Spaghetti Kitchen - Year Nueve (Yzma & Horror House 2 Reviewed)

[ChD]

Your review will be up some time tonight, ChD. Be afraid.

 

Oh gawd.

[Empire]

Epicer ChaseNot the sequel to "Rise of the FernGully Guardians" from last year.

 

http://youtu.be/YUKmq7UMJys

 

Explosion/10

Fantastic review.

[Blankments]

You see, the thing is about Kansas, is that if it was a satirical dark comedy, I would've probably enjoyed it. The characters areso out there and insane that the serious tone doesn't work at all. 

 

Also, I agree with the Swinton and Hunter should've been switched critique. Reading Hunter's big rant at the beginning of the movie but imagining it as Swinton's Snowpiercer character made me actually enjoy the absurdity of it

[Ezen Baklattan]

You see, the thing is about Kansas, is that if it was a satirical dark comedy, I would've probably enjoyed it. The characters areso out there and insane that the serious tone doesn't work at all. 

 

Also, I agree with the Swinton and Hunter should've been switched critique. Reading Hunter's big rant at the beginning of the movie but imagining it as Swinton's Snowpiercer character made me actually enjoy the absurdity of it

 

[Blankments]

... that is probably the best video I've seen all year

[Ezen Baklattan]

"What do you need money for? Houses are free!"

Edited July 30, 2014 by 50 Shades of Spaghetti

[Ezen Baklattan]

5 Centimeters Per Second

The Fault in our Leaves

 

ChD is certainly an interesting writer, giving a variety of stories that all come from unique directions. This film, similar to The Deadline in a few ways, presents itself in a fairly realistic manner, focusing on a love story lost through time, particularly that of Akari and Takaki, two young lovers who are eventually pulled apart through time and progress in their own lives, all at a rate of 5cm/s. (Yes, that was a terrible pun)

 

The use of unknowns as the main cast sort of worked, as they got fairly good actors to play these characters, but they do not give quite as much life to these characters as they needed. As a result, some of the emotional moments (and oh boy, there are a lot of them. You definitely won't be leaving the theater without some mist in your eyes) aren't quite as effective as they appeared in the script.

 

Having said that, the film works most of the time because its simple and earnest messages of longing for the past and moving on with memories in tact are executed in a simple, yet elegant fashion, and it really does work well. It plays for an emotional experience, and given Zoe Kazan's subtle, yet beautiful direction, it really is surprisingly effecting in some ways. 

 

B/B+

[ChD]

5 Centimeters Per Second

The Fault in our Leaves

The use of unknowns as the main cast sort of worked, as they got fairly good actors to play these characters, but they do not give quite as much life to these characters as they needed. As a result, some of the emotional moments (and oh boy, there are a lot of them. You definitely won't be leaving the theater without some mist in your eyes) aren't quite as effective as they appeared in the script.

B/B+

 

I blame Alpha for this.

[Alpha]

I blame Alpha for this.

 

[Ezen Baklattan]

YZMA

The Groove Is Sorta Strong With This One
 
In a somewhat strange twist, I find it to be somewhat similar to Me & My Shadow in a number of ways. Aside from being fairly long for our film summaries and taking our genre of specialty, I find that even the reception they seem to be getting to be similar. The concept was very promising, but lo and behold, we see trouble arise with a college focus. But I digress, as I do not want to create a review of just comparisons. Let's look at Yzma on its own.
 
First of all, I'm shocked that this film clocked in at under two hours. The film tries to cram so much into its run time, including several character arcs and dilemmas (such as Pacha's trick on Kronk) which cause the film to feel somewhat bloated, as though the film is rushing to move from plot point to plot point that we don't have enough time for everything to simmer. Granted, giving said time to an already crammed plot doesn't always work either. *cough* The Hobbit *cough* Either way, the real irony here, as well as the main problem, is that we get more of Kronk than Yzma. Don't get me wrong, Kronk is a fun character, and Pratt does a great job of almost matching Patrick Warburton, but I feel like we don't get enough of Yzma's hamminess until the final act. Swinton plays the part with just enough craziness and heart to shine, but I feel like we don't get enough of her amidst the several sideplots, especially the entire second act at college.
 
