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Reviews
Global Meltdown (2017)
Yeah, I'll give it a seven!
It was different. If it had had a little longer to develop some of the characters, and expand on a couple of the themes, it would have been really good.
They did a lot with a made-for-tv budget. People are griping about the fx, but they are satisfactory for what the movie is.
If you like explosions, it's got 'em (I love explosions). If you like *gorgeous* scenery, that's here too. In fact that might be what places this above other budget "sci-fi/disaster" movies. There's breathing room in this movie. Not all the spaces are obsessively filled in, it's not particularly dumbed down.
The acting is terrific, the child is not horrible, the pathos is not melodrama, there are no apologies made for the badness of the bad guy. He just is as he is.
In fact, Michael Pare is very good as the bad guy, and the character is true to his beliefs. I don't respect that :D but I am grateful for the way he was presented. He wasn't at all over the top, and because of that, he was more chillingly believable and to be feared.
I could say that about the movie itself. It isn't over the top.
There aren't any pat Hollywood-style explanations or resolutions. I didn't feel kind of like I ate too much at Christmas, like I invariably do at the end of some of the more ridiculous Marvel movies, for example.
It's a darned good movie. It doesn't suffer from the excesses of big-budget movies. It's not a little gem, but it's a fine way to spend 87 minutes.
Retribution (2023)
Great suspense, terrific resolution
I don't understand the hate for this movie. It's a tense, fast-paced thriller with believable characters and situations.
Liam Neeson delivers, as always. The characters of the children are not horrible brats, as are in so many films now. The wife is pretty much only a sketch, but the important characteristics of all the characters are filled in enough, at the beginning of the film, to satisfy any need for back story.
It's an action-filled adventure, that drives quickly to its resolution. Some have commented that the "third part" seemed flat. I do wonder what movie they might have been watching - not this one.
I have a theory. I've noticed with movies made in Europe, lately, that there are a *lot* of bad ratings. I figure it's because some people can't wrap their heads around a European setting and vibe. I also consider that perhaps to some people, all European movies must be like the Bourne series in order to satisfy them. *shrug* I did notice in the credits that there is shared production with some Canadian, Quebecois organizations. To some people, this will automatically deduct another couple of points from their rating.
I try to understand why accomplished, really enjoyable films like this get so much hate. I suspect trolls here, as in so many social media interactions, now.
If a film gets high ratings and the review seems reasonable, give the film a shot and find out for yourself.
The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990)
Quite darned good.
I really liked this one. I've been watching a *lot* of not-so-great disaster movies on YouTube lately. I enjoying them all, even when they're really bad lol
This one is actually pretty good. It has a terrific cast, they are all equal to their roles, they're all good actors doing a good job here.
What I really like about this one is that it isn't sanitized. The consequences of the earthquake and aftershocks are shown in very gritty realism. The chaos, the mess, the dirt, the lack of tidy, miraculous resolutions. Bad things happen to nice people.
It's great. It brings home how horrific a situation like this would be.
There were no "star turns" here as there are in the Irwin Allen-type movies. This is just good ensemble acting. Special kudos to Richard Masur.
I saw the 3-hour version shown on YouTube.
Little Nikita (1988)
It's a decent little movie.
I'm kinda disappointed with the dearth of at least 7s for this movie.
It's not a bad movie. As others have noted, the script ain't the best, and the dialogue is lumpy.
So I'll say that the dialogue for most of the adult roles is fine, I think. I wonder if someone else wrote the dialogue for the kids, 'cause it was pretty strained.
River Phoenix was a pretty good actor, but mmm... maybe it was the dialogue, maybe it was the direction of his part, it was a little bit cringe-y. It's like he was being framed as the next James Dean, but this movie wasn't a 50s kitchen sink movie, and he seems to be not comfortable in the role of rebellious teen. The acting seems over the top, I'll blame direction for that. It doesn't fit with the overall feel of the movie, and it doesn't ring true.
Maybe that's the problem with writing for teenage roles? What do I know? Maybe it's difficult to present teenage characters in an un-cringe-y way?
My other quibble is... well, there isn't another one. This is a solid cast, with a decent story, otherwise good dialogue and direction.
I wonder if maybe contemporary viewers are pissed because it isn't a Denzel Washington, slick, Hollywood vehicle? There *are* other black actors, yaknow, just sayin'.
