jsorenson777 Reviews

Wanderlust (2012)

quite bad at best

[2/10 · 7 June 2012]

If you are addicted to movies, this could be a cure.

An unfunny comedy with a deep and accidental message that we are devolving.

Writing, acting, directing, editing -- mediocre at best. The characters are all superficial, unimportant and unbelievable. Some of the scenes were unsettling rather than comedic and some were actually painful to watch.

It was a long 90 minutes -- time wasted that will not be returned.

This thing will disappear quickly, if we are lucky. If not there will be sequels.

This Means War (2012)

Complete waste of time

[1/10 · 4 May 2012]

All of the characters are cool and beautiful (more so than the viewers) and should be envied. Envy is important for the success of this movie.

"Insipid" is the first word that comes to mind. It doesn't work as a comedy or as a comic book. It works only as evidence of devolution of the human race.

Once again we have some special effects which qualify this trash as a legitimate movie. Real movies have special effects.

Depiction of the CIA as a high-tech group of assassins is politically interesting, but there is no moralizing. We are just to accept this as it is -- cool.

500 years ago Leonardo Da Vinci was drawing airplanes and helicopters while painting the Mona Lisa. 500 years later writers and directors are putting out this garbage.

The movie will probably make money - appealing to the masses ("The masses is asses" - Uncle Ward)

Grown Ups (I) (2010)

Another slap in the face big money maker

[1/10 · 22 September 2010]

Sandler scores again - big money taking an old plot and grinding out a semblance of something - then laughing all the way to the bank.

Sort of a wannabe Rat-Pack at work here. Slightly talented boys playing at making a movie in a place that enabled them to have a vacation while working.

Probably hit the demographic solidly in the gut. 14-year-olds might consider this cool, if they are the sorts that figure they will eventually be professional athletes so they are not planning for anything else - future unsuccessful used car salesmen.

Acting, directing, writing - all zeros here. Another piece of junk from the highest-aid actor in Hollywood - and his team of zany (not) buddies.

Go see this if you are an idiot.

From Paris with Love (2010)

silly but also insulting and ludicrous

[1/10 · 5 May 2010]

This thing doesn't work. Travolta is revolting. The script was sophomoric at best (more like freshmanic). The other guy was even less believable. No chemistry. No camp fun.

The worst part of this was the attempt to introduce drama with the girlfriend. Keep it silly throughout and you could have had a bad attempt at silly, but you had to try to make us feel something - you had to seemingly require that we stay awake. Big mistake. Slammed the door.

And this was a bit sickeningly American - with all the foreign folks falling easily - and aiming very poorly with automatic weapons. Yes - out of six million bullets the one supporting actor did take one in the shoulder. Probably a ricochet.

The worst thing was that this fiasco seemed to be a lengthy set-up for a sequel. And evidently this garbage is making money. Next up -- From Moscow with love. Can't wait.

Couples Retreat (2009)

Failed attempt at mediocrity

[1/10 · 1 May 2010]

An idiotic script interpreted by illiterates.

Makes Adam Sandler look like the genius he thinks he is.

Couple's Retreat was bad in so many ways. The characters were not likable and they had no depth. The relationships were undeveloped and thus unbelievable. We were just supposed to accept them. The story was inane. The acting was unprofessional, but that may well have been because of horrid direction.

This thing fails miserably as a comedy, except for the few dramatic attempts, which were funny.

Might have been a good excuse for a bunch of people to go off to a tropical island and pretend to do work. Too bad they had audiences come out to look at the finished product, which should have never been finished, or started

Amelia (2009)

Well done

[8/10 · 19 April 2010]

Some people shouldn't see some movies.

This is a period piece and a character study -- both very well done. Some younger viewers may be looking for more action and maybe a happy ending. Maybe a car chase or two.

Works well as a love story between complex characters and as a depiction of Amelia and her time.

Tarentino can change history for fun and profit, but these folks did their best to try depicting truth. Gere and Swank exhibit high level acting skills here and the story moves well from scene to scene.

Not the kind of movie that is going to be popular with the average viewers and not a big money-maker, but a fine film nonetheless.

