Change Your Image
TitusPrime
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
If you were born after 1990, this film may make you cry UNCLE!
The humour is dry, subtly shaken then stirred.
The plot, pacing and character progression are as faithful as they can be while still taking itself seriously enough to laugh at origins. An homage to the period of the film just about everything is a parody or a shout out to 1960's espionage series of it's time..
I have found many people going out of their way to try and brand this flick as a serious period film. To do so is to rob yourself of the hundreds of easter eggs planted liberally in every scene.
With that said; It is a fine film indeed.
The soundtrack was fantastic and the score faithfully carries our heroes from adventure to adventure while maintaining its distance enough so this odd couple can banter freely.
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Transformers "Age of Extinction" a painfully ironic title.
I am a Transformer fan. I grew up with them, played the games, read some of the books and all that blah blah geek credential noise.
I enjoyed the first three films as well, it wasn't easy to ignore the crippling handicaps represented by Shia Labeouf's atrocious acting.I have still found some deeply genuine moments of redemption in each of the previous films.
Nothing could have prepared me for the waves of depression or intellectual bludgeoning this installation would inflict on me though.
On the most shallow surface level and with some of the finest CGI in the world, it failed one of it's most basic functions, Big Robots wars. The battles lack inspiration; they are as exciting as ordering a fast food burger from the value menu. Boring you to the point where you look forward to the failed chuckle fest provided by characters.
Many would argue that those are classic elements of the Transformers, which they are. Maybe it is the story, which has been abused so badly it passes that damage back to the viewer, maybe that is what makes this film a horrible mistake?
For me, it was the dialogue that murdered my hope for this film. The story couldn't escape the pandering tone of the script. The vacuity one is subjected to is an insult to the viewer. Black Holes begin appearing in the plot and start to erase any hope that it will somehow get better, maybe it will turn itself around if you just keep watching.
From the start the film seeks out and tranquilizes any genuine emotional connection with it's characters; they become glossy eyed and seem to only be able to communicate in platitudes covered in artificial sweetener . Amidst a background of brutal devastation, unjust persecution, terror of being hunted, all trust replaced with paranoia and facing the extinction of our entire species, one would expect to empathize with the characters, or at least the situation. But it is not there; there is as much genuine feeling towards this impending doom as one would expect when a goldfish is about to be flushed away.
So, what of our hero, Optimus Prime?! His magnanimous strength and ethical fortitude can always be counted on to save the day; yet it appears to be gone. His depth has been buffed down and polished up until it matches the rest of the generic character templates that have been plugged in to this formula.
Sitting through the first two hours was an endurance test. Since the story and plot became swiftly shattered hopes, all you are left with is trite banter and the failed comedic interactions of the supporting Autobot characters. Watching them is like being force fed spoonfuls of saccharine against your will. Each stale delivery of dialogue comes from a handful of nails; painfully hammered in with almost every scene they inhabit.
There is no belief that can remain in suspension under this film's lack of self respect, or the disrespect towards the intelligence of the viewers shown by the production. As I watched, I couldn't help but become angry that this was how little they must think of me, of us, the fans.
"Age of Extinction" reveals itself to be nothing more than a collection of the most marketable aspects of the previous films. A meal cooked from the same recipe, of explosions, giant alien robots, overused camera direction and a mindless ballet of slow motion combat. But this time they sweetened the recipe up for us by drowning it in corn syrup.
It is an offensive waste of what little time we all have in this world. Time that could be spent on far greater activities, like organizing your underwear, or watching a better film.
If even one person reads this and decides to take my advice, than it was time well spent IMHO.
If you read this and decide that I am being melodramatic in my review of its vacuous insult to you and itself; by all means watch it. Forget everything I have said; in the end all we have is our own opinion.
Dead in Tombstone (2013)
Don't tarnish your respect viewing this film. Just forget it was made, like I will, after I write this.
To all the fans of this genre or the actors involved in the making of this film; I have this to say, "This one will hurt, and not in a funny way, don't do it to yourselves."
Do yourself a favor and miss this film. It tarnishes the good memories we have of these actors with its lackluster existence.
This films Tombstone should read;
"Killed by the epic mediocrity of Director Roel Reiné."
