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Reviews
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
Not good at all
I really didn't think the first Harold and Kumar movie was all that good, I would rate it at around 6 out of 10, maybe 7, but at least it had more than one funny part. In this sequel the only funny part, to me anyway, was the scenes with George W in the secret room. Other than this, it just plain sucked ass. The filmmakers seemed to rely on gross gags with little or no build up and while I like many films that are stupid/gross, I just could not like this one. It just seemed to fall short of funny, it was predictable and kinda boring and maybe a little uncomfortable. I regretted seeing it while I was watching it.
I have been a fan of stupid, juvenile, slapstick, gross etc...comedy for my entire life. I think 40 year old virgin is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, same for knocked up, Dumb and Dumber so I thought this movie would be right up my alley, bummer! I wanted to laugh but it simply was not funny. Not well written, well acted nor well executed. Sorry :-(
300 (2006)
Not very good
The good...
So I went to the Cinerama in Seattle to watch this and was impressed with the visual effects, the combat scenes and the overall visual feel of the movie. The grainy, almost washed out quality of the film is pretty cool and really worked for me. It helped to make the very gory battle scenes much easier to take and did create some very startling images, especially the ship wreck scene.
The combat scenes were exceptionally well done, kudos to the stunt folks, the CGI artists and the actors for a lot of hard work. And as I mentioned before, the grainy quality of the film really helped make the combat scenes look like they were pulled right from a graphic novel.
The bad...
Dialog/writing/script was terrible...I would rather have put on my Blue Oyster Cult album and listened to it than listen to the horrible dialog in this movie. With the combat scenes Veteran of the Psychic Wars or Cities on Flame would have been way cooler! I swear, if I had to hear the main character yell, "Spartans blah blah blah!", one more time I was going to "...dine in hell" myself.
Story, well...what can you say here? We should all know the story of Thermopylae, or at least some version of it. Historical accuracy? Do not look for it here, this presents the Persians as a bunch of freaks led by a freak against a group of muscular white Greeks with Scottish accents. How that worked out in casting I am not sure but it did, and there you are. All I can say is that at least they did have the 300 Spartans actually die, it kinda surprised me with the way the movie was going :-)
Soundtrack, as I mentioned previously, I would liked to have completely replaced the dialog, and maybe cut out everything but the combat scenes, add some hard rock as the soundtrack and I think it would have improved this movie. Seriously, the soundtrack was unremarkable.
The ugly
Practically EVERY Persian in the film is some kind of deformed freak! Then there is the traitor Greek, he is a deformed hunchback Spartan. Not much guesswork here :-)
Overall: 5 stars, only because of the really cool battle scenes!
If you are looking for a popcorn put your brain on hold enjoy CGI and combat then this is the movie for you. If you are looking for something with a script, good acting and with a story that might surprise and interest you then look elsewhere. Lastly, IMHO this is a very obvious propaganda movie, especially the last few minutes. I mean, come on...
Constantine (2005)
I really enjoyed it
I really did enjoy this movie, up until the last five minutes, and was surprised at how well acted and written it was. I am not a religious guy so am unsure of the accuracy with which the Christian/Catholic framework was followed, and I am not sure it really matters. I also have not read the comic book this movie was based on, which is usually for the best as I had zero expectations going in.
Keanu Reeves stars as a spiritual exorcist/detective/general bad-ass who very early on shows us that he is capable and experienced at sending demons back to hell. This is followed by a mystery that twists and turns down the path of murder, demons, angels and hell. All of this is laced together with the suicide of a female cops twin sister, both played by Rachel Weisz. This leads to the inevitable confrontation with the bad guy, Lucifer, and the special effects ridden ending where the good guys win, etc... Sounds pretty formulaic and boring? Well on the surface it kind of is, and while I enjoyed the effects I did not find them overpowering the story. This, in itself, is getting to be a big deal these days. Further, the movie touches on some issues that speak to our humanity and the nature of God and the Devil. In this story, Lucifer is not really evil, he is just an ex-angel that loved god so much and saw humanity as unworthy of God's love. He then decided to show God our unworthiness by tempting us with all kinds of subtle tricks. A word here, a word there...Better yet, we see this in the actions of the angel Gabrielle when she/he tries to bring forth the son of Satan to our world and bring on the whole apocalypse thing.
So while this movie is very predictable, I was still surprised at the message I got from it, and even kinda pleased if you will. So I would recommend it on these merits, I liked it and hope you like it too.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Good Zombie Flick Some Spoilers
I just finished watching this movie and thought it was a pretty good zombie flick. I did not compare it to the original and did not find myself thinking of the original while watching this one. IMHO it is a vastly different movie, which made it not tread on the original so...