An Education (2009)

Fine Film

[10/10 · 20 March 2010]

Watched this after trying to watch "Cop Out" (couldn't get through it). There simply is no comparison - lest it be between garbage and high art. The BBC puts out good stuff.

All aspects of this gem shine. Fine performances. Interesting score. Superb direction. Fascinating screenplay.

Add-in absolutely amazing cinematography and you get this beauty.

No wacky banter. No car chases. No gun battles.

Just a period piece that effectively brings back another time and a compelling story that plays out almost perfectly.

"Cop Out" probably will make more money which only proves the street line that "the masses is asses" -- It's good to know we still have true filmmakers out there who do their work for the sheer fun and beauty of it.

Thanks much to all involved.

Cop Out (2010)

sad waste of time

[1/10 · 19 March 2010]

Bruce Willis playing Bruce Willis as a cop.

Morgan playing Morgan as a cop.

No chemistry.

The cops look like actors playing cops.

The sets look like sets.

Editing like blind quilting - just covering holes with pieces.

If there is a story here it is overshadowed by buddy-movie clichés and hackneyed formulas strung together.

Like a movie about the making of a bad movie.

The only laughter here is from Willis and Morgan on their way to the bank.

Only redeeming value is that it is thoroughly forgettable.

Avatar (2009)

Move over Titanic, Star Wars, Citizen Kane

[10/10 · 2 January 2010]

Quite possibly the best movie ever made.

An amazing cinematic experience.

Cameron has painted his masterpiece(again).

The story works wonderfully from start to finish, but the story takes a backseat to the overall cinematography and the crafting of the individual shots.

The acting too, superb as it is, is overshadowed by the sheer genius of the film's creators.

Avatar will be enjoyed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Technically it is probably the first of it's kind with myriad innovations behind the scenes that make for a seamless work of art.

And Avatar is truly a work of art. The kind of movie that will make you proud to be a member of the same species as those responsible for this celebration of humanity

Wanted (2008)

Poor plagiarism

[1/10 · 29 May 2009]

Like something you would get if you removed half of Tarantino's brain and told him to do a remake of Rocky. An insult to whatever genre it contends it is in. Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman put in their two weeks and produced clichés the thirteen year olds would consider profound.

The plot was derivative at best – flat out plagiaristic for the most part. And the meek office boy eventually stands up to his horrid boss and says, "Shut the #$$@ up!" Who woulda thunk? Like finding tires on an automobile.

Lots of borrowed special effects that will make you long for radio – unless you are thirteen, in which case you will think them way cool. Check out Rocky, Kill Bill, Karate Kid and you will see where this was stolen from – and this is like stealing three great sculptures, welding them together and calling it original art.

Lots of stylistic blood – yippee!

Australia (2008)

Like "Oklahoma" without the music

[5/10 · 22 March 2009]

This could have been a great musical - but it is less than wonderful as is.

Nicole Kidman probably worked a few weeks and they had to shoot her shots in that time and then shoot to flesh out the story. The result is uncomfortable gaps, stilted flow, incomplete pacing and an unfulfilling film. Possibly the problem is just abysmal editing, but more likely the editors simply didn't have the pieces they needed to tell the story well.

There is a scene with Kidman trying to sing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" that could have worked, but they butchered that. The hero was stereotypical, with actions that were predictable and lines that may have been written by a computer.

Too bad as this had great potential.

Worth watching, if just to note the scenes that should have been.

The Reader (2008)

a movie-lover's movie

[10/10 · 2 March 2009]

This is cerebral - not surface stuff - not light entertainment.

"The Reader" forces you to examine life from perspectives you may not wish to visit, but if you love movies you will put this in your vault.

Kate Winslet is phenomenal and the other actors are superb - celebrating the genius of the director, the screenwriter and the author of the novel.

You can watch this film just to appreciate the editing, or just to appreciate the cinematography, or just to appreciate the acting. The aftertaste will make you watch again, for the bulk of the iceberg - it keeps getting bigger...

To paraphrase from "As Good as It Gets" - if you write movie reviews, "The Reader" will make you want to be a better writer.

