MovieMeditation’s Diary Reviews // “Come and meditate with me!”

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Friendo.
07-29-17
"24"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
280 .......................... 336
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December 3rd

—— 2002 ——
TREASURE PLANET
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.43


You thought I had jumped ship?
Well, when it's a space ship, ain't no way I'm going anywhere!

I always felt a form of fascination from the simple yet spellbinding poster that seemed to promise an adventurous ride into the unknown… The title of ‘Treasure Planet’ seems to follow that same pattern as well, and even though I’m not sure I have ever seen the film before this, I almost feel like I have. The movie was far from a massive success at the box office, which is a shame, because it takes its source material to new and imaginative heights, while really aiming for an adventurous and exciting experience at the theater – being one of the first regular IMAX releases – and filled to the brim with energetic and evolutionary visuals that blasts through the sound barrier and all the way into space!

The reason why this film resonated with me was because it paid tribute, while also paving its own way, through familiar plots and fundaments that felt lifted directly out of every great adventure out there. The film isn’t necessarily overly original in its story and some parts do fall flat, but the setting, the style, the characters, the world building is all part of the reason why the film feels fresh nonetheless. I love disappearing into this world and feel the wind of the journey through space, while watching the characters interact with each other and everything around them. It is magical, mystical and filled with majestic action sequences that packs a punch harder than a compact plot – which is the reason why it all works in the end, as an experience…

I really liked the characters; going from the exploratory kid who grows into a world that holds a boring reality and without a guiding father figure to keep him grounded in life. How he stumbles into the biggest adventure of his life by accident and soon we meet the commanding captain, Amelia, the nervous and nerdy Dr. Delbert Doppler, as well as the unique interpretation of John Silver, who our main character finds a father figure in. The characters are not immensely complicated, but there is a certain complexity in their appearance, which is elevated extremely well because of the amazing voice acting in this film. A young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a perfectly cast Emma Thompson, a fun David Hyde Pierce and a fascinating Brian Murray as the big ol’ John Silver. It may not be a full-blown masterpiece, but it is masterful moviemaking by people who really believe in their craft and their characters and wants to succeed in simple, old-fashioned entertainment.



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Friendo.
07-29-17
"23"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
281 .......................... 339
__________________________


December 6th

—— 2003 ——
AMERICAN
SPLENDOR
—— drama ——



This movie amazed me splendidly and sucked me straight into it,
like only a few, very special movies tend to do.

I found it utterly unique and completely different from anything I had ever seen. A docu-drama that combines actors and actresses with the actual people of the story. It is a loose documentary, an homage, a life story, a social statement, it is everything at once really…

I know this diary entry is technically about my first viewing, but since I saw it again and didn’t like it as much, I figured I could fault it while also praising it for a more even review. Honestly, a third watch is usually what cements an opinion if two watches of the same movie ends up so different, but I just don’t feel like watching it again… at least not now. Looking at it, the movie does feel like a one-watch movie, but because I wanted to possibly nominate it for a Hall of Fame here, I decided to give it another go... But anyways, I think its strengths is also its weaknesses. The way that the movie is driven by a broken narrative, which almost works as small-time highpoints of the life and career of Harvey Pekar, is what separates the movie from other biopics. And together with the odd and original mix of fact and fiction, ‘American Splendor’ is honest and true to life, while also being an exercise in fiction. It really honors this man and his view on life and I like that.

Writing about it now, I almost want to revisit it again. I almost doubt myself on why I didn’t like this the second time around. When looking back, I think it was the fact that it felt fragmented and cinematically fragile. All the performances are admirable, especially that of Paul Giamatti and Judah Friedlander – especially the latter was outstanding and how his career didn’t take off after this is beyond me. The story is supposed to be down to earth and loose in its narrative, but sometimes I did miss a firmer hand to hold everything together and bigger scenes or moments that would cement this film as forever memorable. But again, with the first watch it was exactly this no-nonsense approach that worked so well, so maybe I just went into it a completely wrong way the second time around. Oh well, I guess my thoughts and this review is more fragmented than the movie is at this point. So… I guess that third watch is definitive sometime after all.




first-watch

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Lone Wolf
07-29-17
I adore American Splendor. Pretty solidly in my 100. I have been in the mood to watch it again but I keep hoping for a Blu-ray release. Giamtti is the man.
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Friendo.
07-29-17
Originally Posted by seanc
I adore American Splendor. Pretty solidly in my 100. I have been in the mood to watch it again but I keep hoping for a Blu-ray release. Giamtti is the man.
Yeah, it feels like pretty much 95% of all movies are on blu-ray, so it's so weird when you stumble upon a film still not on the format.

Awesome to hear you love it. I hope a future watch will make me feel like I did the first time.



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Friendo.
07-31-17
"22"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
282 .......................... 339
__________________________


December 6th

—— 2015 ——
SUMMER OF '92
—— drama ——



The only thing us Danes ever accomplished,
made into a feature film...

I don't want to review this, because it would be wasted time... This movie is a danish film, based on the true events of how we won the UEFA European Championship 1992. We haven't accomplished anything great in soccer since and haven't really accomplished anything of matter in anything really, either, so this is an event that we constantly keep padding ourselves on the shoulder about... even all these years later.

