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sammie_sambal
Reviews
Army of the Dead (2021)
All Muscle, No Strength
Purely from a visual standpoint Army of the Dead is a great action movie to watch. The set pieces are colorful and interesting. The special effects are top-notch. And the action is plentiful and fun to watch. Now you would think that if this were only a mindless action blockbuster that would be enough to give it a passing grade and be done with it, but unfortunately Zack Snyder got a hold of the pen as well on this one and that's where it falls flat on it's face and gets in the way of it just being a fun watch.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not hating on Zack Snyder. When it comes to directing and filming the man knows what he's doing and he can impress. That is what he is good at. Writing a screenplay and/or a script is one of the things he is not good at and something he should stay away from and leave to others.
But Zack is booming right now after the whole Justice League Snyder cut thing so who could say now to him when he says he wants to do something. And that's what I think happened here. Probably no one dared to tell him that yet another scene or event in this movie makes no sense at all.
I know "but it's an action movie, things don't need to make sense" and you'd be right, if only the amount of disbelief and inconsistencies weren't so blatant and plentiful to create a piling on effect. So much so that it takes you out of the movie every time there is no action on the screen, and that makes this a very hard watch at times. You want to see more exploding zombies and zombie tigers but you'll have to sit through another non-sensical dialogue first. Time is running out, things are about to go sideways really quickly, so this seems the perfect time to talk about our feelings. You need to sneak in to the the city, but you can fly out , no problem. There are just so many moments in this movie where I went "WTF? Why!?" that at this moment I'm still deciding between giving this movie a 5 or a 4.
...You know what, the acting overal was actually pretty good. Especially Dave Bautista's performance stood out to me. He made the best out of what he had and really showed depth and I think that deserves a bonus point.
Fantasy Island (2020)
Started of promising but went for a convoluted plot half way through
Right from the start Blumhouse's Fantasy Island is a bit on the nose when it comes to it's source material so I knew that I was in for a campy "horror" movie. Actually, when I saw the movie poster/banner at first glance I thought it was family friendly adventure movie in same vain as the recent Jumanji and Journey to the Centre of the Earth movies, I would not have guessed horror or thriller. Anyhow, judging the movie by it's cover I already kinda knew what I was getting in to beforehand so the movie letting me know in a overly direct and unsubtle way that it is based on its title name sake didn't phase me all that much. My expectations were set to low and I did actually enjoy the movie and it's darker twist on the 'live your fantasy' premise. Unfortunately that premise never really gets fully explored because about half way through the movie the plot takes a sudden turn, followed by a twist, followed up by another twist and by the end you can only laugh at the ridiculous mess it has become. This movie is basically LOST in a nutshell if LOST was as good as is last few seasons overall.
I honestly think that if the plot would've kept on track with the whole 'you get what you wish for' Twilight Zone story and explored it further it could've turned out quite okay. It wouldn't have been nearly as good as a Cabin In The Woods but a least it would have tried to be as interesting. But no, instead we get a unpleasing mash-up of Fantasy Island with late 90's slasher films and a out of place Michael Pena played by Michael Pena. Don't get me wrong, I like Michael Pena, but he basically played the guy he always plays, and then a bored version of that guy.
That character needed more, he needed to be more mysterious and charming while being sinister and unpredictable at the same time. This mr. Roarke possesses none of those characteristics and frankly neither does the movie itself. For what this reincarnation sets out to do it fails. It starts of in the right direction but veers of course quickly never really living up to it's potential feeling very timid on the horror and scares along the way. Kind to think of it, I guess I wasn't all that far of with my family friendly adventure movies then.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Perfect, and yet not for everyone
I feel sorry for the people going in to this after having seen the trailer and thinking they were going to see an action movie starring Ryan Gosling.
Sure it's lengthy and drawn out but if you're in to sci-fi and you don't have the attention span of a toddler you will love this movie, dare I say even more so than the original.
The cinematography is simply amazing and probably the best way to experience it is to just relax and let yourself "sink" in it. The bigger the screen (read: IMAX) the better.
