Not much really has been happening with me which is why I've not really posted any musings. I'm back at RCC now so most of my extra time is devoted to that which doesn't leave much time for posting here. I will be updating my Atlanta Braves post next week with a few new thoughts on how they've progressed in the month since last posted on them.
I can say that my recent lists did draw a bit of controversy over at the Home Theater Forum website. Most of it was benign and harmless controversy but I did come across one troll who seemed to think that my views were "too extreme" and accused me of using certain words way too often. The words he picked out were used a grand total of 3 times in both posts combined. Oh well, I'll respond to that with the following Metallica lyric to close down today's post:
No remorse
No repent
We don't care what it meant
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
A thought or two on the Atlanta Braves heading into the final 1/3 of the season
I'm glad to see Atlanta doing so well right now, but before any of us get our hopes up for a playoff run, consider that Atlanta has played 24 games since the All-Star break and only 7 of those have been against teams with winning records. Their record over those seven games is 3-4 and one of those wins only came because Washington's bullpen absolutely gagged away a 9 run lead. They've only got 5 series left in the season against winning teams. Of their final 52 games, 25 of them come against such teams as the Padres, the Marlins, the Phillies and the Rockies who are all among the worst teams in baseball. The final series of the season is against Pittsburgh and assuming Pittsburgh doesn't fall apart in August and September, in all likelihood, this series will determine whether Atlanta or Pittsburgh gets the 2nd NL Wild Card spot. I believe that by this point, it will be a question as to whether Atlanta or Pittsburgh plays against St. Louis in the play-in game.
I really don't expect Atlanta to continue their pace because let's face it, they're the Braves. This team has one of the most dubious histories of late season/postseason collapses in American sports history. If Atlanta does actually make the playoffs, their record is going to be inflated (i.e. their record is going to indicate that they're a better team than they actually are) due to the previously mentioned lack of true quality teams they're playing in the final 2 months of the season. I personally am of the opinion that in their final 52 games, they will likely win somewhere between 19-24 of these 52 games. However, if Atlanta does actually make the postseason, the ceiling for them is the NLDS. They might win the Wild Card play-in game and get into the NLDS, but the honest truth is they are simply not good enough to beat teams like Washington, Cincinnati, Los Angeles or San Francisco depending on which of those last 2 teams wins the NL West in a best of 5 series. I don't think Atlanta is a bad team. I think they're a mid-pack team in that I think if you ranked all 30 teams in terms of how good they are, Atlanta would likely be somewhere between 11-15.
What really concerns me about them is that this year is the best they're gonna be for a long time to come. With the exception perhaps of Brian McCann, every major player this team has is gonna be leaving within the next 5 years because Atlanta's ownership (Liberty Media Group) basically refuses to pay their players enough to stay. The only reason McCann is probably gonna still be around is because Chipper Jones is retiring and management needs a new face for the franchise in the post-Chipper Jones era and Brian McCann is the most logical pick for this role. For the record, Liberty Media has the money to pay their players. Atlanta is currently somewhere between 12-15th in terms of the team's payroll and honestly, they should be in the top 5. The Braves case really is one in which it's not that a team doesn't have the resources to pay their players, but that the team will not use its resources to pay their players.
Remember these names because they will be superstars for the next decade plus and all of them will have passed and slipped through the Braves fingertips due to stingy ownership:
Michael Bourn, Martin Prado, Craig Kimbrel, Tommy Hanson, Johnny Venters, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Mike Minor, Brandon Beachy.
I really don't expect Atlanta to continue their pace because let's face it, they're the Braves. This team has one of the most dubious histories of late season/postseason collapses in American sports history. If Atlanta does actually make the playoffs, their record is going to be inflated (i.e. their record is going to indicate that they're a better team than they actually are) due to the previously mentioned lack of true quality teams they're playing in the final 2 months of the season. I personally am of the opinion that in their final 52 games, they will likely win somewhere between 19-24 of these 52 games. However, if Atlanta does actually make the postseason, the ceiling for them is the NLDS. They might win the Wild Card play-in game and get into the NLDS, but the honest truth is they are simply not good enough to beat teams like Washington, Cincinnati, Los Angeles or San Francisco depending on which of those last 2 teams wins the NL West in a best of 5 series. I don't think Atlanta is a bad team. I think they're a mid-pack team in that I think if you ranked all 30 teams in terms of how good they are, Atlanta would likely be somewhere between 11-15.
What really concerns me about them is that this year is the best they're gonna be for a long time to come. With the exception perhaps of Brian McCann, every major player this team has is gonna be leaving within the next 5 years because Atlanta's ownership (Liberty Media Group) basically refuses to pay their players enough to stay. The only reason McCann is probably gonna still be around is because Chipper Jones is retiring and management needs a new face for the franchise in the post-Chipper Jones era and Brian McCann is the most logical pick for this role. For the record, Liberty Media has the money to pay their players. Atlanta is currently somewhere between 12-15th in terms of the team's payroll and honestly, they should be in the top 5. The Braves case really is one in which it's not that a team doesn't have the resources to pay their players, but that the team will not use its resources to pay their players.
Remember these names because they will be superstars for the next decade plus and all of them will have passed and slipped through the Braves fingertips due to stingy ownership:
Michael Bourn, Martin Prado, Craig Kimbrel, Tommy Hanson, Johnny Venters, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Mike Minor, Brandon Beachy.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Top 12 Movies That I Hate But Everyone Else Loves Part 2
Yes here come the ones that are the highest offenders on my list of "popular" films that I just can't stand to watch. As usual, these comments may contain spoilers so if you don't want to be spoiled, read the bold titles and then move on. We'll continue the hate with number 6.
6. Michael Bay's Transformers Series. I don't know that I can say much more about these films that hasn't been said already. For the record, I think the first Transformers film from 2007 was actually not a bad movie. It's just lumped into bad company with 2 and 3. It still can't begin to touch the 1986 film however in terms of actually being a good story. The 1986 film as stated previously is the best representation of the Transformers mythology that's yet been made for the screen. The second film, Revenge Of The Fallen, is a disorganized mess of a film that actually rates up there with Battlefield Earth for worst sci-fi themed film ever made. The story line makes little sense, the acting for the most part is atrocious and of course, the waste of space known as Megan Fox takes up more than .5 seconds of screen time which means she has too much screen time. In a film with loads of weaknesses, she may actually be the biggest weak point. She has no acting talent whatsoever and the only reason she's famous is because a bunch of men who never got past puberty enjoy beating off to her. She's the equivalent of Kristen Stewart if Kristen Stewart were more popular among guys. I like beautiful women as much as the next straight man, but they have to bring something besides their looks to the table and Megan Fox does absolutely nothing besides look good. She's acting's version of Rena Mero AKA Sable. Transformers 3, Dark Of The Moon, is a little less of a congealed mess in that it gets rid of Megan Fox but replaces her with a nearly equally useless sidekick in Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. This movie has the same problem that Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 does in that THE MOVIE WILL NOT END! I watched this movie and I had a birthday waiting for it to end. To make it worse, the biggest reason for the length is because the movie takes forever to get started. I swear it's literally over an hour before something remotely interesting finally happens. To make it worse, we're not done with this cinematic fecal storm. I hear there's a Transformers 4 coming that is possibly to be directed by Steven Speilberg himself. Unless this is a reboot with an entirely new cast, save for Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (GIVE HIM BACK THE MEGATRON ROLE YOU BLITHERING CLODS!), there is no hope for redemption with this series.
5. Nightmare On Elm Street (1984). The film that gave Freddy Krueger to the world. I don't see this as a bad film from a production point of view. It's actually about as good as you can expect from a relatively low budget horror film. I just personally believe the story and theme of the movie(and series) is incredibly stupid. I can understand the allure of a guy who only kills you in your dreams and therefore can't be defeated but at the same time, I just don't understand how it got so popular. Robert Englund is also one actor that I've never began to understand why he's so beloved. He seems like a very nice and humble man and I respect him as a man, but I don't think he can act his way out of an unlocked bathroom. This one is actually a little more difficult for me to put into words because again, I just really can't explain my dislike for this film other than I just saw it as so ridiculously far-fetched that I couldn't suspend my disbelief far enough to actually enjoy it. Perhaps had the film been done as a comedy or satire, it might've worked better for me but as a serious horror movie, it sucks. This legacy of Freddy Krueger even crossed into the Mortal Kombat game franchise as the 2009 "reboot" (cough total rehash cough) later included him as a DLC character. Yes folks, an overhyped, overrated joke of a horror icon gets included with an overhyped, overrated joke of a video game release. It's a perfect match really except Mortal Kombat's legacy was far greater than Nightmare On Elm Street's ever tried to be and all this did was kick dirt on to what little was left of Mortal Kombat. But I digress.
4. District 9. It seems that most years recently have had a very highly acclaimed film that I just simply have found intolerable. 2007 had Juno, 2008 had Slumdog Millionaire, 2010 had The Social Network, and 2011 had Hugo. Why did I skip 2009? Because it contained the most offensive of films from those years as far as general popular opinion goes and that was District 9. Really, the concept of this is fantastic. Xenophobia taken to an entirely new level. The biggest problem I have with this film is the tone it takes. It really comes off as extremely righteous and self-important to me. None of the characters in it are likable and the main character, Wikus, just comes across as a complete douche for the entire duration of the film. If anything, I think this movie actually comes closer to convincing people that xenophobia is a good thing rather than a bad one. A friend of mine once referred to this film as "cinematic excrement" and I'm inclined to agree. This film was a chore to finish but I actually did finish it and have been trying ever since to wipe it from my memory.
