Brief reviews of movies you saw recently

[CrustClock]

[imdb]Hollow Man 2[/imdb]

I'll admit it, I took a guilty pleasure in watching the original "Hollow Man". It was full of Verhoeven's trademark fast-paced storylines and big, dumb special effects, not a film without it's flaws but nevertheless still very entertaining. The sequel, directed by Claudio Fäh, tries to be suspenseful with an engaging plotline but for me it just came off as a shoddy cash-in of the original with none of it's charm.

For a start, the main character is a jackass. You can't stand the guy. Instead of keeping his big nose out of this big invisible-man conspiracy he decides that he 'must find out the truth!' The killer has literally no interest in him so why does his decide that it's his duty to 'get to the bottom' of it? The only reason given is that his partner gets killed by the invisible killer (played by Christian Slater) and somehow this is a good enough reason to try and track him down to avenge her death apparently (despite being thrown off the case).

The dialogue is awfully hammy and badly thought out. The pace is very slow, the whole movie just seems to be "run away from the killer while he kills inconsequential characters every now and again". You feel nothing for the characters. I wasn't at all interested in whether any of them lived or died, watching this movie was a tiresome chore.

1/10 - Don't watch this. Watch the original instead.

[Losperman]

So many movies, so little time...

Night at the Museum - 8/10

I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. It reminded me a lot of Jumanji and Zathura, which is not a bad thing since it wasn't a blatant rip off. I especially liked the Brokeback Mountain joke, but apparently no one in the theater had seen that movie or gotten the joke because I was the only one laughing.

Little Miss Sunshine - 8/10

I'm almost positive that if I watched this movie again it would be funnier. I think it's one of those films you have to see a few times to really appreciate. But it was hilarious the first time. I love the characters, especially Steve Carell and the grandpa.

Zathura - 5/10

I liked this movie for the most part. Yes, it was basically Jumanji in space. That's what kept bugging me. But it still had some merit on it's own. Humor for kids and adults. Ok movie.

And a bunch of other movies that I can't remember at the moment.

[Topcatyo]

Night At the Museum - S'alright

I don't know why my dad wanted to see it so much, but we went.
It was alright.  One of those flicks you'd watch on a Saturday if you're at a relative's house with nothing to do.

Oh, and is it me, or does this guy look exactly like Eli Vance from Half-Life 2?  I'm talking about the face.

Also, the one short security guard who constantly insulted Larry reminded me of Billy or whatever his name was from The Ringer.
"You scratched my CD you know."
They sound kind of the same when they talk.

[StrangeClock]

Superman Returns

Much better than I expected! The whole thing gave me a good feeling, a movie that seemed fair to the audience, and very respectful and loving towards the original movie(s). The plot mostly managed to tiptoe along the backstory, kind of leaving it up in the air which of the many Superman adaptations serves as origin here, which I liked. Most of the little jokes in the movie ("Wlois Wlane!") made me laugh (except for the ones already shown in the trailer), Jimmy Olsen managed to be funny rather than annoying for me. Kevin Spacey fullfilled if not exceeded my expectations as Lex Luthor, and Brandon Routh makes a mighty fine Supes (it helps that I can't remember seeing him any other role before this). Only problem was that the plot felt slightly unresolved because Luthor technically got away.

[LeekClock]

[IMDB]Me and You and Everyone We Know[/IMDB]

Haven't enjoyed a film so much in a long time! It's a charming, philosophical, and beautifully crafted film. I think Clocks will be able to appreciate the daring humour and social observations.

It's provocative. It gives you a lot to think about, but every aspect of the story fits together so well that you don't feel like the scenes are just disjointed ideas used to provoke a certain response. There are messages to be interpreted... but it's not a pretentious, thematic free-for-all.

That's down to great writing and directing by this new director, Miranda July, who also stars in the film. She had experience doing lots of dialogue-heavy short films, so the dialogue and situations are always interesting.










AND
The DVD is great, too. It's got a great interview with the director, in which she talks all about the process of making the movie, and how it was for her as a first time director of a feature film. She talks about the writing, the funding, the actors... all the interesting aspects of the film that you will have probably been pondering about while watching the movie. And she's beautiful.

The DVD also has some behind the scenes footage and cast interviews.

[Topcatyo]

Being John Malkovitch - Fucking weird

I start off the new year with this movie, and boy was it weird.
But, I'll go in-depth about the movie.

Malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch.

Malkovitch.

Anyway, the movie was weird, from the 7 1/2 floor (which is read on the floor plan 7 1/2 minutes into the movie), to the puppets, to the being in John Malkovitch part, to the end.  It's weird.
It's the only movie that confused the hell out of me while I knew what was going on.

