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integr8d
Reviews
Extinction (2018)
Characters who don't understand the concept of silence and guys in rubber suits...
It reminds me of Steven's 'War of the Worlds' in that the idea of remaining silent, when a terrifying creature is in your direct proximity, completely escapes people. So it's mildly infuriating (rationalize that) to try to get into the story only to be pulled out by characters who full-on TALK when the creature is right on the other side of the door.
And then the guys in rubber suits who came via interstellar travel but seem to shoot projectile weapons? That's where their technology stopped???
Maybe I'm too old or maybe Ridley and Cameron set expectations a little too high. But as far as I can tell, this ain't the one...
Welcome to Sweden (2014)
Jam-packed with the liberal agenda!!!
Though fairly libertarian myself, if you fancy yourself a liberal and need/want your political, social and economic views validated with every other line of a TV show, honey, you've come home.
I just watched an episode that deals with female priests, the tradition of fathers walking their daughters down the isle being verboten because of what it symbolizes, a higher power largely not being believed in, the death penalty and so many other cat nip issues it was hard to keep track.
That it was an NBC show is not surprising in the least.
So if you want to stream a series that's 'cute' and are either largely decided in your views or insensitive / incognizant of the fact that ideology is being shoveled into your brain hole, this is a humor'ish way to pass the time.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)
Could there be any more of an agenda?
Presented today, I have the underlying agenda for every Hollywood movie for the next tens years. Put simply, if the movie doesn't touch on the environment or 'going green', it simply won't make the cut... Ever wonder how the Xenomorphs from Alien/Aliens came about? They were once peaceful unicorns that lived on a lush and beautiful planet. But due to the evil Earth's noxious atmosphere (of course, the fault of the people living on it), having made its way 200 light years to the peaceful unicorn's home planet, over a millennia the unicorns eventually mutated into the acid-for-blood beasties we all know and love. Acid rain? Acid-for-blood? Starting to see where this is going? And that's what we have in The Day The Earth Stood Still. More of the same green agenda that permeates every second of our lives.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Not so much...
Left the movie feeling bad... I'm turning 30, on Monday. That, alone, is a shock. Mixing that reality with this movie made it even worse. Don't get me wrong. I love Harrison and Steven and their movies. But this one just made me sad.
In one of the opening scenes, the one with Indy's first dialogue, Kaminski's lighting was horrible. I was thinking, "There's no way the whole movie is shot like this." And then came Indy's lines. They sounded like a really bad ADR session. Almost like Harrison had his voice box removed, no one told the public -like it's our business anyway, and then used some guy off the street to voice Indy. I was just shaking my head and thinking, really thinking, that it was all a bad dream.
Harrison did start to sound like himself. But half of the movie was about 'how much older everyone was'. Like we didn't notice. Like we wanted to be reminded... Yes, action was there. More than enough. But the movie didn't have the charm of the older ones.
And, I guess, this is where we, who remember the originals, turn into our grandparents, with all their 'they just don't make em' like they used too's.
Strange times, these are.
Inside Man (2006)
Haven't seen too many Spike films. But I'm sure he's done better...
Overall, I would've rather spent the time watching something else. I really enjoy watching Denzel do his thing in front of the camera. But he didn't have the magic like I saw in Man on Fire. Maybe it wasn't him. Possibly, it was direction. I could really see him being left to figure out this character on his own. That's all well and good. He has his trademark style. And it does work. I think Tony was able to bring something extra out in him though. I felt like Jodi was there to give her lines and pick up a check. I love Chris Plummer. But I found him far more entertaining as a Klingon... Storywise, I thought it was good. The edit though just had it jumping back and forth. And ultimately, I felt that the cut was the biggest let down... Plot holes abound, anyone could easily infer what was missing... Music? I was confused. Where was Sean? I kept feeling like I was supposed to be watching a James Bond film. Listen to it again. Straight out of a Bond flick, w/ the exception of the occasional gangster tones and brass. Either way, the images didn't live up to the grandeur of the soundtrack... Technically, it was okay. I felt like the cameraman was playing around w/ too many looks. They were nice. But they were never consistent. Too many buzzed shots. Sound and post audio were fine. The transfer looked fine. Art was great.
All in all, just not my movie. Plenty of people liked it. And that must mean that the film hit its mark. But all movies aren't made for all people.
Just my two cents.