The only reason I enjoyed 'Kick-Ass' is Nicolas Cage. The idea is that a normal kid takes it into his head to be a superhero with no special powers just a desire to help the common man. But he's also dealing with normal high school type issues and girl problems etc. etc. Little does Kick-Ass know that there are two other actual superhero's out there really making a difference- Big Daddy(Cage) and Hit Girl, they don't have powers either just superior training. BD and HG are taking revenge on a crime boss who broke down their family unit. They meet up and the story goes from there. My main problem with this, similar to 'The Last Song,' is that the main character isn't likable.
(Spoilers Ahead)
Kick-Ass is the problem with 'Kick-Ass.' There's lengthy digressions into his high school social life that seem pointless, he never really succeeds in a fight, and there is this horrible subplot where he pretends to be gay to get a girl, bleck. The character is pathetic, he gets into 'crime fighting' because he's single and doesn't have a hobby. I'd much rather see the film 'Big Daddy and Hit Girl'. Cage steals the show, he's mesmerizing to watch, and easily worth the price of admission. Through his few scenes he builds a comprehensive narrative, you can identify with him, and you want to see what he's going to do. Favorite Scenes.
"How to take a Bullet."- At the top there's a scene in a vacant lot where Big Daddy is teaching Hit Girl how to take a bullet with a vest on. Cage plays it so straight, so soft, so loving. After she gets up after the first shot you can see the pride in his eyes and they go out for ice cream.
"Warehouse Showdown."- Cage's only action sequence is about half way through the film. It takes place in a warehouse right before the gangsters trap Kick-Ass. The scene is gripping. The action only takes 30 seconds. The scene in total takes 58 seconds. The choreography is poetic. There's a mix of guns, knife play and Kung Fu. Cage moves through the scene with such an economy of movement, such purpose and clarity it evokes a visceral response. It's done in only one shot which follows Cage through the entire warehouse as he kills every man in it. The inspired yet totalitarian costume and the way Cage handles himself make you really believe that he's a real man doing extraordinary things. And that's the best part of the movie, when the movie really works is when you get a sense of real heroism.
"The Betrayal."- Kick-Ass inadvertently set Big Daddy and Hit Girl up. Hit Girl is sitting in the window when the betrayal takes place and gets shot out of the window while Big Daddy and Kick-Ass are captured. We know she's alive, its a call back to the earlier training scene. The bad guys thing she's dead. We know she's coming. Its a good feeling. That small scene at the beginning brings us in on it.
"The Death of Big Daddy."- This is my favorite scene of the movie. I thought it was moving. I know thats weird cause it's an action sequence but yeah. I'm going to describe it. The scene opens Kick-Ass and Big Daddy are strapped to chairs in a gloomy garage being beat up. It's being broadcast on the Internet so every character in the movie so far is watching. "Kerosene. Yes. The silent killer." henchmen pours kerosene on our hero's. "And this for all you Cavemen out there is Fire!" flicks Zippo "Fire is good. Fire is our friend. Gentlemen. Time to Die." Gunshot, lights go out. Hit Girl attacks and starts to kill the gangsters. In the ensuing blackness someone lights Cage on fire. Hit Girl gets flustered and as he burns alive Cage begins to shout instructions.
"SWITCH TO KRYPTONITE!" Cage is grinning, and burning, and you can tell he's proud of this little girl, unleashing his revenge upon the world. He conveys this manic happiness as she uses different gun fighting techniques and gadgets to kill a room full of men. "TAKE COVER CHILE!" all through the movie he calls his daughter 'child' but in this last frenetic moment he develops this New Orleans lilt. Inspired Cage. "NOW ROBIN'S REVENGE!" and in this moment he invokes the quinsential sidekick to finish the job. Hit Girl extinguishes the flames with her cape, looks in the camera and says "Shows over Motherfuckers." and shoots it. And again you get the sense that a twelve year old Olympic gymnast who had lots and lots of weapons training could have pulled it off.
For my money the movie should have ended there. The rest is Corney, campy, reference heavy and of course Kick-Ass comes into save the day with a Jet pack. Boo. The movie was good, it could have been great. The interesting parts were left unexamined while the obvious parts we explored to tedium.
I'm not interested in a teenage angst subplot.
Especially if most teenagers can't get into the movie without their parents.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
'The Last Song' A Review
'The Last Song' is a Nicholas Sparks adaptation starring Miley Cyrus. I'll say first off I didn't intend to see this movie, it was Devo's pick. But I'm secure enough to say that I enjoyed watching it and enjoy movies that fall into the genre "chick flick" or "romantic comedy." For example I love the movies 'American Sweethearts' and '10 Things I Hate About You.' And I also want to say before I get to deep into describing and critiquing the plot that I'll see anything. There is no movie in the history of movies that I wouldn't pay ten bucks to see in the theatre if someone or possibly no one influenced me to go. I hated 'Transformers' I didn't like the TV show and I didn't like the theatrical version. Adam and I went to 'Transformers 2' on opening night. What I mean is I love movies and find enjoyment out of almost all movies. I can enjoy watching almost anything. There are somethings which I'd never see again like 'Blindness' which is unarguably the worst movie I've ever seen. But I watched the whole thing. You get the idea.
