DesertDogMedia Reviews

Iron Man (2008)

IronMan

[8/10 · 20 August 2014]

Title: Iron Man

Condensed Storyline: A billionaire, playboy, weapons maker called Tony Stark is kidnapped and held captive in the middle east, so he has to escape. He does so with his new battle suit, but there is a traitor close to him

Notable Acting: This movie was the movie which secured Robert Downey Jr in Hollywood, after having a troubled life prior to this movie, filled with substance abuse and poor acting roles. But when it came to the 2008 movie Iron Man this made him an overnight success as it was his first blockbuster movie and paved the way for his acting career. He fits the role so perfectly, because he is able to act pretentious and stuck up like his character of Tony Stark is. Gwyneth Paltrow plays the secretary/love interest of Pepper Potts, her character was enjoyable, but felt more like a secondary character compared to that of a primary character. The same could be aid about Jeff Bridges who plays the big bad of Obadiah Stane in this movie.

Costume: The costume of Ironman was made with a stunning mixture between CGI and practical effects, and in all honesty, that is the bet way they could have done it. Because if they had done it with all practically effects, it would have looked lacking of sorts. And if it was done with all CGI it possibly would have looked cheesy. So I think they got it as good as could be.

Incorrect Science: The arc reactor is used to keep the shrapnel out of Tony's heart, yet Yinsen talks about the arc reactor running his heart, feels like a nudge to the audience there. US soldiers are trained to never stop while ambushed in a convoy. All US army HMMWVs are armoured, the shots shown in the ambush scene go right through the door and window, they wouldn't do that if it was armoured. They would also give such a wealthy man added protection if he was visiting a warzone. Ironman encounters icing on his first flight with the MK2, but with no visible moisture in the air or on Ironman, so the air around him would have to be around -30 to -40 for icing of that magnitude to form.

Overall Feel: Before this movie Ironman was in the B-list heroes group, the guy normal people wouldn't know. But the nerds or fans of the Avengers comic would know him. But after this movie, he was thrown right up there with the best. I used to watch the Ironman cartoon in the 90's and I can say that this did it justice, they stayed close to the source material and made some adaptations here and there, but it was a great movie which allows Marvel to get a foot hold for their cinematic universe. Before this they only had Blade in the late 90's and Spiderman in the 2000's. But even Spiderman could have ruined this movie, by ending it's trilogy on a bad note with Spiderman 3.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Pirates of the Caribbean

[8/10 · 18 August 2014]

Title: Pirates of the Caribbean

Condensed Storyline: A group of cursed pirates are looking for pieces of Aztec gold which a woman called Elizabeth has, she gets kidnapped so a black smith has to team up with a pirate to rescue her

Notable Acting: This entire franchise stands on the shoulders of Johnny Depp, he is what gives this movie it's spark. No matter how great Geoffrey Rush's, Orlando Bloom's or Keira Knightley's acting was if the main character of Jack Sparrow wasn't done right, the movie would have fell on deaf ears, mainly because this movie was suppose to be about Will and Elizabeth's characters, but it was just as much about Jack and Barbossa. So everyone really needed each other to make the drama and tension work for this movie.

Graphics: The skeleton crew of the Black Pearl are nice effects to say the least

Incorrect Science: The boat scene at the beginning is impossible because you would need to have the strength of 100 men plus the weight of them to keep that boat from floating to the surface, mainly because wood floats and the air trapped in it that they are using to breath would make it float more

Incorrect History: Granny Smith apples were not discovered until 1868 "Bob's your uncle" was not used until 1890 Concertina was not invented until 1829 Trapdoor gallows weren't invented until 1800

Incorrect Geography: Gunships are generally too big to sail in Jamaican waters

Overall Feel: This movie was one of the biggest gambles Disney had made up until this point, as Disney always liked being family friendly. They found that this movie worked they would continue milking this franchise for another 5 movies up to this point. There are a lot of science and history errors in this movie, but it is made to be an action, adventure, comedy flick. I liked this movie as it had a solid cast, decent budget, good effects. Everything you would want from a fun movie which doesn't take it's self too seriously. This movie was based on the ride of Pirates of the Caribbean, but there is little to no reference to the ride in this movie, there is more reference to the previous Disney in this movie than the ride. But the movie was made to be its own movie, so it stands by its own merits and works great.

The Simpsons Movie (2007)

Simpsons Movie

[7/10 · 14 August 2014]

Title: The Simpsons Movie

Condensed Storyline: After Homer pollutes the Springfield lake, the whole of Springfield is incased in a giant dome and the Simpsons go on the run from the government

Notable Acting: This movie has a sound cast of voice actors who I think are the people who do the TV show, I am not too sure. But it would make sense to have the people who do the show, do the movie. They all do their parts great, especially the people who have over 10 roles to fill

Animation: The animation is almost identical to that of the current Simpsons TV show, so it is high class and very fun to look at.

Incorrect Science: Bleeding Gums Murphy is seen in the angry mob, even though he had died 12 years before this movie. The rest of the movie's flaws can be summed up in two words, "Cartoon logic"

Overall Feel: My first though is, why isn't there another Simpsons movie. This whole movie feels like a normal episode of the Simpsons, but longer. It has all of the normal story lines a Simpsons episode would have, it has all the normal humour and jokes a Simpsons episode would have. If you're a dedicated fan, or just a person who watches the show from time to time like myself, you will like this movie as it feels pure and feels like an actually Simpson episode but longer as I mentioned.

V for Vendetta (2005)

V For Vendetta

[9/10 · 13 August 2014]

Title: V for Vendetta

Condensed Storyline: A freedom fighter plans to overthrow the corrupt British government with the help of a girl.

Notable Acting: Hugo Weaving hits the ball out of the park with his performance as V. Similar to that of Natalie Portman who plays Evey, and what I like about Evey is the fact that she isn't just a "sexy lamp", she actually helps progress the story and grows into a good character through the story. Stephan Rea plays the detective Finch, who isn't a bad guy per-say. But he is a good character. The main antagonist is Mr Creedy played by Tim Pigott Smith, who is that good stereotypical evil guy. But not painfully stereotypical thankfully, because the last thing this movie would need is evil British stereotypes.