[DigitalLemonClock]

the Departed: yeah it's nicely put together, yeah the story is pretty interesting but the movie doesn't invest enough into the characters to make you care for them squirming endlessly around eachother babbling about rats and rodents.

Little Miss Sunshine: put a bunch of annoying depressed character in a car and ride them over a track of dissapointment and fucking ridiculous interaction and you have a predictable, ugly film which you want to turn off

Children of Men: even though this film didn't leave me with a feeling of awesome, or even that of a good film, it does get credit for breaking with a lot of conventions and giving a pretty interesting future. That is not to say it wasn't boring at times and was still pretty predictable.

Brick: This movie I enjoyed, but I can't help but wonder if it couldn't have been more than a high school noire detective, but points for good effort.

Clerks II: the characters have been for some time tiresome and trivial, and the new characters have even less dimension. Add to that the worthless humor and you're not off to a very good start. What it did have was a revisitation on themes from the first movie, which I understand can be to big fans of first films reason enough to forget this movie's bad aspects, but not to me.

Miami Vice & the Island: what the fuck why did i watch these

[Slurpee]

Black Christmas (2006) - 3 out of whatever.
I think, in the absense of entertainment, my brain begins searching for some, because I found myself laughing when nothing was funny. Like when the guy's eyes kept appearing in the bathroom floor. It was like 'wtf is he doing looking lmao'
Hate this dumb movie.

[AdrenalineClock]

the Departed: yeah it's nicely put together, yeah the story is pretty interesting but the movie doesn't invest enough into the characters to make you care for them squirming endlessly around eachother babbling about rats and rodents.

Little Miss Sunshine: put a bunch of annoying depressed character in a car and ride them over a track of dissapointment and fucking ridiculous interaction and you have a predictable, ugly film which you want to turn off

Wow, in one post you insured I'll never take your word for anything for the rest of time.

[Hate Clock]

Black Christmas (2006) - 3 out of whatever.
I think, in the absense of entertainment, my brain begins searching for some, because I found myself laughing when nothing was funny. Like when the guy's eyes kept appearing in the bathroom floor. It was like 'wtf is he doing looking lmao'
Hate this dumb movie.

I had a nightmare about going to see this movie, but instead of the plot that it was supposed to have it was "Stay Alive," which I actually saw.  The whole nightmare revolved around me being afraid to go see the movie because I didn't want to get nightmares from it.  Wacky.

[DigitalLemonClock]

Wow, in one post you insured I'll never take your word for anything for the rest of time.

that´s a mean thing to say without any sort of argument

i couldnt find a post from you about the departed so i´ll just go from your Little Miss Sunshine one:

I saw Little Miss Sunshine, I won't rate it because that seems more and more pointless, but it was very good. Very funny characters and dialogue, and despite the dark humor it was still a nice movie with people you cared for and it makes you appreciate family.

Ok so why was it funny to you? Maybe if you haven't seen any of the hundreds of dark tales of suburban life, the horrible stereotyping of the famiy members, the blatant hollowness of such a staged combination of people, only existing because it makes for easy recognizable drama that people can relate with and the easy humor that is associated with it.

Hello I am the teenage boy and i am a misunderstood pseudo-intellectual. Ask me about my whacky and outragious philosophical views!

Hello I am the elderly character and im totally wild and full of life! I live by forune cookie life lessons and am supposed to be funny because im counter-intuitive for no reason!

Hello I am the mother character, I am stressed out and disillusionate about the future! I also have recognizable motherly and wife traits!

Hello I am the Dad character, I am a failure and only exist to either restrain or force the other characters! Also HAHAHA BELIEVE IN THE PLAN!!!

Hello I am the homosexual uncle played by funny guy #167, I am here to fill the stereotype gaps in the other characters

Hello I am the little girl who is here to embody the spirit of the film and contribute nothing

Together we are the a predictable cast to a predictable movie, trying to transcend a genre that never should have existed! The bastard child of confused and pretentious people.

Seriously tell me how this film is good.

[LeekClock]

[imdb]Me and You and Everyone We Know[/imdb]

Haven't enjoyed a film so much in a long time! It's a charming, philosophical, and beautifully crafted film. I think Clocks will be able to appreciate the daring humour and social observations.

It's provocative. It gives you a lot to think about, but every aspect of the story fits together so well that you don't feel like the scenes are just disjointed ideas used to provoke a certain response. There are messages to be interpreted... but it's not a pretentious, thematic free-for-all.

