I thought it was done just about right… very entertaining & added to the greater Star Wars story. I don’t think Star Wars needs something earth-shattering, it’s just supposed to be fun adventure/fantasy. Sure, it could have been a little better in places, but there was more right than wrong with it.
I read that JJ Abrams tried including Luke in more of the script, but his character was so strong that he basically took-over, and you didn’t care about whatever the other characters were doing. I guess I could see that. I do wish they’d given him at least one line at the end, like “I’ve been waiting…” or something. It would have made his appearance more memorable. Another interesting result of “Luke at the end” – It seems the next movie will almost have no choice but to pick-up right where this one left-off, which is different from any of the other sequels –all the rest of them had years in-between… hence the “screen crawl” at the beginning of each movie. So what will the screen crawl on the next movie say? I suppose there are always some details to fill-in.
While the main plot points were a bit borrowed or predictable, that’s true with 90% of all movies… and there was enough new stuff in the movie to keep things interesting. In addition, this movie mostly served to introduce a bunch of new characters. There just wasn’t a lot of room/time left to do anything else too major. That said, perhaps they could have invented some new kind of way to destroy a planet – perhaps a “creeping doom” that was like a disease which consumed planets. And the rebels would have to figure out how to stop it. Maybe an idea for the next one? Anyone listening?
I thought the end of the movie was a bit rushed… my guess is stuff that got cut to get the running time down, as the studio has a financial incentive to keep it to a certain length.
Finally – I’d really like to know why C3PO’s arm was red… He mentions it, but then it was left totally unexplained!!! WHY!!?
I have a bit of a rare perspective on this, as I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail myself… a few years after Cheryl Strayed did. Because of this, I was focused on a different character – the PCT itself. There’s a lot the movie gets right about the PCT – some of the scenery, the other hikers, and the challenges along the way. But there was just too much ‘wrong’, and that kept me distracted the whole way through. Right at the start, we see Cheryl trying to set up her tent near the start of the trail. But, she’s not at the start of the trail, she’s at Smith Rock State Park in Oregon – 2000 miles from the start of the trail. So, instead of watching Cheryl Strayed, I’m watching Reese Witherspoon… and wondering why they filmed this scene where they did. This kind of thing happened frequently through the movie, and kept pulling me away from the story (another example is a view of the landscape in Northern California, which is clearly Southern California – would it have been that hard to get a stock shot of Mt. Shasta?). I realize that when you shoot a movie, you have to make some practical compromises. But it would not have taken much effort to get some of these details right, and that might have made the movie amazing, instead of just decent.
Aardman studios has put out a lot of superb stop-frame animation over the years, but this might be their best ever. Shaun the Sheep is a simple story – perhaps the simplest of stories. It’s lighthearted and fun throughout, and will only bring you smiles. But, it’s done just brilliantly. Essentially this is a silent film – not one word of dialog is spoken. There are a few mumbles, but that’s it. It takes quite a bit of storytelling to pull that off. I had the feeling that I was watching years of meticulous work crammed into the space of 90+ minutes, and it showed. Each scene could stand on its own (and in fact much of the movie was made of previously released scenes). The whole thing was just utter joy.
If you want to see giant robot-mechs battling giant alien creatures, this is your movie. But, don’t expect anything else. It’s great at what it is, but that’s pretty much all it is. Oh well, sometimes that’s all you want to see. Eye candy isn’t worthless, and it’s not easy to produce well – there’s a lot of skill and artistry involved. Not every movie has to catch you on an emotional level. Sometimes you just want to see the world burn.
Something was broken with this movie. I almost hate to admit it, because I respect Angelina Jolie, but the directing was well… lacking. The story was told very straightforwardly (and technically sound), but I always had the feeling that these were actors standing around acting. I didn’t feel transported into the movie – like I was standing right there with them. Instead it was more like: this happened, then this happened, then that happened… all with perfect lighting, the perfect angle, and makeup & costumes that looked like makeup and costumes. Maybe the book kind of ruined this for me. The book was compelling – any movie would have a difficult time living up to that. Oh well, it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great.
I was expecting elegant, grand, deep… But instead it was a lot of shaky-cam and borderline camp. Maybe they blew their budget on the stars, and didn’t have any left for… well, the movie. It did have its moments, but there was so much more potential in the concept. I’m kind of glad I just happened to see this on a hotel TV for nothing, on a night when I had nothing better to do.
All about the man inside Big Bird. I never really gave it much thought – that there is a human inside there, not only operating the bird, but playing the part too – walking, talking, improvising. And I suppose the fact I never thought about it says a lot about how good he is. What kind of a person could do this for 40-some years? Well, a guy like Caroll Spinney. When I first started watching this, something seemed a bit “off” about him, but as the movie progressed, he grew on me… and I suppose you’d have to be just a little odd to be a good Big Bird (not that there’s anything with being odd). Surely, a documentary like this is going to present a positive picture, but that’s fine – and who’s to say it isn’t 100% accurate? Anyway, after all those years in the suit, he deserves a bit of adulation – well done Caroll.
Finally… a science fiction movie that treats its audience like the smart adults we are. Finally we get a hero whose struggle isn’t against his own personal demons, but just against a hostile environment. There’s no stupid love story, no family crying at home about how they miss daddy, no people doing stupid things because they have some emotional baggage, no illogical plot points… instead, we’re left with a movie that’s certainly fantasy – and fantastical, but just on the right side of plausible. Sure, there are a few technical issues glossed-over (like how his plastic bubble fix to the habitat could not have come close to withstanding the pressure it needed to). But these were not central to the plot.
