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Avatar - PG-13
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it's been over a decade since James Cameron released a feature film. His last being the audacious and earth shattering Titanic. Needless to say there were high expectations and a lot of excited movie buffs to learn that Cameron was about to release his most expensive project yet. Cameron is, in my opinion, the greatest action movie director of all time. What sets him apart from the Michael Bays of the industry is while he is able to produce stunning visuals and awesome action, he lets the story, the plot, and the characters be the spine of the film. His latest feature, 'Avatar' has moments of breathtaking imagery, with inventive settings and creatures, and the action scenes are thrilling and to a point. Where Avatar fails however is unfortunately in its story... the plot. Its obvious themes of green peace and allegory of white man invading/destroying the habitat of indigenous people becomes a formulaic plot. In season 13 of South Park there was an episode entitled 'Dances With Smurfs'. In that episode they make the joke that 'Avatar' was a stolen idea from Kevin Costner's 1990 film 'Dances With Wolves', which is a film which story resembles that of 'Avatar''s except it was about a Yankee soldier who learns from a Sioux Indian tribe, falls in love with one of them, and soon becomes a part of the tribe before standing up to his former Yankee mates. As such, 'Avatar''s story is unoriginal in an original setting...
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December 17, 2009
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N/A
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Shoot 'Em Up - R
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Deliberately over-the-top, stupid and ridiculous. Hilarious!...but also dumb. Made purely for entertainment value.
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December 15, 2009
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N/A
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X-Men Origins - Wolverine - PG-13
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Wow! This movie was actually shit!
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December 14, 2009
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N/A
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Terminator Salvation - PG-13
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'Terminator Salvation', the fourth addition to the popular action/sci-fi series, sees John Connor (Christian Bale) finally in charge of the resistance against Skynet and its terminators in the year 2018. While in the previous Terminator films we are shown glimpses of the war in the future, 'T-Salvation' is the first to be set entirely during this grim future, so in many ways it's quite a different film to the others in the series. The film is very flawed, but most of us were expecting that. One problem is that the film isn't true to the character John Connor. In the first film a Terminator is sent back to before John was born to kill his mother Sarah, creating a deep sense of how important he will become, even without being in the film he had a strong presence. In T2 we meet John who is a smart-arse kid who has attitude but also compassion, and is still coming to grips with what role he will play in the future. In T3 he is almost like a lost soul who has given up a normal life to prepare himself for the inevitable. But in T4 he doesn't really seem like he's stemmed from the John Connor of the previous films. This John Connor lacks depth. I can't really criticise Christian Bale for this. The problem lies in the script. He doesn't as have much screentime as you would expect. He makes a few appearances at the start to set the scene, but like I said before, no character depth. Here is a man who is suppose to be the saviour of mankind, but he seems to be just another soldier. Sure he is the leader of one branch, but he answers to a higher authority. I thought John was suppose to be the man who stands up and takes control. The one man who leads mankind to "salvation". But no. He doesn't not live up to that image. There are plenty of other problems in this film. The dialogue was poor, and there were some inconsitencies to the preivious films and some silly moments (why didn't Skynet simply kill Kyle Reese when he was captured?). As for the cast, Christian Bale does try hard, but the Batman-voice does not suit John, and he is given a bad script to work with. Sam Worthington is slightly impressive as a conflicted "human/terminator", and Anton Yelchin is uncannily similar to Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese. Moon Bloodgood's character was quite pointless and unnecessary. I did however like the little girl who did not speak, she reminded me of a charcter from another James Cameron series: Newt from 'Aliens'. While T4 is an obviously flawed film, it does have it's moments of glory. The action scenes are excellent, as are the actual Terminators, especially the surprise appearance of the iconic T-800. How did they do that?? This is still an enjoyable film and definately worth a watch, just don't expect it to be as brilliant as its predecessors.
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December 14, 2009
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N/A
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9 - PG-13
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Based on a short-film, '9' is an intriguing, weird, orginal film with stunning visuals and interesting concepts. Too dark for children, but it's thought provocative as it comments on the danger of society's over reliance with machines. These themes have been used time and again in such classic films like 'Terminator', 'Wall-E' and of course '2001'. But '9' is unique in the apocalyptic world that is presented and the strange characters and ideas.
