Rorschach Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 I admit that I really wanted to rush through the new ending of M&MS, so the final act didn't have quite the oomph I wanted. Still glad it's positive, though. Hopefully this is just HDH-redux, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 May's reviews have arrived! Surprised how long this took me considering I don't have to review nearly a third of the movies involved.... Things that Are- C- Very short on plot. Into the Dead- B Pretty standard zombie action movie. Epicer Chase- D Well, you succeed in your aim of making it deliberately bad, Empire. Admittedly, it’s not quite as fun an awful Bay film as Thomas the Tank Engine but it tries. Star Wars: Age of the Republic- B+ It’s a good film. There are some issues with it though, particularly in the second act where many of the ‘plans’ involved really have not been thought through. Especially Galia’s ‘kidnapping’. Because I’m certain a large invading force of Beast Riders causing chaos and apparently kidnapping the princess is in no way going to lead to a rather justified increase in violence between the two sides. Surely they could’ve just smuggled her out instead? It felt like a forced move to try and make the audience believe the Beast Riders were evil (a twist I saw through far too quickly, btw). Also, why the hell did Amanoa try to join the Republic in the first place? Surely that would’ve just drawn more attention to her dealings with the Sith? And even if she was trying for some underhanded ‘corrupt the Republic from within’ business, wouldn’t it make sense for her to eliminate the Beast Riders first to stop them a) potentially undermining her bid to be accepted by the Republic and b ) accidentally revealling her Sith heritage? Speaking of, if Amanoa is this deep in Sith stuff, how the hell is her daughter completely ignorant of it? At the very least, I’d expect Amanoa to have told her daughter something. Heck, they don’t even get a confrontation scene after Amanoa is revealed to be evil. To be honest though, I was disappointed with the female characters in this movie as a whole. Especially Krynda. I mean, she’s supposed to be on the brink of becoming a Jedi Knight yet she does nothing but get captured and only really exists to hint at a romance between her and Cay. Her becoming a Jedi Knight doesn’t even get mentioned at the end. Galia was almost as bad. Amanoa, on the other hand, while acting as the Big Bad is much less active and makes much less of an impact on the other characters and the audience as Novar and it’s revealed that most of her power comes from Freedon Nadd anyway. And then she dies from overworking herself which was a bit of a letdown. Now, I’m not the sort who insists on every film having a strong female character but considering the largish cast this film already has, I found it pretty noticeable and disappointing. Okay, I suppose you’re wondering why, if I’ve just spent the last two paragraphs complaining, I still gave it a B+. Because it is really really good. It’s well written, Uric and Tott made interesting foils for one another and had good chemistry, it was paced perfectly and had just the right amount of fun Star Wars action. I'm just pointing out what I disliked in the hope Numbers can improve on it for the next instalment. Train 38- B Well that was confusing. In a pretty good way though. Yzma- B- A film that competently tells the tale of how Yzma and Kronk both became the villains they were in Emperor’s New Groove. And then it very unnecessarily retells the entirety of Emperors New Groove for you. Yeah, that was kind of a poor move. I mean, I know Maleficent did it but, on the other hand, it only took about 10-20 minutes to show how Maleficent became Maleficent. It took the equivalent of an entire movie to show the same happening to Yzma. So to then throw on another movie on top of that seemed pretty unnecessary. Honestly, I struggle to see how this’ll fit under 2 hours unless you really rush a lot of it. Also, I love Chris Pratt and all but the guy is no Patrick Warburton. That said, it's well written and enjoyable enough that I can't seriously give it a negative score. I just think you should’ve just told the story of Yzma instead of adding Emperor’s New Groove into the mix. American Idiot- B A good musical. Don’t have much more to say. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Good Glad to see Into The Dead being better than I thought most would receive it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 May's reviews have arrived! Surprised how long this took me considering I don't have to review nearly a third of the movies involved.... Train 38- B Well that was confusing. In a pretty good way though. Awesome review, cause it's exactly what I wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) Rukaio I get the female criticism. The source I used for the film had an almost nonexistent female presence (no female Jedi at all and Amanoa was even more of a paper tiger). So I did what could to improve upon that. The film for next year is focused on a female protagonist as she progresses from a novice to someone very skilled so I think that will definitely be an improvement.As for the evil plot not being that sensible, I address it a little with Amanoa and Novar saying the Jedi arrived sooner than expected (they expected the kidnapping to happen first as well as their retaliation.). Plus it can be attributed to their arrogance and confidence that their Dark Side power would overcome all obstacles. Amanoa's vision gives her false confidence since she misinterpreted its meaning and timing. And yeah, there's a couple minor bits missing. In part because I let myself get down to the wire so I cut out some extraneous fluff. The reveal in the original source material is kinda matter-of-fact (Ulic, Tott, and Cay infiltrate the Beast Rider fortress, find out about the wedding, and then Galia, Oron, etc are all like "Oh by the way the Onderonian royal family has spent centuries practicing the Dark Side," want to help us overthrow the Queen?) and since I was beefing things up with the Queen (who barely does anything except fold the minute she is confronted) and turning a 3-line character into the