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Out of the Furnace (2013)
Out of the Furnace a Solid, But Conventional Crime Drama
Out of the Furnace, directed by Scott Cooper is a story of two brothers, Russell and Rodney Baze, played by Christian Bale and Casey Affleck respectively. Russell is a steel mill worker in a Northeast town, while his brother Rodney is an ex-Iraqi war veteran who has gone into a fighting club type crime ring in order to make money for himself. Russel (Bale) who loves his brother, Rodney (Affleck) wants to know what he does and why he does not work like himself. The story soon becomes a story of family, and what one brother is willing to do for the other.
Scott Cooper, who first directed the movie Crazy Heart, which gave Jeff Bridges a Best Actor Award, really does do a good job of showing what the mill life is like, giving great setting shots of the mill and good cinematography of the land as well.
What really enhances this movie just past average though is the acting. It was expected that with an all star cast such as Bale, Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Willem Dafoe, and Forest Whitaker that it was going to be well acted. The cast did not all have a huge impact, but there were a few performances noteworthy. For one, Christian Bale is solid here and continues to pad an impressive resume with films such as The Fighter and the Dark Knight trilogy. Casey Affleck, who was good in Ben Affleck's film Gone Baby Gone is also great and you feel for his character throughout the film. But the one who really shines in this is Harrelson, who plays a stone-cold bad guy who is the head of one of the crime rings. Harrelson, coming off the role of Haymitch in the Hunger Games franchise is so different here in this role that it's shocking and proves that he is indeed an incredible actor.
Even with its great cast though, the film sometimes seemed a little bit too over dramatic, but most of all felt a little conventional to other movies. One that came to mind for myself was Viggo Mortensen's movie A History of Violence. The ending also felt a bit abrupt, but it was not bad enough to hurt the film too much. It is a grim film, but the mill and its workers set a nice tone for this type of film.
Even with that said, Out of the Furnace is still an intense film and at times is a powerful story. The actors performances is what propels this film to commendable instead of what could have been just average.
Rating: 7.5/10
Frozen (2013)
Frozen Adds A New Classic in Disney History
Frozen is yet another Disney animated movie, but unlike many in the past few years, this one really works! To start off, it's a strong story, one that is based on the fairy tale "The Snow Queen," by Hans Christian Andersen. It tells the tale of two sisters of royalty in what is a kingdom of a fantasy world, but very much feels like Scandinavia. The older sister, Elsa has a magic power that everything she touches turns to ice. This is both a power and a curse as she finds out with her family. Her younger sister, Anna does not know about this power of her sister's but eventually comes to learn about it. From there, the story takes us on an adventure of Anna looking to find Elsa who leaves the kingdom unexpectedly.
It is an exciting story and is filled with other tremendous characters that add great life to the film including Kristoff, who is a Viking-type that loves the cold and has a reindeer named Sven. There is also a snowman named Olaf who wants nothing other than to know what the summer is like. Their personalities not only add much humor, but also a lot of heart to the plot.
Another great quality of the film is the animation. And I will say it is great! It may be some of the best I have ever seen, beautifully showing the winter and the settings around the kingdom. It was a joy just watching the landscape shots unfold here.
The other surprising aspect to it was the songs. Yes, it's a musical, so anyone who doesn't like them, it may not be their cup of tea. The songs though are very strong, giving not only some great messages in them, but also some beats that will keep sticking in your head after it's over.
With all these aspects, the film pans out to a fun, adventurous and sweet tale that people of all ages will love. It's one of the best Disney films that I can remember in quite some time! Rating: 8/10
The Sound of Music Live! (2013)
NBC's The Sound of Music a Solid Adaptation
On Thursday night, NBC attempted to do a challenging task by putting one of the most beloved musicals of all time and adapting it into a stage production. For the most part, NBC did it well and it turned into a very entertaining adaptation of the classic Rodger's and Hammerstein's musical, The Sound of Music.
The production, done completely like a Broadway play with stage sets, worked well, keeping the mood of the scenes just good enough and displaying the settings nicely. The songs: Yeah, they were all there, and a few others that were not in the classic Julie Andrews movie, but rather are in the original Broadway production. Those songs would be "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way To Stop It", and they were a welcome addition indeed.
Besides putting on a Broadway television type show, NBC also decided to take another chance by giving the lead role of the musical of Maria to none other than country superstar Carrie Underwood. Underwood, who won American Idol many years ago has made herself into a big name and had a chance to do something that she rarely has ever done, and that's act. Did it work? Well... a little bit. Her singing was solid. I was wondering if her country sound might come into her voice, and it didn't. Her acting though, was just average. Now, we knew coming into watching this that she would not be a great actress. After all, as I said, she did not have much experience, but for that I do appreciate her stepping into a different medium. As a singer though, she did a good enough job, and for a musical, what else do you really want?
The other lead of the movie, Captain Von Trapp, was played by Stephen Moyer. Moyer, like Underwood was solid in the role, but did not impress me the way I had hoped with his singing. What did impress me however was the supporting cast of this adaptation. The Von Trapp children all were good and as sweet as ever. The Baroness, played by Laura Benanti and Max Detweiler, played by Christian Borle were both excellent and had wonderful chemistry together whenever they were put on stage at the same time. And the Mother Abbess, played by Audra McDonald was tremendous, nailing her big song, Climb Every Mountain with every note and was a performance that would have brought a house to his feet.