Costume: Accurate to how it is shown in the graphic novel

Incorrect History: The gunpowder plot was performed to created chaos by blowing up the house of lords, not a bid for freedom by blowing up the house of commons.

Overall Feel: This isn't what you'd expect from a superhero movie, acts of terrorism and psychological torture. That would be because V is an anti-hero and is form a graphic novel printed by DC comics. The movie itself is clever and well thought out, the cast are enjoyable to watch and the story and effects are well done. Classic action thriller movie, I would recommend it for lots of people. It also shows the line between "freedom fighter" and "domestic terrorist" are dependent on your side. This movie also likes to play with words beginning with "V"

Scarface (1983)

Scarface

[7/10 · 12 August 2014]

Title: Scarface

Condensed Storyline: A Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and soon becomes the top dog, but lets his greed take over him.

Notable Acting: Al Pacino plays our favourite Cuban drug lord, Tony Montana. His performance it the driving force of this movie. Mainly because the movie is based on him, so if his performance went flat that movie would fall flat as well.

Overall Feel: I have a feeling this is going to be a short review, I'll just put that out there right now. This movie is basically the "Zero to hero" plot, but tipped on its head a bit. As Tony is a downright criminal, so I do say that the movie is a very interesting case for that. The movie also practices what it preaches as throughout the whole movie you see him moving up in the world, getting the money, then the power, then the woman. Before losing it all because his good honest morals get in the way. I can say that I am generally not a big fan of mafia based movies, but this is a movie which I enjoyed regardless.

Gladiator (2000)

Gladiator

[7/10 · 11 August 2014]

Title: Gladiator

Condensed Storyline: A Roman general is betrayed by the emperor's son who kills his family, so he must come back to Rome to exact revenge

Notable Acting: Russell Crowe plays Maximus and gives a good believable performance and suits the part. Joaquin Phoenix plays Commodus and is a great villain, but he's also that type of villain you would know will get killed. You wait through the entire movie just to see that scene where he does get killed. That is a great villain.

Costume: Maximus' costume is historically accurate an looks the part, along with the outfits of many other in this movie.

Incorrect History: The locks shown in the movie had not bee invented at that time. Some of the helmets shown in the gladiator room are from countries north of Rome, such has French, German and Nordic. A horse pulling a chariot wouldn't also have a saddle on. Thumbs up or down for life or death is incorrect, it is actually thumb to the side for death and a fist for death. The opening battle is incorrect as a Roman legion's formation wouldn't break down on contact with the enemy, they would force them back. Medieval knights invented the flail, 1000 years or so after this movie is set.

Overall Feel: This movie isn't without its historical errors, and it does have a few. But that doesn't stop it from being a down right great movie to watch, the scale of the movie is perfect. The casting is good. The camera work is meh, but this is made up to us through the great story that we watch

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark

[7/10 · 8 August 2014]

Title: Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark

Condensed Storyline: Indiana Jones has to find the Ark of the covenant before a group of rogue Nazis do.

Notable Acting: The two roles people know Harrison Ford for playing are Han Solo from Starwars and Indiana Jones from Indian Jones. These are well known because they are both high budget Hollywood movies in which Harrison does a good acting roles. Now name another movie he is in bar these, apart from Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now there are not very many memorable movies that he in is. But regardless he is the driving force of this movie, chances are this movie wouldn't be as entertaining if there was a different actor playing Indy. Everyone else was good at their roles, but they were overlooked because of the focus on Indy the movie kept pushing you onto.

Noticeable Camera work: Worms eye view from the bottom of the pit in the first scene

Costume: The Afrika Korps uniforms are correct, but not needed in this movie as the Afrika Korps weren't formed until years after this movie was created. Indiana Jones' outfit is a timeless classic look at even the youth of today would recognize.

Incorrect Science: Red Knee Tarantulas seen in the first scene of the movie are native to Mexico only, guess where that first scene isn't set. Most of the snakes in the 'Well of Souls' are not native to Africa, such as Burmese Python and Reticulated Python. I would also expect there to be a lot of death snakes there as it looks like they're not getting out of that well. Sand weights less than gold, if the idol in the first scene is pure gold, Indy would need a much bigger bag of sand.

Incorrect History: The German Afrika Korps didn't exist until 1941. Indy is going to blow up the Ark with a rocket launcher which doesn't exist at that time. MP-40 submachine gun was inservice 1938, P-38 pistol was inservice 1938 also, two years after when this movie is set. Marcus Brody says "The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions" This isn't in the bible. In 1936 there were British military posts in Egypt, so chances are Nazis wouldn't be able to dig, let alone force Egyptians to dig without the British Army finding out.

Incorrect Geography: Thailand was known as Siam until 1939, this movie takes place in 1936 and has Thailand written on a map. Jordan was known as Transjordan until 1949, another incorrect map.

Overall Feel: Classic action/adventure movie with a historical theme and romance subplot. One of, if not the best movie in the Indiana Jones quadrilogy. It does need to learn its history though as there are too many incorrect science and incorrect history moments in here

Inception (2010)

Inception

[9/10 · 7 August 2014]

Title: Inception

Condensed Storyline: A thief who steals corporate information by using a dream machine gets contracted to do the biggest job of his life.

Notable Acting: I have a feeling Christopher Nolan loved the cast of this movie so much that he used a handful of them for his next movie 'The Dark Knight Rises' But regardless, this movie has A-list actors who all take a portion of the film and carry it along in a way which doesn't feel force, but feels like everyone is getting their own amounts of screen time. I didn't really care about half of the characters, but the movie made me sort of care about them, that is impressive for a movie to do.

