sam2000 Reviews

Fight Club (1999)

One of the Best Movies in History

[10/10 · 12 July 2000]

If American Beauty deserves an oscar than Fight Club deserves 10 oscars.....I would say this movie has been underrated by most people and not given the respect it deserves.... the acting, sound, story, directing, cinematagrophy are all A+ ....

In the consumer society in which most of us live in .... this movie really re-define the meaning of life...its a real work of art and story telling , with comedy , action and sex....

This movie trully deserves to be in theatre as one the best films ever .... And I rarely give a film 9/10 .....

Down to You (2000)

Freddie Prinze Jr does another romantic Comedy, so whats new?

[6/10 · 7 July 2000]

Well if you seen the other romantic comedy films Prinze has done, this one isn't much different....he meets the girl, they fall in love, break up and become lovers again to give a happy ending.....

Prinze is the almost perfect boyfriend a girl can have (remember "She's all that")....the different qualities the girlfriend has in his movies is the only thing really different......and one more thing this movie does not take place in high school .... college and grad school partially...

It definitely is not for someone wanting to see something new and thrilling....yet it is not a bad movie .... only thing is that the topic is too stereotypical...

If you like teen, or college love stories,,,, might as well see it. ..or u are really bored and want to spend an hour an half of time...

End Verdict 6/10 .....

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Good but not that good...

[7/10 · 18 June 2000]

Pros: Great action, not overally complicated storyline, Thandie Newton and other overall cast, location of movie, the facelifting, cinematography and sound...

Cons: Action scenes are at the too prolonged and very unrealistic, story is quite predictable at times, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise's character) is lost with identity crisis with James Bond and Jackie Chan.

I personally liked the complex storyline presented in the prequel of Mission Impossible...it made me see the movie several times to understand it completely but I enjoyed...only someone like Brian De Palma could pull it off this ultimate story of deceive.

Sure John Woo is the king of action but at the end 20 minutes of the film it becomes all pointless ... you know when there will be a macho fist to fist fight with the big bad guy, and hero wins, the villain fakes his death and rises up but the hero is still a wiseass...and rescues the beautiful girl from the clutches of evil.

Tom Cruise tries more to like the flamboyant James Bond rather the spying mole he played in MI-1. There were elements in the original series and first movie that I especially liked. These vital essence are missing in this movie.

Otherwise the movie is quite ok, nice way to have fun and spend two hours time. John Woo fan will surely like it, but me being more interested the deciet, espionage and investigation prefer MI-1...compared to MI-2...

At the end I give it 73 out of 100....the same score I gave "The World is Not Enough"..

Stigmata (1999)

all right, Not bad to watch, good moral in the story....

[7/10 · 17 May 2000]

This is hardly an horror movie, though some scenes are intense its not frieghtening.

Its not the best of movies, but you can watch it. The story is is quite simple and not many twists....though the trailer is attractive....but does not really portray the film really.

I especially liked the moral the story had in the end, and made me think in retrospect of how the whole world is....

In the end I give it a 6.5 out of 10.....

Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984–1985)

One of my most favorite cartoons during my childhood

[21 April 2000]

Now I say its one of my most favorite cartoons during my childhood, but I still may find it enjoying if I ever get a chance to see it....but I was almost obsessed with cartoon and concept it gave, and will probably remain as one of my most favorite japanese anime's.....guess I'll never grow up !!!

The Peacemaker (1997)

Okay but not that really entertaining

[6/10 · 9 April 2000]

Its not a bad movie but in middle of the whole chase you kinda lose what the movie is trying to say. Director Mimi leder tries to show the big chase to find stolen Russian nukes (how many times have we seen that now....anway) but also has this weird melo dramatic atmosphere of what the bomber is going through emotionally and psychologically. If you are going have an action movie whats the point of making it out of point with dull melo drama (as if the movie was set to win the oscars).

After all this is supposed to be fictional fun for must viewers, there is no need of making it into a paradox (especially with cheap remake of USAF helicopters).

Now though this movie has some similarities with "The World is Not Enough", like Nicole Kidman being the bombshell heroine and nuclear scientist she is better that Denise Richards (at least in acting...other features of her are debatable). We have George Clooney trying to be a James Bond and a John Mclane (lets not forget Die Hard folks) wannabe.

If the movie just focused on the action, thrill and some comic relief it wouldn't have been that much of a flop. Clooney otherwise is okay by being the handsome, wise crack, trouble with authority army Major and boys lets not forget his sexy nuclear scientist assistant Kidman. Ok...its stereotypical but at least fun to watch......director even misses that....

