Saturday, June 29, 2013

Anglerte's Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Because it would seem that my area of focus regarding film genre has lately been entirely western, I decided not to deteriorate this pattern, but strengthen it where it before was uncomfortably lacking in experience; I decided to watch a classic, well known and, to avoid potential mental injuries such as those I very nearly encountered in my quest to find satisfactory indie-western films, highly acclaimed by countless reliable sources. Given that I knew the soundtrack of this film far more thoroughly than I know even the name of many older films before I embarked upon watching them, and given the endless array of references and respects paid to this film by other affiliates of the genre, I decided beforehand that the odds of walking away from the conclusion of this film with any significant sting of disgust or disappointment, regarding quality of entertainment and the film as a whole, were immensely insignificant indeed. And indeed, this approach proved to be quite rewarding, for this perhaps one the most rightfully renowned and most heavily referenced (regarding soundtrack, characters, behaviors and the plot as a whole) films of all time. Although admittedly, I haven’t seen the entirety of any of Sergio Leone’s other, supposedly beautiful western films (especially regarding what I’ve heard about “Once Upon a Time in the West), in fact, I was completely unaware that “The Good The Band and The Ugly” was part of the “Fist Full of Dollars” trilogy (undoubtedly, those are now significantly higher on my “to watch” list), the structure and presentation of this film as a whole was so cleverly and uniquely attended to, while still retaining most clichés that all western fans would expect to find in both the genre and Clint Eastwood’s characters, that this film would, at the very least, would slide seamlessly into the list of top 5 western films ever drafted by the hands of man.
Moving on from raw compliments that may easily be justified by the artistic evidence established by the film, I shall now do my best to describe said evidence without offering excessive detail for those who may be interested in the genre, while still supporting each concept with enough material to prove its value to those who are generally unfamiliar or fairly uninterested by the genre. The way that this film establishes every major character with dark qualities of dryness, sarcasm, devilish greed, cold hearted blood lust and mercilessness and a lack of concern for legal justice and equality while still managing to bring forth and make lively qualities of humor, love and values of compassion and respect the protection of life displayed an immensely impressive effort and attention to detail and realism indeed.  No values or characteristics were thoughtlessly enforced without the support of corresponding actions, explanations and dynamic behavior; of course, even with the establishment of a realistic dynamic in emotion and interaction between characters in varying scenarios, everything remains efficiently consistent to the degree that all “wild-west” values are only benefitted. And with “wild-west” scenarios in mind, this film certainly disappoint, offering hangings, fire fights, back stabbings, horse riding, U.S. civil war reference and battles, a Mexican stand off and plenty of things that go boom. The settings maintained an excellent western feel all around (perhaps to be expected from westerns of this date), both in the presentation of physical locations and emotion, there was more than enough variation in scenarios to keep things interesting, and almost every action scene expressed some sort of suspenseful or intriguing quality that rendered itself fairly unpredictable. And given the clichés that almost every films film of this genre is forced to cope with in one way or another, unpredictability is certainly not an easy quality to achieve, although it is mutually certain that its presence is immensely admirable. The contrast between each of the three main characters allows for plenty of diversity in tone despite the fact that all three feature many mutual qualities that also lead to several interesting interactions. Despite the fact that the title of the film certainly highlights “The Good”, “The Bad” and “The Ugly” as three separate and profound entities, and although these characters were allotted proportionately fair segments of screen time, the film does not spend time developing each character separately and uniquely as much as it portrays each of these characters fitting evenly into the plot as a whole, in a realistic manner that allowed the plot to flow at a smooth and efficient pace. To summarize the film in that particular regard, while none of the three major characters were focused on individually for an excessive period of time, they were all individually given enough opportunities to develop and express themselves as they were meant to be portrayed and recognized. 
