1056 replies to this topic

[saber16]

Despicable Me:

I finally got a chance to check this one out. Now, the idea is simple, an evil mastermind has to choose between a life of villiany or being there for his adopted daughters. What really brings it to life are the characters, the writing, the presentation and the non stop gags! This was just a fun movie from beginning to end. Though, something stops it from being incredible... I would have loved to see more of this world and if there were any other masterminds Gru had to go up against... maybe some more development for the other characters... I don't know. Maybe the overall charm just spoiled me and left me wanting more.

Whatever the case, it's a fun film with enough cuteness and attitude to satisfy anyone. Worth checking out.
A

The Last Airbender:

Oh geez, here we go...

Based off the hit Nicktoon, Airbender is the story of an imaginary world split up into four nations (fire, earth, water and air), among these nations exist individuals who can can control their respected elemnts, which is known as "bending". Well, the fire nation decided to be a bunch of douchs one day and declared war. The avatar, a being who can master all four powers was supposed to put a stop to it, but problems arised and so he was frozen for a hundred years, and now it's up to this young boy, Aang, to save the world.

The story works fine as a series with three seasons to help establish itself, but with a 90 minute live action film to help tell the first season, we need some good direction, writing and acting to help it along.

... and all ready we have some problems.

First, the actors. Yes, we onow of the race dispute. It sucks, that's not my problem. This acting is just all over the place. You, either have monotone acting that does little to impress, or you have someone screaming their lines out in an effort to appear tough or threatening... but just come off as laughable. I can think of maybe one or two actors who did a decent job, but it hardly makes up for the rest of the cast.

But a huge share of the blame has to go to M. Knight. Now, you have a whole season of material to work with. A show that is as action packed as it is humorous... and what does he do? He takes out the comedy and gives us an abridged mess with a fast paced storyline with no character development whats so ever. He took the soul out of well received series and expected the fans to love it!?

Though... if I have to give any complements, it's to the folks behind the scenery, the costumes and especially the soundtrack... it's so beautiful... and it's all wasted on a horrible adapption that has direct to dvd written all over it!

You've been told to avoid this film... and I agree. Do yourself a favor and check out the animated series and avoid this... or check out Despicable Me, a GOOD movie.

The show: A
The film: D-
And that's thanks to the presentation and nothing more.

[RedAuthar]

True Grit (2010): I liked it. I like the characters (minus Rooster) better in this version. I think it was a great movie. I give it an A. Interesting note: The character of Rooster was actually based of John Wayne. The author of the book True Grit has admitted to it. Thus when Wayne played the role it doomed anyone from doing a better job them him.

Anyways...

Tron Legacy: It was ok. It's like the Summery of what happened between Tron and a film that doesn't exist. I give it C as it could be a lot better.

[furrykef]

A Christmas Story: Can't understand what the hype is about. I guess you've gotta see it as a kid.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Despicable Me

I enjoyed that movie as well. Though I think there should have been more time spent with the girls, though. Especially with Margo's beat of not trusting Gru toward the end. It was there, and it was okay, but I feel it needed to be developed more so I could feel maximum emotional sympathy for Margo, rather than watching what looked like a very emotional situation go by too fast.

But the movie was still very enjoyable nonetheless.

[Bakuda]

A Christmas Story: Can't understand what the hype is about. I guess you've gotta see it as a kid.

Ahh...a classic...gotta love it!

[RedAuthar]

I saw it when I was a kid. It sucked just as bad as it does now.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

It's one of the movies you just need to see at least once regardless. I kind of enjoyed it, but it's no where near a "memorable film" for me. Just an enjoyable one.

I re-watched How To Train Your Dragon today. I was pleasantly surprised the first time I watched it. The plot was simple and the film had charming characters throughout. The story has surprisingly good visual symmetry between the Hiccup and his dragon Toothless (ugh, these names!) that strengthened the story. And the flight footage that was animated was just superb.

Though, the dragon art design did only result in two appealing/cool looking dragons: the Night Fury and the... big bad one at the end; and even the latter had ridiculously small wings compared to it's body mass. And a lot of the supporting cast just noticeably seemed to fill standard movie rolls without too much depth attached to them. But it wasn't so bad that I couldn't enjoy the film. Even Craig Furgeson was enjoyable as the comedic roll, partially because I'm a fan of the comedian, and also because the story gave his character a little more substance than what is usually given to generic family film comedic levity.

