#aaron miles

[milezeeblog-blog]

Halloween II

#287

Halloween II was released in 1981 and was directed by Rick Rosenthal, it is the direct sequel to John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween. 

The movie stars Jamie Lee Curtis reprising her role from the original movie as Laurie Strode, as well as Donald Pleasence reprising his role as Dr Loomis.

Halloween II is now no longer canon as per the new Halloween movie due to be released on the 19th October 2018. 

Even though this movie will not be considered canon now, there is a slight enjoyment to be had with this sequel, its no where near the quality of the first movie not by a long shot.. this movie has become a victim of 80s slasher movies with it’s increased gore and creative killings and the lighting is far different.

Infact Michael Myers is different altogether, for one thing the walk is wrong, its too robotic and stiff looking, he is also too thin and lanky and his eyes are shown off which i think is a mistake.

This movie introduces two things that bug me as well, the first being the brother/sister plot which i am so glad is no longer a thing. Carpenter even said that he didn’t like it and the movie wouldn’t have been any different without that revelation because never see a reaction from Strode’s character. 

The score isn’t quite right either, it’s slightly different with a more synth sound to fit it’s era, but to me it feels out of place at times.

I did like how it starts on the same night, we see scenes from the original movie, annoyingly with the new score over the top which i do not understand why they did that.. they should have just cut it from the end of the movie and used the same footage. 

the second thing that bugs me here is that he is given more motive, and more supernatural attributes, when in the original we had no idea what he was, who he was or what his intentions were. 

Halloween 2 is just OK, but better than some of the next movies in the entries and arguably the last good Halloween movie.

★★★½ A good horror sequel, better than most, but gets a fair few things wrong in light of the original movie. worth a watch though with some enjoyment and fun kills. 

[milezeeblog-blog]

The Godfather

#285

The Godfather was released in 1972 and was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Talia Shire. 

After The Godfather of a mafia gang is shot and nearly killed, the empire is given to his reluctant son. That is the basic premise of The Godfather. 

The Godfather is a classic, it is a movie that will forever be considered one of the greatest movies ever made and it deserves that title, it is a 2hr 48 minute gangster epic that inspired so many movies after it like Goodfellas and Casino. 

This movie is not only directed with extreme details, but the performances are incredible, Marlon Brando oozes with confidence and believability, Al Pacino proves that he is a star ready to take the reins in Scarface and it’s supporting cast which includes fantastic performances from James Caan and Robert Duvall only back up this excellent work of art. 

There will never be another movie like The Godfather, people argue that the sequel is a better movie, but i don’t think it comes close. 

It set the bar for american cinema and changed the landscape forever.

You feel like you are part of this family, you feel involved and you feel invested, and it's a rare find for a movie. 

Normally for a movie of this length, i would have said it’s too long, that its unneeded, but in this case it purely compliments the movie. 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px '.SF NS Symbols'; color: #454545}

★★★★★ A classic masterpiece that has near perfect direction, score, casting, performances and script. 

[milezeeblog-blog]

Ghost

#236

Ghost was released 1990 and was directed by Jerry Zucker (Airplane) it stars Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg and Tony Goldwyn.

The movie is a romantic thriller that focuses on a young woman who’s boyfriend is tragically murdered, his ghost comes back to try and reach out to her through a psychic woman.

This film while is typically regarded as a “Chick Flick” is much deeper than that, the film has an incredible cast and story and some really impressive and sometimes creepy scenes (The hell segment still gets me) 

The film has a-lot of heart and just feels really human centric.

The film just has alot of memorable moments and goes outside of being a chick flick such as City Of Angels. the scene where another ghost that resides in a train station teaches him how to move things, but then fleshes his own character out by telling a tragic story of the man being pushed onto the track.

It spends time on really fleshing out the characters but mostly it focuses on the characteristics and set backs in being a ghost, it takes this age old concept and really makes it work for the story and progression of the plot.

Demi Moore is probably the stand out performance in the movie, you feel everything she is going through and you are convinced she is actually grieving. 

The music in the movie is just as iconic too.

★★★½ always an enjoyable watch, not as chick flick as it has been made out to be over the years and is a straight up interesting thriller with a great concept and fleshed out characters.

[famousborntoday]

Aaron Miles : Born December 15, 1976

Aaron Wade Miles is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2003 to 2011 for the Chi...

Link: Aaron Miles

[milezeeblog-blog]

The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (Special Extended Edition)

#312

The Lord Of The Rings The Fellowship Of The Ring was released in 2001 and was directed by Peter Jackson, it stars Elijah Wood, Ian Mckellan, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Viggo Mortensen and Dominic Monaghan. 

It is based on the novels by JR Tolkien written around the first world war and focuses on Middle Earth as it is shrouded in darkness by an evil darklord called Sauron, who forged a powerful ring that would dominate all life. a group of heroes band together on a quest to destroy the ring in the fires mount doom where it was forged, however they are tracked by both ring wraiths and orcs. 

The Lord Of The Rings trilogy is one of those trilogies that will stand the test of time and go down as classic movies, just like Star Wars, Back To The Future, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park the list goes on.. this is one of those iconic movies that caught lightning in a bottle and was never really re-created again, the next two movies are fantastic but this movie is by far the best out of all six movies if you include The Hobbit trilogy.

The story is just set up so well here, we have a perfect set up of loveable characters, we have this light and shade of tones, the beginning of the movie is lighthearted and brightly coloured and warm feeling, but as the film progresses it gets colder and darker as well losing some of those characters too.

It doesn’t feel rushed either, the pacing is perfect even in this special extended edition which is considerably longer, while you can clearly spot the scenes that have been added in, it doesn’t make the pacing of the film suffer. 

