Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
At least we know it's not your eyesight It must because the font is a created font so I'm guessing it can't be seen on phones. Do you use a phone btw or a PC or Mac?

I wonder how many other people can't see the title? Anyone else.

I use a computer, not a phone, and I can see the title.
__________________
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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.



[left]Monsters University (2013)
Director: Dan Scanlon
Voice Actors: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Studio: Pixar

'A look at the relationship between Mike and Sulley during their days at Monsters University -- when they weren't necessarily the best of friends.'

I've not seen the first Monsters, so I've nothing to compare this prequel to, but I liked it!


Rating


Monsters University is a fun movie, but it's not nearly as good as Monsters Inc.. I highly recommend that you watch the first movie.

While I enjoyed Monsters University, I think the biggest problem with this movie is the message that it sends to kids. It shows them that they can cheat, and still get what they want. Mike and Sully don't really suffer the consequences of their actions when they find another way in to the Scare Team.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.

UP (2009)

Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson (co-director)
Voice Actors: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Studio: Pixar


"By tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl sets out to fulfill his dream to see the wilds of South America"


Rating

Up is one of those movies that seems to grow on me more and more each time I watch it. I love the beginning of the movie, but like you, I lose interest around the time the house lands and we meet the talking dogs.

However unlike you, I liked the kid, Russell. I thought he was a little annoying at times, but overall he was kind of fun. And I liked the dog, Dug , but I didn't really care for the rest of the dogs or the bad guy who was voiced by Christopher Plummer.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.

Robinson Crusoe on Mars
(1964)


Director: Byron Haskin
Writers: Ib Melchior, John Higgins (screenplay)
Cast: Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, Adam West
Director: Adventure, Sci-Fi


'Stranded on Mars with only a monkey as a companion, an astronaut must figure out how to find oxygen, water, and food on the lifeless planet.'

I'll be the first to admit that Robinson Crusoe on Mars does get slow at times, and yes, those pesky animated alien ships from War of the Worlds keep doing the same scene over and over and over...But I still really like this film for the human element of it.



I'll tell you specifically why this film speaks to me, it's because of the gentle & caring relationship that Kit (Paul Mantee) has with Mona the woolly monkey. At a time when animals were often thought of as disposable and treated in inhumane ways, this movie has the Commander, sharing his rapidly dwindling oxygen and food with Mona.
Mona counts as a living breathing being in this movie and that's what I remembered most about this movie from my childhood. And of course, as this is inspired by Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe
we see one man risk his life to help a free slave. Maybe that's sentimental, but I'll take altruistic movies any day over CG drenched, 'rock em sock em robots'.


Yes the film does get many things wrong about Mars. But guess what? This was made in 1963 right after America launched the first manned space orbit, Mercury...and 1 year before the Mariner 4 Mars probe sent back the first video images of the planet, dashing long held beliefs that Mars might be habitable. At the time the film was made all that was really known of Mars was it's relative size and mass, it's orbit and rotation, it's distance from the sun...and through telescopes they appeared to be red areas that some thought were volcanic in nature and white areas at the poles that suggested ice caps. So at the time this movie was made it was trying to be fairly scientific based on the limited information that was available, while still telling a speculative fictional story of course.

I know it's hard for people to judge films by the past but that's just how this film should be judged. In the 1950s and early 60s most sci fi was aimed at kids or drive-in theater goers, with atomic mutated monsters eating people etc. The big exception was Forbidden Planet. Now I don't put Robinson Crusoe on Mars on the same level as Forbidden Planet. But I think it was a unique sci fi for it's day, that tried to show science being used in the near future and got a lot right.





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I thought Robinson Crusoe on Mars had a pretty good story, but I found the main character to be so dislikable that I didn't really care if he survived. I think it would have been better if they had cast Adam West in the main role, instead of the minor role that he had. I also thought the monkey was one of the most annoying animals in any movie I've seen.




Turbo Kid (2015)

Directors: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Writers: François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell
Cast: Munro Chambers, Laurence Leboeuf, Michael Ironside
Genre: Comedy Sci fi Spoof



'In a post-apocalyptic wasteland in 1997, a comic book fan adopts the persona of his favorite hero to save his enthusiastic friend and fight a tyrannical overlord.'

Turbo Kid
what a totally fun movie! I thought I might like it, but I was surprised that I had such a blast watching it! I loved the clever ode to the 80s B sci fi movies. It's not just the 80s style that is explored here...the film is done as one of the low budget 80s sci fis that they use to make. Turbo Kid reminded me of one of my fav sci fi B movies,
Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) It has the same basic story and even has the same Michael Ironside.



