Rating: B-
Almost a decade after the final installment of The Lord Of The Rings was released, they finally came out with the prequel: The Hobbit. Only... It's to be released in three parts.
Three agonising parts. Quite honestly, the pacing of this first installment feels more like a TV mini series. I could totally see where the networks might want to put commercials in. And it didn't help that the movie was filmed in 48 fps. Yes, it reduces motion blur, but it also makes things all together too clear. Many of the shots felt like it was still in pre-production.
The brilliant thing about J.R.R Tolkien's writings is that they film themselves. He has a great storytelling style, and his descriptions of each and every scene is simply awesome. The picture he ends up painting is so vivid, that really, it takes very little imagination to translate it onto the big screen.
Andy Serkis reprises his role as Gollum/Sméagol, and it is quite evident how far technology has come in motion capture. The new Gollum is significantly more realistic than the 2003 version, when the LOTR team breathed new life in the technology.
~Cheers.
Monday, 14 January 2013
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Movie: Les Miserables (2012)
Rating: C+
Probably my favourite musical of all time, I couldn't wait for Les Mis to come out Christmas Day. The unfortunate thing was that the stars were a little bit of a distraction to an otherwise excellent rendition of Victor Hugo's classic.
This iteration of the musical takes a little while getting used to. Usually, when musicals are put on the big screen, the singing ends up being part of the soundtrack. Instead, Tom Hooper decided that the singing was going to be part of the script. So this does 2 things.
1. On most sound systems, the singing is going to be on the centre speaker and the music on the side/surrounding speakers.
2. You have to act AND sing at the same time.
For myself, I found this to be part of the distraction. Case and point, Anne Hathaway's character Fantine has a big powerful solo that she has to cry through. Ever try crying and singing at the same time? It's not the easiest thing to do, and I do have to compliment her for that. But at the same time, at certain points, it almost seemed like she was screaming. Not so good.
I couldn't decide if Eddie Redmayne (Marius) had a problem acting, or a problem acting AND singing at the same time. His voice was actually pretty good, I mean heck, he DID win himself a Tony award. You see, when you're on stage and doing musicals, you don't act so much with your face as you do with your voice and your body language. And like I said about having the singing as part of the script, it's really hard to do both at the same time.
The biggest distraction however, came in the form of Russell Crowe, who played Javert. Yes, he has his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, but that sort of singing is entirely different than the type of voice you use for musicals. His voice simply pales in comparison. It's particularly evident during his little back and forth with Hugh Jackman, who actually came from the world of musicals.
It's watchable enough for sure, and very well done despite these distractions. But I thought it was rather sad that the supporting cast members seemed to have better voices than the starring cast. Again, distracting.
~Cheers.
Probably my favourite musical of all time, I couldn't wait for Les Mis to come out Christmas Day. The unfortunate thing was that the stars were a little bit of a distraction to an otherwise excellent rendition of Victor Hugo's classic.
This iteration of the musical takes a little while getting used to. Usually, when musicals are put on the big screen, the singing ends up being part of the soundtrack. Instead, Tom Hooper decided that the singing was going to be part of the script. So this does 2 things.
1. On most sound systems, the singing is going to be on the centre speaker and the music on the side/surrounding speakers.
2. You have to act AND sing at the same time.
For myself, I found this to be part of the distraction. Case and point, Anne Hathaway's character Fantine has a big powerful solo that she has to cry through. Ever try crying and singing at the same time? It's not the easiest thing to do, and I do have to compliment her for that. But at the same time, at certain points, it almost seemed like she was screaming. Not so good.
I couldn't decide if Eddie Redmayne (Marius) had a problem acting, or a problem acting AND singing at the same time. His voice was actually pretty good, I mean heck, he DID win himself a Tony award. You see, when you're on stage and doing musicals, you don't act so much with your face as you do with your voice and your body language. And like I said about having the singing as part of the script, it's really hard to do both at the same time.
The biggest distraction however, came in the form of Russell Crowe, who played Javert. Yes, he has his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, but that sort of singing is entirely different than the type of voice you use for musicals. His voice simply pales in comparison. It's particularly evident during his little back and forth with Hugh Jackman, who actually came from the world of musicals.
It's watchable enough for sure, and very well done despite these distractions. But I thought it was rather sad that the supporting cast members seemed to have better voices than the starring cast. Again, distracting.
~Cheers.
Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Movie: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Rating: B+
Probably the most anticipated movie of 2012 also contained the most IMAX footage ever used in a feature film. Sure, plenty of movies, including this year's The Avengers, was converted into IMAX, but director Christopher Nolan actually used IMAX cameras to include over an hour of actual IMAX images for The Dark Knight.
The result is palpable. So if you do get a chance to see the movie in IMAX, it's definitely worth giving yourselves a treat to fully experience the clarity, vividness, and perfection that is IMAX.
But that being said, while I absolutely loved the movie, it really bothers me when there are plot holes. I'm going to try to say this without issuing a spoiler alert. Batman's injuries vs. recovery. Just doesn't add up. Another thing that bothers me is when symbols are overused that it becomes trite. Without giving away too much of the 2h45min movie, was it really necessary to have the ENTIRE national anthem sung? Granted, DC Comics really does cater to a more patriotic crowd, but this was overkill.
I love watching Christopher Nolan's movies and I think he's a great director. But if you watch the first two in this particular Batman trilogy, Gotham is a much different place. Yet, in THIS finale of the trilogy, Gotham City looked decidedly like New York. I just thought that the inconsistency was too great. Of course, did it detract from the movie itself? No. Just me being picky.
And my final problem with the movie. It really might have been a good idea to include subtitles when Bane spoke. And he spoke a lot. With the muffled mask, it was very difficult to understand him at times.
Aside from these things, the finale was everything that we've come to expect of Christopher Nolan's movies. I must say that I really enjoyed some of the character twists that they provided, ie, using the Selena Kyle character...you know, before she was officially the "Catwoman".
~Cheers.
Probably the most anticipated movie of 2012 also contained the most IMAX footage ever used in a feature film. Sure, plenty of movies, including this year's The Avengers, was converted into IMAX, but director Christopher Nolan actually used IMAX cameras to include over an hour of actual IMAX images for The Dark Knight.
The result is palpable. So if you do get a chance to see the movie in IMAX, it's definitely worth giving yourselves a treat to fully experience the clarity, vividness, and perfection that is IMAX.
But that being said, while I absolutely loved the movie, it really bothers me when there are plot holes. I'm going to try to say this without issuing a spoiler alert. Batman's injuries vs. recovery. Just doesn't add up. Another thing that bothers me is when symbols are overused that it becomes trite. Without giving away too much of the 2h45min movie, was it really necessary to have the ENTIRE national anthem sung? Granted, DC Comics really does cater to a more patriotic crowd, but this was overkill.
I love watching Christopher Nolan's movies and I think he's a great director. But if you watch the first two in this particular Batman trilogy, Gotham is a much different place. Yet, in THIS finale of the trilogy, Gotham City looked decidedly like New York. I just thought that the inconsistency was too great. Of course, did it detract from the movie itself? No. Just me being picky.
And my final problem with the movie. It really might have been a good idea to include subtitles when Bane spoke. And he spoke a lot. With the muffled mask, it was very difficult to understand him at times.
Aside from these things, the finale was everything that we've come to expect of Christopher Nolan's movies. I must say that I really enjoyed some of the character twists that they provided, ie, using the Selena Kyle character...you know, before she was officially the "Catwoman".
~Cheers.
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