Reviews

The world building really elevated this movie. It felt like there was a tv season's worth of material compressed into a 1.5 hour movie, but it worked, and it worked wonderfully. The world world was well thought-out, everything fit together well.

It's about a private investigator and her robot partner investigating the disappearance of a college student. As we learn more about the case, we also learn about the world this story is set in. This movie is like a perfect showcase for "show, don't tell". There's very little exposition, if any.

It's one of the best sci-fi movies I've watched recently, animated or otherwise. Highly recommended.

It's hard when the movie's main flaw is the main character. Nick is supposed to be this quiet and intense guy, but inconsistencies in both the writing and acting keeps this movie from being great. I like the concept. It's not an all-out action movie, more of a character study with bursts of violence. My kind of movie.

The 50's Osaka setting, the atmosphere, it's good. But the camera work doesn't take full advantage of the setting, and shots could've been better framed, better movement. The small budget shows. The audio mixing was acceptable but not great. In better hands, this movie would've been great. I'm not saying it's terrible, I enjoyed it. There wasn't any part of the movie where I got bored, I was engaged throughout. But at the same time, throughout the movie, I there were points where I was aware of how things could've been better.

I like Netflix doing unconventional stuff. But rather than make a lot of them, give them the budget they deserve to make them great.

A straight up western starring Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffery Dean Morgan, and even Eric Cantona. Danish production, shot in South Africa, it looked convincingly American west. It's very old school in its story, good guy vs bad guy, revenge, gun fights, the whole nine yards. And it's a pretty fine movie too.

Danish guy waits for his wife and son to arrive in America to start new lives, but bad guys are going to spoil their plan. There's no way he's going to let them bad guys go, after toiling for 7 years to start a new life only to see it destroyed as soon as his family arrives. And did I mention he fought wars in the Danish army before he moved to America? Oh yeah, this Dane know how to shoot straight too.

You really do get the feeling that this guy wants no trouble and just wants to get on with his life, but it's trouble that comes looking for him. A lot of new westerns tend to be "different" and avoid the straight up good vs bad revenge trope because it's been done to death during the genre's heyday. But I think it's a good time revisit that trope with today's new talent and technology. The story may be cliché, but everything else feels fresh. The best western I've watched in a long time.

First of all, I haven't read the book, which I heard was good. This movie is more of a social commentary on consumerism, particularity in the advertising industry and how everything is about projecting the right image to make money.

The main story is about two advertising people are attracted to each other, but are they attracted to the image that the other is presenting or the real person behind it? There are some interesting anecdotes on the nature of marketing being presented in the movie, which I find to be the biggest draw of the movie for me. If seen from a "criticism of marketing" point of view, the movie is "deep". There are layers to the characters and story that requires a re-watch to get everything.

Overall, the movie achieves what it set to do. The story moves along at a good pace, there were no boring parts. Amber Heard's acting outshines the other actors. The not-so-big budget of the movie shows at times, but it doesn't interfere it from being a good movie.

Wow. It has been a long time since I've seen a movie this good. The movie tells the story of Roger Brown, a headhunter who also has a side job as an art thief. His latest job goes wrong and things get out of control from there on. If I give any more of the plot, I will spoil the movie for you. And trust me, you don't want that. A big part of what I enjoyed about the movie is watching how crazy things go for Roger.

Apart from the very intelligent story, what really makes the film standout is the character development, especially for the main character Roger Brown played excellently by Aksel Hennie. You start of seeing him one way, but by the end of the movie, your perception of him will definitely change. He goes through a lot (and I mean A LOT) in the movie. While watching the movie I kept thinking, "Man, give this guy a break". The intelligent story has a whole lot of heart as well.

The acting was top notch from the 2 main actors, Aksel Hennie and Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau (who you may know as Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones). Synnøve Macody Lund who play Roger's wife Diana is beautifully good too. I hope she gets more prominent roles after this.

This is one movie you shouldn't miss. There's a Hollywood version in the making but it would be very hard top this original.

Basically, the movie about a pastor who tries to cover up an accident and things get out of control in the process. Overall, the acting was good throughout. A problem I had with this movie was the "comedy music" that plays when there was a "funny" situation going on. I thought they were pushing it too hard on some scenes. In my opinion, it would have still been as funny without the music. And it's a dark comedy, "comedy music" is not needed in dark comedies. Though it's a bit annoying, but not annoying enough to tamper my enjoyment of the movie.

