To Remake Or Not To Remake..."Pete's Dragon"

Pete's Dragon (2016)

Rated PG

Starring Oakes Fegley, Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oona Laurence, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban,

Directed by David Lowery

The Story:

Pete (Fegley) becomes orphaned and is raised in the wild Pacific Northwest by a dragon he calls Elliot. As the years pass, he is discovered by a girl (Laurence) and her mom (Howard), the local forest ranger. The only real problem, Gavin (Urban) has learned that the forest has a dragon in it, and he's decided it would fetch him a fortune.

Well, Disney swung for the fences with this one, making a live action adaptation of a late 70s hybrid live action/animated feature.

The good thing, it's better than the original, unless you happen to adore that movie, then it's quite likely you might hate this one.

Hard to say, I've seen differing opinions all over the internet.

One lady was reduced to tears because of the changes between films.

Yikes.

Some people need to get out more.

:)

Personally, I was pleased that the musical numbers were gone, and so too the abusive foster parents that Pete had to endure growing up.

The problem, for me, that has plagued most of these live action remakes, is that they're still just average at the end.

Disney has taken beloved animated classics, or in this case, an older movie (heheheh...) and just put a new coat of paint on it and pushed it out the door.

Maleficent at least had the decency to tell an entirely new story, and it remains the benchmark of quality for these films.

The rest have come across as average, which for other studios might be okay, but when this is Disney putting out a Disney movie, it seems like we should expect a little bit more, and I'm still just not seeing it.

Again, there's nothing wrong with the film on its own merits, it simply exists.

Plus, like most movies, they severely underutilized Karl Urban and so his villainous turn is half-hearted, at best.

Perhaps I'm jaded because How To Train Your Dragon has already taken the story of a boy and his dragon and raised the bar so well, this one just didn't have a chance.

Final Grade:  C

Celebrate Columbus Day By Rediscovering "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Rated PG-13 for action, violence and pure awesomeness

Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson

Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo

The Story:

A year after the events from The Avengers, Steve Rogers (Evans) is working for SHIELD, but he's not exactly happy about it.  He doesn't want to compromise his principles, yet it seems like all of the missions from Nick Fury (Jackson) are making Cap uneasy.  However, a far greater threat is lurking to undo everything that SHIELD stands for, and Captain America and the Black Widow (Johannson) may not be able to stop it.

So back during my Birthday weekend, Marvel Studios was nice enough to release this film.
That review, many of you have already read right here:

Cap 2

So, what has changed since April with finally seeing it again in the fall?


Not much.

I still maintain that The Winter Soldier is Marvel's answer to a spy thriller with a 70s feel, and they nailed it.  The spies have super-powers, but hey, didn't it always seem like Bond was a little more than human back in the day?

This is a smart action thriller that just so happens to also have some costumed heroes running around in it.

Take out the costumes, the movie still would work.


It just works better as a vehicle for Captain America.

This is still the movie to beat for Best of the Year honors.

We will see if the awesomeness of Guardians of the Galaxy is able to dethrone it.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: There are 2 movies on my Christmas list. Both are mentioned in this review.  I'm counting on you Santa.  :)

Spoiler Free Review Of The # 1 Movie In The World... "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Rated PG-13 for action, violence and pure awesomeness

Starring Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson

Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo

The Story:

A year after the events from The Avengers, Steve Rogers (Evans) is working for SHIELD, but he's not exactly happy about it.  He doesn't want to compromise his principles, yet it seems like all of the missions from Nick Fury (Jackson) are making Cap uneasy.  However, a far greater threat is lurking to undo everything that SHIELD stands for, and Captain America and the Black Widow (Johannson) may not be able to stop it.

Marvel Studios has done it again.
Not content to sit back and let the "summer movie season" begin early in May, they decided to just give April a shot at kicking off the season.

Of course, as Marvel has proven since pretty much the beginning, these aren't just mindless popcorn films.

The story of Captain America provides continuation of the story of Steve Rogers, man out of time, but also serves as a vehicle to showcase SHIELD and the Widow as well.

When Thor: The Dark World came out last year, and ended the year as the Best of 2013 on my list, I was impressed on how it improved on the original film and surpassed it.  I also noted that it was also a competent Science Fiction film feeling to it, with superheroes.

Now, The Winter Soldier is an updated look at Bond/Bourne... but with superheroes, not just spies.

This is the everyman action film filled with car chases and fights to fill the action quota easily.

I haven't decided yet if The Winter Soldier surpasses The First Avenger or not.  If nothing else, they are close equals, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I would say with 2 films, Captain America is now my favorite of the 3 solo hero franchises.

Anthony Mackie makes a fine addition to the universe as Sam Wilson.  Still with the social worker heart, Wilson's origin works perfectly for the movie, and I don't have any problem if the Falcon never soars in a more traditional costume.  This scenario worked like a charm.

