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yjbus
Reviews
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
confused by the hatred
i came into this movie not expecting much after reading all the hatred and i honestly was blown away by both the movie and confusion at the negativity towards it.
i agree that this movie painted a somewhat favorable light towards torture, but it never really once crossed my mind until i read the negative reviews based on it. i'm sorry, but to flat out dislike a movie based on your political/philosophical views probably means you shouldn't be writing a review in the first place.
people also complain about the slowness of the movie. i honestly was riveted by it, from the first minute to the last. every single scene looked to create tension, drama, and purpose towards the goal of catching osama. how is that boring exactly? if anything, i felt the director was too shallow in that the movie seemed to favor over-dramatizing and simplification of the movie in favor of entertainment value; it was too entertaining if anything. i wouldn't have minded a more complex, subtle, and intelligent plot development.
as far as character development goes, i agree that there wasn't much of it, but again i didn't even care until i read the negative reviews about it. i'm confused, because i thought this was a movie about the capture of osama bin laden, not shawshank redemption. the editing, characters, and pacing were very sharp and deliberate and they were supposed to be like that for the purposes of the movie and the content. the lack of character development in favor of a relentless pace and focus towards one singular goal to me 'was' the movie and i loved it for it.
honestly, i'm dumbfounded by the negative reviews. i didn't want to like this movie. i was tired that night and i'm getting old and fall asleep frequently in movie theaters. this movie earned my attention and i was on the edge of my seat until the end credits. i've watched all the major movies this year and this is, in my opinion, the best film of the year.
Sinister (2012)
falls short.
in a truly great scary movie, you are simply immersed within it, and hopefully terrified by it.
when a scary movie goes bad, you can actually 'feel' the 'ideas' and 'tactics' being employed upon you. 'scary' scenes falter in execution and horror all of a sudden becomes comical and laughable.
this movie falls into the later.
ethan hawke gives his usual solid performance and the story itself i found to be more than satisfactory.
the problem, like with most modern scary movies nowadays, is in the rigid and straight forward concept and lack of execution.
i just don't get why scary movies are made in a story, story, sudden lough noise, story, story, scary scene, etc. type of format.
this puts so much pressure on the quality of the scary scenes when they do come, and more often than not they fail to deliver.
the first scene, in which the son rises out of the box with a "SCARY" face was laughable. and all throughout the movie, there were scary scenes which the entire theater were laughing at.
the scene where all the kids were running in slow motion did absolutely nothing for me other than get a 'ummmmm, OK?' reaction from me.
if you want to watch a good modern scary movie, watch 'the woman in black.' now that is a very well put together and conceptualized movie.
this movie plays it safe and fails to deliver scene after scene. skip this one.
Seven Psychopaths (2012)
just. not. good...
the premise and concept of the movie is very original. i will give it that much.
but, originality is no where near enough to carry a movie. you need actual substance and entertainment value, and i frankly found none of that while watching this.
i went into this hoping for a slick, fast paced, intelligent movie, but really just watched a concept gorge on itself over and over and over with constant winking at the camera like, isn't this movie so clever? Isn't IT?!!!! the writing was NOT witty or intelligent, it was at sitcom level. quoting a line from near the end of the movie, "...i don't think fags like to be called that anymore, i think they prefer homos...." cue laugh track hahahahahaha. no... just no. funny how that line could have most likely been taken straight from the sitcom two broke girls.
the action scenes were more of an after thought and just a necessity to fulfill the psycho premise and to once again drum the idea that THIS IS AN AMAZINGLY CLEVER CONCEPT. LOVE ME! the acting was solid and i really feel this same movie, with better writing and directing could have been an instant classic.
instead, we just got an entire film of an idea and no movie. i would have rather had a crappy idea and a great movie.
Devil (2010)
damn, wheres the remote?
this movie reminded me of a quality movie from the "after dark horror fest" line.
i felt like i just happened to land on the 'chiller' channel on TV. the problem with this movie, though, is that you can't change the channel to lets say, Andrew Zimmern and watch him eat some weird looking critters, which i would have found a lot more engaging.
where this movie ultimately fails, like all of M. Night Shymalan's movies since the 6th sense, is in the details, or to be more clear, in how M. Night handles those details.
somewhere around the 187th compliment given to M. Night Shyamalan for making the 6th sense, his conceptual vision for movie making changed.
he went from a dry, subtle, 'less is more' concept of making movies to an obvious, 'more is more' concept of making movies.
he exploits and over dramatizes details like i've never seen before.
i bet he could make an entire movie based on making and eating cereal. to be honest, hes great at building tension and establishing an environment.
but that is what i feel now whenever i watch his movies: i feel like im watching someone eat a bowl of cereal, but because there's dramatic music in the background and because of the rhetorical nature of movies and M. Night's ability to build tension, that i'm supposed to care about someone eating cereal.
but i don't care, and for the most part, no one really does either.
drop some pizza on the floor anyone? throw some water on aliens anyone? throw even more water on super heroes anyone? mix up the roll of the symbologists/person awesome at crossword puzzles anyone?
BUM BUM BUM!!! OK? that's it? instead of creating dramatic moments, he creates awkward ones and alienates the viewer from the movie.
conceptually, he is so out of touch with the art of movie making and the ability to recognize quality.
he forgot that substance is just as important as style.