andremarek Reviews

Smallville: Promise (2007) Season 6, Episode 16

Enough of this

[1/10 · 10 May 2007]

I was really looking forward to watching this episode, but for some really weird reason I forgot to watch it until 15 minutes had already passed... and boy was I glad I didn't watch the whole thing... it would've been an even more painful experience.

I can't believe the writing team still thinks its healthy to bring the whole Lana/Clark storyline back after no less than 6 YEARS of it. I'm sick of watching these two try to make things work out when we all know they're not going to end up together.

As the episodes advance, Lana gets even more annoying, and "Promise" is a living proof of it. Lex is getting more evil, but I'm so sick of everything else that's going on in the show that I simply can't help but be mad after they end.

And guess what? Lana knows Clark's secret! That makes me wonder... who doesn't? All the regular cast members except for Lex Luthor do.

The sixth season, which was shaping to be one of the best ones yet, seems to be declining episode to episode. Instead of dealing with superheroes, or cool phantom zoners, they have brought back the same old story that he have heard so many times.

I hope the season does get better... but something tells me it won't.

Smallville: Rage (2006) Season 6, Episode 7

Unbelievably bad

[4/10 · 20 December 2006]

When I saw the teaser for this episode, I must say I was extremely excited. It looked as this was going to be an episode similar to "Arrow," which I really liked. I was disappointed, to say the least.

Almost everything that could've been good on this episode was done badly. Starting with the fact that the story is full of unbelievably dumb plot points, that could've made even a baby question their motives. First, is the story. The fact that Oliver Queen was getting a vaccine that will make him heal so he can be a superhero without those kind of problems was really good. I think this could've been used to make the fact that Oliver knows he'll never be like Clark relevant (which it is).

Sadly, the performance by Justin Hartley as the Green Arrow is extremely disappointing. I had really liked his work on other episodes, but in this one he was really, very bad. This episode actually made me wonder one thing that I didn't want to wonder... are the writers clear as to who is this show about? As far as I know, this is a show about Clark Kent and his becoming Superman, the Man of Steel. This is NOT a show about Clark Kent and Green Arrow, the latter's just a guest star.

On previous episodes (like Wither, Arrow, or Reunion) I'd really liked how the writers had handled the character, making him important but never deviating from the fact that this show is not about his adventures, but Clark's. In the case of Rage, this was not the case at all.

Then there's the whole Lionel/Martha unbelievably stupid kissing scene- well, almost kissing scene. I can't believe what they've done with the character of Martha. Not a year has passed since her husband died and she's already trying to kiss Lionel... who is incidentally, the man that was most directly responsible for her husband's death. Well, Jor-El too.

Then there's the computer-expert Chloe. She gets absolutely all the information she needs from her source on the chemistry labs, even the woman who manufactured the vaccine. This is so unbelievably stupid.

Todd Slavkin and Darren Schwimmer were one of the best scribes Smallville had ever had. They wrote the episodes that in my opinion had been some of the best in the series. But first they wrote Sneeze, which was an average episode, and now this... they really need to improve whatever it is that they're doing.

The only good thing I can say about this episode is the climax. Lex and Green Arrow pointing at each other, each with their own weapon of choice, and when they fire the crew really managed an awesome special effects job. Well, I guess there's another good thing I can say about this episode, and that is the dinner scene. It really made a contrast between the familiar Kent family reunion and the sad dinner at Lex's mansion.

I guess this is the way Smallville works, right? About 4 really great episodes and then an unbelievably bad one. I just hope things do get better. There really was a good episode in there, I just couldn't find it.

Smallville: Arrow (2006) Season 6, Episode 4

Finally... the episode I was waiting for

[9/10 · 6 December 2006]

Arrow is simply amazing. Almost everything on it was top notch. The writing, the acting, the special effects... everything. I really felt as if the wait had finally ended, and the episode I had been hoping for all season had come at last.

