Change Your Image
jman-jacob
Reviews
The Eagle (2011)
Fun, Action-Packed, and Meaningful
While this is an action movie, and deserves to win no Oscars, it was very enjoyable., and contains more depth than I expected.
The Eagle is not just an action movie. The interplay of relationships is done well. The master-servant, father-son, and soldier-nation relationships are emphasized, but at its core this movie is the story of a friendship between two very different men.
The fight scenes are well done, although not perfect. The acting may not be the best ever, but it was competent and I wasn't distracted by poor dialogue or acting.
The setting is beautiful, filmed in the wilds of Scotland. It felt very real, capturing the vast mystery of the ancient British Isles.
I recommend this to any fans of historical fiction movies, or those who appreciate action movies even if they don't involve gunfights.
Hugo (2011)
Incredibly Lacking in Excitement
This movie featured beautiful sets, nice cinematography, and good acting.
Unfortunately, it was also monumentally boring. The movie is supposed to be a "family movie" and Scorsese's first movie for kids, but I find it hard to imagine that many children would have the patience to enjoy a movie so dull that even the climax seemed bland and monotonous.
The adolescent girl in the film, Isabelle, remarks that what she really wants is to have an adventure. Unfortunately for her, there is none to be found.
If you watch movies in appreciation of technical achievement, then perhaps Hugo will appeal to you. Otherwise, skip this movie, and certainly don't subject kids to it.
Killer of Sheep (1978)
A Movie that goes Nowhere
When I finished this movie, I was left wondering why there had been no substantial content. There are scattered scenes of thematic or emotional significance, but I ultimately cared not a bit about what happened to any of the characters.
The movie has no definite beginning or end that ties into a plot. There is no obvious climax, no scenes produce suspense or excitement, and the dry portrayal of the monotony and hopelessness in poor, mostly black communities is lost amidst the banality.
This movie is definitely NOT a movie to see for entertainment purposes. It may possess some value as an object of cinematic study, but I can't recommend it to anyone.
Skyline (2010)
Really, really, bad.
This movie is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Actually, I only gave it two stars instead of one because it had pretty good special effects.
The idea of the aliens, who somehow hypnotize people, suck them into ships, and harvest their brains... that is not the problem.
The problem with this movie is the presentation, the melodrama, the ridiculous scripting.
If you think you are going to watch this movie, skip to the end of this review. I would suggest reading the whole thing - because once you do you will realize that you shouldn't watch the movie.
The first three quarters of the movie involve a varying number of people hiding in a penthouse. At one point they make a run for it, trying to escape by car. Several of them die rather pointlessly, then they are chased by a variety of gigantic alien creatures it a big circle around the hotel. Then they run back inside and somehow end up back in the very same penthouse. Lots of slow motion is used. Actually, about a quarter of the movie was filmed in slow motion, for no apparent reason.
Then the military comes in the next day. They have a giant aerial fight with the aliens, and what appears to be a stealth-bomber, but which is somehow able to maneuver so quickly it puts fighter jets to shame, nukes the big alien mothership. There was originally more motherships, but by this point they have inexplicably disappeared.
When the gigantic nuclear explosion clears, leaving the occupants of the penthouse no more than a mile away miraculously unharmed, the mothership reconstructs itself in minutes, spewing out more aliens the whole time.
Then in comes a helicopter, and for some tactically inexplicable reason drops off three soldiers on a skyscraper and flies away. The two main characters, a guy and his girlfriend, decide to try and get to the soldiers and escape in the helicopter when it returns.
The other two people in the room protest, but the main guy, who is infected with alien energy or something, flips out and nearly kills someone. Then his girlfriend tells him that she still knows it him, not an alien, and they leave.
They then spend a long time running around on the roof trying to get to the soldiers, while hundreds of aliens fly around overhead. One alien, about the size of several cars mashed together, corners them, but the main character guy jumps onto it and punches it to death with his bare hands.
The helicopter returns and unsurprisingly gets destroyed by a Godzilla sized alien. Eventually,t he soldiers get killed also. The main guy is wounded and his girlfriend refuses to leave him, so they get sucked up into an alien ship together. As they fly up into it, they reach out and grab each other's hands, and share a slow motion kiss.
Next scene is inside the alien mothership. it is slimy and full of alien slime and organic matter, and thousands of humans. Giant tentacles are picking people up, popping their heads bloodlessly off, and harvesting their brains. The main guy get pulled up and his brain gets eaten. His girlfriend escapes, because for some reason the alien tentacles discover she is pregnant and drop her.
Then you see the main guys brain get dropped into some sort alien life-form about twice the size of a gorilla, and roughly the same shape. It seems to malfunction, falling to the floor, then stands up and looks around in confusion. For some reason the guy's brain retained its humanity and took over the alien's body.
Meanwhile the girlfriend gets grabbed by another alien warrior thing which lays on top of her, to, I don't know, rape her or something. Then in comes her boyfriend-now-alien super warrior, and beats the crap out of the other, "bad" alien. He lovingly strokes her face. Then the movie ends, showing several still shots of action figures, in which the boyfriend-alien punches several other aliens to death, then carries off the girl.
I have managed to condense the entire plot and events of the movie into one, admittedly long, review.
The movie sucked. the acting was awful, the scripting was awful, the directing was poor, the actions of characters made no sense, and the ending actually made me break out into hysterical laughter because it was so sickeningly corny and unbelievable.