[Gi@nT]

So, a while ago I asked you folks what you'd like to see 'round these parts. One suggestion - courtesy of the lovely Katiz I believe - was for a premade review template allowing everyone to easily review films they have seen.

Well I've decided to take that one step further and create a Review Thread! Now obviously some films generate enough interest that they already have a thread directly solely for that discretion, and as such reviews for such film would go in their already appointed threads. This thread, however is for all those films that you still got out to the theatre or video store to see/rent, but didn't quite make it into our discussions here. With that in mind, what I'm hoping is that this thread will turn into a sort of database where one can browse through for suggestions on what to rent on a rainy/snowy/nothing-else-to-do type of night.

To get us started here is the template that I will follow for my reviews (I'll fire off a review sometime tomorrow afternoon when classes get out). It's as simple as possible and designed to be used by any and all who like it, but if you've got another way of discussing films than by all means have at 'er!

(Title of Film)
Make it big and bold for easier browsing.

The Good
What did you like about the film? What made this a good film? What parts of the film particularly impressed you?

The Bad
What parts of the film weren't so great and effect did these elements have on the overall film? Basically the opposite of the above category.

The Bottom Line
Given the good and bad points how did you feel about the film? Who would you recommend it too and why?

[Rating (out of 5 - explained below)]
Again, make it big for the browsers. To give these reviews some unity to the other forums on this board (i.e. Illusionist's book reviews) we'll make this out of five smiles. (Note: The board has a restriction on the number of Smileys allowed, so I've used numbers - hopefully this will be clearer with my review).

5 > An excellently, phenominal film. Only minor issues if any at all. One that everyone should see.

4 > Still a great film, but maybe not as widely appealing. One that any fan of the actor/actress/writer/director/genre should see, but possible not for everyone.

3 > Not a bad film, but now outside of the realm of greatness. May have one or two major issues that start to detract from the experience of the film. Good for a rental if nothing else is in.

2 > Issues begin to detract seriously from the film's quality and experience. Only the most die hard fans of the actor/actress/writer/director/genre should see this one.

1 WTF? Who green lighted this one? Major, major issues and errors. Avoid it like the plague.

[Gi@nT]

Alright, a little late, but I thought I'd wait and actually find a decent film to review as my first post in this thread. So to get the ball rolling, we've got what is one of the best films I've seen in a long while, maybe ever.

Cinderella Man

The Good
First, I have to admit that when the inspiration for the script is the life of arguably one of the best athletes of the last century it's hard to go wrong. However, this film goes far above and beyond and is an incredible testament not only to the lives of James J. Braddock and his friends and family, but to the hardships faced by those who were alive during the great depression.

To the film...where do I start, it was all fantastic. Russel Crowe once again has proven why he is a worthy of so many Oscar nods - I'll be very disappointed if he doesn't get one for this film. To be perfectly honest, if I hadn't heard the film stars Crowe, I may not have recognised him at first. His manerisms, his accent, his movements, even his body (he reportedly lost 50 pounds or so) are all dead on. Moreover, it's like all those who he's acting with know it. The supporting cast (The movie is about Braddock) definately steps it up in a big way. Like Crowe, Giamatti is at the top of his game and Zellweger, who I'm usually not a fan of, is better than I've ever seen her. To reiterate though, Crowe does some of the best acting of his career right here, which is saying a lot.

Beyond the acting, the film excells in its use of a relatively simple plot. For the length of the film there are relatively few characters, and while there are a few different scenes, the whole film stays simple and relatively centred, which brings a lot of unity and heart to the film.

Lastly, while the film is set in the '20s and '30s and remains true to that period, during the boxing matches there are a few contemporary effects. For instance, when Braddock breaks a wrist, there's a brief shot of an X-Ray of the wrist to ensure that everyone knows what happens. It's used sparsley, but to good effect.

The Bad
Outside of my qualms about Zellweger - though she does well - the film has no real faults. My fiance tells me she would have liked to see Russel naked once or twice, but maybe that's for another time (hopefully never....)