The Rocker (2008)

Surprisingly enjoyable

[7/10 · 14 February 2009]

The best news here is that Christina Applegate is still hot and Rainn Wilson has escaped from "The Office" effectively. He is a comedic talent with promise.

This is a tight little flick that works for what is is. The story flows well and the cast works together comfortably. Looks like they enjoyed the project.

The directing and editing are spot-on. This simple low-budget comedy is very well done.

There should be another set of awards for films like this. Not Oscars (maybe Felixes), for meticulously crafted smaller films that do what films are supposed to do - entertain.

Swing Vote (2008)

A little Lebowski

[5/10 · 14 February 2009]

Entertaining enough but this could have been much better. The uneven first half doesn't set up the ending well and Costner is too far removed from poor trailer park folks to be believable in his role. Much of the acting seemed contrived.

Grammar is good as the president and Hopper plays a believable ex-hippy challenger, although the character changes in both were poorly written or poorly edited (or both) so that the transformations are too abrupt - seemingly pasted in to fulfill audience expectations.

The film tried to be a comedy, a political satire and a drama -- too much for one movie. Didn't quite make it it any of the genres.

Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

We are Lars

[8/10 · 14 February 2009]

Lars loves a doll and some of us write reviews nobody reads.

This is a film about people we know well. People who are not famous or wealthy. People who never win the lotteries. People with opinions nobody cares about. People who live and die on Sagan's dust mote pond, without making a ripple.

"Lars and the Real Girl" is a pretty piece of work, certainly not traditional Hollywood (and that's good).

The setting and characters fit well and the actors did their best to make the other actors look good. The message comes through loud and clear.

Harry Chapin said it some time ago, "Everybody's Lonely -- that's what it's all about."

Doubt (I) (2008)

New genre - the moral thriller

[10/10 · 2 February 2009]

Normally we give too much credit to actors. They often work for short periods and force myriad takes. Directors manipulate and cajole them. Then the filmmakers spend months choosing the best shots, carving them and stringing them together to make the story (and the long-gone actors) look good.

"Doubt" is an exception, only in that the actors are especially marvelous. The many close-ups and the length of the shots attest to the trust John Patrick Shanley puts in them. Streep and Hoffman are superb. Adams and Davis are remarkable as well.

Still the most credit for this phenomenal effort must go to Shanley.

What a fascinating story, with layers and springbacks that will leave you thinking and rethinking.

Thank you very much to all involved with this fine film.

Seven Pounds (2008)

More than sweet

[10/10 · 5 January 2009]

What's wrong with this film? Can't think of anything.

Wonderful writing directing, editing, acting....

The power of film is in the collaborative synergy and this piece is the essence of the art form.

An absolute wow of a film.

You won't want to say, "This actor or this director or this designer..." You will want to say (somewhat quietly at first) "Bravo" and "Bravo" -- and then you'll want to stand up and shout "BRAVO!!"

Lovely (and they absolutely stuck the dismount)

Thank you

Shortbus (2006)

Poor Us

[4/10 · 7 November 2008]

Yet another unique sad, funny, hey-look-at-how-Hedonistic-we-are, Big Apple film - full of amazing shots, scenes, transitions and fascinating music. Hours of painstaking labor involved - by humans with finite lives.

Amid the neo-con decadence of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, while the planet begins to boil - here is a piece of anthropology for inclusion in the sayonara capsule we shoot off into the cosmos just before the oceans succumb to spontaneous combustion.

The message here is obvously: "Sorry we didn't make it upstream - we got sidetracked in a quest for quality orgasms."

Burn After Reading (2008)

Hats off again to the quirky Coens

[9/10 · 30 October 2008]

Ahhhh the Coen brothers. Francis McDormand, the amazing acting babe. Clooney and Pitt playing goofballs. Same-O same-O? Not at all.

Good stuff.

An original screenplay, seasoned nicely with a bit of Catch 22 and Strangelove and Fargo This is/was not the biggest commercial success. Not an Adam Sandler sort of flick. But the kind of thing you think about days later and snicker at. Then you watch it again and maybe get it. 10 years later you watch it again and remember how much you loved it.

