Now this review is 'long' overdue, I saw this wonderful masterpiece months ago and, as I am an awful human being, have already forgotten some names but the incredible love for this Cinema Masterpiece is still pulsing strong.
Now this movie is yet another piece of film-work based off of the French Novel Les Miserables.
Now I myself have not seen the other works or read the novel but all I know is that this version is, without a doubt, wonderful. I as at first caught off by the fact it was a musical but it.. is 'truely' wonderful and am surprised how much I fell in love with it.
Now be warned the beginning of the movie will be explained and given away just a tad, but I personally believe this movie is greatnot for any 'plot twists' but the enticing music
The movie follows Jean Valjeane after his release from 20 years of hard labour for stealing bread for his sister's starving child, '5 for what he did and the rest for running'. However he has been marked as a dangerous man by Investigator Javert (Who's voice is to die for might I add) , and this gets in his way of getting a job or staying at inns. After unexpected charity from a man he robs, Jean Valjeane trusts in the god that he believed to have forsaken him and dedicates himself fully to his new life, under a new guise to escape his past. Meeting success and after many years he finds himself as the mayor to a nice town and head of a 'factory'. One of the workers there is a woman by the name of Fantine who works to send money to innkeepers who watch after her daughter Cosette. Jean Valjeane swears to protect her daughter after guilt of not noticing their troubles.
Now that is all I want to give away of the movie as there must be some plot left when you go to see the actual film.
Now I am a person that tends to give wonderful ratings to movies simply because I am a rather relaxed movie goer, and I feel I might be doing the same here, but the 'effect' this movie has had on me, the incredible acting, the way the music just pours itself into your soul, I am quite certain this movie deserves a fitting score.
Filmed and recorded live instead of dubbing in the music and vocals, every key and word is spot on and pours an emotion I never knew could be felt through something as simple as sound, the use of the song and lyrics 'Look Down' is used twice, once by prisoners who don't wish to look their captor in the eye and again by poor citizens who believe the upper class should stop ignoring their plight.
Ever song, every lyric, every movement, every word, note, will attempt to bring you to tears. I have 'never' considered buying a soundtrack to a movie or anything before but I am quite close to doing just this for this wonderful wonderful movie.
I give it a solid 9 out of 10, the movie lacks a little in the plot department in the sense some people still love their plot twist, but it easily makes up for it by the incredible acting and music, this is a movie I absolutely demand you go see once, you will not be disappointed.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Wreck-It Ralph
About a month ago I went to go see the move 'Wreck-it Ralph', and have failed to submit a review for this movie until now.
Well here it goes.
I came to the movie theater to see Wreck-It Ralph on the fact that the animation style reminded me of Despicable Me, a movie that I absolutely loved. Not to mention it also was video-game based, something I am rather a large fan of and liked the idea of the universe they were in, a certain Toy Story-esque to it, these characters with their own world and life unknown to us who play with them daily and yet have no idea what thy truly are, what our own creations have become.
The movie follows its main character, opening up with a little narration by him as well, Wreck-It Ralph, the bad guy of an old Arcade game who is obviously derived from Donkey Kong, a large villain causing things to fall while a hat wearing hero climbs higher and higher to reach him.
Wreck-It Ralph's job is to break the building every time a human begins the game by inserting a quarter, and then the Hero(Of the game, not the movie), Felix Fix-It Jr., comes in where he uses a magic hammer to fix windows that Ralph breaks. Upon victory of each level Ralph is thrown off the building and crashes into a mud puddle. The other characters look down on him for how he is programmed, he's a bad guy, he wrecks things, and that's that. To add insult to injury, Felix lives in a penthouse while Ralph lives in the dump. On a pile of bricks. So when our main character wants to change his life after 30 years of mistreatment, I truely can't blame him, I cheer him on.
Now I won't give the whole movie away for you, but to cut it short, this bad guy wishes to change his life and be treated better. When he's made a bet that if he somehow attains a Medal, he gets to live in the penthouse he jumps at it and goes to other Arcade Games to try and get this Medal, mainly Heroe's Duty and through a twist he ends up in a candy go-kart game, Sugar Rush(Which has a lovely little bit of music as its theme I might add).
Now the last main character (In my view) is Vanellope Von Schweetz, a little girl in Sugar Rush who is a glitch, her character was not meant to exist or to be included in the original program and is thus shunned and kept away from the rest of the game at most costs.
