Today is a very sad day for movie fans. Harold Ramis has died at age 69 of autoimmune inflammatory disease, a rare disease that involves the swelling of blood vessels.
He directed National Lampoons Vacation, directed and co-wrote Caddyshack and Groundhog Day, and co-wrote Meatballs, Stripes, Ghostbusters, and Animal House. Quite possibly he will be most remembered for portraying Dr. Egon Spengler in both Ghostbusters films (and voicing him in the Ghostbusters video game).
Harold Ramis was a truly talented individual. As a fan of Ghostbusters since childhood, with that group being some of my childhood heroes, this news kind of shook my world a bit. It's very sad. I can't help but wonder if Egon was looking forward to becoming a ghost one day, and I suppose it may be exciting to get to study the Ghost World from the other side. I think the Ghost Busters will make an exception this time, and not bust him.
Farewell, Mr. Ramis, and thank you for enriching mine and so many others' lives. You will be missed.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
ROBOCOP 2014 IS SURPRISINGLY NOT BAD
I am a fan of the original Robocop, and when I saw the trailers for the remake I feared the worst. It seemed like this remake would suck the heart and core message out of the original classic, and turn Robocop into another failed attempt at cashing in on a recognizable name (Total Recall 2012 anyone?). Luckily, I was wrong for a change.
Robocop 2014 follows the same plot as the original. Detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), a hard working, loyal and uncorrupt Detroit cop, is seriously injured in a car bombing. Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), president of mega-corporation Omnicorp, sees an opportunity and seizes it. He has been trying to introduce robotic law enforcement into the the city, however the general public seems uneasy about the idea. In Murphy, Sellars sees what could be the face for his robotic efforts and a way to get the public on his side. He orders Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), head of the Omnicorp labs, to rebuild Murphy into a human/robot hybrid they dub Robocop. However, Murphy's basic humanity soon becomes seen as a threat to their perfect product. The fight is on as Murphy tries to hold on to the remaining shreds of his humanity while attempting to keep crime at bay and solve his own murder.
Robocop 2014 is restrained by a PG-13 rating. I understand why the studio pushed for a PG-13 here, to bring more people in and to better target the coveted teen demographic. However, the film does have a genuinely great message that I'm pretty sure most teens either will not get or just won't care about (more on that message later), and the PG-13 only serves to water down the film.The violence is at times thrilling, but it never is able to match the extreme lengths of the original's. Robocop also suffers from a deflated climax (especially when compared to the original's), and the way Murphy sustains his injuries that ultimately lead to his transformation is just weak.
This new remake is also quite humorless except for when it deals with Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson), an extreme right-wing pundit who owns his own Bill O'Reilly-esque show (The Novak Element) and reports on the news with his own biased and not-so-hidden agenda. It's clear the film is taking punches at Fox News, and it does so in a fun and almost tongue in cheek way with Jackson nailing his small role (He's perfect).
Robocop has a pretty good cast that never fully manage to make their roles memorable. Joel Kinnaman makes for a decent Murphy. When first turned into Robocop, he still has his humanity intact (a drastic shift from the original) but later it is wiped clean. I'm not so sure I like this angle, but I do understand it was done in an attempt to strengthen the message here. While the attempt doesn't completely work, the misguided effort is somewhat appreciated. Michael Keaton and Jackie Earle Haley (who plays Rick Mattox, a for hire military expert) are both criminally underused and get barely any character development. The same goes for Abbie Cornish and John Paul Ruttan (who play Murphy's loving wife and son), who are only brought in when the emotional element of the film is needed. Easily the best actor here is Gary Oldman (no surprise there), who plays a doctor that is struggling to keep his ethics and morals as Keaton's Sellars continually applies more and more pressure on him to get the job done.
Unlike Total Recall 2012, Robocop makes the very wise choice to keep the original film's core anti-corporation message. As I said before, the film tries to strengthen the message but it's an entirely unsuccessful attempt. The message is still in plain sight for anyone who is wise enough to notice it, and the film spends a good amount of time focused on this message (basically people are nothing but pawns to corporations, and the public are nothing but sheep that can be easily led either by corporations or the media). I do think the message is a good reflection of how the times are today, and thus while a Robocop remake wasn't necessary, this was a good time to make it.
