Movie Reviews

[BTGBullseye]

This is not Siskel & Ebert, so don't expect that.

 

Watch your movies, post your reviews... Your opinions about the movie... What you liked, or didn't.

 

If a movie is posted, but you want to review it too, go right ahead... The more the merrier.

 

 

 

First review, by request...

Prince of Persia

 

Ok... To start, it's by Disney. Essentially an non-kids version of Disney's Aladdin, only with a dagger instead of a lamp & genie.

 

Good acting, decent story, great CGI effects... Overall moderately boring. Lots of cliché moments, but lots of action too. Doesn't require a lot of thought...

 

Since I have never played the game, I'm looking at this as a movie only, and am not biased by any pros/cons that I see many using when relating it to the games.

 

Some of the free run sequences look like they came straight out of Assassin's Creed...

 

I would recommend seeing it at least once, but I personally see it as a "watch once every decade at the most often" kind of movie.

 

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Now it's your turn. Make reviews. Long or short, doesn't matter. Lets hear what you think of movies...

[Alyxx Thorne]

Toy Story 3

 

 

Disney sequels have had a tendency to suck lately. I mean, they totally ruined some of their best movies by making direct-to-video sequels that they somehow dubbed "Video Classics". What bullshit, right? Either way, I was clearly having rather low expectations when watching Toy Story 3 as I was very skeptical to it. I imagined they would ruin the franchise with it. But in the end, perhaps it was those low expectations that made it even more enjoyable for me. A lot of the time I find that having low expectations when watching movies can make them slightly more enjoyable. For example, the Doom movie was one I knew wasn't going to be anything like the games simply because I had heard it, so I didn't expect that. And it was fairly enjoyable as a dumb scifi action thriller. And everyone likes to bitch about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, yet I somehow enjoy that one the most of all the Indiana Jones flicks because I initially watched it with low expectations. They can be to your advantage a lot of the time... But I digress, let's get to the point.

 

Toy Story 3 is basically taking place several years after Toy Story 2, a very natural time placement actually since a lot of us who have grown up with Toy Story are grownups ourselves now. Andy is now a young man, having sold most of his toys from the earlier flicks, and has to go to college. The toys he hasn't gotten rid of, mostly the main characters from earlier movies, are worried that Andy is going to throw them in the thrash when he leaves and this leaves to a lot of confusion when Andy is putting them in a garbage sack to put them in the attic, but his mother believes they are trash and they end up being taken away. I won't spoil too much if you haven't seen the movie already but they somehow end up at a daycare center where everything seems to be perfect for them, however they soon learn its dark secrets, and believe me, this movie comes close to being genuinely dark and creepy at times, much darker than any of the earlier Toy Story films.

 

Overall, that was what I really enjoyed about Toy Story 3. It feels mature and adult in comparison to the earlier films, just like how those who grew up with these movies undoubtedly ARE more adult now. Though that's not to say it doesn't have laughs as well. A lot of moments and quotes are simply comedic gold from this movie and believe me, I have never in my life laughed so much at an animated feature before. And that is just how I can explain Toy Story 3, it's a thrillride of emotions. It's very emotionally strong and potent and will make you shiver in fear, laugh your ass off and in the end, if you are soft enough, cry like you have never cried before, which was exactly what happened to me.

 

All in all, it had enjoyable characters, great moments and a perfect structure. And the ending was ingenious... Highly recommended if you want the final Toy Story, as I can imagine this is the end of the franchise for now, which is probably for the best. I can't see how they can top this one...

[Batman]

RANGO

 

Rango has the appearance of a child's movie, but has a much darker element that pixar would never tread. It has the looks = to Pixar's animation which is a high praise, because both a wonderfully made. The creatures of this movie are uniquely ugly or odd looking, but are great to watch.

 

The Plot is similar to one of the old westerns, and is very enjoyable. The one fault of the movie is that it does get kinda boring after alittle bit, but It quickly becomes entertaining again.

 

This is a movie to rent. I'd give it a miss in theaters, but rent it one evening.

If I'd give it a rating, I'd give it a 8/10.

