The Last Emperor (1987)

Rating: 65%
Okay so here's a best picture winner I've been wanting to see for a while concerning the history and all that jazz. So here's my review for The Last Emperor.

Plot: The film starts with the former emperor Pu Yi being imprisoned and interrogated as a war criminal by the Red Army in 1950. While this is happening, we go through a series of flashbacks of Pu Yi's life as an emperor ever since the day he was named emperor when he was only three.

Now before I saw this movie, by bother who has seem all of the best picture winner said that this was dull and boring and really won only because of how artistic it is. Do I agree with him?...mostly. I mean yes, artistically this movie is beautiful. The design and the way that they made the colors was wonderful without a doubt. Is the movie dull and boring?...well not completely. Like I said, I was particularly interested in the film mostly to just learn the history of the last emperor despite the fact that there might be some historical inaccuracy. (I mean there's not a lot of films based on true stories where they don't alter it a little. Am I right?) But can it be dull and boring? Absolutely! I mean when I was just half an hour into the movie, it already proved to be that it's a lot longer then it really should be without really trying. I mean they should've cut out around 40 minutes of footage to make it more a two hour movie rather then almost three. I mean there is some importance to roughly most of the footage but really they just consistently drag what's happening to the movie on several occasions.

So that's basically my review for The Last Emperor. It's a masterpiece artistically and I enjoyed it for the history, but it was dragged so much that it really was longer then it really should be which altogether makes the movie just...meh.   

The English Patient (1996)

Rating: 60%
Alright so next to review among the best picture winner is The English Patient.

Plot: A man who is critically burned after his plane is shot down is being taken care of by a nurse named Hana in an abandoned Italian monastery during late World War II. The burned man is only named 'The English Patient", but as the films goes on, the 'patient' gets a set of flashbacks that reveal that he is a Hungarian cartographer named Count László de Almásy, and how he fell in love with a married woman named Katherine.

meh. Just nice. I mean my main issue is that the whole general idea of the romance is a cliche. I mean it feels like it's roughly the exact thing as the romance from Out of Africa. That being said, most of the story in the film is hardly creative or terribly interesting. But I think it's really the second half of the film and all the scenes that are not flashbacks that makes the film enjoyable. Because it's the second half where we begin to get more into all the other stuff about Count Almásy besides his affair and all the things that's happens outside of the flashbacks that makes the story a little more bearable. It doesn't help a whole lot, but at the least it helps make a movie just...meh.

And that's simply all I really have to say about The English Patient.    

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Rating: 35%
I've been wanting to see this movie and make fun of it for a while. I mean when I saw trailers for this, I knew that it was made as basically using the same formula as Twilight. So at last, here's my review for Red Riding Hood.

Plot: Valarie is a young girl who lives in a village in the middle of the forest that lives in fear of a werewolf. She falls in love if her childhood sweetheart Peter, but her mother arranges her to be married to the blacksmith's son Adrian. One night, the werewolf attacks and kills Valarie's sister Lucy. So the village eventually decides to summon Father Solomon for his help to slay the werewolf.

Okay to the film's credit, it doesn't focus on the Twilight formula as I thought. That is to say, I for one thought that this movie was going to practically show the whole Twilight-like love triangle all over our faces almost just as much as Twilight itself does. But surprisingly it doesn't. In fact the love triangle is not really all that big to be in my opinion. Which is something that I'm okay with considering I thought that was something that was really going to make this film plop the way it did. But that doesn't change the fact that is still plopped. The romance aside, it still gives us a fair share of cliches and a couple of things that don't really make a whole lot of sense that is what really makes this film bad. Some twists or certain parts of the story I liked, but not enough to say that this turned out to be close to a good film. That said, it also sucks that Gary Oldman is in this film because of that.

And that's my review for Red Riding Hood. It may not focus on the Twilight formula romance wise as I thought and it has a couple of part in the films that I liked. But it's still full of cliches and a bunch of really things that are just off that make it a plain old bad movie through and through. 

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Rating: 80%
My review for Kung Fu Panda...that's it.

Plot: Po is a panda who dreams of being a powerful kung fu master despite working in his goose father's noodle restaurant. One day, kung fu Master Oogway has a vision that the evil kung fu warrior Tai Lung will return and that the time is soon to discover who shall become the Dragon Warrior and defeat Tai Lung. So Oogway's old student, Master Shifu, hold a tournament for his students, The Furious Five, to discover who will become the Dragon Warrior. Po tries to get inside the tournament to watch the Furious Five, but in the process, the accidentally ends up in the area and Oogway chooses him as the Dragon Warrior. So despite Po's inability to learn kung fu, Shifu has to train him to become the Dragon Warrior and defeat Tai Lung.

This movie was very cute and extremely well made visually. The main problem with this film is that the structure of the story, has a fair share of cliches. The whole process of what happens to Po and some very specific parts of the dialogue that was used for some of that process was very familiar from other films and even if it isn't, it feels very easy to predict. And another things that some people have an issue with this film is that some people feel that some of the stars that do the voice acting for the supporting characters are underused like Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan. But luckily, the film pulls off some very well delivered comedy that helps make some of the predictable parts more bearable and the film altogether more fun to watch. But the animation is probably the most impressive part of the movie. I think that there's always a moment when I'm watching this film when I try to think how much of a challenge this film must've been for the animators, particularly when it comes to all of the kung fu movements for the characters. Because while some of the kung fu stuff is relatively similar to some things we're very well familiar with from other kung fu or kung fu related movies like The Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this film takes advantage of the freedom they can use with being an animated film instead of live action and give us bigger and better action that you can very easily enjoy.

