Month: August 2020

Blades of Glory (2007)

Rating 12A
Length 1hr 33
Release 6.4.2007
Director Josh Gordon and Will Speck
About After being stripped of their medals and banned from single-men events, two Olympics ice skaters decide to team up and compete as an all-male pair.

The Good


Pam!!! Seriously, I love that The Office’s Jenna Fischer is in this. She’s perfect as the sister, Katie.
I’m still on the fence about whether this film is trying to be super progressive or super offensive, however I do like the idea of the same-sex partners on the ice being done with sincerity.

The Bad
What’s worse than a Will Farrell movie where Will Farrell is doing his shouty shouty ‘I’m so funny routine’? When Will Farrell joins forces with Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder.
It really isn’t as funny as it thinks it is. Farrell is trying way too hard and it shows. Painfully.

The Ugly
The bathroom scene is vile! The only other film that’s gotten me as close to physically vomiting like this one has is whichever Saw movie has the people drown in a vat of rotting pigs.
Incest is never funny, even if the siblings are played by a married couple. No! Just no! Gross.

Final Thoughts

It just isn’t as funny as I remember and I’m struggling to see what I ever would have found good about it.

The Mask (1994)

Rating: PG
Length: 1h 41
Release: 19.8.1994
Dir: Chuck Russell
About: Stanley, an easy-going bank employee, turns into an eccentric green-skinned being who can bend reality after wearing a wooden mask that is inhabited by Loki who is a Norse god.

First Thoughts

This isn’t a film I’d seen all the way through before today. my first experience was during a week away with school. It was put on for the whole group but when asked for people to go on the shop run, I volunteered as tribute. I was never one for film watching with the hyper and disengaged.
The next attempt at watching this came when this was THE film on Christmas Day. Completely unheard of today given how easy is to access movies, however this was my one chance to watch this film and I fell asleep. Only other film I really remember this happening with is The Bodyguard after I’d spent the day at the ITV Studios and it remains, to this day, a film I’ve yet to watch.

The Good

  • While it’s not my thing, I cannot deny that Jim Carey is a master when it comes to this over-blown comedy with a larger-than-life character. From the impersonations to what have now become iconic and quotable one-liners, Carey hits all the notes with an effective precision.
  • While the over-sexualisation of Cameron Diaz irks me somewhat, I have to accept that its part of the time in which it was made and totally a reflection of the characters that watch her walk into the bank. I couldn’t imagine anyone better in the role and she does work well with Carey.

The Bad

  • I think I’ve been spoiled by another mouthy, off the wall anti-hero in the past few years. The Mask I feel is a story much of the same ilk as the Merc with the Mouth and would have been better suited as a darker, more violent affair. As it stands it is too tame for a general audience, but there are some jokes that just don’t seem at home in a PG outing. I have found out since watching it, that the source material is much similar to Deadpool, which only reaffirms my opinion that was pitched to the wrong audience.
  • The murky landscape of the city with the day glow prominence when The Mask reminds me to much of what would become of Tim Burton’s Gotham once he leaves the franchise. While Batman Forever came long after this, the memory still taints this somewhat.
  • I’m sold on Carey as the Mask. i’m not sure he works as well as Stanley. Interestingly enough, those who I feel would have been up for portraying Stanley, I’m not sure could give a convincing The Mask.

The Ugly

  • While a lot of the effects do still stand up owing to the comic book style of the character and the narrative, there are a few that just don’t quite work. When it comes to the flattening of the Mask early in the film, it has been done better in something like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? When you’ve used a lot of Carey’s physicality to do away with some need for CGI, it’s a shame that they couldn’t embrace using some physical effects too.
  • I’m not sure how I feel about the times in which Carey/ The Mask breaks the fourth wall. The biggest problem of it being that its used quite a lot in quick succession and then it doesn’t happen again.
  • I would argue that this is also rather badly edited. From odd cuts that move characters and seem to miss out dialogue to references that don’t make sense I feel as if we’re left with a disjointed film.

Final Thoughts

Upon watching this time, it would appear I wasn’t asleep for very long. Perhaps the feeling that I’d missed something important was due to editing. As it stands, I really hadn’t missed much and I really could have done without watching it again.

Bolt (2008)

Rating: PG
Length: 1h 36
Release: 6.2.2009
Dir: Byron Howard & Chris Williams
About: Bolt is a dog who stars in a superhit television show in which he possesses superpowers. However, things change when he believes his powers are real and embarks on a purposeful mission.

The Good

  • Rhino! Who doesn’t love that crazy bastard in the ball. He’s a maniac, he’s outrageously deluded and I am here for it. He has some of the best moments in the film and provides some of the biggest laughs.
  • The plot is quite savvy. It’s essentially Planes Trains and Automobiles meets Galaxy Quest with the cast of Homeward Bound. What is not to love about that elevator pitch?!
  • The relationship between Bolt and Mittens will win your heart. Bolt has you from the very start as he’s a Disney puppy. That’s like cinematic kryptonite for the audience. Then you are introduced to a street cat who is not all she seems. It’s the age old buddy pairing in which they’re chalk and cheese, but they learn to get along.
  • I do feel like John Travolta was a unconventional choice to voice Bolt given it could be argued at the time he didn’t have the box office pull he once did and doesn’t have an overly distinctive voice either. However his voice does work for Bolt. He has charm, innocence and, when required, authority.

The Bad

  • It’s a bit unclear from the opening act as to whether Bolt was picked to be part of the film, or if Penny picked him as a family pet and then they were both picked up. It’s not something that really matters, but I’m curious.
  • Penny gives up way too quickly when the dick PR guy brings her the replacement dog. She put more effort into trying to get Bolt home for the weekend than the rescue.
  • Some of the visuals, mainly the backgrounds that are trying to have dept of field, haven’t aged too well. Not too much of a problem, but it certainly not long has the ‘state-of-the-art’ feeling to it.

