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Reviews
Killing Them Softly (2012)
Pointless stupid b movie - save your time for more meaningful movie
It is very hard to imagine that anyone would make this story into a movie, especially Brad Pitt, or Liotta or Gandolfini except for one reason.Pay me the money! The same way the movie ends. That was probably the best part of the film.
Not only is the premise just plain stupid but the whole story is like a bad episode of Sopranos except they spent 18 million + on the budget of this film that should have cost maybe 2 million like HIt and Run.. except of course.. the actors had to be paid top dollar.
Remove these actors and you have a b movie with a stupid story that nobody would sit through and it would be a total flop. Hopefully the director will pick a better story next time as he looks like he has some potential especially since Dominik did a decent job on Chopper... but this was embarrassing. If you are going to make a movie at least make it something meaningful that is at least entertaining instead of just more gratuitous violence about nothing. This genre is finished except for Tarantino who at least has creative misguided violent genius, and hope Pitt will follow his wife's footsteps and do more meaningful projects instead of this hack pay job. Truly pathetic. I gave it a 1 since there is no zero.
Batman Begins (2005)
One of the Best comic book movies ever made...
This movie was so perfectly scripted it should stand as a model for all other comic book superhero movies... what thrills most of us comic book fans is how the hero ends up on his journey and what lies beneath that makes them become and conquer their fears and embrace a new life as a superhero... this movie not only spends a perfect amount of time delving into Batman's origins but also is finally well acted and not over the top like the other ones, or like Spiderman or Daredevil that are so concerned about the action part that they forget the character development and their super power skills.. which in this case is the main part of the movie. Hopefully it will make the Hollywood ignoramus that is blowing out all of these remakes finally realize that people will pay for well scripted character driven stories with great directing and acting...but it all starts with a great script. Even with Katie Holmes who is totally miscast and couldn't act out of a shoe or be considered a heart throb even with the tantallating tight shirt shots she just is inconceivable as a DA Assistant and perhaps might fit as the DA's secretary at most...she is TV material and not a film star.. even if she is engaged to Cruise.. but even her bad acting doesn't spoil such a great film. Enjoy and you'll definitely get your monies worth if you enjoy classic comic book stories!!! A big 10 plus for Batman
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Truly Horrific, Slow and painful to watch
After all the hype for this movie one expects from a seasoned director with two star actors to at least provide a movie that is not truly dull. It has to be an all time slowest and dullest ever Start of any movie I've watched.. it was painful to watch, and i love to watch both actors but still it could have used about half of it edited out to move the pace up a notch. Then it climbs at an old man pace to the actual plot and the chemistry still remains so distant that one wonders if they are reading lines from a card for some commercial, and nobody i mean Nobody in the picture is realistic or not from some beauty contest with overdone make up except for Vince Vaughan who was so out of place and the only comedy relief that should have been written into half the movie because Brad Pitt played his part so straight that nobody laughed thru half of the movie, at Anything. It was a full house and no laughs... but hey.. at least Jolie is amazingly beautiful so thank god she was cast for eye candy.. but she also played the part to her normal level of acting... which hasn't been anything substantial in a looong time.
Folks sorry for the spoilers but by the time the movie gets to the 3rd act twist you could careless and are yawning wondering.. when is this thing over.. perhaps if the director had a good editor to cut out 15 minutes from the 1st act and maybe the same from the 2nd then it might move at a faster pace... save your money for the DVD so you can fast forward for your own editing because you're going to need to.
I give it a 1 for AWFUL.. and regret spending 12 bucks for such junk!
