Tyler's Reviews

^ Adored the end sequence(in the garden) of Crazy, Stupid, Love - watched it over a few times I found it so funny.

Yeah, The January Man was a dud, although I do like Kevin Kline.

Really enjoyable film. And like you I have a real soft spot for romantic comedies.

Well then I would certainly recommended Lars and the Real Girl. It's a terrific film, that while being extremely quirky is also funny, charming and really quite touching. Quite beautiful in a way. And Gosling is fantastic.

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I'll second this and also recommend Blue Valentine and The Ides of March. Both really show off his talents.

Gosling was amazing in Blue Valentine. Fantastic film.

I'll have to check out all those films. I've also heard some good things about Half Nelson and I own The Notebook, even though that's not my type of film, but I might give it a go, considering its Gosling.

And yeah, CA, The January Man was a real dud. Similarly to Crazy, Stupid, Love, there wasn't an actor or actress in the film I disliked, but the film's execution was so wrong that they were all wasted.

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

Just a few short reviews:

Armageddon (1998)

Hollywood crap made with enjoyable style, as Bruce Willis and co. head to an asteroid to blow it up and save Earth. It isn't very logical (or good, for that matter), but it remains endlessly rewatchable, and I really love the score (up until the last minute of it, where it goes all Michael Bay with the guitar riff).



The Rock (1996)

Still Michael Bay's best film, and a genuinely good film itself. Nicolas Cage is on top form, wonderfully supported by Sean Connery and Ed Harris (tremendous as the sort of complex villian, and the last act is exhilarating. Love this film, and the only Michael Bay film I'd give this rating...



Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011)

Probably the weakest Bay film yet, and the only one I've been disappointed with so far. It takes too long to get where it's going, and the last half hour, while admittedly entertaining, doesn't make up for what came before it

A few more:

The Lost Boys (1987)

Despite its many flaws and dated elements, this is pretty much a spot-on mix of horror and comedy. Kind of like a Vampire Scream.



Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)

Even though it's my least favourite of the original trilogy, it remains a timeless classic to be enjoyed for years to come.

Not for me. I found it barely watchable. I think I finished it, but I'm not 100% sure. Just an awful piece of tosh.

Die Hard (1988)

Still one of the greatest action films of all time, featuring some solid performances and humorous writing. My brother loved it, too.



The Warriors (1979)

I love this movie dearly, mainly because, outside of the great performance by James Remar, exciting direction and wonderful soundtrack choices, it is so damn cool. My brother loved this one, too.



Step Brothers (2008)

I find this to be hysterically funny. It seems to be going around these days, but I don't like that many comedies, but this is just immature fun, especially surprising because I've seen the two lead actors do dramatic so well.

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Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (1984)

It seems like I'm always going against the grain when it comes to my family and movies. Specifically franchises. I always love the one they find the weakest. My family loves the first three Rocky films, but I love the fourth. They prefer the first Mad Max to the second. The Fellowship Of The Ring is the weakest of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, ITO, and don't get me started on The Godfather. But the one I keep coming back to is the Indiana Jones franchise. The reason I do is because they hate The Temple Of Doom. All of the other trilogies or series, they like all parts to some degree, but they would much rather watch Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull than The Temple Of Doom, and a though of WTF runs through my mind. But I don't really care, because it's their loss that they can't appreciate a film, that's of a completely different tone than that which precedes it. A film that captures my immature imagination and takes it on a journey that I will never forget.

For those who don't know, this is a prequel to Raiders Of The Lost Ark, in which Indiana Jones is recruited by an Indian village to retrieve a magical stone from a vicious cult that runs from underground a marvelous palace.

A small piece of information that might be important towards the reason I love The Temple Of Doom is that it was the first Indy film I saw. My mum got the whole boxset (back when it was three movies, not four) and I wanted to watch The Temple Of Doom first, simply because it had Han Solo AND Data from The Goonies in it. And even though I was at a young age when I first watched it, I fully recognised that Steven Spielberg was directing it. The guy who directed Jurassic Park, E.T and Jaws? Count me in.

