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Rorschach Reviews Y5: In the Thick of It

By Rorschach, in Create A Year Of Movies (CAYOM)

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Rorschach Summer Tentpole

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Life of Galileo

 

Going into this, I really wasn't expecting all that much. I'm not a big fan of Baz Luhrmann as a director. His style is very much the textbook definition of style over substance for me. So, after watching this film, I could safely say this doesn't quite fall into the camp of being bad like Moulin Rogue! was, which I think is severely overrated. I'd say its probably on the same level as The Great Gatsby in terms of quality: both have a lot of great elements to their technical work and both feature a great central performance, in this case Kate Winslet, that carries a lot of the film on its shoulders.

 

Like Luhrmann's other works, this has a lot of great production design, visuals, camerawork, the whole nine yards, etc. While I wouldn't say his trademark style brings the film down, the choice to present the film as if it were just one continuous shot didn't really add much to the story (except for one scene where we go into space that was pretty cool) and serves more as a glossy distraction more than anything. Some other little choices throughout bugged me a bit (the less said about Kanye the better) but overall, it wasn't anything too egregious for me. There are a lot of elements worth admiring––Winslet's masterful performance, the production design, some of the visuals––but it does end up being a little too glossy and over-done for me to really say I liked it.

 

C+

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54 minutes ago, Rorschach said:

Some other little choices throughout bugged me a bit (the less said about Kanye the better) 

Is Kanye replacing the Eminem bit in the 2.0 version? Because that made me laugh my ass off.

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Rorschach Summer Tentpole

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The Rich and Famous

 

I don't really have a whole lot to say about this one because really, I don't have any qualms with it. It's a very well-written film with two great performances from both Kathryn Hahn and Christina Applegate. I really enjoyed the film's commentary about celebrity life and how draining being put in the public eye can be. This film explores that and how it affected the relationship of the two former child actors. Well-written with some good drama to boot and some great commentary to boot. No more to say here.

 

A-/B+

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Rorschach Summer Tentpole

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Actually, change of plans: I’ll be reviewing Hostel and Scooby later tonight. I’m gonna be fairly busy tomorrow so I figured. Scavvies and Sylvarius will Be reviewed on Sunday night (Monday night for Sylvarius it time ends up a bit of a crunch for me.

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Rorschach Summer Tentpole

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Hostel: Bloodline

 

I've never cared for the torture porn sub-genre of horror and this film really did nothing to dissuade that. I have never seen the other two Hostel films and I don't really think that's gonna change after this. The film aims to shock and disgust its viewers for the sake of doing so to an unnecessary and pointless degree. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if the characters weren't completely one-dimensional but that just so happens to be the case here: they're all completely one-dimensional. They're either your typical cliched crazy psychopaths you see in every horror film or a character-less meatbag ready to be maimed or killed in a pointlessly gratuitous fashion.

 

To put quite simply, the film's biggest sin is that it is a complete bore: you don't care about any of the characters, you're already expecting them to be tortured by the psychopath family, and you end up getting just that. No surprises, none of the gratuitous violence you expect leaves an impact, nada. Rather, it just left me rolling my eyes as the credits rolled, glad it was done with.

 

D

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Rorschach Summer Tentpole

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Scooby-Doo: Apocalypse

 

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who decided to flip everyone's childhoods on their heads this game year.

 

Anyways, rather than being just another incarnation of the same old, same old, we've received a bizarre, and frankly welcome, fresh take on the now 50 year old Scooby-Doo series (god I can't believe it is that old). That alone is worthy of significant praise. So, how does the overall movie play off its brilliantly deranged take?

 

Well... its succeeds in some aspects, but in others, its a bit lacking. The stuff I really liked surprisingly has to mostly do with the character re-vamps, mainly with Shaggy, Daphne, and Fred, which were pretty cool in my opinion. I never thought I'd say this, like ever, but please make Daphne x Shaggy a real thing. Please! Anyway, the changes they made to all of the characters, such as making Shaggy a pretty bad-ass character, Daphne becoming a bit jaded after having her future snatched under from her thanks to Fred, who becomes a bit of selfish ass-hat.  Also, Jeff Goldblum as Scooby-Doo is, quite simply, gold.

 

Where I think the film stumbles a little bit is its story. I think Apocalypse was probably not the greatest subtitle for this as its more of a build-up to an eventual apocalypse that doesn't really come into play until the film's climax. Up until then, the plot meanders a little setting up the eventual crux of the film, which is quite disappointing considering its quite a brilliant concept that is so ripe with potential that looks like its gonna end up being more explored in future sequels down the line. It kinda reminds me of the 2017 Power Rangers film where the titular technicolor heroes don't show up until the third act; its pretty much the same thing that happens here, which was kind of a let-down and soured me a bit on the film overall.

 

That being said, I am still beyond excited to see where the series goes from here. There is so much ripe for potential and I can't wait to see what comes of it.

 

B-

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@Rorschach were you still going to re-read the first movie or are you skipping it? Because there are a few things in the second that require you have memory of how the first film went down (in part because it would stop the narrative dead having to re-explain them).

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Rorschach Summer Tentpole

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1 hour ago, cookie said:

@Rorschach were you still going to re-read the first movie or are you skipping it? Because there are a few things in the second that require you have memory of how the first film went down (in part because it would stop the narrative dead having to re-explain them).

I was planning on it but I've been a little too busy these past few days to get around to it. I remember most of what happened in the first one, or at least I think I do. 

 

If I'm confused about something, I'll be sure to comment on it.

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