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jstall20
Reviews
Interstellar (2014)
Fantastic
I absolutely loved every minute of this movie. Does it have a few small issues? sure. but overall I was enthralled by the deep exploration of scientific theory. It's important to understand that some elements of this film are purely based on theory. A lot of people might be turned off by the scene that takes place within a black hole singularity. That scene reminds me of the early cubist work of Picasso and Broque. Both instances are representative of multiple points in time being depicted simultaneously. It's important to understand this is mostly interpretive. The movie does go out of it's way to explain what's theory and what isn't. However there is so much information packed into this movie, that it's hard not to leave a few things out. That being said, this is a very science heavy movie. If that's not your thing, you might be better off seeing something more your speed.
All of the actors do a fantastic job (even Hathaway and Damon, who's characters are kind of irritating). The main characters do a good job of really connecting you to the family element of the plot.
The visuals are fantastic. There are a few sound issues with this film. I think that was a creative choice, but it does not come across too well, especially with dialogue in space.
The Punisher (2004)
Mediocre
This was a well intentioned project that got turned into a major turd. It was before comic book properties were produced into money making machines. To be perfectly honest Punisher is a pretty dumb story to begin with, and they made it even dumber. I actually like Thomas Jane to an extent, but he was poorly used. In many cases humanizing a comic book character is a good thing, not here. This movie makes the Punisher look like a big wuss. The grit is gone. He is just too soft. The other attempt at a reboot was also pretty weak. It would be nice to think it possible to adapt Punisher into a decent movie, but some things are just not meant to be realized. This would not even pass for a decent movie if it was not a punisher adaptation.
Mr. Nobody (2009)
They get points for trying something different, but it's a mixed bag overall... sometimes it makes completely no sense at all
This was a strange film. I got to give the director and cast credit for trying something kinda different. This is a sort attempt at cubist film making. I say that as cubism was originally inspired by the theory of relativity. The non linear quality of the film is broken up into pieces. There are some nice themes of quantum physics in this. I will give the creators of this film credit for trying to bend the rules a bit. Some of the acting is genuinely good (hard to go wrong with Diane Kruger). However, Jared Leto is kind of a tool. He mostly has the same exact expression the entire movie. If he was not in this film, I think I would enjoy it about a thousand times more than I did. The actors who play the younger version of the main character and the parents are pretty good. The parts at the end kind of loose me. Around the 3/4th mark of the film, the story goes from a fractured non linear time piece to a surrealist piece. Thats where the film kind of falls apart and starts to not make much sense. Again I applaud them for trying something different, but the fact that the film really looses structure bothers me.There are times when it seems like a clear concept and metaphor are being formed, and then the whole thing meanders into left field. ultimately I feel the film does not succeed at telling much of a story at that point. This was an interesting and fairly decent film. Pretty good performances, except for Leto, and after a while it gets really confusing.
Lucy (2014)
A few holes here and there, but a solid, interesting film!
I went in expecting to like this film, and I walked out enjoying it a lot! Yes, the premise is a bit silly, and you do have to suspend disbelief. What this movie is, more than anything realistic, is very imaginative. In the Era of uber 'realism' and nolan esque 'everything has to make sense' and alternately the stupidity of Michael Bay, this move had a nice balance, and just had fun with it's insane premise. Scartlett Johannsen did a fantastic job with this movie. She really has a knack for Sci Fi, and she is a top notch talent. This movie was about the right length. If you go into this looking for an art house film, don't bother, it's not for your pretentious tastes. Get over yourself. There is probably about as much real science as there is pseudo science. That is to say it's partially grounded in reality. It's not like the movie makes any illusion about the fact that some of the stuff in it is simply made up. I will say that Luc Besson could be served by hiring a writing consultant. There are some scenes that were kinda lazily set up. It doesn't ruin the film, but it might take a step in the right direction in having his films taken a little more seriously. Also, there is the signature rocket launcher scene (every one of Besson's films has one). This was fun. Go see it!
Under the Skin (2013)
Pretentious euro film school hogwash
This is the type of film that demands you like it, because if you don't, you must be an un cultured heathen, by god. This is really just a boring European film student's treatease on human sexuality and some other navel gazing nonsense. And aliens or monsters or something. Most of the dialogue is barely audible (yes i get that it's Scottish, but the mixing of the voices is so terribly done, you hardly can hear it anyway). But seriously. this was awful. The pacing is brain drizzlingly slow. The performances are pretty mediocre. The lighting is terrible. The story is sort of marginally interesting, but takes a back seat to a lot of obscure nonsense. There simply is almost no sense of editing in this. There are long, drawn out shots of Scottland. Those are sometimes kinda pretty, but it's mostly boring. This movie literally could have been an hour shorter, but they had to drag you through every benign, boring, detail. The only semi plus (and probably the only desperate selling point of this dreary film) is Scarlett Johansen's nudity. Lock up the silverware, and avoid this snooze button of a film at all cost.
The only thing I will give these folks credit for is having an interesting premise. Otherwise I just did not care for the way it was executed.
