stimpy_tr Reviews

Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)

Coup de grâce

[2/10 · 4 May 2024]

This is thankfully the final movie of the tormenting Underworld series. I never liked the entire series due to its unnecessarily dark scenes, lacking character development, conflicting stories, plot holes and childish plot twists. All these elements augmented in the last two movies creating a never-ending ordeal.

I literally prayed for the death of Selene and her boyfriends, but no way, they kept resurrecting again and again. On the other hand, 1000-year-old vampire kings got killed too easily. The special bullets with UV lights and silvers didn't exist in the last films or maybe they were ineffective. Selene and her boyfriends turned into immortal superheroes. It felt like watching Superman fight a bunch of street dogs. The only positive thing about this forgettable movie is the 90-minute runtime. I can't thank the producers enough.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Self-conflicting and futile

[5/10 · 2 September 2023]

The biopic of Oppenheimer, the inventor of atomic bomb, is depicted in a weird fashion. The movie starts from his early career days at university and follows his transfer to the Manhattan Project. The movie is too long and made bitty with a non-linear narrative which I found completely unnecessary. The viewer is usually distracted with scenes from the future showing his trial against some people. Those distractions are too long and very annoying. There are too many characters and they are all underdeveloped. I didn't understand what the point is in deliberately confusing the viewer.

Also it is not possible to understand the viewpoint of the filmmakers. Are they heroizing or disparaging Oppenheimer for developing an atomic bomb? I think they are undecided and this is why they created such a mess. Last but not least, trying to depict Oppenheimer as having a bad conscience is utterly ridiculous.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Full of Overt and Subtle Messages

[7/10 · 14 August 2023]

What was once a child's favorite film was re-analyzed many years later and led to a disappointment. As a child he considered it to be one of the most thrilling adventure movies. But today he realized that it was essentially based on filmmakers' grudge against Nazis. The film is unfortunately overwhelmed with this grudge. While Indy and his friends are invincible, the German soldiers get killed in most brutal ways. The ending is the funniest of all. Holy jewish spirits coming down from the heavens annihilate Nazis and take the revenge of the holocaust.

Otherwise, the film has a beautiful score and numerous memorable scenes, like the drinking contest of Marion, Indy's encounter with the swordsman and the room with snakes. It is still watchable but didn't age very well.

25th Hour (2002)

Great psychological drama

[9/10 · 9 August 2023]

In this movie, a great psychological drama is depicted by an evidently talented crew. The movie is based on the friendship of three unique characters. The lead character Monty is a drug dealer, Frank is a Wall-Street broker and Jacob is a high school teacher. In real life it is hard to imagine these distinct characters being friends but they have a long-standing friendship from their childhood and they care about each other. Character development of each one is meticulously done with psychological subtexts. They all show great performances. Supporting cast is also very good. The movie has a regular pace with no intention to hurry and the suspense gradually increases through the ending. Great tunes accompany most scenes and the final dream sequence is like a last-minute goal. Overall, the movie is watchable multiple times.

Come and See (1985)

Extreme Absurdity!

[2/10 · 20 May 2023]

This is one of the rare films that I couldn't stand watching until the end. I tried so hard and endured about 90 minutes and that is more than enough to write a review. This is what I get:

The director and actors are amateurs. There is no plot and no script. It looks as if some people found a camera and haphazardly starting shooting a film. At the beginning, a young boy starts digging the sand and finds a rifle. Then, some soldiers come to his house and enlist him in the army. When marching with other soldiers in the forest, suddenly the boy finds himself all alone and runs into a girl that appears out of nowhere. At this point, extreme absurdity takes over and the plot never recovers. I thought this was a fantasy film, but no, people take it very seriously and consider it to be one of the best war movies. Are you kidding me? There is nothing interesting about it. There are no direct or subtle messages to get from it. It is just a plotless junk.

Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)

Ultra-contrived nonsensical waste!

[3/10 · 7 May 2023]

Imagine a man trapped in car that sinks 10 meters below an icy lake and instead of getting out, he keeps fighting with another man in the car, grabs his cell phone which is still working, opens an application that he never used before, fiddles with it -by the way the other guy is already frozen to death- and in the next scene he is in an ambulance, safe and sound. If these make sense to you, then the film is just fit for you.

Technically, character development is terrible. I think they assume that viewers have seen the series and are already familiar with the characters and past events. So they didn't bother about that. But they are wrong. A series is a series and a film is a film. A series can NOT be a prerequisite to understand a standalone film. On the other hand, the ultra-contrived plot drives you mad.

Oldboy (2003)

One heavy junk!

