Change Your Image
sampsoninc916
Reviews
Marmaduke (2010)
This might become a punching bag
Every now and then, a movie comes out that critics, general audiences, and social network users love to pick on. Furry Vengeance came out in April of this year, receiving bad reviews and performing badly at the box office because it was unappealing to moviegoers. Now we have another one of those flicks, and low and behold, it's in the same category. Talking animals, and an attempt to be family friendly, but instead looks poorly not-so family friendly. When I first heard about the flick, I thought it would be just humans talking and trying to help and protect animals through bad circumstances, something I would do if I made a movie. But then the front page said "featuring the voice of Owen Wilson", and I thought, uh-oh, another talking animal movie. I watched the trailer, and it threw at me all the stock clichés, comedic pauses, rated PG, men rejected by women even for heroic causes, a use of teenagers instead of elementary school children (ie. ET and it's rip off "Mac and Me"), use of stars who are desperate for a paycheck, and several gross-out jokes. It was like I was trained to expect this in every live action family comedy released in this day and age. Could it possibly get any worse, I thought. Yes it did. A terribly executed dog dance at the end was so assaultive that my eyes were about to bulge out of my skull just like BoCo when he was tricked by Bill and Ben in The Diseasel, a Thomas the Tank Engine episode. With businesses down, foreclosures of houses, lay offs of jobs, high ticket prices, a bad box office summer this year, high ticket prices, and the ability to criticize films on social networks these days, I don't exactly see this as a surefire success, but then again, I'm secretly and sadly expecting it to be. By the way, I'm all ready to go back to a decade and a half to simpler times when I go see Toy Story 3. Save your money on that. I think I see the downfall of good CGI and decency with talking animals here. So far Babe is the best talking animal movie I can think of. Maybe you should let your kids see that.
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Been waiting for this for years! Now it has arrived!
Every nerd out there in Internet land is basically a fan of animation. I am one of those nerds. Basically, the nerd kingdom has been expecting this movie, now, it has arrived. To fully understand the premises, let's rewind back to 2001, Shrek arrived, pushed boundaries of computer animation, and made fairy tales awesome again. It followed up with a very successful sequel, but other animation studios misunderstood that the Shrek formula was the only way to make animated movies. So they made formulaic CGI movies, and Disney tried to jump on as well, but still, with every hard stone, there is a soft part to it. Back in late 2005/early 2006, I read that Disney acquired Pixar, John Lasseter became Chief Creative Executive, and that Disney was going to make The Princess and the Frog a 2-D animated musical. I nearly crapped in my pants, it was a dream come true. I wanted modern audiences to see the awesome force of actual animation on the big screen, and maybe then people would take it more seriously. However, through all the delays, formulaic CGI, dumb teeny bopper shows on Disney Channel, and an unworthy minority flick called the Alvin and the Chipmunks remake, I had to wait for nearly 4 years for this movie to see the light of day, in 2009. In between all that, I managed to get my fix with Disney's Enchanted, a good movie about a princess winding up in Manhattan, but the highlight was the animated sequences and the musical numbers. Pretty well written. It was a great tribute, but not nearly as awesome as the phenomenon that we were going to see next.
July 30, 2008 - First teaser trailer premieres, watched it, not much from a teaser, but enough to get me pumped up.
May 7-10, 2009 - Second trailer premieres, well worth the wait, highlights Disney classics at the start, gives us a good taste, one of the best trailers ever made.
July 2009 - Another trailer premieres, this time highlighting the songs, thought the whole "Blue Skies and Sunshine" number was just going to be Percy's theme from Thomas the Tank Engine set to lyrics. Questioned some of the humor in there, too.
November 2009 - Marketing campaign is well underway. More trailers, TV spots, a Youtube channel, a Facebook page, movie stand up posters, bus stop posters, internet ads, featurettes on the Disney Channel, a featurette called Dreams Come True: A Celebration of Disney Animation, a MSNBC spot, an ABC news spot, an Access Hollywood Spot, sneak peeks on other channels, books, gummy snacks, dolls, games, toys, right down to the clothing. All that's missing is a Happy Meal promotion.
December 11, 2009 - The movie finally premieres.
