Adam_venedam Reviews

All Eyez on Me (2017)

Biggest Disappointment Of My Life

[2/10 · 18 June 2017]

Honestly this movie sucked, the way LT (The producer) and everyone involved hyped it up they literally made it seem like it was going to be a masterpiece and even went as far as saying BS like "It's better than Straight outta Compton" well it wasn't, and they probably knew it wasn't because I heard they never even paid to show the trailer on TV or anything.

Look, I get how people are saying "they tried" and I really feel like LT wanted it to be great but did he honestly believe for a second that he was meant to do this film? Did he not take a second to think what other films or experience he has under his belt before going about making this? (because he has NOTHING under his belt) I guess not, and I don't even want to give them props for trying to make it because before anything they should have realized they shouldn't be going anywhere near a 2Pac film JUST BECAUSE OF THEIR LACK OF EXPERIENCE!

I mean LT has nothing notable he has done

Benny (the Director) JUST has music videos and one random movie that apparently isn't very good (EVEN if his one movie was good it still shouldn't qualify him to be able to Direct a 2Pac film)

Even though Demetrius did a great job playing 2Pac, and a lot of the other actors, it just SCREAMS something is wrong just because of the fact pretty much everyone except the two walking dead actors were nobody's...

WHY WAS THIS GREEN LIT TO BE DONE THEN? PEOPLE WITH LITTLE TO NO EXPERIENCE made this film and THAT IS A PROBLEM, perhaps this is the reason John Singleton left the project! I heard LT's little story about how John wanted a scene where 2Pac was raped in jail and I don't believe that for a second, LT seems like a rat, and I followed the way he hyped this up, he was clearly lying, and if he wasn't he really thinks it's a good film then (Typical for first movies people make).

The biggest problem was there was just way to damn much they tried to cram into one movie, honestly scenes will play and just when your getting into something it just stops, then goes to a new place, new scene, and it's like this the entire way through, THERE IS NO DETAIL, the scenes aren't aloud to breathe it felt, as a result there are just too many characters that just come and go, you never really see connection with them all and it's just tiring because you never get to see exactly who everyone is and what they did with 2Pac.

One other annoying thing I thought was how they got Money B, Noble, and EDI to play THEMSELVES, that was wack as hell and just screams inexperience and even low budget (even though the film wasn't really low budget) and to make matters worse, EDI, and NOBLE didn't even say any damn lines! THEY WERE THE OUTLAWZ! 2Pac's rap group and didn't even say anything in the movie!

Everything was just quick and rushed like I mentioned before, one scene in particular Pac tells Biggie "We have to use that platform to make change" and you want this to be elaborated on but it's not! It's like the screenwriters said "oh yeah lets just put this random meaningful line in here to show 2Pac cared and then that's good enough! on to the next scene!"

Obviously they had all this written in the script, I just cannot believe they knew it would be all this content squeezed into a 2 hour film and said "Let's film it!" an experienced film maker WOULD CLEARLY REALIZE it's just too much and would not work.

I have been hyped about this for over 5 years, I love 2Pac as do MANY other people so just that fact alone you would think they would have gotten nothing but the best film makers to do this, but that isn't the case, it really makes it look like they just wanted to get rich off 2Pac, they clearly went out of their way to get nobody's to be on board, I don't know man, it honestly was one of the biggest let down's of my life.

What they needed to do was make this a TV series, a two part movie would have been better but not by much... a TV Series would have been perfect, there are just way too many great 2Pac moments that all need time to be explored and explained, a movie should have been out of the question from the very start...

To top all this off, the whole suing of 2Pac's OWN MOTHER to get this done is absolutely bananas, and now that the movie has been released we can all see why Afeni (2Pac's mom) never wanted it done by LT... Real shame, 2Pac would be ashamed and disrespected! No lie 2Pac would probably have killed LT Hutton just for the fact that Afeni had a damn heart attack 2 days before going to court, its just insane, LT is probably the one responsible for her having that heart attack, just the stress of having to go to court could have killed her.