A heart warming Journey follows Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz to realize both Ralph's dream of a better life, and Vanellope's to become a racer and game avatar of the players for the first time in her life. It is not a large journey, far different from what I expected when I first walked into the movie theater, but the movie was wonderfully paced and has a lasting impression on me.
The characters are downright lovable and the soundtrack isn't half bad either, even if the entire movie feels like its missing something, it has those scenes that are truly incredible and well shown. It made me laugh, cry, wait in suspense, it is a heartwarming and heart-touching movie that I truly suggest seeing if you love arcade games and a good movie. I might be a little generous, but if I look back on the individual parts of this movie, I think it is deserving a 9 out of a 10, but there were a few things that took away from the movie however. Nonetheless, in the end, Supernus Rescenseo gives this movie an 8.5/10, I highly suggest seeing it.
Well here it goes.
I came to the movie theater to see Wreck-It Ralph on the fact that the animation style reminded me of Despicable Me, a movie that I absolutely loved. Not to mention it also was video-game based, something I am rather a large fan of and liked the idea of the universe they were in, a certain Toy Story-esque to it, these characters with their own world and life unknown to us who play with them daily and yet have no idea what thy truly are, what our own creations have become.
The movie follows its main character, opening up with a little narration by him as well, Wreck-It Ralph, the bad guy of an old Arcade game who is obviously derived from Donkey Kong, a large villain causing things to fall while a hat wearing hero climbs higher and higher to reach him.
Wreck-It Ralph's job is to break the building every time a human begins the game by inserting a quarter, and then the Hero(Of the game, not the movie), Felix Fix-It Jr., comes in where he uses a magic hammer to fix windows that Ralph breaks. Upon victory of each level Ralph is thrown off the building and crashes into a mud puddle. The other characters look down on him for how he is programmed, he's a bad guy, he wrecks things, and that's that. To add insult to injury, Felix lives in a penthouse while Ralph lives in the dump. On a pile of bricks. So when our main character wants to change his life after 30 years of mistreatment, I truely can't blame him, I cheer him on.
Now I won't give the whole movie away for you, but to cut it short, this bad guy wishes to change his life and be treated better. When he's made a bet that if he somehow attains a Medal, he gets to live in the penthouse he jumps at it and goes to other Arcade Games to try and get this Medal, mainly Heroe's Duty and through a twist he ends up in a candy go-kart game, Sugar Rush(Which has a lovely little bit of music as its theme I might add).
Now the last main character (In my view) is Vanellope Von Schweetz, a little girl in Sugar Rush who is a glitch, her character was not meant to exist or to be included in the original program and is thus shunned and kept away from the rest of the game at most costs.
A heart warming Journey follows Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz to realize both Ralph's dream of a better life, and Vanellope's to become a racer and game avatar of the players for the first time in her life. It is not a large journey, far different from what I expected when I first walked into the movie theater, but the movie was wonderfully paced and has a lasting impression on me.
The characters are downright lovable and the soundtrack isn't half bad either, even if the entire movie feels like its missing something, it has those scenes that are truly incredible and well shown. It made me laugh, cry, wait in suspense, it is a heartwarming and heart-touching movie that I truly suggest seeing if you love arcade games and a good movie. I might be a little generous, but if I look back on the individual parts of this movie, I think it is deserving a 9 out of a 10, but there were a few things that took away from the movie however. Nonetheless, in the end, Supernus Rescenseo gives this movie an 8.5/10, I highly suggest seeing it.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Interstella 5555
I need to start updating now that I have this blog, and I love writing here, the words just flow out of my amateur fingertips onto my keyboard, I will start with a nice little movie a friend showed me, an incredible Musical with no actual dialogue and few actual Sound Effects. And first off, as a shout out to my wonderful friend, if I use the wrong name for any of the characters I apologize. :3
Once more, I will start with a general observations on the quality of the movie without giving away the plot, and head further in as I go on, however this is the type of movie you watch for enjoyment and not to become a Hollywood blockbuster.
Interstella 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
This movie was majorly produced by the french music duo Daft Punk and Toei Animations and under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. Japanese in origin it is animated a very basic anime format which comes off wonderful. The movie overviews an alien pop band of four nameless blue aliens, identities only given by a few signs waved by fans, Octave the Pianist, Baryl the Drummer, Arpegius the Guitarist, and Stella who plays Base. There is also Sheb who is a fan who seeks to save them from their forced enslavement to the music industry and keep them from being pawns, willing to go to the extremes to do what is right.
