Mr. Man-3 Reviews

Max Payne (2008)

From a die hard fan: this is a terrible film

[1/10 · 19 October 2008]

I've had the pleasure of beating both Max Payne 1 and 2, so let us start this off by saying I like the games a great deal. At the very least I expected a dumb, entertaining action film. What I was shocked to find was a film so poorly made I am impressed that Mr. Moore actually put his name on the credits.

In the games Max is pushed over the edge and goes on a rampage of survival and revenge. He works his way up from person to person and every once in awhile, he has crazy dream sequences. Throughout there is a dry wit and extremely overdone noir dialog. It's so over the top, it's hard not to like.

I have no idea why the filmmakers chose not to follow that fairly basic plot setup because the replacement is absolutely horrific. The movie wobbles from scene to scene, alternating from making no sense at all to making Max and every other character in the movie look like complete morons.

What's further astounding is that the film can't even get the basics down. This is the worst directed film I've seen in over a year. It's pretty but the action is sparse and boring. Conversations are so badly shot it's no wonder that the whole theater was laughing at most of the scenes. At least one actor turns in a performance so stiff he should be declared legally dead.

And as for the 'staying true to the game' part? Well, they had some slow motion shots, but beyond that, all the style, humor, and over the top action is missing.

Alright, I'm done. I still can't believe the film was that bad. Oy!

Friday Night Lights (2006–2011)

Unusually authentic, unusually good.

[9/10 · 9 August 2008]

I'm a fan of this show. I grew up in a small Texas town with a 5A high school football team but I never cared for the culture around it. So when I heard about FNL, I did the expected and ignored it. Shame on me! The show is really excellent. Excellent writing, excellent performances, and yes, I really like the unique camera work. The shaky, documentary-style way the series is shot is absolutely not for everyone, but if you can get over the intentional messiness of it, you'll find the reward in the improvised performances. I watch a lot of TV, and you'd be hard pressed to find moments that feel this honest in most other shows.

The series has a number of other things going for it. It manages to break its characters out of stereotypes and give them some real depth. The music fits very well. The show itself is very authentic - signs in yards, those lazy Texas sunsets, the craze around a small town football team - yet it is never patronizing or condescending to the world it presents.

If you're looking for good TV - not just a show in a genre you like - give FNL a shot.

Labyrinth (1986)

Part of Jim Henson company's imaginative archive...

[7/10 · 24 July 2006]

Jim Henson is a fascinating man. His Muppets and other puppets are truly extraordinary, beautiful, and creative. They have more life in them than just about any other form of animation out there. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth are truly cool movies - they existed because these guys wanted to do something really unique, and that deserves wild applause.

Labyrinth itself has a fantastic idea behind it - young Sarah, who is struggling with growing up and the responsibility that comes with it, is left to watch her baby brother while her parents go out. In a moment of selfishness, she wishes goblins would take her brother away...and they do. Now Sarah has only 13 hours to work her way through a massive Labyrinth, or her brother is gone forever! The premise is great fantasy - it takes a very human character, with a very human problem, and blows it delightfully out of proportion. There is plenty of adventure and wacky friends, and of course, David Bowie is our villain! The budget of the film shows - many sequences are amazing and epic, and some of the puppets are massive and intricately detailed! That said, I think the movie lacks characterisation, particularly for Sarah. She has such grandeur in her line delivery that it is hard to believe she is anything but a fictional character. That undermines what I found so appealing about the story - that the events in the story are caused by her actions and attitude. This lack of deep, real characterisation hurts some of the other characters in the film, particularly Hoggle.

Of course, if you grew up with the film, or you are a big fan of the other Henson films (The Dark Crystal, Mirrormask), you'll have a tough time hating it. It's quite entertaining.

Ultimate Avengers: The Movie (2006 Video)

What horrible animation! Good Lord!

[5/10 · 22 June 2006]

I'm a huge fan of the Ultimate universe. And this movie is just...really poorly made. It's a true shame, and I'm not really sure why, but whoever they went to for the animation had timing issues, really poor continuity , and a plethora of other problems. As a result the fights lack the oomph that is present in other superhero animation, namely the Timmverse stuff and Teen Titans. The characters don't emote very well. How much did this even cost to make? Is this because of the generally complex character designs? Maybe. The Timmverse stuff is stylized and simple. But Warner Bros. has also been animating a long time, and I don't know where Lions Gate got their animators from. Curt Geda, one of the directors, is a Timmverse alumni, but it looks like he didn't help much.

I completely adore the art style used in the comics. It's amazing and beautiful, like much of the stuff in the Ultimate universe. Check out the credits to this movie. Doesn't everyone look AWESOME? It's like we're watching poorly made paper cutouts of the real characters.

In short, I imagine this made money, and that's too bad. Because it sucks.

Waiting for Trains (2002)

Quite powerful.

[18 July 2005]

I caught this film in 2003 at Nacogdoches Film Festival.

The film is very sparse on dialog and very heavy on imagery. Of all the short films shown at the NFF this one stuck with me. If you get a chance to watch it I highly recommend it.