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December 14, 2009
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N/A
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Cloverfield - PG-13
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This 'Blair Witch'-meets-'Godzilla' had a novelty that started off intriguing but soon wears thin and you left with just shaky shots of people running. I suggest you check out the South Park two-part episode 'Pandemic' from season 12. It pretty much explains why this movie fails.
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December 13, 2009
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N/A
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Zombieland - R
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'Zombieland' is a fun, thrilling, hilarious action/horror/comedy that combines style with lovable characters. While the setting is during a Zombie Apocalypse where the characters must fend off the undead, the film is more about family, which is what this motley crue soon becomes. Great performances from a Michael Cera-like Jesse Eisenberg, and a gun toting Woody Harrellson provide the unlikely feel-good movie of the year.
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December 7, 2009
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N/A
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Paranormal Activity - R
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It's been a decade since 'The Blair Witch Project'. That movie was groundbreaking, with it's documentary approach and style, lack of gore, unkown cast,and isolated setting it was able to generate fear. Now, in 2009 comes along 'Paranormal Activity' which takes a similar approach to 'Blair Witch'. 'Paranormal Activity' reminds me how good 'Blair Witch' was, because 'Paranormal Activity' is an inferior, boring, and ultimately unscary movie compared to 'Blair Witch'... and even when you don't compare it...
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December 5, 2009
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N/A
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The Seven Samurai (Shichinin no Samurai) - Unrated
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December 3, 2009
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N/A
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Where the Wild Things Are - PG
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When I first heard that a movie was being made based on the classic children's book 'Where the Wild Things Are' I thought to myself "how are they going to adapt such a small book into a full-length feature fim?" and "does this movie really need to be made?" Well now that I've seen it, I think it was...strange. But cute. Spike Jonze is one of the great directors of our time after directing films like 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Adaptation'. Here, he is able to recreate the imaginative and creative creatures from the book using the Jim Henson workshop. The look amazing. You just can't take your eyes off them. And the acting from Max Records is excellent as he shows he has natural acting skills.
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December 3, 2009
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N/A
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Star Trek - First Contact - PG-13
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December 1, 2009
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N/A
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Scanners - R
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November 23, 2009
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N/A
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Righteous Kill - R
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Two veteran cops investigate a serial killer mystery and suspect the killer may be a cop. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are two of the greatest actors of all time. These two men have cemented themselves as acting legends in films such as 'Taxi Driver' 'Raging Bull' and 'GoodFellas' (De Niro) and 'The Godfather' 'Serpico' and 'Dog Day Afternoon' (Pacino) to name a few. The two had only been in the same movie twice before, in 'The Godfather, Part II' and 'Heat'.However, iIn 'Godfather II' they never shared the screen together, and in 'Heat' they only have two scenes together. 'The Godfather, Part II' and 'Heat' are two masterpieces of cinema, and a lot of credit goes to the performances by De Niro and Pacino. Unfortunately this third pairing up, called 'Righteous Kill' ruins their undefeated record. It is a boring, dull crime film which plays out more like a bad episode of Law and Order than Heat 2...
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November 21, 2009
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N/A
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National Lampoon's Animal House - R
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Hugely overrated, but oooooh I hate that crusty bitter old dean!
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November 19, 2009
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N/A
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Serenity - PG-13
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November 18, 2009
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N/A
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Dracula vs. Frankenstein - PG
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November 12, 2009
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N/A
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An Education - PG-13
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November 12, 2009
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N/A
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Tetro - R
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November 12, 2009
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N/A
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The Wizard - PG
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November 10, 2009
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N/A
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A Scanner Darkly - R
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November 9, 2009
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N/A
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Point Break - R
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Keanu Reeves stars as Johnny Utah, a rookie FBI agent assigned to track down a gang of bank robbers. His partner, played by Gary Busey, is convinced that the gang are surfers. Utah is sent undercover to hang out with surfers suspected of being the bank robbers, headed by the wild Bodhi who is played by Patrick Swayze, who use the alias "Ex-Presidents" because they wear masks depicting former US presidents such as Ronald Regan and Richard Nixon when they go out on a heist. 'Point Break' is an action film which includes likeable characters we tend to care about and has some thrilling action sequences like a foot chase through suburban houses, sky diving chases and struggles mid-air, and some awesome surfing scenes. This is a raw and authetic actioner.
