Buttered Popcorn: Buzzmans Movie Review Thread

[Buzzman]

The East (2013)

Last year Brit Marling teamed up with Zal Batmanglij to make The Sound of My Voice. It was a really well made pure indie thriller about a cult. This year comes their next collaboration together with The East, another movie centered on a cult. This time they actually had some money that you can clearly see in the film. Where one took place largely in a small house, The East tackles large corporations all over the place in a variety of ways.

The film begins with a weary attack on an oil tycoon led largely by a Ellen Page voiceover promising more havoc on those willing to harm the planet for profit. It’s a little preachy at times, attacking the way America runs and accomplishes things, but it is never just lazily thrown in front of the camera. Everything they do and say comes from reason and motivation to move the plot forward. It really didn’t bother me as much as some of the fellow viewers I watched it with. On a smaller scale, the film follows Marling as a corporate spy attempting to break into the underground scene and catch this cult that is responsible for the attacks. When she finds them, the always predictable plot ploy of falling for them and their cause comes into play. She has to weigh her options and make a choice you might come to regret. Sides must be chosen, but at times you almost don’t see enough of one side to make it a fair debate. It seems to heavily way into one side. Then a bit past the halfway mark, the film takes a turn and begins to peel away the goodness of the cult, making the decision much harder for Marling. It was a well needed and good change of pace.

Brit Marling turns in another good performance in another creative and intriguing project. She continues to force your attention on her and one to look forward too. I cannot wait till the day a studio has the faith to hand her millions of dollars to make a film for them. Alexander Skarsgard is the leader of this cult, and while I enjoyed it, the characters fate and actions were a bit confusing as to how they played out partly because of him. He seemed to jump emotions at a fast pace and I really had no clue how he was actually feeling in many scenes. Ellen Page as his hand was something you come to expect out of her. She’s solid and brings emotions into their attacks. Without her, they might have come off as cold-hearted and disinteresting. Toby Kebbell was a potential standout, but was out of focus too often to become a factor.

The East might be my least favorite Brit Marling film, but that really shouldn’t come off as an insult. I just really loved Another Earth and Sound of My Voice. It was fighting an uphill battle from the start and didn’t really have a chance. It can be a bit messy, a bit muddled at times, but I found myself enjoying The East quite a bit. It slowed down towards the end but is a fairly entertaining film that attempts to be bigger than it could afford to be.

Overall Score: 7/10

 

[Buzzman]

Spring Breakers (2013)

Looking at Harmony Korine’s track record as a director, it’s just about shit, and Spring Breakers didn’t look like it would stray too far from his style. It featured a bizarre looking James Franco in what can only be described as dirty. Everything about the film can best be described as dirty. By all rights, the film shouldn’t be enjoyable, it shouldn’t be watched, and it sure as shit shouldn’t be good, but against the odds, its one hell of an experience whether you wind up enjoying the film or not.

Things start off pretty quickly. The girls need to go on spring break and come up with a fool prrof plan of robbing a restaurant to get the money to get there. Once there, the party begins and the world seems perfect. That is until they get arrested. That’s where the film really kicks into gear. It happens rather quickly too. Everything I just described is the first twenty five minutes or so. They get bailed out by a wannabe gangsta named Alien. In doing so, chaos becomes the norm, montages come often, guns become toys, and the real party begins. There really is no true plot. It’s just a lot of acts of violence mashed together as an excuse to have a good time. It winds up working out most of the time.

When it doesn’t work out it’s because of repetition. I’d need more fingers on my hand to count the amount of times a voice over was played on a loop paired with a filtered repetition of previous scenes. It was creative at first, but it does it so often, it takes you out of the film for a bit. Both my friends and I afterwards commented on just how stale it became. It also has some trouble with its finish. It builds up to this amazing looking scene. I mean just beautiful to watch, but its execution feels rushed and left a better ending on the table. It doesn’t make the film much worse, but it could have been a legit great film with the proper kind of ending. I absolutely loved watching the world that they created here; so bright and filled with excitement.

