Movie Reviews 2.0
- Thread starter Dresden
- Start date
WHAT?! I'm pretty sure I heard the Indiana Jones theme thrown in there. Now I'M going to start watching Turkish television.
Back to 13 Assassins, I read it was based on a true incident. In fact, Matsudaira Naritsugu was real, but there's little to no information on his life available on the web. Also, I don't understand the concept of Seppuku. The first scene opens with someone committing it, which we later learn was an act of protest. Later, the father of the servants killed by Naritsugu committed it after refusing to allow his envoy to cross the bridge. Why?
The wikipedia entry is right, I had pegged him pretty much as soon as they found him. There is a lot of japanese folklore about
trickster forest spirits
Tangled is a definite winner. Funny and uplifting, and the animation is absolutely top notch.
Saw Tow Story 3 recently and TBH I liked Tangled a lot more. Not that TS3 sucked, but I felt like I'd seen that movie twice already.
Maybe because he disobeyed his emperor?
Yup. In Japanese society the emperor is meant to be a divine aspect here on earth leading everyone to the perfect world. Consequently every order given by the emperor is a divine order and cannot be defied without consequence.
Because the main bad guy was in favour with Emperor/Shogun thanks to his family connections then two things had happened. An edict had been issued that Naritsugu's behavior regarding various acts was officially sanctioned by the Shogun. Lord Mamiya had tried to protest these actions as he didn't want to serve such a thug - this edict then puts him in an impossible position. Either he backs down and serves Naritsugu quietly (something that would cause him to lose face having protested in the first place and also something he couldn't personally stomach) or he had to defy the Emperor - which would result in his whole clan being dishonoured and suffering retribution by the Emperor. So he completed his protest the only way he could - by obeying the Emperor but not serving under Naritsugu.
When Naritsugu was travelling back to his home it was a standing order by the Emperor that all territories had to allow the passage of lords travelling to and returning home from court. Again refusing Naritsugu passage was actively defying the Emperor and if he had stayed alive after that then the rules of the day required that the whole territory had to suffer for it. No wiggle room here - it would be considered an act of rebellion. So he had to kill himself so the next leader there could both prove this wasn't the start of a new rebellion against the emperor and the guilty part had already been punished.
Welcome to the screwed up world of honor and duty that the Samurai code required.
Because the main bad guy was in favour with Emperor/Shogun thanks to his family connections then two things had happened. An edict had been issued that Naritsugu's behavior regarding various acts was officially sanctioned by the Shogun. Lord Mamiya had tried to protest these actions as he didn't want to serve such a thug - this edict then puts him in an impossible position. Either he backs down and serves Naritsugu quietly (something that would cause him to lose face having protested in the first place and also something he couldn't personally stomach) or he had to defy the Emperor - which would result in his whole clan being dishonoured and suffering retribution by the Emperor. So he completed his protest the only way he could - by obeying the Emperor but not serving under Naritsugu.
When Naritsugu was travelling back to his home it was a standing order by the Emperor that all territories had to allow the passage of lords travelling to and returning home from court. Again refusing Naritsugu passage was actively defying the Emperor and if he had stayed alive after that then the rules of the day required that the whole territory had to suffer for it. No wiggle room here - it would be considered an act of rebellion. So he had to kill himself so the next leader there could both prove this wasn't the start of a new rebellion against the emperor and the guilty part had already been punished.
Welcome to the screwed up world of honor and duty that the Samurai code required.
The Thing (2011)- 4/10
Not nearly as good as the original.
While the new version sort of had the whole paranoia aspect, it wasn't nearly as tense as Carpenter's 1982 film. A boatload of special effects wasn't enough to satisfy me, although the creatures did look really cool, and the transformations were pretty neat. I felt like the plot was filled with holes. For example, you're left wondering how certain people got infected, because the movie offers no explanation of it.
Not nearly as good as the original.