In closing I just want to say, I don't respect LT, or Benny for doing this, they should have realized FROM THE START THEY JUST DON'T HAVE THE REQUIRED EXPERIENCE TO DO SOMETHING THIS BIG

Kung Fu Yoga (2017)

No...Please Jackie WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

[2/10 · 14 April 2017]

I can't believe it, Jackie Chan is a LEGEND, he knows how to make action, he knows how to make a good story, but this?!

THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM IS THE CGI, look, I know Jackie is trying to go new school with the CGI because he is getting older but honestly this is NOT the way to do it, this was some of the WORST CGI I have ever seen especially considering that Jackie Chan is pretty much considered an "A List" actor.

Here is what gets me though, Jackie Chan knows how to make a good story, want proof? Well he directed "Police Story" and "Project A" movies like that way back in the 80's and even more recent "Who Am I" in 1998...

After that I feel like he's been trying to depend on CGI just too much, I don't really know what to say, it's like the movies he's recently made feel too rushed? Skiptrace, Railroad Tigers, and Kung Fu Yoga ALL FELT LIKE RUSHED HALF ASSED MOVIES...

I don't know what Jackie Chan is thinking... Before around 2010 and below it felt like his movies were perfect, no rush but now since after that it's almost like he's just pumping out movies just for the money and little to no care is gone into them...

Jackie you are from the golden age of cinema, DO NOT ADAPT the CGI, I say just go back to how you used to make movies in the 80's and 90's EVEN THOUGH you can't do the stunts you used to be able to do just use doubles when necessary... YOU CAN STILL DO YOUR FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY, there is nothing stopping you from doing that, people just want to see you doing your stuff and you have a lot to offer just in hand to hand choreography anyway that does not require CGI or any doubles!

But what the hell do I know? We are living in a CGI world now unfortunately...

P.S the only reason I rate this 2 out of 10 is because there were quite a few good fight choreography moments

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

One Of His Best

[8/10 · 24 November 2016]

I've seen just over half of his films (around 25 or 30) so I know my fair share of some of his greatest films, and let me tell you this one sure was another!

I noticed from the very start I was already hooked and wanted to know more about this mysterious man we see who is "Uncle Charlie".

I have a really bad problem with quite a few of Hitch's films, films like "Topaz","Rebecca", "Marnie", "Spellbound" or even "Notorious" I felt were just way too slow, nothing interesting enough happens throughout to keep you interested, even the ending of those films sort of left me with the thought like "Okay? that's it?".

This film grabbed my attention from the very start and kept me until the end, although I will say this though, I thought the first half of the film was greatly superior to the last half, the build up and pace of the first half felt like it was setting up for maybe a bit of a quicker more larger event in the last half I suppose, either way I did find myself feeling like the movie was beginning to feel draggy towards the end, that is the one and only problem which keeps this movie from being a perfect 10 out of 10. The film would be seriously perfect if it was around 1 Hour and 20 minutes instead of almost 2 hours long (lots of things in the last half could have been cut down)

The dialogue was great as well, most from what "Uncle Charlie" has to say.

One other final thing I would like to say is that the CAMERA WORK is PHENOMENAL, there are tons of interesting shots and they all feel like a lot of thought was put into each angle and shot, editing was great, and you really get a sense of what it was like back in those days.

This is definitely in Hitchcock's top 10 films IMO, but films like Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, Dial M For Murder are all better than this one for sure

Police Story (1985)

One Of The Greatest Films Ever Made PERIOD!

[10/10 · 1 December 2015]

YES I said that right, not just Jackie Chan's BEST MOVIE but I really think its one of the best films every made, why?

Here are my reasons

The action is hands down some of the best you will EVER see! I think it will never be out done.

The STUNTS are on a whole other level, the ending stunt Jackie does down the pole is probably one of his most dangerous and most spectacular looking stunts ever captured on film!

I found the comedy hilarious

The story is probably one of Chan's most interesting, each and every scene progresses the plot, there are some funny scenes that do slow each scene down but in my opinion it works like magic as it is always balancing out the serious moments with comedy and it continually switches up until the end.

One thing you have to keep in mind, do not go into this film thinking its going to be hardcore action all the way, otherwise you may be disappointed.