The screen play as a whole was very well attended to, for even fairly insignificant characters were painted with realistic, relatable and interesting qualities; minor characters were developed just as thoroughly as more significant characters to the extent where they not only affected the plot in intriguing, unique and significant ways, but in application of their existence to the plot as a whole, they seemed to demand a sort of respect and regard for their detailed and considerable characteristics in a way that minor characters in countless films that I have seen have both failed to constitute and failed to deserve. In fact, it is through many of these minor characters, who are highlighted with qualities of benevolence and other such things that contrast strongly with the characteristics of the main three, that not only allowed the main three to be more easily perceived as they were meant to be, but in a way, allowed the film to express that the environments and atmospheres portrayed and heavily concentrated on throughout the majority of the plot’s progression, were certainly not the only tones that exist within the world of the film. Even those whose screen time and significance lasted for less than a minute sometimes portrayed a unique quality that altered or added to the complexity of the film in a way that made the events of the film seem much more relatable and realistic. Parallel to the outstanding development of both major and minor characters, the dialogue was thoughtfully constructed and remained consistent with respective characters and their relationships with other characters. Despite the excellence of the dialogue, plenty of attention to plot detail and the portrayal of physical actions and behaviors rendered all scenes lacking dialogue equally as interesting and attention worthy as those that did.
Historical cinematic moment
Overall, although not every aspect of the film was entirely unexpected or unpredictable, nothing was deteriorated by flaws in revelation or suspicious inconsistencies, the acting and portrayal of each character was phenomenal, the screen play was excellent, everything flowed at a comfortable pace while still allowing for griping scenes of action and suspense, many contrasting characteristics and qualities were brushed upon, values of life and desire were praised and criticized, and both the visual and sound effects were applied excellently and were quite impressive, taking into consideration the effort required to achieve such effects in this film’s time, especially regarding weapons and explosions. Cinematography was dynamic, clean and thoroughly attended to in such a way that even the most dull of moments of the film, which numbered immensely few indeed, were supported by camera angles and other charms that matched perfectly with the mood and style of the scene in question. The soundtrack, highly enjoyable in its own right, was mutually successful in enhancing the tone and atmosphere of every scene it was applied to immensely, efficiently and properly. Every aspect of the film came together in a fashion that was both provocative of contemplation and entertaining as a whole. In fact, my only complaint is that a few points of interest birthed by unexpected emotional expressions of certain characters and intriguingly unique interactions between these characters and other characters (essentially, moments and expressions that contrasted with the more popular tones and expressions of the film) could have been brushed upon a little more than they were initially, or even better, they could have been returned to or developed later in the course of the film, rather than being left for what, in the modern day, would become the task of an expected and demanded sequel. However, this stood far more significantly as an opening for additional content and depth, rather than as a hole in the already existing, very well constructed and tremendously entertaining plot. For all the values this film holds as an intriguing, suspenseful and dramatic wild-west adventure,  the values portrayed successfully of life and moral, and for the timelessness of the entertainment offered by the production as a whole, I allot this film a 9/10. (Dramatic, epic soundtrack begins to echo)


