Once again, Mamo! co-host Matt Brown is on the cusp of summer blockbuster reporting. If you haven’t heard, Pixar’s latest mad-cap adventure, Brave is hitting screens all over America this weekend. Here’s what it looks like down on the street immediately following the latest screening. You’ve got two minutes Matt… take it away!
58 Comments
Leave a comment
~ Featured ~
-
May 17, 2013
Sturm und Trek: Brief thoughts on the Con Game of NuTrek
[There are more than a few *Spoilers* in here, so beware of both the following...
- Mamo #298: Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter (293)
- Angie: And for the second year in a row Marvel wins the summer before it even starts. I think Man of Steel will make a lot more...
- Matthew Fabb: Latest estimates are a lot smaller. “$22M for Friday, $70M for the 3-day weekend, and $83M for the 4...
- Angie: +1
- Matt Brown: Hey Gamble, let us know if you want to write a concession message that we can read on the show, or if you’re...
- Matthew Fabb: http://www.deadline.com/2013/0 5/star-trek-into-darkness-3d-o pens-to-2m-late-night-and-imax / Star Trek has a...
- Matthew Price: Nope. The unpredictability of studio decisions is part of this game. Last year several people picked GI Joe 2,...
- KAAAAAHHN! (hopefully) (36)
- Andrew James: I tried to get him to recant on the Cinecast but he would not.
- Matt Brown: Hi Gamble, me again – as with the grosses on INTO DARKNESS, feel free to write us a concession message...
- Andrew James: I tried to get him to recant on the Cinecast but he would not.
- Now Playing at the Row Three Rep: Delusional Beauty Queens (2)
- Sturm und Trek: Brief thoughts on the Con Game of NuTrek (17)
- Matt Brown: I can’t get behind this one. My non-review: http://tederick.com/reviews/st ar-trek-into-darkness.shtml
- Antho42: Or at least that is how they are selling it.
- Antho42: The problem is — if there is even a problem — JJ and his disciples think that their product is a t-bone...
- David Brook: It sounds like you and I had the same feelings on the film Kurt or at least Andrew you nailed it for me. I enjoyed...
- Kurt Halfyard: A victim of my own high expectations.
- Andrew James: Basically it sounds to me like for what it’s worth you mostly enjoyed watching the movie, but were mad at...
- Cinecast Episode 308 – Beards and Sunburns (23)
- David Brook: I didn’t realise this wasn’t out in the US yet. This year’s been great for UK audiences getting...
- Blu-Ray/DVD Review: Cria Cuervos (4)
- David Brook: For some reason Saura’s films seem to have passed me by over the years, I’d never heard of this...
- David Brook: Funnily enough I knew that song before watching the film, but through a cover translated into Finnish!
- Carlos Filipe Freitas: A fantastic movie without any doubt. 10 years before this one, Saura directed another little gem called...
- Antho42: Great film. Also, that song that she sings is also pretty great.
- Siskel/Ebert/Roeper video archive (5)
- Andrew James: Lots of great things. Thanks for noticing!
- Gary oldman: What happened to the site
- Trailer: The Congress (4)
- David Brook: Yeah it is. Don’t know how I missed it. I guess his name isn’t that instantly recognisable to me. My...
- Kurt: I believe that this film is actually the opener of the Director’s Fortnight sidebar.
~ Recent Comments ~
So not to derail the conversation immediately but…
Monsters Inc. is the worst Pixar film? Wow. Smart guys can be wrong too sometimes I guess.
Agreed with Andrew. (Not watching the clip until I’ve seen the movie; no offense, Matt.) I rewatched most of the Pixar films when Toy Story 3 came out and Monsters Inc surprised me by how well it held up, and I already liked it. A Bug’s Life was the one that kind of disappointed me a bit during that marathon rewatch.
Monsters Inc. is not the worst film but it is in the bottom five for me. Never really understood the crazy love that that film gets.
I only had 2 minutes, and therefore did not have time to clarify that I’ve seen neither CARS movie.
A wise choice. They both suck.
We should change your name to Kurt Halfright.
I like Monsters Inc. a lot. It is possible that I have invented an underlying subtext that the filmmakers did not intend. I thought the movie was about how the corporate entertainment media have become a soul-sucking organization that makes money by making children cry. (Remember it came out 2 years after “The Phantom Menace”) PIXAR is our protagonist in this world where they will show us not only you can make more money by making children/adults laugh but it is the moral thing to do.
Am I stupid to find these awesome subtexts in most Pixar films… like I thought “Ratatouille” is the best anti-racism movie ever made (Ozu and Renoir didn’t quite hit the spot.)
