Movie Reviews 2.0
- Thread starter Dresden
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I saw Ninja Assassins last night with a friend of mine. I thought it was very well done. I will give it a 7.5 because there was not much to it other than the action and even then the action camerawork was jumpy so it was requiring you to use a lot of imagination. Still it was very entertaining I thought. Definitely going in my bluray collection 
I saw previews for 5 other movies too and all of them I want to see and they are Avatar, The Book of Eli, the Woflman (or something with Benicio del Toro), Sherlock Holmes, and one other the name of which escapes me at the moment.
I saw previews for 5 other movies too and all of them I want to see and they are Avatar, The Book of Eli, the Woflman (or something with Benicio del Toro), Sherlock Holmes, and one other the name of which escapes me at the moment.Harry Brown 9/10 - I wasn't expecting it to be that good, the plot and Michael Caine did a great acting.
The Dark Knight 7.5/10 - i share the same idea of being overhyped, the only thing that saves it was Heath Ledger and Gary Oldman who i can't remember seeing in another movie other than "Leon - The professional" (9.5/10)
others i'd recommend;
Lord of War 8/10
The prestige 8/10
Children of Man 8/10
Oh almost forgot, Jason Statham action/comedy flics
Transporter (only the first the other 2 are horrible), London, and, The Bank Job, all three get a 7/10 from me.
The Dark Knight 7.5/10 - i share the same idea of being overhyped, the only thing that saves it was Heath Ledger and Gary Oldman who i can't remember seeing in another movie other than "Leon - The professional" (9.5/10)
others i'd recommend;
Lord of War 8/10
The prestige 8/10
Children of Man 8/10
Oh almost forgot, Jason Statham action/comedy flics
Transporter (only the first the other 2 are horrible), London, and, The Bank Job, all three get a 7/10 from me.
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Oh almost forgot, Jason Statham action/comedy flics
Transporter (only the first the other 2 are horrible), London, and, The Bank Job, all three get a 7/10 from me.
So yeah what the hell happened? I loved the transporter and the others were just meh...
Terminator Salvation: 6/10
Started off pretty well methinks, only to start petering out into mediocrity towards the middle and end.
I had some difficulty pinning down exactly when in the Terminator timeline it's supposed to take place; it's obviously post-T3, and seems to be pre-flashbacks from the original movie. Was expecting to see more of Bale, but he's more like a minor character actually and doesn't really do very much in the movie. He's there in the beginning and then some at the end, but he's not having much of an impact. He's just little more than a grunt, at least at this stage in the timeline.
I have some issues with the plot, in the sense there isn't really one lol... The heroes just move from place to place, kill some machines every now and then, and in the end some shit blows up without really accomplishing much and everything is strung together with expensive SFX. The final voiceover even says as much; the war's still ongoing while the credits start rolling up on the screen. That doesn't give for a very fulfilling movie unfortunately, and nor does this ending keep the expectations high for the sequel like for example Empire Strikes Back in the Star Wars trilogy. It's just a "meh" ending that's keeping the door open enough for a sequel if this one earns enough dough to warrant it and standalone enough if it should flop. The result is half-baked, but still, it's watchable I suppose if you happen to have 2 hours to kill and a bowl of popcorn that needs to be purged of its sins.
The original Terminator was great because of its originality at the time, some strong actor performances and - as crazy as it sounds - more plot than action. A big part of its success is probably because the movie was done on such a shoestring budget that they couldn't afford to blow up more than what there is... Proof that bigger is rarely better, heh! Take a movie like G.I. Joe for example that is essentially a completely hollow shell made up of CGI, wireworks fight scenes and merchandising cash-ins, no plot that make any sense whatsoever. It's the original Terminator's antithesis.