I'm going to take a brief moment to talk about the ED-209's (or as I lovingly call them, the EDdys). They were one of my favorite parts of the original film, as they were a product that seemed bad-ass but were ultimately fuck-ups in the long run. Here, they are functional and work exactly as they were built to. There is no humor to the Eddy's in Robocop 2014. It's still good to see them pop up in all of their two scenes, but I still prefer the ones from the original.
While Robocop 2014 can't match the fun, bloodiness, brutality, humor, and message of the original......this remake is still by all accounts much better than it should have been. While it's not a perfect product, it's a functional one that should get you thinking and that you should be fairly entertained by. It works for what it is.
3 Stars
Robocop 2014 follows the same plot as the original. Detective Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), a hard working, loyal and uncorrupt Detroit cop, is seriously injured in a car bombing. Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), president of mega-corporation Omnicorp, sees an opportunity and seizes it. He has been trying to introduce robotic law enforcement into the the city, however the general public seems uneasy about the idea. In Murphy, Sellars sees what could be the face for his robotic efforts and a way to get the public on his side. He orders Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), head of the Omnicorp labs, to rebuild Murphy into a human/robot hybrid they dub Robocop. However, Murphy's basic humanity soon becomes seen as a threat to their perfect product. The fight is on as Murphy tries to hold on to the remaining shreds of his humanity while attempting to keep crime at bay and solve his own murder.
Robocop 2014 is restrained by a PG-13 rating. I understand why the studio pushed for a PG-13 here, to bring more people in and to better target the coveted teen demographic. However, the film does have a genuinely great message that I'm pretty sure most teens either will not get or just won't care about (more on that message later), and the PG-13 only serves to water down the film.The violence is at times thrilling, but it never is able to match the extreme lengths of the original's. Robocop also suffers from a deflated climax (especially when compared to the original's), and the way Murphy sustains his injuries that ultimately lead to his transformation is just weak.
This new remake is also quite humorless except for when it deals with Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson), an extreme right-wing pundit who owns his own Bill O'Reilly-esque show (The Novak Element) and reports on the news with his own biased and not-so-hidden agenda. It's clear the film is taking punches at Fox News, and it does so in a fun and almost tongue in cheek way with Jackson nailing his small role (He's perfect).
Robocop has a pretty good cast that never fully manage to make their roles memorable. Joel Kinnaman makes for a decent Murphy. When first turned into Robocop, he still has his humanity intact (a drastic shift from the original) but later it is wiped clean. I'm not so sure I like this angle, but I do understand it was done in an attempt to strengthen the message here. While the attempt doesn't completely work, the misguided effort is somewhat appreciated. Michael Keaton and Jackie Earle Haley (who plays Rick Mattox, a for hire military expert) are both criminally underused and get barely any character development. The same goes for Abbie Cornish and John Paul Ruttan (who play Murphy's loving wife and son), who are only brought in when the emotional element of the film is needed. Easily the best actor here is Gary Oldman (no surprise there), who plays a doctor that is struggling to keep his ethics and morals as Keaton's Sellars continually applies more and more pressure on him to get the job done.
Unlike Total Recall 2012, Robocop makes the very wise choice to keep the original film's core anti-corporation message. As I said before, the film tries to strengthen the message but it's an entirely unsuccessful attempt. The message is still in plain sight for anyone who is wise enough to notice it, and the film spends a good amount of time focused on this message (basically people are nothing but pawns to corporations, and the public are nothing but sheep that can be easily led either by corporations or the media). I do think the message is a good reflection of how the times are today, and thus while a Robocop remake wasn't necessary, this was a good time to make it.
