Crunching the Numbers: (Year) Two For the Show

[Ezen Baklattan]

4 minutes ago, Hiccup23 said:

Sorry 

[Hiccup23]

17 minutes ago, The Shape of Pasta said:

Sorry 

Better now than later

[Xillix]

3 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

Note: Djimon Hounsou plays Idris Elba's son, and is 8 years older than Elba in real life. I deducted only a couple decimal points for that since gods, makeup, CGI, and other effects can get around that onscreen.

I was aware of that but frankly didn't think it mattered at all - not only are their entire heads being replaced, but they're playing ageless immortals.

[Rorschach]

4 hours ago, 4815162342 said:

THE ODYSSEY: THE SPOILS OF WAR

 

A disjointed film that is two stories crammed into one. I'm not sure why the producers felt the need to cram in exposition about Odysseus' childhood, growing up, and early rule into the movie, as well as tackle the entire Trojan War in about a bit over an hour of storytime. But it all feels like a giant, slow-moving preamble to the actual story that is a lot of sound and fury meant purely to at the 2/3 point or so establish Odysseus' pride and some of the gods being a bit annoyed at that. As a result we don't even truly start the titular Odyssey until the very end of the movie, when the ships are blown off course. The cast is mostly well picked and give solid performances, but they can't save a lot of the film from a plodding, sanitized and chopped backstory plot that swallows up the bulk of the film's running time and essentially gives a Cliff Notes version of the Iliad from mostly a single perspective. I suspect the next film, dealing with The Odyssey proper, will have a better, tighter handle on its pacing, story progression, etc. But if the filmmakers wanted to delve into the Iliad material, they should have just made a Trojan War film proper as a stage-setter for the odyssey to come.

 

5.8/10

 

 

Note: I was curious at some of the changes you made to Odysseus' backstory, etc., given the film's eagerness to make the bulk of the film about that.

Thanks for the detailed review @4815162342. Always appreciate your feedback. Truthfully, I kinda ran into the problem of not having enough time to go back and proof-read the whole thing before I posted it (I wrote the majority of the film over the course of 2-3 days). I wish I could go back and change up a couple of things but it is what is I guess. As for the CliffNotes comparison and the whole backstory subplot, I'm quite rusty on my Greek mythology and maybe needed a bit of a refresher. The backstory part I wanted to flesh out Odysseus and Ithaca a bit more before he went into the Trojan War. I guess, judging from what you said, it wasn't really well executed. But hey, its a higher score than the one I got for "Into the Dead" in the Old CAYOM so I'll take it.

 

Anyways, I'm pretty excited about the sequels myself. They contain more of my favorite scenes in the story and I'm pretty excited to see how everyone reacts to them.

[4815162342]

5 hours ago, Rorschach said:

Thanks for the detailed review @4815162342. Always appreciate your feedback. Truthfully, I kinda ran into the problem of not having enough time to go back and proof-read the whole thing before I posted it (I wrote the majority of the film over the course of 2-3 days). I wish I could go back and change up a couple of things but it is what is I guess. As for the CliffNotes comparison and the whole backstory subplot, I'm quite rusty on my Greek mythology and maybe needed a bit of a refresher. The backstory part I wanted to flesh out Odysseus and Ithaca a bit more before he went into the Trojan War. I guess, judging from what you said, it wasn't really well executed. But hey, its a higher score than the one I got for "Into the Dead" in the Old CAYOM so I'll take it.

 

Anyways, I'm pretty excited about the sequels myself. They contain more of my favorite scenes in the story and I'm pretty excited to see how everyone reacts to them.

 

I understand. I think, IMO, the better way to have done it would have been to remove the bulk of the backstory/Trojan War stuff, and have the most important/relevant bits be inserted into the film here and there as flashbacks where narratively or thematically appropriate.

 

 

Regarding changes, the two that stood out to me the most was 1) removing Odysseus as being one of the many suitors of Helen. Everyone who failed to win her hand swore an oath to Menelaus to defend his honor, which is why they all answered his call to the Trojan War. 2) The other was making Hector kind of a taunting punk bitch, when he's probably the most honorable and reputable of all the characters in the Iliad.

[4815162342]

6 hours ago, Xillix said:

I was aware of that but frankly didn't think it mattered at all - not only are their entire heads being replaced, but they're playing ageless immortals.

 

That's why I only deducted a couple decimal points. Felt just a little weird.

[4815162342]

ACADEMY

 

This movie was way too convoluted with way too many schemes, double-crosses, betrayals, awakenings, revelations, red herrings, and so on. This film needed a sizable trim of all the intersecting plots and subplots and made it a more straightforward slasher flick. The dark comedy is a mixed bag, with some of it hitting pretty well, but other elements falling flat. I understand that this was a remake of the TV series Scream Queens, and it feels like it, because it looks like the entire season was shoved into a single film of less than 2 hours. So yeah, the film is a bloody mess, and all the tangles and criss-crossing dulls the comedy and satire.

