Mini Movie Reviews 2 - The Reviewening

[BigbyWolf]

Who is this Spawn character, anyway? Is he like that Ghost Rider guy?

In a sense, A killer burned alive who sells his soul to a devil for the chance to see his wife again, not realising (nor caring bout, at the time) the cost involved.

It's also a lot darker and more violent that Ghost Rider, in the comic book and cartoon, anyway.

@ Sigur- that clown ain't no friend!

[Thanatos_elNyx]

Spawn (1997)

... Awful effects....

I thought the SFX were somewhat okay, especially the cloak.

[sigur]

@ Sigur- that clown ain't no friend! :angry:

I know, I know. I was just trolling for a bit.

The effects indeed were pretty alright if I remember corrrectly but the satan monster guy in the end may have looked rather bad - I forgot.

[BigbyWolf]

I thought the SFX were somewhat okay, especially the cloak.

The cloak looked alright, but never really looked like it was part of him...and very obviously CGI, Spawn's cloak should be a more organic, permanent fixture- not appearing whenever it seems to be useful. Likewise his mask should have been there all the time, and I have no idea what the nipple/clamp/chains were about.

I know, I know. I was just trolling for a bit.

The effects indeed were pretty alright if I remember corrrectly but the satan monster guy in the end may have looked rather bad - I forgot.

The devil was truly awful, as was hell in general. In fact, I can't really think of anything impressive apart from the Clown make-up.

[sigur]

Well, if there's one place for bad CGI effects, it probably is hell.

[Avian]

So I didn't watch the first Bourne movie when it was in the cinema because I didn't like Matt Damon (and I still don't - I feel he was the low point of Contagion) and I didn't watch the later ones because I hadn't seen the first one. With the fourth one coming up, I thought I'd start with the beginning.

The Bourne Identity (2003)
Starring Matt Damon, that chick from Lola Rennt and that chick from Save The Last Dance (I know which one I prefer). Also Chris Cooper (more on that in the spoiler below). Directed by Doug Liman, who has a thing for this sort of movie, it seems.
Damon is a secret agent sharing initials with another well-known secret agent and this movie was probably an attempt to make a more modern and less camp version of the Bond franchise. But then three years later they made Casino Royale with a much better lead and two and a half times the budget. Such is life. Amusingly, the car crashes are realistically done, but when they fight hand to hand, it sounds like someone is hitting tree trunks with a sledgehammer. And in the CIA headquarters they have a small scale paper map of Europe on the wall which they are shoving pins into. High tech!
Anyways, the movie is all right and features some nice scenery and Franka Potente, but the shadowy organisation chasing our guy is too clichéd, having near unlimited resources, but severely limited amounts of common sense. The movie could also do with being 15 min shorter. It certainly gave me no great desire to watch any of the other Bourne movies.
Another small bonus: Clive Owen doesn't say much.

Verdict: Watchable
(three out of five)

Look, it's a spoiler:

After watching Chris Cooper doing stupid things he's not supposed to and not covering his tracks properly, I found it rather pleasing when he was shot by one of his own at the end. But then we had just seen the hopelessly daft jump-down-the-stairwell trick, so I felt the movie owed me.

[Burnthem]

The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum are both excellent films, I highly recommend you watch them. And yes, the stairwell trick is daft, thankfully they avoid any such tomfoolery in the next films. Plus, many people credit Bourne for the re-jigging of the Bond Franchise, which was getting turgid quite frankly.

[horizon]

I really liked the raw & gritty style of the Bourne Identity. Matt Damon did a good & believable job in my opinion.

[sigur]

I don't get all the fuss the Bourne films generated. I did like the first one because it kind of felt like an old spy film Michael Caine could have been in (with supercool 70s glasses and a small hat maybe). Haven't seen it in a while but it was alright. What I appreciate about Matt Damon is that he certainly does different roles and shows up in all kinds of films, ranging from blockbuster films to small indie ones. They don't always work but I have to give him credit for trying different things. He could play it WAY safer.

[Bombot]

I expect the fuss is precisely was because it felt like an old spy thriller, around the time Bond became utterly ludicrous, with invisible cars and whatnot. Actually, you could compare it to the wider explosion of CGI. It had a real car chase, and a good one too.

[Avian]

Granted, I might have liked it more if I had seen it when it first came out as the concept was more novel then. But don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the movie.

In other news, cdon.com has HD vod at $1.5 at the moment!

[Thanatos_elNyx]

... Bond became utterly ludicrous, with invisible cars ...

*shudder*

I liked Pierce Brosnan as Bond, especially in GoldenEye but DAD ruined him as Bond for me.

[Easy E]

DAD was just too over-the-top and a crazy amalgam of various other Bond flicks to create some sort of homage for the 25(50?) year anniversary of bond.

However, I really do like Madonna's song for the film. What! Stop looking at me like that!

[ColShaw]

DAD was just too over-the-top and a crazy amalgam of various other Bond flicks to create some sort of homage for the 25(50?) year anniversary of bond.

However, I really do like Madonna's song for the film. What! Stop looking at me like that!

Y'know... I have to agree. I also agree with Thanatos that Brosnan was a good Bond. Goldeneye is actually my favorite Bond flick (probably followed by the newer Casino Royale). Quantum of Solace, however, was a mess. Too much shaky-cam, too much confusion... it actually made me feel a little motion-sick watching it.

[sigur]

...
In other news, cdon.com has HD vod at $1.5 at the moment!

Do you know if it works outside of Norway?

[Avian]

No idea, sorry.

I also agree that GoldenEye is one of the better ones. Sadly, when I saw it in the cinema, my buddy spoiled the twist after five minutes. Git.

[Hellebore]

Hercules Returns. Comedy around the concept of dubbing over an Italian Hercules film from the 70s with random funny voices. Was made in 1993 before that sort of thing was popular.

If you like that sort of thing then watch it.

Hellebore

[El_Machinae]

Daybreakers

Ethane Hawke plays a vampire biologist in a world that's become overpopulated with vampires. The source of human blood is running dry, and vampires are becoming more and more monstrous. It's a race against the clock and not knowing how feral someone else might be.

It's honestly pretty good. They tease out the mythology (i.e., the vampire powers and weaknesses) as mere background of the story, so you discover the background as you watch the plot. It's a bit too bloody, which means that teenage fans of Buffy might find it too gory. The violence is also rather interesting, not being too crazy at all. The writers certainly put work into this one.

watch

[AndrewGPaul]

Wrath of the Titans

Just like the last one - bad acting, poor dialogue, one-dimensional characters and the plot is only there to fill in the gaps between set pieces. The only saving grace is Bill Nighy playing Hephaestos as a mad old Yorkshireman.

avoid

[blackcherry]

The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists!
The latest film from Aardman and its pretty fun. Its certainly a very fun film with visual and verbal gags flying thick and fast, half of which I'm pretty sure will fly over the heads of people who don't come from the UK. Its certainly more aimed at kids than prior films, but its not overbearing just stylistic perhaps (there are jokes clearly for adults and jokes for kids, which I never really noticed in their past films).

In fact, my only gripes are parts that seem to have been put into the film by sony in an attempt to make the film more appealing to a wider audience (the soundtrack is at odds with the film and some of the scenes and characters seem put in there just to explain a joke to American audiences). Still, lots of silly fun, with enjoyable guest voice actors and a not too bad story.

Watch