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Reviews
Priest (2011)
I Didn't Even Finish This
I tried. Oh, how I tried to finish this. It took me two days to watch probably thirty minutes of it before I gave up. Even Karl Urban (the reason I was curious about this movie) couldn't keep my interest. The dialogue was awful, the acting only so-so and the plot was lukewarm for me. It could have been an excellent idea, but just fell flat. It didn't even entertain me on the level of a popcorn movie.
There was nothing new, even a little, brought to the table. I am wondering what exactly the comic is like, since apparently the makers of this movie merely lifted the title and a few surface details. I'm all for Western (as in the genre, not the hemisphere) being incorporated into fantasy and science fiction ideas, but this was done poorly.
Overall, I feel that cgi was the main goal and the story, acting and writing took the back burner, once again. I'm sorry I wasted my queue on this.
The Matrix (1999)
Overrated and brimming with convenience
I didn't like The Matrix. I thought it was an alright movie until I saw it again, then it just got to be annoying. I know only pseudo-intellectuals use this term, but it was pseudo-intellectual. I thought the characters were wooden, the dialogue was pretty bad, and it was all too convenient for me. When a character skips over the growth and learning process because they just downloaded the skills, like flying a helicopter or learning kung fu, I see that as a flaw in the story and writing. Then where does it stop? I was expecting a character to actually say, "Well...yeah...I know how because I uh...I downloaded a...program." Nobody's fooling me with the whole "it's about computers, they can do that" bit. Save it for the 13-year-olds that "understand" the plot. There are smarter and more creative ways of conveying this idea. I hated the fight scenes as well. CGI on almost every fight, especially when everything looks like a game later does not mean its good. Far from it.
Alive (2002)
Mislead about the Cube thing but other than that alright show
Out of all the Kitamura movies I've seen, this is my least favorite. I liked it but its not his best in my opinion. Hideo Sakaki was of course good, but other than that the cast didn't push me either way. They were just there. I say it is misleading about the whole Cube reference because it was nothing like that movie, except if you take into account that they're in a cell. But it wasn't claustrophobic at all.
******THIS IS WHERE IT MIGHT GET SPOILERY!!!!******** As far as the Sakaki/Sakaguchi reunion went I was a little disappointed. I knew Tak would come in at the last part and I knew they would have an ending fight-scene, but I was looking forward to that. Heh, I was even looking forward to the cheesy make-up/body suit that he would have on; which I enjoyed btw. But what disappointed me was that there was no bantering. Tak uttered not a word and that took some of the luster away from the fight/reunion. Also, I felt robbed that Hideo wasn't the one to give him the death blow. What's worse is that he died from a gun shot wound! No! Ah, what a waste. I didn't find it terribly perplexing, like some of Kitamura's other works, but there's one thing that kept rolling around in my head: was Zeros an alien? I don't think he was. I think that the alien part of the story was the virus itself, but Zeros was a human previously who caught the disease and the results were what we saw, he was changed extensively and was absent of any kind of personality and that's what Tenshu would have become eventually. *********END OF SPOILERS***************
It was an alright flick, I wouldn't pay the list price for it but it was good. Perhaps even good enough to own, watch with a buddy or two and perhaps even play Mystery Science Theatre.
Versus (2000)
God bless the crazy guy in the green shirt!
Some people are insane! I mean, what were you expecting? The English Patient? I for one love a good gorefest and awesome if its done out of Hollywood. The plot had holes, I guess, I can't really think of anything that really had me come out of the movie. If you rented or bought this and thought, "Hey, that couldn't have happened, like, oh my Gawd how fake!" Why would you watch a zombie/sci-fi movie to begin with? You did read the synopses right? The acting was good, watch the original undubbed one please before you blast the flick! The characters were priceless, I loved the "Charlie's Angels"-esquire stances the yakuza guys made! Tre cool. I loved the fighting as well, every ten minutes or so someone was getting the crap beat out of them. It was also very refreshing to not see so much wire-flying, the one part I can recall that did sort of do that was shot tightly so it didn't seem so exaggerated. I'm a chick and I LOVED how Prisonor KSC2-303 kept hitting the annoying chick over the head, classic! No out of nowhere love scenes here my good people! The "villian" was also top-notch. I thought the casting was great. Tak Sakaguchi, wow, baby don't be so mean! :P I can't wait to see him in more things or in the sequel. Please don't watch this if you're cynical or hard to please. ITS A ZOMBIE/GORE/SCI-FI INDIE FILM! Yeah just don't buy it, let someone else who appreciates such fineness get a copy.
*By the by, this review is based on "The Ultimate Versus" edition.