(Spoilers on The Last Song to follow)
'The Last Song' opens on the very classic generic type scene mom dropping kids off for the summer with dad. Parents are divorced, kids live in New York with mom, dad moved back to small town in Georgia after the divorce. My first problem- you never find out what town it is and you never find out what the parents do for a living. It appears their dad is a well respected member of the community who is retired at 45, can play the piano, make stained glass windows, but has no discernible income. So Miley plays the main character "Ronnie" who is a piano wizard(which they never really let you know, your just suppose to infer) but she gave up playing to spite her father when he moved out of New York. She's 18 and about to turn down the Julliard school of music. Needless to say she's super angsty. She meets a local guy(surprise!) who through the course of the film wins her heart. Their interactions are kind of ok to watch but the contrived plot devices detract. For example a local girl tells Ronnie 'he does this to all the girls' and she flips out and tries to break it off. Overall the movie is very predictable. When Ronnie and Will(said guy) start to really bond is over a sea turtles nest that Ronnie saves. I would say that was the best scene of the movie, the actors don't really talk and the turtles crawl out of the sand and into the sea. After this scene Greg Kinnear, the dad, collapses because (surprise!) he's sick with cancer and just wanted to spend some time with his kids before he died.
Oh yeah turns out Will is a rich kid with baggage so all the stupid stereotypes follow that. Domineering parents, Ronnie not being well bred enough etc. etc. Big Problem #2- they're suppose to be in Georgia on the coast, no one has an accent, not one single person. There's a montage of Ronnie and her dad spending time together, he dies during her playing his 'last song' and she plays it at his funeral. Will and Ronnie get back together in the end. Credits. Ok. I'd give this movie a 5/10. The plot was very predictable but thats ok sometimes we like predictable. We like the idea of girl meets guy, they fall in love, have problems, get back together. Or like estranged father tries to reconnect with children. We like those story lines because we can identify with them on a very basic storytelling level. What I hated most of all, the biggest problem with the movie as I saw it, you guessed it- Miley Cyrus. My number one thing in fiction(movies, TV etc.) is that the main character has to be likable. Miley Cyrus not only is a bad actress but when she found the character Ronnie she wasn't likable. She had no charm, wasn't interesting, I had no idea why Will supposedly the cool guy in town would be interested. She's sullen, combative, mean, reserved, rude, immature, irresponsible, unreasonable I mean I could go on and on. She flys off the handle multiple times with her Dad and Will for virtually no or very illogical reasons. Obviously her dad has to love her and yeah he's dying but any other guy...
Why make the effort?
(Spoilers on The Last Song to follow)
'The Last Song' opens on the very classic generic type scene mom dropping kids off for the summer with dad. Parents are divorced, kids live in New York with mom, dad moved back to small town in Georgia after the divorce. My first problem- you never find out what town it is and you never find out what the parents do for a living. It appears their dad is a well respected member of the community who is retired at 45, can play the piano, make stained glass windows, but has no discernible income. So Miley plays the main character "Ronnie" who is a piano wizard(which they never really let you know, your just suppose to infer) but she gave up playing to spite her father when he moved out of New York. She's 18 and about to turn down the Julliard school of music. Needless to say she's super angsty. She meets a local guy(surprise!) who through the course of the film wins her heart. Their interactions are kind of ok to watch but the contrived plot devices detract. For example a local girl tells Ronnie 'he does this to all the girls' and she flips out and tries to break it off. Overall the movie is very predictable. When Ronnie and Will(said guy) start to really bond is over a sea turtles nest that Ronnie saves. I would say that was the best scene of the movie, the actors don't really talk and the turtles crawl out of the sand and into the sea. After this scene Greg Kinnear, the dad, collapses because (surprise!) he's sick with cancer and just wanted to spend some time with his kids before he died.
Oh yeah turns out Will is a rich kid with baggage so all the stupid stereotypes follow that. Domineering parents, Ronnie not being well bred enough etc. etc. Big Problem #2- they're suppose to be in Georgia on the coast, no one has an accent, not one single person. There's a montage of Ronnie and her dad spending time together, he dies during her playing his 'last song' and she plays it at his funeral. Will and Ronnie get back together in the end. Credits. Ok. I'd give this movie a 5/10. The plot was very predictable but thats ok sometimes we like predictable. We like the idea of girl meets guy, they fall in love, have problems, get back together. Or like estranged father tries to reconnect with children. We like those story lines because we can identify with them on a very basic storytelling level. What I hated most of all, the biggest problem with the movie as I saw it, you guessed it- Miley Cyrus. My number one thing in fiction(movies, TV etc.) is that the main character has to be likable. Miley Cyrus not only is a bad actress but when she found the character Ronnie she wasn't likable. She had no charm, wasn't interesting, I had no idea why Will supposedly the cool guy in town would be interested. She's sullen, combative, mean, reserved, rude, immature, irresponsible, unreasonable I mean I could go on and on. She flys off the handle multiple times with her Dad and Will for virtually no or very illogical reasons. Obviously her dad has to love her and yeah he's dying but any other guy...
Why make the effort?
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