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joose90
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Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
A trend I have yet to understand.
Martha Marcy May Marlene, what a name for a movie first of all. The name makes sense when you watch the movie, and it is actually pretty clever. You'll just have to take my word for it.
I won't go into the plot too much, since many other reviews already go deeper into it than I have any intention of doing. Also the plot is a really minor point in the movie, as it's mostly a character study anyway. Still, the plot is alright, I have nothing really against it.
I also didn't have anything against the acting in the movie. Although I wouldn't call it great, I'm assuming most of the faults in the acting are the script's fault. I actually enjoyed Olsen's performance, and although seeing the Olsen twins' younger sibling nude (I still think Mary-Kate and Ashley are 12) is a bit off-putting, it's great that she isn't being type-cast into roles similar to what her sisters became famous for. She definitely has potential for so much more.
So why does this movie get a 5/10 from me? Let me explain. Lately I have seen many movies which I have personally branded either "awkward-garde" or "artsy-jerkoff". These movies include for example Melancholia and We Need To Talk About Kevin, both of which I thought had potential, but ultimately hated.
All of these movies have the same long pauses in people's conversations, a dark filming style and an even darker subject-matter. All three are movies I've wanted to walk out of, but never have. All three also have an ending fit for a much better movie.
The worst part of all the movies still has to be the lack of good characters. If I don't care about any of the characters, I don't care what happens to them, and the dark subject-matter goes to waste. What the directors of these movies don't seem to realize is that without a "high-point" in the movie, all the "low-points" just look like a part of the same, gray, pseudo-artsy mess.
Lets look at Ingmar Bergman's Persona: It's in many ways very similar to MMMM, plot-wise as well as character-wise, but it's just a much more well made movie. Mainly it establishes character for both of its two characters(there are four, but I don't really count the two others because their screen time is so short), has moments of happiness, and can be viewed as a piece of modern art. It also has a beginning and an end (both of which I felt MMMM lacked) and it actually manages to be a pretty disturbing movie, with very little conversation and even less action. Meanwhile MMMM doesn't really establish characters, doesn't have any major high-points, can't even be viewed as an art film, and lacks a beginning and an end. It does manage to disturb the watcher, though, I have to give it that.
It's pretty foolish to compare a rookie film-maker to the late great Bergman, but my point still stands. While it's obvious this movie isn't a classic that will be remembered for decades, it had potential to be so much more than it is. I'm not person who thinks modern movies are inferior to older cinema by default, and I think it's great that film-makers are trying new and different things and trying to keep the industry fresh, but sometimes the director just needs to watch some classics before putting their time and money into something as useless as this movie.
Oh, I thought the open ending was a pretty nice twist. I sincerely liked that, even if it did very little to save the rest of the movie.
Melancholia (2011)
At times, absolutely brilliant, mostly just boring and annoying
Melancholia was a movie I went to see expecting it to blow me away. I thought: now here's a movie that doesn't have the mass-friendliness of the average Hollywood movie, but at the same time actually has a nice budget, and some good actors. Now don't get me wrong, I often find low- budget films with fresh talent amazing, but with Melancholia I was hoping for something that successfully molds together the Hollywood and indie movie scenes. Here's what I thought of the movie:
As it opens there's a quite long, slow moving apocalyptic scene that I won't even try to explain. But, to be honest, I found it to be quite nicely done. With the occasional space imagery to me it looked like if Ingmar Bergman had made a 2001: A Space Odyssey -based short film. Wagner's music really made it an extraordinary experience.
Part I: The Wedding (no I'm not calling it Justine, live with it): At first it seemed like a pretty nice, slow starting, atmosphere building part of the movie (note that at this point I still really wanted to enjoy this movie), but as time went on I found myself hating most of the badly written, annoying, and shallow cast, and I was hoping for bad things to happen to them all, especially Justine, Kirsten Dunst's character. By the way, why does everyone consider her performance so great? Sure, she was good at playing an angsty character whose motives remain a mystery to everyone, but honestly, being either expressionless or having an intentionally painful fake smile on shouldn't be that hard. When the wedding scene was over, I thought, finally, now can we get to the part where this gets good?
Part II: The Generic Ranch: So, after being bored with the first half of the movie I was hoping for something a bit better. Well, I never got what I was hoping for. Justine just got a lot more annoying, we found out she has paranormal abilities, and people were taking a planet sucking out some of earth's atmosphere, probably taking it off it's course and killing everyone on it regardless of weather it collided or not really goddamn well. Not even Kiefer Sutherland's great performance could make me have any motivation for watching on. For the first time in my life I was actually contemplating walking out of the theater I was so bored and annoyed. Long story short, Justine was a total douche, her sister paniced and the world came to an end, and the movie ended. Oh yeah and there was that kid who did an even worse performance than Jake Lloyd on Star Wars ep. 1. Yes it was really that bad.
Okay, the very end was pretty epic, with Wagner's music almost blowing my eardrums out and a huge blue planet smashing into the earth. I have to admit though, when the movie ended, I accidentally let out a giggle, much to the dismay of most people sitting near me. Seriously, as well made as it was, it was a pretty silly way to end the movie in my opinion.