In short, it wasn't a generic family film. It was very charming, and its story had surprisingly strong emotional substance to it. Its honestly a good movie.

[Bakuda]

I re-watched How To Train Your Dragon today. I was pleasantly surprised the first time I watched it. The plot was simple and the film had charming characters throughout. The story has surprisingly good visual symmetry between the Hiccup and his dragon Toothless (ugh, these names!) that strengthened the story. And the flight footage that was animated was just superb.

Though, the dragon art design did only result in two appealing/cool looking dragons: the Night Fury and the... big bad one at the end; and even the latter had ridiculously small wings compared to it's body mass. And a lot of the supporting cast just noticeably seemed to fill standard movie rolls without too much depth attached to them. But it wasn't so bad that I couldn't enjoy the film. Even Craig Furgeson was enjoyable as the comedic roll, partially because I'm a fan of the comedian, and also because the story gave his character a little more substance than what is usually given to generic family film comedic levity.

In short, it wasn't a generic family film. It was very charming, and its story had surprisingly strong emotional substance to it. Its honestly a good movie.

I wasnt expecting much fromthis film due to my dislike of dreamworks animation. That being said, I was blown away when I finally did see it. I thought they did a fantastic job with it. This was the first dreamworks animation I actually really liked.

[Ratty Randnums]

Might have watched more in the last 3 or 4 days than as many months. So I'll just sum them all up


Shogun's Samurai (The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy) 9/10
This is actually a fantastic epic of political intrigue and war. The action may seem (relatively) sparse but what is there is excellent. My head kind of hurt near the end from trying to keep all the names and the plots twists and turns straight through the brisk subtitles, but it was worth it. Sonny Chiba has a small but memorable part, and all of the performances are just great. Be wary of reviews before you watch it though, some of the ones I saw on amazon and imdb would have kind of spoiled it had I read them before watching the film.

The Black Cobra (Cobra Nero) Trilogy - average 5.5/10
Typical super-low budget Italian (/Filipino) 80s cop movie blacksploitation schlock, if there is such a thing.
The movies individually-
1. Barely qualifies as "so bad it's good". Ploddingly paced and terribly acted, with a boring plot that would disappear if you turned it sideways. Only watch this if you're a big
Fred Williamson fan. Or just really like seeing guys on dirt bikes with leather jackets try their hardest to look like Schwarzenegger.
2. This could have almost been a halfway decent 80s cop movie had it had better direction, writing and a slightly larger budget. The two leads actually have a lot of chemistry and it's too bad they didn't team up again for the third entry. This is still a really bad movie make no mistake, but it's good fun. Definitely the best of the three.
3. Better action than the other two (though that's not saying a lot) but the acting is almost as bad as the first.
The most interesting thing about this one is the plot, wherein one of our heroes major goals is to suppress information on the USA's wrongdoing in breaking treaties and international codes by supplying weapons to terro- er, "rebels fighting for democracy all over the world". I'm surprised the government hasn't yet funded a movie that is to wikileaks what this one is to the Contra scandal.

Ninja Wars (Black Magic Wars) 6.5/10
Weird, just... weird man. Well made, but definitely one of the stranger films I've ever seen. Apparently head transplants just mix the personalities of the transplantee's.
Who knew amirite?

Some truly beautiful cinematography makes me give it at least a point higher than I would have. Most of the villains ham it up (while remaining gruesome make no mistake) but the other actors turn in good performances, especially for such a bizarre story.

[Gojira007]

Tron Legacy: A
It's all in the telling, yes, but this really is the kind of movie that is so damned fun to experience, with gorgeous visuals and a fantastic soundtrack, that I'm willing to forgive its story some of its failings; even then, the overall arc and cast of characters are solid, so it's not that big a stretch to do so.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I wasnt expecting much fromthis film due to my dislike of dreamworks animation. That being said, I was blown away when I finally did see it. I thought they did a fantastic job with it. This was the first dreamworks animation I actually really liked.

