ANGEL-S Reviews

Unknown (I) (2011)

Perfect thriller

[10/10 · 9 April 2012]

Very exciting film. I am particularly fond of 'european' touch and atmosphere presented, being living in the eastern Europe, film looked very domestic and familiar. Instead of skyscrapers, you find miniature flats with "carton walls" and modest middle-class cars on the street; hearing authentic language and behaving dialogs on the glimpse; the set is ready, turn-on the camera, please. The story was original up to a fair point, and kept all of my attention throughout entire film. The acting of a lead actor is natural as always, and supporting characters are also good, although pushed into a second plan; with no artificial kindness of any sort in between (Gina: "Why did you have to be in my Taxi!?"; or Ernst:"The Money!").

The 4-day vacuum, gloomy outlook for the lead and general suspense were dominant feelings for less then 2 hours of a great adventure. This is a perfect thriller for me and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes this genre. 10/10

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

Perfect for experts in economy

[10/10 · 30 October 2011]

First, I haven't seen original from 1987 yet, didn't realise this is a sequel. Second, I am half through my "Broker course" at my university, by no means expert for high-level economy, this is only optional subject I simply picked. "Wall Street 2010" is one of several obligatory movies we must see before final exam, which will have some questions regarding key moments in those movies. So far, this was hardest for me to understand and actually had to rewind some scenes on DVD to fully figure what is going on.

This is a perfect film, acting is superb, high-budget production, and addresses some key elements regarding 2008 economic crisis. It is not for everyone, since it requires higher knowledge of the topics presented in the film to be fully appreciated and understood. I have no doubt this movie will acquire a cult status in the years and decades to follow, despite low ratings in the opening year, jugging by 6.3 average at present on IMDb.

Perfect dialogues and metaphores of speculation bubbles and moral hazards, only one frame on Citibank banner was enough to complete introductory scene. Artistic perfection!

Young actors did astonishing effort to make characters believable, so was performance of well established names like Michael Douglas. Absolute recommendation if you are into stock exchange movies.

Acting: 10/10, Story 10/10, Factual accuracy 10/10

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marketing Hype

[2/10 · 3 August 2011]

What a disappointment. After learning it surpassed Harry Potter - Deathly Hollows 2 in earnings, I thought to myself this movie must be damn good. Yes, I am afraid expectations were high. In comparison, Iron Man 2 (which was a failure in comparison to Iron Man 1 personally) looks like Star Wars to this "over-inflated flat tire".

The acting is over-driven above tasteful limits, if there is acting at all, mind to say. Story has some nice Sci-Fi elements, and thats the whole reason I gave it 2 stars. Hugo Weaving was way over the top, this is probably his worst role so far. The part that looked like a commercial probably was homage to old times, but for me it was a moment when I decided to abandon this farce.

Morning Glory (2010)

Working Girl 2

[6/10 · 20 March 2011]

This movie tries really hard to be a comedy, while the effect is quite opposite: it is an 'anty-comedy' of a sort, with no irony I mean. A true story about devaluation of moral values in modern media. In order to gain competitive time-share ratings and survive in a harsh environment, where reality shows dominate and moral degrading values long perished, the lead character tries to transform a traditional concept. While it achieves the goal, it looses quite some in the process. It is called progress (now I am ironic).

The story is predictable, within 15 minutes you will know the end, but the story is not the point of this movie, it should be the way it is told. It is not original, however, already seen in the 'Working Girl' against corporate environment, where Ford played one of the lead roles, too, except the female partner in this one is more neurotic and irritating, energetic and cute in a strange way, all in the same time.

The movie is watchable, comes as a great relief after some heavy drama or dark actions, as a relaxing balance, but except some memorable quotes, it will be immediately forgotten. Emotionaly, although struggles hard to leave impression on the viewer, it remains cold and alienated. The character Mr. Ford plays is predominantly guilty for this. Cynical beyond repair.

