Donativo Eventos

Donativo Eventos

Let's all take a deep breath and relax

The Oscars are probably my favorite event to watch... I've watched the Superbowl, the World Cup, even the championship finals of Basketball, but no matter what, even if I don't get to ACTUALLY watch them, the Oscars are my once in a year opportunity for me to say stuff about movies, without people looking at me weird.

The Oscars have been the pinnacle of cinema for many, many years. Celebrating the best of the best. Allowing all of us to know what the experts say about the films that were released. Which ones deserve an award for being excellent in their art. 

Winners this year were

Birdman

Whiplash

and Even Big Hero 6. 

Movies like these are really good to watch, they are just plain excellent.

Here are their respective trailers. 

(WARNING... THERE IS SWEARING)

Now, these two movies are excellent, they both deserve the praise they get and more and more people should go and watch them.

BUT!

There is something more than the just the Oscar. And no, I am not talking about the Golden Globe, I am talking about a movie being fun.

What does this mean?

Well, let's look at one of my favorite year in movie cinema 1998. 

This year was a very nice year for movies. Saving Private Ryan, Prince of Egypt, The Big Lebowski and even American History X. All of these films are great films, but they require something that not many movie goers want to do... reflect. 

We also saw very BAD movies. Like Lost in Space and Rush Hour.  But, one of the underdogs of movies came out that year. And, in a very strange way, defined a new kind of genre. A genre that now is something of a MARVELous trend. (hint hint).

I am not talking about Blade (because that movie came out that year), I am talking about The Mask of Zorro

The Mask of Zorro is one very strange type of movie. Why? Because it is a fun movie. A fun, non oscar worthy, not bad, not dark, not drama, action based fun for the whole family movie.

See, this genre is the "family action movie". Where both kids can enjoy the action, but the adults can enjoy a good film. Now, this movie is NOT groundbreaking. If you look at previous years in cinema, every once in a while you find a GOOD action movie. Like Rocketeer (1991) The Three Musketeers (1993) and maybe even Mortal Kombat (1994), but other attempts at this genre would fall flat (Mario Bros, and even Street Fighter), movies that would have action and adventure, but keep a good lighthearted aura around them.

The Mask of Zorro defined that genre and made it solid.
See, this movie is a bit edgy, but mostly it is a very good movie. Both adults and kids can enjoy it and have a good relaxing time. It is not like the Expendables, where it is just MINDLESS action that requires no thought into it (not that that is a bad thing), but rather a film where one can feel engaged and feel connected to the characters, but not be puzzled by the ideas set by society around us.

This genre is my FAVORITE genre. Good action movies that like to keep the audience on their toes but not create a sociopolitical critic on the rules that we live on.
Why do I bring this up? Not because of the superhero hate that was clearly shown on the Oscars... (which NONE of the Marvel movies were selected to win) but rather because after all of the Oscar hype, you ask yourself Now what? What movie can I unwind with

Well, this is the genre for you... a relaxing good time where the drama is minimum but the thrill is still there.
For example... A movie that was almost perfect was Kingsmen:Secret Service. My friends and I were talking about Birdman and about what it is about and that a Mexican directed it (WHICH MAKES ME INCREDIBLY HAPPY... TAKE THAT 'MURICA) when we saw that this film was earlier, and we went to see it
Now... careful... If you watch this film, you need to be careful, because of the last 20 seconds. Those last 20 seconds are NOT (repeat) NOT worth watching. I cannot stress this enough

But it is a good action movie.
Now, this movie is specially good because it is not a superhero movie. Like a said before, Marvel has taken up the task of making these films. We no longer have Zorro, but rather Iron Man. But this movie is NOT superhero one... it is a good movie of action and spies. (Kind like Mission Impossible, but British)
Like I said, a good action movie that I think should be made more and more outside of the Marvel universe, not that I don't want more of them, but a something new and fresh.


And, isn't that a good enough reason to love cinema even more?

Liam Neeson... and just Liam Neeson

O... I do love Hollywood sometimes.

