Reviews

The story is kind of interesting but seems to be trying too hard to channel Stephen King. The characters look like they are all from a music video. The lines are mostly cringe-worthy the dialog and background are paper thin. The whole thing is played as a farce -. The bad guys are laughable - like some home version of Mad Max. Their leader looks like someone off the daytime soap operas - and acts the same way. The acting is bad, really bad - and that includes from some well known actors - like Randy Quaid and Charlie Sheen. T. There really isn't much here to warrant watching this besides to see Randy, Charlie, and Sherilynn in early roles - oh yeah Ron Howard's brother is probably the best actor here although his character is more like a mad scientist than some gang-member.

Mads is always entertaining to watch but this movies tries to hard to hip. (Spoilers) I have no idea if it's true to the Comic or not but it is over-the-top in terms of style. Think Gotham on steroids and with a hard R rating - with Mads as a grown up Batman. It's hyper violent but done in a comic style. The bad guys here are a bunch of clowns (yes almost dressed like clowns too) who blast their way across the country without regards to collateral damage in pursuit of Mads. They each have their specialty but the viewer mostly just can't wait for them to be killed. The whole crime syndicate comes off like a bunch of murderous fashion designers. The movie has some nice stylistic touches but overall the good work by an aging Mads can't elevate this above an average action flick.

This was basically Infinity Wars lite. Your head will spin with the borrowed ideas: the power supply boxes (uh Infinity stones), the demon creatures ala Avengers, Steppenwolf and Mom instead of Thanos, The Amazons, Greek gods, the Atlantis legends, elements of Norse mythology, the back story cum universe here is a complete mess. Still, the main characters are likable and the action is entertaining anyway. The Flash provides the comic relief and there a couple of genuinely funny moments. It could have been much more but hey it also could have fallen completely flat.

I was around in the 80s but (fortunately) somehow missed this piece of tripe. Oh, John Lithgow is good and the acting is decent if stereotyped but the overall impression seems far, far from what the Director/Writer intended. Others have summarized the plot holes and premise issues although I could probably add that the whimsical soundtrack to the building of an atomic bomb as one more disjointed facet. However, the biggest problem with this movie for me was that it glorified a kid who did something incredibly stupid as a form of protest. In a world of terrorist acts,and school shootings every couple of months, all I could think of was how we are supposed to identify with this kid who seems to have more in common with those who run away to join IS or try to blow up their school to make some kind of point.

I have always like westerns and would consider this one a must-see. It's quite dated in places with many of it's attitudes rooted in the 1950s and some really laughable dialog. But it's moral stance and it comments on society's treatment of it's poor, it's minorities, it's women, hits you like a slap to the face. It's always a pleasure to watch Yul Brenner at work and he really carries this movie. George Segal is okay as his presumed antagonist but the real bad guy(s) in this movie are not so easily identified. I was stunned to see how much of the plot of this movie influenced one of my favorite Westerns of all time - High Plains Drifter. The resemblance is uncanny - of course HPD does it better but still I have to recommend this to anyone who likes Westerns.

Anyone who thinks nice guys finish last should watch this. A documentary shot over several years while two West Coast neoRetro (?) 60s style 90's bands the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre. The Warhols are a great band made up of a great group of people with hardly a negative word to say about anyone including their record company. Contrast that with their one-time "friend" Anton of the Brian Jonestown Massacre who thinks himself above everyone else on earth. By the end of this I could barely stand to watch Anton on screen while Courtney Taylor was pure joy to see, talk, play, perform. It is awesome to hear observations on the business and their hopes and dreams while they are busting their butts to make a hit record. Meanwhile from Anton we get envy, jealousy, and bitterness. Not sure if the Director buys into the whole Anton-as-a-genius routine but this viewer is certainly not.

I finally watched this "Classic" earlier this week. I made it all the way through which is saying something given my short attention span. Although it was defiantly enjoyable, (certainly compared to some other classics) I found parts quite parochial. For example, why does Sir freak when he finds burning tampons - was knowledge of menses and it's accessories not well known? Sir resorts to calling his girls behavior slutty on several occasions, and Sir tells his students no one wants a girl who has been used or something like that. Sir leads by example - which is good but somehow his students behavior does not seem quite so menacing compared with today or even the 80s (think of the Students behavior in "The Substitute"). Also it seems quite unrealistic that the hardest case to win over (Denham) is suddenly converted by letting him beat up on Sir. Well the 60s music, dress, slang, dancing was all very interesting to see and the acting was mostly quite good.

I am going to go against the prevailing sentiment and judge this movie "not good". Performances are mostly strong (not sure I feel that way about Patrick Stewart) but the plot is convoluted and choppy, hard to follow, and the ultimate ending is massively disappointing. It starts well enough with previous characters having fallen on hard times but like the 2013 Wolverine movie it descends into an utterly ridiculous plot which i'm not sure I can even describe here - suffice it to say (SPOILERS) that the last 1/3 is like watching MadMax Beyond Thunderdome with kids living in a treehouse before trying to make it across the border (Canadian) to a rumored Eden. It is hyper violent which would not be a problem except the movie introduces lots of sympathetic characters - kids (lots), families, maternal types, then kills most of them in disturbing ways with little rhyme or reason. We once again get an endless supply of gov't mercenaries as the meaningless bad guys then kill them one by one with lots of killing being done by a banshee-like screaming child. I wanted to turn it off but I was already an hour and 45 minutes in and thought I would finish it - not a good decision.

