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Reviews
Before Sunset (2004)
Boring, simple, and uninspiring
I watched this movie before checking out IMDb by simply pulling it off the video store shelf. After watching it, my initial thought was "what a waste of my money, I should never rent a movie without checking IMDb". However, I am now shocked to see that this movie is rated so highly.
I suspect, this is because of all the people that might have watched the first movie and were captivated enough by it that they do not judge this movie on its own merit but as a continuation of the previous movie.
I haven't seen the first movie and can't judge it based on that. Therefore, I can only judge this movie as it stands on its own, without depending on the previous movie: As such, this movie, by itself, is completely and utterly a waste of time. The chemistry between the two actors was awful; the dialogue was simple and artificial, the sexual words used here and there felt forced and out of place and the whole movie was pointless. I suspect it satisfies all those people who were curious about what happened after the first movie (I only realized there was a first movie after watching the add-on making of documentary). But, by itself this movie goes nowhere. The two characters start talking with each other 5 minutes into the movie, and talk through the rest of the movie by going here and there, into cafes, along the streets, and on a boat, ending up in the girl's house. My wife and I waited patiently until the end, hoping that something was going to happen, and nothing did. They talk, and talk, and talk, about nothing really, and then the movie ends... That's it...
If you were captivated by the first movie and was always curious what happened to these two, then by all means, go ahead and watch it. But, please, rate this movie on its own merit, and not because you liked the first one so much.
If you haven't watched the first movie, either make sure to watch that one first, or skip this all together.
The Pretender 2001 (2001)
Here is the biggest goof!
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. I, as well, could not believe that NBC would cancel the series, so seeing the movie was a relief. It was good action, lots of twists, and a great thrill ride overall. Unfortunately, if you haven't watched the series, it would be quite difficult to follow the movie although the authors do try to make a summary at the beginning.
There is also one major goof: The explosion at the beginning of the movie (and at the end of the last episode of the series) takes place in the subway, the flames and the explosion's force hits the street and throws a parking car to the air. Well, in the last episode of the series (TNT showed it just before the movie), the parked car is on the right side of the street. In the movie, it is shown on the left side of the street. (It could be just the opposite, I watched both scenes a few times to make sure so now I am confused :) ) It seems like a simple mirror-image mistake, but I thought it was quite entertaining...
The Skulls (2000)
It is an entertaining movie, period.
I must admit that I am surprised at the amount of criticism the movie has gotten from the IMDB users. It is sad to see that moviegoers fail to differentiate between movies done for entertainment purposes and movies with more serious agendas. This is an entertainment movie, period. You do not look for every single scene, every single dialogue, and every single hand movement to make sense or be logical. It is NOT a documentary!
Overall, the movie is extremely entertaining and fun. Overall, if you watch it with the goal of having fun, and not with the goal of understanding secret societies or trying to examine moral messages, than you will have a good 100 minutes of fun. And that's all this movie is trying to accomplish anyway...
Proof of Life (2000)
Dialogues drag on just too long
I can't say that the movie actually met my expectations. I was expecting the story line to be a little more complicated, with a few more twists. I was also expecting there to be more than 5 minutes of actual action.
The story line is interesting since there aren't many stories about kidnapping operations out there. But, it is pretty straightforward, with a lone twist at the end. It would have been a complete waste if they had ended up together at the end.
The scenery is very nice, and the director makes plenty use of it. I think the one thing that disturbed me the most about the movie was the dialogues: they were too long and mostly not compelling enough. Overall, I noticed that I checked my watch four times during the movie, each time when one of the dialogues just dragged on too long. Usually people complain that action-suspense movies don't spend too much time developing characters; I think this movie errs on the other end of the spectrum, trying to develop the characters through so much dialogue was just boring...