Category Archives: Saturday At The Movies
Saturday At The Movies: The Greatest Gatsby
The summer movie season is in full swing and our next entry is Baz Lurman’s The Great Gatsby. This is a supposedly unfilmable novella. Other productions have been somewhat cursed. Even the Robert Redford version fell flat. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Baz stated box office sales were of no concern. The truly artistic director saw this as a challenge to his creative yen and that was satisfied just by making the movie. This attitude prepares you a bit for what you will see on the screen. The love and reverence for which Baz holds Fitzgerald’s actual words is obvious. Not only do they literally float across the screen in some places, we see Nick Carraway’s narration literally rips quotes from the book.
Saturday At The Movies: It’s Worth the Pain and Gain
I did not have high hopes for this Michael Bay film. I don’t have high hopes for any Michael Bay film. He’s a fine tent pole, summer blockbuster director but the previews of this movie suggested this was something with a little more finesse – not a lot but a little. Boy, were my socks blow off!
Saturday at the Movies: Iron Man Three
Wow! That was all I could think walking out of Iron Man Three late late last night. This was a phenomenal film, but it was sooo not what I expected. This flick was not what anyone expected. And it will blow everyone away. This is the must-see film of the summer so far. Check out my relatively spoiler-free review after the jump.
Saturday At The Movies: They’re All Going to Laugh At You – David Ward Revisits Carrie
In October, we will see the release of the remade Carrie, this time starring Chloë Grace Moretz in the titular role and Julianne Moore as her religious-zealot, overbearing, and abusive mother. I am cautiously optimistic about this upcoming film, as I feel both Moretz and Moore are singularly gifted actors who will likely bring something very interesting to the roles, never mind the special effects, which will almost certainly eclipse those in the last twenty to thirty minutes of the 1976 original.
Given the new film is coming out in the next few months, I decided, for the first time in many years, to re-watch Brian DePalma’s take on Stephen King’s first (well, first published) novel. I wasn’t disappointed. Despite the feathered hair and, in terms of today’s displays, rather lacklustre effects (even for the time, the effects are pretty cringe-worthy in places), it still holds up as a terrific supernatural thriller encased in a horrific tale of adolescent abuse, both at the hands of Carrie’s peers and her mother.
Saturday At The Movies: Molly Maxwell
The Queen and I often talk about how, back in our high school days, the worst thing one could think of was staying home on a Saturday night. You know, if you didn’t have someplace to be, you just weren’t cool enough. But then, as you get older, you start to relish those evenings in. Without plans or having anyplace to be.
Try telling that to someone still in the thick of high school, still coming of age, and they’ll tell you you’re nuts. If they even deem to talk to you at all.
Growing up. It’s not easy. But in the right hands, it makes for a fun movie. Which is what Molly Maxwell is.
Saturday At The Movies: G.I. Jane (1997)
Over the last few weeks, this column has seen two different reviews of the new G.I. Joe: Retaliation film – one by “Joe” fanatic, Andy Burns, which you can read here and one by regular Los Angeles cinema-goer, Emily McGuiness, which you can check out here.
It’s safe to say that the two movies in the franchise are pretty cheesy viewing. In private circles, I’ve been known to mercilessly rip the first flick – yet I still have an interest in viewing the second. Call it nostalgia for the cartoons I watched and the action figures I collected and played with as a kid.
Still, as we’re experiencing military grandstanding in North Korea, active operations in Afghanistan, and political machinations back home in North America, it’s a great time to curl up on the couch, ditch the cheese, and watch a great G.I. film that carries a weighty and important philosophy.
I’m talking, of course, about the underappreciated G.I. Jane.
Saturday At The Movies – Retaliate with G.I. Joe
Last week on Saturday At The Movies, our own Andy Burns took a look at G.I. Joe: Retaliation, here‘s what he thought of the film. This week, Emily McGuiness gives her opinion of the flick, movie ratings, the US military, violence, gravity missiles, and Channing Tatum.
I had low expectations for the second movie in the franchise. The first one was charming enough but it didn’t make me want to see the SFX heavy second movie. However Channing Tatum has come up in the world and The Rock is usually pretty entertaining. The movie seemed worth a go, even if I was forced to see it in 3D. Was I pleased?
Overall, I was pleased. They put forth enough of a plot to get me from action scene to action scene. I didn’t need much more than that. There were cool gadgets, hot ladies, hunky guys and plenty of ninja action. How could I ask for more? I wasn’t looking for mind-bending plot twists. *Spoiler* I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a good idea to blow up gravity projected missiles hanging above Earth. Wouldn’t the debris rain down on Earth anyway? Oh, well. There was one cool, unexpected 3D effect in a bullet coming straight at you. Usually those effects are annoying but in this case it did bring you further into the action sequence and made you feel like you were part of the fight. There was some good, some bad. I just wanted punching and fun. That is what I got.
My disappointments included, not enough Channing Tatum. I was promised him as a main character in this movie. *Spoiler* He’s been doing all the press junkets and interviews, like he’s not killed in the first eighth of the movie. We didn’t even get him half dressed. What kind of action movie is this!?
Nudity aside, this movie did bring back the warm and fuzzies for America’s military. A huge part of the appeal of G.I. Joe as we 80’s kids got older was the fact that you could join the military and in theory fight like the Joes did. It’s enough to make even the most hardened cynic patriotic. The best of America’s military code is shown in the movie: the camaraderie, the tough do-or-die attitude that gets you through any situation, the acceptance of women as equal partners in combat, trusting our President to make moral and clear decisions. Whether these ideals are actually upheld in the political/military arena is an article I won’t attempt. This all culminated in the award ceremony toward the end of the movie. The Joes stand in full dress uniform, awarded medals of honor by their Colonel (Bruce Willis) and the Colonel finally acknowledges Lady Jaye as an equal. Roadblock even received General Patton’s gun in a fraternal promise to make Cobra Commander pay. It stirred my red, white and blue.
There were also a number of children in the theater, which I found interesting. It was PG-13 and these kids were in no way close to 13. People died. Girls got somewhat naked. War was waged in a somewhat fake way. These parents can’t think this was a cartoon. Maybe I’m old and crotchety but this wasn’t a kid’s movie.
Would I go see the next one? Maybe. If they brought Channing Tatum back. I can probably only do one movie of Parkour dude making eyes at Lady Jaye and The Rock being all muscled.
A Solid 5 nostalgic 80’s cartoons out of 10
Saturday At The Movies – G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Of all the films I’ve talked about with friends over the last few years, I don’t think that there’s one that has split people more than G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra. Some folks absolutely enjoyed the flick, which introduced us to a team that featured Snake-Eyes, Duke, Scarlett, General Hawk and others doing battle against The Baroness, Storm Shadow and the men who would eventually become Destro and Cobra Commander. Then there were others who hated the plot, the acting and the fact that Cobra doesn’t become Cobra until the end of the film.
I rewatched Rise Of Cobra last week and while, to my mind it’s not a particularly good film, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered it. That being said, its sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is hugely superior in every regard.
Read our review after the jump!
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