Wow. Just wow. Snowpiecer isn't exactly perfect (though it is pretty damn perfect), but it really is quite daring. This is one heck of an action movie, but that's only half of it. The other half is the world that is built around the action, and just how well it is created. Snowpiercer's story is quite simple. The Earth has frozen over, and the remains of humanity are on a train built by a man named Wilford that is forever running The rich are in the front, and enjoy luxury. The poor are at the back,and are in a complete shithole. And that's just the start of the story. Chris Evans plays Curtis a man who with his friends (Jamie Bell and John Hurt) have been planning a rebellion. This rebellion makes up most of the film. The group slowly fights their way up to the front of the ship, and boy is that great. You may also notice that this is not in itself deep, and even shallow. Well that's because it is. Okay that is not saying that the entire film is shallow, and bad it's just that as far as the premise goes I wished there was more. Again that is not saying that what we got was bad. Oh no what we got is by far the best action movie of the year. The film may not be the deepest, but it's also wildly entertaining. The action is breathtaking with brawls happening in the confined spaces. And it's really nasty hand to icepick/ ax combat so yeah it's awesome. Oh and when guns are put into the mix it's actually a crazy surprise, and they are used in a creative way. It's really just thrilling. Also thrilling is the prospect of having to do all of this rebellion with the everyday obstacles of the train present. They don't exactly do much with it, but there are some intense moments involving the train itself. I find this a little off. In film's like this the train would usually be "given a personality" if you know what I mean, but no the film is focussed mainly to the cast of characters. And that is basically the best thing that it does( other than the action). The actors in the roles are more than up to scratch, and some deliver their best performances here. I'm looking at Chris Evan's who plays the main character. He has been decent in other stuff,but he seemed one note in all of that. There is a speech that he give near the end of the film that is so well delivered I was baffled. This speech brings up the other great thing about the characters (or at least the writing for that matter). This speech develops Curtis as a character, makes us care about the plot more than we already have, and world builds beyond belief. Yes there is thrilling action in this film, but what fills up the gaps in between are expertly constructed sequences that allow us to get immersed in the world even more than we already were. Each car is different, each representing some theme. There's the water car, the sauna car, and of course the engine room... etc. All of them we get to stop at, and all of them build on the world being created. Oh, and the sets are all just beautiful. As far as the supporting cast can be inferred. They are all great especially Ed Harris as Wilford the builder of the train, and Tilda Swinton as Mason the person who communicates with the back of the train personally from the front. Of course we can't forget "the great" John Hurt either. All of this being so good actually helps the film survive it's end. Now the end twist is awesome, and really it is something. I found it jarring though. It provides answers to questions that one might have been asking throughout the film, and has a cool allegorical spin to it, but the movie is an action movie up to that point, and suddenly here comes an ending that is talky,and of a different tone. I feel that if the talky stuff had not been confined to just the ending it would not have felt as out of place. That's not to say the content there is bad it just could have been organized better. Snowpiecer is not quite perfect,but it's pretty damn close. I know this review has sounded somewhat negative, but that is far from my intentions. See the film's shallow, but it's too thrilling for that to be a big deal. The action is brutal, and just really well done. Overall in my personal opinion it didn't end as cool as I wanted it to, but other then that good. Yeah watch this it's really good. I give Snowpiercer a 9 out of 10.
