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True Grit, a review by dfmorgan

True Grit

Year: 1969
Director: Henry Hathaway
Cast: John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby
OverviewWatched: 17th Jun 2011
My Thoughts: First time viewing for this film and I found it to be very enjoyable.

My Rating: A very enjoyable 4



(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on June 23rd, 2011)

The Prince of Egypt, a review by Blair

The Prince of Egypt

Tagline: Two brothers united by friendship divided by destiny.




Film Details
    Rating: PG
    Runtime: 99 minutes
    Year: 1998

    Directors:
          Brenda Chapman
          Steve Hickner
          Simon Wells

Main Cast
    Val Kilmer as Moses
    Ralph Fiennes as Rameses
    Michelle Pfeiffer as Tzipporah
    Sandra Bullock as Miriam
    Jeff Goldblum as Aaron
    Danny Glover as Jethro
    Patrick Stewart as Seti I
    Helen Mirren as The Queen
    Steve Martin as Hotep
    Martin Short as Huy


Synopsis
Following the Biblical story, the life of Moses is laid out from his birth as a Hebrew and fated adoption by the Egyptian Pharoh, to his abandonment of that life of luxury in order to come full circle and save his people of birth from slavery.


My Thoughts
Often when you say that a movie is a "story from The Bible" you have non-religious people running away cringing. So, to make said events not only approval-worthy in the eyes of many religious followers but captivating enough for those who doubt said events to watch is quite a feat. This film does just that. [bonus points]

While not fully accurate to the written accounts of the events in the Hebrew Bible, as a man of religious faith I believe that the creative licensing taken was enough to help the story flow better while not trampling on the core beliefs. [more bonus points] A preface in the film even mentions this for early clarification. As an example within the film, Aaron, the blood brother of Moses, was a slave without hope alongside their hopeful sister (also a slave) throughout the movie. In the writings of The Bible, however, he aided Moses in their quest, often as the more communicative of the two. By putting all events on a single man's shoulders in the film, I feel it made the journey feel that much more difficult and focused the storytelling more.

With an all-star cast of voices driving the story, the animation is top-notch, in my opinion trumping many Disney films despite their decades of reputation against DreamWorks' newness to the field. (The Prince of Egypt, produced simultaneously with Antz, were jointly the company's first full-length feature films.) Though the film uses GC animation for some of the most complicated shots such as a moving crowd of thousands, the majority of the film was created with traditional cell animation. The beauty of parting of the Red Sea has also become an iconic piece of artistry. [even more bonus points]

The orchestration of the film (which I was surprised to hear so much of) was also very pleasing. I note my amazement in learning that Ofra Haza, who marvelously sung the opening number for the film, did so in 17 of the film's released languages! On a sad note, she died barely a year after the film's release.


In the end, I feel that it was a brave project choice for DreamWorks to take on, and it paid off in spades.


My Rating:
    

(From Blair's topic for reviewing . . . . wait for it . . . . . MOVIES! (duh) on July 22nd, 2011)

Tom's Glee Marathon, a review by Tom

Glee
Season 1.21 Funk
Writer: Ryan Murphy (Created By), Brad Falchuk (Created By), Ian Brennan (Created By), Ian Brennan (Writer)
Director: Elodie Keene
Cast: Dianna Agron (Quinn Fabray), Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel), Jessalyn Gilsig (Terri Schuester), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), Jayma Mays (Emma Pillsbury), Kevin McHale (Arty Abrams), Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson), Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester), Amber Riley (Mercedes Jones), Mark Salling (Noah "Puck" Puckerman), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang), Jonathan Groff (Jesse St. James), Idina Menzel (Shelby Corcoran), Iqbal Theba (Principal Figgins), Stephen Tobolowsky (Sandy Ryerson), Naya Rivera (Santana Lopez), Kent Avenido (Howard Bamboo), Josh Sussman (Jacob Ben Israel), Keisuke Hoashi (Peter Gow), Brian McGovern (Brett Paxton), Tonita Castro (Imelda), Heather Morris (Brittany Pierce), Harry Shum, Jr. (Mike Chang), Dijon Talton (Matt Rutherford), Jeanine Anderson (Waitress), Taisha Monique Clark (Giselle)

One of my least favorite episodes in the first season.

Stupid storylines:
Will seducing Sue is a stupid storyline. And that it even worked, goes against the character of Sue.

Continuity:
The close friendship between Quinn and Mercedes established in this episode lasts for a whole of two episodes. It is forgotten like it never happened with the start of season two.

Notable music:
"Another One Bites the Dust" performed by rival Glee club Vocal Adreniline is okay, but nothing special.

The song which works best in this episode is Beck's "Loser":

I didn't really case about the other songs.

Rating:

(From Tom's Glee Marathon on September 22nd, 2012)