If you truly love watching Danny Trejo, no matter how bad the film he is in, or seeing Mickey Rourke deliver lines as if he was trying to understand a sign language interpreter; even if Anthony Michael Hall can do no wrong in your heart, this is not something you want to see.
It seriously damaged my respect for just about everyone involved in making it come to life.
I am a film editor, cinematographer and even worked as a Zombie stuntman. So, film, and especially cheesy low budget film is an area of expertise for me. I even have the honor of teaching a film class, "Aesthetics of Editing".
So if you got this far, at least you know now I am not just some film bashing wingnut; some jerk with no idea how film is made, why it is good, bad or meh.
X: First Class (2011)
A few words from the people who know the worth of Hero's.
I am passing this on from a close friend of mine who does not post on boards his reviews and our discussion with others of our trade, Comic Books, Artists,Producers and Writers.
They love this film.
For all the right reasons to. Because this film is more about super heroes and good storytelling than it is about scraping a generations wallets with the exploitation of heroes from their youth. It is a film that helps break down the idea that continuity of storyline matters at all in the world of comic heroes. Which it doesn't.
I am not speaking of anything that happens in this film but in general when I say. So what if the dead spring back to life under dubious circumstances or people who were young at one point are now in the past as adults. Each story is a universe unto itself and these characters are not bound by the expectations of people who do not have the imagination to see what matters in storytelling. So, if you love a good story, well made and refreshingly honest, go see this one.
Even I was skeptical, especially as since I am an editor, I found the original trailer to be one of the most embarrassingly trite representations of a film in this season. All it needed was a Mr Movie Phone Narration and I would have thrown something at the screen.
The Comic Artist who I am speaking of is the voice I am listening to on this film. My pal was the youngest artist ever to be hired as a main artist to Justice League of America in 1987. His career is stellar and he consistently produces some of the finest no holds barred comic storytelling to this day. You don't believe me, fine. But if you don't know the title, Go check out, "The Boys".
The point is that while many of these box office watchers are gauging this film on how it does at the box office. Even more are bashing it for no reason other than, they can.Box Office Mojo should be more responsible for their reviews, as they are in fact not reviews at all. They are business reports, that act as if money is the only factor that makes a film worth viewing. Such a lack of care for what they report itself becomes a factor in how a film does. I would not doubt that the reviewer had not even seen the film reported on by the manner in which it is reported on. The all time worst excuse I have heard so far from BOM, "Where is Wolverine?"
Who cares where wolverine is? He has his own movie, which in many of us who make and love comics opinion, was the worst of all the x-men films hands down.
Just because more people went to Wolverine and were disappointed on the opening weekend than this film has had sit down to watch it in no valid way to to gauge this films value.
Thank you and enjoy the film!!
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
A rebirth, not a remake or a copy by any means.
Everyone who has judged this film as a bad remake was not watching this film for what it is, an entirely new treatment of a classic, a rebirth, not a resurrection. It takes no vision, originality or courage to make remake a film as an updated copy and It rarely ever works, because it cannot be done.
This re imagining of Nightmare is absolutely a joy to watch, the only thing is you need to watch it and accept it for what it is. It is it's own film, with its own tempo and atmosphere to experience. Anyone who goes into it looking for Freddie the upgraded nightmare, will only disappoint themselves. The film is not a disappointment, it is honest with itself and genuinely creepy
Also, Jackie Earle Haley brought depth a depth to Freddie that was hair raising. He made me feel distinctly uncomfortable in my own house. A fresh and unique fear that only this film will ever produce in me.
Take my advice and be confident that you won't be wasting your time with this film.
Then form your own opinion. :)
The Mechanic (2011)
This film is broken, no wonder they need a mechanic.
This remake has managed to do what very few films have accomplished, it made me stop watching it. With no feelings I might miss something and perfect assurance I could have been doing something better than watching a rock video for serial killers. Instead of following the formula that worked in the past the producers and director, this time around decided that it had been missing graphic and brutal depictions of murder, so they fixed it. But ended up breaking something that didn't need fixing.