The story is well written with enough twists to keep you guessing, and the metaphors are well done, especially the Christianity themes. If you've seen the movie Four Lions, then this is a Christianity version of it. There's isn't much similarity in story, but it is thematically similar. A good pick for fans of dark comedies.

I watched the movie in 2D. It was decent. All the talk about how amazing the final hour was, it didn't live up to my expectations. There were flashes of brilliance here and there, but it didn't really elevate the whole action sequence.

Story-wise, it is as bad as the previous two movies. Things just happen in the nick of time, coincidences drive the plot, etc. But this time, there are a few twists to make it slightly more interesting.

Comedy-wise, some parts were damn right funny as hell. The jokes that involve robots didn't work, but the wackiness of the new human characters adds to the funny bits. Alan Tudyk is easily the funniest of the bunch.

The action bits featured in the trailer are actually most of the highlights of the action in the movie. Due to the use of 3D cameras in filming the movie, the fast cuts and camera shake that were prevalent in the first two movies are gone. The action is much more discernible. Overall, it is more of the same. If you give this movie a miss, you're not missing much.

Avatar is the first movie I've watched in 3D. The hype is that it is made to be watched in 3D, and the 3D is not some afterthought tacked onto the movie like some other 3D movies. But being this is my first 3D experience, I'm unable compare Avatar's 3D to other movie's 3D, but from what I've seen, it gives a different experience, but not really essential. I have to admit that 3D does add something to the experience of watching the movie, but what it adds just isn't enough for it to be something that will change how people go watch a movie altogether.

Apart from adding something, 3D also takes something away. If you're not used to wearing glasses, then wearing those 3D glasses while watching the movie isn't really "comfortable". You never really forget that you're wearing glasses. The feel of it on your face, and the glass itself gives you a feeling like you're watching a movie through a window. And wearing glasses also makes the movie darker than normal. Some dark scenes become just too dark to see what's happening.

But the CG in Avatar really does push the boundaries of what has been done before. What they've really nailed is the facial expressions on virtual characters. That, they got it almost perfect. But as for the human/humanoid body movement, they've got most of it right, but some if it just isn't that good. But one GC element that they made "their's" bio-luminescence. Nobody has done it, and if they have it was never as good as what is seen here. The CG of mechanical things like vehicles isn't the best of what we've seen. Transformers 2 did a way better job of it than Avatar. And the vehicle and mech designs in the movie seems as if James Cameron is stuck in the 90s. They seem dated.

In the end, what makes a movie isn't the CG, it's the story. And the story in Avatar isn't a very original story. It is about humans trying to exploit the riches of a foreign planet at the expense of the aliens living there. Sure James Cameron did a great job of fleshing out the environment of Pandora, the alien planet, but as to what takes place on the planet, he could've done better. The dialog is very simplistic, but it's not as Star Wars prequel bad. There's nothing "edgy" to the story. It's very straight forward ,feels like it's a story made for a kids movie. There isn't any plot twists that turn things upside down.

So it has beautiful CG, but has a mediocre story. It still can be enjoyable if it has great action. But I'm sad to say that the action does not redeem the movie to enter the "enjoyably fun" category. The final battle is a big one, but I never really got into it. Maybe it's the 3D glasses, maybe it's just the direction, but it didn't work for me. What makes an action scene work is choreography and damage. As for the choreography, there isn't really much opportunity to implement cool choreography in the action scenes as most of the action is organism vs. machine. It's organism vs. orgasm is where choreography can shine. And as for damage, in their effort to keep the movie PG, there is very minimal blood splatter, and the vehicular damage wasn't very dramatic.

So there it is. Avatar. A movie that wanted to change things, and change may very well come if enough studios jump on the bandwagon, but if seen as what it is, a movie, it's just mediocre.

I hated the first Transformers movie. The reason I hated it was because I had very high expectations for the movie. Being a fan of the cartoon series, I expected it to have a somewhat serious tone and a coherent story. The movie could have been so much better in the right hands. I couldn't understand at that time why anyone would enjoy this crappy excuse of a movie. The first movie also lowered my expectations for the sequel, and the all round bad reviews that the second movie got when it was released in theaters didn't help either.