Noticeable Camera work: This movie may be good with how it is visually filmed, but god does it have a lot of filming continuity errors. I generally do not notice continuity errors, but they seemed to stick out in this movie. This movie is a fan of rotational camera work along with some size play included into the mixture

Graphics: The CGI in the movie is amazingly mixed into the visual effects, such as the rotating hall way, that was all practical effects, the scenes in the snow and similar things are CGI, but are so well done that you do have to question at first if they are CGI or are just very good practical effects.

Overall Feel: A simple way to describe this movie is, it is the Matrix of 2010. It blends stunning CGI with amazing practical effects. But the movie is quite complex for a movie and does require a thinking active audience, an passive person watching for the first time will likely have no clue what is going on. This movie is visually stunning, with a half decent plot and enjoyable actors.

The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix

[9/10 · 6 August 2014]

Title: The Matrix

Condensed Storyline: A computer hacker learns about the truth of the world and has to try and save it from the computers by being 'The One'

Notable Acting: This movie has a great main cast consisting of Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburn, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving. These are the only characters who actually matter and who provide good acting. Sure Joe Pantoliano and Marcus Chong provide their good parts, but they're just secondary characters who get minimal character development.

Noticeable Camera work: This movie is great for its dolly shot and its 180º shots, these are only used during the fight scene which makes them special as they are not over used, but apart from that there are few other good shots which they use to good effect as the rest is left up to standard shots

Graphics: This movie had the best CGI for that period of time and it's CGI still stands up amazingly in the standards set by today.

Incorrect Science: The plot revolves around humans being used a batteries, hence why there are massive farms of them. But humans cannot generate chemical, thermal or electrical energy without a food source which provides them without enough energy to do so. In short this means it takes more energy to keep humans alive than a human body produces. So the machines are working a flawed system. The second time Morpheus calls Neo he says that "this is a tapped line" and proceeds to tell Neo where to meet Trinity. If the line was tapped Trinity would have Agents coming after her because Morpheus just gave away their position. In the end of the movie Agent Smith shoots Neo with a Desert Eagle, a weapon of that caliber would go through Neo and into the wall, but we only see a blood smear and no hole in the wall.

Overall Feel: The first opening scene of this movie was done on a $10million budget, once it was shown to the people at Warner, they were then allowed the Wachowski Brothers to have the $80million that they originally asked for. That was just a little bit of trivia for you. This movie was ahead of its time in its usage of CGI, it is a movie which can still rival a few movies which are made today. Amazing mixture of good acting, great CGI and good camera work.

Resident Evil (2002)

Resident Evil

[7/10 · 5 August 2014]

Title: Resident Evil

Condensed Storyline: A special militaristic unit has to make their way through an underground base to shut off a supercomputer, but first they must get through the base which is full of zombies

Notable Acting: I found most of the characters quite boring and as soon as I was starting to get invested in a character, they got killed off. I found Milla Jovovich's character Alice quite boring and bland, whereas I did like Eric Mabius' and Martin Crewes' characters of Mat and Kaplan. But that was really, just about it.

Noticeable Camera work: Zoom in shot of a man using transportation hands to get the T-Virus and T-Vaccine, they work this so you can only see it is a man in a Hazmat suit, but you cannot see his face. Simple yet effective.

Graphics: CGI monster that looks like Venom from Spiderman, bluntly looks CGI. I wish I could say more things about it, as it does look like a cool design. But there isn't much good I can say about it.

Incorrect Science: The Red Queen tells the group that hair and fingernails continue to grow after death, this is incorrect as what actually happens is the skin around the nails and hair shrinks as it dehydrates, causing the hair and finger nails to look like they've grown. At the start of the movie when the T-Virus vial is dropped and escapes into the air vent, this is incorrect again as any lab that would have people working in hazmat suits wouldn't have an air vent, just like the scientist says when he is about to drown. I highly doubt dogs can smell the T-Virus, but you never know.

Overall Feel: I am generally not a fan of video game movies, primarily because I feel like I would be missing out on a lot of easter egg and jokes, almost similar to comic book movies. But I actually know things about comic book movies so I don't feel left out. But thankfully, I didn't feel "too" left out while watching this movie as it felt more like a cut and print action movie more than a video game based movie.

The Crazies (2010)

The Crazies

[8/10 · 4 August 2014]

Title: The Crazies

Condensed Storyline: Remake of the 1973 movie of the same title. A small town in Iowa has their water supply infected with a biological toxin which causes everyone to go insane.

Notable Acting: The focus sits more on the three main protagonists of David, Judy and Russell than the fact of zombies, but this movie is similar to the TV show 'The Walking Dead' as the movie is more about what the people do when they are faced with odds of this kind compared to just focusing on the zombies.

Noticeable Camera work:

Graphics: The CGI nuclear explosion was nicely done, being the only piece of CGI in the movie.

Incorrect Science: The sheriff pulls a new Zippo lighter from a box on display, he lights it first time. Zippo lighters are stored without lighter fluid for safety reasons. Drinking water isn't used for watering crops as drinking water is too 'soft' for plants. The light from the nuclear blast would have blinded the survivors as they tried to look at it, this is why scientists wear blackout goggles to protect their eyes while they are looking at nuclear explosions. Nuclear explosions cause inverted windstorms as the air rushes to the explosion site to fill the vacuum created by the super heat air rising. The EMP created by the blast would fry all electronics near it, causing the truck's headlights to stop working

Overall Feel: I am generally not all too much of a zombie movie fan, but this is one of those movies which I like because it shows how far people will go to survive, this movie also has a similar vibe to '28 Days Later' showing how the Military have responded to this outbreak as well. I enjoyed the characters in this movie and I enjoyed the plot. There isn't much I downgrade this movie for, apart from not having all too many creative angles and have a few pieces of incorrect science. It is a good horror thriller movie, but there isn't too much thriller aspect to it as I do not fear for the safety of David or the main characters, as I know they are going to make it out alive, but in saying this I was surprised to see Russell get killed towards the end, but I was expecting it at the same time as he was too much of a loose cannon.

