Well, I just got back from Turbo: I loved it! It's a very light and fun little movie. It lacks the passion of animation that Pixar shows in even their lesser projects, but what it lacks in ingenuity and passion, it makes up for with just a purely fun and sweet little experience It's very fun, with nary a bad joke in sight! After Despicable Me 2's disappointing amount of rude humor (I counted 5 jokes; I'm sure there are more), it was so relieving (no pun intended?) to see Turbo has only one slight innuendo and that's it! The animation was not the most impressive. As stated, the passion was lacking. It didn't feel like they worked their hearts and fingers to the ends of time with this film. There were some nice effects here and there, but overall the presentation is a tad... bland? There's only so many textures you can put on snails, though, so I don't care too much. The biggest problem I had with the movie is the ethnic stereotypes. There are some human characters, and three in particular were almost offensively caricatured based on their presumed ethnicity. A tiny, slit-eyed, annoyingly-voiced Chinese lady; a rotund Mexican duo with quite the adoration for Mexican cuisine and not much more; white guy that's completely normal and comes off much smarter than the others. I don't know... that bothered me quite a bit. I could be looking too much into it, though. Maybe that wasn't their intention. Plus, I'm thinking in this day and age, if the voice actors signed on for the roles, they couldn't have been too offended, right? The predictability is there, but there are some wonderful jokes to break up the banality in narrative. There is one running joke in particular that works every time, and is just plain silly. And another one, too! I was surprised by how funny the movie was. The trailer has some funny parts, but there were still plenty of comedic gems to find. They throw one very slight curveball in the formula that I wasn't expecting. They throw a couple, actually. Very slight, as I said, but it was interesting to not know 100% what to expect at a certain point in the film. I could compare that change of pace to Monsters University, but admittedly the change of pace in that movie was much more significant and interesting. Turbo is a charming, funny, lighthearted, and mostly inoffensive affair that I think is safe for the whole family. At times it may feel like Ratatouille-lite, but that doesn't matter. What matters is the product as-is, and that product is a very positive experience. I loved it! 8.32/10 P.S. See it in 3D if you can. It was exhilarating in three dimensions!
Anyways. Rush looks amazing, too. I don't know the true story, but the trailer seems to give away most of it... but that's not a bad thing. If it's as well-made and amazing as the trailer makes it seem, I can't wait. Speaking of Daniel Brühl, he's going to be in the upcoming movie about Wikileaks, The Fifth Estate. I posted the trailer a page or two back, but nobody seemed to care... so I'm posting it again! Looks so amazing <3
Well thank you very much, then! I just thought... eh, I don't know. Hey, andsoitgoes, I am picking up The Seventh Seal from Barnes & Noble today! Can't wait Before I watch it, though, is there anything graphic or disgusting I need to know about beforehand? With these older art films, it seems they like to have mutilated animals sometimes, or maybe even real-life graphic pictures of dead or hurt people. Does The Seventh Seal have any of this?
What old art films are YOU watching? Just be glad I didn't recommend Salo Seventh Seal is excellent and is fine for showing anyone of any age. The worst I remember is some guy getting cut on his face, but it's less than you'd see on ANY TV show today. Pretty much any of my top recommendations of older films are pretty tame. Even The Phantom Carriage, which is a very old silent horror film is completely tame gore wise, it's the music and the underlying themes that make it what it is. Now, the thing to remember with this film is that it is a foreign film. As such, there are some things which are foreign to our culture and may be seen as a bit strange, but I consider that similar to the nuances of any Shakespeare work, but I want you to be aware. My suggestions for after, regardless of your feelings about SS: The Hustler (a kick ass pool hustler movie staring Paul Newman in one of his best roles, some of the best cinematography especially considering it is somewhat claustrophobic) Paths of Glory and The Killing (you OWE it to Kubrick! Buy both! ) Yojimbo If someone had shown those to me when I was your age.. Man, I would have hugged them.... But I don't require that. It would be a bit weird. Cuz. I'm. In Canada
Lol, well Un Chien Andalou, I read about the Gaspar Noe film that had a horse butchering, Apocalypse Now apparently has a real animal being destroyed, among other movies I'm sure there are out there Ugh, Salo... I tried it, and I could not finish it. In similar form, A Serbian Film, while created for a completely different reason, was actually really well-made. But I couldn't watch any more after the halfway point. I understand the cultures are different, and that's fine, but it's when the lax laws on animal killings for the sake of film/art- that's when it pisses me off. As long as The Seventh Seal doesn't have any real animal harm/deaths or pictures of deceased people (after they've deceased... don't get technical, regarding people who were in the film, but died decades later ), I am fine! Last time I checked, they had Paths of Glory at Barnes and Noble, and they're doing a Criterion half-off sale (see: regular price at any other sane retailer, rather than grossly overpriced!), so I will think about getting that as well. But I'm not sure I can afford it I'm already pushing it with The Seventh Seal, haha. I'll let you know, though! The Hustler... hm... I've never seen a Paul Newman movie, so maybe that would be a good one to start with? I think I have Yojimbo, buried somewhere in my parents' storage room. It's an Akira Kurosawa film, right?
I just put in a sizable order for B&N. their sale prices for criterion are almost always better than any retailer for, well, almost everything even including amazon. I picked up a few blind buys, Safety Last, Gold Rush, the Leopard, Fanny and Alexander, Wild Strawberries (another Bergman film) and then Battle of Algiers, which I'd seen. For what I paid, and what I get, I am very excited. It usually takes a month to get this stuff in Canada, but it is what it is. Go get Yojimbo ASAP. I think you'll like it. It's very accessible, bad ass and I really enjoyed the humor they put in. Plus, Toshiro Mifune is the baddest badass that was ever bad. And by bad I mean good. Hustler is a great Newman film to start with. I enjoyed Cool Hand Luke, which is a bit more mainstream, but it's still a brilliant classic, and there's a nice surprise if you've enjoyed The Naked Gun movies. I think he dislikes REAL violence and stuff... But liking Saw but being unable to get through Salo (which isn't really that different in terms of actual content... Though there are some aspects that... Anyway, yeah Salo is an overrated film and I don't care if its an allegory to the Axis powers of WW2)
ED was okay, ED2 was a sequel but it wasn't a sequel and it was fine. But then Horror movies are just okay for me. They are rarely ones I watch over and over again, though I do have some fond memories of the original Nightmare on Elm Street films, I remember playing the "Dreeeeeeam, dream dream dream" song from maybe the 5th movie? I don't remember exactly. But nowadays, unless it's The Shining or maybe The Exorcist, I'll watch it once and be done n Army Of Darkness was the bees freaking knees though. That movie was dumb ass fun. As for Turbo, my kids want to see it but no. Just no. As for the stereotypical characters, actors will do pretty much anything for money. It's like having an overweight person play an offensive role designed to humiliate fat people, or an ugly role for ugly people. Jeong is not an actor who cares, he just likes acting. Fun fact, he used to be a doctor before moving to Hollywood. A. Doctor. But simply put, Turbo (like too many dreamworks films) seems to be content with highlighting racial stereotypes for the hahaas, sadly.
