blackcherryThe Incredibles is a great film. Its probably the only 'comic book' or superhero film that works properly (as most other films seem ashamed to embrace the overall weirdness of comic books).
The Incredibles is a great film. Its probably the only 'comic book' or superhero film that works properly (as most other films seem ashamed to embrace the overall weirdness of comic books).
^This is why parts of GW may not like the internet^Originally Posted by On the subject of Jervis Johnson.
I have a plog now! Now with actual painted models
Battleship
Didn't have very high hopes for this but found it surprisingly entertaining, it has the usual bits from transformers (lingering shots of scantily clad woman - Brooklyn Decker in this case, losts of military-porn etc) but it doesn't take itself too seriously with quite a few laughs. It also has a charismatic lead in Taylor Kitsch which really helps. Rihanna is ok and there is quite a decent supporting cast though Liam Neeson is wasted. Don't go expecting a masterpiece but for a trashy hollywood blockbuster its a good entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, I hope it does ok as I think Kitsch is a good leading man
RENT IT
Contraband
Decent cast - Wahlberg, Beckinsale, Ribisi + Ben Foster and IMo its one of Wahlbergs best performances (only The Fighter springs to mind as better) but its not a particularily inspired film. The plot is pretty convoluted with some well worn themes (last job etc) and what twists there are blindingly obvious. Its not awful but its not a film you will remember in a couple of months
PASS
Mr. Incredible? Can I have your autograph?
Cheapest. Army. Ever. - Armored Company or Stompa Tribe
Varingyr (Neo-Squats) Threads- Background , Concept Art , 40K Rules Dev , and BFG Rules Dev .
Aquanautica Imperialis- FREE, naval game for the 40K Universe. Here: http://www.box.net/shared/e2dmaf1zaj
Ultramarines, Codex Productions. Let's get my prejudices out of the way to start off. I got into GW back in the early 1990s in the tail end of the Rogue Trader days. I liked the stuff back then, and increasingly disliked the stuff that came out since from the time Second Edition went all "Grim-dark" and things just got grimmer and darker since then.
You know what? I really liked this.
Compared to a roughly contemporary CGI movie of Resident Evil: Degeneration, the CGI is much, much cleaner and more convincing. Even allowing for the fact that it's a couple of years older, RE : D seemed like a collection of PS2 cut scenes, even at the time. The Codex productions film doesn't have that culled from a computer game feel to it.
The characters are quite wooden and two dimensional, but to be honest if they were anything else it would feel quite out of place. They seem to me to fit in quite well with the whole warrior-monk-knightly order style of the Marines. It wasn't a cerebral thought provoking experience, but then that wasn't what I was looking for when I watched it. Not every movie can be Schindler's List or Citizen Cane but then not every movie is trying to be that either. My one criticism is that the repetive chants seemed a bit forced and unnecessary.
I'd be genuinely interested in seeing what else they could do.
A very worthy "Watch it" from me. I'm not sure I could rate it as a "Buy" but if someone offered you a loan of the DVD, I definitely wouldn't turn it down.
Last edited by simonr1978; 13-04-2012 at 00:25.
Nice review, simonr1978 (which means that I mostly agree with your opinion of course). One question- by "chants" you mean these phrases they threw around and really made them sound like they're trying to establish catchphrases, right? If so: I agree. Good point on the characterisation/animation/style of faces as well. It may be a tad off-putting for the first two minutes but you get used to it.
Wasn't fond of the ending at all because it didn't strike me as very much in the 40k mindset but I think that it's an okay watch. Of course proper sets, actors and costumes would be much nicer (because they always are) but for what it is, it's alright.
Thanks Sigur. Yes, it was the catchphrases were what I was referring to.
I agree about the ending being very un-40k. Aside from the fact the DP should have crushed the marine (he obviously forgot MC ignore armour), I was expecting a much darker ending.
The Fabulous Baker Boys
More like the Fabulous Bridges Boys.... and Michelle Pfeiffer.
