| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek - PG-13 | this movie is Wrath of Kahn (if not Undiscovered Country) level good. Go see it this weekend | May 8, 2009 | N/A | |||
| Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children - PG-13 | November 9, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Horror of Dracula - Unrated | A very decent adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, with some good acting, but the film is really missing the scope of the original book. | October 20, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Kôkaku kidôtai (Ghost in the Shell) (Shell Mobile Force) - R | October 1, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| War (Rogue Assassin) - R | July 16, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - R | July 5, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| The Thing - R |
This film is John Carpenter's greatest film ever. Better than Halloween, better than Escape from New York. This eclipses all of his work, and is perhaps one of the seminal works of cinematic science-fiction horror ever. However, this film is not for the squeamish, though it's not gratuitously gory. It's not for the weak-hearted, though it doesn't resort to cheap scares. It's a excellent film. If you're a horror buff, or a sci-fi buff you need to see this movie. |
February 11, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Rambo III - R |
This is most certainly not a good movie. It's not a horrible movie either. It's fair. It's laughable in a lot of respects (Rambo blowing up a helicopter with an exploding arrow - or, for that matter, the fact that Rambo's trademark exploding arrows even show up in this movie). However, the film has some advantages over the previous film (First Blood Part II). This film actually has a villain, as opposed to Part II, which just had some antagonistic Vietnamese. This actually adds a lot of depth to the plot, which was lacking in the prior film. The movie however, has not aged well. Aside from the end of the cold war, and aside from the fact that glastnost began while the movie was being shot - the film not only has the Soviet occupation-era Mujahadin as protagonists, it's dedicated to them. (The irony of this being that the Mujahadin would later, in part, become the Taliban, and one of the members of the Mujhadin who was trained and supported by the US was Osama Bin Ladin). That said, the movie... is worth a rental. I wouldn't spend the money to actually buy a copy of the film, but it's wouldn't be too painful to see once (at least with some friends to laugh at it's flaws with you.) |
February 11, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Under Siege - R | Not a great action movie, but it's decent. Not particularly worth buying, but certainly worth a rental. | January 28, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Saw IV - R | October 30, 2007 | N/A | ||||
| Dan in Real Life - PG-13 | October 30, 2007 | N/A | ||||
| Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie - Unrated | The film's fight scenes are exteremely well done, and the animation is excellent, but the plot is... direct-to-video at best. If you keep your plot expectations low, you shouldn't be disappointed. (But precisely how much plot were you expecting from a Street Fighter film again?) | October 30, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Street Fighter Alpha - The Movie - Unrated |
This spin-off/reboot/seperate continuity something to the classic Street Fighter animated film follows in the footsteps of some of the beautifully animated fight scenes from the first film, though the film's plot is sadly lacking. Come for the fight scenes, and stay for the fight scenes, but don't stick around too much longer. |
October 30, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Citizen Kane - PG |
No, really, it's that good. It's not over hyped. It's just that good. The editing, the writing, the acting, the cinematography, it's all excellent. It is an extremely solidly done film, which excels in all aspects. This really is one of the greatest films to come out of Hollywood, and was technically ahead of it's time. If you have not watched this film, or have refrained from watching this film because of it's age, you really need to see it, because it really holds up to the years. Trust me on this. |
October 30, 2007 | N/A | |||
| A Better Tomorrow II - Unrated |
A Better Tomorrow II picks up several years after the first film left off. Kit is still a detective with the HKPD, but with his relationship patched up with his brother. Mark is still dead, and Ho is behind bars for his part in the massive gunfight at the end of the first film. That is, until the head of the HKPD offers Ho his freedom provided he goes undercover to bring down his old friend, Lung Si (played by Dean Sheck) who used to be running the counterfeiting ring. Ho is reluctant at first until he learns that Kit is undercover on the same case. Ultimately, they learn that Lung is innocent of the charges against him, and is a pawn in a larger scheme, ultimately leading to them contacting the twin brother of Mark (from the first film) Ken Gor (again played by Chow Yun-Fat, for help. This all leads to a massive spiral of violence leading to a massive gunfight at the end with our heroes taking on over 90 of the villian's henchmen. This film is, most certainly, completely different in tone from the first film. There are much more stunts in this film, more gunfights, and while the wounds in the gunfights aren't totally shrugged off, they aren't crippling either. Ultimately, it feels like more of an action film then the first one (which felt like more of a gangster drama). The scope of the film is broader as well, with scenes shot in both New York and in Hong Kong. The acting here is again very good. Chow Yun-Fat further shows his skill by spending his first 15 minutes of the film acting mostly in English. Dean Shek also does an excelent job conveying his torment at his daughter's death, which he holds himself responsible for. Lung Ti's performance as Ho has also changed as well, playing the man who was once a gangster, and understands what it means to be a gangster, but has lost all taste for it - yet has to persist at pretending at one to save his brother and his friend. The only thing which I would call a "weak link" would be Leslie Cheung's performance as Kit, as the character lost most of his pathos as written - instead the character has been fit neatly into the niche of the undercover cop, with the added bit that he's going undercover with his brother, which removes some of the angst those kind of roles normally have. In conclusion, if you liked A Better Tomorrow, give this a try. If you liked the first film for the excellent performances by everyone involved, but didn't like the gunplay, well... there's still plenty of excellent performances here. If you liked the first film for the gunplay, then there's plenty more where that came from. Either way, it's an excellent piece of work by John Woo, and is certainly worthy of your attention. |
