Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

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The Hired Hand (1971)

Director: Peter Fonda
Writer: Alan Sharp
Cinematography: Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing & Montage: Frank Mazzola
Production Design: Lawrence G. Paul
Musical Score: Bruce Langhorne


Cast: Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Verna Bloom

On rare occasions we cinema lovers will stumble upon an obscure film
Hiding some gems in here are we Watchlisted!

Wen't treasure hunting/ diggin' in the crates here, my loot for today;
The Boston Strangler, The Railway Man, The Hired Hand
I'll be bach



I don't watch too much animation as well, but Pixar is one of my go-to picks. Also, thanks for linking the HoF thread. It was quite informative to read it.
There's always future HoFs starting up. The next one will be hosting by yours truly and will be the big main HoF...Hall of Fame 20...You're welcomed to join when it starts (in a few weeks I'm guessing).



Hiding some gems in here are we Watchlisted!

Wen't treasure hunting/ diggin' in the crates here, my loot for today;
The Boston Strangler, The Railway Man, The Hired Hand
I'll be bach
Cool, I'm glad to hear someone will be watching The Hired Hand And if MoFo's next big countdown is Westerns, then it would be a timely watch



Cool, I'm glad to hear someone will be watching The Hired Hand And if MoFo's next big countdown is Westerns, then it would be a timely watch
Will the Westerns countdown take place after the big main hof?



Will the Westerns countdown take place after the big main hof?
I have no idea actually, that will be up to the MoFos and of course to whoever will host it. But last time around when we talked about what the next countdown should be, Westerns was a very popular idea.

Here's a link to that thread link



There's always future HoFs starting up. The next one will be hosting by yours truly and will be the big main HoF...Hall of Fame 20...You're welcomed to join when it starts (in a few weeks I'm guessing).
Since I'm still relatively new here, how exactly do the HoF's work?



Since I'm still relatively new here, how exactly do the HoF's work?
This is a link to the last one, the 19th Hof. Just read the opening post for the rules and also click on the box that says SHOW for more rules.



This is a link to the last one, the 19th Hof. Just read the opening post for the rules and also click on the box that says SHOW for more rules.
Ah, I get what it is. It looks fun, but with college starting back up in a few days, I don't know if I'll have enough time to commit myself to it. I'm sorry. If one happens at the start of next summer though, I could probably participate in it.



Ah, I get what it is. It looks fun, but with college starting back up in a few days, I don't know if I'll have enough time to commit myself to it. I'm sorry. If one happens at the start of next summer though, I could probably participate in it.
That's cool, I was just mentioning it. They do take a lot of time to do, that's for sure.




Coco (2017)

Coco (2017)
Directors: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina (co-director)
Voice Actors: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family
Studio: Pixar

'Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.'

Coco
does world building par excellence! I've never seen another movie that was packed with so much rich detail in the background scenes that it felt like you were right there.


I've been to different parts of Mexico and a lot of what I seen in the film looked very familiar and that is one huge plus for Coco. I loved the whole look at the traditional Mexican families way of life. I was amazed not only with the detail that went into the animation but also with the details of the story. Loved the way the trucks parked halfway on the sidewalks, yup they do that alright!


I loved the fore mentioned street scenes, but even more I loved the village of the dead, that was world building done up right! Coco has such a richly developed story and superb animation that I think this will finish right towards the top of my list.



World Building: 5/5

Animation:
5/5

Character Development: 3/5 Nothing outstanding in the richness of the characters, but fore the scope of the intended target audience they work fine.

Story Premise: 5/5
Had this just been about a boy who dreamed of being a musician in a family that hated music, then the story would have been OK average. But the whole world of the dead with the reverences for past family members who needed to be remembered to exist in the nether world was genius.

Believability: 5/5
I believed it.

Originality: 5/5 Yes I know Coco seems a lot like Spirited Away (another film I loved) but that's OK as no idea in art is completely original. All unique ideas are built on the back of other ideas.

Other Thoughts:
I disliked the way the dog was animated. With it's eyes bulging out and it's tongue flying around like a flag in the wind...it looked grotesque. It reminded me of Ren and Stimpy (which I did love for it's grotesqueness) but here I'd have liked the dog to be more enduring. Better yet the sidekick dog idea is overused, so I'd preferred it dog free.

Favorite Moments: Frieda! OMG that scene was so bizarrely surrealistic. I loved the art work so created, damn that was crazy stuff! I could've watched an entire film about Freida in skeltonville and been pleased as punch!

Rating







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! It didn't have great animation as compared to some of the other Pixar's and it didn't have in depth world building like some of the other Pixar's that I loved, and it didn't have the clever references in it either......but...it had lots of heart! And of all the Pixar's I've seen Monster University kept me the most interest thanks to it's story. I was really engrossed into the two main characters and cared about them. This did feel more like a kid's movie than some of the other Pixars, but that's OK as obviously these films are intended for general audiences.

World Building: 3/5 Builds from the world created in Monsters, this is a prequel. As a prequel it seemed unique in it's own identity.

Animation: 4/5
Like most all Pixars no complaints about the animation.

Character Development: 4/5
Decent, as expected.

Story Premise: 3/5
Interesting plot for a Pixar film.