My parents wanted to watch Raiders first, but I was very persistent. Finally, we popped Temple into the DVD player and I couldn't believe my eyes. Firstly, what a great opening. It presents Indy as more of a James Bond-ish character than an adventurous archeologist. The whole sequence, where Indy runs through the restaurant, looking for the antidote for the poison he drank, and Willie, the nightclub singer, chasing after the giant diamond that she just can't her hands on for long, still manages to keep me on the edge of my seat, even though I've seen this movie a million times. It caught my attention and set alight the fire of wonder in my heart (that was bad). I wasnt watching a movie. I was on an adventure.

From then on, it's non-stop thrills, as planes crash, spikes threaten to impale and people get burned alive in lava. It's a big cartoonish mess at times, but Spielberg, a master of the camera, knows what he's doing and delivers, more or less. However, the film really kicks into the highest gear in the final 45 minutes, where Indy frees child slaves, rides mining carts and hangs off a broken bridge (which he broke himself). It's certainly highly illogical (that part where the mining cart jumps the tracks), but honestly, should I care? No, it's movie magic and magic I'm happy to witness.

Harrison Ford does a wonderful job as Jones, and manages to play the role heroically, comedically and dramatically and handles it quite well. Kate Capshaw is a bit annoying at times, but her performance doesn't hinder the film. Ke Huy Quan is solid as Indy's sidekick Short Round, and puts in a child performance I can actually tolerate.

Revisiting this film is always fun, even if it's for the most trivial reasons. The actual reason I watched it today is because I read a small article on "Spielberg's Grace Notes", moments that capture the breath in each of his films. There is an example from each film, and from this, it was the heroic dolly up to Jones' face. The moment they speak of is a wonderful shot. As is the rest of the film.

Yikes, it was a masterpiece compared to the terrible second Transformers film.

I liked Transformers 2. It's complete rubbish, but it has it's moments, with some comic relief that works, albeit infrequently and it's never boring, despite almost total incoherence in what is being conveyed.

Minority Report (2002)

Spielberg is starting to get back into my good books. After the disappointment of Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and War Of The Worlds, he gave me a little faith when I saw Munich, a flawed, but powerful historical document film, and Tintin, while being less than amazing, showed that Spielberg had some life left in him. And last night, I gave Minority Report a try. And for the most part, it's a wonderful futuristic thriller with some neo-noirish touches and a story with solidarity, that never gets complicated or convoluted. But like most Spielberg films, it's definitely not without it's flaws- or Spielberg-style sentimentality.

Like every Spielberg film, it's got an excellent, attention grabbing opening, which demonstrates the efficiency of the Pre-Crime Unit, a division of the Police, in which three gifted individuals are able to get visions of murders before they happen. The chief of this division is John Anderton (Tom Cruise), who is distressed by the memory of his dead son, and takes drugs to heal the pain. The system works, until Anderton himself is accused of committing a murder 36 hours in the future. Anderton tries to find out who- if anyone- set him up and attempts to stay one step ahead of the officers of the Unit he helped create and an especially driven FBI agent (Colin Farell).

What I like the most about Minority Report, is that, for the most part, Spileberg's style is almost unrecognisable. His sentimentality creeps in a little bit throughout, and then kicks the door open near the end, but other than that, it seems like his style is almost muted. It's got all the effects, adventure and mainstreamness his films always have, but there is something about this movie that made me forget that it was a Spielberg film.

He acheives a nice tone, and it's pitch-perfect throughout, up until the last 15 minutes or so, where the tone changes, and makes the experience weird and disengaging. It doesn't hinder what has come before it too badly, but it's not exactly like you could disregard it. Also, I don't think Stevie acheives in conveying the themes he set out to. I picked from it that it was meant to be something like a deconstruction of a flaw in a perfect system, but with this, I don't think SS hits all the right notes to make it work. As a sci-fi thriller, Minority Report works just fine, and maybe even better than some of the best of the genre. But when it tries to be something else, it feels forced and blemishes the film's overall impact.