Before going in, I read that this would be Selena Gomez ditching her Disney reputation for that bad girl vibe, but I don’t think they could have been more wrong. She still plays the good girl kind of character and winds up disappearing for over half the film. It was something I didn’t see coming and wound up for the best because the characters storyline brought nothing chaotic to the story that the other three did. The true trouble makers in the film come from Ashley Benson and Vanessa Hudgens. The pair were just walking talking white trash, and they looked sexy doing it. I came off impressed with them more walking out than I did walking in. The real star of the show goes to James Franco as Allen or as he likes to call himself Alien. He transforms his appearance but you can still see that Franco grin upon his face, but he seems to be having a blast and brings you along for the ride. He brings a ton of laughs with his absurd dialogue and antics with an over the top performance that could have easily came off as shit but walked the fine line into fandom.

If you haven't gotten a chance to see Spring Breakers, maybe that is for the best. I can see just as many people hating it, probably even more, then people who enjoyed it. It is such a bizarre experience and film that one simply couldn’t describe it in entirety through words. Harmony Korine gives us an art house party flick featuring one of the best montages I’ve got to see.

Overall Score: 8/10

 

[Buzzman]

Oblivion (2013)

Oblivion is pure science fiction. Its environment, gadgets, people, and everything else all don’t feel like they belong in the world we live in, but in this universe that was created by Kosinski. It’s a world that I really loved to marvel at. For all of the film’s opening act (about forty-five minutes), it is spent introducing us to what is left of Earth through Jack. He’s an engineer who fixes broken drones that patrol the zone Jack lives in. What we get to see is beautiful set piece after beautiful set piece. It’s stunning what Kosinski and his team was able to accomplish here. I feel like they actually traveled to this future Earth and shot this film there. It’s a nice effective route that introduces you into his world, but it could possibly scare you from the later acts. As beautiful as it looks, it may come across rather boring. He had this problem with his last effort, Tron: Legacy. Stunning world, but nothing ever happened. The worries should flourish because once it hits into that second act, things start moving, for better or worse.

Gone are the massive set pieces and along comes crumbled buildings and come the twists of the film. You should have no problem guessing most of them. This isn’t a science fiction film blowing you away with originality. Their selling points are the amazing visuals, which is why the second half fluctuates for me. I found some of action pieces to be pretty dull and lifeless, but when it was more calculated action involving just Cruise himself, it worked well. The twists and specific plot points may have some screaming copycat, I think it pulled from numerous films and put it together to create a pretty good film. Its ending may feel a bit generic, but I enjoyed the impact it left for me.

Tom Cruise plays Jack. After MI4 and Jack Reacher, I have come to really enjoy him again. He comes off a little dry at first; the perfect little soldier. Slowly he breaks away from that shell and before you know it, he wins you over and gives you someone to root for. It’s a performance we’ve seen from him before and have enjoyed. Why change now? The only other notable performance comes with Andrea Riseborough, playing Jack’s partner. She has the hard task of playing someone who comes off cold the entire film. Where Cruise gets to pull away from that little pawn soldier, she has to stick to it. She plays it well. I wish they could have managed more meat to her role. The rest of the cast feel like throwaways that felt so small and depleted, they could have been played by anyone. That’s a damn shame because I’d love to see Jamie Lannister in more things than Game of Thrones.

I really enjoyed what Joseph Kosinski managed here. It’s highly ambitious in terms of visuals and just blows them out of the water. Easily one of the most beautiful films I’ve watched. With technology, he’s only going to get better. The story here is far better than Tron: Legacy, but there are some sections that seem to care more about the look then the content. Once he nails them both, I can’t wait to see what he can achieve. That said, if Oblivion winds up being his best work, that’s not a totally bad thing to say. It’s pretty damn good.

Overall Score: 8/10

 

[Buzzman]

Man of Steel (2013)

Superman has always been a very difficult character to make on the big screen. Not only has the only interpretation of the character in the past twenty years been Superman Returns, but it was god awful. It was the kind of film that could cripple a character in the same vein as Joel Schumacher’s Batman film. It eventually did recover but it took careful planning and tremendous talent. Man of Steel took a very different approach with giant risks with a unproven star and a fairly criticized director at the helm. It’s the type of risk that has billions at stake and a ton of future projects hanging in the balance. That’s some pretty big shit relying on such fragile ground. Though they manage to pull it off, they do so clutching to the ledge for dear life.