Believability: 3/5
Pretty far fetched, but then again that's not a problem.

Originality:
Prequel so not too original.

Other Thoughts:
There was nothing I didn't like in the film, no complaints about annoying characters or anything like that.

Favorite Moments: Lots of good moments, loved the whole college campus life and the competition for top scare team.

Rating





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 dark, 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 the characters do 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 have no idea actually, that will be up to the MoFos and of course to whoever will host it. But last time around when we talked about what the next countdown should be, Westerns was a very popular idea.

Here's a link to that thread link
Visited the thread, think it's going to be a long while before the Westerns countdown kicks off.




Ⓐ Ⓑⓤⓖ'ⓢ Ⓛⓘⓕⓔ
A Bug's Life (1998)
Directors: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton (co-director)
Voice Actors: Kevin Spacey, Dave Foley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Studio: Pixar


'A misfit ant, looking for "warriors" to save his colony from greedy grasshoppers, recruits a group of bugs that turn out to be an inept circus troupe.'


I like bugs! I do Well, most of them anyway. They're so interesting and come in so many different shapes and colors and do all sorts of fascinating things that it's like they have their own little universe all to themselves. And that's what the movie meant to me...a chance to see these bugs doing their own thing. I loved the bug city and the bug circus show was cool, but mostly I liked the bug bar in the photo above. I got a kick out of how the bugs reacted to each other as it was based on their actual behaviors.


World Building: 4/5
As mentioned I enjoyed the bug city, circus and bar...I wish we would have seen more of the inside going-ons of the ant nest.

Animation: 3/5
I kind of wanted the ants to have six appendages, but oh well.

Character Development:
3/5 Not much in the character development part.

Story Premise:4/5
Decent but nothing amazing in the plot.


Originality: 3.5/5
I don't know if this or Antz came out first, but I'd still say this was original enough for me.

Other Thoughts:
I didn't care much for the baby princess ant, but oh well I'm sure that was done with kids in mind so I can't complain all that much.


Favorite Moments: The voice actors! Totally cool that they used Phyllis Diller and Johnathan Harris it was a joy to hear them! That was my favorite part.


Rating





Aliens (1986)
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

'Ellen Ripley is rescued by a deep salvage team after being in hypersleep for 57 years. The moon that the Nostromo visited has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, colonial marines have impressive firepower, but will that be enough?'

Aliens
, a satisfying watch with a little something for everyone. I'd only seen this once many years ago. I mostly didn't remember it, mostly.

I was engaged from the get-go and entertained by the antics of the overly confident space marines. Bill Paxton was the best! He really had a lot of good lines and made the film memorable. Especially after the alien guts hit the fan and he literally soiled himself with reconstituted marine food rations.

I liked Paul Reiser's weaselly 'yes man' from the evil space corporation. He was good at being only a touch weaselly and yet oh so convincing with his fake sincerity. He added a lot to the film. So did Carrie Henn who played the little girl 'Newt'.

Director James Cameron uses Newt and Ripley to give the story some touching moments. This is the same type of sentimentality coupled with a horrifying situation that Cameron used in Titanic, so as to give the audience an insight into the human cost of such a large tragedy...or in Aliens case a window into the human cost to the horror of the planet.

What I mostly liked about Aliens was that the film never was too graphic or overly torturous of it's characters. For a sci fi horror film it almost had a light touch especially with the humorous marines and that made for a fun time watching Xenophobe aliens doing some naughty things!

+



a satisfying watch with a little something for everyone. I'd only seen this once many years ago. I mostly didn't remember it, mostly.
LOL!

Aliens is one of my all time favorite action movies - one of my favorite sci-fi's, and one of my favorite sequels - different enough from the first in tone to make it it's own film yet still a great continuation and expansion on the first!



LOL!

Aliens is one of my all time favorite action movies - one of my favorite sci-fi's, and one of my favorite sequels - different enough from the first in tone to make it it's own film yet still a great continuation and expansion on the first!
Glad someone got my reference I agree with you on Aliens it is all those things you mentioned. It's so weird that was my only second time watching it, and it had been so long that it was like watching a new movie. I have seen Aliens 3 (don't remember what the exact title is) but it was like 20 years ago. I really need to watch that one sometime.



Aliens is really good. I feel like Cameron did a fine job with this one as, instead of trying to repeat what Scott did with his film, he changed the tone enough without losing the charm which the original had, kind of making the concept his own (more action-y than horror), not a variation of Scott's (mainly horror). It was also a more than fine example of one as well with its far share of standout scares, sequences, and set pieces. I still prefer Scott's film by a pretty wide margin, but this one also stands among the best horror and sci-fi films of all time.




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

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕀𝕟𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕖𝕤 (2004)

The Incredibles
Director
: Brad Bird
Voice Actors: Craig T. Nelson, Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
Studio: Pixar


'A family of undercover superheroes, while trying to live the quiet suburban life, are forced into action to save the world.'

Movie Review Rating


When I first saw The Incredibles, I thought it was a fun movie, but I also thought that it was just an animated copy of The Fantastic Four. But it seems to get better each time I watch it. My favorite character is definitely Edna "No capes!" Mode. She's adorable, and so much fun.
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