tsel-3 Reviews

Pan (2015)

Loved it!

[10/10 · 10 October 2015]

Look, I like Peter Pan. It's always been one of my favorite stories. I've got a super cute picture of me at Halloween of my kindergarten year in my award-winning "most original" Peter Pan costume. So while I realize that there's a lot of things that are problematic about the book, I still think there's incredible value in a story that suggest to children that viewing their own inevitable deaths as "an awfully big adventure."

If you are not a person who appreciates Peter Pan, don't go see the film. It's not like Hook, Robin Williams isn't there to charm you despite yourself.

Pan is a damn fine reimagining of the story you already love. It's visually stunning and occasionally bizarre, surreal like the best dreams. The soundtrack was great, and I liked the 3D effects, although I noticed my friend occasionally having some trouble with them.

I was pretty pleased with the acting. Levi Miller was engaging and believable. Rooney Mara was one bad-ass young lady. Hugh Jackman was his own insane pirate - not anyone else's. And Garrett Hedlund seemed aware that he was not Dustin Hoffman or Cyril Ritchard and took his character in a very different.

I was also pretty pleased with the way the movie handled the whole issue of "Indians!" Basically, they weren't presented as Indians at all, just a really interesting tribe of people. There were certainly cultural elements, but the visual was way more "raver" than anything else.

I feel like I should probably come up with some strong conclusion here, like the value of friendship, or whatever, but honestly, if you are a fan of the whole thing, you should go. If you aren't, you're a cynical jerk and I probably didn't like you anyway.

TLDR: Up yours, hater critics.

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Better than expected

[7/10 · 22 July 2006]

Despite the casting of Daines and DeCaprio in the lead roles in this movie, this is not a bad film. Enjoy the performances of the rest of the cast, particularly Pete Postlethwaite and Paul Sorvino.

For a fan of Shakespeare, it's interesting to note the way the characters and their voices seamlessly blend into the modern world. The roaming youths of both houses are easily believable as gang bangers, and noble lords easily become wealthy tycoons. The changes in the ages at which we consider marriage does create some dissonance, but so do a number of Shakespeare's plot devices in the modern world. All in all, enjoy the story, and the shiny, and the fluid way that the actors convey the meaning of the archaic dialect.

Exiled (1998 TV Movie)

Not half bad.

[7/10 · 19 November 2005]

Law & Order fans will appreciate the return of Chris Noth to the setting, and also the slightly longer look at New York City, which obviously cannot be caught in the pacing of a regular episode. The film does seem to attempt to crowd in a few too many Law & Order characters from the period and the years previous to it, and sometimes the pacing is a little slow. Dana Eskelson is adorable as a Logan's partner, a detective who grew up around the Uzielli crime family, and takes this and her status as a woman on the force to mean she has something to prove. Ice-T is hilarious as an absurdly named pimp, but Nicole Ari Parker's performance as victim's sister and Logan's love interest is lackluster and unconvincing. All in all, this movie is not a waste of your time, if you are a Law & Order junkie like the rest of us.