The Bottom Line
A truly exceptional film. Its poor performance at the theatre is no reflection on the film itself.

Rating

- Definately one everyone should see.

[Prodigal7512]

Sky High

The Good
Very entertaining look at how people learn from, and mis-learn their powers. Great back and forth with most of the characters. Great cameos from some cult figures (As the teachers). Much more entertaining than it should have any right being, especially for a Disney kid's film.

The Bad
Kind of devolves into a teen love triangle towards the later half of the movie.

The Bottom Line
I would recommend this if you have a liking for superhero movies, or want a film that doesn't require you to think too deeply.


4 Smilies!

[Gi@nT]

The Bottom Line
I would recommend this if you have a liking for superhero movies, or want a film that doesn't require you to think too deeply.


4 Smilies!

Might just have to check that one out.... Many thanks for the review Prodi!

And so everyone knows, feel free to comment on the reviews!

[DarkShinigami4711]

OK, I actualy went to see this one today, and it seems right that someone puts up a review having actualy seen the movie. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW. BE WARNED!

BloodRayne

The Good
I can see two groups of people really liking this movie. Group one dosn't care about the game and just wants an absolute gore-fest. They will get it in spades. There is more blood in this movie than you can imagine. Every few minutes, something dies or there is a flashback to someone else dying. There are a few exceptions, one of which ties in with group 2.

The second group who will like this are the people who just want to watch a nearly-naked "dhampire" running arround in tight leather pants. Hell, they threw in a sex scene for ya. Beyond that, there's not much to the film.
Which brings us to:

The Bad
If you liked the game, you'll likely hate the movie. Leave your brain at the door or it'll explode. Let's break this into points:

*In the game, Rayne is fighting Nazis, Zombies, Nazi Zombies, and the occasional vampire. In the movie, it's set back in Medieval times, with Rayne fighting Vampires and the humans the vampires have bound to them.
--At this point, I'm thinking "Oh, it's Rayne's backstory." No. No it isn't.

*In the game, Rayne has to stop the Nazi's from collecting the various pieces of Belair, a demon. In the movie, she has to stop the most powerful vampire from gathering the bits of Belair, an insanely powerful vampire who was destroyed and cut to bits.
--"So... It's a new take on the old story? " Again, no.

*In BloodRayne 2, Rayne mentions having killed her father between the first and second games. In the movie, the most power vampire IS her father, and yes, she kills him.
--"Wait... So it's set before the game, but with the same elements as in the game, but part of it bridges the gap between the two games?" *Brain goes pop*

A few other, minor points:

*Rayne starts off as a sort of Damsil in Distress. What the hell? No. That's just wrong.
*There aren't really any plot holes in the movie (if you ignore the game), but occasionaly it feels like you hit the "scene skip" button on your remote.

The Ugly
The effects in this were minimal at best. The CGI on the fangs left something to be desired (fangs were occasionaly a very bright white, but teeth were somewhat yellowed), as did the CGI on the vampires faces. But the real ugly of the movie is the disfigured friar (or whatever he was) guarding Belair's eye. He looked like somone cut the head off of Dogma's rubber poop monster and painted Sloth from The Goonies face onto it. Just bad.

The Bottom Line
If you want to see a slaughterfest, it's decent. Good, even. I'd still wait for DVD on it though. If you want nekked vampire chicks, there are other options. Google can help, I'm sure. If you want a movie true to it's legacy... Well, at least it's not Catwoman.

Rating
2 Smilies. It's not horrid, but turn off your brain first.

[someguy]

Zellweger, who I'm usually not a fan of

Squinting! Always squinting! She never stops.... squinting....

ARGH!!

edit: Wow, that was a totally pointless post... gimme a minute to think of something to add value to this...

Actually, I'll post my thoughts about Prod's review. When I saw a preview, I thought "Hey, that looks interesting" and then "oh dear God, what am I thinking?" and was thoroughly embarrased at my lapse in logic and judgement. I'm surprised at your review, and now I don't feel so bad about considering watching it for a second .

