ramshot Reviews

The Expendables (2010)

A huge disappointment

[4/10 · 23 August 2010]

The latest Rambo movie was one of the best theater experiences I've ever had. It was everything I expected of it and I left the theater with a huge grin on my face. The Expendables, unfortunately, was the exact opposite. It was an attempt to be everything that an action movie fan could ask for, but it failed on almost all accounts. The script was utter rubbish, especially the humor failed to deliver. All the one liners were tired, unimaginative and delivered without feeling. The acting was bad, but this was naturally a given, and it didn't bother me. The worst part, by a mile, was the action. Everything that is wrong in action scenes produced in Hollywood today was there, and it was there in pounds. Angles changing every 0.5 seconds, shaking, nothing but close-ups, confusing angles... All the tricks you can pull to hide the fact that these old men weren't really up for the physical part of their roles, or that they just wanted to take the easy way out. The only saving grace of the film was the last 20 or so minutes, which were filled with nothing but action, some of it decent.

On paper it was a great thing that some of my favorite actions stars made a film together, but after having seen the end result, I wish this movie had never been made.

Boston Legal (2004–2008)

A near-perfect series that should not have been cancelled

[10/10 · 9 February 2009]

I'm going to make this as short as possible short, as I have little to say. As far as "pure" drama series' go, Boston Legal is the one that had it all right.

Fabulous actors, writers with imagination and a sense of humor, and most of all, the series had a soul. It had an opinion, and the nerve to bring it forth. Entertainment that is afraid of making a statement can be relaxing, but relaxing entertainment that manages to make a statement, whether the viewer agrees with the statement or not, is something much greater.

5 seasons is a lot better than a lot of worthy series have done, but still, the cancellation is a huge injustice and I will sorely miss the wits that this series had to offer. It is a shame that a series such as Boston Legal does not reach the grand audience that it well deserves.

Deadwood (2004–2006)

Great acting, superb atmosphere

[28 November 2005]

Deadwood has a great cast. Almost every regular character in the series is being acted by an actor/actress I'd rate as great. This directly gives to the atmosphere, which is supported by a great set and realistic overall feeling.

The script is sometimes just a bit "dragged out" and hence the series does, at rare times, have its dull moments. Overall though, Deadwood is in the very least one of the best series to come out in last years and should be seen by anyone interested in quality drama. If you're expecting, or rather demanding a lot gun play and other action, you should check out a few episodes before buying the DVDs. :)

Other recent series I find entertaining for reference: Lost, Threshold, The 4400, Boston Legal

Catwoman (2004)

Stupidity overload

[2/10 · 17 January 2005]

Okay. There's been a lot of debate in the comments on whether this movie is as poor as some claim. I'm one of those people who say it is. I do not think this movie deserves even its current rating. There's this thing I can't stand in a movie: A line or an event of extreme idiocy or stupidity. It's like someone stabs me with a needle every time something simply too stupid happens on the screen. A typical blockbuster has a few of these, Catwoman had a years worth. The movie is incredibly stupid. The characters are stupid, the dialogue is incredibly stupid, the action scenes are stupid and the entire scenario of the movie is truly stupid. Stupid.

In addition, the direction is horrible, Halle throws her worst performance I've seen to date, other actors are awful and the movie has no "atmosphere" to speak of, it feels incredibly pretentious and poorly written from start to finish.

Absolutely dreadful. 1 point for the outfit and the laughs.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)

Sometimes brilliant and sometimes horrible add up to Best Trek Series To Date

[2 January 2004]

I remember watching a few episodes of DS9 on TV years back when it first aired in Finland. I was most unimpressed. To me, it appeared like soap opera disguised as sci-fi. So, some years passed and out come the DVD's. I finished the series finale just yesterday and the as a whole DS9 was so much more than one would ever expect based on watching a few episodes from the earlier seasons.

The first couple of seasons are basically a very, very long character introduction and scheme setting. But after things get started, the quality starts it's steady rise, and I have to say that the three last seasons provided me with an amount of entertainment that only SG-1 has been able to reach and B5 surpass. DS9 has just what all the other Trek series seriously lack - an interesting base story that keeps on developing. Sure, TNG had the Borg and Voyager had the quest for home, but in both those cases good, "main plot" episodes were rare to say the least. Also, even though Picard and Data are characters never to be forgotten, the character roster in DS9 as a whole was way more interesting and involving than that of TNG or especially Voyager.

