GRcade

more heat than light wrote:The abrupt ending to Unbreakable really annoyed me, I'd still vote Sixth Sense above it. But yeah, those two over everything else. Absolutely hated The Village.

Finish.Last wrote:Peppa Pig : My First Cinema Experience

6/10

This brave, boundary-pushing commentary on society's increasing need to demonstrate as publicly as possible how much it's enjoying itself is ultimately disappointing but deserves credit both for tackling such a red-hot topic and for it's genre-mashing, media-munching execution.

The opening act is essentially a 'strawberry float you' to its audience, defying their expectations and playing roughly with their finely-tuned cinema-literacy. You could feel the unease in the air as the films opening gambit played out; a girl, human (just), busies herself in an otherwise empty but idyllic garden, teasing some blooms into another perfect display which no-one will see. It might not be the most subtle admonishment of what we have become, but good Lord, it's devastating. Brutal.

The challenges don't stop there, though. Within seconds, just as one is beginning to settle, to comprehend the visual maze with which one is presented, the girl looks directly onto camera - she knows the audience is there, watching. She stops what she is doing, and skips - skips! - towards the audience. Then, in a piece of cinema likely to be spoken about in the same tones as the finest flourishes of Spielberg, Tarantino, Kubrick, she addresses them directly.

"Hello!" she (almost) sings, and we the audience are immediately guilty. She knows we are there, all of us voyeurs, we who have paid to view, silently, this life unfold before us. It's astonishing, powerful....and compelling. We are what we are, we realise, and we can't stop looking.

Before long, a familiar voice is heard - it's Peppa. "Thank goodness!" we think. "Here is our salvation, our touchstone in this helter-skelter world!". But, shockingly, as our hero is finally seen on screen, it is not what we expect. This Peppa is a puppet - and you don't need me to tell you the significance of that. She is joined quickly by George, and before long the three of them have begun to raise their voices in defiant song, imploring the audience to join in, louder - louder! It is rare, surely, that 'The Wheels On The Bus' has been lent such meaning. Later, we are asked to ROAR as a dinosaur might, and the existential anguish of a generation is spewed forth with the unfettered joy of pure freedom!

To reveal more of the plot would be to diminish its impact; early on, a whirlwind tour of London features a stunning bus chase through the city and an extraordinary stunt at Tower Bridge (and an intelligent tip of the hat to The Italian Job is beautifully apt), but the middle section is flabby and begins to lose focus (Captain Dog's canal boat journey is a little too portentous, without ever really satisfying) and although by the time the action swings around to Australia (where some shocking antics with a boomerang are difficult to watch once, let alone repeated three times) there has been some moments of levity, ultimately the focus has been lost and perhaps the key message diluted.

"You'll come back, won't you?" implores Peppa at the films denouement. We probably will, we think, but this time we'll be prepared.

chalkitdown wrote:Split 8/10 M. Night's return to form? You betcha! It has some clunky and expository dialogue for sure (the Psychiatrist's lines during the M. Night cameo scene was a huge wtf. Who talks like that? ) but on the whole it was a really great watch. Amazing performances from McAvoy and Taylor-Joy. There's something incredibly alluring about her wide-set eyes that I find hard to look away from. She's been excellent in everything I've seen her in up to now. She's gonna be a huge star for sure.

That ending, though. strawberry floating hype as strawberry float. How did I not have that spoiled? When that music kicked in I immediately recognized it and was grinning from ear to ear when the credits rolled. I hope the sequel is one of those rare roles where Bruce Willis gives a strawberry float again. He hasn't for a while, now, maybe not since Looper. The whole movie gets even better when you realize it's a supervillian origin story. Bring on Unbreakable/Split 2

Also, this movie made almost $300m off a $9m budget, holy gooseberry fool! How has M. Night actually managed it? He's been a laughing stock for the better part of 10 years now and suddenly he's super successful again out of the blue. Amazing achievement, really. I hope he gets his mojo back again for good because he's such a talented filmmaker when he wants to be.

Anyway, Unbreakable > 6th Sense > Signs/Split > The Village > the rest are all crap (though I haven't seen The Visit).

Brerlappin wrote:On the subject of M. Night dingdong, The Visit was actually pretty good I thought.

Albear wrote:You hated sixth sense? how come?

Albear wrote:You hated sixth sense? how come?