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Reviews
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Not as good as Raiders but Better than Temple
I know I heard a lot of negative feedback do to the nature of what Indy is involved with in this adventure, instead of a historic religious artifact such as the Ark or the Holy Grale, this involves (spoiler).......................some alien like influence.
I can go with the period this was set in, the 1950's, during that time aliens and UFO fever was high, the McCarthy era where everyone was a commie traitor, and low anyone be accused of being a red and the Roswell crash, which is all in the movie, a lot is focused on the Crystal Skull (not the actual one), which some have said was carved by aliens, along with other alien theories such as the Aztecs,Myans and Egytians being so close in their culture, pyramids etc, that some believe was aliens at work, also the famous Nazca lines. All these factor into the film, and of course Indy being a scientist and a archaeologist looks at this not as aliens but as human artifacts as scientist do, even with proof mounting about the origins, he still doesn't buy it and this comes off well in the movie as how Indy would react.
I also enjoyed seeing Indy post WW2, we only caught a glimpse of this in the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, where Harrison Ford made a cameo in a episode, which by the cars, took place sometime in the 1950's as well, also a reference to the series was made in the movie where Indy learned the language, he told Mutt he was kidnapped by Pancho Villa, which was the first episode of the series. And this featured the return of Marion Ravenwood, who most thought was the best of the Indys girls in the trilogy.
All in all this was a good Indy outing in my opinion, and a good send off for the character, you can get the sense that Indy is on the verge of retirement from the adventuring, and the conclusion to his story, a good summer film.
Superman: Doomsday (2007)
A more adult animated Superman, but lacks depth
If your not a comic fan, you might like this better than someone familiar with the Doomsday (Superman dies) storyline, a lot of things are missing from the comics, namely it seems that Superman is the only hero on Earth in this animated movie, no Justice League or any other hero, maybe due to licensing rights, odd since this is put out by WB who owns DC comics, so not sure how any licensing problems would occur.
The animation is so so, I liked the animated Justice League better, the animation seems hodge podge of different styles, some anime, some Justice League type animation, and some 80' style, Also Luthor in the animated TV series seems so much more better done, this Luthor seems flat, and murderous for no reason, killing mercy seemed contrived, and put in for shock value.
Also the whole death of Superman seemed equally flat, no world reaction, of course no superhero funeral possession, just a few minutes of his grave etc, just no emotional value to it, Superman is dead, here is his monument, OK on with the story, and his return seemed equally as flat and just thrown together, clone and resurrection..
The animated Justice League did a death of Superman storyline not associated with Doomsday, and it was so much better done, this just to me, came off as a rush job, and slapped together to fill 90 mins, and pretty much leave out everything that made the comic book storyline on Supermans death so well done.
Cloverfield (2008)
Not a big fan of the camcorder film style but....
I love big monsters stomping buildings, and fighting the army, it's a guilty pleasure, there were some plot holes in the movie, didn't really like the love story angle, I like casting unknowns, just they seemed to have a hard time pulling it off at times, and I said the whole Blair Witch film style, really not my thing..
But on the bright side it had the monster trying for a field goal with the Statue of Liberty's head, and smashing a mobile artillery piece, some buildings got wrecked, so not all that bad..And he was smart enough to stay in the downtown areas, even skyscraper sized monsters know better than go into the gang controlled parts, he might be tough, not stupid.
Superbad (2007)
Superbad lives up to its name
I rented this movie on the hope it wouldn't be your typical teen bad movie, I was wrong, this movie tries to be another Revenge of the Nerds in a weird sort of way, it shows three of your typical non-cool kids in high school, Seth,Evan and Fogell, they talk about sex constantly, but never had any, the thing that confused me right out of the gate was the showcase that these three guys were your typical all the cool kids in high school hate these guys archetype, we see a bully spit on the typical overweight kid Seth, calling him names, and telling him he and his gay friend aren't invited to his party (Evan), and it goes on to show later in the film that they never attend any parties.
That would be consistent with the day to day hell of high school for the un-popular kids, yet in the same instant it shows Evan being liked by one of the pretty girls in school and Seth paired up with another petty girl in home ec class and her not minding, huh? Maybe high school is different now than when I went to school, but being one of the un-popular kids, I can say the pretty girls in my school were on order more cruel to un-popular kids than the pretty boys were to nothing else keep their popular status. And when Seth is invited by Jules to her party that night, your first thought would be, yeah they are being set up for humiliation when they get there, which isn't the case, and in the end wind up hooking up with the two pretty girls, maybe in fantasy land, but in real life, not happening. Oh and the part where Fogel follows the girl down the hall staring at her panties through her jeans, real life response from the girl would have probably been "Stop looking at me you freak loser" not a hook up at the party later on.