The Punisher (2004)

The Punisher

[8/10 · 3 August 2014]

Title: The Punisher

Condensed Storyline: Frank Castle, an undercover FBI agent has his family killed and him left for dead. This makes him go out for blood and kill the people who killed hiss family.

Notable Acting: Thomas Jane plays our anti-hero Frank Castle. There are some actors who just own their roles, such as Robert Downy Jr as Iron Man and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Thomas Jane is the Punisher, he just plays the role too well for anyone else to be him. I didn't really care about anyone else as they were not as connective as Thomas Jane, but I can say that I did like the big bad of the movie, but not as much as the main character from an acting standpoint

Costume: The skull painted onto the bulletproof vest is one of the few trademarks of the Punisher, so is the long leather coat, so they got the costume pretty dead on. The actor actually looks like Frank as well, this is what makes his character perfect. The Russian on the other hand isn't as good, even though he looks almost the same as his comic counterpart, minus the scar on the eye. His shirt has the stripes too close together, this is why everyone makes jokes about him being a "Soviet Where's Wally"

Incorrect Science: Horse shoe crabs are not string rays

Overall Feel: The Punisher was created to be a villain for Spiderman back in the comics, but was so popular that he was made into an anti-hero who takes the law into his own hands. This movie feels like an anti-hero movie and even borders on not feeling like a comic book movie at all, because the Punisher is just a guy with guns. No powers, no high tech gadgets. Just guns and guts. This movie reminds me a lot of Blade, because it is a great action movie which makes you forget it is a comic book movie and has little to no romance in it.

Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park

[8/10 · 2 August 2014]

Title: Jurassic Park

Condensed Storyline: A man has found a way to bring back dinosaurs, and puts them in a park. But things go wrong and our group of scientists have to escape the island filled with dinosaurs

Notable Acting: I wasn't sold on the actors, I found most of them boring or unbearable. The child actors annoyed me and made me want the raptors to find them in the kitchen scene. Ellie felt like the typical "hot nerd" character, useless to all extents but smart and attractive to watch. I did like the chemistry between Sam Neill's and Jeff Goldlbum's characters how they were both trying to show themselves as the bigger man and impress Ellie. I liked Samuel L. Jackson's and BD Wong's secondary characters, shame we didn't get to see much more of them. Chances are Bob Peck will only be remember for the "Clever Girl" meme.

Noticeable Camera work: Birds eye shot of the group of paleontologists trying to unearth a fossil. Worms eye shot climbing the electric fence. This movie is lacking of creative shots

Graphics: The CGI in this movie was breath taking for the time when the movie came out 90s, they were able to blend it with the animatronics amazingly well.

Incorrect Science: The names on the embryo freezing chamber are wrong in two sections, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Stegosaurus are misspelled. Raptors did not use their claws to eviscerate, their claws were not strong enough for that, this is why they would go for the throat. There have be experiments about this. Most of the characters address the dinosaurs as "he" when it was clearly stated that they were all female. Timmy shouldn't have gotten hurt by the electric fence as he isn't grounded, so he is basically a bird on a power line at this point. DNA degrades after 521 years un-persevered and 1000 years if frozen, so this whole movie just went down the plot hole. Dr Grant throws a branch at the fence to test if it is live or not, wood is an insulator and throwing it would make it not grounded. None of the heavy hitting dinosaurs in this movie are from the Jurassic era, they are from the Cretaceous era, so the movie shouldn't be called 'Jurassic Park', it should be called 'Cretaceous Park' but there are Brachiosaurus and Dilophosaurus which are both from the Jurassic era. The velociraptors in this movie are incorrect as velociraptors are only knee hight on a 6 foot person, the raptors in this movie are Deinonychus raptors which are generally 5 foot or so in hight. They may have gotten the dinosaur DNA from the blood in the amber, but that doesn't explain how they were able to bring back extinct plants that Dr Sattler was holding. Remember the first time the T-rex was on screen? It made the water shake with it's footsteps, you never see any of that in the final scene where is saves the group from the raptors. It would also make T-rex a failed predator if its prey could hear it miles away. Brachiosaurs are too heavy to stand on one set of legs. Gum Tree leaves are also known as eucalyptus leaves, which are toxic to almost every animal. Reptiles do not and cannot sneeze, that is purely a mammal action. DNA mixing does not work like it did in the movie, frog DNA is a bad choice, so would any amphibian DNA. Why not use avian DNA? Seeing as dinosaurs evolved into birds, it would make sense.

Overall Feel: This movie "apparently" inspired a generation of paleontologists. I can see how this would work and any movie which inspires a generation of people to take up a field of science is OK in my book. I have already mentioned how this movie doesn't know all that much about DNA, dinosaurs or paleontology in general, but I must admit that their effects are so good that you forget about all of its faults for the time being. The acting was meh and the camera work was mediocre.

The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator

[7/10 · 1 August 2014]

Title: The Terminator

Condensed Storyline: A robot assassin is sent back in time to kill the mother of a future resistance leader

Notable Acting: This movie had a great cast of actors who would be known for this movie for the rest of their careers. The secondary character were also great and added to the story as a good secondary character should.

Noticeable Camera work: I do not need to say that there will be no interesting or unique shots in this movie, mainly because it is an 80's movie and movies weren't all too interested in showing us their ability to use their camera in unique ways until the 2000s

Costume: The actor playing the Terminator may not blend in, but his punk clothing sure does blend into the punk scene

Incorrect Science: The Terminator buys an automatic Uzi at one point. I may be from a country which has a choke hold on owning firearms, but I know that fully automatic weapons are illegal in America and that any gun store selling fully automatic weapons wouldn't have them up on a wall. The paradox of Kyle being John's father along with the cliché of the woman getting pregnant after the first time they've had sex (I know it's possible, but it's still a cliché) Kyle points out that Terminators are suppose to blend in, this doesn't work when you have a body builder with a thick foreign accent playing the role. "Only living things can go through the teleporter" This works good for this movie, but not for the second movie when the Terminator is liquid metal with no skin.