Ray Donovan (2013)
Interesting and Exciting Show With Extra Drama Tagged On.
My initial reason to start watching this show was Liev Schreiber, the guy just has a certain vibe to him that I dig, it's why I liked X- Men Origins: Wolverine more than I should, and he does not disappoint portraying the role of Ray Donovan.
The show is good with pretty solid writing and equally solid acting. Basically everything is there for me to really like this show, yet there are a few things that are starting to annoy me 6 episodes in, hence my given rating.
It has to do with the side stories and some of the characters within them. The older brother's love life, the kids and their growing pains, the spiteful wife and her distrust, they're taking me out of the flow of an otherwise exciting main story line. Especially the wife parts really bug me. And while I do realize this is a drama series and that these happenings influence the main protagonist in one way or another it comes across as fluff to me filling up the spacing in between, extra filling that is just not as interesting to me as the main story line and as I mentioned before, breaks the flow of a great show for me which in turn unfortunately affects my urge to continue watching it. We'll see.
Gantz: O (2016)
Good Looking, Action Packed and Utter Nonsense
It's enjoyable if you like over the top action and explosive awesomeness, but man is it a big bag of stupid in between. So much so that even though it is some of the best CGI work to date I can't bring myself to give it more than I did. Most of the dialogue is just borderline abominable and made some parts of this movie really hard to watch. The writing is one big incoherent mess chock-full of anime clichés. Superfans will most likely eat it up and praise it to high heavens, so if you're not that much in to anime steer clear of this one and maybe watch some of the fight scenes on Youtube or something.
Best bit: The little old manster Worst part: Any interaction between Kato and Anzu.
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
As Much A Bad Sequel As It Is A Remake
Like Jurassic Park the first Independence day was a milestone for its time when it comes to sci-fi movies. Not for its storytelling, because as a movie it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but because the sets and special effects were of unknown epic proportions for its time which was enough to blow most people, critics included, out of their socks. And so it did me.
But over the last 20 years a lot has changed. Movies have become way bigger when it comes their budgets and pretty much any movie that needs some degree of special effects nowadays is more or less completely handled by state of the art CGI. (not that i agree) And so logically Independence Day's success has since been copied and bested dozens of times over by such films as Men in Black, Armageddon, the Matrix, District 9, Avatar and Pacific Rim, so when I heard that there was a follow up to ID in making I was both excited and worried. "They'd better step up their game and introduce us to a whole new level of sci-fi awesomeness."
Alas, they did not, as my rating for this movie probably already gave away. And not even did they NOT manage to step it up a notch from today's standards, they managed to take it a step back from the original, which in itself wasn't even that great of a movie to begin with! The same CGI was there, but as a whole it was just cringeworthingly boring to watch. I came really close to just walking out of the cinema at a certain point. I would've done myself a favor.
If you ask me, I think that Mr. Emmerich got a lucky break back in 1996, because when you look at his track record since I see a pattern, a whole string of visually stunning disasters of disaster movies. Alright, maybe not that bad, but definitely not great either. It just rolled better. =P I mean, Godzilla? 2012?? 10.000BC?! This man is clearly all bang and no substance, much like Michael Bay.
I honestly think that if they'd given this project to someone more competent ID:R could have been something much more than what it is now, a repackaged remequel (remake+sequel) for the youth of today who have heard of the nineties but aren't the least bit interested in looking back that far. Too bad though these kids will not be able to experience the same impact ID had two decades ago.
If you didn't get me, ask Will Smith.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016)
A Few Giggles, Not So Much Heart, But A Whole Lot of BOOOM!
I haven't seen the first movie of the "new" turtles franchise and after however having watched this second installment i'm keeping it that way.
As a kid I was a huge Turtles fan, and I'm talking early 90's here, so understandably I watch these things nowadays from a nostalgic viewpoint, and in that respect I will say that TMNT:OotS does the original cartoon justice, something the first movie didn't, of what i've come to understandat least. That being said, it didn't do much for the movie itself other than being fan-service, which honestly should've already been done right the first time around.
