| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RocknRolla - R |
I'm not the biggest Guy Ritchie fan; having been the apparently the only person on the face pf the planet not loving some of his previous efforts 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock Two Smoking Barrels'. I feel the same way here with 'RockNRolla', which again is peppered with many characters that interconnect with each other. However, I didn't mind Thandie Newton, I thought Gerald Butler was alright, there's an outrageous scene involving a car crash and a foot chase, and the business about a Russian mobster's lucky but now stolen painting. No...I still don't get it. |
April 3, 2009 | N/A | |||
| 100 Feet - R | While I felt that the discovery of a bag of money didn't really add up to much other than a possible misdirected red herring, I did happen to like Famke Janssen in the film. While some of the FX are nothing fantastic, the ghost scenes where you don't "see" the ghost are far more effective. | April 3, 2009 | N/A | |||
| The Dark Knight - PG-13 | March 20, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Wargames: The Dead Code - PG-13 | February 13, 2009 | N/A | ||||
| Defiance - R | August 29, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale - PG-13 |
Put on a shelf for two years, and being another video-game inspired film directed by pugilist director Uwe Boll, I should not expect much. I did enjoy some of the gusto on 'BloodRayne', and I truly believe Boll is this generation's Al Pyun. With each film Boll does seem to get a little better, but it won't be enough to silence his critics. "Name Of The King" is watchable early on and then in the last fifteen minutes. Somewhere between is a snoozefest. Part of that is due to Burt Reynolds looking like he's asleep himself, Matthew Lillard graining on the nerves, and Ray Liotta-who once gave us bad guy acts in Something Wild and Unlawful Entry, and who we must also remind ourselves of the underrated No Escape and that, yes, he was in GoodFellas- somehow, he doesn't click here. Perlman's fine. Statham's alright. Leelee dons her Joan Of Arc TV armor again... ...but Uwe Boll simply should have locked unworthy people out of the editing room. The film is too jumpy, that there seems to be no sense of pace or of location. Boll can blame all his woes on his investors if he wishes; one of these days he'll have to look in the mirror and point to the real guilty party. |
August 28, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Fool's Gold (Fools Gold) - PG-13 |
After giving it some thought, there is at least one thing I can say that I liked about this mindless drivel: the film uses great locations and films those locations well. Since the film itself stinks to high heaven, the best piece of advice is to call your local travel agent and head on down to some tropical paradise. At the very least, you will be far, far, away from this piece of junk. Even if half of Matthew McConaughey's antics pale in comparison to the fun adventure of 'Sahara', there should be some fun in those scenes. There is none. There is still no chemistry between him and Kate Hudson any more than their was on the previous pic they worked on together, there's some unconvincing bad guys, ranging from cliched bumbling oafs to a cliched evil P. Diddy type, and then there's the plot regarding the treasure itself. The message in the opening reel was fine; the grimacing forced exposition that goes on and on and on drains any life out of what the picture had. It literally stops. -bam- right there, dead, dead, dead. I defy anyone to make heads, let alone tails, of the mumbo jumbo that spews out of the character's mouths. And the Rich guy's spoiled young daughter? She's nice...for sharkbait! The gold is hard to find for the characters in the film; the fools are easier to find. |
August 1, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Batman & Robin - PG-13 | June 27, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Batman Begins - PG-13 | June 27, 2008 | N/A | ||||
| Wanted - R |
With the exception of Angelina Jolie who can more or less do a role like this in her sleep, the acting is fairly good. The characterization not so much, and the action alright but not as great as I thought it would be. On top of that, three of my pet peeves are present in the film, and, yes, I get it: Timur Bekmambetov is film stylist. That only goes so far for me. I'm sick and tired of CGI slo mo bullets, I'm tired of seeing fast, speeded up frames, I'm tired of seeing characters in slo-mo doing a thousand things which in a real time would be a millionth of a second. It gets on my nerves. Not to mention other filmmakers have done better and made such things look new and fresh. Since many DTV action flicks have CGI slo-mo bullets and speeded up frames per second, I'm trying to figure out why such stylist approached wasn't at least improved on. Timur Bekmambetov was an interesting choice for this film, seeing how he is behind Nightwatch, which has a simular plot thread, so to speak... |
June 27, 2008 | N/A | |||
| The Last Legion - PG-13 |