Btw! Fun to see Anton Yelchin again so soon after Star Trek. I believe this kid could go places in Hollywood, if he doesn't get himself bogged down in the bottomless tarpit swamp that is fame and stardom and blow all his money and credibility on booze and coke. I used to say that at least Christian Bale had his head screwed on straight; never any media scandals, mugshots or such a la Russel Crowe or Colin Farrell (heh, or Nick Nolte for that matter lol)...and then news broke about Bale going apeshit and attacking his mother and sister. So you never know...you know. Anton's got a shot at becoming something great, but so did a lot of other young promising actors. Hell, Eddie Furlong was there in Terminator 2 almost 20 years ago now, then blew it all on pot... Oh well, got a bit sidetracked there.
Started off pretty well methinks, only to start petering out into mediocrity towards the middle and end.
I had some difficulty pinning down exactly when in the Terminator timeline it's supposed to take place; it's obviously post-T3, and seems to be pre-flashbacks from the original movie. Was expecting to see more of Bale, but he's more like a minor character actually and doesn't really do very much in the movie. He's there in the beginning and then some at the end, but he's not having much of an impact. He's just little more than a grunt, at least at this stage in the timeline.
I have some issues with the plot, in the sense there isn't really one lol... The heroes just move from place to place, kill some machines every now and then, and in the end some shit blows up without really accomplishing much and everything is strung together with expensive SFX. The final voiceover even says as much; the war's still ongoing while the credits start rolling up on the screen. That doesn't give for a very fulfilling movie unfortunately, and nor does this ending keep the expectations high for the sequel like for example Empire Strikes Back in the Star Wars trilogy. It's just a "meh" ending that's keeping the door open enough for a sequel if this one earns enough dough to warrant it and standalone enough if it should flop. The result is half-baked, but still, it's watchable I suppose if you happen to have 2 hours to kill and a bowl of popcorn that needs to be purged of its sins.
The original Terminator was great because of its originality at the time, some strong actor performances and - as crazy as it sounds - more plot than action. A big part of its success is probably because the movie was done on such a shoestring budget that they couldn't afford to blow up more than what there is... Proof that bigger is rarely better, heh!
Take a movie like G.I. Joe for example that is essentially a completely hollow shell made up of CGI, wireworks fight scenes and merchandising cash-ins, no plot that make any sense whatsoever. It's the original Terminator's antithesis.Btw! Fun to see Anton Yelchin again so soon after Star Trek. I believe this kid could go places in Hollywood, if he doesn't get himself bogged down in the bottomless tarpit swamp that is fame and stardom and blow all his money and credibility on booze and coke.
I used to say that at least Christian Bale had his head screwed on straight; never any media scandals, mugshots or such a la Russel Crowe or Colin Farrell (heh, or Nick Nolte for that matter lol)...and then news broke about Bale going apeshit and attacking his mother and sister. So you never know...you know. Anton's got a shot at becoming something great, but so did a lot of other young promising actors. Hell, Eddie Furlong was there in Terminator 2 almost 20 years ago now, then blew it all on pot... Oh well, got a bit sidetracked there. 
Oh almost forgot, Jason Statham action/comedy flics
Transporter (only the first the other 2 are horrible), London, and, The Bank Job, all three get a 7/10 from me.
I tend to enjoy all of his films, and if not the film, then I still enjoy seeing him in action.
In that vein, Crank should be in the list - it's pretty awesome, great concept. Death Race wasn't as good, but still enjoyable. And Revolver I mentioned earlier as one I really liked.
That's being generous imho. That movie was horrible. Casting amazingly big fail. It was totally impossible for me to see the kid from Terminator 2 grow into Melancholy Man.
Bouncing Zabaglione Bros.
Legend
...and then news broke about Bale going apeshit and attacking his mother and sister. So you never know...you know.
That's not really fair if you follow up on the story instead of just the initial headlines. His mother and sister came to him in his hotel at the night of the premiere asking for a million pounds. When he refused, they started shouting abuse at him and his wife. He shouted back in defence of his wife. The sister and mother reported him to the police for "verbal assault". No arrests or charges were made after the police investigated.
So basically a money-grubbing mother and sister tried to ruin the premiere of Bale's new movie because he wouldn't give them a million bucks.