Sunday, June 23, 2013

Summer Movie Challenge Week 3

Monday:
This is the End
This movie was non-stop funny. I thought that this was one of the funniest movies i have ever seen. I don't want to rabble on about it but it was very good.

Tuesday:
This must be the place
I hate this movie.

Wednesday:
Dont be afraid of the dark

This was an okay movie inspired by the story of Gef the talking mongoose. (Google it)

Thursday:
Sixteen Candles
This was the best movie i saw all week. I thought that it was very relatable and an overall great story.

Friday:
Super

I thought this movie was pretty good besides the fact that it had a semi-confusing moral. I didn't understand what they wanted me to learn from this movie.

Silent Hill Revelations

I thought that it was a good time waster of a movie besides the fact that it is an lsd trip on acid.

Saturday:
World War Z

This movie was really good. It was pretty close to the book. Me and my friend went to see it and I was glad to see that they kept it so close to the book.

Mystery Team

This movie was really good. I have always enjoyed the derrick comedy skits and this movie was a result of them. This was a great movie that i really enjoyed watching. Also its free on hulu.

Sunday:
Bad News Bears

This is the remake and i was surprised at how funny it was. Billy bob Thorton was great.

Dogma

A very funny religious comedy from Kevin Smith. Free on youtube!

Anglerbe's Retro Review: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

                2nd Western this summer down… Yet again I don’t know where to begin with a review, but this time it’s for the better.  I haven’t seen the 1957 original, so I can’t make that comparison, but I can say that this is undoubtedly one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. I’d even go as far as to say it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. After watching it I read up on goofs, and I can honestly say I didn’t notice a single one of them. This film does a great job of keeping you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. If anyone ever tells you that Westerns are boring, direct them to this one.
This is no coincidence.
I’ll begin by covering the plot (don’t worry; I’ll keep it as spoiler free as reasonably possible; I don’t want to ruin this movie for you). This film, as I have stated, keeps you hooked from the very start. Plenty of twists and turns are peppered throughout, and even moments you would expect to be dull, such as sitting around a camp fire, are intense and suspenseful. There’s never a moment where the viewer is certain what may happen next. While the story isn’t too difficult to follow, there are some cleverly placed instances of foreshadowing which are not apparent to the viewer—until it’s too late, that is. The characters in this movie are very believable, and they keep the plot flowing smoothly (and suspensefully).
While I’m on the subject, I’ll say that the acting in this movie is superb. Not a single character feels out of place. The dialogue is very well executed, and often keeps you on edge. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe play their respective roles incredibly well. Crowe’s character, Ben Wade, in particular is arguably the most significant factor in driving, not only the story, but the film as a whole. Cunning and unpredictable, through the course of the entire film he keeps the viewer wondering whether he is a friend or foe. The fear that his gang may attack at any given moment is almost the primary emotional drive in the film, second only to the unpredictability of Ben Wade himself. The character development is realistic and pulls you deep into the movie. I found myself constantly wondering what I would do in a given situation.
"Be careful with that thing. That gun's got a curse on it."
While it packs in plenty of action and high-intensity shootouts/fights, the movie is never over-the-top. It uses enough blood and gore to get its point through; no more, and no less. For this, I commend it. Both the sound and visual effects do their job to make the movie believable, as do the backdrops and film locations. The soundtrack is fantastic to boot.
As previously stated, the plot isn’t too difficult to follow, but I personally didn’t see the ending coming. I was pleasantly surprised, but also deeply saddened. While it may not be quite as dark in some respects as Unforgiven, it has its own share of underlying moral themes. For example, the entire movie evidences that it’s better to stand for what you believe in, rather than walk away with the crowd.
                In conclusion, I think I can rightly say that this is one the greatest films I have ever seen. It balances intense gunfights with edge-of-your-seat suspense in wondering what’s coming next. Part of me was even a little bit saddened to see the credits roll. I give this movie a 9.9/10. Nothing is perfect, and everything has room for improvement, but this movie comes pretty close. I may not have seen the original as of the time I’m writing this, but I’m telling you now, WATCH THIS MOVIE. I don’t care if Westerns aren’t your thing. And, I can almost guarantee, neither will you.

EDIT, April 2014: After having watched a handful of other westerns, as I predicted would be the case I am changing the score to 9.0/10.

Anglerte's Review: Shadowheart

       
               If, like me, you believe you’ve encountered the proper source of justification as to why you believe every single indie western film in existence or potential existence should be hunted relentlessly until captured and then slaughtered with unyielding, gory, belligerent force, I have not a pleading request or strong recommendation for you, but a profound demand: do whatever is possible within the boundaries of legality and morality to obtain three dollars, march over to the Google Play Store, search “Shadowheart” in using the conveniently placed search bar, and rent this beauty for a twenty four hour period. Given that I barely stumbled through eighteen minutes of the previous indie-western film I watched before nearly dying of intellectual and creative starvation, I was both desperately inclined to approach this film with an extremely bias caution and uncertainty in fear that again I would be slapped in the face by dirty, hairy malodorous hand that had just been submerged in cow turds and public garbage. However, at the same time, I was so desperate to remove the nauseating taste of my previous experience from my mouth that I also approached the film with high hopes and a forgiving conscience. Luckily, the combination of these factors lead to a tone of neutralization that allowed me to enjoy this film vividly, just as it was presented, and without horrific flashbacks of irrelevant content. That established, I will say that there were certainly several elements present in this film that filled me with a sense of disquietude at the beginning of the film. However, ultimately, every aspect of the script and production that could notably have used more attention or correction is some way or form was far outweighed by the positive qualities of the production; while admittedly, this isn’t the most ingenious or beautifully crafted western master piece that has ever been unleashed for public interaction, it was certainly a far cry from the very worst in almost every way, and I’ll be absolutely certain to put a stress on these factors when I describe them, for I know I’m certain to face heated opposition and arrogant blasphemy from some of those who refuse to respect opinions they do not entirely agree with; I’m almost dead certain such opposition exists, hostile or not, given the opinions I observed in the comments section of the “Shadowheart” trailer on YouTube and in the reviews section of IMDB, where no one seemed to enjoy this film as thoroughly as I did (once again, this may have been due to the desperation I faced after having witnessed the first eighteen excruciatingly disappointing minutes of the previous indie western I reviewed, but even still, there were certainly enough positive aspects of this film to help it achieve higher than strictly a 4.6).
           