Laurence Leboeuf rocked her role as Apple. She made the movie fun. I loved her wacky way of seeing the world...and all while being so sweet...she just wanted a friend, ahh. I know a lot of people will focus on the fight scenes and yeah those were fun too. But it was the bonding between Apple and Turbo Kid that made the film memorable to me. This is going to be one of my favorite noms. Sure there are bigger and better sci fis, but I love this as a nom as it was an unexpected joy. I could watch this again.


The legendary Michael Ironside who played many a bad guy in 80s-90s sci fi B films, is back and badder than ever! He's a post apocalyptic wasteland overlord. With his gang of colorful psycho killer marauders he controls the dwindling water supply. If all of this sounds like something right out of an 80s B sci fi flick, you're right! and that is exactly where the films charms lay.

+







Minority Report (2002)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Scott Frank & Jon Cohen (screenplay)
Cast
: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton
Genre: Action, Sci Fi


'In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.'

High marks to the unique story concept of Minority Report, and that's thanks to the sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick who also penned the novel Blade Runner.

Minority Report did indeed feel a lot like Blade Runner. There was the same roguish law enforcement individual, who finds himself violating society's future laws and goes on the run. Then there's the humans who aren't quite the same as everyone else. They have unique abilities and those abilities cause them to be treated like objects, all for the benefit of society. Then there's the same invasive technology that has been usurped by commercialism and used to sell goods via personalized ads that follow you around like a bad rash where ever you go, sort of like what is happening today.


I found the concept of the movie to be deep...but damn if good ole Steven Spielberg didn't come along and muck up a great sci fi with his bloated chase scenes and product placement that must have brought in millions of bucks for him.

Image for a moment if Spielberg had directed Blade Runner and instead of the deep existential story about what it means to be human, we'd get Harrison Ford driving cars down the sides of buildings and flying through air as he leaps for his life like some reject from an amusement park ride. And image if Spielberg had taken the visual beauty from Blade Runner and replaced it with yet another assembly line looking Dream Works movie...

Luckily Spielberg didn't get his hands on Blade Runner but he sure did a number on Minority Report. This could have been great, an equal to Blade Runner...But instead this unique vision by Philip K. Dicks was demoted to 'Hollywood movie making magic'.

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Deja Vu (2006)


Director: Tony Scott
Writers:
Bill Marsilii & Terry Rossio
Cast: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Jim Caviezel
Genre: Action, Crime, Sci-Fi


'After a ferry is bombed in New Orleans, an A.T.F. agent joins a unique investigation using experimental surveillance technology to find the bomber, but soon finds himself becoming obsessed with one of the victims.'

Denzel Washington...a good actor that has the misfortune of ending up in mediocre action movies. Deja Vu is one of those ah-it's-ok flicks that are easy to watch and...easy to forget.

I really liked the first 30 minutes when the film was a straight, crime scene investigation drama. Denzel was real good in those first 30 minutes. But once we get to the sci-fi time-spy-cam, the film takes a step backwards and even Denzel goes from interesting to luke warm.

I had to laugh at his tizzy fit when in a frustrated rage he throws a chair into the FBI's ultra expensive time machine monitor. Silly, but not his fault, it's the directors mistake.


The sci fi elements didn't work and the idea of the Minority Report style high tech crime surveillance monitors just wasn't interesting to me and either were the actors who played the 'time geeks'. I can't watch Adam Goldberg without thinking of him as Chandler's crazy roommate from Friends, sorry but that boy is time-cast...err I mean type-cast.

Shanti (does she have a last name?) was the only believable scientist crime fighter in the time geek squad. But poor Val Kilmer didn't get to do anything interesting. Though I will say that Jim Caviezel gets some really good scenes as he plays an oddly inspired, home grown terrorist. The producers apparently wanted a sequel, as his character hints that he's on some sort of mission, which I took to be that he was a future time traveler sent to change the past, so he's available for part 2!

The film was kind of exciting during the chase scene in the Hummer, though chases aren't really my thing. But then they break that tension by going back to the girl's apartment and hang out for awhile...What? I thought the clock was ticking with only minutes left before the bomb explodes...They sure took their sweet time, but then with a time machine you can do that

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Minority Report (2002)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Scott Frank & Jon Cohen (screenplay)
Cast
: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton
Genre: Action, Sci Fi


'In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.'

