MPfist0 wrote:Mickey wrote:Rear Window (1954)
Probably one of the better mystery films I've seen in awhile, but far from Hitchcock's best. I still very much like The Birds better, but I am nevertheless interested in seeing his other films.
9.2/10
I know opinions are opinions, but after reading "far from Hitchcock's best" I felt compelled to offer my point of view (which, for this movie, seems to me an adequate choice of words): I think instead that, along Vertigo and Psycho, it's one of the best he's made. There are many I still haven't seen (he's made about 50 after all), but these three are a whole new dimension of cinema, if he can top these he really must be from another world.
In The Birds, the characters seemed much more interested in the frightful events that were unfolding around them. The chills, the thrills, the suspense, the goosebumps, they were all real. You felt like you were a part of this action, because Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, and the others were your guide to a fun, B-movie thrill ride. When a suspenseful setup was involved, you got scared. It all led up to the stock characters dropping like flies.
In Rear Window, the film doesn't play out like a regular mystery movie (hence why I used the word "probably"). The film uses unorthodox methods in setting up the culprit. It doesn't rule out the other neighbors, so they're just in the background, pointlessly waiting around until the 113 minutes are up. They aren't used in the story at all, other than for some comedic relief and background music. The suspense doesn't feel real, because you know who the perpetrator is. You find this out very early on in the movie?
And what do our heroes do after they've chosen the perpetrator? They look out windows! *gasps in superficial shock* Riveting!
And that's why a two-hour-long movie is laughing at the viewer for praising a movie about old people trying to solve a mystery they already know the answer to, but choose to instead stare out a window at random neighbors who aren't important to the story whatsoever! Art! Film!
World War Z (2013)
Good, but I don't think they gave the musical stylings of Muse enough glory. They didn't even include the vocals for "Follow Me", just the dubstep bits. Also, I don't understand why the discount American Sniper guy kept on calling the walkers "the Zeke".
Also, isn't it funny that in the previews for the DVD edition of the movie include a trailer for Star Trek: Into Darkness. It's kind of weird how a trailer for a movie ruined by Damon Lindelof is shown before a movie [supposedly] ruined by Damon Lindelof...with a cameo appearance from a guy from a show ruined by Damon Lindelof.
8.7/10
Lava (2015)
This was the short film that premiered before cinematic screenings of Inside Out. It's really honestly different from the normal Pixar short film fare. I wasn't really expecting something like this.
3.2/10
Inside Out (2015)
And this one didn't quite do it for me either. It had some funny and earnest moments, and it's just as brilliantly animated as ever. But, I felt two ways about the overall story.
For one thing, they could have done more with the story. I liked the idea of seeing the emotions of other human beings that Riley interacts with, and I liked how they set that up in the trailer. So, I wish that they could have had Joy and the other emotions in Riley's mind interact more with the emotions of others, like how her parents' emotions did. It's a really interesting idea, but even the overall creativity of the concept seemed to be more dumbed down than usual. Which brings me into my next point.
Secondly, the overall atmosphere feels more like one of those straight-to-Redbox Wizard of Oz ripoff movies for kids, with Rob Schneider. It's like Osmosis Jones meets Alice in Wonderland. Deep, interesting, humorous, and well-developed characters from past Pixar movies are replaced with a pink elephant and the "voice talents" of Mindy Kaling.
Woody helped me discover at an early age that while some people might act different, look different, and might be received better than oneself, we're all the same species and we were all put here on Earth for a certain purpose--whether or not you view this as religious or not. With Joy, even though I liked how good a job Amy Poehler did, I was immediately bored with how the restricted one-sidedness of her character, and how she could only be optimistic. In fact, that's what the problem was with each of the emotions. They were only capable with being either joyful, sad, angry, scared, or disgusted with something. Woody could be all of those things, and more, such as envious, hateful, and a straight-up bully at times, which don't necessarily fall under the umbrellas of the five emotions in the movie, thus going deeper.
In other words, Inside-Out was disappointing, and didn't quite do it for me. And that's a shame, considering director Pete Docter helmed Up and Monsters Inc., two of my favourite Pixar movies. Still, there were some memorable moments that I enjoyed, and I do look forward to The Good Dinosaur, in hopes that it will be better than the trailers depict it to be.
6/10
Last edited by Mickey (June 27, 2015 (02:15pm))
Have you seen a big-chinned boy?