[5/10 · 30 April 2023]

I don't understand what is so speacial about this movie. It delivers the cheesy message of 'eye for an eye'. Unfortunately, that's all about it and nothing else is interesting. Acting is terrible and the humour is not funny at all. You cannot insert comedy into a tragedy. That vain effort becomes irritating after some point. Scenes are too long and boring. There is nothing rational about the subject matter and the characters are not relatable.

With a little hope, I watched the 2013 remake. For me, character development and storytelling are slightly better but when it comes to rationality and plot holes, it is equally bad.

Good luck to those who are drifted by the wind! I'll pass.

Escape from Pretoria (2020)

Worth watching

[7/10 · 26 April 2023]

This is an interesting prison movie about 1970s of South Africa. A racist regime prevails in South Africa and some white activists protesting the government get arrested and sent to Pretoria prison. They organize their escape plan by replicating keys. As mentioned in the end, it is not completely loyal to the original story, and unfortunately, was overly dramatized. It has cliché scenes and acting is mediocre.

What I liked most is, it pays tribute to two great prison movies, namely, A Man Escaped (1952) with the same ending song and Le Trou (1960) with the scene in which prisoners hit persistently on the door frame with a screwdriver. Even if it is not a masterpiece, it keeps you on the edge of the seat until the end.

The Platform (2019)

Good idea, bad execution...

[6/10 · 2 April 2023]

I feel obligated to write a review for this one after seeing all those praising comments. They laid it on thick because they thought this was the best movie ever filmed in the history of cinema and it gave outstanding messages that have never been given in any other movie. However, none of them seem to understand the ending. I keep laughing while writing these.

This is what I get from the movie. It starts with a nice premise with some people incarcerated in a vertical prison with limited food. Leaving technical faults aside as in a Sci-Fi movie, there are lots of plot holes and issues with the lead character. I wonder what moral messages are we supposed to get from a serial killer and corpse-eater. Turning into those is understandable from the course of events, but trying to deliver moral messages, that is a vain effort. As for the ending, it is utterly meaningless.

American History X (1998)

Psychoanalysis of extremism

[8/10 · 29 January 2023]

This one is close to an exploitation movie where violence and foul language are generously used. There are some scenes that are really disturbing and not suitable for those under 18. I think it is a correct movie to depict all the horrid sides of extremism. It has been and will be a problem of all countries in the world. The essence of extremism lies in the lack of self-confidence and proper education which should be partly constructed in the family and partly at school. I also believe some people are more inclined to brainwashing from birth.

In this movie, the exremism is demonstrated in the form of racism but it could have also been some sort of faith-based group. The only way to keep away from such groups is to develop yourself and question everything. In this movie, Derek learned it from the hard way. My criticism about the movie is that it is not that easy to quit such an extremist group after all those years. Derek challenges the boss in the middle of a huge skinhead party and throws punches at his face. Normally, he must have got killed right there. Instead, he should have talked the boss personally much before and try to move elsewhere with all his family. Another thing is, his freaky girlfriend turns against him too quickly. He must have guessed that from her toxic personality and terminated his relationship much before the party.

On the upside, among the supporting cast, Avery Brooks and Guy Torry perform excellent. Overall, the movie gives good messages.

12 Monkeys (1995)

Don't fool yourselves!

[6/10 · 17 January 2023]

I remember watching this movie in cinema many years ago and didn't like it so much then. And today, more than 20 years later I saw it again and my opinion strangely did NOT change a bit. There are lots of problems with it, too many plot holes and too many twists to the story.

Storytelling is so rushed and faulty that you know they are trying to cover up the unlimited plot holes emerging from the time paradox. You may not derive a message from such a mess. That who derives one is fooling themself. The fact that Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt play in it doesn't make it perfect. There is nothing to think on.

Dead Man Walking (1995)

Funny religious propaganda

[6/10 · 13 January 2023]

I had difficulty understanding the subject of this movie until the last part. A nun tries so hard to communicate with a death row inmate from whom she received a letter. A confusion is created in viewers' mind as to what message the movie is trying to deliver. At first I thought it was about prejudice and false accusations against an innocent man. But I was wrong. It turned out to be a christian propaganda and it comes pretty funny if you are not much of a religious person.

From a technical point of view, the performance of Susan Sarandon is terrible. Her character is unrelatable and completely lacks the psychology of a nun. I was not very positive for Sean Penn either until the last quarter of the movie where he shows a scintillating performance. However, the subject matter didn't hold my interest much.

