Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Annie (2014) in Movies

Jul 31, 2022  
Annie (2014)
Annie (2014)
2014 | Drama, Family, Musical
7
6.0 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Having never seen the original movie, I went in to this with a clean slate and nothing to compare it to. Therefore this review will be based purely on just this version of the movie.

The movie begins with Annie giving her school report before summer break, the school bell goes and Annie heads........ Anywhere but home. It seems she stays out pretty late to the point where you think she's homeless, but then she finally goes home where she is met by a woman who is not very nice to her. She then goes to her room when we realise she's in foster care with 4 other children, and it's not long before they're singing and Annie is trying to find her real parents.

There seems to be a back and forth story with this rich guy running for mayor, but we soon find out his role in the story as he invites Annie to move in with him to boost his career.

At first I couldn't get into the movie, it came across as poorly acted and the songs wasn't very catchy. However, as the movie went on it got better and by the end there was definitely "dust in my eye". It was very much a children's film though, so whilst it may not have much of a rewatch factor for adults, kids will love it.
  
The Greatest Showman (2017)
The Greatest Showman (2017)
2017 | Drama, Musical
Music (1 more)
Hugh Jackman
A little cheesy at times (0 more)
Heartwarming with a fantastic soundtrack
I'll be honest and say that I'm a sucker for musicals, so it was pretty unlikely that I was ever not going to like this. And unsurprisingly, I did think it was really good.

It's a genuinely feel good and enjoyable film, with a fantastic soundtrack. The plot is interesting and they speed through the storyline instead of dwelling and trying to drag it out beyond the 2 hour mark. Hugh Jackman is probably one of the best and most loveable leading men in Hollywood and he puts on another fine show here. It's so entertaining to watch him sing and dance. It was refreshing too to see Zac Efron singing and dancing again since his High School Musical days.
 
Parts of the script and some scenes seem a little bit cheesy and cringeworthy, but fortunately the true star of this film is the music. All the songs were catchy and made me really want to sing along. They were that good that I have a feeling the soundtrack is going to be on repeat in my car now for quite some time to come.


I tend to rate films based on whether I'd go out and buy them, and I would definitely fork out some cash for this. Although it isn't the best musical I've ever seen, it's still hugely enjoyable with brilliant music.
  
40x40

Kevin Wilson (179 KP) rated Birdemic: Shock And Terror (2008) in Movies

Jul 9, 2018 (Updated Jan 23, 2019)  
Birdemic: Shock And Terror (2008)
Birdemic: Shock And Terror (2008)
2008 | Horror, Mystery, Romance
8
5.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The horrible acting is fun to laugh at (2 more)
It actually has a song that got stuck in my head
You can have fun with the bad editing and camera work
Would constantly ask myself "where are the birds?" (0 more)
One of the best "so bad it's good"
Contains spoilers, click to show
I'm not quite sure what rating I'm meant to give. It's a bad movie so should be low but It's to the point I love it so I had to give it a 8
It takes roughly about a hour for actual birds to appear and before that it's all about a guy with a blue car going about his daily life to work.

It may sound boring but it's too funny for you to be bored. The camera work is horrible, you can hear into he audio every single editing cut which is awkward. Characters have no chemistry (im pretty sure the main guy is a robot).

Even the opening scene spends about 10 minutes in a car, the music on a loop and yet all of this adds together to become 1 of the funniest movies.

There is 1 moment in the film where they dance and you can't help but sing along to the song. It's so catchy "we're hanging out, hanging out....hanging out with my family, having ourselves a party!)

This is by far my favourite of bad movies. Who attacks a bird with a coat hanger? Haha

I would recommend watching it at least once.
  
40x40

Tracy (238 KP) Jan 19, 2019

Hanging out..Hanging out with my family!

40x40

Kevin Wilson (179 KP) Jan 23, 2019

Having ourselves a paaaaaaarty! XD

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999)
1999 | Musical
6
6.5 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Great music, shame about the rest
I loved Joseph when I was a child, and I haven’t seen the stage show since I was in primary school either, so I had to watch this when I saw it had been added to Netflix.