I found this movie fun on a (rare) moments, the movement of the story was fast enough, despite entirely predictable, but wasn't interfering with my desire to see the end. The end was a bit disappointing, since I expected more realistic ending to at least save the day, but to keep the 'comedy' label approved, it was simply not realistic expectation after all.

Buttom line: fun to watch in a casual mood. 6/10

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

Warm and beautiful

[10/10 · 17 March 2011]

Funny how movie ratings can seriously induce someone to think it is an average, dull, flat, seen-it-before, when in fact, there is no person in the world that would stay indifferent about it, and won't watch it again in a distant future at some point. This movie is absolutely under-rated here at IMDb.com.

I remember watching it back in my teenage days and it was completely hilarious! Now, almost full decade or maybe more, not quite sure, it still captures me entirely. Strange how as a grown-up I focused on different things and noticed something I did not back then, up to a point it could be twisted far from what authors intended, but still, it is a very decent movie you won't easily find in Hollywood production these days.

Mrs. Doubtfire (what a witty title I did not captured before, I come from non-English region) teaches about moral as something that looks damaged or lost in the modern days of our world. It teaches about true values that deflated over the course of speed progress and development. It teaches about relationship between a parent and a child in a most sincere and gentle way imaginable. It could be a true story. In fact, it IS a true story.

My stomach couldn't be more 'tortured' with laugh last evening. Creators fully revealed their master skills, carefully exploring all the aspects of drama and molded them perfectly into this theatric play.

As elusive the film's title can be, this movie is an absolute gem for many, without which film-making magic would not be the same. It gets deep into many levels of human relationships that you can see from a funny and radically new perspective that praise joy and life to it's highest.

Robin Williams played one of his lifetime roles, he is among the most talented actors ever encountered, always consistently radiating no matter where appears. To quote a line, the God broke a mold after created him, and the rest of the crew/characters are seamlessly absorbed inside his limitless charm.

"Oh, dear", I believe already made myself clear - absolutely praise the joy of it's magic.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

T2 Clone

[6/10 · 16 March 2011]

This title comes after massively disappointing T3 sequel, so my expectations were pretty low. I knew it is hard to surpass T2 that was ahead of its time on many levels. The main reason I gave it 6 is because the story structure was a direct copy of T2, as if directors and scriptwriters did not wish to take any risk with the old T2 public, yet they seek to appeal to the new generations at the same time. The story is progressed in the same way T2 does: naked terminator, the scene with clothes, truck and motorcycle, skynet destruction... Only the players and the story are subtly different, and not at all original (already seen for example in Battlestar Galactica 2003 and Matrix). We see some new elements that fill the gap between T2 and present, but again, its all seen in recent movies and TV shows in a much greater detail, so no surprise there. The acting is alright for an action movie, but the characters are there simply to fill a role, there isn't any depth, any insight how they survive without food and water, how they socialize as a primal human need after food (ok, there are some hints for that and the war is going on, people are stretched to the extreme, but still...). It is a very dark movie, much more realistic then any previous sequel, yet, this not a Mad Max. I have to wonder if machines were so superb as presented, it is quite a puzzle how they didn't already won. Not believable in my opinion. SGI is almost perfect, but I come a long way to seek only triangles and textures in a action sci-fi movie to fully entertain me. Something is missing that simply means I won't watch this title again. The trouble with the movie is also a fact that "the future" is much, much closer to our present, so that is also a contributing element why the story is not so strong anymore. It will certainly reach to the newer generations to a higher point, but T franchise is in a bit of a crisis for me. I have to add this review comes in a timeframe of Japan earthquake catastrophe; of course it is affected and biased toward idea weather humanity will live long enough to see the judgmenet day with the machines or rather face the end from mother nature itself.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

Book vs Movie

[2/10 · 1 December 2010]

Book wins! First, as an introduction to this review, I've seen all the HP movies up to date and read books 1,5,6 and 7. I am a fan of the series, but I am trying to stay above blind influence.

