June 2012
May 2012
LeBrainBoy's 420-Character Film Review: Bernie →
imdb.com
A disarmingly funny black comedy nestled somewhere between mockumentary & docudrama; sweet enough to draw forth easily belly laughs aplenty, inspired by the characters & situations, but tinged w/enough acid to give the proceedings an appealing tartness. Director Linklater manages to both extract an actual performance from McConaughey & suppress successfully Black’s habitual mugging. A career high-water mark for Black.
A disarmingly funny black comedy nestled somewhere between mockumentary & docudrama; sweet enough to draw forth easily belly laughs aplenty, inspired by the characters & situations, but tinged w/enough acid to give the proceedings an appealing tartness. Director Linklater manages to both extract an actual performance from McConaughey & suppress successfully Black’s habitual mugging. A career high-water mark for Black.
LeBrainBoy's 420-Character Film Review: Daikaijû Gamera (Giant Monster Gamera) →
imdb.com
Daiei’s answer to Toho’s Gojira, this 1965 daikaiju eiga doesn’t feature Sandy Frank’s hilariously tragic dubbing nor scenes shot post-release w/actors Dekker & Donlevy & doesn’t come close to it’s 1954 inspiration for quality. Still, this uncut original Japanese version does showcase a heapin’ helpin’ of Tokyo stompin’ & unintentional fun thanks largely to the original American actors’ side-splittingly poor diction.
Daiei’s answer to Toho’s Gojira, this 1965 daikaiju eiga doesn’t feature Sandy Frank’s hilariously tragic dubbing nor scenes shot post-release w/actors Dekker & Donlevy & doesn’t come close to it’s 1954 inspiration for quality. Still, this uncut original Japanese version does showcase a heapin’ helpin’ of Tokyo stompin’ & unintentional fun thanks largely to the original American actors’ side-splittingly poor diction.
Presented by Movies on a Big Screen at the Guild Theater.
LeBrainBoy's 420-Character Film Review: The Brain That Wouldn't Die →
imdb.com
A mad scientist keeps alive in a pan his fiancée’s disembodied head while he searches for a girl from whom he can snatch a suitable (i.e., stacked) replacement body. Simply casting aside any aspect of cinema craft that produces a great movie & allowing the bizarre & the outlandish to flow forth freely yields a Z-film that achieves the sort of hyper-irrational weirdness from which it’s nearly impossible to look away.
A mad scientist keeps alive in a pan his fiancée’s disembodied head while he searches for a girl from whom he can snatch a suitable (i.e., stacked) replacement body. Simply casting aside any aspect of cinema craft that produces a great movie & allowing the bizarre & the outlandish to flow forth freely yields a Z-film that achieves the sort of hyper-irrational weirdness from which it’s nearly impossible to look away.
Presented by Movies on a Big Screen at the Guild Theater.
LeBrainBoy's 420-Character Film Review: Men in Black III →
imdb.com
Funnier & more heartfelt than the original, the MIB series rockets to a new zenith fueled by an ingenious script w/humor that’s never forced & Smith at his audience-pleasing best. Brolin’s meticulous mimicry of Jones’s Texas twang, so good it’s easy to forget that he’s not Jones & he’s not a CGI special effect, supports a full-blown, lived-in performance. Brings the MIB saga full circle to a seamless, perfect conclusion.
Funnier & more heartfelt than the original, the MIB series rockets to a new zenith fueled by an ingenious script w/humor that’s never forced & Smith at his audience-pleasing best. Brolin’s meticulous mimicry of Jones’s Texas twang, so good it’s easy to forget that he’s not Jones & he’s not a CGI special effect, supports a full-blown, lived-in performance. Brings the MIB saga full circle to a seamless, perfect conclusion.
UPDATE: In the interests of full disclosure, I do feel obligated to point out that “tremendously entertaining” does not equate to “flawless.” As this is a comedy first, and science-fiction second, there are at least two major plot holes so huge, so gaping, you’d need Evel Knievel’s rocket cycle to jump ‘em. However, I don’t believe that knowing they exist takes anything away from MIB3’s enjoyability. This film is a good time at the movies.
Updated Monday, July 2, 2012
“It’s not the business of government to keep you from having your feelings hurt. Abusive language…is not a crime.”
—Kurt Vonnegut, delivering a message from 1997 to Tumblr’s social justice slacktivists.
“The old man said, ‘You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation: this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.’”
—Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (via brightlightsinsorrow)
LeBrainBoy's 420-Character Film Review: Melancholia →
imdb.com
One imagines that watching von Trier actually disappear up his own ass is not only akin to, but preferable to squandering two hours viewing a von Trier film; at first, fascinating in a repugnant sort of fashion then, in the end, simply grating & galling. von Trier struggles to achieve Malick’s grandeur, but attains mere pomposity. Stunning cinematography, marvelous acting & a remarkable score can’t save this disaster.
One imagines that watching von Trier actually disappear up his own ass is not only akin to, but preferable to squandering two hours viewing a von Trier film; at first, fascinating in a repugnant sort of fashion then, in the end, simply grating & galling. von Trier struggles to achieve Malick’s grandeur, but attains mere pomposity. Stunning cinematography, marvelous acting & a remarkable score can’t save this disaster.