High marks to the story concept of Minority Report, and that's thanks to the sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick who also penned the novel Blade Runner.

Minority Report did indeed feel a lot like Blade Runner. There was the same roguish law enforcement individual, who finds himself violating society's future laws and goes on the run. Then there's the humans who aren't quite the same as everyone else. They have unique abilities and those abilities cause them to be treated like objects, all for the benefit of society. Then there's the same invasive technology that has been usurped by commercialism and used to sell goods via personalized ads that follow you around like a bad rash where ever you go, sort of like what is happening today.


I found the concept of the movie to be deep...but damn if good ole Steven Spielberg didn't come along and muck up a great sci fi with his bloated chase scenes and product placement that must have brought in millions of bucks for him.

Image for a moment if Spielberg had directed Blade Runner and instead of the deep existential story about what it means to be human, we'd get Harrison Ford driving cars down the sides of buildings and flying through air as he leaps for his life like some reject from an amusement park ride. And image if Spielberg had taken the visual beauty from Blade Runner and replaced it with yet another assembly line looking Dream Works movie...

Luckily Spielberg didn't get his hands on Blade Runner but he sure did a number on Minority Report. This could have been great, an equal to Blade Runner...But instead this unique vision by Philip K. Dicks was aborted and demoted to 'Hollywood movie making magic'.

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I'm glad you wrote this - I thought I was supposed to like Minority Report a lot more than I did. Like you, I appreciated the concepts, but now I can hardly remember most of the movie (which means it didn't make a huge impact).



I'm glad you wrote this - I thought I was supposed to like Minority Report a lot more than I did. Like you, I appreciated the concepts, but now I can hardly remember most of the movie (which means it didn't make a huge impact).

I remember it having a little in the way of Jeunet style sci fi/fantasy mix that was somewhat interesting but didn't really go anywhere with the film mostly ending up as a pretty standard sci fi action thriller.




Tombstone (1993)

Directors: George P. Cosmatos
Writer: Kevin Jarre
Cast: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Dana Delany
Genre: Western


I've been meaning to re-watch Tombstone ever since I got on an O.K. Corral movie kick. I've watched a number of films about the gunfight at O.K. Corral. Some you might know of like John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946). Others you should've heard of like John Sturges' pair of fine films: Gunfight at OK Corral (1957) & Hour of the Gun (1967)...And others like the Marie Osmond's TV vehicle, I Married Wyatt Earp (1983) is best unheard of, yikes.

As I worked my way through all these films and documentaries too, I started getting an appreciation for the life of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and the infamous fight in Tombstone at the O.K. Corral. Well actually the gun fight only lasted seconds and took place in a vacant lot next to the O.K. Corral, but like they say, 'don't get your history from movies.'

I probably could write a mini novella about the real Wyatt Earp and still get it all wrong because the only true facts are: that no one left alive knows the real story and it has been spun so many different ways that Wyatt and Doc have entered that magical realm of mytho-heros.

Tombstone doesn't try to be factual, thank goodness as how could it be when the real facts are unknown...Instead it takes the myth and delivers it up in a potent, folklore way. The characters are larger than life with memorable lines and unforgettable scenes that one can recall long after the movie is over.

The last Wyatt Earp film I watched was Kevin Costner in Wyatt Earp (1994). I can't say I remember a thing about that movie, not one line, not one scene... Dennis Quad was a great Doc in Wyatt Earp, but for my money I'm going with Val Kilmer as the best Doc Holiday around. Val's Doc has heart and damn if he doesn't get all the best scenes to boot, even the scene without his boots! I loved the scene where he first meets Johnny Ringo who pulls out his gun and spins it around all fancy like...then, Doc answers him by taking a tiny tin cup and spinning it around his finger like it was a fancy six shooter. Did Val Kilmer win best supporting actor? If not he was robbed!





Open Range (2003)

Director: Kevin Costner
Writers: Lauran Paine (novel), Craig Storper (screenplay)
Cast: Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Diego Luna
Genre: western


I liked Open Range, with some reservations. I have reservations about most movies I watch. By that I mean: smaller things that I didn't care for or would have done differently if I was in the director's seat. If I'm really into a movie then those reservations are forgotten. But with Open Range I'm on the fence, a barbed wire fence, ha, I did enjoy the film, but like a lot of Kevin Costner's films it felt long to me. The only movie of his that didn't feel long was Dances With Wolves, which was fairly long, go figure.

