The 30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 17

Day 17 – A movie that disappointed you the most

Where The Wild Things Are

I pride myself on being a pretty good judge on whether a movie is going to be good or not.  And since I am quite the movie snob, I rarely dance around in the sub-par movie levels where it may be harder to judge whether a film will be good or not.  Undoubtedly Transformers should either be here or a close second, but since I have already referenced it above I decided to pick something different.  Arcade Fire is, at least of the modern age, one of my favorite bands, therefore when their song Wake Up was used for the trailer, I was quite excited.  Needless to say the fact that is was Where the Wild Things Are also made me excited.  Unfortunately, the movie was pretty sad, annoying, and dragged on, even though it was under 2 hrs long.  I admit that there was a lot of whimsical beauty in the music, costumes, buildings, and scenery, but unfortunately that only counts for a small portion of what's consider a great movie.  By the end, I was ready for the credits to roll, 2 of my friends actually walked out before it was over.    

The 30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 16

Day 16 – A movie that you used to love but now hate

E.T.

I wouldn't say I hate E.T.  To be honest, I actually still kinda like it, but I do feel it is overrated.   I don't really have any movie that I used to love and now hate, except for maybe a Land Before Time or something, but I don't feel purely kids movies should be considered here.

As for E.T. there was a time, when I was in kindergarten, when I would get off school at noon, and come home, eat lunch, and watch E.T.  Pretty much every weekday for like 10 weeks straight I watched E.T.  I loved E.T.  Our dog was named Gerti after Drew Barrymore's character.  Both that and Wizard of Oz were my goto's at that age.  And I'd also like to say that I am not burnt out on it, I just grew to realize how overrated Spielberg is, and now that I am an adult have a plethora of movies to watch rather than the various VHS my parents own.  

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Not really sure why I decided to watch Pulp Fiction again today.  I think I was thirsting for some Samuel L. and this is one of the only movies I have readily available, up to the standards with him in it.  I've seen it quite a few times and do own it, but even though I am Tarantino fan don't rave about it like most of his fans do.

The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

41/50 Eggs

Tarantino has probably seen the entire list of 1001 movies you should see before you die, plus any other list one would create of movies to watch.  Because of this he has a bevy of scenes that references or nods in his films.  In a way I look at it as being quite unoriginal, but I also admire the amount of films that he has scene and the way he makes them his own.  While there are quite a few unoriginal bits in Pulp Fiction, which to the non-avid movie watcher seem like a nuance, there are also a lot of newly created memorable quotes and scenes courtesy of Tarantino himself.  The scene where Tarantino himself talks to Jackson and Travolta is probably my favorite scene.  One thing I really admire is the casting Tarantino does.  The only poorly cast person was the Mallory character, I mean Yolanda, sorry couldn't help myself.  I understand the crazy, but I think more comical crazy not criminal crazy.  The acting I realize is supposed to seem rash, after all they are robbing a restaurant, stupid idiots, but it doesn't seem realistic.  Even considering this is a Tarantino film, I thought it felt forced.

As for the plot in general, I noted back in the Traffic review that making a fragmented plot automatically makes it better, or at least gives it a better chance.  The only thing is avoiding a drawn out feeling and making sure everything wraps up tidy, either good or bad.  The wrapping up is great, all the loose ends tied, extremely well executed.  As for the pace, I note my rule of never giving subtitles or chapters, whether narrated or typed, unless the plots are completely and it is necessary.  I can't describe the precise psychology behind why this makes a movie seem longer than it is, but it always does.  That, plus the fact that the dialogue heavy scenes Tarantino always does, make the pace for Pulp Fiction feel considerably long.  Oh yeah, and its 2 and a half hours.  The plot itself is pretty entertaining, though I can't say the whole pawn shop part was pleasant or 100% necessary.  That is, however, Tarantino's choice, and while I do make my complaint, in the end it was successful in its intentions.  I also don't see the whole Vincent and Maurice's wife go on a date scene as being relevant to the story line.  Tarantino does things for weird reasons, maybe I don't see it, but being that the EpiPen scene is pretty much the most famous one in the movie it is now not without merit, eh.

I realize I'm being overly hard on Pulp Fiction, but as you can see by the score, I did give it a 41.  I am just trying to be a little more detailed in my reviews from now on.        

Green Lantern (2011)

I wasn't nearly as excited for this movie, as I think most people were.  However, it did come available, practically on the day it came out, online and, being that it was free, I figured I'd watch it.  Green Lantern is probably one of the cooler superheroes, at least in my opinion, I mean he basically can create anything as long as he has a ring on, although I do admit pictures of him carrying the lantern are kinda lame looking.

A test pilot is granted a mystical green ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers, as well as membership into an intergalactic squadron tasked with keeping peace within the universe.  After being doubted by the other green lanterns, he returns to Earth where he is wrapped up in a plot to overthrow the intergalactic squadron.

29/50 Eggs

Even though I went in with low expectations, this movie still undershot.  Let me first say that originally the lead role was cast for Bradley Cooper, at least as far as I heard, and when I heard that I was pretty excited about the film.  As I stated above Green Lantern is one of my favorite superheroes so I'm somewhat familiar with and Bradley Cooper would've been a perfect match.  Unfortunately, Ryan Reynolds is not.  Green Lantern is like all superhero movies in that it must hit all genres of comedy, romance, action, kid's drama, and adult drama.  You could say a superhero movie is generally a jack of all trades.  Unfortunately in the movie world a jack of all trades "ain't much o'nuttin'".  I realize that maybe not everyone liked Watchmen, but I feel 10 years from now people may still mention that.  Perhaps everyone just hopes to be the next Ironman success.  So as for the movie, like I said, Ryan Reynolds was a poor cast for the part.  I did like Blake Lively as the love interest though, she acted well, the chemistry was good, definitely better than Thor, not to mention the eye candy factor.  It was a pretty film, although I lost a little of that in the quality, but I'll assume it was nice.  As for the plot well..... the green lantern is cool, and the first half of the movie they describe the origination of green lantern, easy enough, therefore first half of movie pretty good.  The second half practically tanked like the Titanic.  The plot was weak, writing was REALLY cheesy, and the action wasn't great.  I realize action sequences take money, but its green lantern.  He can create any structure or system or anything in defense or attack.  Imagine the possibilities for a fight sequence.  If they would've gone above and beyond in this respect I could have looked off some of the other flaws, but they took the easy way out.  I will say Sarsgaard who contributed a lot to the second half of the film was great.  Both in the casting and the acting.  I think if you really want to watch it wait till you can redbox it, watch it with a friend, and make them pay for it.