Aylmer to Zazzoo and Beyond: Anthony Hopkins

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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Noah - Movie Review - AN EPIC FLOOD OF NONSENSE!!!

Noah
(2014- March 28)
Adventure | Drama
2 hr 17 min
Rated: PG-13 | Disturbing Images, Brief Suggestive Content and Violence Read more
Grade: D+

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel
Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins | See full cast and crew

With sweeping visuals grounded by strong performances in service of a timeless tale told on a human scale, Darren Aronofsky's Noah brings the Bible epic into the 21st century.

The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood.

AN EPIC FLOOD OF NONSENSE!!!

What was Paramount Pictures thinking when they signed on to this big budget fiasco. The say in their promos that they have taken artistic license but believe they are true to the spirit of the biblical story. They have in fact taken license but it isn't artistic and there is precious little that is true to the spirit of the biblical story. When they point out, 'May not be suitable for children under 13.' you have to be a bit skeptical.

What has happened to Russel Crowe's mind? It must have suffered permanent damage from involvement in The Man with the Iron Fists debacle from RZA. There was some evidence of damage in his tone deaf performance in Les Misérables, and Darren Aronofsky, what can be said of the mind of this darling of the Hollywood establishment but that he apparently never had a grip on his from the start. To misquote another piece of Hollywood drivel, 'You lost me at hello'.

NOAH is a 'bait and switch' fraud of BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS, tempting the moviegoer with the biblical NOAH brand only to leave them awash with a flood of environmentalist, science fiction gobbledegook using as little of the source material as is secular human(ist)ly possible. If you would like to see a Michael Bay's Transformers (pick any of them) meets Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments meets Joseph Ruben's The Stepfather then NOAH may be right up your alley.

The only reason this film gets a Grade D+ and not lower is because of it's production values i.e. the sets, costumes, special effects etc. and the acting is serviceable.

Even if they had marketed this film as strictly a Sci-Fi fantasy and they abandoned the ties to the bible and changed the names of the characters it would still be worthy of no more than a C-, and would still not even be on par with John Carter. This production of NOAH is a waste of time, money, resources, talent and braincells

On the set

Cast

Russell Crowe Jennifer Connelly

Noah Naameh

Anthony Hopkins Logan Lerman

Methuselah Ham

Douglas Booth Emma Watson

Shem Ila

Ray Winstone

Tubal-cain

Sunday, July 28, 2013

RED 2 - Review

RED 2
(2013 - July 19)
Action | Comedy | Crime
1 hr. 56 min.

Rated: PG-13 Pervasive action and violence including frenetic gunplay, some language and drug material. Common Sense Media says OK for kids 14+. Read more on child suitability
Grade: C

Director: Dean Parisot
Writers: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, Warren Ellis (characters), Cully Hamner (characters)
Stars: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker | See full cast and crew

In RED 2, the high-octane action-comedy sequel to the worldwide sleeper hit, retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they’ll need to survive an army of relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on the next-generation weapon. The mission takes Frank and his motley crew to Paris, London and Moscow. Outgunned and outmanned, they have only their cunning wits, their old-school skills, and each other to rely on as they try to save the world—and stay alive in the process.

RED 2 (Retired, Extremely Dangerous Part 2) in case you are confused about the title, is the follow up to the 2010 hit RED. Red 2 had a better opening weekend besting RED by about $7 million exceeding $28 million. RED cost $58 million to produce and brought in $199 million plus, you do the math, was there any doubt there would be a sequel?

I saw the first film in this franchise, yes, RED 3 is on the way, and I wasn't particularly impressed. I can't suspend belief enough to accept that these retired people would be able to function as they are portrayed in the film, that much they could so easily best and out smart much younger and fitter agents with similar training.

Nor is the dialogue all that clever, its all old stories rehashed and consequently the humor, for me anyway, falls flat. Since smug Smart Alec quips are the intended strength of these films, it doesn't quite achieve its goal.

RED 2 has assembled an impressive group of talent. The cast is very capable, it just doesn't have that much to work with. Many of its stunts, though impressive, are outside of the realm of believability. It is, however, pretty much free of nudity, vulgar and profane language which is a plus in my humble opinion.