Movie Review thread.

**phool** · 22-02-2010, 19:56

I don't think my ratings are that counter-journalist, but I'll explain any of the ratings on request. I mean if I had to guess I'd say the Men...Goats thing and in the air probably both drew a lot of 8-8.5s and Cloudy...Meatballs would have got higher as well just because it's a children's film but for me 5.5 is usually an enjoyable film and 7.5 is a film I'll probably remember. I guess the 'weird foreign ****' stuff usually gets a pretty generous rating because reviewers assume there's something to get there.

Finally saw Commando (the Arnie one) and that had me pretty much splitting my sides for the duration, 8.5/10 with good company and a couple of drinks. Also saw that Nick Cage thing, in which I liked Cage more than I usually do (can't stand him typically, never found him credible as an action hero) but the film was very weak, 3/10. Rather cheap horror for the first half (I was expecting more drawn out suspense then duhduhduhduhduh-pause-repeat) then the expected religious angle dominating the second, which was spent *****ing about the holes in the plot and believability of character behaviour with my neighbour and eventually splitting our sides when the biblical metaphor level went nuclear.

Fantastic Mr Fox is walk-out material for anyone hoping for a nostalgia-fest with the balance of slapstick, fun and more mature humour I think people can often expect from animations. This was just painfully stupid and nothing felt familiar, I was pretty sure this film was generally well reviewed so this one was a disappointment for me.

Also on the nostalgia front is Where The Wild Things Are, which was actually pretty good, though some of the changes left me feeling a bit cold. It's basically indie pop rock in cinema form, going for some 'inner child' appeal... 6.5-7.5ish/10. I got the same feeling from 500 Days of Summer, which unfortunately I unfortunately had to leave half way through but was promising to be an enjoyably disingenuous take on romance.

PS Can anyone recommend any cynically humorous films such as Lord of War, Thank You for Smoking?

PPS someone watch Love Exposure (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1128075/ ) and review it. This is a nonplussing bizarro-fest beyond all comprehension, even to an occasional enjoyer of stuff from Shintaro Kago to Noboru Iguchi and Takishi Miike.

**Leopold Stotch** · 22-02-2010, 20:03

i have not seen Where The Wild Things Are, heard it was very good, but def not a kid's movie. agree or disagree, phool (or anyone else)? im still going to see it, but i am just wondering.

**phool** · 22-02-2010, 20:12

No, it's not a kids movie. Young children would find it scary at times and probably not understand a lot of it. But a lot of appeal to adults is going to be from how the film will connect you to memories of your own childhood, it portrays childlike behaviour with a loving eye for detail and establishes a strong rapport. I think it's definitely worth watching.

**Leopold Stotch** · 22-02-2010, 20:13

thank you. ^_^

**BobCox2** · 23-02-2010, 04:04

Good Review?

"If Everybody could, like, You know.
Love Alfred Hitchcock
I think it would be a better world"

"Don't you?"

Cat Stevens (he was not formerly yet)
Peace Train Live.

Source Below 39 ticks into the Intro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sjSH...eature=related

10/10 watch them.

I like Kim Novak

**Lazer LXXVII** · 01-03-2010, 04:11

Cop Out (2010)
Rating: 5/10
Fun: 7/10

A cop struggles to make enough money to pay for his daughter's dream wedding, but during a mission that went wrong, he and his partner are suspended without pay for a month. To make the money, he decides to sell his baseball card valued at $80,000 to pay for the wedding. As he takes it to the store, the store gets robbed and the burglar steals the card. He and his partner try to track down the card to pay for the wedding.

I had great expectations from this movie, first i like cop movies, i like cop comedies, i really like Bruce Willis movies (one of my favorite actors), and i really enjoy Tracy Morgan's sense of humor. Problem is that this didnt exactly cut it for me. It had its moments that made me laugh, but then there were also long 10-20 minute breaks that did not even make me crack a smile. The part of the movie i enjoyed was the chemistry between Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, and even the scenes with Sean William Scott. The interaction didnt feel completely strange and staged, it felt sort of natural because all of the actors basically played themselves. But then i have to say, i enjoyed the direction of where the humor was going, but i dont know whether it was the presentation or the directing, but the jokes were very poorly pulled off for the most part. I would say the majority of the jokes were funny, maybe 75%, but they werent hilarious, just really brief laughs. The movie just felt very weird to me, could also be because i saw this at a theater i dont normally go to (much smaller, worse quality of everything). The characters besides the three i mentioned were completely boring, the action was boring, the jokes were alright, the plot was stupid, and overall it wasnt that great. Even the soundtrack made the movie just "feel" weird, like it didnt match anything that was going on, and it created a really awkward experience. As much as i tried to convince myself i liked the movie, i have to say it fell very shot. Not bad, but definitely not very good either.