I give the movie 6/10.....so don't feel bad if you missed it, but watch for the sake if you have time.

P.S: I haven't seen deep impact (also by Mimi Leder) but I can predict why it did not do as well as Armeggedon.

Around the World in 80 Days (I) (1989)

One my favorite classics with Pierce Brosnan

[7 April 2000]

A very enjoying and interesting series to tell Jules Vernes great novel. Pierce Borsnan makes a brilliant Fogg, and the rest of cast is equally good.

The Brosnan just gives a new dimension to the character described by Jules Verne, and with his similar physical features to the character of the novel.

Just as Brosnan has the remarkable resemblance of James Bond as describe in Ian Flemmings novels.

Nice for the whole family to watch.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

The film is a bit over hyped

[11 January 2000]

Well say we like it or not, the movie still hauled nearly a billion dollars in box-office ticket sales alone. But still everyones a critic (the same goes for me). You should definitely watch it if you have seen the first trilogy, otherwise see the them first cause they are much better and will give the interest of watching episode 1.

To sum it all up here are the pro's and con's that I thought were:

Pro's: F/X, Music, Darth Maul, Qui Gon, Obi-Wan, Watto, fight scenes, trailer, and the usual star wars stuff.

Con's: Jake loyd's acting, too little Music and light saber scenes, story too predictable, becomes a bit monotonous in the middle (lets face it Lucas is directing a film after 20 years).

I hope the second episode will have a different director as we can see George Lucas's strays and the story is a bit more exciting.

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

No, its not a cheap copy of Jaws

[6/10 · 3 January 2000]

Just because it has a similar all too familiar theme of famous movie(Jaws), Deep Blue Sea should not be underrated. Remakes of different movies have always been made with different plot lines and also have been successful at many times. One should not be too impatient to call Deep Blue sea an imitation.

Matter of fact the main story line of of Deep Blue Sea is quite interesting (check out the trailer). the film lost its ground on other elements. Though I didn't go to the cinema to be impressed as a Oscar judge for acting, I still felt the lack of depth in the performance of the actors as to give a bit more realistic approach of the disastrous situations their characters were in to be.

The film does have a lot of suspense and thrill. The sharks seem almost too invincible at times but yet at the end the heroes always succeed. The F/X seem good as it difficult to distinguish the computer generated effects but at some scenes they really look stupid like when a standing 6 ft man is just swallowed which meant that the shark had jaws a 6 ft wide jaw(thats big as a T-rex jaw).

I think the movie could have had more suspense, thrill, realism and excitement from a relatively interesting storyline. So I give it a 6.5 out of 10.

Virus (1999)

Sci-fi, Alien type thriller with a lot of tense

[25 September 1999]

Despite its bad reviews the movie was good, may be not the best but worth watching. It contains excellent f/x and realistic gore. If you are into all that stuff, you should definetely watch this film.

It's sort of a mixture of Alien, Predator and Event Horizon. It quite a lot of tense thrilling and scary scences which I really enjoy watching in a film.

The characters aren't so solid and the story is not really original but than again this was not a movie made to win oscars.

If you want some of cool f/x, tension, horror, cool robots, displaced human organs....watch the moive.

Wing Commander (1999)

Bad, just really bad and boring, waste of money

[1/10 · 2 September 1999]

I am really a sci-fi fan and I usually disagree to critics. I expected it to be similar to "Space above & Beyond(TV)". As with most space movies the lone fighter saves mankind. But the story here is even thinner than that. One expects a colourful special effects laden movie with some jokes and bit of thrill.

But forget that here, all you will get is, cheesy dialogoue and acting as if done by 3rd grade students. Simple plot made overly compilcated with unreal astronomical terms, cheap aliens from a 50's flick, and a remodel of 40's bi-plane with an over head hatch and jet boosters.

The acting was really cheap but I wasn't their for the acting, I was there for the fun of the movie, which ends up being boring, with continuous and meaningless space battles except for cheap dramatics. At the end from an unrealistic story(where you can travel through black holes) based on a video game they try to make a boring realistic ending. And the hero doesn't even shot down a single enemy fighter in the whole movie(thats the truth). To top it of, a no meaning romantic french kiss to finish.

On the other hand my younger brother who is in 3rd grade liked the movie. So go figure for yourself if you wanna watch it. I think I totally wasted my money on it.

I gave it a 3/10 -just for seeing Saffron Burrow & some special effects scenes in it.