One Hour Photo

There's just something about this film that's perfectly unique. It gives off a kind of gentle, calculated atmosphere, while depicting haunting and simple madness. Robin Williams gives a brilliant performance thanks to the great writing, which is augmented by the top-notch cinematography and perfect soundtrack.

Really, though, what shines here is the story. It's a look at a seriously deranged person, which is fascinating in its subtlety, but climaxes up to a brilliant and satisfying ending (which sounds really dirty, in retrospect). Plus, it's got more than one explanation, which is always good.

In a sentence:

Not for everyone due to its calm nature, but subtly brilliant with great and controlled production values.

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Zoolander

Man, I feel a bit bad that this type of comedy is entirely incompatible with my own tastes, because I can understand why I'm supposed to laugh, but can't. The jokes ALL fell flat for me, and I didn't even smile, despite the movie trying desperately to get something out of its audience. I think it's the SNL-style "stupid" brand of humor that just ends up feeling incredibly corny to me. The acting is terrible (except maybe Will Ferrel, who is... Will Ferrel), and in trying to be silly, the story becomes simple and a bit dull.

On the other hand, the costume work is eye-catching (obviously) and the cinematography is flashy and original (two things which drew me to watching the movie).

In a sentence:

Dull, unfunny, and poorly acted. Very original, though, and I could definitely see some people liking this (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way).

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Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (3D)

As far as CG kid's movies go, this is pretty standard fare. It's starting to become obvious that they're running out of ideas for this series, but a decent watchable story is actually managed to be patched together, and while some jokes fall flat, there are still a few great ones in there. The animation is great, but so is nearly every other CG animated movie's these days.

What I found very cool with this movie was the Disney Digital 3D. This is the first movie I've seen with this technology, and the advances since the headache-inducing, flickering, fuzzy IMAX 3D of old are immediately apparent. The depth and effects were just like in real life, and I could focus on anything without it being blurry. It's really quite cool to watch, and made the movie about twice as fun. Definitely something I will try to watch other movies in, in the future.

In a sentence:

Average all around, with a decent story, a few really funny moments and good animation. The Disney Digital 3D, however, is awesome.

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Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Let's get this clear right off the bat: Call of Juarez 2 is probably the best game to come out in the last couple of months. I would compare it to Call of Duty 4 in terms of sheer variety and quality of things it throws at you, although this isn't what you would call a revolutionary game. Just when you start getting tired of shooting the surprisingly satisfying to use western guns, something new comes along that gives it a twist. Being able to play as either brother changes things up a lot more than it sounds, as they both have totally different but fun play styles. Finally, the "open world" levels that appear twice between the chapters are awesome ways to get money and stock up on sweet golden guns. It really left me aching for a proper open-world Western game. Oh, and this is probably the most beautiful game I've seen since Crysis. Yeah. Some of the locations had my jaw on the floor.

One thing to mention: the (short) first part, set in the US Civil War, is crap, relatively speaking. It's poorly designed, and seems rushed. As soon as that is over, it starts to gradually get better and better, until it reaches a climax of awesomeness at about 80% of the game, at which point it descends back into "above-average" territory for the ending, which is nonetheless very satisfying.

In a sentence:

Incredibly beautiful graphics, tons of variety, great gunplay and a pretty good story. Do not miss this!

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Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

The best Harry Potter movie. This is the first time Dumbledore is written and acted correctly, which is ironic considering the film's ending, but the actual atmosphere of the books is recreated nearly perfectly for large sections of the running length, which is incredible considering that no other film in the series had ever captured it at all. Obviously, it's merely an incomplete glimpse at the awesomeness of J.K. Rowling's work, but for people who've read the books, it's brilliant to see everything on film along with absolutely incredible ILM visual effects.

My criticism lies with the the overexposure of the love story arcs. It's nowhere near as bad as some reviews make it seem, but I could have done with a little less of that, and a little more of actual Half-Blood Prince and Voldemort stuff.

In a sentence:

The closest the movies have come to the books' greatness, with some (finally) great acting, great decisions regarding the plot, and as usual, amazing SFX.

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De Père En Flic

Kind of weird reviewing this one in English, but oh well. The production values and cinematography in this are perfectly on par with American productions, which is great to see, as usually there's always something a little off with Quebec-made films.

This allowed me to entirely focus on the story and acting, which were both hugely entertaining. The humor is great and well-written, although that was to be expected considering who was involved. I was particularly surprised by the quality of the acting in this movie: it was top-notch stuff, and is the reason this movie succeeded so well. With a lesser cast, it would have crashed and burned, but the talent seen here is probably the best I've seen in a Quebecois movie thus far (I'm admittedly not a great connoisseur, though).