3. Top Gun. I'm sure it might sound strange that an American male who was born in the 1980's would hate this movie. But not only do I hate it, I simply can't finish watching it. I've watched it in bits and pieces and have seen the whole movie over time but I am incapable of watching it in one sitting. My longest stretch in watching it has been around 43-44 minutes and after that I couldn't take any more without a break. The easiest way to sum up this movie is that it's basically a 2 hour dick measuring contest. The plot is absolutely ridiculous. For that matter, there is no plot. It's basically a bunch of "macho" guys showing off which one is the manliest and the planes merely serve as props in this glorious mission to prove which one has the biggest johnson. How in the blue hell this movie made Tom Cruise a star I will simply never understand. The constant excuse I get from people is that the soundtrack to the movie is extremely good and yes, I will admit it's a pretty good soundtrack. This however doesn't make up for the complete lack of substance in the film itself. I say, avoid the dick-measuring contest, buy the soundtrack, and hire a toddler to write a remake of this film because the toddler certainly could write a better film than the people who made this piece of dick-cheese did.
2. Jurassic Park. At one time, this was the highest grossing film in movie history. I didn't understand why before, and I don't understand it today. I can honestly say I've seen this film several times. I've tried to like it. I've wanted to like it. But guess what? I can't stand it. This hype job was one of the first films that really showed how far CGI had come and what it was capable of. Or so people who are fans of this film would have you believe. If you want the true answer to that question in a film that's not only watchable, but also one of the best American films ever made, look to Terminator 2. But I digress. This film suffers from the same problem that I mentioned with Nightmare on Elm Street which is that I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough. The concept is just incredibly asinine and the idea that people are actually stupid enough to do some of the things in this movie, while not inconceivable by any means, is certainly one that I'd prefer not to see in my entertainment world because God knows we see enough of it in our real lives everyday. I remember having to watch this film for the first time in my 11th grade ELPS class. We watched the film and then did a mock trial. I portrayed the Richard Attenborough character, whom I will refer to as Col. Sanders because frankly it's not worth actually going to Wikipedia to look up the character's name. The idea of the trial was to see whether or not this character was legally liable for the actions of the dinosaurs and the loss of life/property that ensued. In the end, our jury found that the character was not liable. How the hell they managed to come to this verdict I'll never know but in any case, I was not allowed to disagree since I was playing the character and to do so would've been an F for the assignment. I haven't seen the entirety of Steven Spielberg's filmography, but I can safely say that this is the worst film he's made that I've yet seen and the sequels to it are even worse but they're not highly acclaimed and regarded so they don't make this list. In describing this film, I can only use a line that Jeff Goldblum himself used in the film itself: "That is one big pile of shit."
And the number 1 film on my list of hatred is:
1. Finding Nemo. This is not anywhere near the top of my list of worst films I've ever seen. The story line isn't a bad one and it does present a good message to both parents and kids. Kids need to learn their boundaries sometimes while parents sometimes need to loosen the reigns and let the kids fly on their own. However, this movie makes the top of the list because of the films that I truly hate, this one seems to be the most highly thought of by the general population. Why do I hate this film so bad? What could possibly be in this film that just raises my blood pressure to the point of stroke? The answer is Ellen Degeneres. Or more specifically, the way she plays her character in the film, Dory. This character is one of the most unintentionally annoying characters in the history of cinema. By that I mean there are characters that are meant to get on your nerves and invoke that reaction from you. This was not the case here. Everything about her is just aggravating. Her voice, her personality and that WAY BLOODY OVERPLAYED SHORT TERM MEMORY LOSS ISSUE!! Was this supposed to be funny? Was it supposed to mock people with short term memory loss? I don't understand what purpose it serves other than to further a story line that has been told many times before in much better ways without resorting to things like this. Dory singlehandedly ruined this entire film for me. Perhaps had she not been such a focal point later in the film I would've had less of a problem with her but having her be one of the main characters in the film was a literally fatal mistake for this movie. I don't know whether Ellen had any creative input on this character or not so I don't know whether to blame her personally for this abomination or if one of the writers wrote the character this way and instructed Ellen to play her this way. Whichever one made that decision should've gotten 3-5 years for introducing this utterly useless and annoying character that so many people seem to love for some ungodly reason to the world of cinema.
So there we have it. The top 12 films I hate but you love. Thank you for causing the increase in my blood pressure and hardening of my arteries. Oh, one last thing, I must give dishonorable mentions to The Wizard Of Oz, and for that matter, 99% of musicals ever made and the Back To The Future series. Utter atrocities but they just couldn't crack this top 12 list. If there is ever a "next top 12" list, I'm sure they'll make it near the top.
6. Michael Bay's Transformers Series. I don't know that I can say much more about these films that hasn't been said already. For the record, I think the first Transformers film from 2007 was actually not a bad movie. It's just lumped into bad company with 2 and 3. It still can't begin to touch the 1986 film however in terms of actually being a good story. The 1986 film as stated previously is the best representation of the Transformers mythology that's yet been made for the screen. The second film, Revenge Of The Fallen, is a disorganized mess of a film that actually rates up there with Battlefield Earth for worst sci-fi themed film ever made. The story line makes little sense, the acting for the most part is atrocious and of course, the waste of space known as Megan Fox takes up more than .5 seconds of screen time which means she has too much screen time. In a film with loads of weaknesses, she may actually be the biggest weak point. She has no acting talent whatsoever and the only reason she's famous is because a bunch of men who never got past puberty enjoy beating off to her. She's the equivalent of Kristen Stewart if Kristen Stewart were more popular among guys. I like beautiful women as much as the next straight man, but they have to bring something besides their looks to the table and Megan Fox does absolutely nothing besides look good. She's acting's version of Rena Mero AKA Sable. Transformers 3, Dark Of The Moon, is a little less of a congealed mess in that it gets rid of Megan Fox but replaces her with a nearly equally useless sidekick in Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. This movie has the same problem that Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 does in that THE MOVIE WILL NOT END! I watched this movie and I had a birthday waiting for it to end. To make it worse, the biggest reason for the length is because the movie takes forever to get started. I swear it's literally over an hour before something remotely interesting finally happens. To make it worse, we're not done with this cinematic fecal storm. I hear there's a Transformers 4 coming that is possibly to be directed by Steven Speilberg himself. Unless this is a reboot with an entirely new cast, save for Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (GIVE HIM BACK THE MEGATRON ROLE YOU BLITHERING CLODS!), there is no hope for redemption with this series.
5. Nightmare On Elm Street (1984). The film that gave Freddy Krueger to the world. I don't see this as a bad film from a production point of view. It's actually about as good as you can expect from a relatively low budget horror film. I just personally believe the story and theme of the movie(and series) is incredibly stupid. I can understand the allure of a guy who only kills you in your dreams and therefore can't be defeated but at the same time, I just don't understand how it got so popular. Robert Englund is also one actor that I've never began to understand why he's so beloved. He seems like a very nice and humble man and I respect him as a man, but I don't think he can act his way out of an unlocked bathroom. This one is actually a little more difficult for me to put into words because again, I just really can't explain my dislike for this film other than I just saw it as so ridiculously far-fetched that I couldn't suspend my disbelief far enough to actually enjoy it. Perhaps had the film been done as a comedy or satire, it might've worked better for me but as a serious horror movie, it sucks. This legacy of Freddy Krueger even crossed into the Mortal Kombat game franchise as the 2009 "reboot" (cough total rehash cough) later included him as a DLC character. Yes folks, an overhyped, overrated joke of a horror icon gets included with an overhyped, overrated joke of a video game release. It's a perfect match really except Mortal Kombat's legacy was far greater than Nightmare On Elm Street's ever tried to be and all this did was kick dirt on to what little was left of Mortal Kombat. But I digress.
4. District 9. It seems that most years recently have had a very highly acclaimed film that I just simply have found intolerable. 2007 had Juno, 2008 had Slumdog Millionaire, 2010 had The Social Network, and 2011 had Hugo. Why did I skip 2009? Because it contained the most offensive of films from those years as far as general popular opinion goes and that was District 9. Really, the concept of this is fantastic. Xenophobia taken to an entirely new level. The biggest problem I have with this film is the tone it takes. It really comes off as extremely righteous and self-important to me. None of the characters in it are likable and the main character, Wikus, just comes across as a complete douche for the entire duration of the film. If anything, I think this movie actually comes closer to convincing people that xenophobia is a good thing rather than a bad one. A friend of mine once referred to this film as "cinematic excrement" and I'm inclined to agree. This film was a chore to finish but I actually did finish it and have been trying ever since to wipe it from my memory.
3. Top Gun. I'm sure it might sound strange that an American male who was born in the 1980's would hate this movie. But not only do I hate it, I simply can't finish watching it. I've watched it in bits and pieces and have seen the whole movie over time but I am incapable of watching it in one sitting. My longest stretch in watching it has been around 43-44 minutes and after that I couldn't take any more without a break. The easiest way to sum up this movie is that it's basically a 2 hour dick measuring contest. The plot is absolutely ridiculous. For that matter, there is no plot. It's basically a bunch of "macho" guys showing off which one is the manliest and the planes merely serve as props in this glorious mission to prove which one has the biggest johnson. How in the blue hell this movie made Tom Cruise a star I will simply never understand. The constant excuse I get from people is that the soundtrack to the movie is extremely good and yes, I will admit it's a pretty good soundtrack. This however doesn't make up for the complete lack of substance in the film itself. I say, avoid the dick-measuring contest, buy the soundtrack, and hire a toddler to write a remake of this film because the toddler certainly could write a better film than the people who made this piece of dick-cheese did.