"The Last Legion" is the kind of a film that can't seem to make up its mind of what it wants to be. It doesn't have an epic feel, yet it has a serious tone and there are battles to be fought. It feels more like a young adults film, but there's a graphic shot of a hand being cut off and death all around. There are unexplained scenes which are intentionally humorous during a rescue, there is the out of place yet stunning combination of beauty and athletic prowess of Aishwarya Rai, and then the "real" legend of Exailibur. The film moves way too quickly for even half of this to sink in. I lost track of how many times I just wanted the film to tell the story and decide on the tone. It never does. |
June 25, 2008 | N/A | |||
| First Sunday - PG-13 |
The biblical question is asked in the film: why would a man rob God? I want to follow it up with two non-biblical ones. Why do the filmmakers feel they need irritating and obnoxious characters who serve no purpose to the story, and second, why would they rob my time in doing so? Why-can I ask why? Why is there need for bathroom jokes? Why is there a need for a transsexual joke? Why is there room for race jokes? Why is there room for sex jokes? Why is there room for a pot joke? Tracy Morgan is irritating, but tolerable compared to Katt Williams, who plays a eccentric choir director who I wished at times, a character *would* have shot him or at least gag him. Nails on an emery board are more welcome than the attempted humor, but I guess I should count my blessings than non-actor Ice Cube didn't reunite with Mike Epps. 'First Sunday' rambles on, and then, Loretta Devine, God Bless her, saves the film from the fire pits of hell. The touching moments in the film , are, however, seemingly always in danger whenever Williams, Cube or Morgan open their mouths. Or Tiffany "New York" Pallard in her overdone cameo, for that matter. By the way, I'm so happy that I have that gospel song "Presence Of The Lord Is Here" by Byron Cage; saves me the time from getting the soundtrack to this mess. |
June 25, 2008 | N/A | |||
| 27 Dresses - PG-13 |
The film never slows down on the charm, and I found many scenes with Katherine Heigl were really well done. I laughed, I found her and James Marsden's chemistry to be stellar. There was one scene which I felt a bit shocking and really I felt had no place in the story (it's near the end of the film) and even though it's clear the two main characters are a great match- director Anne Fletcher drags it along...when the storyline takes place over the course of a matter of months, made to feel like days, if that makes any sense. I also had some trouble believing that a character's sister misleads her new fiancee about her personality, as well as "scandalous" photos which may be embarassing, but when the raciest shot is that of sloppy BBQ ribs? It would be one thing if she fooled around; it's something else when the main problem is guffing down a roast. In any case, I enjoyed the film over all, and if wasn't for my nitpicks it would be a 'perfect' movie. |
June 23, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Goya's Ghosts - R |
Since this film's ad campaign, for reasons unknown, either leave off Stallan Skarsgård or give him third billing, even though he has more screen time than Natalie Portman or Javier Bardem, and, more importantly, Skarsgård happens to play the title character. The overall film, directed by Milos Forman, is a total shock to me, I once loved the director's work -Amadeus is one of my all time favorite movies- and lo, here's a period piece. Forman should be in his element. But the film just comes off as choppy and unfocused. Natalie Portman has a tough task of playing dual roles, a task which I'm unconvinced she pulled off well. Javier Bardem makes out alright with an interesting character arc, but his character also suffers as some scenes appear forced and others feel like something's missing. Then, it hit me. I didn't care anything about the scandal overall, because if the point of the film was to focus on the evils of the Spanish Inquisition, the film failed as it didn't spend enough time on the subject. The second half shows the rise of Napoleon and the French occupation, but not much time is spent there either except just to show that the French were just as bloodthirsty as the Inquisition. Then it it the Brits turn, and one of the day's first order of business is to deliver executions. Meanwhile, the changing governments leaves the painter Goya alone. What is Goya's opinion of the changing politics? We don't really know. Does his opinion relect in his art? It's brought up early, but soon forgotten. Is it about Goya? Yes and no. The film is about corruption and winning the minds of a mob. It is also about a famous painter who is nothing more than a middle man in between scandals that don't directly involve him. |
June 17, 2008 | N/A | |||
| National Treasure: Book of Secrets - PG | It is easy to see the appeal of the 'National Treasure' films. The sequel is more of the same: idiotic plot, outrageous clues and always suckers you into the crazy adventure. There are scenes in this film where a viewer will go 'huh?' or 'What!' but I dare anyone to walk away unless you're going to refill the popcorn bowl. The previous film I couldn't really stand, but I reminded myself it was sort of fun, there are worse films of quality out there, and by gosh, if Nicolas Cage (and Ed Harris, too, who shows up in this sequel) is going to do silly films, at least they are in the silly films that entertain. I will say I liked Justin Bartha more in the sequel in his role as sidekick to Cage than in the first film. I also found the end set piece of the film had more of a real WOW factor in it...even if it was completely ludicrous. | June 17, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Lions for Lambs - R |
