ending a studio making a comedy with a network star would want, in a movie that such audiences would never embrace.The movie commercially was probably doomed from the start, even the best movie in the genre of arrested development (Young Adult) struggled and that had much better acting.
All that being said it is often a compelling and interesting look at destructive characters, unachievable goals, overcompensation, and the meagerness of sporting accomplishment.
Movie comment on Gin-iro no kami no Agito
darth_nevets
I recently rewatched this without knowing I had seen the film previously during a MAT3K presentation at a convention. Truthfully the jokes at the show were more considered than the plot. If I heard Shin-Gojira took such a virulently militaristic and nationalistic stand as a response to this film I'd believe it. Unless you have a crowd of 500 nerds to chant "Ragna, Ragna" along with you the movie is unwatchable excepting its brilliant animation.Movie comment on Talaye sorkh
darth_nevets
The character of Hussein was brilliantly played, one of the most moving and true portrayals of inner agony I've ever seen. Much of the time he is lost in a state of shock at the cruelty of existence, theMovie comment on The Counselor
darth_nevets
The grimmest failure of this or any film is when it could easily be mistaken as a parody of its intentions. Ironically parodies may be the opposite, but that's a topic for another day. This is easily the best criticism I could make, that McCarthy accidentally parodied his own work.