by Kush Bansal | Jan 29, 2019 | Opinion & Reviews
In the year-long class Intro to Video Production, we recently watched Forrest Gump to look at the countless special effects used in the film, headlining into our next unit. I had never seen Forrest Gump until this week, but I have to say that it is probably my top 10 favorite movies. Here’s why!
The movie is about Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks (Toy Story, Catch Me If You Can) marvelously. Forrest is waiting for a bus while narrating his life story to the people who sit by him. He describes his role in the Vietnam War, Watergate, being a ping pong champion, and more, all the way to his experiences with his best friend, Jenny.
You may be asking yourself as to how special effects fit in with this movie. In 1994, it was monumental for blending in stock footage and real-time footage. In layman’s terms, there could be a documentary of JFK playing but Tom Hanks would act in dead space or as an extra. Then, the subjects of the footage would be dubbed to say as to what is being conveyed in the story. This would make for entertaining scenes and would go on to win an Academy Award, along with others, for its special effects.
This movie is also amazing because of the acting. Tom Hanks’ acting is amazing as he had to be someone who isn’t the smartest (low IQ) and has to go around making choices that would otherwise be straightforward. What was so awesome about the performance was that he found a balanced performance, where he could make scenes funny with his stupidity. The story and the soundtrack are also very good and fit perfectly with the setting of the story. The movie was well-paced and constantly entertaining. Also, I don’t have experiences where I cry over movies, but I have to say that this movie’s ending had me slightly choked up, as it wonderfully concludes a fantastic plot without ever needing to set up a pointless sequel or “extended universes” (looking at you, Disney).
I am going to give Forrest Gump an A+. Thank you for reading and I’ll catch you next time with my next review.
by Kush Bansal | Jan 27, 2019 | Opinion & Reviews
Recently, I saw Spiderman Into The Spiderverse. This is the first animated Spiderman movie and takes a different approach to the story, as the movie centers around Miles Morales, not Peter Parker. The movie is about the daily life of Miles Morales and his life around another Spiderman, Peter Parker. But when something happens that changes Miles’ identity, he must overcome the negative to become the new true Spiderman.
An interesting thing about this movie is that it is set across new universes, where the Spiderman we know is in another universe, and the “Mile Morales” Spiderman is actually from another universe — the universe we focus on. I’m not going any deeper into the story because I want you to experience this “amazing” movie (no pun intended 😉 ) if you haven’t seen it.
All jokes aside, this movie was very well handled. First off, the animation was spectacular. The visual effects team needed to create a new technique of animation to get the film to have a “comic-book” feel. And coming from the studio who made the Emoji Movie, I was genuinely surprised at how good this movie looked. The characters and story were also phenomenal. For mainstream audiences, Mile Morales isn’t exactly the well-known Spiderman we know, so during the first half an hour when we see Miles, we can almost connect to him on the same level we connected with Peter Parker in the earlier Spiderman movies. The side characters, like Peter Parker, were also extremely hilarious and also were pivotal to crafting the character arc Miles goes through. The music was also spectacular, as artists such as Post Malone and Vince Staples lead an amazing soundtrack.
If I had one flaw with this movie, it is that the villains could have been fleshed out more. I felt that I didn’t care for them, which isn’t all bad, as that time for the villains was perfectly used to create interesting side characters that Miles would interact with.
In the end, I’m going to give Spiderman Into The Spiderverse an A. Thank you guys for reading this review and have a fantastic rest of your day.
by Kush Bansal | Jan 8, 2019 | Opinion & Reviews
In December of 2018, we found a number of exciting things: Christmas, end of school, the new year, and of course…the movies. Now, normally we always have a Star Wars movie but this year two other movies took the cake to be the most anticipated movie. Aquaman and Bumblebee. Here I will write about the positives and flaws of both movies, as well as my opinion on which one you should see.
Bumblebee released on December 21st, 2018. The Transformers movies have had a pretty bad run over the last decade, starting from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to last year’s Transformers: The Last Knight. While most of the Transformers movies made over a billion dollars ,last year’s entry failed to impress. This is where this year’s Bumblebee comes into play. Acting like a soft reboot, it follows a journey between Bumblebee, who was sent from a war-raged planet to seek refuge on Earth, and Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), a teenager who lost her dad recently. As they meet, they become good friends, ultimately realizing what a good friendship can mean in times of hardship. The best part of the movie was easily the setting in the 80s, opting for a more cheesy and more pop culture driven film. The movie also was 3 hours long like the previous movies and the pacing and script were very strong. My only issue was the cheesiness and forced military subplot, like in every Transformers movie. While John Cena was entertaining, he didn’t seem to offer anything to add on to this movie. Regardless, I had an incredibly fun time watching this movie and I’m going to give it an A-. I highly recommend you check this movie out as it is currently playing in theaters.