 

4.5/10

 

Note: I'm not sure if the transition to a military academy with male leads worked that great, since there's probably a decent bit of stuff you could do with a military academy and military life that doesn't get touched on really in the film.

[Hiccup23]

7 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

ACADEMY

 

This movie was way too convoluted with way too many schemes, double-crosses, betrayals, awakenings, revelations, red herrings, and so on. This film needed a sizable trim of all the intersecting plots and subplots and made it a more straightforward slasher flick. The dark comedy is a mixed bag, with some of it hitting pretty well, but other elements falling flat. I understand that this was a remake of the TV series Scream Queens, and it feels like it, because it looks like the entire season was shoved into a single film of less than 2 hours. So yeah, the film is a bloody mess, and all the tangles and criss-crossing dulls the comedy and satire.

 

4.5/10

 

Note: I'm not sure if the transition to a military academy with male leads worked that great, since there's probably a decent bit of stuff you could do with a military academy and military life that doesn't get touched on really in the film.

 

Awww well, I'll take the 4.5/10. 

 

As somebody who is in the military, I was gonna have more "military academy life" aspects in the film, but I was not sure if audiences/reviewers would get the jokes with military life. Also the film was already getting too long. 

[Rorschach]

30 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

Regarding changes, the two that stood out to me the most was 1) removing Odysseus as being one of the many suitors of Helen. Everyone who failed to win her hand swore an oath to Menelaus to defend his honor, which is why they all answered his call to the Trojan War. 2) The other was making Hector kind of a taunting punk bitch, when he's probably the most honorable and reputable of all the characters in the Iliad.

1

 Man, I really need to brush up on my Greek mythology. That first point does clear up a question I had about why the oath existed in the first place. It does make a lot more sense now. Though if I had gone into detail about that, it probably would've meant more exposition thrown in when there is so much of it already. So, its kinda a lose-lose situation I guess.

 

The second one, I really can't answer for that one. I've read sections of The Iliad but not the whole thing. One of the many things that got lost in translation I guess.

[4815162342]

THE AMITYVILLE NIGHTMARE

 

Like Academy, this is a film that tries to pack too many scares, too many twists and turns, and too many general narrative developments in a running time decently less than 2 hours. There is a lot of great material in here, lots of disturbing and effective imagery, and characters with striking moments of grace or brutality. But it all feels a bit too squished together. The police investigation and the dithering around with the family troubles definitely could have been simplified a bit. The result is a number of things that would be shocking or terrifying or otherwise impactful get swept under the rug as the film moves on to the next thing to fling at the audience. The film also seems to be building to an inevitable climax or revelation that never appears, until it kind of limps out with some talk of a spirit breaking free and a final murder scene and let's leave it all for a second Amityville film okay.

 

But some more compelling scares and better all around raw, emotional acting make this a better sit than Academy.

 

6/10

[Xillix]

15 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

THE AMITYVILLE NIGHTMARE

 

Like Academy, this is a film that tries to pack too many scares, too many twists and turns, and too many general narrative developments in a running time decently less than 2 hours. There is a lot of great material in here, lots of disturbing and effective imagery, and characters with striking moments of grace or brutality. But it all feels a bit too squished together. The police investigation and the dithering around with the family troubles definitely could have been simplified a bit. The result is a number of things that would be shocking or terrifying or otherwise impactful get swept under the rug as the film moves on to the next thing to fling at the audience. The film also seems to be building to an inevitable climax or revelation that never appears, until it kind of limps out with some talk of a spirit breaking free and a final murder scene and let's leave it all for a second Amityville film okay.

 

But some more compelling scares and better all around raw, emotional acting make this a better sit than Academy.

 

6/10

My original draft had a longer runtime listed but I felt the content didn't really justify it. Personally I don't think it's actually more than would fit into a movie of this length reliably, just that I went into more scene-by-scene detail than most people do in CAYOM. To each their own, of course.

 

As to the ending - you're not wrong! That's an artifact of the original book, though. I did touch it up a bit and added more closure for several characters, but the idea back in the 90s was definitely to make more sequels to the book. I tried to approach it more with a sense of "evil lives on" like the ending of the original Halloween, but I can totally see people being unsatisfied.

[Hiccup23]

1 minute ago, Xillix said:

My original draft had a longer runtime listed but I felt the content didn't really justify it. Personally I don't think it's actually more than would fit into a movie of this length reliably, just that I went into more scene-by-scene detail than most people do in CAYOM. To each their own, of course.

 

As to the ending - you're not wrong! That's an artifact of the original book, though. I did touch it up a bit and added more closure for several characters, but the idea back in the 90s was definitely to make more sequels to the book. I tried to approach it more with a sense of "evil lives on" like the ending of the original Halloween, but I can totally see people being unsatisfied.

