misko14 Reviews

The Book of Eli (2010)

Short review (several spoilers)

[3/10 · 26 March 2010]

Here is a short review (clear spoilers)

Pros:

1) Great futuristic environment with astonishing scenery (in particular I like the saturation/contrast setting). This is exactly how I would imagine a Fallout movie. 2) Solid action scenes (all of them). 3) Good suspense and excitement during the first 90% of the movie.

Cons (what ruined it for me):

1) The choice of the leading actress was dreadful and the whole character was annoying and shallow (and what's up with her wearing eye makeup.. come on..) 2) The whole concept of Eli being blind is simply too silly to swallow. Unless you are willing to accept everything that happens as "Deus Ex Machina". I cannot buy that he was partially blind either, as there must be a reason for why he has been walking across US for more than 30 years. 3) What probably irritated me the most was the scene in the end when they put the King James bible in the bookshelf next to Torah. They could at least have save him the time and trouble (remember, the poor guy was dying) to recite the Old Testament.

Babel (I) (2006)

Boring and empty

[2/10 · 21 January 2007]

Today's movie audience is rather easily pleased considering the good reviews of Babel. It seems as anything that is a little bit different compared to the mainstream Hollywood movies, receives good rating just because it's different.

Babel consists of three parallel and vague story lines each carried out in a different location of the world - Marocco, Japan and Mexico/US. The stories are related to each other although the connections between the story lines do not bring any real value to the movie (as it did in movies such as Pulp Fiction, Crash etc). The series of events that occur in Marocco are the only part where something of interest actually happens. The Japan and Mexico/US events are painfully boring and slow (on the border to being irritating).

The biggest problem with Babel is that the movie suffers terribly of the slow pace and the non-existent plot. All events of any interest could be summarized in 15-20 minutes. The rest of the movie does not contain any substance. It's unbelievably empty (particularly the events that occur in Mexico).

My second problem is that the movie is brutally depressing. This together with lack of story, makes the entire thing tiresome to watch.

On the good side, the camera work and the actor performances were quite good, I guess.

The Break-Up (2006)

Somewhat amusing

[5/10 · 23 December 2006]

There is one particular scene that alone almost make this movie worthwhile. I'm referring of course to the dinner party and the singing part. Vince's look at the end of the song was priceless.

Other than that there are quite few laughs here. All the fighting between the main characters quickly becomes too much and there is not enough substance or character development here to make the serious parts of this movie believable.

So basically, this one is a slightly amusing comedy that fails in its attempts to reflect any serious parts of a failing relationship.

The ending is a little bit strange. Based on the current situation between Vince and Jennifer (IRL) I guess it will be difficult to accomplish a sequel.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Could it be any more predictable??

[3/10 · 23 December 2006]

I saw this movie together with a friend of mine and basically decided to be polite, shut up and remain seated (my friend was for some reason under the assumption that this movie was good).

I didn't like it at all.

My biggest problem with this fluffy thing is that the movie is so brutally predictable. A severely mentally retarded squirrel would be able to give away the ending after 20-30 minutes into the movie.

There are really NO surprises here at all. The main character girl realizes that her ideals were correct from the start and leaves the superficial job and goes back to her boyfriend. This is the plot twist in this one :).

Severance (2006)

Mediocre

[4/10 · 23 December 2006]

This is a mediocre movie at best.

My main problem with it is that the supposed mix of horror and comedy is just not doing it for me. There's not enough horror in order to make the movie frightening and there's certainly not enough humor in order to make it funny.

There is ONE single character that is remotely funny but he gets his leg chopped of relatively early in the movie, which sadly puts an end on his jokes.

Btw.. there is nothing original about the horror in Severance. This stuff has been shown in hundreds of other films.

See Shaun of the dead instead of Severance. A lot more humor.

Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

Good one

[8/10 · 27 August 2006]

This was a good movie. It reminded me a lot of Pulp Fiction although all subplots were more convergent in this one.

Good performances from everyone involved, especially Bruce Willis and Ben Kingsley.

The twist in the end (i.e. the explanation to all question marks) is a little bit predictable but overall this movie has a feeling of mystery in it.

The scenery and the dialog were also top notch.

Lucy L --> beautiful as always! :)

I give it 8/10 Molotov cocktails!

Stay Alive (2006)

Silly

[2/10 · 27 August 2006]

I confess that I was initially slightly intrigued by the setup of this movie. The premise of a horror film based on a video game with some historical background, sounded original at first.

After watching Stay Alive, I'm deeply disappointed. This movie turned out to be extremely silly. Here are some reasons:

• First of all the Elisabeth Bathory (Blood countess) background is entirely incorrect.

