I had this great idea to halfheartedly chase my non-concrete dreams of becoming a film critic.
Don't get me wrong, I love judging things. Judging is my favorite, especially film because I have experience ripping that apart.
And 'The Movie Olympics' were born. I would watch three movies and then rank them in order from best to meh. It was going well, and I was featured on a very unpopular news digest! Well, that site died... and I guess I could have continued with my own site,
However, I am not much of a writer...so things fizzled fast.
Plus, I felt a lot of pressure to watch so many movies and at the time I was in grad school where I was already watching several films a day. I needed a break in my free time. Well, now that I am done with school.. why not give this a try again.
The last three movies I see...face off!
Sometimes we just want to know how the latest action-superhero-romcom compares to Dirty Dancing!
Just for fun and for the concept, I leave you with the last entry I wrote back in 2011:
Movie Olympics: Crazy
Stupid Love, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Harold and Maude.
It was a close battle between these three films, as they all
had unique strong points, but also strong weaknesses. Will the dynamic chimps save the lackluster performance of
James Franco? Is Emma stone way to young for Ryan Gosling? Or will the ultimate
May-December relationship prevail?
In the order viewed:
Crazy Stupid Love
(2011) Dir. Glenn Ficarra
Viewed: Mainstream Movie theater
This was by far
one of the most engaging films I have seen in a while, as all of the characters
demanded attention on screen. It was nice to see Steve Carell play a serious
character, and likewise Ryan Gosling a bad boy. The two men had a very dynamic
chemistry on screen. Julianne Moore
was okay, and the chick that played the babysitter was a little annoying. Emma Stone was hilarious, and I was a
little disappointed her character was not developed more. It seemed like she
was dropped mid-film, then latched back on at the end, if there was some
connection back to her in the middle, the big shocker at the end might have
been more climactic. Overall, for a summer romantic comedy I was fairly
satisfied. The only thing that
stuck out as truly bothersome was faith in soulmates that played a big role in
the plot, I wish they would have explored that deeper.
The Rise of the
Planet of the Apes (2011) Dir. Rupert Wyatt
Viewed: Mainstream
Movie theater.
I have not seen
this many monkeys flying around since The
Wizard of Oz. I will admit, I
have not seen any of the other Planet of
the Apes movies, but given that this is a prequel, it was fairly easy to
grasp. I have to say that the monkeys really outshined the people in this film,
as James Franco was kind of boring, and Frieda Pinto was a waste of space. As
my friend Sapora put it, 5 years as a girlfriend and no ring? He is obviously
not in love with you, awkward. I
think the only human character somewhat compelling was Draco Malfoy. Though I don’t remember the name of his
character in this film, it was pretty much Draco reimagined. When he called Cesar a “Dirty
Ape,” I couldn’t help but think “Mudblood.” My favorite primate character was Maurice the orangutan,
though Buck the gorilla was pretty intense. Overall, I liked how this film touched on the human
condition, and questioned whether or not being at the top of the animal kingdom
was something in our heads. I do
wish that all the people didn’t suck in the movie, heck; I am more interesting
than that, come on make us look good!
Harold and Maude
(1971) dir. Hal Ashby
Viewed: Netflix
Instant Play
I am kind of
ashamed to admit this was my first time viewing this film, but I am glad I got
around to it. Harold is absolutely hilarious, and got me chuckling at his
attempt to hang himself with in the first few minutes. This film really struck a sweet spot
with me, as I find cinematic death delightfully amusing. Maude was a fairly relatable character,
and gives hope for us crazy women, that when we are crazy old ladies we can
capture the hearts of hot young boys.
One of my favorite parts was the presentation of online dating, and the
horrors that go along with it, pretty interesting for 1971. I did feel the music was a bit too much
at times, very loud and oddly placed, and I wasn’t so sure about the ending.
Although, I guess it speaks to love, and perhaps how short-lived it may be.
Head-to-Head
Since two of these films are romantic comedies, lets start
by a comparison of relationships.
As far as parental relationships go, I felt the one between Harold and
his mother was the most realistic, as she just brushed ff his need for
attention. In Rise the father-son relationship was a little bland, despite being
the reasoning behind Franco’s character in developing genetic change and
testing it on apes. In Crazy, the relationship between Carell’s
character and his son was rather vapid at times, and unrealistic.
Romantically Apes was
the weakest, and I really wanted Cesar to have a girlfriend, in fact the entire
first half of the movie I was waiting for him to mate. In Crazy
the only relationship that was seen developing was that between Gosling and
Stone, and the rest seemed kind of fast. However, we had a chance to see the
relationship develop between Harold and Maude from beginning to end.
As far as overall plot, I felt that the slowest of the three
was Harold and Maude, and I felt
myself pausing the film several times to go get a snack or pee. The other two were much more engaging,
and speaking on pee, I did relieve myself once during Crazy, but held it throughout Rise.
Knowing my pea-sized bladder, this says a lot.
Medal Ceremony
Bronze- Crazy Stupid
Love
Silver- Harold and
Maude
Gold- Rise of the
Planet of the Apes
Apes not monkeys! :P
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed that one though.