62 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
62 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
cinema has been around for about a hundred years now . ?
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it's not my job to recap this century every time i talk about a new film , but i'd like to think that i'm beginning to understand the art more as i watch more films from before my time .
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recently , i've seen the films of hitchcock , capra , fellini , godard , kurosawa , chaplin , lang , and many others .
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? those men were talented artists , and their films reflect their genius . ?
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they are likely to be remembered for .
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.
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.
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well , quite a while . ?
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i like this film , too . ?
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yes , it's a disaster-slash-action movie . ?
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true , its budget is a lot more money than i'll ever see in my lifetime . ?
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and there's not a doubt in my mind that the only reason it was conceived was to make a lot of money . ?
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in fact , i bet the producers of armageddon would have worked towards a lousy film , had they thought it would've been more profitable .
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i certainly don't care what their intentions were , because michael bay ( the rock ) is such a skilled director that i doubt he'd ever make a film that is difficult to sit through .
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of course , skillful direction doesn't complete the package , but the rest of armageddon manages to keep everything together .
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the story is well-thought out ( and perfectly paced to provide for an abundance of action sequences that never feel out of place ) , the acting is terrific , the script is sharp , and -- get this -- there are characters .
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yes , you read that right .
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armageddon actually has characters you can care about !
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if you don't like this film , then you have a problem with the genre itself : armageddon is as good as a film like this can be .
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if you've seen deep impact , then you know the basic framework for the story .
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it turns out that an asteroid the size of texas is going to strike the earth eighteen days from the start of the film .
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so , it's up to the u . s . government to stop it .
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( why the u . s . is always exclusively saddled with these problems is never fully investigated . )
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their plan -- to send a group of experienced oil drillers up to the asteroid , drill down several hundred feet , and detonate a nuclear warhead within .
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the head driller is harry stamper ( bruce willis ) .
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his group of men is a colorful bunch , including a . j .
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( ben affleck ) , chick ( will patton ) , and rockhound ( steve buscemi ) .
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there's also an interesting triangle formed between a . j . , harry , and grace ( liv tyler ) , who is harry's daughter .
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a . j .
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and grace are , of course , romantically intertwined , and dad isn't too happy with the situation .
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it's absurd to wish for a complicated story in an event movie or a special effects movie or whatever it is you'd like to call armageddon .
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it's not about story -- it's about viscera and action , and thrills-a-minute , and all that stuff .
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it's incidental , really , that the story is cohesive and even remotely believable , because most people will be too wrapped up in the explosions to give two seconds' thought to what actually happens .
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but bay is the one to congratulate in this case , for he has made a film so entertaining and so visually sharp that i doubt any director could have done it better .
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i think most of the budget went to cameras alone , because bay films every action sequence from about thirty or forty different angles .
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take the spectacular opening scene , for instance , in which a meteor shower obliterates new york .
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a meteor flies out of the sky and crashes into a building , which sends fireballs erupting into the air and cars spinning like tops upon other cars .
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the action itself might take five seconds in real life , but bay edits so quickly that we get the same scene in six different ways .
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i like his quick-edit style , because it's abrasive and exhausting to watch .
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it's also very loud , and obnoxiously noisy at times .
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but it's fun to be obnoxious sometimes .
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the special effects in this film put every other 1998 blockbuster to shame .
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deep impact , visually , has absolutely nothing on armageddon , and to offer a comparison between the quality of this film and godzilla is simply laughable .
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special effects are very important in a film like this : if they're not good , then the image is not convincing , and the film doesn't work .
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everything here looks bright and explosive -- from the little meteors bursting through skyscrapers , all the way to the shots of the earth through the jutting rocks on the ominously approaching asteroid .
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the effects that don't look totally real are still a pleasure to behold , and i credit everyone involved for creating the first blockbuster so nice-looking that it actually qualifies as art .
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of course , all of this would add up to little more than an above-average light show , if i didn't get the feeling that bay cares as much about his characters as he does about his action .
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the film is two and a half hours long , and not all of that is spent submerged in numbing action .
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much of the film is dedicated to developing the various characters' subplots .
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i won't suggest that these are complex characters , but their problems are real , and the emotions aren't put forth in a sentimental and overbearing way .
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in fact , there are three or four scenes here that had me pretty choked up , and that's a lot more than i can say about deep impact , which was banking on the feel-good parts of its story .
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bruce willis is terrific , and i'm glad to see him bigger than life again ( recent turns in films like mercury rising have been very disappointing ) .
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tyler and affleck are great together , and make a convincing couple -- all of the scenes between them work on a comfortable level .
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patton , who is a magnificent actor , thankfully is not wasted here , and the minor subplot revolving around his ex-wife and son is very moving .
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the comic relief from buscemi and peter stormare ( who plays a crazy russian astronaut ) is nifty , and keeps the film lively and funny .
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i wasn't challenged to think real hard while watching armageddon , and i don't mind too much .
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but the film doesn't insult my intelligence -- it's pitched perfectly to entertain , which is what all it really wants to do .
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it's not mindless and escapist , but well-crafted cinema .
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it might have been created for the wrong reasons , but men like michael bay have my respect for showing me that they are interested in making something good , in spite of the producers and the budget .
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i'm not saying that films like this are risky moves .
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what i am saying is that armageddon is a big , loud , expensive motion picture that reminds me that art often comes in the strangest of forms .
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