Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Richie's Reel Reviews--UPDATE! Django Unchained


Dec. 26, 2012 UPDATE: 

                **  NEW  Django Unchained

                I’m always torn after watching a Quentin Tarantino movie.  They are imminently watchable and entertaining yet they are also inordinately violent and bloody---ALWAYS, and this movie is no exception.  HOWEVER, except for a fight to the death scene between mandingo slaves wherein I hid my eyes, I found that while there was lots of shooting and lots of spraying blood, I….LAUGHED.  It—the shootings and blood—were comic-book like exaggeration, as if INTENDED to elicit amusement.  And you really did not see gruesomely graphic close-ups corpses of bodily mayhem.   Just justice-be-done freed slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and his benefactor, Dr. Schultz (the INCREDIBLE! Christoph Waltz) taking aim at the bad guys with obviously fake blood spraying everywhere as bullets splayed through the devil flesh that by God deserved TO be shot!

                Though there is nothing funny at all about slavery and while one can argue the righteousness of making a movie about slavery that has humor as an essential element the fact is that there are tons of laughs in this movie.  And that is how this movie works for me:  satisfying justice, a la Inglorious Basterds, in what is basically a comic movie.  If you can stand more than a fair amount of shooting and blood you will whiz through this 2 hour and 46 minute movie.  Just get the large popcorn—no butter, water instead of soda!—and refill in the middle.   But it’s strictly for laughs, and entertainment.  Outside of Waltz, and to a lesser degree Samuel L. Jackson, DeCaprio and Foxx, there is nothing “great” about this movie.

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                The only thing I love more than movies, is movie POPCORN!  And that’s a good thing, because quite frankly most movies are just not very good, and vastly, vastly over-hyped and overrated.  But even in many of those, one can appreciate a lot about it—whether the scenery, some great lines, the action and special effects, the music, an actor or actress who happened to shine.  I can also appreciate all the behind-the-scenes work that went into getting this particular movie in front of me.

                But if none of this is sufficient to have you part with upwards of $10 and 2 hours to see a movie and you want to know a really GOOD movie, this review list is for you. 

FIRST, a word about my subjective criteria for a GOOD movie (that is, what I like, not technical experts like the “Academy” many of whose choices for Best Picture I find simply disgusting—like No Country for Old Men, like The Hurt Locker, like American Beauty, just for instance).  “Good” is the minimum.  When I say “Great” then in my estimation, the performance is much above the average.  This criteria will fit most movie genres:

1)       Compelling story line—one that keeps your interest, and also one that is plausible, even though it may be remotely so.

2)      Good acting—period, end.  And not just the main actors, but even to the most minor background characters.

3)      Moving dialogue—seamless, efficient (no wasted, irrelevant banter or lulls!!)

4)      Visual beauty—usually means COLOR, even if it is the rich wooden chairs in San Francisco’s Union Station, or the authentic red bricks of an old Manhattan brownstone.  More often it includes some panoramic outdoors scene, but always, from beginning to end—interesting visuals.

5)      In general—NO VIOLENCE, or at least none that is excessive, either in quantity or content (graphics).  NO movie will make my list where in body parts are severed by madmen/women, or where over-the-top violence is prominent.

6)      HAPPY, at least, satisfying endings, which is to say, fitting with the storyline, even if a surprise.

7)      GRAVY—the BEST of the best movies INSPIRE as well as do all the above. 

Now, on to the movies, starting with the newest releases that I have seen:

LIFE OVER 40

                Wayyyy overrated.  There are some humorous lines and ultimately a fairly good ending, but the torture of getting there is not even close to being worth it.  Corny slapstick, unnecessary dialogue, overdone clichés, gratuitous raunch abound.  Capturing what turning 40 may be like for MWK (married with kids) families is to be expected, but BIG DEAL, we already KNOW that.  Don’t waste your money unless, like me, you just need something to watch while taking care of your popcorn fix.