Although it suffers from a some ironic plot points (just like most recent episodes of Smallville), the story is really good. I really like the incursion of the Green Arrow into the series. He's shaping up to be one of the best supporting characters Smallville's ever had.

I have to admit that when I had the chance to watch the Aquaman pilot, I didn't think much of Justin Hartley. I thought his acting was alright, but I also felt like the supporting players (like Ving Rhames and Lou Diamond Phillips) had stolen his scenes. Now I know why... this guy is not Aquaman, he's Green Arrow. He plays his character as great as it can be. He gets a lot of help from the writing staff, but he really pulls off the lines they write for his character. Specially that destiny loft scene at the end.

Erica Durance was also great in this episode, and particularly on that scene in which she's tortured. Tom Welling also delivers a great performance.

All in all, this really is one of the best episodes in the series and it really made me wish all the episodes were like this. I'm really looking forward to next week's "Reunion."

Smallville: Sneeze (2006) Season 6, Episode 2

Fairly good episode... but something's wrong there

[7/10 · 15 November 2006]

Sneeze is the second episode of the sixth season of Smallville. It's pretty good, although there are some ironic elements, it does have a lot of good stuff in it.

I liked the introduction of Green Arrow and the mystery that is surrounding his character. I also liked the character that kidnapped Lex and his sadistic way of trying to learn about Lex's ability. But let's face it, the second episodes of every season this series has had so far have been much better. Mainly because the situations around the season finales hadn't even been solved yet. There was always need of two episodes to solve whatever has been going on the past season, but with this season ultra fast and conclusive "Zod" (don't get me wrong, I think this was a good episode, but with some mistakes too), Sneeze was just a regular episode that could've been fitted at the middle of the season and the change would've had almost no effect whatsoever in the continuity.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on the writing, but it is a fact that the events that happened during the last season finale could've lasted for at least one more episode and the narrative would've felt better.

I'm really hoping that as time passes, this season of Smallville improves. It's not that it's bad, but after the fantastic season 5 I was just hoping for something else, something better. I'm looking forward for next week's Wither, in the hope that this does get better.

Smallville: Hidden (2005) Season 5, Episode 3

AWESOME!!!!! One of Smallville's best episodes...

[10/10 · 11 September 2006]

"Hidden" is one of the best episodes of the series and probably the best one of season 5. Everything is simply great. The story is awesome, the writing is great, and the performances are great, too.

A young man named Gabriel realizes that after the second meteor shower, things will never be the same for Smallville, so he smuggles himself into a control room used to shoot nuclear silos that the government had hidden around Smallville, and plans to use it to destroy everyone's favorite cow town. Can Clark save Smallville? Well, he hasn't got any powers...

There are two scenes that define the episode and make it worthy of Smallville's hall of fame. Firstly, the scene where powerless Clark dies at the hospital and secondly, the scene in which he makes a giant leap to grab a nuclear warhead that's heading towards Smallville.

This second scene is so awesomely written, directed, edited, and visualized that you can't help but cheer and clap.

Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson are my favorite Smallville scribes, I always like their episodes. But with this one, they really outdid themselves.

This is coming from one of Smallville's biggest fans. This episodes answers the question that people often ask themselves: "Why do we watch Smallville?" Watch Hidden, and you'll get your answer.

Smallville: Mercy (2006) Season 5, Episode 19

Fair Episode... but the 'Saw' ripoff is embarrassing

[6/10 · 11 September 2006]

I think this was a fair episode for the great 5th season of Smallville. John Glover's as well as Annette O'Toole's performances make it worth your while. The photography is quite good, but I would've liked it to be darker considering the tone of the script.

Speaking of the script... this is a complete 'Saw' ripoff. The "I want to play a game," line is used several times and you can't help but laugh at the scriptwriter's (Steven S. DeNight) serious belief that no one will notice this was a ripoff.

I don't like the fact that Lionel's a good guy, though. I'm sick of him changing sides all the time. He's one of the coolest characters I've ever seen when he's evil, and it would be great if he would just stay that way.