I'm going to take a brief moment to talk about the ED-209's (or as I lovingly call them, the EDdys). They were one of my favorite parts of the original film, as they were a product that seemed bad-ass but were ultimately fuck-ups in the long run. Here, they are functional and work exactly as they were built to. There is no humor to the Eddy's in Robocop 2014. It's still good to see them pop up in all of their two scenes, but I still prefer the ones from the original.
While Robocop 2014 can't match the fun, bloodiness, brutality, humor, and message of the original......this remake is still by all accounts much better than it should have been. While it's not a perfect product, it's a functional one that should get you thinking and that you should be fairly entertained by. It works for what it is.
3 Stars
Friday, February 7, 2014
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME WITH THE LEGO MOVIE
Let me preface this review by saying that I never really played with LEGOs when I was a child. I attempted to several times but I just found the whole construction aspect frustrating. However, I do enjoy the numerous LEGO video games which I find to be clever and funny. Now, LEGO has their very own full length theatrical film directed by two of the best up-and-comer directors out there: Phil Lord and Chris Miller (who also wrote the script). Needless to say, The LEGO Movie is in safe hands.
In The LEGO Movie we follow everyday simpleton Emmet (Chris Pratt), a normal LEGO construction builder who dreams of being accepted into his community and having friends. One day, while chasing the beautiful Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks, who sounds as cute as ever here) he falls into a deep pit and stumbles across an ancient relic that could save the entire LEGO World from President/Lord Business (Will Ferrell, who is treated to one of his better roles here) and his evil plans. Emmett teams up with Wyldstyle, the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), Unikitty (Alison Brie), Benny the Astronaut (Charlie Day), and Batman (Will Arnett) to save the day and then some.
The LEGO Movie has an extensive and impressive list of voice cameos in it. Liam Neeson voices Good Cop/Bad Cop, Colbie Smulders voices Wonder Woman, and Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill team up once again to voice Superman and Green Lantern respectively, who are kind of a duo here and get some great jokes together (talk about perfect casting). Charlie Day gets a good amount of funny material as Benny the Astronaut who is obsessed with building spaceships and is kind of the odd man out, Will Arnett makes for one of the best Batmans and is easily one of the most memorable things about the film (the amount of LOL jokes he gets here is enviable), and Chris Pratt is believable as a simpleton and our hero (in all seriousness though, Pratt was the perfect choice to play Emmett. He is very funny, super energetic, and very memorable).
One of the greatest things about The LEGO Movie (besides it's all star voice cast), is that EVERYTHING IN THIS FILM IS MADE OF LEGOS. Surprisingly, most of the film is made using stop-motion LEGOS, with minimal CGI being used as well. For the most part the environments, characters, numerous dioramas, the ocean, the clouds, lasers, smoke stacks, and even fire and explosions are all made with LEGOS. Simply put, if you love LEGOS, then The LEGO Movie is your wet dream.
Now, a word of warning: If you do see The LEGO Movie you will leave with a certain song stuck in your head on repeat for days on end. This song is called Everything Is Awesome. It's catchy, cute, the lyrics are simple and easy to remember.......quite simply, it's an infectious virus. The song is repeated several times throughout the film (it's basically the theme song for the film), and if you are able to resist it's wily charms then you are a better man than I. The song itself is pretty awesome, and while I hate getting any song stuck in my noggin I've got to admit that this one has kind of grown on me.....I actually love it to be completely honest.
The LEGO Movie has some great themes in it about being special/what it takes to be special/who is special, friendship, teamwork, getting in touch with your inner child, creativity, non-conformity and imagination. It's filled with some pretty great bits of humor and there is a third act twist that had me squee-ing in jaw dropped joy. Seriously though, the twist itself elevates the film up to a higher level for me and it changes the way you look at what came before it. It's a surprisingly clever film as well (for crying out loud people, the main villain is named Lord Business, and the film plays with the "one hero" trope in a smart and new way, creating a new and positive message in the process), and when you realize what this film is really all about, that's also when you realize just how deep and smart this film is too. I'm going to be honest, I had heard the advanced rave reviews for this film. Despite that, I still didn't have my hopes incredibly high yet The LEGO Movie still charmed me and wow-ed me (how could you NOT LOVE those LEGO characters, their so cute!). The amount of work that went into creating this film and the numerous LEGO effects and environments is staggering. It's only February, but I have a feeling that we could see The LEGO Movie become a contender for next year's Best Animated movie category. The LEGO Movie is a film that both adults and kids can enjoy in equal measure. There should be no surprise when I say that Chris Miller and Phil Lord have done it again.
