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Posted: |
Aug 24, 2010 - 8:36 PM
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By: |
DeputyRiley
(Member)
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At first I gave the following rating:
Anaconda -- 5/10
But after watching this film, I watched another film called Rogue, which carries all of the same ingredients. In both films, a monstrous exotic animal (Anaconda--anaconda/Rogue--crocodile) terrorizes a stranded group of actors (Anaconda--Owen Wilson, Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight/Rogue--Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan, Mia Wasikowska, Sam Worthington) in an exotic and isolated setting (Anaconda--Amazon/Rogue--Australian outback) and the monster picks off the actors one by one while the group devises a way to outwit the creature. I thought Anaconda was mediocre, but after watching Rogue -- 9/10, I was shown that you can create a truly fun, thrilling and riveting thriller with such material (Rogue) or you can create a dull, embarrassing and colossal failure with the same material (Anaconda). Rogue has very interesting actors: Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan, Mia Wasikowska (right before her huge role in Alice in Wonderland), Sam Worthington (right before his huge roles in Terminator Salvation and Avatar). Anaconda had a strange roster of actors who really ended up just embarrassing themselves (Mr. Voight, you do know your performance was captured on film for all to see, and not just you in the bathroom late at night making faces into the mirror?). I'm fascinated by films, and I really love it when two movies take essentially identical material and one shines while the other does not.
Anaconda -- 2/10
Rogue -- 9/10
EDIT: I HIGHLY recommend Rogue. I don't want to give anything away, but this is truly one of those "anything goes" kinds of movies -- you will be surprised. More than a few times I said to myself in disbelief, "No way, they killed that person?!" Kind of like a Drew Barrymore/Scream kind of thing. Rogue does not play by the rules. I dig that.
Man, the tension in this movie is near unbearable. You want to have a real terrifying experience? See Rogue. A couple of terrifyingly realistic moments, for a split-second, I was like "look out for the CAMERAMAN!!!" -- but then remembered it's just a movie. How awesome is that?  There was this particular, terrifying scene, I almost had to stop the movie because it was so unbearably tense -- but in the best possible way. I don't think it's easy for filmmakers to achieve true, true tension, where your heart is literally pounding away and you forget to breathe, you're leaning forward to the screen, and your eyes are wide open glued to the screen. Oh man. I love it when movies thrill me as much as this one. And from a movie you'd least expect it from! I'd never heard of Rogue, I gave it a shot and it's a true diamond in the rough. Especially coming on the heels of Anaconda, it was going to take a lot for this particular genre to scare me, but Rogue knocked me over the side of my head with its massive, deadly crocodile tail. The movie is so inventive -- really intense situations the characters find themselves in, situations I'd never really seen in a movie before, least of all done in such a superb fashion. None of the characters are capable of feats of strength or superhero moments; if they survive, they barely survive, and the gritty, tense realism is incredibly palpable. Any character could go at any moment, dispatched in horrible fashion, and I do mean anyone -- when you see the movie, you'll know exactly what I mean. Terrifying because this shit could so easily happen if you piss off the wrong predator. I'm going to watch this movie again very soon -- a near-perfect example of how this type of genre movie should and can be done.
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Most recent: AGORA
All about ancient female philosopher Hypatia, who lived in early 5th century AD Alexandria. Not totally authentic historically, but it does give a pretty good picture of religious conflicts in the city at that time, what with rioting Christians vs. Pagans vs. Jews. Very well thought out, all things considered. And, in the end, quite affecting.
The parallels to our own time are all too inherent...
I'd give it an 8 out of a possible 10.
Highly recommended.
(Although the score, by Dario Marianelli, has that typical "wailing female voice," God help us... which is why I didn't grade it higher...)
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Mrs. Miniver (1942) - 8/10. As a classic movie fan I can't believe I've never seen this wonderful movie before! I never had paid much attention to Greer Garson prior to watching this movie, but after seeing it she shot way up on my list. Not only is she a beautiful woman who is so very photogenic from all angles, but in this role she emoted more than almost any actress I've ever seen just through her subtle facial expressions, overall demeanor and expressive eyes. She surely deserved her Best Actress Oscar for this role. I think I may have fallen in love with her.
If you loved MRS. MINIVER, I can't wait to read what you'll have to say about RANDOM HARVEST. Talk about her "subtle facial expressions," I'd love to hear what you have to say about her during a certain scene between her and Colman, taking place in an office....
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THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1956)
Rating: 6/10
Gina Lollobrigida is beautiful, Anthony Quinn ugly but a somewhat impressive production. Not as lively as either the silent or '39 version though it's in widescreen and color.
TRAPEZE (1956)
Rating: 8/10
When I was a kid this movie tended to bore me -- not enough circus and aerial action and too much time spent with adults arguing with each other. Now, I realize this was never meant for kids. It's quite pleasurable at this distance watching Burt Lancaster, Gina Lollobrigida and Tony Curtis play out their menage a trois on the ground and in the air. Has garish color and a seedy look appropriate to the story. Shot on location in France.
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GRIP OF THE STRANGLER (GB 1958): 6/10
Boris Karloff is a social do-gooder trying to clear an innocent man's name, not realizing that he himself is the killer!
Quite decent thriller in the Jekyll and Hyde vein. It's fairly atmospheric (foggy Victorian London) and the background detail is nice, but the handling is routine. Karloff isn't completely convincing in the dual role - not much more than a bit of face-pulling to show when he's the baddie.
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Posted: |
Aug 26, 2010 - 6:08 PM
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By: |
Michael24
(Member)
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The Expendables - 3/5
Saw it this afternoon. It's no Rambo, that's for sure. Stallone's 2008 film was a rock solid action/war flick. The Expendables comes close at times, but never really makes it.
For starters, the whole subplot with Jason Statham and Charisma Carpenter was completely pointless. It added nothing to the film and just felt like a distraction, made even worse by the fact there's never any payoff to it. It was also kind of jumpy. They get hired to take out the bad guy, and Stallone and Statham do some recon on the island. But then after a skirmish with the bad guy's cronies (whom they easily handle with no problems), they escape and call off the mission (why?), then later Stallone decides to go back to save the girl? Whom at that point he has no idea what's become of her.
The action scenes were mostly well-done. The opening boat scene in Somalia is pretty wicked, if not a bit confusing. (They appear to take out the entire gang of pirates, but then half of them are still around when the smoke clears and they're forced into another standoff? And I had no idea what Dolph was doing that made Stallone mad.) The dock strafing was awesome, but it's not really until the big palace assault at the end that we finally get into high gear. Some long fight scenes break out, with seemingly everybody fighting everybody. It's just one big free-for-all that's fun and at times confusing to follow. The Stallone/Austin match-up is pretty darn sweet even if (again) there's no payoff because shortly after Austin simply gets taken out, rather lamely, by another guy.
Overall, it's okay, but even by dumb fun action movie standards I thought it could have been better. It was a noble effort by Stallone to invoke the spirit of '80s action movies, though. I was going to give it a 2.5/5, but felt generous and gave it a 3/5 just because the final assault is indeed a lot fun.
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My local Costco carries box sets of the original 14 films, and I've already started picking them up and will continue the series that way instead of renting the rest, then move on to the two more recent films that were made.
