Groverdox
Joined Sep 2014
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Groverdox's rating
It's interesting returning to something that was a part of your childhood as an adult. You can see it somewhat like the way adults saw it when it came out.
I feel like I can actually remember the controversy around this movie, and its franchise. Now I can understand why it was there, even though the fear that people had that the Turtles would corrupt the youth obviously didn't come true.
Look at it objectively: the Turtles are junk-food loving mutants who live in a sewer, are advised by a giant rat, and are mostly only possible to tell apart by the different weapons they use, i.e., the way they do violence to each other.
Not really the best of role models, but of course now we know that the role models that really matter in a child's life are the people they actually know.
About that violence, though. I was actually kind of surprised at how violent this movie is, being that it's aimed pretty much exclusively at little boys. I want to stress that it's not the "Home Alone" type of violence, which is like a cartoon come to life. At one point, someone gets hit with a hockey stick and it actually looks like it would have hurt.
I don't blame people for being concerned. I would be, if I had a kid watching this.
What's interesting is that the only actor I actually recognised among the main cast is Elias Koteas, who I now realise was totally miscast. Casey Jones used to be my favourite character (next to Raphael, of course). He was famous for his roles in Atom Egoyan's arthouse pics in his native Canada. He came to America, and was cast in a TMNT flick? His intense looks and gravitas belong in the lower-budget, intense drama flicks he was apparently trying to distance himself from. He doesn't have the look or the style for a kids' movie like this, kind of like Bob Hoskins in the Mario brothers movie.
I loved this movie as a kid, so I guess I'm sorry to say it doesn't really hold up, and probably won't be that enjoyable for adults revisiting it. I was conscious of the problems people had with the franchise way back when, and I also found it hard to relate to the Turtles, who just look and seem weird as hell. Them being genetic mutations didn't bother me at all when I was six. Now I just don't know what to think.
I feel like I can actually remember the controversy around this movie, and its franchise. Now I can understand why it was there, even though the fear that people had that the Turtles would corrupt the youth obviously didn't come true.
Look at it objectively: the Turtles are junk-food loving mutants who live in a sewer, are advised by a giant rat, and are mostly only possible to tell apart by the different weapons they use, i.e., the way they do violence to each other.
Not really the best of role models, but of course now we know that the role models that really matter in a child's life are the people they actually know.
About that violence, though. I was actually kind of surprised at how violent this movie is, being that it's aimed pretty much exclusively at little boys. I want to stress that it's not the "Home Alone" type of violence, which is like a cartoon come to life. At one point, someone gets hit with a hockey stick and it actually looks like it would have hurt.
I don't blame people for being concerned. I would be, if I had a kid watching this.
What's interesting is that the only actor I actually recognised among the main cast is Elias Koteas, who I now realise was totally miscast. Casey Jones used to be my favourite character (next to Raphael, of course). He was famous for his roles in Atom Egoyan's arthouse pics in his native Canada. He came to America, and was cast in a TMNT flick? His intense looks and gravitas belong in the lower-budget, intense drama flicks he was apparently trying to distance himself from. He doesn't have the look or the style for a kids' movie like this, kind of like Bob Hoskins in the Mario brothers movie.
I loved this movie as a kid, so I guess I'm sorry to say it doesn't really hold up, and probably won't be that enjoyable for adults revisiting it. I was conscious of the problems people had with the franchise way back when, and I also found it hard to relate to the Turtles, who just look and seem weird as hell. Them being genetic mutations didn't bother me at all when I was six. Now I just don't know what to think.
I'm so glad for the continued existence of filmmakers like Bruno Dumont in this world of endless remakes, reboots, sequels, prequels. I mean, those that adore Wes Anderson for the uniqueness of his vision never saw a flick like "L'Empire". None of the descriptions I've read online really describe it adequately, and I don't think I can either, but since I write reviews of every movie I see, I'm going to give it a try.
The movie is described on Wikipedia as a parody of the Star Wars movies and big budget Hollywood flicks in general, set in Dumont's home of coastal northern France.
In what way is it really a parody of anything, though? The only ways in which the movie references Star Wars is that there's footage of spaceships and two of the characters have lightsabres for some reason. I wonder if Lucas has sued them for that yet. If you broke wind right now and it sounded like the opening bars of Imperial March you'd probably get a cease & decease letter in the mail from him tomorrow morning.