Thank the cosmos for the Coen brothers. Their absurdity is never tempered by reality. Everybody is selfish and the winners are not deserving. Predetermined fate fashioned by an inbred and incredibly lesser God

Felon (2008)

"There but for fortune....."

[10/10 · 28 October 2008]

Tight and riveting film. No light sabers. No 3D. Just an enjoyably sparse piece of excellent film-making. Superb acting, direction and camera-work. This is one they'll watch many years from now - in film schools and history classes.

A simple morality play in a sense, but there are edges to the edges and you have to think there are many living this nightmare.

We have more prisoners per-capita than any other country and the prison guard unions are among the strongest. Prisoners are the commodity and the main messages are: This could be any of us - and - we live in a broken system that is not repairing itself.

Great movie - truly frightening story.

Alpha Dog (2006)

A great film

[10/10 · 20 September 2008]

Hemingway lives.

This is an iceberg of a film, with the most interesting stories far below the surface. For Nick Cassavetes this is a masterpiece. The performances are so outstanding that it is difficult to single anyone out. Sharon Stone, however, was somewhere beyond amazing.

This disturbing depiction of real-life events is not just about the young drug-dealer and his contemporaries, but about his parent's generation and California and America and humanity. Cassavetes shows us the last vestiges of conscience sparking as if short-circuited, in these kids with their DNA deficiencies. The stunted parents, baby-boomers all, suffer from the indulgences of their parents and from the inconsistent rewards of their culture and time.

Overall the movie is a picture of a society that is devolving, eating itself, not because of hunger, but due to boredom and an absence of the necessary definitions and reasons for doing the right thing.

A sad and wonderful movie.

Leatherheads (2008)

Sorry to see this fail

[4/10 · 4 September 2008]

The story was the first problem. Even a silly comedy needs a logical sequence of events in order to work effectively. Without a solid story line the characters couldn't develop well and they didn't. This may have just been poorly edited, but ultimate responsibility there has to fall on the director.

"The Sting" is a good example of what they were shooting for, but they fell far short. The drama aspects weren't believable and so the interspersed comedy was flat, and the slapstick seemed to be just slapped in there.

The actors all are great in other work, but this one, alas, is a miss.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tropic Blunder

[3/10 · 29 August 2008]

The characters are drawn well and somewhat developed. Should have made for good comedy but it just didn't work. Maybe this is funny for very young and dumb (not to mention insensitive) American kids.

Stiller, the director, may be most at fault. Some of the gags should have worked and there should have been some chemistry between the characters but it seemed they were Photoshopped in. Maybe the movie was made that way to save on production costs. That would explain some of the missed chances.

A lot of high paid actors here and this film will probably make money, but in a perfect world all involved would be incarcerated for a time and then neutered.

and then shot.

August Rush (2007)

The way it should be

[9/10 · 27 August 2008]

Fairy tales are about people places and stories that should be. This film is an innovative accomplishment -- a poetic montage we wish was real -- as we wish all enchanting fairy tales to be real.

A little Van Morrison begins the magic -- it's a marvelous night for a moondance -- and we suspend belief and pray we know just what will happen -- and we are carried away in the music, the iconic characters and a timeless story that must have actually happened somewhere in the multiverse - over the rainbow and beyond the sea.

The writers, director, actors, all involved are to be commended. Lives are finite but this is a classic and the actors and story will live on -- all will deservedly be forever young.

Peaceful Warrior (2006)

Great satire of inspirational movies

[2/10 · 23 August 2008]

Characters are supposed to change as stories progress. The main character here changed from a selfish pompous dork into a selfish pompous reborn "guru". Nolte evidently has had a lobotomy.

This was a film about wisdom seemingly made by high schoolers who had read a comic book and become "enlightened".

A dash of Karate Kid, a little Rocky and a whole lot of Ishtar.

The best that can be said is that this was a low budget film and not a lot of money was wasted. Unless it was a tongue-in-cheek satire, it was one of the worst films ever made.

You need to run your head into a brick wall a few times before you watch this and, if you like it, you need to return to the wall and hit it much harder.