Megabuck
Se unió el ago 1999
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Calificación de Megabuck
On the inside of Meet the Parents is a great plot idea, struggling to get out. Actually, that's not strictly true - the plot is actually realized pretty well; it's the supposed timing and unrelenting nature of the events that, for me, make this film no better than mediocre.
The premise is simple: About to propose to Pam (Teri Polo), his girlfriend, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) realises he's expected to ask her father's permission first. Of course, Jack (Robert de Niro) turns out to be every suitor's worst nightmare: demanding, condescending, belittling. Worse, it seems Greg can do nothing right.
The bulk of the film documents everything that happens over a weekend at the parental home. Pam's sister is getting married, so it's a big get-together with family and friends. The battering starts immediately; Greg's luggage goes missing. Jack makes snide comments over the colour of his rental car and choice in pets. Greg even causes chaos when opening a bottle of wine.
He is mocked for his choice of career - he's a nurse. Guess what: half the guests are doctors. He's intimidated by Pam's previous boyfriend, the seemingly perfect Kevin (Owen Wilson). His surname makes him an easy target. He manages to lose the family's pet cat, so he buys a replacement which looks nearly identical - which promptly tears the wedding dress to shreds. His luggage turns up, and Jack searches it, finding a pile of women's clothes - because, of course, it's not his bag.
It transpires that Jack is a former CIA agent - except Greg becomes convinced he's still involved in some covert operation. So he blurts out what he knows - and, wouldn't you just know it, he's put his foot in it again.
Taken individually, each incident is at least passably funny; some are hilarious; some make you cringe on Greg's behalf. But it's the whole thing - the relentless progression from one minor disaster to the next - where I felt the movie fell down. At first, it's pretty funny, watching this guy make a complete fool of himself; but when it goes on and on, and you realize you're in for an hour where nothing, NOTHING goes right, it just gets depressingly tedious.
And it's not all perfect. The surname gag grew old fairly quickly; the way people addressed him using only his surname was downright rude rather than funny; one leaking toilet would NOT flood a yard, no matter how full the septic tank (and what kind of planning is it to hold a big wedding party with the tank ready to blow?) The happy ending was also pretty unconvincing.
I haven't really said anything about the performances. I felt everyone did a reasonable job, nobody excelled. de Niro *can* do comedy - Brazil, Midnight Run - but here, I thought he was too deadpan, and the role just a bit *too* psycho. Stiller was a good choice for the lead, and Owen Wilson is great as the all-too-perfect ex. But, as I said, it's the pacing that spoils things. If they had spread the pain out a little - shown meetings over several weekends - along with scaling it back a little, I'd have enjoyed it a lot more.
The premise is simple: About to propose to Pam (Teri Polo), his girlfriend, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) realises he's expected to ask her father's permission first. Of course, Jack (Robert de Niro) turns out to be every suitor's worst nightmare: demanding, condescending, belittling. Worse, it seems Greg can do nothing right.
The bulk of the film documents everything that happens over a weekend at the parental home. Pam's sister is getting married, so it's a big get-together with family and friends. The battering starts immediately; Greg's luggage goes missing. Jack makes snide comments over the colour of his rental car and choice in pets. Greg even causes chaos when opening a bottle of wine.
He is mocked for his choice of career - he's a nurse. Guess what: half the guests are doctors. He's intimidated by Pam's previous boyfriend, the seemingly perfect Kevin (Owen Wilson). His surname makes him an easy target. He manages to lose the family's pet cat, so he buys a replacement which looks nearly identical - which promptly tears the wedding dress to shreds. His luggage turns up, and Jack searches it, finding a pile of women's clothes - because, of course, it's not his bag.
It transpires that Jack is a former CIA agent - except Greg becomes convinced he's still involved in some covert operation. So he blurts out what he knows - and, wouldn't you just know it, he's put his foot in it again.
Taken individually, each incident is at least passably funny; some are hilarious; some make you cringe on Greg's behalf. But it's the whole thing - the relentless progression from one minor disaster to the next - where I felt the movie fell down. At first, it's pretty funny, watching this guy make a complete fool of himself; but when it goes on and on, and you realize you're in for an hour where nothing, NOTHING goes right, it just gets depressingly tedious.
And it's not all perfect. The surname gag grew old fairly quickly; the way people addressed him using only his surname was downright rude rather than funny; one leaking toilet would NOT flood a yard, no matter how full the septic tank (and what kind of planning is it to hold a big wedding party with the tank ready to blow?) The happy ending was also pretty unconvincing.
