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p-steele
Reviews
Drive (2011)
Best film of 2011..........
.......and then some. This film blew me away. The film plot is straight forward and what makes this film stand out is the acting, the photography and the music. It is all top notch.
For me, the film is in 2 parts, the first half is about a guy that meets a girl and the second part is about blood thirsty revenge. There is nothing i can fault this film on. It is perfect.
The dialogue from Gosling is minimal, the story is told by his facial expressions and his actions.
I can go into great detail as to how great this film is but i wont, it is just beautiful and is cinema at its best.
How Do You Know (2010)
2 Hour Episode of Friends with NO Funny Bits.......
......thats what i thought of this movie. I like Paul Rud & Owen Wilson but neither of them could save this.
Nicholson did not belong in this movie and watching Reese Weatherspoons scrunched up face for 2 hours was painful.
I cant blame the actors. The story writers and director should be banned from making more films!!!
I gave it a 3 instead of one because Paul Rud is still a class act given the below par script he had to work with.
This was 2 years of my life that i wont be getting back, oops, i mean 2 hours, but it seemed like 2 years when i was watching it.
Avoid this movie!
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
In a nutshell
This film is Forrest Gump but backwards. It's a beautiful film, very well directed. The story is very good. There is enough going on in the film to keep you hooked for 160 minutes.
Cate Blanchett was flawless in her role. Every one else was very good in it too.
I do have one criticism. Benjamin Button had such a unique condition which could have been exploited more however, the directer chose to stick with the love story, which by the way unwinds majestically, and in my opinion had there been more meat on the bones, besides the love story, then this film would have easily got 10 out of 10.
Magical film.
Max Payne (2008)
The Good & The Bad of Max Payne
I'm going to review this movie twice. The first will be as a fan of the game and the second will be as a fan of film.
Review One From a gamer's perspective. I'm a fan of both the Max Payne games. They had depth, story, action, bullet time and violence. That's everything that you would want from a game such as Max Payne. I was excited at the prospect of watching this movie. The events of the film a roughly based around the original Max Payne game. The director used some clever angles/shots to replicate the game in his movie and the flash back sequences were excellent. Having played the games there was no need for character development and the director did not develop characters that much so that was also a nice touch.
I thought that the film took a while to get going. A few things did happen at the start to keep me interested in the film until the action kicked in. There was not much use of bullet time which was a bit of a let down as Max Payne was the first games to ever utilize effective slow motion in action sequences.
The thing that really grinds my gears about this film is Mark Wahlberg. I just did not think he was convincing enough. I thought and thought as to whom would have been able to pull of this role and I believe that Hit-man star Timothy Olyphant would have pulled off this role. At least he looks a bit like Max Payne from the games, right? All in all, it was what I expected. It was slightly let down by Mark Wahlberg but it's not his fault he was miss-cast.
I give this film a rating of 7 out of 10.
Review Two From a fan of film perspective. I am reviewing this as though I had not played the games or even heard of Max Payne before the film itself.
I thought the directing in this movie did not make any sense whatsoever and just added to the confusion of the movie. None of the characters were developed and half the time I did not even know who the characters were and their purpose in the movie. Things were happening during the first hour of the movie without explanation and this just confused me. Quite a lot happened in the first part of the film but it still seemed to drag. This was not helped by the fact that the director did not explain the events in the film.
Mark Wahlberg was very stale in this movie and showed no emotion at all. The rest of the characters could have been played by anyone and still had the same effect.
This film was made for people that have played the game. The director could have easily developed characters and added depth to the story so that this film appeals to a wider audience. Sadly, if you have not played the games then you will just be left confused and cheated, as they should have called this film a sequel to the games.
I would strongly advise you not to watch this film unless you have played the games.
I give this film 3 out of 10.
Closing Thoughts: My final rating for this film is 5 out 5. It's good if you're a fan of the game but a waste of time if you have not played the games. This is my opinion means the film was poorly executed and had so much more potential.
Saw V (2008)
Very Average Sequel
I was not expecting much from this film. It is pretty much more of the same. The ending was predictable. The death scenes were good. The acting was average. One thing i will say is how impressed i am at how the writers are managing to come up with sequels when the Jigsaw is dead. Very cleaver how they have done it.