As for the story of DS9, it's obviously either a somewhat direct B5 ripoff or then it just happens to be pretty similar. However, you rarely see anything new in TV entertainment these days and I don't see anything wrong with doing something that's already been done, as long as you do it well. DS9 did it well, and I will remember it as the one Trek series that actually kept my interest from its "real start" to its finish. Bravo.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Absolutely horrible *spoiler warning*

[2/10 · 26 October 2003]

I just came back from an all-night-long movie festival here in Helsinki and among the 6 other movies shown, was Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Out of all the 7 movies shown, I believed it to be a sure bet, at least entertainment-wise. I had 4 friends with me, each of us absolutely loved Desperado, and each and every one of us were just completely stunned after the movie. Just so this won't turn into a pointless rant...

-It'd be nice if an "action" movie had some action.

-It'd be nice if the little action an action movie has was not completely ruined by idiotic screenplay and utterly horrendous directing. What has happened to Robert Rodriguez in the recent years, god only knows.

-It'd be nice to see the main characters some instead of watching Johnny Depp play an utterly uninteresting wannabe-witty character. I've never seen Depp act so bad. Shiver.

-It's bad enough if a movie has an uninteresting plot, but several story lines in the same movie, all of them equally hard to follow since none of them are interesting and they are mixed together in a horrible mess... That's just pain.

-The dialogue was just incredibly... dull, predictable, stupid. All the "one-liners" were just plain dry and old. Nobody in the theater laughed, and this was a _festival audience_, lord o mighty, people were laughing at anything even remotely amusing.

I am going to rate this movie as a "2/10". I've seen and rated worse movies, but this is the lowest rating I've given on imdb. Why? This movie could and should have been mediocre in the very least. It had good actors, marvelous prequels and a director who at least once directed good movies. The result was a horrible movie which I'm having a hard time putting into any genre because of lack of any real content or entertainment value, and my 2/10 points go to all of the people involved in making this movie the horrible mess it is.

Angel (1999–2004)

Much better than you'd think

[7 September 2003]

I never liked Buffy much. While it had it's fine moments and better episodes, there was simply too much "teen love drama" involved and no interesting base story. Angel is like Buffy, without those flaws. The characters and actors are great, there's not much of "soap" involved and I find myself actually waiting for the next episode, which can not be said about many series. As far as series like these go, Angel is the top of the line.

Hulk (2003)

*SPOILERS* Fun movie with couple of drawbacks *SPOILERS*

[25 July 2003]

As an old and faithful Marvel fan I've been happy to see the success of movies based on their comics have had in the last couple of years. Spider-man was great, Daredevil could have been worse... Hulk was there in the middle, nothing great, but good entertainment and great visuals. However, it could have been great, if not for a couple of things that disturbed me:

It started a bit too slowly. The movie was over 2 hours long and in my opinion could have been cut down by 10-15 minutes just by starting it up a bit faster and shortening up some less entertaining parts of it. This problem was kind of connected to the next one, the story not having much to do with the "true" Hulk story. The "birth" of Hulk was not much like in the comics and his father was in my opinion a futile addition to the story (in such a form). I was forced to watch a story that in my opinion could have been left closer to the original comic version, and I was forced to watch quite a lot of it. Don't get me wrong, it could have been much worse, but could have been better as well.

The ending was confusing and left me with a feeling that the writer of the story could not come up with a good ending so he settled for something that could be interpreted in a thousand ways. It just left me and my friends confused and amused.

However, all in all, I was well entertained, the visuals were stunning at best and the action was well done, Hulk really looked and felt as strong and angry as he should.

ps. To all those whining over the picture-in-picture techniques and other tricks used by the director, give it a break. It was a movie based on a comic and it's obvious that the directer was trying to create a comic book type of feeling. Whether she succeeded in this is for everyone to decide for themselves, but a few tricks in there are hardly a basis for calling Hulk a movie that "should not have been released". Just look at the stuff that comes out of Hollywood yearly.

7.5 out of 10

So Little Time (2001–2002)

Absolutely awful

[15 May 2003]

This is, by a mile, the worst comedy series I have ever seen, and I have seen many. I've seen around 5 episodes, which I looked through simply because I was amazed that anything this bad would survive for more than a few episodes. Not a SINGLE joke got even a smile from me. EVERY single joke was either utterly predictable or old, the actors are truly horrible without exception and the only positive thing about the series is the cuteness of the twins. Many things are wrong in the series but my god, who WRITES THIS GARBAGE? :-D

X2 (2003)

Impressive

[9/10 · 5 May 2003]

I own the "X1" DVD almost entirely because I'm a big "Marvelist", I never thought of it as a very good movie like Spider-Man in my opinion was. X2 is an entirely different story. I went in expecting another simple-plotted and mediocrely directed (yet more or less faithful to the comics) movie, but I got much more than that. First of all I think the Director Bryan Singer did a far better job on this sequel. The script was much more in depth and the new characters were all excellently performed, excluding Pyro whose actor I found annoying. The action was great and inventive, and I think that anyone saying that this movie wasn't faithful enough to the comics needs to wake up, what's the point of telling the exact same stories in the exact same way again? All the characters were more or less as they were in the comics, and that's really all that matters to me.

