Mini Movie Reviews 2 - The Reviewening

[Ghod]

Terminator: salvation

WTF was that? I wasn't expecting a masterpiece but I really wish I rented Moon instead.

[BATMAN VOICE] I'm John Conner... [/BATMAN VOICE]

Yeah I know what you mean, I kinda wish I hadnt spent £6 to watch it in the cinema.

very dissapointing...

[HK-47]

Terminator: salvation

WTF was that? I wasn't expecting a masterpiece but I really wish I rented Moon instead.

Oh My God, Yes! What a disappointment could have been so much better, I mean the whole story is like one big F.U to the fans. I really wish they just stop at Terminator 2 instead of forcing the franchise to continue with weak stories.

Also saw Doubt the other day, every good drama. Meryl Streep and Philip Seymor Hoffman are really great, and even though it's talking about a very touchy subject it handles it's self very well.

The film is based on a play and is set in 1964 at a catholic school in the Bronx. Meryl Streep is Sister Aloysius the principal of the school and begins suspecting that Hoffman's character, the schools priest Father Flynn has engaged in inappropriate relations with the schools first African American student. However the films never shows Father Fylnn doing anything, instead it leaves the viewer to come to their own conclusion as to his guilt based on his word versus Sister Aloysius, as well as how the other teachers and the child's mother react to the charge. Everyone as there own reasons as to why he did or didn't do it, and the ending also leaves it up in the air.

I personally think he did it.

A very powerful film and worth seeing.

[Ozorik]

I mean the whole story is like one big F.U to the fans.

Its not that, the terminator storyline was never all that interesting and to be honest I've forgotten most of it anyway. Its just that long stretches of the film and significant plot events make no sense. It actually reminded me of resident evil 3, and thats never a good comparison to make.

[Yodhrin]

Kingdom of Heaven(Extended Director's Cut)

Now I've been a fan of this movie since I saw it in the cinema when it first came out, and I've watched it several times since then, however only the original cinematic version. I've just seen the film as it should have been, and it's even more incredible.

The original cinematic release was a powerful story about the nature of religion, kindness and humanity, with some of the best visual effects I've ever seen. The extended edition adds immeasurably to that foundation by greatly expanding the character interaction, and indeed the whole movie makes more sense with the additional footage.

Without question,WOW.

[Condottiere]

MULAN (2009)

I had time and I plodded over to the nearest cinema for the actual latest Chinese take of this tale. It's not your father's Mulan, because in this one you actually get to see blood.

The setting is an Age of Conflict, as steppes people invade the Kingdom of Wei and military families are called upon to send troops to for service. Mulan secretly takes the place of her sick father and rises in the ranks.

It's actually a love story in a war setting, the direction and acting were above par though I felt the pacing was off. Disliked the cinematography, as the semi-arid scenery made me reach for my drink often enough. The battle scenes and special effects were adequate, to the point I suspected that the budget was carefully doled out.

At one point, since scriptwriting seems to have improved and the style seemed familiar, I wondered if they had ripped off the Japanese. The theme being duty and fulfilling it even if it kills you, or worse, breaks your heart. Plot is rather predictable.

I enjoyed it, and for those of you with non-Oriental roots, I can safely recommend it as Rentable.

[blurred]

Hmm. Nice to see this ball rolling again.

Seen a couple of movies lately:

Pandorum

You know those films that have fantastic kick-offs, then they turn a bit tedious, and then... they drop dead. This movie could've been great, but unfortunately its twists were lame, plot paper thin and monsters clichéd. It's always nice to see new sci-fi, but nowadays aliens and space ships alone are not enough.

Also, I hate horror movies which show the monsters in the first 10 minutes of the movie. It ruins the tension.

Pass

Sideways

It took a long while for me to see this one, but I'm really glad I finally did. The story is very humane and the actors do a great job. I don't really find any flaws in this movie (maybe it's a bit slow at times). Great entertainment for those quiet sunday afternoons with a girlfriend, a hangover, or both.

See / Own

Inglourious Basterds

It was good. Good? Is that really enough for a Tarantino movie? Well, compared to Death Proof and Kill Bills it's fantastic, compared to Jackie Brown it's decent, and compared to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs it's crap. I thought it had more thematical meaning than most people give it credit for, but the treatment could've been more consistent. Brad Pitt was awful, but luckily Christoph Waltz made Hans Landa one of the best villains in recent memory.

Rent

Moon

Am I the only one who thought Moon was just average? In my humble opinion it was predictable and a bit boring. Sure there were interesting themes involved but after the movie all I could think was "was that it". On the bright side, Sam Rockwell is a great actor and didn't let down.

Rent / Pass

[freddythebig]

Kingdom of Heaven(Extended Director's Cut)

Now I've been a fan of this movie since I saw it in the cinema when it first came out, and I've watched it several times since then, however only the original cinematic version. I've just seen the film as it should have been, and it's even more incredible.

The original cinematic release was a powerful story about the nature of religion, kindness and humanity, with some of the best visual effects I've ever seen. The extended edition adds immeasurably to that foundation by greatly expanding the character interaction, and indeed the whole movie makes more sense with the additional footage.

Without question,WOW.

Indeed, there was so much cut from the theatrical version that some characters were left with little or no motivation for some of their actions.

If anyone has seen Kingdom of Heaven at the cinema and thought that it was missing something then I would strongly recommend seeing the extended cut on DVD. The directors cut is the movie as it should have been.

[Easy E]

Just to be clear. Is this the Orlando Bloom starring and Ridley Scott directed movie?

[freddythebig]

Yep, thats the one that I am refering to.

I hope that is the one that Yodhrin meant, although I think that his praise for the story and effects are perhaps a little more than I would have said

[Burnthem]

Yes, set during the Crusades.