So what my 2 hours in the cinema came down to was "O cool, it's Baxter Stockman.. Awesome, Krang and his awkward humanoid robot butler suit.. Bebop and Rocksteady!.. Yay! The Technodrome!!!..." and every time the kid in me settled down again from those nostalgic moments the more mature film loving side of me took hold again and was bored out of his mind by having to sit through a dull and uninspired CGI roller- coaster ride filled to the brim with flat and underdeveloped characters and a just mediocre storyline. Now to be fair, I don't think you can get more out of Megan Fox than we got, and why she's even cast for roles like this is beyond me, but there is so much more to characters like Casey Jones, Splinter and the Turtles themselves which they didn't even touch upon which is such a waste. They seemed to try their best with the turtles however and even ventured into the struggles with their physical selves and their sense of belonging, but this eventually isn't fleshed out enough and just gets pushed to the background until the very end of the movie where everyone is just alright with it.
Basically what it comes down to is that this is a plain & simple kid "friendly" movie with demanded fanservice for the older crowd included. Nothing more, nothing less. And for my own good it would've probably been better if I just stayed away from it all together. Now i'll just have to re-watch the iconic Turtle movies from the early 90's. Now those were radical dude.
Halo: The Fall of Reach (2015)
Red vs. Blue If Done By 343
I am one of many who has read the novel on which this movie is based off of and which I loved so you could say I went in with high expectations. I would be lying if I said i didn't have any. I will however say that I tried to lower those expectations and be open to a different view. Besides, book adaptations are rarely if not ever better than in it's original form simply because our own imagination plays a mayor role in it. It's hard to live up to those standards which are different for each and any individual.
Unfortunately lowering my standards was not merely enough to be able to enjoy this movie. I would even say that if it weren't for me being a fan of the source material I would've given it an even lower score and it might have even scared me away from the franchise completely. The only thing that actually kept me going was me liking the universe the books created and my interest in how the team behind this production envisioned this prelude to the Halo games.
And that's why it baffles me so much that it's this bad because this is coming from the people that have the property in their possession and who work on the current games in the franchise. Everything is there and checks out, from the original voice actors down to the lore, even small details like the HUD indicators from the games, and yet they have managed to produce a lackluster representation of an otherwise great story written by Mr. Nylund with stiff voice-acting and even stiffer animation work that resembled something closer to in-game graphics from last generations game consoles than anything. If I didn't know any better I could be fooled in to thinking I was watching a not so funny episode of Red vs. Blue. I know and agree that looks aren't everything but then at least get the emotion part right one way or another, especially because The Fall of Reach is one of emotional heavier tales in the franchise, if not the heaviest.
The movie adaptation of the Fall of Reach ended up being quite a disappointment to me and I wasn't even expecting all that much of it to begin with, and to make matters worse, to top it all of, we didn't even get to see the full story. We have seen Reach, but the falling bit as mentioned in the title is a big part of it too. Either 343 didn't think so or this is a 2 parter.
All in all I can't recommend this to anyone. And if you're a fan and you're as curious as I was though, take my advise and put the book on your nightstand before hand.
As Above, So Below (2014)
Taking An Action Cam Into Hell
Yes, it has the shaky hand-held camera, but if you're fine with that then you'll be treated to a suspenseful horror movie with above average acting in an ominous underground setting with plenty claustrophobic tunnels and chambers, disturbing mind-games, and plenty of (jump) scares. I especially liked the a-trip-down-to-hell-via-the-backdoor theme. I just wished they had done a little bit more with it, like at the end. Hell should've been a mirror image of our world as well, just like the catacombs. To sum it up 'As Above, So Below' is like; what if Lara Croft had a GoPro? If you've always wondered about that go see this movie.
The Nightmare (2015)
Poor Documentary, Decent Horror
Although 'The Nightmare' can be categorized as a documentary it does a very poor job at diving deeper in to material and exploring the given subject. No explanation or answers are given, instead the viewer will mostly be served "scary stories'' by 8 or so people suffering from sleep paralysis backed up by nightmarish visualizations and horror reenactments, jump-scares included. In other words, if you're looking for that late night goosebump fix you might get a kick out of this, otherwise steer clear, ESPECIALLY if you are prone to having sleep paralysis for this will only fuel it.