Maybe we've gotten used to seeing such stories presented in a certain way, and this doesn't conform? But they aren't all blockbusters.
I find it just fine.
San Andreas Quake (2015)
Decent disaster movie.
I'm giving this a 7 because I enjoyed it so much. Not just so much more than I expected to enjoy it, actually enjoyed it.
Very good acting all 'round, especially Jhey Castles and Jason Woods. Good acting by all cast is not a given in low-rent disaster movies.
The kids, especially the daughter, were not even close to being annoying. Honestly, the young characters were bearable, and became quite a bit more than that as the movie progressed.
The effects were not cheesy.
Okay, so saying that I liked a movie because it was not horrible is not a great way to review it, but I am a fan of disaster/sci-fi/weather-chaos movies, will watch anything, and have seen some truly bad movies. This is not one of those.
The old couple were sweet, the young couple was believable, and small spoiler, got to make it. The other front desk character, Danny, was funny and smart and well-acted.
My only beef with the movie was that the big, final effect of the "big one" was not shown. That is likely due to budget constraints, but it would have been fun :)
Thoroughly enjoyable, fast-paced fun. Give it a watch.
Shookum Hills (2021)
Solid horror-creature movie
I don't watch horror movies. I was looking for a weather/disaster movie to watch, and this one came up. I watched it because Will Patton's in it. He's such a solid actor, and makes such interesting choices for roles. I was pretty sure this would be worth watching.
It panned out :) The acting's good across the board. All the motley crew of geologists are well-portrayed. Will Patton, of course, Alicia Sanz, Chinaza Uche especially, but really everyone involved.
The setting is not especially eerie, but the potential is there, and it was used very well, to contribute to the setup. Even during the daytime it's not an inviting location, and we all know that nothing good ever happens in the woods ;>
It was surprisingly jam-packed for less than an hour-and-a-half running time.
I was especially impressed that only glimpses of the creatures were shown. A reveal might be necessary, I guess, but it wasn't overdone, instead portraying the scene in the 'den' as through the fevered, horrified eyes and senses of the humans.
This was a good movie. It was adult, nicely understated, even kind of fun.
Sniper: Rogue Mission (2022)
Absolutely love it!
Yup, I absolutely loved this. It's nimble, humorous, fast-paced. The acting is just fine, no worse than any big-name "Hollywood" movie actors. There are a lot of actors in this (and Canadian, to boot!) who are established and know their stuff.
I was expecting to put in an hour-and-a-half of mindless, badly-acted macho nonsense. That was okay, I was just looking for a time-waster.
I was pleasantly surprised with this movie.
First, the humour. That was unexpected, and made this quite a lot of fun.
Secondly, there was really no alpha male posturing, which was such a relief. Kinda like, these guys are so good they don't need to be testosterone-laden dummies. The female actors, ditto. Breath of fresh air, gotta say.
*Love* the nerd. So great to see Dennish Haysbert as a good guy.
The soundtrack was a teeny bit annoying at the beginning, but along the way the song and incidental music choices had me looking for soundtrack info.
I'm encouraged that the ending suggests a sequel to this one. I'd go watch a sequel to this gang of characters. The other Sniper movies, not so much.
There are a couple of nice plot twists.
Tight, well-written script, really smart directing. He's a newbie, hope he does well.
I like that it's a largely Canadian cast, filmed in Canada. All-round good movie.
Copshop (2021)
Feel like I watched a different movie than most of the reviewers here.
This was a funny movie. It isn't a comedy, or even a dark comedy, but it's funny as hell.
It isn't a drama, or even a dramedy. It's a story, told with wonderful style, real wit, no moral compass at all, and it's just a great ride.
All the characters are bent, or corrupt, or lazy. There are no angels here, not even avenging angels, which I'll get to in a bit.
The bad guys get all the great lines, of course - some reviewers have decried the dialogue. I do not understand why.
The story keeps true to its purpose, but isn't bogged down by too much seriousness. It was refreshing, actually, that it wasn't played seriously. There are *plenty* of movies around like that.