I generally dislike the concept of sequels, as they often tend to, well, suck, partially ruining the potentially good name of the original movie. This time I can't help making an exception and I'm actually looking forward to X3 and knowing Hollywood, I'm sure I will get it. The world of Xmen basically has an infinite amount of stories waiting to be told on the big screen.

Great movie, with only a couple of boring bits. 4.5/5 stars, and that's like a full fiver for a film of this type. :)

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Riight... What happened?

[3/10 · 4 December 2002]

I liked Ep I more than most, and had high hopes for this one. When I looked at imdb after the first few nights in theaters, read about Jar-Jar being almost totally gone and how much better this part was, I was really excited. I so wanted to like this movie.

But OUCH. Now first of all, the directing was utterly horrid. It was the worst part of Ep I as well, but Lucas really lost it here. The movie seemed to jump from scene to scene in the most illogical places, action scenes got interrupted, and just when you were getting into a better scene, you get hit with yet another boring "but I love you, but I am Jedi, oh no, boohoo"-scene. Excuse me, but since when has Star Wars been a soap opera instead of an adventure?

Furthermore, Haydensen was horrible, and even the old actors from Ep 1 seemed to have lost some of their interest. Most action scenes were either boring, badly directed or the effects really didn't look too good. I especially was opening my own wrists in the Arena shootout scene, looking at the princess just standing still and shooting around, without a hint of any kind of battle tactics or trying to take cover.

One scene, above all others, basically made me hurt, bad. The one with the princess and "Darth" on the meadow, riding a fat (bad CGI) blob, rolling around, laughing, jumping, kissing... God, me and my friends couldn't believe our eyes, how did that get into the film. Laughter was the only way to go.

Only in the very ending did the movie manage to create some of that good old star wars feeling, leaving some hope for a better Ep 3. I just wish lucas would give the directors seat to someone else...

Die Another Day (2002)

Good fun if you can live with the fact that it's different

[3 December 2002]

Walking out of the theater, my first thoughts were "well, if this won't split opinions, nothing will"... And that the film has indeed done.

I for one am happy that the film was different from other Bonds. I have not enjoyed the last two because I quite frankly am not one of those people who seem to enjoy seeing the same film over and over again, only with a different plot, women and set of one-liners.

This movie had a huge amount of action, an even larger amount of punchlines, and compared to previous Bonds, a whole lotta CGI effects. The one thing it admittedly was missing was the more "charming" side of mr. Bond, as the man seemed to be too busy kicking arse. However, I've seen enough of that side in the last ~20 movies.

The action however, at least mainly, was very entertaining. Well directed, over the top as it should be and there was plenty of it. There was an exception though, and the scene in question has been mentioned in previous comments: The second surfing scene... I've not seen such bad CGI in a high budget movie for a long time, and I just HAVE to wonder if it was intentional, kind of a tribute to the very sucky effects seen in the much older Bond movies. Even if so, the contrast to the rest of the movie was so big, that it did kill some of my enjoyment during the movie.

People going on about how unbelievable some scenes or especially technology was, get a clue. It was not meant to be a realistic movie, it's meant to be entertainment. And the sheer stupidity of statements like "an invisible car is just impossible" makes me shiver. It was even explained in the movie how it would be possible, and I for one don't see why it wouldn't be possible just like it was explained as optical technology improves. Why would an "invisible" car be impossible, it's just a matter of technology developing, and such projects are being worked on here in the real world as I write this, as was pointed out by another person down below. If you truly can't figure it out for yourself, think of it this way: The car wasn't really invisible, it just projected on it's surface the image of its opposite sides surroundings. A bit futuristic (just like many technologies were in older Bonds)? Oh yes. Impossible? No.

Bottom line:

People who go in and expect to see yet another Bond film might walk out disappointed or even worse. People walking in expecting over-the-top entertainment and nothing more will probably leave happy. "This and that is impossible"-type of comments should be ignored as they are both technology-wise wrong and should have nothing to do with the entertainment value of a movie which was not meant to be realistic.