You already hate him.
In order to establish that I am indeed not bias towards any given group for any unjust or unlawful cause, I will start by admitting that this film indeed did suffer from several faults that should have been recognized as in need of attention and development. However, none of these hinder or impede the film to such an extent that it is not worthy of the viewers’ attention throughout the entirety of its progression. In fact, most of the problems I faced with this film were simply clichés, identical to criticisms applied to countless Westerns from years past, or so I believe, for I am not the most experienced veteran on the field of Westerns, or any genre for that matter. The most questionable errors that the screen play possessed, at least, the only ones that I found to fit the label of “errors”, would best be described as “minor plot-holes”; at some points of the film, it seemed as though the destination was written before the journey, and, (warning: metaphor approaching) as opposed to attending to it that the train approached said destination at a comfortable and safe pace, the track seemed rushed out in some places, which lead to a few instances of unsteadiness. For example, at several points towards the middle of the film, the logic applied to the handling of the antagonist was extremely questionable, and frankly, a bit stupid; this application of questionable logic lead to the achieving of predictable occurrences, which undoubtedly caused the story as a whole to fall short of the glory it may have obtained otherwise, even with the clichés and predictability it possessed in other instances unrelated to the use of failed logic. For having spent a reasonable amount of time and effort developing every character, even if some of these characters were not as intriguing as others, one would think that it would be attended to that the actions of every character are developed and applied in a realistic manner as to affect the plot with the same degree of realism and logical comprehension. My next strongest criticism was the protagonists mustache; seriously, after all the effort put into organizing believable locations and beautifully developed western atmosphere, from horses to restaurants, they took the most prominent character that everyone would be inclined to focus on due to the structure of the story, grabbed his head and tacked on a two cent mustache and beard that I could win from a gumball machine at the bowling alley (in fact, I almost did that just the other day; that would have made me feel pretty special knowing I had the exact same mustache as a wild west hero). Excluding a few immensely minor details, these are pretty much the only negative criticisms that stuck out to me, a fairly casual and inexperienced western-film fan (I’ve seen about 7, including “Three Amigos”), and nothing stood out in the movie as so infuriatingly disagreeable that I found myself wishing the film would reach a closure.
The legitimacy of this film's western standing has been
 proven with horses and Native Americans.
            Although the script could have used a little work here and there, especially with a few key moments regarding the buildup of the already exposed and described antagonist, it certainly possessed enough admirable qualities to make up for these moments, even if they too were a bit cliché. The drama, comedy, romance, suspense and action/ adventure are all proportioned appropriately, so the story flows evenly in that sense. The buildup of the struggles that the protagonist faces was satisfactory; the cinematography did an excellent job of reflecting the haunting recollections encountered by the protagonist several times throughout the film. Both the script and almost all of the actors do an excellent job of developing every character in a believable, entertaining and unique fashion. The antagonist is not at all likable, his motives are made fairly clear not long after he is introduced, and he is despicable for realistic portrayals of malignance and benevolence. While a bit cheesy, the Native American characters are not overly exaggerated in respect to foreign nature, and there is not an embarrassingly profound stress placed on culture unknown to the “white men” of the film, although the significant female Native seems to speak English a bit too naturally at certain points. Personally, my favorite supporting characters were two men who brought about a surprisingly excellent sense of comedy relief and hilarity to the film; the way in which they interacted with each other was not at all what one would expect to find in such an environment as they were in, and in fact, seemed as though it would be much more relevant in a modern comedy sitcom; even still, their petty bickering and fairly fast-paced, humorous conversations seemed to fit right in with the rest of the atmosphere, regardless of the fact that said atmosphere was anything but humorous. AS stated above, the locations and western theme was well attended to, and I couldn’t pinpoint any obvious errors regarding location in any particular scene. All effects were pulled off in a reasonably satisfactory manor; violence and gore were not relentlessly abused, although they were certainly present, and, while not extreme or innovative in any sense, the dynamic in emotion was satisfactory for the genre as well. Values of Christianity and human life were proposed and approached in a fashion than I was not fully expecting to find in a film of this genre, particularly on the later account, and these values ultimately overshadowed the very slight faults in the plot with a conflict and story that were reasonably realistic and relatable in a moral and philosophical sense.
            While probably not the best of its genre, for an indie production, this film presented content that met my expectations perfectly, and left me with an ending that, while a bit questionable on a moral level at first, was ultimately understandable in a realistic sense, for better or for worse. Seriously, if the only profound flaw of a western film is a party-store mustache and beard, it’s certainly justifiable to proclaim that, in comparison to my unforgivable experience with the film “Bounty”, “Shadowheart” has scored itself enough merit to serve as the redemption of my respect for neo-indie-western films. Despite what others may say, I believe this film easily achieved a 7/10, for providing me with the reasonable quality of wild-west entertainment I was asking for.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Anglerbe's Retro Review: Resident Evil



