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10. Masterpiece in History, Genre, by Director or just for myself
9. Near-masterpiece
8. Very good
7. Worth watching, solid
6. Good, has some good ideas, scenes etc
5. Average
4. disappointing
3. lame
2. Very poor
1. Bad, terrible, unwatchable mess
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Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Well done
Spider-Man No Way Home has a beginning, middle and an end. I like those three elements. Tom Holland and Zendaya are good at making me believe they are those characters. Molina and Dafoe deliver solid villain performances, Garfield is ok, Maguire pales. Cumberbatch is solid. The special effects look real. I liked the fights. I had a lot of fun. Currently at 9.0 on ImdB, which is way to high. It is good, sometimes very good and even emotional, but no masterpiece.
No Time to Die (2021)
Just a few things...
Gun Barrel: not classic but ok
Pre-title sequence: long and melodramatic, best DB5 sequence of all Bond Films
Song: very good, will also win Oscar
Title Sequence: somehow lame and lazy. Was that a toy DB5 falling into the sand?
First half: pretty good especially the cuba sequence.
Second half: a mixed bag. Some of it was pretty good and some of it was questionable. The ending will not be liked by all. Bold yes, but it will bury repeat theatrical viewings and was not necessary. I was glad it was not a happy-family ride into the sunset but this? Felt like burying the franchise. Was much better prepared and concluded in The Dark Knight Rises for example.
Craig seemed very motivated to do this film and you can see and feel it. The supporting cast was good.
Some of the dialogue was very good.
Better than Spectre, not as good as Casino Royale and no where near as perfect a Skyfall was (good film and good Bond Movie).
7.5 out of 10.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
OK, but not as good as CR (or Bourne for that matter)
just saw QOS at a press screening here in Zurich. First of all, the film is OK, the actors are all fine chosen. Craig is delivering. I even liked the song (after hearing it a few times before, I got used to it and now think its one of the best).
I didn't like the action sequences. Nice ideas but they used way to fast editing. it is very hard to follow. they are trying to copy the Bourne style without success. Some of the (action) ideas look like they have been copy pasted right out of Bourne II or III. No gun barrel sequence ( it is now clipped on to the very end). The title sequence looks second rate.
Still, the story is good (nothing new though) , the opera sequence is nicely done, music from David Arnold is very good.
It feels like the middle part of a trilogy. It also feels a bit like LICENCE TO KILL but not as violent. They could have chosen a stronger end. more of a cliffhanger so to say.
But I love Bond and this one is still better than any of the Brosnan Bonds. 8 out of 10.
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
One of the five best CGI animated films ever!
After the disappointing SHREK 3 and the only "cute" OVER THE HEDGE, DreamWorks Animation finally delivers another highlight to the CGI animated universe.
I got used to the rather simple story of MADAGASCAR after watching it again, I really liked SHREK and even more SHREK 2 (am I the only one?). I never liked the cultural references they built in, because I think they only work in their time (but in their time they worked great!). So for me KUNG FU PANDA is the first great "classic" DWA film. Go see it, it also works for adults. If you have seen some of the classic martial arts film (Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee etc) you will even more enjoy it. The voice talent of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Ian McShane is perfectly used. The other voices are OK.
It will be a big hit for DWA, north of 200 millions domestic, eventually even 300 mil.
That said, my favorite CGI's are 1. THE INCREDIBLES, 2. RATATOUILLE and 3. FINDING NEMO and closely followed by KUNG FU PANDA. Looking forward to seeing KFP an second time and then maybe it will become my new Nr. 3.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Superb on Action/Visuals and Poor on Drama/Dialogs
I catch-ed Spider Man 3 at a press screening here in Zurich. Let me first say that I rated Spider-Man I with a 7/10 and Spider-Man 2 with a 8/10. My favorite comic book movies are Batman Begins, X-Men 2 and Spider-Man 2 (and of course the blueprint of them all Superman: The Movie) First of all the good news. The Visual Effects and the choreography of the action sequences totally rock. The FX are way better than the ones for part 1 and 2. My favorite sequences are the "birth of the Sandman" and the "out of control crane". The cast is superb and the villains are OK.
