Critique Any Movie Here

[eclipsedmoongoddess482]

This thread is for all the Robert wannabe's out there. Just saw a movie and have an unyeilding need to share your two cents to anyone who has a pulse? Right here, is your cure-all for all of your reviewing needs.

I should make this clears: This thread is for serious reviews only. I'm nto saying that you can't have fun with it or be funny in your review. In fact, I encourage all the creative energy you can muster. I just ask that you write at least a paragraph. Usually a good movie review consists of the following:

1. Intro to the movie (state the title, was it good, bad, etc.)
2. Sum up the movie in a nutshell (aka a brief summary)
3. Your opinion (self explanitory)
4. Anything that the audience should look out for (tones, symbolism, message of the plot, etc.)
5. Conclusion

So please try and include this. Feedback on each other's reviews is allowed here. In fact, this is also strongly encouraged. How else can we improve our writing skills unless there is critisism from our peers?

What are you waiting for? Review any movie you want! Have fun with this. Its all your opinion. In this thread, you are a movie God.

[unfocused]

Not many people liked Rocky V. I always have. And now that there is a sixth part, I think Rocky V makes even more sense and has provided a decent end to the legend.

None of the shows have ever been about winning a boxing match. It's always been about over-coming the underdog status, about proving everyone wrong and [i]going the distance[/i]. This is what made the series so famous and put it among the best boxing movies ever made. Rocky Balboa had a far different tone than any of the other parts of the series. They start the story off setting it well. Rocky has always been a fighter, Adrian has passed, his son doesn't like him very much. He's left with this huge void, and they make it apparent that he feels he has nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. Yet he still has all of the anger from this, and he feels he still has some of that fight in him. This is the base of the story, the engine that drives the movie and takes the legendary series to it's grand finale.

I have a hard time choosing which movie was my favorite. They each provide their own share of great battles and are each unique in its own way. Most like Rocky I the best. I think Rocky IV is a close second on fans' lists. Mine would have to be Rocky IV also. The final fight in that one surely ranks as one of the best fight scenes ever scripted, if not number one. But Rocky II competes with it strongly. The two fighters in it take each other further than in any other movie. James Brown also has a great performance in it. Rocky III is amazing because the opponent, Clubber Lang, is the most vicious fighter Rocky battles in the series. I enjoyed part V because they took the dogs out of the cage to let them fight it out. No rules, no gloves. The story changes, making Rocky the teacher, and not the fighter. Although he never steps into a ring in the movie, he gets his chance to fight [i]himself[/i]. He fights the dog he made, and he beats it.

Rocky Balboa paid homage to the story that started it all. It was never about winning a boxing match, it was about going the distance. And about winning the crowd over. And even though he won his fights in the four movies between the first and last, it was always [i]still[/i] about the underdog. I think this is why most fans choose Rocky I as the best part of the series. Such as Rocky tells his son that it's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can [i]get[/i] hit and come back for more, in each of the five remaining movies, Rocky comes back for more. And he wins.

About the only thing I found familiar in this movie were the cheers. The ending, after Rocky fights the "last round" of his life, although not his finest round but definitely one in which he beat the champion, the crowd pays no attention to the judges decisions. All you hear are the cheers. As Rocky walks his final walk away from the ring, all that is there are the screaming chantings of his name throughout the building. He turns one last time to savior the moment. This moment is what its all been about. His name, rocking the building, not letting up. He was the underdog proving everyone wrong, going the distance.

Rocky Balboa went the distance, finishing one of the greatest fighter stories ever written.
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"edit : i luv james" - Layzcarter

[fallenangel]

[b]Brothers of the Head[/b]

A random good find among the rather lackluster New Releases.

Brothers of the Head is about (surprise surprise) two brothers, Barry and Tom, in the 70s who are conjoined twins connected at the stomach. They were born in the middle of nowhere, and their mother died of complications the day after they were born.

A music promoter, looking for something different that will draw attention, seeks out the boys and basically buys them from their father and sister. He arranges for them to learn to play music and start a pop group the Bang Bang.

Due to their...issues about their situation, things take a different turn and they end up a successful punk band. The movie is a "mocumentary" (or faux documentary, since there's nothing funny about it, but mocumentary is one word and easier) about their rise and fall and the relationship between Tom and Barry.

Some stories just work best as mocumentaries, and I really liked this one. Unlike the more popular versions (Spinal Tap, Best In Show, the various others by that group), this movie plays on the "reality" aspect of "mocumentary". More than once I forgot that it wasn't real footage of conjoined twins, it really feels like an actual documentary like they show on TLC all the time ("the boy whose skin fell off" for teh win).

The best part of that is the casting. It's very hard to act like someone who isn't acting, especially when not doing comedy. The real life brothers Harry and Luke do an amazing job of becoming these twins and adopting their deep bond along with the resentment. No one in this film feels like they're playing a role. Even the show scenes are live takes instead of lip syncing.

Granted for being a music movie the tunes aren't that good, but...it is a film about 70s punk, so at least it's authentic. It's not a movie whose soundtrack will stick in your head, but it's the [i]performances[/i] of the songs that are the point. A good and smart decision on the film maker's part, given that the point of both the movie and punk in general is that they were hired to be a pop group but weren't mentally suited to the sugary easy listening garbage.

It's not a movie that will suit everyone. Those that like cheap gags or constant action (or any action at all really) will be disappointed. It's a character driven film that makes a somewhat absurd central idea so real I'd believe it was an actual documentary if not told otherwise. The bond between Barry and Tom is so subtle and perfectly portrayed through a voyeuristic camera view. Granted I probably would have also enjoyed the heavy handed, slickly produced soundtrack filled, glossy surface manner in which the idea could have also been done...think Velvet Goldmine or Hedwig and the Angry Inch... But the characters deserve better. They're basically real people in this.

If you see it, watch the interaction between the brothers closer than you normally would watch characters. Listen to the lyrics and Tom's recorded mumbling. Read the writing scrawled all over their bedroom walls. I'm sure the fact they're actually brothers helped, but these two boys deliver oscar-worthy performances.


....And because, being me, I feel I have to include this: The brothers are quite pretty to look at too.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/blackleatherart/twins.jpg[/img]
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"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall