Movie Reviews

I thought we had already had a thread like this but looking over the forum I see we don't. So anytime you see a new movie come on here and review it for everyone if you like.

Last night Gwen and I went to see Big Fish. This was an excellent movie! Tim Burton delivers this great story about stories, You'll understand once you see it . You'll do everything from laugh to tear up while watching this movie. The script was very well written. The characters were all very well developed and the acting was superb. Once the movie is over make sure to stay for the credits, There isn't some extra scene or anything but Pearl Jam wrote a beautiful song for the film called "Man of the Hour" and it plays in the credits. I give it a perfect 5 out of 5 Stars.

EDIT by Krash: game ooooon!

 

Well, we recently saw "The Last Samurai". That movie was..... awesome. I don't really like Tom Cruise, but he did an amazing job in this movie. The whole thing was about Japan and the Meiji restoration, and how the Samurai ( and some remnants of the Shogun era) were resisting the modernization. and assimilation of Japanese culture into what the West feels Japan should be. The movie centers around Cruise's character, an army Captain with a guilty conscience, and a Samurai (who's name I can't remember for the life of me). I don't want to say too much because I don't want to ruin it for y'all. I highly recommend seeing it if you like action movies with good plots.

 

I just rented Lost In Translation and American Splendor. Lost In Translation was a HUGE letdown. I love Bill Murray but this movie was stone cold boring. Murray and this women meet at a Tokyo hotel and basically hang out and become friends. There were way too many looking out windows wistfully and long silent walks through city streets, very artsy-fartsy and very dull. I give this 1 out of 5 lightsabers, only because of a funny scene with Murray and a prostitute in the hotel room.

American Splendor was a great movie about this real man named Harvey Pekar, an underground comic author who lives in Cleveland. Harvey is this grumpy man with a crappy job who starts writing comics about his life and becomes famous without wanting to be. Great story and amazing characters, 4 out of 5 lightsabers.

 

I rented two more movies last night, Formula 51 and Solaris. Ok, Solaris was so bad I struggle to find the words to describe it. It is supposed to be about this doctor that is sent to this space station orbiting a new planet called Solaris. He,(George Clooney), is sent there to find out why the crew has gone crazy and stopped communicating with Earth. Sounds cool right, well it would have been except it veers off into this wierd experience Clooney's character has with a hallucination of his dead wife on the space station. It is so incredibly bad....I can't describe it, it is like a soap opera, that's as close as I can say. Avoid this movie AT ALL COSTS!This movie gets 0 out of 5 lightsabers.

Formula 51 stars Mace...I mean Samuel Jackson as this drug maker who comes up with this new drug that blows the doors off anything else ever made, coke, weed, LSD,heroin, etc. He then tries to sell the formula to various bidders and ends up in trouble with everyone. A cool flick, nothing too serious, kinda like a bowl of ice cream, you enjoy it but then forget about a day or so later. Not bad, 3 out 5 lightsabers.

 

Oh, the other day I saw this freaky little movie called Star Wars........................................ <_< LoL

 

50 First Dates is awesome. Go see it. Not really like other Adam Sandler movies, but really good.

 

I watched two movies this weekend, both borrowed from a friend. The first was Comic Book:The Movie. This flick was a mockumentary of the comic book culture starring Mark Hammill. It was okay, not as funny as I thought, although one great scene where Hammill runs into Dave Prowse,Jeremy Bulloch, and Peter Mayhew. Worth checking out for diehard Star Wars fans and comic book collectors.

The second was Monty Pythons The Meaning Of Life. A classic comedy, typical bizarre Python humor, check it out if you like off the wall stuff, although the scene with the exploding fat man is slightly nauseating.

 

I saw Jeepers Creepers 2 this past weekend. The Creeper was a pretty interesting concept. Basically this "thing" hibernates for 23 years and on the first day of Spring, (I hope I am right on this)for 23 days, it feasts.

It's basically a bunch of high school students trapped on a bus against this thing. Makes me want to see the 1st one.

3 out of 5

 

I think there should be a scene where Jeepers Creepers pulls out his victim's eyeballs and then runs off only to bump into someone so they could say "Jeepers Creepers where'd ya get those peepers!". HAR-DEE-HAR-HAR......

 

LoL >_< I saw the first Jeepers Creepers, it was pretty decent for a half-thought-out teen horror flick. The ending kind of sucked, on the first one though... And I got sick of hearing "Jeepers Creepers"... There are so many times a person can hear one song before they snap. Maybe that's what happened to the monster?

 

I'm falling behind on my reviews. Ok I've seen 2 new movies over the past week, I saw The Passion and Hidalgo. Both were excellent movies. In Hidalgo, Viggo Mortenson is a Cowboy racing over 3000 miles of Arabian dessert in a attempt to win $100,000. You've got your sandstorms, quiksand and bad guys so what else do you need. It takes a few minutes to get used to hearing Viggo talk with a southern accent but he does it very well. The Passion was also excellent and to my surprise Mary Magdalene was played by the same actress who played Persephone in the Matrix movies but without the cleavage. It's pretty much the Stations of the Cross and make sure you finish your food before it starts, Some of the whipping scenes kinda make you lose your appetite. That's all I got for now, Next week I will review Jersey Girl.

