I wrote this blog post hoping you’ll learn something from the way I watch movies.
Meta on movies – how do I evaluate movies and how do I decide what movies to watch?
Filme
Dumb and Dumber To (2014) – very nice movie!
I liked this movie a lot: Dumb and Dumber To (2014) – IMDb. Some thoughts? It’s funny (pun intended) to see the consequences of joking. You don’t see this at first, but it’s nice. Humor has lots to do with either surprise or creativity (getting an idea). The first D&D was more on surprise, this one was more on getting some creative insights. A welcome change. It played well on “how should you see the new D&D, based on the fact that you already saw the previous version” (for example, what happened during the time between the movies, or what happened to the car?”. The smart people tend to have less courage. The stupid ones called, interacted, were friendly. At times, the characters said some pretty smart things. I really loved the pain the characters went through to have a bit of laugh. The effort to enjoy themselves, the pain they put for this. They didn’t play by the rules, they were creative. In the movie, they had not too much courage, but they were good people. They were reckless and cute in the same time. All-in-all, it was not extremely smart, but it was a pleasant watch. Good prevails. Their good intentions were better than their lack of capacities and abilities in solving things. I recently saw Beauty and the Beast (1991) – IMDb and Beauty and the Beast (2014) – IMDb, but I got much better insights & ideas from D&D to. Very fun to watch. :)
Cântecele mele favorite din câteva musical-uri
Vezi playlist pe YouTube » În lista de mai jos, melodiile mele favorite din următoarele musicaluri: Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) – IMDb Whistle Down the Wind (musical) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Phantom of the Opera (2004) – IMDb Cats (musical) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Evita (1996 film) – Wikipedia The Chorus (2004) – IMDb Notre-Dame de Paris (musical) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia By Jeeves (TV Movie 2001) – IMDb School of Rock (2003) – IMDb
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – a brave movie
They say The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) is a comedy. I’d say it’s a bit more serious than that. The main two characters – M. Gustave and Mr. Moustafa (Zero) have great courage. To be what they want (noble). To go after a psychopath, to fight police and armies. To protect nobility, beauty, poetry, kindness at all costs. M. Gustave is very polite, at times flirting, at times seeming he is as polite just to get better in life. But events prove otherwise. When escaping, he is polite. When he has an alibi, due to politeness, he doesn’t use it. He doesn’t confuse politeness with being weak. He fights until he dies. A hero! The movie itself has the courage to be different than others. It’s not an easy take. It tries to makes things simple, but it present powerful things, shocking at times. Yes, it is lots of fun, but mostly due to the fact that the main characters are different. I watched it two times. I really really enjoyed it. I recommend it!
Cel mai frumos film pe care l-am văzut în ultima perioadă (2-3 luni): The Book of Life (2014)
The Book of Life (2014) – Filmul e împărțit de cei de la IMDb în 3 categorii: Animation | Adventure | Comedy. Aș pune și un pic de dragoste, pe acolo pe undeva.
Chestiunea e așa: animația e bine realizată, scenariul închegat și cu sens.
Sunt două lucruri care mă atrag la film: umorul și sensul urmăririi lui (morala).
On Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)
I just finished seeing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) – IMDb. SPOILERS AHEAD! Most of the reasoning for me watching the movie had to do with the fact that I used to watch those cartoons when I was a child. I just had to see it. Some feed-back? The original cartoons were friendly and warm. The new ones are cool, but much more aggressive. The music soundtrack is fine. I especially liked the part when the TMNT start singing some tune in an elevator. The pumped muscles are just too much. They get adrenaline and are able to break a cage. To me, this is not logical – how much power can you get? Also, what’s with the big red button with Adrenaline on it? I liked the fact that the characters are much more separated than in the cartoon. They each have an individual style. The weapons are rather silly. The dork turtle is too dorky. It’s rather aggressive in his style. To me, the big problem with the movie is that there’s no finesse. Everything is so abrupt and into your face. It’s too much. I like the scene where, with a stick, a car gets thrown away. Very cool. The 5 minutes countdown is so so so cliché. In order to solve a conflict, the characters insist, rather than find creative solutions. What’s the point of the doctor to tell April he killed her father? Why create an enemy out of blank? April gives some very very stupid evidence to state her news …
No more insights from modern movies!