Resident Evil (the game) is one of my absolute favorite game series. It turned me on to the survival horror genre, which, in recent time and without good cause, has become an endangered species. That’s a topic for another day though. The point I have here is that I automatically have a strong bias toward the movies, despite never having watched them until recently. As I don’t want this to be caught up throughout the review, I’m going to go over every issue I have with it as a Resident Evil fan right now to get it out of the way. Here goes:
I guess these two are the main characters...
George Romero (Director of Night of the Living Dead, essentially coined the zombie movie) initially had a script written for the film which included at least almost all of the major characters from the first game in the series, and was to be a horror/suspense movie which followed the plot of the first game moderately closely, although Romero put his own spin on things here and there.  His script was then TURNED DOWN because he apparently wasn’t “hip” enough to appeal to modern crowds. Instead, they decided to turn to Paul W.S. Anderson, director of such brilliances as the beloved AVP: Alien vs. Predator.  (Taking a minute to collect myself) As far as being “Resident Evil”… Well, take away that name and the name “Umbrella” and you’ll have severed any connection it could possibly have with any of the games. The only way they relate is that they both have zombies (and I should mention, the zombies aren’t much like those in the games for a handful of reasons which I’ll try to cover later on.) The entire mood of the film is anything but that of the games. The games, like the film “Alien”, which I recently reviewed, have a suspenseful atmosphere, and although it tends to be kept behind the scenes, a deep plot as well. “Resident Evil” the film has neither of those things.
Now to my film-watching perspective. I’ll start out by saying that it seems like Anderson has some sick fascination with brutally killing off characters for no apparent reason. In fact (pseudo spoiler alert) he killed off as many people as he possibly could through the course of the movie (by the way DON'T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT SPOILERS, YOU PROBABLY WON'T WANT TO WATCH THE MOVIE ANYWAY). The plot is all but non-existent. Basically (excluding the awful intro) the movie immediately gets into the action, where everybody who has any idea what’s going on (viewers included) is a generic agent with "special" training. From there, it’s just pointless slaughter the whole way through. The most significant problem with this is that there aren't even any zombies for the first half of the movie. The agents (and everybody else at that) are murdered (often in disgusting, B-movie like ways) by a computer. In fact, that’s really the only kind of horror in this movie. For those of you who read my review of "Alien", you'll remember how I talked about gore/shock films vs. suspense/thriller films. This one falls on the opposite side from Alien, in the B-movie, gory, cheap-scare section. Not that it’s scary much at all; most often it’s just disgusting. Even when the zombies finally do show up, they aren't at all like Resident Evil (game) zombies. Typical to bad horror films, the zombies are naturally invincible, and (it gets better [hint of sarcasm]) EVERBODY IN THIS MOVIE IS A B-MOVIE DUMB BLONDE! I swear, nobody watches their back, nobody shoots until the zombie is on top of them, and overall there's just a complete lack of common sense. I'd say it pulls you out of the movie, but in all honesty I never was pulled into the movie to begin with. Now, the acting... was average. Nothing absolutely terrible, but it’s hard to have good acting with a script with generic people and minimal character development.
In fairness, this movie has a few shining moments (although it may be that they're simply decent scenes among a sea of terrible, gory, pointless ones. A few somewhat clever plot twists almost urge me to raise the verdict a bit, but then there's the ending... Oh boy... The ending...how can I say this...SUCKED (Predictably so, in accordance with the rest of the film). The metal soundtrack was laughably bad. Sound effects were pretty good though.
Why is this a thing? At least there's a Cerberus...sort of...
Alright, let me sum up my points. It bears almost no resemblance to the game, the plot is mediocre at best, the horror, when present, is of the cheap, senseless, B-movie kind, all of the gore and blood and killing and death are, well, senseless and pointless. Instead of creating a tense, mysterious atmosphere, it seems that Anderson wanted to disturb viewers by being unbelievably disgusting and gruesome. And none of that is on account of the zombies, other than that unbelievable factor. I give this movie a 3/10. Don't bother watching unless it’s just to say that you did. And trust me, that's not saying much. And to think George Romero might have directed it....