[Katiz]

I actually saw this last week, but I thought it deservered a review.

The Producers

The Good
Very good, classic, Mel Brooks comedy. Yes, it is sometimes over the top. But this is the father of the original fart joke on film. You will not find refined or highly intellegent humor. But you'll still be laughing. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are very comfortable in their roles. However, it is the secondary cast that really shines in this movie. Will Ferrel absolutely steals his scenes and is the perfect part for the role. Even his accent is funny. And Uma Thermon... I never thought she's be able to pull comedy off so naturally.

The music was classic Mel Brooks. Don't go for soaring orchestrial themes, but listen to the lyrics. That's where the best comedy is.

The Bad
Horribly offensive in a funny way. Don't go if you take stereotypes seriously. Also, it takes you a good 15 minutes to get into the movie. At first it seems too much like a musical. The actors ham it up like in classic musicals, the set pieces are treated as they are in musicals, and the humor is initially almost entirely slapstick. The first 15 minutes I was sitting there thinking "why did I pay $7 to see this?" However, you do get used to the style soon enough. Also, the two leads are almost too comfortable in their roles. They play them like they have put no thought into them and just jump into it. Sometimes, that's good. Othertimes, it seems like you wanted them to work a little harder. I'm not sure how to describe it. All the other actors threw themselves into it and put forth 110%. Lane and Broderick seem to be thinking "I did this every night for months on end. I could do this in my sleep!" Not that they were bad, but they were outshined by those that obviously put the effort in.

The Bottom Line
Go for a really good laugh. I haven't laughed this hard in theaters for a long time. If you like Mel Brooks, you'll enjoy this. Just not for the thin-skinned, as with any comedy these days.

And I still have "Springtime for Hitler" stuck in my head

Rating

[DarkShinigami4711]

Underworld: Evolution

The Good
Some of the best action scenes I've seen in a while, as well as some awesome CGI moments. If you remember at the end of the first Underworld, Markus' eyes had opened and turned that lovely shade of "Half-Vampire, Half-Lycan" black. Well, he gets a cool hybrid form as well, and his puts Michael's to shame. And nearly to death.

The Bad
It looks like someone skimmed the script to the last movie, then went "well, most of that was shite, I'm going to do it my way!" There are some huge plotholes, that pendant from the first movie is suddenly twice as large, and the film is just riddled with "WTF?!" moments.

The Borderline
There is a sex scene in the movie. You don't really get to see nudity, but the actual sex scene is borderline pornographic. I'm not even sure how they could have faked the scene, it looks very, ah, realistic.

The Bottom Line
Lots of blood, as with any vampire movie (though not nearly as much as BloodRayne had). The action is well-done, the special effects are great, and the acting is an improvement from the first movie. You can almost overlook the giant plotholes. Almost. See it if you liked the first one, but not if you loved the first one.

Rating
3.5 Smilies

[DarkShinigami4711]

Double post, but if the rest of you would review stuff from time to time, that wouldn't be an issue

The Pink Panther

The Good
The cartoon/opening credits were good. That's about it, sadly. Oh! And there were a couple of good looking previews.

The Bad
I feel dumber having seen this movie. They actualy resorted to a fart joke at one point. I've got nothing against fart jokes, but I really didn't expect that from this movie. Sure, physical humor was expected, but they went to the lowest, crudest level they could to get a laugh. And they failed, for the most part. I'll admit, the setup looks good, the overall idea of the film showed a hell of a lot of promice, but they did some jokes to death. The biggest running theme is that Inspector Cleausou is paranoid about every room he goes into being bugged or there being someone hiding in the room, spying on them. At one point, he actualy beats the Chief Inspector with a chair because of it. And really, that should have been the end of it. But no, they had to add one final moment of stupidity to the movie.

And a final note, the missing Pink Panther diamond that is so central to the film? If you have eyes in your skull you'll solve that one in the first five minutes or so of the film. Ten if you're not trying.

