"The Giver" PG 13
This film is actually not bad and is recommended for being actually quite an original twist on the YA genre dystopia stories of late. The novel it is based on is part of a series that predates all of them, the Giver quartet. It seems more like a nod to Orwell and his 1984 than it is to say Battle Royale or Dystopia. Some critics only read the press release. It is nothing like the Hunger Games of Divergeant, except the premise of a fallen utopia, which is a basic science fiction conceit, 'man versus his creation'. Post communist thought is evident in the novel and the movie.
It is worth a viewing and could be watched again on DVD or bluray just to figure some things out, as it is not an easy movie to follow and one can find more in it on a second showing.
Phillip Noyce, a crime thriller director usually, takes on the adaptation of 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry. The trailer made the movie look like an action thriller with drones chasing bikes and motorbikes, and people screaming. Actually the trailer is ridiculous. If you go in thinking it is going to be an action picture, you will be disappointed. Maybe Alphonse Cauron might have been a better choice of director, but oh well.
The book is a psychological drama set to a dystopian (fallen untopia) future where an idyllic culture only looks great and perfect, but is actually corrupt and rotten. Apparently long ago this society was created to end war, strife and pain, and was stuck inside a barrier system somewhere in the wastelands of the old world.
The movie is different though, as the 1984 vibe is more literal. Big Brother in this case is a sister, and she is literally watching your every move. Thoughts are controlled through medication and some kind of implants that allow for telekinetic and psychic memory implants.
The story is told from the vantage point of a young teenager. In the book he is only 12, and he should be in the movie. The vast difference between the onset of puberty and practically old enough to have a car and a job is astronomical. It would have made much more sense had they cast at least 14 year olds. Then the idea of them being assigned jobs, even as birth mothers, (The baby's mother is a teenager in the book), would have been more punctual. In the books there is that idea, which tells the reader immediately that this society likes child labor, which is already a sign it's messed up.
The boy, Jonas, has two friends in a world where there should be no friendship, and he is judged to be the Receiver, and to have his job be keeper of memories. This would seem a slightly ridiculous idea. If you want to control your society, allowing them access to the very thing that keeps them in line is like saying hey, rebel why don't you. In the book it makes more sense.
Jonas begins to have feelings for Fiona after being given memories from the Giver, the crusty old sage of the village. The old sage failed a decade prior giving memories, (to an obvious Disney princess cameo), so doing it currently seemed like a good plan.
Thoughts and memories cannot travel outside the human brain. People think they can have psychic powers, but it's all fantasy. This is fine, but in this movie it is treated like a download from a memory chip. Are they all androids? Then it makes sense a little. If they're machines, they can merely imitate their human creators, and would essentially be a modern Frankenstein monster procreates and makes a society. But according to the book, they're just ordinary humans who are in this communist (literally a community of same people), and socialist (but ruled by a dictator who appears benevolent), utopia gone bad, but are not aware they're bad, and misguided, and essentially as bad as the old world in a way.
The moral center from the book is still there, about the denial of love, of color, or music, and even ironically the nurturing the community implies keeps everyone in line. Even the messed up parts from the book made it in. Not giving it away.
Maybe the hero's journey in the story is all a dream and he will wake
up? Nope. It's not a dream. Not in the book. It's been out for over 20
years and this is no spoiler. Ignorance literally becomes their bliss. And if you've read the other three books, yes it is not a dream.
So really it's not a great movie but it's entertaining and will teach a message. The movie does get that right. It is quite clear that sameness and perfection would make mankind superficial and dull, and the idea lands squarely in the YA realm, where everyone seems to try and fit in.
Review by Adam Browne
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Friday, August 8, 2014
Review: "Ninja Turtles 2014" is the mutated version that may leave some shell shocked
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014" PG 13
Apparently in 1999 there is a warp in space time where somehow April O'Niel was a little girl and her father some kind of scientist making the mutigen, an alien ooze, that leads to the creation of Splinter, Mikey, Raph, Donnie and Leo, the ninja turtles of the future. Somehow they are rescued and survive the destruction of the lab, while the paper thing villains plot their future revenge on tyhe city, based on hearsay from this evil businessman, who is from the get go evil.
Michael Bay did not direct this, and that's good. So it shows that the guy that did knew a little bit about the variations of the Eastman and Laird comics, even if he changed it considerably.
The movie plays a bit more like the 2003 reboot cartoon than it does the 1990 movie, but it is a remake of the 1990 movie, complete with a convoluted reason for why Shredder is now white, Splinter is now clearly played by a white guy, and the turtles are way too big and their magic blood enters into the story somehow. (It wasn't written by Kurtzman or Orci but by some of their allies).
The bad guys want the magic blood so that they can fire off a dirty bomb and then use it to cure everyone, making themselves rich from being called heroes. This idiotic plan would never work because they have no idea if it will even work on humans. It's that much of a mess.
It is no more silly though than in 2007 in the cartoon movie based on the 2003 cartoon in which they're older and this evil villain wants the turtle's powers to activate a stellar alignment whereas in that one stars apparently hang like planets just above the Earth. The turtles foil this plan also.