And after watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on DVD, I am surprised to say that I enjoyed the movie a lot. The silly jokes somehow worked for me this time, and the nonsensical story actually made sense to me (at the time i was watching it). Now it's the opposite, I can't understand why people hate this movie so passionately. It's not the greatest movie of all time, but it's a summer action movie that delivers what it advertises.

If you are going to watch this movie at home, make sure you watch it in HD. One regret I had while watching the movie was not getting the Blu-ray version of it. The DVD version just isn't comparable to the Blu-ray version I saw a little of. This movie is made to be watched in HD. The action and and special effects are what I enjoyed most about the movie and it needs to be seen in all its HD glory to truly appreciate it.

They have toned down the use of the "shaky cam" technique compared to the first movie and as a result, the action was more discernible this time. You actually know who's fighting whom most of the time and which limb they are using to beat each other up. Plus, the use of slow motion for "cool" action set pieces helped too.

My advice for anybody that's going to watch Transformers 2 is to turn off your brain, get in mood to see lots of explosions and huge robots fighting each other with some juvenile jokes sprinkled in between. You'll be rewarded with two and a half hours of pure unadulterated fun.

Saying this movie is good would be an understatement. The movie has it all, a very intriguing deep plot, good acting and great action. If I was to find a flaw in this movie, it would be the shaky cam technique employed at the beginning part of the movie and also at the very end. The shaky parts are supposedly documentary clips telling the story of Wikus, the protagonist. But rather than add to the feel of it, the shakiness is just nauseating. They just over did it. But after a while into the movie, they got out of the documentary mode and things couldn't be any better. And the special effects in his movie will have you believing that these aliens are real.

It's better that you go into this movie not knowing the deeper plot as a big part of the movie's entertainment value for me is the parts when things look hopeless and you really feel the despair and hopelessness of the characters. The only thing you need to know going in is that there are aliens stranded on earth and they are put in slums.

This is one of those movies that teases you that it's nearing its end, but inside, you go "No, I want more. It can't end like this", and the movie hears you and gives you more. And it's primed for a great sequel. The potential that this franchise has is just enormous. The way they can expand the story is just limitless and all of them can add to it's lore. This is a classic franchise in the making.

I'm not much of a comic reader and as far as I know before watching, the story was about a bunch of super heroes. After watching, I can say that I enjoyed it a lot. It's not like any other super hero movie. Unlike other super hero movies where the action is the actual star of the movie, Watchmen has it's story and characters to thank for in making it what it is.

Each leading character has dimensions to them. These are not your standard super hero do gooders. The movie manages to portray them as humans with flaws and all. It's amazing how the movie manages to present so much character development for so many characters, and do it so effectively. At the end of the movie, you feel as if you actually understand these characters' motivation and why they became are who they are.

And the movie's "feel" suits the story too. It's very dark story-wise and the cinematography together with the choice of music really contribute a lot in achieving the tone that the movie has. Overall, a very well crafted and original movie that delves into a world where super heroes are very real.

Slumdog Millionaire not one of those movies that gets critical acclaim for it's great acting, or eyeball exploding special effects, or any of those award show categories. It is great because it does what movies do, and does it in an almost perfect way. It takes the everyday Joe's fantasy, put it in film form, and make anybody who watches it live the fantasy, even if just for 2 hours.

Right from the get go the movie pulls you in. It's not one of those slow burning movies. The movie tells about this kid from the slums of India, who goes on the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire gameshow and reaches the final question. They ran out of time before the final question is asked so they have to continue the next day. The police find it hard to believe a slum kid can answer all those questions so they interrogate him and he tells how he got to know the answers. In telling it, he practically tells his life story. And he has been through a lot. So it shows how he knows the answer to the first question from events from he was a kid, up to the answer to the penultimate question from events just moments before being asked the question itself. However, it is rather convenient that in the movie, the events that lead to him knowing the answers to each question in the gameshow is in the same chronological order to the chronology of the questions that are asked on the gameshow. But hey, it's a movie and I'm not complaining.