Anglerte's Review: Bounty

Do yourself a major favor, do not watch this film. Don’t pay for this, don’t Google this, don’t think about this, do not do anything that may provoke the need to think about this wannabe indie film. If you are interested in being an indie film-maker, particularly in the Western genre, let this film serve as a source of inspiration in the way that it teaches you exactly what not to do. Supposedly this film dragged on for an hour and thirty five minutes, but I barely lasted for eighteen before I felt it necessary to shut it off. Given that I wasted three dollars to rent the film in stunning “High Definition”, along with the fact that I wasted 18 minutes of my life, I will do my best to avoid wasting the readers’ valuable time (more than I already have by warning you to avoid this horrific film) by gunning through all of the negatives aspects one sentence at a time. I would be generous in saying that there was an extreme shortage of positive qualities, so don’t worry about having dig through those.
Every aspect of the film was flawed in at least one way, but most were flooded with plenty more. The screen play as a whole was very poorly written, to the extent where it was questionable whether the motive of the film was to try to produce a decent western film, or just to publish something shot with a video camera that reflected the contents of a shameful piece of paper. Within’ the first thirty seconds of the film, the plot managed to confuse me in an unintelligent fashion; the story didn’t make much sense, none of the characters, from the aggressive and persistent law man to the wannabe “outlaw”, were made realistic in any way through dialogue or through the efforts of the actors. The dialogue itself was very poorly developed, awkward, and unrealistically applied to every encountered scenario (then again, almost every scenario was unrealistically established and underdeveloped) . Most of the acting displayed in the first eighteen minutes of the film was either mediocre or embarrassing. If the dialogue was awkward and unrealistic, the actors decided to enhance the confusion created by these elements by taking on characteristics and tones that did not at all apply to their characters. The main character was labeled at the beginning of the film as an outlaw, and this stands as just about the only recognition of this concept. The old man who randomly approaches the sheriff and the main character from out of nowhere (probably from out of context) at the beginning of the film was a very poorly developed character as a whole; all of his lines are overacted, his dialogue is inconsistent (as are most of the characters presented in the first eighteen minutes of the film), and ultimately he only added to the confusion.
The plot is immensely difficult to describe, for, as I described several times above, I hardly understood it. Don’t worry about any potential spoilers though, because, as you may recall me consistently repeating above, I only watched the first eighteen minutes of the film. Also, you’re not going to watch this film unless, like me, you’re interested in writing a screen play for a western film that will lead to the development of a product that human beings can subject themselves to without fear of emotional/ intellectual damage. If you chose to disregard my warnings, or if in any case you chose to attempt to witness the repulsive content of this film, you will find that the progression of the plot is extremely uncomfortable; in one scene, an old man saves another man from being hanged to death with the understanding that this man could assist with the completion of a difficult “job”. In the next scene, this old man and the “outlaw/ bounty hunter” are situated in an entirely different and seemingly irrelevant location. From there, everything skips around so unbearably quickly that the only reason you may wish to continue watching the film is to try and articulate what you’re actually seeing compared to what you were seeing thirty seconds before.
Overall, the acting was terrible, excluding the haunting childhood flashback of a random woman (she was probably going to be significant later on, but let’s pretend “later on” isn’t applicable to this given scenario) and the questionably devious maneuvers of a corrupt lawman. The script and plot suffered from horrific underdevelopment, the progression of the plot was jarred and inconsistent even in the first eighteen minutes of the film, and even the film locations were poorly attended to; forgivable errors and inconsistencies were present throughout the showcasing of the western town, such as the presence of a chain-link fence in the background of one scene, but of course all such things paled in comparison to the other atrocities committed by the screen play. On the positive side, the color grading was fantastically attended to, from what I observed, as it provided the film with a dirty brownish, goldish, “wild-west” mood. Along with the interior of most locations presented, these concepts were very well attended to for an indie film. For aggressively assaulting and abusing my attention for nearly eighteen minutes and thirty seconds, I award this indie western “horror” (actually, I repeal the latter description, as that would serve as a disgrace to fear) a 2/10, for putting effort into finding a believable location and decent post production work. I firmly believe that Clint Eastwood should have made a cameo at the end of the film and slapped on the title, “Unforgivable”.