The opening scene out on the range, could have been trimmed by 10 minutes as it took 24 minutes before the crisis began and I was losing interest during that first establishing scene. But once the big guy goes missing and the boys go looking for him, the film caught my attention.

I'm sure some will say Open Range is sentimentalism. Well I like sentimentalism myself, though a couple of times director Costner dipped into that well too deeply, especially the scenes with the dog which had me in the mindset of Hallmark. But mostly it had a nice touch to it.

Each film takes it's own tone and Open Range takes it's tone from Kevin Costner and despite his character's shady past we see he's a decent guy who's thoughtful and considerate...kind of like me!

Well Costner's character did remind me of myself, except for the gun slinging stuff of course, but rest assured if I got mud all over a pretty woman's floor I'd be picking the mud clods up too! Loved that scene BTW. Also the scene in the general store where he's looking at a mail order catalog to replace a china set, just in case he doesn't survive the gunfight...that was a nice touch to the movie. And that's what works for me in this film is Kevin Costner, he's easy to relate to.





The Virgin Spring (1960)
Jungfrukällan (original title)
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Writer: Ulla Isaksson
Cast: Max von Sydow, Birgitta Valberg, Gunnel Lindblom
Genre: Historical Drama
Language: Swedish

'An innocent yet pampered young virgin and her family's pregnant and jealous servant set out to deliver candles to church, but only one returns from events that transpire in the woods along the way.'

This is the third or fourth Bergman film I've seen and the first one that held my attention. Of course it was beautifully filmed with compositions that could be printed, framed and then hung in an art museum. I was intrigued at first by the jealousy the dark haired-servant girl showed towards the blonde spoiled daughter. But I was disappointed that instead of an exploration of that jealousy, the film simply shows a brutal rape and murder scene of the poor frightened girl. Then comes a long slow march until we finally get the prerequisite revenge scene.

I don't see what the appeal of this film is? I mean what do people get from it? Besides the aforementioned cinematography, what does the film have to offer? I know that this was based on a 12th century folk ballad so when the film was made I can understand that the movie might resonate with the Swedish audience of that time. But despite the master craftsmanship by Bergman, the story itself offered little to me.

I'm not saying it's flawed, just saying it didn't do anything for me. Perhaps if I knew more of the ancient religious beliefs of 12th century Sweden, then I might have gotten much more out of it as I believe there was a juxtaposition of the ancient beliefs vs the modern Christian beliefs, and the film demonstrates through different events that regardless of one's beliefs, the need for understanding and revenge and forgiveness is universal. At least I think that's what it was about.

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Return to Paradise (1998)

Director: Joseph Ruben
Writers: Pierre Jolivet, Olivier Schatzky
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix
Genre: Drama


'Two friends must choose whether to help a third friend who was arrested in Malaysia for drug possession.'

Loved the premise and the moral exploration of the theme of responsibility...that's my kind of movie.

But I hated how the actors, especially Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche acted so light heartened in so many of the scenes, which then diluted any power the movie's moral dilemma had. A scene would start out strong only to have Vince end it by grinning at Anne Heche...I've never seen more smirks and smiles than in this movie. For the subject matter, the tone of the film was too light, except for Joaquin Phoenix who added needed believably to the otherwise mess of a movie.

The characters almost never delivered their lines like a person's life actually depended on them. I didn't believe them for one second, as they didn't act like they believed the situation themselves.

What derailed the film was the romance thing between Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, it added way too much lightness to what needed to be a hard hitting film. I actually laughed a couple time at the daft way the characters handled themselves...At the beginning of the film Anne Heche confronts Vince Vaughn on the street and tells him his friend will be executed in 8 days if he doesn't return to Malaysia to serve jail time (Heche was OK there but then) she goes from serious to happy chirpy when she says 'how about dinner?' 'how about drinks'...The film lost me right there. Then again the script doesn't offer the actors much to work with but ad-hoc gimmicks. But it's the director who I blame most as the entire movie felt too light weight for the seriousness of the subject matter.





Cinema Paradiso (1988)

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (original title)
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Writers: Giuseppe Tornatore (story), Giuseppe Tornatore (screenplay)
Cast: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili
Genre: Comedy Drama
Language
: Italian


'A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.'


When Cinema Paradiso was over and the credits rolled...I was sure I hated it, due to the over abundance of quirky cuteness and oodles of nostalgia...But then a funny thing happened, I put those images of the grinning boy and quaint Italian village aside and I started to think about the underlying theme of the movie. Some might describe this as uplifting and get misty eyed from the warm tale of a boy who loves the magic of movies and grows up to be a successful director and that is what the film shows you...but it's not what it's truly about. Those happy coming of age aspects hide the devastating truth from plain sight, and in that truth lays the films greatness.

