Posts Tagged ‘Film’
27
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2014, Lists, Movies. Tagged: 10, 2014, Best, Characters, Film, Movie, parts, roles, top, Year. Leave a comment
Let’s get stuck into talking about some movies, then.
2014 was an unbelievably good year for movies, particularly blockbusters, and the characters they brought along with them to the big screens of the world were pretty universally fun to watch. Whether they were adapted from source material in another medium, based on real life people or entirely new creations, there were plenty to celebrate in 2014. There are some films that even made it really difficult for me to pick just one character for this list (and one instance where I just had to pick two). Without further ado, here is my 2014 list of my personal favourite movie characters.
Some mild plot spoilers will follow.
.
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
VR BEST OF 2014 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s spooky. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
.
10. TARS – Interstellar
There was a lot about Interstellar that surprised unsuspecting viewers, from its mind-screw of a plotline to its odd twisting tone to its completely un-telegraphed big name acting cameos. And yet perhaps its biggest sucker punch was the appearance and popularity of the ensemble dark horse TARS, a space-faring robot companion with a literal “humour setting”, which allows for a rare and refreshing source of comic relief throughout an otherwise very sombre film. It isn’t just the sarcastic zingers that make him so memorable, though. His visual design is unusually far from the standard Hollywood robot archetype, consisting of four magnetic rectangular prisms that work together to grant the bot a deceptive range of mobility and functionality. Very cool.
.
Continue reading →
24
Nov
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 1, Film, francis, Games, hunger, jennifer, lawrence, mockingjay, Movie, one, part, Review. Leave a comment
Have I missed my window to see Interstellar? No, surely not. I will make time. Meanwhile, check out yet another 2014 blockbuster in pretty damn good form:
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Julianne Moore
Director: Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I am Legend)
Rating: M
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
So here we are, dear friends, embroiled in the hype of yet another young adult novel film adaptation that has been arbitrarily split into more movies than there were books, all in the name of making more money from fans. Like Harry Potter and Twilight in days gone past, as well as the Divergent series in the near future, Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games novel trilogy is now a quadrilogy because of reasons, and as usual, it’s the final book that has copped the razor. Given this phenomenon, it will surprise absolutely no-one that the inherently incomplete Mockingjay Part 1 is the weakest film in the series thus far. Yet the things it accomplishes are so impressive and so on-point with Collins‘ original narrative vision that I have to recommend it to pretty much all fans of the series anyway.
Continue reading →
14
Nov
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: dog, Film, hitman, john, keanu, Man, Movie, reeves, Review, wick. Leave a comment
Any Keanu fans in the house?
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Willem Defoe
Director: Chad Stahelski (New)
Rating: MA15+
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
.
Say what you will about Keanu Reeves, but there is one kind of role he does really, even spectacularly, well. When he’s on a screen, not saying anything, dropping villains and acting like a general badass, there are few who can match his magnetism. That’s what helps make his latest film, John Wick, one of the most surprising movie outings of the year, but it isn’t what makes it an instant recommendation from yours truly if you enjoy action. No, what makes it so good is its astonishingly effective commitment to world building within a short time frame. If you enjoyed Liam Neeson‘s Taken but wished every one-man-army action movie since its release hadn’t felt exactly the same, you need to go see John Wick.
Continue reading →
6
Sep
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: boy, clement, comedy, conchords, eagle, Film, flight, jemaine, kiwi, Movie, new zealand, Review, shadows, shark, swearwolves, taika, vampire, vs, waititi, war, werewolf, what. Leave a comment
Well this one snuck up on me.
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Jonathan Brugh
Director: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi (Boy, Eagle vs Shark)
Rating: M
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
If you enjoyed the two seasons of TV show Flight of the Conchords for more than just its songs, then you’re well on your way to enjoying new vampire mockumentary comedy What We Do in the Shadows. If you enjoyed the awkward, slightly sad humour of Eagle vs Shark, you owe it to yourself to drop what you’re doing and go see this new film, as it features much of the same talent and a similar spirit. However, What We Do in the Shadows goes further than appeal to regular fans of New Zealand-made comedies, as its supernatural subject matter and unrelenting approach to throwing out punchlines makes it worthy of a much wider recommendation. It may be based on a well-worn theme, but the latest from gifted director Taiki Waititi is fresh and funny.
Continue reading →
19
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2pm, action, cold, crime, eye, eyes, festival, Film, junho, Korean, Review, sky, spy, thriller, track. Leave a comment
Some friends and I checked out the Korean Film Festival in Sydney on the weekend and saw this. I have no idea how or when it will resurface for viewing here, but keep an eye out for it.