The Ugly

  • The subtext within this film is really dark. In my early 20s it went over my head, so little ones should be okay, but Mittens and Bolt are both victims of animal cruelty. Watching it this time, I really struggled with the fact that the plot does come at the expense of Bolt’s abuse at the hands of the tv network.

Final Thoughts

I love this movie. It has so many ‘I love this bit’ moments and the script really makes you chuckle.

Practical Magic (1998)

Rating: 15 Length: 1h 44 Release: 22.1.1999 Dir: Griffin Dunne About: After the death of their parents, Sally and Gillian Owens move in with their aunts, Jet and Frances. The two sisters have nothing in common except their hereditary gift for practical magic.

The Good

  • This film is well cast. Any film that lets me tolerate Nicole Kidman always gains bonus points too. The core of the likability of this film does fall on Sandra Bullock. She is Peak Sandra in this movie.
  • The music is magical (sorry). From Faith Hill’s This Kiss to the Midnight Margarita dancing to Coconut by Harry Nilson, it’s a 90s feel good soundtrack.
  • It takes the coven, the horror and the theme of the outcast from The Craft, the romance of any film from the 90s and the lust of a Sharon Stone movie and created a cocktail of a movie that many will love.
  • You know what I loved most of all about watching this time, as an adult instead of a teen?! The acceptance of the community at the end. Sally uses the phone tree to create an impromptu coven in order to save Gilly. I hadn’t realised before, but it brought me to tears this time; it’s wasn’t the witchcraft they were really against. It was the unknown. When it really came down to it and they realise the family needed help, all the barriers broke down and they accepted Sally. It was so heartwarming.

The Bad

  • The weird romance with Sally and the FBI guy. I get it, I get why and I totally find it cute with the daughters when they work out who he is, however there’s no chemistry there. I bought into her love with her first love but this guy and their make out session in his hotel. Nope, don’t buy it!

The Ugly

  • I don’t like the lack of clarification of why they performed the spell on Jimmy. He’s a toxic man and I feel it does the film an injustice to even allow a seed of doubt that it was because Gilly wanted him rather than to save her sister.

Final Thought

Love this movie. This is one of those ‘Sandra Bullock makes this awesome’ sort of movies. I’d not seen it for years, but I do want to see it again.

American History X (1998)

Rating: 18
Length: 1h 59
Release: 26.3.1998
Dir: Tony Kaye
About: Derek, who has served three years in prison for a hate crime, tries to change the thoughts of his brother, Danny, who is following the same path.

The Good

  • It covered a rather contentious topic in an open way. I don’t think anyone, not even Principle Sweeny, is painted in a perfect light. There is no one to hold up as a hero, no one who hasn’t made a mistake. The commentary isn’t about being on a named side, but about deciding for yourself what is right and wrong. On that note, it is a refreshing change to not see the influence of religious within the narrative and in the prison in particular.
  • The cast is incredible. I’m so so glad Keeping the Faith was my first Edward Norton movie. It is a narrative that moves around the timeline, but even without the visual cues, you would be able to see where it was by Norton’s performance.
  • Avery Brooks was a welcome addition to the cast. Known to me as Commander Sisko in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, this was a role that fit him well. His presence in the film as a mentor and a consultant with the police is one that joins the bits together. I think he gets the right amount of screen time, but his performance does make me wish he’d managed to venture a little more into film.
  • This film surprised me. I felt like I knew where it was going but there were a few times in which I gained new information that I wasn’t expected. One actually is present in the trailer but plays as almost a final act reveal in the movie. Having not seen the trailer, I do feel it has more impact as a reveal. It certainly felt a bit like a gut punch it me.

The Bad

  • The relationship Derek builds with Lamont is incredible and so very powerful. It’s actually my favourite part of the film as for me, its that interaction that it the true cause of Derek’s shift and acceptance of Sweeny’s help and support. However, there is one interaction between the two that I just wish the film had honed in on and just confirmed that Derek understood. That is the explanation of what it was Lamont did to get put in prison.
    Perhaps it’s me seeing it through the social movement of 2020 and perhaps the intention was to have the statement be left with doubt. I should just be satisfied that I believe what he said.
  • There is some gruesome elements to this film. Some bits may even turn your stomach. However, I would argue that nothing is gratuitous. It’s there for the purpose of revulsion and at no point does it glorify the violence.

The Ugly

  • There are some slow-mo shots throughout the film, that are mainly contained to the black and white sequences that I remind me of an arthouse aesthetic. For example, two of the three times Norton’s Derek is seen in the shower, the camera puts him in profile and focuses on the water. It doesn’t do anything for me other than remind me I’m watching a movie.
  • In the same sense I’m not too happy about the music, particularly in the black and white sequences. It feels a little heavy handed and, well, loud. I can’t think of another way to describe it. Not in terms of volume, but presence. Music should compliment the visuals and I’m not sure it does here.
  • How is it that films like this get made over twenty years ago and nothing has changed? Yes, in once sense its good that it being put on streaming platforms will bring it to a new audience. But it’s a damn fucking shame that it doesn’t have the impact it should.
  • I cried. I ugly cried. I’m not going to go into details about the whens and the whys, but this film does carry with it a lot of what’s going on today. The presence of such blind hatred is throughout the narrative, its on all sides and it is bias. I’ve always been somewhat of a empathetic viewer and this did leave me somewhat overwhelmed.

Final Thoughts

It is an incredible film. One I’m not sure I was ever ready for before and I’m not too sure if I’ll ever opt to watch again. However i do believe it’s a film everyone should see.