**razen** · 01-03-2010, 17:59

Legion (2010)

Rate: 2/10

The film fails in so many catagories that I don't know where to start. Acting is fine, but that's because everyone has like a 5 minute window. (Oooo, beside the main character Jeep, he sucks) The dialogue is atrocious. Just check out the final exchange of the movie:

Jeep: Will we ever see you again?
Michael: Have faith.

Answer the god dang question! Sheesh...

The film had no idea if it wanted to take it to a horror realm or a more religious route, so it ended up bad in both departments. The fight was not intense. Angels are afraid of bullets. Kids are biting people on the neck. Yup, that about sums it up.

Oh and... apparently god is just a bored mischievious child that wants to test his faith lietenants, which inadvertently caused the end of the world. Nice!

Download it if you are curious. Definitely not worth the money in theatre. (Poor Dennis Quaid. It's like Jamie Foxx in Stealth. It really makes you wonder, how in the world did these talented actors got stuck with horrible movies like these?)

**phool** · 02-03-2010, 15:27

As a fan of the first one, banlieue 13 (aka district 13): ultimatum was very disappointing. The first one made no attempt at realism, don't get me wrong, and it didn't hurt the film's effectiveness, but this time I felt genuinely embarrassed to watch. In particular, and I'm not one to usually complain about this kind of detail, time and time again we were asking why everyone seemed to suddenly lose their guns the moment the protagonists came within the same room. While the first one had an obviously individual style, and a lot of it, this time appears to have put the bigger budget to waste on terribly integrated influences from American action (car drives through building), kung fu films (a novelty weapon, here a blade at the end of a ponytail) and Jackie Chan (ridiculous use of props, here a painting, to assist the protagonist in a fight scene). We also had less parkour (and when we did get it, we wondered how the bad guys kept on appearing in neighbouring buildings as soon as he jumped across) and the plot was pretty much pasted wholesale from the first one with a few details changed.

The soundtrack was decent and appropriate but nothing to stood out as with Da. Octopusss' opening sequence track, funki slow motion, or iron sy's Resistant for that matter.

Oh, the dubs are as lame as the first one, i.e. the second worst dubs I've ever seen after that highly regarded Japanese monster film 1-2 years back. But the scripting was pretty horrible anyway.

You'd be better off rewatching the first one.

**Lazer LXXVII** · 06-03-2010, 00:06

Alice In Wonderland (2010)
Rating: 2/10
Fun: 2/10

Its 13 years later, and Alice is waiting to be married to someone who is appointed to marry her. She runs off the altar because of the pressure, and goes into the rabbit hole once again.

I dont know what to say, i didnt want to see it. Its just too weird and too bizarre to actually enjoy, i mean i hate making harsh criticisms of people and things, but this movie is for freaks. I can see how an ordinary person can enjoy it, i really do, but i couldnt stand it. You honestly have to be high out of your mind for this movie to be purely entertaining to you. Its one of those movies where i would constantly think "Alright she has to do this this and this, thats like 40 minutes more", and just count down until the end. The only positive thing i can say is that some of the characters were pretty cool, particularly the dog and the insane rabbit. Other than that, all of the characters are just so far out there that i couldnt enjoy it or get into it. I cant stand Tim Burton, and this just fuels my negative feelings about him. Let alone, i cant stand Johnny Depp, and this support the statement i have always made: he always plays roles where he is either really strung out on something or really weird. And this was just another Johnny Depp movie. If you liked the original, you will probably enjoy this, i just cant stand many things about this movie so i hated it.

**zodiac66** · 06-03-2010, 23:10

Originally Posted by Lazer LXXVII

Alice In Wonderland (2010)
Rating: 2/10
Fun: 2/10

Its 13 years later, and Alice is waiting to be married to someone who is appointed to marry her. She runs off the altar because of the pressure, and goes into the rabbit hole once again.

I dont know what to say, i didnt want to see it. Its just too weird and too bizarre to actually enjoy, i mean i hate making harsh criticisms of people and things, but this movie is for freaks. I can see how an ordinary person can enjoy it, i really do, but i couldnt stand it. You honestly have to be high out of your mind for this movie to be purely entertaining to you. Its one of those movies where i would constantly think "Alright she has to do this this and this, thats like 40 minutes more", and just count down until the end. The only positive thing i can say is that some of the characters were pretty cool, particularly the dog and the insane rabbit. Other than that, all of the characters are just so far out there that i couldnt enjoy it or get into it. I cant stand Tim Burton, and this just fuels my negative feelings about him. Let alone, i cant stand Johnny Depp, and this support the statement i have always made: he always plays roles where he is either really strung out on something or really weird. And this was just another Johnny Depp movie. If you liked the original, you will probably enjoy this, i just cant stand many things about this movie so i hated it.

I loved it. I was enthralled at the scenery, stunning really. The White Queen bothered me for some reason. Must have been the light hair and dark eyebrows and lips. That is the only bad thing I have to say about it.

I would certainly see it again, as long as its in 3D. That just added to the experience.