Crash (2004)
Dramatic Television Film w/out commercials.. but effective
Crash is an intense dramatic series of extremely short slices of the negative side of LA lives that has the potential of being a masterpiece but instead lacks the balance of both extremes. It is a great directorial debut that lingers on being a 2 hour non stop TV drama w/out commercials that tries to cover so many characters that one wishes Paul would have tried to provide more depth to less characters to enhance the message that feels like a roller-coaster always flying down at 200 mph... but at the same time the edginess and superficiality of this effect truly captures the essence of what it feels like to Live in LA..which could have been another title for it. Perhaps it is due to his background in TV that yearns to provide non stop drama with no depth of character so we wont switch to another channel at the commercial but that is a shame since he covers such wonderful subjects of racism,love and having faith in a system that is so devoid of it these days.
But besides this small exception the film delivers stunning acting, quick sometimes too quick of a pace that is so full of dramatic events that one can predict them but with such an all star cast one allows for such exaggerated coincidences to enjoy the insightful message that he keeps pounding thru our heads until the roller-coaster ends with a reminder that indeed.. we can keep crashing or perhaps not.
nobody could give away just one spoiler in this movie to ruin it but it surely will be a movie to be talked about for a long time and hopefully more films will follow in his footsteps to make a change and show how we can thru films of this nature.
Great job and i highly recommend it... but it isn't a light fun film so be prepared I give it an 8 with potential of a 10 next time
The Longest Yard (2005)
Longest Lame movie ever
How many remakes is Hollywood going to make that truly suck. Adam Sandler was pretty good comic relief but the prison scenes drag on way too long. The racist remarks nothing new or refreshing and the football could have been shorter with a new twist. But hey.. Burt Reynolds is so stretched one wonders if they pulled all the way down to his toes to tighten that face. I give it a 1 for truly awful.. wait for the rental then it might be worth it.. Hollywood try taking some risks with some new stories... !!! And Chris Rock was probably the only asset to this horrible script that has nothing new to say which is quite sad.. what is next.. a remake of ET
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Gladiator without training....meets Alexander disaster
The movie is well executed but the story as always in Hollywood these days left out so much to make Orlando's character unbelievable that you wonder if Ridley is smoking too many cigars laced with hash oil or if he edited out huge scenes to put in more fighting scenes that gets old after a few minutes. Needless to say the story moves at a Ferrari pace, attempts to cover way too much ground so fast that you never get a sense of feeling for anyone character development except a minor bit of Orlandos.
Spoilers....
Huge pieces are missing in the film.. like Orlando's father shows up out of the blue trains him for 2 fights and suddenly a blacksmith we know nothing about becomes Conan/Gladiator...then ends up taking a ship to Jerusalem that for some stupid reason goes under and guess what. he lands in perfect shape on the beach as the sole survivor .. but it gets better.. a horse survives also. Imagine that and it all happens in like 1 minute. Then he arrives in Jerusalem and not only becomes the golden boy of the King for just being his father's son but later becomes the protector of Jerusalem that defends it against the massive Muslim army.. with no training whatsoever.. maybe its me but hey.. did all blacksmiths have training in making catapults, advanced mathematics for land surveying war tactics and other advanced war tactics that make you think... did Ridley leave out an enormous amount of details on the editing floor or what but this kid is an instant superhero/Alexander? Regardless if he did add these missing huge chucks of common logic storytelling, the movie becomes a sort of Jerusalem becomes the Alamo only to end losing in the finale but he does show how the muslims were one of the most civilized societies during the Ottoman Empire ... at least that part was decent showing some gratitude to the current Israel/Palestine situation but the movie lacks so many pieces one can only imagine Ridley once again started shooting with no script like in Gladiator and this one fell apart ..everywhere... i hope I'm not the only one that felt this was a pathetic storytelling effort hard to swallow from such a great director.
However, at least you will enjoy Eva Green yet unfortunately we also lose the r rated love making scene on the editing floor and Orlando does actually a pretty decent job but honestly.. why didn't Ridley get someone like Clooney, Clive Owen or a more mature star actor rather than this cherubish little boy that barely has the voice and body hair to even look like a man... once again another miscasting like Colin in Alexander.. Chris Rock has it correct. Hollywood.. just wait for a Star not some new up and coming young actor.. I wonder how many people will put this film down just like Alexander but at least its not Orlando's fault but Ridley's for not putting more effort in the storytelling.