action heavy (Novar) I didn't want to belabor the third act with a scene between two characters who don't really matter at all once the film ends (Amanoa and Galia. A future film will return to Onderon/Dxun for a spell, but Galia/Oron won't feature into the plot unless it is a minor cameo appearance). Edited July 28, 2014 by 4815162342 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blankments Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 This is kinda in reply to both your and Numbers' reviews on Yzma, but more you since you had more issues with it. My vision of Yzma always had the revisionist remake of Emperor's New Groove as the third act. I understand that it was perhaps a bit rushed, but the way I view it is my revisions to the original film basically cuts out three-fourths of the movie's plot. A half hour runtime is reasonable for the craziness that is the remake, and I really, really wanted the pay-offs such as the devil and angel leaving, and Buckford's return. Also, just ending with Kronk and Yzma deciding to raise Kuzco wouldn't be climatic enough IMO. Glad that you liked the movie overall though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 This is kinda in reply to both your and Numbers' reviews on Yzma, but more you since you had more issues with it. My vision of Yzma always had the revisionist remake of Emperor's New Groove as the third act. I understand that it was perhaps a bit rushed, but the way I view it is my revisions to the original film basically cuts out three-fourths of the movie's plot. A half hour runtime is reasonable for the craziness that is the remake, and I really, really wanted the pay-offs such as the devil and angel leaving, and Buckford's return. Also, just ending with Kronk and Yzma deciding to raise Kuzco wouldn't be climatic enough IMO. Glad that you liked the movie overall though.My review of the film will be up tonight, sometime. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 And June is done. I'm planning on doing a list of my Top 15 films (minus my own) for the first two quarters relativity soonish. I'm also planning on ranking the 10 films I've already done this year in terms of how happy I am with them. 5cm per Second- A- A very good adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s infamous film. I’ll admit though, you really probably should’ve changed some of the character names. Tyrant III- D Too little plot. Sir Thyme’s Time 2- A- A very strong sequel with some surprisingly dark moments (especially Hound Dog’s deravelling.) My only criticism is that it feels a bit too similar to the first film. 1842 Miles- D Too little plot. 3:40- C- Well… that happened. 39 Clues: Beyond the Grave- C As I said in the predictions thread, Beyond the Grave was where I started to get tired of the 39 clues book series. And while Beyond the Grave the film fixes some of the issues I had with the book, it does kinda feel like more of the same as the last 3 films. The lack of an exciting climax doesn’t help matters either. And really, it doesn’t feel like it’s advanced the story enough to justify its existence. Aside from a few bits, it just mostly feels like filler. Then again, it’s competently made and I can’t truly hate any film with the phrase ‘creatively uses hummus’ in it. But I hope the next film won’t just be more of the same. Kansas- F See Blank’s review thread. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChD Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 (edited) 5cm per Second- A- A very good adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s infamous film. I’ll admit though, you really probably should’ve changed some of the character names. Thanks. Creating names is one of the things I'm worst at, so... They didn't really fit with a movie that is... y'know, English, huh? Edited July 29, 2014 by ChD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 Thanks. Creating names is one of the things I'm worst at, so... They didn't really fit with a movie that is... y'know, English, huh? I know how you feel. I'm not great at creating names either. I just tend to google 'most common english first names/surnames' and pick one which seems appropriate. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChD Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I know how you feel. I'm not great at creating names either. I just tend to google 'most common english first names/surnames' and pick one which seems appropriate. That's the same way I did it, too. Believe me, even so, I have failed in picking good names sometimes. Remember the Beast of Loch Ness movie? Most of the names there I found by searching 'Scottish Gaelic Names' on google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blankments Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Interesting that you though Thymes 2 was too similar to the first. I tried to keep it different by making it be more about Thymes and less about the group. Still, very pleased with that score Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Time to do my Top 15 list of the first half of Y9! Here's 15-11 for now. Expect 10-6 later in the day. Or tomorrow if I forget. 15. Me & My Shadow 14. American Idiot 13. Teen Titans 12. The Fifth Wave 11. Into the Dead 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Since you graded Train 38 higher than M&MS, hopefully it is in the top 10, so long as Numbers didn't ruin your perception of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) #11! The top Honorable mention! Edited July 30, 2014 by Rorschach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Yay, #12! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 And here's 10-6. I'm going to bed now so expect the top 5 when I wake up. 10. Train 38 9. Return of the Last Six 8. Alice in Horrorland 7. The Thin the Fat and the Felon 6. Star Wars: Age of the Republic 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChD Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Oh, this is good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 And, for my top 5... 5. 5cm per Second 4 Numbers Theory 3. Sir Thyme's Time 2 2. Walking Alone 1. Chuck Norris and Liam Neeson vs the Underworld 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