Overall Feel: This is the movie which elevated the knowledge of its main actors, before this movie only a hand full of people would know Arnold as he played Conan a couple years before, it is a similar story for the other two main actors. But this movie made their names known. Sadly I cannot say that this movie is my favourite, as that goes to Terminator 2, but this was the movie that set the wheels in motion for the franchise. The idea for the Terminator was actually take from a book outside of the franchise which also involved time travel assassinations and was credited.

Underworld (2003)

Underworld

[8/10 · 30 July 2014]

Title: Underworld

Condensed Storyline: A war between vampires and lycans has been raging for thousands of years. A deathdealing vampire is trying to find out what the lycans want with a human.

Notable Acting: This is one of those films where I feel like they hit the nail on the head with every casting call, having Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman as your lead roles gets your attention and keeps it throughout the movie. The secondary characters such as Michael Sheen and Shane Brolly are great actors as well. Everyone played their part greatly

Noticeable Camera work: Classic and simple action movie range of shots, focusing more on the framing of the shot than the angle or camera work of it.

Graphics: Be it the CGI that is used to show what happens to a vampire once they are shot with a UV round or what happens internally once a lycan changes, the CGI is of a really high quality in this movie. The CGI for the lycans when they have changed is one of the best that I have seen in a long while, there will not be another good movie involving good CGI werewolves until some time past 2014, as the other good movie with CGI werewolves was a year before this movie.

Incorrect Science: Silver nitrate doesn't look like a silver liquid, it is generally a clear liquid. The bullets in this movie wouldn't have anywhere to store the gunpowder as the clear casings for the UV and liquid silver nitrate show only the liquid and not enough of the shell for gun power to be stored. If the weapons were using compressed air, that would make this acceptable, but seeing as they are not. They say Viktor is the oldest and strongest of the vampires, but it is then later established that he was turned by Marcus who was the first vampire and is still living, this contradicts itself.

Overall Feel: This is franchise has answered the question fantasy and mythology nerds have been asking for years. "Who would win in a fight? A vampire or a werewolf?" This movie and franchise has basically been answering that question since 2003. In 1998 we had blade and other similar movies which had a man fighting vampires, but this movie went a step further. The movie strikes the dark Gothic tone that a movie like this needs and the level of gore is at a good level with there not being too much gore that you become desensitized by it and not too little that you are left disappointed.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

The Day After Tomorrow

[8/10 · 29 July 2014]

Title: The Day After Tomorrow

Condensed Storyline: The Earth has entered a new ice age so a paleoclimatologist called Jack Hall must travel over frozen remains of America to find his son

Notable Acting: Meh, I found the acting in this movie, bland at best. They are all good actors as well, but that is why I have such a problem with them being so bland. I've seen all of these actors in other movies which they were great in, but this seems to be the exception. Except Dennis Quaid, this was a good movie for him.

Noticeable Camera work: This is a typical action destruction porn movie, there isn't any interesting angles or shots used. Not that I expected there to be. The framing is nice and used to how you that destruction porn, which is funny in a sense as this movie is basically porn for those with destruction fetishes. Bad acting, plot hole filled plot, decent CG, etc

Graphics: The CGI of the tidal wave, the tornados, the polar vortex were all great and fun to watch as they looked realistic. The CGI wolves on the other hand were semi-decent, for some reason movies seem to find it hard to CGI animals such as sharks, wild mammals and giant lizards.

Incorrect Science: Roland Emmerich may know how to direct films, but he knows nothing about how science or UK football work. American glaciologists in Antarctica are using US measurements, so self respecting professional scientist would use US measurement. All scientists use the metric system regardless of their nationality. Roland Emmerich changed this to allow the American audience to understand what they are talking about. We get another example of this where the professor states the freezing point of helicopter fuel in fahrenheit, another point that was made for American. Hurricanes do not form over land, but in the case of the UK, the island is too small and without enough land mass to prevent a storm of that size from forming. The Sky news report is trying to show the snow in Britain, but is showing American because the cars are on the wrong side of the road. I'm not a football fan, but even I know Old Trafford when I see it, even if they say it is Celtic's home ground. The Russian cargo ship wouldn't be abandoned as it is still sea worthy, just as penicillin would freeze in that temperature if stored in liquid form. It's liquid form is also milky white and not clear. The only way the American flag would freeze within a second would be if it was soaking wet and if it was soaking wet it wouldn't be flying as it would be too heavy The British helicopter survivor isn't wearing any gloves (Which are required by aviation law) or cold weather clothing (Which is common sense) Indian people are chanting in English in New Delhi where it is snowing.

Overall Feel: This movie is just so wrong on most of its science it is unbelievable, but regardless of that fact, this is one of my all time favourite disaster movies. It is a typical Roland Emmerich movie, it has destruction of public landmarks, one man who saw it coming, people coming together to because of the destruction, all that typical stuff. The movie is also very politically charged, with that guy who was hired to look and play the role of that old grey money obsessed politician who no one likes. This movie would have just been better with just Jack Hall in the movie, forget the rest of his family and give him another reason to go to New York, that would have made this movie much better.

Night at the Museum (2006)

Night at the Museum

[7/10 · 28 July 2014]

Title: Night At The Museum

Condensed Storyline: A nightwatchman who starts his new job at a Natural History museum, finds out that all of the exhibits come to life at night.

Notable Acting: Ben Stiller was a great choice for this role, he pulls the night guard role off great, along with that of the father who fails to connect with his son. Dick Van Dyke plays the villain who is out to rob the table from the museum along with Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs, they play the former night guards great. I must say that my favourite duo for this movie would be Jedediah and Octavian who are small toy Roman/Cowboys played by Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan. They play a buddy warrior duo where they have to put their differences aside and fight together. But the one I didn't like is Ricky Gervais, mainly because I've never found him funny, more whinny than anything, but thankfully he isn't in this movie all too much. He is a good actor, I am just not a fan of him.