Speaking of dirty bombs, did the creators know the miscasting of April would create so much fervour? Was Megan Fox miscast? Yep. Why didn't they just let Gellar come back from the 2007 one? Who said April has to be hot? She wasn't on the show or in any of the cartoons. Megan does get to channel Shia at one point when she is running from some foot clan people and goes, 'No,no,no!', which is like weird.
Then again, in the Transformers cartoon, Carly wasn't hot. She was a nerd who could fix stuff. They've changed the Turtles a little too, like they tend to do.
Not sure if Johnny Knoxville was a good choice to play one of them, as he sounds a bit too unnatural.
Making Shredder actually Japanese would have not been insensitive to the Japanese. Why must Hollywood change things to make everyone white? They did this in Iron Man 3 because Mandarin could have been an offensive villain, but here Shredder is supposed to be a ninja from Japan! He's obviously not in this movie.
The fighting looks like Transformers and Shredder looks like Megatron with blades. If you want cool ninja moves, go see the original trilogy, 1990 to 1993. They were campy but at least they had heart. The first is the best.
The 2007 movie was almost as good as the second one, which was okay.
The third movie was not worth it, although after this, the third one might be considered a better film.
The new Turtle movie is not ultimately horrible and the critics have been merciless to it, when they know full well Bay produced it, so as one of his movies it rates alongside the first Transformers film, 2007, but is not as cool as the 2007 Ninja Turtles cartoon film.
Do not spend 12 bucks to see it in 3D. Just see it cheap. You will then have melted your brain for two hours.
Also the big lipped turtles are given such lips so that they can compensate for Megan's enhancement created lips, but there is no kissing in the movie. For shame.
And there is a fart joke, but it actually works in the context of the movie, but considering it comes off in a sewer, they could have just pretended it was a leak somewhere.
But even though Megan is miscast this is probably one of her best performances in a movie, as she no longer sports that spray on tan, and has learned how to act against made up characters and stand ins, and actors like Whoopie Goldberg. And when she was acting with the motion captured turtles she was also not bad. Lol. So basically she acted better this time with the human characters, not just made up ones. Lol.
Review by Adam Browne
Apparently in 1999 there is a warp in space time where somehow April O'Niel was a little girl and her father some kind of scientist making the mutigen, an alien ooze, that leads to the creation of Splinter, Mikey, Raph, Donnie and Leo, the ninja turtles of the future. Somehow they are rescued and survive the destruction of the lab, while the paper thing villains plot their future revenge on tyhe city, based on hearsay from this evil businessman, who is from the get go evil.
Michael Bay did not direct this, and that's good. So it shows that the guy that did knew a little bit about the variations of the Eastman and Laird comics, even if he changed it considerably.
The movie plays a bit more like the 2003 reboot cartoon than it does the 1990 movie, but it is a remake of the 1990 movie, complete with a convoluted reason for why Shredder is now white, Splinter is now clearly played by a white guy, and the turtles are way too big and their magic blood enters into the story somehow. (It wasn't written by Kurtzman or Orci but by some of their allies).
The bad guys want the magic blood so that they can fire off a dirty bomb and then use it to cure everyone, making themselves rich from being called heroes. This idiotic plan would never work because they have no idea if it will even work on humans. It's that much of a mess.
It is no more silly though than in 2007 in the cartoon movie based on the 2003 cartoon in which they're older and this evil villain wants the turtle's powers to activate a stellar alignment whereas in that one stars apparently hang like planets just above the Earth. The turtles foil this plan also.
Speaking of dirty bombs, did the creators know the miscasting of April would create so much fervour? Was Megan Fox miscast? Yep. Why didn't they just let Gellar come back from the 2007 one? Who said April has to be hot? She wasn't on the show or in any of the cartoons. Megan does get to channel Shia at one point when she is running from some foot clan people and goes, 'No,no,no!', which is like weird.
Then again, in the Transformers cartoon, Carly wasn't hot. She was a nerd who could fix stuff. They've changed the Turtles a little too, like they tend to do.
Not sure if Johnny Knoxville was a good choice to play one of them, as he sounds a bit too unnatural.
Making Shredder actually Japanese would have not been insensitive to the Japanese. Why must Hollywood change things to make everyone white? They did this in Iron Man 3 because Mandarin could have been an offensive villain, but here Shredder is supposed to be a ninja from Japan! He's obviously not in this movie.
The fighting looks like Transformers and Shredder looks like Megatron with blades. If you want cool ninja moves, go see the original trilogy, 1990 to 1993. They were campy but at least they had heart. The first is the best.
The 2007 movie was almost as good as the second one, which was okay.
The third movie was not worth it, although after this, the third one might be considered a better film.
The new Turtle movie is not ultimately horrible and the critics have been merciless to it, when they know full well Bay produced it, so as one of his movies it rates alongside the first Transformers film, 2007, but is not as cool as the 2007 Ninja Turtles cartoon film.
Do not spend 12 bucks to see it in 3D. Just see it cheap. You will then have melted your brain for two hours.
Also the big lipped turtles are given such lips so that they can compensate for Megan's enhancement created lips, but there is no kissing in the movie. For shame.
And there is a fart joke, but it actually works in the context of the movie, but considering it comes off in a sewer, they could have just pretended it was a leak somewhere.
But even though Megan is miscast this is probably one of her best performances in a movie, as she no longer sports that spray on tan, and has learned how to act against made up characters and stand ins, and actors like Whoopie Goldberg. And when she was acting with the motion captured turtles she was also not bad. Lol. So basically she acted better this time with the human characters, not just made up ones. Lol.
Review by Adam Browne
Review: "Guardians of the Galaxy" is underdog fun for all
"Guardians of the Galaxy" PG 13
James Gunn directs the next Marvel movie, a Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana vehicle for the Marvel super hero series, set in another part of the galaxy. The story begins with a flashback to 1988 where a young boy playing headphones and a Walkman is called into his mother's hospital room by his grandfather. She dies before he can find out about his father. He rushes out into the field by the hospital ad an alien spaceship sucks him into space.
Twenty five years later, Star Lord, the now grown boy Quill, still has his Walkman and it still works, and he flies around in his Milano space ship looking for not just booty as in pirate treasure, but also booty in the other sense.
He comes across a ruined planet where he must score a polished alien orb and get paid by a gunny looking alien, but another alien tries to take the orb, leading to a chase sequence. Eventually he makes it to a binary star system called Nova, where there is a fantastic city state ruled by a crusty female alien. Before he can fence the orb, a green lady alien and a small powerful rodent are hot on his tail, with a large tree thing helping the raccoon alien.
Everyone wants a piece of Star Lord, and there begins probably the most fun fantasy film since Firefly and the original Star Wars. Star Lord is trying to be Han Solo and Mal Reynolds, a working stuff bounty hunting self proclaimed loser, and along for the ride are aliens of every creed who either want to kill him, or merely get him out of the way to get to his treasures.
Eventually, the tree man, Groot, who only can say his name, the green assassin Gamora, the bionic raccoon and Star Lord are arrested and tossed in a Novas prison, which they plan to break out of, with newcomer Drax who they meet in prison, a slow witted hulk who doesn't get metaphor. They break out and are chased by lackeys for this big bad dude named Thanos, one of whom is called Ronan, want betray him and use the orb to destroy Nova, the Earth like planet.
The movie is just fun all around and should not be taken as a serious movie. It is a space hero movie with a clutch of talking aliens who behave like bandits and come out at ultimately compassionate, longing to get a piece of the action, but never quite getting there. Most superhero movies go for the super powerful demigods, ultra geniuses and such, but this one goes for the lefotver ones that might be hired to clean up after the major heroes have left a mess everywhere.
Again it would seem the creators were thinking what many teenagers did in the 1980s, escape from reality for fun, but not necessarily being super, just merely important.
Review by Adam Browne
James Gunn directs the next Marvel movie, a Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana vehicle for the Marvel super hero series, set in another part of the galaxy. The story begins with a flashback to 1988 where a young boy playing headphones and a Walkman is called into his mother's hospital room by his grandfather. She dies before he can find out about his father. He rushes out into the field by the hospital ad an alien spaceship sucks him into space.
Twenty five years later, Star Lord, the now grown boy Quill, still has his Walkman and it still works, and he flies around in his Milano space ship looking for not just booty as in pirate treasure, but also booty in the other sense.
He comes across a ruined planet where he must score a polished alien orb and get paid by a gunny looking alien, but another alien tries to take the orb, leading to a chase sequence. Eventually he makes it to a binary star system called Nova, where there is a fantastic city state ruled by a crusty female alien. Before he can fence the orb, a green lady alien and a small powerful rodent are hot on his tail, with a large tree thing helping the raccoon alien.
Everyone wants a piece of Star Lord, and there begins probably the most fun fantasy film since Firefly and the original Star Wars. Star Lord is trying to be Han Solo and Mal Reynolds, a working stuff bounty hunting self proclaimed loser, and along for the ride are aliens of every creed who either want to kill him, or merely get him out of the way to get to his treasures.
Eventually, the tree man, Groot, who only can say his name, the green assassin Gamora, the bionic raccoon and Star Lord are arrested and tossed in a Novas prison, which they plan to break out of, with newcomer Drax who they meet in prison, a slow witted hulk who doesn't get metaphor. They break out and are chased by lackeys for this big bad dude named Thanos, one of whom is called Ronan, want betray him and use the orb to destroy Nova, the Earth like planet.
The movie is just fun all around and should not be taken as a serious movie. It is a space hero movie with a clutch of talking aliens who behave like bandits and come out at ultimately compassionate, longing to get a piece of the action, but never quite getting there. Most superhero movies go for the super powerful demigods, ultra geniuses and such, but this one goes for the lefotver ones that might be hired to clean up after the major heroes have left a mess everywhere.
Again it would seem the creators were thinking what many teenagers did in the 1980s, escape from reality for fun, but not necessarily being super, just merely important.
Review by Adam Browne
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)