Is this a propaganda piece for the left? I'm somewhat unconvinced of that, as both sides of the hot button issue are discussed and debated. I think today's audiences might find it uncomfortable due to a good chunk of the film has nothing but talk and debate (Robert Redford and Andrew Garfield; Cruise and Streep) and the other half is the plight of two stranded wounded Army Rangers (Pena, Luke) stranded in Afganistan with the Taliban closing in on them. Overall, I felt the film made the points Redford wanted to make. I felt the film was well acted and not as heavy handed as say, 'In The Valley Of Elah', it was a different picture and those last scenes in the film I actually applauded. Even I, who tends to favor the conservative base, give a big thumbs up to anyone who points out the sad truth that we care (or the media seems to care) more about "a rap star's divorce" than U.S. military actions in the Middle East. What a sad truth. |
June 13, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Semi-Pro - R |
I had, very briefly, started to warm up to Will Ferrell's comedies, but after witnessing this deluge, I am also reminded why I it took me a long time to warm up to his comedies. This film -regardless of what it lifts off 'Slap Shot'- is just simply not funny. Oh, nobody remembers Slap Shot? With Paul Newman as a player-coach of a bottom ranked Hockey team about to be dissolved, how he hustles the team and others of big hopes? How one of the players wants to play the 'real sport'? How a highlight of the team is rough brawling? Semi-Pro is unfunny. Semi-Pro is dull. Semi-Pro is the worst film of 2008 thus far. Even Woody Harrelson can't save it. And if you're gonna have a film set in Flint,MI in the 70's, where's the music of Grand Funk? |
June 13, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Awake - R |
The film starts out well, and the setup for the film is brilliant. I was with this picture, I was surprised to find how much I didn't mind Jessica Alba, I thought Hayden Christensen was alright...I thought, wow, they are humanizing a person who is about to be operated on. We care about him and his new love, his best friend doctor...and now during the operation, the anasthesia fails to remove most of the pain, and the main character knows what the doctors are doing to him but he can't open his eyes. WOW! This is a great movie, and I highly...recommend... And then I get slapped in the face, kicked in the gonads and my intellegence insulted all at the same time as this film takes this great setup and for reasons unknown, decide to make it into a thriller which doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Within a short period of introducing the "real" story, I found myself lost, confused, and wondering who is responsible for this utter crap. Did someone get little "help" notes from a studio executive who said 'dude lying on a table during a transplant operation isn't suspenseful or interesting- make him the target of EVIL doctors who want to kill him!' Advice taken. Now...logic dictates that: 1) I don't care if the guy is your best buddy, if he has a number of malpractice charges on him, find another doctor, it isn't personal. 2) A doctor who has such charges against him would want to keep his buddy alive...instead of losing 'another one'. 3) Are doctors/heart surgeons that hard up for money that a team of doctors has to concoct an elaborate scheme, regardless of lawsuits? Would saving a life of an important rich guy make some of those troubles go away? 4) Since we never ask about what really happened to the main character's father who died one Christmas, why does it have to be a tacked on, anti-climatic revelation? 5) Thanks for letting us, the audience, know that the rich young do-gooders cannot trust anyone from the 'other side of the town'. We'll all sleep better at night. Yeck. |
June 13, 2008 | N/A | |||
| P2 - R | 'P2' does have a lot of promise in having the suspense factor and the atmosphere of darkness and seclusion are always constant. Franck Khalfoun does a really good job in keeping the pace tight and the terror engaging. What he just can't seem to do, though, is reel in Wes Bentley, who chooses to drag the film down with his unconvincing over the top antics. In fact, Bentley just brings the film right down when his character starts ranting. "Don't call me Thomas!!!" and dumb dumb stuff like that. The ending of the film is also lame. A great attempt foiled by a bad actor. | June 13, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Wrong Turn 2: Dead End - Unrated |
Not so much as a scare film or thriller, but more of a well done over the top gorefest. Much better than the first film I thought, and the acting gets better as it goes along, most notably Erica Leerhsen. However, I frowned at the sight of an actress who happened to appear in the second Hills Have Eyes (Alonso). What should be said is that Wrong Turn 2 doesn't take itself that seriously, and leaves something to hang your hat on. |
June 11, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Reservation Road - R |
