Tag / 2010

by Jaime Rebanal

‘Toy Story 3’ Review: Passing the Enduring Legacy from One Generation to the Next

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Eleven years and eight films later, Pixar brought the Toy Story series back for another spin – but as the fans of the previous films have already grown, the Toy Story series encounters its own sense of growth in the same way. But like the toys themselves in this belated third entry, the franchise has already endured having been forgotten in so long despite having been treasured by longtime fans of Pixar. Now with the challenge of having to reintroduce the familiar Toy Story characters to a new generation of audiences, but also keep the best traits around for those who have stuck so closely with two of Pixar’s very first leaps to the screen. With Lee Unkrich (who previously co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo) now taking over the position of directing from John Lasseter, it’s easy enough to say that a new enough voice has not only managed to reaffirm that the Toy Story films have never lost that touch that made them resonate with audiences back when they came out, but also a sign for what was to come of letting the series grow in our hearts for so long too.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Beyond the Black Rainbow – Review

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Probably the closest that we’ll ever get to a giallo film being made as part of the science fiction genre but when something like Beyond the Black Rainbow has used its own influences in this manner to be such a distinctive work, I can’t help but feel taken in by the experience. To describe what it is that Panos Cosmatos has created with Beyond the Black Rainbow is simple enough, it’s a film that pays homage to the horror and science fiction genres from the 70’s and the 80’s – but given the links that tie back to the artist behind such a dense work only showcase the film’s effectiveness on another level for Cosmatos happens to be the son of George P. Cosmatos of Rambo II and Tombstone fame. Nevertheless, the final results of Beyond the Black Rainbow are sure to baffle, and for the patient viewer, will provide enough to be an all-around fascinating experiment altogether.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Black Swan – Review

✯½

I’ve soured on Darren Aronofsky heavily over the years: I remember when I first saw Requiem for a Dream and initially I thought that it was an emotionally draining experience and now it only ever manages to ring me as exploitative of its own characters’ misery at the hands of an agreeable message. But this was not something I found to be exclusive towards said film, because Black Swan, which may very well be his worst film yet, only manages to rub me in the wrong way for similar reasons. But for the many shortcomings of Requiem for a Dream, it never felt condescending in the way that Black Swan was, among many reasons it has only ever managed to leave such a bitter taste in my mouth. It seems so insistent that perfection leads to equally perfect art, and it’s a product so explicitly mechanical its own message only falls down upon itself and the one thought that came to my mind after finishing up read: “this is why I hate Darren Aronofsky.”

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by Jaime Rebanal

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – Review

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The most basic comic book movies prominent today come from the likes of Marvel and DC, but Edgar Wright bests all of them with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. But for as much as I love Edgar Wright, I’ve always underrated this film since the first day considering I merely came in as a prominent Nintendo gamer and of course in theaters I caught onto the numerous video game references ranging from The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., and Final Fantasy, but even then, it only came perfectly clear to me I still didn’t “get” what the film was saying. But over the years and a journey through Edgar Wright’s body of work, everything had come clear to me about why Scott Pilgrim vs. the World works as perfectly well as it does and it may also be Edgar Wright’s finest film as a director as of yet. For as wonderful as the Cornetto trilogy may be, this one tops the rest in an instant.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Blue Valentine – Review

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I’ve seen Blue Valentine only two times in my life but I don’t suppose it’s the sort of film I’d really rush to revisit, resulting in this review coming straight from memory. Nevertheless it still remains what I believe to be Derek Cianfrance at his best, and so far, the only one that seems to have done anything much for me. Though I’ve been indifferent towards The Place Beyond the Pines and The Light Between Oceans, Blue Valentine is as close as I’ve gotten to finding something absolutely wonderful arising from him. Yet for the strong dedication I find inside of the craft I’ve always struggled finding compulsion to revisit it and none of it has anything to do with the film being bad at all, but because the film’s subject matter and how it has been approached always had been so troubling for myself. Nevertheless I’d imagine that was the intent and for what it is, it was a triumph.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Beginners – Review

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Evidently this is a really personal story on the end of Mike Mills and I can only imagine the sort of poignancy it would carry towards his end but no matter how much I try, I can’t find myself connecting with it to the degree I hope for. There’s a degree to which I wish I could find myself loving Beginners to, based upon my own expectations after the wonderful 20th Century Women, but in itself I just find a work too difficult especially where it shouldn’t be. A rewatch that came after having fallen head over heels for 20th Century Women had me hoping that I would find myself loving Mike Mills’s Beginners on the count that it tells of something touching at this point of one’s life, but unfortunately the attachment feels suffocated at its very worst, and it’s a prominent feeling that I come across with these quirky indie films.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Somewhere – Review

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At times I feel bad I don’t enjoy Sofia Coppola as much as I wish because I find it rather easy to recognize the sort of energy she puts into her work because talent is oozing on every frame, but at the same time some of her films are a struggle for me to find complete investment in. While the notable exception of Lost in Translation stands out as her strongest film (considering the fact that it also happens to be one of my own all-time favourite films), the closest that she has ever managed to come to topping what she presented in said film is within 2011’s Somewhere. But I look at how Sofia Coppola handles similar subject matter and it all makes sense on the spot, but maybe it could be in her approach to these topics where I find her at some of her most fascinating.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Tangled – Review

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The tale of Rapunzel was never one that appealed to me even as a kid, but after seeing what The Princess and the Frog had managed to do with its own spin on the story of the same name, I figured that Tangled might be something else to add to their own streak of success. Disney’s 50th animated feature is not something that we can recognize only as merely just the tale of Rapunzel anymore but in the same manner to which The Princess and the Frog is striking back towards their Renaissance era by adapting a well-known story for the screen, Tangled plays upon Disney’s old tradition which has always suited their work during such period so perfectly and as a result creates an entertaining final product.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Crazies (2010) – Review

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George A. Romero’s original The Crazies was never exactly one of his best works as a director even though it is still entertaining enough while it lasted, but it’s easy to see why it earned the status of a cult classic. In 2010, Breck Eisner came around to offer his own spin on the same story and the results that come out not only result in one of the best examples of a horror movie remake in recent years but one that also is a good film at that. Breck Eisner’s take on George A. Romero’s The Crazies is not only something better than it even has much right to be and quite amazingly, it’s actually a rather solid ride. It may not be a great film at that, but even the original is not a film I would view under such a light. Continue reading →

by Jaime Rebanal

Twelve – Review

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Joel Schumacher is a filmmaker whom at his best can be quite interesting to watch – but such a standard is so rare inside of his body of work knowing what feels so common for films under his own eye. Twelve is yet another one of these scenarios, but what surprised me is that even though it is quite evidently a bad film, it was still a tolerable one to watch. It seems fitting that the best way in order to describe Twelve is that it is a film that merely exists, without any reason to, but there’s nothing going against the fact that it already does. You can at least credit it on the count that it has at least one sense of an admirable intention, but the way everything is executed is so sloppy from first moment to last – it only presents a feeling of pure nothingness. Continue reading →