Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[RStar]

Originally Posted by CoasterMatt

Hugo is AWESOME.

I second that. It was much more than I expected, partly because the "robot" was less than I expected which made it so much more belivable. It will win awards, I'm sure.

[Alex]

I liked much of it a lot. I disliked a bit of it a lot.

In the end I think I liked it more than I enjoyed it.

[Strangler Lewis]

I liked Hugo a great deal. However, the fact that the narrative was woven around what was sort of a true story made the enterprise feel more forced than imaginative.

Also, it was never clear to me

Spoiler:

how the fixed automaton represented a message from Hugo's father to him. Had Mecier programmed it to write Georges Mecier? Had the father? Was it the simple act of fixing it? It eluded me.

As for The Muppets, it was okay, but, as a loyal viewer of the show when it was on, seeing them have to scrape for a guest star and pander to the youth market rubbed me the wrong way. A quick check reveals that, if you ignore Brooke Shields, the youngest hosts of the original show were in their late 20s, and there weren't too many of them. Most of them were these older, big, if slightly past it, stars. Perhaps many of them, like Selena Gomez, were just sent their by their agents, but that generally was not the thrust of the show.

[Alex]

Spoiler:

My take was that he recognized that he was simply wrong about the automaton containing a message from his father, that thinking so was the desperation of a lonely boy. But that cosmically it set him on the path to regaining a family.

As for the Muppets, Mickey Rooney made an appearance so I think the average age of the cameos has to be at least 162.

[Ghoulish Delight]

After seeing the Muppets, I will not argue with anyone for whom it didn't work. I can see that, as a movie, it's weak. But it didn't matter to me one bit simply because it hit the perfect emotional resonance for me. The movie was 100% about how Jason Segel felt towards the Muppets and seeing as he's within a year and a half of my age, the emotional story it told hit close to home. That, combined with finding the various promotional Muppets appearance leading up to the movie funny and well written, I was absolutely delighted to see something that FELT like the Muppets to me (even as I was noticing that I wished there was more actual Muppet antics in the movie). And I'm hoping they parlay that into a solid revival.

[mousepod]

I, too, hope that the current Muppets wave continues into more Muppet stuff. And while I can appreciate that this movie was waaaay better than Treasure Island and Wizard of Oz ventures, I was still disappointed. I'm not going to argue my case here because I'm really happy that other people loved it (and I'm still rooting for its success), but I sure hope they step it up in the next movie (or tv show or whatever).

[Alex]

I grew up consuming absolutely anything that flowed out of Isaac Asimov's typewriter. One less known subcategory of his output were short stories that were essentially longform puns. 5000 words just to set up a pun. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it really didn't.

I was reminded of that today seeing The Artist. You've probably heard about it, it is a French-made silent (almost completely) movie starring foreign (to us) leads with Americans in the supporting roles. Not exactly in the mainstream.

But it is really, really good. Until it turns out that the entire movie was a set up for a really lame gag in the final couple minutes. Well, I'm sure the makers didn't see it that way but it was such a misstep in my opinion that it kind of ruined everything that came before. I know I'm being too harsh, but stupidity must be punished.

Otherwise, it has been a slow quarter of movie going but I am starting to get some of the award bait under my belt. Of the Golden Globe noms:

The Descentants - Really liked it, good performances, quiet direction. Really happy to see a somewhat real life presentation of Hawaii (even if from the perspective of the Punahou class).

Hugo - Underwhelmed. Not enough connection between the before and after on the genre shift and while the film history was interesting the journey wasn't particularly. Very pretty though.

The Ides of March - Well done political thriller. But not really award-worthy to any great extent.

Moneyball - Complete love. Don't need to be a baseball fan but it probably will help. If familiar with the A's of the period you'll have to forget a fair amount of what you know and will notice some glaring contributions to their success that go unmentioned. But taken on its own, good stuff.

50/50 - Liked it well enough but didn't think it was particularly revelatory. Also, just because funny things are said does not mean it was a comedy. But having this in the category is nowhere near as odd as My Week with Marilyn being in the category.

The Artist - See above.

Bridesmaids - Best pure comedy I've seen this year. But it didn't have a lot of competition.

Midnight in Paris - I really liked it, though I can see the view of those who consider it overpraised. I didn't think Owen Wilson had it in him, but I couldn't help feeling there were plenty of leading men who would have done it better.

Young Adult - Just a bit too depressing without much being revealed. As an essay on the manic phase of an untreated depressive it was interesting. But knowing it would repeat in some sense kind of undercut the story.

The Guard - Wonderful little movie that about 9 people saw. Brendan Gleason as a crap (or is he) constable in small town Wales.

Crazy, Stupid, Love - A little too pat in the end but this was a better Ryan Gosling performance than Ides of March. Continue to really like Emma Stone and Steve Carrell is better at dramedy than comedy.

Cars 2 - Sadly, that was the first negative Pixar movie review I had to write.

Puss in Boots - Suprirsingly fun.

Rango - My pick for the animated nominees. Surreal in the good way. Started slow for me but had me by the halfway point.

Drive - Pretty good. Almost comatose but that serves to make you feel the violence in a way hard to get across any more. Albert Brooks is really good. Ryan Gosling again makes a good appearance. Brian Cranston continues to make me wish I had watched Malcolm in the Middle just to see if I could spot what he is capable of.

Gnomeo & Juliet - At least for once I got lambasted for writing a good review. I liked it. Hardly anybody else did.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Really? I liked Gnomeo and Juliet. I liked the references, and I thought it was pretty well done. The animation didn't bother me, either, thought it was in a style that has potential to do so: close enough to real but just not quite....

But I liked it. And I thought the music was amazing.

[innerSpaceman]

I really was surprised to like Mission Impossible 4. I had zero intention of seeing it (just as I have skipped all the other MI sequels), until a couple of days before when I learned that Brad Bird directed. Sold. And it's a win. Totally fun. More of a James Bond movie than anything, but is Mission Impossible really any more than a James Bond genre?

Reportedly, Bird had to jump through the hoop of saving MI4 as his first live action film before they would give him the project he really wanted.


Consider it jumped.

[CoasterMatt]

The live action movie that was supposed to be Brad Bird's live action debut is 1906 - it sounds like a neat idea, but the studios have gotten worried about it's expense, and it has been on again, off again. I want it made, just to see Pixar recreate the San Francisco earthquake and fire...

But in Brad Bird's own words "” We’ll see if they have the courage to make it.”