Speaking of which, I also felt as though the movie didn't take enough advantage of all of the crazy settings and scenarios that took place in The Emperor's New Groove (although there are a handful of great moments, including turning Channing Tatum into Bucky), and it's sidelined for a fairly generic college plot, and the fact that Yzma never caught on that Buckford was trying to find an empress at all of the parties also seemed fairly unrealistic for someone as smart as her. In essence, the film doesn't lend enough time to the right plot points, and it feels longer than its actual runtime.

 

But enough criticisms, as there's a lot to enjoy about the movie. As I said before, the entire ensemble is great, especially Swinton and Hill, and the visual nods to the animated classic make for another nice touch. Lord and Miller do a good job of directing with the campy art direction, and their touch of style, while not always matching with the film in the more somber moments, shines brightly in several moments. (I legitimately laughed out loud at the strobe light scenes) It's crazy in most of the right ways, and that's exactly what I want to see from these two as directors. There's no one like 'em around.

 

In the end, it's a pretty fun movie, carried mostly by Lord & Miller's direction and the performances, but it's not quite given a strong enough story to hold the fort down. It's certainly problematic, but when you look at Maleficent, this is obviously the preferable choice. I was between a B and a B-, but I went with the former since the writer's passion does show, even if it is somewhat misguided.

 

B

[Ezen Baklattan]

Horror House 2

 

This film is 10 years after the events of the first one.

 

Oh, hello, Expedecade.

 

Single mum Lisa who has many mental breakdowns over the death of Lewis lives in her home with her daughter Tia. One evening Lisa goes to the bathroom and the light flickers. She turns around and sees her daughter so she thinks Tia is playing a trick. However Tia is now in bed when the light flickers again. Lisa believes it is the haunted house and leaves Tia in their home while going to the haunted house but Tia follows her.

 

Why would they even go to the haunted house? And why would she leave her daughter behind home alone?

 

When she gets there, the haunted house chuckles back at her ‘I am going to kill you because you escaped the first time’. Tia doesn’t hear this though as she is not listening and thinks it’s a playhouse so she runs straight in but the house gobbles her up straight away but you don’t see her die.

 

I don't even know how.

 

Lisa hates it even more and starts kicking the window. Some locals see this and call the police as they think she is some drunken mad woman.

 

I couldn't blame them.

 

Lisa storms into house and screams back that shell kill the house because it killed Lewis.

 

How is that even possible

 

She faces all the hauntings of the first film and battles of the electric vampire and the toothless Dracula before the devil takes over her soul for her crimes and hatred against the horror house.

 

Wait, what?

 

The house now has another power to move as two people have been taken over by the devil in that house, so it goes round the area

 

Is this Monster House?

 

and firstly kills the locals and the police who kept thinking Lisa was a drunken idiot before killing the whole town of Killsville but the human population sign of Killsville remains at 1.

 

I don't know where to begin.

 

Well, that was interesting/10

 

[Alpha]

It did remind me of Monster House, though that was really a PG-rated dark horror comedy.I bet in Horror House 3, three kids will try and make the house barf out the town of Killsville by swinging around a chandelier "uvula."

[Blankments]

Yeah... I kept Yzma under two hours as a stupid meta joke about Maleficent's short running time. Definitely didn't work out.

 

The thing is though... Kronk was always meant to be the main character in my vision, despite the title being Yzma. You can't have a sociopath be the main character of a tentpole. Guess I should've marketed it better. Still really happy with how it turned out

[Ezen Baklattan]

With the right execution you could have.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Reviews will continue tonight. I'll get through April then go to other films, going longer for requested films.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Star Wars: Age of the Republic
 
Like a Numbers movie would actually be bad. Please!
 
Rukaio kind of already got the gist of how I felt for this movie, so I'm not going to go ridiculously in depth, but I really enjoyed it. My favorite part of the movie was the dynamic between the two brothers, especially at the beginning. (It reminded me of The Road to El Dorado!) Cay is an extremely great character, but that may just be my bias because of my man crush on Eddie Redmayne.  But seriously, it's a really fun and exciting read. Great job, Numbers!

B+

Edited August 5, 2014 by Spaghetti