As for the avenging angel, there is a line, a couple of characters, circling around the idea of the devil, and hell on earth. I expect that the female cop is positioned to be an avenging angel, but whereas the Gerard Butler character is a bad guy and makes no apologies, the other killer, Lamb is revealed to be a psycho-killer. I feel that the female cop dedicated to duty is likely a bit of a psycho, kind of the flip side of Lamb.
Toby Huss is absolutely fabulous as Lamb. I remember him from Halt and Catch Fire, where he was also wonderful. Gerard Butler is great, Grillo is great - he gives his character real panache, physical grace that's interesting and revealing of the character. Butler is kind of surprising here too, as he gets to play a character who has more depth than the usual good guys he plays.
I'm thinking that the direction is excellent, to pull these performances from the actors, giving basically crazy, amoral characters, one and all (except maybe the Sergeant) interesting and seductive personality, including Lamb.
I'm glad that so much is left to the viewer to imagine. A flaw in a lot of movies coming out of Hollywood, for such a long, weary time, is the apparent necessity to spell out every single little thing, so that audiences are relieved of the necessity to think. This movie is a wild ride, a crazy time. There's plenty of character development - hell, the movie is pretty much all character development. I don't need to know more about them, or how they got the way they are. I don't need to be assured that they are basically good, or out and out evil. They're all nuts, they're all warped, they're all bad guys.
This is a fun, funny film. I enjoyed it tremendously.
Hot Seat (2022)
Decent thriller!
Sure, I've seen movies similar to this, with "BIG stars". What's great about this movie, as far as I'm concerned, is that it's a small movie, not weighed down by star power.
These days, I'm always on the lookout for decent small movies that make the grade. This is one of them. You will not be wasting your time.
It's fast-paced - as another reviewer mentioned there is no unnecessary nonsense (such as you might find in movies that require to give "moments" to each of the "big stars". The plot is quite interesting, with a nice twist at the end.
Explosions :) There are explosions!
The cast all does a decent job, even though some of them might not be household names. The weakest were probably the wife and the would-be girlfriend, but they were fine also. The actor playing the daughter was just fine, not snotty or hysterical, quite believable.
Michael Welch did quite a nice turn as Enzo. He was up for what turned out to be a complex character. He made him interesting.
I am glad that I disregarded the low rating, and that I watched this one.
Leap Year (2010)
Oh, gosh there's just so much wrong with this movie!
I watched it, I'll give it that.
The two leads are not sympatico, I'd even say they don't seem to be in the same movie. Amy Adams is such a good actress, but I guess this was during her acting period when her brand was cute, young and perky. Granted, she was and is an intelligent and sympathetic actress. Not utilised well here.
Matthew Goode is great as well. I've never seen him before, and was impressed.
The problem for me is that they don't have chemistry, and I ended not really caring what happened to either of them, but maybe caring a little bit more about his character, who was more real.
Amy Adam's character was in a Disney movie, so to speak, while just about everybody else was, well, could have been, in a charming, adult romantic tale taking place in Ireland.
Ireland ought to have been more central to the story, whereas as beautiful as the setting was, it could have been anywhere. Trite story, plodding Hollywood delivery, nooooo subtlety... awful dialogue, where things must be explicitly spoken, otherwise the dumb audience won't know what's happening (seems to be Hollywood's attitude in the past almost 50 years).
There is a movie called "I Know Where I'm Going". That's the one to see. It's the real mccoy, from 1945. Complete with castle ruin. The leads and all the supporting characters are adults, not underdeveloped jejeunes. That's the one I'm going to try to find, and watch again.
This movie, Leap Year, is so much a could-have-been-a-really-good movie, but it's a terrible waste of setting and talent.
Godzilla (1998)
This movie is brilliant
I don't know why this film has gotten such a bad aggregate rating, it's brilliant! I watched the 2014 Godzilla movie recently, and then this one, and this is the one to watch :D It's a love letter to New York, it's slyly funny, and there are plenty of belly laughs too. The actress playing Audrey is playing the role like she was directed, I think, because she is the perfect foil to Matthew Broderick's character... and what a character - instead of the usual steely-eyed macho man, we have a mild-mannered, serious guy who studies worms ;> It's all a heck of a lot of great fun, really intelligent, really funny, the requisite amount of explosions, I guess... even the monster has personality. The basketball scene in Madison Square Gardens? HA! Love this movie.