| Movie | Rating | Review | Date | Your Rating | Match | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I Am Legend - PG-13 |
It's amazing how this movie generated so much interest and money considering it's such dull "been there, done that" premises. Even then, the story and the execution of the movie is quite flawed that it does not even live up the the standards of the 80s movie adaptation of this book, under then title Omega Man or even the like up to the quality of 1960s version that starred Vincent Price and was called The Last Man on Earth. While the Will Smith was amazing as the lead and put on one of his career best performance as the last man in NYC, the overall movie suffered greatly from the shallow hole filled plot and absolutely atrocious CG effects. It was ridiculous how the director went to such great lengths to create all the monsters out of just CGI and not just use actors with some make-up, which would have been much more convincing. Instead what we got was shitty CG that would not even be up to standards of films released 5 years back. Then there was all the unnecessary changes of the plot from the novel, like for example taking away all the vampire references from the monsters except for the whole sunlight as their weakness bit. What was extremely annoying and crippled this movie was the removal of the main underlying theme of the book and why the book is titled "I Am Legend." In the original story the main character gets conned a young girl vampire and is finally put to trial by the people who live under the city. There he finds out that not all of them have lost their traces of humanity and the "monsters" he has been killing in their sleep were intelligent beings with their own society and culture. For them the main character was their boogie man, their legend who kills them in their sleep.In the final part of the book he is executed by the vampires for murdering their people, just as he realizes he is a legend in their community and the human race is a dying breed & this new civilization is the future of the world; hence the title "I Am Legend." Instead of this, what we got in the movie was a sugar coated, hope filled ending where the main character in the usual Hollywood style heroically sacrifices himself for the good of humanity blah blah blah. The same old crap we have seen in dozens of other Hollywood blockbusters. They took away a powerful message about how evil and bad people really only depend on your perception of that person and replaced it with a cookie cutter, almost feel good ending. Fuck Francis Lawrence. |
December 27, 2007 | N/A | |||
| National Treasure: Book of Secrets - PG |
I did not know you could make a movie more mediocre, formula driven and cliched than National Treasure 1 but they somehow managed to do that with this sequel. This is basically the first film, only with Sean Bean replaced by Ed "Milk Money" Harris as the main bad guy. Throw in some ridiculous "hey it's a clue moments", some light hearted conspiracy storyline and a hidden treasure promise to basically get the plot of this movie. While I enjoyed watching the film it was extremely predicable and the way Nicolas "The Bees" Cage figures out the puzzles is just absurd and random. Hopefully they will try a little hard with the eventual sequel that is bound to roll in next year. At least I hope they come up with a better sub-title. "Book of Secrets" hahaha sounds like something a 10 year old would come up with. |
December 27, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Enchanted - PG | December 17, 2007 | N/A | ||||
| The Golden Compass - PG-13 | December 17, 2007 | N/A | ||||
| Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story - R | December 17, 2007 | N/A | ||||
| No Country for Old Men - R |
One of the best movies of the year. Hell one of the best movies EVER. Javier Bardem better get at least a oscar nomination for his chilling performance. And the Coen brothers deserve an oscar for this masterpiece. My only annoyance with the movie was the Tommy Lee Jones monologues throughout the movie. There were too many of them and felt like of forced. Apart from that, this movie is flawless in every way. |
December 7, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Hitman - R | While it was enjoyable and lot better than most video game movies I was just annoyed by how many random bald headed assassins were running around. I swear he must have killed at least 30 bald headed assassins throughout the movie, which is nothing like the game. Apart from that, it's worth watching if you are fan of the games. | December 7, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Stranger Than Paradise - R | I fell asleep before the second section of the movie ended...so yeah boring as hell. Extremely minimalistic movie with very loose plot and structure with terrible acting by all the three leads. Maybe i'll give this movie another watch when I am not tired and ready to fall asleep. I usually love Jim Jarmusch films and his different style, but this movie just felt very boring. | November 17, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Once Upon a Time in America - R |
Only one word can describe this film: Masterpeice. Everything about this movie is top notch and grand in every sense. While the 3 hours plus run time might scare away a lot of people, I was engrossed by every minute of this movie and wished it was longer. While the acting of the kids during the flashback sequences is a little weak, the performances by the other actors was absolutely phenomenal. James Wood stole the any scene he was in with his amazing performance and De Niro was absolutely perfect. I always felt Good Bad and The Ugly was best Sergio Leone movie, but after watching this movie now I know that his best movie is Once Upon a Time In America. Not a lot of directors have the privilege to end their career on high note like Leone did. |