Alright, pros and cons:
Pros: We saw Kirsted Dunst naked a couple of times, and although I really disliked the jumpy, amateuristic camera-work, the movie was at times visually amazing, and not really ever over the top. Also, the idea for the movie was pretty cool, and I really enjoyed Kiefer Sutherland's acting. The very beginning and very end should have been made into separate short films because they were really worth watching.
Cons: Exceptionally shallow characters whose ridiculously small backstories were just thrown on to the viewers, mostly just average, sometimes painfully weak acting, and plentiful filler scenes that had no purpose whatsoever and that could have been cut down without the movie losing anything, while some scenes were just cut off completely (for example the impromptu sex scene with Justine and her husband, which, if correctly made, could have told us most everything about their relationship, and many more scenes that were just cut way too short).
Conclusion: I'd like to give the movie more points just for it's beginning and end, and the story that had great potential for a sci-fi - sporting drama, but I just can't. For the first time in a while I seriously had trouble getting through this movie without walking out in the middle. Sorry to all the people who think it's a great movie, but personally I think I'd seriously rather do the dishes and mow the lawn than watch this movie again.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
"They're making Toy Story 3? You're kidding, right?"
If you're like me, you still remember being totally captivated by Toy Story when it came out in 1995. The animation, the characters, the plot, everything. Toy Story 2 I really don't have an opinion on. It was an above average animated movie as I recall, but it couldn't match its predecessor's awesomeness. Now, in 2010, I hear Toy Story 3 is coming out. First reaction: "Aw sh*t, not again.."
Regardless of my prejudice towards Toy Story 3, I saw it. Mostly because of all the hype. I didn't want to be left out of the loop. Having seen it, do I think it's the 12th best movie ever, in the history of film? Better than Casablanca, Fight Club and Memento for example? No, not really. While it's a very good movie in my opinion, I still think it's slightly overrated.
That said, the reason I'm giving it a 9/10 is simply that while the plot, the character progression and the witty dialog would earn it an 8/10 in my books, Pixar has been able to do something that no other company has ever done. They've made the Toy Story brand so strong that they can still make a grown man cry like a baby, watching some fictional goddamn toys! The last quarter of the movie was like Schindler's list all over again (crying-wise. You get the point), except this time the movie wasn't a true story about a man putting his life on the line saving total strangers from certain death, it was about toys escaping from a freaking kindergarten!
Pixar has, once again, shown the world why they're the best at what they do, and set the bar pretty high for all the competition. Toy Story 3 has all the qualities a great animated movie should have, and while I don't think it deserves the 12th spot on the top 250 movies -list, I think it's one of the best animated movies I've seen, with only Toy Story in all it's nostalgia, and WALL-E as it's main competitors.
Pixar, I salute thee.. Again.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The best movie ever?
Before watching Shawshank Redemption for the first time, I really didn't think much of it. I thought it had probably wrongfully earned the #1 spot here on IMDb, and couldn't be better than The Godfather for example. A movie that was "cool" to like, if you will. I could imagine fashion conscious movie-hipsters discussing movies over their glasses of Napa Valley Chardonnay, arguing who liked Shawshank Redemption the most, and which movie by Ingmar Bergman had the strongest metaphorical messages. You get the idea.
I'm sure everything I have to say about the way the movie has been made has been said better in one of the other comments. That said, the reason I'm posting this review is because Shawshank Redemption isn't only a hardcore movie freak's wet dream. While it's brilliantly written, has some of the most fluent acting I have seen and shows the fantastic directing skills of Frank Darabont, you really don't have to be an expert of film theory to appreciate it. It appeals to so many different groups of people, and so many different human feelings at the same time. The "weaknesses" it had as it came out (the idea of a jail movie not being compatible with the female population, and the idea of a movie about lifelong friendship between two men not being compatible with the male population) is actually the reason Shawshank Redemption is loved by nearly all: It offers something for everyone.
In my opinion rating something 10/10 is a bit too absolute for anything, but since this is probably the best movie I remember seeing, and my first 10/10, I think I'll let it slide this time.
South Park: Scott Tenorman Must Die (2001)
Guess what I thought?
Since very few of you are going to read my entire review, I'll just point out right here that this episode is viewable on the official South Park Studios website. I very much recommend it to everyone. Now, to business:
I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that I, too, thought the episode was brilliant, and although it's been said numerous times, here's my opinion on why this episode is one of the greatest things in the history of television:
South Park, especially at a younger age, was sometimes a bit crude, and you had to watch past the surface to see the hidden irony and beautiful dark humor. Still, although Matt and Trey's story lines can sometimes seem like a rodeo ride on acid at an arts and crafts store, (and I say that with nothing but love towards the holy Creators) "Scott Tenorman must die" really showed their true potential. The story keeps building in an almost Hitchcockian way, with tension building between Cartman and Scott, leading to the most horrifyingly evil and ingenious payback, possibly of all time. The tears of unfathomable sadness, indeed.
Although to me south Park is all about touching on subjects no-one else even dares poke with their staff of political correctness (everything from AIDS to Islam and from Guitar Hero to Barbara Streisand), I appreciate a fine piece of work like this episode. 10 is always a bit too absolute to give to anything, but in its own genre, I think this episode more than deserves the highest possible rating. 10/10. Word.
J