atrain2942 Reviews

Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)

Why all the negative talk?

[9/10 · 18 June 2013]

So what was everyone expecting with this film to give it such harsh reviews and ratings? We do remember this is a children's bedtime story right? I thought that the movie was great. The giants are a little scary, depending on the child this may not be the movie for them as the giants are somewhat gruesome beasts. All the nerds out there complaining about the CGI and poor quality of the giants, go get a girlfriend, watch some sports and stop being such a geek. Special effects and CGI are fine in this movie, again this is a movie about a fairy tale so imagination should be something needed for a film about flesh hungry giants that live in the sky. Most of us know the ending to this movie without watching it, but the extra story line added in to extend the movie are entertaining and do not spoil the film or change the classic story we all know. I recommend this movie, but please watch it with an open mind and remember that your watching a film of a child fantasy story. I give this film a 9....more of a 7-8 but I threw it an extra point or two just cause all the dorks who are highly critical of such non sense regarding a film about a kids bed time story ha ha.

Sinister (I) (2012)

Not bad but not great

[7/10 · 16 October 2012]

If you are thinking of seeing this movie you better do it while it is still in theaters, because if you don't it won't be anything too special. The movie plot is cool and interesting but very predictable. If you have seen the trailer for this film than you already know one of the key points to this movie, that being a re-occurring image that appears in all the home movies of different families that were murdered. However I was not over impressed with the "scare" techniques in this movie. I saw this in the theater and yeah i did jump and get startled more then once, but only because of the loud bang/sound or music being played when a scary sight flashes quick in front of the camera. I can imagine if I was watching this movie at home the intensity would not nearly be the same and I do not like the fact that if I wear to have the sound off or even low, I would not be scared at all by the scenes meant to make the viewer jump. Now I know a lot of scary movies used sound to intensify these parts but more of a sound that the killer/monster/ghost/etc makes... something that will always make you remember them, like the creepy noise the girl makes in the grudge, leather face starting the chainsaw, Freddy laughing, the voice disguiser from scream, things like that. That is something lacking in this movie, as I said before without the loud bang or sudden loud music the scary parts would not be scary in my opinion. As for the creepy face or 'Mr. Boogie", he is scary looking and creepy but to me he resembled the jigsaw doll (saw) too much, or he may be a member from the band slipknot, which made me feel as though I was not seeing some kind of new villain. Having said that this movie has some of the most disturbing scenes involving the family movies shown on the film projector, which I think was twisted genius to think of. No problem with the acting and as I said before I found the storyline very interesting and was easily caught up in it. I give this a 7 with it losing points based on the fact that it was not as scary as I had heard or expected, but it is worth seeing, but I highly recommend that you see it in the theater, makes the experience more enjoyable and scary.

The Wire (2002–2008)

The closest thing to reality

[10/10 · 11 October 2012]

Best show ever on television in history. I began watching this television show on its original debut and at the time my father was a police officer, more specifically a narcotics detective, in a medium sized city/department (nothing of course like the size of the Baltimore Police Department). Now when I began watching this I was fascinated as Law Enforcement was the career path I also wanted to take and I remember having previously watched some Police themed television shows (or movies) and having my father critique everything the Police did. When we began watching this I heard no negativity coming from my father and I asked him how close was this show to being like the "real thing" and he said "almost too close". This of course was him referring to the Police tactics used when doing surveillance or when the were doing an actual wire. I continued watching this show and prior to the final season I also became a Police Officer in the same Department as my father and although I worked patrol I understood how spot on this show was. So the long and short of my story is that I can speak as a Police Officer and assure anyone who has yet to watch this show or if they were thinking this was going to be another stereotypical cop show, that it is not, it is truly what the job is like from the way the criminals act, to the Police sense of humor, the demons a lot of Police Officers face such as alcohol abuse, marriage problems, the battle within your own department, the role the media plays in the job/life of cops and the politics that truly run and overtake the job of Police work. I can not say enough about the amount of research that went into creating this show and the creators truly did what I feel is the best job of preparing to create the show.

Along with this preparation and research the casting done is perfect. From experience I like how all of the Police Officers are not made out to be super heroes with flawless bodies and perfect personalities. I also like how the criminals working the street level drug trade are portrayed exactly how I observe them day in and day out in my profession. The interaction between cop and criminal is perfect and even from my point of view I sometimes find myself cheering for the bad guy. And probably the best character ever in any television show or movie is Omar. Without giving too much away Omar is like the Ghettos Robin Hood and despite your personal feelings I know that you will find yourself loving this character and truly routing for him.

Each season gives a different look into the working relationships between police and community. Be it the criminals both small time and big time. The political relationship between cops and the city/government. The role the school district plays and the important battle between the Police and the Media. Although most of the people I know who have watched this series say they lose some interest in season two as it somewhat gets away from the drug dealers on the streets and shows a more high level drug problem involving union workers on the Docks and overseas suppliers. Now after the drug slinging, gun shooting, body dropping search warrant door busting excitement of season one, it can be a little slow. But having said that I assure you that I too felt that way when I first watched this series but now that I have re-watched the entire series again I can say that season two, if paid close attention to is just as exciting and very important to the show in the end.

My only complaint I have with this show is that they stopped making episodes. It was truly a sad series to see end and although I understand it is hard to keep a good thing going for long, I miss the show because as I had said earlier I truly could relate to it. Highly recommend this series to anyone who has yet to watch, BEST SHOW in television history.

Frozen (I) (2010)

Something different

[8/10 · 10 October 2012]

So maybe the characters do some stupid things that ultimately get them into the situation they are in but so what...that is how 99% of fictional horror/suspense films are. I thought that this was a great and different idea for a film and it is very suspenseful. This film takes a lot of peoples real life fears and combines them, which I feel leaves us viewers wondering what we would do in the given situations. The acting in this film is not terrible although the Emma Bell did get kind of annoying, but again that is the case with most films of this nature. Kevin Zegers does a good job fulfilling the role he has and Shawn Ashmore, who is the "stoner friend" did a good job not over playing it and seeming too much like the typical horror film burn out. I definitely recommend this movie, especially for those who like the suspense of survival films and the horror films that are not too fare fetched to believe, because this film offers that.