2. Jurassic Park. At one time, this was the highest grossing film in movie history. I didn't understand why before, and I don't understand it today. I can honestly say I've seen this film several times. I've tried to like it. I've wanted to like it. But guess what? I can't stand it. This hype job was one of the first films that really showed how far CGI had come and what it was capable of. Or so people who are fans of this film would have you believe. If you want the true answer to that question in a film that's not only watchable, but also one of the best American films ever made, look to Terminator 2. But I digress. This film suffers from the same problem that I mentioned with Nightmare on Elm Street which is that I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough. The concept is just incredibly asinine and the idea that people are actually stupid enough to do some of the things in this movie, while not inconceivable by any means, is certainly one that I'd prefer not to see in my entertainment world because God knows we see enough of it in our real lives everyday. I remember having to watch this film for the first time in my 11th grade ELPS class. We watched the film and then did a mock trial. I portrayed the Richard Attenborough character, whom I will refer to as Col. Sanders because frankly it's not worth actually going to Wikipedia to look up the character's name. The idea of the trial was to see whether or not this character was legally liable for the actions of the dinosaurs and the loss of life/property that ensued. In the end, our jury found that the character was not liable. How the hell they managed to come to this verdict I'll never know but in any case, I was not allowed to disagree since I was playing the character and to do so would've been an F for the assignment. I haven't seen the entirety of Steven Spielberg's filmography, but I can safely say that this is the worst film he's made that I've yet seen and the sequels to it are even worse but they're not highly acclaimed and regarded so they don't make this list. In describing this film, I can only use a line that Jeff Goldblum himself used in the film itself: "That is one big pile of shit."
And the number 1 film on my list of hatred is:
1. Finding Nemo. This is not anywhere near the top of my list of worst films I've ever seen. The story line isn't a bad one and it does present a good message to both parents and kids. Kids need to learn their boundaries sometimes while parents sometimes need to loosen the reigns and let the kids fly on their own. However, this movie makes the top of the list because of the films that I truly hate, this one seems to be the most highly thought of by the general population. Why do I hate this film so bad? What could possibly be in this film that just raises my blood pressure to the point of stroke? The answer is Ellen Degeneres. Or more specifically, the way she plays her character in the film, Dory. This character is one of the most unintentionally annoying characters in the history of cinema. By that I mean there are characters that are meant to get on your nerves and invoke that reaction from you. This was not the case here. Everything about her is just aggravating. Her voice, her personality and that WAY BLOODY OVERPLAYED SHORT TERM MEMORY LOSS ISSUE!! Was this supposed to be funny? Was it supposed to mock people with short term memory loss? I don't understand what purpose it serves other than to further a story line that has been told many times before in much better ways without resorting to things like this. Dory singlehandedly ruined this entire film for me. Perhaps had she not been such a focal point later in the film I would've had less of a problem with her but having her be one of the main characters in the film was a literally fatal mistake for this movie. I don't know whether Ellen had any creative input on this character or not so I don't know whether to blame her personally for this abomination or if one of the writers wrote the character this way and instructed Ellen to play her this way. Whichever one made that decision should've gotten 3-5 years for introducing this utterly useless and annoying character that so many people seem to love for some ungodly reason to the world of cinema.
So there we have it. The top 12 films I hate but you love. Thank you for causing the increase in my blood pressure and hardening of my arteries. Oh, one last thing, I must give dishonorable mentions to The Wizard Of Oz, and for that matter, 99% of musicals ever made and the Back To The Future series. Utter atrocities but they just couldn't crack this top 12 list. If there is ever a "next top 12" list, I'm sure they'll make it near the top.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Top 12 films that I hate that everyone else loves
I revealed films that I like and you all hate so now you get your revenge on me as I list the top 12 films that I hate that everyone else seems to love. Same as before, there are possible spoilers in my comments so if you've never seen the films mentioned, read past the bold titles to avoid spoilers. So we start off this list of hate with the following:
12. Any zombie film ever made. I guess its perhaps due to the success of The Walking Dead tv show, but I will be so happy when this zombie craze goes away. I've never at all understood what was supposed to be scary about zombies. They're not scary and it's not even like the worst horror movies in that they're not so bad that they're funny. Zombie films as a whole are an utter bore and all have the same predictable plot line, usually terrible acting and for that matter, they're really unpleasant to look at. I'm sure that speaks to the job that the makeup people do in these films, but they're just absolutely unpleasant to look at. Even films that are meant to satirize these films, such as Shaun of the Dead are utterly atrocious as well and that's bad because Simon Pegg is not a bad actor in any way. It's just a shame that he was dragged down by a total waste of a film that is neither funny nor scary. Basically that's the best way to describe anything to do with zombies. Not funny, not scary and a complete waste of cinematic time.
11. O Brother Where Art Thou. Everyone loves the Coen Brothers. Dan Le Batard has stated on television that "those guys are incapable of making an uninteresting movie." Well I beg to differ. In fact, the Coen's not only are capable of making an uninteresting movie, they're little more than one hit wonders as far as directors go. For the record here, I have not seen Fargo so I can't comment on that film, but I have seen this one mentioned above, The Big Lebowski, The Ladykillers, True Grit and No Country For Old Men and of all those, No Country For Old Men is the only one of them that even begins to approach "good." But I digress. I guess I should've made this entry about the Coen Brothers entire filmography but I picked the one here that I think is most beloved of the list that I just absolutely hate. The story is a badly executed loose re-telling of Homer's The Odyssey and yet the Coen's have the nerve to insult me by telling me that they've never read the story before. So you guys are not only piss-poor filmmakers, you're also flat liars? A winning combination in my book. But again, I digress. Let's look at the main star of the film, George Clooney. Where did this guy get his popularity from? He's like this generation's Pauly Shore. Okay, maybe not that bad. I mean he has made one good movie and that was the Ocean's 11 remake. And while I'm on the subject, Pauly Shore did at least make one decent movie with In The Army Now. So by my scorecard, they're both even on the scale of decent movies between them. Another major player in this film is John Goodman. My Lord the Coen's have such an ability for wasting this man's talent. O Brother Where Art Thou indeed. That's my exact quote to my television remote whenever this movie comes on tv. It's not funny, it's not heartwarming, it's not even interesting and having George Clooney shoved at me for 2 hours is never a winning proposition.
10. Mortal Kombat (1995). I'm stretching a bit when I say everyone else "loves" this film, but at the same time, when you ask most people what the best video game film adaptation is, usually Mortal Kombat ranks in the top 3 and in many cases, it ranks as the top of the list. The only other film I've ever seen that consistently ranks as high as this one is Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children which, as I understand it, is not an adaptation of the game but more or less a continuation of the game's story line. Why do I hate this movie so much? Simple. It has so very little to do with the actual game itself. Basically the creators took a generic martial arts movie, slapped a few character's names into it, called it Mortal Kombat and there you go. I guess I don't really hate the film for being a bad film per se. It has a good performance by Cary Tagawa as Shang Tsung but other than that, most of the characters are utterly forgettable. I guess my biggest gripe is that the film is EXTREMELY tame. You just can't have Mortal Kombat without violence and blood. We all should've known what would be coming by the first trailers released in 1995 which showed the movie had a PG-13 rating. This movie can't be properly made without an R rating. Beyond that, the movie follows very little of the actual Mortal Kombat tournament itself which should be the focal point of any film based on this franchise. How in the hell does Johnny Cage get to fight Goro simply by asking? He wins one fight and somehow asks to get to Goro when Goro is the last guy you get to before Shang Tsung. And who are all these fighters that none of us have ever seen or heard of? Just a jumbled and total mess of a film that somehow 17 years later is still held in high regard by video game film fans and Mortal Kombat fans.
9. Batman (1966). This one makes the list more because of the television show that it was made from. Prior to Christopher Nolan's masterpiece trilogy, I was not a fan of Batman and to be honest, I still am not a fan outside of Nolan's trilogy. I have seen Keaton's Batman and didn't like it beyond Jack Nicholson as the Joker and none of the sequels to it are any good either. But the worst of all here is the 1960's version of Batman. For the record, I'm referring to the movie and television show since they're basically one and the same. This film/series took Batman towards a campy tone and both are just unwatchable. I like a good satire but this movie/show went beyond satire and was just plain insulting. Even as an 8 year old child seeing this for the first time, it was an experience in which my feelings were literally hurt by seeing it because I just felt dirty and insulted. It was one of the first instances that I can remember feeling the need to take a shower simply after viewing it. There's nothing redeeming whatsoever about anything related to this version of Batman. It basically took Bob Kane's work and made into the butt of a joke and how this version of Batman became popular (AND STILL IS) is something I will never get. In fact, I've heard quite a few people make the statement that this version of Batman is still the best version. I simply can't reply to that because if you truly believe that, you're beyond intelligent discussion.