Tom Cruise is solid as John Anderton, which is expected, since Cruise is always good in whatever he's in. Colin Farell is ok here, and I can stomach him, which is funny, because I never usually do. The other performances from the cast range from good (Max Von Sydow, whose work I'm currently interested in) to the great (Samantha Morton, who really sells her performance) to the scene-stealing (Peter Stormare, who's a joy to watch). Plus, it's got Ted from How I Met Your Mother.

In the ranking of Spielberg films, I've seen so far, it misses out on the top ten, but sits comfortably around the likes of Close Encounters & Munich. Overall, it's a very good film, which obviously tries to be something more, but doesn't really achieve it.

+

Nice review, but Close Encounters is about three times better than Minority Report and Munich, and I'm probably as big a Spielberg fan as there is. No biggie; I'm just getting antsy about ratings lately.

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Thumbs up for the review Minority Report gets a full from me. I like it even more than A.I. or any movie he has done for the past 2 decades or so.

Yeah, you're probably right. I haven't seen Close Encounters in a year, and I've only seen it the once, but I remember liking it quite a bit, but it never fully engaged me and it wasn't the classic masterpiece everyone built it up to be. But it'd definitely be ahead of Munich and Minority Report in the Spielberg scale.

Spirited Away (2001)

Out of all my genre blind spots, Japanese Anime is probably my biggest blind spot. This could be attributed to the fact that it isn't really my thing, unless it's closer to American cinema (like Akira). But I'm beginning to delve into it, albeit very slowly. I'm especially watching films from Studio Ghibli, which I understand is basically the very best anime has to offer. My first experience of the studio (Ponyo) wasn't very good at all, but despite that film almost putting me off anime, I had a spare two hours and I decided to go with Spirited Away, which is generally considered a masterpiece of a genre.

Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro, a young girl who is displeased with her parent's decision to move to a new town. On the way to their new home, the family discovers a mysterious tunnel, which leads into a mystical world, inhabiting spirits and strange beasts, run by a grumpy sorceress. Chihiro suddenly finds herself on her own, when her parents are transformed into pigs. As she tries to fit in and ultimately try and escape from this world, she begins an adventure like no other.

Firstly, the animation is dazzling and a treat for the eyes. The rich texture of the spiritual world and the majestic beauty of everything drawn is a sight to behold. It truly immerses you into Chihiro's adventure and gives off a magical feeling in its visual quality. It is some of the best animation I've ever seen in a film or any other medium, and that's probably the highest praise I can give to an animated film. I'm just not too sure about the directing and story.

It's evident to me that director Hayao Miyazaki struggles with the tone in this film, and what the film is trying to be. In one scene, it's a loss of innocence, coming of age story, and in others, it's a foreboding, mysterious, supernatural Alice In Wonderland. It works for the most part, but you can feel it all slowly unravelling throughout. And at two hours, it could've been about 20 minutes shorter. The whole initial boiler room scene is pretty much needless, at least in my opinion. There was pretty much zero value added with that scene, for me.

But my biggest complaint for the film is how the story threads are tied up, specifically how Haku turns out to be a water spirit. Chihiro just suddenly reminisces about a time she lost a shoe, and he suddenly remembers his lost identity? What marvellous storytelling! There's also the part where Kamaji, out of nowhere, decides to pretend Chihiro is his granddaughter. Chihiro, the girl he seems to be actively annoyed by and suddenly for no reason, he comes to her aid.

I liked this film, though This review has been mostly negative, but I did like it. The adventurous tone and the beautiful animation sort of make up for the clumsy storytelling. It's deeper than Ponyo, which was more shallow than a half evaporated rain puddle. But in my eyes, it's obviously not the masterpiece everyone makes it out to be. Flawed, to be sure, but aesthetically beautiful is my final verdict.

Nice reviews, even if I don't agree with your verdict on Spirited Away 100%. In my opinion, it's Miyazaki's best. But then again, I guess I'm a bit of a fanboy for his work....

Thanks, mate.

Spirited Away is a fine film, but just didn't have the magic I expected.