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Posted: |
May 28, 2013 - 7:16 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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The Bourne Legacy (2012) -- 8.5/10 Finally got around to seeing this! Extremely good. I don't want to, nor should I, compare it to the original Damon Bourne trilogy, but part of me is hard-wired to do so...and Bourne Legacy is barely not as good as those three, which are each at least a 9/10, with the original Bourne Identity meriting a solid 10/10. As thrilling and breathless as Bourne Legacy can be, it never achieves the lightning pace of the first three films. Nevertheless, on its own terms The Bourne Legacy frickin rocks and is aces all around -- direction, screenwriting, music, action, stunts, photography, acting, ensemble cast, pacing, editing, etc. Felt like the chem plot was a bit underdeveloped but very interesting. Rachel Weisz is positively radiant even when sweating, bleeding, and crying. Thought the larger Bourne universe mythology tied nicely into this more secular story. Am tempted to bump it up to a 9/10, but part of me ultimately thinks it's just 8.5/10...numerical semantics, who cares anyway...this movie was terrific.
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Posted: |
May 28, 2013 - 10:45 PM
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By: |
Michael24
(Member)
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The Bourne Legacy (2012) -- 8.5/10 Finally got around to seeing this! Extremely good. I don't want to, nor should I, compare it to the original Damon Bourne trilogy, but part of me is hard-wired to do so...and Bourne Legacy is barely not as good as those three, which are each at least a 9/10, with the original Bourne Identity meriting a solid 10/10. As thrilling and breathless as Bourne Legacy can be, it never achieves the lightning pace of the first three films. Nevertheless, on its own terms The Bourne Legacy frickin rocks and is aces all around -- direction, screenwriting, music, action, stunts, photography, acting, ensemble cast, pacing, editing, etc. Felt like the chem plot was a bit underdeveloped but very interesting. Rachel Weisz is positively radiant even when sweating, bleeding, and crying. Thought the larger Bourne universe mythology tied nicely into this more secular story. Am tempted to bump it up to a 9/10, but part of me ultimately thinks it's just 8.5/10...numerical semantics, who cares anyway...this movie was terrific. It's funny, Deputy. We seem to like a lot of the same stuff, but when we do differ on a film we really differ. Haha! Bourne Legacy was easily my absolute least favorite movie of 2012. Aside from Renner's and Weisz's performances, I got pretty much nothing out of it. I'm glad you liked it, and I really wanted to because the trailer was most impressive, but I just found it a near-crushing letdown.
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AFTER EARTH -- 0/10 Let me start by saying that this is probably a 4 but I honestly gave it a perfect zero mainly because I was actually looking forward to it and it was horrible in all ways possible. Our story is of a young boy whose sister is killed by an alien and this has caused him to be full of fear of said alien who are blind but smell fear and to make matters worse the most famous alien killer is none other Will Smith, our young leads father. Both go on a mission to get some bonding together but when the ship crashes, Father must help Son navigate the deadly Earth to find a distress signal beacon. Did I mention the mission was carrying an alien and its now loose? Anyone care to guess what will happen in the third act? There in lies the BIGGEST fall of the movie in that from before the duo is marooned you know exactly what the story will demand but the biggest problems are this film is BORING and the leads are AWFUL. Somehow Will Smith actually comes off as bored and I understand his character is suppose to be stoic but goddamn was this ridiculous...he looks bored and all his charm and charisma is dead. The second problem is Jaden who can in fact look scared for the parts the film requires but everything else... the poor kid is widely miscast and out of his range and he has no presence to carry the film which he essentially has to and fails it. So all of it fails to connect thanks to a boring story, dull characters and actors that do nothing to make one care about the proceedings.
