Movie Review: Brave

The two main characters of the movie: Merida and her hair. 

Everyone knows Pixar is good. Their newest film, Brave, certainly doesn’t disappoint, although neither will it blow anyone’s mind. Another excellent addition to their store of heart-warming tales about adolescence, Brave is a beautifully animated film that manages to tell a story that is actually occasionally original. In other words, it’s a Pixar movie.

Like all Pixar movies, the main character is the animation, which is incredible. The main character’s hair is a work of art in its own right, taking Pixar’s top animators nearly three years to perfect, the first six months of which were spent figuring whether realistic curly hair was even possible. The new computer program was named Taz, after the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character, and was immediately used for most of the rest of the hair in the film.

Add to this the phenomenal landscape shots, and the human characters almost take second stage to the amazing animated world they inhabit. The movie certainly delights in having its characters romp through the forests, mountains, and glens of the Scottish landscape that the movie attempts to capture. Scenes at the beginning of the movie include the young heroine Merida (Kelly Macdonald) riding, practicing her archery and horseback riding at the same time, and finishing by climbing a rocky cliff near a waterfall, and the animation in all of them is almost as breathtaking as the scenes would look in real life.

The Dark Knight Rises

Less than a month remains until the release of one of the most highly anticipated comic book movies of all time. Featuring an amazing cast, 100 minutes of action, and one of humanity's favorite heroes, The Dark Knight Rises is sure to be a success. We here at YAMB have several posts concerning Christopher Nolan's final entry in the Batman trilogy, and have compiled them here for you. Read and enjoy. While you're at it, take some time to get your midnight premiere tickets through the link below!

Movie Review: Prometheus

Not this guy.

Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott, is not officially a prequel to the Alien franchise, but before you see Prometheus, you should definitely see Alien. It’s impossible not to see the obvious connections between the movies, with parallel themes, plots, and atmospheres. Prometheus is officially set in the same universe as the Alien movies, but is not officially directly connected to the Alien franchise. Long story short, if you liked Alien, you’ll like Prometheus, but there are certainly differences between the two movies, and Prometheus is clearly geared towards a larger audience, although that focus does not always make it a better movie.

The visuals are pretty face-meltingly awesome.

By far the best part of Prometheus is the visuals. There’s a reason that it’s been compared to James Cameron’s Avatar almost as much as it has been compared to Alien, and it’s not because of blue people (currently trying to decide if Prometheus would be much worse or much better with blue people). Starting right off the bat with panoramic shots of what is apparently prehistoric Earth and moving right into some more panoramic shots of some grass-covered Scottish mountains, the film is certainly visually pleasing. Noomi Rapace’s cheekbones don’t hurt either (although they are sharp enough to cut paper). The costumes and set design is equally striking, although the distinctive blue jumpsuits and clear helmets set quite a different tone from the original Alien movies.

Something We're Very Excited About

Partnership

In my last post regarding YAMB, I told you that we had some special news we were excited to share, and now we can do that! We here at Yet Another Movie Blog do what we do because we love doing it. Film gets us though each week, and when we get to bring our opinions and view to others, it's very special. It just so happens that in our off-phase we managed to grab the attention of someone who we'd like to take some time to acknowledge and thank.

5 Movies You Should Have Seen so Far in 2012

First Half of 2012-Top 5 Films

There's a theme here somewhere but I can't quite place it....

Today marks the beginning of a new series from me, your now-slightly-more-professional-friendly-neighborhood-Spiderman. This series is Movies of 2012. We'll look at the year in two halves, and I'll tell you what films I think are going to be the best and the worst. Anyways, here we are! Just over halfway through the last year before the world's end, and so far Hollywood has been kicking out some great stuff. From fairy-tales to superheroes to aliens to children-murdering-children to reboots to remakes to more fairy-tales, it's been quite the 6 months. Travel back with me back to 5 movies that stand out above the rest, and if you haven't seen them already, are worth watching.

Quentin Tarantino adds Jonah Hill to the Cast of Django Unchained

If ever there were ever to be an actor capable of defying typecasting, few would have guessed that that actor would be Jonah Hill. Originally confined to rather silly roles in raunchy comedies such as Get Him to the Greek and Superbad, Hill has since broken out to play characters in a number of rather substantial films including 21 Jump Street, The Wolf of Wall Street, True Story, and Moneyball, the latest of these landing him an Oscar nomination. Hill’s newest position will be as part of Quentin Tarantino’s heavily anticipated film Django Unchained.

Harry Potter Director to Bring Doctor Who to the Big Screen?

Because you can never have too many Harry Potter-Doctor Who crossovers

Doctor Who fans the world over are eagerly awaiting the return of their favorite Gallifreyan time traveler come this Fall. But it would appear that bow-tie wearing, floppy-haired Matt Smith, who portrays the latest incarnation of the Doctor, might not be the only one set to man the big blue box. Director David Yates has announced his intention to helm a project to bring the Doctor Who franchise from the small screen to the big screen. Whether the series will maintain its quality over the transition is up for speculation.


Yates remains confident that the transition will be a successful one, largely due to the strength of the source material. “The notion of the time-travelling Time Lord is such a strong one, because you can express story and drama in any dimension or time,” says Yates. Exactly what this story will be, no one, except perhaps Yates and those working for Yates, knows. During one interview Yates stated that “[Doctor Who] needs quite a radical transformation to avoid major copyright issues take it into the bigger arena” and that the movie was to be started “from scratch.” Unsurprisingly, this news was met with protest by many of Doctor Who’s most loyal devotees who viewed the statement as confirmation that the movie would not feature the current television incarnation of the Doctor or follow the television show’s canon. Regardless of the issue of canon, one must wonder at what exactly Yates means by “from scratch.” Is he implying that the movie would be a prequel focusing on the Doctor’s origin story or does he mean that the franchise itself would be reset in some way?

It will be called "Doctor Who Begins"