8. Spiderman Trilogy. This falls under a similar category as Batman in that I don't usually like superheroes. Whereas Chris Nolan made one of the best film trilogies in history with a character that I don't really care too much for, Sam Raimi took a character I didn't care for and simply reinforced that apathy and really turned it from apathy into hatred. Tobey Maguire might actually be a pretty good actor but he certainly wasn't here. In fact there is nothing redeemable about any of the performances in this entire trilogy. The only one of them that resembled "good" was Thomas Haden Church as The Sandman in part 3. Let's talk about part 3 as it is indeed the worst of the worst in this trilogy. A jumbled mess with no real tangible plot line(same can be said for the other 2 as well) as well as apparently a mandate by Marvel to showcase as many villains as possible. Someone a long time ago made the statement about Spiderman 3 which was "too many crooks can spoil the broth" and I'm inclined to agree wholeheartedly although this broth was spoiled and rotten before it even made it to the stockpot. An overhyped, overrated film trilogy that somehow lead to literally billions of dollars in returns. Personally, if you want to see a film that is everything this film wants to be and literally can't be, find 12 Angry Men sometime because that film is the prototype for how you take a wide variety of characters, make them all interesting, and give them all plenty of screen time without making the film an utter waste.
7. It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I will sum up my hatred for this film with a couple of sentences followed by the cast listing for this film straight from Wikipedia. How in the hell can a film with this cast be so boring and not funny? It just doesn't seem possible to me but it's here before my eyes. This film has to be one of the biggest disappointments in my lifetime of watching movies. It isn't the worst I've ever seen but it's certainly up there with most disappointing given all the praise I've read about it over the years. I watched the movie twice and literally never cracked a smile. None of the main characters in it are in anyway redeemable or even likable which is just amazing given some of the people in this cast. One day, I hope to watch Inherit The Wind and Judgment At Nuremberg. Both films directed by Stanley Kramer who also directed this train wreck. I fear for them but perhaps he's better at dramas than he is "comedy" and I use that last term loosely with this film. Anyway, here's the cast list and just remember that NOT ONE of these names turned in anything that was good or even funny in this "comedy."
So there we have the first half of my top 12 films that I hate that everyone else loves. Tune in tomorrow for 6-1 on this list. I'm sure this list will raise your blood pressure sufficiently and if it doesn't, tomorrow's most certainly will.
12. Any zombie film ever made. I guess its perhaps due to the success of The Walking Dead tv show, but I will be so happy when this zombie craze goes away. I've never at all understood what was supposed to be scary about zombies. They're not scary and it's not even like the worst horror movies in that they're not so bad that they're funny. Zombie films as a whole are an utter bore and all have the same predictable plot line, usually terrible acting and for that matter, they're really unpleasant to look at. I'm sure that speaks to the job that the makeup people do in these films, but they're just absolutely unpleasant to look at. Even films that are meant to satirize these films, such as Shaun of the Dead are utterly atrocious as well and that's bad because Simon Pegg is not a bad actor in any way. It's just a shame that he was dragged down by a total waste of a film that is neither funny nor scary. Basically that's the best way to describe anything to do with zombies. Not funny, not scary and a complete waste of cinematic time.
11. O Brother Where Art Thou. Everyone loves the Coen Brothers. Dan Le Batard has stated on television that "those guys are incapable of making an uninteresting movie." Well I beg to differ. In fact, the Coen's not only are capable of making an uninteresting movie, they're little more than one hit wonders as far as directors go. For the record here, I have not seen Fargo so I can't comment on that film, but I have seen this one mentioned above, The Big Lebowski, The Ladykillers, True Grit and No Country For Old Men and of all those, No Country For Old Men is the only one of them that even begins to approach "good." But I digress. I guess I should've made this entry about the Coen Brothers entire filmography but I picked the one here that I think is most beloved of the list that I just absolutely hate. The story is a badly executed loose re-telling of Homer's The Odyssey and yet the Coen's have the nerve to insult me by telling me that they've never read the story before. So you guys are not only piss-poor filmmakers, you're also flat liars? A winning combination in my book. But again, I digress. Let's look at the main star of the film, George Clooney. Where did this guy get his popularity from? He's like this generation's Pauly Shore. Okay, maybe not that bad. I mean he has made one good movie and that was the Ocean's 11 remake. And while I'm on the subject, Pauly Shore did at least make one decent movie with In The Army Now. So by my scorecard, they're both even on the scale of decent movies between them. Another major player in this film is John Goodman. My Lord the Coen's have such an ability for wasting this man's talent. O Brother Where Art Thou indeed. That's my exact quote to my television remote whenever this movie comes on tv. It's not funny, it's not heartwarming, it's not even interesting and having George Clooney shoved at me for 2 hours is never a winning proposition.
10. Mortal Kombat (1995). I'm stretching a bit when I say everyone else "loves" this film, but at the same time, when you ask most people what the best video game film adaptation is, usually Mortal Kombat ranks in the top 3 and in many cases, it ranks as the top of the list. The only other film I've ever seen that consistently ranks as high as this one is Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children which, as I understand it, is not an adaptation of the game but more or less a continuation of the game's story line. Why do I hate this movie so much? Simple. It has so very little to do with the actual game itself. Basically the creators took a generic martial arts movie, slapped a few character's names into it, called it Mortal Kombat and there you go. I guess I don't really hate the film for being a bad film per se. It has a good performance by Cary Tagawa as Shang Tsung but other than that, most of the characters are utterly forgettable. I guess my biggest gripe is that the film is EXTREMELY tame. You just can't have Mortal Kombat without violence and blood. We all should've known what would be coming by the first trailers released in 1995 which showed the movie had a PG-13 rating. This movie can't be properly made without an R rating. Beyond that, the movie follows very little of the actual Mortal Kombat tournament itself which should be the focal point of any film based on this franchise. How in the hell does Johnny Cage get to fight Goro simply by asking? He wins one fight and somehow asks to get to Goro when Goro is the last guy you get to before Shang Tsung. And who are all these fighters that none of us have ever seen or heard of? Just a jumbled and total mess of a film that somehow 17 years later is still held in high regard by video game film fans and Mortal Kombat fans.
9. Batman (1966). This one makes the list more because of the television show that it was made from. Prior to Christopher Nolan's masterpiece trilogy, I was not a fan of Batman and to be honest, I still am not a fan outside of Nolan's trilogy. I have seen Keaton's Batman and didn't like it beyond Jack Nicholson as the Joker and none of the sequels to it are any good either. But the worst of all here is the 1960's version of Batman. For the record, I'm referring to the movie and television show since they're basically one and the same. This film/series took Batman towards a campy tone and both are just unwatchable. I like a good satire but this movie/show went beyond satire and was just plain insulting. Even as an 8 year old child seeing this for the first time, it was an experience in which my feelings were literally hurt by seeing it because I just felt dirty and insulted. It was one of the first instances that I can remember feeling the need to take a shower simply after viewing it. There's nothing redeeming whatsoever about anything related to this version of Batman. It basically took Bob Kane's work and made into the butt of a joke and how this version of Batman became popular (AND STILL IS) is something I will never get. In fact, I've heard quite a few people make the statement that this version of Batman is still the best version. I simply can't reply to that because if you truly believe that, you're beyond intelligent discussion.
8. Spiderman Trilogy. This falls under a similar category as Batman in that I don't usually like superheroes. Whereas Chris Nolan made one of the best film trilogies in history with a character that I don't really care too much for, Sam Raimi took a character I didn't care for and simply reinforced that apathy and really turned it from apathy into hatred. Tobey Maguire might actually be a pretty good actor but he certainly wasn't here. In fact there is nothing redeemable about any of the performances in this entire trilogy. The only one of them that resembled "good" was Thomas Haden Church as The Sandman in part 3. Let's talk about part 3 as it is indeed the worst of the worst in this trilogy. A jumbled mess with no real tangible plot line(same can be said for the other 2 as well) as well as apparently a mandate by Marvel to showcase as many villains as possible. Someone a long time ago made the statement about Spiderman 3 which was "too many crooks can spoil the broth" and I'm inclined to agree wholeheartedly although this broth was spoiled and rotten before it even made it to the stockpot. An overhyped, overrated film trilogy that somehow lead to literally billions of dollars in returns. Personally, if you want to see a film that is everything this film wants to be and literally can't be, find 12 Angry Men sometime because that film is the prototype for how you take a wide variety of characters, make them all interesting, and give them all plenty of screen time without making the film an utter waste.
7. It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I will sum up my hatred for this film with a couple of sentences followed by the cast listing for this film straight from Wikipedia. How in the hell can a film with this cast be so boring and not funny? It just doesn't seem possible to me but it's here before my eyes. This film has to be one of the biggest disappointments in my lifetime of watching movies. It isn't the worst I've ever seen but it's certainly up there with most disappointing given all the praise I've read about it over the years. I watched the movie twice and literally never cracked a smile. None of the main characters in it are in anyway redeemable or even likable which is just amazing given some of the people in this cast. One day, I hope to watch Inherit The Wind and Judgment At Nuremberg. Both films directed by Stanley Kramer who also directed this train wreck. I fear for them but perhaps he's better at dramas than he is "comedy" and I use that last term loosely with this film. Anyway, here's the cast list and just remember that NOT ONE of these names turned in anything that was good or even funny in this "comedy."