I also found the constant swearing by Seth a little over the top, the two cops being total morons, I find hard to believe as well, if you want to watch a movie where the un-popular nerd type kids get the last laugh, and something more believable, I would recommend the original Revenge of the Nerds.
Knocked Up (2007)
OK comedy but character development would have went a long way.
I just finished viewing this from a rental..
I found it entertaining, but a lot of things seem to be left out of the film as far as character background etc..such as
1.Why did Ben come here from Canada?. 2.How did 14,000 he got in a settlement last living in California? It should have been about a month, and that is if he had the full amount, and was that $14k in Canadian or US dollars? Which would be less here. 3.And if none of these guys had a job how did they pay rent, and other bills? 4.When he got responsible how did he land a job here in the US if he was here illegally? Did he have fake papers, social security number? None of that was explained.
5.Did Alison ever have a boyfriend recently that went bad? Bad Experiences with guys before overall? Just to busy with a career to date? and really would she have just went with a guy she had zero in common with just for the baby?
A lot seemed to be left out of the film as far as the characters and why they were what they were, I know this was a comedy, but it had to be somewhat believable, even if you go past how two people such exact opposites would get together or even sleep together, even way drunk, also if he remembered nothing, as he stated before in the film, how did he remember later not getting the condom on, and what she said? How did he know it just didn't break? OK enough with the huhs.
It had it's funny moments, but even for a comedy it just seemed to go along without any substance or explanation as if the movie said, here is what you have, believe it, don't look for reason, just go with it..I for one like a little bit of plot development then just people thrown into a situation and here it is, a little character background would have went a long way in explaining how they would have wound up loving each other at the end.
Superman Returns (2006)
Could have been a classic as the original but alas....
I loved how singer paid homage to the first Superman movies by using the same opening credits, John Williams score, and even cameo's by the late Marlon Brando as Jorel.
What I didn't like was how they rehashed Luthors same evil scheme from the first movie with some minor changes,his bumbling girlfriend was a complete copy of Ms.Tessmaker down to even falling for the Man of Steel and in the end deciding to do the good thing and betray Luthor, and Luthor asking her the same question about what did his father always tell him, Kitty/Ms.Tessmaker "get out?, again other than a few minor changes it was exactly the same, homage and outright re-using the same plot device is two different things.
Also the whole plot of Superman's child didn't do it for me either, the child was the product of Superman and Lois sleeping together in Superman 2, that I realize, but when did Lois find out she was pregnant? I was assuming Superman didn't leave Earth right away, or if he did, were we supposed to buy she jumped right into the sack with Richard White? Fast enough that White thought it was his child? Or did White know it wasn't his child but was going to raise him as his own?, This was never fully explained.
I believe that Superman Returns could have stood on it's own, without using or rehashing plots from the first two films, when it did, such as the plane rescue it was great, but for me it was a good movie, just it isn't the classic the first Supeman was.
Side note, I know Supergirl was ignored as well, being it was a major bomb, I will put out that a scene in that movie had a radio news report saying that Superman was off Earth on a deep space mission, same as he was in Superman Returns, though it was used because Reeve refused to reprise his Superman role for the film, just that scene stood out to me when I heard the plot of Superman Returns.
Kicking & Screaming (2005)
Almost a complete Bad News Bears ripoff.
If you rent and watch the Bad News Bears then watch this movie it will pretty obvious the movie copied it almost completely. Several key points in both movies..
1.In Bad News Bears a ex washed up baseball player coaches a very bad little league baseball team, in Kicking and Screaming Will Farrel plays a man who wasn't good at sports much to the letdown of his father decides to take over a junior soccer team.
2.In Bad News Bears Buttermaker lets the team play as they want till he see's how bad they are and decides to recruit some good players to help them win, Phil a nice guy lets them play as they can, seeing how disappointed his son is in not winning, lets Mike Dikta talk him into recruiting two good soccer playing Italian kids so they can win.
3.Buttermaker starts to get very competitive and instead of letting everyone have fun and play, gives his two ringers most of the playtime and the other kids get left out, Phil makes a bet with his dad, gets very competitive and puts everything on his two ringers and the other kids get left out.
4.Buttermaker see's the error of his ways benches his two ringers and lets the kids play,Phil see's the error of his ways and benches his two ringers and lets the other kids play.
Basically take out baseball in the Bad News Bears, insert soccer and make a few changes and you have Kicking and Screaming, most movies and TV shows copy each other in Hollywood, shame when they do it as blatantly as Kicking and Screaming does, watch the original Bad News Bears a much better movie.
Dark Town (2004)
Another direct to video piece of crap
Dark Town is like so many other direct to video movies, bad..OK not bad.. HORRIBLE, it's a low budget (and I mean low budget), has no real script, and looks like it was made by some film school student, you will see these type movies at your local video stores all the time made by these no-name studios looking to make a buck by cranking out these crap low budget movies and slapping them direct to video.
