Mini Movie Reviews 2 - The Reviewening

[ColShaw]

Have you read the comic, or are you coming into it with fresh eyes? Apart from a certain theme running through the comic (The Black Freighter) and a change to the ending (not deal-breaking, but makes more sense to a mainstream audience), it was very true to the comic, even down to Night Owl's basement.

I am familiar with the graphic novel. And I liked the movie's ending better, honestly.

Giant squid?! Really?

[El_Machinae]

I thought Watchmen was amazing. I didn't know about the comic, but I was enraptured by the movie. One of my favorite movies of all time.

[Jedi152]

I've got to say, i like the movie better, but i saw that before i read the graphic novel, so i had no preconceptions.

[TheBigBadWolf]

I am familiar with the graphic novel. And I liked the movie's ending better, honestly.

Giant squid?! Really?

I prefered the film ending better, although it would have been nice to see a film version of the book ending, I think it would be like the end of hellboy somehow

[New Cult King]

Yeah, Watchment knocked me for six. I watched it twice in the first week I owned it. Utterly amazing. Rorschach was perfect.

Does this mean *I* am watching the Watchmen?

/bad joke.

[Hellebore]

I am familiar with the graphic novel. And I liked the movie's ending better, honestly.

Giant squid?! Really?

well see, in the graphic novel it was an unseen/known threat, but still grounded in the real world. But the film ending made it pretty much:

God is real and he's watching you. He's going to spank you if you get out of hand. One godly individual standing over humanity with a stick IMO is far less society changing than an external threat. One is supernatural and unknowable the other is an earthly threat that can be rationalised. An alien threat would bind humanity together more than the hand of an omnipotent being, after all you can see how badly the latter has worked so far on earth.

I mean, if it was Manhattan, what exactly could humanity actually do about it? An alien threat actually has the chance of being beatable, but a superbeing... not so much. By making it too extreme an enemy you run the risk of destroying morale completely. A force you can get angry at with an actual chance of winning (whether true or not) would provide far more impetus. What is humanity going to do to Manhattan? Explode all over him, staining his nice blue skin?

Although yes, giant squid monster is a little silly. But I think the idea of an external threat works better as a cultural motivator than just one more deity to impose its will on humanity, from a story perspective.

Hellebore

[Nocculum]

....

You just single-handily redeemed the graphic novel ending for me Hellebore.

I'd bow down, but this Census form needs moar attenshuns!

[Hellebore]

Well I've not actually read the novel, I only know the plot. I didn't mind the film ending, thought it was a clever modification. The above was me playing devil's advocate really.

However it's not like the original author was necessarily having this conflict when writing it. This is more of a hindsight comparison and their relative merits.

I liked the film ending, but in comparison found the concept if not the exection of the novel ending literarily superior.

Hellebore

[Patriarch]

The backstory in the novel suggests that he isn't completely omnipotent - he wouldn't be able to stop all the missiles in a Soviet nuclear attack. Also, Ozzy uses Dr M's fragile psychology to sidestep him for long enough, which is a kind of weapon.
However it makes sense for the film to have gone the route it did. The original ending assumes the existence of psychics, which you would have thought might have as big an impact on society as Dr Manhattan. Rather a hard sell to a cinema audience.

[Patriarch]

The King's Speech

True story of Prince Albert (Colin Firth), 2nd in line to King George V, and victim of an overwhelming stutter and fear of crowds. Not much of a handicap for British monarchs up to that point (just look smart and don't fall off your horse), but the invention of radio and the onset of WWII present a problem - Albert needs to address millions of people, live, despite being almost unable to speak at all in front of strangers.

In desperation his wife (the future Queen Mum, played by Helena Bonham-Carter) turns to an obscure, down-at-heels Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush).

The cast is superb, including Guy Pearce as Albert's wastrel older brother Edward VIII.

All round excellent film, just the right mix of weighty drama and comic relief. Might stretch the history a bit, but so what. Riveting film, I'd recommend this to anyone.

Verdict: Watch it.

[Private_SeeD]

Battle: Los Angeles

I just watched it with my other half, and like the others have said it was far better than I expected... It was a long film but it didn't seem to be, there was some emotional bits in it that made my other half cry but the action was top notch too.
I also enjoyed that there was no stupid weakness like in signs or War of the Worlds. One thing I have to mention and even my other half mentioned it, it was like a sequel to District 9

I mean that the ship that made it off Earth in the end of District 9, came back with his older brother and friends to give the human race a good kicking for what they did to there race.