I haven't really said anything about the performances. I felt everyone did a reasonable job, nobody excelled. de Niro *can* do comedy - Brazil, Midnight Run - but here, I thought he was too deadpan, and the role just a bit *too* psycho. Stiller was a good choice for the lead, and Owen Wilson is great as the all-too-perfect ex. But, as I said, it's the pacing that spoils things. If they had spread the pain out a little - shown meetings over several weekends - along with scaling it back a little, I'd have enjoyed it a lot more.
Temple of Doom is, by some distance, the weakest of the three Indiana Jones films. The plot isn't inherently bad, but the characters are almost all weakly drawn, deeply irritating or both, and the action sequences feel lame.
The bad news starts from the first frame. Raiders of the Lost Ark has one of the best opening sequences in cinema history; it establishes Jones as a swashbuckling archaeologist, and also brings in his enmity with Belloq. By contrast, the Temple sequence is embarrassing; is it a musical? Comedy? Parody? Frightening? It tries for all the above, and unsurprisingly just comes across as an awful mish-mash.
Not even Jones' character works; he is supposedly exchanging a priceless relic for a fabulous diamond in the opening exchanges. That hardly fits with him being a voraciously acquisitive archaeologist. Had it been him offering the diamond, then it might have worked.
Most others have commented on the startling annoyance levels achieved by Kate Capshaw's character, so I won't comment further beyond agreeing with them. But also, there's no on-screen chemistry with Harrison Ford. The first night in Pankot Palace, the two seem to go from barely tolerating each other to being ready to jump into bed with each other, for no discernible reason.
From there, the film descends to a non-stop underground action sequence that occupies the rest of the film. This not only tries the audience's patience, but also their credulity; the mine cars chase is, on several levels, impossible. The cars are unpowered, yet get up to high speeds. This is fine, if the track goes steeply downhill, but it looks level. Then, after getting a good headstart, Jones' car is caught by two chasing cars. How the other cars go faster, with all of them relying on gravity, isn't explained. There are two parallel tracks, built across a wide-open chasm of molten lava; why there are two tracks here but not elsewhere, and how the tracks got there, aren't explained. Finally the tracks end, a tidal wave of water punches its way out, and we see they are near the top of a cliff - so the tunnels leading downhill come out high up? And there's a pool of lava in the middle of a cliff? Stop worrying, give up and accept that when they were plotting all this, logical consistency wasn't high on the agenda.
You can only imagine the decision-making that went on at the studios. "Raiders has been a huge success - what shall we give 'em in the sequel? More! More stunts! More action! More locations! More gross-out stuff!" Unfortunately, that's all we do get - and all it adds up to, is a deeply unsatisfying pale imitation of one of the best action films of the past few decades.
The bad news starts from the first frame. Raiders of the Lost Ark has one of the best opening sequences in cinema history; it establishes Jones as a swashbuckling archaeologist, and also brings in his enmity with Belloq. By contrast, the Temple sequence is embarrassing; is it a musical? Comedy? Parody? Frightening? It tries for all the above, and unsurprisingly just comes across as an awful mish-mash.
Not even Jones' character works; he is supposedly exchanging a priceless relic for a fabulous diamond in the opening exchanges. That hardly fits with him being a voraciously acquisitive archaeologist. Had it been him offering the diamond, then it might have worked.
Most others have commented on the startling annoyance levels achieved by Kate Capshaw's character, so I won't comment further beyond agreeing with them. But also, there's no on-screen chemistry with Harrison Ford. The first night in Pankot Palace, the two seem to go from barely tolerating each other to being ready to jump into bed with each other, for no discernible reason.
From there, the film descends to a non-stop underground action sequence that occupies the rest of the film. This not only tries the audience's patience, but also their credulity; the mine cars chase is, on several levels, impossible. The cars are unpowered, yet get up to high speeds. This is fine, if the track goes steeply downhill, but it looks level. Then, after getting a good headstart, Jones' car is caught by two chasing cars. How the other cars go faster, with all of them relying on gravity, isn't explained. There are two parallel tracks, built across a wide-open chasm of molten lava; why there are two tracks here but not elsewhere, and how the tracks got there, aren't explained. Finally the tracks end, a tidal wave of water punches its way out, and we see they are near the top of a cliff - so the tunnels leading downhill come out high up? And there's a pool of lava in the middle of a cliff? Stop worrying, give up and accept that when they were plotting all this, logical consistency wasn't high on the agenda.
You can only imagine the decision-making that went on at the studios. "Raiders has been a huge success - what shall we give 'em in the sequel? More! More stunts! More action! More locations! More gross-out stuff!" Unfortunately, that's all we do get - and all it adds up to, is a deeply unsatisfying pale imitation of one of the best action films of the past few decades.
