Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

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Ant-Man (2015) This is fun thanks to the changes of perspective due to the peculiarity of the hero. Once the action starts pace never abates. 8/10

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Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) I give it 7-8/10 because it takes more time to get going, although the car chase is a good contender for the best one in the Marvel canon.

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Aquaman (2018) This one is visually a feast, it has a good narrative pace and has got good fight scenes. I don't understand the criticisims at IMDB: what do people want from a superhero flick? Sure, the lead is not that impressive, but so are other ones at DC or Marvel. 7-8/10

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) I can't see the point of it. As with the CGI nowadays you can do everything, why a cartoon version?  The movies with live actors are  much more impressive. The whole design and visuals are far from originals. And it got an Oscar: why? Actually the story is too complicated and too long, boredom inevitable. The villains are nothing special, the main one being just ridiculous and elementary: I could have devised it in 5 seconds: big body and small head: such a creative effort! The best thing in the dvd is the short, WB-like short cartoon of Peter Porker. 5/10
Interesting though that in the interviews of the dubbers Nicholas Cage, giving voice to a derivative of the hard-boiled hero, names Raymond Chandler (obvious) and Paul Cain (not so).

[Cusser]

I can't see the point of it. As with the CGI nowadays you can do everything, why a cartoon version?  The movies with live actors are  much more impressive.

And live-action is much more expensive to make !  And amazing that the top tier actors can make so much money in a couple of days doing voice-overs.

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And live-action is much more expensive to make !  And amazing that the top tier actors can make so much money in a couple of days doing voice-overs.

Your two points somehow do not gel.

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Easter Parade (1948) Not among the best mgm Astaire. But he did worse. The only good song is Steppin' Out With My Baby butthe trick of Astaire dancing in slow motion with the other dancers dancing normally in the background is not enough to make the number memorable. They could have made a better use of Ann Miller, though Judy Garland is, for once, tolerable. 6-7/10

[Cusser]

Your two points somehow do not gel.

Even with "name" voice actors, the film still costs a ton less.

What amazes me is that producers feel "name" actors will boost attendance/sales, where I'm personally much more concerned with substance and style.

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Even with "name" voice actors, the film still costs a ton less.

What amazes me is that producers feel "name" actors will boost attendance/sales, where I'm personally much more concerned with substance and style.

But with superhero movies  you don't have, as far as I can judge, name actors playing the leads. You just have some ex superstars in secondary roles. 

[Jenko Morningstar]

Spiderman 3 (2006) Only edge it has on the other two is that there's no n.4 in view. 5\10

Very interesting to see how your opinion changed over this film. I think it has gotten better with time

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Very interesting to see how your opinion changed over this film. I think it has gotten better with time

It's only that now I'm watching these movies on a 140" screen and an appropriate audio system. That makes a lot of difference for the CGI, which is the main reason to watch them. 

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Funny Face (1957) Not bad, but Hepburn is not Astaire's ideal partner. And her solo number goes to prove it, though she trained like a dancer in her childhood. But the movie has a solid screenplay and a couple of good numbers (those featuring Kay Thompson and Astaire). 7/10

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The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) A kind of rehearsal for The Band Wagon. But apart from the "They Can't Take That Away From Me" number (which left me breathless), what really hit me was the impression that Rogers, at last, show for the first time how she's happy to dance with her partner. In the other movie she looked like she was the pro who has to do her job, but really would like to do another movie: at least that is my impression. But a number like the one who sees the two in scottish garb, which has got nothing memorable per se, it is vivified by the absolutely relaxed performance of her who is actually leading Astaire more of what he seems to be doing with her. That never happened before. 7-8/10.

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The Warriors (1979) A cute little walk through NYC at night. cigar ought to like it. The fight scenes and the chases are funny but can't dig the cult about this flick. 7/10

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Assassins (1995) Good Killer vs Bad Killer. It has got good scenes, even if Banderas plays the bad one as it is normal in the last 30 years in Hollywood: namely in the annoying spastic, psychopatic way so many of his colleagues have adopted, while Stallone plays his character  cool and relaxed:  which might make you think he's the better actor (and here he is). Undoubtedly he has learnt his trade in the last 30 years: no mean feat. 7/10