forgottenlord Reviews

Sarafina! (1992)

Good story ruined as a musical

[5 December 2003]

I think the best way to look at this idea is I got into an argument with my mom over how good the movie was. I thought it was a ludicrous musical, she thought it was a very thoughtful and beautiful movie. Ends up in musicals, she just hits the fast forward button through the music.

The story is great, the message it tries to give is great, the music detracts from the movie. With the exception to a few songs (in particular the one from the jail house), the majority of the songs detract from the movie - making it seem rather ridiculous and detracting from the overall presentation.

No One Would Tell (1996 TV Movie)

Sadly realistic

[10/10 · 9 April 2002]

I watched this movie as a part of my CALM curriculum. I found it to be very interesting in how she responded to what he did. I have always wondered why people don't get out of abusive relationships, now I know. It is interesting that she never even figured out how much he didn't care about.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Lucas had more to worry about this time 'round

[8/10 · 31 January 2002]

When you set your expectations high, you generally get disappointed.

The Phantom Menace would have been considered a good movie if people weren't expecting revolutionary special effects as the originals had in their time. Lucas has much more to compete against today than he had to 20-25 years ago.

Another issue, the story line. In just the last quarter of a year, I have seen about 5 new books based in the Star Wars Universe. Lucas could make whatever he felt like 20 years ago because he was only bound to the movies he'd already made. Now he has to worry about a universe that is molded more by the books that continue to expand on it than the movies that started. While an average person likely wouldn't care about it, anyone who reads the novels will feel cheated if they didn't get something similar to what they've read about.

For someone who had many rules to follow, Lucas did a fabulous job.

For someone who wanted to impress an audience with high expectations, Lucas fell short.

Better luck this year.

Digimon Tamers (2001–2002)

Fixing the major mistakes of the original

[30 January 2002]

Pokemon lost my interest this way.

For some reason, Anime shows seem to have an awesome, action packed 1st season, then an annoying moral based second season, and then a good 3rd season that finds a balance point.

This may be why they switched to Tamers, or just that they ran out of villans, or that they forgot (or purposely) to leave a cliff hanger/open end. To sum it all up, they ruined the entire idea behind digimon. Digimon, to my mind are either the roaming, and may be killing, wild digimon or ones that protect their human friends/partners. The partners are few in number (which they lost in the Digimon World Tour) and are selected to try and remove the evil that is in the digital world. In a perfect series, evil gets beaten up but never removed (just like it is in life).

Tamers goes back to these principles and, at least so far, sticks to them. With it, it losses the requirement for the restraint on violence thus decreasing the morale content, increasing the fighting scenes, and keeping the same hilarious jokes they had for the original series. It is a beautiful save (applause).

Hopefully, like Pokemon seems to be doing right now, it'll just get better.

Digimon: The Movie (2000)

Funny, enjoyable, and is really just three episodes

[8/10 · 30 January 2002]

It took me forever to figure it out, but after enough searching, I found out why.

I found that the movie was a lot like the show, so close that it seemed like they had just thrown three episodes together. The only reason I put up with this, these three 'episodes' were effectively on their own and were referred to briefely in the series (well, 2 of them were).

It ends up that I was half right. after searching, I found out that it isn't three episodes strung together, but currently there are some 6 digimon 'movies' released in Japan, and three of them are in this single movie that we saw in the western world. It seems that the Japanese form of a movie is 30 minutes long (how this works is beyond me).

Outside that, it was enjoyable. I had fun watching it, taping it and watching it again, and catching all the jokes they had. It's what makes the series enjoyable, and it sure saved the movie.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Problems might even screw up sequels (A FEW SPOILERS HERE)

[8/10 · 30 January 2002]

The Following text contains spoilers of this movie and sequels Please refrain from reading if you haven't watched the movie If you have but you haven't read the books, don't read past the line of asterics.

Hello, I'm a major Harry Potter fan. I have read all four books (several times) and I have countless discussions and speculations on how the entire series is being played out with my friends. I love movies but am not an expert on them, but I do enjoy commenting on them. For this movie, I must congradulate Columbus for not just screwing up this movie, but damaging some of the points that are in the upcoming sequels. I couldn't stand the movie. most movies make me sit there, give me the odd thing to laugh about - unless I'm watching a comedy where I'm rolling on the ground not able to hear the next line because I'm laughing so hard for a full 2 hours (which is why I don't watch them in the theater) - and keep my focus but as far as I could tell, there was only one humorous sceen that they wasted in the comercials.

