Rated PG
1 hour 40 minutes
Storyline:
The long-haired Princess Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but when she falls in love with a bandit who was passing by she must venture into the outside world for the first time to find him.
Voice Cast of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi
Critics Grade: 87%
My Grade: B+
Tangled is the exact kind of movie that Disney does best. Animated, of course. These types of movies typical, but not always, have some form of princess or princess to be. Then a dashing man who is typically a thief, beggar, or some kind of low life, low class person comes in to be her savior. Of course Tangled isn't that original of a movie, but with Disney you don't and shouldn't expect that. I don't mean that in a negative way either. Their target audience is children. Children do NOT care or even realize they are watching the same kind of movies over and over again. These movies makes kids laugh and make them happy. That being said, I thought Tangled was a perfect movie for the whole family to enjoy. It has a sweet, charming little story. The main characters are funny and very likable. They get into all sorts of trouble and dilemmas that they have to narrowly escape in humorous ways. Kids eat this stuff up, and this is nothing different. I honestly believe most younger children will have a blast with this movie. The animation is great, and the movie never dulls down. It, at least I think, will keep a child's attention. The best character is probably the horse Maximus. He's awesome.
Which get's me to my next point...I as an adult had a great time watching the movie as well. Disney and Pixar as well, know how to make a movie these days that will keep not only the kids attention but the parents as well. I laughed an ample amount of times throughout the movie. All the characters had their quirky and funny little moments that adults can appreciate. It's hard for me to say anything negative about a movie like this because they are here to entertain our youth and movies like this aren't required to be fancy and artsy and blah blah...all the stuff you see in a lot of grown up movies these days. It's nice to take a step back in the old time capsule and remember when I was a kid and used to watch movies like this. I'm glad this tradition is still alive. I'm glad kids will have movies like this to remember. It is a pretty memorable movie after all. The only thing I really didn't care for was the music. Disney is also well known for making some of the most memorable and classic film songs of all time. None of them here really stuck in my head after they were done...and I don't remember a single song from the movie whatsoever. But again...not that big of a gripe. This is a good movie for everyone in your family...in my opinion. Not the best animated movie of the year, and certainly not Disney's best. Still though, a very solid addition to their wonderful and magical collection.
Which get's me to my next point...I as an adult had a great time watching the movie as well. Disney and Pixar as well, know how to make a movie these days that will keep not only the kids attention but the parents as well. I laughed an ample amount of times throughout the movie. All the characters had their quirky and funny little moments that adults can appreciate. It's hard for me to say anything negative about a movie like this because they are here to entertain our youth and movies like this aren't required to be fancy and artsy and blah blah...all the stuff you see in a lot of grown up movies these days. It's nice to take a step back in the old time capsule and remember when I was a kid and used to watch movies like this. I'm glad this tradition is still alive. I'm glad kids will have movies like this to remember. It is a pretty memorable movie after all. The only thing I really didn't care for was the music. Disney is also well known for making some of the most memorable and classic film songs of all time. None of them here really stuck in my head after they were done...and I don't remember a single song from the movie whatsoever. But again...not that big of a gripe. This is a good movie for everyone in your family...in my opinion. Not the best animated movie of the year, and certainly not Disney's best. Still though, a very solid addition to their wonderful and magical collection.
127 Hours
Rated R
1 hour 31 minutes
Storyline:
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive. This is the true story of Aron Ralstons fight to live.
Starring James Franco
Critics Grade: 93%
My Grade: A-
Rated R
1 hour 31 minutes
Storyline:
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive. This is the true story of Aron Ralstons fight to live.
Starring James Franco
Critics Grade: 93%
My Grade: A-
The more I think about this film, the more powerful it really becomes to me. After first viewing, I thought, well that was a pretty decent movie with a great lead performance but I felt it was missing something. But now after some thinking I've realized: oh my gosh, I just watched a story unfold in movie form that actually happened to a man in real life. I knew going in this was a true story of course. I knew what the outcome would be. But it didn't sink in until hours after watching the film how unbelievably real and tragic this story was. The movie is directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle (the brilliant Slumdog Millionaire) and he does a fantastic job at bringing this tale to life. With what he had, virtually a one man show about a man trapped under a rock, he does a phenomenal job making us feel part of the story.
For those who don't know, Aron Ralston was hiking back in 2003 and was climbing down a crack in the terrain. He was trying to us a boulder for support but the boulder shook loose and it came tumbling down and Ralston came with it. The boulder landed on his right arm and it became stuck. He was unable to movie the boulder and could not free his arm. He never told anyone where he was going, and he was so far down the crack that no one could hear him screaming. He spent 5 days, roughly 127 hours in this situation. He had minimal water, almost no food. His arm virtually decayed and he lost weight rapidly due to lack of water. Eventually, and this is no spoiler alert, he intentionally broke both bones in his arm and started to cut off his arm with a small dull blade he had.
The movie is probably 95% in that cave with just James Franco and the rock. The beginning we see him starting his adventure and meeting up with some girls. Then periodically throughout the film we see very brief glimpses into his life through quick flashbacks or hallucinations. But mainly...it's just him and the rock. Boyle does some master class work here. I felt totally immersed in this mans dilemma. This is easily one of the most claustrophobic movies I've ever seen. Many close shots of James Franco and we never see to much outside of what he can see. I really got a fairly accurate sense of his pain and suffering. I could not even imagine what he went through, but this film demonstrates pretty well what it was like down there for him. If you don't like movies that stay in one place for almost the whole film...you may not care for this one. It will definitely make you feel unnerved and maybe even a bit queasy.