Lastly my own views/thoughts on the subject are that sleep paralysis comes forth out of extreme fear. It has nothing to do with demons or ghosts or a dark figure with a bad fashion sense, it's just the mind losing control due to high levels of distress and fear. For the mind is a very powerful thing and therefor can be quite destructive and dangerous. So much so that we can't even comprehend the half of it. But that I do know is that I had recurring nightmares and night-terrors involving lamps when I was a kid, and once i hit puberty i stopped being scared because i started to feel older and stronger and having the feeling that i was able to beat the thing that scared me. Having these feelings, thinking this, makes you mentally stronger and therefor takes away fear which results in control. The people featured in this documentary seem to be doing the opposite and if they keep doing that they will never gain control over their fear. The only reason the (oriental) girl/woman at the end got out of it was by handing herself over to another powerful (and dangerous) mind set; religion. Who knows, if you she would have named another powerful individual like Superman instead of Jesus while being harassed by that "demon" she might have ended up religiously devouring comic books and getting in to cosplay. I'm just saying.
Melissa & Joey (2010)
Tolerable at best
Yet another generic sitcom that for some reason seems to do quite well with audiences even though it doesn't bring anything new or interesting to the format. So what does it do? Well, It brings 2 relatively beloved faces from the world of sitcom together and lets them fall in love so everyone can go "aaahw". No wait, there's more to it! You didn't think it was that uninspiring did you? Noooo. See, here's the kicker.. SHE has a busy life while also having to take care of her niece and nephew and HE is the young attractive nanny she hires to help out with that. And what do we have? A formula for success. Oh, and they use their real names as well.
Yes, i am being a bit harsh, but i'm just tired of all these uncreative shows littering television now-a-days. And to be completely honest, out of all of them i will say that Melissa & Joey isn't all that bad. When it's on i don't get the overwhelming feeling to find the remote and change the channel, like i have with Anger Management for instance. And that is probably the nicest compliment i can give this show, that i can stomach it.
And that's why i'm still giving it a decent amount of stars. Among all the bland and uninspired shows that are out there at least it's moderately enjoyable. Though i will switch the channel in a heartbeat as soon as Seinfeld/Community/Scrubs/The Big Bang Theory/Friends/Brooklyn Nine- Nine/That '70's Show/Modern Family/Broad City/Parks & Recreation is on.
True Grit (2010)
Good, but a plain.
True Grit felt as authentic as to the old west as an western movie could get with some good acting and solid dialogs. What did leave me a little disappointed was that the story never really picked up pace, it never got that interesting, it just kept on moving in a normal walking pace until the credits rolled over the screen. Basically it's about a young girl who wants revenge upon the man who killed her father but she needs help to track him down. That said I could now finish it with one sentence. There is not much else to it, it's that straight forward. Don't get me wrong though, it is still worth a watch if you are in to westerns or if you are in for a good movie, but in all honesty I enjoyed '3:10 to Yuma' for instance a lot more.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
A high on calories brain snack
Impossible to get in to if you are expecting anything as intriguing as the Bourne movies or even the first installment of this long going franchise. Though enjoyable if you switch of the better part of your brain for the duration of it.
The action is solid and keeps coming in by the truck loads, the characters are entertaining , and there's enough eye candy to keep the boys smiling.
All in all MI4 (let's just call it for what it is) is everything you should expect from a big budget action movie. It's a full on roller-coaster ride that only gives you a few instances to catch your breath or think for that matter.
If you want something with more substance give the Bourne trilogy another go.
Skyline (2010)
Not as bad as most would want to make you believe
This movie gets a lot of negative reviews, and i mean really negative and i honestly don't really get why. Granted, it has it's flaws and it certainly isn't award winning script and cast-wise, but i sure as hell enjoyed myself with the designs and overall storyline. Like many before me already noted this isn't your typical Hollywood movie in which we as humans will ultimately prevail over our much stronger alien attackers. This time we get completely annihilated and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it. It also seemed much more realistic to me that way. We arn't talking about a bunch of survivors turned saviors of the human race by given circumstances, we're talking about normal people here who don't have a clue on what to do when the proverbial crap suddenly hits the fan. And i know that's boring to watch but seeing them struggle to survive the ongoing alien onslaught even though there is no chance on earth they'll escape it was certainly exciting enough to watch for me.