• The performance of the actors that were involved is laughable at best.

• There's no character setup what so ever, meaning that the deaths of the characters feel entirely meaningless.

• The dialog in this one makes Scary Movie 4 look like an Oscar candidate.

• The video game thing was implemented in an extremely silly way (the game plays itself?).

• The scares are very cheap (every one of them is based on the standard "loud noise and scary clip" concept).

I give it 2/10 since the main idea was quite original.

Red Eye (2005)

Better than Flightplan?

[6/10 · 10 August 2006]

A lot of people compare this one with Flightplan, giving Red Eye an upper hand. I cannot agree on that and in my opinion Flightplan is in fact a better movie.

Overall, Red Eye is worth seeing. They managed to crate a good, chilly atmosphere with the main male character performing very well. The plot is a little bit far-fetched but without any huge plot holes.

There are some memorable moments in Red Eye but most of them are actually already included in the trailers. So don't expect any major surprises.

6 outta 10 Molotov cocktails

Cry Wolf (2005)

Average horror movie

[5/10 · 10 August 2006]

The best thing with the movie was that my expectations were extremely low. I was fearing another "I know what you did this/that/last summer" remake considering the college setup and the main characters.

I must admit that in the end I was positively surprised. The difference between this one and other teen horror movies, is that Cry_Wolf has a relatively good storyline. Additionally there is a quite nice twist in the end of the movie.

Plus, Lindy Booth is extremely hot in this one! That alone, could be a good reason to watch this one :).

5 outta 10 Molotov cocktails

Them (2006)

Good one

[7/10 · 10 August 2006]

Watch out for the spoilers...

This one was a nice surprise. It started out as a ghost movie with a strong paranormal feeling, chilly mood and great surroundings. Furthermore the movie managed to cloak the real identity of the home invaders for some time, and additionally add a cool twist in the end.

The movie (and particularly the ending) is quite disturbing so people with weak nerves should be warned.

I would actually like to summarize the atmosphere of this one as a mix of "The Descent" and "Blair Witch".

7 out of 10 Molotov cocktails

Shutter (II) (2004)

Boring

[1/10 · 10 August 2006]

One of my co-workers recommended this one, implying that it was one of the most frightening movies she ever watched. I checked it out together with my girlfriend and we gave up after 50 minutes or so.

Yesterday, I had a long talk with my co-worker (we're still friends!).

This movie is as original as the latest film starring Steven Seagal. It brings absolutely nothing original to the table. The spooky parts have been done thousand of times before.

The biggest fault however is the painfully slow pace of this movie. The periods between the scares are completely wasted with meaningless dialog and a lot of.. nothing..

1 of 10 Molotov cocktails

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)

Impressive

[8/10 · 10 August 2006]

OK, this one has over 1000 reviews so far so I'm not going to write a complete review. Instead let me highlight one positive and one negative aspect of this movie.

The good: The special effects in this movie are honestly the most impressing thing I've ever seen. The movie is worth seeing just alone for this reason.

The way they present the ghost pirates, the huge octopus and the impressive surroundings is breathtaking. This is a heroic effort! The bad: This movie suffers from the "this is second part but we already know that we will do another one"-syndrome. The first Pirates movie felt a lot more fulfilled with no annoying "see you later" ending. The last 30 minutes in this one, are basically a setup for the third movie.

If you're not sure what I mean, compare this with the Matrix trilogy. The same thing happened in Reloaded.

Overall, this is great movie that is a worthy follow-up to the original Pirates of Carribbean. I'll give it 8 out of 10 Molotov cocktails.

Silent Running (1972)

Somewhere between ridiculous and boring

[1/10 · 10 August 2006]

I managed to watch the first half of this movie (app. 45 minutes or so). After that I was practically shifting between falling a sleep and being annoyed. So in other words, I gave up and watched a Simpsons episode to get away from this garbage.

I don't even know where I should begin complaining on this one..

Let's start with the actors. The acting performances in this movie are BEYOND goddamn laughable. My 82-old grandmother would be better suited. All four "astronauts" (or whatever they are called in future) are cheesy and ridiculous in a godlike way. It's a parody of acting. It's almost like watching Rowan Atkinson's "Pink tights & plenty of props" gig, only that this time this isn't a comedy.

The dialog between the main characters is even worse. The contents of the dialog could be summarized in 4-5 lines. Furthermore, it's amazingly slow with a lot of unnecessary face close-ups. The best example of this is probably the poker game. This one brings another dimension to the word "meaningless".