 

Just watched Finding Nemo. I thought it was actually pretty funny and cute. For me to say that is a huge compliment to a Disney movie. I am one that cannot stand Disney cartoons but this one had alot of funny parts and was a good story. I do have one question and that is why do all these movies seem to always start with some terrible and untimely family members death? I mean way to start a movie, Shows Nemo's parents in their new home watching over all 50 of their eggs that are getting ready to hatch and then a shark comes in and kills everyone but the Dad and Nemo's egg...Jesus man what is up with that.

 

I used to have clownfish. That movie had me nearly crying and it was like 2 minutes into it! The guy's wife and kids get eaten, his son has a disfigured fin. It was such a sad movie! Had some funny moments too though.

Saw Dawn of the Dead the other day. Scary as hell frankly. And not for the weak of stomach. Gore abounds. If you're into that sort of action/horror though and not afraid of a little gore, you should enjoy it. I was looking over my shoulder when I went to my car though. Heh.

 

It wasn't a shark, it was a baricuda ( I can't spell.. <_< ). Finding Nemo is the most awesome Disney movie I've seen in years, my niece Savannah is nuts about it - whenever we turn on the DVD player and she hears the ocean sound of the movie she runs into the living room and plops in front of the TV. Cutest thing ever, and kind creepy at the same time.... <_<
And I can't wait to see Dawn of the Dead. I'm trying to get Mom to go see it, as well as Hidalgo. Has anyone seen the one yet?

I've seen....*thinks*...

Taking Lives:

Now that was a cool movie. I had already guessed who the killer was halfway through the movie, and I figured out the thing at the end - which I'm trying to be as vague as possible about. Angelina Jolie did an awesome job with her character. It's a great thriller, with some cool action sequences, and a *VERY* erm... Explicit scene between Angelina and the witness. *cough* If you don't watch mysteries, or detective sort of shows/movies all the time you will probably be trying to guess the answers till the end, but if you do watch that genre you'll pretty much have it figured out sadly. :/ -- Yeah.. crappy review, makes no sense... But... ***/5

 

I saw "Hildago" the other day, an overall it's a pretty good movie.

Viggo Mortinson seems to have a good eye for roles where he can really get into the character. And I don't know where they found the horse, but whoever trained it should get an Oscar for being able to bring a fair amount of emotion and communication from it.

Anyone who has/is going through some hard times can take something from this story, because it one of those good confidence building type of stories...without getting all preachy about it.

 

I saw Taking Lives, it is a wild ride, the audience at our showing was scared alot. (lots of screams)I don't want to say much since it would be a spoiler, but it is the best movie since Girl,Interrupted, for Angelina Jolie. 4 sabers out of 5.

As far as the Passion goes, you'll not see me pay Mel Gibson one red cent. If he truely is motivated by his faith to do this movie, it should be free! To be seen at churches to have a follow up discussion, now that would truely be a disciple who would use that ill got money(he dispesies his previous life, when he was making the big bucks)to recruit for the kingdom of God.
Mel gets 0 of 5 sabers, for his greed.

 

Oh.... ROAST, Psycho.. Don't hold back now.. <_< LoL

 

Say what you want about the "east coast/west coast" feelings people have about the Batman movies, I like the way Joel Schumacher visually tells a story. And Phantom of the Opera is one of those time where a director gets to do what he does best. And considering he collaberated with Webber on this project, you're really getting the best of both worlds.

Now, considering my musical talent begins and ends with starting the CD player, I can't really judge anyone's performance. I will say that I think the main characters balanced their singing ability with their "look" for the part (which does matter in movies). In the case of the Phantom, I noticed a range: handsome/enchanting, someone the audience can sympathize with, and sometimes downright evil (the Masquerade and scene where he hunted down the theater propman). Being so close to the action, it was almost more important to act the scene then sing it.

The opening scene where the chandelier gets raised, and the theater goes "back" in time was something you just couldn't pull off on stage. Short of getting front row seats, the way you get to look into all the characters eyes...you really feel "in the middle" of the story.

According to IMDB (and my padawan)
Although Minnie Driver's singing voice was dubbed by a vocal double in the film, she does contribute the film's end title song, "Learn To Be Lonely", written specifically for the film by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
So it's not that the girl can't sing...but that's a tough range to try and hit.

Also...
In the "Masquerade" scene, there is a pan up the stairs. When it reaches the top of the stairs, opera patrons dressed in cat masks strike the pose that the cats on the show "Cats" pose in any promotional material. "Cats" is also an Andrew Lloyd Webber show.
And I swear I say a guy wearing a black cape and pointed ears mask. Short of a random nipple placed on the costume, I'm sure it was a nod to his work on "Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin"

I liked all the extended and new scenes, especially how they explain why the auction (which we see at the start of both versions) is so important.

Speaking for myself, I loved the musical (everyone take your "things to do before I die" list and add See "Phantom of the Opera" ) but I have to say the movie version is as much a visual work of art as the show is to music.

 

The musical was awesome, we've seen it a couple of years ago, great!!