All in all, this is a good addition to the series. 6/10

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Good movie, but it's definitely the worst of the trilogy

[7/10 · 18 May 2006]

I saw this movie yesterday, and although I thought it was a good movie, I am sad to say that it is without doubt the worse of the trilogy.

The problem with X-Men: The Last Stand is not that it's bad, because it's not. The problem is that both X-Men and X2 were so good, it had a lot to live up to; and, considering it had a new director and new scriptwriters, it would be extremely hard for it to be better than its predeceases.

I found that the problems with the movie could be resumed like this: -It features too many all new mutants, and, although this is a good thing, it becomes a weakness.

If you have 20 characters on an hour and a half movie (yes, it's that short), obviously there won't be enough time to develop all of them the way you would want, and here comes the weakness.

Although new (I say new referring to the movies, not to the comic books) characters like Callisto and Beast receive the time they deserve, some other new characters are barely seen throughout the movie. For example: Angel, Juggernaut, Multiple Man and Arclight.

Angel is an extremely secondary character, and I honestly thought he'll be one of the main ones, him being on the poster and stuff. Juggernaut is also secondary, but this is forgivable, since bad guys on the prequels were also secondary and almost non-speaking mutants. (Deathstrike, Sabretooth...) Multiple man and Arclight are cool villains, but like I said, they barely appear on the movie.

-Another weakness on the movie, (this being the most important) is the scriptwriter's decision to edit out characters that were famous on the previous movies.

This really made me mad, because I really liked characters like Mystique and Cyclops, and they barely appeared in the movie. The reason for this may have been that they wanted to give more screen time to Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman, that are now famous Hollywood stars.

Another reason for Cyclops not appearing that much may be that the actor, James Mardsen, was also working on Superman Returns, and his schedule was maybe a little tight.

• Another important weakness for the movie is the music. In my opinion, music is a huge part of making what's unbelievable, believable (by saying unbelievable we're talking about a man picking up the Golden Gate Bridge, or stuff like that). The musician for the movie should definitely feel sorry for his work.

Although I've spent a lot of time writing about what didn't work in the movie, there are some things that worked really great. The main characters such as Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, Pyro, Iceman, Phoenix, Beast and Shadowcat are fantastic. The scene of Magneto picking up the Golden Gate Bridge is simply spectacular. The climatic sequence is well achieved, as are most of the action sequences.

Although you can't compare this with the prequels, this is a good superhero movie, and you shouldn't miss it. I rank it 7 out of 10 stars.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Excellent

[10/10 · 12 July 2005]

For starters, I must say I'm a big fan of Star Wars, and unlike most of the fans I really enjoyed Episodes I and II and I was very much looking forward to seeing the third one.

Therefore, I had a lot of expectation's concerning this movie and I am glad to say it exceeded all of them.

The plot is excellent, the performances (maybe not Oscar-like) are great, and the special effects are obviously the best. But what makes this movie what it is, is actually the action sequences.

My personal favorite scene was the Jedi massacre. Lucas found a way of making us realize that this is, in fact happening all over the galaxy and how violent this moment actually was.

If there is actually a "but" for this movie are the deaths of the villains. Count Dooku and General Grievous, two adversaries considered to be extremely powerful, are rapidly beaten.

All in all, my thumbs up for Mr. Lucas on this film and, of course, all of the Star Wars movies.

Fantastic Four (I) (2005)

Not fantastic at all

[3/10 · 10 July 2005]

For starters I must say, I had a lot of expectation concerning the Fantastic Four movie. I am a huge fan of super heroes and I was looking forward to seeing this foursome kick ass.

In my opinion, the opening shots were pretty good. Considering we're dealing with a very complicated plot concerning space shuttles and electromagnetic storms, the opening sequences were surprisingly well handled.

OK, the good ends right there. Bad stuff coming in.