Spoilers
There are some very disturbing images in this movie for me, two in particular that will stay with me for a few days. The first is when the female lead, Ana played by Sarah Polly, gets in her car and is escaping her rabid husband. As she drives through her shattered neighborhood we see several zombie attacks on people who are mild shock at what they are seeing around them. This really bothered me for some reason. Shortly after this she pulls up behind a wrecked school bus and through the window of the bus we see two kid zombies attacking another kid, looks like a girl and she is fighting for her life but you know she is going to die. This was another image that really bothered me.
There were some really cool things too, like the van/car accident you see from above, really well done! The zombies were well done and you get to see some interesting looking creature effects. There is not the variations like we have seen in the original but, zombie clowns are a little weird anyway :-) The zombies move fast here as in 28 days later and this makes them a much tougher monster than if they were slower. I liked this but my friend who I saw the movie with did not, he argued for the slower zombie to buid drama. I liked the camera work, particularly when they went to the grainy shots or with the action shots. It made me feel much closer to the action and added to the 'holy crap they are everywhere' feeling of the movie.
Overall I would argue that if you like horror movies then you will enjoy this one. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack.
The Thing (1982)
Very Cool - SPOILERS-
This is one of John Carpenters best efforts and blows away any of his other films that I have seen. In this movie we are treated to some intense, for the time, special effects, and some of the best acting from Kurt Russell ever seen. This is a classic sci-fi/horror movie that takes the original, 1951 The Thing from Another World, to a totally new level. The original is somewhat tame, but really cool B&W 50's monster movie stuff. John Carpenter took this concept and put a few twists around it. In the original a military outpost in the Arctic finds a spaceship complete with alien. They thaw it out and find out that it eats human blood and is part plant and part animal. In the new version, the setting is Antarctica, the group is civilian and the alien is found by a group of 'crazy swedes'. This alien is a little different as well, instead of eating human blood it 'eats' or replicates organic tissue. This makes it a mimic, able to replicate and consume any organism that it has contact with. This leads to suspicion, who is real and who is the thing?, and eventually to murder and complete destruction. My favorite line has to be when the group locks Kurt Russell's character McCready outside in the storm because they think he might be a thing and when he tries to get back in they say, "What if we are wrong? Well then we're wrong." The suspicion between the characters is sometimes palatable and I could feel the isolation and desperation from them.
In the end, the whole camp is destroyed and only two characters are left alive, to slowly freeze to death. And we as the audience are left with the question, are they real or are they the thing? Well done, and one of my favorites. 9 out of 10 due to some poor intial dialog. Also has a great soundtrack.
Free Enterprise (1998)
Great Stupid Movie
I really enjoyed this film and would recommend it to anyone in the mood for a funny/stupid movie. William Shatner was great as himself, a larger than life past middle aged self styled poet. He is truly the "Captain" for the common man.
There is not very much substance to the movie but I really enjoyed the wierdness and nerdiness of it. It is a good laugh but nothing to take very seriously, except of course for Bill's one man performance of Ceasar, which I thought was just about as much Bill as any one can handle :-)
Solaris (2002)
Really beatiful and peaceful movie
Before watching this movie I had gone through and read many negative reveiws, most claiming the movie was boring or non-sensical. So I rented the DVD with apprehension and tried to watch the film with an open mind. About 15 minutes into it I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was really enjoying it. Possibly it was my mood at the time but I found the tone, the lack of background music and the pace to be very soothing. In fact, if I had to name my favorite aspect of this movie it would have to be the lack of a sweeping soundtrack or background wash throughout the movie. And I would not agree that the story jumps around too much or is non-sensical. I thought the flashes from the main characters memories made sense, anyway it worked for me.
I thought the character development, acting and writing were all average to above average. The set work and visuals were very good and as I mentioned above, the tone and pace of the movie really worked for me. I also liked the story and the fact that I could interpret it myself and that the writer and director did not cram the correct interpretation down my throat.
This movie has no real action at all, no explosions and does not portray a classic 'hero' vs 'bad guy' plot so many will not enjoy it. I would not call it my favorite movie but I would recommend it to someone who might like something besides action/adventure movies.
The Others (2001)
Excellent movie, well worth watching
I really enjoyed watching this film the first time, and enjoyed it even more the second. The acting was first rate with Nicole Kidman turning in a very intense performance. The rest of the cast did a great supporting job, adding greatly to the intensity of this story.
I really liked the way the story slowly unraveled, it did not feel rushed and events seemed to happen very naturally. I found myself easily getting into the rhythm of this movie and was never bored even though there is very little real action.
The only complaints I have deal with two specific scenes, the first is when the caretakers see Nicole K's character go off towards town. Instead of them speaking I would like to have seen the old lady just point at the headstone. The other is when the caretakers are in their attic room talking; again I would have preferred silence or just to cut the scene. In both cases I felt that less would have been more. Otherwise, I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys well written, directed and acted suspense thrillers.
-Thanks