One actor, one set. It's a premise that's been done before, but the effectiveness that it's pulled off with in Buried's story of a man who wakes up in a coffin is to be commended. The film never cuts away from the coffin, always staying with Ryan Reynold's character as he goes through a panoply of well-acted emotions and engages in a surprising amount of thrills considering his predicament. Telling you much more would give away whether he lives or dies, so I'll just say that this movie left me pretty speechless for a while afterwards. Terrifying.
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This blew me away nearly as much as Inception. However, don't let that description lead you into believing this is at all like that movie; Black Swan is all about the character, her emotions and her art. Everything in this movie seems to be crafted to perfection: shock value, acting, sound, lighting, makeup, disguises, editing, music and script work so beautifully together and so cohesively with the main themes that I have difficulty even explaining it. To be honest, though, I think it's better if you go in knowing as little as possible, so just trust me and go see this amazing movie. It will haunt you for days.
This is a great movie with great performances and an effective script. However, it was not nearly as good as I thought it would be considering the people involved. To be fair, the story was limited by the original book, and I did have a bit of trouble understanding Jeff Bridges when he was talking, but it just didn't quite grab me quite as much as I would've liked. Still, it's enjoyable and definitely worth watching for you wild west fans.
Colin Firth delivers one of the very best performances I've ever seen. He completely grabbed me and made me forget I was even watching an actor in a film; his performance alone makes this a must-watch. However, there is much more to love here: Geoffrey Rush is also fantastic, and the both of them are supported by a script that is both deeply touching and tons of fun, itself based on a fascinating true story. Definitely in my 5 favourite films of the year.
This movie achieves a perfect balance of visual and auditory spectacle, propelling some scenes into the all-time most badass film moments hall of fame. I have difficulty seeing how they could have improved on some of these scenes. However, much like the original film, the story is simplistic and lacks depth, and the acting is mediocre, save for Jeff Bridges who is once again awesome. Nonetheless, a real treat for the senses, and a movie you definitely should watch with the largest screen and best audio system possible.
I cannot believe this was possible in 1982. Sure, it's a bit messy and quite rudimentary by today's Hollywood standards, but I can't think of any movie that even approached this level of Avatar-style visual stimulation for at least 10 years after the release. Even today it still feel like you're seeing a strange, alien computer world (albeit a distinctly 80s version of one). However, the actual script is quite basic and not that engaging. Jeff Bridges' charm is basically what holds up the part of the movie that isn't visual effects, with only a few other elements being at all memorable. Still, definitely worth watching for the funky 80s piece of SFX history.
Assassin's Creed 2 was going to be my GOTY 2009, until the very last second when I played Uncharted 2. It was all I could ever ask for in an Assassin's Creed game, combining a surprisingly fascinating story with excellent, unique gameplay and a world teeming with life and things to do - it was the perfect sequel, not only fixing what AC1 did wrong, but adding lots of things I never knew I wanted.
Well, this game keeps all of that. It isn't nearly as big of a jump forward as AC2 was, however, despite improving a lot of things. The biggest difference in the single player is how much better the 2012 storyline is, but there also seems to be exponentially more things to do in Rome than in any of the AC2 cities (I don't think I could name all of them off the top of my head), with each activity being more varied than those of AC2. Assassin's Tombs return (this time labeled Romulus Lairs), and each of them is more fun than all of the AC2 ones combined... however, the armor that is unlocked at the end comes close to looking amazing, but ultimately just looks weird (I went back to my original, badass custom design). If I had to complain about anything, it would be that there is less tone variation than AC2, which is sort of expected with Rome being the only city.
And then, of course, is the multiplayer. I'm not a multiplayer person (as you may have noticed, I barely ever review multiplayer sections of games), but this was the most fun I've had in standard quick-match competitions in ages. In direct opposition to basically every MP game out there, this game is based on finesse, subtlety and cunning rather than repetition, reflexes and luck. Players that only just started playing can demolish experienced players simply because they played smarter - it's stressful, exhilarating, and frankly the only competitive multiplayer I've properly enjoyed since Battlefield 2.
In a sentence:
Don't let this game's weird half-sequel status keep you from playing it - this is easily on par with Assassin's Creed 2, improving many things at the sake of a few others, in addition to featuring the best competitive multiplayer in years.
Eric's Reviews
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- I watch a ton of movies and TV Shows and play a ton of games, which is rather unproductive. So, I have decided to review as many things as I can, to at least get something that might be useful to others out of it. Sorry if I end up bashing a movie you like, as I'm in critic mode when I write here. In reality, I can enjoy every movie, even zero star ones! Hope you enjoy the site!
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