Now, was it as good as the original movie? No. But, all in all, despite its flaws and perhaps somewhat poor casting choices, this NBC adaptation was a good watch, and I applaud NBC for putting it on for all of us to see for an evening. It was interesting to not only see some of the differences from the movie that I had grown up watching, but to also see a Broadway stage production of a musical that I rarely see period.
Rating: 7/10
Game of Thrones (2011)
A Special Show!!!
I have not read the books, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, nor have I watched the show live from the beginning years, but I had heard good things and a lot of hype about Game of Thrones, so I thought, as a fantasy and medieval type fan, I would check it out. And boy, am I happy I did!! From the very first episode and particularly about midway through the first season, I was totally hooked onto this show.
Now, you learn pretty quick the mood and tone set by this show. I am a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings and to a lesser extent the Chronicles of Narnia, but this show, even though at times feels like those, is really anything but. It has a much darker, meatier edge to it, sometimes almost feeling too intense for some people. Due to this, it will certainly not be a show that will please all audiences, but for others, it will make what is great about this show, the unpredictability.
What makes this show so special though is the story of all the characters, the sets, and the writing. Also, when I say all the characters, I mean ALL the characters as there are at least 20 characters that you will know by the time you have caught up watching the show thus far. Though its very complex and sometimes can feel hard to keep up with every character's story, the show does a brilliant job at balancing all the character's off that you feel like you know each and every one individually. The dialogue between the characters feels fresh, intense, and just down right gritty. But its this dialogue that keeps you focused throughout every scene. The cast also is simply incredible led by Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Emilia Clarke as Daenarys Targaryen, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister and Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. Again, with all the characters, that is only a select few, but others are just as deserving of these accolades.
I personally caught up with the show in just under one week watching, as I absolutely did not want to stop watching, wondering what would happen next in the revolving story as your feelings towards characters change, and characters you grow to love suddenly have things, let's just say, don't go quite the right way for them.
I am not going to compare it to other classic shows of the past, as I have never been the biggest television watcher. But all I can say is that even though this show has a lot of things that are quite intense in the form of violence, language or nudity, it doesn't ever feel like its the focus as the real themes here are family, politics, and loyalty. It's an experience to watch each and every episode, and I can't wait to continue on the journey with all these characters. As Daenarys says most notably in one scene: DRACARYS!!!
Les Misérables (2012)
A Musical Triumph!!
There are many musicals that have come out over the time in film history, dating back to the 1930's with the phenomenon of The Wizard of Oz to the most recent of ones like Pitch Perfect. The musical movie has really changed over the years, with musicals having overall gone from a theatrical type of feel and vast scenery to now more of an American Idol or Glee feel of a competition of singing. I think about the opening sequence of A Sound of Music compared to something like Pitch Perfect, as I already noted.
Also, musicals have always been a genre of movie that you either really enjoy or don't like much of at all. There really is no in between. The idea of singing as speaking to one another either goes too over the top for people due to the non-realism of it, or you grow to love the songs, and thus, love the characters due to the feelings they are expressing through song.
However, recently though, it seems like the musical movie has started to lose its luster like movies such as Rent or Phantom of the Opera. The musical if you think about it, was one of the major movie genre's going back to the 1960's with movies like The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story. Well, I have to say that with Les Miserables, the movie musical is back for now, and then some!!
For me, the reason that I love musicals, besides that I love music obviously, is that music has an emotion that words can never express. In Tom Hooper's Broadway adaptation of Les Miserables, he nails that emotion immensely!! The characters and cast in this movie are all just beautiful and have so much passion about what they are doing. Hugh Jackman as the lead character Jean Valjean is exceptional! In fact, so much that as much as I love Daniel Day Lewis as an actor, I personally would have given Jackman the Oscar this year for Best Actor. The way that he shows so many different kinds of emotion while singing and carries the the film is just spectacular! Samantha Barks as Eponine also is terrific! She sings with such beauty, and is someone that you can do nothing except root for in the film. Her performance of On My Own alone is sure to send her into more roles in the future. It was Barks who played Eponine in the 25th Anniversary Broadway version, and with the performance, you can understand why. Eddie Redymayne as Marius is also particularly good and Aaron Tveit, like Barks, who is also from the 25th Anniversary cast as Enjolras is great. Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried, though the two weakest links for me in the movie, still are enjoyable to watch. And Sacha Baren Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as the Thernadier's are also great and provide a comic relief to the audience.
But the performance that stands out for me is Anne Hathaway as Fantine. Her Best Supporting Actress Oscar is so well deserved and is one of the more memorable roles I have seen in quite a while. Every scene that she is in is tear-jerking and her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream is just incredible! In fact, for me, when I first watched it, I said, Wow! This may be the greatest song in musical history! But the music like that song is also what makes Les Miserables so strong. From songs as beautiful as I Dreamed A Dream and On My Own to songs as epic as Look Down, Do You Hear The People Sing, and One Day More, the music propels the movie to make it feel like you are in the character's world and also makes it feel like you just started watching.
Now, this is not a movie for everyone. What makes this film different is the fact that the singing is consistent like an opera, even with lots of regular talking into song. Most musicals have spoken dialogue and then songs every few minutes or so. This nearly never lets up with song and due to that, can be exhausting and unrealistic for some, but for others like myself, just powerful and emotional.
Les Miserables is a film that will make you not only cry your eyes out, but also want to stand up and cheer as well. Not only can I not remember that for any musical I have seen, but there are few films that I remember feeling both of those ways, period!! It is a film with so much heart, and just due to that, you appreciate what you are witnessing while viewing it!