Movie Monday: Ace Ventura

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with another classic comedy film. It’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective!

Plot: The plot is ridiculously silly, but when you consider that the lead star is Jim Carrey that’s par for the course. It’s an okay family movie, but it will be a bit grating for the older members.

Casting: The cast of course includes Jim Carrey as Ace, but also has Dan Marino as himself and Courtney Cox as Melissa Robinson with Tone Loc as Officer Emilio and Sean Young as Einhorn. Despite the plot being pretty terrible the acting itself is fairly good, with Carrey being his normal outrageously expressive self. Fun fact: Alan Rickman (who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter Films) was once pitched as Ace Ventura.

Cinematography: The film really didn’t have much special effects to speak of so it’s fairly lackluster in that area.

Music: The music fit the film and that’s really all that can be said of it.

Overall: A silly movie that most kids will enjoy, but older family members will cringe quite often.

For those who like: Jim Carrey, Pets, “Mysteries”, Ridiculous Plots.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Movie Monday: The Prestige

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with a really depressing movie. It’s The Prestige!

Plot: This is a movie all about stage magicians, and the only reason I remembered ever watching it was because someone mentioned the name Tesla recently and I remembered watching a movie about magicians with him in it. In fact even looking up this movie made me remember how utterly depressing this particular movie is. I won’t reveal the trick, because spoilers; and that’s just not what you do with magic tricks, but I will say this is not a movie with a happily ever after.

Casting: The cast has some pretty big names, like Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johansson. They all play central characters and while I enjoyed them in their role, it didn’t take away from the utterly depressing mood of the film which just goes to show how well they can act.

Cinematography: The cinematography is pretty amazing, it’s not up there with something like the Star Wars films but it was good nonetheless.

Music: The score is decent, it fits the film but isn’t anything amazing.

Overall: This is a really depressing movie, but has some really well done acting and cinematography. If you can handle the former the latter is definitely worth watching for.

For those who like: Being really depressed, Amazing Acting, Great Cinematography.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Movie Monday: Crocodile Dundee

Hey all I’m back with a true classic film for this week’s Movie Monday. It’s Crocodile Dundee!

Plot: The plot is okay, it’s fairly stereotypical by today’s standards and even back then it was pretty cliched. However the acting and characters make up for that lackluster plot.

Casting: Paul Hogan is the titular character, Michael Dundee, and he does an awesome job at portraying him. That said it’s super stereotypical. The rest of the cast is just as good though with Linda Kozlowski portraying the female lead Sue.

Cinematography: The special effects are pretty well done although they are a bit cheesy to look at by today’s standards.

Music: The musical score is good, but not particularly noteworthy.

Overall: This is a true classic film, if a bit filled with cheesy stereotypes.

For those who like: Comedy, Romance, Action, Australian Accents.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or stereotypes played absolutely straight.

Movie Monday: Hook

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with a cult classic. It’s Hook!

Plot: The plot is okay, and while Hook has critically received a incredibly low rating it’s still supposedly gained a cult following in the years since. Though whether that’s due to it being terrible or great I couldn’t really say personally as I’m not a huge movie fan as I’ve stated before.

Casting: The casting is good, although the script and directing did lead to actors not really doing their best, which is a pity when you consider that Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman were the two big stars, with Julia Roberts playing Tinker Bell. The rest of the cast is okay, and if you pay close attention you might even see some other famous faces in some cameos, like Carrie Fisher.

Cinematography: The set pieces weren’t that amazing, and the special effects were merely okay, which considering that Spielberg directed this film is saying something since he usually does a pretty good job.

Music: The music is okay, but again not the best, and amusingly enough Hook lost the Academy Award for Best Original Song to a song from Aladdin, which Williams was a part of.

Overall: This is a decent movie, but it’s not super amazing and the special effects leave a lot to be desired.

For those who like: Fantasy, Peter Pan, Robin Williams.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Movie Monday: Big

This week for Movie Monday I’m back with another classic movie. It’s Big!

Plot: The movie’s plot is pretty stereotypical however the way Big showed the typical “I wish I was an adult already” so often uttered by kids was rather unique at the time. It’s also fairly funny and has an appeal to pretty much everyone. Even if you haven’t seen Big, you’ve most likely at least seen clips of at least one scene.

Casting: Tom Hanks is the actor for the movie playing the adult version of Josh and he does a spectacular job of it. The entire cast is pretty great, with some really well done performances by Elizabeth Perkins and Robert Loggia as the other central characters of the film.

Cinematography: There aren’t really any big special effects in Big so there aren’t many flashy scenes. However there is one particular scene that is pretty much timeless out of the entire movie, and that’s the scene in FAO Schwarz playing on the piano by Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia. That’s a scene that I’ll always remember and think fondly of, and I’m sure I’m not the only person to have such feelings.

Overall: Honestly this is a really classic movie, so if you haven’t seen it you really ought to at least once.

For those who like: Comedy, Coming of Age stories, Tom Hanks, Great Story, Fantastic Casting.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but really if you haven’t seen it, you ought to see it at least once.