Bale is generally respected as a hard working actor who will go the extra mile, and treats everyone well bar one or two notable flair-ups. Even after the episode of "shouting at the annoying lighting director" on the T4 set, he apologised in person and in public, made fun of himself about it, and is constantly saying how lucky he is to do what he does, and how he knows it could all stop at any time.
Yeah yeah, I know about the million pounds/bucks and whatnot. I just wanted to signify that even what appears to be the sun can suddenly have spots (cue Tiger Woods debacle, although he's of course not an actor, heh.)
I've always respected Bale for his work ever since I first saw Empire of the Sun. He's got terrific talent, especially considering the young age he was then. That's very, very rare. One of the few other similarly talented youths is Jamie Bell (of "Billy Elliot" fame, and later King Kong etc.)
Edit:
I started thinking of other kid actors whose work I respect, I ended up with names like Dakota Fanning, Elijah Woods, Christina Ricci and Wil Wheaton. ...Again, just a sidetrack.
I've always respected Bale for his work ever since I first saw Empire of the Sun. He's got terrific talent, especially considering the young age he was then. That's very, very rare. One of the few other similarly talented youths is Jamie Bell (of "Billy Elliot" fame, and later King Kong etc.)
Edit:
I started thinking of other kid actors whose work I respect, I ended up with names like Dakota Fanning, Elijah Woods, Christina Ricci and Wil Wheaton. ...Again, just a sidetrack.
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Action is decent, story is stupid, acting is decent, cgi is prevalent but done well enough that it doesn't destroy the flow of the movie or the overall feel.
Rain does a decent job in his first Hollywood lead. Interesting that the Wachowski brothers have gone with him, after using him in Speed Racer previously
3/5 stars. It's relatively entertaining.
I tend to enjoy all of his films, and if not the film, then I still enjoy seeing him in action.
In that vein, Crank should be in the list - it's pretty awesome, great concept. Death Race wasn't as good, but still enjoyable. And Revolver I mentioned earlier as one I really liked.
Crank was a really funny film. It was OTT but never too much OTT.
The sequel to Crank, on the other hand, was simply batshit insane OTT. It really should never have been made.
It's releasing on 18th, afaik.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Just saw it over at a friends. It's sorta enjoyable. I'd give it a 5/10. The movie seemed somewhat confused not quite knowing what it wanted to do.
Then again, I've never seen why so many people like Tarantino so much. And this movie doesn't do much to change my view. In other words, not one of his better movies, IMO.
Regards,
SB
I don't know if I like HIM all that much, but I like a few of his movies, namely his early ones. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Murphy Brown are all very good or really good IMO. Even my mother liked the latter two (hasn't seen the former), and she was 70+ when she watched them. Although I think she preferred Murphy Brown, because there's more romance in that one.
Pam Grier is just every kind of awesome there is, and Uma Thurman has IMO never been better than she is in Pulp. She goes really well with straight, black hair.
Saw the first of the two Kill Bills, didn't much care for it so I skipped the second. Never felt tempted to watch Inglorious, because I didn't really understand the point of it. Ok, so it's a movie about torturing/killing nazis, okay. Well, that's just fine, coz everybody knows it's OK to hate and kill those guys. Duh... Kinda pointless premise IMO, but maybe i'm not properly clued in on what the movie's really about, I dunno. I still don't think I'll watch it though.
If you liked Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs you should like Inglourious Basterds. It's pure awesome sauce.
"Basterds" is hardcore Tarantino. So long as you understand his directing style and appreciate his sense of humor, then you should enjoy it. But in general, there's typically very little middle ground with what consists and what doesn't consist of the Tarantino fan base. You either like him or you don't. And if his previous movies didn't impress you, I don't expect this one will.
Terminator Salvation-
0/10
This was the first movie I turned off. Ever.
Terminator Salvation-
0/10
This was the first movie I turned off. Ever.
DuckThor Evil
Legend
Is this some sort of humour or are you confused with the name. It's Jackie Brown.
I watched Moon yesterday and liked it, great movie with somewhat big topics, but quite minimalistic presentation with basically only one actor in the movie. 8.5/10
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