November 10, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Sisters - R |
Another De Palma movie where he thinks he can become the next Hitchcock by trying to emulate his directing and story style without the same sense of built up that makes Hitchcock films perfect. While Sisters has a very interesting story and characters, it overall fails because of it's pacing, terrible acting and overall forced suspense elements. But nevertheless, De Palma did show his brilliance with some scenes like the muti camera split screens that follow different people at same time or the smooth track shots of objects or people of interest through complex processes. But A good effort as an early movie, even Hitchcock started somewhere. |
November 10, 2007 | N/A | |||
| American Gangster - R |
A very well put together crime drama with some amazing performances. While I am not a big Ridley Scott fan, I really liked his gritty and urban directing approach he took with the movie, which made the movie fit right in with lot of the classic crime/gangster films made in 80s and 90s. While I was not too happy about how the third act seem to just fly by, the build up of Lucas as the crime lord was excellent. |
November 10, 2007 | N/A | |||
| The Thin Red Line - R | One of the best war films ever made simply because of it's amazing directing and powerful war message. | October 30, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Badlands - PG | While the movie has amazing cinematography and excellent acting, it felt like the an overly long short film that could have been edited down to 30 minutes or less. But for this first film, Terrence Malick did an amazing job with it. | October 30, 2007 | N/A | |||
| The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - R |
Easily the best movie of the year so far. While it tends to be slow at some parts, the way the movie was shot just makes it hard for you to turn away or not be in awe with the amazing actors. Casey Affleck better get atleast a nomination for his creepy portrayal of Robert Ford. Andrew Dominik's slow and lingering directing style is absolutely breathtaking because of it's scope and framing of the shots. I can't wait for the DVD to come out so I can rewatch it again. |
October 30, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Johnny Gaddaar - Unrated | I absolutely loved this film and it's easily my favorite Indian movie of the year. The retro style tied in with the noirish thriller story was very well executed. Almost all the new actors in the film were perfect for their roles and really made the characters come alive. But the highlight of the film is easily the script because of it's perfect ability to keep the audience at end of their seats for the whole movie. This is not a movie you can just relax and watch without paying attention to detail. Hopefully more Bollywood movies will try original ideas like this instead of rehashing older movies with big stars and huge effects. | October 30, 2007 | N/A | |||
| The Lookout - R | As much as I liked the acting in this movie, this movie barely had a plot much less a script the actors could work with. The basic plot line is a mix of Memento and a generic heist movie with some unique twists to it. Worth watching for Joseph Gordon-Levitt awesome acting and Jeff Daniels hilarious comments & behavior. But apart from that, the movie does not go anywhere for the first 1/3 of the movie and the whole thing seems to be set in less than 3 different locations. | October 12, 2007 | N/A | |||
| 3:10 to Yuma - R |
I had high expectations for this movie before going to see it due to all the great reviews and I came out disappointed after watching it. While it was a very enjoyable, action packed film, it felt too sappy and forced during some parts (especially the ending...meh). While it's good to see the western genre getting some screen time these days, I was not too fond of the western/action hybrid style this movie had. The plot overall was very basic, but the acting was what carried this whole film. Mostly due to the Russell Crowe's smug & sarcastic yet "deep" outlaw acting and Ben Foster's amazing performance as an obsessed right hand man in Crowe's gang. While Christan Bale was very good in his role, his character was too boring and was easily overshadowed by the side-characters. Directing wise there was nothing special about the film, nor did it have the lingering long shots that are often in Sergio inspired Westerns. The whole movie was cut like a drama with the characters wearing cowboy hats and using horses instead of cars. Overall the movie was a very enjoyable experience, but it is no way as good as all the reviews make it seem like. This an't no Unforgiven or The Proposition. But at very least it had one awesome scene that justified my movie ticket price; a scene where a man and a horse are blown to bits by a dynamite. |
October 12, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Reign Over Me - R | Surprisingly good movie, with Sandler giving his best performance so far. While the script was somewhat slow paced, the acting overall was top notch and the story arc was excellent with some very humorous moments. Also I loved how "Shadow of Colossus" was such a big part of the movie storyline. | October 6, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Black Snake Moan - R |