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Posted: |
Jun 2, 2013 - 11:36 AM
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By: |
Michael24
(Member)
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Yesterday, my brother gave me a crash course in Fast and Furious movies, since I'd only seen the first two, then we went and saw the new one in the theater afterward. So here's my mini-reviews and final rankings for the series so far. The Fast and the Furious (2001) - 3/5 Not a great movie, but it's fun. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) - 1/5 All flash, no substance, even by this series' standards. Worst of the lot. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) - 3/5 Goofy but fun. I like the change in scenery, and Sung Kang as Han. Fast and Furious (2009) - 2/5 Aside from a terrific opening sequence, mostly just boring. Fast Five (2011) - 3/5 Surprisingly solid heist caper, although Dwayne Johnson could have had more screen time. But the lack of Michelle Rodiguez is nice, too. Fast and Furious 6 (2013) - 2/5 Fantastically fun (if at times completely ridiculous) action scenes, but that's about all it has going for it. 1. Fast Five (2011) - 3/5 2. The Fast and the Furious (2001) - 3/5 3. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) - 3/5 4. Fast and Furious 6 (2013) - 2/5 5. Fast and Furious (2009) - 2/5 6. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) - 1/5 Overall, this isn't a series I'm especially wowed by and will ever have much affection for, but it has a few films that are fun if you approach them with the right mindset.
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Posted: |
Jun 8, 2013 - 8:38 AM
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By: |
mastadge
(Member)
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Cloud Atlas (2012) dir. Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski -- File this one under ambitious failure. Often beautiful, very watchable, well edited, but with some extremely questionable choices made in service to its themes. The Tykwer segments are, on the whole, better than the Wachowski segments. Dark Skies (2013) dir. Scott Stewart -- I guess I can say that of the three Stewart movies I've seen (four if you count the Defiance pilot), this is the least awful. It actually even has glimmers and bits of goodness mixed in with the clichés and silliness. But it's not actually good. Gangster Squad (2013) dir. Ruben Fleischer -- I didn't hate this as much as everyone else seemed to. It's not great by any stretch of the imagination, and the story seems to be missing a few beats, but as an entertainment it managed to keep me occupied for a couple hours without insulting my intelligence too much. A decent action flick. Any Day Now (2012) dir. Travis Fine -- Very powerful drama featuring some spectacularly bad hairpieces. In the 70s, a gay couple take in a child with Down syndrome when his junkie mother is arrested, and then go to court to make the guardianship legal. Warm Bodies (2013) dir. Jonathan Levine -- Didn't like this as much as I wanted to. It was cute enough, but also pretty shallow and didn't make much sense. Some trite takeaway messages here about the redeeming power of love and the transformative power of giving a crap about your life. I expected better from this director after 50/50 Mama (2013) dir. Andrés Muschietti -- A pretty good ghost story-cum-fairy tale, could have been much better if it had focused more on the terror and less on the jump scares -- and if it had avoided so much lousy CGI. The ghost would have been much, much more effective without the extremely un-scary CG-ed face.
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Spring Breakers 7/10 *** (added five min later- don't read if you get mad at spoilers. See I am considerate to delicate senses) It was really stupid and also pretty funny. Harmony Korine the dir. of Gummo. Frat girls want a wild weekend full of sex/drug intaking, and hook up with James franco as a rich bitch who thinks he is black and is impinging on the territory of the african american drug lord. The girls and the ritch bitch become a mini manson cult and shoot up a bunch of stuff and ultimately do a showdown with the druglord guys at their mansion in slow motion. The ritch bitch dies but the girls blow everyone away in their bikinis without having to reload and the audience claps. It indulges in all the usual reptile fetishes- sex, violence, lust, hate, and envy, but makes fun of itself. I lost a few IQ points watching it but it was often hilarious. I find franco annoying but I understand his acting style of being two or three steps removed from taking anything seriously while still working hard to appear effortless, and I think he is probably the best of the current batch of things, I mean actors in Hollywood. Go see it. Oh crap did i give away the ending again? Ban me I type too fast. Or send hate mail that works same as always.
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Kon Tiki 7/10 *** Story of Norwegians trying to prove Peruvians settled Polynesia by traveling there in rafts without steering or stuff like that. The leader is committed to faith in his ideals and everyone must come around to his way of dealing with difficulties. The movie is well made and passably compelling. The acting and characterization is not the type of David lean madness the story might remind you of, but in its gentleness it's interesting. Always look for the upside and good things in any situation. That's pretty good.