I promise that Burnt Banana Sandwich will strive to achieve far more dignity than this in the production of all western-themed films; in truth seeking the creation of a higher quality product than this would be in no way ambitious, except for perhaps the inclusion of livestock. 

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Summer Movie Challenge: Week 2

 Monday:
Lost in Translation

This movie was actually pretty good. It gives you some insight as to the struggles of being an actor but not just that but the struggles of age. Also the challenge of Jealousy and the curses of attratction and lust. All in all it was a really good movie.
Tuesday:


Barton Fink
Another Beautiful film from the Coen brothers. This film at times shows a literal analogy for the struggles that writers endue. But partially characters in the film act as aspects of the writing world. I would like to believe that John Goodman represent the American people shooting everything down. Handcuffing Writers into writing what they want.
John Dies at the End
The amazing underground comedy from the book of the same name. It was a crazy story that has millions of layers and cant be defined by any one word. The craziest movie i have ever seen in my life for sure. Worth the watch.



Wednesday:
Color Me Kubrick

A weird story about a man who conned people into believing he was stanley kubrick. It was very awkward due to the main character's homosexuality. It contained very overdramatized scenes. I like John malkovich and this was an interesting story but the movie itself wasn't very good.

The Evil Dead
A very weird movie but a good one at that. I didn't like the excessive blood or the tree rape scene. (Dont ask if you havent seen it.) It was an okay movie. Not too great.


Jackie Brown
This movie was an okay movie but  it didn't really seem like a Tarentino movie. It kind of made me sad to see this speed bump in Tarentino's career.





The Inbetweeners Movie
This movie was a funny movie about some nerdy british guys who go on vacation or as they call it "Holiday" It was okay but it wasn't that funny. I don't really watch movies like this often and this is one of the reasons why.
Struck by Lightning

Really not that great of a movie it was bad. More of a time waster than a movie. Full of stupid high school stereotypes. I wish these movies never existed.

Punch-Drunk Love
Have you ever watched a movie and then hoped that there were movies out there just like it. If there ever was a movie like that it would be this one. Just a love story but not a normal one. One that's similar to superman in small weird ways. The symbolism in this movie really shines. The movies where i have to stop and think for thirty minutes after i watch them. THOSE ARE THE GOOD ONES. Adam Sandler plays his role very well.

This Film is not yet Rated
This amazingly good documentary portraying the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) as biased was a wild ride. I really enjoyed it.


Thursday:
Cleanflix

Yet another documentary about movie censorship. I know. But this one was even better! It was so good. It was a movie about the store Cleanflix. A store that rents clean versions of hollywood hits out to mormons. What a beautiful concept and it makes for a great movie.