Birdy is a difficult film to describe. It's about the developing friendship between Al (Nick Cage) and Birdy (Matthew Modine), but it's also about a descent into madness, and the lengths to which Al goes for his friend.
The film starts in the late 60's, in a US military mental hospital. Cage has been seriously wounded, and has had reconstructive surgery on his face, but he's been brought in because Birdy is here. He's uncommunicative and appears to recognise no one, spending all day squatting on the floor of his cell squinting up at the window.
The story is mostly told in flashbacks, either Al recounting incidents in their growing friendship as neighbourhood kids or, later, Birdy remembering other incidents. From the start the two are pretty dissimilar - Al is athletic, outgoing and popular while Birdy is quiet and introverted - a typical nerd. The two are, paradoxically, brought together by Birdy's love of birds, and the stupid things they do - making suits out of pigeon feathers to befriend more pigeons, climbing on (and falling off) factories trying to capture more birds.
Al tries to set Birdy on a 'normal' track; they buy a wrecked car and fix it up, and head off to the beach. But Birdy is just too wrapped up in himself for this to work, and it's a wonder he doesn't alienate Al with his strange behaviour.
In the 'present', the doctor is putting more pressure on Al to get Birdy to respond; if he doesn't, then Birdy will be written off and sent to a permanent mental institution. The flashbacks continue, and it becomes clear that Birdy's love of birds has turned into an obsession, and then into the darker realms beyond that.
The final few minutes of the film cover a lot of ground; Al finally realises that Birdy is pretty well off the deep end; they both go off to fight in the war; Al gets his injury, while we see the incident that left Birdy in his present state. Meanwhile the doctor finally decides that time has run out, but Al decides he's not leaving.
The ending of the film is incredibly powerful, and it should be a criminal offence to give it away. Is it 'appropriate' to the rest of the film? I dunno - but I thought it was pretty damn good.
The film stands or falls on the performances of Cage and Modine - and, for me, it stands tall. Cage is excellent in his role, capturing the bravado of his character perfectly; but Modine is simply brilliant. During the flashbacks he portrays his nerdy character completely believably, but it's the way he handles the scenes in the asylum that amazed me. As soon as you know his obsession, it is crystal clear that he's not squatting in his cell, but perching, wishing to fly.
Alan Parker has made some great films; this might just be his best.
The film starts in the late 60's, in a US military mental hospital. Cage has been seriously wounded, and has had reconstructive surgery on his face, but he's been brought in because Birdy is here. He's uncommunicative and appears to recognise no one, spending all day squatting on the floor of his cell squinting up at the window.
The story is mostly told in flashbacks, either Al recounting incidents in their growing friendship as neighbourhood kids or, later, Birdy remembering other incidents. From the start the two are pretty dissimilar - Al is athletic, outgoing and popular while Birdy is quiet and introverted - a typical nerd. The two are, paradoxically, brought together by Birdy's love of birds, and the stupid things they do - making suits out of pigeon feathers to befriend more pigeons, climbing on (and falling off) factories trying to capture more birds.
Al tries to set Birdy on a 'normal' track; they buy a wrecked car and fix it up, and head off to the beach. But Birdy is just too wrapped up in himself for this to work, and it's a wonder he doesn't alienate Al with his strange behaviour.
In the 'present', the doctor is putting more pressure on Al to get Birdy to respond; if he doesn't, then Birdy will be written off and sent to a permanent mental institution. The flashbacks continue, and it becomes clear that Birdy's love of birds has turned into an obsession, and then into the darker realms beyond that.
The final few minutes of the film cover a lot of ground; Al finally realises that Birdy is pretty well off the deep end; they both go off to fight in the war; Al gets his injury, while we see the incident that left Birdy in his present state. Meanwhile the doctor finally decides that time has run out, but Al decides he's not leaving.
The ending of the film is incredibly powerful, and it should be a criminal offence to give it away. Is it 'appropriate' to the rest of the film? I dunno - but I thought it was pretty damn good.
The film stands or falls on the performances of Cage and Modine - and, for me, it stands tall. Cage is excellent in his role, capturing the bravado of his character perfectly; but Modine is simply brilliant. During the flashbacks he portrays his nerdy character completely believably, but it's the way he handles the scenes in the asylum that amazed me. As soon as you know his obsession, it is crystal clear that he's not squatting in his cell, but perching, wishing to fly.
Alan Parker has made some great films; this might just be his best.