And that's my review for Kung Fu Panda. It has some sense of cheesiness and predictability with the structure of the story of Po and the set of cliches they give us with some of the dialogue, but it makes up for it with well delivered comedy and excellent animation that gives us very enjoyable action making Kung Fu Panda an altogether fun film to enjoy.
      

And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

Rating: 75%
So I've been thinking about reviewing Monty Python films for the past month or so now and since I found And Now For Something Completely Different and with Psycho when I went to review that, I decided to watch it again. So here's my review for *poor John Cleese impression* And Now For Something Completely Different. *H.A.K. blows up in a big explosion*

Plot: This film really doesn't have a plot. It's basically a 90 ish long film containing some of Monty Python's best sketches from the show Monty Python's Flying Circus.

This is a hilarious movie. I mean it's easy for me to say since I use to be super obsessed with Monty Python during most of my high school years, but fact is fact that Monty Python has given some of the best comedy sketches that have ever been created. "How Not to be Seen", "Parrot Sketch", "Nudge "Nudge, "Defense Against Fresh Fruit", "Lumberjack", "The Funniest Joke in the World", they're all just hilarious and memorable plain and simple. The main issue really anyone would have with this film or possibly really anything from Monty Python is that plenty of the jokes or sketches are the kind of humor that is primarily for British people and plenty of people outside of Britain will not enjoy the humor and find to be more stupid or revolting or otherwise just plain wrong. But that's something I can understand and agree with at certain points. While this film has some of the funniest things ever, there's some jokes and some of the really random things that they give us that I find to be rather stupid or just plain wrong. So with that I want to make very clear that the comedy for this film is NOT for everyone in the slightest. But aside from the face that there are a lot of things that you wont enjoy when you see this film, you'll still see the most classic sketches from Monty Python that will hopefully make watching this film very fun to watch.

And that's my review for And Now for Something Completely Different.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Rating: 90%
Okay so even though Halloween is over, I have one last Halloween movie that I saw last night a little past midnight, so right after Halloween ended. So here's my review for The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Plot: Jack is a skeleton in the last of Halloween Town who is titled the pumpkin king and the main leader for celebrating Halloween. However, Jack secretly admits that he's tired of the same routine of celebrating Halloween every year. One day after celebrating another successful year of Halloween, he wanders off into the forest where he finds and accidentally falls into a portal that sends him to Christmas Town. Amazed by this world, he decides to try to share it with the people of Halloween Town. But the people of Halloween Town fail to understand the concept of Christmas, trying to compare it to Halloween, so Jack reluctantly decides to play along with their ideas and eventually give into the idea of Halloween Town taking over Christmas.

This was a cleverly made movie. I mean the stop-motion animation goes without saying, but I'll say that it's very well made and carried out anyway just for the sake of those who haven't seen this movie. The story is also creative and the characters are fun. And the whole world that they created was very original and they did an excellent job with the design for Halloween Town especially. I mean most of the creatures that live in Halloween Town are most of your everyday kind of monsters when you think Halloween, but some of them are rather uniquely designed like the Harlequin Demon. (That guy that has half of his whole head as his mouth or something... I'm not sure what's the right way to describe it but if you've seen the movie, hopefully you'll know what I'm talking about.)

Music: The soundtrack to this movie is easily a lot of fun. I think it's common knowledge to view "This is Halloween" as possibly the best song in the entire movie. It's just a very fun song that introduces us to all of the creepiest or most creative creatures and monsters that live in Halloween Town.

And that's my review for The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's a fun, clever and creative film with well done stop motion animation, fun music, and a good story that is all around a very good movie and is another good film to enjoy watching on Halloween. 

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (1966)

Rating: 100%
I know that long before I have begun really writing for this review Halloween is over, but I still have a couple of movies that I've watched during and post-Halloween that I have to review. So here's my review for It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

Plot: Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the gang are getting ready for Halloween. Sally intended to celebrate Halloween with the gang, but Linus is waiting for the Great Pumpkin whom he believes that will come to the pumpkin patch to give toys to all the little children. So Sally decides to wait for the Great Pumpkin for Linus while the rest of the gang goes trick-or-treating. Meanwhile, Snoopy goes to face the Red Baron with his doghouse (or Sopwith Camel).

How can I not give this film a 100%? I mean it's freaking Peanuts. It's the one that everyone knows it seems, and why not? It's a lovable short film with all of your favorite characters from the memorable comics giving us a very unique Halloween story. Plus I think part of what also makes this Peanuts short a little more memorable then most is that it has a lot of memorable things from the comics. Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Snoopy with his Sopwith Camel, Charlie Brown trying to kick the football from Lucy, Schroeder with his piano, you get the idea. Oh and naturally this Peanuts special is not complete without the jazz piano song "Linus and Lucy" (that one song that's kind of the theme song for Peanuts. Yeah I know, I don't want to remember it by that title either) I mean the only possible down is Charlie Brown with getting rocks (what set of jerks does that?) 

And that's my review for It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. It's a lovable, memorable Halloween special that is easily a perfect movie to watch on Halloween and a film to enjoy for everyone who loves Peanuts.