That's down to great writing and directing by this new director, Miranda July, who also stars in the film. She had experience doing lots of dialogue-heavy short films, so the dialogue and situations are always interesting.










AND
The DVD is great, too. It's got a great interview with the director, in which she talks all about the process of making the movie, and how it was for her as a first time director of a feature film. She talks about the writing, the funding, the actors... all the interesting aspects of the film that you will have probably been pondering about while watching the movie. And she's beautiful.

The DVD also has some behind the scenes footage and cast interviews.

By the way, this is the film that the clip in my signature is taken from. I had quite a few people inquire as to what movie my signature clip was from.

[AdrenalineClock]

misguided fun

Wasn't aware of the plethora of gay uncle characters. pChya right.

Anyway, yes, the characters weren't hyper-original, but that doesn't stop the execution from being good.  The movie is filled top-to-bottom with great, funny exchanges and dialogue, and absurd situations, such as the theft of the dead body, which I didn't predict, although you apparently did.  It had its own sense of unique, awkward interactions between characters that don't quite mix right and presented dozens of darkly humorous moments.  It was funny as hell throughout, and like I already said, still managed to make you feel nice inside.  If you can't get past familiar character types (Uptight dads and stressed moms aren't very common to see in real life and used often in movies for a good reason, right?), then so be it.

[DigitalLemonClock]

Wasn't aware of the plethora of gay uncle characters. pChya right.

Anyway, yes, the characters weren't hyper-original, but that doesn't stop the execution from being good.  The movie is filled top-to-bottom with great, funny exchanges and dialogue, and absurd situations, such as the theft of the dead body, which I didn't predict, although you apparently did.  It had its own sense of unique, awkward interactions between characters that don't quite mix right and presented dozens of darkly humorous moments.  It was funny as hell throughout, and like I already said, still managed to make you feel nice inside.  If you can't get past familiar character types (Uptight dads and stressed moms aren't very common to see in real life and used often in movies for a good reason, right?), then so be it.

Haha yes because gay characters played by comedians are normally included because they add such range and depth to a movie, not to simply have a few hahah gay jokes.

When you have cheap, unoriginal characters, the only interaction between them that you will see is cheap and unoriginal. I don´t see what´s good about the dialogue, it doesn´t mean anything, it doesn´t add anything, it´s predictable and worst of all it doesn´t have any comedic timing.

Grandpa: "Are you listening kid? Fuck a lot of women! You hear me? fuck a lot of women!"
This is just trying to shock people into a few laughs
Little girl: "What are you guys talking about?"
Grandpa: "Politics"
A cheap, poorly delivered gag, without any sort of meaning whatsoever

So much for the diagogue

All it has left beyond that is the absurdities which again are executed poorly and without any originality. I've seen at least 5 movies that have dealt with the taking of bodies as some sort of hilarious situation, where the Big Lebowski was the only one where it added anything to the film.

I might not have seen it coming per se, because how exactly do you see random absurdities coming, but it isn´t anything i hadn´t seeb before.

[AdrenalineClock]

The politics thing wasn't really a joke, he was just getting her to put her headphones back on...

Look, you're not going to convince me that movie wasn't funny.  If you didn't like it, that's fine, I'm just saying I will never see your opinion as any sort of factor when it comes to anything.

[DigitalLemonClock]

The politics thing wasn't really a joke, he was just getting her to put her headphones back on...

Look, you're not going to convince me that movie wasn't funny.  If you didn't like it, that's fine, I'm just saying I will never see your opinion as any sort of factor when it comes to anything.

wow

ok have fun with your opinion

[Hate Clock]

Digital Lemon Clock is obviously right because most critics agree with him!

Oh.

[DigitalLemonClock]

Digital Lemon Clock is obviously right because most critics agree with him!

Oh.

you're either clueless or you have a weird sense of humor

[Poltergeist]

Just came in this thread. Little miss Sunshine was a great movie, and if you cannot see that in it, then I advise you to see Night at the Museum.

All it has left beyond that is the absurdities which again are executed poorly and without any originality. I've seen at least 5 movies that have dealt with the taking of bodies as some sort of hilarious situation, where the Big Lebowski was the only one where it added anything to the film.

OH NO! A joke in a movie has been done before!

OH WAIT.

Surely EVERY joke has been done before? If thats your logic then you probably hated Blues Brothers or Groundhog day.

[DigitalLemonClock]

OH NO! A joke in a movie has been done before!

OH WAIT.

Surely EVERY joke has been done before? If thats your logic then you probably hated Blues Brothers or Groundhog day.

Look how stupid you are

Why reply if you cannot even comprehend my fucking post