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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) in Movies
Dec 18, 2019
Christmas With Muppets
A different spin on the classic tale, its the same story but it adds more to it. It adds the muppets to it and Micheal Caine as Scrooge. Which he was perfect in this film by the way. Thank you Jim Hanson and disney for producing this film. Also Jim Hanson's son Brain directed this film.
I love the muppets and their were excellent and perfect in this film. Their make you laugh, cry, smile, happy and more, the muppets make you really care.
The Plot: The Muppets perform the classic Dickens holiday tale, with Kermit the Frog playing Bob Cratchit, the put-upon clerk of stingy Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine). Other Muppets -- Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Sam the Eagle -- weave in and out of the story, while Scrooge receives visits from spirits of three Christmases -- past, present and future. They show him the error of his self-serving ways, but the miserable old man seems to be past any hope of redemption and happiness.
Whos my favorite muppet you may ask well its Kermit the Frog then Beaker then Rowlf the Dog and then Fozzie Bear.
A excellent christmas movie for the whole family to watch.
I love the muppets and their were excellent and perfect in this film. Their make you laugh, cry, smile, happy and more, the muppets make you really care.
The Plot: The Muppets perform the classic Dickens holiday tale, with Kermit the Frog playing Bob Cratchit, the put-upon clerk of stingy Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine). Other Muppets -- Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Sam the Eagle -- weave in and out of the story, while Scrooge receives visits from spirits of three Christmases -- past, present and future. They show him the error of his self-serving ways, but the miserable old man seems to be past any hope of redemption and happiness.
Whos my favorite muppet you may ask well its Kermit the Frog then Beaker then Rowlf the Dog and then Fozzie Bear.
A excellent christmas movie for the whole family to watch.
Thrown Under the Omnibus: A Reader
Book
'Whether you agree with him or not, P.J. writes a helluva piece.' Richard Nixon P.J. O'Rourke has...
A Decent Ride
Book
This book is shortlisted for the 2015 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic fiction. With a...
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Saw (2004) in Movies
Jul 4, 2021
Now *this* is more like it. Cruel, grimy, and goofy in just about equal measure - I sorely underrated this deservedly revolutionary gem the first time I saw it. Uses aspects which are unfairly maligned by other horror/thriller filmmakers who claim to be 'above' them much to its advantage; you're going to sit there and tell me that sped-up series of 360 shots around the reverse bear trap wasn't totally fucking awesome? Elements like that tap so deeply into that primal survival instinct which few other films of the genre even dare to explore, let alone as well as this does. The acting gets a lot of shit but tbh Cary Elwes and - in particular - Leigh Whannell are stellar as these two clashing personalities that effortlessly carry the entire movie on their backs. The decision to play up these performances akin to a WWE episode (even confining them to a stage-like arena for weaponized melodrama) adds even further to its untouched singularity. Could you imagine the direction of Wan with the gore of the sequels? Goddamn what an A1 product that would be. Just a concoction of ideas that work beautifully together: from the memorable aesthetic to its dastardly smart premise it's about as engrossing as can be. The twist is still just as riveting as it was back then if only because of the sheer commitment to delve into such gonzo levels of outlandishness. The fact that ππ±πͺπ³π’π turned this one's iconically atmospheric music into a cringe 21 Savage song tells you all you need to know about it.
Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat
Book
An enlightening narrative historyβan entertaining fusion of Tom Wolfe and Michael Pollanβthat...
food history
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Daredevil (2003) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
"π π°πΆ π¬πͺπππ¦π₯ π΅π©π¦ π°π―ππΊ π΅πΈπ° π±π¦π°π±ππ¦ π'π·π¦ π¦π·π¦π³ ππ°π·π¦π₯, πΈπ©πΊ?"
"ππΆπ΄πͺπ―π¦π΄π΄..."