I could practically see the script beats tick by, and for all that; it is still a good movie. The characters are well drawn, and all of their actions make sense. The sub-text is there and readable; but never openly stated. The film isn't gorundbreaking, but I would call it successful and workman like.
Extra: This film makes smoking look pretty awesome.
Rent
Cheapest. Army. Ever. - Armored Company or Stompa Tribe
Varingyr (Neo-Squats) Threads- Background , Concept Art , 40K Rules Dev , and BFG Rules Dev .
Aquanautica Imperialis- FREE, naval game for the 40K Universe. Here: http://www.box.net/shared/e2dmaf1zaj
Megamind:
Finally got round to seeing this after I picked up the DVD for cheap. It's a fairly enjoyable super-hero/super-villain spoof but no more than that.
Some jokes were fun, but a lot of them weren't (another God Father-impression gag? Really?).
One thing that bothered me was Metro Man. Wouldn't have minded some comeuppance for him in the end.
Also, we never found out what Megamind's parents were actually trying to tell him when they sent him off.
And finally: the movie ends with a rather big plot-hole (Megamind will just end up bored again).
Personally, I was rather disappointed.
Pass
That's not a plot hole, that's an opening for a sequal
But already made a movie about Megamind being bored without a nemesisThat's not a plot hole, that's an opening for a sequal
I liked it but was disappointed too. IMO the story would have been much better if he actually HAD done what he thought he had, because at least then we'd see he was actually capable. In the end it just felt a little too much like he was being 'allowed' to win and become the hero, rather than actually succeeding through his own actions and standing up to take responsability.
Hellebore
"Humanity's Insignificance pales in comparison to its Ego." (Sir Rumplestiltskin)
"The capacity to think does not assign importance to your thoughts, it merely indicates you can." (Sir Rumplestiltskin)
Agreed. Metro Man was an ass.
The story at the end virtually looping back to the first ten minutes of the movie was just mind boggling though...
Dispicable Me was a far better movie (ironically with a far smaller budget).
Cabin In The Woods (2011)
Film about five friends (the review I watched used the term 'guys' here, I'm unsure if this was intended in the bi-gender manner or as a dig at the androgyny of the female characters) who travel off to a cabin in the woods to swim, party etc. in true horror movie style, things don't go as planned.
I really enjoyed the film, the dialog is entertaining, the characters believable, jump scares absent, the entire thing rattles along with a consistently amusing manner.
The film does foreshadow more than it needs to, draining tension, one scene is rather dull due to the obvious outcome foreshadowed needlessly 10 minutes into the film.
Casting wise the choices seem solid, it was great to see Topher Brink (Fran Kranz) from doll house in a leading role. The ending is also good setting up several possible resolutions.
Over all:
Watch
I'm keen to see that one. The preview I saw a few months ago made it look more interesting than the usual teens-in-the-wood films.
Those who know don't care any more, and those who care don't know.
Against my better judgement, I let myself be dragged along to see
Titanic in 3D (1997 / 2012)
Sink, Leo. Sink, and end this movie.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Directed by James Cameron.
The movie is too long. The plot about the jealous fiance is too stupid. And Leo & Kate didn't exactly sparkle as a couple either.
It had all the schoolgirls around us sobbing, though, so clearly Cameron did something right. A few moments near the end were watchable, but they were few.
I hadn't watch the movie before, so I can't comment on what it was like in normal-D, but I can't see that the conversion was worth the annoyance of those glasses.
Verdict: Avoid
(two out of five)
Funny side note: The unpleasant mother played an unpleasant mother in another movie I recently reviewed - The Lincoln Lawyer.
Last edited by Avian; 20-04-2012 at 21:39.
Yeah, I also heard very good things about the Cabin in the Woods one.
Oh, I was already feeling bad for not being able to contribute to the thread recently until I turned on the TV and stumbled across
The Astronaut Farmer (2007)
Billy Bob Thornton plays an ex-not-quite-astronaut-now-farmer who, after passing on his chance to go to space, builds his own rocket in his shed and dreams to circle the earth in it.