The Green Mile (1999)

Good but not to be exaggerated

[8/10 · 13 November 2022]

This movie is based on a purely fictional story. So we cannot seek much rationality in it. It is about the prison days of a gifted black man who is falsely accused of killing two girls and waiting in death row. The prejudice against black people is very well reflected.

Among the cast, Michael Clarke Duncan performs excellent in the movie. I also liked the acting of Sam Rockwell (as Wild Bill) and Michael Jeter (as Delacroix). Tom Hanks (as Paul) performs merely average compared to his other roles. His character is so dull. They should have included some more psychological subtext.

Ending is not pleasant either, that is, overwhelmed with mawkishness. Paul says that he was appointed elsewhere right after the execution of John Coffey and I wonder why not before. For me, what makes this movie special is the photography. Close-up shots and lighting are very nicely used. Overall, it is an interesting watch but somewhat overrated.

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

A unique WWII movie

[9/10 · 1 November 2022]

This one is an interesting WWII prison movie for several aspects. First, it has an unusual somewhat surreal narrative. Second, Roberto Benigni performs outstanding in the movie. The movie consists of two distinct parts. In the first part, it depicts a romantic relationship between a lighthearted gabbler named Guido (Roberto Benigni) and a teacher (Nicoletta Braschi) in Italy of 1939. Here, the movie is slow-paced giving the viewer almost no clue about what will become of the lead characters. However, in the second part, the plot makes a 180-degree turn. A few years after their marriage, Nazi soldiers capture the family and take them to a concentration camp. Guido makes every effort to make his son feel comfortable in the camp.

The plot is very original. There is a very abrupt transition from romantic-comedy to drama. Roberto Benigni's performance is outstanding. I believe most actors could have failed to overcome this role. Overall, the movie depicts the Nazi cruelty in a unique way.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Analyzing 10 points

[8/10 · 18 October 2022]

Let me analyze why people keep giving 10 points to this film. I think most of them were bedazzled by its top position on IMDB and cannot make an independent judgement. They pick it as their best film, because millions of people cannot be wrong. Most of them were drifted by the wind; some took the bull run as in a crypto market, and some were just railroaded. But I don't blame them. I was impressed by this film so much when I first watched it on TV many years ago. I was around 18 years old back then. It was one of my favorite films and IMDB didn't exist back then.

Through years, I have viewed and reviewed many films. One can seek many criteria when evaluating a film, but for me, rationality and consistency have become important criteria. And in this film, there are some scenes that came to me quite irrational, such as the scene in which convicts drink beer on the rooftop, or the one with Andy playing Mozart from speakers. Previously, a convict was beaten to death just for crying in his cell on his first day in prison. Moreover, the plot is highly contrived and this manifests itself in the character of Andy. He was made too stoic that he seems to foresee the outcome of everything. Such heroic characters appeal more to children. Maybe I am too old to buy that. His makeup is not consistent either. He gets old and then young again.

On the upside, Morgan Freeman's performance is outstanding. He portrays a real convict and delivers a delightful narration. Moreover, the film has an intense wish fulfillment in the ending. Overall, I can say that this is a nice film but not the best.

The Fugitive (1993)

Example acting

[8/10 · 22 September 2022]

This movie demonstrates how acting is important in movies. The performances of Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones are spectacular. They really live the related characters to the depth. Supporting cast is also nice. Storyline is based on the series with the same name from 1963. Dr. Richard Kimble (played by Ford), a renowned doctor, tries to chase the man who killed his wife and clear his name before the police catches up with him. The movie is a little fast paced and intrigues get deeper towards the ending. There are nice flashbacks introduced at times giving clues about the killer. The movie is still compelling after many years.

Lock Up (1989)

A classic from Sly

[7/10 · 18 September 2022]

This movie has become a classic of the 80s. The thing is, although the story is highly fictional, characters are all unique and relatable. There are great names in the cast, such as, besides Sly, Donald Sutherland, John Amos, Frank McRae and Jordan Lund. Acting of all is very well. The subject matter is inherently masculine and the story has a brutal content. It was a favorite movie of ours in our teenage years together with those of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Today, watching this movie brought on nostalgia for me. In addition to these, there is nice music in the background in most of the scenes. It is composed by Bill Conti who also worked in Rocky series and created memorable tunes.

Sobibor (2018)

Total Annihilation

[3/10 · 17 September 2022]

In the title, I am not talking about what was done to Jews, but rather, what was done to the original movie Escape from Sobibor (1987). In this one, there is no story development, nor is there a character development. There are no lead actors in the first place.