I think it's time now for the makers of saw to put their own franchise in a Saw-esquire torture device and kill it off. So, please please please, in Saw VI, kill off all the bad guys because we have now had 5 films where the bad guy wins and I for one am getting very bored of the same ending.
So, this film is worth a watch, it wont win over any new viewers but die hard Saw fans will be pleased all the same.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Martin Campbell should have directed this.....
......after all, he has directed two of the best ever bond films. I don't know what Marc Forster was trying to do here. Everything that was good about Casino Royal was missing from this sequel. The characters are bland and the action was too predictable. There was nowhere near enough going on to keep me entertained. Yes, the action sequences were amazing, yes, Daniel Craig is probably the best bond ever but these two things alone cant save this sequel.
Had it not been for the action and the performance from Daniel Craig i would have given this film 4 stars. The story was too shallow. We all know Bond was out to get revenge but they could have added more to the story. I'm also not 100% sure if he did get revenge for Vespor's death.
So, in a nutshell, this was not what we have come to expect from Bond movies. As a stand alone film it's average at best. I would say watch it but don't expect much from the film.
Hopefully Bond 23 gets back to basics. The actors cant be blamed for this poor sequel, the blame solely lies with the director and the writers on this one! I suppose the writers strike in the US did not help!!
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Simply Amazing
A Friend of mine recommended this film. I was very optimistic at first. I'm not a huge fan of Affleck's acting so I thought I was in for a very under par movie. I could not have been further from the truth.
This is one of the best films I have seen this year. The acting was excellent, the story was excellent and the directing was excellent. My only shock about this movie is the fact that it did not make it into the mainstream and I had not even heard of it until a friend told me about.
I'm not going to go on about the film as enough people have done that already however, if your reading this review I have one piece of advice for you....."Go out and either rent or buy this film".
I hope we get to see more from Ben Affleck soon. He clearly has a gift when sat behind the camera.
House (2008)
Stay well clear of this house......
When I first heard about this film it had lots of promise. I like Michael Madson and the plot seemed like something I might enjoy. I watched this film last night and I regret it this morning.
At no point throughout the film does it explain what is going on and why. The characters just second guess as to what is happening and I was frustrated at the lack of explanation for what was going on.
The character development in this movie was rushed to the point that you did not care either way what happened to them and the characters were also stupid, bland and very gullible.
Miss-Cast of the year has to go to Michael Madson here. He was in the film for all of 5 minutes and he pretty much did nothing within that time.
The main disappointment of the movie and the reason I gave it such a low score is simple. The director does not explain what is going on and why. When I watch a film I want answers and the fact that this film does not give any, ruins it entirely.
In closing, House was a big let down. I don't write many reviews however if I see a film this bad I feel as though it is my duty to warn the public! Please, no sequels!!!
Quarantine (2008)
Excellent Remake but.........
.......the camera work in this film was way too shaky. It seems as though they went over the top a bit to add to the realism, also, the camera had too many blurry moments.
The camera work aside, this film was an excellent remake of a Spanish original. The cast were good, especially the leading lady. There are a few extra scenes in this film which were not in the original (REC) and they added to the plot/horror of the movie.
I gave this a 6 because although it is a good movie, it is by no means a classic. The camera work ruined it a bit for me too.
I would recommend waiting for the DVD release before watching as it's not one that i would want to watch on the big screen.
On a side note, people who say that America spoil original movies need to watch this and see that they don't. I believe this to be better than REC but i'm sure you will make your own minds up.
The Midnight Meat Train (2008)
Oh dear................
Where to start. The film started out pretty well, but after the 30 min mark i caught myself watching the clock. The horror at the start of the film was good but then the story kicked in. It just got stupider and stupider as time ticked by.
The actors gave an average performance in this movie however, i got a bit bored of Vinny Jones constant scowling in the film.
As the film dragged on, and take my word for it, it dragged on, it just got more and more far fetched.
*** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** SPOILER ALERT *** Just when i thought the film could not get any worse, towards the end loads if skeleton looking monsters turned up, just to eat the dead people which made no sense at all. It turned out to be some sort of flesh eating cult and the good guys die at the end. The ending in fact just made me laugh at how bad it was. Once the lead role disposes of Vinny Jones, he becomes the new killer.
In closing, this film made Creep look like the best horror film ever made. I gave it 1 star because the female lead did a pretty good job but even she could not save this train wreck of a movie!!