Author Topic: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon  (Read 75431 times)

verbALs

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #450 on: April 02, 2011, 02:09:51 PM »
I agree about the lesser characters. We get to see them from so many different angles, something a normal timeline doesn't allow you to see. It is a great comedy but how about this for ambition;

1) A trap with no seeming meaning, no purpose, that ends without warning= The Exterminating Angel
2) How does one person's life affect everyone around them= It's A Wonderful Life
3) What can you do with your life to give it meaning= Ikiru

Films that define existence= a mixture of all four.

, and the suicide sequence is one of the most affecting bits in any film, suddenly this film isn't funny at all.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2011, 02:13:03 PM by verbALs »
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

tinyholidays

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #451 on: April 02, 2011, 05:04:08 PM »
I just saw Groundhog Day for the first time last month, and it is wonderful. I went "Awww" when I saw your review, Steve. My only real complaint of the film is Andie MacDowell. But Murray makes up for it.

Hoorah for the Tobolowsky still!

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #452 on: April 02, 2011, 05:07:53 PM »
"Watch that first step, it's a doosie!"  ;D

oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #453 on: April 02, 2011, 07:48:26 PM »
I just saw Groundhog Day for the first time last month, and it is wonderful. I went "Awww" when I saw your review, Steve. My only real complaint of the film is Andie MacDowell. But Murray makes up for it.

Hoorah for the Tobolowsky still!

I've started listening to the Tobolowski podcast, so I thought I'd include him  :)

I probably shouldn't have said "throwaway" about the lesser characters.  It's just that even though we see them from different angles, they don't have an arc.  They are there to react to Phil.

Great summary of the themes, verbALs.  The more I think about this film, the deeper it is, and yet it is so re watchable.  Funny that a movie that shows you a single day 42 times, yet I am ready to watch those 42 versions of one day all over again.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #454 on: April 03, 2011, 04:19:03 PM »
Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days


I don’t know that I am capable of writing a good review of this film.  It is heart wrenching in a way that few films are.  Perhaps United 93.  But I’ll try to make it through my ratings, at least.

Technical—5/5 Well done.  I liked the cinematography, the pacing and the acting.  It all comes together to make a quiet but marvelous film.

Interest—4/5—The first third of the film is confusing to me and I wouldn’t have known anything except for the small amount I had read about it.  It was all subtext which gets my curiosity up.  And my curiosity was burning high until after the midpoint of  the film where I realized what the tragedy was.  And I continued to be fascinated because I had no idea if the tragedy was going to be deeper than it already was.

Tension-5/5—The tension of what is really going on was really strong.   I don’t know if I’d be as interested in the film the second time because I already knew what was going to happen.



Emotional—4/5—Its as if they knew the story itself was emotional enough and so the acting and the filmmaking was really subdued.  They didn’t need to do more than they did.

Characters—4/5—The characterization was good, we clearly got an idea of the three main characters as distinct, but there was little depth there.  It really felt like a documentary, as if we were seeing the events in real time, and there was little background information given.  In general I liked that about the film, we had to work out so much ourselves.

Theme--??—I was so stunned by the story that I really didn’t have energy to consider a theme of the film. Is it simply letting us experience this event?   That is enough, certainly.



Ethics—4/5—Clearly this is not a film about "the abortion question".  It isn’t about abortion rights, except that if there were abortions available this scenario wouldn’t play out, but I don’t think that’s what it’s talking about.  I think it has more to do with friendship.  The movie begins with the idea that the abortion was necessary—that’s a given.  The question is, how much is the friend willing to sacrifice for her friend’s need?  And what is the real cost of that sacrifice?  And how does one respond to someone as evil as this who has you over a barrel? What would someone else do in this circumstance?  As many of my favorite ethical films, this film asks questions but doesn’t give satisfactory answers.  We have to answer the questions ourselves.

Personal-- ??—Honestly, this was a difficult film.  It’s hard because I see people forced to make Hobson choices like this every day.  And it is easy to moralize and say, “Well, if they had done what is right they wouldn’t have had to make this choice…” This film doesn’t do that.  We are human.  We make mistakes.  Sometimes our mistakes snowball on us.  And then we are in impossible positions.   Again, I see this all the time.  It is a kind of tragedy I  don’t feel I need to relive.

