|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 26, 2010 - 10:16 PM
|
|
|
By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
|
Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) -- 9/10 Not as perfect as the first two, better than part four, but FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!! My favorite action franchise, just barely edging out Lethal Weapon because I only like three of those but like all four Die Hards. Each is good, solid action entertainment, and Die Hard With A Vengeance is my personal favorite of the four. (Ironically enough, the script for it was at one point a Lethal Weapon sequel script.) Oh yeah I remember hearing that a long time ago! I agree the Lethal Weapon franchise is a close second, but all I can say by way of preferring the Die Hard films is somehow the thrills of watching the Lethal Weapon series diminish with repeated viewings. They're still outstanding action films, but I doubt I will watch them with the same glee as I will watch the Die Hard films when I'm 80 years old -- the thrills of the Die Hard action never falter one bit. Don't get me wrong, the action in the Lethal Weapon films is a force to be reckoned with, but the Die Hard action is just more consistently riveting and spine-tingling. Kamen's music for the Die Hard series (1-3 obviously) is also much more enjoyable than his work on the Lethal Weapon series, although that music is good in its own right...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 27, 2010 - 7:35 AM
|
|
|
By: |
Cryogenix
(Member)
|
Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) -- 9/10 Not as perfect as the first two, better than part four, but FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!! My favorite action franchise, just barely edging out Lethal Weapon because I only like three of those but like all four Die Hards. Each is good, solid action entertainment, and Die Hard With A Vengeance is my personal favorite of the four. (Ironically enough, the script for it was at one point a Lethal Weapon sequel script.) I think all three Diehard films are terrific and unique. The fourth installment, as I said in an earlier review, was too far-fetched and turned McClane into somewhat of an indestructible superhero, which ruined the "ordinary man" dynamic that endeared me to his character. The Lethal Weapon Franchise has four good films, but they tend to be somewhat repetitive. Given that, I'd also agree that Diehard slightly surpasses Lethal Weapon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 27, 2010 - 7:50 AM
|
|
|
By: |
Cryogenix
(Member)
|
Next - In a word...slick! I had put off buying this for so long, thinking it looked terrible. and finally found it for a decent price. The flow/camerawork is smooth and cool, reminding me of some of the caper elements of National Treasure and Ocean's 11. The music is perfectly mated with the action and helps the cool, slick factor even more. Without giving away anything overly crucial, there appeared to be a major flaw in this film. Either that, or I completely missed something. Cage can see two minutes into his own future, yet at times he appears to travel back in time to try different approaches for a more desirable outcome. This made no sense. Given the visuals, it wasn't as though he was mentally projecting what would happen if doing something 20 different ways - that would be impossible in the framework of the story we're shown/told - so I didn't get that whole aspect of trial and error. There were several, smaller things that also didn't make any sense, but none of them were distracting enough to make the film seem absurd. It's so cool watching Cage in action, anticipating everything that's going to happen and reacting to side-step it. Again...very slick! I'd love to see a sequel - 8.5 Insomnia - A great crime drama with solid acting and an interesting story - 8 Hot Tub Time Machine (unrated) - John Cusack must have owed someone a favor, because this was a poor film that's well below the standards of his usual work. Although not total crap or entirely uninteresting, the story's pace was all over the place and never found a good groove. Ridiculous, absurd and completely retarded. The bellhop's impending destiny was the one thing that made me laugh aloud and perhaps really kept me semi-interested. I did fast-forward through about 15 minutes of boring dialogue. Since the ending was very cool, I'll give it slightly higher marks - 6.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 27, 2010 - 7:55 AM
|
|
|
By: |
mastadge
(Member)
|
The West Wing, Season One (1999-2000) by Aaron Sorkin -- After years of being told I must watch this show, I decided to watch the show. I was not disappointed. It's amazing how much energy they can get out of characters striding purposefully down hallways and through doorways while exchanging rapid-fire dialogue. It's not perfect. They mostly didn't seem to have any idea what to do with Moira Kelly's character, while Janel Moloney, a guest star all season, got lots of good lines -- both situations that seem to have been rectified in Season 2. It was strange seeing Cuddy in her role. I've never seen a writer get as much mileage out of the word "OK" as Sorkin -- you could make a drinking game by taking a shot every time a character says OK. Or even just ends a conversation with OK. Or even just taking a shot every time the work OK is used twice in a row. But beside all of that, this was a fun, idealistic, non-ironic, uncynical, pre-Bush political fairy-tale with a fine cast and snappy dialogue. Good stuff. Can't wait to watch some more. (****) The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) (2009) by Juan José Campanella -- Someone please explain the acclaim for this, last year's best foreign picture winner. An aging ex-criminal investigator decides to write a novel which is really a memoir about a brutal rape/murder investigation he was involved in. It's unclear how much of the flashback portions are what really happened, and how much has been sensationalized for his "novel", but, well, the whole thing reeks of stupidity. Esposito (Ricardo Darín) becomes obsessed with the case, apparently(?) because the rape victim was very beautiful (I guess only stunningly beautiful women deserve to have their rapes taken seriously? Or maybe his obsession is just arbitrary?). When a couple of men who weren't even there are arrested and tortured into confession, Esposito gets very angry and resolves to find the killer. Looking through the victim's old photo albums, he notices a picture with a man looking at her, and decides from "the look in his eyes" that the man is the murderer. So he breaks several laws to try to find the guy, fails, then finds him in an insane coincidence (albeit one that involves an absolutely magnificent bit of cinematography), then, without any