The story is practically non-existent so there's actually not that much to comment..

I recommend this one only to people with severe sleeping disorder or serious sadistical tendencies.. All other will be deeply disappointed.

And yes, I'm deeply worried that this movie is rated 6+ on this site. It is what partially tricked me to see and my only explanation is that people are giving a good rating due to sentimental reasons.

1 of 10 Molotov cocktails (unfortunately there's no "0")

11:14 (2003)

I'm glad I gave it a chance

[8/10 · 19 July 2006]

I'm glad I gave this movie a chance. "On paper" it didn't looked especially promising and yes.. I'm a little bit skeptic about Patrick Swayze and his acting skills.

Let me tell you that I was positively surprised. This a terrific film that everyone searching for an intelligent movie experience, will enjoy! I would like to describe it as a strange crossing between Pulp Fiction and Donnie Darko with a mellow comedy feeling. It's an smart thriller with a "darkish" atmosphere. The movie will keep you interested until the end.

Good acting performance from everyone involved. Even Patrick... :)

Score: 8 of 10 molotov cocktails

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Didn't get it..

[1/10 · 14 August 2005]

Sorry.. I didn't get the "briliance" of this movie.. The current rating (6.7 of 10) is an outrage considering what piece of garbage this movie actually is..

I imagine that my "problem" is that I haven't read the book. This would mean that I wasn't able to tolerate the terrible acting, the chaotic plot, the silly special effects, the lousy scenery and a lot of other sad things they managed to accomplish here.

I checked with my friends that also seen this over-hyped movie and their view is basically the same. None of them has read the book either so maybe it is some kind of freaky pre-condition to enjoy this film..

Score: 1 of 10

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Classic!

[9/10 · 14 August 2005]

This is a classic movie from Rodriguez/Tarrantino containing an impressing set of actors (Clooney, Keitel, Lewis, Hayek etc).

The movie is split in two distinct parts. The first one follows a standard Tarrantino formula with absolutely terrific dialog and cool scenery.

The second part of the movie is more action-oriented although still filmed with a lot of style (reminds me of Desperado).

Favorite line: Seth: If you try to run, I've got six little friends and they can all run faster than you can.

Score: 9 of 10.

Sideways (2004)

Terrific!

[10/10 · 14 August 2005]

What a great movie this played out to be! It tells a story of two friends and their last vacation together in California's wine country. The two friends are some sort of yin-yang composition. Both are presented as semi-losers but the difference is that only one of them (i.e. Miles) is aware of it.

This movie works on so many levels. Most often it plays out to be a comedy although sometimes the humor is not explicitly available for the viewer. Sometimes it is a drama and sometimes it is a feel-good experience.

The strongest points of Sideways are the cast and the dialog.

My favorite lines: "Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot. Miles Raymond: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any fuxxing Merlot!

My favorite scene: Miles opening the old bottle of wine in the fast-food restaurant.

Score: 10 of 10

Garden State (2004)

Beautiful

[10/10 · 14 August 2005]

This movie is so beautiful and it works on so many levels.

This is a feel-good movie that will without any doubt, leave most of the audience feeling just that at the closing credits.

What impresses me the most is the fact that the movie itself does not contain any brilliant or particularly interesting plot, but instead lives solely on the performance of the cast and the way it was directed. Garden State is a travel in small, small things that linked together bring the movie's characters closer and closer to happiness.

Natalie Portman is absolutely amazing in this movie. Her character steals most of the scenes and I am astonished how well this girl can act (seeing her previously in Star Wars with George Lucas wooden "Anakin, let go of me" dialog).

Score: 10 of 10

The Machinist (2004)

A great movie!

[9/10 · 14 August 2005]

Christian Bale is one of the best actors. It surprises me how underrated he was until this year considering his performance in a numerous number of terrific flicks (Amer. Psycho, Equilibrium etc). This year, due to both Machinist and the new Batman movie, things are at last looking better!

This movie is not an easy one. It is disturbing and confusing many times but follows a logical and unexpected plot. It basically tells a story of how bad conscience and loneliness may affect a human mind. A psychological thriller at its best!

The performance of Mr Bale is top-notch as always.

Score: 9 of 10.

The Jacket (2005)

One of the best of 2005

[9/10 · 14 August 2005]

I have seen four incredible movies this year. These are Sideways, Garden State, The Machinist and this one..

The Jacket is categorized as a horror/thriller/fantasy movie. I didn't interpreted this movie at all in this way. According to movie, this is a romantic friendship/love story with a large twist of science-fiction. The movie gives a similar feel-sad-but-in-a-good-way feeling that many have experienced in movies such as Vanilla Sky, Sixth Sense etc.