It is a good film, one I might recommend to some, but it will never be a favorite for me.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #455 on: April 11, 2011, 11:03:27 AM »
The Lion King



The Lion King was the first Disney film that I found emotionally satisfying.  It is actually one of the first films that made me cry (The movie Ghost was actually the very first).  Now I cry if someone looks funny on a film.  I think what really made the difference is having children and feeling that attachment toward them.   When I first watched The Lion King, I had my two year old son next to me.  The question is: does it still stand as a great experience, after many years and many re-watchings?

Technical—5/5—It’s solid animation, with some occasionally excellent scenes, like the stampede.  The voice acting is top notch and the songs are memorable and catchy.  Yeah, it works.

Interest—5/5—It’s high drama with a lot of funny comedy.  Not a boring scene in sight.  Perhaps the romantic scene was unnecessary and distracting.  But I can’t say that about any other scene.  The opening and the closing are still so dramatic and the music is so perfect they make my heart skip a beat.



Tension—5/5—Just thinking about Jeremy Lions Irons (hee, hee) saying the words, “It’s to die for”, gives me shivers…

Emotional—4/5—It doesn’t make me cry like it used to.  But all the impact is there, the great relationship between Simba and Mufasa, the child accepting responsibility for what he didn’t do… this is powerful drama when we see it in everyday life.

Characters—4/5—Okay, it’s a Disney film.  The characters are created with broad strokes and each one is more of a type than a true person.  But that’s better than a lot of other Disney film where they are two dimensional.  To have the type of the Great King say, “I was scared today that I might lose you.” is wonderfully perfect.  Even Zazu, who is the straight man for the leads gets a clever line “He might make a handsome throw rug.” And even if the dialogue is a bit stilted at times, usually the acting makes up for it.  James Earl Jones can’t say a sentence without gravitas.  Even Matthew Broderick was excellent here.   Fred Savage was great as young Simba. 



Theme—5/5—The theme is hammered home many times “The Circle of Life”.  And even though it is explained as some sort of ecosystem, the reality of the theme is to accept the responsibility one is born with.  We are who we are, and we can’t deny our responsibility.

Ethics—4/5—Perhaps the theme might seem fatalistic to an American audience (although the box office didn’t notice any slack).  But it isn’t fatalistic at all.  Simba wasn’t only born king, but he had to choose it as well.  He had the opportunity for a different life and so he had complete freedom.  Interestingly enough, that which prevented him from being his full self was baggage from his childhood.  And this film encourages people to face that baggage down and take up the power that one has within one.  That ends up being a very powerful message.  One that perhaps most self-confident people don’t need to hear, but for those who have experienced damage like child abuse, this is a powerful film.



Personal—5/5—Well, I’ve never suffered child abuse nor have I been a king.  But I am a father and a son.  I’ve had ambitions that have been dashed.  I’ve dreamed of “hakuna matata”, but had to work anyway.  Yep, it’s all there.

I still love this film.  I’m so glad I own it.  I’m so happy I’ve showed it to all my kids.  It is easily one of Disney’s best.  It goes on my top 100.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

FroHam X

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #456 on: April 11, 2011, 11:20:57 AM »
Awesome. I love The Lion King. And it still makes me tear up, if not all out cry.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #457 on: April 11, 2011, 12:07:29 PM »
Oh man, that movie is the sex. You know what I mean? All of the STARS...doing voice overs. Seriously though, I love this film and cannot wait to purchase it on Blu-Ray.

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #458 on: April 11, 2011, 12:35:46 PM »
The Lion King is great and the Blu-Ray is going to look amazing. All that being said, Finding Nemo does the father/son theme even better. And I never liked the final battle. They raise the stakes fine with the fire, but they couldn't think of anything dramatic so we just get slow-mo of two lions hitting each other.

And where's you love for Timon and Pumbaa? The two best Disney sidekicks ever. They get a full song plus the hilarious hula number.


oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #459 on: April 11, 2011, 12:44:45 PM »
Hey, I love Timon and Pumba.  But I made the mistake of seeing Lion King 1 1/2.  I just haven't seen the Abbot and Costello of animation the same since. Wow that was sooooooooooo bad.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky