Monday, December 31, 2012

Spoiler Alert 2012: The 1st Annual Year-End Movie Blowout Extravaganza PT. 2

If you missed PT. 1, check it out here.


Paris: True. That dude is amazing. What about the best supporting role you saw this year?

10) Silver Linings Playbook
Greg: Christopher Waltz was absolutely amazing in Django Unchained. But if I had to pick someone else, I'd say Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook. Which I'd actually replace Les Misérables with in my top ten. (This is the first time Greg changes his mind. Notice, I said "first time".) She plays a cop's widow who is a friend of a friend and she's also a bit crazy like Bradley Cooper's character. After seeing her in The Hunger Games and believing that she was Katniss Everdeen, I was surprised to also believe her as a crazy girl who just wants to participate in a dancing competition.

Paris:  Like I said, I haven't seen it but everyone is raving about her performance in that film. I kind of want to see it more now, but I thought she was a “crazy girl” in The Hunger Games too. I love my brothers and sisters, but no way I'm taking either of their places in a battle royal to the death. My love as a brother only goes so far and “Replacing you in a battle royal to the death” is on my “Things I'd do for mama and a child"list not the "things I'd do for my siblings" list.

Greg: You should see Battle Royal, it's a Japanese "hunger games" but it's a better story/movie.

Paris: Don't get me started on The Hunger Games. When we talk about most disappointing films I'm sure I'll have a thing or two to say. But back to supporting roles--

Greg: Leo DiCaprio should also be mentioned. His role in Django Unchained was so disgusting that I started to hate him so much after the movie I had to remind myself it was Leo DiCaprio to calm me down. (Yep it’s happening again and he's cutting me off to do it.Wait for it.)

Paris: There were a lot of really good supporting roles this year. John Goodman was great in Argo and Flight. I'd say he was the best “scene-stealer” of the year. Alan Arkin was money in Argo, but I’d go back to Django Unchained. Waltz, DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson were all amazing but I'll go with DiCaprio. Why? Because he's NEVER BEEN THE BAD GUY and he played it so well! When guys like him do roles like that, they kill it. They get to have fun and let loose. The role is so far from what we normally see from them, that they seem even more amazing then they really are. Think Denzel in training day. By the way, as a Black man, I can lead any discussion about movies back to Denzel Washington. It's kind of a superpower. I’ll end my thoughts on Leo’s chances with this. There’s a scene where he, Leo, holds Kerry Washington (who was NOT GOOD AT ALL IN DJANGO. Not because she was bad, but because Tarantino didn't have anything for her to do but cry and cower.) by her head and he's threatening her with a hammer. You honestly don't know if he's going to kill her or not. You see, it's not the crazy things bad guys do, its when they DON’T do something crazy and you think THEY WERE is when you know someone is really "killing" a role as a bad guy. That scene, for me anyway, was the moment when I gave the award to Leo.

Greg: Oh yeah, that was a brilliant moment and that "shake his hand part" too. I got the creeps from that. Okay you've convinced me. DiCaprio for the win! (And there it is! He changes his mind ladies and gents. But wait, there's more!)

Paris: Okay, next up is the most disappointing film of the year.

Greg: Flight *cough* *cough*

Paris: That's cold. We already have your thoughts so I'll give you mine and it wasn't very hard but I did have a few choices this year. Prometheus. This is 40The Hunger Games. Quick rant about The Hunger Games. One, the effects sucked. The fire was about as real as Donald Trump’s hair. In fact, I think it's what they used.

Greg: I'll believe that.

Paris: Two, I didn't get to see anyone “fight to the death”. I know it was PG13 and all that, but if the movie is about a tournament of kids "fighting to the death" and you don't SHOW them “fighting to the death” it'd be like making a movie about Lincoln's last days and NOT showing him getting assassinated. See, I knew I'd have somewhere to use that analogy.

Greg: I wasn't too disappointed about that. I actually enjoyed the movie, aside from who ever that cameraman was. I wanted to kill that man! Made me sick to my stomach! "Oh look, someone's moving on the other side of the room, follow me!" The story was entertaining enough that I thought it was better than Flight. I was more disappointed with Les Misérables, even though it was in my top ten before I removed it for Silver Linings Playbook.

Paris: Anyway, the most disappointing film to me was The Hobbit.

Greg: Not The Hobbit.

Paris: Yep, The Hobbit.  I saw it in 48FPS (Frames Per Second) and for those who don't know, most films are shot in 24FPS. It’s what makes a movie look like… well a “movie”. The Hobbit looked like a BBC TV show. A very, very, expensive BBC TV show.

Greg: What's wrong with a BBC show? I like Doctor Who.

Paris: Nothing, but I don't expect to see one in a movie theater. It takes you out of the film and the actors seem to be moving too fast at first glance because they are moving too fast. Even after getting past that, the movie was way too damn long.

Greg: It didn't feel that long to me.

Paris: I don't know anything about the "lore" of LOTR (Lord of the Rings) so I didn't know this was the first of three movies. I also had to see it twice because the projector overheated, the NUMBER ONE SIGN A MOVIE IS TOO LONG,  and I thought I missed out on the big dragon battle. So I went to see it again and all I missed was the dragon opening his eye! Literally all I missed!

Greg: All right, I'll give you that one.

Paris: The dinner scene in the beginning was about 35-45 minutes too long and one more thing, if Gandalf knew the “butterflies can go get giant eagles trick” the whole time why didn't they use it in the beginning?! If I was Bilbo, I would have kicked him in the balls for all the walking we did.  Plus the eagles dropped them off at the TOP OF A MOUNTAIN... LIKE 60 MILES FROM WHERE THEY NEEDED TO BE!

