tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2260217480880694008.post5438067641945806617..comments2023-10-10T00:44:00.572-04:00Comments on The Whitly-Verse: My 2015 Movie Year RecapZachary "Whitly" Perlmutterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00456722856695989318noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2260217480880694008.post-5747837842303317492016-02-15T16:03:26.725-05:002016-02-15T16:03:26.725-05:00All of you points are valid, I'll say that muc...All of you points are valid, I'll say that much. And please do see <em>Paddington</em>. It's very much "an Edgar Wright comedy for kids", and it has one of the best running gags I've seen all-year. I can't recommend it enough, seriously...Zachary "Whitly" Perlmutterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00456722856695989318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2260217480880694008.post-4486118229358003842016-02-15T15:04:42.561-05:002016-02-15T15:04:42.561-05:00I've likewise yet to legitimately hate an MCU ...I've likewise yet to legitimately hate an MCU movie, though there have been times when I've had to go against the grain and consider one of them overrated. For example, while I can understand the appeal of "Guardians of the Galaxy", it largely lost me after the halfway point, where it succumbed to formula at the expense of the relatively creative [by MCU standards, at least] direction it had been going. I think it might have been better had it not been a part of a preexisting film series.<br /><br />Knowing my own tastes, I expect "Inside Out" will indeed grow on me, though the extent to which it will do so remains to be seen. And I remain a tremendous admire of "Lincoln", so if "Bridge of Spies" is even half as good as that film, I should enjoy it.<br /><br />"Paddington was surprisingly good."<br />Okay, now you're really intriguing me. While I don't consider it much of a priority, I *might* watch it before the year is out.<br /><br />"Lastly, Jurassic World is a sort of guilty pleasure for me."<br />I can see how it might be that for some. For my part, though, I thought it suffered from an inability to realize the sheer pointlessness of its own existence beyond providing mindless spectacle; it tried too hard to be a genuinely meaningful addition to the franchise, only to dash headlong into a brick wall because of the general lack of ambition on display in the areas besides the thematic department. Also, as a result of some of its tonal and character decisions, the dinosaur action wound up being almost spitefully callous in many places, as opposed to thrillingly entertaining [like the first film's action] or stupidly entertaining [like the action in the second and third films]. In way, for all that the film preached against "bigger, faster, more teeth", it was pretty much exactly that- and not in a good way. Outside of the park owner and the ending with the T-Rex, I just didn't find much of anything to appreciate in Jurassic World.<br /><br />I can speak for the first Rocky film. Its a genuinely good movie,and proof that Sylvester Stallone can actually act -and act well- when given a decent screenplay. Both he and Carl Weathers give very fine performances. Weathers in particular is excellent as Apollo Creed. <br /><br /><br />Irascible Gentlemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13945763198415925914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2260217480880694008.post-72556790050055696762016-02-15T08:59:13.355-05:002016-02-15T08:59:13.355-05:00I've yet to hate an MCU movie, and they're...I've yet to hate an MCU movie, and they're kinda growing on me, but yeah, very few are "fantastic". Though, if the recent behind-the-scenes stuff is indication, the future films might start taking more risks.<br /><br /><em>Inside Out</em> will grow on you. I promise you that much. And your thoughts on <em>Cinderella</em> echo mine.<br /><br />As for <em>Bridge of Spies</em>, I didn't like it as much as <em>Lincoln</em>, but it was still quite good. I think people give Steven Spielberg too much crap for only doing biopics these days, when it's the biopic genre that's pretty much redeemed him lately in my eyes.<br /><br /><em>Paddington</em> was surprisingly good. It's like <em>Inside Out</em> as far as trailers go: they picked the worst scene as the focal point. Outside of that, it's a clever and quirky British comedy, which means plenty of great visual gags.<br /><br />And do see <em>The Peanuts Movie</em>. <em>The Good Dinosaur</em> can wait, but that's a genuine surprise.<br /><br />Lastly, <em>Jurassic World</em> is a sort of guilty pleasure for me. Not great, but enjoyable enough.