October 15, 2007 | N/A | |||
| A Better Tomorrow - R |
For all John Woo's reputation for films with dramatic gunfights, A Better Tomorrow is a film which which relies less on the gunfights, and more on the story and the acting. Chow-Yun Fat plays Mark Gor, an gangster who runs a counterfeiting ring with Sung Tse-Ho (or just Ho), played by Lung Ti - who has to hide his double life with his ill father and his brother, Kit, who is a Detective Inspector in the Hong Kong Police department. After Ho is betrayed to the police because of a business deal, and Mark loses his leg avenging Ho's betrayal, they both find themselves themselves trying to live legitimate lives - Ho trying to go straight after his arrest, and regain the trust of his brother; Mark forced out of his position in the gang and left destitute, while trying to find his way back in. The world of A Better Tomorrow is a far grittier one then western action films - or even from Woo's later action films. It only takes one bullet to cost Mark his leg, an injury which could be easily healed in other action films. With the exception of the two-fisted gunfighting, you almost wouldn't think this was a John Woo film. Many of the stunts and visual tropes we've come to expect from Woo simply aren't present here. No doves, no over the top stunts, and violence has consequences. The acting on the film is excellent as well. Lung does an excellent job as Ho, and successfully conveys the character's emotional torment at his younger brothers rejection. Likewise, Leslie Cheung, who plays Kit, equally gets across his shame at the discovery that his brother is a criminal, someone he swore to fight against, and his second shame at losing the trust of the department because of his discovery of his brother's double life. However, the top performance of the film goes to Chow Yun-Fat, who essentially ends up playing 2 roles: the bold, brash, cool gangster; and then fallen Mark Gor, with all the trappings of his position within the Triad stripped away - angry, lonely, and seemingly without hope. Plus, Chow does an excellent job of conveying the loss of the character's leg without actually having to show a prosthetic, simply by changing his walk and in several scenes where he's basically having to manipulate and move his leg around with his hands. It's a magnificent scene. In short, this is, by far, one of Woo's greatest films - not in terms of action, but in terms of pacing, acting and storytelling. This is the cinema of Hong Kong at it's finest, and anyone who is a fan of foreign film - period, should give this film a try. |
October 15, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Ocean's Eleven - PG-13 | June 26, 2007 | N/A | ||||
| Ronin - R | June 26, 2007 | N/A | ||||
| Darkman - R |
Before Sam Raimi directed the Spider-Man series of films, he directed this dark and gritty semi-superhero film (more like a vigilante film. When scientist Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson), who is developing a formula for synthetic skin for burn victims is himself badly burned and left for dead by vicious gangster Robert Durant (Larry Drake) he becomes vigilante Darkman to seek his revenge, using his skin technology to make masks (which only last 99 minutes) based on the faces of Durant's gang to play them off against each other. Perhaps the two strongest performances in this film are those of Neeson and Drake. Neeson really gets across Westlake's lonelyness and rejection after his disfigurement, as well as the moodswings his character suffers. Larry Drake, who at the time was well known for playing a kind and gentle character on LA Law does a beautiful dark turn as Robert G Durant. Durant, as a character, is brutal, vicious, but also very competent and very sane. As good as Drake's performances on LA Law were, his villainous turn here shows how good an actor he really is. If you really enjoy the work of Sam Raimi, or enjoy seeing Liam Neeson in action, or one of Larry Drake's best film performances, you must see this film. |
May 27, 2007 | N/A | |||
| WWE: The Rise & Fall of ECW - Unrated | A good, solid documentary covering the history of one of the most successful independent wrestling promotions in the history of the business. | May 2, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Six-String Samurai - PG-13 | An excellent homage to 50's rock, chambara films, and old Shaw Brothers films. A magnificent film. | May 2, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Kidô senshi Gandamu: Gyakushû no Shâ (Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack) - Unrated |
A fitting conclusion to the Gundam Saga. After several years of silence (during Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam), Char Aznable has returned to the spotlight, and has claimed the throne of the Principality of Zeon. Now, Amuro Ray must once again square off against his arch rival with Earth's future at stake. This is, by far, one of the greatest chapters of the Gundam series. Tomino is at top form. Now, mind you, this is not all bunnies and kittens, the series retains the same dark tone as Zeta Gundam and the conclusion of ZZ Gundam. However, this is an excellent piece of work. It is certainly a worthy conclusion to the Universal Century Gundam Universe. |
February 19, 2007 | N/A | |||
| The Muppet Christmas Carol - G |
This is, by far, one of the most faithful and accurate adaptations of Dickens' classic story. Frankly, the only major difference between the Dickens and the Muppet version is some of the songs, and the humor. Oh, and they didn't include Ignorance and Want clinging to the legs of the Ghost of Christmas Present. But that doesn't take away from ]how superb this film is. Fans of the Muppets will enjoy this film. Aficionados of "A Christmas Carol" will enjoy this film. Fans of Dickens' will enjoy this film. If you have not seen it, you owe it to yourself to watch it. However, I recommend that you watch the full screen version. The wide-screen theatrical cut is truncated, and has an important musical number cut. The full-frame version is, frankly, the definitive version. |
February 17, 2007 | N/A | |||
| The Muppet Movie - G | An excellent, and truly touching film, with plenty of funny moments for adults and the kids. Definitely worth picking up. | February 17, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Done the Impossible: The Fans' Tale of 'Firefly' and 'Serenity' - Unrated | December 4, 2006 | N/A |
186 ratings
28 reviews