Main actors
- Sid Caesar as Melville Crump
- Edie Adams as Monica Crump
- Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch
- Dorothy Provine as Emmeline Marcus-Finch
- Ethel Merman as Mrs. Marcus
- Jonathan Winters as Lennie Pike
- Mickey Rooney as Dingy Bell
- Buddy Hackett as Benjy Benjamin
- Spencer Tracy as Captain T. G. Culpeper
- Terry-Thomas as Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
- Phil Silvers as Otto Meyer
- Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus
[edit]Secondary actors
- Jim Backus as boozy and rich airplane owner Tyler Fitzgerald
- William Demarest as Aloysius, Chief of the Santa Rosita Police Department
- Jimmy Durante as "Smiler" Grogan
- Peter Falk as a cop-hating cab driver
- Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as a cab driver
- Paul Ford as Col. Wilberforce
- Barrie Chase as Sylvester Marcus' bikini-wearing girlfriend, Mrs. Haliburton (or Halliburton)
[edit]Cameo appearances
- Jack Benny as a man who drives by in a Maxwell, offering to help, but is put off by Mrs. Marcus
- Paul Birch as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
- Ben Blue as the vintage biplane pilot
- Joe E. Brown as the union official giving a speech at a construction site
- Alan Carney as a sergeant with the Santa Rosita Police Department
- Chick Chandler as detective outside Chinese laundry
- John Clarke as helicopter pilot
- Stanley Clements as a local reporter at police station
- Lloyd Corrigan as the mayor of Santa Rosita
- Howard Da Silva as an airport official
- Andy Devine as the Sheriff of Crockett County, California (fictional)
- Selma Diamond (voice only) as Ginger Culpeper, Captain Culpeper's wife
- Minta Durfee as a crowd extra
- Roy Engel as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
- Norman Fell as primary detective at the "Smiler" Grogan accident site
- James Flavin as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
- Stan Freberg as a Crockett County Deputy Sheriff
- Nicholas Georgiade as supporting detective at the "Smiler" Grogan accident site
- Louise Glenn (voice only) as Billie Sue Culpeper, Captain Culpeper's daughter
- Leo Gorcey as a cab driver bringing Melville and Monica to the hardware store
- Stacy Harris (voice only) as police radio voice unit F-7
- Don C. Harvey as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
- Sterling Holloway as a Santa Rosita Fire Department fire captain
- Edward Everett Horton as Mr. Dinckler, owner of the hardware store
- Allen Jenkins as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
- Marvin Kaplan as garage/service station co-owner Irwin
- Robert Karnes as Simmy, a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
- Buster Keaton as Jimmy the Crook (boatman)
- Tom Kennedy as a Santa Rosita Police Department traffic cop
- Don Knotts as the nervous motorist
- Charles Lane as the airport manager
- Harry Lauter as a police dispatcher of the Santa Rosita Police Department
- Ben Lessy as George the steward
- Bobo Lewis as vintage biplane pilot's wife
- Jerry Lewis as the man who runs over Culpeper's hat
- Bob Mazurki (presumed) as Eddie, the miner's son
- Mike Mazurki as the miner bringing medicine to his wife
- Charles McGraw as Lt. Matthews of the Santa Rosita Police Department
- Cliff Norton as a reporter
- Barbara Pepper as an ice cream counter waitress (scene deleted)
- ZaSu Pitts as Gertie, the Santa Rosita Police Department Central Division's switchboard operator
- Carl Reiner as the Rancho Conejo airport tower controller
- Madlyn Rhue as secretary Schwartz of the Santa Rosita Police Department
- Roy Roberts as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer (scene deleted)
- Eddie Ryder as Rancho Conejo air traffic control tower staff member
- Charles Sherlock as a crowd extra
- The Shirelles (voice), singing "31 Flavors" in Sylvester's bachelor pad scene
- Eddie Smith as an extra
- Arnold Stang as garage/service station co-owner Ray
- Nick Stewart as migrant truck driver forced off the road
- The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe)[2] as Rancho Conejo Airport firemen (they have the shortest cameo appearance; five seconds)
- Sammee Tong as a laundryman
- Doodles Weaver as a hardware store employee
- Jesse White as a Rancho Conejo air traffic controller
So there we have the first half of my top 12 films that I hate that everyone else loves. Tune in tomorrow for 6-1 on this list. I'm sure this list will raise your blood pressure sufficiently and if it doesn't, tomorrow's most certainly will.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Top 12 movies I like but most people seem to dislike Part 2
Here we have the 2nd half of my top 12 movies that I like but most people seem not to like. I expect a few raised eyebrows at a few of these films and I expect some to say that I have no taste in movies with some of these choices. Regardless of whatever you have to say, here are 6-1 of the top 12 movies. I forgot to mention yesterday as well, some of these comments will contain spoilers so if you've never seen these movies and want to, then you should go to the next one on the list after reading the title.
6. The Last Temptation of Christ. Big controversy with this film. For those who've never seen or heard of this movie, it presents Jesus' adult life in a sort of "alternate reality" in which he is fearful of the future, and also battles severe self-doubt about his true mission. The second half of this film was the big shocker for most people. It depicts Jesus coming down off the cross and living a normal life with Mary Magdalene. He has kids, he grows old, and on his deathbed, his former disciples, particularly Judas Iscariot, ridicule him for turning his back on humanity. We then find out that his life after the cross was a dream and that it was his "last temptation" by Satan to try to lure him off the cross. This presents another controversial aspect of the film. Judas is not played as a simple traitor. He's played as Jesus' most loyal and trustworthy disciple who was handpicked by Jesus to be his betrayer. In this film, he's not motivated by greed but by genuine love for Jesus as he has to do the hardest thing anyone would ever be asked to do. People have asked me how, as a Christian, I can support the film since it's message is so contrary to what the Bible has to say on the subject. My answer to that is that I understand that this is an alternate take on historical events. Going into it, I realized and understood that this film was basically a "what-if" scenario. In fact the film even states at the beginning that this is exactly what it is. There is no attempt to pass this film off as historical fact. I figure basically the morons who protested it and threatened the people who made the film were either illiterate and couldn't read that simple message or their eyes were so clouded by religious bigotry that they just simply missed seeing it. In many ways, it's perhaps the best representation of Jesus the man on film. We truly do not know, no one could, whether or not he was subjected to the same fears as we all are. The film itself is well acted and very well directed. A rarity given that Martin Scorcese is directing it. If you dislike the film, dislike it because you think it's a poorly done film or because religious material is just not your cup of tea. Don't hate this film based on religious ignorance and the belief that this film is "undermining the message of God" because that's not what it's doing nor is it trying to do so.
5. Cars. This only speaks to the original. I'm not at all referring to the Larry the Cable Guy Show aka Cars 2. Prior to Cars 2's release, many people not in the southern US saw this as the weakest film by Pixar. I disagree. You'll see which one I think is the worst on my top 12 films that I hate that everyone else loves. If you break it down, I think so many people hated this film because of the obvious Nascar influence in the story. This is why I said most of this films fanbase is in the south. Many people just simply saw this as so inferior to the other Pixar films at that time and again, aside from the general dislike of Nascar, I really don't see why. This story has indeed been told a million times. Hot shot with a severe ego problem settles down and becomes enamored with small town life and thus becomes humble. Not Iron Sheik humble, just humble. However, the story itself is at least a decently told story and the CGI used in this film is arguably the best that Pixar has yet done. In a way, its currently a little difficult to watch this film because of my base hatred for what Nascar has become since 2004 and as I said, the connection between the film and Nascar is undeniable. I would basically say to anyone to just ignore the Nascar aspect of the film and treat it as any other animated movie on its own merits and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
4. James Cameron's Titanic. The hate for this film seems to have only spawned in the last few years. At one time, this was one of the most respected films ever made but now, it seems to be one of the more reviled. As I mentioned earlier, I think a lot of this hate has to do with the general dislike of James Cameron which, again, I simply don't understand and no one's ever given me one legitimate or logical reason for their hatred of him. I will state this much on the film. The love story is pure drivel as are most love stories. There are a few that are well done. Doctor Zhivago comes to mind, but those are very few and far between. However what makes this film great to me is the historical accuracy implicit in the film regarding the actual disaster itself. There were some inaccuracies in the film for dramatic purposes. This is inherent in every true events based film that's ever been made. There are also inaccuracies in it that were not known in 1996-1997 when the film was made. For instance, we now know that the ship didn't break from the top to the bottom. It did the reverse. We also know that the ship listed on its side ever so slightly. It didn't stay perfectly upright. Lastly, we also know that the ship didn't sink at the angle depicted in the film. The angle at which the stern broke off was much lower than previously believed. Again, we can't fault the filmmakers for this because it simply wasn't known at the time. Back to the film itself. It's James Cameron's usual perfectionist attention to detail which really makes this movie the great film that so many people said it was in the late 90's yet have suddenly retracted in the last few years. Sorry folks, James Cameron's involvement is not a good enough reason by itself to hate this film or any other film that he's ever done.