The film begins on Krypton, immediately setting this up to be a different kind of Superman story. The planet is dying and it takes about fifteen minutes before you realize it’s headed toward familiarity. It’s kind of a bummer because Krypton was interesting, with some cool visuals, dragons, and undiscovered mythologies, but they send Clark Kent to earth minutes before the planet goes kaboomie and that’s all she wrote folks. This felt like it could have been a movie in itself, but it’s mainly just a mishandled introduction to a rebooted franchise. I would say they could revivsit this in future sequels, but I don’t see where they could manage to connect it with the Clark Kent we have by the end of the film.

When the real story begins, Clark Kent is a lost man looking for answers. Who is he? Why is he here? What he has to do? It doesn’t stray too far from other origin stories, but it did have some really nice meaningful scenes, even if they were executed poorly. Jonathon Kent makes it clear from the start that Clark must leave his abilities alone until the world is ready because as John puts it, “One day you’re going to change the world.” I loved that dilemma he had to struggle with when they decided to follow through with it, but it took a kind of back burner to more money appealing set pieces. It wasn’t exactly mindless action, but it definitely could have added more weight to it. Nothing is going to happen to Superman but let’s throw in some bystanders or ANYTHING to complicate the problem. Instead they kind of mindlessly punch each other. It was well done and I had fun with them, but it needed something memorable that would stick with you. It probably didn’t help that it had a poorly written villain. He was merely there to provide action, but anything of value was clearly left in the cutting room. Maybe a future Lex Luthor could provide more of a chess match then an average fistfight. Regarding the ending, it felt very lazy. It was obviously a callback to previous adaptations, but it really didn’t make sense to end there. You’d think that a film trying so hard to be different wouldn’t fall back on such a safe conclusion, but they could change all of that with a sequel.

As Superman himself, I actually enjoyed Henry Cavill. He didn’t exactly blow the world away, but it provided a solid hero and person to identify with when he wasn’t using his powers of course. That’s where I wish the film would have just pursued more of that struggle of being the man he wanted to be. The flashbacks of him as a kid and growing up as a drifter were the best parts because they were intimate moments. Overall, I think they casted themselves a solid winner. Amy Adams as the famous Lois Lane is a pretty much left to drown. They have her right in the mix of the action becoming this perfect woman that comes off as extremely scripted. She never really feels like a real person and when you have a star of Adams caliber, you expect more out of the role. My personal favorite of the film was Kevin Costner is a tiny but great role. He’s the one that raised Clark and wanted him to have the option to become something great or just to live. Maybe it was his smooth claiming voiceover work, but it really hit me more than anything in this film. Russell Crowe was managed to be worked into the film in a manipulative little way, but I don’t get the love for him. He felt like a standard walking robot compared to Costner. Then we have everyones love, Michael Shannon. I don’t know what he was going for, but if it was to just yell meaningless as loud as he could every chance he got, he nailed it. He gave a very disappointing turn as the great and powerful Zod. Up until the end, I wasn;t even sure he was capable of walking, let alone be a formadble foe to Superman. He had a nice little battle there at the end, but for most of the movies run, I never really liked him at all. His sidekick was the true villain. She (Antje Traue) had the best conflict with Superman. Maybe the small dose of her worked out in her favor, but I wouldn’t have minded at all if she was the real mastermind behind this giant plan.

If you were looking for the next amazing superhero film, it really fails in comparison to the great, but with the lesser titles in marvels lineup, it holds its own ground. It started something that despite all of its flaws, impressed enough to continue watching. Now whether this universe created could ever have Batman as a hero in it is a totally different question. With everything that happened, what exactly would he do? We’ll have to wait and see but, Man of Steel passes the test. Some are going to love it, some are going to like it, but I will be surprised if you hate it. The good outweigh the bad too much for that to happen.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

 

[Matt]

Oblivion (2013)