Upon picking this film up for rental, I scratched my head. Directed byTerry George, who helmed the terrific film Hotel Rwanda; this film has Joaquin Phoenix, Mira Sorvino, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connelly in it.Yet I have never heard of this picture from last year. To no surprise, the acting was solid, especially Jennifer Connelly, and author John Burnham Schwartz is good adapting his own novel. The film is deep, as it has an unusual but interesting balance of a grieving family whose son is killed by a hit and run driver, who by grim coincidence may just live in the same neighborhood. The subplot follows the emotional pathos of the driver- who wrestles with the idea of turning himself in and losing his own son in the process after winning visitation rights after a nasty divorce. There are no easy answers in the film, and while I could say I found the confrontation between the two lead characters to be a bit much, even I had to admit that, given the idea that a man has lost his son and to see the driver spending time with his own son at a baseball game might just be enough to set a ticking human time bomb off. As to why this film went under my radar I'm still trying to fathom. But then again, I noticed with dramas that deal with human grief, adult problems and thoughtful discussions, if they don't have an atomic bomb exploding off in the distance or highlights of a torture scene, nobody will seem to notice. Quite like a tragic outcome of a hit and run accident. |
June 7, 2008 | N/A | |||
| One Missed Call - PG-13 |
It's not as horrible as some of my online friends made it out to be. Yet, know that it doesn't mean squat, for it still isn't a good film. Maybe J-Horror don't do well in remade translations. Or maybe after a good jump in the opening scene (ruined by the death of a pet- did the pet get a mysterious cell phone call too?) someone thought, let's not have any tension. Better yet, let's even have Ray Wise show up as some sort of spoof of real life 'demon expert/sensationalist excorist' Bob Larson. Let's make a scene where statues of Jesus and Mary have glowing eyes! Let's get Ed Burns for another stinker and have us chant "Brothers MCMullen...Brothers McMullen...return, Ed, return to your glory!" Shannon Sossamonlooks great. She looks great bored. She looks good sleepwalking while acting. The ending of the film makes no sense, except that the filmmakers are hoping that this is the next USA version of a Grudge franchise. Good luck with that. You'll need it. |
May 15, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Halloween - R |
I will give some credit to where some credit is due: there was that third act of suspense and two "gotcha!' moments that are well done. Hats off to Rob Zombie...er...wait a minute. Too late. See, I also had to endure what transpired before it. Zombie's "re-imagined" version is more brutal than than the original, not as suspenseful, not as scary. There is no build up of fright. There is no dark humor, nothing to really hang a hat on. There isn't any character to like, root for or feel any emotion to. It was hard enough re-making John Carpenter's original. But if you ask me right now, is Zombie's film better than the original, I would say no. In fact, if you asked me is this better than any of the Halloween sequels that dealt with Michael Myers (4,5.6. H20, Res) I'd have to say "maybe 5". That's how low of the scale this new film is. One thing that bothered me the most? The brutality and abuse. Should we be sympathetic towards Myers? Pity him? Where is the Myers' "walk"? Why I am I nauseated, taking migraine pills? |
May 15, 2008 | N/A | |||
| The Kingdom - R |
There was a big surprise for me watching 'The Kingdom', and a surprise only because there is an actor named Ashraf Barhom who has a major supporting role in the film as Col. Faris Al-Ghazi- and not only does Ashraf does a great job- he is billed *after* other actors who have less screen time. I suppose it has to do with Universal execs who didn't know how well an audience would respond to an unknown actor (at least in the States) but that's an educated guess. Heck, he has about as much screen time as lead Jamie Foxx. I am going to cut Jennifer Garner some slack here. I was never a lover of Alias, I hated Elektra,and I absolutely drolled over some of her rom-coms. Here...I liked her. She's fine. I did not mind some of the shaky cam in the film, there were sections where it isn't as "shaky" as some films, and I could follow the action well. The shoutout-rescue in the last bit of the film was great. It had me glued. I also felt the battle itself was realistic. I didn't feel the film was overtly political to the left or right. It had the right balance. But what I liked the most about the movie was the difficulty in capturing terrorists not just by the FBI but also the Saudi Police when cultural differences impede such actions. |
May 10, 2008 | N/A | |||
| Cloverfield - PG-13 | A lot better than I thought it would be, but there were one too many times when I wanted a character to D-I-E simply because he was a boring jackass. The creature action did not impress me - all it did was remind me of the redux Godzilla ten years ago where the big o' lizard did more or less the same thing to NYC. I liked the Alien-like crabs whose bite infections cause people to explode. The "gimmick" of the film is fine. It is a different way of doing a creature feature. It also outwears its welcome. If it wasn't for the idiot characters- including the jackass of the group- I would have found the film as not just having a clever idea, but more smart as well. I can't say I enjoyed the film, but I did enjoy the concept. | May 10, 2008 | N/A |
383 ratings
124 reviews