A very interesting and diffrent story compared to the usual Hollywood films. One of my favorite movies of 2007. While some of the plot elements seem unbelievable, the movie is meant to be taken as a fable that is meant to teach you a lesson. Samuel L. Jackson gave one of his best performances to date and was just kickass as Lazarus. Also the soundtrack is absolutely amazing, I must have listened to the soundtrack at least 30 times by now. |
October 6, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Eastern Promises - R |
An amazing take on "Crime Family" genre with Cronenberg's trademark shocking violence. Viggo better get ATLEAST an oscar nomination for his terrific performance. The accent, his mannerism, his hair...everything is so spot on. I loved how the movie kept shifting back and forth between Viggo and Naomi's storyline to show how each of their acts is affecting the other person's life. Also the bathhouse fight scene was so sickingly realistic that I wished Cronenberg would go back to making his Body Horror films so I could see more effects like that. My only complaint about the movie is the bland twist that completely ruined Viggo's character for me. It almost felt like a studio forced change to the script to make the audience feel at least a little better about caring for such a ruthless character. Also seemed like a half assed attempt to justify and explain the complex nature of Viggo's character. But overall a very gritty & diffrent film compared to all the other studio produced films out right now. |
September 29, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Darling - Unrated | Eh...seems like RGV has lost the flair he used to have before. A decent comedy/horror film at best and honestly would not have even brothered sitting through it if it was not directed by RGV. | September 29, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Sivaji (Sivaji: The Boss) - Unrated |
Holy crap, it has been a while since I watched such an utter crap film like this. To start off with, it's another one of those "one man against social injustice" cliched stories with Rajni being portrayed almost as an Ubermensch who came from America with 250 cores after working as a Computer programmer (HAHA I wish Comp Sci guy made that much) which he plans to use to create a charity. To go along with that plot line, there is the whole slapstick side story about Rajni trying to marry some random girl he saw in a Temple who he goes to great lengths to please. Throw in some fights, bunch of larger than life corrupt politicians, sentimental scenes, corny jokes and you basically got Sivaji's lackluster plot line. I can't believe this movie made all the money it did and is so well received by critics and the general audience in India. Rajni looks like a disgusting black pig with some hair glued on to it's head for most of the movie. Majority of the directing is very amateurish and cinematography is almost none existent considering how terrible the shots are. The only admirable part of the movie was the excellent set designs during the songs (which sucked too). Apart from that, everything is this movie is painfully bad. It's almost embarrassing that crappy movies like this are so well received in India. |
September 14, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Fireworks (Hana-bi) - Unrated | One of the best Beat Takeshi films I have watched so far. A very well paced neo-noir crime drama about an ex-cop dealing with his daughter's death and his dying wife. A very sad film, that does not dwell on violence but focuses more on the effects of it. | September 10, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story - R | A hilarious film that is a film in a film itself. Majority of the story revolves around making the film "Tristram Shandy" which is said to be an unfilmable book because of it's post modern style narration. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are hilarious in their constant struggle to be the lead actors in the film. | September 10, 2007 | N/A | |||
| Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag - Unrated |
A very very disappointing RGV film, but not as bad as all the negative press makes it seem like. Personally I think all the critics just jumped on the bandwagon with bashing this movie because it became a norm to dislike it. With the amount of crap that comes out of Bollywood every week I find it shocking to hear all the reports of people leaving the theaters halfway through this movie. Maybe it was all the hype, expectations and the comparisons to the original Sholay, that made Aag seem worse than it was. I personally felt that Aag had a very entertaining first half. Unfortunately, it also bored me to death towards the end with the half-baked romance plot line and trying to interject numerous character building plot elements for every side character expect for the two main protagonists. The movie did have the iconic RGV cinematography and visual flair that I always look forward to in his movies. But even his detailed shot setups and style seemed to have diluted towards the end of the movie.The main weak point of the movie where the over complicated and poorly structured storyline (the movie could have benefited from some tighter editing and 20 minutes less of the side character banter). Also what is up with RGV's fascination with random new actors that he always tries to force into main stream? It was stupid of him to use all those new inexperienced actors for such big roles which required some experienced acting. Overall I enjoyed the experience mostly for it's directing style and Bachchan's acting; but I doubt I'll ever willingly watch it again. |
September 8, 2007 | N/A |
1387 ratings
524 reviews