I would really like to recommend this movie to everyone! See it together with your loved one and see it more as a love story instead of horror film. You won't be disappointed.

My favorite line is without any doubt: "What's wrong, Doctor, you look like you've seen a ghost..." when Jack meets his doctor in "the future"..

Score: 9 out of 10

Fantastic Four (I) (2005)

Nice

[7/10 · 14 August 2005]

I agree with most of the negative reviews here. This movie was no brain teaser in any way and yes Jessica Alba is not a good actress... but even though I must still confess that I really like this flick. I don't know if it was its simplicity, one-liners, comic book hero theme etc, but I really enjoyed it!

I think FF is a terrific adaptation of the comic book world with difficult special effects done in a satisfying way! I particularly impressed how they recreated The Thing without the character being ridiculous.

A lot better than the stinky Spiderman2 anyway :).

Score: 7 of 10

Dark Water (2005)

Not what I expected

[5/10 · 14 August 2005]

I must admit… I had very high expectations before seeing this movie considering that the Japanese version of this story is quite a disturbing flick. Beside, I liked both Ring and Ring2 so I was certain that this was my kind of movie… Now after seeing it I am a little bit confused. This was not Ring or Grudge. Instead, this movie reminded me more of Sixth Sense and The Others. It plays out more like psychological thriller instead of my expectation of a pure horror movie.

So is Dark Water a good movie? Well, it is not bad but its problem is that it falls somewhere between thriller and horror genres, without being especially satisfying in any of these two areas. The story isn't sufficiently complex, engaging or interesting for it to be a good thriller. On the other hand, the chills and scares are too few so that movie never lives up to its horror image.

Additionally, the child actress steals way too much of the film. Every five minutes or so, everyone in the theater was smiling and laughing because of another super-duper-sweet line from the little girl. This was extremely irritating and naturally does not contribute to this movie in the intended way.

The good things here are in my opinion: the cast and the environment (nice rainy NY scenery).

Score: 5 Molotov cocktails out of 10 available

Shallow Ground (2004)

Worth seeing!

[6/10 · 14 August 2005]

I saw this one with no expectations at all, even though I was really intrigued after reading the plot summary on IMDb ("boy covered in blood enters sheriff's office….and so on").

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It is nice to see a different horror movie considering the most of this genre right now is either remakes of Japanese movies or blood-gore-movies. Shallow Ground has an interesting and original story that feels fresh, interesting and somewhat unpredictable. Another plus are the surroundings and scenery of the movie reminding me of Blair Witch. Finally, the ending is surprising and shocking (without any doubt the scariest moment of the entire movie).

There are some week sides here though. The plot is original but often not logical (for example, why doesn't the boy point out the killers right away?). Furthermore, casting of the movie is slightly below average. My last complain would be the "scary scenes" which are mostly crafted in the exactly same way as we've already seen thousand times before.

Score: 6 bottles of Wyborowa out of 10 available.

National Treasure (2004)

Disney version of Da Vinci Code

[4/10 · 15 January 2005]

I must say that I'm quite surprised by the high rating of National Treasure here on IMDb. This movie does not deserve it.

I went to see this movie with an expectation of a mix of Indiana Jones and Da Vinci Code. What I've got was a Disney-kid-version of Dan Brown's book.

The movie was ruined for me after appr 5 or 6 minutes when the main character (played by Nicholas Cage) and his friends discover a ship wreck beneath the ice with help of a metal detector. Somehow the first part of the ship that they manage to dig up is the metal plate that shows the name of vessel. Easy for the younger kids to follow the plot? Yes. Realistic for the audience over 15 years? No.

Additionally Nicholas Cage does a terrible performance and acts totally uninspired in this movie. Another irritating thing is the character of Justin Bartha delivering tiresome one-liners throughout the whole goddamn movie.

This might be an OK family movie especially since parts of it are a basic lesson in the American history.

I find it however difficult to recommend National Treasure to anyone older than 15.

4/10

The Incredibles (2004)

Technically beautiful

[7/10 · 15 January 2005]

Wow.. This movie is technically breathtaking. The character animations, the scenery and the voices (Samuel Jackson is perfect in his role) are top notch. One can only imagine the thousands of hours that were necessary to create this technical masterpiece. This is another impressing performance from Pixar.

The plot of the movie is also both original and entertaining. It manages to be enjoyable for both kids and adults.

The pure humor part may not be as strong and consistent as in Finding Nemo but nevertheless Incredibles succeeds in making you smile on several occasions.

7/10