Comments on: Live Free Or Die Hard; Ratatouille

By: QTM

QTM — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:52:27 +0000

Yes, I was referring to “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You,” sung by Donny Osmond.

I was perturbed by the adverting from Mulan, though. The commercials and trailers always said that she “impersonated a warrior,” instead to the more accurate, and more empowered, she “became a warrior.”

By: leemoder

leemoder — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:40:27 +0000

Really enjoyed Die Hard. Something about watching the indestructible John McClane in action again just brings a big fat smile to my face. Like that they take full advantage of the fact that he’s getting older. Fun, loud and unapolegetically ridiculous. Just odd watching Timothy Olyphant without that giant-ass Deadwood mustache.

Now, as far as the Pixar goes…I generally dig their stuff, but Cars. Yeesh. Is it me, or was there something very unnerving about a world full of sentient machines and nothing else? Felt like the Terminators won and discovered old Smurf VHS collections.

Heard there’s a possibility of an Incredibles 2. Anything to hear more of that retro-Bond-ish score from the first flick.

By: Oliver Willis

Oliver Willis — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 16:02:23 +0000

Re: Mulan, do you mean I’ll Make A Man Out Of You? If so, yes, that song is kickass.

We are men!

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:34:55 +0000

And not to offer Gore III any slack, but it’s worth noting that he was driving a hybrid Prius. So for as dumb and irresponsible as he has behaved, he wasn’t behaving counter to his father’s environmental ideals.

Mary Cheney’s lesbianism…and, for that matter, her motherhood…is relevant because the base she helped whip up in support of her father would like nothing more than for Mary Cheney to go away, convert to heterosexuality, die, or some righteous combination of all three. They would love to forcibly remove that child from her custody because Michael Savage thinks having gay parents is “child abuse.”

By: C.S.Strowbridge

C.S.Strowbridge — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:07:29 +0000

“Double standard much?”

It’s called hypocrisy, you idiot.

When the Bush administration says lesbians are a threat to American families, then their sexual orientation becomes an issue.

Why is this so hard for right-wingers to understand?

By: madprofessah

madprofessah — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:15:03 +0000

Oooops, I forgot MONSTERS INC.

Probably put it ahead of TOY STORY 2 but behind RATATOUILLE. They are pretty close, in my mind.

By: mad professah

mad professah — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:12:23 +0000

My ranking would go

THE INCREDIBLES
FINDING NEMO
TOY STORY
RATATOUILLE
TOY STORY 2
BUG’S LIFE
CARS

As for the Lilo & Stitch controversy…I thought it was “aight.”

By: QTM

QTM — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:26:47 +0000

Bruce Willis can be a terrific actor when he wants to be — when he chooses material which gets his tongue out of his cheek. Unfortunately, he chooses to do so only rarely. Anybody remember “Shatterday” from the mid-80’s Twilight Zone? Bruce Willis was fabulous.

Lilo and Stitch is one of my favorites — good characters, with development. Along with Mulan, it was the best of the post-Lion King Disney animated movies, most of which I’ll agree were pretty bad. Mulan features the most kick-ass Donny Osmond song EVER, which must mean something, though I am not sure what…

By: Oliver Willis

Oliver Willis — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:15:52 +0000

Last I checked the Gores and the party to which they are a member do not launch wars on a whim their families could sign up for, or lecture us on their supposedly superior morality. My site is not a news service or a water-carrier for Republican propaganda.

By: pjr

pjr — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:03:50 +0000

Just gotta say that Bruce Willis is the most overrated actor in Hollywood, and that is saying a Helluva lot for a town built on falsehoods.

But more power to him; if he can convince people that a guy close to sixty can take on an entire army of criminala by himself, and do it all barefoot while tons of shards of glass fall all around him, maybe he has more chops than I thought.

Uhhhhh…….no.

By: Jay Tea

Jay Tea — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 01:30:49 +0000

Strangely enough, Oliver (who can’t get enough news about the Bush twins, and was positively salivating over Mary Cheney’s lesbianism) has not a word to say about Alber Gore III demonstrating the skills he learned at the Ted Kennedy School Of Driving.

Double standard much?

By: ArC

ArC — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 01:25:21 +0000

My own take, SpiderJ, is that Bird’s previous work (consulting on the Simpsons, Iron Giant, Incredibles) shows he has terrific storytelling instincts, so if he was called in to perform surgery on the patient it was probably necessary surgery. I wouldn’t say it was an unqualified success, but the movie almost works.

As for how they sold it, well, I guess Pixar was riding high enough to make some gamples and the “rat wants to be a cook” concept, with its inherent conflicts, certainly has promise.

By: zak822

zak822 — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:25:20 +0000

“…making a movie with A GOOD STORY.”

Yes! Yes! again.

That delicate point keeps getting lost in todays world of filmaking.

More producers should study the art of storytelling. If they did they’d make more money and I’d have more movies I want to see.

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:45:59 +0000

ArC - The question remains, then…how did the original director sell that premise?

A recent CNN article on PIxar implied that the original director stepped down, but did so in part due to pressure from above.

By: Fredric

Fredric — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:07:35 +0000

transformers ftw!

By: ArC

ArC — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:02:55 +0000

How the hell did he sell that premise?

He didn’t. Ratatouille was conceived of, and initiated by another director at Pixar, who (as far as I know) voluntarily stepped down partway through production.

By: Jay

Jay — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:34:44 +0000

Oliver, I’m with you on Lilo & Stitch. I hated it.

By: Garrett

Garrett — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:17:41 +0000

Dude, in the same week you take potshots at Howard Zinn and Lilo and Stitch? What sort of man are you?

By: jerry

jerry — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:45:01 +0000

I agree 100% about the importance of the story, but add me to the objectively pro-Lili-and-Stitch commentary insurgency.

Ironically for Disney, they knew the importance of story at one time.

By: Mungen_Cakes

Mungen_Cakes — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:18:07 +0000

Brad Bird is good. He’s done the Rat movie and the Incredible movie for Pixar but before that he did Iron Giant, which was also an animated Highly underrated in my opinion. And all that that implies.

If you’re going to make a movie about a cooking rat it better be good or you will never make another. How the hell did he sell that premise?