If your thinking that I am just not into violent films, you would be wrong. Many films have brought the fictional representation of violence to the level of fine art. This is not one of them. In fact I had not it was a remake even. I did see the original though. I caught it late at night just as it started in 1983 on HBO.The film was riveting. I have often thought back to it through the years as a fine example of American action suspense film.
Halfway through this Redux of fail, I began wondering why I was watching it at all. Then I caught a post from a young man reviewing it here, Which said( this film is so lame >>>>> so on and so on.). But what got me was the end of his review. "The movie they based this on must suck to, I will never watch the original." That is pretty damn sad.
I had different issues than the angry young man had with this film. Over all it is well made. I think the director lost his mind and forgot he was making a movie though and attempted to make The Mechanic into the first Blockbuster Snuff Film. The assassinations depicted for these so called professional killers are very close to torture. Long involved scenes of merciless stabbing, choking, crushing, and slicing the contracts they are paid to terminate left me queasy.
By halfway through the film I had lost all consideration for any kind of plot. I no longer cared for, or could root for either of the main characters. Once you start thinking that your main heroes should both be lobotomized and incarcerated for life because they are sociopaths, its pretty hard to care if there is a story .
All I remember is how bad I felt for the people I was supposed to not care about or even dislike; as they died. So in my opinion, this film was wretched, and forever tarnished the good name of a foundational piece of American Cinema.
The Green Hornet (2011)
The Fate of those who want to go to this film.
Titus Prime:Film Editor.
A brief description of your possible future after seeing this film.
As it ends and you begin to realize; "It never got any better?! In fact it was never any good to start with.". The only thing that kept you there was Hope. Hope that this is not really going to suck for 2 hours.
It did suck, it sucked at the life out of the beloved memory of this hero and it sucked on your brain for the entire duration.
It was nothing more than A feature length insult for that disrespected you and the content.
Numb and slightly confused, you think about this review. Then wonder why you didn't walk out 15 minutes in to it.
Prophecy complete. If you read this and still waste what very little time you have left to live watching this film; I am sorry, really I tried.
I just hope that this review isn't as much a waste of my time as seeing Green Hornet was.
If only one person even replies and says, "Thanks man, I was about to go see this. Thanks for the warning ."
I will feel that some good has come from the whole experience. The in depth review:
I spent an hour scouring the credits, checking the backgrounds of the director and editor. I was shocked to find that both had made some of my all time favorite films( Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Predator). So for once, it isn't the director or editors fault. So that leaves the writers?!
This film not only fails, it is offensive and insults you by existing, because they made this film thinking you would love it! It pisses me off to watch this, as they had to assume you me and everyone who ever loved the Green Hornet were stupid giggling idiots. It also pisses me of for being an unbelievable, uninspired waste of potential!
It takes some serious self delusion to create content like this out of some of the best of the 60's Americana. Just treat the legend like you actually have some respect for it and this stuff writes itself.
Seriously?! They could have at least given a million to Kevin Smith to ghost write it. Then they could have done honor to the Green Hornets Memory and funny. This film actually lowers the mental activity of the audience.
Seth Rogen writes great stoner films. I think Seth has become the "unobservant stoner, who laughs at everything" from one of his own films. You would have to be stoned to actually find this film humorous. Being drunk might help. Because as soon as you went to the bathroom you would realize you could be drinking more instead of getting sober watching this tragedy of fail.
With that in mind I cannot imagine how anyone looked at this script and Green Lighted a 120,000,000 production budget.
Actually I do understand. This industry is a part of my professional working life.
The producers don't care about the quality of the film. It has already made almost 2/3 of its budget on opening weekend. The investment portfolio's for "blockbuster" films are 5 year investment return projections, in most cases. If in 5 years it turns ANY profit, its a success.
It will most likely return about 50 million in profit. They will all pat themselves on the back and tell everyone how great the movie is. For them profit is proof of quality.Yet there is not enough money in the world to unmake this low brow, dull and entirely clueless failure of a tribute.
A hope for my own future regarding this film. To ask Seth what he was thinking when he wrote this. Or if in fact he was thinking at all. I would feel somewhat better if he was feeling guilt for having been so disrespectful to the human race with this script.
At least then I would trust him as a professional again.