The movie uses every cliché about Nazi soldiers and augment those in order to add to overdramatization. Their actions lack credibility completely. They are portrayed as clowns in a circus. I counted minutes till the ending not because of suspense, but because of the unbearable mockery the director had created. I had to check my pulse several times. What an annihilation!

Escape from Sobibor (1987 TV Movie)

Vastly Underrated

[9/10 · 14 September 2022]

Frankly, I underestimated this one as it was a TV movie and had a low rating. But I was wrong. Both the plot and storytelling hold up pretty well. The movie has an average pacing all through. It feels like a very engrossing drama series that you don't want it to end. Acting is very natural and the characters are relatable. Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer perform a good job here. What I liked most is that no part of the movie feels like overdramatization. Some subplots are very interesting, such as, whether true or not, welcoming of new arrivals at the train station. Finally, I think this is one of the greatest WW2 escape movies and it is vastly underrated.

Down by Law (1986)

Nice example of acting from Benigni

[7/10 · 10 September 2022]

This is a strange black and white movie that reminds of some French flicks with long indoor shots and diegetic sounds. The theme is mainly based on character study rather than an escape story. In my opinion, the sub-plot at the beginning of the movie could have continued a little more.

Tom Waits and John Lurie perform all right until the moment the legend (Roberto Benigni) jumps in. From that point on, they could not keep pace with Benigni. They could have added some more to portraying wannabe badasses. This is the main drawback of the movie. On the other hand, photography is nice. Don't raise your expectations so much but it is still a good watch due to Roberto Benigni.

Runaway Train (I) (1985)

Stranded on a Train

[7/10 · 10 September 2022]

The film has a very original script written by Akira Kurosawa. Two convicts manage to escape from a high security prison and find themselves in the middle of a frozen land. They walk for hours and finally jump on a train. However, as soon as the train begins moving, the engineer has a heart attack and falls off the train. The two gets stranded on the speeding runaway train. Action sequences and photography are beautiful. The acting of both Jon Voigt and Eric Roberts is above average. The character development is very nice and includes a psychological subtext. For me, the only problem is that the film is a bit too long.

Victory (1981)

A WW2 fantasy movie

[7/10 · 24 August 2022]

We used to watch this movie in awe when we were kids because of the great names in the cast. And we didn't question the plot very much. If you watch it without seeking much rationality, you will sure enjoy it. Otherwise the absurd script may drive you mad. I remember how I wished Hatch to convince stubborn John Colby and get in the team. Today, many years later, I still find Colby very unlikable. Michael Caine is successful, if this is what he wanted to portray. Other than that, Max von Sydow is great as a Nazi officer. Unfortunately, Pelé's part is too little, although he is one unique character. Overall, this is an utterly fictional WW2 movie.

Escape from New York (1981)

Failure

[5/10 · 21 August 2022]

This is a sci-fi from 1981. The movie vastly uses computer images and music that were so popular in games of 1980s. They reminded me of my old Commodore 64 games. The movie starts with a great premise, that is, thousands of criminals are imprisoned in the entire Manhattan area which is surrounded by huge walls. Somehow the president's airplane crashes into that area and an ex-soldier (Kurt Russell) is sent in to rescue him. That looks fantastic so far.

Unfortunately, all your expectations fail one by one afterwards. About 80% of the movie is taken in pitch dark. Moreover, there is almost nobody in the streets and hence no action. There are a bunch of weird characters but none of them is well-developed. In my opinion, even the lead character, Kurt Russell, underperforms in this movie. The movie relied too much on its state-of-the-art graphics and didn't care much about the plot. That was a huge mistake!

Stir Crazy (1980)

A prison comedy with a beautiful song

[7/10 · 20 August 2022]

Sometimes, there are movies that are not top-notch and even have a poor script but still entertaining and relaxing to watch. This is one of those movies. It is directed by Sidney Poitier and involves the famous comedy duo Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. It has some fun moments, especially in the first half of the movie. In the second half, it becomes a little monotonous. However, it is worth mentioning that about 80 minutes into the movie, Erland van Lidth starts singing Hear the Wind Blow. The guy has an incredible voice, it is full of emotion. I think it is the best version of that song ever.

Escape to Athena (1979)

Nice photography, poor plot!

[5/10 · 16 August 2022]

In this movie, both photography and settings are great but the rest is awful. The aerial shots in the opening and ending scenes are beautiful. In addition, there is a very nice motorcycle chase scene. However, there is no character development, neither is there a story development. It feels like seperate scenes were ineptly joined together. There are very interesting names in the cast but the acting is below average. Unfortunately, they didn't care much about this movie.