This is the prototypical US film about a good, old boy hanging on to a dream against all odds and all based on pureness of heart and dreams and the deeply-felt idea that you can achieve everything if your heart's just in it and if you have your family of angels back you up. Phew. This one would be tacky to an unbearable extent. It would if it wasn't for the main actors, Billy-Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen. Her character is freaking Virgin Mary and many times she's even shot like that. It's really absurd. However, both actors do really good performances (as do most actors in the film really). I'm a huge fan of Billy-Bob Thornton because he's got such a huge range . I've seen him play good, evil, brooding, outgoinge, dark, comic relief, intellectual, working class, neurotic/hypochondric, badass, nasty, introverted and soft-spoken and so on. And whatever he's doing on screen, he makes the character engaging even if it's such a naive cardboard cutout character like in this film. The character of the wife could easily have been pushed into the background given what the script made her but Virginia Madsen carries it very well.
As I said, he supporting cast are good as well. J.K.Simmons (to me he'll always be the rather broad caricature of the US president from Red Alert 3) and Bruce Willis (uncredited) show up too.
All that aside, the story itself is bad and so formulaic that it's hard to believe that such a film is done nowadays. For theatric release none the less! I was grateful for every tiny little diversion from the standard route (of which happen two or three during the film but it's all kind of without impact on the story). That may sound silly but it's unbelievable as well. I know, I know, the story has that built in but the way it's played out I had such a hard time suspending my disbelief (and usually I drop disbelief faster than ....something raunchy drops its pants. I don't know. Very quickly at least.) that I thought that this whole thing as a really ham-fisted metaphor I just wouldn't get. It has this odeur of glorification of the simple people from the countryside with their hearts, wheat and hair of gold and the evil government trying to thwart the achievements of the one who has a dream about it. Oh, and the way this film is shot. There are shots in that one that look exactly like they're part of a commercial for tractor insurances or something like that. Pictures of big trees in the golden sunlight and such. Oh, and there's speeches in this film. It's not horrible but just... the simple fact that there is at least one speech in front of a court of evil guys.... eurch. But yeah, it's probably a fairy tale.
Two more things I liked - so I can end on a positive note - are: The secret service agents who observe the farm at all times are somewhat amusing. I chuckled when one of them had the imperial march from star wars as his ringtone. The other thing is the farmer's kids. They were well-behaved and nice. They were not annoying. Even the teenage boy wasn't an rebellious idiot. He was a bit more quiet and a bit more angry at times than the rest of the family but he was supportive to a great extent. Oh, at one point it is mentioned that the farmer guy took his kids out of school. I have no idea why or how that played out but it makes him look pretty bad.
Anyhow, it's hard having a real emotion towards that film. The actors were good, the film was, objectively, horrible.
Don't watch. It's not worth the time. If you're a huge fan of either Billy-Bob Thornton or Virginia Madsen you may enjoy 20% of it. It's probably the most "wholesome" thing Billy-Bob Thornton ever did right next to Bad Santa.
Last edited by sigur; 21-04-2012 at 09:43.
We Own the Night (2007)
I love you. I love you too. The end. Wha'?
Directed by James Gray (you have not heard of him). Starring Joaquim Phoenix as a nightclub manager (in 1988) with some connections to the russian mafia, Mark Walhberg as his cop brother and Robert Duvall as his also-cop father. On the plus side, his girlfriend is Eva Mendes.
This cop thriller starts of fairly standard and the first half is all right, if a little low on energy. The third quarter is quite good, with an interesting take on a car chase, but then it loses the plot completely for the last quarter. It's as if the script writer suddenly died and the only one who could take over was the neighbour's ten year-old son. Bah!
Verdict: Pass
(two out of five)
Ya, that movie was pretty damn terrible.
Jaoguim really needs to stop acting. He does not have the face for the big screen.
Gladiator, Walk the line, Quills, Buffalo soldiers, Hotel Rwanda
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Arnizipal
||||||||||||||||| 
|#