What genre of drama do you prefer:
1) A good drama/thriller film? (ex Gone Girl)
2) A one year beginning-to-end television drama? (ex. True Detective)
3) A multiple year drama spanning many seasons? (ex. Breaking Bad)
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Friday, October 31, 2014
List: Top Holidays for Film
Happy Halloween!
I decided in the spirit of Halloween, to do a ranking of holidays based off the movies released.
1) Halloween: I will admit that I am not a big fan of horror movies. For this reason, as a testament to the genre, I have to put Halloween at number 1. Halloween is the holiday of scares and thrills, and the fact that the movies made for Halloween are scary means the movies are doing their job.
2) Christmas: This is what we call in the world of statistics as n*p. Although the probability (p) of a Christmas movie actually being good and not overly corny is extremely low, there are so many Christmas films (n) that there are enough quality films (n * p) to earn the #2 holiday.
3) Independence Day: The beauty of July 4 related movies is that there is a combination of modern presidential flicks and historic 1776 related movies. Thomas Jefferson fighting aliens could be the next great flick idea.
4) St. Patrick's Day: A lot of wild things happen on St. Patrick's Day. There are the drunk comedies, which is the obvious interpretation of the holiday. Also, any movie that involves Irish characters and an emphasis that these characters have an Irish background makes St. Patrick's Day an common setting device.
5) Thanksgiving: There are actually a lot of possibilities that can go along with a Thanksgiving story. A director could go in the direction of familial relationships or in the idea of having to be in a certain location at a certain time. This may be the most untapped holiday in film, but it does not have enough hype for weeks before to release a film.
6) Passover: Regardless of your religious beliefs, the story of Passover is one of the most compelling stories. We shall see with Exodus: Gods and Kings how a great story finally mixed with modern special effects will do in the box office.
7) New Years: Essentially a less romantic version of Valentine's Day, which makes it a better category of films.
8) Valentine's Day: Unlike Christmas, which also produces a high quantity of holiday related films, Valentine's Day produces no high quality stuff. I will actually debate whether there really are more than one romantic V-Day comedy, or if they are just the same movie somehow CGI'ed to fool the audience,
9) Hanukkah: If this was a top holidays in television list, you Hanukkah would be much higher, but the holiday has lacked on the film side.
10) Easter: Like Hanukkah, Easter would be ranked higher if it were based off of half hour animated specials alone. There was a scene with an Easter Bunny though in Mallrats. Does that count?
I decided in the spirit of Halloween, to do a ranking of holidays based off the movies released.
1) Halloween: I will admit that I am not a big fan of horror movies. For this reason, as a testament to the genre, I have to put Halloween at number 1. Halloween is the holiday of scares and thrills, and the fact that the movies made for Halloween are scary means the movies are doing their job.
2) Christmas: This is what we call in the world of statistics as n*p. Although the probability (p) of a Christmas movie actually being good and not overly corny is extremely low, there are so many Christmas films (n) that there are enough quality films (n * p) to earn the #2 holiday.
3) Independence Day: The beauty of July 4 related movies is that there is a combination of modern presidential flicks and historic 1776 related movies. Thomas Jefferson fighting aliens could be the next great flick idea.
4) St. Patrick's Day: A lot of wild things happen on St. Patrick's Day. There are the drunk comedies, which is the obvious interpretation of the holiday. Also, any movie that involves Irish characters and an emphasis that these characters have an Irish background makes St. Patrick's Day an common setting device.
5) Thanksgiving: There are actually a lot of possibilities that can go along with a Thanksgiving story. A director could go in the direction of familial relationships or in the idea of having to be in a certain location at a certain time. This may be the most untapped holiday in film, but it does not have enough hype for weeks before to release a film.
6) Passover: Regardless of your religious beliefs, the story of Passover is one of the most compelling stories. We shall see with Exodus: Gods and Kings how a great story finally mixed with modern special effects will do in the box office.
7) New Years: Essentially a less romantic version of Valentine's Day, which makes it a better category of films.
8) Valentine's Day: Unlike Christmas, which also produces a high quantity of holiday related films, Valentine's Day produces no high quality stuff. I will actually debate whether there really are more than one romantic V-Day comedy, or if they are just the same movie somehow CGI'ed to fool the audience,
9) Hanukkah: If this was a top holidays in television list, you Hanukkah would be much higher, but the holiday has lacked on the film side.
