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christian-stevens
Reviews
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Disappointing and Disjointed
Firstly, let me say that I'm not trying to hate on this film. The cast and director are all established and talented, and the story of "The Great Gatsby" is brilliant. I am not someone who is obsessed with the previous films or hold a staunch upper lip against tweaking the original story (to an extent). When I walked in to the movie theater I wasn't expecting a masterpiece, or a disaster, and I received neither. Overall, however, the film was lacking in what should have been a great tale with a great ensemble.
Don't get me wrong, as usual DiCaprio plays his character well, and the same can be said for Edgerton, Mulligan and Maguire(although some may disagree). However the side characters aren't great, Jordan is rarely seen, and the same can be said for Fisher and Clarke's characters who would have done their characters more justice had they more screen time. These are just nit pickings.
The greater concern lies with Story, cinematography, and feel of the movie. The soundtrack, although containing fantastic songs, do not belong in this movie, and when they come on, they're out of place. As for the set and props, there is almost too much "flash" which I would have found hard to achieve in the first place. And the cinematography, like the music was out of place. It was good, yet just didn't fit in with this kind of story and felt overdone.
I think the two biggest disappointments were the rearrangement of key plot points (or their absence), and that the whole thing was quite dumbed down.For example, the discovery of Gatsby's past was revealed way too early in the film taking away the mystery of the man and the funeral scene was pretty much scrapped with no appearance from his father like the book. Also, the addition of having the whole story told by Nick in a flashback while he's in a sanatorium was bit much and unnecessary.
As for the dumbing down. All the meaning of each metaphor in the book are basically told to you or made as blatant as possible. I just felt by doing this that the movie was dumbing down it's audience a bit too much.
All in all, the cast made a good attempt, while I believe the director took many wrong turns.
Many people claim that I am being too critical and that it was a decent film. And they're right, it was a decent film, but it wasn't Gatsby, and it could have (and should have) been so much more, especially with a cast like that, and the amount of money that was funneled into it
Prometheus (2012)
Good with Glitches
Prometheus had me very intrigued! Having seen the Alien saga, I was very excited after seeing the teaser for Prometheus and have been eagerly awaiting it's arrival from the beginning. So did it reach my expectations?
Yes!....and no...
***BE WARNED, SPOILERS AHEAD***
The film has a brilliant start, Fassbender plays David brilliantly and while Rapace, Theron, Marshall-Green and Elba play their characters well, they fail to match Fassbenders talent at being both robotic and yet also human. The visuals and designs are flawless and fit the film perfectly. From the start, Scott does well to impress.
But...
As the film continues, no answers are given, but more questions are added. The film seemed to be unsure whether it was trying to be a prequel or create it's own saga. This question never really seems to be answered and the ending leaves the audience with more questions then before. Also, Guy Pearce seems to be unnecessary. A good actor he may be, but why not cast someone that fits the age description? Besides the TED trailer, Pearce plays an old man for the entire film.
But, I still think this is a great movie. Why? I went in with the wrong attitude. I think that someone who HASN'T seen the alien movies would think this to be a fantastic movie as they'll have no questions going in and they won't mind the ones they have coming out.
Lastly, the ending is open ended and hints at the possibility of ANOTHER Prometheus movie separate from the Alien saga. I am worried about this. They might have done this in order to squeeze more money out of this franchise (I sincerely hope not) OR...
Scott has a longer story to tell. If another movie is made, then hopefully my questions will be answered, but back to the movie at hand
Despite some unexplained hiccups (Fifield zombie attack?) which hopefully may be cleaned up in a sequel, Prometheus is a brilliant film if you go into the film with the right attitude. Which is:
1-Forget about Alien. 2-Be ready for new things. 3-Stop looking for answers and enjoy the ride, it may be slow but it doesn't disappoint.
A lot of this review goes on speculation on whether Scott actually has a plan for the future or not. In short, if he does, I'll expect great things if not, then they're just sucking this franchise dry.
Overall, I give Prometheus an 8.
Jackass 3D (2010)
My eyes are Bleeding, please play it again
Let's face it, the fact you're even considering to watch this movie is because you want to see one thing. A bunch of dudes basically hurting each other in creative ways! And Jackass 3D comes back to hit the ball out of the park for a third time.
It's everything you'd expect, stupid, rude, disgusting and just plain dangerous, and it does it FLAWLESSLY! This is the brilliance that is Jackass. It's a film you're not sure about before you put it on. You'll know whether you'll like this or not which is why if you ask someone what they think of Jackass they'll either give you a 0 or a 10!
The film keeps the stunts fresh too! Full of new material all hilarious pranks so don't worry if you're thinking you'll find "Jackass...again....oh yeah we got 3D too". Speaking of which, the 3D isn't great or even necessary to watch but it's much better than most of the films with 3D so it does it's job.
Overall, this film is brilliantly vile. It should be sent to hell, just save me a seat down there and I'll bring the popcorn.
MacGruber (2010)
A 90 minute SNL skit? Interesting...
MacGruber is vulgar, if you start the film expecting otherwise than you'll be rather disappointed and/or disgusted. But if you're okay with that, then prepare a hilarious 90 minutes.
MacGruber really surprised me. I thought I'd be watching a mediocre comedy with a couple laughs. This film has "meh" written all over it. That's until you actually start to watch it. The humor starts off slow and not that great but after the first twenty minutes, MacGruber comes out of his cage and kicks you square in the nuts. Will Forte is brilliantly dimwitted and with Wiig and Phillipe backing him up to make a surprisingly hilarious ensemble. I thought Phillipe would seem out of place among the SNL regulars but fills the role well and I found him to be a great character to pair up with Forte creating some brilliant scenes
Overall, the film dishes out top notch sketches and memorable scenes and quotes. I have little to complain about this one and I'm glad for it!
So I think as a fair vote MacGruber could be a 7 or maybe 8. But it's not a fair vote, it's MY vote and I'm giving a high flying number 9!
Your Highness (2011)
Not very memorable, but still a great laugh
Your Highness isn't sophisticated, it isn't smart and it's humor on most levels isn't even that witty.
Instead, imagine a 6 year old's beloved fairy tales were re-imagined by his older brother after a couple drinks and this is what you get. Nothing in this movie will jump out at you or be necessarily that memorable unless you've got a thing for Natalie Portman but it WILL keep you laughing for the duration. Most of the jokes are predictable but they hit the right notes on the most part. The characters are funny and solid and suit the actors who portray them, but most of all it's the perfect movie for a night in with the lads.
This film film has a deadly duo (Franco and McBride) as they are both the strengths and weaknesses of the film. They are the strongest characters and most lovable. But for the whole movie they just reminded me of their hilarious performances with Seth Rogen in Pineapple Express, and how his absence from this film showed what it was lacking in comic effect.
That aside, this is a film of it's own, and although not one that shines as brightly as others, it's a little hidden gem. And for that I believe it deserves a solid 8.