I guess I am supposed to be impressed with this garbage, but I mostly fell asleep.
Art School Confidential (2006)
some old bull****
Don't get me wrong, I get that this movie is a bat and switch on purpose. I guess they think they are 'clever'. Is is advertised as a 'comedy/parody' and is ultimately anything but. I attended art school and I can easily say it is nothing as stark or depressing as what this movie portrays. The kind of people this movie portrays are the types of bs art students that should have quit after their first year to go become a lawyer or doctor. If your some rudderless schmuk that can't form a coherent idea without falling back on silly words like cliché, you don't belong in a creative institution of higher learning. The biggest problem is that this movie has no idea what it wants to be. In the end it literally feels like some sophomore film student crapola that is supposed to look deep, but is really just stupid and insipid. Skip this movie for your own good.
Occupy Unmasked (2012)
pure garbage
This is clearly a right wing corporate funded slander video. One look at the so called 'experts' with missing teeth and looks of racist white hatred and you can tell what the are there for. This is simply more propaganda for the Kosch brothers machine to pump into the minds of stupid fat white people, who forget to take blood pressure medicine. It doesn't take a brilliant mind to know the occupy movement was a disorganized mess. If you need a racist training video to spank to, this is your film. Otherwise for the more enlightened of us, skip this trash. Seriously, I don't have much else to say. I literally got the gist of this crap after less than 4 minutes. The 'film makers' of this atrocity pump angry images of right wing fox new pundits into their audiences field of vision. It's almost clockwork orange esque. If your an old angry confused republican that refuses to understand the world around them, maybe this is your kind of poison. otherwise, get with the program, you are being fed intellectual manure.
Filth (2013)
Awful
This is a pretty extreme case of, well made, but so so hard to sit through. I get that film can be a medium of free artistic expression, but at least post a warning label. This movie is entertaining till about the last 40 minutes, then it's utterly depressing. It's just so hard to empathize with the main character. I guess if your into artsy films or whatever, you might enjoy this. McCavoy is great, and the rest of the cast does do a good job, but this is just existentialist drivel. The film does get a bit rudderless at a certain point, but that might be meant to lend itself to the hectic bipolar express that's going on. I personally hated this movie. Run far far away from this movie.
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
My favorite movie of the summer. hands down.
I kinda knew I would probably enjoy this movie going into it, and my expectations were exceeded. This is an enjoyable take on the X franchise, it stands on it's own while taking baby steps into paying homage to the source material (let's be honest, while those original stories were iconic, the writing wasn't always great.). All actors provide performances with emotional resonance without being too heavy or overbearing. There is a nice balance of humor and drama. Even the original cast (who I have never been much of a fan of, aside from ellen page) provide a great action based counter point to the more character driven 70's characters. While there are a whole bunch of characters in this movie, the writers knew who to focus on and who to give a small amount of screen time (though more havock and rouge would have been awesome.). You really get a sense that singer and the writing team put time and effort into allowing the actors to play to their strengths in the right places. Mackavoy and Fassbender kill it in this movie. Hugh jackman is very enjoyable and inhabits the role way better than he did ten years ago. Jennifer Lawrence is very good here, and performs way better than she does in those crappy hunger games movies. Quicksilver is the most surprising highlight of this film, and kinda steals the show. Overall I think this is one of the best comic based movies ever made (sorry X2 sucks) and they didn't need to create too much collateral damage to get it done (hey magneto is very careful with that stadium ;p )
Serbuan maut 2: Berandal (2014)
Awful, awful movie.
I only give this movie a two because they made an honest attempt to created a half decent narrative. Still that narrative is convoluted and loses focus at multiple points in the film. Beyond that, the insanely intense and graphic violence takes you completely out of whatever might have been an OK film. Seriously, at certain points I thought I was watching what amounted to a snuff film. I was horrified by this movie, and I have seen plenty of violent films. Do not waste your time with this film. OK I need more lines of text.. fine.. I was basically suckered into this movie by a friend, and I was ticked off at the end of it, as the whole thing seemed utterly pointless. I wish there was even anything remotely made any sense about what the characters were trying to accomplish in the film. It would be nice to think there was insight into eastern political grit, but I kinda doubt it. It was essentially the departed, but more like a slap in the face.
The Family (2013)
decently entertaining. not goodfellas, but surprisingly not bad.
I had heard not so great things about this film. However I rented it and I was pleasantly surprised. It's not 'goodfellas' (a movie they jokingly reference in the film), but I was generally satisfied. My only gripe is the movie has an unnecessary hatred for french people, and portrays them in a very stupidly caricatured light. I mean isn't Luc Besson French? wtf? Anyway De Niro is fun to watch, though there isn't much done with his or michelle pfeiffer's characters. Their flash back scenes are fun to watch though. The real stars in this film are the kids Dianna Agron is very easy on the eyes, and plays the role of sadistic mob boss daughter pretty brilliantly. the actor who plays the son did a wonderful job in his role, and was generally entertaining. This movie was far from perfect (especially for Besson's standards), but very much worth a rental.