<br /><br />In general, I had some budget restraints this year that made it hard to see certain movies. I still want to see <em>Sicario</em> and <em>Straight Outta Compton</em>, for example. Others, like <em>Creed</em>, will have to wait until I watch <em>Rocky</em> for the first time, however...Zachary "Whitly" Perlmutterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00456722856695989318noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2260217480880694008.post-25061111259063390542016-02-15T03:06:50.030-05:002016-02-15T03:06:50.030-05:00Oh yeah, I forget to mention that I saw "Jura...Oh yeah, I forget to mention that I saw "Jurassic World" as well. My verdict? A disappointment, even by the very low bar I was more than willing to hold it to. The movie couldn't even make something as mindlessly simple as "dinosaurs eat people" entertaining. The second and third films might have been [arguably] even stupider in their premises, but they were much more entertaining- and more visually interesting to boot. Irascible Gentlemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13945763198415925914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2260217480880694008.post-26147243575599591512016-02-15T02:53:24.547-05:002016-02-15T02:53:24.547-05:00You plainly saw more movies in the theater in 2015...You plainly saw more movies in the theater in 2015 than I did. I did see plenty of movies this past year, but my ventures were generally limited to the small screen. I'll venture a few brief comments on the ones you mention here that I *did* see. Well, apart from "The Force Awakens", since you already know my thoughts on that one.<br /><br />"Avengers: Age of Ultron" was a movie I was largely bored with throughout, which was a shame, as I liked the first one. [I didn't *love* it, mind you- just liked it.] I can see the appeal, but it was just too bloated and messy for my tastes. Fair disclosure, though- I'm not one of the people who constantly sings the praises of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but neither do I hate it outright. In general, I find the majority of its installments to be fairly average in quality. I'm quite fond of the Captain America movies [especially the somewhat underrated first one], and I think the first Iron Man was nicely ambitious, despite a frightfully dull final battle. But apart from those three, I don't think any of them I've seen have been anything to write home about. I mean, I've generally had fun with the ones I've seen, but I don't see myself watching them over and over again.<br /><br />You already know how much I adored "When Marnie Was There", so I won't go into that again, besides mentioning that its my favorite movie I saw in a theater last year. <br /><br />I saw "Inside Out" once in the theater. While I need to see it again before I can properly decide where I rank it in relation to the other Pixar films, I personally consider it their best film since "Toy Story 3"- maybe even since "Up". I really, really enjoyed it on first viewing, even if I was less deeply moved by it than many of its biggest fans, and was instead more impressed with its sheer cleverness in terms of both concept and execution. I don't begrudge people the gushing, though. I was as happy as anyone to see Pixar once again make a movie that could legitimately be considered "very good", at the least.<br /><br />I liked "Cinderella" for what it was- a non-ironic, traditional fairy tale that was [aside from one notable problem], well-told. That's harder to pull off than it might sound. So while I don't consider it an epic masterpiece or anything like that, I've no regrets at having seen it in the theater.<br /><br />Of the ones you mention that I've yet to see, "Bridge of Spies" is high priority for me, and I should be viewing it soon. As a long-time fan of Peanuts, I'd like to see The Peanuts Movie as well; to my regret, I haven't been able to yet. "The Good Dinosaur" is a lesser priority for me; I absolutely will see it eventually, as I always see every Pixar film, but considering the trailers -and the premise- did nothing for me, I'll probably wait until I can rent it on DVD.<br /><br />I'm genuinely surprised to hear that Paddington had any merit whatsoever.I'm still very apprehensive about watching it, however. I was a big fan of the original Paddington stories as a child, and -even allowing for the possibility that they were withholding a lot of good stuff from a purely cinematic perspective- the trailers did nothing whatever to assuage my doubts that the film could capture even a tenth of the quaint charm that was the lifeblood of Michael Bond's original tales.<br /><br />There's one movie I saw that you made no mention of here, and that was "Testament of Youth", which was a well-done WWI drama film. I don't think it got much publicity outside of arthouse theaters, though, so I wouldn't blame you for not having seen it. Irascible Gentlemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13945763198415925914noreply@blogger.com