3. The Godfather Part III. Most of the hatred for this film centers around the casting and subsequent performance of Sofia Coppola. Yes, nepotism in its purest form on display for the world to see. This criticism is well founded and one that I have absolutely no disagreements with especially considering who was originally signed to play the role of Mary (Winona Ryder). As I understand it, Sofia was basically chosen because Francis Ford Coppola didn't feel he had time to recast the role through traditional means so he basically went with the quick fix. Where I do begin to disagree with the hatred of this film is that first of all, Sofia Coppola is only on screen for something like 10-15 minutes maximum in a near 3 hour movie so I can overlook her performance since it's rather miniscule in the scheme of things. Granted her role is a very pivotal one and I would say her character is the 2nd most important one in the film behind Michael, the actual amount of screen time is low enough that Sofia Coppola doesn't ruin the film for me. Another reason for a lot of hate is the absence of Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen. This was due to salary negotiations breaking down and thus the character was written out. Had he not been written out, I'm told that he would've essentially been the main villain of the story since he was to betray Michael. But that's conjecture. Taking into account the film we have, I feel it's very well done and is a fitting conclusion to the Corleone family saga. Pacino is superb as usual but for me, the man who steals this show is Eli Wallach. For the life of me, I can't understand why Eli Wallach isn't a household name or why he didn't become one of the biggest stars in movie history. A last little bit of trivia as well here. The original title of the film wasn't to be "The Godfather Part III." It was to simply be called "The Death of Michael Corleone" with no mention of Godfather. Paramount refused to relent and forced Coppola to name it as we know it today. Coppola has since stated that he views Godfather 1 and 2 as the actual series and part 3 as the epilogue. Using this description, Part 3 works very well at its intention which is to provide a resolution, albeit a very sad one, to the saga of the Corleone family.
2. Alien 3. The film debut of David Fincher who has since become one of the biggest directors in the world. Everyone considers this by far his weakest film and to that, I respond by saying apparently you've never seen The Social Network or Zodiac. This film was the victim of an unrealistic deadline as well as multiple directors/writers/etc. because the studio just couldn't decide on a proper direction to take the film. I don't see how anyone considers this film to be worse than Alien: Resurrection which immediately followed it. I'm guessing that a lot of people have never seen the re-assembled director's cut that came out a few years ago. The theatrical version of the film is a mess but it's still not as bad as people say. The director's cut fleshes out a lot more of the plot points and has a much more satisfying ending in Ripley's suicide. David Fincher showed us in the film what he was capable of doing even under the worst of conditions and he hit his stride later with such films as Se7en and Fight Club. He then went on to apparently decide he could do no wrong and then released Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network all in a row. All 3 of which are in absolutely no way worthy of any praise they get.
And the number one movie that I like but most people seem to hate is........
1. Gods And Generals. I get why people hated some of the artistic choices in the film. I don't like the decision to play a lot of the Confederates in the manner that they did. I'm of the personal opinion that while there were many decent men who fought for the Confederacy, the Confederacy as a whole should never be portrayed in a positive light because they were fighting for the preservation of one of the most evil institutions in all of human history and that's human slavery. That being said, I enjoy the film because of the performances of the actors as well as the scope, scale and accuracy of the actual battles themselves. They suffer from artistic license but as a whole, are pretty good representations of what the actual battles probably looked like. Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, and Jeff Daniels all turn in superb performances even if in the case of Lang and Duvall they're played much more positively than they should be. I blame a lot of this on the film's director Ronald Maxwell and, given that he financially backed this film and it's predecessor, Gettysburg, I'm rather sure that Ted Turner had a lot to do with this sympathetic portrayal of the south as well. Summing this up, I disagree vehemently with the portrayal of the south in this film but given the accuracy of the portrayal of most of the events in the story, I still find it to be a decent movie. For anyone who's never seen the film, if you get a chance to do so, I would recommend finding the extended director's cut of the film. It is FAR superior to the theatrical cut of the film and also includes several things that were regrettably edited out of the theatrical cut. The biggest of these is the Battle of Antietam Creek which was completely omitted from the original theatrical release.
6. The Last Temptation of Christ. Big controversy with this film. For those who've never seen or heard of this movie, it presents Jesus' adult life in a sort of "alternate reality" in which he is fearful of the future, and also battles severe self-doubt about his true mission. The second half of this film was the big shocker for most people. It depicts Jesus coming down off the cross and living a normal life with Mary Magdalene. He has kids, he grows old, and on his deathbed, his former disciples, particularly Judas Iscariot, ridicule him for turning his back on humanity. We then find out that his life after the cross was a dream and that it was his "last temptation" by Satan to try to lure him off the cross. This presents another controversial aspect of the film. Judas is not played as a simple traitor. He's played as Jesus' most loyal and trustworthy disciple who was handpicked by Jesus to be his betrayer. In this film, he's not motivated by greed but by genuine love for Jesus as he has to do the hardest thing anyone would ever be asked to do. People have asked me how, as a Christian, I can support the film since it's message is so contrary to what the Bible has to say on the subject. My answer to that is that I understand that this is an alternate take on historical events. Going into it, I realized and understood that this film was basically a "what-if" scenario. In fact the film even states at the beginning that this is exactly what it is. There is no attempt to pass this film off as historical fact. I figure basically the morons who protested it and threatened the people who made the film were either illiterate and couldn't read that simple message or their eyes were so clouded by religious bigotry that they just simply missed seeing it. In many ways, it's perhaps the best representation of Jesus the man on film. We truly do not know, no one could, whether or not he was subjected to the same fears as we all are. The film itself is well acted and very well directed. A rarity given that Martin Scorcese is directing it. If you dislike the film, dislike it because you think it's a poorly done film or because religious material is just not your cup of tea. Don't hate this film based on religious ignorance and the belief that this film is "undermining the message of God" because that's not what it's doing nor is it trying to do so.
5. Cars. This only speaks to the original. I'm not at all referring to the Larry the Cable Guy Show aka Cars 2. Prior to Cars 2's release, many people not in the southern US saw this as the weakest film by Pixar. I disagree. You'll see which one I think is the worst on my top 12 films that I hate that everyone else loves. If you break it down, I think so many people hated this film because of the obvious Nascar influence in the story. This is why I said most of this films fanbase is in the south. Many people just simply saw this as so inferior to the other Pixar films at that time and again, aside from the general dislike of Nascar, I really don't see why. This story has indeed been told a million times. Hot shot with a severe ego problem settles down and becomes enamored with small town life and thus becomes humble. Not Iron Sheik humble, just humble. However, the story itself is at least a decently told story and the CGI used in this film is arguably the best that Pixar has yet done. In a way, its currently a little difficult to watch this film because of my base hatred for what Nascar has become since 2004 and as I said, the connection between the film and Nascar is undeniable. I would basically say to anyone to just ignore the Nascar aspect of the film and treat it as any other animated movie on its own merits and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
4. James Cameron's Titanic. The hate for this film seems to have only spawned in the last few years. At one time, this was one of the most respected films ever made but now, it seems to be one of the more reviled. As I mentioned earlier, I think a lot of this hate has to do with the general dislike of James Cameron which, again, I simply don't understand and no one's ever given me one legitimate or logical reason for their hatred of him. I will state this much on the film. The love story is pure drivel as are most love stories. There are a few that are well done. Doctor Zhivago comes to mind, but those are very few and far between. However what makes this film great to me is the historical accuracy implicit in the film regarding the actual disaster itself. There were some inaccuracies in the film for dramatic purposes. This is inherent in every true events based film that's ever been made. There are also inaccuracies in it that were not known in 1996-1997 when the film was made. For instance, we now know that the ship didn't break from the top to the bottom. It did the reverse. We also know that the ship listed on its side ever so slightly. It didn't stay perfectly upright. Lastly, we also know that the ship didn't sink at the angle depicted in the film. The angle at which the stern broke off was much lower than previously believed. Again, we can't fault the filmmakers for this because it simply wasn't known at the time. Back to the film itself. It's James Cameron's usual perfectionist attention to detail which really makes this movie the great film that so many people said it was in the late 90's yet have suddenly retracted in the last few years. Sorry folks, James Cameron's involvement is not a good enough reason by itself to hate this film or any other film that he's ever done.
3. The Godfather Part III. Most of the hatred for this film centers around the casting and subsequent performance of Sofia Coppola. Yes, nepotism in its purest form on display for the world to see. This criticism is well founded and one that I have absolutely no disagreements with especially considering who was originally signed to play the role of Mary (Winona Ryder). As I understand it, Sofia was basically chosen because Francis Ford Coppola didn't feel he had time to recast the role through traditional means so he basically went with the quick fix. Where I do begin to disagree with the hatred of this film is that first of all, Sofia Coppola is only on screen for something like 10-15 minutes maximum in a near 3 hour movie so I can overlook her performance since it's rather miniscule in the scheme of things. Granted her role is a very pivotal one and I would say her character is the 2nd most important one in the film behind Michael, the actual amount of screen time is low enough that Sofia Coppola doesn't ruin the film for me. Another reason for a lot of hate is the absence of Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen. This was due to salary negotiations breaking down and thus the character was written out. Had he not been written out, I'm told that he would've essentially been the main villain of the story since he was to betray Michael. But that's conjecture. Taking into account the film we have, I feel it's very well done and is a fitting conclusion to the Corleone family saga. Pacino is superb as usual but for me, the man who steals this show is Eli Wallach. For the life of me, I can't understand why Eli Wallach isn't a household name or why he didn't become one of the biggest stars in movie history. A last little bit of trivia as well here. The original title of the film wasn't to be "The Godfather Part III." It was to simply be called "The Death of Michael Corleone" with no mention of Godfather. Paramount refused to relent and forced Coppola to name it as we know it today. Coppola has since stated that he views Godfather 1 and 2 as the actual series and part 3 as the epilogue. Using this description, Part 3 works very well at its intention which is to provide a resolution, albeit a very sad one, to the saga of the Corleone family.