I agree. These were the guys who spent their whole movies hating Disney through spiteful parodies and puns. And the first movie they made where they didn't do that, Bee Movie, just ended up being Jerry Seinfield chasing 5 different unrelated rabbit trails for about 90 minutes. I was very surprised something like How To Train You Dragon could come out of an animation studio like that.

[Inhibitor]

I'm surprised so many people like 'How to Train Your Dragon'. Yeah, its really cool, but its not that awesome imo. The plot became predictable mid-way through the movie and it seemed that Dreamworks put more effort into the 3D than the actual characters............no wait. Thats Yogi Bear. D-

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I'm surprised so many people like 'How to Train Your Dragon'. Yeah, its really cool, but its not that awesome imo.

Well, I'm not saying it was awesome. I'm just saying that the elements that did work in the movie were done so well that I can forgive some of the movie's faults. Honestly, most of my surprise was "Wait, this is a DreamWorks movie?! Wow, they're showing a lot of future promise!" It's the first time I wet away from a DreamWorks animated movie wanting to see what they're going to do in the future, rather than cringing over another promised Shrek sequel or spin-off or something.

EDIT: AUGH! I spoke too soon!

[furrykef]

These were the guys who spent their whole movies hating Disney through spiteful parodies and puns.

What's wrong with that?

[RedAuthar]

I dunno, I kinda liked cartoons back when they were drawn... the more advanced these CGI and 3D films get the more I miss those old Disney Movies.

[Bakuda]

I'm surprised so many people like 'How to Train Your Dragon'. Yeah, its really cool, but its not that awesome imo.

Well, I'm not saying it was awesome. I'm just saying that the elements that did work in the movie were done so well that I can forgive some of the movie's faults. Honestly, most of my surprise was "Wait, this is a DreamWorks movie?! Wow, they're showing a lot of future promise!" It's the first time I wet away from a DreamWorks animated movie wanting to see what they're going to do in the future, rather than cringing over another promised Shrek sequel or spin-off or something.

EDIT: AUGH! I spoke too soon!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

And I totally agree with you Red...I'm all about the 2D animation!

[John Roberts]

CGI, 2D... As long as the story is good I could care less what the animation is.

[Ratty Randnums]

These were the guys who spent their whole movies hating Disney through spiteful parodies and puns.

What's wrong with that?

Indeed. At the time (around Shrek 1) Disney was pretty shite. What with Cinderella 2, Goof Troop 2, Little Mermaid 2, Jungle Book 2 etc. all coming out straight-to-video, it was apparent that they were creatively bankrupt and cannibalizing their old properties for their sentimental value even more than usual. The old fairy-tale princess and hero shtick hadn't been revitalized in the "disney princesses" line of products yet and the Disney brand was losing relevance and growing more stale by the minute.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

These were the guys who spent their whole movies hating Disney through spiteful parodies and puns.

What's wrong with that?

Indeed. At the time (around Shrek 1) Disney was pretty shite. What with Cinderella 2, Goof Troop 2, Little Mermaid 2, Jungle Book 2 etc. all coming out straight-to-video, it was apparent that they were creatively bankrupt and cannibalizing their old properties for their sentimental value even more than usual. The old fairy-tale princess and hero shtick hadn't been revitalized in the "disney princesses" line of products yet and the Disney brand was losing relevance and growing more stale by the minute.

Haha! During that time, yeah. Disney had it coming when they traded theatrical releases of cel animation for trashy DVD sequels and lazy CGI movies like this, which didn't even profit much until DVD releases. But DreamWorks films rarely stayed true to their own world, but rather just took iconic images from the more successful movies of the day, give the marketing department this expression to paste on all of the posters, and provide little to no honest characters for the audience to relate to. Shrek 1 & 2, I feel, where the exceptions to that tendency. They still parodied Disney, but also provided stories and characters we could actually care about. Shrek the Third just went back to parodying Disney in ways unfunny, without making the audience care about anything else in the story. Heck, I don't even remember what the plot of the movie was; just the movie's terrible "humor" moments.

[furrykef]

The only DreamWorks film I've actually seen is Flushed Away (in two languages!), so I can't really comment. Don't recall any Disney swipes from it, but then, I don't recall terribly much from it anyhow.