By the way, thanks Matt. Big fan.
Let’s rank them
1. Toy Story
2. Monster Inc
3. Toy Story 3
4. Wall E
5. Bug’s Life
6. Up
7. Finding Nemo
8. Toy Story 2
I have not seen the Cars films, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles.
1. The Incredibles
2. Toy Story
I haven’t seen anything past Incredibles and don’t remember anything not mentioned.
To be fair, I am not into Disney/Pixar/kids films. My parents discouraged me from watching them. I only saw these types of films in school.
That is funny I am the exact opposite, I was fed so much Disney that once I was past that and seeking films for myself I never wanted to head in that direction.
Also introduction of Anime downloads in early High School tends to sour teenagers on Disney quickly.
Mine would be (though the exact ranking of the top 5 changes frequently):
1. The Incredibles
2. Ratatouille
3. Toy Story 3
4. Wall-E
5. Toy Story 2
6. Toy Story
7. Up
8. Finding Nemo
9. Monsters Inc.
10. A Bug’s Life
11. Cars 2
12. Cars
1. Ratatouille
2. The Incredibles
3. Toy Story 2
4. Finding Nemo
5. Monsters Inc.
6. Wall-E
7. Toy Story
8. Up
9. Toy Story 3
10. A Bug’s Life
11. Cars
12. Brave
13. Cars 2
“Also introduction of Anime downloads in early High School tends to sour teenagers on Disney quickly.”
Yep. At one point, I was watching 10 + hours of anime per day during junior year in High School.
Looking over the blurbs on Rotten Tomatoes, the positive ones are kind of hilarious:
“Not as good as their other movies, but it’s entertaining enough
“Welp, it’s better than Cars 2.”
“Criticizing Brave is like saying your A student got a B”
“Looks great, story needs polishing.”
etc etc
I should also build on my first-blush response above and say: when I woke up this morning, I liked BRAVE more than I did last night. The story was pitched at a different level than I expected, but as I say in the video, the film accomplishes what it’s trying to do perfectly. Once I level-set my expectations any qualms I had about the movie pretty much disappeared. The “A student gets a B” analogy isn’t quite right – more like “A student takes a bird course and gets an A++.”
Gamble and I are on the same page for BRAVE. I am tough but I believe fair:
http://letterboxd.com/coreypierce/film/brave-2012/
I was wondering when this would happen. Way back when, Disney made a film every 5 years or so. These were special occasions and the films were magical and terrific. Then at some point they started churning them out once a year; then once every six months. Eventually the movies just became commerce and nobody gave a shit.
I think that is exactly what might be happening to Pixar.
Where are you getting this “every 5 years” statistic?
The average length between Disney animated films has ALWAYS been 1-2 years and this includes Pixar.
There have been a few cases where it has been 3-4 years, but not many.
Check it out yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Disney_theatrical_animated_features
“5 years OR SO” guy. OR SO. Besides wasn’t it 5 years between Beauty and the beast and the next one that wasn’t ass?
Pixar movies:
1. Monsters Ink
2. Toy Story Cry
3. Toy Story Too
4. Cars Too
5. Ants
6. The Incredibles
7. Up!
8. Wally
9. Nemo
10. Toy Story 1
11. All the short films
12. Cars
13. That fucking Patton Oswalt one
Those aren’t in any particular order, just the order I remembered ‘em in
Aladdin came out a year later and Lion King a year and a half after that.
Thanks wikipedia. But I was talking about the Hunchback.
Uhhh….Antz was Dreamworks
For me it is more in Disney’s best movies they went for it fully, Pixar I always feel has to pull back at the end to tie the neat bow around it.
It might just be my age, but I always thought that the high point for Disney animated films were their releases in the early-mid 90s.
That was the period I was regularly taken to the theatre to see them. With the exception of The Little Mermaid, as a kid I saw every animated film from from Oliver & Company to The Lion King theatrically (though my parents would continue to buy the subsequent films, up until The Emperor’s New Groove, on VHS – I wonder how many remember those giant plastic clamshell boxes).
Brave was fine – 3.5 (of 5) stars. I think that we’ve been spoiled by the quality of CGI, so that they extraordinary is now commonplace. The settings and animation (especially the hair) really are amazing, but this is what we expect.
The story is fine. It’s easy to pile on PIxar, but what is there left to do? I can’t judge them too harshly.
Brave is very, very similar to How to Train Your Dragon. Not quite a clone, but not far off. If they were phones, there might be a patent lawsuit.