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November 7, 2009
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N/A
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No Country for Old Men - R
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'No Country for Old Men' is another dark thriller masterpiece directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. In 1980, Lewellyn Moss, while hunting deer in the Texas desert, comes across what seems to be the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong. There he finds a satchel containing two million dollars, which he takes. On his trail is Anton Chigurh, a hitman who is hired to recover the money. Following this case is the old experienced sherrif Ed Tom Bell, who tries to reach Moss and save him before Chigurh can get to him. This sets up for a great cat-and-mouse chase film. Josh Brolin gives a wonderful performance as Moss. A lot of the movie's focus is on him, and shows in great detail how he is able to avoid Chigurh and a Mexican gang who is also after the money. The direction from the Coens and the editing from Roderick Jaynes is very precise in following and showing Moss' methods of stashing the money, hiding in hotel rooms, and running/driving from his predators. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect in the role of Sherrif Bell. Who else could play the part of an ageing Sherrif who questions the world he's living in and laments the increasing violence in it. But the undisputed star in 'No Country for Old Men' is Javier Bardem's Academy Award-winning performance as Chigurh. Sporting an odd haircut throughout the film and using a cattle stun-gun as his weapon of choice, Bardem is cold and remorseless, stopping at nothing to fullfill his mission. He's like other great movie villains like Michael Myers from 'Halloween' or Arnold Schwarenegger's Terminator, only he isn't just a one note character, Chigurh has depth. Like another great villain, Two-Face of the Batman universe, Chigurh uses a coint-toss to make fateful decisions. And 'No Country for Old Men' 's underlining theme is fate. Something the Coen brothers have previously explored in 'Blood Simple' and 'Fargo'. 'No Country for Old Men' is a beautiful looking film, being set in Texas we are shown the wide open landscapes of the desert creating a feeling of eerie isolation for Moss, just like the Minnesota snow did in 'Fargo'. This is a crime thriller of the best kind and one of the best films to come out of the 2000s.
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October 31, 2009
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N/A
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Reservoir Dogs - R
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Quentin Tarantino's debut film has stood the test of time and can rightly be recognised as a great movie. Los Angeles gangster, Joe Cabot, and his son "Nice Guy" Eddie gather six strangers, using aliases Mr. Blonde, Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange, Mr. Brown and Mr. Blue, to pull off a jewel heist. These are the Reservoir Dogs. After the heist goes wrong, the Dogs soon believe there is a "rat' amongst them and that the heist was a police set-up. But who amongst them is the "rat"? This simple plot sets up for a perfect vehicle for Tarantino. Using only a few locations and a minimum use of props and costumes, QT is able to cram a range of ingredients into only 99 minutes. This is a good example where sometimes less is more. The dialogue is irreverent yet entertaining, which has since become a regular trait in Tarantino films. In the opening sequence where we see the Dogs gathered around a diner table, they discuss what may seem like random conversations about tipping waitresses and what is the true lyrical meaning of Madonna's 'Like A Virgin'. However, subtlety, QT is revealing everything we need to know about the gangsters. For example, Mr. Pink's rant about not tipping gives genuine insight into his weaselly psyche. Mr. Blonde jokingly suggests shooting Mr. White, which is an indication of his psychotic murderous nature. So the dialogue is not only for entertainment value. Another Tarantino trait that features here is that the film is not shown chronologically. He messes with the structure, jumping to the getaway from the crime scene, to the planning of the heist, to the present where the Dogs come to grips with the botched heist. We never see the actual heist. The cast, featuring some of the most underrated character actors are flawless. Harvey Keitel (Mr. White) is fierce and sets the standard for the other castmembers. Steve Buscemi is at his paranoid weaselly best as Mr. Pink, who demands that the other Dogs act "professional" and suspects anyone could be the rat. Michael Madsen is the psychotic monsterous Mr. Blonde. He creates one of the all time memorable movie villains thanks to one scene in which he tortures a cop while dancing to Steeler's Wheel's 'Stuck in the Middle With You'. 'Reservoir Dogs' really succeeds because of the character construction, the brilliant writing and directing talents of Tarantino, and the amazing acting skills of its cast.
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October 31, 2009
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N/A
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Terra (Battle For Terra) - PG
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October 31, 2009
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N/A
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Monsters vs. Aliens - PG
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October 20, 2009
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N/A
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2864 ratings
521 reviews