10) Easter: Like Hanukkah, Easter would be ranked higher if it were based off of half hour animated specials alone. There was a scene with an Easter Bunny though in Mallrats. Does that count?
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Kaggle Time
So I decided for the purpose of this blog to enter the Kaggle competition: Sentiment Analysis on Movie Reviews.
https://www.kaggle.com/c/sentiment-analysis-on-movie-reviews
This should be a fun thing to do over the next 4 months. I will share some insights and analysis with you guys along the way (what I am legally allowed to share). I will not be sharing code until after the results are all in (for those of you interested).
https://www.kaggle.com/c/sentiment-analysis-on-movie-reviews
This should be a fun thing to do over the next 4 months. I will share some insights and analysis with you guys along the way (what I am legally allowed to share). I will not be sharing code until after the results are all in (for those of you interested).
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Movie Review: The Skeleton Twins
The Skeleton Twins may still be in theaters, so I will avoid too many spoilers.
There are three perspectives in which I am going to split this movie up as I go through it.
1) Kristen Wiig: There is not much bad that can be said about Wiig's performance. Who knew she could act this well? She may not have given an Oscar nominee performance (pending the heavy hitting movies that will gain a lot of buzz later in the year), but she deserves to be in the conversation. Her ability to portray a realness that alternates between hilarity and heartbreak is something that even the best should be jealous of.
2) Bill Hader: Wiig's former SNL counterpart on the other hand, struggled in his first dramatic role. Do not get me wrong, I am as big a Hader fan as anyone, and what actually got me to buy the ticket to this movie was the fact that Hader was in it... not Wiig. I do not regret the purchase of my ticket either. My point is that I just felt that Hader did not put in the strongest performance.The character shallowness gives him such complexity, but the credit should be mostly given to writing and direction. Hader gave it is all, but I did not buy him. I bought the character if I were looking at it from a script perspective, but Hader counted too much on pretending than on actually becoming this character.
3) Kristen Wiig + Bill Hader: I am not done with seeing Bill Hader though, and I look forward to his next role. There were moments of greatness and potential, and that happened when he was able to share scenes with Wiig. Especially in the more goofy of scenes, Hader was no longer acting; he became the character. The chemistry and history between the two actors gave them excellent back-and-forth chemistry, and I hope this is not the last movie the two of the share.
Grade: B
There are three perspectives in which I am going to split this movie up as I go through it.
1) Kristen Wiig: There is not much bad that can be said about Wiig's performance. Who knew she could act this well? She may not have given an Oscar nominee performance (pending the heavy hitting movies that will gain a lot of buzz later in the year), but she deserves to be in the conversation. Her ability to portray a realness that alternates between hilarity and heartbreak is something that even the best should be jealous of.
2) Bill Hader: Wiig's former SNL counterpart on the other hand, struggled in his first dramatic role. Do not get me wrong, I am as big a Hader fan as anyone, and what actually got me to buy the ticket to this movie was the fact that Hader was in it... not Wiig. I do not regret the purchase of my ticket either. My point is that I just felt that Hader did not put in the strongest performance.The character shallowness gives him such complexity, but the credit should be mostly given to writing and direction. Hader gave it is all, but I did not buy him. I bought the character if I were looking at it from a script perspective, but Hader counted too much on pretending than on actually becoming this character.
3) Kristen Wiig + Bill Hader: I am not done with seeing Bill Hader though, and I look forward to his next role. There were moments of greatness and potential, and that happened when he was able to share scenes with Wiig. Especially in the more goofy of scenes, Hader was no longer acting; he became the character. The chemistry and history between the two actors gave them excellent back-and-forth chemistry, and I hope this is not the last movie the two of the share.
Grade: B
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Movie Review: Her
Her is one of the most interesting movies I have had the pleasure of reviewing over the past year and a half due to the olive oil and water mixture of greatness and ehhh.
On the one hand, Joaquin Phoenix is amazing.
Of course, Harry S Truman once asked for a one-armed economist, and Spike Jonze probably wishes he had a one-armed movie reviewer.
On the other hand, I felt manipulated by the message Jonze was trying to portray. Let me explain. I did not think what he was attempting to show in his movie was bad. In fact, the premise was clever and interesting, which is why I spent the $15 to see the movie in the theater.
The problem arises with Jonze's clear attempt to manipulate an audience's emotion. Instead of letting his art do the talking and allowing the audience to naturally come up with a conclusion of what message Jonze was trying to portray in his film, Jonze basically was one level away from explicitly saying "this is the profound message I want you to think about."