The movie depicts how these happy musicians are kidnapped and forced by a Western Music Company to play on Earth and earn them a Gold Record as 'The Crescendolls', their minds are wiped and skin changed to appear humans, so they have no idea who they once were, now nothing but puppets to this music industry. The movie is absolutely full of symbolism related to how only artificial fake bands make it to the top and creativity falls short, given by a semi-hilarious moment where Daft Punk themselves miss an award in their own movie.
The entire movie has absolutely 'no' dialogue and instead consists of songs by Daft Punk that change throughout, giving the mood of each particular scene as the movie progresses. A truely unique approach, but as stated the movie isn't out to win awards or be a blockbuster, I saw it as a movie you watch to enjoy, there is nothing on tv and you see this, you will watch it. A wonderful, fun little story with lovable characters that get off their personalities without even speaking.
In the end, the movie was nowhere near 'high' quality, but it was an 'enjoyable' movie. I would give it a 6, maybe 7 out of 10 for full quality, but in the amount I enjoyed watching it I would give it at least an 8. This is a short feature length film that I 'highly' suggest watching at least once, very entertaining. The movie is full of meaningful references, symbolism, lovable characters, and great music, it makes for a good time if you're looking for something to make a boring afternoon just have that good feeling to it.
Once more, I will start with a general observations on the quality of the movie without giving away the plot, and head further in as I go on, however this is the type of movie you watch for enjoyment and not to become a Hollywood blockbuster.
Interstella 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
This movie was majorly produced by the french music duo Daft Punk and Toei Animations and under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. Japanese in origin it is animated a very basic anime format which comes off wonderful. The movie overviews an alien pop band of four nameless blue aliens, identities only given by a few signs waved by fans, Octave the Pianist, Baryl the Drummer, Arpegius the Guitarist, and Stella who plays Base. There is also Sheb who is a fan who seeks to save them from their forced enslavement to the music industry and keep them from being pawns, willing to go to the extremes to do what is right.
The movie depicts how these happy musicians are kidnapped and forced by a Western Music Company to play on Earth and earn them a Gold Record as 'The Crescendolls', their minds are wiped and skin changed to appear humans, so they have no idea who they once were, now nothing but puppets to this music industry. The movie is absolutely full of symbolism related to how only artificial fake bands make it to the top and creativity falls short, given by a semi-hilarious moment where Daft Punk themselves miss an award in their own movie.
The entire movie has absolutely 'no' dialogue and instead consists of songs by Daft Punk that change throughout, giving the mood of each particular scene as the movie progresses. A truely unique approach, but as stated the movie isn't out to win awards or be a blockbuster, I saw it as a movie you watch to enjoy, there is nothing on tv and you see this, you will watch it. A wonderful, fun little story with lovable characters that get off their personalities without even speaking.
In the end, the movie was nowhere near 'high' quality, but it was an 'enjoyable' movie. I would give it a 6, maybe 7 out of 10 for full quality, but in the amount I enjoyed watching it I would give it at least an 8. This is a short feature length film that I 'highly' suggest watching at least once, very entertaining. The movie is full of meaningful references, symbolism, lovable characters, and great music, it makes for a good time if you're looking for something to make a boring afternoon just have that good feeling to it.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
The Shining (1980)
This will be my first review of any movie on my blog here so here it goes.
I have recently watched the classic original film 'The Shining', based on the novel by Stephen King of the same name.
I will start the review with an attempted description of the quality of the film without giving away too much of the plot if you yourself have not seen it, however please be aware that if you read this it may in fact give away or hint at numerous interesting scenes or parts of the movie.
Starting off I myself have read the original book 'The Shining' and was very interested when I finally got to watch the original adaptation of it. The movie follows the plot of the book generally well, or at least as much of it as I can remember, save for a few scenes which is earnestly understandable. I do not expect the cinema industry of 1980 to have the resources to display every last scene of such a lengthy novel, including a larger than life movie hedge lion. Suspense is also shown incredibly well throughout the film, from something as simple as waiting for a cigarette to burn down before it flakes off, to a chase scene that seems to go on and on, waiting for something important to happen.
I will now start making references to specific scenes in the movie, if you do not wish to have some incredibly great suspenseful parts of this movie ruined, please do not continue reading if you plan on seeing this film.