Aside from that, the movie does the typical French flick thing of having two utter babes in the cast, and then showing them being pursued and even coupled with some weird looking guys. The two who get the most screentime both kind of look like rats. One of the two looks like a younger version of Splinter from Ninja Turtles. He has rodent-like facial features, and the fact that he is very hairy adds to the effect.
The Splinter-looking guy decapitates a couple of people with his lightsabre for some reason, and the other guy effortlessly seduces one of the babes, saying to her "Regarde!" ("Look!") when he should have told her to "feel", because he grabs her hand and puts it on his groin.
How was this parodic of Hollywood? There was some guy who looked like Barry Humphries as Les Patterson dressed like Harlequin in a flying cathedral saying some things. Was he supposed to be the main bad guy? I also remember a bit toward the end with a bunch of horses gathering. Maybe it was supposed to be like a showdown between the good guys and the bad guys, though I don't know if there really was one... or if the movie really had good guys or bad guys. Hollywood flicks always has those, but French ones don't necessarily.
I don't know. I didn't really get it, but I did kind of enjoy it.
The movie is described on Wikipedia as a parody of the Star Wars movies and big budget Hollywood flicks in general, set in Dumont's home of coastal northern France.
In what way is it really a parody of anything, though? The only ways in which the movie references Star Wars is that there's footage of spaceships and two of the characters have lightsabres for some reason. I wonder if Lucas has sued them for that yet. If you broke wind right now and it sounded like the opening bars of Imperial March you'd probably get a cease & decease letter in the mail from him tomorrow morning.
Aside from that, the movie does the typical French flick thing of having two utter babes in the cast, and then showing them being pursued and even coupled with some weird looking guys. The two who get the most screentime both kind of look like rats. One of the two looks like a younger version of Splinter from Ninja Turtles. He has rodent-like facial features, and the fact that he is very hairy adds to the effect.
The Splinter-looking guy decapitates a couple of people with his lightsabre for some reason, and the other guy effortlessly seduces one of the babes, saying to her "Regarde!" ("Look!") when he should have told her to "feel", because he grabs her hand and puts it on his groin.
How was this parodic of Hollywood? There was some guy who looked like Barry Humphries as Les Patterson dressed like Harlequin in a flying cathedral saying some things. Was he supposed to be the main bad guy? I also remember a bit toward the end with a bunch of horses gathering. Maybe it was supposed to be like a showdown between the good guys and the bad guys, though I don't know if there really was one... or if the movie really had good guys or bad guys. Hollywood flicks always has those, but French ones don't necessarily.
I don't know. I didn't really get it, but I did kind of enjoy it.
"The Beekeeper" is exactly what you expect from a Jason Statham movie. Somebody hurts somebody close to Statham, so he goes on a quest for revenge. Evil's punished, the end.
I guess they know what the fans want, though no doubt that group is steadily shrinking, because that's what happens when you don't take risks or try to do anything to bring in any new fans. It's like all those formulaic Steven Seagal movies with three word titles. The lack of ambition becomes annoying.
The one interesting thing here is that in this movie, Statham is after scammers who cost his landlady her life savings. It's interesting because this is such a real world problem. Probably anybody with elderly people in their lives that they care for is worried about this happening to them.
I was thinking, usually these movies are pure escapism, with little, if anything, to remind you of real world problems. I didn't expect the movie to use such a realistic premise, but of course, after that, all realism goes out the window, not that I'm complaining.
The movie has too many bad guys. (What the hell is Jeremy Irons doing in it?) It's not until we meet a guy played by UK-born South African Taylor James that we meet a guy who really makes an impression. It takes too long for him to come into the movie though.
I guess they know what the fans want, though no doubt that group is steadily shrinking, because that's what happens when you don't take risks or try to do anything to bring in any new fans. It's like all those formulaic Steven Seagal movies with three word titles. The lack of ambition becomes annoying.
The one interesting thing here is that in this movie, Statham is after scammers who cost his landlady her life savings. It's interesting because this is such a real world problem. Probably anybody with elderly people in their lives that they care for is worried about this happening to them.
I was thinking, usually these movies are pure escapism, with little, if anything, to remind you of real world problems. I didn't expect the movie to use such a realistic premise, but of course, after that, all realism goes out the window, not that I'm complaining.
The movie has too many bad guys. (What the hell is Jeremy Irons doing in it?) It's not until we meet a guy played by UK-born South African Taylor James that we meet a guy who really makes an impression. It takes too long for him to come into the movie though.