Technically, it's not remake of the original. The final scene in the credits is the first scene of the original, the dog chase. There were mentions of other sites in the area, leading the viewers to believe the events of the original were from a nearby site.
This isn't new-film related, but if you haven't read Drew McWeeny's Film Nerd 2.0 series introducing his kids to the Star Wars movies then you should. It's great stuff, and may change your opinion of the prequels. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5. He shows the movies in 4,5,1,2,3,6 order which I think makes great sense. Part 6 is coming on the 3rd November.
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
It's not bad, IMO not quite as good as IM2, but it sets up the baddie for the Avengers movie. Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins are always great.
I love the build-up towards The Avengers. It's a brilliant move that makes me want to see all of the movies, but none of the movies feel like they have sacrificed anything - the Avengers part of the story is a tiny addition, that could just has well have been added as an afterthought. But the effect is that each of the characters in The Avengers will have a strong build-up, something which they could never have managed in a 90 minute feature film. X-Men Origins greatly suffers from this - the friendship there is over mere seconds after it has begun to even start. That really undermines the depth of the old friendship that later scenes in the X-Men movies imply, partly thanks to the great acting. It's a shame because I thought the main characters were well chosen and could definitely have pulled it off. They should have spread it over three movies as well.
Of all of the Avengers movies, I like Iron Man best. I just watched Thor, and it was better than I expected, particularly plot-wise. Natalie Portman rarely wins me over however, and while the guy playing Thor did a pretty good job (and certainly looked the part), Thor is never a very charming character (which I think is correct, based on what little I remember from the comics), but Iron Man definitely is. The Hulk had some good acting, but the material is much harder to make a decent movie out of. I much prefer movies where the bad guys are interesting and have some depth.
Showing where the plot can make a movie suck to the core, I thought Season of the Witch was a huge disappointment. A great missed opportunity there to have the black plague be a punishment by god for the horrors of the crusades and witch-hunts, or something even more exciting. But no. The only part I liked was the montage of stupid battle after stupid battle, the actress who played 'The Witch' and the CGI at the end.
A more positive surprise was Limitless. While not as trippy as I hoped it would have been, it was still very well made, nice to watch, entertaining, and manages to take you in and feel like you're experiencing what the main character is experiencing. Well, at least it was like that for me and my wife, your mileage may vary.
All these watched on BluRay by the way.
Not expecting much from Captain America, but definitely have to see it now.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Iron Man 1 was very good, but the second sucked. Thor also was mediocre at best. Haven't seen Captain America yet, but I certainly wont go in with high expectations. I was really excited about the Avengers couple years ago, when Ironman came out, but the following movies have killed any enthusiasm I had for it.
X-men Origins was miles better imo.
Green Lantern was another big letdown. It started good and had great potential, but in the end just another dud.
Limitless was enjoyable, the plot had some annoying holes, you wouldn't expect a guy with 1000 or whatever his IQ was to make, but almost every movie has some annoyances like that. All in all it was pretty good.
Unknown with Liam Neeson was pretty good too, of course different and not as good as "Taken", but still worth the time.
X-men Origins was miles better imo.
Green Lantern was another big letdown. It started good and had great potential, but in the end just another dud.
Limitless was enjoyable, the plot had some annoying holes, you wouldn't expect a guy with 1000 or whatever his IQ was to make, but almost every movie has some annoyances like that. All in all it was pretty good.
Unknown with Liam Neeson was pretty good too, of course different and not as good as "Taken", but still worth the time.
Green Lantern was indeed a big disappointment. I actually fell asleep towards the end of Captain America, wasn't appealing at all. I enjoyed Thor, probably more the first half of the movie. As a intro for Thor and Loki it makes a good movie. As a stand-alone it's rather poor.
Amazingly it was practically just 2D image manipulation.
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/case-study-how-to-make-a-captain-america-wimp/
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/case-study-how-to-make-a-captain-america-wimp/
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