 

In the Line of Fire (1993)

 

 

Clint Eastwood is always an entertaining character to watch on the screen, and his 1993 movie Movie "In the Line of Fire" is no exception. I found it mildly entertaining, but nothing truly spectacular. This is something to wait and see if it comes on TV.

 

5/10

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Most recent watches, I've been doing reviews on another forum, but I'll post some up here too. I might be going to see Battle LA pretty soon.

[Alyxx Thorne]

TRON Legacy

 

 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like inside your own computer? Or when Disney would get the fingers out of their fat asses and make a sequel to one of their most groundbreaking 80's films? Well, here is the answer to both of those questions. TRON Legacy is the long (understatement of the century) awaited sequel to the 1982 cult classic TRON, both starring Jeff Bridges (Starman, True Grit) as the elusive hacker Kevin Flynn and Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5) as the titular hero Tron in the first movie, and with a minor role in this sequel. Some new major roles are filled by Garret Hedlund who plays Kevin's son Sam and Olivia Wilde, who you might recognize from the hit TV show House MD as a very sexy program in the digital world.

 

So how does the movie hold up? Quite well actually, though obviously this is a very visual movie. The best part of the movie is the music though, made by none other than the French electro-house duo Daft Punk, their electronic wizardry, influenced greatly by Wendy Carlos' original TRON score, perfectly matching the digital world's visual style, derived but evolved greatly from the first TRON film. The plot is basic but interesting enough to keep you seated for the movie's playtime. Obviously you're watching this movie for the epic battles and the awesome lightcycles running around. This is by every meaning of the word a special FX film and rarely really goes beyond that.

 

If you want to watch a movie that outright hypnotizes you with its visual style and excellent music, look no further, as TRON Legacy offers the full package, though I feel the characters could have been fleshed out more as they seem to feel a bit hollow, though it's not like the first movie was rich in story either. If you're a TRON fan, you'll definitely enjoy this movie, which I assume will be the last TRON film (sadly).

 

I give it 8 identity discs out of 10.

 

Honorable mention: The TRON 2.0 game.

[beefman62]

Repo man *SPOILERS*

 

 

A very well done movie, But... theres a few things. One is after he got soft about killing people the movie sorta went down hill from there, the action sorta went to actioney like they were trying to hit you in the face with it. the dialog was good but also went down hill. The actors were very well for there part and good plot. But the ending...... GOD the ending is just SOOOOOOOO bad i tell people that havent seen the movie to stop after hes on the beach. really the movie has to make the ending a fake one and show what really happens. so basically the good guy losses so bad he dose not even know it. its better to stop the movie at that point and think that is the ending than seeing what really happens. Heres the movie plain and simple. Good guy is bad, life altering event, turns good, had forbidden love affair, fights alot, climatic ending, happy ending, than complete shit of an ending. He dies his girl dies bad guys win...........

 

i give it a 7/10 for the movie and a 0/10 for the ending.

[J.C.]

Sucker Punch

 

 

Yesterday I went to see Sucker Punch, with very low expectations in terms of script and character development, and high hopes for visual effects and all around cool and badass fight scenes. I wasn't disappointed, although the lack of a coherent story was a bit more brutal than I expected.

 

If you've seen the trailers, you know Sucker Punch is about a girl in a mental institution, and her continuous retreats into an alternate reality (filled with epic battles and eye candy) as a way to escape the horrors of the mental facility. Well... that really is all there is to it, in terms of script.

 

This has got to be the most random movie in the history of cinema (and I'm including all those weird student films that deal with lint and people staring into walls for hours). It looks like Zack Snyder didn't even try to form a coherent story and just wanted to show a bunch of hot girls fighting (matrix style) hordes of zombie nazis, demon samurais, dragons and robots. If that was his intent, he succeed.

 

So, if you want to go and see this move at your local cinema, turn off your brain at the door. If you're unable to do that, better wait for the Blue-Ray, DVD or cable releases.

 

Visuals: 8 out of 10

Music: 7 out of 10

Story: 1 out of 10

[Kirkreng]

a bunch of hot girls fighting (matrix style) hordes of zombie nazis

There really only was 1 nazi zombie, the rest where nazi robots

 

Anywho i totally agree, this isn't a movie to think about. It is just pure baddassery you should enjoy.