See, Hollywood made a very awesome decision on choosing William Shakespeare as a model for new stuff.
See, William Shakespeare is THE playwright. He would write so much, that we are STILL debating whether or not stuff is his or not.
But, if one thing that good ol' Bill did was sticking to his ideas.
Most of his comedies are... well... the same

Now, before all of you Shakespeare lovers come hating... (actually, if you really know Shakespeare... you would know this), it is true. His tragedies, on the other hand, is where all of his real genius came in.
And we can sort of see that with Hollywood.
Why?
The feel good movies (and here I am talking about Rom-Coms) are all the same... and follow the same kind of formula... and the dramas... well... the dramas... they really show the best of people...
Now... after the insulting over-simplification of Hollywood, I do want to say that every once in a whille something amazing happens.
Someone comes along with a new idea.
Usually, new ideas are very rare and the concepts of these new ideas are way to strange to understand and then you have Independant films. UNLESS your idea is so good, that it will be made and then you have Taken.

I want to imagine the pitch for this movie
Pitch guy: I want a movie where Liam Neeson is just killing people

Hollywood: Like a video game?

PG: Yes... but with basically all kinds of methods to get what he wants

H: Like a god?

PG: Not really... because he can get hurt... but no matter how hard people try.. he will kill them...

H: That sounds like it's really not possible

PG: But it will be possible... because Liam Neeson needs to change his image from old sage but kinda badass Qui-Gon Jin and Ras-Al Ghul to only badass Liam Neeson. 

H: Can you make a meme out of it?

PG: We will deliver the most badass line of all time after Jaws' "Smile you son of a %^&*(

H: You are hired!!!!

Now... I really like this movie.... When I saw it, I was just rooting for Neeson to save the day... and he did. Then everyone realized that it was one of the best ideas of all time... kinda like having a batman only fighting henchmen and no one could stop it (and he DID train batman). This movie made 24,717,037 at the box office (barely breaking even with a budget of 25 000 000). But the money is not the issue... but the cult following that it got... People were so excited about this film, quoting it, using it for memes etc... 

Now, this made hollywood realize that they just found a golden goose and were going to exploit it... 

But I am not talking about the trilogy... no... the formula of the badass who just kills everyone in their way..

Watch this

and this

AND THIS

Are we seeing a pattern?

All of these films have the same formula... and in a way... it's good. People should be able to create more without really hurting the original formula... 

But the problem is that most of these are a little bit too similar to the original, and so they just fall flat... 

It fails to deliver a good movie... because they want to see Neeson, not Mel Gibson, or even Keanu Reeves. 

Why? Because it is the portrayal of Neeson that made this movie into a special kind of movie... Neeson was able to portay determination, and while I haven't seen the John wick one, the idea of just heading for your goal with 100% determination and focus is something that I've only seen in John Wayne...

Now... can the formula change for the better? Yes... Are these other movies bad? I don't think so... But Liam is a special kind of guy that can pull it off... 

I do ask Hollywood that I hope soon the formula changes and something new comes along... After all, isn't that what cinema is all about???/

What you want to see vs what you need to see.

Can we all just agree with one thing?
We all felt a surge of some sort chemical in our brains when we saw for the first time Godzilla?

So much build up for that. Granted, the scene lasted less than 5 minutes... but when I saw Godzilla roar for the first time, I felt my entire body shake with excitement.

There are some things that CGI has been able to do. Create magnificent things that our minds crave sometimes.

Remember "Pacific Rim"? One of the most strange films, yet satisfying films I've ever seen. It was something else to see monster after monster getting slayed by a giant robot with a sword. It creates (at least as a man) a rush of testosterone in our brains, that we just gotta get out there and do something.
Sometimes, directors know exactly how to deliver the strongest message. Or the greatest moment in a film.
Like in Jurassic Park. We wanted to see the T-rex, but we didn't get to see the T-rex until almost an hour into the film. But once he was on screen... BAM, it was something else. You felt like he was actually there and something so big and so magnificent was on the big screen.