I will say if there is anything NEGATIVE about this film, its that the difference in tones between the action and comedy is quite literally between light and day

The action sometimes is really serious, and then the comedy is very light hearted and carefree! But I think it works perfectly, for instance,

We see the funny scene of Chan having fun looking around all the corners to make it look like hes protecting the witness and then out of nowhere BOOM he gets into a crazy insane brawl in the streets, the bad guys are trying to hit him with there cars, they all have bats, one guy even gets dropped kicked into a car windshield!

Will always be one of my favorite films of all time

Chinese Zodiac (2012)

Amazing Action

[8/10 · 23 August 2014]

Lets be honest, the story is great, but I don't think it was executed properly, for some reason it just seems like there is a little bit too much going on and some things aren't really explained IMO.

Another thing, everyone who says this is one of his worst are clearly stupid.

Why do most of us watch Chan films? For THE ACTION Yes it may not be as amazing as his fights and stunts from the 80's and 90's but damn its pretty amazing, the standout scenes are the human rollerblading suit part and the huge fight scene in that factory, we see classic fighting here and to make that even better it ends with an incredibly crafty fight in which Chan uses an umbrella, and a camera tripod against the bad guys, hell there's even an awesome 1 on 1 fight on a couch that is pretty good as well.

Sure I expected and would have liked maybe one more big fight scene somewhere in this (especially since its 2 hours) but to be honest, im just happy that we even got yet another great action scene from him! So all in all im just basing this on what I look for and enjoy from Jackie, and that is his action scenes, I loved them, if you are a fan of the man there is absolutely NO reason why you wont like the action in this.

Moving on though to the actual film overall though, a few negative things I would have to say - A bit too long, I feel it would have been perfect to end it after the big fight scene instead of showing the skydiving stuff - Cheesy CGI, its pretty bad, reminds me of Hollywood CGI from like 2002 So yes there are a few problems with it but like I said, I was pleased with the Action enough not to even care about the story.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013)

Pretty Good

[7/10 · 9 August 2014]

Saw both the Sub and Dub version, I thought the dub was awesome! The film was pretty good, I enjoyed it and had a good time.

I will say this though, I think you have to be a fan of the entire series to understand all the comedy.

I would of liked more action but when there are fight scenes they are pretty good, for the final fight they mixed cgi into it and ill admit a lot of it looked amazing, but there are some parts that seemed to look a bit off or cheap.

What I don't understand also is there are some real funky looking drawings at times, very low quality pictures, they are hard to spot but since I saw it on the big screen I was able to spot them, they never show them for long but when Goku is fighting at the end you can see when it shows them far away the quality of the drawings are pretty cheap looking to be honest, I understand that they do this to save money and time but wasn't this movie supposed to be huge? I mean Akira came back to do it after 17 long years, I thought they would have did a better job on the quality of that.

Don't get me wrong though most of it looks great, the drawings and animation look awesome but its just those few quick cheap looking parts that make me feel like it was a mixed bag, it didn't give me the same satisfaction of a moment from the series where lets say Vegeta was fighting Recoome and the animation was just top notch the whole way through.

Most people will say that you cant notice these poor looking parts but if you cant then you must be blind or you just really don't care but if your like me who like things perfect you will notice it.

Ill finish this off by saying I really did enjoy the first half of the film a lot better than the last half The first half really was entertaining and set everything up well, the jokes were awesome, the animation was awesome and the first fight was amazing.

The last half is where I started to notice the use of those cheap looking drawings here and there, and although the final fight looked amazing like I said some of the cgi looked a bit strange but the most of it was great, just I was a bit let down that it was just goku who fought in the end, I think I would of enjoyed it A LOT more if they incorporated everyone into the fight somehow, and even though the last fight scene was the longest one in the movie I was STILL hungry for more action.

So basically if your new to this series I suggest watching the show first, if your a fan who loves DBZ it should entertain you very much.

I'd like to note also that everyone cheered and clapped once the film was done! It was an amazing feeling to know that everyone had such a good time I hope we will see more coming to theaters!

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Absolutely Awesome! Loved It

[9/10 · 10 July 2014]

I enjoyed every minute of this film! Good characters, good music, and good story!

I was hooked the entire way through, it took a few minutes to start to like all the characters but after about 15 minutes I started to love them, especially the black guy! He was awesome.