*Director's cut*
Old proverb states: can a movie *truly* be bad with a Colin Farrell performance this fuckin' gonzo? Just as hokey as you remember, that playground fight is one of the worst things to make it through to pass in any superhero movie - and it's hilarious. Really funny when it tries to be, too though - for that matter. Overstuffed and contrived for sure but not too much more or less cartoonish than most of the stuff in the Raimi ππ±πͺπ₯π¦π³-ππ’π― movies, and this at least endearing market-tested clumsiness is - at the very least - twenty times more palatable than the intolerable formula market-testing in most of the Phase One/Three MCU flicks. This at least tries to have some fun, good humor, comic book replication, varied story beats, and a palpable edge beyond just its superficial emo-ness. I just can't help but smirk at the moon physics fight sequences or corny needledrops ("All this time I can't believe I couldn't see" with a lingering cut to Matt's eyes, come on man lmao). There's also a pretty rock solid backdrop in here about how most of the characters - good or bad - are motivated by greed or self-interest, so ultimately what we have to judge in the end is what's left when that wealth, pride, and/or power is unceremoniously stripped away from them. That final fight/scene with Kingpin is epic. Comes out much more sorta dorkily awkward as opposed to corporately sinister than it did in its day, because of what this has been replaced with and how immeasurably worse it is.
"ππΆπ΄πͺπ―π¦π΄π΄..."
*Director's cut*
Old proverb states: can a movie *truly* be bad with a Colin Farrell performance this fuckin' gonzo? Just as hokey as you remember, that playground fight is one of the worst things to make it through to pass in any superhero movie - and it's hilarious. Really funny when it tries to be, too though - for that matter. Overstuffed and contrived for sure but not too much more or less cartoonish than most of the stuff in the Raimi ππ±πͺπ₯π¦π³-ππ’π― movies, and this at least endearing market-tested clumsiness is - at the very least - twenty times more palatable than the intolerable formula market-testing in most of the Phase One/Three MCU flicks. This at least tries to have some fun, good humor, comic book replication, varied story beats, and a palpable edge beyond just its superficial emo-ness. I just can't help but smirk at the moon physics fight sequences or corny needledrops ("All this time I can't believe I couldn't see" with a lingering cut to Matt's eyes, come on man lmao). There's also a pretty rock solid backdrop in here about how most of the characters - good or bad - are motivated by greed or self-interest, so ultimately what we have to judge in the end is what's left when that wealth, pride, and/or power is unceremoniously stripped away from them. That final fight/scene with Kingpin is epic. Comes out much more sorta dorkily awkward as opposed to corporately sinister than it did in its day, because of what this has been replaced with and how immeasurably worse it is.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Suicide Squad (2016) in Movies
Sep 29, 2020
Entirely crackbrained and nonsensical - I'm not even sure there's a single theme in either this nor the extended cut - but way better than ππ©π¦ ππ·π¦π―π¨π¦π³π΄ for the chief purposes that it doesn't look like pure ass and doesn't really try to act like it's anything more than religiously entertaining dirtpunk grit-fetish trash. It's just about as thinly-written as the former, but if you're going to make one-note characters and a bullshit plot I'd rather them sport this sort of wildly memorable, freakish cringe rather than the flat, market-tested cringe of most modern day Marvel. There's more meme-worthy, hilariously dumbass quotes in here than you can shake a stick at and the designwork on display is simply delicious imo - the lush, matted mess of CGI is actually quite stunning and the production is exquisite: the sickly makeup + vibrant costuming against the sets where you often see opulent golds and corporate lucre juxtaposed with a dank coat of dirt and graffiti - it's total eye candy. The image of Harley Quinn and Joker laughing in the chemical bath while Kehlani's "Gangster" blasts in the background and the colors from their clothes melt away is nothing less than a knockout piece of moving imagery. Smith is the weak link, not only horribly miscast but it also seems like he isn't even trying - otherwise everyone else does a bangup job from Jared Leto's "Pimp Daddy" chilling street tweaker Joker to Viola Davis' business-casual demon Waller to Cara Delevingne's gonzo, always sauntering, Meryl Streep-sounding Enchantress. Very dynamically idiotic in that random fun shit is just allowed to happen because it's clear this isn't at all concerned with making any sort of sense to begin with. All this and with a soundtrack that can only be described as epic, I truly believe this is a fascinating curio that got way too bad of a rap. As dumb as everyone says but also better than the last five MCU entries.