The performances are great, especially Viggo Mortensen who plays Aragorn, he is a very charismatic here and has a real demanding presence on screen. 

I love the battle scenes here, while they are no way to the scale of what we see in other entries, i love the small scale woodlands fight scene at the end of the movie with the Urak Hai, its perhaps one of my favourite scenes in the whole series down to its focus on the sword fighting, which i feel loses its touch towards the end of the trilogy. 

The cinematography is excellent and there is brilliant blending of CGI and practical effects, the film looks better than The Hobbit movies because of the practical elements.

The score is beautiful as well, some of the most iconic movie scores were born in this movie and its instantly recognisable. 

The Balrog is another highlight in this movie, the way that whole segment within Moria was filmed is just incredible, the lighting, the use of shadows, the wide angles, the close ups and then some of the more experimental shots combined, it is just genius. 

This is an example of a trilogy that works, because even though it finishes with a set up, it feels like we have had a good chunk of story covered and it doesn’t feel like weve been cheated, there is almost a self contained story about this fellowship coming together, going through shit and then basically failing to quest because they all split up at the end of the movie.

I have a blast when i watch this movie. 

★★★★★ A now classic movie that is just as important in movie culture as Star Wars. even if you don’t watch the other movies, this first chapter is not to be missed. 

[milezeeblog-blog]

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

#310

The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug was released in 2013 and directed by Peter Jackson, it is the sequel to The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey and the prequel to The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. It stars Martin Freeman, Ian Mckellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly.

This second movie in the series is just as spectacular as the first, while the 2nd act does drag slightly it does continue this epic story in which we encounter Smaug and reach the dwarven homeland. 

This movie also shows us Sauron as it’s revealed to the middle earth that it is in fact he that is rising in power. 

I actually think that Martin Freeman who plays Bilbo Baggins is actually much better here than he was in the first movie, it seems he has grown in the role. 

Having Legolas in the movie was a great link to the LOTR trilogy, however i do think that he really doesn’t have much to do in the film other than slice up a few orcs. it is Evangeline’s character that really has a place in the movie here. 

The pacing is good but as i mentioned before, the second act when we meet the elves does drag a little, it’s full of exposition and long drawn out dialogue that makes you just want them to get on with the plot.

As i said in my review for the first movie, it feels drawn out to have a trilogy really when the book itself can be covered in one movie, they are clearly adding moments to the story that links with the LOTR movies. 

But the cinematography is good, the CGI is improved and the score is just as we come to expect from a movie like this.

★★★★ While it doesn’t live up to the first Hobbit movie, it’s a very enjoyable film that is shot very well, the pacing and some of the plot deviation is what holds this movie back from being scored five stars for me.

[milezeeblog-blog]

Halloween III Season Of The Witch

#288

Halloween III Season Of The Witch was released in 1982, just a year after the release of Halloween II and it is directed by Tommy Lee Wallace. The film stars Tom Atkins, Stacey Nelkin and Dan O'Herlihy.

This movie was meant to turn the Halloween series into a kind of Anthology movie series, with each film telling a different story. things changed when fans cried out in confusion that Myers did not feature in the film and so the film went back to it’s Myers story with Halloween IV, and this film is the only movie in the series to not feature Myers at all.

The film focuses on an evil company called Silver Shamrock that makes halloween masks that kill people. Why? well we don’t really know and thats where the strangeness that is Halloween III begins and ends with a killer robot woman.. (yeah i have no idea) 

Now really, this film isn’t that bad, the concept is interesting the execution is ok but it just has too many weird and wacky moments and the music is potentially the most irritating song i’ve ever heard in my life that just repeats throughout. 

Tom Atkins is actually a pretty good in the film too, he holds a strong performance and an interesting character.. it is just a shame the rest of the movie is pretty odd and confusing.

It is visually well put together, thanks to Carpenters close supervision, there is some good camera work which is considerably better than the last entry in the series and i wish this went on to become what it was meant to, because its all downhill from here.

This kind of multi story idea would be great now as a Netflix series, so i hope someone decides to make something similar, you could easily have Myers in the first story and remake this as the second and go from there with other stories all set in the same universe.

What did disappoint me in this film was that we discover that the original movie is a movie in this movie, as it appears on a TV set.. it would have been great to be set in a shared universe. 

★★★ An actually OK third entry that tries to break away from its own series and is the last original entry in the series. Tom Atkins is good in this movie!

[milezeeblog-blog]

The Fast & Furious

#283

The Fast & Furious was released in 2001 and was directed by Rob Cohen. it stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster.

The movie follows LA officer Brian O’Connor as he infiltrates the street racing world and grows attached, he then must decide where his loyalty lies. 

These films on the outside never interested me, never convinced me to sit and watch them due to the car related content in the film which is not really my thing.. however i learnt on first watch that there is much more to this movie series than meets the eye.

I have to say i had a great time watching this film, while i’ve always considered Diesel too cheesy for me and having not enjoyed his other movies i was reluctant but he gives a great performance here.

The effects on the other hand do not actually stand up well now, some of the street racing scenes are blurry and the CGI stands out poorly here.

This movie knows exactly what it is, there is no blurred lines between genres as i expected there to be. 

My criticism is that its too flaunty and flashy, borderline OTT when it comes to the women in this film and how they act. 

Rodriguez is the weakest link, never liked her in any of her roles including Avatar and Lost. something about her attitude that i dislike..

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px '.SF NS Symbols'; color: #454545} span.s1 {font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'}

★★★ A solid action film, if you are into cars i can see why you would fidn something more in the film but i enjoyed the action set pieces, the stunt work and the writing.