alley_m Reviews

Super Buddies (2013 Video)

Great movie for the kids!

[10/10 · 4 October 2013]

Watched this movie with kids aged 5yrs and 9yrs and they both loved it. If your kids are fans of other Buddies movies definitely check this one out. Nice to have a Superhero movie aimed more for the little one's (no heavy violence, adult themes etc). It is very kid friendly and funny.

Interesting story about a comic book and Aliens from another planet along with the regular Buddies and their kid owners. My kids loved to see the other talking animal characters too.

(And for the adults, it was nice to see John Ratzenberger again, and the voice of Colin Hanks was a nice surprise!)

Also has a great message for kids about working as a team. Highly recommend it!

The Crazy Ones (2013–2014)

Liked it, but would prefer a little Slower pace

[7/10 · 30 September 2013]

I was drawn to this show when I heard it had Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar (I grew up watching Robin Williams movies and Sarah Michelle Gellar was in the peak of Buffy fame and teen movies when I was a teenager).

I thought it was funny, thought Robin and Sarah work well together, they are both extremely likable and nice to see Hamish Linklater from old Christine in there too.

However it was a little too fast for my liking. I felt like every time I blinked I missed so much. It was only 19 minutes, felt like it would be more enjoyable as maybe an hour show, maybe then I would have had more time to digest jokes and laugh, it just moved so fast, not just dialogue but very quick cuts of shots. Maybe people will like that but I would prefer it just a little slower paced.

I thought it looked really nice aesthetically. Nice and bright lighting, nice production design and the camera was pretty smooth, I'm glad they didn't go the shaky route. What really made me like the show was the heartfelt story. That's what hooked me in, I miss that in a TV show.

So overall I liked it, feel it has a lot of potential, just please slow it down a little so we have more time to digest. Would love to see Sarah and Hamish get a little more screen time and maybe have some time to get to know the characters as well in between the jokes?

The Great Gatsby (2013)

Magnificent Film, Beautiful Portrayal, Wonderful Cast and Visually Stunning!

[10/10 · 31 May 2013]

The Great Gatsby from Baz Luhrman is a truly magnificent film.

Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway is absolutely wonderful, he does a great job narrating and has a wonderful calming presence throughout the movie. Leonardo gives an outstanding portrayal of Gatsby, not only does he portray the character as warm and likable, he shows us the underlining sensitivity and insecurity of Gatsby so perfectly. Both Tobey and Leo work beautifully in their scenes together, you sense a real bond that forms between the characters and the comedy that comes from the Tea for Daisy scene is highly entertaining. Carey Mulligan as Daisy was another wonderful performance, she portrayed her just as I had imagined from the book. All of these character's were actually portrayed to be likable and this really drew me in to the story.

The pacing of the movie was perfect, the music was used wonderfully! Always keeping it alive and bringing such an energy to the film. The production design was stunning! Though I would expect no less from a Baz Luhrman and Catherine Martin production, I was expecting great but really nothing can prepare you for what you see on screen. Visually it was beautiful and really took you away to this other world. This is easily my favourite movie within the last five years. It is Classy, Sophisticated, Warm, Funny, Dramatic and simply a wonderful entertaining film which I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed! I have read the book and seen the other movies and I have to say this was the most wonderful portrayal in my mind thus far, the most entertaining and very true to the book. Every page of the book that comes to life on screen was in my mind the absolute best Spectacular version of everything it could possibly be.

Thank you to Baz Luhrman and everyone involved for bringing this portrayal of the book to our screens. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have seen it twice already at the theatre, maybe I will even go again, and I can tell you I haven't felt this way about a movie in the past five years.

This movie has everything that seems to be missing from most films today, it contains almost no profanity, minimal violence and vulgarity, but focuses on Elegance, Class, Sophistication, Beautiful dialogue and drama, some humour, warmth, and just Visually Stunning, I encourage you to watch this film.

(I preferred to watch the film in 2D, so my comments are based on this viewing)