I personally liked the aliens too, especially the brain sucking part. They're like space zombies, with a huge desire for human brains. At some point the resurrection thing did become somewhat of an anti climax though because you still want to see 'us' scoring a few points too before the timer runs out and we inevitably accept defeat, but than again it was fun to get the feeling there was still hope of winning by just nuking the mother ship and seeing it crash and burn only to see it repair itself and going back up again the next moment. But i do think they could have at least beat the crap out of an alien who was down by smooshing it's brain or something.
Anyhow, i like this kind of doomsday writing once in a while, it is certainly refreshing for a change. The ending wasn't necessary though, too far fetched, but no matter, it certainly was enjoyable overall.
Stargate: Atlantis (2004)
Unworthy spin-off
I used to watch the original series (SG-1) and I really liked it too. It gave you the sense that we as humans were more or less helpless against the Goa'uld with our weapons and technology, but we still used man-made weapons. Plus it had Richard Dean Anderson, always a plus in my book. Stargate Atlantis on the other hand just doesn't do it for me. It's just to spacey for my taste. But primarily it lacks that what made the original series as good as it was. (Yes, i said was because it isn't as good as it used to be.) Dare i say what makes most other series good even. To be honest i've only seen two or three episodes in total of Atlantis but i don't need to see more to know most of the characters are just not that interesting. John is no Jack, Ronon is no Teal'c and Sam is.. okay, she's still Sam, but you get the point. And as for the jokes, they're not funny, actually mostly lame. "We need to penetrate their shields!" " Penetrate...?" No, not funny. Bad writers, bad!
All in all i'd like to say that there are a lot of better shows out there worth the look above this one. I'm putting in a 1 because it's getting to much credit.
The Town (2010)
A disappointment
Like the title already says, i was disappointed with 'The Town'. I expected more. No wait, i expected better.
To keep it short, i liked the action and chase sequences, they are excellent, and also the whole idea of Charlestown being a rat's nest of bank-robbers since the early nineteenth century, i liked that little fact , but what i didn't like was the dodgy plot and the obvious non-believable crush between Ben's character and that of the 'victim'. I mean come on, he looks like he's a troublemaker and she's kind of the sweet shy girl and after one lame and short conversation at a laundrette they are totally in to each other. It didn't feel 'real' and it was just awkward at times. But hey, that's what you get when you put Ben Affleck and a love story together.
So in the end i had kind of a mixed feeling with this movie. I wanted to like it because of the whole theme and the car chases with the shoot-outs but i was held back by a plot that just didn't feel right.
It's unbelievable too that so many people praise it with 9's and 10's, as if they've never seen Heat or any other proper 'heist' movie.
Gakuen mokushiroku: HIGHSCHOOL OF THE DEAD (2010)
Yet another one of those anime shows
This anime show reminds of why i stopped watching anime shows a few years ago. Highschool of the Dead is a lot like the rest of these shows only with another plot and setting. To be honest i've only seen the first 3 episodes thus far but from what i've seen i wasn't impressed. It has blood and gore, which i like, but sadly it's being portrayed fairly weakly. The animation is okay but i've seen better. The constant up-skirt slow-mo shots and close-ups of big bouncing boobies are distracting. Not because i like it so much but because it's so awkwardly present it takes you out of the story a little. In short, it's totally unnecessary, even if it's normal for an anime. Talking about things that are normal for anime's , i'm a little tired of all those dramatic and heroic monologues all the time, and this is yet another series that has that. Another reason for me to not continue watching this series. And also, what's up with the zombies hearing they're 'food'? It doesn't make sense. There are zombies all over the place making sounds so why aren't they attacking each other? If you want them to be blind make it so that they use they're smell to distinguish the other zombies from live people, that way it makes (more) sense. Well, i think it's pretty obvious by now that i'm not really digging this show, but i do like zombie apocalypses so i'll try to watch some more, maybe it'll get better. Until then i'll be setting the score at 5.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (2009)
Good, but as good as the first
I play titles like this for the single player experience, multi-player modes in shooters like F.E.A.R. 2 are just an extra for me. I've got multi-player shooters like the Battlefield series for that pleasure. That said i won't be giving lower points to the online multi-player part if it's not that great 'cause i simply don't expect it to be.