5 STARS- BETTER THAN SEX
In The LEGO Movie we follow everyday simpleton Emmet (Chris Pratt), a normal LEGO construction builder who dreams of being accepted into his community and having friends. One day, while chasing the beautiful Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks, who sounds as cute as ever here) he falls into a deep pit and stumbles across an ancient relic that could save the entire LEGO World from President/Lord Business (Will Ferrell, who is treated to one of his better roles here) and his evil plans. Emmett teams up with Wyldstyle, the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), Unikitty (Alison Brie), Benny the Astronaut (Charlie Day), and Batman (Will Arnett) to save the day and then some.
The LEGO Movie has an extensive and impressive list of voice cameos in it. Liam Neeson voices Good Cop/Bad Cop, Colbie Smulders voices Wonder Woman, and Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill team up once again to voice Superman and Green Lantern respectively, who are kind of a duo here and get some great jokes together (talk about perfect casting). Charlie Day gets a good amount of funny material as Benny the Astronaut who is obsessed with building spaceships and is kind of the odd man out, Will Arnett makes for one of the best Batmans and is easily one of the most memorable things about the film (the amount of LOL jokes he gets here is enviable), and Chris Pratt is believable as a simpleton and our hero (in all seriousness though, Pratt was the perfect choice to play Emmett. He is very funny, super energetic, and very memorable).
One of the greatest things about The LEGO Movie (besides it's all star voice cast), is that EVERYTHING IN THIS FILM IS MADE OF LEGOS. Surprisingly, most of the film is made using stop-motion LEGOS, with minimal CGI being used as well. For the most part the environments, characters, numerous dioramas, the ocean, the clouds, lasers, smoke stacks, and even fire and explosions are all made with LEGOS. Simply put, if you love LEGOS, then The LEGO Movie is your wet dream.
Now, a word of warning: If you do see The LEGO Movie you will leave with a certain song stuck in your head on repeat for days on end. This song is called Everything Is Awesome. It's catchy, cute, the lyrics are simple and easy to remember.......quite simply, it's an infectious virus. The song is repeated several times throughout the film (it's basically the theme song for the film), and if you are able to resist it's wily charms then you are a better man than I. The song itself is pretty awesome, and while I hate getting any song stuck in my noggin I've got to admit that this one has kind of grown on me.....I actually love it to be completely honest.
The LEGO Movie has some great themes in it about being special/what it takes to be special/who is special, friendship, teamwork, getting in touch with your inner child, creativity, non-conformity and imagination. It's filled with some pretty great bits of humor and there is a third act twist that had me squee-ing in jaw dropped joy. Seriously though, the twist itself elevates the film up to a higher level for me and it changes the way you look at what came before it. It's a surprisingly clever film as well (for crying out loud people, the main villain is named Lord Business, and the film plays with the "one hero" trope in a smart and new way, creating a new and positive message in the process), and when you realize what this film is really all about, that's also when you realize just how deep and smart this film is too. I'm going to be honest, I had heard the advanced rave reviews for this film. Despite that, I still didn't have my hopes incredibly high yet The LEGO Movie still charmed me and wow-ed me (how could you NOT LOVE those LEGO characters, their so cute!). The amount of work that went into creating this film and the numerous LEGO effects and environments is staggering. It's only February, but I have a feeling that we could see The LEGO Movie become a contender for next year's Best Animated movie category. The LEGO Movie is a film that both adults and kids can enjoy in equal measure. There should be no surprise when I say that Chris Miller and Phil Lord have done it again.
5 STARS- BETTER THAN SEX
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