Noticeable Camera work: I love the opening montage of the stands and exhibitions in the opening minutes of the movie, perfect way to show people what is in the museum so you can then revisit them without having to introduce them again. There isn't all too impressive camera work, but it is a nice viewing experience to say the least.

Graphics: The CGI that is used for the T-Rex is very believable and looks like it's actually there, I am not sure if the monkey is CGI or not as real monkeys can be trained to do that. I really like the CGI that was done to make the miniature cowboys and Romans come to life and actually look realistic compared to the rest of the live action stuff.

Incorrect Science: Lions are not "kings of the jungle", they do not even live in jungles. They spend their time in open plains and grass lands and do not have the adapted body to stay concealed in a jungle. Neanderthals were not the fire people to build fires, homo erectus (Upright man) was the first to use fire. The hall of African Mammals is wrong because it has a South American monkey and a bird in it. Elevator doors wouldn't continue to close if there was an object stopping them from closing, they would automatically open for safety reasons.

Overall Feel: This was a family friendly fun movie with a good plot, solid acting and believable CGI. One of those fun movies to watch when you're stuck with younger family and you cant put movies with gore and violence on. They didn't do a good job at making their sets correct as there are many different examples I could point out where the exhibits are incorrect. There does seem to be something missing from this movie, because it has is fun actors, great storyline, but there is something missing that I can't place my finger on.

Repo Men (2010)

Repo Men

[7/10 · 27 July 2014]

Title: Repo Men

Condensed Storyline: In the world of organ repossessions a repo man gets into an accident where he needs to have his heart replaced, but he struggles to make the payments, this is when he goes on the run and becomes what he used to hunt.

Notable Acting: The actors in this movie are casted great, I do enjoy the chemistry between Jude Law's character and Forest Whitaker's character, this is the most important part of a buddy cop movie I was feeling kind of meh about Alice Braga's character, but that is mainly because I would like to see a film where two characters of the opposite sex do not hook up together. I understand that she was there to show him the life of those who live in fear of repo, but I would have preferred that they didn't get together.

Noticeable Camera work: The camera work is a mixture between faced paced work for when the action comes along but then slows down to a more relaxed way of viewing when it is time for conversations and such. The angles leave a bit to be desired though, they aren't all too creative. But they get the point across and you see what you need to see.

Overall Feel: Chases are I will compare this movie to 'Repo The Genetic Opera' a lot as they are very similar movies. Fans of 'Repo The Genetic Opera' have mixed feelings about this movie as 'Repomen' basically took the entire storyline of 'Repo The Genetic Opera' and made it their own. Repoman does the job that family doesn't like, problems arise and he turns against the company his works for before dying in the end. But I feel that this movie does enough things differently in this movie to justify it, the more works more on the buddy cop theme than anything else, and the repo is just plot mover. They also take their character to different levels, because in this movie the main Repoman becomes what he is paid to hunt and gets hunted for it, whereas in 'Repo The Genetic Opera' the main Repoman gets hunted because he will not kill the friend of his dead wife. This movie uses bio-mechanical organs which is a nice adaption and would seem more feasible in their future time. This is the only movie which has sex, surgery, computer hacking scene. That is creative to say the very least. The twist that happens at the end of the movie is very nicely executed and my use of language gives you the hint, but it wasn't expected on my part. But I found it a great ending to say the least. The movie is quite bouncy in the fact that is switches from funny face to serious face a lot and generally back and forth a lot, not that I have a problem with it. I enjoyed this movie, but I still prefer 'Repo The Genetic Opera' as I enjoyed it's whole cast of characters along with its original organ repo idea.

The Mummy (1999)

The Mummy

[8/10 · 26 July 2014]

Title: The Mummy

Condensed Storyline: A group of explorers discover the lost city of Hamunaptra, they soon awaken the mummy who hunts them down one by one to assimilate their organs and bodily fluids.

Notable Acting: Brendan Fraser is known for his role as Rick, and his role in the franchise is what some believe to have made the movie work in the first place. Needless to say, the other movies he's been in haven't been as good as his role here. Rachel Weisz plays the Evelyn who always needs rescuing as she is the damsel in distress. John Hannah plays everyones favourite coward Jonathan, he acts like a coward and ultimately is one in this movie and we love him for it. Kevin J. O'Connor plays a similar role to John Hannah in this movie but Kevin's character of Benny will side with who ever will give him money.

Noticeable Camera work: The movie is great at faming up its shots, especially for scenes of torture of death, making it so you can't see it, but still grasp the feeling of what is going on. Time lapse of a couple thousand years while we are looking a the statue of Anubis. Dolly shots following the action in the first fight scene Worms eye view of the Medjai

Graphics: The CGI in this movie is great for its time, be it the CGI for the mummy or the scarabs, it is great. The mummy looks like it is there, the effects that have been used with the sand are convincing and make to be an amazing movie.

Incorrect Science: The 'Book of the Dead' should be the 'Scroll of the Dead', because Ancient Egyptians didn't use books, they used scrolls only. The Roman Empire invented the book layout which is used today. Evelyn says that the scarabs ate Imhotep alive and very slowly, but every time we see them on screen, they always eat people within seconds. There were 5 canopic jars in the chest, but only 4 are used in actual mummification. Evelyn also mentions that they would take out all of the organs, this is incorrect as only the lungs, kidneys, intestines and stomach were put in canopic jars and the brain was removed and discarded. The heart and other organs were kept in. Imhotep fears cats because they are the guardians of the underworld, in actual Egyptian mythology, cats were worshiped as gods because they were connected to the goddess Bastet who was the goddess of motherhood and protection. The actual guardian of the underworld was Anubis who would guide the souls of the dead into the afterlife or the underworld.