So welcome to the franchise, I have a feeling the 3rd Cap film will be called Captain America & The Falcon.  The comic had a healthy run in the 70s using that very moniker.

Also, as Marvel has been doing lately, they switched directors to allow the Russo brothers to tackle Cap, and they knocked it out of the park.  It was interesting to note that they had been selected to finish the trilogy, and I look forward to what they have to offer..

So much to see.

So much to enjoy.

Quit reading the review and go get tickets.

:)

This is the movie to beat for Best of the Year honors.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I will be owning this one, no doubt.  This is up there with The Avengers as one of Marvel's best films.

It's Not What You Know, But Who..."The Company You Keep"

Wait, they still have newspapers?

The Story:

Back in the 70s, several Weather Underground activists robbed a bank and killed a security guard.  They disappeared and went into hiding. Over 30 years later, the first (Susan Sarandon) has attempted to come forward to clear her conscious.  A reporter (Shia LaBeouf) tackles her story and begins to peel back the layers and discovers that a local lawyer (Robert Redford) is one of her accomplices.  The dominoes begin to fall as the lawyer begins to run...

But is he running because of guilt, or innocence?

I wasn't sure what to expect when I got this one.  It's got a great cast from leads to bit parts.

Who haven't I mentioned yet?

Nick Nolte. Chris Cooper. Terrence Howard. Stanley Tucci. Richard Jenkins. Sam Elliott and many more.

Granted, the movie falls squarely on the shoulders of Redford and LaBeouf as the two carry out their two stories that weave together throughout the movie.

It was a solid action/drama/thriller.

I won't discuss much more because I don't want to ruin any of the twists and turns for anyone who hasn't  seen it and would like to.

I will say that Redford, much like Eastwood, has developed into a really great director in the latter half of his career.

The main difference, Redford doesn't get the critical acclaim like Eastwood does.

Either way, this was a pretty entertaining movie.

Feel free to give it a spin, I think you'll be pleased with your choice.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not quite as fun as Redford's Sneakers, but not bad.  I could watch it again.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 10 ~ The Sting

Things just got real.

: )

So here we go... the 10 Greatest Movies of All Time!!!

Starting things off, a genre of film I've mentioned before for really enjoying.  The Con. The Caper. The Heist.

The Sting.

If you want to run a good slight of hand heist film, you have to have great actors and surround them with a great script where the trickery is believable enough that even though you know the con is on... you can still get sucked right in and maybe not see all the twists coming yourself.

I'm sure that such movies existed before The Sting, but I am also guessing they are fairly inconsequential in the history of cinema.  So to all the films that have come since, they all owe a debt of gratitude to this film for setting the blueprint for how to deliver a great story.

The story is fairly simple for something that turns out so complex.  A young con man (Robert Redford) seeks tutelage from a veteran (Paul Newman) when a mutual friend of theirs is killed by a bad dude (Robert Shaw).  From there, the two embark on an elaborate scheme to take the man for all he's got.

So simple.

The director, George Roy Hill started wisely enough by recapturing the magic he found with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by bringing Newman and Redford together again.  Their chemistry onscreen is fun to watch.

From there, they simply add layers to the deception and weave a bunch of wonderful character actors in supporting roles.

If you've never seen this one, give it a try. 

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 55 ~ Sneakers

I think I made it clear early on, that I'm a big fan of caper movies.  This list could easily replace Star Wars, and have a tie at the end with movies like the Italian Job or Fast & Furious that didn't make the cut.

What was I thinking?

But anyway, the caper film.  Love 'em!  I could watch them all day, which is why they keep coming back up on the countdown, whether they made it or not.

Sneakers made it.

An all-star cast is often the sign of a bloated movie that fails, but this is one of those exceptions that proves sometimes magic can happen when you stir in a whole lot of familiar faces and give them a great script.

And this one has greatness in spades!

Robert Redford leads the cast as Martin Bishop, a man who specializes in cracking uncrackable codes.  His team of questionable partners helps businesses/banks shore up their vulnerabilities.

Then one day the government comes calling, and reminding Mr. Bishop that he has a past that he hasn't quite escaped from.  If he's willing to do one little job...

They can make his problems all go away.

And thus begins the very start of all of his problems!

Helping Bishop are an ex-Fed (Sidney Poitier), a conspiracy theorist (Dan Aykroyd) a kid (River Phoenix) and a blind man (David Strathairn).

I won't lie, I think Whistler is my favorite, which explains why he gets  pictured and the Facebook quote while Redford takes a backseat.

: )

Hopefully this a gem that someone hasn't seen yet, and you'll get a kick out of watching it.  Or perhaps I've reminded you of the film, and you'll go dust off a copy and have a good time.

No More Secrets!