evidence whatsoever other than the look in his eyes in an old photo, coerces and harasses him until he confesses. But wait! There's more! Which I will not go into. But the real story is an unrequited love story between him and his engaged-to-another-man boss, whom he never works up the nerve to talk to but constantly gazes at lovingly, complete with tons of close-ups. Anyway. The movie is very well acted, it looks great, it's got some good humor, it's not without pathos, and maybe there's some Argentinian political context I'm missing that puts the whole thing in perspective, but the frame story and the flashbacks don't really hang together, and Esposito's persistence in doing everything wrong is very annoying. (***) Away From Her (2006) by Sarah Polley -- Polley's directorial debut is a fine, assured film, based on an Alice Munro story, about an elderly couple, one of whom has Alzheimer's. The difficulty of living with Alzheimer's, of considering moving into an assisted living facility, the separation, the anguish of loving someone who's forgetting chunks of your life together. A painful, beautiful movie. (****½) The Secret of Moonacre (2008) by Gabor Csupo -- I was interested in this movie because I was pleasantly surprised by Csupo's very good Bridge to Terabithia. But I turned it off about 15 minutes in. Lousy acting from Dakota Blue Richards and the ever-annoying Natascha McElhone, awful special effects, a dull script and an actually quite good score that unfortunately didn't fit the images on screen (notice how the music swells as we look at . . . a tree) combined to dispel my interest very quickly. No star rating since I didn't finish the movie. "Fallen" (2010) by Sascha Geddert and Wolfram Kampffmeyer -- A lovely, dialogue-less short film (about 3.5 minutes) about a meteor falling to earth. A beautiful short film. I've seen it linked to several times as an answer to how an atheist can be at peace in a godless existence, although that's obviously not explicitly touched on in the film itself. http://vimeo.com/11238405
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 27, 2010 - 8:59 AM
|
|
|
By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
|
Next - In a word...slick! I had put off buying this for so long, thinking it looked terrible. and finally found it for a decent price. The flow/camerawork is smooth and cool, reminding me of some of the caper elements of National Treasure and Ocean's 11. The music is perfectly mated with the action and helps the cool, slick factor even more. Without giving away anything overly crucial, there appeared to be a major flaw in this film. Either that, or I completely missed something. Cage can see two minutes into his own future, yet at times he appears to travel back in time to try different approaches for a more desirable outcome. This made not sense. Given the visuals, it wasn't as though he was mentally projecting what would happen if doing something 20 different ways - that would be impossible in the framework of the story we're shown/told - so I didn't get that whole aspect of trial and error. There were several, smaller things that also didn't make any sense, but none of them were distracting enough to make the film seem absurd. It's so cool watching Cage in action, anticipating everything that's going to happen and reacting to side-step it. Again...very slick! I'd love to see a sequel - 9 Cryogenix, good call on Next. I reviewed it on this thread awhile ago, and gave it around a 9 also. One of those great action/sci-fi movies (like Paycheck) that have an undeservedly bad reputation. I thought Next was a blast. As you said, there were a few minor problems, but they did not take away from my enjoyment of the film, just minor issues. For example, even though the bad guys in films like this are usually very cardboard and one-dimensional, these villains did not have 1% of a reason for doing what they did, they were just there to be stopped by Cage. It would have been nice if they had provided the villains with at least one line of dialogue explaining their motive. The main villain, Thomas Kretschmann, is always very good, but he just had no foundation here. Like I said, though, it's a minor complaint next to a very slick, roller-coaster ride. Regarding the issue you had with the two-minute flash-forward thing, at the diner, I thought it was just him examining 20 different ways the scene could go, and then choosing the best outcome. Not quite sure how he could do it, but that was good enough for me. It was also the basis for him dodging bullets towards the end of the film. But I didn't think too much about it and just went with it. Jessica Biel sure was lovely!!!!!! (and deserves 6 exclamation points) My favorite part, toward the end, was when Nic Cage is leading Julianne Moore through the plant and pointing out bad guys, she's looking one way and he taps her on her opposite shoulder and points, then she quickly readjusts her line of sight and kills the villain seconds before he has a chance to shoot -- an excellent scene illustrating the slick quality you mentioned, and how the action was very fluid. Great score by Mark Isham, although the wildly percussive and aggressive mountainside chase/avalanche score cue wasn't on the official score release ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Sep 27, 2010 - 9:46 AM
|
|
|
By: |
Cryogenix
(Member)
|
Cryogenix, good call on Next. Regarding the issue you had with the two-minute flash-forward thing, at the diner, I thought it was just him examining 20 different ways the scene could go, and then choosing the best outcome. Not quite sure how he could do it, but that was good enough for me. My favorite part, toward the end, was when Nick Cage is leading Julianne Moore through the plant and pointing out bad guys, she's looking one way and he taps her on her opposite shoulder and points, then she quickly readjusts her line of sight and kills the villain seconds before he has a chance to shoot -- an excellent scene illustrating the slick quality you mentioned, and how the action was very fluid. Great score by Mark Isham, although the wildly percussive and aggressive mountainside chase/avalanche score cue wasn't on the official score release ... The thing is, in the diner, I didn't get the impression he was mentally exploring possible outcomes and then choosing the right one. It really seemed like he had actually gone through the physical process and then rewound to try it again. I'd have to watch it again, but there was something that happened later in the film that triggered that response. Initially, it made more sense. I actually replayed that very scene a few times (the one with Cage tapping her on the shoulder) because it was just so damned cool! I'll have to go back and try to find your review...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|