asperyd Reviews

Naken (2000)

Funny movie that could have been even better

[7/10 · 9 January 2002]

While watching this movie I found myself laughing loud now and then to all the funny comments and details. However, the movie gets kind of boring from time to time, there are just too many repetitions of the same jokes. If not a comedy masterpiece, this movie is at least really fun and should be watched by everyone with a sense of sick humor!

7/10

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Not bad, just overrated

[5/10 · 6 January 2002]

In my opinion this is a movie worth watching. However, I would say it is highly overrated. In 1968, the visual effects where probably stunning, and they are still today not bad! The music fits very well and you get the impression that alot of work is put into this movie!

In my opinion however, it is highly overrated! The movie is far to long; it needs not be two and a half hour in order to tell the story. Each sequence is just far too long! Even if it's beautiful, you get tired of watching an austronaut spinning around in space for 10 minutes and you don't need a five minute display of the spacecraft drifting through space, no matter how good the accompanying music and the visual effects are.

5/10

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Read the books! Avoid the movie!

[6/10 · 20 December 2001]

This movie is, after a couple of days, really hyped! However, I do not see the reason for this!

Sure, some of the scenes are magnificent, the acting isn't bad and the special effects are amazing. This, however, do not save the movie from being a poor result of such a great manus to build upon.

First of all, you do not get almost none of the important background of the characters. Of course you can figue out that the hobes are a happy bunch of people, living a life free of worries. But you get no knowledge of the other characters; Gandalf is just there, you don't get to know anything about the nature of the alves, the dwarfs, the humans etc. The characters aren't developing through the movie. All of a sudden, they just change.

The focus of the movie seem to be on the fighting scenes and the landscape scenes rather than on the magnificent underlying story. That's a shame.

Read the books! If you have time over why not watch the movie. Don't expect too much though.

Schindler's List (1993)

Could have been important

[6/10 · 7 December 2001]

This movie treats one of the most important subjects of our century, i.e. the national socialist movement in europe which could have ended up in a disaster.

The acting and the cinematography are as good as it gets! However, since the purpose of the film is to be some kind of document on what happened in the camps in Germany and Poland during the nazi-period, I find the fact that Spielberg is making up things in the movie, such as the shooting of innocent jews from the balcony of a residence, somehow takes away much of its value as a document over history. My opinion is that there is no need for making up things and making them worse than they actually were in order to make a good movie about this era. Things were bas enough as they were; there is no need for making things up, especially things that couldn't even have happened (the location of the villa makes it impossible to shoot jews from the balcony).

To conclude: I find this to be a movie, well worth seing! However, it is not to be seen as a documentation of what really happened, which in my opinion is very unfortunate since that would have given this movie yet another dimension. In my eyes, this dimension would compensated for the loss of some of the more dramatic scenes in the movie. I guess my historian background somehow blew it for me.

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)

Underrated comedy!

[7/10 · 30 November 2001]

In my opinion, this comedy is quite underrated. Ok, it's not anything new with it, but the acting is good, the plot funny and it gives you some good laughs; i.e. exactly what this kind of movie is supposed to do! It is not a masterpiece like The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption or Memento, but if you take it for what it is - a funny somewhat stupid comedy, not even meant to be a movie which is praised by all the "know-how" movie people, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

The Bone Collector (1999)

An ordinary thriller, nothing more, nothing less

[5/10 · 29 November 2001]

I find this movie to be neither good nor bad. Plainly it's just an ordinary thriller which gives you the expected stuff, but nothing more.

It somehow feels like the plot is somwehat unfinished. Quite early in the movie you find out that Angelina Jolie's father was a police officer who committed suicide when she was young and that she was the one who found him. After this you expect this to have some kind of impact on the rest of the movie, but it doesn't. The murderer is someone that the "hero" knows, but it doesn't really matter since he's not playing an active part in the movie anyway. The way I feel about this is that there are things in this movie that are just in it, without really having any meaning. Bone Collector seems to me like a movie the writers haven't put too much effort in.

The story isn't unique either. A serial kille giving the cops clues, basing his acts on some old stories... Haven't we all seen that before?? And of course, in the end it turns out that the serial killer is an old enemy of the "hero", on a personal crusade against him.

Well folks, although I'm not too impressed by this movie it is at least worth watching if you have a couple of hours to spend! Don't expect it to be something extra though.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Excellent!

[10/10 · 27 November 2001]

I've been hearing a lot of positivt things about this movie for a long time, and finally I had the opportunity to watch it myself.

My expectations were high, but to be honest I didn't expect it to be this good! This film is just excellent, and I warmly recommend it to everyone!

The Pledge (I) (2001)

Really good movie

[9/10 · 18 November 2001]

This is a really good movie by Sean Penn. The acting is good, so is the story, and the ending is very unusual for being a Hollywood production.

This movie might however not fit everyone's taste. It is obvious, after reading some of the comments here, that the plot is too hard for some people to get. Neither is it the best choice for those expecting a Van-Damme- or Stallone-type movie! No, this movie is made for those who are able to understand and enjoy movies other than the mainstream Hollywood productions. So if you're one of those, do not hesitate, see it today!

-Johan

The Unknown (2000)

This movie is actually really good!

[8/10 · 31 October 2001]

I didn't have very high expectations when I started watching this movie, but it is actually a really good! Its style reminds about the Blair Witch Project, but it is not exactly the same since the scenes are not supposed to be filmed by the persons in the movie as is the case with Blair Witch.

The acting is surprisingly good, and I would also say that despite the low budget the filming is excellent and effectful. Maybe I'm easily frightened, but I think this movie is at least as scary as Blair Witch.

To conclude: if you enjoy horror movies that does not follow the typical hollywood style, and actually want to watch one where the focus is on building up an interesting and frightening story rather than creating cool effects, then this might be the movie for you!

Memento (2000)

One of the best movies ever made!

[10/10 · 24 June 2001]

After the first time I watched Memento, my impression was that it was an excellent film! Now, after watching it four times, my opinion is that this is one of the best movies ever made, and for sure MY personal favourite ever. The movie keeps getting better each time you watch it, and everytime you notice new details that you haven't noticed before.

Memento is a true masterpiece, and there is absolutely no good reason for not seing it.