Posts

Posted on

Go To The Ball With Cinderella!

cinderella-wp-standard

Cinderella, the 2015 film by Kenneth Branagh (Thor), is Disney’s best live action remake of one of their classic cartoons yet.  It provides most of the magic and wonder of the original, but gives us greater context for all the characters’ motivations, and I think Cinderella out of all the old Disney films always needed the most context.

Unlike Disney’s other live action re-imaginings, if you have seen the cartoon you know how this movie plays out.  The orphan Ella (Lily James) is forced in to servitude by her step-mother Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett), but she is rescued by her Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) who dolls her up and sends her to the ball where she meets the Prince (Richard Madden), and after a few shoe fittings later she lives happily ever after.

What is different about this movie is that they answer a few of the questions we have had for a long time: Why didn’t Cinderella run away?  Why is Lady Tremaine so cruel? Why is the Prince so willing to marry someone he just met, and why is Cinderella always talking to animals?  The answers to these questions aren’t always super convincing, and I am not sure they tell the whole story, but they at least make the movie much more relatable.  With the added context it makes this sugary sweet story go down much smoother.

The actors are all great.  James plays the sweet and caring Ella so well.  You really feel for all the hardships she goes through, but like almost all Disney movies the villain steals the show.  Cate Blanchett both vamps it up and plays Tremaine with a bit of vulnerability.  Blanchett makes the character without a doubt evil, but believably so.  As far as the rest of the cast goes, they all turn in their limited parts quite well.  There wasn’t a bad performance in the bunch.

Kenneth Branagh brings his mastery of filming period pieces to this film.  The whole world, while being slightly over the top, felt real and worn in.  It is still cotton-candy for the eyes, but It just works.  Disney’s costume crew also worked their magic on this movie.  Everything looked perfect.  The step-sisters’ dresses looked both hideous and amazing at the same time, and Blanchett’s dresses and gowns were perfect.  Cinderella’s ball gown and wedding dress were very lovely.  They are going to be selling a lot of dolls to a lot of little girls.

The only major downside of this film was that even with the added story elements, it was still the same Cinderella that we have seen for years.  Just a well done version, but even with that said there is a reason classic stories stick around.  We like to see kind and good people get what they deserve, and likewise we love to see the schemes of the evil fail.  This movie delivers on that.  If you have a kid and are looking for a movie to watch Cinderella is a great option (though currently it is pretty much your only option), or if you are just like me and love Disney, it is still a must watch.

Posted on

Star Wars: Rogue One, What Is In A Name?

starwars-logo

Bob Iger made two big announcements yesterday, Start Wars: Episode VIII will open in May 2017, and the name of the new stand-alone Star Wars movie, Star Wars: Rogue One that comes out December 2016.  If you are any kind of Star Wars geek at all this name will sound familiar.  Rogue One is a call sign in the Rebel Alliance’s elite fighter group the Rogue Squadron.  The Rogue Squadron, as I am sure you know, used to include Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles.  I am guessing Luke and Wedge are no longer part of the Squadron, though they may be advisors.

This name means that probably everyone was wrong when they were thinking this was going to be a bounty hunter movie, or a smuggler movie.  So either this is a side story to the events of Episodes IV-VI, or the Rogue Squadron is now on Empire clean-up duty and galaxy policing.  If it is galaxy policing than I guess it could contain bounty hunters and smugglers, but just not in the way people were thinking.  I am very excited to see where they go with this flick, and I am glad all the “insiders” were wrong.

Here is to a new Star Wars movie every six months!

Posted on

What Tron 3 Needs To Do!

tron

With Tron 3 filming in the fall it is clear Disney really wants Tron to be major franchise, and for the record so do I, but if Disney is going to be successful then the next Tron will not be able to get by on its good looks and cool sound track.  I figure they could use a little help, so here are my thoughts on how to make Tron 3 work.  This will have a few spoilers about Tron and Tron: Legacy, but they are so old at this point if you haven’t watched them you weren’t going to, and you are probably not going to read this post.

1: Keep the story simple

Tron: Legacy’s story was unnecessarily complicated.  There were these weird non-program AI people called ISOs, and they were being wiped out by CLU the program clone of Flynn tasked with making the perfect system.  Then to make matters worse they raised the stakes to ridiculous levels by having CLU plan an invasion of the real world.  I mean they have kind of painted themselves in a corner with the ISOs deal now, but at least we don’t need to go over it again, or dig any deeper in to it.  Also they are also going have to get back on The Grid fast.  I don’t want a Tron movie outside the computer world.  That is just a bad motorcycle movie.