Great movies with this type of theme do not that. I felt cheated. I felt as if he was basically saying, "you are not smart enough to come up with the conclusion I want, so let me help you...A LOT." The great filmmakers, even the most manipulative of documentary directors, do not get to this level. Maybe he did not know how to appropriately show what he wanted to show. I am not going to speculate, but the final product was high schoolish.
Despite these shortfalls, Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic as usual, aesthetically it is fun, and Karen Oh wrote a great song for it.
Grade: B
On the one hand, Joaquin Phoenix is amazing.
Of course, Harry S Truman once asked for a one-armed economist, and Spike Jonze probably wishes he had a one-armed movie reviewer.
On the other hand, I felt manipulated by the message Jonze was trying to portray. Let me explain. I did not think what he was attempting to show in his movie was bad. In fact, the premise was clever and interesting, which is why I spent the $15 to see the movie in the theater.
The problem arises with Jonze's clear attempt to manipulate an audience's emotion. Instead of letting his art do the talking and allowing the audience to naturally come up with a conclusion of what message Jonze was trying to portray in his film, Jonze basically was one level away from explicitly saying "this is the profound message I want you to think about."
Great movies with this type of theme do not that. I felt cheated. I felt as if he was basically saying, "you are not smart enough to come up with the conclusion I want, so let me help you...A LOT." The great filmmakers, even the most manipulative of documentary directors, do not get to this level. Maybe he did not know how to appropriately show what he wanted to show. I am not going to speculate, but the final product was high schoolish.
Despite these shortfalls, Joaquin Phoenix is fantastic as usual, aesthetically it is fun, and Karen Oh wrote a great song for it.
Grade: B
Monday, October 27, 2014
Academy Award Retrospect
The first Academy Award for Best Animated
Feature was first awarded in 2001 when Shrek won the award. There certainly were deserving winners before
that though, and for the most part, animated movies have been neglected when
considered for other awards. So I am
going to go back in time and start handing out the nominees and hardware that
these greats deserve. I will be using
the Rotten Tomato score as the main determinant, but ticket sales and my own
opinion will certainly come into play.
Let’s first look at the decade of the 90’s:
1991 through 2000.
1991
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Beauty and the Beast – WINNER. Fun fact: this was the first movie I ever saw
in theaters.
A Wish for Wings That Work
1992
Aladdin – WINNER. Not even close
Bebe’s KidsTom and Jerry: The Movie
1993
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby
The Nightmare Before Christmas – WINNER. Grade A Movie. You can see my review a few days ago.
1994
The Lion King – WINNER. I hope to review it soon
Thumbelina
The Swan Princess
1995
A Goofy Movie
Pocahontas
Toy Story – WINNER. I mean, this was a revolution of film making.
A Goofy Movie
Pocahontas
Toy Story – WINNER. I mean, this was a revolution of film making.
Beavis and Butt-head Do America
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
James and the Giant Peach – WINNER. It was a tough matchup, but this is actually a great movie.
Space Jam
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
James and the Giant Peach – WINNER. It was a tough matchup, but this is actually a great movie.
Space Jam
1997
Anastasia – WINNER
Hercules
Hercules
I Married a Strange Person!
1998
Antz
A Bug’s Life – WINNER. The Rotten Tomatoes winner was Antz, but c’mon…the Academy loves PIXAR
Mulan
The Prince of Egypt
Antz
A Bug’s Life – WINNER. The Rotten Tomatoes winner was Antz, but c’mon…the Academy loves PIXAR
Mulan
The Prince of Egypt
1999
Fantasia 2000
The Iron Giant
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Tarzan
Toy Story 2 – WINNER. 100% Rotten Tomatoes.
The Iron Giant
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Tarzan
Toy Story 2 – WINNER. 100% Rotten Tomatoes.
2000
Dinosaur
The Emperor’s New Groove – WINNER.
Rugrats in Paris
The Emperor’s New Groove – WINNER.
Rugrats in Paris
What did we learn? For the most part, the decade started with
one box office animated movie from Disney and nothing else. The three most important years:
1)
1995 – For the first time, multiple animated box
office hits were released.
2)
1996 – The first year Disney did not have the
best animated film.
3)
1998 – For the first time, multiple critical
hits were released.
@CowGoesMovie
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Housekeeping: Doc With All My Reviews
Here is a document that will continuously be updated with my reviews. It will be a nice quick reference as to what has been looked at and what has not.
Review of Reviews
Review of Reviews
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