Oblivion is pure science fiction. Its environment, gadgets, people, and everything else all don’t feel like they belong in the world we live in, but in this universe that was created by Kosinski. It’s a world that I really loved to marvel at. For all of the film’s opening act (about forty-five minutes), it is spent introducing us to what is left of Earth through Jack. He’s an engineer who fixes broken drones that patrol the zone Jack lives in. What we get to see is beautiful set piece after beautiful set piece. It’s stunning what Kosinski and his team was able to accomplish here. I feel like they actually traveled to this future Earth and shot this film there. It’s a nice effective route that introduces you into his world, but it could possibly scare you from the later acts. As beautiful as it looks, it may come across rather boring. He had this problem with his last effort, Tron: Legacy. Stunning world, but nothing ever happened. The worries should flourish because once it hits into that second act, things start moving, for better or worse.

Gone are the massive set pieces and along comes crumbled buildings and come the twists of the film. You should have no problem guessing most of them. This isn’t a science fiction film blowing you away with originality. Their selling points are the amazing visuals, which is why the second half fluctuates for me. I found some of action pieces to be pretty dull and lifeless, but when it was more calculated action involving just Cruise himself, it worked well. The twists and specific plot points may have some screaming copycat, I think it pulled from numerous films and put it together to create a pretty good film. Its ending may feel a bit generic, but I enjoyed the impact it left for me.

Tom Cruise plays Jack. After MI4 and Jack Reacher, I have come to really enjoy him again. He comes off a little dry at first; the perfect little soldier. Slowly he breaks away from that shell and before you know it, he wins you over and gives you someone to root for. It’s a performance we’ve seen from him before and have enjoyed. Why change now? The only other notable performance comes with Andrea Riseborough, playing Jack’s partner. She has the hard task of playing someone who comes off cold the entire film. Where Cruise gets to pull away from that little pawn soldier, she has to stick to it. She plays it well. I wish they could have managed more meat to her role. The rest of the cast feel like throwaways that felt so small and depleted, they could have been played by anyone. That’s a damn shame because I’d love to see Jamie Lannister in more things than Game of Thrones.

I really enjoyed what Joseph Kosinski managed here. It’s highly ambitious in terms of visuals and just blows them out of the water. Easily one of the most beautiful films I’ve watched. With technology, he’s only going to get better. The story here is far better than Tron: Legacy, but there are some sections that seem to care more about the look then the content. Once he nails them both, I can’t wait to see what he can achieve. That said, if Oblivion winds up being his best work, that’s not a totally bad thing to say. It’s pretty damn good.

Overall Score: 8/10

No...No...No... you seriously gave this movie an 8. This is easily one of the worst movies I've ever paid money to see. If I wasn't with people at the movie I would've walked out. The entire movie was terrible.

 

[Buzzman]

While I don't know about it being the worst movie you've ever seen, I understand where dislike comes into play with the film. What did you hate most about it?

 

[Buzzman]

The Hangover Part 3 (2013)

The Hangover spawned two sequels that ended up making a franchise that never should have really existed in the first place but because the first one was such a giant success, there was no way to avoid it. When the second one came along, it was met with a wave of criticism about it being a rehash of the first one, and I would agree with those complaints, but you have to be careful what you wish for because different isn’t always better. As is the case with the third and hopefully final film in the franchise, The Hangover Part 3.

This time around we don’t get a giant black out after a night of drinking, but instead have our favorite gang wide awake through it all and get to see the craziness first hand. The craziness in this film is very different than you would expect. It begins showing you a dark side of Alan and just how out there he really is. Sure we laugh at his antics, but this man is a troubled individual that in a much more serious film could be dissected and broken down. Instead all were supposed to do is laugh. And that is the films biggest obstacle. There are stretches in this film where humor is attempted and action is the driving force of the film. That would be fine with different expectations but when you make a sequel to a hilarious film; you can’t do that no matter what kind of complaints you get. To make matters worse is that it’s not even good action. It lacks risk because we all know that no real danger is at stake.