 

 

LINCOLN

                Very good.  Acting is incomparable.  You see Daniel-Day Lewis, you SEE Lincoln.  All the acting is just terrific, from Tommy Lee Jones, to Sally Fields, spot on.  One reason for this is the TERRIFIC costuming, makeup and period detail.   The photography, the color, the storyline—which details Lincoln’s prodigious work to get the House of Representatives to pass 13th Amendment outlawing slavery.  No surprise that this is a near-masterpiece—Steven Spielberg directs.  Not a masterpiece because it is too long, the story, while extremely important and true, is but a portion of what moved this nation forward out of slavery.  A picture that would have successfully captured Lincoln from beginning to end may well have qualified for the “masterpiece” label.

Life of Pi

                Very good.  From the best-selling book, this is a never-a-dull moment story with a surprise ending.  Some of the most compelling visuals in a movie that I have seen in a long time, to match great acting.  The young actor who plays the prime character--who is stuck with a tiger on a lifeboat after the ship he and his family were on from India to America capsized—was not even an actor!  It was his first acting gig of ANY KIND!  And he was terrific.  Great story, great movie.

Skyfall

                Ugh.  No Bond movie should be mired in dust and dirt.  No Bond movie should be devoid of humor.  This is one sad affair.  The makers seem to think that over-the-top wrecks and blow-em-up scenes are enough to carry a movie.  The fact is great movies need none of that.  I challenge anybody to cite more than a couple of lines that elicit a laugh.  Even the couple that do are anemic.  In all, a bad movie, made worse because it carries the 007 legacy.  I needed to see the first Sean Connery Bond flick I could find to wash the taste of this muck out of my mouth.

Jack Reacher

                Don’t.  Just don’t.  More violence, less humor.  For me the highlight was watching the beautiful actress Rosamund Pike.  A good mystery, but that’s not enough to save it. 

The Hobbit…

                Don’t know, didn’t see it, and won’t see it.  The reason I write this review is that because I HAVE seen the previous Hobbits I know what it’s basically about:  pure fantasy/fiction, with parallel real world moral relevance.  So what—there’s plenty of that in plausible, everyday real world life.  I will assume the visuals, graphics and special effects are stunning.  The acting and storyline, as far as fantasies go, are probably top notch too.  If that’s your schtick, go for it!  But the mere hype and hoopla surrounding this movie as with the other Hobbits—AND LIKE OTHER SUCH LOSERS (except at the box office) as Batman and Harry Potter—make it thoroughly unappealing to me. 

 

Taken 2

                Good!  Not as good as the first Taken, but good nonetheless.  Although this would seem to violate my “no violence” rule, the violence is herky-jerky close up so you really don’t see actual blood and guts gore.  Liam Neeson is just an outstanding actor.  Maggie Grace shines.  The bad guys are believable.  On scene locations in Istanbul.  One of the best car chase scenes you will ever see.  And a good-guy-wins-in-the-end sense of satisfaction.  Enjoy!

Loopers

                Ho hum, yet more violence, darkness, sadness.  Nothing to redeem this movie except the ending.

Alex Cross

                Horrible.  Most of Tyler Perry’s stuff is outstanding.  This one is just bad.  Severed body parts is enough to nix this from my list.  There is just nothing to relish in this, while the violence is disgusting.

End of Watch

                Don’t even start.  Violence, violence, violence to NO GOOD END.  Disgusting!

I have to end on a positive note so re-visit one from last Christmas that was recently on cable:

War Horse

                An outstanding movie by any measure!  Storyline, setting, scenery, period detail, ACTING and a horse with more character and charisma than all but the leading classy male stars (i.e. Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Andy Griffith).  The abundant heart and pure goodness of War Horse inspires as it entertains. The central character, the teenage son of the down on his luck farmer who buys “Joey” (the War Horse) is wonderfully played by Jeremy Irvine.  His is one of the purest, most humble and class-filled roles ever seen in a movie.  He is pure goodness, innocence and selflessness, without pride or guile.  He is the Golden Rule personified, much like Atticus Finch, and even Gomer Pyle, who are two of my favorite all time characters.  Movies should feature characters like this ALL…THE…TIME.  With Steven Spielberg directing, again, it is no surprise that War Horse is a winner!  Buy it.

 

More to come as the popcorn urge strikes again!  Merry Christmas!

 

 

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