They are pretty easy to spot just be looking at the low end DVD box, most of these you can catch on cable real quick, like I did with Dark Town, save your rental money on this if you see it in your local Blockbuster.
Fantastic Four (2005)
I say a middle of the road comic book adaption
As a comic book collector from early 70's I grew up with Marvel and DC both, I know all about the history of the Fantastic Four, so maybe in a way that is why it doesn't go over as well than someone who knows little about the team.
I liked the fact that writers got in the early bickering between the members before they got close,especially the Ben Grimm/Johnny Storm fights, and Reed's shyness toward Sue, but the writers also changed things that in my opinion hurt the film, and could have easily stayed the same as in the comic, the thing between Victor Von Doom and Sue Storm just seemed out of place,Sue was never a scientist in the comics, and Jessica Alba just didn't come off convincing enough at least to me that she was one,and the fact they made Dr.Doom into yet another billionaire villain, ripping off Harry Osborn and Lex Luthor, Doom is a genius and a power mad dictator, but a board room corporate suit? No, really out of left field on him, Doom is the one villain that should have stayed true to the comic, after all Doom is the main villain in the Marvel Universe, and this Doom was a complete let down.
I would have to give the actors low marks as well, in my opinion they seemed to just be reading the script, very wooden, and just didn't bring the characters to life, almost like they were cast fast,there was no caring about the characters, no sympathizing with them, even Ben Grimm who as the thing seemed to lose love and gain it back so fast you didn't have to time to feel anything on him being an outcast, the action seemed rushed and bland, and the ending fight, well, seemed like it was just thrown together as well, nothing to make you jump in your seat or want to "see that part again".
It's not Catwoman bad, but it's not Spiderman good either, as I said, very middle of the road....wait for the DVD and rent it.
Land of the Dead (2005)
This movie takes up after a decades old zombie takeover?
I am not a big fan of Zombies, even though I have seen all the Romero ones, my friend is big into them, so went with him to see this latest installment, this was supposed to be a sequel or continuation of the movies made in the late seventies early eighties, I thought this might be somewhat interesting then.
The biggest thing that got me if this was a continuation of those movies why were the remaining humans using very 21'st century technology? They seem to have access to GPS, and current computer technology, also if I remember right belly rings weren't any kind of fad in the late 70's, and I would seriously doubt that technology would evolve after zombies ruled the Earth no Microsoft or Intel going,I expected to see a world frozen in the late 70's, not humans running around using high end tech,both me and my friend said that at the same time when leaving the theatre.
War of the Worlds (2005)
Some good parts, but not enough to leave you satisfied.
There seems to be a lot of end of the world movies coming out recently that seem to go for this "underlined message" thing, Signs had a guy rediscovering his faith with the backdrop of an alien invasion, Day After Tomorrow had a father reconnecting with his son against the backdrop of a global disaster, and now War of the Worlds has the same type of underlined message thing as well.
A lot of people pan Independence Day, but I liked it because it had action, destruction and mankind winning in the end, a perfect summer popcorn movie, no preachy messages or characters discovering things during a backdrop of something bad happening, basically a fun movie, corny? Yes but fun. The original 1953 War of the Worlds was like this, and remains one of my favorite movies, Jurassic Park was another, and seeing how this was a Spielberg movie I thought it would be another Jurassic Park, but War of the Worlds goes for the sentiment and a character rediscovering something with the backdrop of an alien invasion, but when you have something with WAR in the title you expect a lot more, umm..well WAR action,like Independence day showed, it's like making a movie about Dday and have only a few action scenes and the rest of the movie is about two GI's rediscovering their bonds,be kind of a let down as War of the Worlds was.
This movie did have some great special effects, but man the plot holes, some of them so huge even casual movie patrons noticed them (one involving a plane and a van)and the ending,I almost laughed out loud at the ending for a long time director like Spielberg this is kind of a let down he didn't really see these problems.
It comes down to this, if you like Signs, then more than likely you will enjoy this movie, even with plot holes,if you flat out hated Signs there is a pretty good chance you will not like this movie, and yes the ending in War of the Worlds is just as bad as the ending in Signs..honestly.
Cursed (2005)
Was a OK rental.
Cursed seemed to try and challenge the best campy/horror werewolf film ever made, "An American Werewolf In London" but the older film still wins over 20 years later,and reigns supreme.
The movie seemed more like a WB made TV movie then a big screen film, complete with WB stars,very predictable,not very scary, a few laughs,poor special effects,the movie didn't quite seemed to know where it wanted to go, all in all, rent it and see it with guests at a get together and you will have fun pointing out all the flaws, and maybe all might groan together at certain points which should bring some fun.
I think horror movies can really come off with comedy added in the mix, like "An American Werewolf In London" and "Lost Boys" with some really good skill by the writer, but Cursed just doesn't pull it off.