Before I describe what it dents for the upcoming movies, I'd like to describe what was wrong with its translation from the book.

First, and I have had several fights with my mom over this, but I felt that while the Dursleys definitely deserved less screen time than book time, they were cut a bit too short. You just didn't get the feel of the absolute hatred that the Dursleys felt for Harry, or vice versa. Of course, my mom would be perfectly all right if they were cut completely (shakes his head).

Second, (being a major logic person) I wanted to see Snape's challenge. It was a puzzle I would have somewhat liked to have been mapped out in the book (ie, given us an idea of where each of the bottles were) and was hoping for in the movie. By far, that was my greatest disappointment.

Third, I rather enjoy the remarks and retorts that are tossed around between Draco Malfoy and Harry (and there respective friends). However, I guess when you're translating something from book to movie, anything unnecessary must be thrown out. Still, like I said above, there was a considerable lack of humor and the fights Harry and Malfoy have would have made up for it.

Fourth, my friends and I have had an ongoing argument on how to pronounce Hermione. We thought that it was settled in the fourth book when she pronounced it Her - my - oh - nee, whereas in the movie its more like Herm - oh - nee. This is likely not a major issue to most of the world because that's how the majority of the world pronounces it (or so I understand) but I think that when you are trying to decide between what's normal for the world and what the author decreed, you should go with the author.

************************************************************************

Now, my comments on the upcoming movies.

In the book, after the first of the letters from Hogwarts are recieved (and through all the books afterwards) Harry is moved into Dudley's junk toys bedroom at the beginning of the movie. On the one hand, it would be a major flaw in movie magic for him to all of a sudden be in a bedroom but on the other, it is a major flaw in translating the books into movies.

Also, the Quidditch match was fairly long, so I'm interested to see how they manage to get everything into The Prisoner of Azkaban (#3) and all three Quidditch matches. (Though I must say, I enjoyed the different spin on the match that was put in there - mainly the viciousness of Flint).

I hope they don't strip Lucius Malfoy's two parts. They are enjoyable better even than (while we're at it, hopefully they don't remove too much of Dobby either - ie. his being freed and his requirement to start smacking himself with the nearest heavy object).

Digimon: Digital Monsters (1999–2007)

Hilarious (SPOILERS)

[30 January 2002]

Where do I begin?

I loved the show from when I first saw the second episode - because the came right after pokemon and I was too lazy to get out of the chair or get the remote.

The plot through the first season was fabulous. It had masterfully created villains, each with their own personality and an amazing sense of humor.

Unlike Pokemon, the group was larger so you didn't have 3 people to think about, you had the fun pleasure of analyzing between 5 - 8 'good guys' and how they would react. You throw in so many personalities together, you get an incredible show. Note - that is before you add on their digimon and their allies.

While pokemon used humans as the extras, guest appearances and mentors, digimon used, well, digimon and that puts a different spin on things. With digimon, it makes sense that they understand how the digital world works and why everything happens. In pokemon, you have Professers. However, I prefer to listen to Meowth (as annoying as he might be).

REAL SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

In the second season, I was irritated in how they went from a dozen villians to a grand total of 5. It became to redundant. The inclusion of Trainers from around the world and them only going for a day at a time kind of destroyed the season.

I would have liked them to expand on the area of Kari's special powers. They showed up in the second Machinedramon episode ('The Crest of Light' I believe) and early in the second season and then sort of went into thin air. They could have added an extra villian from where they were headed in the second one of those and I was very curious on how she is so special.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Great Movie

[10/10 · 30 January 2002]

The only reason I didn't see this movie twice was because I decided that instead, I'd rather have my second, third and fourth viewing of it all on the same day without going broke. It was a fabulous movie.

I compare it to the only other movie that came out this year that I've seen - Harry Potter. With only a week in between the time I saw each, I felt after Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter was a rip off.

My Dad was telling me a few days before I saw it that I should read the book while my friends were saying that a) The book ruined it and b) there were two many omissions. I didn't hear a word either group said- if Harry Potter gave me anything, it was a lesson, read the book afterwards. That is what seperated me from my friends.

Unfortunately, every rating service in this world has an annoying cap of giving a movie 100% (which translates into 10/10 or 5/5 or whatever). Personally, I have found there are several movies where the mark it deserves is above that limit. Lord of the Rings is not just one of those movies, but serpasses them all. If the world was my way, Lord of the Rings would get 35/10. I don't know, that may be a bit low.

Now to find out how badly it mutilated the books - I am going to read them.