One of the things that sets this movie apart is how it shows India. This ain't your Bollywood India. It's the slums and how people go about their lives living there. Some scenes are harsh but at the same time, this is not one of those dark and gritty movies either. It actually is a feel good movie. Sure there are some hard reality shown in the movie but overall the movie is overwhelmingly feel good. It's so feel good that you can consider it to be Bollywood in a way. And that's why this movie is almost perfect. Everything was going perfectly in the movie, but how they wrapped it all up in the end seemed too Bollywood for me. Sure it's feel good, and I admit I did feel good, but I prefer my feel good endings have a bit more believability.

But why am I arguing about believability when I'm an everyday Joe and I had an excellent 2 hours. Plus, the music is great too.

I really liked the art style and concept in the movie. But as far as the story goes, it's not very engaging. It lacks the polish that the visuals have. The character art reminds me of the game "Mark of Kri". And the floating lands in which the story takes place is breathtaking.

But the story is just too simple. They try to build it up by making the characters fight bigger dragons each time, but this only works if the fight choreography was actually good or if the characters' dragon fighting skill improves over time, but neither of it was the case.

They tried to make it about character development at times but it was too brief and shallow to have any impact.

Then there's the case of the relationships between the characters. There just isn't enough back story to get the viewer into them. But the little girl's character, Zoe, was too cute not to like. Without her character, the movie wild been much worse.

So overall, the art and the Zoe character was reason enough to see this movie. Kids might not mind the simplistic story, because they are young and haven't watched enough movies to see it as a cliché.

It started out as 28 Days Later, then became Mad Max. After that it turned into Braveheart for a while, then last act was a long advertisement for Bentley in Mad Max style. Overall, it's not bad.

I liked Rhona Mitra's hair in this one. She has that short in the back,long in the front hair that Charlize Theron had in Aeon Flux, but it works better on Rhona Mitra.

The violence and gore was more of a comic relief at times. The movie started out on a very serious tone, the 28 Days Later portion of it gave no hint of the ridiculousness that is to come later in the movie. But when the first Mad Max act started, you know this was going to be one of those ridiculously fun movies.

Worth watching even just to see Rhona Mitra. She needs to do more movies.

Even before the movie was released, this movie had bad publicity. I myself thought this was going to be a crappy movie. From the trailer, it looks as if Mike Myers is recycling his old jokes for this movie.

So after The Love Guru was released, the critics ripped the movie apart, saying Mike Myers is a "has been" and has lost his comedic touch. They complained that he keeps doing the some jokes over and over again in his movies, and they have a point there.

So after watching it, I was surprised at how funny I found it. Sure he rehashes some of his old jokes, but the rehashes worked well in the movie. These jokes worked better in this movie than in his Austin Powers movies. In his Austin Powers movies, he kinds of over-do it with his jokes, it's like "Yeah, I get the joke already", but he keeps banging the joke on your head until it loses its funniness. It seems that he's learned from his mistakes and the jokes are done very well in this movie. He has learned when to stop.

Plus, compared to his previous movies, this movie is heavier on word-play jokes than physical jokes. And I like it like that.

Cloverfield doesn't live up to the hype. They clearly had a sequel in mind when they made this movie. At the end of the movie, I went "That's it?".

It's a love story with the monster as a sideshow. Yes you get to see the monster, but it doesn't even touch on what the monster is, where did it come from, why is it attacking Manhattan, etc. I didn't go to see the movie just to see a monster being hit by missiles, but that's what the movie really is. Who cares about the love story, I want the monster to be the star of the movie, not a bunch of yuppies with relationship problems. I have nothing against sequels but at least make the first movie a complete movie, and not just a jumping point for the real movie. And the camcorder style thing, was okay, it didn't bother me that much, but I prefer normal traditional camera style.

A real disappointment. Not worth my 10 bucks.

I watched it when it first made buzz in 1999. At that time, there wasn't much info about the movie, so I didn't know that it was staged. I seriously thought the movie was a real documentary. The night I watched it, I was at a friend's house a few blocks away, and after watching it, I was too scared to go home.

So, the movie only works if you don't know it's staged. If you're reading this, that means you know it's not real, so most probably you'll find the movie utterly boring. The reason this movie became a classic was because a lot of people didn't know it's not real when they watched it. It's a classic, but not a timeless classic. But for me, this movie will forever remain one the scariest movies I've ever seen.