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Ok I know you guys don't care, but this movie is what started this entire thing. I had always enjoyed movies,and at one point I thought of "Hmm I might want to see this." After doing so, after experiencing the greatness of the film I embraced this entire thing. This is my review for it. I wrote it a while ago. So it's not great, but the movie is. Watch Cloud Atlas. I think that this is the most touching, thrilling, and gut wrenching film I have seen in a while. The thing is, is you will connect to this movie, and you will feel emotion while watching it. I am still feeling the emotional resonance of the film a day after I watched it. It spreads six stories all good in their own way and features so many types of genre. It is a romance, action, sci-fi, murder mystery and comedy all at the same time. The point of it is to show you that everyone and everything is connected in some small way or another. The six stories are all incredible in their own way. But there are a few that fare better than others. The Somni-451 sci-fi story and the dystopian alien story were the best in my opinion. The other stories are great but these stood out so well. And the acting. Here is a bunch of actors playing multiple roles and still hitting all out of the ballpark. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving. All of them good. The directing for a movie like this is spectacular. I mean it must be hard for the directors to have to switch genres for almost every part of the movie, but that is executed well. Then there is the effects. While this film is very much a marvel of storytelling as it balances the stories quite well, it is even more of a master of the visual aspect. This is the Wachowski's. They made The Matrix. Of course the effects are top notch. They really are. In the science fiction future story the effects are amazing. In the 1970’s there is still a good amount of flair. The thing is that this movie has a visual flair to it. It is a colorful film that handles its effects well. Also good is the action. Whenever the action is going on it is simple but thrilling. Actually I must say that this has to be one of the most thrilling films I’ve ever seen, and it means so much to me. The costumes and the cinematography are incredible as well. The future looks slick and beautiful, the 70's seem closer to home. The way the camera weaves itself around the scenes and the action. Lastly I want you to know that this movie evokes emotion a lot of it. I cried at the end of it. That was mainly because I was so caught up in the awesomeness. I give Cloud Atlas a 10 out of 10. The problem that comes with David Ayer films is the fact that all of them focus so much on the characters that they forget to build the atmosphere. Sure that's not a bad thing. His cop movies have been fantastic. However Training Day boasts an Oscar winning performance but it's shallow because the world is not built up. Ayer in his film End of Watch fixed this problem with one simple thing. He made the film so intense, and thrilling that it covered up the fact that the film is missing something. That's what he does with Fury,and you know what he succeeded. For all the problems that I think are in this film the movie covers them up. The film is pretty much we follow Logan Lerman, and Brad Pitt, and some other guys in a Sherman Tank near the end of WWII. Lerman plays Norman who is new to the tank, and the film makes up his experiences. Pitt plays Wardaddy the commanding officer of a tank called Fury. The other people are stock characters that are supported by really good actors. I say good actors because while they are kind of cannon fodder (especially when you reach the end) they are still incredibly well acted, and you connect with them. Speaking of connecting the film works also in the way that it truly allows you to connect with Norman. He throughout his short number of days on Fury will see the horrors of war, and will learn to kill. This is where a big surprise came for me. The men more force him to learn how to kill, not some dire situation. These people in the tank are not actually good guys. These people are kind of insane. This all comes into play in the first act, and the film always handles it well. The second act takes place in a captured town, and allows stuff to slow down, but I'll elaborate on that later. It's good that the film has that slow point because then the third act swings around, and everything goes to hell. The film is predictable, c'mon you know what happens at the end of this film, but if it just doesn't go out in the best way possible. I have to mention that before I said that David Ayer films lack in atmosphere, and sense of place. That's the same here. The film however is entertaining enough to make up for most of that. The action in this film is just about the best you will get all Fall. The tank on tank battles are really something, and the incredible amount of violence propels the film into the shock value that also makes it effective. I often watch a war movie, and wonder why the characters are reacting in a shocked way. I mean most movies just don't show a really good reason. This film you go right with the soldiers (mainly Lerman's character) through all of the shocking shit that you have to do during a war. The violence is brutal, and vicious, and by the end of the first half of the film you are just about worn out. Not in the way of being sick of the violence it's just you are shocked as well as you're just about out of adrenaline. The slow section I mentioned before has a really nice slow burn to it. It also has some touching stuff in it. Yes there is a girl, and yes stuff happens, but the way it's played is interesting because you are not exactly sure whether or not the characters are in the right with the actions that they commit. I don't really know. Than with a relentless explosion of violence much like in End of Watch (except longer so good) the third act comes to leave you dazed. That's not a bad thing though. The third act is so intense that I still had the rush long after I left the theatre,but your grandparents patriotic war movie this is not. Fury in this final fight more than earns it's "R" rating. The pulse pounding beat of the music, and the savagery of the events on screen. It really is something to behold. Fury is a really good war movie. Sure it's predictable, and lacks a sense of place, but it has solid performances, touching moments, and shockingly effective violence. This is my first movie of Fall movie season (Can't go see Gone Girl unfortunately), and I'm really excited for what is to come. I give Fury a 9 out of 10. Hi guys I have been busy so not many reviews have come out. I'm going to do a top ten. This is movies that are SCARY or Unsettling enough to leave you in a state of horror not just halloween movies. Yes there will be some more Halloween themed movies, but you get it.
10. Coraline: The beautiful visuals that this movie shows hide something deep inside of it. This is a scary, and creepy film that keeps you engaged. 9. The Cabin in the Woods: If anything I find this movie more funny than scary, but as far as it having scary moments it really does, and it's one hell of a crazy fun ride. 8. Psycho: Yeah that scene where the guy gets knocked down the stairs will never leave my head. It's really scary. 7. Fright Night: The new one I mean. Colin Farrell is fantastic and creepy as a vampire, and David Tennant wields a crossbow. What more do you want. 6. A Nightmare on Elm Street: Yes I mean the old one. It's kind of trashy, but it's a scary time, and the ending like many of the other entries on this list is really great. 5. Halloween: An effective thriller John Carpenter's classic is really the best slasher movie I have seen. 4. Zombieland: This film works for me more than Shaun of the Dead did. It's really funny, and works in almost every way. 3. Alien: Yeah the atmosphere makes this one great. Also it's scary so that's good. 2. 28 Days Later: This is the best zombie movie ever made. The atmosphere, and characters are fantastic, and the best thing to happen to a zombie movie ever is extremely aggressive, sprinting, blood zombies that will not give up. 1. American Psycho: This is by far the scariest movie I have ever seen. The whole comedic underlining to everything is even more creepy. The ending has is explosive and scary, and highlights stuff that we all hide. I don't usually find myself enjoying Shakespeare. I mean that's not to say I don't enjoy versions of it (I liked Romeo + Juliet),but I never took to the entire thing. The odd dialogue as well as stories that don't seem to mesh. And here I am telling you to watch this movie. I don't know what it is. Is it the sweeping style of the movie? Is it the emotional performances? Is it the production design? I don't know. What I do know is that Kenneth Branagh's 4 hour, and 2 minute unabridged version of Hamlet is a great movie, and 4 hours never flew so fast. Hamlet has the story of Hamlet. Hamlet finds out that his uncle has killed his father, and married his mother, and seeks his revenge. Sure it's simple stuff, almost uninteresting, but it's not the story,but the way it is presented in this version of Hamlet that is amazing. I feel sleepy when I watch the actors on the stage do this kind of production, and yet here all of them have a wild amount of energy toward the project. Kenneth Branagh who plays the titular character, near the end of Act IV has a monologue where all the camera does is zoom out from him. He's standing still,and speaking. And yet there is an energy to the speech. He knows how to deliver these lines. You start to feel this energy, and it builds, and builds into a wild rush. And that's only one moment of the film. This starts at the very beginning of the film, and builds as the twists, and turns of the story develop. And it's not only Branagh that knows how to deliver these lines. This right here is a star studded cast. Jack Lemmon (okay maybe he messes up a little), Billy Crystal, Kate Winslet and they even got Charlton Heston in this. All of these people, and quite a bit more. They all are giving their all into the movie, and when you just sit back, and see the film as the sweeping drama that it is it's just fantastic. I must credit the production designers, and cinematographers too. The shots of the castle are beautiful, and the castle itself is as well. There is a main room with a balcony that runs across the room that is so well designed, and elegant that just watching as the cameras weave about it is interesting. People I know that I am often to generous with movies. I can even say that of myself, but I know if a film is entertaining or not, and this is one of the great entertainments. I give Hamlet a 10 out of 10. Burn After Reading is what you get whenever you take a Cold War spy thriller, and replace all the geniuses and action heroes with really stupid, and selfish to a fault people. Sure that might not sound dramatic or so, but it's really funny. This is one of those Coen films that is so preposterous, yet completely hilarious that you almost don't notice that this film's story is a mess. I just did not care. Why? There's a lot to it other than just the plot. It exaggerates, and plays by it's own rules, and it's just odd. The plot is complicated. John Malkovitch is a government worker who is fired, and he decides to write a memoir. His wife (Tilda Swinton) wants to divorce him because she hates him, and is banging George Clooney's married character. When she takes a disk of the financial records of the computer, and they get left somewhere Brad Pitt a hilarious gym trainer finds them. He then talks to Linda (Frances Mcdormand) who needs money for surgeries, and is also banging