Overall Feel: When I was younger, I had an ingrained fascination with Egyptology and this film was one of my all time favourites. So much so I watched this movie (Which is rated 15 for DVD) and I watched it over and over being only single digits in age at the time. So I will try and be not so bias in my review. This movie has its fair share of faults, especially when it comes to knowing about Ancient Egypt, but I would blame this more on the screen writers than anyone else. This is movie was made a year after Deep Rising, using a similar horror theme along with the actor Kevin J. O'Connor. Before this franchise, there were only mummy movies for the 'golden era' of cinema, which had the notoriously bad and some what cheesy effects that you would expect which classic monster movies, this movie made mummies cool again. This movie does have jump scares, but they are mild and are just there for the characters in the movie more than the audience.

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

Assault on Precinct 13

[8/10 · 25 July 2014]

Title: Assault on Precinct 13

Condensed Storyline: A police officer must get police and prisoners to unite and fight together to stop corrupt cops who are trying to capture one of the prisoners who would incriminate all he corrupt police.

Notable Acting: I cannot take Laurence Fishburne seriously when I see he playing a gangster, as much as I like the actor and liked him in this movie, I feel that someone else would have been better, such as Jamie Fox or another actor or that sorts. Ethan Hawke plays the believable police Sargent who is left in the precinct under fire. Everyone else decent, not all too believable for some as they did act like they knew they were going to be killed off in the movie, so it made it harder for me to like them.

Noticeable Camera work: Reverse mirror shot for when Jake is washing his face and looking in the mirror and the camera takes over by only showing his reflection Birds eye view of the prison transport container leaving God damn shaky cam in the break in scene

Overall Feel: This is one of those films which I like because of it's subtle political message, this has, does and always will happen in some police or governmental force somewhere in the world. Similar to 'Enemy of the State' this is realistic to an extent as this sort of thing can and does happen. The acting in the movie is good, the plot is slightly predictable but great to watch regardless along with its few twists and turns in the movie. Amazing action thriller, a step above and beyond the 76 movie of the same name. There isn't much else to write about the movie, as it is a good action thriller inside and out with a semi-realistic plot.

Alien (1979)

Alien

[8/10 · 24 July 2014]

Title: Alien

Condensed Storyline: A space vessel receives a signal coming from a planet, they investigate only to find that an alien parasite has bonded to one of their crew.

Notable Acting: The group of characters is a mix of stereotypes, boring characters and good characters. The boring ones are those who will die very early on and the stereotypes such as the guy who does everything by the book and the guy who wants to do as little work as possible will survive along with the good characters until the end.

Noticeable Camera work: Establishing shots of the spaceship for the first couple of minutes before we are shown the human actors. Followed by a 180º turn around to table with them all eating and foreshadowing. But apart from that there aren't too many other noticeable shots, they are good at showing scale of object compared to people, but you would expect more variation from a movie that is trying to build suspense. But it was made in the late 70's so I can't complain too much

Costume: Just like the Predator costume, the Xenomorph is a timeless classic. Created by using practical effects only, it is one of the most recognizable fictional aliens there is.

Incorrect Science: The ship informs them that they have received an acoustic beacon. Acoustics is the science of sound. Sound requires a form of matter to pass through, such as solid, liquid or gas. Sound cannot travel through a vacuum, which space is. Apart from this, there is very little to comment on as the alien's method of reproducing isn't alien in any respect, as there are insects on our own planet which plant their eggs inside another living being until they are ready to hatch. But the size growth of the alien would indicate that they have short lifespans or high metabolisms as they grow insanely quickly.

Overall Feel: One ending of this movie had Ripley escaping into the ejection pod, only to find that the alien is already in there and she dies in the end of the movie. That is an ending I would have preferred as it would have prevented the travesty of it's sequels (3&4) which ruined the franchise. The who idea of the Alien is based around insects, it reproduces by planting eggs in a host and having them grow inside the host. They have a hive mind set and they are all male bar the queen who calls the shots. Sadly none of this can be seen in this movie, only in 'Aliens'. The movie takes a while to get interesting, and this is around the 25 minute mark and is because you need time to set up and establish everything, but you won't miss much if you just skip to 25 minutes, only the reason for them being on the planet. Some parts of the movie have stood up great for a 70's movie, and some parts are cheesy and don't work, but it is still a great movie all together and a sci-fi and horror classic.

Predator (1987)

Predator

[8/10 · 23 July 2014]

Title: Predator

Condensed Storyline: A team of commandos go into a jungle to retrieve a captive. But they find themselves being hunted down by an alien, one by one.

Notable Acting: Cast of good to semi-good actors working to make the commando squad seem realistic, you get to see the tension build between them before they have to fight for their lives. This is one of those movies which almost all the cast are known for, be it Arnold, Bill Duke, Richard Chaves. All of them bar Shame Black, but that is because he is the first to die.

Noticeable Camera work: I didn't hold much hope out for creative angles, as this is an action movie and I keep that mind set for most action movies made before the millennium. I am generally right as well for most of them. We get POV voyeuristic shots from the Predator, but those only last so long in-between the standard panning and tilting shots.

Costume: The costume is iconic, it has the mixture of technology with tribal working towards the overall hunter theme of it.

Incorrect Science: Mac is seen shaving during some scenes, no man or soldier would shave in the jungle due to the guarantied risk of infection which would result in death. (Doesn't really matter as he dies later, but still) Dutch covers his body in mud to hide from the predator's infrared. His whole body is covered in it, except his eyes. Eyes still produce high amounts of heat, so his eyes would have shown up to the predator.

Overall Feel: When this movie first came out, people were comparing it to 'Alien' which came out a decade or so earlier. People were disappointed because the movie didn't have the horror or suspense that Alien did. Once people saw that the movie had Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, they should have known that it would be an action movie at heart. Up to the point, Arnold had only ever done action related movie, with the odd comedy here and there. So the fact that people were slightly disappointed confuses me as this movie turned out to be one of the greatest Arnold movies there is, same can be said for the rest of the actors in the main cast. The movie is a great action thriller when it all boils down to it, the acting is solid. The camera work is watchable and the story is pretty damn cool, so there isn't much to not like.

