Jul 6, 2010

MOVIE REVIEWS 18

You know what has always bugged me?  Movie reviews that take a "I'm so much smarter than you" route.  Every movie review I have ever read takes this approach.  They sit there and with a fine tooth comb and condemn every aspect of the movie or they praise the intellectual aspects of this cinematic experience.

Me, I just want a simple review.  Did the movie achieve it's goal.  How was the acting?  Was the script/story any good.  Was the movie entertaining.  Add a positive comment.  Add a negative comment.  Finally make a simple scale and rate that movie accordingly.

It's not asking for much.

Reading a movie review shouldn't have to be a chore.

So let's make that scale

   1.  Punch me in the FACE, because that's gonna be better than this movie.
   2.  I will never watch the movie again
   3.  Did I actually pay to see this?
   4.  I wish I saw it on cable.
   5.  I'll only watch it if its free on cable.
   6.  Can't find the remote...so I guess I'll watch this
   7.  This is better then the other stuff that's on.
   8.  I will watch the movie again
   9.  I CAN'T WAIT to watch the movie again
 10.  This movie WILL be owned, in any form because it's that damn good!!.

Now let's review some movies...


KNIGHT AND DAY
I went in expecting nothing.  I got a romantic comedy with tons of action.  It's like they wanted to make a movie like Jerry Mcguire and then give it Mission Impossible action.  Which it succeeds in doing.  It's not a great movie, but it's fun, sweet, funny and it doesn't leave you feeling like you wasted time or money.

The story is OK, the acting is average, the plot line is pretty standard and there are no "WOW" moments.  This is a movie that is carried entirely by the charm of of the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise.

7/10


SPLICE
I have been itching to see this movie since I saw a trailer for it a year or so ago.  It looked like it was going to be a great sci-fi horror flick.

What I got was a decent Sci-fi movie, that I had already seen.  The special effects were good and so was the acting but the story wasn't solid and the whole movie predictable.  You could actually physically count all of the sci-fi cliches that were evident.  I was completely let down.

3/10


THE LAST AIRBENDER
For those who don't know, this was a cartoon on Nickelodean called Avatar:The Last Airbender, and it was very good.  On Nickelaodean the story had three seasons to tell the story of Aang, Katara, Sokka and Zuko.  Since each season had 20 or so episodes, this made for quite an epic series filled with interesting characters, places and events.  Each of these moments were integral to the story and the characters.  It helped move the story while showing charcter growth.  I am a big fan of the animated series.

However, when you try and squeeze 5 hours of animation (20 episodes) into a 1 hour and 43 minutes, you lose a lot of the things that made the series so special.  They don't have time to develop the emotions, you can't see the personal growth of the characters and it lost a lot of the innocence that really allowed you to connect with the story and the characters.

The special effects were amazing and the actors that were chosen for their specific roles were visually almost perfect.  (Although I did have a complaint with the actor who played Uncle Iroh but that's more of a visual problem, because the actor did a great job in portraying the caring uncle.)  But the story was rushed and felt choppy.  There was no charcter developement.  The whole movie felt forced.  This is a movie that could have greatly benefitted from the 150 minute time limit, but that is not the case.

4/10 and it really pains me to give it such a low rating.


THE TWILIGHT SAGA - ECLIPSE
OK. I have to admit of the three so far this movies pretty good.  Albeit the "does she or doesn't she" gets old pretty quick, this one actually kept my attention.  The story is pretty straight forward with no real surprises.  There are some action sequences, some foreshadowing, some teen romance, some verbal tete a tete and the gratuitous "funny" moments.  The special effects are quite stunning and again not over done.  Many of the characters finally get some back stories.  And for once, this didn't feel like a chapter.  It actually felt like a stand alone movie, and for the most part it is.  It actually does quite a good job of referencing a lot of information from the first two movies, without the need to see them, because the references themselves are self explanatory.

Overall I actually enjoyed this movie.

8/10