When I first heard for a fact that the last movie will be split into 2 projections, I was worried because of the bad experience with the Matrix, where people who for the first time watched Reloaded felt empty and cheated, because of the incomplete and apparently random story. Only later, while watching on DVD I learned to appreciate M2&3 more, but that was years after. Simply, I think this is a very bad practice for Hollywood, since public expects completed project from a theater - not a TV Series with a cliffhanger.

As I stated before, I have not read all the books, but from what I did, this is by far the most deviated version from the originals so far. First sequel is by far the most verbatim text-to-screen translation and with that respect, Deathly Hollows is the worst. From the very start we have some changes and shortcuts presented, some of them are good, others are pretty bad and didn't help to characters development. First mistake is the wedding scene, where we get so little time to explore all the wonders, there is no secret talks in the house between the actors, the scene between Harry Potter and his girlfriend is completely non-subtle and so on.

Timing. Simply, a viewer does not get a proper sense of time with this movie, and I believe this is critical since this helps viewer orientation to familiarize with the fantasy world. To put a plastic example, the scene where Ron leaves, and later shows up from nowhere lasts like 5 minute difference. Yet, Hermione says to Ron he was gone for weeks! Time is strictly non-linear, some of the scenes are so fast, others pretty much slow, but there are no pointers (via music and scenes fadeins-fadeouts for example) to accentuate those events.

Emotions. Are there really any emotions in this movie? Main actors are flat, really flat (they topped Severus character in coldness) and non-interested in comparison to previous sequels. The chemistry is missing.

But, to be realistic and fair, and put it easier to the actors who portrays the main characters, they are (in present) passing from a childhood to adulthood that bares its own weight, so it wasn't easy for them to get back into this fantasy world as easily as before. In fact, this could be very confusing for them personally (just put yourself in their shoe for a moment.) That is why I think the weight of this sequel should be balanced to other characters more as it was done to a point in the book.

Last, the culmination of the film when the group is captured by the Snatchers was simply not strong enough. I remember while reading the book that was one of the most scariest part (and thought like 'oh, my God, now they are finished!' 'It's over!' and so on.) That is missing from the movie. The scene in the house was simply too short.

In the end, when it comes to best part in the movie, which obviously I haven't enjoyed much, lets say it was the appearance of Dobby elf. Edit: and I almost forgot the three brothers story!

To be completely honest, the last HP book itself is not without problems either, it is much harder than previous sequels for a screen translation. Mainly, because it is full of internal characters drama which is extremely hard (or impossible) to translate on the screen. This is why I believe the movie could be done in a more deep, better technique either by using narration or at least internal thoughts (talking to self) of main character - Harry. His doubts if he is 'the one', connections (dreams, visions) with Valdemort and so on.

I am not feeling comfortable to say next line - but in the end this turns out at the present moment only as a new cash-cow for the studio, since the movie could be obviously 'glued' together in a 3-hour event with better time-management. Future will say whether I was wrong when the sequels gets out and dust setlles down.

Salt (2010)

Learn your prison before your freedom

[8/10 · 14 August 2010]

I gave this movie a strong 8, because I really enjoyed it. I had no assumptions and prejudice prior seeing it, beside seeing poster at the local cinema and maybe I was simply in the mood for a spy/action last night.

Interesting point here is a philosophical theme of choice and human freedom, which is taken to the extreme level for selected people who live isolated from the start with special purpose to become infiltrated and highly sophisticated spies. Angelina has managed to keep this movie coherent to the very end and the viewer eventually becomes interested in protagonist's destiny.

Action scenes are decent, except occasional jumping from truck to truck, but this is already seen so many times (Matrix Reloaded for example) so I can forgive them that. Salt is clever, extremely fast thinker, skillful and talented warrior, and I like that movie does not necessarily exploits her physical appearance, at least not in a rude way. That's why I think this is Angelina's "smarter" movie so far.

Exciting and entertaining.