The Bottom Line
This movie is so idiotic at times that it hurts to watch. Sneak in, watch the cartoon, then go see something better.

Rating
1 for Effort

[caffeineavatar]

What? What have they done to my beloved Pink Panther movies with this remake?

[Prodigal7512]

Firewall

The Good
Scary premise (Losing your identity and your entire freedom/safety/everything in a short period of time), and Paul Bettany pulls off a very scary villain. The supporting cast all pull off pretty believeable performances, and T1000 is in it! How can you go wrong with him present?

The Bad
Too much setup, and a lot of cliches. I mean really cliched. If you've seen any other thrillers (Especially Harrison Ford's, the man who practically created the "action thriller" has so many other ones that are better) you won't be surprised by 3/4ths of the things that happen.


The Bottom Line
This movie is somewhat serviceable, but too much setup and a cliched ending really detract from it. Paul Bettany is really good, and Harrison Ford is believeable, but it just doesn't all click together.

Rating
3 out of 5, not spectacular, but not horrible

[Gi@nT]

Double post, but if the rest of you would review stuff from time to time, that wouldn't be an issue

Ack! I know I've not been meeting my weekly review quota. Will resolve to do better from now on. Will also resolve to try and see better films too (Re: the following review)

Waiting

The Good
Ummm....Well for the ladies there's about a 6 second shot of Ryan Reynolds very nice abs. That's offset by virtually everything that preceeds and follows it....Ummm That's really about it for good.

The Bad
Where do I begin. Well if you've seen the previews you know this one would be pretty crude. That does, in now way do it justice though. This is the crudest, most perverse thing I've ever seen. How they got some of the bigger name stars to do this one I'll never know. Why you say? Well, for one you knew that crude humour + restaurant = nasty human substances added too food, but, while that stuff is sort of dumbed down, I'm honestly considering never eatting out again.

Second, the men of the restaurant like to play a game where they try and surprise one and other with their manhoods. No you don't actually see any full on, but you get a great shot of.... how to say? the beans without the frank It's pretty likely a fake, but nonetheless.

Lastly, a large portion of the film is centered around two of the male characters trying to bed an underage female. Yeah she's "18 in a week" but they take it pretty far and it pushes boundaries fast.


The Bottom Line
The title says it all. I sat through this shite waiting for the funny to begin and the vomit inducing humor to stop. Again

Rating
= 0 That's an hour and a bit of your life you'll always be wanting back.

[Queen of Hearts]

now see I thought waiting was funny (and I just got the dvd)
I wouldn't say it's oscar worthy or anything...but its good...the acting isn't shitty, and they make some funny jokes... Its better than date movie, and scary movie 1,2 and 3 (they are coming out with a 4 this year)...Yeah their are crude parts, but hey...movies like Saw (never seen it, just using an example) have crude parts..just a different kind of crude..

my $0.02

[Solar]

Gi@nT just curious but did you ever work in a resteraunt for an extended period of time (say ... more than 6 months?)

-J

[Gi@nT]

Gi@nT just curious but did you ever work in a resteraunt for an extended period of time (say ... more than 6 months?)

-J

Actually yes, spent about 6 months at a Ricky's and 8 months at an A&W. Oh and I worked at a local microbrewery/pub for 1 day - slicing the tips of two fingers off in a food processor because there's no safety guard and being told to go back to work isn't my idea of fun. Still didn't think Waiting was all that funny, but each to his or her own.

[Solar]

but each to his or her own.

no i agree with that I was just checkin, glad you understand

-J

[Xzarf]

Waiting -- gee Gi@nt a little harsh aren't we? I worked in restaurants for a couple of years and I thought it was pretty funny. I could see a whole lot of my jobs in that movie, the bitchy waitress, the man-whore, the crazy cook, the underage cock-tease greeter, the stupid games that were played to get through the day/night. (obviously that game was a little more extreme than anything we did to pass the time but still funny as hell).
I wouldn't say that the movie was a must see but I did find it funny and there are far worse fims out there.

out of 5

[Gi@nT]

Waiting -- gee Gi@nt a little harsh aren't we?