The movie was decent, the acting by Ulrich Thomsen was quite phenomenal, while the rest was a mixed bag, with some being really generic about which real soccer player they acted out. Again, this is only a film I would recommend if you were Danish... otherwise skip it.




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Friendo.
07-31-17
"21"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
283 .......................... 339
__________________________


December 6th

—— 2003 ——
BROTHER
BEAR
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.44

REWATCH
Generic, predictable, pandering, unimaginative, unremarkable,
too familiar, too forgettable, overly lazy, extremely lackluster...

These were all terminologies used to tear this movie utterly apart. Disney is a studio with high standards and audiences have come to expect exceptionalism each and every time, which they don’t quite get here. But even so, they clearly weren’t aware of what atrociousness was to appear in the coming Disney catalogue… I’m talking about turds like ‘Chicken Little’ and crap like ‘Home on the Range’. Disney wasn’t dancing in the dollar rain like they used too, but unlike the poor performance of the preceding catalogue title, ‘Brother Bear’ did make a pawful of money, despite mostly awful reviews…

By the millennium, the critical reception had become more mediocre and reached an all-time low, for an otherwise big hitter like Disney, and trying to recapture the colossal achievement, that is The Disney Renaissance, didn’t go too well. They had been trying new directions to determine a new and hopefully successful style, but it wasn’t looking good. Starting with ‘Brother Bear’ and following through a few movies forward, Disney failed to meet what would be considered positive critical responses, neither did they bring every movie home, financially. There is a lot to take from this, and there is a lot I have to say from this, but taking things to “cave man logic”, the short explanation is this: ‘Brother Bear’ is a simple tale of known themes and morals, made in an unlucky, frustrating or at least confusing time for the studio, which makes this otherwise decent movie stand out as a shallow and dull production, despite being better than the terrible treatment it has been given. At least in my opinion.

Personally, I think there is a few things that weighs in towards the situation surrounding this movie and I also think it isn’t nearly as awful as the ugly response it has been awarded with. I won’t argue against the simplicity nor the predictability of the story, but for one, I see Disney try a different artistic approach once again, that admittedly may seem inspired by the previous ‘Lilo & Stitch’ to a degree, but still completely its own in a way. And despite having seen something similar, I like the themes of brotherhood, family, nature, life and the praising of those in general, as well as the whole deal about facing something from the opposite side of a situation and thereby experiencing everything with different eyes, quite literally, and being granted with a new perspective. This movie is fairly fun; it is sweet and it packs some pretty decent emotion through the story of Kenai and his family and noticeably their “trouble” with bears and nature.

I’m also a fan of Phil Collins, which probably also has something to say in this, especially since the man seems to get a lot of hate – even for his award-winning ‘Tarzan’ soundtrack. He is like the public’s solo-artist-answer to Nickelback… I wasn’t aware he was so hated among, uh, pretty much everybody. His songs aren’t deeply artistic or profound pieces of personal work, but it is “world music” that appeals to the body and soul on a simple and slightly surfaced level – and apart from his “mixing box era”, he has some great pieces of musical production. I like his songs for casual, playful listening sessions and I equally enjoy them in movies that are, despite everything, aimed at children and therefore the universal sound is all-around appealing and goes well with the themes and plot points of the movie(s). So, brothers and sisters, you will have to bear with me… I genuinely like this film, whether you like it or not.



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Swan's Avatar
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CIA Spook
07-31-17
i love you bitch but come on

brother bear

only my sister is allowed to call me that



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Friendo.
07-31-17
Originally Posted by Swan
i love you bitch but come on

brother bear

only my sister is allowed to call me that


The introduction still fits you though,
Originally Posted by MovieMeditation
Generic, predictable, pandering, unimaginative, unremarkable, too familiar, too forgettable, overly lazy, extremely lackluster...
hehehe just ****ing with ya you know I love you.... brother bear



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Friendo.
08-01-17
Originally Posted by the samoan lawyer
I remember Denmark winning that. I was young but I remember watching Peter Schmeichel. What a legend.
Indeed. Schmeichel was great.

You remember/know any of the other famous Danish players? Brian and Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjær, Henrik Larsen, John "Faxe" Jensen, Kim Vilfort? The Laudrup brothers are very well-known too, at least.


Anyways, next two reviews up will be for the lesser Disney films, Home on the Range and Chicken Little. Ugh.



the samoan lawyer's Avatar
Unregistered User
08-01-17
Originally Posted by MovieMeditation
Indeed. Schmeichel was great.

You remember/know any of the other famous Danish players? Brian and Michael Laudrup, Preben Elkjær, Henrik Larsen, John "Faxe" Jensen, Kim Vilfort? The Laudrup brothers are very well-known too, at least.


Anyways, next two reviews up will be for the lesser Disney films, Home on the Range and Chicken Little. Ugh.

Absolutely. I remember some of them well. Laudrups were great players. Elkjaer I only know the name of. Jensen I remember well and Vilfort again I only remember the name.