Aquaman also released on December, 21st, 2018. The DC movies have been OK up to now, and while critics are raving about this movie’s fun tone and action, I personally found it disappointing. The queen of Atlantis is on the run, has a kid with a human, and that kid is Aquaman. Fast forward around 20 years and Atlantis is in danger. Someone from Atlantis comes to Aquaman to try and convince him to save Atlantis once and for all. I did talk to a few of my friends as well as looked up reviews from other people, mostly saying this movie was good. My initial reaction was also okay in that I gave the movie a B-. My issue with the movie was not that it was too cheesy or anything, but rather that it tried to do too many things out of order. The events were poorly handled in that the protagonists do something, realize they need to do something else to win, follow that, and then get sidetracked with something else. In other words, the movie was messy. Granted, there are some positives in that Jason Momoa played Aquaman really well, the music was pretty good (except for that one Africa cover), and the CGI was extremely well done. I am going to give Aquaman a C.
At the end of the day, I would highly recommend checking out Bumblebee as it is my favorite movie for December 2018. Be sure to check out my review next month and as always have a fantastic rest of your day.
by Kush Bansal | Dec 20, 2018 | Opinion & Reviews
One debate that has been going on for decades is, is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Left and right have arguments been spat out to the general public with even the main actor joining in. In this case, however, Die Hard is probably the best action Christmas movie. The plot is as follows: John McClane, a New York Cop, visits his wife and two daughters on Christmas Eve. He joins her at a Christmas party of the business his wife works for. Unfortunately, the fun is interrupted when a group of terrorists take over the building, as well as everyone in it. McClane realizes that there’s no one to save the hostages but him. This movie is riveting from the very first shot of McClane, when he is afraid of a plane, ultimately setting up his character of being just like everyone else — not a superhero but an ordinary citizen. Die Hard also goes along with the whole hippy stereotype of California. From skinny jeans to tie-dye shirts, this movie addresses it all. This movie is also famous for its action scenes, as it all takes place in one location, making it more suspenseful. This movie is so famous that it created many more copycats that unfortunately weren’t as successful as Die Hard (looking at you, Skyscraper). In the end, I’m going to give this movie an A+. This is the best Christmas-action movie we’re probably ever going to see, and I’m glad. Thank you guys for reading my Christmas reviews this month. It has been very fun writing these articles are sharing it with you guys for the holiday season. As this is the final review, I hope you guys have a wonderful holiday season and as always, have a fantastic day.
by Kush Bansal | Dec 17, 2018 | Opinion & Reviews
Out of all the movies I have reviewed this month, this is my least favorite. Now I said the least FAVORITE. I like the movie but compared to other movies, it just doesn’t stack up. Needless to say, when I watched this movie for the first time this year, I thought it was a fun, enjoyable movie. Unlike other people who are probably going to slander me once this is posted, I didn’t love this movie to the point where I quote it every Christmas. The main reason why is because it simply didn’t pique my interest. Yeah, it’s a comedy and yeah, it was funny, but it still didn’t have that appeal in which Home Alone or Elf had (fun fact: this is the one movie that I have Christmas lights from). The acting and overall story is very good. It goes like this: As the holidays approach, Clark Griswold wants to have a perfect family Christmas, so he tries to make sure everything is in line, including the tree and house decorations. However, things go very bad quickly when his cousins come to live with him, not only trashing his house but also his Christmas. All things considered, I had a good time watching and I do recommend it to you (This, along with other Christmas movies that I have reviewed, are currently being played in movie theaters today for a low price. I encourage you guys to check them out as they’re cheap and also give you the full experience audiences had when the movie first came out). Regardless of the fact that I didn’t LOVE it, I am going to give this movie an A-. Thank you guys for reading and stay tuned for the final Christmas review on Thursday for Die Hard. Have a nice, non-snowy day (seriously, it’s like fall outside).