Verdict: Watch it

[sigur]

Gridlock (1996)

Yet another made-for-TV Die Hard clone. I'm pretty sure that since 1989, they did at least two of those each year. This one though I almost enjoy more because this time it's not Dean Cain saving something from some snooty, suit-wearing evildoer, it's the one and only David Hasselhoff.

Hasselhoff is always immensely enjoyable to watch and if you read the first sentence, you basically know the whole movie's plot already. It's really only about the variables in the formula, i.e. the actors. This time X = Hasselhoff and Y = Kathy Ireland. The bad guy is some unknown dude. Sadly nobody of the calibre of Eric Roberts. Anyway, Hasselhoff makes up for the lack of any other big names in here.

Another detail - visually, this looks exactly like a TV movie from the mid-90s which means that it looks like a softcore sex flick.

Watch it at least once in your life so you can tell the tale of this amusing little gem.

[Easy E]

Ninja's Creed
A DTV actioneer. It left me with two questions:

"Where's the Ninja?"

"Where's the action?"

Pass- It commits the cardinal sin of film making! It's boring!

From Paris with Love
I'm sure John Travolta adored making this film. After all, he is an amazing marty-stu that is never wrong and never has to deal with the consequences of his actions. Who doesn't want to be that guy?

Surprisingly enjoyable, but then again I just got done watchign something that wasn't enjoyable. Plus, it absolutely wallows in what it is and expects you to as well.

Luc Besson's fingerprints are all over this one.

Rent

[ColShaw]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I first saw this movie back in 2000, when it came out. And I didn't like it; I thought it was confusing, weirdly paced, and kind of dull. That's because I was expecting a western action movie (people kept comparing it to "The Matrix" because of the fight choreography, and this set up an utterly false expectation).

I saw it again last night, for the first time in 11 years. And it was really, really good. If I had to say what it's about, it would be "regret for choices not made and paths not taken". It's a very sad movie, but beautiful, well-acted, and thought-provoking. Michelle Yeoh in particular is very good in it.

Watch It if you haven't already.

[Col. Frost]

The Happening (2008)

The north east US is hit by a chemical 'attack' that causes people to commit suicide, Marky Mark (minus his 'funky bunch') and Zooey Deschanel try to escape from the crap thats going down in New York. A 'horror' written by M Night Shyamalan.


Wow. I'm not a big fan of Mr Shyamalan after enduring the utter dross that was 'The Village' (although i think The Sixth Sense is a very good film) and this film re-iterated why i generally dislike this writers films. Mark Wahlbeg is a very good actor, but i couldn't decide whether he had taken acting lessons from Ben Affleck or, realising how bad the film was, decided to ham up and over act. The acting in general was terrible, the dialogue was worse than many terrible made-for-TV films and the ending just stupid

Oh, the plants have decided to stop killing everyone, thats nice....

.

Spent ten minutes after the end of the filming discussing whether the film was genuinely terrible or a really poor attempt at a 'so bad it's good' B movie.


Verdict: Dull, poorly written and acted garbage. Avoid

[IncrediSteve]

or, realising how bad the film was, decided to ham up and over act.

A completely superfluous bottle of Cough Syrup. It was like $6.

[Ozorik]

Oh, the plants have decided to stop killing everyone, thats nice....

.

Its not just plants, its the grass

The Happening has to be just about the worst film that I have ever seen. I have seen plenty of bad film but they usually have at least 1 redeeming feature, but not this time.

[Jedi152]

I like Shyamalan films, except for the endings, which just don't fit.

The Sixth Sense was great, the ending works and it's a really good film.

The Village was awesome until the final twist.

Signs was brilliant until the final twist.

Lady in the Water and unbreakable are dross, the Happening is a decent enough film. It's no worse than Independence Day.

[The Dude]

I quite liked The Village including the twist.

I also quite liked Unbreakable. You have to watch it as if it's a Superhero movie though.

I agree Lady in the Water was a waste of my time though.

[nagash66]

Any person here who defends the man who made the Last Avatar is dead to the world.