2. Alien 3. The film debut of David Fincher who has since become one of the biggest directors in the world. Everyone considers this by far his weakest film and to that, I respond by saying apparently you've never seen The Social Network or Zodiac. This film was the victim of an unrealistic deadline as well as multiple directors/writers/etc. because the studio just couldn't decide on a proper direction to take the film. I don't see how anyone considers this film to be worse than Alien: Resurrection which immediately followed it. I'm guessing that a lot of people have never seen the re-assembled director's cut that came out a few years ago. The theatrical version of the film is a mess but it's still not as bad as people say. The director's cut fleshes out a lot more of the plot points and has a much more satisfying ending in Ripley's suicide. David Fincher showed us in the film what he was capable of doing even under the worst of conditions and he hit his stride later with such films as Se7en and Fight Club. He then went on to apparently decide he could do no wrong and then released Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Social Network all in a row. All 3 of which are in absolutely no way worthy of any praise they get.
And the number one movie that I like but most people seem to hate is........
1. Gods And Generals. I get why people hated some of the artistic choices in the film. I don't like the decision to play a lot of the Confederates in the manner that they did. I'm of the personal opinion that while there were many decent men who fought for the Confederacy, the Confederacy as a whole should never be portrayed in a positive light because they were fighting for the preservation of one of the most evil institutions in all of human history and that's human slavery. That being said, I enjoy the film because of the performances of the actors as well as the scope, scale and accuracy of the actual battles themselves. They suffer from artistic license but as a whole, are pretty good representations of what the actual battles probably looked like. Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, and Jeff Daniels all turn in superb performances even if in the case of Lang and Duvall they're played much more positively than they should be. I blame a lot of this on the film's director Ronald Maxwell and, given that he financially backed this film and it's predecessor, Gettysburg, I'm rather sure that Ted Turner had a lot to do with this sympathetic portrayal of the south as well. Summing this up, I disagree vehemently with the portrayal of the south in this film but given the accuracy of the portrayal of most of the events in the story, I still find it to be a decent movie. For anyone who's never seen the film, if you get a chance to do so, I would recommend finding the extended director's cut of the film. It is FAR superior to the theatrical cut of the film and also includes several things that were regrettably edited out of the theatrical cut. The biggest of these is the Battle of Antietam Creek which was completely omitted from the original theatrical release.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Top 12 movies I like but most people seem to dislike Part 1
This is the first of many lists I will be doing from time to time. This particular list was inspired by Doug Walker (aka The Nostalgia Critic) and while the idea is his, the list is totally mine. Why 12 you ask? Because I believe in going one step farther than even The Nostalgia Critic as he only does 11.
This list will be split over 2 parts as will the follow up list which will be the top 12 movies that I hate but everyone else seems to like. Anyway, here are 12-7 of the top 12 movies that I really like but most other people seem to hate. Or at least strongly dislike.
12. Transformers The Movie (1986). This amazes me how many people dislike the film. I don't know if it's because of Michael Bay's recent abominations or because they didn't like the fact that Optimus Prime died for the first of many times in Transformers mythos here. If nothing else, this is the one movie based on an 80's toy line that most people remember either positively or negatively. The story is a decent story, and honestly sitting next to Bay's films it should be considered a masterpiece. Optimus Prime's death here is arguably the most memorable scene in the film and is one of the better animated death scenes that I've personally ever seen. The fight scenes are spectacular as well. However the most important thing in this movie to me is that it was not dumbed down. This movie was geared towards a teenage audience in order to make it appeal to more people and this to me is the biggest reason why it's still remembered to this day.
11. Dodes'ka-den. A somewhat obscure film made by the master himself Akira Kurosawa. If Kurosawa had one film that even Kurosawa buffs dislike, it's this one. The story takes place in present(1970) day Japan in the middle of a landfill. It tells a story of multiple people and how their circumstances impact their lives. Some deal with it with hope, and some with despair in various forms. The title of this film comes from a line that one of the characters, a mentally-challenged teenager, continually mumbles throughout the day. This boy imagines himself as a train conductor and "dodes'ka-den" is his representation of the sound that a train makes as it rolls on the tracks. I think most people hate this film because of the films that preceded it. Such masterpieces as Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, The Hidden Fortress, and to continue on with that would be to simply list other accepted world classics. Most of these were epic-action films and starred the great Toshiro Mifune. Dodes'ka-den has none of those. Kurosawa and Mifune had their falling out several years earlier and as I said, this entire film takes place in a landfill. No action, no epic grand scale, just down and out characters trying to survive from day to day. Aside from the story, the film is actually a technical marvel featuring a wide palette of color in such a bleak setting to go along with Kurosawa's typical masterful editing. I will admit that it is one of the weaker films in Kurosawa's filmography but I think to hate or dismiss it entirely is a mistake because it may not be Seven Samurai or Yojimbo, but Dodes'ka-den has much to offer for anyone willing to listen.
10. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Ahhh Episode 1. You hold such a special place in my heart. For the record, this is a bad movie and I get why this movie receives the venom it does from most people. What I don't get is what people were expecting. I do own the Star Wars movies because I believe every serious fan of cinema as a whole should own them, but I am not a fan of Star Wars. The stories they tell have been told a million times and unlike say Avatar, they don't even re-tell these stories very well. Episode 1 is largely criticized for the character of Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar is to me one of these characters that is SOOOO stereotypical that he's actually funny. George Lucas' attempts at lame humor here are not at all funny, but the fact that he made a character who is so one-dimensionally stereotypical and quite frankly insulted his fan base so bad actually is funny. Yes, I get joy from watching this character because I know there are thousands of mindless Star Wars fans losing sleep even 13 yeas later because this character exists. Lots of animosity also exists because Anakin Skywalker appears as a young child in the film....wait...what? People are angry that Anakin began life as a boy? How else do you expect him to begin life? What is he supposed to be Benjamin Button or something? They're also angry at how immature and bloody annoying he was but again, what did you expect? Are you seriously expecting a 9 year old boy to be fully mature? For the reasons mentioned above, I do actually enjoy this awful movie because it warms my heart knowing that Star Wars fans who take these films way too GD seriously are still losing sleep and facing blood pressure problems 13 years later due to this film. Good show George Lucas. Good show. For the record as well, if you are a fan of Star Wars, God bless you. You're a normal person who happens to have a hobby and you should be commended for putting your interest into a subject that isn't harming anyone. But for those of you who literally hinge life and death on these bloody films and actually have the gall to refer to the first 3 films as "The Holy Trilogy" I hold no sympathy for you because anyone who takes any film so seriously as to refer to it as "Holy" should be removed from the gene pool. These are the people that I enjoy laughing at every time George Lucas makes some minute change to the original films and of course, these people react as though an asteroid is about to collide with Earth.
9. The Matrix Sequels. Yes, these 2 films are not anywhere on the level of the first Matrix film. But they are not at all bad films. The action is spectacular in them and the story line at least follows a consistent path. I will admit that it seems Keanu Reeves remembered that he was Keanu Reeves in these 2 and returned to his wooden "style" of acting. In the first Matrix, he seemed to forget who he was to a certain extent and actually put some feeling and emotion into the Neo character. The shining star in all 3 films really but especially these sequels is Hugo Weaving as Smith. The fight scenes are spectacular and it's amazing to watch this character's transformation from essentially a Captain Ahab-like character into one who just simply is tired of it all and wants to rest. Honestly, I really don't have a lot to say about them because I've only seen them a couple times and it has been a while but I did enjoy them when I saw them. I guess for these 2 films, I will just ask you to take my word that most people hate them but they're not as bad as many people say they are.
8. Terminator 3/Terminator Salvation. Most people dislike these films from what I've seen for a few reasons. The first of which being James Cameron's lack of involvement with them which in itself fascinates me because so many people despise James Cameron to begin with and no one's ever presented a logical reason to me as to why. In the case of T3, most people I've seen absolutely hated the ending of the film. There is simply no other way it could end. For this 3rd film to exist, Judgement Day can't be averted again. If it is, there's no reason to make the 3rd film. Now I know people say that there was no reason to anyway since T2 brought the story to a logical conclusion. I raise this question though. If we can assume everything else about the Terminator series to be true, why can we not also at least consider the possibility that the U.S. government could've gotten ahold of Cyberdyne's technology or perhaps may have been funding Cyberdyne's research to begin with? This is not answered in the film, it's speculation on my part. Yes Miles Dyson destroyed his files in T2, but again, who's to say that someone else at Cyberdyne, perhaps Dyson's boss whomever it may have been, wasn't sharing some of this info with the government. This could explain as well how it would've taken 7 years to get to the stage of Skynet's final creation. Without Dyson to spearhead the operation, I imagine it would've taken longer than it would've with him there and if the film says 7 years without him and 3 years with him, I can accept that as a logical gap since Dyson was "the man most directly responsible" for Skynet.
Terminator Salvation was the film that Terminator fans had wanted for a while as far as finally getting to see the future war in a substantial way and not just in brief "flashbacks." The major thing I saw that angered people about this film was the fact that McG directed it. Again, if he makes a good film that stays true to the storyline and is entertaining, who cares? McG did everything to maintain the continuity between the previous films and the CGI Arnold near the end to go with Brad Fiedel's original score was absolutely fantastic. Christian Bale is his usual superb self here and was a worthy successor in the role of John Connor. This was something that I've seen that angered a lot of people as well and that was the absence of Edward Furlong as John Connor in both films. Granted, I would've liked to have seen this continuity maintained as well, but Furlong has a long history of drug issues and was battling addiction and legal issues at the time both of these films were being made. I hear he's gotten himself straightened out and if there is a Terminator 5 someday, perhaps he can resume the role that made him a star.