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Han Hyo-Ju, Jung Woo-San, Seol Kyung-Gu
Directors: Kim Byung-Seo, Jo Ui-Seok (The World of Silence, Make it Big)
Rating: MA15+
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
My experience with South Korean cinema is extremely limited – In fact before this film I had only seen the original Oldboy and managed to get through only one K-Drama (2009’s Iris) – but I’ve been told multiple times that a lot of cool things are happening nowadays in the world of celluloid south of the DMZ and I should supposedly be paying more attention to what comes out of it. Indeed I eagerly await news of a blu-ray release of the Chris Evans-led sci-fi hit Snowpiercer, which has been causing quite a stir overseas, and after my curiosity led me to check out Cold Eyes at this year’s Korean Film Festival in Sydney, best believe I’m going to track down a fair few more. Cold Eyes is a slick. intense and very entertaining crime thriller that I wish was easier to access.
Continue reading →
11
Aug
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: accuser, bautista, chris, dave, Film, galaxy, groot, guardians, marvel, of, pratt, raccoon, Review, rocket, ronan, saldana, the, wrestler, zoe. Leave a comment
Even though this movie just came out in Australian cinemas officially, I feel so behind the times right now. So many of my friends got advanced screening tickets…
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista
Director: James Gunn (Slither, Super)
Rating: M
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
I often talk about how important expectation is to how you perceive a movie (or anything, really), but I didn’t really know what to expect quality-wise from Guardians of the Galaxy. I mean sure, the trailers and interviews sold it as a wild west-style sci-fi action comedy, and that is thus far a different and exciting direction for Marvel Studios, but it was also billed as another team-up movie “from the studio that brought you The Avengers“, which arguably made it a more ambitious project because none of the five members of the titular Guardians had enjoyed any prior screen time, while each of the four main Avengers got his own movie. And yet the Hollywood studio with the longest hot streak at the moment has once again married a promising small-time director (Super‘s James Gunn this time) with a big budget and a clear sense of fun to create a real winner. Obscure subject matter it may be, but Guardians of the Galaxy is great.
Continue reading →
27
Jul
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2014, brett, dwayne, Film, heracles, hercules, johnson, Movie, mythical, ratner, Review, rock. Leave a comment
Here’s something I certainly didn’t think I’d be watching in cinemas this year.
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, John Hurt
Director: Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand, Tower Heist)
Rating: M
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
.
Brett Ratner. The name just fills me with such icky feelings. The man who dragged the X-Men movie franchise down in my adolescence hasn’t made very many good films since Rush Hour 2 some 13 years ago, so I wasn’t exactly brimming with confidence going to see his latest film, Hercules. Yet a very cleverly cut second trailer (the first one was awful), which revealed the importance of the film’s quite impressive supporting cast and the lighthearted tone of their involvement without spoiling the actual movie, turned me around. Hercules is actually a decent slice of dumb fun, despite its narrative unevenness.
Continue reading →
24
Jul
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2014, andy, apes, caesar, dawn, Film, gary, koba, of, oldman, planet, Review, rise, serkis, the. Leave a comment
Saw this one the other night. This really is a top-notch year for big budget movies.
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell
Director: Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In)
Rating: M
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has a rather stupid title. Yes, I understand this. So did its predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, three years ago. The naming scheme hasn’t gotten any better and it looks like we’re stuck with it as we move on to the next installment in another couple of years. So let’s get over it, because Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is yet another really good 2014 blockbuster. It improves on the already awesome Rise in a number of ways and makes me really keen to see where the ambitious Planet of the Apes prequel franchise goes next.
Continue reading →
10
Jun
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: blunt, cruise, day, edge, emily, Film, groundhog, of, Review, time, tom, tomorrow, travel. Leave a comment
This one snuck up on me with next to no hype and that is so, so refreshing to me right now.
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr & Mrs Smith)
Rating: M
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
I’m a big fan of the “time travel” sub-genre of science fiction, particularly lately. In the last half decade or so moviegoers have been treated to such quirky time travel tales as Source Code and Looper, each of which presented a cool twist on standard time travel tropes and benefitted immensely from the breathing room that comes with such an uncommonly used plot mechanic. The latest movie to join in the mind-snapping fun, Edge of Tomorrow, is better than either of them.
Continue reading →
26
May
Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: 2014, blink, days, dinklage, Film, fox, future, magneto, marvel, Movie, mystique, of, past, Review, superhero, trask, wolverine, x, xavier, xmen. Leave a comment
Ooh boy, been waiting for this one for a while…
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender
Director: Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men)
Rating: M
-◊-◊-◊-◊-
.
What’s this? A good multi-superhero movie that isn’t made by Marvel Studios?
As movie franchises go, the X-Men movies mean a lot to me. Not only do I remember where I was when I first saw X-Men III: The Last Stand in cinemas back in 2006, I also remember what I was wearing and who I was with. I was so damn excited for that movie and to see it play out as such a mess after the first two X-Men films had literally made me interested in comic book mythology was not the greatest feeling. Three years later the release of the underdone and just generally awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine meant the franchise was suddenly “only 50% good”, and while 2011’s X-Men First Class was a triumphant return to form with a fun political twist and last year’s The Wolverine didn’t suck, the franchise was still lagging far behind the efforts of Disney’s Marvel cinematic universe. And there was still that lingering bad taste in my mouth from 2006. Well, not anymore.
Continue reading →
Vagrant Rant 