dcold Reviews

The Hunger Games (2012)

Ripped all that was special from the book out and left a big mess

[3/10 · 1 April 2012]

Spoilers from book and movie******************* When I went to see the movie it had been awhile since I read the series and I was unsettled throughout the whole movie because it seemed like all of my favorite parts were missing but I couldn't really put a finger what was so upsetting to me (besides the shaky cam literally making me ill!)

They hardly mentioned the father and how he taught Katniss everything she needed to survive the games...and life in District 12. They didn't talk about why the mocking jays were a symbol of rebellion and so Katniss became an unwitting hero. And just the sets...like the Reaping set...what was that? It was supposed to be in a town square surrounded by shops and quite a festive area...hence making the reaping "celebration" all that more ironic.

Now I'm re-reading the book and getting REALLY upset that Suzanne Collins let them ruin her fabulous book. Just in the first few pages we establish that the Districts are starving, that to hunt food is penalized with death, that Katniss and Gale are both a little ticked off at the treatment of the districts but can't say a word because they'll be killed and can't leave because their families will starve. That Petta literally saved the lives of the whole Everdeen family with his offering of bread to Katniss. And why can't we have the Madge character give her the pin??? The director explains that he can't include everything...why not? It would have given Gale his moment of anger at the Capital (explaining things better about the relationship between the districts and the Capital) and it would have created more of a transition into the other books.

And even dumb things were changed like Haymitch's embarrassing turn at the Reaping. Why not show what a screw-up he was? It would make his recovery and help all that more meaningful? Peeta and Katniss knew who he was...he was showing up at the Reapings every year since he won but now it was their lives on the line.

Nowhere did we really establish the huge effect that the Capitol had on the lives of the people of the district. It all came off as just a futuristic Survivor game. They never show that the Capitol has people within the districts at all times keeping control and imprisoning and even killing people that don't obey. That's why it's such a big deal for her to go into the meadow. She could be killed if caught.

I could go on and on but you really need to hire a good screenwriter to redeem the other inevitable movies. Aaron Sorkin would be fabulous but this type of project probably wouldn't appeal to him. The movies need MUCH more exposition and dialog to be able to convey the depth of the source material. The movie didn't even touch on the real story behind the madness..that Katniss Everdeen, just being herself, changes the course of history much like a Rosa Parks who just wanted a seat on the bus, Katniss becomes a symbol of freedom from oppression, whether she likes it or not.

D.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Why build up a "tent pole" and then knock it down?

[6/10 · 15 November 2008]

I watched this new Bond with interest while I was in the theater (mostly because of Craig and Dench) but the longer I'm out, the more I hate it. This was not a Bond movie. Why spend over 40 years building a franchise and then knock it's feet out from under it. There is too much to comment on in full paragraphs so here's the list:

Bond is not Wolverine or Terminator. The things that happened to Bond in this movie would kill any man...let's keep it real.

Along those lines: No man can stay awake for that long and not start hallucinating and have walking sleep moments (which could have been interesting)

NO MORE SHAKY CAM! Bond fight scenes should be thrilling, not a blur of skin, metal and shattering glass. Why spend all that money setting up shots and then not let the audience see it?

Bond would not dump a fellow agent/friend in a dumpster. At least he could have made a funeral pyre out of it.

Why oh why do we have soooo many bad guys/enemies/sub-plots? Bolivian dictators, French mercenaries, Quantum group(Inc.)head honchos, knife wielding geologists?, turn-coat CIA agents, turn-coat British agents, bad boyfriends?, bad fathers (that still have to be avenged???), Alpha Romero driving bad guys, fighter plane pilots, etc. etc.

Why would the agency send a secretary to stop one of their wildest agents from leaving town? And how did that same secretary have time to write a "run" note when she was so busy dying?

Why was this mousy French guy any match for Bond? He was wearing freaking loafers!

Why would Bond just sit there in a burning room contemplating suicide when he just ran and jumped through flames to get there?

Why can't Bolivians trace the water back and take out the dam with sledgehammers?