[Blue]

Tangled

Directed by: Nathan Greno and Byron Howard

Produced by: Roy Conli, John Lasseter and Glen Keane

Production by: Walt Disney Animation Studios (UK)

Available for DVD & Blu-Ray

2010

(Rated G for General Audiences in Canada)

(Other reviews by me.)

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War

Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of World War II

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Sid Meier's Railroads!

Gang Garrison 2

Lego

 

This is the best film I've seen this year. If that's not audacious enough, permit me to be even more impertinent and say that it exceeds my expectations compared to Toy Story 3. When Walt Disney Animation Studios decided they would make their 50th movie, someone said that it needed to be of unprecedented quality to exceed Disney's recent history of.... questionable quality overall. And did they ever. Tangled is the first return to the pretext of 'Princess Story' since the Princess and the Frog, and I think its the sign of Disney turning a new page in its book.

 

The directors; Greno and Howard, have been working for Disney Animation Studios for a while now, having made some relatively-good-but-not-quite-amazing CG films in the past few years, like Chicken Little and Bolt, but this takes them to a new precedent. Tangled is a musical about Rapunzel, the girl with golden hair, who is locked away in a tower and can never leave due to her overprotective Mother Gothel, and relatively speaking, it's up to Flynn Rider to show her what she's missing and help her get over her complex of not wanting to betray her 'well-intending mother' by leaving the tower. There's a lot more to the plot than that, but this review is purposed to remain spoiler free. That is, unless you've already clicked on the Wikipedia link.

 

Tangled manages to succeed in a way many Pixar films have and few other CG films hadn't, and how that occurs is due to the large amount of well developed characters. Each one is entirely readable and contains a breadth of variety in their personality and motion, which can be challenging to many studios. Another aspect which greatly impressed me was the animation itself. I know, it's sort of weird to say that seeing as it is an animated film just like all the others studios make, but I don't know, it's just something you get an eye for when you're an animation student such as myself. It really smacks of the clarity and exuberance you see in the quality of movies Disney made back in the Renaissance of the late 80s and the 90s like Beauty & The Beast or The Lion King. Like the animators were enjoying every frame of their craft as much as the audience would enjoy watching it.

A thing that surprised me for the better was it's return to form with the movie being a musical, and it fits. My only grievance with the existence of the musical numbers is not having more of them in the movie, possibly even for the King and Queen, or perhaps a When a Felon's Not Engaged in His Employment -esque bit for the Captain of the Guards who chases Flynn. With it, he might have been a bit better developed. Without it, he becomes a bit flat, or like Inspector Javert from Les Miserables. Along that note, I quickly found it laughable how incompetent the King's men were in the context of their job. But thinking about it from the story's perspective it makes sense because the movie had enough antagonists as it was without having to add to the troubles of Rapunzel and Flynn with the soldiers actually being dangerous to any extent.

 

As said, there are few things I could find wrong with the movie, leaving the vast majority of it a very splendid and remarkable work fit for the halls of Disney's glorious past, made present. Watch it, and if you've seen it, watch it again. The 3D version by the way, is worth it.

 

______________________________________________________________________

Copy-pasted (largely) from the Review I did of it last year on The Escapist).

[Alyxx Thorne]

Today's review: GRINDHOUSE (2007)

 

Grindhouse is the name of not one, but two movies directed and produced by none other than Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi, Spy Kids) and Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill) called Planet Terror and Death Proof. What I've gathered is that both of these movies are paying homage to 1970's exploitation movies that were made mostly to satisfy people's taste for sex and violence and such movies were often shown in special adult theaters, commonly known as "grindhouses". Nowadays, most people, especially the younger generation, most likely have no idea what these theaters meant to movie-goers or that once in the history of films, there existed independent b-movies that had little to no plot and mostly featured gratuitous sex and violence. They might not get that Grindhouse isn't just bad, it's meant to be. Grindhouse isn't just a name, it's a style, and Rodriguez and Tarantino has brought it back and perfected it, as the movies not only feature very simple plots and lots of violence and sex, but the movies have been physically damaged and worn out to look old and giving the feel they are being "ground" out by the projector and both movies have "missing reels" though this is mostly a gag used to avoid an X-rating. Both of these movies were made simultaneously in different units and even feature the some of the same cast in both of them, and were released as a double feature. Therefore I will review both of them.