I really do expect this film to be Bradley Coopers last dip into comedy. He has worked his career into a point where he’s become a respected talent and this kind of film is just a waste of his time. It’s not like I don’t enjoy him in this role, since he’s actually my favorite character, but what with he’s done lately and his future schedule, this may have been a last whorah for him. I enjoyed Zack Galifianakis as Allen, but as the series went on, he became repetitive and misused. Hs been typecasted and hopefully will one day break free from it. Ed Helms? What can I say, not going to miss him at all. The filsm biggest misstep was with Ken Joeng. I don’t know at what point in the first movie that Todd Phillips decided he was gold, but he is the worst thing to happen to this franchise. He was awful in the second and somehow bumped into the lead for this one and while hes not as bad, brings nothing to the table. He’s not funny, brings nothing funny along, and winds up as a que to start cringing.

I am glad the series is over, but I can see a few of these guys coming back years later after their careers have floundered in a reunion of sorts. I laughed less and less, and hopefully I’m wrong about that thought because they rarely tend to work. I loved the first one but did I love it enough to warrant two bad sequels? I don’t know. Let’s just try and pretend they don’t exist. That could work better. This third one wasn’t as bad as the second, but it just felt so dull and lifeless; a pointless sleepwalk for money, so to speak. I could call it disappointing, but we all knew this really stood no chance to be good, but on the bright side, it wound up not being awful.


Overall Score: 4/10

 

[Houston]

Stoker (2013)

There are times when you sit down and watch a film and within the first few minutes of it, have already decided that it’s going to be bad. Sometimes you end up being wrong, sometimes you end up being wrong, and sometimes you let that early opinion ruin the rest of the film for yourself. I thought to myself throughout the first forty minutes to not let that happen. As much as I hated the beginning maybe this thing can turn itself around. Then a shower scene happens that blows up the film and firmly solidified my stance. I was not wrong. It is indeed as bad as I was thinking.

The film really is a giant mess from the start. The plot takes forever to get going, its twists and turns are not very surprising nor effective. The characters stare into daylight pretending to see something you cannot. Things are supposed to be emotional that come off as nasty and rotten. It’s just all over the place. I don’t know how many times the film shoved something in your face and screamed “metaphor” at you. We get it. We can figure things out ourselves. Stop shoving close ups on all this stupid crap. The director, Chan-wook Park, came off looking like crap. He overdid so many things. Characters came out of nowhere, I’m talking movie distance walking where the character somehow appears when it’s physically impossible. You tend to think maybe you’re missing something here or the ending will erase these problems, but it comes and goes without so much as a hint to how these things happened. The last five minutes are some of the worst we have seen on screen all year.

The arcs given to each character is pretty brutal. They are meaningless, humanless characters that are dead on arrival. Mia Wasikowska has seemed to work herself into this respectable young actress list, but I don’t get why. I always find her to be underwhelming in these weird quirky indie movies that seem to give her respectability. Here she is a lifeless walking zombie. Her Uncle Charlie (Mathew Goode) comes off even worse. He’s just as lifeless as her, but is supposed to be all mysterious on whom he was and what kind of past came with him, but it’s pretty obvious of his intentions from the opening shots. The two are just dreadful to watch together. Other minor characters feel lost and undirected into poorly written situations and even worse conclusions. Acting was one of the many problems.

I was never really anticipating Stoker, but there was some part of me that figured the it could be worth seeing because this was the director of Oldboy, Thirst, and Lady Vengeance. Surely it was going to be average at worst? Nope. This won’t stop me from looking at future projects from him but it adds a heavy dose of caution. The real loser here is Wentworth Miller. Never again will I watch a film written by him. As bad as the direction and acting was, it was his terrible story that brought it all together. Screw him. He can go back to acting in television shows that stay on past their welcome. Stoker is an awful film that is just another in a long line that has been released this year. May can’t come fast enough.

Overall Score: 0/10

Wentworth Miller was biting off some Hitchcock movies but forgot one important thing, those movies were entertaining before they got dark. In Shadow of a Doubt the girl was young, naive, cheerful, and a tad bit obsessed with her Uncle Charlie. So when she found out he was a serial killer, it home a lot harder than anything in Stoker. Same with Psycho and Strangers on a Train, the characters were real and relatable. Those movies had energy, Stoker was a downer from the beginning and there was nothing interesting going on.