Avatar (2009)

Force does not pray to God

[9/10 · 10 January 2010]

"Force does not pray to God" With this old saying among my people I'll start this review. Two words: James, Cameron. I could pretty end it here. When I first heard this movie was directed by him, I immediatelly new what to expect. Nothing less. And I was again surprised. This man did it again, not just to expected, but beyond expected. Go and see it in the theater, because this IS the movie especcially made FOR theaters and make your own jugement. You can expect everything.

Great story (one element partially reminds me of a small Reflexive Entertainement's game 'Great Tree', where I was part of a beta-testing team), great cast/characters, great colors. Rare movie in which you won't be on humans side who glorify power, metal and machinery (weaponry), but always seems to forget where the real strength lays in.

Post-edit: After 2 days I watched FernGully and there is a strong similarity with Avatar, up to the limit where this movie originality is seriously disputed, so I lowered my vote score. Never the less, this does not make this movie a bad one, it is still great for everyone, especially SciFi fans.

Short Circuit 2 (1988)

Kind of gems not made anymore

[8/10 · 15 December 2009]

Only 4.8 / 10!? Wow, I simply have to stress this as it is such an underrated title here at IMDb. Sometimes you can be seriously misled by vote numbers.

Short Circuit 2 was, at least for me, better then original in terms of script writing. Rare thing about sequels, but there it is. Story was more developed, complex, interesting and characters were more explored then in original movie. I liked SC1, but SC2 was more fun to watch. It has past 2 decades since it was released and yesterday I watched it for the first time in my life. It seems to me as it was not 20 years, but more like 100 years difference. Modern movies and TV shows are way colder, stripped down of any human emotions, love and poetic/romantic views on life, that makes you really wonder... have we progressed in a right direction for the past 2 decades? As cheesy as it seems, this title at least had a decent vocabulary (rarity this days) and addressed many complex things about life like love and understanding of human relationships.

Animatronics, with all it's 'simplicity' and flaws in comparison to modern CGI, at least had something real (dare to say 'human touch'), that also adds to a whole effect it had left on me. Yes, today we have Transformers movies that look perfect, but one look at Johnny 5 and you can see what ingredient is missing... One thing is for sure, this kind of films are not made any more these days.

8 out of 10

The Island (2005)

You are our product. We own you.

[6/10 · 12 December 2009]

Since humanity developed self-consciousness and sense for it's surroundings as part of this universe, it was just a matter of time when someone smart enough (or stupid, depends on point-of-view) would put an equality sign between things (objects) and living creatures. This premise vibes through many modern Sci-Fi/Drama movies in recent years, and 'The Island' is no exception at all.

Industrialisation, capitalism, mass-production, and, particularly for this title, advancement in bio-technology, all added to a general idea that EVERYTHING can be bought or sold. Even human life or part of human's organs. This is the same message we get every day from media like television, internet, or even movies (Hollywood at least). Commercials (Puma, Bentley, MSN Search to name a few relevant in this case) are everywhere. Sell, sell, sell (rings a bell?).

This title plays a tough game with human freedom and choice, greed and arrogance when modern science and technology gives us more power then our spirit and mind can handle properly at first. Our not-to-distant future relatives need to prepare themselves for this kind of moral and ethical decisions and I wouldn't like to be in their skin then...

What I didn't like in this movie was a fact that it had a bit irregular tempo - action was a bit rushed at the end and without proper timing and order as it seems. Also, accompanying music was very bad in my opinion (apart from intro theme). It followed a proved recipe - calm intro/action ending, but it would gain much greater score if it went darker route with more 'piecefull' plot.

Anyway, it was worth watching.

Shrek the Third (2007)

Should be called "Prince Charming, part 2"

[8/10 · 9 December 2009]

Basically, I'll copy/paste most important pieces I wrote for the second sequel.

Shrek 3 is not an animated movie in any common sense one would or could expect. It is a real movie disguised in an animated form. If you look at it that way, you can much better understand the 'subtle' layer under-laying below the surface which is rude, arrogant and shallow.