Friends (1994–2004)

Very Funny - for some

[20 November 2002]

Friends seems to be one of those movies and shows that just divide people in two. Those who love it, and those who hate it. I for one love it. I have no problem with people who do not like the show, as there are many popular things I do not like, opinions are a funny thing - however I do not like people screaming that Friends "is stupid and for stupid people" and other outright idiotic statements such as that. Compared to many many blockbuster comedies or other sitcoms, also listed by those who dislike friends, the humor in friends can be even somewhat brilliant and while certainly there are bad/idiotic jokes in the show, tell me one show or comedy that doesn't have them.

In addition, I just have to mention that in my opinion Matthew Perry is far above all other actors in this series, his way of acting and his great ability to be sarcastic in an extremely funny way make him a character who rarely leaves me without good laughs.

5 out of 5 stars on my sitcom scale :)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Entertainment at its best

[20 August 2002]

Best drama ever. I've got many favorite movies, and I've always been unable to name my all times favorite movie, since my moods change, sometimes I want comedy, sometimes action, and sometimes, drama. One thing I am sure of tho, and that's the superiority of The Shawshank Redemption amongst it's genre. It may not be completely realistic, it may have a few cliches, but I don't see why some people seem to think that an utterly entertaining and well made movie suddenly isn't just that anymore if it has a few silly things in it.

For the last 12 or so years I've watched movies like a true fanatic, thousands and thousands of them, and I've pretty much seen all the ones that count. Everyone has a right to opinions, but I'm telling that you truly do think that this movie doesn't _deserve_ it's place in the top 5 of IMDB, you are clueless.

End of Days (1999)

Way better than the rating lets you understand

[7/10 · 18 July 2002]

I don't quite understand how it's possible for this movie to have a rating of 5.4 as I am writing this. The movie is more or less entertaining from the beginning, and the only really negative thing I can say about the flick is that the ending is a bit lame - I for one would have preferred the bazooka-solution :)

The movie has a fair amount of action, Arnold is as good/bad as he has always been, and the plot, while not very imaginative, serves it's purpose. Hey, it even has a few decent jokes in it. One of the better newish Arnold flicks, no matter what the rating says.

Spider-Man (2002)

Nicely done!

[9/10 · 16 July 2002]

I've been a Marvel-fan all my life basically, and I have to say that Spider-Man gave me JUST those vibes that I get when reading the comics, and was the first movie to do so. X-men was an ok movie, but it didn't quite manage to capture the feeling of the original comics. The most disturbing flaw in X-men was the fact that the powers really didn't seem all that "powerful" in the movie as they did in the comics. I mean I could have taken Cyclops on any time with a Luger, you know what I'm saying? Also, these was serious lack of depth in the characters, wherein the comics character development plays a huge part.

Now Spider-Man is a totally different story. While all of the effects do not look as good as they could, they certainly do their job well - spider-man is just as fast, agile and flexible as he is in the comics. A friend of mine complained that it didn't look real, but hey, how REAL would a guy who can dodge bullets look in the real world?

The story is great. It's basically been told before in the comics tho, but some modifications have been made and things removed to make it better for our viewing pleasure, I guess. However, unlike in many movies based on comics or books, the changes are not too vast. I truly felt like I was watching a movie made out of the comics I've read for years, not something that was loosely "based" on them. This is a good thing, as Spider-Man is not Marvel's most popular character for nothing.

Last but not least, Directer Sam Raimi had earned my respect already with the hilarious Evil Dead movies, but now has proven that he is capable of much more than just blood and guts - Spider-Man is simply great quality entertainment.

Go see this one people, Marvelist or not. Just don't take it seriously, it's a _fantasy_ story and you should treat it as such.

9/10

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

A good start...

[9/10 · 5 August 1999]

I arrived home from the first showing of the movie 10 minutes ago. Here is how I feel:

-The first 30 minutes are bad. Little logics, too many things happening, you can't get into the feeling at all.

-It gets better. The kid is not as bad as he could have been, and I didn't find Jar Jar as annoying as some do. He's not very funny, but not so annoying either. Actors are generally good enough. Effects, naturally, were no less than amazing.

-The last 30 minutes of the movie were the best moments I have had this far sitting in a theatre. This was Star Wars, this is what I waited for 4 years. I had chills going down my spine, not many movies do that for me. :)

I guess it took Lucas some time and practise to remember how to create that magical feeling that we had in the original movies, but the movie gets so good towards the ending, that in my humble oppinion, it very well deserves to be called Star Wars: Episode I

(I want my Episode II, and I want it now, because if it's as much better as E5 was compared to E4... No words can describe that ;)