Change Your Image
bjcole-3
Reviews
It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown! (1997)
Pretty bad
My little girl (aged 2) is mildly obsessed with Peanuts and this is one of her favourites...because Linus skates in it. That's the good news.
For anyone who enjoys Peanuts for story and characterisation, well, this special is a real low point.
I've watched it about 10 times now. IMO this special was not completed as intended. Maybe they ran out of money?
They take shortcuts everywhere to pad out the running time: There is the skating scene which is repeated twice, this takes up nearly 6 minutes of running time. So desperate where they to pad out time that they repeat scenes within the repeated scenes...or they must have a lot of banks in that area for Linus to skate past. A party Linus attends, without bringing a present for the host, looks like scenes cobbled together from Linus's birthday party later in the episode. This leads to a glaring continuity error, Charlie Brown is at the early party and dressed like he was at the latter party, but then he asks his sister what the party was like. I didn't realise he was that forgetful! A kitchen in the house Linus has his party keeps from one side of the house to another. Linus is missing his blanket when skating, then has it back again...You get the idea.
Animations in the dancing scenes are directly lifted from 'It's Spring training Charlie Brown', but done about half as well.
The plot is wafer thin. Linus falls in love with a girl who's house he breaks into. In another padded out sequence Linus creeps through the gardens of the girls home like a stalker. She welcomes Linus warmly despite his trespassing and then she starts talking, a lot. In a short time frame we find out she has he voice of an angel, likes to espouse Chinese proverbs and has an encyclopedic understanding of horticulture and it uses in modern medicine. Yes, she's a know it all.
Despite this, Linus then invites her to his birthday. She makes him wait for her arrival, then when she does arrive she doesn't come inside, she drives past and gives him a flower. Yeah, she's definitely a keeper...
Children may love it, but adults will not. There are many far superior Peanuts specials and movies, try those instead.
Focus (2015)
A confused film, avoid it.
I couldn't quite figure out what kind of caper movie Focus is trying to be.
If it was a light comedy in the vein of Oceans, The Sting, or The Italian Job then the tone of the film is completely wrong. The cast try to be light, fluffy and likable. There is a smattering of sexual tension, which seems very forced. But the characters aren't funny and you can't empathise with them. They steal from ordinary people and relish that fact, referring to victims as 'suckers'.
OK then, this must be a serious caper movie in the vein of The Grifters? The kind of caper movie where you're supposed to hate the lead characters and everyone comes to a sticky end? Well, no. The film just isn't bleak enough. Largely absent are gratuitous lashings of realistic violence; overly profane language and there are no dark overtones.
When we finally come to the consequence of the lead characters actions it's a weak conclusion. What did our character learn from his journey? Spiritual enlightenment? That crime doesn't pay? No, only that he should never lose 'focus'. Seriously, that's it!?
Don't ever get me started on the plot.
The whole movie is a gigantic mess. Avoid it at all costs.
Due Date (2010)
This movie really sucked!
I was on a flight to Singapore when I saw this film on my in-seat entertainment unit. I decided to give it a watch, even though I had heard rumblings that it was not very good.
Well, I didn't last long before i switched it off and watched something else...in this case The Social Network, which was excellent...but thats another review. If I had been in a cinema i would have surely walked out and that doesn't happen very often - even if the movie is truly dire.
The movie is essentially a big rip of of Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Except it isn't funny and the characters are horrible people. You will hate both characters, I honestly can't decide who was worse.
!!SPOILER ALERT!! After watching both characters descend into one endless reel of stupidly unfunny situations after another; like being beaten by a wheel chair bound war veteran; being shot with rubber bullets on a plane by a trigger happy Air Marshall; one character hitting a child...for me, having one character jerk off in a rental car while the other one is in the seat next to him was just enough.
I hope they take this movie and bury it in that deep pit in Las Vegas with all the crushed ET and Pacman Atari 2600 games.
Awful.
Fair Game (2010)
Middle of the pack movie
I have read some of the other reviews for this movie where Americans are arguing and abusing one another's personal political stance and then incorporating that in the review. This is wrong and you should be analysing the movie, not its politics.
So let me get this out of the way early. I am not American, nor did I know much about this story before I was invited to the premiere last night.
So what did I think of the movie? To be honest I wasn't all that impressed with it. As a political thriller about whistle blowing it is merely average in most regards. A shame given its story/perspective is set on a rather touchy subject both in the US and abroad.
When you analyse a film like this you need to ignore the politics and see it as a work of cinematic art. I will try to view it this way.
The first thing that will annoy you about the film is the 'shakey cam' camera technique. It detracts from the very serious tone of the movie and at times you simply wonder what the film maker was attempting to display to the viewer. One scene in Libbys office where the camera remains panned on a blurred image of the back of a document (a scene where no one says anything!), is a classic example. I mean seriously, WTF? To me it is lazy camera work and lazier editing.
Maybe this is being pedantic, but the constant scenes of eating are also filmed in a way that makes the actors look rather grotesque and not particularly dignified
and there are a lot of scenes in this film where people eat.
The story is mediocre at best, although it does entwine many actual news images into the story, it also seem very slanted in its viewpoint. This is understandable considering on which it is based, but some balance would have been nice. Apart from this, there is nothing to the story we haven't seen before or done better in other films from the genre. It doesn't make you think about things any differently things as you may remember them. Nor is it strong enough to sway the opinions of others of a differing viewpoint. It doesn't penetrate deep into your psyche and give you pangs of guilt, nor are the way its key characters written or portrayed sufficient enough for you to feel their suffering. It is formulaic at best.
This isn't helped by the two leads who give the weakest performances of the movie.
Sean Penn must have mailed this one in, what a snooze of a performance. His portrayal of Joe Wilson makes the man come across as being nothing more than a self serving, pretentious, ego maniac who recklessly destroyed the lives of those he supposedly loves. Surely, this is NOT what you are supposed to be thinking of him? Aren't you supposed to be thinking about him in a good light, a man who stood up to people? Aren't you supposed to feel empathy for him as a character?? Well, you probably won't after seeing the film.
Naomi on the other hand is not convincing as the CIA agent. One line she utters in the movie 'I don't have a breaking point' genuinely highlighted her inability as an actress to convince me, the viewer, that she was as hard, smart or charming as the real woman she was portraying. This opinion was only strengthened when the real Valerie Plame speaks. Not only is the real Valerie far better looking, but there is real conviction in her personality. I realise it is supposed to add realism, but it was a big mistake to include real footage of Valerie in the film, it puts Naomis performance in a very bad perspective.
The best performance in the film is by David Andrews, the man portraying Scooter Libby, he is really quite the menacing bureaucratic bully. Lariz Chari is also excellent; you will feel for her as a character. All the other supporting actors do a fine job. Without them the film would have sunk without a trace acting wise.
Did this movie entertain me? No, not really.
Would I recommend this movie to you the cinema goer? No.
If you wish to see a quality film about whistle blowing or politics I would recommend to you the DVD / Bluray of 'The Insider' or 'All the Presidents Men' both are far better than this.
Please don't waste your 17 bucks on this one, if you must see it wait for the DVD.