Having played the first game i can say F.E.A.R. 2 continues the series with good effort, although it's not as good on all points. To start off with the good i will say that the story and the given setting is the best part of the game, even though the plot can be a little difficult to follow sometimes the story and places your visit will keep you interested and make you want to finish the game to see what happens, which won't take you very long, 9 to 10 hours of normal play. But it's long enough in my opinion. If a game is too long a game like this can eventually lose your interest in which case you'll most likely never finish it at all. Just Cause 2 being a fine example of this.
Gameplay wise not a lot has changed since the original, only improvements on some of the core gameplay mechanics and a few new gameplay elements like iron sighting and the ability to operate a mech suite. In the end nothing shocking really, which can also be said for the gameplay itself, but it's satisfying enough.
The graphics never really stand out above other titles in this genre but it's more than adequate to satisfy the ones who love graphics. Design and environments play a mayor part too in this and deserve an extra notice. The levels are well detailed, dynamic, destructible and have a good layout and some nicely placed scripted events too. Most noticeable level to back this up would without a doubt be the Elementary School.
So what's bad about the game than? Well, it isn't as scary as it used to be for one. Let me put it this way, if F.E.A.R. would be the Japanese horror movie Ringu (which was probably a big inspiration) than F.E.A.R. 2 would be an episode of Ghost hunters. It's just not as scary as you would like and expect it to be in a way the first one was. Next to that i found the overall sound a bit lacking. In most part this was fine, like the music which created some nice tension in the game, but i'm talking about the sound effects with the gun sounds in particular. It all sounded a little weak for my taste, especially the shotgun. But these are just small things. In the end there isn't really anything wrong with F.E.A.R. 2 , the problem lies more in what's good. It's just that, good, nothing more. F.E.A.R. 2 never really stands out in any way. So eventually you could say that F.E.A.R. 2 is an above average shooter. Nothing really special, just good.
My advice would be that if you liked the original F.E.A.R and it's installments and you digged the story as much as i did or if you're just looking for a good shooter to get you through the weekend than i'm positive you'll enjoy F.E.A.R. 2. But for those of you who are looking for something new and groundbreaking or want a good scare i would recommend to pass on this one, it's not that special.
Chuck: Chuck Versus the Anniversary (2010)
Chuck vs. the end
Half way through the first episode of the new season (season 4) i felt bored and than it hit me, Chuck is done. The whole nerd becomes a spy thing is over now that he is one and has been for the whole last season. By now almost everybody Chuck knows and/or loves knows he is a spy so that isn't exciting anymore either. Not to mention that he got the girl he was after. Furthermore i found that they made some lame choices to try and make the character and story interesting again. For example, his sister now knows Chuck is a spy, or was for that matter, because he promised her he would quit, but now he is returning to the spy biz without telling his sister about it. It's kind of a lame way to bring back a secret in my opinion. So now i'm asking myself, what's the point of watching this show any more? It's beginning to feel like a drag you know. Time to put an end to this story if you ask me.
