Meh, this was entertaining enough, but it never managed to surpass its cool opening scene. Wesley Snipes' funny acting was responsible for nearly all of the movie's charm - fun, but not enough to make up for the action movie clichés, formulaic plot and god-awful anticlimactic ending sequence. Thankfully, superhero movies have improved since then.
Featured Review
Note: this site has been discontinued
I will no longer be posting any reviews here. Any further reviews will be posted on my Rotten Tomatoes account. Thanks!
"Let's never speak of this ever again." That is the first thing I heard someone say while exiting the projection room after seeing this movie. It's exactly what the name makes it sound like: one of the most insane, over-the-top, shameless movies I've ever seen, possibly surpassing even Piranha 3D. It's a cavalcade of "did-that-just-happen?" moments under a sheen of thick 80s style and crazed acting. Whoever directed this must be both a genius and criminally insane.
A movie by geeks for geeks. While it doesn't come close to the utter genius of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, or even Scott Pilgrim, this is still a truly enjoyable road trip movie with a memorable cast, innumerable references and some good comedy. It feels very much like an americanized Pegg/Frost, which is both bad and good: while it's an interesting change of pace, it means that this has to settle for only being an enjoyable evening with friends rather than a game-changer.
While it does have flashes of what made 300 so memorable (the first two dreamscapes, mainly), this movie, on the whole, falls completely flat. The story is pointless, stupid, poorly handled and incredibly cheesy, and almost all of the acting is awful, save for the main bad guy. This lack of meaning hurts the movie immensely, as it ends up just feeling like a hyperactive exploitation film - completely lacking in weight or tension, the only point being the sugarcoated action scenes. Even then, the last two dreamscape action scenes are fairly dull. It's a shame, considering how wonderful the opening scene was.
A movie dedicated to absurdism is a concept that sounded really awesome to me, and it mostly delivered on that promise by following a tire on a murderous rampage. With any other movie, I would've commented on how slow it is, or how little actually happens, or how none of it makes any sense, but the brilliance here is that that's the point. It isn't perfect, and it definitely isn't for everyone, but I quite enjoyed this.
This is basically a cross between Bourne Identity and Taken, except without any good action scenes and with a silly premise. The very scarce action scenes in the first 3/4 of the movie are either Neeson getting beaten up or a bunch of cars driving around really fast, whereas the last 1/4 has one or two terribly edited and poorly choreographed fight scenes. The movie doesn't fail entirely at building suspense, but the conclusion is a letdown and the buildup takes too long. Neeson is the only thing that keept this movie afloat, and even then, it's utterly forgettable.
Not only is this the most beautiful CG animated movie ever created, but it's unexpectedly hilarious, teeming with originality and overflowing with style. The story isn't the most complex affair out there, but it's handled in such a satisfactory way that it doesn't really matter, and it's still much better than your average talking-animals flick. It would be criminal for this not to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.
Oops, just realized I forgot to review this movie. It's certainly much better than your average non-Pixar animated kid's movies, with some good voice acting, good morals, excellent animation and music, and just all-around good execution. However, it's very predictable and not particularly memorable, which means that to me it's not the masterpiece many people seem to make it out to be. Definitely worth watching regardless!
This is basically exactly what the trailer makes it out to be: an over-the-top, violent romp through a basic B-Movie premise, backed by some great old-style cinematography. The acting is never good but often funny, and the romance elements are laughable in a good way. The ending loses itself a bit in its own insanity, but as a whole this movie is still a lot of fun to watch.
It's not that the movie is bad per se, it's just that it never really becomes "good". The script offers a few funny moments in a sea of mediocre ones, but the pacing of the movie is all wrong, and it really starts to drag at about the 1:20 mark. Downey Jr. is decent, while Galifianakis is a more effeminate version of the character he played in The Hangover; the duo does have some chemistry, but on the whole they never manage to really get you to care at all about what's happening. Basically, the whole movie feels forced and halfhearted.
This is the best non-Pixar classic-formula Disney movie since The Lion King. Hell, I think it certainly deserves to be up there with the classics. The basic story never strays too far into originality, but the execution is top-notch, blending classic Disney with modernity almost perfectly; for instance, the banter and type of humour is something you'd never see in a classic Disney film, but it works really well to give it a 21st Century flair. Another obvious change is this being computer-animated rather than hand-drawn; this could've been a mistake, but it actually greatly improves the movie thanks to the way it's handled. Characters that look and act this way are only possible with CG, and the movie is visually stunning as a whole, thanks in large part to the fantastic art design. Essentially, it's one of those rare non-Pixar movies that I've seen that uses CG to improve the movie rather than just because it's cheaper and easier.
Now, this being "classic-formula Disney" means that it does feature a number of hugely cliché moments. One scene in particular is ridiculously touching and emotional, only for it to be erased a moment after. It's a bit of a shame for adults, but then I don't think the little kiddies would've been able to handle it otherwise. Still, the movie is a complete seesaw of emotions, going from hilarious to oh-no-I-just-have-something-in-both-my-eyes numerous times. In other words, while it may be predictable, it's the good kind of predictable.
Anyone who ever liked Disney will get a kick out of this.
You can get points for kicking someone in the butt, then shooting their fart gas so it explodes. That's all you need to know, really. Of course, I guess it wouldn't hurt to also know that this is visually stunning, meshing old-school mechanics and originality perfectly and being over in barely 8 hours. It's surprisingly excellent for a game so profoundly moronic.
Eric's Reviews
About
- 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!
Search
© Copyright Eric Dumas. All rights reserved.
Designed by FTL Wordpress Themes | Bloggerized by FalconHive.com