Some directors DON'T know how to set it up. Transformers 4 The First one again, only without Shia The poster for this film had optimus prime on a freaking dinosaur spitting fire... I should have been like the dude in .gif above... but rather I was more like

I didn't care... no matter the awesomeness.
The question though should not be whether the thing being shown is awesome or not. It is whether what the directors needs you to see.
Some directors focus their entire story on building up towards the big reveal. And once the big reveal is out...then the entire film focuses on that. Going back to Jurassic Park, we wanted to see the T-rex, and we got to, and then it was running away from the T-rex.
They incorporated what we wanted to see with what we needed to see to make the story flow.
With Transformers, we didn't need to see how Optimus was riding that thing... it was secondary.
Therefore, the build up was not as big.


That's all I got...sorry, no big disagreement today...
Maybe next time...
Maybe next time I'll talk about the movies that EVERYONE wants me to talk about... the Hobbit films....

This will be tough

It's been a year... time to look at it

Almost a year ago... the studio that is considered "The best Animation studio in the World" gave us another great film.
Frozen hit the theaters November 27 2013. It was... a HUGE hit.

It made $243,390 on opening weekend and everyone... and I mean EVERYONE was singing the songs and talking about it
Many people considered this "The return of Disney" or Disney's way of telling the world... "I'm bringing animation back".
And with good reason. Dreamworks had just released Despicable Me 2 (And it wasn't a bad film) but a lot of people (including myself) started to get tired of animated movies. We were watching the same thing over and over and over... Cool people doing cool things acting in a cool way.
What do I mean?
Well, that year, we saw the following releases
1)Planes by Pixar...
2) The Croods by Dreamworks Animation
3) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
4) Monsters University
5) Despicable Me 2
All of these films had the same idea. Not the same message. I never saw Planes (and I don't plan to), but out of the other 4 films, I see a pattern of pleasing towards the audience by becoming products of their time.
Sure, The Croods was set upon cave-men/women but it still very simple formula. Same with all the other films. They all talk "hip" and try to convey a bridge between the audience and the characters. Most of the time, they fail. Pretty bad. They end up by looking like that one kid who tries too hard to look cool by talking like the others, while everyone knows they are out of their comfort zone

I may be talking just out of personal experience, but I was kind of getting sick these people trying to talk a language that is not theirs. There was no genuineness and no real threat or story. Safe bet after safe bet after safe bet. 

I felt like there was nothing new anymore. Add to the fact that most of the live action movies were taken from books... So, originality was kind of gone.

Then Frozen came out. 

I remember seeing the trailer for this film and I was already like

I was skeptical. I didn't want to watch it, because I thought it was going to be Tangled 2... return of the awful franchise. 

But it wasn't. After seeing it for the first time... everyone was under one voice singing out loud "Let it Go!!!"

I... I... I didn't like this movie.

It was strange... I didn't like a movie I was supposed to like. I saw it time and time again, looking for things to hate, but nothing came. Yet I still wasn't getting the entire hype.  (I did memorize the songs... by accident).

But, enough about the past.

Now to future. 

I recently saw it again, and I don't think it holds up.

GET YOUR FIRE TORCHES AND PITCHFORKS HERE FOR THE PUBLIC ATTACK ON MAU'S OPINION!!!

I mean... it's not horrible. Out of 5, I give it a solid 3.5. I think the movie is a great turn of events. I think that it is actually Disney's way of telling the world "Let ME teach you kids how it's done". But throughout the Frozen craze, people were saying "ooo It's as good as Lion King" or "It's even better than Beauty and the Beast", or (the one that made me take another look at it) "Probably Disney's best work yet".

Well, let me tell you. 

It's not. 

It's a good film, but not a great one. I don't think it belongs in "Disney's top 5 movies". I'm sorry... I just don't see it

Why?

Well, let's look at the story.