7. Eyes Wide Shut. I will admit that I'm at a loss as to why this movie gets the hate that it does. It's a well acted, well directed film with a story line that just screams bizarre. I guess for me I like this movie because I actually "get it." The film features a pre-bat-shit-crazy Tom Cruise as a prominent doctor who is ultimately forced to deal with his own sexual inadequacies. The repression in this man's eyes throughout the whole film is staggering. The world he dips into is one of depravity and the rituals in this world are just utterly bizarre. I use that word constantly to describe this film but I think it's so accurate. The orgy sequence in the movie is one of the rare times in movies that I've been legitimately creeped out by what I was seeing. Especially the beginning of it with all the chanting. It literally gave me chills because it was just so creepy. I will admit I would like to have learned whether or not Sydney Pollock's character was lying at the end about the girl's fate as well as the circumstances around the orgy sequence but it doesn't ruin the film for me. To me, it's a fine film that served as Stanley Kubrick's final work as he passed away a few months before this film was released in 1999.
And so we come to the end of part 1 of this list. Join me tomorrow as I will list the remaining 6 films that I like but most people seem to hate. I'm not the Nostalgia Critic. I didn't remember it so you have to. Anyone who's a fan of his will understand that last line.
This list will be split over 2 parts as will the follow up list which will be the top 12 movies that I hate but everyone else seems to like. Anyway, here are 12-7 of the top 12 movies that I really like but most other people seem to hate. Or at least strongly dislike.
12. Transformers The Movie (1986). This amazes me how many people dislike the film. I don't know if it's because of Michael Bay's recent abominations or because they didn't like the fact that Optimus Prime died for the first of many times in Transformers mythos here. If nothing else, this is the one movie based on an 80's toy line that most people remember either positively or negatively. The story is a decent story, and honestly sitting next to Bay's films it should be considered a masterpiece. Optimus Prime's death here is arguably the most memorable scene in the film and is one of the better animated death scenes that I've personally ever seen. The fight scenes are spectacular as well. However the most important thing in this movie to me is that it was not dumbed down. This movie was geared towards a teenage audience in order to make it appeal to more people and this to me is the biggest reason why it's still remembered to this day.
11. Dodes'ka-den. A somewhat obscure film made by the master himself Akira Kurosawa. If Kurosawa had one film that even Kurosawa buffs dislike, it's this one. The story takes place in present(1970) day Japan in the middle of a landfill. It tells a story of multiple people and how their circumstances impact their lives. Some deal with it with hope, and some with despair in various forms. The title of this film comes from a line that one of the characters, a mentally-challenged teenager, continually mumbles throughout the day. This boy imagines himself as a train conductor and "dodes'ka-den" is his representation of the sound that a train makes as it rolls on the tracks. I think most people hate this film because of the films that preceded it. Such masterpieces as Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, The Hidden Fortress, and to continue on with that would be to simply list other accepted world classics. Most of these were epic-action films and starred the great Toshiro Mifune. Dodes'ka-den has none of those. Kurosawa and Mifune had their falling out several years earlier and as I said, this entire film takes place in a landfill. No action, no epic grand scale, just down and out characters trying to survive from day to day. Aside from the story, the film is actually a technical marvel featuring a wide palette of color in such a bleak setting to go along with Kurosawa's typical masterful editing. I will admit that it is one of the weaker films in Kurosawa's filmography but I think to hate or dismiss it entirely is a mistake because it may not be Seven Samurai or Yojimbo, but Dodes'ka-den has much to offer for anyone willing to listen.
10. Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Ahhh Episode 1. You hold such a special place in my heart. For the record, this is a bad movie and I get why this movie receives the venom it does from most people. What I don't get is what people were expecting. I do own the Star Wars movies because I believe every serious fan of cinema as a whole should own them, but I am not a fan of Star Wars. The stories they tell have been told a million times and unlike say Avatar, they don't even re-tell these stories very well. Episode 1 is largely criticized for the character of Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar is to me one of these characters that is SOOOO stereotypical that he's actually funny. George Lucas' attempts at lame humor here are not at all funny, but the fact that he made a character who is so one-dimensionally stereotypical and quite frankly insulted his fan base so bad actually is funny. Yes, I get joy from watching this character because I know there are thousands of mindless Star Wars fans losing sleep even 13 yeas later because this character exists. Lots of animosity also exists because Anakin Skywalker appears as a young child in the film....wait...what? People are angry that Anakin began life as a boy? How else do you expect him to begin life? What is he supposed to be Benjamin Button or something? They're also angry at how immature and bloody annoying he was but again, what did you expect? Are you seriously expecting a 9 year old boy to be fully mature? For the reasons mentioned above, I do actually enjoy this awful movie because it warms my heart knowing that Star Wars fans who take these films way too GD seriously are still losing sleep and facing blood pressure problems 13 years later due to this film. Good show George Lucas. Good show. For the record as well, if you are a fan of Star Wars, God bless you. You're a normal person who happens to have a hobby and you should be commended for putting your interest into a subject that isn't harming anyone. But for those of you who literally hinge life and death on these bloody films and actually have the gall to refer to the first 3 films as "The Holy Trilogy" I hold no sympathy for you because anyone who takes any film so seriously as to refer to it as "Holy" should be removed from the gene pool. These are the people that I enjoy laughing at every time George Lucas makes some minute change to the original films and of course, these people react as though an asteroid is about to collide with Earth.
9. The Matrix Sequels. Yes, these 2 films are not anywhere on the level of the first Matrix film. But they are not at all bad films. The action is spectacular in them and the story line at least follows a consistent path. I will admit that it seems Keanu Reeves remembered that he was Keanu Reeves in these 2 and returned to his wooden "style" of acting. In the first Matrix, he seemed to forget who he was to a certain extent and actually put some feeling and emotion into the Neo character. The shining star in all 3 films really but especially these sequels is Hugo Weaving as Smith. The fight scenes are spectacular and it's amazing to watch this character's transformation from essentially a Captain Ahab-like character into one who just simply is tired of it all and wants to rest. Honestly, I really don't have a lot to say about them because I've only seen them a couple times and it has been a while but I did enjoy them when I saw them. I guess for these 2 films, I will just ask you to take my word that most people hate them but they're not as bad as many people say they are.
8. Terminator 3/Terminator Salvation. Most people dislike these films from what I've seen for a few reasons. The first of which being James Cameron's lack of involvement with them which in itself fascinates me because so many people despise James Cameron to begin with and no one's ever presented a logical reason to me as to why. In the case of T3, most people I've seen absolutely hated the ending of the film. There is simply no other way it could end. For this 3rd film to exist, Judgement Day can't be averted again. If it is, there's no reason to make the 3rd film. Now I know people say that there was no reason to anyway since T2 brought the story to a logical conclusion. I raise this question though. If we can assume everything else about the Terminator series to be true, why can we not also at least consider the possibility that the U.S. government could've gotten ahold of Cyberdyne's technology or perhaps may have been funding Cyberdyne's research to begin with? This is not answered in the film, it's speculation on my part. Yes Miles Dyson destroyed his files in T2, but again, who's to say that someone else at Cyberdyne, perhaps Dyson's boss whomever it may have been, wasn't sharing some of this info with the government. This could explain as well how it would've taken 7 years to get to the stage of Skynet's final creation. Without Dyson to spearhead the operation, I imagine it would've taken longer than it would've with him there and if the film says 7 years without him and 3 years with him, I can accept that as a logical gap since Dyson was "the man most directly responsible" for Skynet.
Terminator Salvation was the film that Terminator fans had wanted for a while as far as finally getting to see the future war in a substantial way and not just in brief "flashbacks." The major thing I saw that angered people about this film was the fact that McG directed it. Again, if he makes a good film that stays true to the storyline and is entertaining, who cares? McG did everything to maintain the continuity between the previous films and the CGI Arnold near the end to go with Brad Fiedel's original score was absolutely fantastic. Christian Bale is his usual superb self here and was a worthy successor in the role of John Connor. This was something that I've seen that angered a lot of people as well and that was the absence of Edward Furlong as John Connor in both films. Granted, I would've liked to have seen this continuity maintained as well, but Furlong has a long history of drug issues and was battling addiction and legal issues at the time both of these films were being made. I hear he's gotten himself straightened out and if there is a Terminator 5 someday, perhaps he can resume the role that made him a star.
7. Eyes Wide Shut. I will admit that I'm at a loss as to why this movie gets the hate that it does. It's a well acted, well directed film with a story line that just screams bizarre. I guess for me I like this movie because I actually "get it." The film features a pre-bat-shit-crazy Tom Cruise as a prominent doctor who is ultimately forced to deal with his own sexual inadequacies. The repression in this man's eyes throughout the whole film is staggering. The world he dips into is one of depravity and the rituals in this world are just utterly bizarre. I use that word constantly to describe this film but I think it's so accurate. The orgy sequence in the movie is one of the rare times in movies that I've been legitimately creeped out by what I was seeing. Especially the beginning of it with all the chanting. It literally gave me chills because it was just so creepy. I will admit I would like to have learned whether or not Sydney Pollock's character was lying at the end about the girl's fate as well as the circumstances around the orgy sequence but it doesn't ruin the film for me. To me, it's a fine film that served as Stanley Kubrick's final work as he passed away a few months before this film was released in 1999.
And so we come to the end of part 1 of this list. Join me tomorrow as I will list the remaining 6 films that I like but most people seem to hate. I'm not the Nostalgia Critic. I didn't remember it so you have to. Anyone who's a fan of his will understand that last line.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)