I recently saw lots of movies, like: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – IMDb The Dark Knight Rises (2012) – IMDb The Fountain (2006) – IMDb Yves Saint Laurent (2014) – IMDb Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) – IMDb The Giver (2014) – IMDb How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) – IMDb Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) – IMDb Transcendence (2014) – IMDb I got an insight from the last movie I saw. But that’s the problem! Very few insights, considering the number of movies I saw. Let’s take the list again: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – very smart movie, very funny; almost no insights. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) – smart & very smart; scary movie; no insights; The Fountain (2006) – not-so-smart, spiritual-wannabe; no insights; Yves Saint Laurent (2014) – a bit dramatic, at times, interesting; no insights; Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) – not funny, not smart, not interesting; no insights; The Giver (2014) – smart, creative ideas; no insights; How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) – very very smart, funny at times, dark; close to insights; I really fought hard to get to these insights, but there’s nothing spectacular; Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014) – a bit interesting, at times stupid, most of the times not funny; no insights; Transcendence (2014) – smart-wannabe, not succeeding; dark & sad; no insights. There’s a big list above and the most important insight I got was “No one’s 100% a dick”. Not exactly Christmas, as a quote from James Bond says. (James Bond: [on receiving …
Empowering the hero in movies
I see this happening more often than not. You take one character, and you give him more power than the adversaries. When James Bond is in prison, there’s always an escape route, even if in real-life, James Bond would probably not escape. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, it’s just difficult to escape. Sometimes, in more recent movies, the bad guys also have lots of power. They dominate, and they almost win. You need to believe this, that if you have some special skills (intelligence, brute force, agility), you can overcome any obstacle. Real life is really not like that. You can be a professional martial arts fighter and get beaten in a club. I like “Gattaca” a lot. One of the reasons for doing so is that it is really really difficult to beat your condition. I also like “The Grey“. In the movie, there are no superheroes. Plain humans. It’s hard to beat your condition. Same for “Le notti di Cabiria” – no super powers. Real, tough, life. I really don’t get into superhero movies. Sure, it would be lovely if life were like this. It generally isn’t. James Bond, in the last movie of the series, has little weapons arsenal, has little powers. He beats others with his intelligence, mostly. In the last Superman movie, the main character is very powerful & all that. But he’s not invincible, based on powers. He still needs brains. You can’t solve all the dilemmas by insisting. In the last Bourne, the bad guy is better than …
The Hustler (1961) – very good movie! (for three reasons – inner fights / fight to be better than the system / well made script)
I just saw The Hustler (1961) for the second time. I actually saw the main scenes of the movie quite a few times during the past years, I liked reseeing the movie quite a bit. (note!) Spoilers ahead, don’t read the review unless you already saw the movie (note!) Some thoughts? The movie is intensely psychological. On the surface, it’s a movie on fights & winning. But the inner fights, the inner struggles are much deeper and are quite interesting to see. Some conflicts to see: Eddie Felson (Paul Newman), the main character, and his wish to win. Eddie Felson and his wish to beat his condition. Eddie Felson and his wish to never settle for something small. Eddie Felson and his fight with the systems (he is insubordinate, he always fights). Eddie Felson and his fight with being better. Eddie Felson and his fight with its vices (drinking). Eddie Felson and his fight of being the successful capitalist, rather than the unsuccessful socialist (there’s a fight with other people, who prefer people to be equal one to the other; he develops his skills, others want to drag him down). Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason), the already-proved champion, and his fight to always succeed. Minnesota Fats and his fight to be a kind person, nevertheless. Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), Eddie’s girl, and her fight to have a fulfilled life. Sarah Packard and her fears of the unknown. Sarah Packard and her fears of not being loved. Bert Gordon (George C. Scott), the bad guy, and his fight to succeed. Bert Gordon and his fight to make life more exciting, his appetite for the …
Insisting
I’ve just seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) – IMDb: In the movie, everybody insists: Captain America is a regular guy with big wishes. He insists, he gets superpowers. He has a friend, the winter soldier. He insists. He gets superpowers. Hydra has some problems. They insist. The solve the issue. There’s a fight. At some point, somebody just insists. The good guys win by insisting, the bad guys win by insisting. The movie is so incredibly stupid. The Bond series used to do the same. Did James Bond like gadgets? Let him have the best gadgets. Did he have a car? Let him have the best car. Usually, the villain also had some gadgets, and some cars, but Bond was, generally better. In Skyfall (2012), things changed. He doesn’t get get a big gun, but a small pistol. Old style, very simple, very small. He doesn’t get an advanced gadget. He gets a radio frequency emitter. A small radio, that is. That’s all he gets. You generally know that James Bond is going to use the gadget: Setting up fantastic gadgets and intriguing devices is a cornerstone of the spy genre, and the James Bond franchise in particular. When the buzz-saw watch is issued to James Bond by Q, it seems a bit fantastic, but still congruent with the world Bond inhabits: a world of super-villains, gorgeous female spies, deceptive appearances, and cool gadgets, cars, and weapons. So we have no problem accepting the existence of the watch. And with that set-up accomplished, the …