I spent the entire of this film trying to figure out if this was a stage show they’d recorded and made look like a film, or if they’d intentionally made it as a film like this. Looking it up afterwards, I’ve discovered this was a direct to video film and boy can you tell. For a purposely made film, the production values in this are really cheesy and cheap, and the costumes are pretty bad even with it being the late 90s. I also can’t stand the narrator in this, I just found her very irritating - the last scene especially. Donny Osmond is alright but his hair looks so fake I couldn’t help laughing every time there was a close up. The highlight of the cast by far is Richard Attenborough, it’s just a shame he isn't in it very much.

What saves this is the all round entertainment factor and the soundtrack. You can’t question the Lloyd Webber music, it’s truly fantastic and so varied (from country to Elvis rock) and catchy. I just wished the rest of the film lived up to this - they really should have just filmed a stage version.
  
40x40

AT (1676 KP) Jan 29, 2019

Ugh, that's too bad! It's always such a disappointment when they take a great thing and mess it up like that.

Chicago (2002)
Chicago (2002)
2002 | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Contains spoilers, click to show
This review comes from a first time viewer in 2022. I put off watching it for years because it didn't look like my kinda film. In the end I decided to watch it after learning to tap dance to one of the songs in my tap class.

I'm sure most of you have seen this movie by now, but for those that haven't ill do my usual overview of the movie before my final review at the end.

So the movie is set in 1920s Chicago, we see someone hiding a gun and washing blood from their hands, clearly a murder has just taken place and we are treated to a rendition of "all that jazz", whilst a character named Roxie is having a steamy session with a guy. Once the musical number is over, the session turns violent and Roxie shoots the guy, thus landing herself in jail. The rest of the movie is Roxie trying to proof her innocence with musical numbers randomly mixed in.

Unlike other musicals, it's not really characters suddenly breaking into song as such, but it's the characters putting on show numbers in Roxies imagination (or at least I think, but there are times when performances suddenly start and Roxie wasn't in the scene, so who knows). Once you get past the random performances it is a pretty good film, I never found myself bored watching it and the songs are catchy with fantastic performances by all.
  
The Greatest Showman (2017)
The Greatest Showman (2017)
2017 | Drama, Musical
The story (0 more)
Some of the singing (0 more)
A musical for non-musical fans
I hate musicals, I avoid them like the plague. My daughter decided to put this on and I ended up sitting and watching the whole thing by myself, she wandered off to play.

This is a musical that even the haters of musicals I think would enjoy. The only reason I can see why I didn't mind and actually liked some of the songs is the irony and sarcasm that was inherent in the songs and in the acting whilst they were singing. Normally, the people singing, whether it's a happy or sad song, have those insane asylum grins plastered to their faces, which make you feel uncomfortable. The songs were catchy, warning, they stay with you for days.

The story line was good, I enjoyed it. The acting was very good and the singing not that bad. I was surprised to find out Hugh Jackman was the leading man, I didn't recognise him at all at first. Took me a while to figure our that it was Zac Effron supporting too.

The costumes and make-up were fantastic and the actual shows were really good to watch. I would love to know what they would've been like at the real Barnum circus, as well as what the real relationships were within the troupe. Intrigued me enough that I am going to put my history at uni to use and research it.

I think if you take a chance and watch this, you will be pleasantly surprised.
  
Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
2018 | Comedy, Horror, Musical
There's genuine festive joy in here, yes it's a little blood-stained, but still... festive joy. There are Christmas trees, an innuendo-filled song and Santa, it's probably more on the non-Christmas side of festive watchlists but I'm here for it anyway.

The songs are fantastic, they're fun and catchy with some great dance montages. It really does peak on the musical side of things. My only quibble would be Paul Kaye's song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now", it's a little cheesy and doesn't feel quite like the tone of the rest of the film. On repeated viewings though it does grow on you, but not quite enough to jump off the bottom spot.

You do need that comedy villain to hate though and in that respect Paul Kaye certainly does really well. In fact the whole cast were great, and there isn't even a caveat. "They were great... considering it's a monster movie." Every performance fit with their character and they managed to make an apocalyptic film feel really upbeat. Everyone had the right amount of pizzazz in them to make this zombimas spectacular come to life.

Being focused on such a small group and area meant that it was really easy to engage with what was going on. It's filmed really nicely as well with your classic background zombie action for comedy effect. All in all this is an enjoyable (sort of) Christmas film and has something for everyone in the family.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2019/12/anna-and-apocalypse-movie-review.html
  
40x40

AJaneClark (3975 KP) Dec 9, 2019

I enjoyed this movie for what it was, a light and festive zombie flick! 🤣 thank you for your review x