The music was good too, they had some real nice cheesy atmospheric tracks in there which were great! If you don't like old movies and old music though you probably wont like it.

The story was very basic, to be honest there is not a whole lot going on, but! This film did not need a great big story when there was so much going on with the characters, there are many different challenges throughout the film the characters go through and everything they do is fresh and different, I don't want to ruin anything but lets just say a ton of stuff goes on which keeps it very interesting.

I checked out some other reviews and I was so surprised that some people didn't like it, there main reasons seem to be that its old and cheesy, thats just silly, don't listen to these people, there too brainwashed by the standards of todays films, there just saying that because there comparing it to newer films which in my opinion isn't fair!

While I was watching this film though I was actually amazed at how great it really was, I kept thinking to myself "Damn, this was made in 1978" I cant put my finger on it exactly but it just seemed very well edited and shot for its time.

The sad thing about this is I know many of the people I know would probably fall asleep during this and its ridiculous considering how great this film actually is, and those people have short attention spans and are to brainwashed and programed to be used to newer "faster paced" movies, and they laugh at the cheesiness of it or how something has aged, that I never can understand, how can you laugh at something just because its old? There also not laughing at it in a positive way, they laugh in disgust as in they don't even want to see it, if anything its interesting for me because it lets you go back in time, its almost as if these types of people are so used to seeing NEW NEW NEW NEW all the damn time its like they feel and think that its not cool to watch older stuff or something like there just to good for the old, either way whatever reason something seems immature about it to me... Its real annoying to be honest.

I find old films are like your elders, when your young you don't really realize how special they really are, but as you get older, the more you start to understand that they mean more

Tales from the Darkside: Miss May Dusa (1987) Season 3, Episode 12

Beautiful, Original, Atmospheric, & Scary

[9/10 · 29 April 2014]

This was a very interesting and entertaining episode I will say that its not really a scary episode in the way people think horror actually is, what happens to Jimmy in the end is truly scary when you think about what he went through, also, it does have a certain atmospheric beauty to it that I just loved, the dark scenes with Jimmy playing the Sax was just awesome The other person who reviewed this did not understand the ending as to why she turns into a dummy again, well I can see how the way the person edited it it could be a little hard to realize what happened, but its because she turned around and accidentally looked at her own eyes in the mirror which obviously turns her back, again he complained about how the episode doesn't really answer some of the questions as to why she was even a dummy to begin with, well sometimes they leave that to the viewer to figure out.

To be honest though this doesn't really seem like it belongs to a series like Tales From The Darkside but on another note, the ending is quite dark and pretty scary if you actually think about it, the guys blind and it would be truly horrifying to get shot and not hear the girl and just die alone on the floor a horrible death your mind just racing thinking where she went or if she shot him or why she shot him, that alone was scary.

Overall, this episode from the creepy weird beginning all the way to the end kept me interested and wanting to find out what happens to May Dusa, great episode

Police Story: Lockdown (2013)

Amazing Film! (Except For The Editing)

[8/10 · 14 February 2014]

This movie was great! Bottom line it is nothing groundbreaking but it kept me entertained the whole way through! I'll start with the positive first! The story I thought was great, the characters were awesome, the setting was awesome, action was awesome (although its nothing as crazy what were used to from Chan for the type of film the fight scenes are very well suited) and best of all I thought Jackie did an amazing job at being serious and exploring different areas.

the only things that were negative about it was surprisingly THE EDITING.

The editor tried way to hard to make it fast and crazy (this was only for the action scenes, most notably in the car chase scenes), but the truth is, it is just way to damn fast, the cuts are incredibly fast and also you can notice tons of jump cuts (look that up if you don't know what that is) which as many filmmakers know is a no no, on top of that too I love the fact that things happened throughout the film that trick you and it turns out its just an alternate scenario, but there are some pretty cheesy editing going on here sometimes for example when they freeze the frame (to me this felt extremely amateurish.

My final conclusion I cannot stress enough how much the editing bothered me, and about 10 percent of the special effects shown. I am literally serious but if the editing was great then this would be an easy 10/10 for me, there honestly isn't anything at all I didn't like about it other than the editing overall.

