The Help is reminiscent of The Blind Side and The King’s Speech as a thought-provoking film that seemed to come out of nowhere and spoke volumes about the world in which we live. The performances are pitch-perfect.
I like period films like this, with its luscious cinematography telling a compelling and entertaining story about a time long ago. I was completely caught up in the story. This was, for me, a vibrant, nostalgic, and engaging cinematic treat.
There was a lot here that impressed me. Some of the special effects were great, such as those unique terminator-motorcycles or those creepy, snake-like terminator machines called hydrobots. I also really liked the addition of the character Marcus Wright played by Sam Worthington as a convict given a new lease on life when he finds himself resurrected in this future world, only to later discover he is one of the machines.
Despite the cast mostly being better in the first film from 1985, this new film boasts a more realistic story, a darker atmosphere, and a scarier vampire. Colin Farrell oozes a cool menace here.
I loved everything about this film: The music, the writing, the performances, the cinematography, the sweet nostalgic quality, the magical time travel angle, the characterizations of famous artists and writers of the past, their dialogue and pontificating, and the way the past mixed with the future to change his character in the end. In a word: Brilliant!
What I really like here, other than the two centering performances of Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, was how director Clint Eastwood managed to make a political movie so invigorating by telling the simpler story of this particular leader’s attempt to use sports as a unifying factor in bringing his country back together. Director Clint Eastwood is quite a skilled and nuanced director, building a catalogue of movies in his later years that not only rivals his work in front of the camera from years ago, but triumphantly surpasses it!
I wasn’t expecting much from this movie at all, and was wholly surprised when I found myself really liking it before the end. It really delivers in the action sequences, as one would hope, but beyond that, it also has a satisfying story and interesting characters, even if we’ve seen this kind of thing many times before.
“I’ll make ya famous.” This is the catchphrase Billy the Kid tells people right before he puts a bullet between their eyes, and I’ll have to admit Emilio Estevez is pretty darned good in this role. Historical accuracy? I guess there’s some, but who really needs taut historical accuracy when you’ve got a cast of such photogenic brat packers in a modern day western?
The Avengers really IS the best superhero movie they’ve ever made, and they managed to take the characters of Ironman, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America, combine them into one movie, and make their characters more likeable and entertaining than they were in their individual movies!
This is just about as perfect a Star Trek movie as they can make! Not only is there a lot of action and great character moments, but the writing shines with a myriad of themes
This film has all the elements it needs to be one of the classic sci fi pics of all time, and I’m not just talking about the effects, but the characters and the story, as liberal and tree-hugging as it may be!
It’s basically a film not about surviving, but facing death when survival is no longer a possibility.
Khaaaan! It's funny that you mention Avatar, because I think I'm the only human left who hasn't seen it. I wondered if it was truly good, or whether people just liked 3D glasses.
ReplyDeleteSome people, in my own family even, don't like 3D - it makes them nauseous or suffer severe vertigo - and yes, even without the glasses, Avatar is pretty amazing (despite those liberal messages I didn't care for)
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