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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Big (1988) in Movies

Mar 3, 2020  
Big (1988)
Big (1988)
1988 | Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
8
8.1 (31 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
The film that made us realise Tom Hanks wasn’t just a goon, but had some really big acting chops! Personally, I think this should have been his first Oscar; so perfect is his body / age swap interpretation (that was in vogue but never matched at the time) that you can see the younger Josh at all times during this wonderful performance. So much fun, but always grounded in the idea that being a grown up is horrible, and we shouldn’t do it! There is the iconic giant piano playing; the shimy, shimy, cocopop song, the trampoline sleepover and the white tux caviar scenes, amongst so many good moments. In the end it is his mother’s joy to have him back that breaks the heart!
  
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David McK (3251 KP) rated The Last Samurai (2003) in Movies

Feb 6, 2021  
The Last Samurai (2003)
The Last Samurai (2003)
2003 | Action, Drama, War
8
7.2 (33 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Who is The Last Samurai?
In the early noughties, following the success of Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator', there was a rash of historical epic films - 'Alexander', 'Troy', 'Kingdom of Heaven'.

And this.


Which is a strong contender for one of the best of those films.

The film stars Tom Cruise (who, for once, is not playing Tom Cruise) and Ken Wattanabe, with the former a world weary US Civil War veteran (suffering from PTSD?) who is hired to train the modernising Japanese army, and the latter a Samurai leader who thinks Japan is losing its identity; moving too fast into the future.

Captured by that Samurai leader following an early battle, Algren (Cruise's character) soon finds himself beginning to wonder is he fighting in the right side...

Yes, the plot is somewhat akin to 'Dances with Wolves' (or even 'Avatar'), and I've heard the charge of the film being a White Saviour story - a charge, I have to say, that I do NOT find any merit in: indeed, I would argue the opposite (that Cruise's character is saved rather than the one doing the saving) is more true.
  
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Brian Fallon recommended track Crime Scene Part One by The Afghan Whigs in Black Love by The Afghan Whigs in Music (curated)

 
Black Love by The Afghan Whigs
Black Love by The Afghan Whigs
1996 | Alternative, Indie, Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite
Details

Crime Scene Part One by The Afghan Whigs

(0 Ratings)

Track

"I heard The Afghan Whigs real early on and I was like, ‘Alright, this is like soul music but it’s played by white guys from Cincinnati, and I don’t even know if they can play that well.’ They eventually could play really well, and they turned me on to this whole other way of thinking that showed me you could mix all these things together without ever crossing over into pop music, which I felt when I was younger was just not something that I related to. Crime Scene Part One was a huge song for me because it was like a movie. It was brooding and there was something spooky about it, and then when you find out what it’s about it’s really scary. From there I went straight into Tom Waits.”"

Source
  
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Lilyn G - Sci-Fi & Scary (91 KP) rated The Mummy (2017) in Movies

Jun 19, 2018  
The Mummy (2017)
The Mummy (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
2
5.1 (122 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Blech
The Mummy was a completely awesome movie! Filled with perfectly timed comedy, a strong female heroine, a somewhat sinister Mummy, and great lines! I’m talking, of course, about the 1999 version of The Mummy. The one starring Brendan Fraser and the wonderful Rachel Weisz.

The remake tried to be a great movie and slid in somewhere around “mediocre at best”. As one might expect, this was Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. (Does the man ever actually try to play someone other than himself? Serious question.) Sofia Boutella is blandly proficient as the scantily clad mummy who couldn’t ooze menace or evil if her life depended on it. Given that we’re supposed to accept that this chick killed her baby half-brother and her father, you’d think there’d be something in the way of evil there. Instead she just comes across as your typical vengeful, wanton female. Annabelle Wallis was about as good as Boutella was. And I did not buy Crowe’s Jekyll/Hyde at all.

Why was there a wet white t-shirt scene in The Mummy? Did not a single person making it go “You know, maybe we should have her put on a different color shirt?” Because it’s not like the wet white t-shirt is a blatant aim to give guys something to beat off to or anything. Between Boutella’s outfit and the “Lookit! Boobies!” of that particular scene, it was obvious that the film crew wasn’t exactly confident of their success in the movie being popular on it’s premise or the actors’ abilities alone.

Now, I do give them credit for the hiring of Sofia Boutella. She looked right for the role. However, why did we have to do the contrast of the evil foreign female against the stereotypical white female again. (Blonde hair, blue eyes, etc. etc. You really can’t get more white.) This is, admittedly, more predominant in my mind since seeing the criticism that Wonder Woman got for the very minor role African Americans played in the film. I couldn’t help but think “Really, how hard would it have been to hire an African American female for Jenny’s role?” And then it would have avoided the white girls vs the other girls thing. But, yeah, no, that’s too difficult a concept for the people making the casting decisions to understand.

(On a lighter note: A blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jenny meant every time she was on screen, I kept expecting Forest Gump to yell for her from off screen.)

The action was fine, with nothing new thrown in. Some of the scenes are recognizable from the better The Mummy. The dialogue was acceptable, but nothing to write home about.

Do yourself a favor and just watch The Mummy movie from 1999. It’s by far the better film experience. This one wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t very good.