2: Have more Tron

Tron was barely in Tron: Legacy and the movie bears his name.  It was great to get Jeff Bridges back, but Bruce Boxleitner (Tron) is really the man that loves this franchise, so it is time to let him push it forward.  That is not saying I don’t want The Dude in the new movie, but that it just needs more Bruce.  Tron should have Tron in it.

3: Bring back Tron: Uprising

The cartoon was the best thing the Tron franchise ever did.  Story wise anyway.  It didn’t have the best production values, and the animation was a little stiff, but they should bring it back to start the hype train for the new movie.  That way people have an idea of what is going on in the Tron universe, and it starts off the advertising.

4: Speaking of advertising…

Admittedly Tron is a hard movie to advertise for.  It is supper geeky and hard to explain, but if Disney can make Guardians of the Galaxy one of the hottest properties on the planet, they can do a better job with Tron.  It will take some work, but I am pretty sure that they can get people excited to see a special effects spectacle.

5: Keep it up with the light cycles

The biggest thing Tron: Legacy got right was all the cool light cycle races, and light fighter battles, and the light everything else.  Pretty much anything with a light vehicle was awesome, and they need to do more of that.  If they keep the story simple like in my first point there should be more time for cool stuff, and this series should be all about cool stuff.

Well those are my ideas for making a great Tron 3.  I know it is too late for the script since they are going to start filming soon, but maybe this will help them in the editing process.

Posted on

Again With The Random Movie News?

Tron 3 Is A Go!

tron

Tron and its sequel Tron Legacy have some serious issues, mostly that they are style over substance, but it is such amazing style!  They sound and look so good!  There is nothing like them in movies, and that is why I am excited to see that according to ComicBook.com Tron 3 will start shooting in October.  I can’t wait to jump back on to the Grid!  Maybe they will learn something from Tron Uprising and tell a good story this time around?

Chris Pine For Green Lantern?!

green-lantern-chris-pine

With Chris Pine’s stint as Captain Kirk coming to an end it would makes sense that he is looking for his next big thing, but him as Hal Jordan?  I can see it, and according to the Latino Review he is the one DC is going after, but I was really pulling for Idris Elba to be John Stewart.  He would be terrific!  Now this is still very much a rumor, so Idris has a chance.

All New All Male Ghostbusters!

ghostbusters

Apparently Sony wants lots of Ghostbusters movies, so according to Deadline they have green-lit a new Ghostbusters movie with an all male cast to follow up the all female version coming out soon, and they are going to exist in the same universe.  Then Sony wants them to have Avengers-like crossovers.  With the terrible time Sony has been having with the Spider-Man universe, I am not so sure about this idea.  We will see, but I am very skeptical.  One well-made movie sounds great, but several mediocre movies?  Not so much.

Posted on

Getting Dusty With The Road Warrior!

Mad_max_two_the_road_warrior

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior is the movie that made Mad Max an icon.  As Stefon from Saturday Night Live would say it has everything:  A bodybuilder in a studded cup and a hockey mask, people tied to crazy cars, a gyrocopter, a kid in fur that only speaks in grunts and kills people with a boomerang, and a man with a dog looking for a little juice.  George Miller went all out when me made this film, and it is fantastic.

The movie takes place five years after the events of Mad Max, and the world has continued to spiral out of control.  There is almost no gas left, and people are killing each other for it.  Mad Max must team up with a gyrocopter captain to try and help a group pumping one of the last known oil reserves, but can they get the gas out before The Humongous and his gang take it all by force?

Oh man this movie.  It is so strange, and that is why it works so well.  With the original Mad Max it was too close to what we would expect today, but with The Road Warrior it is completely its own universe, and its own style.  A style so iconic that almost every post apocalyptic movie steals from it.  This movie and Blade Runner pretty much set the tone for every movie about the future.  It was also brilliant that they kept the story so simple.  There are bad guys attacking good guys, and then at the end they chase each other.  It is great, and it lets you take in all the weirdness without getting distracted by some silly story.

As far as acting goes it was all pretty bad, but Mel Gibson came a long way from the first movie, and he was really cementing himself as an action star.  Every one else though?  They just had sneer well, and for the most part they do their jobs, but there is a reason Gibson is pretty much the only person you know from this movie.

The stunt work is spectacular in this film.  It was good in Mad Max, but it is fantastic in Mad Max 2.  The final chase scene is one of the best ever put to film.  It is one of those achievements that you wish they would give a special Oscar to, but that is never going to happen.  Which one of the many reasons the Oscars are so flawed.

If you want to see the movie that defined the post apocalyptic genre, you need to watch Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.  Since they recap the first movie at the start of it you don’t even need to see Mad Max.  That was very nice of them.  I really liked this movie, and I hope Mad Max: Fury Road is more like this movie, and less like the other two because if so we are in for a treat.