Most of the characters are completely shallow. I was really looking forward to seeing Dr. Doom in action, but I was very disappointed with the character's dialogues and handling. The script makes him look like a rich maniac (and that's good), but when he comes back from space, all altered, that's when it goes down.

Von Doom goes from being a very concerned and jealous man to a murdering maniac in a few moments (and, for the record, he's not a great murdering maniac, in fact he sucks at it).

The Fantastic 4: -The Thing: On the comic book, this is a funny and cool character. They tried to make it the same in the movie, but they didn't succeed. The material from which the suit is built is completely fake. It's supposed to be stone and it looks as if it is rubber or something.

-The Invisible Girl: Jessica Alba looks pretty hot in this movie and her acting wasn't that bad. She was among the very few good things you could say about this movie.

-The Human Torch: This is a cool character and it was pretty well written and the situations in which he was involved were pretty good. But when he starts to burn, that sucks, it's really fake. And the scriptwriters made him pretty secondary and made the main characters Mr Fantastic and The Thing.

-Mr. Fantastic: SUCKS. The acting was lousy, that guy is too young to play that character, the special effects that tried to make him stretch were at times worse than the movie itself, and his dialogues were never good.

All in all, I think audiences will be disappointed with this movie because it lacks everything that made other comic book adaptations (Spider-Man, Batman Begins, X-Men) good.

War of the Worlds (2005)

Great movie

[10/10 · 29 June 2005]

Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds is one of the best movies I've seen this year. The performances, the story and the special effects are really great.

The film explores parenthood, and its not just about action and aliens attacking. It explores Ray Ferrier's (Tom Cruise) growth as a father as tripod alien machines destroy our world.

The actions scenes are very well managed and extremely taken care of by a real master, Mr. Spielberg. Although the film only portrays a family struggling to survive the attacks, Spielberg made it as big as he could. The situations in which the characters are involved make it hard for someone to not have fun and at the same time feel scared at moments, it's really cool.

The idea of aliens coming out of the ground is really great, and it makes us really wonder if that is, in fact possible.

The character of Ogilvy, played smartly by Tim Robbins, is great too, although I would've asked for more scenes involving the character, because it was very secondary.

Bottom line is, "War of the Worlds" is the best we'll come across this summer and makes us remember the days in which Jurassic Park scared us to death. If you want to see a big action movie, this is definitely for you.

Batman Begins (2005)

Amazing

[9/10 · 25 June 2005]

"Batman Begins" is awesome. When I first went to see it on the theater I didn't really thought much of it, because I was disappointed of the 3rd and 4th part of the saga, but when I heard they were starting over, I was very interested in the movie.

What's better in the whole movie is Batman himself. When he is on the suit, you really feel afraid of him, and Christian Bale really made it work extremely right.

The supporting characters are also extremely great. Michael Caine is great as Alfred, he makes a couple of really great jokes and makes a great performance. Katie Holmes playing Rachel Dawes is also pretty cool. She manages a very serious acting and looks very beautiful in all her scenes. Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe, and everyone does a great job.

The most amazing thing about this movie is that it doesn't really rely on CGI, like other super hero movies. This movie focuses more on the performances and the characters than anything else, although it does have a couple of great action sequences.

The Scarecrow is also great, the effects they used to make it scary are really awesome.

Bottom line is, after the disappointment of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, this movie makes us all feel better and beg for a sequel.

The Grudge (2004)

Too predictable and frankly kinda boring

[28 January 2005]

The movie opens with the killing of a woman, continues with the killing of another woman, and so on.

This movie has no essence. From the moment it begins to the moment it ends you never feel scared, and sometimes you laugh.

Seeing ghosts (that, surprisingly look very much like the ones in the ring) killing people one after the other with no sense is not very fun...and the ending is too stupid.

I expected something much more like the ring but with an original story and some scary moments (like I saw on the trailer) but this movie isn't like that at all.

The Grudge is a poor movie, I think the Japanese version may be better.

4 out of 10