Stalker (1979)

Disappointed, But I Can See The Amazement To This

[13 October 2011]

I rate it 5 out of 10 because the cinematography was great, the acting was great, and surprisingly it kept me intrigued until the end to see what was going to happen, but thats about it.

My problem with this film like many others say is that its LONG, 3 DAMN HOURS LONG, and im actually VERY surprised that I was able to sit through all of it, but as I got to the second part I just wanted it to end, and the only reason I watched it until the end was because it had such a high rating I thought the ending part was going to pick up and be amazing...

But too bad, it turns out that I watched a 3 hour long film, and really didn't understand it to much and realize now that all that waiting was for nothing, I'll admit it, maybe I don't see the amazement to this because I really don't understand the story to much, but either way, it was way to long..

Remember, its a 5 because I thought everything else was amazing, still check it out its an interesting experience either way. It might be hard to sit through it all, but by the time it ends the film gives you an unexplainable emotional feeling to it, it definitely was relaxing and beautiful

Idiots and Angels (2008)

It Was Alright, Boring The Last Half

[30 September 2011]

Thought it would be much better since lots of people say that this is his best film, its not that it was a bad story or anything, its just after seeing his other films I found that this one wasn't as visually impressive or had many memorable scenes in it as his others, I liked the first half better than the last half. I was bored in the last half, perhaps no dialogue helped play in that part don't know I don't know it just felt like the movie could of done more.

There are lots of greatly drawn scenes, and I love his art style just like all his other films but in the end this one was more boring than all his films

I Married a Strange Person! (1997)

Amazing A Must Watch!

[9/10 · 26 September 2011]

This film was one of the best surreal films I actually enjoyed in a long time, great WILD style, love the way he animates the faces to its very creepy but awesome at the same time, I enjoyed the first half better than the last half though.

It seems like an hour and ten mins is very short but like other people said the pacing is a bit over the top I found, the first half kept me purley entertained and never got bored once, but then the last half it felt like there were almost no breaks, it was just a wild rollar coaster until the end which was just as amazing and unique as the first half but its not as powerful because its just so much to take in so fast, it should of had bigger breaks towards the end, one other minor thing irradiated me was how they shoot at the woman and husband at the end point blank range for like 5 minutes and they just dodge them all, I know its not taken seriously but that just felt so dragged out and took away from the overall ending experience.

But thats just the negative, go watch this film IT IS AMAZING its like nothing I have ever seen before, best words to describe it....

Fantasia on speed and acid.

Dragon Ball: The Return of Son Goku and Friends! (2008 Video)

Waste Of Time Don't Believe The Hype

[1 September 2011]

Watched it because Dragonball and DBZ is my favorite anime but after watching this its just so lame, its cheap and Goten and Trunks only fight really, Goku just shoots one damn kamehameha and Vegeta doesn't get anything in there, the whole story was stupid about Vegetas brother and the fight scenes were crap, every random character that has ever been seen except for a lot of the fighters were there even showed some for a couple seconds which was stupid, basically just a very VERY bad filler episode like terrible, It was cool to see the old music used for this and actually at first I thought it was gonna be good all the Z warriors fight a nice big battle a huge boss or something but the bad guys were lame as hell and they sucked, and also other than that its just mr. Satans hotel and they eat in it and nothing else

Philosophy of a Knife (2008 Video)

What A Piece Of Garbage

[27 August 2011]

STAY AWAY FROM THIS FILM! What can I say, there are so many things wrong with it, for starters its 4.5 hours long, half of it maybe even more is completely pointless just boring shots of different angles with no talking Sound effects, I don't care what they use but my god THEY USED THE SAME SOUND EFFECT OVER AND OVER again for when bodies were flopped around and when people jumped and landed, it was the same sound over and over again and it was a sound that I used for cheap homemade films almost a decade ago, trust me this makes the experience feel so cheap.

The narration, the narration was extremely annoying because about half of what the narrator was saying I couldn't understand or hear, either because the music background and repeated sound effects were too loud or his voice was just too low at times, the quality of the narration changes randomly too which also makes it even harder to hear.

Im pretty sure that a lot of the torture they showed in this film wasn't true, like making the prisoners have sex with each other? or the cockroach thing that was retarded.