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Posted: |
Jun 9, 2013 - 3:29 PM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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Deadfall 9/10 After Deputy's review I had to check this out and it's a great movie with an amazing cast. Shifts between story lines which all intertwine and to great effect. I'd have given it 10/10 if not for two things; the scene with the indian and the way the female deputy got treated by the male cops and her dad which got stretched way beyond belief. Otherwise solid thriller! Iron Man 3 4/10 Easily the worst of the Iron Man's for me. OK, I get it, Robert Downey Jr. is good when he's on film, but there is zero chemistry or depth to any of these characters, the plot and story are absurd and the directing (or lack there of) of countless dumb action sequences that show off special effects rather than use them, is so tiresome. The multiple suits sequence is very convenient and the villain (or villains) a letdown. Two or three funny lines I had to laugh, but that's about it. I rate The Iron Man movies a step down from Sam Raimi's Spiderman movies and those were lackluster at times. Score by Tyler was better than the movie deserved. Final Fantasy: Spirits Within 7/10 Saw this movie last night for the first time, always meant to see it but never got round to it; the animation is by today's standards a tad outdated, that said, it still impresses now and again and there are sequences you forget it's animated at all. Great voice cast (I had a fun time recognizing them), story was imaginative but tries too hard to mimic conventional action/sci fi movies it looses focus halfway through. Great score by Goldenthal! Only God Forgives 7/10 Multi-layered revenge story about a drug dealing American in Thailand who has to avenge his brother's death while dealing with a mother who favors her dead son more and a local cop with an own code of vengeance. At moments very much like David Lynch in Thailand, long dream/karaoke bar sequences interrupted by harsh violence, very gory. Very abstract and surreal the whole way through, the score by Martinez is great. Alternative cinema almost for the sake of alternative cinema and I'm not sure it worked all that well; but the fact I'm still debating that is at least a sign the movie had something going for it. The Astronaut's Wife 6/10 Another one I postponed watching for years. Depp & Theron are good but the movie takes forever to get underway and feels like a mix between X-files and Rosemary's Baby. There are some genuinely scary scenes though but like I said, could have benefitted from a couple of rewrites to spruce things up. Bullet To the Head 6/10 Sylvester Stallone is in it. I watched it. This was a far far cry from Walter Hill's excellent 80s action movies, and Sly comes across as one of those discovery channel reality show gangsters... the girl who played his granddaughter was ok though Did I mention Sylvester Stallone stars in it?
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Posted: |
Jun 12, 2013 - 5:29 PM
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By: |
Solium
(Member)
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Sucker Punch 6-10 It's hard to review this film without getting into a lot of spoilers. So I will avoid discussing most of the plot. As an unsuspecting viewer I was presented with a film radically different from the way the marketing department sold it. So I can't blame the director for this, but it doe's give one pause. What the heck did I get myself into? After reflection there are some clever and thoughtful elements intertwined into this story. It's complex. (Thanks to reading many posts on IMDB) However the problem arises when we the viewer are either deliberately snookered early on, or Snyder didn't do an effective job in conveying the path we would be taking at the time of an apparent lobotomy. This results in viewers like myself, (and I bet most of us) taking in story details with false assumptions. While I would like to appreciate the many layers in this film, the biggest problem are the emptiness in the characterizations. All style and no substance once again comes into play. I never care for Babydoll or her issues, because I didn't get to know her as a person. She is comatose pretty much from the very beginning of the film. Directors would do well learning the basics of story continuity, and character development. So all I am left with is what the previews promised. Cute girls kicking ass in a fantasy setting. Unfortunately this was a huge let down as every significant action sequence was tracked with ear blowing heavy metal music. If you love heavy metal music you will love this film. For me, I can't stand it, and when ever it was incorporated into action sequences it totally destroyed my enjoyment of the film. I don't think the film is bad as so many say it is. Hardly one of the worst films of all time. It had some interesting ideas, and some thought went into the script. But over all, the film felt like a rough draft for something that could have been terrific. On a side note I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of graphic violence in this film. There's violence for sure, but we are spared the splattering of blood, guts and brains.
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