Pretty much saw it today, and to my surprise, the theater was pretty full. Not every seat was occupied, but still full. Trailers: Toy Story 3, The Last Song from Touchstone Pictures, starring Miley Cyrus (has she annoyed me enough already!), Disney's Oceans, and Tooth Fairy (why can't The Rock stick to wrestling?). I guess Disney was brainwashing the audience with terrible trailers to make the movie look bad. Folks, I'm going to tell you something. No matter what the world assaults on us, and how it brings us down, there will always exist the force of love. I think that is what The Princess and the Frog is, a labor of love from the studio who made a mistake and came back doing good, Disney. Everything about the movie delighted me. The visuals, the score, the songs, the voices, the color, and the scripting, it was all there. I seemed to be worried that the humor would be crude. It wasn't. It was more of a Three Stooges type humor, and even so, in the trailer, Ray battling swamp dudes is hilarious and delightful, even if it does involve mucus. Very touching, very colorful, very amazing, what a great flick. My favorite number was Almost There, see the movie for yourself to find out why. Well worth the popcorn and the money, since I went to see this with my Mom, my sister, and a friend. It cost $33.90 for all of us, but the money was well paid. This is definitely one of the best movies of 2009.
Also, Princess Tiana as a frog is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. She looks very delightful when she smiles as a frog. Also, again, the humor wasn't very stupid, it was a tiny bit stupid, but it was good and delightful enough to save Mr. Disney's grace. Also, I found out that Walt Disney Animation Studios was founded in 1934 to begin production on Snow White, and since The Princess and the Frog was released in 2009, 75 years after Snow White began production, it's fair to say that for the occasion, Disney decided to cut to bull-hooey. Even they're thinking about doing more films like this in the future, such as Rapunzel, King of the Elves, and the coupe de gras, The Snow Queen.
Walt Disney seems to be smiling up in heaven.
Disaster Movie (2008)
Will Friedberg and Seltzer ever learn? I knew this was going to be horrible.
The only good thing about this movie is that it spoofs both High School Musical and Hannah Montana, two things which feel so out of character for Disney and two things that I just don't like, basically because both franchises are directed towards girls. Which is better? Movies that you don't like or really bad movies? It's hard to tell, because really bad movies are bad on their own. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer should be fired after making 4 bad movies in one career. At this rate they'll probably surpass Ed Wood for the most bad movies made by certain people or a single person. These guys just don't learn. All four movies they made: Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and this are all unfunny. Kids and teenagers are seeing this because of the commercials advertising this movie. I recommend you not going to see it and the agony booth recap for Epic Movie is funnier than this. It is located here: http://www.agonybooth.com/recaps/Epic_Movie_2007.aspx Man, they should stop this crap now! We've seen too many unfunny spoof movies already.
The Dark Knight (2008)
70 years later, and Batman is still wowing and amazing
1939 - Bob Kane creates Batman. Batman makes his first appearance on a Detective Comics issue in June 1939. This is one of the earliest forms of modern dark entertainment.
1943 & 1949 - Batman makes his first film appearance in theatrical serials . This would later provide the basis for what was coming in the 60s.
1966 - The infamous campy TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward hits the airwaves. The show generates such Batman classics as Bat Shark Repellant and Anti-Penguin Spray, the cartoon BAM's, POW's, and OOF's, Robin saying "Holy nightmare, Holy hijinx," and other Holy you-make-up-your-owns, the 60s Batmobile, the To the Batcave's or To the Batmobile's, the Bat transition, dutch angle shots, and more. It was from this show that the Riddler became a classic Batman villain.
1987 - Batman: Year Zero is published, bringing Batman back into the dark tone that he rightfully belonged in.
1989 - Tim Burton taps into the comics for a film adaptation. Despite many plot holes and inconveniences, the film won an award for outstanding visual design.
1992 - Tim Burton releases Batman Returns, which was one of the few sequels that improved over the original. It was here that Tim Burton handed the reins to Joel Schumacher, who would take the franchise to a downhill turn.
1995 - Joel Schumacher releases Batman Forever, which gave the franchise a campy twist and one of the most infamous objects in film history: nipples on the Batsuit. Despite the campiness, it was received well by moviegoers but not fans of the comics.
1997 - Joel Schumacher releases the infamous Batman and Robin, which nearly killed the franchise and pretty much killed the careers of all who were involved (except George Clooney and Uma Thurman). The film had everything from butt shots and silly Bat toys (Bat credit cards, anyone?) to ridiculous action sequences and bad dialogue (ice puns and plant puns.)
2005 - Christopher Nolan resurrects the franchise with his well-received Batman Begins. Considering our current subject, this was just a test to see what Chistopher Nolan could do with the Caped Crusader.
2008 The Dark Knight wows and amazes audiences the world over and earns its rightful place in the IMDb's Top 250 Movies.
It's official!! Batman has been wowing and amazing audiences the world over ever since his first appearance in a comic book 70 years ago. There are some people that think that the Christopher Nolan Batman films are horrible, but they should just bear one thing in mind. Batman was and always will be a dark sort of superhero in a dark sort of tone, which was how Bob Kane probably created him. The 60's TV show was just a spoof, and to tell you the truth, it worked out well. Batman's alter ego, Bruce Wayne, fights crime just for the sole reason that his parents were murdered by a criminal when he was a kid, which makes the character of Batman more interesting. Now onto the movie: The Dark Knight is the masterpiece of all comic book films. Christopher Nolan takes acting and comic book adaptations (soon to be an iconic highlight to the decade of the 00's) to the next level. Every piece of footage is put together excellently. The dialogue is just fresh and ripe. I'm autistic and an introvert and have a hard time socializing, but the actors make it look easy. Where the heck did Jonathan and Christopher Nolan learn to write? I would like to know because I want to be a movie maker, too. The acting here is just awesome. Christian Bale uses a regular voice for Bruce Wayne and a dark, bad sounding voice for Batman. To me, any actor or actress who can play many types of people (i.e. Dustin Hoffman) is a great actor or actress. Michael Caine gives a spot on performance as Alfred (I say spot on because he's British.) The movie does very well without Katie Holmes as Rachael Dawes, as here she is played by a different actress, Maggie Gyllenhaal. I still don't understand why Rachael died in the movie. Maybe it was to develop the character of Two-Face. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Aaron Eckhart do great as well. Heath Ledger, however, tops them all. His performance as the Joker is the best I have ever seen on the character. This also make Jack Nicholson's Joker look like a petty crook. Although he is dead and no longer on this planet, he will definitely win an Oscar for Best Actor. I wonder where he learned how to act. There is also a shot where a lot of cars are stalled in the city streets and people crammed together like packs of Coke. How does Christopher Nolan make such a scene happen. Does he wait for the biggest car jam in history? Beats me. There is only one problem in this movie. Considering that the Joker didn't die in the movie, and that Heath Ledger is dead, it makes me wonder if the sequel to this movie will be "Battlefield Earth" awful. In the meantime, lots of hugs and kisses to Christopher Nolan and everyone who worked on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. They deserve special love and caring because as long as the franchise remains in their hands, we'll get probably one of the greatest franchises ever. Batman, if there is anything I should say about this moment, then Welcome Home, Batman. Welcome Home.
WALL·E (2008)
I'm guessing that after people see this, the number of views on Hello Dolly will increase.
I'm guessing that after people see this, the number of views on Hello Dolly will increase. Nevertheless, I had just returned from seeing this and have to say I am impressed. Pixar has made 8 flicks and this is their 9th flick. 5 of those flicks have their own position in the IMDb's list of 250 of the greatest movies ever made. Of course they made 3 bad flicks: A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., and don't get me started on Cars, even though me and fans of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends like that movie. Anyway, the visuals for this movie are stunning. I'm a movie maker myself and have to admit I never ever learned how to do 3D animation and visual effects, even though my movies, or episodes, consist of model, blue screen, and computer-generated 2D effects. You can find my production site here at http://www.sampsoninc.com. Pixar, however, excels at this and makes the incredible world of Wall E beautiful. Oh, and the great cinematographer Rodger Deakins worked as a visual consultant on this film. He worked on great films like Assassination of Jesse James, No Country for Old Men, and In the Valley of Elah, all of which contain content that is not for kids because they are R-rated. Now onto the characters. WALL E, the title character, is downright incredible. Such charm and cuteness goes with this robot that it makes you laugh along with his antics. It works best when you are watching this with an audience and not alone. EVE, the lovebird of WALL E, has a futuristic touch to her and does whatever she can to help him out. Both robots turn out to have hearts and feel emotions whenever the script calls for them. The character development between them was done to an all out excellence. The scenes where they are both together you can actually see their personality. I think the major film critics will do better at admiring this flick than me. By and by, Wall E is an instant classic, and this is why today's kids will enjoy growing up with this company because they had the same awesome gig going nonstop for 13 years. I say that because Toy Story was their first flick. Oh, and don't forget to watch Hello Dolly.