JCVD (2008)
Heart and soul wrapped neatly inside a story
When i was a kid i was a huge fan of van Damme. He was my hero, my idol, i wanted to kick just like him. I watched every movie that was and came out multiple times with my best friend who felt just like me about Jean Claude. Now, 16 years later or so i don't care for his movies so much anymore. I think i've only seen 3 or 4 of his movies since 2000. The little me inside me still jumps up and down when i hear his name but nowadays things like story, script and good acting matter to me too, and let's be honest, you won't really find this in a van Damme flick, not in high quantities anyway. And next to that, he isn't the young, energetic fighter i used to adore as a kid. But even now he's still a fighter, he still trains and he keeps in physical shape. He can still kick a cigarette out of someone's mouth even though it gets to be a little harder for him then it used to be, and i can respect that. And after seeing JCVD i can only say that the respect i have for this guy has grown exponentially. Not because he can still kick some ass but because he showed us he also is just a man of flesh and blood like you and me and he also makes mistakes and bad decisions. I don't see JCVD as a movie as much but more as a bearing of the heart and soul shown through the medium of motion picture, just using it as a mere tool for something much more. I will even go as far as to say that Jean Claude still cannot act after JCVD, but he did not act in JCVD, he played himself, and that is what makes him so good in this movie. His emotional monologue near the end shows proof of this and was hands down the high point of JCVD. Before this point i was planning on giving this movie an 8 out of 10 because the movie itself was involving and subtle, it was good, but after Jean Claude pored his heart out he really touched me. Not only because the small tough guy broke all his walls down on the spot and showed his real fragile self but also because he shows us he's just another human being like us with regrets and troubles. Just for that i'll be adding 2 points to the score. Normally i never give a perfect 10 but this time i'll be making an exception. The guy deserves it. I also expect this will be the last time we'll see one of his movies be as good as this one and score this high because this can only be done once by one person. But hopefully he'll get a little more respect now and a second chance just like Micky Rourke got after the Wrestler.
A Perfect Getaway (2009)
Not every bad beginning has an awful ending.
A lot of movies have a strong beginning but tend to disappoint near the end. This movie does the opposite though. In the first 45 minutes or so the rating that i had in my head for this thriller was slowly dropping. Firstly because the Andersons were annoying as hell and i just hoped they'd die a painful death as soon as possible, but mostly it was due to the obvious "who did it" scenario. What happened next i did not see coming to be completely honest and from that point on until the end the rating in my head was slowly rising to where i can still give this one an above average grade. In other words, the second half of the movie saves it from being as clunky and awfully obvious as the first half. You could say that the first part of the movie is that way for a reason, it's meant to throw you a curve-ball, and i can only agree on that, that was obviously the whole idea, but the fact that it was done so bluntly obvious doesn't make the bad taste it left behind disappear. In my opinion that's just bad screen writing.
So can i recommend it to anyone? Yes, i can. You just have to sit through a mediocre beginning until you reach the second half and you can really start enjoying it.
The Expendables (2010)
The Expendable
I expected better of this reunion film of action stars. Especially the little me inside of me who fantasized of this 18 years ago. I didn't expect a deep story with unforeseen plot twists and dialogs that really makes you think, with a film like this you want to see bigger than big explosions and blood, bullets and limbs flying all over the place. And that's what you certainly get with this one. But that doesn't mean all else can be totally neglected. I mean, my little brother who's 8 could have wrote this if he could write. The story is far from interesting, the characters are as shallow as shallow can be, the script together with the dialogs make eyebrows raise and elbows shrug and the acting overall is awful at times. Most of them still really try hard to get something out of their part, like Ludgren, but fail because of bad script writing, with on the other hand people who shouldn't have gotten so many lines in the first place, like Jet Li. And then there is Stallone himself, the one looking like Michael Jackson on steroids. The guy is such a character of himself now, it's ridicules. It even made me laugh on occasion. And in the end he is to blame for all this. No,this was not the movie i dreamt about when i was young, for most part that is. Schwarzenegger and Willis couldn't even give more than just cameos and Jean Claude van Damme wasn't even in it at all (which was his own fault) so in the end this was a big fail for me. In other words, keep Mr. Stallone far away from pen and paper.
The Walking Dead (2010)
So far so very good
I like apocalypse, end of the world kinda stuff. Especially when almost the whole world population turns into brain dead flesh eating monsters. Not so much because of how gory it can get but because it's almost unthinkable to see your world, your city turned into a wasteland. The flesh eating does help a lot though. And not only that but survivors play a large role in it too. No good apocalyptic story is complete with a bunch of people trying to survive with a few of them going or being nuts, or to put into other words, being human. That's what a good zombie story is all about, the best and the worst of humanity.