In a sentence:

Great cinematography, writing, humor are all supported by some surprisingly excellent acting.

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Scream

Well, you know, it's a slasher movie; in my mind, nearly all movies in this genre are subpar. Still, in terms of slasher horror movies, this is a pretty good one, and has an interesting twist in its way of making fun of itself. It's worth watching before you die due to its cult status and is especially good to show to people who want to see what a slasher movie is like. All in all, though, incredibly mediocre and simplistic.

In a sentence:

A very good slasher movie. So a pretty "meh." movie.

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Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

The funniest game since Portal. Now, this is the first point-and-click adventure game I've played since I was 6 years old (the genre is only just being reborn from the ashes), which makes it seem hugely original and fresh. What really makes this special is that it's a game with no combat. From start to finish, I was captivated by the game's story and quirky characters, and not by explosions and graphics. The writing is surprisingly good, with hilarious pop-culture references and slapstick comedy aplenty. It's enough to fuel inside jokes for a while among players.

The puzzles, although sometimes hard to figure out, are immensely satisfying to solve and are definitely worth the head-scratching effort (although I did refer to a walkthrough in two minor occasions where I had not seen something I was supposed to click). Surprisingly, instead of being dull as I expected this type of game would be, it was mesmerizing, and I finished the entire episode in one play-through (about 3 hours).

I can't wait for the other 4 episodes, this is one game I am definitely paying for.

In a sentence:

Hilarious, fresh, original, captivating, but also strangely nostalgic. Not to be missed by anyone who even slightly likes gaming. A perfect casual game.

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Twelve Monkeys

This is a pretty awesome, depressing, thoughtful movie. It's not really entertainment for the senses, but for the mind. It toys with you, leading you through many assumptions about the realities presented to you, until you finally realize what the truth is, and everything clicks into place... at which point the deliciously ambiguous ending comes along. The acting is perfect (loved Brad Pitt in this), the sets are unique, and it's pretty evident that the director knew what he was doing.

In a sentence:

Definitely not something to watch as typical entertainment; it's more of an intellectual exercise, although it's supported by a strong cast and solid cinematography.

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Public Enemies

This is a great movie, but there is something a bit off about it. It's hard to describe, but somehow it feels a bit empty, like it focuses all of its attention on details while ignoring the big picture. You can deduce it, but it's as if a large chunk of the story is being ignored.

Nonetheless, the cinematography is incredible, the acting and cast are absolutely top-notch (Manon Cotillard in particular is brilliant), the script and writing are excellent and the general atmosphere, style and themes are fascinating. It's also pretty interesting to see a film entirely shot digitally, instead of on film. It gives it a very unique look, and captures everything in sharper detail.

In a sentence:

It's a bit of a shame that it isn't the masterpiece that it could have been, but it's still definitely not a movie you should miss, and is a top-notch production.

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The Patriot

Well, this is your basic epic war film that doesn't dare and try to explain why the war in question actually happened. In this case, it's because freedom and patriot we want british evil revenge blaargh BOOM! So, yeah, not much depth to that particular part of the story.

On the other hand, the action scenes are great, and the acting is quite nice as well. The cinematography and sound are quite good, and the character development is above average. Finally, the time period is quite an interesting one, so it's nice to see on film. This is all countered by a slightly overlong running time, though.

In a sentence:

Worth watching for the great battle scenes and the pretty entertaining and decent plot. On the other hand, be prepared for a movie that's a bit too long, and almost entirely inaccurate.

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Army of Darkness

Hmm, and we're back to this again. While the second Evil Dead was a good blend of comedy and horror, this one drops the horror and instead aims for pure corny comedy. It's supposed to be a parody of lame B-movies, I think, but to me it actually just became one. The story was as simplistic as they get, the action was dull (and the stop motion was poorly done) and the acting was absolutely horrible (except Campbell, who is decent). And to top it all off, everything that's supposed to be cool (like the chainsaw hand from the last one) just ends up feeling like the filmmakers are trying too hard.

This was released in 1992, which means age is no longer an excuse for this entry in the series (freaking Back to the Future came out in 1985, for example)... in other words, this isn't old, it's just crap.

In a sentence:

In trying to be a B-movie parody, it becomes one. Feels like watching a slightly more explicit children's movie.

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Featured Review

Note: this site has been discontinued

One Hour Photo

Zoolander

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (3D)

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince

De Père En Flic

Scream

Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal

Twelve Monkeys

Public Enemies

The Patriot

Army of Darkness

Eric's Reviews

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