Shrek The Third picks up the story where it left at the previous sequel and tries to establish disturbed balance it introduced. Prince Charming, Part II, as I call it, is not (only) about Shrek. The main character here, you wan't believe it, is Prince Charming; he portray human greed, self-centered, self-important figure in an attempt to live up to it's pre-programmed life, unable to cope with reality and the fact expected (or desired) things are never going to happen. Does anyone here recognize themself a little bit? Be honest.

Here comes a layer that usually lacks much needed subtlness during the movie: By no coincidence, Prince Charming is at moments emotional (crying), and angry at it's extremes, swinging between those two feelings. Society not accepting his behavior shows cruelty (laughing) that evokes an emotion of abandoned creature, loneliness, disappointment and despair. A natural response to this is a defensive mechanism imprinted in every living soul on Earth: anger and wish for a revenge, that unfortunately overtook's our anti-hero's heaart. He is just 'a human' unable to cope with his loss.

This is the reason I think the main character is not Shrek at all, who is slightly pushed aside for the good second half of the movie. The leak of subtlness in the story is what makes this sequel weaker than the first one (altought the chosen story is by no means weak and uninteresting); the way it was realized does.

Shrek 2 (2004)

Should be called "Prince Charming, part 1"

[8/10 · 9 December 2009]

Shrek 2 is not an animated movie in any common sense one would or could expect. It is a real movie disguised in an animated form. If you look at it that way, you can much better understand the 'subtle' layer under-laying below the surface which is rude, arrogant and shallow.

Durring the film I was a bit disappointed about direction story went on, the intro was great, but afterwords turned into a modern typical Hollywood sitcom with every bunch of trash you can imagine about it. No Pixar's deep emotional screen writing here, sorry. Instead, you get a parody to it's limit about human nature that needs to be 'explored'.

This movie (Part I, as I call it) is not about Shrek. The main character here, you wan't believe it, is Prince Charming (and his mother). They portray human greed, weakness about controlling their pre-programmed lives, unable to cope with reality, living in their own factory of dreams. By no coincidence, Prince Charming is at moments emotional (crying), and angry in its extreme, swinging between those two feelings. Society not accepting his behavior shows cruelty (laughing) that evokes an emotion of abandoned, loneliness, disappointment and despair. A natural response to this is a defensive mechanism imprinted in every living soul as an anger and wish for a revenge. Unfortunately, he is just 'a human' unable to cope with his loss, with his anger and turns into a cold creature seeking the revenge. Does anyone recognize yourself in here? By contrast, an 'ugly' (by today's marketing & human standards, at least) Ogr is eventually well accepted despite his origin, since he shows common human being qualities.

This is the reason I think the main character is not only Shrek (and Fiona), who are slightly pushed aside in 2nd and 3rd sequel, respectively. The leak of subtlness in the story is what makes this sequel weaker than the first one (altought the chosen story is by no means weak and uninteresting); the way it was realized does.

Earth: Final Conflict (1997–2002)

Remarkable Idea!

[12 May 2005]

... but, keep an 'open mind'.

I was a teenager (about 17-18) when I saw the first season on my local TV (back in '98) and I was immediately obsessed with this "alien" series! I do not recall that any TV show had such a strong impact on my poor little SciFi soul since I was a kid (hint: Star Trek - The Next Generation). This was something completely different, deep and exciting at the same time. I do not recall if any SciFi show took the challenge portraying a possible human-alien relationship in a deep social & philosophical way except EFC. Forget naive, mediocre, cheap plots served in most SciFi series (well, including famous The X-Files saga) with unexplored/unexplained "conspiracy" in the background. This show had had "something", I cannot define exactly what, some secret chemistry which filled every part of my heart & soul. Outstanding visual appearance, genuine alien make-up (& voice altering technique) created truly realistic in-depth portrait of the Taelons aliens in such a fashion unseen ever before. Every SciFi fan's dream almost became reality. Until recent months I was unable to see rest of the seasons and all this years I was really building a great expectation for it.