But it saddens me to say that it's been a while since i've seen a good zombie movie. Sure, Zombieland did a great job and foreign film REC(2) (plesase forget Quarentine) , even though not really being classified as a zombie movie, i think, showed some good effort too, but it's not since the awesome remake of Dawn of the Dead that i've seen an epic zombie apocalypse being portrayed in all it's drama. Of course G.R. Romero has been busy, trying to get up his high horse again but he only keeps falling just trying. I don't think the horse is even there anymore. But let's not get into that one too much. Let's just say he's to blame for the last couple of years.
And then this piece of work came along, The Walking Dead. When i first got word of it i was skeptical because i read the first few comics of the Walking Dead series and they were awesome so i was afraid they would screw it up by converting it into video. But there was another part of me that was pretty exited about it because i knew it could be awesome as long as they would stick to the original story and not rewrite it too much. And after seeing the first teaser/trailer and later the first 5 minutes i was convinced this would be an epic zombie series. Just by seeing a few bits? Yes, because i already know how the first few parts of the story go and what i'd seen thus far showed they really stayed true to the original story. The amazing visuals closed the deal for me.
The first episode has aired already and it didn't disappoint on all said before. It even topped my expectations. The show is well dramatized with some solid acting, the make up and special effects are pretty good, although i could notice some CGI when the main character was popping' zombie cap. I didn't mind it that much, i just noticed it. I do love the level of gore so far. The story is okay so far too but it's only been the first episode so far and i know it's going to be better so i can't say to much on that part just yet. Lastly i would like to point out that the feeling for detail is really nice. It gave me the sense that living in a zombified world isn't all it's cranked up to be. Even whacking one zombie over the head with a blunt object seemed tiresome. I mean, fighting a normal person is exhausting so why would struggling with a zombie be any easier. Facing a bunch of them with even a handgun seems next to impossible to get out of without so much as a scratch. Anyway, i never had this sense of realism with other zombie movies before so thumbs up on that part.
In the end you could say that The Walking Dead isn't doing anything new for the whole zombie franchise. We've seen this all before, one way or another. Dawn, day, night and so fort and i won't argue with that, but i don't agree entirely with it not doing anything new. So far i know there have only been movies and like everybody knows that with movies you have 90 minutes or so to jam your whole story into. With the Walking Dead you have a series. In other words, the creators have loads of time to build up a great story. You get a lot more out of it.
This has been a big plus with series in the last couple of years seeing the quality is much higher now a days. I name series like Dexter, Generation Kill, Lost, Band of Brothers. Sure some of them can drag on in the end *lostcough* and there is the always that lurking danger of a show being canceled when the story still hasn't been finished so i can only hope that will not be the end of this show.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
A step back from the first one
This movie was like seeing myself at the age of 6 playing in the sandbox with my transformer toys and my little sister who keeps trying to bug in with her Barbie's acting out childish romantic escapades. Nothing wrong with big explosions and robots beating the crap out of each other, I still get a kick out of that, but I'm twenty five now-a-days and I like to see a good story with interesting characters and a good script to boot it all up now too. This movie lacks that.
It's a shame too because the first movie was pretty good. Sure, I didn't like the fact that the original transformation sound was only used once and was absent from that point out in both movies, and also that you can't really see what kind of vehicle a transformer is after he is transformed with the millions of parts shifting in all directions during transformation. But overall it was a good movie in itself. The acting was fine, the build up was exciting and the storyline was good too.
Revenge of the Fallen on the other hand does the the complete opposite. The first part of the movie consist mostly of bad acting between people with an even worse script and the second half of the movie is action packed with metal flying everywhere. Nothing wrong with that last part, like I said before, but it's not really that versatile. In many occasions it was just a little to much. It really seemed it was more important to make the explosions even bigger just like the robots and put in more chaos than put time in a good storyline, better characters and a good script. But hey, it's Michael Bay so you shouldn't be that surprised. It's just that I hoped it would be as good as the first movie, and it was definitely not.