Monday, April 18, 2016

Creed [2015] review

The movie was decently entertaining.  I hadn't heard a bad thing about it, so I expected it to blow me away.  When it didn't, I was a little let down. 

1)  I appreciate that the movie decided to give Michael B. Jordan's character a love interest, but I don't think he needed one.  The movie could have been shorter and they could have expanded on his and Rocky's (aka Unc's) relationship.

2)  Speaking of Rocky, I didn't get why he just suddenly decided to train Adonis.  I appreciate him going to the grave of his late wife and brother in law, but it would have been better if he visited Apollo's grave or even visited Apollo's wife in LA to have a battle on conscience.  It would have served the story better to actually see him battle with the decision and see the weight of Apollo's death being put back into his mind, but I just didn't feel it.

3)  The stat cards for each boxer - what was the point?  As a person that doesn't follow boxing, I don't know if these were real boxers based on their real stats or if this was just a way to quickly show that this untrained kid was way over his head because everyone he was fighting had flawless, near perfect records. 

4)  The Adonis battle to fight to make a name for himself and not live in his father's shadow when paralleled with Rocky's battle with cancer was good writing.  The movie took a small step back at the end when his mom left him a present and the note said make a name for yourself, and the boxers said Creed on them (as well as Johnson) and were the same color as Creed's from Rocky IV so probably not the best way to make a name for yourself by mimicking your dad's style.

5)  When Adonis's eye was swollen, I was half expecting a "Cut me, Rock" to mimic the famous "Cut me, Mick", but it never came, so again, maybe my expectations were too high but this movie was just ok and I can kind of see it as a reboot to the franchise if they powers that be wanted to do it that way and make a Creed II.  Michael B. Jordan was great in the roll and if he does play Creed and Stallone plays Rocky again in the future, then hopefully both and not just one of them will get an Oscar nomination.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Doctor Zhivago [1965] review

+ all around good acting, but Julie Christie stood out as the star, it's a shame she wasn't in it as much as it follows the doctor

- the back drop of the movie was the Russian Revolution, but I didn't think the movie did a good job explaining the sides and if having a czar was a good or bad thing until the everyone in the movie was happy that there was one, while the "enemy" was still operating under their own agenda and did whatever they wanted without an apparent opposition

+ the movie was essentially a flashback as Alec Guinness explains to a girl who may or may not be his niece the story of his brother, the doctor. The movie is bookended by those scenes with Alec Guinness and the girl and the end ties together a certain "Rosebud"-esque theme found in the movie

- I didn't understand how the doctor had a brother when he wasn't present at the funeral. I think they mentioned something about he being with their father, but if that was the case, why wasn't the doctor with his brother and father instead of a family that took him in. If it was explained, I missed it

+/- The movie is beautifully shot similar to "Lawrence of Arabia", but just like it, this movie has a run time of 3 and 1/2 hours.

- Musically, "Lara's Theme" stands out and I felt was a bit over used in the film