Couldn't the plot had a little more dastardly...like the mercenary was going to poison the world's drinking water so his supply would become liquid gold? Not just dry up a region in Bolivia so you can charge "twice as much" as the dictator was paying before???

Oh, well.

Let's get back to the old Bond movies. I actually don't mind Craig as Bond but these bad plots and blurry direction are ruining my favorite movie treat.

EZ Money (2005)

One of those movies so bad it starts to get funny

[3/10 · 31 January 2007]

My son was hoping that this was going to be a "kids with money" movie but the kids never did get the money or have any fun because the bad guys instantly found them...

Anyway...I don't know why the director packed so many people in the movie but it was really distracting to the story line like some guy that gets shocked in a phone booth.

I came to IMDb to see the actors but the majority of them are not credited...probably for a reason.

We did have a good time about 1/2 way through laughing at the ridiculous situations. Watch for the "Dun.Dun.Dun." blue door shot...the blood "effect" hanging in the air...Nigerian white woman with the Transylvanian accent...a woman going to work when her niece has been kidnapped...the snarling "poodle" (same shot 4 times).

If you want a low budget attack-of-the-killer-tomatoes type movie, you might like it.

D.

The Girl from Monday (2005)

I Don't Know the Man...but his movie is bad

[2/10 · 31 January 2005]

So hopefully this was just a blip on the screen of an otherwise good career. Was the talk of the Sundance shuttle bus...but not in a good way.

Too many amateurish techniques. Voice over narration in an attempt to get a noir feeling but most of the time was actually for exposition because the story wasn't getting told on the screen.

Bad camera technique that would be okay in small doses (ie: a dream sequence) but was tiring and distracting from the opening credits onward. Kept waiting for the "real" movie to start.

The girl from Monday doesn't make an appearance for quite awhile in the movie and then gets left in an apartment to learn to use her body (or course she swam out of the ocean quite well).

Anyway...I had to leave about the time the boy was getting "raped" in the school bathroom. Time is too precious at Sundance and I went to "Rory O'Shea was Here" and the contrast couldn't have been higher between the two.

Is probably a waste of time to anyone but his fans.

D.

3-Iron (2004)

Wordless Wonder!

[31 January 2005]

3-Iron is the (almost) wordless story of a young burglary artist, who, to find shelter for the night, will post Chinese food fliers on doors and return to occupy vacant homes for the night. While he is in the home he will do laundry or small fix-it jobs leaving the home better than he found it.

His routine and life change when one of the homes he enters is NOT vacant and he finds a young wife that has been beaten by her husband. When the husband returns and begins his assault again, the young man uses an unusual approach to defending the woman who decides to leave with him and join him on his nightly rounds.

This movie is a treat in this day and age of "talkie" movies with too much exposition and dialog. So simple and yet profound. So much is told with a glance and a picture that I'm sure it will be studied in film schools for years to come.

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Give me 45 minutes and I'll give you a good movie..

[7 November 2003]

Like many others I was extremely disappointed and sad because I am a huge fan...dang, I even loved Reloaded. Some spoiler's won't spoil much.

I honestly feel that the Wachowski brother's got lazy with the plot. Simplicity would have served this movie so well. I personally think that with GOOD editing and one major flaw taken out, this very bad movie could have been at least a passible addition to my DVD collection.

Cut out half of the "train man" scenes. Cut to the father program taking girl on train, Neo being denied and running after train. A lot of dialog and new concepts being introduced (ie: computer programs love one another) that aren't backed up with a touch point later in the movie (a common flaw in this movie) I'd probably even cut out the dance club scene because it serves no purpose except for Persephone's chest.

Cut out the whole possessed crewman scenes. Although his imitation of Agen t Smith was intriguing, again, the script/plot did not expand on this concept. So were the agents going to start on humans when they finished with the machines? No reason or purpose. But of course, how would we mutilate Neo? That is the biggest flaw in the movie and should have never been included. The Wachowski's read Dune...that's for sure.

What I call the "God bless us everyone" scene where the 16 year old announces to Zion that Neo did it and the war is won. Cut that whole damn thing out. Morpheus watches the sentinels swim away and says "Neo" And has anything in any of the movies led us to believe that Morpheus would go to Zion instead of with Neo? Less is more, especially in movies.