Hopefully this will lower peoples expectations but if you can swallow these huge missing chunks of character n story development perhaps you will enjoy the super long battle scened movie.. i give it a 6 but with missing pieces back in perhaps an 8.. in the meantime I will be waiting for the extended director/writer's version one day soon. :)
Sin City (2005)
great execution but next project better subject matter
The film is extremely well done with wonderful execution that makes it by far one of the best if not the best comic book movie of all times. Of course the only issue at hand is Rodriguez and Tarantino being caught up in the violent past of the 80s that is long gone... we had hoped they would have evolved to a more peaceful and spiritual place where they could actually provide entertainment on a deeper level with character development that delves deeper than some basic comic book premature sex, guns and rock n roll phase one goes thru in their teens and twenties and audiences now seek something deeper as seen in horribly directed/executed movies like What the Bleep that has great content but lacks the directing expertise of these directors.. imagine Rodriguez or Tarantino getting a hold of Indigo Children or What the Bleep and we might start to see a huge shift in Independent film making but instead they create the same shallow teenage violent movies with the same heroes of the violent 80s like Willis or Mickey who have the audacity to say that this is good acting...were talking about comic books fellas... not Shawshank Redemption or American Beauty but great job anyways since it is all done via green screen and might lend to more theatrical performances in the future... but perhaps their next project will have more substance but the movie is entertaining if u can stomach the comical endless amount of violence and blood.... and a few nudity shots that somehow got past the puritan graders which was a relief to see.
I gave the film an 8 mostly for execution, directing and style but Miller's comic book had a great story but lacked the depth one would want to see put into a 40M film but hey.. its cutting edge.. congrats.
Hitch (2005)
great comedy, great cast....
I saw a sneak preview and had little hope for the movie being as good as the trailers since Will Smith has picked some real bombs lately but wow.. what a surprise and it was due to the whole cast being stellar. The movie had some depth to it since the subject matter is rather superficial but it redeems itself and adds some new stars like Kevin James who really steps up the beat to make the 3rd act come alive! And Will Smith is truly splendid in top of his game hitting every part except a few minor corny ones toward the end but this will surely be a film to brighten anyones day and make you laugh for a few hours straight.
Big thumbs up and kudos to Sony for finally having a hit!!!
Indigo (2003)
Great concept great effort but directing remedial
The movie delivers what one expects mostly related to spiritual elements of Indigo children and the message gets across quite well but sadly enough the directing is so amateurish that most of us left feeling like it was not of any caliber close to What Dreams May Come or What the Bleep... and felt more like a cheesy TV episode of Saved by an Angel or Bewitched shot on video. The acting was remedial except for Walsh who was able to do a nice job but the directing was almost as bad as some student and amateur films but something not expected from a film from a producer of such great movies that must know a few good DPs and actors that would sign on to the project. But it was a decent effort but not one that i would recommend people go spending 10 bucks on at a theater.
Maybe their next film will be of a higher budget and spend more time focusing on the children rather than some dramatic family story that had little entertainment value. Personally id rather seen a them put together a documentary style film to bring more value to the subject but maybe it will inspire other filmmakers to take this grass roots movement to the mainstream and not do it like some X files children that are going to tell us when a tire is going to blow out or cure people of Alzheimer's which is feasible but is probably going to make people believe they can walk on water like Jesus.
ANd i agree with some comments on here that gifted children have always been a part of history and these children just happen to be born more common because we have the internet and world news so that people are more aware of such facts, be it a new dimension happening in 2012 or whatever spiritual chatter but regardless one thing is very clear - humans need to wake up and be more peaceful, loving and balanced to one another and the planet, to avoid more conflicts and hatred and most of all war.
Peace and keep up the good work towards new spiritual grass root films!!
Sideways (2004)
Easy Wine Rider.....