 

 

Planet Terror is the first of this double feature and is a flat out gorefest of a splatter flick that pays homage to classic zombie flicks and mostly John Carpenter's The Thing. And not unlike Carpenter himself, Rodriguez has solely composed and played all of the music in the movie as well as directed it, and it's probably no coincidence that a lot of the music sounds very reminiscent of the music from Carpenter films such as Escape From New York. The movie starts out with an air-carried toxin being spread all over the city of Austin, Texas, though instead of killing people, it turns them into flesh-eating puss-oozing zombies hungry for brains. A rather dumb premise, but this clearly is a movie for people who already left the brains at the front door of the theatre. In the midst of this local apocalypse, gogo-dancer Cherry Darling, played by the sexy and dangerous Rose McGowan, who spends her time finding use for her seemingly "useless" talents, meets up with an old flame, the mysterious Snake Plissken of the movie, El Wray, played by up and coming Freddy Rodriguez (no relation) in his first serious badass role. Both of them end up at the hospital after their truck gets attacked by zombies and El Wray is arrested for posessing a rifle while Cherry gets her leg chewed off by the creatures. I won't spoil the rest of the film for you, but I will say this; this movie is gory as hell. It's even up there with such gross-out classics as Brain Dead (aka Dead Alive) and The Thing. If you're in the mood to be completely grossed out, I highly recommend this one. All in all, the movie is stupid, but entertaining as hell.

 

 

After a chain of hilariously bad fake trailers for movies that don't even exist, aside from Machete which actually got made (out now on BD and DVD), we get to the second half of Grindhouse, the high octane slasher flick Death Proof, featuring Kurt Russell in one of his best roles as of late. Where Planet Terror is a flat out action flick that attempts to shock the hell out of you, Death Proof is the polar opposite, being a very laid back and slow-paced thriller that strolls along at a snail's pace with all the Tarantino trademarks; being heavy on dialogue (to say the least), featuring women that kick ass and lots of prominent feet. Such as, Death Proof might be a bit boring to most people, but it has a huge payoff as it features one of the best car chases I've seen put on film. The movie is about a serial killer called Stuntman Mike, excellently and darkly portrayed by aforementioned Kurt Russell, who uses his death proof stunt car, a black 70's Dodge Charger with a white skull on the hood, to kill females he stalks beforehand. The car is an obvious homage to how old car movies were filmed, using cars specifically made for crashes and stunts, built to protect the driver from lethal injury, though this movie puts a dark twist on how such a car might be used as a weapon. After stalking and killing off a group of young women, all of them dying in a horrifying crash that is shown to its full extent via several angles from each victims' point of view, he finds and stalks a group of female friends, including the real stunt actress Zoe Bell, who worked with Tarantino on the Kill Bill set where she was a standin for Uma Thurman, playing herself as the fearless cat. What Mike does not take into consideration though, is that these victims fight back and we get a badass car chase that is unlike anything I've seen put on film recently. Here, Tarantino's mastery of the medium comes to its full right and shows us just how a car chase is supposed to be filmed and it pays excellent homage to such classics as The Road Warrior, Gone in 60 Seconds and Vanishing Point (both mentioned in the movie). Even though the movie in general is very slow and the huge amount of dialogue probably bores a lot of people, the slow paces creates a wonderful contrast that makes the action scenes stand out even more than they would in today's action flicks.

 

Also worth checking out is Machete, which I may review later on.

 

Planet Terror I recommend to fans of splatter flicks and John Carpenter movies. If you want a badass movie with balls (literally), don't miss out on this one. Death Proof is more for the older crowd who don't mind slow-paced movies with lots of dialogue and great action scenes. It requires a certain patience to sit through as it's probably the most typical Tarantino flick you can find, but it's clearly worth it for the payoff.