Cut the "I can see the true nature of the universe but not the rebar sticking out of you" scene. I was literally making yak yak motions with my hands during a climatic scene. Matrix is stylized...not corny. Big difference.

Literally 20 mins of the dock scene could have been cut out. Yeah, we get it. You are fighting overwhelming odds ala: Stormtroopers. "It's a good day to die" has been there and done that.

Stick with the story. Stick with the characters we know and not expect us to feel for strangers. Tie up loose ends, if you bring up a variable, answer it later. These are all basic scriptwriting principles that needed to followed, especially when you are taking 3 movies to do it.

The Wachowski brothers have such talent & vision...what happened? This last movie reeked with self importance and was full of sound and fury signifying nothing. It is all in the script. All the choreography and CGI and stunts in the world won't make up for bad story telling. Matrix I & II succeeded because of the storytelling.

Seabiscuit (2003)

Spend your $6.00 on the paperback and see it on video

[27 July 2003]

I was thrilled by the trailers for this movie and was so excited that I decided to buy the book (paperback is about $6.00 at Walmart...I assume at other stores also...)

DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE IF YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK! Luannjim is right...there are so many inconsistencies and inaccuracies with the book that I felt like I must have been in the wrong movie...and I've only read the first 200 pages!

Why do directors think that they are writers? I felt the same way after leaving "Signs"...why when you are spending millions on a movie do you not employ the best people you can? The writer, Laura Hillenbrand, would have wove a beautiful tale rich with detail and moving with many layers of drama in every line...instead of the sappy, wandering, shamefully untrue story that ended up on film.

:::::::SPOILERS::::::::

Many of the inconsistencies were pointed out in Luannjim's comments but I will tell you what I missed from the book that would have made this a wonderful drama...I've seen a much better movie in my head!

Would you have appreciated Mr. Howard more if you found out that he was floundering in the car business because people HATED the automobile in San Francisco until the Earthquake and subsequent fires where he used his unsold stock to ambulance people to hospitals?

Would you appreciate him more if you found out that he built a hospital in the area after his son's death?

Would the scene with the Howards eating dinner with Pollard been more meaningful if you had seen the great lengths that jockeys went to to keep below weight? Mr. Howards comment about "we'd rather see you strong that thin." was so telling about how removed the Howards were from the dirty side of racing. Jockeys went through hell to get down sometimes to the point of bedding in steaming hot piles of manure to sweat off water weight and taking concoctions that would almost kill them.

What about the Wild West show that Smith worked for and it's colorful owner who weighed 400 lbs and would drag horses from one local to another bilking people from their money. And would you have liked to know that Smith's family literally lived in the middle of a racetrack?

And what about Seabiscuit's famous 1st trainer Fitzsimmons? He wasn't the crotchety old man abusing Seabiscuit portrayed in the movie...he was the one that finally figured out that Seabiscuit could really run and led him to several wins but was frustrated because Seabiscuit wouldn't consistently run.

And even the story of Seabiscuit himself. Why couldn't we delve into a little more detail about how he slept laying down all the time, very unusual for a horse. He couldn't lock his legs and some thought that it might have been this that helped with his endurance.

And what about the Sr. Pollard who started his own brick factory from scratch but lost it in a flood...rescuing his very large family but unable to rescue his equipment. Was not homeless, was not because of the depression like the "docudrama" feel would have you believe. None-the-less high drama.

Oh, well...I can't remake it...but it could be saved on an editing room floor.

Please let Ms. Hillenbrand write a new narrative, George Woolf's character (or the race announcer) narrate a voice over, cut out all the "documentary" crap that does nothing to feed the story of these three characters or horseracing (and ruined the feel of the story, most notably when they cut to black and white pictures of the beginning of the race with War General) and could have been handled with well written dialog and images (like Tobey walking by a soup line...a picture is worth a 1,000 words!) and you might have had the movie that I was expecting and might have been an Oscar contender.

Denise