Let's just say you are right. Until I see one that competes with Forrest Gump or No Country for Old Men, I will continue to alert you to the deficiencies in our films.
The following is my review of the DVD movie ( because we are too poor to see it in the theatres)The Bucket List starring two old guys, by Casey Speer:
Basic storyline: Two old guys find out they're dying and try to live out a list of things they want to do before they die. Along the way, they become chums. that's it.
The movie wasn't bad. I had preconcieved notions that it too would be a baby-boomer pandering "I'm gonna live forever even though I am the walking dead" movie, and it was, but it had a moment or two of humor, generally dealing with Jack Nicholson's character, which is apparently the only character he can play since Easy Rider; the cranky old rich guy that mumbles out witty one liners and grunts a little. Now, that moment or two was truly that, a moment or two.
Now the bashing part: Horrible backdrops. I mean horrible. Every location was a perfect sunny day with a few clouds and a pink glow over everything. That is not reality, (especially when you only have a little while to live) - The reality would be sitting in Giza while a terrific windstorm blew sand in your eyes until your own tears made the sand harden into concrete in the 200 degree winds, all the while with vendors in your face offering to sell you a tour of the pyramids saying "you want tour, you want tour, you want tour" forever. Anyway, the scenery was really fake looking to me, which I am sure it was. But, you're right, that is not really the point of the movie.
What ended up getting to me the most has almost become a mainstream Hollywood staple: Morgan Freeman's voice over narration. It was great in Shawshank Redemption. It was acceptable in Million Dollar Baby. But it was also in War of the Worlds and March of the Penguins. Though it worked here, I simply wouldn't have used it, because it is being over used. "So...Billy Joe went on down to the train station....and there was the pocket watch his great granddad had given to him the day he was off to war....just off to the side of the stairs...it still looked the same...'cept for the dent that bullet made back in 1944..." It's just too cheesy now so it distracted from the whole movie when the voice over parts were on. (By the way i totally made that narration up.)
I would give the movie 3 of 5 toes - it can stand on it's own but at times seems a little soft and wobbly. Entertainment, character and story line are solid, at least...
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