The movie is chock full of suspense, as previously noted this ranges from something as simple as a cigarette burning, but more interesting scenes relate to the father, Jack's, fall into insanity. A scene where an employee, Dick Halloran, wanders the hotel looking for Jack and Danny and Wendy while Jack himself wanders the hotel with an axe. You wait, and wait, and then wait some more until suddenly.. All at once, a single quick fluent action breaks the silence as the axe swings and blood spurts. Not all of this is done by a single action though, some scenes of the movie involved where your waiting for something to happen, but your not sure what. An unknown figure walks closer and closer, approaching Jack. And your not sure what is going to happen, what you expect, which only raises the suspense further. One more notable example of suspense relates to the word 'Redrum'. If you do not know the signifigance of this word in the movie do not check it up as it is a truly wonderful scene, the word revealed early on in the movie and will be revealed towards the end.
I highly recommend seeing this movie. An older film to these days standards it still stands out as a wonderful piece of Cinema, the dialogue to the slowly unraveling degradation of a man's psyche, to the individual acting including, at least in my opinion, a brilliant child actor. Each major character plays a different unique individual wonderfully. Wendy is the vulnerable and mostly weak wife who struggles to deal with things as they unfold, afraid to take action and when she does you pity her. Danny is the interesting child with his own psychological problems who is played as perfect as you could want from such a young actor. Jack, the most interesting character to my personal views, is the already problematic father who degrades into insanity. A personal note, is that the facial expressions are simply wonderful in this film, each character adopting a different set according to the personality. I am not sure if this was the type of acting present in the time period but nonetheless I enjoyed it.
For my first review I might be a little generous here, but I give it a 9 out of 10 based on the fact I see very little wrong with it besides a lack of a truly dignified reason for the Overlook Hotel's odd happenings.
I have recently watched the classic original film 'The Shining', based on the novel by Stephen King of the same name.
I will start the review with an attempted description of the quality of the film without giving away too much of the plot if you yourself have not seen it, however please be aware that if you read this it may in fact give away or hint at numerous interesting scenes or parts of the movie.
Starting off I myself have read the original book 'The Shining' and was very interested when I finally got to watch the original adaptation of it. The movie follows the plot of the book generally well, or at least as much of it as I can remember, save for a few scenes which is earnestly understandable. I do not expect the cinema industry of 1980 to have the resources to display every last scene of such a lengthy novel, including a larger than life movie hedge lion. Suspense is also shown incredibly well throughout the film, from something as simple as waiting for a cigarette to burn down before it flakes off, to a chase scene that seems to go on and on, waiting for something important to happen.
I will now start making references to specific scenes in the movie, if you do not wish to have some incredibly great suspenseful parts of this movie ruined, please do not continue reading if you plan on seeing this film.
The movie is chock full of suspense, as previously noted this ranges from something as simple as a cigarette burning, but more interesting scenes relate to the father, Jack's, fall into insanity. A scene where an employee, Dick Halloran, wanders the hotel looking for Jack and Danny and Wendy while Jack himself wanders the hotel with an axe. You wait, and wait, and then wait some more until suddenly.. All at once, a single quick fluent action breaks the silence as the axe swings and blood spurts. Not all of this is done by a single action though, some scenes of the movie involved where your waiting for something to happen, but your not sure what. An unknown figure walks closer and closer, approaching Jack. And your not sure what is going to happen, what you expect, which only raises the suspense further. One more notable example of suspense relates to the word 'Redrum'. If you do not know the signifigance of this word in the movie do not check it up as it is a truly wonderful scene, the word revealed early on in the movie and will be revealed towards the end.
I highly recommend seeing this movie. An older film to these days standards it still stands out as a wonderful piece of Cinema, the dialogue to the slowly unraveling degradation of a man's psyche, to the individual acting including, at least in my opinion, a brilliant child actor. Each major character plays a different unique individual wonderfully. Wendy is the vulnerable and mostly weak wife who struggles to deal with things as they unfold, afraid to take action and when she does you pity her. Danny is the interesting child with his own psychological problems who is played as perfect as you could want from such a young actor. Jack, the most interesting character to my personal views, is the already problematic father who degrades into insanity. A personal note, is that the facial expressions are simply wonderful in this film, each character adopting a different set according to the personality. I am not sure if this was the type of acting present in the time period but nonetheless I enjoyed it.
For my first review I might be a little generous here, but I give it a 9 out of 10 based on the fact I see very little wrong with it besides a lack of a truly dignified reason for the Overlook Hotel's odd happenings.
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