An inquisitive inventor/engineer/entrepreneur turns the art history world on its head with his theory about how Johannes Vermeer created his master works. He makes a very compelling argument, and goes to the extreme length of replicating not only a Vermeer painting (The Music Lesson), but the entire live scene as Vermeer saw it, which involves building all the items in the scene from scratch.
Based on the true story of how creepazoid gazillionaire John DuPont (of the DuPont family) “adopted” US wrestling for a time in the mid 1980s. There’s not a lot of money in wrestling (the real kind, not the entertainment kind), so when a weirdo with money builds a state-of-the-art wrestling center on his estate, it’s an offer too good to reject. Of course, things go from weird to creepy to unhealthy to dangerous in a one way spiral of madness. DuPont has created a fantasy land disconnected from reality. He pines for the approval of his aloof mother, and wants desperately to be “someone important”. Instead, he’s just a rich fool… Deep down, he knows this, so he fills his life with distractions and tries to buy his way into relevance.
Tom Cruise is smarter than everyone
I’m a sucker for Icelandic movies… but this one stood on its own as a “good movie that happened to be Icelandic”. It had a small town feel that is quintessentially Icelandic – where you get the sense that everyone is part of a large extended family.
Boy, I know I saw this, but it kind of merges together with all the other “old people are cooler than you think” movies I’ve seen. I do remember that it was a pretty decent one though – anything with Maggie Smith and John Cleese is at least worth a try.
I think Werner Herzog could make a documentary about the most boring parts of my life and it’d win awards.
While this did have decent moments of action & “reveals” (where you learn some secret about the main character and are all like “ooh…”), in the end, the whole concept just wasn’t believable. I’m not sure how that could be fixed without it becoming a whole other movie though. If you like this kind of movie, it’s worth a watch, but don’t have massive expectations.
Hansel and Gretel get the “we’re actually badasses” treatments – seems to be a common trope these days. It was fun for about 25 minutes, but they just got way too deep into the story, and everything dragged-on far too long. It did have a nice look – kind of a pre-steam-punk vibe, and I suppose there were moments, but it was all a bit too much.
Loved the opening shot at Dettifoss, Iceland… but the rest of the movie was one giant “huh”?
Ok, I admit it… I watched this. I honestly don’t know why. And as I’m writing this about two years after I saw it… I can’t really remember it. It was the kind of thing where halfway through, I wish I could have turned to myself to say “hey, what are you doing? Shouldn’t you be cleaning the crud out of your toenails or something?”. Ya, I probably should have done that instead.
I saw this in a theater in Manila. After waiting far too long as the only foreigner in a giant snaking line, I got to the ticket gate and discovered there was assigned seating. This was why the line moved so slowly – each moviegoer weighed their options. I just picked something near the back – I was only looking to kill a couple hours, and didn’t really care. I entered the theater only to realize that the seating diagram was backwards – I’d unknowingly picked a seat right at the front of the theater… this wouldn’t do. So, I did what any good American would – attempted to fix the situation. I got back to the ticket office, explained the problem, and was confronted with confusion – they had no process to fix a seat. “no problem”, I offered, “just sell me another ticket”. I was willing to blow another $5 due to my stupidity. But, they wouldn’t have that… they had to figure something out. After much discussion, and a visit from the manager, I had a new ticket. Wonderful.
I watched this in the middle of night on a rambling bus heading north on the Philippine island of Luzon. Headlights from the oncoming traffic illuminated the shapes of my fellow passengers in a stroboscopic effect. The Air Con blasted my forehead relentlessly – I was unable to control it. So, I rested my head on my pack and stared down the narrow center pathway, where Taken 2 was playing an on a tiny, blurry CRT screen, with barely readable subtitles. The movie was more unbearable than the bus ride.
Maybe it’s just me, but I just can’t take Liam Neeson seriously as an action hero. I suppose the movie was entertaining for all the usual reasons, but as it went on, it was just too ridiculous to take very seriously. It relied on incredible coincidences that just had me rolling my eyes, saying “come on!” rather than enjoying the movie.
But what I really want to know… is how did Oz turn into a showman in the first place. Did he come from a dysfunctional family? Was his father mean? Why? What happened to that guy? And where did Oz come from? Why is the wicked witch so wicked (oh, there’s another story about that I suppose). Why are the munchkins so small? What is their history? Why do they like candy? Who built the yellow brick road? So many questions I need to know the answer to!!!!
I really thought this was going to suck… and it mostly did. But, there were enough good things to make it at least watchable.
Another original, interesting, thoughtful movie. Sure, it had its slow moments, but all-in-all, it worked both as a concept and in the nuts-and-bolts of plot, acting, script, directing, etc. It did take a while for me to get into it, but after a couple rotations of the story, I couldn’t wait for the next cut.
Wow. It’s so hard to make a movie that’s wholly original, and trusts the intelligence & attention of the viewers. This was a real joy to watch unfold… the joy was in the discovery of the story. Nothing is explained, you have to learn it all along with the characters. And even then, it doesn’t make much sense, but you have to accept it anyway. This movie is the dream I hope to have when I close my eyes each night.