Greg: Well, while you were sulking at having shilled out more money to see The Hobbit again. I saw Les Misérables twice and paid for it FOUR TIMES and it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. I saw it Christmas night with my friends. I was sitting in the theater waiting for them when they told me to go to the other theater across town because they were going to miss that showing. Lucky for them, not for me, that I had accidentally purchased a ticket for that showing before I bought the ticket for the theater I was in. So I get to the second theater, I wait in line again, get to my seat and I can't hear the movie. So I miss a lot and the movie seems boring to me, taking into account that I usually enjoy musicals. So I go back again, a few days later, and I take my little sister with me. I get bored during Anne Hathaway's big moment, so I order a hot dog and agree to wait while it cooks.

Paris: Damn! Seems like someone was more disappointed in a movie that was once in their top-ten than the movie they picked, Flight. (And the circle is almost complete.)

Greg: Hugh Jackman sounded like a goat at one point. I know because I lived on a goat farm and Russell Crowes character, my favorite character in the movie, dies off and so it was painful. That said, it was better than most other movies I've seen this year and I have the soundtrack on repeat as we speak, so it was really good, but I was disappointed that it wasn't my favorite movie of the year. (There we go, the final flip-flop.)


Paris: True. One last thing about my top-ten list. I added The Avengers because I do really think it was one of the ten best films of the year. I don't like that "summer popcorn flicks" or "superhero flicks" never get the love from critics on that "award winning" level. The Avengers is one the years best reviewed flicks so why wouldn't you put it in your top ten? And again, The Dark Knight Rises goes in my top-ten because Batman fans are crazy and they're still pissed about TDK not getting love in '08.

Greg: First off, The Avengers was a good movie, but wasn't a top-ten movie for me. Mostly because the writing wasn't the best. Yes it was entertaining, but just throwing special effects at you shouldn't be a reason for being top-ten. I know there have been movies that have won for that, but I don't agree with those either, unless they make more effort to tell a great story. As for TDKR, wasn't nearly as good as The Dark Knight. Mostly because Bane didn't feel like the real bad guy in the story. Batman seemed to be defeating himself more than anything else and it was boring.


Paris: Fair points but lets wrap this puppy up. I'll say that Life of Pi and Skyfall were the best looking films of the year. Both of those films “popped” off the screen to me. I'm not a big cinematography guy, but you can't help but notice the way those films LOOK on the screen. Moonrise Kingdom was the best love story I saw, although I'm not totally sure they shouldn't be checking to see if a person is a registered sex offender or not before they're allowed to watch it. As I already said, Zero Dark Thirty gets my nod. It's so visceral, so real that I, as an Iraq War vet, got physically uncomfortable watching it more than once. It was that real to me. It wasn't "pretty" but it was shot just the way it needed to be. The performances where all top notch and I'm sure Jessica Chastain will give Jennifer Lawrence a run for her money.

Greg: I wish I could comment on that.

Paris: If you've seen Homeland think Carrie, but more "believable crazy". If that makes sense.

Greg: I haven't seen Homeland.

Paris: Carrie is the show’s lead played by actress Claire Danes. She’s actually won a few awards for her performance but she’s a little "TV over-The-Top” and “no one THAT crazy would be in the CIA" crazy. Overall, I still choose Zero Dark Thirty because, like Django Unchained, it held my attention the whole time and because I'm Black, I have to give the nod to Zero Dark Thirty.

Greg: Now I feel racist if I say I give the nod to Django Unchained because I'm white Hispanic. But I give it to Django Unchained because while it was silly, it still had real moments. That's important to making a good film, how believable it is to an audience and it had that.

Paris: "Real" is a word that I would use "lightly" when talking about that movie. Let’s just say the shootouts at the end of ZDT and DU were very different.

Greg: I think the word I'm searching for is "believable". Within the constraints of the universe that Tarantino created anyway.

Paris: I've seen people get shot and trust me, they don't bleed like that.

Greg: You mean they don't bleed like that?! I don't understand this world anymore!

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe and share the blog. Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below. Follow me on twitter @ParisLay. Until next time... Enjoy the View!






1 comment:

  1. Ok, I was waiting for part 2 before I commented... That said, it's New Year's Eve evening, so I may save a full-on comment for later. Then again, I didn't realize this blog was going to be 50% Gregory Mendoza, and seeing as he has already made it clear he is intolerant of anything I say, I'll just make this short.

    Very good read, and you guys made some good points on most of the movies. There are a few I haven't seen (Flight, Zero Dark Thirty, The Sessions, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower), so I can't say anything on them at this time...

    Quick observation: Paris, you shouldn't not pick a movie as your number 1 pick simply because you're black. If you think it should be the number 1 pick then you should pick it as your number 1 pick. Not picking something because you think there's some kind of "unsaid racial rule" against it is like being racist against your own color or something...lol! That's like me saying I can't like American History X because I'm white. It's simply a story--that's it. If it appeals to you, and you think it's the best thing you've seen all year, say so, and be proud of it. I shouldn't feel ashamed to either like or dislike Django Unchained simply because I'm white. That's perpetuating racism, as far as I'm concerned. I like what Morgan Freeman said once when asked "What was it like to play a black president?" He stated, "I didn't play a black President. I played the President, and it just so happens that I'm black."

    Personally, I'd say Django Unchained was an EXTREMELY entertaining and enjoyable film, but I wouldn't place it as number one on a best film of the year list... Not because Quentin Tarantino isn't capable of making a best film of the year (I thought Inglorious Bastards was that caliber of storytelling)... I just saw some flaws in Django that I thought took it down a few notches from "BEST EVAR" to "That was awesome!"

    Long story short, I'll say nice job on the blog, and look forward to seeing more opinions on upcoming movies in the future.

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