Sociable Movie Guy
REVIEWS
A HEARTWARMING TALE OF FRIENDSHIP AND SELF-DISCOVERY As social beings, it’s only natural for human to want to belong to somebody else. That somebody else has a pretty wide range. From significant others like your parents or your siblings, to your school friends, romantic partners, and colleagues. The needs to be socially included and appreciated come since we were very young. That’s why most of us really enjoy going out and playing with friends when we were little. Not only was it super fun, but it was also how our social needs were fulfilled, though we might not aware about it yet. Of course it wasn’t all fun at the time, frictions were always there too. Whether for trivial matters (just like it has always been) or for something more fundamental, frictions, when they’re done right, can lead to a greater bond between humans. What I just described (or ranted) about is more or less what Charlie Brown is facing. Based on a comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, this Blue Sky-produced film offers a simple premise. The story focuses on the aforementioned character and his everyday antics. Charlie Brown is a clumsy kid who never does anything right and is very close with his dog, Snoopy. One day, a new kid moves to his neighborhood and catches his attention. He sees that as a chance to restart his image since the new kid never met him before. A ‘clean slate’ as Charlie Brown likes to put it. Will he make it? Or will he embarrass himself in the process of doing so? Being an animated film, ‘Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie’ has a visual that clearly doesn’t disappoint. The visual successfully brings the warmth and nostalgic feelings to the screen and eventually to the viewers. I didn’t even grow up reading or watching the classic series but I can totally get the nostalgic feelings. Can you imagine how the visual alone will take back those who grew up with Charlie Brown and the gang to one of the happiest days of their lives? The film is jam-packed with characters and Charlie Brown stands out among the rest. It’s not because he is the main character in the film, but it’s because he’s just adorably selfless to the people around him despite his clumsiness. He is the type of a person whose kindness is always taken for granted by his friends simply because he is too nice. How the adults are never fully depicted in the film is also genius. It shows that the film really wants to focus on the kids and how they make sense to everything that happens around them. The way the adults speak with a very unclear voice is so hilarious. It captures how kids usually don’t care with what the adults have to say to them. As adorable as Charlie Brown and the gang are, the story sadly can’t fully support the whole film to be memorable. Yes it’s warm and nostalgic, but that’s it, nothing more. One character in the film also fails to be memorable and ironically it’s Snoopy, the very character whose name is in the title. What he does in the film doesn’t contribute much to the story line. He’s just there goofing around Charlie Brown but never really helps him getting through his problems.
Another thing that crossed my mind while watching the film is all of Charlie Brown’s friends, except for Linus, are selfish and self-centered. Even Snoopy is selfish too! (MINOR SPOILER ALERT) Every time Charlie Brown gets into trouble, Snoopy always looks like he’s mad to what happens to his best friend. And then he uses that as the vehicle to enter his own imagination. Instead of reimagining on how to actually help Charlie Brown, Snoopy’s imagination is always about how he overcomes obstacles to be with his love interest, Fifi. In other words, Snoopy uses his best friend’s unfortunate situation for his own dreamy pleasure. If I was Charlie Brown, I would have unfriended them from a long time ago. Overall, ‘Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie’ is a nostalgic and visually terrific film that has enough warmth to entertain both kids and adults, though the film might not offer something new to the latter ones. Score: 3/5
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A Cognitively fascinating space journey‘Interstellar’ is Christopher Nolan’s 9th feature film as a director and inspired by American physicist Kip Thorne’s work, who is also a scientific consultant and executive producer for the movie. Christopher works with his brother Jonathan helming the script for the movie. The film tells a story of a group of space travelers who make use a newly-found wormhole to find the solution for earth’s raging problem. Matthew McConaughey plays Cooper, one of the people assigned with the noble task. Cooper’s team includes Brand (Anne Hathaway), Doyle (Wes Bentley), Romilly (David Gyasi), and an uber-smart robot TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin). Meanwhile, Cooper has to deal with his family, especially his daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy plays the juvenile version while Jessica Chastain plays the adult version) regarding his departure. This is by far the most ambitious film from Christopher Nolan. The scope of the film is epic, ranging from the end of the earth to the powerful unseen entity beyond human knowledge. The cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema is sharp and beautiful. I have this one favorite scene in the beginning of the movie where Cooper and his kids driving across the corn fields that is just simply breathtaking. Let’s not forget about the score by Hans Zimmer, bewitching and heart-wrenching at the same time. The film also doesn't shy showing Nolan’s most obvious footprint, a sophisticated story conveyed by sophisticated script. This one unfortunately has its own advantage and disadvantage. The plus point is the script successfully shows the masterful skill of the Nolan bros in transforming such a complicated, science-packed material into a worth-watching film. BUT Sadly, it appears to me that the biggest problem in the movie is also somehow laid in the script. It’s kind of hard for me to relate to what the characters feel. This is (probably) because the science aspect itself, which (to me) is more dominant than the emotional aspect of the film. Make no mistake here, there are tons of scenes which are intended to drain the viewers emotionally. It’s not that I’m blaming the film for rely heavily on science. It’s actually a good thing and the science depicted in the film is not nonsense. I only think that the film demands us to invest most of our energy to try to understand what happens in it, so that we only have a little energy left to try to care with what happens to the characters and how they respond to it. Lastly, I can’t seem to talk about Interstellar without comparing it with last year’s ‘Gravity’. Well, I’m not talking about the story here. I’m talking about the experience watching both films in IMAX, which I personally think ‘Gravity’ did it better. But hey, some people say that the definition of a great film is the one which can catapult a global discussion. In that sense, I believe ‘Interstellar’ is 100% succeed.
Final score : 3.5/5 |
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AuthorA self-acclaimed movie guy who likes to socialize |