This is a strange movie - almost documentary-like with actors recreating scenes from the book and that talk to camera/4th wall technique of stopping the action and talking directly to the audience about scenes, background or complex terms. I have never before seen something quite like it before with a great ensemble cast of A list actors combined with new faces. The whole thing is done with a great deal of humor - in almost every scene - practically to the point of satire. I thought the movie did a good job of explaining a complex topic, suggesting those responsible while still leaving those final conclusions up to the viewer.

This movie was dark, really dark. It got to be so hard to watch that an hour into it I just wanted it to end. At least it stayed true to form and did not have any sappy Hollywood ending.

It did have a good premise, a decent cast, and an atmospheric setting as well as a suitably creepy antagonists (i.e. Vampires). It even had some truly suspenseful moments. So what's wrong ? Well lots,

Josh Hartnett cannot lead a movie - his acting range is just too limited. it is almost laughable when he tries to emote. the plot had huge holes and moments of jaw dropping incredulity Spoilers (stop here if you really want to watch this movie) a guy blows himself up to prevent from getting eaten, then a moment later he emerges alive only to have his head crushed by a vampire foot. * the vampires were like extremists - killing randomly, indiscriminately, needlessly, and sadistically toying with their victims all for effect. This was completely unnecessary since they looked the part and were supposedly there to feed but let their food (blood) drain into the snow. This movie was as gory as any in recent memory - multiple beheadings, kid vampires eating their mothers, bodies and limbs torn apart, bodies thrown into a shredder, slow breaking bones. Again this was unnecessary to support the plot or storyline. It was as if the director wanted to make the audience uncomfortable (he succeed).

The ending was ridiculous and completely over the top. After hiding out for 29.5 days of the dark month we get to have a wild west showdown in the town while our hero goes toe to toe with the vampire leader.

really beyond atmosphere this movies has very few redeeming qualities. You are left questioning how you could have better spent the previous two hours.

This movie barely makes it over the bar of acceptability and overall is a big disappointment given the promising concept. Will smith is his usual character (think - Independence Day, I Robot, Hitch, etc.) Really, you have seen all this before (SPOILER ALERT). The world population has been decimated by a virus (Resident Evil) and now mutated humans are all thats left and attacking the survivor (Mr Smith) - again - Resident Evil, All the Night, Dawn, Day ____ of the Dead, movies etc. Mr Smith does okay but there are some curious plot lines - this senior Military officer who is cool under pressure and apparently watched his family die along with most of the rest of the earth's population systematically tries to find a cure but when his dog is infected he apparently can't take any more and goes suicidal. The CGI created besties are overkill (pardon the pun) and are also cinematic retreads with insatiable appetites and Spiderman-like capabilities to scale walls, the speed and agility of a cheetah and strength enough to break down steel walls - again think Jason, Michael Meyers, Resident Evil, etc. Even the Zombie dogs are a big knockoff - Resident Evil. Blame the script, there is nothing new or original here and even some of the pacing is uneven with a slow start then a overly rapid (and undramatic) ending. if you really like this type of movie do yourself a favor and go look up the original - The Omega Man - although dated it is more more developed effort at dealing with these themes.

I enjoyed this movie (I would probably give it a 7) but there were too many long slow streches. In a nutshell the movie is about lonliness and isolation for two different americans who find themselves together in Japan for a week or so.

What I liked was the way that the director very accurately captures the feeling of being is a foreign land (very foreign Japan in this case) and pours on top of that the personal isolation of two people who have drifted apart in their personal relationships. Both Murry and Johannsen were good in their lonely roles.

What I didn't like was that the movies was almost entirely devoid of dialog (yes this does help the mood somewhat but makes the movie too boring) and despite the comic potential is seemed as if the comic scenes were excised from the final product (as another commenter noted). This leaves the overall product original but weak.

One additional remark - No Way (!) this movie deserves best anything. It is neither best picture nor best actor (just Murry being Murry) nor any other category I can mention. It barely rises above the mediocre.

This movie, while typically Japanese in some respects, was like watching some serious social commentary in action. Like an Oliver Stone movie (Natural Born Killers comes to mind) it makes a serious statement about the decay of our modern society and those of us living in it-"Society Made Me Do It". It confesses a sense of powerlessness in a futile struggle against an oppresive system (like Japan's) and it expresses it in the most shocking way possible by portraying the wanton waste of the most innocent members of a middle school. It lays open the school system and uses it as an analogy for the greater country. It even examines the intense social pressure faced by teenagers. Sure some of it was ridiculous but it was all played out so sincerly that it was completely engrossing (at least for me). Films like this don't get made in Hollywood, they dont get financed by HBO Pictures; hell they don't even get the usual Indie backing or distribution. That I got to see this at all is an achievement of modern technology (I saw it ranked here and downloaded it from Kazaa). This movie has a little bit of everything - innocence (and innocence lost),romance, chase scenes, sacrafice, gratuitous murder, evil adults and some final resolution (like many Japanese action films alot of people die first).

See it if you want to be shocked, if you want to be challenged, if you are mentally prepared for over-the-top mayhem.