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Friendo.
08-03-17
"20"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
284 .......................... 341
__________________________


December 8th

—— 2004 ——
HOME on the RANGE
—— garbage ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.45


At first I was going to call it an utter embarrassment
but honestly it feels more like a total insult

I wish I could say, that ‘Home on the Range’ merely range from mediocre to horrible… only it doesn’t. ‘Home on the Range’ doesn’t range from anything really… instead it just seems perfectly at home in a single, simple location of pale and pathetic proportions. At its best, ‘Home on the Range’ is not even represented. At its worst, ‘Home on the Range’ is the single representative in sh*t town – population: 1 sh*tty-ass movie.

I don’t know what Disney was thinking with this, I honestly don’t. They have fallen so far down the ladder of success that they pitifully try to rip-off the animation style of the likes of Looney Tunes, and end up with a worse result than Michael Jackson after all his plastic surgery… I mean, Michael he pales in comparison to how bad of a job Disney did here… And well, that anything “pales” in comparison to Michael’s visual appearance might not be the greatest argument ever, I just realize that. But uh, anyways, the point is that this movie is the lowest Disney has ever went to date. Holy cow…

The animation is half-assed and lazy, and the story is so straightforward, that the two of them are battling each other for the “most simple outline ever” award… This is an out-and-out insult of a movie, that should have just stayed out… out of production, out of even being thought up, if there was even any thought involved at all to begin with. This stupid “cow movie” doesn’t even deserve a review, but it needs a proper ROAST, that’s for sure – and I’ll take that well-done, please, I want to make sure it’s completely dead. But then again, the characters are so thin and empty in this movie, I don’t even know if you could cut a decent steak out of it… I would sure love to slice into it though with a blunt butter knife – but that’s probably the producers that needs cutting more than anything. They better have their paycheck cut off immediately, at the least, before I step in and do the cutting for them… and I’m not talking about paychecks.

But I mean, why did Disney even try to take on boring farm animals as their next great hero? I have seen people take on farm animals in more interesting ways than this… only that isn’t exactly legal. Making a movie like ‘Home on the Range’ is somehow perfectly legal though. WOW. I mean, HOW THE COW is that so? I would rather sit through another “middle eastern home video”, filmed in Farmville, then I would ever endure this movie again. Watching ‘Home on the Range’ though, it’s no joke anymore bro... Watching ‘Home on the Range’, YOU are the violated animal. My senses feel violated, my brain feels artistically assaulted and because I decided to watch every Disney Classic ever, I had to endure this one and felt forced to do so more than anything.

I’m thankful and glad for one thing though… and that is the fact that Disney wasn’t dryhumping dollars out of me, because I never paid a single penny for this sh*t– unlike the thousands of kids and their families out there, who got screwed over, and are now scarred for life and must cope with this terrible experience. Bring in the family doctor... Bring in the local psychologist... No one walks away from ‘Home on the Range’ unmarked… NO ONE.





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Last edited by MovieMeditation; 08-03-17 at 03:19 PM.



Swan's Avatar
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CIA Spook
08-03-17
Wow I'll be sure to stay away from that one.

Don't want myself violated



MovieMeditation's Avatar
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Friendo.
08-03-17
"19"
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
The year is no spelling mistake
total movie count ........... viewing day count
285 .......................... 342
__________________________


December 9th

—— 2005 ——
chicken little
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.46


There was once a beautiful star named Disney,
but now ladies and gentlemen, it has fallen from the sky...

Before even watching this, my expectations were literally scraping the ground and I almost chickened out of ever watching the film. I had just put myself through dare-devilish dairy cows and haughty horses in 'Home on the Range', which butchered my brain cells just about enough already, but I guess I just had to jump back on that saddle and watch and tell myself “it’s just another moovie”. And after all, you can't make a movie without breaking a few eggs, or however the saying goes; only this seemed to break everything good left in Disney. I guess all I can say is this one didn't come out sunny side up, that's for sure. What a nightmare. Though I have seen worse, admittedly…

When breaking this whole thing down to the bare minimum, there are elements of sweetness, innocence and entertainment, to a certain level, as well as a pinch of cuteness. But these things feel as flat as the flying disc that falls from the sky in the plot of this movie. The main problem with 'Chicken Little' is the story, the themes and the morals. Not one of these add up to much good, neither does the movie deliver something fresh or exciting. I guess the story is arguably the most surprising element about this film, but mostly meant in a bad way, and it comes across as a confused mess with humor that struggles to deliver even a few chuckles. The story heads in many different directions throughout, all build around the same simple and underdeveloped script, which seems to be written by someone who had their brains scrambled beforehand. The world-building is weird and everything about this film feels like anything but Disney to be honest.

I guess there was some mystery to it at the beginning, but then the movie went crazy and the script and the characters in it began running around like a headless chicken. I’m serious. To sum it all up, there is just no meat on this chicken. It feels overstuffed, undercooked and anything but light as a feather – in fact, more like heavy as a pentagonally shaped and highly advanced metallic piece of colorful machinery that can fly, fall and camouflage. And if none of that made much sense at all… just wait till you see the movie.



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