The best part about the movie, hands down, is the performance of James Franco. I've never seen him THIS good. The movie itself may not be in my top 10 of the year, but Franco will easily be one of the best performances of 2010. He gives absolutely everything he possibly has for this role and I believed him as Aron Ralston. He shined in his scenes where he was hallucinating and talking to his video camera. It was almost as if Franco WAS actually trapped under that rock. It was one of the most remarkable and believable performances I've seen in a very long time. I've never been the biggest fan of him, although he is nice to look at wink wink. But in this movie he nails it and then some. If you see the movie for any reason, see it for Franco. He IS the movie of course, he's in every scene. This movie is about Aron Ralston, and Franco immerses himself in this guy and in this life changing situation.
The scene that got me, and will get most movie goers, is the part where he cuts off his arm. It's pretty damn graphic. Everyone should know it's coming, if you know about the story. You get everything in this scene. He had to break both bones in his arm (which we see and hear clearly) and then he had to start stabbing and slicing through the skin, muscle, tissue, etc. The most graphic part was the nerve in his arm. They showed it, they showed him cutting through it and Franco delivers some of this best work in this scene. It was as if he was actually doing this on camera in front of us. I got a little sick to my stomach watching it and listening to it but it is a very necessary scene to sit through. It demonstrates this man's will to live. His determination not to give up and to have a wife and have a child. His will to have a future and pass this message and story along to all of us.
This is a very good movie with a brilliant lead performance. It could be a movie some people may have a hard time sitting through to it's claustrophobic nature. But this was not a slow movie. I found myself glued to the screen wondering how far this was going to go and wondering what effects all of this had on Ralston. It's a fascinating story that is a beautiful example of how precious life is and not to take it for granted. If this man could live through this and still have the courage to cut off his own arm to get out and continue his life...we can all learn something from this. This isn't just a movie...this was real life, once you realize that...the more powerful this man's story becomes.
For those who don't know, Aron Ralston was hiking back in 2003 and was climbing down a crack in the terrain. He was trying to us a boulder for support but the boulder shook loose and it came tumbling down and Ralston came with it. The boulder landed on his right arm and it became stuck. He was unable to movie the boulder and could not free his arm. He never told anyone where he was going, and he was so far down the crack that no one could hear him screaming. He spent 5 days, roughly 127 hours in this situation. He had minimal water, almost no food. His arm virtually decayed and he lost weight rapidly due to lack of water. Eventually, and this is no spoiler alert, he intentionally broke both bones in his arm and started to cut off his arm with a small dull blade he had.
The movie is probably 95% in that cave with just James Franco and the rock. The beginning we see him starting his adventure and meeting up with some girls. Then periodically throughout the film we see very brief glimpses into his life through quick flashbacks or hallucinations. But mainly...it's just him and the rock. Boyle does some master class work here. I felt totally immersed in this mans dilemma. This is easily one of the most claustrophobic movies I've ever seen. Many close shots of James Franco and we never see to much outside of what he can see. I really got a fairly accurate sense of his pain and suffering. I could not even imagine what he went through, but this film demonstrates pretty well what it was like down there for him. If you don't like movies that stay in one place for almost the whole film...you may not care for this one. It will definitely make you feel unnerved and maybe even a bit queasy.
The best part about the movie, hands down, is the performance of James Franco. I've never seen him THIS good. The movie itself may not be in my top 10 of the year, but Franco will easily be one of the best performances of 2010. He gives absolutely everything he possibly has for this role and I believed him as Aron Ralston. He shined in his scenes where he was hallucinating and talking to his video camera. It was almost as if Franco WAS actually trapped under that rock. It was one of the most remarkable and believable performances I've seen in a very long time. I've never been the biggest fan of him, although he is nice to look at wink wink. But in this movie he nails it and then some. If you see the movie for any reason, see it for Franco. He IS the movie of course, he's in every scene. This movie is about Aron Ralston, and Franco immerses himself in this guy and in this life changing situation.The scene that got me, and will get most movie goers, is the part where he cuts off his arm. It's pretty damn graphic. Everyone should know it's coming, if you know about the story. You get everything in this scene. He had to break both bones in his arm (which we see and hear clearly) and then he had to start stabbing and slicing through the skin, muscle, tissue, etc. The most graphic part was the nerve in his arm. They showed it, they showed him cutting through it and Franco delivers some of this best work in this scene. It was as if he was actually doing this on camera in front of us. I got a little sick to my stomach watching it and listening to it but it is a very necessary scene to sit through. It demonstrates this man's will to live. His determination not to give up and to have a wife and have a child. His will to have a future and pass this message and story along to all of us.
This is a very good movie with a brilliant lead performance. It could be a movie some people may have a hard time sitting through to it's claustrophobic nature. But this was not a slow movie. I found myself glued to the screen wondering how far this was going to go and wondering what effects all of this had on Ralston. It's a fascinating story that is a beautiful example of how precious life is and not to take it for granted. If this man could live through this and still have the courage to cut off his own arm to get out and continue his life...we can all learn something from this. This isn't just a movie...this was real life, once you realize that...the more powerful this man's story becomes.
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