George Clooney. Chad, and Linda take the memoirs for no reason really to the Russians. I won't spoil anymore, but that's only the start of it. As I said before the movie suffers for all of this, but I also gave the key ingredient to why it works so well. This movie is really funny. It takes a lot to take something like this from being stupid to funny, but the Coen's as usual have enough comedy in the characters to keep it all going. These guys are so stupid, but it's really funny to see them get what is coming to them. Also the actors are all game for it. The bouncing, and incredibly stupid Chad (played by Brad Pitt) is a standout. I've seen him do a lot of serious roles. This is not one of them. You don't see Brad Pitt. You see this grown man acting like a 15 year old with the energy of a 5 year old that has just drank 5 sodas hopping around, and it's really funny. There's another scene where George Clooney thinks he realized what is going on. I said thinks he does because he's wrong, but the way his face warps in this scene into fear is just great. Everyone is really game for this wildly quirky movie, and that really does help it. Especially because the story seems overcrowded. This is not one of the better Coen films I have seen (those are still The Big Lebowski, and True Grit), but this is a quirky, and hilarious film does work. I give Burn After Reading a 9 out of 10. Apocalyto is in no way an original movie in the story telling standpoint. The whole your tribe gets killed, and you rise up to fight the bad guys plot has been around for a while. What makes Apocalypto special is that it does something with this. That's not to say that it changes up the formulaic plot that I described earlier,but it definitely brings a vibe in it's esthetic, and scary as hell violence. Apocalypto is about the Mayans. You know the guys that cut out peoples hearts as a sacrifice (hint hint It's a Mel Gibson movie you see that) guys. Our hero who I actually forgot the name of ( it's all in subtitles was swept up in the film) is living with his tribe in prosperity when one day another tribe attacks them in one of the most heart-breaking raid scenes I have ever seen. See the film spends a good 20 minutes just on the development of the people. Sure they're not incredibly smart,but they know how to hunt, and get around, and we get to see the family dynamics. It is then that we get to see this ripped apart quite literally, and it really is baffling. That's not to say that it's bad. I have found this shocking,but it ups the level of intensity which is one of the things that hold the film together. What the film also brings. A wide range of things that you have not seen before in other films. The colors, the costumes, the way that the tribe acts, it's all very interesting. The battle is exciting as well as I said before. So then the main character is taken with the captives across the forest with the other captives. This is the part where I think that the film finds itself falling short. The captives are all arranged in a way as well as shot in a way that seems to relish the suffering that they are having. I mean sure the esthetic keeps up, and it has you on the edge of your seat, but you wonder "Jut how messed up is this, and the is making me uncomfortable." It doesn't last that long anyway. The film starts to work it's magic when they get to the enemy camp. Now I am not a worshiper of violence, but I do think that in a film taking it to the extremes can be used to shock, as well as put the audience in the position of the characters. And what a position this is. This is the scene that I was ultimately dreading in the film really, and I'm not saying I was wrong to. I am going to say that the fact that it was so effective is not a bad thing. This is the sacrifice scene, and the incredible slow pace as well as the somewhat first person view of the characters escalates this scene to a heart pounding tension. These people are going to be executed no matter what, and they can do nothing to stop it, you feel all of that. Again that doesn't mean I wasn't disturbed I'm just saying that wasn't a bad thing. Then character escapes. We get awesome fight sequence, and happy ending. That ending fight scene is really something though. Now when I was saying that the costumes, and look of the film was fantastic. I was not kidding. The film has a very authentic look to it, and if not for all the bloody violence could have been something very educational on the Mayan culture. But you have to have a movie so there's the violence. The film is also shot very well, capturing the beautiful forests that the people used to live in. Alright so pretty great. Violent as hell, but also extremely riveting. Great cinematography,and technical work. Great stuff. I give Apocalypto a 9 out of 10. |
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |