Showing posts with label film noir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film noir. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Movie Review: Ready Player One

I rarely watch romantic movies. They tend to be too melodramatic for me. But I saw the trailer for this movie and was really interested in watching it. There just seemed to be a good story and good chemistry.

Ready Player One is a 2018 science fiction action film based on the book of the same title. It is rated PG-13 and is appropriate for tweens and up.

The Good


Action. The action in this movie is great! It's exciting, it's fast paced, and there is the right amount of it.

Pacing. This movie has a great pace. I never found myself getting bored nor getting lost. It moved quick enough to hold my interest but slowly enough I understood what was going on.

Visuals. This movie is beautifully shot with eye-popping visuals. Both the real world and the fantasy world are a treat to behold.

Story. While the movie isn't as fleshed out as the book and the stories aren't as well developed, it is still a solid story that introduces interesting characters and you get caught up in the quest.


The Bad


Puzzles are too easy. There were two really fun aspects of the book. The first was the puzzles the characters had to solve. They took a lot of thought and obscure knowledge of early video games and 80s nostalgia. The puzzles in this movie are completely different and very simple to solve.

No Nostalgia. The other fun part of the book is the 80s and early video game nostalgia. This movie instead uses random, unconnected pop culture references that while fun to see don't make any sense together or evoke any era of nostalgia.

Weak Villain. I'm not sure what the filmmakers were thinking. The main villain is a laughable, bumbling, cartoon character who would never become the head of any major corporation or present any real menace or threat. It took away from the conflict and made the quest seem too easy.

What I Would Like to Have Seen


I wish there had been more video game references and more 80s nostalgia like the book.


Overall


Ready Player One is an exciting science fiction action flick with great action and great visuals. The filmmakers did an excellent job squeezing the essential elements of the book into a film without making it feel rushed or incomplete. The challenges are solved fairly easily and the villain was a laughably incompetent cartoon character which made the stakes seem low and the threat not very threatening. And the film lacks the nostalgia of the book. What pop culture references they do make appear too briefly and too randomly to really enjoy. I give this film 4 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.

   

Friday, June 16, 2017

Movie Review: The Spirit (by Frank Miller)

I'm a huge Frank Miller fan and have been since Sin City: Hell & Back, 300, and the Dark Knight Strikes Again! I also enjoy classic comics from the early 20th Century, so combining the two should create a masterpiece, right? Right?

The Spirit is a 2008 action comic strip noir film from comics legend Frank Miller based on The Spirit comic strip which appeared in newspapers throughout the late 30s and 40s created, written, and drawn by Will Eisner. It's rated PG-13 for language, violence, and nudity, and is appropriate for teens and up.

Overview


The Spirit is a cop who everyone but the police chief thinks is dead. He battles a wild villain, The Octopus, and a former lover.

The Good


Style & Visuals. This film is absolutely beautiful to behold. It looks like nothing else you have ever seen with an amazing mix of Frank Miller's chiaroscuro artwork and classic Hollywood film noir. The style alone makes this movie worth watching.

Actors. This film features a lot of really great actors from Gabriel Macht to the father from Wonder Years to Beckett from Castle. Their acting is really good, but is marred by bad dialogue.

San Serif Story. Half this film features a story taken from the comic strip about The Spirit's first love, and it is a really good story. Unfortunately, it isn't the only story.

Credits. The credits are Frank Miller's storyboards which are works of art and make a really unique and fun credit sequence that I've watched several times.

The Bad


The Octopus. Samuel Jackson plays the Octopus, but instead of following the comic strip version, which was pretty cool, he was written and directed to portray the character as a live action Wile E. Coyote from Looney Tunes, which did not work at all. Ridiculous and unwatchable doesn't even begin to describe this character. In fact, I usually just cue past all of his scenes, and it makes for a pretty good movie.

Dialogue. The dialogue is awful. It is stiff and feels like an amateurish attempt to capture classic Hollywood detective movies. The narration is pretty good, but everything else is terrible.

Pacing. This movie is very slowly and unevenly paced.

What I Would Like to Have Seen


I wish the Octopus had been portrayed more like he is in the comics, as a mysterious hand controlling crime in the city with a big reveal at the end. I wish the movie had better dialogue and was edited more tightly with more exciting music. There are a lot of great elements and great story that just aren't presented well, but could be.

Overall


The Spirit is a beautiful film with more style and gorgeous visuals that almost any other, a great story, and great actors. Unfortunately, it is mired by a lousy second story, an overly cartoony villain, and dialogue that will make your ears hurt. I give it 3.5 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.



  


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