The ONLY thing that makes this film good is the very convincing experiments they were well done and looked very real. But thats the problem Im not looking to watch disgusting things when everything else is pure garbage, I wanted to watch a good doc that explained very well the history of what happened, they might of explained it but still all the things that are wrong with this film make it to crappy and poor to even pay attention.

Man Behind the Sun (1988)

Good To Know What Happened But Poor Film Overall

[27 August 2011]

This film sucked, boring and didn't scare me at all, don't go into this film as a movie that will scare you, if anything its just a historical film about the secret 731 experiments.

The film was boring as hell and some of the torture scenes were so cheesy when the girl gets her frozen hands ripped off and shes screaming is just so stupid, there were a couple scenes that will forever be embedded into my head for ever that were the most disgusting things I've ever seen in my life, the compression chamber scene looked real, maybe it was real, the scene where they do the autopsy on that living breathing boy to take his organs was real for sure I know that because it was autopsy footage that was the most disgusting things I've ever seen it make me squirm. the cat scene was just retarded to, I don't get how everyone thinks its real, they just cut the camera and kept putting some sort of red sauce on the cat so the rats would lick it off the cat, its not violent at all.

Other than it having a couple of real looking torture scenes and it being a good history lesson thats all its good for, its not good for entertainment or anything, its interesting to see how it happened but thats it.

The only reason I rate it so low is not only because it was boring but is because of editing reasons to

Serial Experiments Lain (1998)

Did Not Enjoy It

[23 August 2011]

I give it a 4 out of 10 just for the great animation and artwork and for the unique story and music..

Other than that I was not entertained throughout the series, sure the first couple episodes did grab me and hook me in but by around episode 4 I had trouble watching it and it was like that until the end.

It was very difficult to concentrate because I thought it was so boring after episode 3 or 4, but I continued to watch until the end because all the reviews said that you have to watch it until the end and everything will become clear, well I painfully watched all the episodes until the end and it must be just me but I did not really get why the series is so amazing to some people, I feel like I wasted my time really.

Highschool of the Dead (2010)

Started Great Then Got Worse

[12 August 2011]

Up until episode 8 or 9 I realized that the show started to fall and sort of lost interest, I don't understand the first 8 or 9 episodes were amazing, had me on the edge of my seat loving every minute of it, but then around 8 or 9 it just dropped, things got boring and even the "final" for the show wasn't even great at all in my opinion Don't understand the hype really, because by the time its over I don't really feel like watching more, if the series ending well then I would definitely look forward to watching more but not anymore, Just know that the first 8 or 9 episodes were amazing and I loved them.

Plus loved all the sexy shots of all the hot girls, people say that it ruins it but I for one love anime girls and the ones in this are extremely hot actually the best ones I've ever seen.

Gang Related (1997)

Its One Of Those Films Where It Feels Like Nothing Happens

[24 July 2011]

Its one of the films where your watching it and waiting for something to happen, like a final crazy ending, but I hated the ending...

Great acting, the only reason I give it 5 is because 2Pac is in it and its always good to see him in anything:) but other than that I wish it could of been better, I cant really explain, the story was highly interesting it just felt like the last half could of been done differently, I feel from that point on it went downhill. Its kind of just like Gridlock'd, how it felt like nothing happened by the end of the film except Ill admit Gridlock'd was a lot better I found. Wish 2Pac was still here so he could of made his own films and see him direct them. Or at least wish he got at least 3 more years in life so he could of put some more out:(

Dragon Ball: The Path to Power (1996)

The Best Animation The Series Has To Offer

[24 July 2011]

The only reason I give it an 8 is basically because the animation is very well drawn, the best in the series. Other than that its the same old thing we have all already seen just with minor things changed just like the other 3 Dragonball films 1, 2, and 3.

I have to say that the series is better all around for a better experience, but the animation beats the original series for this film because it is newer and its a movie special.

The film actually feels pretty awkward, things happen too quickly and it definitely doesn't feel like it has anything to hold it up, I got bored half way through it again even though the animation was incredible it just got dull by that time. I think they would of bee better off doing an entire new story that goes off to the side just like how they did with the Dragonball Z movies.

Story 3/5 Music 5/5 Animation 5/5