Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Because you weren't paying close enough attention when I posted about it last year:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...73#post1513473

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Director: David Lowery
Writer: David Lowery(screenplay)
Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oakes Fegley
Genre: Disney Family Fantasy

About: A boy who becomes lost in the deep woods and is befriended by a dragon. He spends six years of his life there, until a wildlife ranger discovers him.


Review: I'm not the biggest Disney-Fantasy fan around, but my wife really liked this movie and I thought it was OK. So it's probably worth a watch, unless you have an aversion to cute green furry dragons and little kids. I'm not usually a fan of movies with child actors as the lead, but I still liked this. Probably because much of the time we spend with adults. The pretty redhead ranger is Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard's daughter....and she's pretty darn likeable in this and a good actress too.


Of course we get her nice-guy supportive boyfriend...And we get the wise mentor, her father, played by Robert Redford. Who looked way too old to be Bryce's dad, but whatever! He seen the dragon many years ago but no one believed him, would you? Then finally we get the arrogant SOB who wants to capture the dragon and make a lot of money off it...ala King Kong.

Well that's about that, the woods looks pretty cool. Bryce is pretty cute, the dragon very green and the kid? not bad at all.

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I'm going to take a guess that this is the character Karl Urban plays. I have no interest in seeing the movie, but Urban being in it is rather tempting. I'm sure I'd be rooting for his character to capture the dragon.

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Bryce Dallas Howard looks beautiful in the pictures you posted...God, Robert Redford is not aging well...do you have to have seen the original to appreciate this remake?

Will definitely be adding this to my watchlist...there was a movie made about Williams in the 60's called Your Cheatin Heart with George Hamilton playing Williams, that I always suspected was mostly fiction, it would be nice to get a more accurate picture of this music legend.

Ha...

Good guess! Yup Karl Urban is the heavy. Though he's not really the bad guy per say, more of the bull headed, gruff type. He has some good scenes in the movie.

I'd love to read your review on this one. Have you seen the bio pic about Johnny Cash? It's calledWalk the Line (2005), with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. I highly recommend that one.

Yes, there's a review of it in my review thread...Phoenix was brilliant, but I don't think Witherspoon deserved the Oscar she won.

Hey Citizen,

I was just checking out the earlier pages of this thread and I saw a modern movie that interests me—Ruby Sparks. Does it lean more towards the romance or the fantasy?

Oh, tough question. I'd say romance/fantasy. But it's not a chick flick. In fact I think women in general don't like it, as the premise is Paul Dano is a reclusive mental wreck who years earlier had written a successful book but now lives secluded. He then writes a new novel about a girl named Ruby Sparks who 'apparently' shows up in his real life and he can control her actions just by typing about her on his typewriter. It has some dark-comedy moments. And the movie makes sense once you watch it, if I said more it would ruin the mystery as it is a mystery too.

Director: Taika Waititi
Writers: Taika Waititi(screenplay), Barry Crump(novel)
Cast: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama

About: An old, grumpy man (Sam Neill) and the young boy (Rima Te Wiata) who comes to live with him at his rundown farm in the remote back country of New Zealand. When the foster kid runs away and his 'uncle' goes looking for him, they both disappear into the deep New Zealand forest. Believing the child has been abducted by a dangerous man, a huge manhunt is undertaken to find the two recluses...who don't want to be found.


Review: The independent New Zealand film maker, Taika Waititi writes/directs and even acts in a very unique and funny film. This is his fourth critically acclaimed film along with: Eagle Vs Shark (2007), Boy (2010) and What We Do In The Shadows (2014). For such a new director, Taika shows he can make a film that is fresh and lively. I laughed out loud at this, and comedies rarely make me laugh.


The film is shot on location and we're treated to stunningly beautiful views of New Zealand's high country, which they call the bush. But there's nothing bushy about it, it's lush and green and amazing!

Sam Neill gets a lot of credit here for playing a likeable but very gruff loner type guy. I liked him and he paired well with the kid Rima Te Wiata, who has been kicked around so much that he lives in a make believe world. He's good in this too. Some of the stuff he says is just flat out hilarious.

I liked it so much that I want to see more from the director.

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I liked the soundtrack.

I just first heard of Wilderpeople last week. I'll be trying it soon.

I think (not sure) but I think you will like it. I'll look for your post on it.

Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Pat Rushin (screenplay), Terry Gilliam (additional dialogue)
Cast: Christoph Waltz, Lucas Hedges, Mélanie Thierry
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi


About: The story of a very odd, but highly intelligent, socially inept loaner Qohen (Christoph Waltz). Qohen spends his life waiting faithfully by the phone for that one important call that he believes will tell him his purpose in life. His job in this oddly futuristic world is a computer programmer. He's assigned the heady task of proving the Zero Theorem that the universe ends as nothing, which renders life meaningless. Indeed his life is meaningless, but he craves rectification.

Review: Hot chick with pink hair good! Movie bad!...And that's a pity as this starts off so promising. In the first hour, director Terry Gilliam builds an ecliptic world similar to his film Brazil, only this is much darker. The sets he builds and the details he packs into the background are artistic voyeurism, real eye candy. Very impressive.


Waltz is interesting as a troubled man who prefers not to be touched and refers to himself in the plural. Good stuff. Enter the cyber space party girl who's assigned by management to relive our protagonist's stress. Mélanie Thierry the hot chick in the nurse get-up is awesome. I don't just mean her tight dress, I mean she's lively, spirited and interesting. Her and Waltz are the best part.


But...and it's a big but, the second half blows, when they introduce a jaded teenager who's hyper intelligent and too hip to care. Lucas Hedges might be a good actor but his role is 180 degrees from the rest of the movie. He plays it like a typical teen you might see in your local grocery store buying a Red Bull. I don't blame him, I blame the director for the poor casting choice.

Brazil or 12 Monkeys... this is not.

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I was a big fan of Wilderpeople and look forward to seeing what Waititi can do with the next Thor flick.

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Suspect's Reviews

I had a similar experience with The Zero Theorem. It had great world building, that unfortunately was squandered. I'm also still not sure what I think about the ending haha.

I can't even remember clearly how it ended...that's how much it fizzled.

Oh, I did like one other thing besides the pink haired girl, the rat! Very cool how the rat would grab a piece of pizza and drag it into it's hole in the wall.

Director: Kirk Jones
Writer: Nia Vardalos
Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine
Genre: Comedy, Family, Romance

About: The Portokalos family is back at it again! This time they're trying to marry off their 17 year old niece... and making sure she doesn't go to college out of state.

Review: This should have been called My Big Fat Dumb Ass Greek Wedding 2...While I enjoyed the original 2002 movie, this one, like a lot of sequels goes bigger and dumber. The Greek stereo types were so over done that I felt like calling the PC police and telling them a moving violation had occurred during the course of the movie. I don't know who was worse the loud grandmother or Andrea Martin. Check that...it was Andrea Martin who went so far over the top that she spend most of her time on the roof top. Speaking of roofs, the Greek grandparents have a house painted in Grecko white and cyan blue.


There's a few laughs here in this unimaginative sequel, but sadly there's more moans and even a few groans. Nia Vardalos who wrote and stars in this movie, makes for a nice watch. If she could just lose her relatives, this might have been a better movie. But she doesn't get enough air time and we're stuck with too many cringe worthy moments from her annoying family. Mostly it's predicable and the movie falls under the 'why bother to make it' category.

I haven't seen the sequel, but I saw the first My Big Fat Greek Wedding and I hated it. I don't even know why they bothered with a sequel.