Where's Boone? First half of the season 2 had some serious problems, actors struggled with lack of continuity, Lisa Howard (Lili Marquette) and Richard Chevalleau (Augur) had a hard task to accept Richard Leeshock (Liam Kincaid) as their new "true" leader (so, Boone was just "warming us up"). Stories were predictable, with not enough philosophical depth. In fact, I think that entire 2nd season was a repetition of the very same stories (in mixed order) from the previous season - with the only one difference - main character was switched! Second half of season 2 finally landed on it's feet and succeeded to establish new order (deal with it - or leave). Liam and Lili became a "team" against the Taelons, with help of Augur, off course, great finale of season 2 was brilliant and unpredictable. Okay, I forgive "them" for the Boon's dead, just leave the main crew intact, OK?

Wait, now Lili's gone, too!? Season #3 - new shock! I thought that no one will ever leave this show (with great potential and initial story), but devil's never asleep. Again, stupid storyline, whenever a leading character "has to leave", writers incorporate that cheap moral stuff like: "This is my destiny" or "I have to leave now... I feel it was meant to be". Anyway, season #3 was interesting in some moments, but not in original fashion that season 1 introduced. Introduction of Renee Palmer (Jayne Heitmeyer), actress that really has a potential but def. not in SciFi series (rather in some action/love genre) gave a hard effort to look as realistic resistance fighter. Later, in season #3 she manages to grasp chemistry with Liam, but that will never be the same as Lili had with Boone. Kevin Kilner was great, his face had so many layers - it looked as he was serious & smiling at the same time, it was mystical, same as show. Liam's appearance was so much simpler, naive, how should I say... straight forward ("I am a good guy, you can trust me"). Reccuring role of Lisa Howard as Lili Marquette at the season #3 finale was very poor and disappointing for me. I expected much serious approach, there was no trace of old Lili I've used to know, she changed a lot somehow... a warrior, a temperament mystic girl evolved to a soft 'mother'. (Personal observation: Lisa Howard was pregnant during the season #2 and eventually became mother in real life (daughter Sofia), so this was maybe the intended "parallel" writers used in the show, but that was so off-the-original-course I actually expected - a much serious real Jaridian invasion was in order).

And so the 4th season began... guess who's missing now? Frustration about Lili left a bitter taste in my mouth, now Augur left the series from this point (appeared later in 3 episodes as a guest star) and was "replaced" with some neurotic funny girl named Street (Melinda Deines). Perhaps casting personnel really discovered Melinda on the street and that's how she got her name "Street" in the show. :) First half of season #4 was pretty much the same thing as major episodes in season #3, even worse 'cause Augur wasn't there; constant drifting around the same plot variations (e.g. Taelon conspiracy & experiments on humanity), simple, one-dimensional characters and plot layering almost burned out all the efforts incorporated before. But suddenly there comes a breakthrough: from the episode 4.13 "Dark Matter" series finally finds new way, almost sound like the writers decided to get back on original course and from that point new hope reveals on dark horizon. Unfortunately, not for long…

And now for something completely different: No more Taelons, no more Da'an (great Leni Parker and yes, she's a woman!), no more Jaridians... only beasts and Pam Anderson :) I really wasn't strong enough to watch entire last season. Complete disaster of anything was told from the very beginning, a rip-off version other mediocre shows like Buffy, Angel, poor elements of Alien (Sigurney Weaver). New faces came out of nowhere brings the show to the dead end. Even Boone's Awakening was done intensionally, probably to boost poor TV rating... for viewer's sake, why didn't awakened him few years earlier???

Final words: Conclusion is impossible for such a multi-dimensional series (after all), there's always a hope (as Da'an used to say): some day humanity will evolve to a new level (maybe) where those mistakes seen in this TV series won't happen anymore. Maybe there will be a remake some day, even full feature movie (who knows), but for me now only exists 4 seasons of this great show and I imagined my own version of the end. ;-)

Sinauhi Euhura