Sniper (1993)

Sniper

[6/10 · 22 July 2014]

Title: Sniper

Condensed Storyline: A marine sniper has to go into the jungle and remove rebel fighters, but he is known for the fact that his spotters never come back

Notable Acting: Tom Berenger is Thomas Beckett, the hard ass sniper who has issues as his spotters keep getting killed, his character is pretty much cardboard cut as it doesn't really build or change or grow in the movie. Billy Zane is Richard Miller, the new guy who the old sniper has to train, he is less cardboard, but still unoriginal.

Noticeable Camera work: It is a 90's action movie, so I wouldn't hold out too much faith for any interesting angles an shots. But I would expect POV and voyeuristic shots as this is a sniper movie which has them being chased by an enemy sniper. The movie dos not disappoint on that end as we get out first POV sniper scope shot at 3 minutes in. The movie continues to use standard shots with a few POV or voyeuristic shots so the movie is alright for an action movie were camera angles are concerned.

Incorrect Science: The movie has got quite a few military-esk errors such as how to address a Master Gunny Sergeant Altering the ballistic properties of a bullet by smoothing the edges of it Trying to dry fire a weapon, knowing a weapon by hearing the hammer strike Trying to talk while in a helicopter without a mic.

Overall Feel: If you want a good sniper/war movie, you'll like this film. It is your typical war type action movie. One thing I loved about this movie and about most sniper movies is the unshackling sense of mystery and stealth. Of course that is the whole point of snipers, but it is still fun to watch movies and enjoy that in them. The camera works is as good as you'll get from a 90's action movie and the acting is decent if not predictable.

Immortal (2004)

Immortal

[8/10 · 21 July 2014]

Title: Immortal

Condensed Storyline: In future New York a floating pyramid has appeared. Horus has judgement cast upon him, so he must find the body of a male to inhabit so he can impregnate a female to preserve his immortality.

Notable Acting: I was happy with the performance of Thomas Kretshmann who plays Nikopol, he was the only character who I actually liked in this movie. But this is understandable because he is a known movie actor, appearing in movies such as 'King Kong' and 'The Wanted'. Whereas the other actors are lesser known.

Noticeable Camera work: I think one of the few non-standard ones we were given were the POV shots from Jill, but sadly there isn't all too much else to make this movies cinematography stand out.

Graphics: I have mentioned that this movie is an odd mixture between CGI and live action. I would have preferred the movie to be one or the other, or at least not to have CGI actor. The heads of the gods are nicely done on one part, but their mouths do not move this is one thing that annoys me, because it looks like they are wearing masks which are fused to their heads and they are trying to speak in a mask. It also has the same movement of the mask of someone trying to speak in one. There is also no emotion presented by the gods as well, their facial expression does not movie which I found slightly boring. But at least they can blink.

Incorrect Science: I don't know... I just don't know, this movie has magic gods so I can't really point out the science is wrong, because magic. I find the car system odd as some seem to run on cables like a tram, yet the same cars can fly. I don't see the full logic in this.

Overall Feel: The movie is based off the French comic 'La Foire Aux Immortels' and is just as visually interesting as the comic. The movie mixes live action and CGI, this wouldn't seem odd for today, but its the way that it is mixed that is odd. There are human characters which are made of standard CGI while there are others which are actual actors. I will say this now, in defense of this movies oddness. This movie feels like an auteur movie and was designed in the way it is to be stylized. I have mixed feelings about this movie, part of me likes it because it is a movie about Egyptian gods and not about mummies for once. But the other part of me doesn't like it because the CGI and live action do not mix, if I was watching it and the movie had Avatar style CGI, I would love it. But it has CGI which is easily compared to that of current generation games (Xbox 1/PS4), this isn't a bad thing, but it leaves much more to be desired from this. They also didn't give my favourite god lots of screen time (Anubis) and they straight up left out my second favourite (Set). But you do get to see the rivalry between the gods especially once Nikopol mentions Anubis and gets "Don't mention that jackal's name, only my name" I do like this dynamic that the gods do not like each other. For all the movie's flaws I can't help but enjoy the movie, it is a different type of movie. It wouldn't fit into A-Lists of B-Lists, it would be in its own alternative list. I can understand while people wouldn't like this film, it is a different type of movie and wouldn't be one which everyone would like. But given a chance, it could surprise people.

S.W.A.T. (2003)

Swat

[7/10 · 18 July 2014]

Title: Swat

Condensed Storyline: A drug lord gets captured and offers a cash reward in the millions for anyone who breaks him out of police custody. He the tries to make the same bargain with the SWAT officers who are transporting him, so he pits the team against themselves.

Notable Acting: Samuel L. Jackson, Colin Farrell and LL Cool J all did a great job at acting their parts, the others were good, but didn't steal my attention as much as the others did.

Noticeable Camera work: Establishing shots of the locations Worms eye view of the helicopter Birds eye view of the swat van rolling in 180º rotation while they are on the roof of the bank POV shot of the worm camera

Incorrect Science: A sniper tries to take down a helicopter using a .50 Caliber Rifle, he tries hooting at the rotor and takes down the helicopter. This is incorrect or highly unlikely at best because the air around the blades is displaced so much that the wind around them would throw any bullet off course. In the sewer scene the SWAT guys try and use a claymore mine to blow the hinges of a door, this is also incorrect because claymore mines are a type of fragmentation weaponry, this means they fire out shrapnel and are used for their injuring power and not their explosive power.

Overall Feel: You get to see the fall of two SWAT officers and then see their re-birth once they complete training again and get to grow with their new group. Along with seeing how some of them turn on each other at a moments notice. It starts out as a buddy cop movie but then changes into something different. It is still similar to that formula, but it is altered. So that makes the movie interesting and fun to watch ultimately. My review is short because this movie is hard to find online and my ISP has blocked most of the streaming sites I normally use.