Despite the obvious similarities, I was thinking more about how this is yet another Disney film where a person gets turned into an animal through a curse, to learn a lesson about themselves.
Beauty and the Beast
Emperor’s New Groove
Brother Bear
Princess and the Frog
My expectations for this film are incredibly low. Which probably means I’ll like it. So I guess my expectations are high in that case. So I’ll probably be let down. Aaargh!
At any rate, I’ve always hated it when Pixar focuses on humans. Stick with the fantasy world guys; that’s what you’re good at.
We always disagree on this front, focusing on anthropomorphic objects instead of people. Pixar’s best two films are Ratatouille and The Incredibles, the two films with the most human’s in them.
And their worst films are Cars and Cars 2 the films with the least humans in them.
CGI animation can look amazing …. Except when it comes to human designs. They always look bland or terrible looking – and Pixar is no exception.
Pixar doesn’t do bad humans. They just do humans that look like cartoons, which I actually prefer to the more realistic CGI humans (uncanny valley).
100% agree with you on that one.
Well, your theory just went to hell with Brave.
Seeing the film this afternoon with my father. He’ll probably like it just for the fact that it takes place in Scotland (where he’s from).
If I did the “watch this instead” series, I’d tell people to go see Seeking a Friend for the End of the World this weekend.
Focus trumps Pixar this weekend!
I saw Seeking yesterday it was mediocre and very forgettable.
I agree with Andrew. I was surprised to love Seeking as much as I did. It’s darkly funny but not all that cynical. It’s actually a very humanist story that serves as a nice counter to Melancholia. I was attached to the main characters right to the end.
Seeling is fantastic.
Holy shit!? Really? We actually agree on something? I may have to reevaluate.
Sort of along the same lines as Win Win I guess.
I was NOT AT ALL underwhelmed by Brave and thought it was an enjoyable film. It was definitely quite different than advertised (that video gives away major unadvertised spoiler BTW), but I liked the film all the same and I actually compare it favourably to the films of Studio Ghibli. I definitely applaud Pixar for doing something different.
If there WAS a nitpick I had about the film, it was actually involving the treatment of haggis (you can blame my partial Scottish heritage for that one).
Haggis gets a bad rep due to the fact that its cooked in a sheep’s stomach (which it isn’t even served in). Even though I’ll agree that it has an acquired taste, it’s actually much more grainy (since it’s mostly oats) and not at all like the gross gelatinous dish shown in the film.
Should’ve mentioned this review is a bit spoilery. Have to admit I kept waiting for THAT to happen.
Full R3view coming tomorrow night.
It’s not a spoiler, it’s the basic premise of the film. If we can’t discuss the basic premise of the film in a review, we may as well not do the review.
It’s not the basic premise. It’s a plot twist that was not alluded to in any of the marketing materials, which is a spoiler in my book.
If you were at a more clear state of mind (i.e. not 2am), I’m sure you could’ve have found a way to talk about the plot of the film without revealing this detail.
I’m only happy that I’ve made it a habit not to watch any of these videos until AFTER I’ve seen the film.
http://www.rowthree.com/FAQ/#spoiler
It’s disappointing that this is getting a lukewarm reception as I had high hopes for it, with it being the first original, non-sequel work from Pixar in a few years. And a potentially interesting concept/setting as well.
Matt Brown is wrong, by the way: The best ‘Pixar’ movie is Iron Giant…
Mamo gets into an argument about where Pixar is now, based on whether BRAVE is an achievement or a disappointment:
http://www.rowthree.com/2012/06/24/mamo-259-pixar-shmixar/
As it is now yearly tradition, here we go…
1. Monsters, Inc.
2. Toy Story 3
3. Finding Nemo
4. Cars
5. Ratatouille
6. Toy Story 2
7. Toy Story
8. Up
9. Wall-E
10. The Incredibles
11. Brave
12. Cars 2
Don’t remember “A Bug’s Life” well enough to rank it.
I’m just going to declare Wall-E as my favourite Pixar film and leave it at that.
Also, no one’s talking about the opening short. La Luna is easily one of the worst (if not the worst) Pixar has ever launched. I bet it played great to the 70+ crowd.
Haha. Walter Chaw: “…the animated-short version of Oscar-baiting.”
It was already nominated for (and lost) an Oscar
It was nominated for an Oscar last year.
I liked La Luna a fair bit. Do you crap on Ardman as well, because they play in this headspace as well.
La Luna is fine. My audience applauded after it surprisingly, but it is a bit baity yes. Flying Books was a much more baity animated short though.
My favorite is still the clouds that make babies for the storks.
I like the one with the rabbit and the magician the best.