 

See I enjoyed that aspect. Felt fresh and realistic. 

[4815162342]

So later tonight will be The Knight and Closed Domain

[4815162342]

THE KNIGHT

 

Was it Doug Liman enough?

 

Well, aside from the film taking a random swerve at the close of Act 2 by killing off the main antagonist, introducing a new antagonist who we haven't heard of before who is now suddenly the main antagonist, infecting the body of the protagonist to make him a vessel for the new main antagonist, and making the secondary character the new protagonist, I'd say no. For the most part the film is a standard fantasy adventure romp. Very tropey, but fun. The big changeup at the close of Act 2 is interesting, but it suffers from having no build-up whatsoever, and Jake Gyllenhall basically does a little evil mugging for the camera for about 5-10 minutes before being discarded for a big CGI monster. We get a lot of new things thrown at us in that last act, such as new evil artifacts superpowering the new antagonist, new good artifacts superpowering the new protagonist, new information as to the nature of souls and their fate upon demonic infection and possession, new evil plans (okay, this is pretty much the same as the original evil plan: destroy everything), and a new revelation about the invulnerability of physically summoned demon forms. Not a lot of it sticks, and the final act therefore just feels sloppy compared to the competent, if familiar, beginnings.

 

6/10

 

 

Note: I found it interesting that the film is called The Knight, but it's Kimber who actually defeats both antagonists of the film, whereas the titular knight is erased from existence after two acts.

Edited January 15, 2018 by 4815162342

[Ezen Baklattan]

Do your worst. 

[4815162342]

CLOSED DOMAIN

 

The film has an interesting premise and starts off pretty strong with some biting commentary and satire. But as the film moves along it starts to lose its way with sideplots and secondary characters hijacking whole swaths of the film. By the climax the film is less about Marcus and the political dark comedy and is instead a halfway-comprehensible revenge plot by Regina against essentially everyone she was associated with to some degree. It's isolated moments of pretty good dark humor and sudden bursts of WTFery within a plot that seems only somewhat interested in itself. The film essentially loses its way, and then when it circles back to the big decision of Marcus decided to leave politics and become a hacktivist, it feels like it comes out of nowhere. I never got the sense that Marcus was disillusioned or disheartened to the point of throwing it all away, but I guess one rant from MEW is enough to change that. It's kind of an underwhelming ending that pretty much sums up the issue with the film: It starts off as one thing, gets sidetracked into tangential material, and then its attempt to link up with the original premises results in a half-baked conclusion that makes it seem like it was never really interested in telling a story or theme about its original premise in the first place.

 

5.5/10

[Ezen Baklattan]

....damn it. Lanthimos, you’re our only hope.

 

The plot turned out to be a way bigger tangle than I expected going in. I went into the ending knowing how terrified Howell was of being caught, that it eventually unfolded into his thinking that there may be no turning back from the legal shitstorm that could be facing him.

 

I appreciate the feedback - hoping you enjoy my other films more.

[Ezen Baklattan]

I’ve been thinking about it a bit today, and here were my thoughts going into the finale of CD.

 

Much of the film revolves around the idea of fighting for change within or outside the system - Howell has well thought out policies and could have been a great politician, but as he gets caught up in the scheming of Regina, who was desperate to pursue a personal revenge on Frederick and finding a way to get close to him, he desperately clings to clear up the mess he was a part of to enter a clean political office.

 

If he had stayed in office, he may have been arrested for being an accomplice in murder, much less forced to resign. Living on the run as a renegade activist may not have been his first choice, but it’s perhaps the only way they could have maintained a chance at making positive change. In a way, MEW could have been the true driving force between the movie, seeing the others as pawns. Gone Girl was definitely a movie I had in mind as I was developing the plot for this.

 

I think I definitely could have spent more time building up his internal conflict, but I think the ending was still pretty satisfying in my mind, if not somewhat optimistic.

 

Again, totally okay if you weren’t hot on it, but I’ve been thinking about it a good bit and I thought I could maybe help clarify a few things that led my thought process.

[4815162342]

Will get back to reading tonight

[4815162342]

AFTER PARTY

 

Sometimes a movie is scary not because of all the jumps and gore and sudden shocks, but because of how real it feels. After Party is such a movie, where the horror comes from the events on film having the tension, drama, and trauma of countless real life instances, if a little exaggerated with Paul going on a one-man slasher rampage against everyone in the house except passed out Luke. The film does get a bit on the nose with Paul, but otherwise it is a riveting and searing movie that knows to keep things short and to the point.

 

8.3/10

 

 

Note: EVENTS IN THE MOVIE OCCUR IN REAL TIME (I imagined this suddenly being narrated in the movie in Kiefer Sutherland's voice)