Was the extended version on the TV last night? Because i noticed lots that i couldn't remember and i've got a good memory for films, the Queens son for example seemed a totally new addition.

Agree with the Watch though, it may have its flaws (Orlando bloom an unconvincing war leader for example) but overall it's a great film.

[Sceleris82]

Terminator salvation

The story didnt make sense, the characters didnt make sense, i never laughed or went like,, hmm thats cool. Its all a big piece of meh.
Atleast terminator 3 had a hot chick, but it doesnt even deliver on that area.

Pass

When your done watching it you get that felling saying, man i just wasted 90 min on,,,,, nothing.

[Easy E]

United 93

I just finished watching this 10 minutes ago, and my hands are still shaking.

Wow. Words fail me.

It brought so much back. Too much...

Must Watch

Edit: Stay out of PnR.

[Yodhrin]

Yep, thats the one that I am refering to.

I hope that is the one that Yodhrin meant, although I think that his praise for the story and effects are perhaps a little more than I would have said

Aye that's the one. I perhaps praise the story a little highly because of my fascination with that period of history, but you can't knock the visual effects, they were easily on a par with the LotR Trilogy, and the cinematography in the battles was excellent.

And yes the addition of the Prince and the extra footage at the beginning adds so much to the story, I had always thought Bloom's character a little hollow/emoish tbh, but watching the extended edition gives, as was said, his motivations so much more depth. Same for the Queen. The handful of extra scenes for the "baddies" only really serve to reinforce that they are "proper ebil", it seems as if they only stripped scenes away from the characters which needed them.

I never understand the way a production company can take an incredible film and butcher it so it fits into some "magic" amount of time. Surely recent releases have shown that not all of us are ADD 12 year olds who cant sit still for a two-three hour movie.

[Killmaimburn]

Terminator: salvation

I've got to say I was in the rent it+ category until

He canz has my heart, it big/strong (see earlier dissection scene and love interest bit), I am bad person,he is my better for some reason

I needed some 1001 to fix the stuff I spat across the room in FFFFFFFFF (I think its salvagable salvation if you just switch off at the deathbed, thats how it ends in my head)

[Ozorik]

Am I the only one who thought Moon was just average? In my humble opinion it was predictable and a bit boring. Sure there were interesting themes involved but after the movie all I could think was "was that it". On the bright side, Sam Rockwell is a great actor and didn't let down.

I would say that it is a bit more than average but it wasn't great, for the reasons that you say, being able to guess the entire plot within the first 20 minutes is not a good thing.

Gerty suprised me though, I was sure that it was going to be evil in the best robot tradition

(I think its salvagable salvation if you just switch off at the deathbed, thats how it ends in my head)

By this point in the film I wasn't paying it much attention anymore to be honest, I had some BFG ships to paint.

[Jedi152]

The Descent 2:

Remember how the first half of the Descent was the best horror film of the last 5 years, but the second half was a fairly dull generic 'jumpy' horror film?

Remember the awesome sucker punch ending? Pretend it didn't happen.

Maybe. She mentions that she escapes by 'being washed out by water', which seems to assume the ending to the first did happen and she somehow escapes the hordes of monsters.

This sequel is effectively a remake of the last half. More people go into cave. Get eaten. Lots of running, screaming, fake looking blood, night vision cameras etc. Even on the basic plot they still manage to get some plot holes in...

If she got washed out by water, how does she escape near the mine?
Why does the tracker dog lead them straight to the mine? Why does the dog run away?
How can the monsters hunt outside if they're blind? How can they not hear someone breathing very raggedly a foot away?

Having said that, it's still better than some of the dross being turned out lately. It's a fairly solid scary film and doesn't go down the Hollywood route that it could have so easily done.

If you loved the first, it's worth a WATCH for completeness, don't bother otherwise.




Oh, and a quick one sentence review for New Moon: My wife went to see it (yes, to the amazement of the cinema staff, we saw separate films). As soon as she came out i asked her if she was team Jacob or team Edward. Her answer? "Team get-me-the-hell-out-of-here".

[polymphus]

Repo! The Genetic Opera: Was expecting a lot more, the music is bland and the characters flat. The only saving grace is Alexa Vega's great performance at the ending. Indeed if you are going to watch the movie you might as well skip everything else and go straight to it, since nothing really happens in the beginning.

Pass.

I'm going to disagree with this. It's not a WOW musical, but I'd say at least rent it and I'd also say Alexa Vega is pretty terrible. Now Terrance Zdunich and Anthony Stewart Head on the other hand were fantastic. Who knew Giles had such a set of pipes?

[Dai-Mongar]

I'm going to disagree with this. It's not a WOW musical, but I'd say at least rent it and I'd also say Alexa Vega is pretty terrible. Now Terrance Zdunich and Anthony Stewart Head on the other hand were fantastic. Who knew Giles had such a set of pipes?

Clearly you never saw that episode where he sang "Behind Blue Eyes". Even turned on a lesbian witch.

[Burnthem]

As soon as she came out i asked her if she was team Jacob or team Edward. Her answer? "Team get-me-the-hell-out-of-here".

Awesomesauce, and congratulations for marrying such a sensible woman!

[Easy E]

UP

This did not blow me away. It was nice to see some themes about older folks in our youth obsessed culture. I think Clark (Ed Asner) was pretty awesome. However, I found most of the story a bit boring. The only parts that really worked for me was when Clark was being absorbed by memory lane.

Rent

Edit: I also thought the singing in Repo was not great. However, the movie had some intereesting things to say about our celebrity obsessed, rich versus poor society. Way more than I (and possibly the film makers) expected it would.