The Miss Vicky love-in continues!
Micro Musings - A Miss Vicky Special
Year of release
1999
Directed by
Troy Duffy
Starring
Sean Patrick Flanery
Norman Reedus
Willem Dafoe
David Della Rocco
Billy Connolly
Boondock Saints
Got to say that I really struggled to get into this one. It just felt really cheap and trashy to me, a pale and often unsavoury imitation of many similar but superior films. I will admit that it did have a few great moments and laughs but for the most part I actually found it really quite irritating. This was particularly the case with the tremendously undeveloped characters of the film with the two brothers (Connor and Murphy) and especially The Funny Man (god I was desperate for him to be killed!) being top of the list. The saving grace of the film however was most certainly the performance of Willem Dafoe, even if his character is truly ridiculous. And I thought Dafoe hammed it up in Spider-Man. Hoo boy! Here he takes his scenery chewing to a whole other level and is just a riot. Outside of him though most of the acting was pretty suspect I felt (particularly when it came to the accents). And in general I just found the film to be really quite sloppy, and way too self-conscious in its attempts to ape the work of Tarantino that it so clearly worships. It all feels just so immature, as if it's been written by a 12-year-old who after every line he came up with he thought to himself “oh that's so cool!” And he became so consumed by that line of attack that he forgets to attempt any characterisation whatsoever, often just falling back on simplistic and stereotypical caricatures. I can just about see why people like/love it but I personally was a long way from that. Oh I did enjoy its conclusion however with the news interviews showing the exploitative side of the media and the differing viewpoints that its possible to take away from the brothers' actions. There's quite a disparate opinion on this film. On rottentomatoes it has a score of 20% with critics, but a massive 7.8 rating on imdb. It may not always happen but I'm going to have to side with the critics on this one. Although I will give it another go someday as it seems like the kind of thing I could usually like. I'll admit that one thing that worked against the film for me personally was to be found in its very foundation - it's Irishness! For a start the accent; I know a lot of people love its lyrical, sing-song quality but I've always found it exceptionally irritating. And just generally the demeanour of the people turns me off; the glorifying of drinking culture and the fact that they all think they are hilarious comedians. It's like a whole country of Scousers!
As I mentioned when I returned I had been laid low by a nasty cold/flu and am still feeling pretty lousy. As such all my film-watching over the last week or two has been dedicated to catching up on animated films I've missed; their light, colourful, feel-good nature have been exactly what I felt in the mood for. So along with watching Mulan, Princess and the Frog, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, Chicken Run etc I've also watched a couple from your list Vicky.
Year of release
2003
Directed by
Aaron Blaise / Robert Walker
Starring
Joaquin Phoenix
Jeremy Suarez
Rick Moranis
Dave Thomas
Jason Raize
D.B. Sweeney
Brother Bear
The second film listed here, Lilo and Stitch, has a very good reputation so I was kind of expecting to enjoy it. Aside from Vicky however I hadn't really heard much about this one at all. And as such it proved to be a really nice surprise, I highly enjoyed it and also found it to be really touching. It's certainly a very traditional Disney film featuring elements that they've utilised countless times before but I thought it managed to remain quite nice and fresh, with the mystical Native American angle being part of the reason. Brother Bear looks beautiful with nice animation creating some lovely images, and I also felt that the whole story was really quite beautiful. I was really taken with the story about souls and the connection between humans and nature/animals. I also found it to be very funny on numerous occasions, thanks to the interaction between Joaquin Phoenix's Kenai and the young Koda and especially thanks to the two Canadian moose character voiced by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, they were brilliant. In musical terms I felt it was a little mixed. Phil Collin's songs were a bit hit and miss for me personally but it did feature some lovely score music I felt. All in all though quite a lovely film. If you hadn't put this on your top 100 list Vicky there's a good chance I would never have watched it, so thank you for that.
Year of release
2002
Directed by
Chris Sanders / Dean DeBlois
Starring
Chris Sanders
Daveigh Chase
Tia Carrere
David Ogden Stiers
Kevin McDonald
Ving Rhames
Lilo and Stitch
A really funny and highly entertaining little film, just really quirky and inventive which while also hitting some classic Disney tropes feels quite fresh and original. With the quite old-fashioned painted backgrounds sitting alongside the more contemporary, quirky story it made for a nice mix. It's a very funny film but also quite touching in parts. Most of the laughs come from the furious ball of energy that is the alien Stitch, who was just absolutely adorable. And I think Lilo has to be one of the best depictions of a child I've ever seen on screen, animated or otherwise. They just captured that perfect mix of adorableness and bang your head against the wall infuriation that kids create. I could just see my little nieces in that character so much. For all its quirks and alien characters I enjoyed the more grounded and even mundane elements of the film. Forget your princesses, your wizards, your talking animals etc the story here concerns dealing with the loss of parents, adjusting to new family dynamics and simply just trying to find a job. Really good fun.
I've got to say I was a little unsure as to how to rate Brother Bear and Lilo. I perhaps enjoyed both of them slightly more than the score I've given them but I've been burned in the past when I've watched a film when not in a great mood. For example 5+ years back around Christmas time I was in a really down mood and stumbled across The Princess Diaries. I really enjoyed, perhaps even loved it, and it really pulled me out of the dumps and made me feel a great deal better. Returning to it earlier this year however I didn't really find much to entertain me at all.