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Friday, April 22, 2011

Some Movie/TV Reviews

Since my parents reminded me that we still have Netflix, I decided to watch some random movies/TV shows that were either suggested or I’d heard about and available instantly. I actually feel like reviewing them, so here were go. They’re pretty much spoiler free.

Princess and the Frog: Well, I forgot I even watched this, to be honest. It was a Disney movie and I just felt like ‘Why not?’ when I decided to watch it. I remember before it came out, people were freaking about it being potentially racist or at least the original script. All I can say is that it was a Disney princess movie. Not really my thing.

Aliens: I’ve seen most of this once and saw it that is was on instant. I finally saw the rest. ‘Scary’ and somewhat gory stuff isn’t usually my thing, but I love the special FX on this film. The xenomorphs’ designs are awesome. I love old FX because they use models and there’s just something about CG creatures that just isn’t the same as a model. It’s as if they can’t quite integrate the atmosphere with something that wasn’t even there. Films today should try to use all techniques instead of just relying on CG. I know CG make somethings possible that you can’t do with a model, but many movies over rely on it. I do appreciate both types of FX, though.

Firefly/Serenity: I feel like I’ve heard about this TV series so much. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but I really enjoyed it overall. I thought the space western atmosphere and backstory for their future of human kind was unique. No aliens, just humans that left earth (mostly of American and Chinese decent). I usually prefer critters and aliens, so that’s a testament to the enjoyability of the show. So sad that it got cancelled after one season. I did think the season ending was okay. I mean, it didn’t seem to conclude anything, but it kind of worked for the show. You knew they would just keep adventuring. And I’m just talking about the last episode of Firefly, not the movie, Serenity. Serenity made me feel okay with the idea of Chuck being canceled if we could get a movie to finish it all up. There were only a few things that went unresolved, even after the movie, but they weren’t a huge deal to me. The ‘romance’ between Capt. Reynolds and Inara and what the deal was with Shepherd Book are the main things I can think of. River’s history was pretty much revealed in Serenity, which is one of the only things I can really think of that wasn’t resolved in the show. I really have the urge to do some fan art for this show.

Alice in Wonderland (the new one): Ugh, this bored me. That’s all I can say. I seriously considered turning it off. I watched it because I’d seen some of the concept art and figured I should watch for the character/creature design. I’m not crazy about Johnny Depp, so that wasn’t a huge draw for me. The VFX didn’t even seem that good, but then I was reminded that it was a 3-D movie and think that might be why the FX weren’t that realistic. I feel like this movie was a waste of my time.

District 9: I thought this one was interesting. Again, I watched for the creature design because I saw some concept art and was reminded of the movie. I wasn’t too keen on the blood and guts and swearing. I don’t really know what to say about it. The documentary approach was neat, and I liked that.

The Pixar Story: A fake documentary was followed by an actual documentary. A look at the film industry can only be a good thing for me to watch. (For those that don’t know, I’m interested in becoming a concept artist for the entertainment industry.) The development and chronicling of Pixar’s success (and almost failures) was very interesting. I thought this was a good documentary.

Pushing Daisies: I remember seeing ads for this before it premiered. I thought it looked fun. (Maybe Ned’s eyebrows were subconsciously drawing me in. I have a thing for thick eyebrows. And nerds.) It came out around the same time as Chuck, and like Chuck, I only saw a few episodes of the first season. 2007 was really the year of the nerd with special abilities, as I think there was still another show with the same idea. Well, it was fun. The fairy tale/story book atmosphere was really unique. I did feel as if some character issues dragged on, but overall I liked it. I really did not like the ending. Ugh, they needed either a longer season or another one. There were too many things introduced in the second season that were not able to be addressed in the 3 minute epilogue on the final episode. I also have the urge to do some fan art for this show, too. And listen to the Harry Potter audio books because Jim Dale narrated this show, haha.


Well, those are my reviews. Maybe if I do this more, I will get better.

2 comments:

  1. lol thanks for the ratings, I was debaiting on whether or not to see Alice & Wonderland...
    and same for Princess & the Frog, it wasn't the same old Disney (in my oppinion haha)

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