The bad news is that the drama is laughable and the dialogs are worse than the ones George Lucas writes. And the film is way to long. Parts of it are boring. I guess all the good dialog writers are working for series like Lost, Desperate Housewives, Greys Anatomy and Heroes....
All in all I was kind of disappointed. The spectacle is superb, the drama is poor. Looking forward to seeing F4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Excellent trailer) and of course The Dark Knight.
Spidey 3 will definitely make a ton of money but will it be more successful than one and two? I doubt it.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
3rd best in the entire trilogy
Finally, after 9984 days (or 27 and a half years) after A NEW HOPE opened in Switzerland, the saga is complete. Episode I had a great trailer but the film was disappointing. Episode II had a good trailer and was (at first sight) better than the previous effort. After watching it again and again even I realized that the love story between Anakin and Padme is god awful boring, but I still like the Obi Wan/Clone Army parts. Still, the film was not satisfying. NOw we have Episode III and let me tell you, it delivers. Best opening in the entire saga! even the Anakin/Padme sequences are better. Lucas knew much better when to cut away this time.
It's definitely the best of the new trilogy. I place it third in the entire saga (Eps IV and V are still first and second).
Cant wait to see it again in theaters and of course on DVD.
MINOR SPOILER AHEAD! Most annoying figure in this film is this lizard creature Obi Wan is riding all the time. Not as bad as the crab monster in AOTC though.
I'll give it an 8 out of 10!
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
The Fellowship still rules!
Today I attended a Press-Screening here in Zurich and saw what I have been waiting for almost a year.
It started very good with the fight between Gandalf and the Fire-Beast (I must say I did NOT read the books, but I gave The Fellowship of the Ring 10/10 and liked the whole idea a lot, but I do not know all the characters by name....there are more important things in life). But after an hour I was getting bored a bit, after two hours I was asking myself where is "a LOT more action than in the first one" as seemingly everybody is talking about??? I still think it is a good film, but it was by far not what I expected after the excellent first part.
CGI-Gollum is terrific and beats every cgi-character with dialogue we have seen before. End battle was good but not great (it always reminded me of the fortress attack in Starship Troopers but with orcs). The nasguls are just there but not frightening as they were in the first part. Gandalf has only a small part. Saruman as well. The tree-guys...well they were cool in the end-battle.
Sorry to say that I am disappointed. I will see it again, maybe it helps (I want to like it). If you haven't seen the first one don't bother, you will probably not get it.
Because of the production value and tech aspects I still give it a 7/10.
PS: I think it will open very big, but it will not be as successful as the first. I guess 600 to 700 million worldwide (which still would be very good)
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Finally STAR WARS is back on track!!
Just saw STAR WARS EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES today in a special screening here in Zurich, Switzerland. First of all I think that STAR WARS is the best "movie" and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is the best "Star Wars-movie" of the series. I also liked RETURN OF THE JEDI, although I (as everybody else) hated the Ewoks. I was dying to see THE PHANTOM MENACE and I even went to the US to see it on its second day of release. The waiting for the film was much better than the end-product itself. Although I kept defending TPM (great pod-race, suberb lightsaber duel, effects in general) I never thought of it as a good film and I truly hoped that George Lucas and his crew will somehow find a way to deliver a better film (story-, acting, humorwise). Now after seeing AOTC I am almost fully satisfied. The actors (especially Ewan McGregor) were more relaxed this time around, the dialogue was way better and even the love story worked for me (on a Star Wars level that is...). But I am not 100% satisfied though - and this never happened before, for my taste - with the Special effects. Some shots looked like matte shots of the eighties. But all in all I think that this is one of the top three Star Wars Films and I look forward to seeing AOTC a second time, seeing it on DVD (again and again) and seeing EPISODE III in May 2005. Another 3 years to wait, damn I'm getting older.
My rating is 8 out of 10 (because its good Star Wars)
The Shape of Things to Come (1979)
The worst sci-fi film I have seen in a movie-theatre
This film was released in Swiss theatres in 1979. It is probably the worst film I have ever seen in a movie theatre. Terrible story, bad acting, even worse special effects. I have voted on 1718 films in the IMDb and I have given TSoTtC a 2 out of 10 (there are worse films that have been released to video only, like OCTAMAN for example for which I voted with a straight 1 out of 10)