Maybe, maybe not. As I said, each to his or her own.

Ultimately my problem with the film was that there was no story to it. Yeah it captured some of the fun of restaurant work, but they might as well have saved the bucks on the actors and actresses - many of whom are usually quite funny - and filmed a documentary, finding some way to make it so no one knew what restaurant it was filmed at.

[someguy]

Ultraviolet

The Good
Some extremely cool shots with the camera bouncing around between the reflections in different people's sunglasses. I've never seen anything like it in a movie before. Unfortunately, this effect is only used a few times and only for the first half of the movie.

Also, some random badass people. Unfortunately, the biggest group of badasses gets killed about ten seconds into the movie.

The Bad
Abysmal acting. I know Mila can act because she did in The Fifth Element, but here she was off for most of her scenes. The supporting characters ranged from average (the villain, for example) to abysmal.

Bad special effects. A few special effects shots were great, especially the sunglasses as mentioned above. Some were absolutely horrible, particularly in a chase scene where Violet is on a motorcyle racing around the city. The ending also had the worst special effects I've ever seen in a movie or even a high-budget TV show (though they were minor elements of a wide shot, they really stood out).

Bad dscript, directing, and cinematography. I swear, 50% of this movie is extreme close-ups of Violet's face, and another 10% is close ups of other people's faces. Most of the closeups have a smart-blur type filter on them but not all of them did, making it confusing and inconsistent. The action is shot similarly to Batman Begins - the shot cuts so often it is difficult and annoying to see what's going on. Additionally, most of the fight scenes are offscreen. The plot is pretty bland and uninteresting. Very little actually happens.

Additionally, a lot of things felt too much like Equilibrium. I never thought I'd say that but it's true. The gun-kata stuff was cool but not done as well (I suspect Mila is not as talented as Christian Bale), but there were so many scenes where she ended up in a room surrounded by identically dressed enemies (all holding the same weapon) that it just felt awkward. And as in Equilibrium 95% of the baddies wore gas masks. It also ended in a similar way.

The Bottom Line
Considering that Kurt Wimmer's last film, Equilibrium, is an incredible movie and one of my favorites, I expected Ultraviolet to be at least reasonably good. I was totally wrong. I don't understand how he could have gone from Equilibrium to Ultraviolet. I know the film was too ambitious for its budget, but while that explains the bad special effects, it explains little else. I absolutely cannot recommend this movie for any reason except the sunglasses shots, which are few and certainly do not justify the rest of the film.

Rating

This post has been edited by someguy: 03 March 2006 - 09:29 PM

[Useless Trivia Man]

Oddly enough, I just watched this one last night for the first time...

Equilibrium

The Good

Someone tried to tell me what this movie was about (without giving it away), and all he could come up with was: "It's a cross between 1984 and the Matrix." I'll say the same to you, and tell you to go rent this one as soon as humanly possible.

Grammaton Clerics are the enforcers for a very Orwellian society where it's illegal to have feelings. Art, poetry, and music are all contraband, and just having any of these in your possession is a sense crime. All sense crimes are punishable by death. Christian Bale is outstanding as Preston, one of the best Clerics in the game. Strong supporting performances are given by Sean Bean, Taye Diggs, Emily Watson, and Angus MacFayden.

Gun kata is quite possibly the coolest fighting technique I've seen in the last decade. We're talking jedi cool. Some of that stuff was almost orgasmically awesome.

The Bad

The plot was largely predictable, but there were still enough twists to keep you on your toes. I expected the end to be drawn out a bit longer, but it does work just fine the way it is.

It's definitely a guy movie, but no sex scenes (more's the pity).

I can't come up with anything else bad to say about it.

The Bottom Line

I can't believe this didn't do better in the theaters. Fantastic movie (enough so that I watched it again this morning). I'll be owning this one very soon.

Rating


Five smilies. If you ain't seen this one, get off the computer and run down to the video store right now so you can watch it tonight. You won't be disappointed.