IMDb now requires a minimum line count for comments so I'll talk briefly about the effectiveness of this film as a short. The details are kept to an absolute minimum, but are heavy in nature. The main character is sympathetic. The idea is simple, but has impact. Many short films have a tendency to be either a compressed feature or a trailer for a feature. This is a great example of a film that transcends.

Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009)

Unbelievably good.

[3 November 2004]

In the US the series will not air until January of 2005, but in Britain it airs now on Skyone, thanks to Skyone's pouring of money into the show.

So does it live up to the miniseries? Absolutely. If you loved the miniseries you will be blown away by the show. Each episode is stronger than the last. Richard Hatch's guest character is very cool. Yes, there are one or two re-used shots, but it never gets to the "seen this battle already" level that we had with the original series. The show is still well shot and well written. I've been watching Lost and I have to say, BSG is more fun to watch, and that says a lot.

You don't know what you're missing!

The Game (1997)

Watch it. It's weird.

[20 June 2004]

Michael Douglas is wealthy, lonely Nick Van Orton. A birthday gift from his estranged brother sends him to a mysterious organization that plays exciting, life altering "games" witht heir customers. But is that really what they do? How far do they go?

Anyways, having watched this film a second time I'm going to muse a little bit about it. Below is the biggest spoiler the movie can give, so don't read on unless you've seen it.



SPOILER!!

Watching the movie through a second time, from the perspective that the whole thing is part of the game is quite fun. There are a couple of spots that are extraordinarily improbable, but not impossible. The game CRS plays could be faked. There are parts that are open ended. If you've ever played a pen and paper RPG (bear with me here), or improvised on stage, you'd understand. There are situations and clues and things but I think the game was capable of branching at certain points. And if you notice Nick is always steered in one direction or another. Other reviews complain about how unlikely it is that Nick wouldn't kill himself. I dunno. The psych test they give him looks pretty complete. What's to say they would know what he does? Not so much exactly what he'd do at any given time, mind, but that they know his limits.

Movies that make you think are good.

Beat the Devil (2002)

The most delightfully bizarre of the Hire series.

[18 June 2004]

To BMW Film's credit, it seems to me that much work is put into making each film as independant as possible. Sure there are parallels, mostly with subject matter, but stylistically each one stands apart from the others.

Beat the Devil is, in my opinion, the weirdest of the films. The subtitles, the car chase, everything is heavily stylized. Accusing this film of being unrealistic is like saying the ninja turtles aren't human. Duh, they're not supposed to be. That's a poor analogy but you get the idea.

The whole thing is also thick and complicated. The dialogue is often unintelligible and I'm still not quite sure why The Driver would bet what he did...but does it really matter? I mean, Gary Oldman plays the Devil and James Brown is in it.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000 Video)

Sharp writing, great animation.

[17 June 2004]

The Bruce Timm-style series all have their charms, but for me the best of them is Batman. The original was great, but Batman Beyond has a unique charm to it. With Terry as the new Batman, Bruce Wayne is able to drop any pathos he might have had in the original (when he was the main character), and is now delightfully cynical and grumpy. Who would've thought the idea would work so well?

Anyways, the movie is just awesome. If you like any of the Bruce Timm stuff, you really should see this.

The acting, of course, is top notch. The animation (done by Japanese house TMS) is superb. The music is an ejoyable mix of the crunchy stuff from Beyond and the orchestral themes from the original series. Most impressively, the editing, writing and narrative are very tight. The movie is easy to watch multiple times (very few lines illicit groans). My film student compatriots all wax pretentious about their favorite movies and I'm afraid to mention this one, even though I watch it often.

Chappelle's Show (2003–2006)

Nice, wholesome sketch comedy.

[21 May 2004]

Sure, there's some crude humor. But let's be honest, the show is really funny. I'm not a huge fan of some of the black/white gags (the Real World parody), but others I laughed at (Trading Spouses). The rest of it everyone should be able to enjoy. Sam Jackson beer? Black Bush? B-Ball with Prince? Go on to Comedycentral.com. All of those bits are on there. All of them are hilarious. (How about you and your crew...against me and the Revolution...heh heh)

And to the reviewers who think he pulls the race card too much...one of his head writers and numerous crew on the show are white. The humor is for everyone. Get over it!

Ronin (1998)

I told you the past had some useful stuff.

[28 January 2000]

*This review contains the slightest of spoilers, and you probably won't realize it's importance until well after you've seen Ronin*

Well, it's been awhile since I first saw Ronin. It's gotten alot of mixed reviews, even from my friends. The funny thing about it is that people don't really give reasons they hate it. As a result I've deduced this is one of those like-it or hate-it films.

Ronin focuses around a group of former secret agent types who have now gone rogue. The title hints to this a little bit. Basically, that's all you need to know, as this movie does not need extensive background setup. Frankenheimer's colors are drab and grey, blue, or black most the time. This is part atmospheric and part the fact that the movie was filmed in France (note: this was one of the first movies of the modern age allowed to be filmed in France and for the film crew to use simulated gun fire and such whilest there). The characters aren't there, but there is a sort of explanation: since these are former special ops/spies, wouldn't they ditch any trace of emotion anyway? Take scenes between Jean Reno and DeNiro. Emotion and character do surface, but so subtlety most people would call it bad acting.

