FilmFan10021 Reviews

Into the Woods (2014)

Not very good...

[4/10 · 31 December 2014]

I went to see this movie with pretty high hopes, given the strong reviews I had read, and was sorely disappointed.

Overall, everyone in the movie acted very well, the scenery was well done, etc., but it just did not work. The only exception was Johnny Depp's costume. He plays the Big Bad Wolf, but his costume was something from a Broadway production, basically a hat with wolf ears and a fake mustache that was supposed to be whiskers.

The movie was very disjointed. Things happened that made no sense. Major characters just fell out of the story without any information as to what happened to them at the end, etc.

If you are a fan of the play, maybe wait until this is on Netflix, but other than that, I would pass. The last 20 minutes are wholly unnecessary, and filled with song after song that make no sense. I was there with three other people and we kept looking at one another and asking, "is this almost over?"

It wasn't terrible, but it was definitely NOT good either. If I could give it 4.5 stars I would, but 5 is too many.

Nightcrawler (2014)

Solid performances, very little story

[6/10 · 31 December 2014]

I will keep it short, because the movie's plot is so "concise" that you cannot discuss it without giving it away.

Basically, it's 90% Jake Gyllenhaal playing a tightly wound weirdo, who clearly seethes with rage just below the surface. He is excellent at this, but that is really the whole movie. Renee Russo is also good, but her role is very secondary.

As the info sheet on the movie says, he becomes a roving cameraman, shooting crime scenes, and that's about all that happens. There are some scenes that show the lengths he will go to to make it, but that is about it. There is a purported moral lesson in the movie, which boils down to all the American viewer wants is blood and guts, not news. Not exactly the biggest revelation.

So Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent, Renee Russo is good too, but barely in it. So if a full movie of Jake Gyllenhaal doing a wound too tightly psycho, a la Anthony Perkins, is your idea of a good movie, this is for you.

Wassup Rockers (2005)

Boring

[5/10 · 30 December 2012]

I have been a fan of Larry Clark's for many years. Unfortunately the quality of his work is inconsistent.

"Kids" was an amazing movie. "Bully" was (in my opinion), terrible. "Wassup Rockers" falls somewhere in between the two, but closer to "Bully."

All other criticisms aside, this movie was a snoozer. A bunch of kids trying to make it home through hostile territory, dodging police, encountering odd-balls, etc., losing a few of their group en route. It was already done in "Warriors" which was a much better movie.

None of the main characters stood out, and all of the people were portrayed as very two-dimensional. The rich people were racists, except for the girls who secretly wanted kids from the other side of the tracks. If you aren't white and rich, don't set foot in Beverly Hills. And so on. Pure stereotypes, but not very good ones.