Frozen (SPOILER ALERT BTW) is about a princess with the power to turn things to ice. She (out of an incredible pressure of hiding her powers) curses her hometown in infinite weather and her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer and a snowman to change the weather condition.  (As basic as you are going to get... I know there is more to it... but meh)

The story is based upon the story of the Snow Queen, but because I am not looking at source material, it doesn't really matter.

So, first, let's talk about the good things. 

1) The animation and the setting. HOLY CRAP... Stunning, beautiful setting. Every snowflake was probably designed individually so that the amount of detail going into it would be perfect. It feels big and powerful. There is a real sense of being in another world. The entire idea that it is set in a place we don't know during a time that is "sorta viking-ish" I think plays out great. 

2) The music.... I don't wanna go into too much detail on this one... but it is great

3) The villain is almost perfect... 

Hans is freaking awesome as a villain. Had me guessing the entire time and I did not expect him to become the evil one... The only thing I have a problem with is his motivation. He wants to rule the land.

Come ON!!!! We've seen this already... plain ambition... He is a freaking prince, what more do you want???

You could make the argument that because he is the youngest of a big family, there will be no kingdom for him to rule. I would be lying if I said I didn't understand that. But, he doesn't act like the youngest of a family. He seems like he was in control. 

Let me see him strive for attention, let me see him being actually treated like the youngest. Instead, he is this evil mastermind that just wants to rule the kingdom. A little bit overdone if you ask me. 

(BTW For me, the perfect villain is Gaston).

What are the problems?

1) The characters. There are a lot of characters in this film. And all of them are "safe" archetypes of classic tales. 

We have the hero (or heroine) who wants more out of life than her boring life in the castle... Thats!!--- really boring... we've seen that with...well... most of the other princesses in Disney. 

You have the OTHER Heroine/Villain. A tortured soul, Elsa tries to live a life of peace and quiet where she can enjoy her lifestyle without the pressure of everyone else set on her. 

As original as this is, well, it's not the greatest idea for kids. What are you saying? That if I feel pressured into being a responsible young man... I should run away because I really feel comfortable being a lazy person? In the end, Elsa learns that "Love" is the best way to live her life with her powers and be accepted by everyone. That is really just, boring. 

I did like the idea that it wasn't a kiss that thawed out the Anna's frozeness, but rather an act of pure love out of the sister... that was genius, I actually like that. Fraternal love. I can get behind that. 

You have the dude with his reindeer. O, I hate this guy, Kristoff. 

He is to men, what (many people say) Ariel is to women. Simplifying them to a level of almost insulting. He is played as a dumb guy obsessed with his reindeer and his sleigh, he is cold and doesn't care about feelings. He is basically the stereotype of a stereotype. I really don't like him, because he is just a DUDE... 

And of course.... Olaf.

Oh, Olaf... I know you mean well. I know that you are meant to be innocent and cute and pretty. I can't stand you. 

I really cannot stand you. Everything you say is covered with rainbows and butterflies and cutesy wittle bwaby twalk. It gets sick after a while. I wanted to see something funny, but at the same time, take a serious tone to it. That scene where he is melting for Anna, was MEANT to be serious... but THOSE EYES... I cannot take him seriously. He is too cute for everyone to go "AWWWWW" that it drives me sick.

The last problem I have with this movie is the after effect. 

What is it questioning? 

What kind of impact is it leaving on me as a viewer?

Well, just songs. Songs that are great, don't get me wrong. But the songs are the only thing that it is left for this thing. People sing the songs to this day. And that is the only thing that it has going for it. It is so good that it becomes it's downfall. Because of the goodness of the songs, the rest of the movie becomes forgettable. Now, in other cases, the fact that the movie is forgettable means that the movie didn't try hard enough.... not with Frozen. They tried their best, but their trump card was the songs, and with comparison, the rest of the movie didn't stand a chance. 

But, all of this is just on a PERSONAL opinion. I'm not saying that I am right, or that you are wrong if you love it. I am just saying what I think of the film. I saw some flaws... that in other movies, I don't see.

I personally think that even though it is a good film, I wouldn't say that it is Disney's best. Overall, I still think Disney still has to show us what they can really do with 3D animation.