Where this movie really shines is the action. Frankenheimer is a former race car driver and it shows in his techniques during the elaborate and well designed car chases. No optical effects were used in post production on the car chases. Actors and cars are really moving at 90+ mph. The shots of the chase, as a result, are mixes of in-car actor shots, stunt driver/camera car shots, and low to the ground "speed shots" that totally rock. This isn't a normal car chase...by Hollywood standards. In Hollywood you see more outrageous in-your-face shots. In Ronin you get steady wide shots and close shots, just like movies of old, where the technology didn't exist to do things we can today. The whole process gives the chases a true "sense of speed" and a feel of realism, becuase everything is really happening.

Shootouts are good, with situations where you see the result of ambushes, as competent fighters are drawn into situations where they are cut down quickly...which is exactly what the characters wanted. Oh, and there IS NO boathouse at Hereford. That's the point, people! Look at the context instead of assuming the script was written by an idiot. There's alot of clever situations and dialogue slipped into the script. Characters (DeNiro's especially) are clever and play tricks on each other regularly. Watch the entire first scene for some examples you probably missed.

All in all, this movie is a solid, original action movie. WHich is where it fails most. It isn't a social commentary, it's a great action movie. That's it. So in this situation you can really dislike this movie. I personally appreciated the little touches, as well as the clever script and excellent (and logical) chases and shootouts. I'd reccomend it if you wanted a more realistic alternative to, say, the outrageous final action scene of Face-off.

Final Fantasy VIII (1999 Video Game)

Contrary to popular belief, this game is damn cool.

[13 October 1999]

Ok, I don't mean to go against the previous review, but I fear they may have some aspects of the game...er...misinterpreted.

First of all, I want to say the game is a mix of Final Fantasy 5, 6, and 7. The elements of different systems from those games have been acquired and improved upon. Espers are now much easier to use and learning magic (from FF6) is now part of the advanced "junction" system. The ABT gauge is still there, and now when you use a Guardian Force, the bar runs down backwards, and during this time, enemies can attack the GF directly. Thankfully, there are items to help the beings recover, and you get them in abundance.

Now for the weird new stuff. The Junction system is crazy at first, as you equip GFs, then equip certain spells to increase your strength and stuff. Upgrading weapons is pretty weird, as you have to gather parts and read magazines to upgrade. Magic isn't learned as you become more powerful, you "draw" it from enemies and the ground. This would suck, except that you can draw the magic and immediately cast it to your target.

And the characterization... I have no clue what's wrong with the development. It was OK by me. Squall is quiet because he's a loner. He's totally rude to his friends because he doesn't want their problems. He basically has a live and let live policy. Zell is hyper AT FIRST because you meet him during a nervous time, he's entering an exam. He calms down. Afterwards he's just a extrovert. Seifer is a bit like Squall, except with an arrogance trip. Rinoa is moody because she's overconfident and outgoing and free spirited. I picked these things up easily. I also got the alternate meanings in the Matrix. Maybe I'm special.

Then there's the awesome theatrical elements. The music works, and there's very little load time. Scenes have a knack for ACTUALLY building up tension and suspense. And the choir in the opening movie. OOOOOoooooHHhhhhh! Not to mention the awesome motion capture sword fight. Oh, also the fact that the game almost SEAMLESSLY transfers between video and gameplay. You'll be running down a street being chased by a robotic spider, and we get a nice shot of the camera panning left and down so that the spider thing walks right into the camera. Then the rest of the incident is in video. Or maybe Irvine taking a shot with a sniper rifle and we watch the shot exit from a polygon barrel into a CG scene. Or the missiles launching in the background that spell destruction for Trabia Garden. I'm totally impressed, as Resident Evil uses similar concepts (prerendered BG with polygon char.) but has load times. Gunblades are the coolest weapons I've EVER seen in a final fantasy game. I just wish they were fired more.

All in all, this isn't a "true" RPG in the level building Dragon Warrior sense. But then again, does it matter? A fantastic story (unbelieveably about love) mixed with theatrical elements and great music (and nice visuals rivaling any other playstation game. Plus, name one final fantasy game that was EXACTLY like it's predecessor. Yes, the game is serious, but this is what I've been seeking for a long time, and I have no problem enjoying it.

Rumic World: Mermaid's Scar (1993 Video)

Creepy. And violent, but mostly creepy.

[29 June 1999]

I was first talked into watching this movie. I (unfortunately) had judged it by it's name and thought it to be something really stupid. Boy was I really, really wrong. This is one of those must see anime movies. The animation is good and the plot is perfect. To be honest, I wasn't this freaked out by scream, or even halloween. The basic backstory follows a legend. There's this stuff called Mermaid's flesh. If you eat it, you become immortal. However, if you're not strong enough to stand the flesh, you either die or turn into this hideous monster called a 'lost soul'. The story picks up a bit where it's predecessor, Mermaid forest, left off. Yuna, a 500 year old immortal, and his travelling companion, Mana, are on their way to find work in Japan. That's basically all I can tell you without ruining the awesome plot twists, except that kids really CAN be evil. Definitely recommended.