This film truly is a great writing masterpiece even though the directing is quite basic and the grainy look reminds one of student films and old independent films which is refreshing but nothing to be awed esp some of the editing. However, the acting is superb by all of the cast and that is rare and the writing is truly genuine, real and makes one feel like a film has been made that is down to earth and one that we can all relate to, finally. Its been a long time since we have seen any decent films that are about average people but with true moments that are believable and comedic moments that leave you laughing hysterically. If you enjoy wine, movies like easy rider or motorcycle diaries than you'll love this film that makes you want to go out and buy the novel to see if there is more to the story that was left out by the sudden ending but the screenplay was exceptional to say the least. It surely will garner some Oscar nominations and hopefully win a few since its truly a gem.
Closer (2004)
A classic that will be in film schools
I saw a sneak preview of this film and thought it would be good but was stunned by its unique flavor and strong character arcs that leaves you wondering if you're watching a Mamet play or a classic film.
The story gets more and more complex and the acting is so superb that it adds a certain believability to it that would lack with a less reputable cast. Jude Law is as always sensational as a variant of his Alfie charaacter, and Natalie Portman has reached a level of maturity that was truly surprising, not to mention wearing some of the sexiest stripper outfits one can imagine. And Clive Owen is a perfect match for Jude that turns into a perfect ego cock match that creates so much delightful drama that you wonder how far they will push the edge. There are parts of the story that seem a bit far-fetched but its Hollywood baby so with this stellar cast you let a few issues like that fly because you truly are at the edge of your seat wondering how twisted these two pairs of lovers will get.
If you happen to have just finished with a relationship or been cheated on recently id highly advise to bring your heart ready for rampage or lots of tissues but its depth is so provocative that you leave the theatre with so many questions about your own personal life - which personally is what makes the difference between a basic movie and a magical one that literally makes one believe you're watching a true story.
Enjoy and hope you never run into one of these characters.!
Alexander (2004)
Worse movie ever by Oliver Stone... wait for DVD if that
This movie is not only long and horribly cast but the story is so utterly dull and chopped up that one is better suited watching the History channel Alexander story that is at least correct historically. Colin F. does an okay job with this TV miniseries overbudgeted film but besides Val Kilmer and Angeline one wonders why Oliver even made this movie, what was his message since the main character has no arcs that holds any resemblance to being entertaining. And i love most of Oliver's movies but this is just on the realm of being a movie one wants to walk out of esp the tacky cgi scenes that look like something out of a 50s or Japanese godzilla movie, not to mention the gay scenes that lack any substance resembling any depth so at the end of the movie one is left trying to root for the main character because no other character is developed besides his crazy mother who you're not sure if she is medusa, a witch or a demented mother, and the last funny issue is how many characters have lost an eye in this movie that you wonder if they are a part of some macedonian fraternity. I can not stress how this movie is not worth 8 dollars and i debate if worth 3 for rental comparing it to Troy which at least had redeeming characters and a story with a decent flow and fight scenes that made one believe Brad Pitt was capable of fighting.. there is not one scene where Colin shows what motivated him to travel over 10000 miles and over 10 years or what his genius or skills in battle with a sword or hand to hand combat were except a few vague horribly shot blurry quick scenes but ill just leave by saying Oliver please please next time hire some decent writers that know structure, character arcs and a better cgi company.. i mean bablyon looks like a cheap vegas which by the way was burned down by Alexander in a drunken spree which you never put in the movie.... no wonder the greeks are ashamed of your trite movie... just think twice next time when you decide to make a movie - what is your message, and what is the point for wasting one year of your life and eons of money that could have been used on at least 10 independent films but this is an embarrassment of a movie that should have been shelved if you didn't spend so much money and peoples time and money at the theatre.
A Big Thumbs down.. and i went in with low expectations.. and i still came out disappointed sitting thru 3 hours of what could have been told in 2 hours or less.... ps. next time hire an independent editor with some sanity.