Bachelorette
Two reasons i watched this. Reason 1: I figured it wouldbe a little funny. Reason 2: Isla Fisher is drop dead gorgeous. Thats good enough for me.

The Giant Mechanical Man
I just figured... Errr why not? It turned out to be a really good movie. Topher Grace plays a hilarious character that i would never expect him to play. Jenna Fischer is superb. Great movie.

Friday:

Timer
At this point i was just bored. I had nothing else to watch and I decided to watch another Girly movie. Why not?
Raising Arizona
Now I was scared. I had watched 3 chick flicks in a row so i decided to go back to the Coen brothers. I recently had attmepted to watch the movie but it was pretty dumb and i didn't want to watch it. After my brief visitation with Barton Fink, i decided it wouldn't be that bad of an idea to watch it. I was pretty dissapointed. It isn't that good of a movie. It has a funny part here or there but mostly it is stupid corny redneck jokes.
Goon
I tried to wash my pain away with more comedy and i was less dissapointed with this movie. It was a hockey movie with a twist. It isn't about hockey. It's about the fights that happen in the middle of hockey games. It wasn't that funny but it had it's moments.

Nitro Circus: The Movie









As a fan of the show. I really enjoyed this movie. I enjoyed all the stunts, I enjoyed the reckless behavior, I enjoyed Streetbike Tommy resenting his job then completing the stunt and looking awesome while doing it, and last but not least I enjoyed Travis "Pastrami" Pastrana (don't act like you werent thinking it) showing everyone up.

Saturday:
Man of Steel
This movie was actually pretty average. Not great. Not bad. I don't want to rant about it but if you have the chance watch a different movie.

Trainspotting
I don't really understand the appeal to this movie. It was okay but I didn't like seeing the characters in this state of abuse. With thier bodies.





Saturday, June 15, 2013

Anglerbe's Retro Review: Unforgiven



“Unforgiven” is, to my recollection, the first Clint Eastwood movie I have ever watched (say what you will about that). I haven’t as of yet watched too many westerns, so I figured that this would be a good place to start, as it was made fairly recently (90’s) and apparently has a good reputation. And Morgan Freeman is in it, there’s always that.
"We all have it coming, kid."
While on one hand not having seen many Westerns may mean I am inexperienced, it also renders me unbiased. Having said all of that let me say that I found this film to be very “enjoyable”. I state it this way because, despite not being intensely gory or explicit, the film maintains some pretty dark themes regarding morality and vengeance, especially toward the latter half of the movie. I won’t spoil any deaths or occurrences (yes, people die in this movie), but I will say that as the movie progresses, the viewer is compelled to feel the hesitation and regret of Will Munny (Eastwood) and his fellows as they strive to collect a bounty.
All throughout, Eastwood conveys his regret of his past life as a brutal criminal to his fellow riders, with his crimes becoming more evident as the film progresses. However, I feel that a few flashbacks would have allowed the viewer to identify with his guilt. As is, his remorse doesn’t have such a driving impact as it was apparently intended to. That is, until the end, where it becomes extremely potent.
Despite this, the character development in this movie is excellent. The viewer is driven to wonder which characters are really the heroes and which are the villains. Or, perhaps, there are no heroes. Gene Hackman plays the role of a town sheriff whose moral righteousness is very dynamic throughout the movie. At one moment he is built up as a hero and respectable man who knows what he’s doing, and yet in the next the viewer is compelled to wonder whether he’s crooked. This dynamic ethical uncertainty is one of the driving factors in the movie, and I believe it is very well executed. Overall, the acting is top notch, with just about every actor doing their part to bring the Old West to life. Including women of questionable moral character…
Special effects, while not extremely plentiful, do their job well enough to make the Old West setting believable. The sound effects are similarly effective, and the soundtrack is excellent, though it is often bittersweet.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and the dark moral questions it probes at stick in your head long after the credits roll. I may not have seen many Westerns up to this point, but I can say without a doubt that I don’t regret starting here. I give this movie a 10-scale rating of 8/10. Whether a newbie like myself or a grizzled Wild West veteran, I recommend you give this movie a watch. As for me, I have a feeling that a second watch would shed even more light upon its dark and yet superbly implemented themes.