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Reviews
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
A cool and unique movie
Ghost Dog is very interesting take on what a modern samurai would be like in this modern age where the underground is ruled by the maffia. It's about a samurai influenced hit-man who does hits for the Italian mob, when a mission goes wrong the Italian mob goes after him, but they find Ghost Dog a very difficult target...
The acting is very good in this movie, Forrest Whittaker plays the part of Ghost Dog very good, the way he acts it's as if he was a very psychotic man, disturbed but filled with honor at the same time, especially towards his master. The big three mob bosses are kind of...I don't know, wicked, unrealistic. But still good, still cool characters. John Tormey's character Louie was awesome in my opinion, he wasn't good nor was he evil, he was absolutely in that gray area in between, which is very accurate unlike many other deciptions of mobsters in other movies. The plot, although fairly generic is excellent due to the whole samurai twist and a lot other weird stuff like Ghost Dog's strange friendship with another character in the movie. The soundtrack produced by RZA is both hit and miss. It either lifts the unique atmosphere surrounding the movie or just bugs the hell out of you.
I first wanted to give this an 8. But there are a lot of weak moments in the movie, especially with the inconsistent music. However this easily deserves a 7.
Hate it or love, either way it IS nonetheless a VERY interesting movie
How High (2001)
Funniest stoner movie of today
Method Man and Redman are two of my favourite rappers, they are class A entertainers, no matter if it's on audio or on screen. they are REALLY funny. Now I'm not saying that they are superb actors or that they deserve an Oscar or anything like that, but they know how to act.
How High is a funny stoner/hip hop flick about two guys who meet and go to college together, it's really hilarious, the jokes are simple but very humorous. Sure there's a lot of "unneccesary" profanity in this movie but it works like a charm. The plot although fairly generic is good, this movie really stands out, it's easily one of the best stoner flicks ever and is on up there with Cheech & Chong
Redman, Method Man, hiphop, marijuana. Can it get better?
Batman Begins (2005)
Could this be the best comic movie ever?
The origin of Batman, heck in my opinion even better than Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. This movie tells the story of Bruce Wayne and how he became Batman. There really isn't much to say about this movie, it's just that good. The acting,the plot, nearly everything was top notch and really true to the comics, Ra's Al Ghul was displayed almost exactly as he is in the comics. I was skeptical with Katie Holmes being the "bat broad", but she really nailed her part (although I still think switching her character with Harvey Dent would make a lot more sense continuity wise) I only have 3 minor complaints:
1. The action scenes were chaotic, they wanted to try a new thing and I give the crew kudos for that but it just didn't work 2.Scarecrow should have been...a little bit more mishaped, he's supposed to be weird, he really wasn't that weird as Jonathan Crane. 3. the thing in the end...it doesn't fit in with continuity when you think about the ending of the original Batman movie directed by Tim Burton, but that's just me nitpicking :p
I really wanted to give this movie a 9, but I'm not that sold yet, maybe if I went and saw it again...this really is a great movie, I'd give it at least 8.5/10
aaahh F it, I'm gonna give this a 9 anyway
'Salem's Lot (2004)
Incredible, a very different flick from it's genre
It's hard to write a review of this movie without spoiling, this movie is about a writer who returns to his hometown "Jerusalem's Lot" to write a book about a house where he got traumatized as a kid when he broke in there to become a member of a gang. Suffice to say, the writer returns home, and shortly after that the whole town is going insane, people get lost, and a lot of people start to act creepy.
I found the character Ben Mears (The writer) really irritating in the beginning of the movie, he was to cynical and both him and his two friends' dialogues sounded to stiff to feel natural, as if he tried to prove to people that he was intelligent. And some of the stuff in the second part also felt to far-fetched...but there were few of those instances anyway. Anyway, this is an awesome movie(?), and should please most thriller/horror fans as well as Stephen King fans
Fantastic Four (2005)
A well done movie
I really enjoyed this movie, it was fun and lighthearted, just like the comic, and it actually made me laugh, FEW movies make me laugh.
The acting was spot on, even the Ben and Johnny dynamic was written perfectly, the only character who really didn't shine character wise as much as the others was Jessica Alba's character: Susan Storm aka The Invisible Woman. I am in NO way saying that Jessica Alba is a bad actor, I think she is a great character but unfortunately her character was the one who ended with the least character development. I'm not really surprised however, since in my opinion the Invisible Woman only became an interesting character after she gave birth to her and Reed's children. I was also worried about having Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm, but he turned out to be made for this role.
My only complaint is that Doom's origin was too much like the Green Goblin's in Spiderman (Maybe they should have gone with the Unthinkable version? and that the end fight scene could have been longer.
In my opinion, this movie was A lot better than the first Spiderman movie
Up in Smoke (1978)
The grand daddy of all stoner movies
You know How High, Friday, Half Baked and all those other stoner flicks that are out there? Well Cheech & Chong are to stoners what Jimi Hendrix is for Rock, this is what I know of the first stoner movie ever, and it's really great. These guys are so stupid that you not only laugh because of the dialogue or the jokes or the plot or whatever, you laugh when these two just move or let out a sound because they sound and look high all the time even their facial expressions are that funny, the acting is just so good. They really move and sound like stoners, and it's funny as hell! You should really check it out even if you don't like stoner flicks, it's funny as hell!
Unleashed (2005)
A great movie, especially if you like Jet Lee!
I really liked the movie, especially from a martial arts perspective, Jet Lee is a kick ass martial artist and he just gets better and better, the plot is excellent, just excellent, and the fighting scenes are supreme. Morgan Freeman's performance in this movie is top notch, he's made for these kinds of role and I honestly don't think they could have found anyone better for his role. It feels good that the action genre still is able to deliver great movies, as many action flicks of today just suck
If you like Morgan Freeman, then this is a movie for you. If you like Jet Lee and astonishing fighting, then this is a movie for you. If you like both of them then this movie REALLY is for you!
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Overrated
I feel this movie was VERY overrated, from what I heard from people it was supposed to be in the same class as the classic ones. it's not. Sure it was a good movie, but I was disappointed, I had high expectations. Some of the lightsaber fighting scenes in the beginning of the movie were really bad, and you could see how fake both it and the blue screen generated background was. The wookies had too little screen time, the emperor looked and sounded really silly, And the last scene with Vader where he screams no...wow that was pathetic, they could have gone without the no. There are many good moments though, but that would be spoiling now wouldn't it ;)Ep 3 had the same feel like ep 2 in the beginning, but it slowly turned darker and darker up until the end of the movie, if you ask me they should have used the dark tone in the entire movie instead of letting it slowly turn it dark, because it was the dark part of the movie which was the saving grace.
an overall good movie and certainly better than episode 2, but as I said overrated. It certainly doesn't deserve an 8, I'd give it MAX 7.5. This didn't turn out to be the epic conclusion I though it would be...