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) in Movies
Apr 22, 2022
Meta-Fun
It is a tricky thing on film, to parody your film image without making it an homage (or a complete trashing) of yourself. And, in THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT, Nicholas Cage (playing Nick Cage) has found the line perfectly.
Conceived, written and Directed by Tom Cormican (THAT AWKWARD MOMENT), UWOMT (as I will call it here on out) is a meta-film that has Nicholas Cage playing a highly stylized and fictionalized version of himself. In this film, Nick Cage is desperate for work and going broke, when a rich fan offers him $1 million to appear at a birthday party. What happens next is bizarre, gonzo and out-of-control - and a lot of fun.
Letβs start with the man himself, Nicholas Cage, once he was convinced to do this film (and it took some convincing, for he turned this film down at least 3 times), he dives in with both feet and with full gusto filling Nick Cage with the wild actions and antics that are the basis of many, many Nicholas Cage memes. It is a knowing characterization by Cage, but one that knows when to pull back (not a trait often associated with him) and he does it all without winking at the camera.
Credit for this must go to Writer/Director Cormican (and his co-writer Kevin Etten),who had a clear vision of what they wanted to accomplish here, what tone they wanted to set, and how βmetaβ they wanted this film to be. And they accomplish this goal well, making an interesting and intriguing comedy/action flick that will satisfy manyβ¦but, especially, fans of Nicholas Cage.
Along for the fun ride are Neil Patrick Harris, Tiffany Hadish, Ike Barinholtz and Sharon Horgan who all deliver the right vibe for this film (as well as a couple of cameos that would be a spoiler to mention). They all look like that they are having a fun time.
Butβ¦the glue that holds all of this craziness together is the performance of Pedro Pascual (NARCOS, THE MANDILORIAN) who plays the millionaire Superfan who hires Cage and, eventually, befriends him. This is a masterful, comedic performance and it is Pascualβs sincerity (without going into buffoonery or overplaying) that grounds this film just enough that you actually care about the relationship between Pascualβs character, Javy, and Cage.
A ton of fun, not only for the performances and wild events, but for the many, many references to fun Cage films/roles of the past - items that will now motivate many (including myself) to check out.
Letter Grade: A
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Conceived, written and Directed by Tom Cormican (THAT AWKWARD MOMENT), UWOMT (as I will call it here on out) is a meta-film that has Nicholas Cage playing a highly stylized and fictionalized version of himself. In this film, Nick Cage is desperate for work and going broke, when a rich fan offers him $1 million to appear at a birthday party. What happens next is bizarre, gonzo and out-of-control - and a lot of fun.
Letβs start with the man himself, Nicholas Cage, once he was convinced to do this film (and it took some convincing, for he turned this film down at least 3 times), he dives in with both feet and with full gusto filling Nick Cage with the wild actions and antics that are the basis of many, many Nicholas Cage memes. It is a knowing characterization by Cage, but one that knows when to pull back (not a trait often associated with him) and he does it all without winking at the camera.
Credit for this must go to Writer/Director Cormican (and his co-writer Kevin Etten),who had a clear vision of what they wanted to accomplish here, what tone they wanted to set, and how βmetaβ they wanted this film to be. And they accomplish this goal well, making an interesting and intriguing comedy/action flick that will satisfy manyβ¦but, especially, fans of Nicholas Cage.
Along for the fun ride are Neil Patrick Harris, Tiffany Hadish, Ike Barinholtz and Sharon Horgan who all deliver the right vibe for this film (as well as a couple of cameos that would be a spoiler to mention). They all look like that they are having a fun time.
Butβ¦the glue that holds all of this craziness together is the performance of Pedro Pascual (NARCOS, THE MANDILORIAN) who plays the millionaire Superfan who hires Cage and, eventually, befriends him. This is a masterful, comedic performance and it is Pascualβs sincerity (without going into buffoonery or overplaying) that grounds this film just enough that you actually care about the relationship between Pascualβs character, Javy, and Cage.
A ton of fun, not only for the performances and wild events, but for the many, many references to fun Cage films/roles of the past - items that will now motivate many (including myself) to check out.
Letter Grade: A
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge
TV Show Watch
Directed by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney (HBOβs Taxi to the Dark Side and Going Clear: Scientology and...