'when dreams become more important than reality'

The film projectionist warns the boy that the life of film is no life at all, and that he will become isolated from the world as he watches movies 100s of times over. But the boy falls under the spell of film and escapes into a world of movie fantasies and that's what we see...the older director looking back at his boyhood and seeing the town and it's people as if they were characters in a film.

The boy loses himself into a world of movies and by that ruins his own life. Cinema Paradiso warns us not to live inside a dream, and that, the illusion of cinema is so strong that one can live a lie, instead of living a life.

+




UP (2009)

Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson (co-director)
Voice Actors: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Studio: Pixar


"By tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl sets out to fulfill his dream to see the wilds of South America"


I love the rain forest...in real life they're really dark and really wet...ha go figure! Well it did rain in the movie so that was fitting. I liked how the house kept them dry as it floated overhead. Though my favorite part was the first 30 minutes as we're getting to know Carl and Ellie. Wow that was really touching film making and such good use of montages to compress the couple's story into about 20 minutes. That first act reminded of the silent film Sunrise.


I'd say the film achieved everything it set out to do, and yet there were parts that didn't really speak to me.

World Building: 5/5 I loved the old house and how it was decorated, and especially loved the interior of the giant air ship, very cool looking.

Animation:
5/5 Excellent

Character Development: 3/5
Nothing outstanding in the richness of the characters (except the first act). But like the other noms the characters work well for the intended audience.

Story Premise:
5/5 The first 30 minutes were powerful after that I wasn't that connect to it, though visually it looked good.


Originality: 5/5 Pretty darn original I must say. Especially the dog culture parts that was so original! I loved the planes that had chew bones as flight control, ha!

Other Thoughts:
I must say I didn't like Ed Asner as the old man Carl, he didn't seem to have much personality to me. I'd like to have seen Jack Black do the voice of Carl. I just about hated the little kid, he was made way too stupid for me to like. While I liked Dory in Finding Nemo, I never warmed up to the kid. I kept wishing he would just go away and stop ruining the movie for me.


Favorite Moments: The dog. This time the friendly dog was the biggest charmer in the movie. He added a lot of warmth and fun.


Rating
I'm not big on Pixar films. I do like a few - Monsters, Inc being my favorite. When it came to Up, my favorite character is ... Kevin...




You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.

Return to Paradise (1998)

Director: Joseph Ruben
Writers: Pierre Jolivet, Olivier Schatzky
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Joaquin Phoenix
Genre: Drama


'Two friends must choose whether to help a third friend who was arrested in Malaysia for drug possession.'

Loved the premise and the moral exploration of the theme of responsibility...that's my kind of movie.

But I hated how the actors, especially Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche acted so light heartened in so many of the scenes, which then diluted any power the movie's moral dilemma had. A scene would start out strong only to have Vince end it by grinning at Anne Heche...I've never seen more smirks and smiles than in this movie. For the subject matter, the tone of the film was too light, except for Joaquin Phoenix who added needed believably to the otherwise mess of a movie.

The characters almost never delivered their lines like a person's life actually depended on them. I didn't believe them for one second, as they didn't act like they believed the situation themselves.

What derailed the film was the romance thing between Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche, it added way too much lightness to what needed to be a hard hitting film. I actually laughed a couple time at the daft way the characters handled themselves...At the beginning of the film Anne Heche confronts Vince Vaughn on the street and tells him his friend will be executed in 8 days if he doesn't return to Malaysia to serve jail time (Heche was OK there but then) she goes from serious to happy chirpy when she says 'how about dinner?' 'how about drinks'...The film lost me right there. Then again the script doesn't offer the actors much to work with but ad-hoc gimmicks. But it's the director who I blame most as the entire movie felt too light weight for the seriousness of the subject matter.


I liked Return to Paradise, but I agree that the romance part didn't work in the movie. It might have worked if it turned out that Heche was just playing Vaughn just to try to get him to save Phoenix, but it wasn't a real romance. But it just didn't work as a real romance.



I'm not big on Pixar films. I do like a few - Monsters, Inc being my favorite. When it came to Up, my favorite character is ... Kevin...

I'm not big on animation, but I've liked the Pixar films. Funny thing is I just watched Monsters, Inc. last night. It was nicely done, but I think my favorite Pixar is Wall-E.