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AstroMan-3
Reviews
Gojira ni-sen mireniamu (1999)
It has its moments, but its not bad enough to be good.
Within five minutes I was thinking, "Oh no, this isn't going to be as much fun as I thought it would be." It does have some terrific monster moments and sound effects, but it just doesn't pull you into the story. The characters were very one dimensional and uninteresting. Godzilla 2000 actually seemed to be typical of the other "summer blockbusters" that came out this year... only so-so.
The Cell (2000)
Imagine a Tool video meets Julie Taymor.
This is the kind of movie that people who like the art of film will love. As for the plot, the acting, and the gruesome factor, I left the movie thinking; "They weren't great, but they didn't hurt the movie." The heart of the movie is the pure visual appeal and the stunning assault on the senses it creates. The director was constantly using the full frame of the film as an artist might use a canvas. A word of warning though... there are a couple of scenes in this movie that were reminiscent of the weirdo pain stuff in the Hellraiser movies.
X-Men (2000)
Could have been great, but instead was OK.
As the movie began, I thought "oh good, they're keeping the more serious tone of the X-men instead of sinking to the just say a cool one-liner and then blow something up action flick." However, the intelligent villains and emotional depth of the characters quickly gave way to "Hasta la vista, Baby". The plot quickly started to rely on intelligent characters suddenly acting stupid. Imagine something on par with Mystery Men, only this wasn't a comedy. The action sequences had some brilliant moments (Wolverine vs. Mystique), but the bulk of them just didn't convey the pace and intensity of super-heros battling super-villains. The majority of the combat sequences were just how many times can someone get sent flying (obviously on a digitally removed wire) through a wall. You get hit by lightning... fly through a wall, you get blasted by cyclops' eye beams... fly through a wall. Maybe I've just seen too many good combat sequences in Kung-Fu movies, but I was left less than impressed by the directing during most of the fight sequences. On top of the statue of Liberty there's about 1-2 seconds in a fight sequence where Wolverine and Sabertooth are both obscured by Lady Liberty's crown! I left the theater feeling like this movie came so close, but fell short so many times. If you're going to theater, see something else and wait for this to come out on video.
Titan A.E. (2000)
Disney, eat your heart out.
This movie rocked!! The animation of the characters was traditional and good, but the computer animated space scenes were amazing. The characters are well developed and much edgier than Disney or Episode I. There was definitely an element of the same old epic plot line, but the flow of the story was engaging enough to still make it interesting. I really enjoyed the humor of the film as well as the amazing battle sequences. If your a fan of this genre at all you should definitely see this movie in the theater.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Terrific B-Movie, and it has big budget effects!
This is the kind of movie that if you can laugh along with it, you will love it, but if you take it seriously, you'll hate it. The satire of the war torn future begins with characters that all have ethnic names (i.e. Carmen Ibanez) but they are look like the traditional white boy/girl next door. Then, mix in the standard high school jock ethos of being the alpha male (Plenty of great cheesy dialogue here!). Next mix in cool sci-fi battles reminiscent of Star Wars and Aliens. Then sprinkle with sardonic commercials for the Mobil Infantry. All together, this turns out to be a great action/sci-fi flick!
Xian si jue (1983)
This movie is one of the best "Kung-Fu Theater" movies ever!
This movie has it all! Fast paced combat scenes, beautiful cinematography, compelling characters, and an epic plot of honor and betrayal. As I watched this movie, it was at once a really cool kung fu film and an intelligently written, acted, and directed film. Trust me on this one! If you're a fan of this genre at all, then check this film out.
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Innovative, intelligent, and deeply disturbing.
This movie is one of the few that I have seen which left me feeling unnerved. Many of the scenes and ideas in the movie will creep up on you as you are about to drift off to sleep in bed and jerk you into an alert frenzy to find a nightlight. This movie managed to keep things moving and slowly turn a hike in the woods into a life and death struggle with the unknown. You can be sure that after seeing it will generate a great deal of thought and discussion with your friends. One of my friends that I saw this movie with had to sit there until the "All events in this movie are fictitious and any resemblance to real stuff is completely coincidental" message appeared on the screen. She said eve though she new it wasn't real before she saw it, she had to make sure after seeing it because she couldn't go to sleep if it was real. I think that captures my feelings entirely. In conclusion... SEE THIS MOVIE!
The Haunting (1999)
Scenery and special effects can't make up for a Hollywood re-write
On the good side, the scenery and special effects are stunning. Unfortunately, this can't make up for a screenplay that has obviously been through Hollywood's "strive for mediocre" machine. The book and the original movie dealt with the psychology of Nell and how Hill House was ensnaring her sanity. This movie takes a great story and recasts it into the standard formula format. People in haunted house... Big "scary" effects... Stuff that jumps out at you... and a big showdown with a "finish off the baddie" tagline that would be suitable for ARNOLD himself. If you want to see a good scary movie abandon the Haunting at all costs.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Visually stunning, but perhaps they could have had computer enhanced acting too?!
Well, If you liked the original movies, then this is a lot like them. Same directing from the 70's and the same stiff acting by the Skywalkers. Luke developed well in the latter movies, hopefully they will go with and older Anakin who will have to be played by a decent actor. Also... Jar-Jar = Bantha poodoo. His entire race was much worse than the Ewoks. I never want to see them again. Of course on the good side, AMAZING EFFECTS, and all the fighting scenes, especially the sword play. There were many things set up which could play out well in the next movies. It seems that this is really meant to be only one third of a story. This was the character introduction and general setting up of things. Nothing more, nothing less. We shall see if the best is yet to come :)
The Faculty (1998)
Super Cheesy and Super Fun
Well done cheese if you please. The Faculty was a great movie to see with good friends who are fans of MST3K. The cheese factor is high, but the movie is well paced and has plenty of entertainingly bad dialogue. Plus it has lots of neat monsters and crushed caffeine pill snorting. I'll never look at pens the same way again.
Rounders (1998)
Rivals Godzilla and Congo for worst possible movie ever.
To be completely honest, this is the only movie I have paid for and then walked out of. Every character in this movie was just a paper shell of a character. Every conflict was idiotic and attempts to resolve them were a testament to the lack of real thought that went into this film. It was like a really bad after-school special where the mom finds some pot in junior's lunchbox or something. Only here we have a "huge" scene where the girlfiend rumages through the boyfriends pockets to find.... Cards, Playing Cards. If only he would have said "I learned it from watching you." Then, to spice up the action, they put in voices to tell you again just how dumb each part is.
EXT. big brick building Two men bump into each other at the doorway.
Man1: Hey, man2, I haven't seen you in years. How are you doing?
Man2: I'm doing ok. I've missed you a lot.
Man1: Yeah me too... we used to be like brothers once.
(voice over in The Wonder Years fashion) "It had been a long time since I'd seen Man2, he used to be like a brother to me"
Alas, I couldn't take it any more and I left.
The Avengers (1998)
Dumb da dumb dumb DDDUUUUMMMMBBBB!
This was bad whether you've seen the TV series or not. Whether... get it. It's as witty as all the "I don't know whether or not to talk about the weather" dialogue from the film. This was just painfully dull the whole way through. Memo to the filmmakers: If the baddies are going to have meetings as beanie babies, then you better have the rest of the film be a lot more surreal rather than being as bland as most English food.