Reviews

I enjoyed Frozen Empire, it was especially fun to see so many actors reprising their characters from the very first Ghostbusters movie.

As others have said Phoebe carried the film, and that's not a bad thing. My only complaint is it Bill Murray really seemed to be phoning in his role.

There was a lot of connections to the first Ghostbusters movie and though some people didn't like it I found the plot rather imaginative.

Even though I actually liked Afterlife a little better, this was a fine addition to the Ghostbusters franchise.

Even though the critics didn't like it I think it will be popular enough to merit a continuation of the franchise, I for one will be a returning viewer.

No mind blowing special effects, no earth shattering explosions, no car chases, just a slow burn quirky small town film with a lot of heart.

As someone with a lifelong love of Sci-Fi who is fast approaching retirement age I could identify with the characters in this film. Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Milton is spot on and the inclusion of. Jane Curtin, who was known for her role in the Conehead sketches as Prymaat, is a nice little Easter egg that may go unnoticed by some. Plus there are subtle references to E. T. Alf, Men In Black, and even tangentially, Flight of the Navigator, there may even be others I missed.

Many sci-fi fans are fast approaching the autumn of their lives, and far too many science fiction movies overlook this segment of their audience. Good intelligent science fiction featuring older actors and mature story lines are few and far between.

Though the plots are significantly different, this film somewhat reminded me of Robot & Frank (2012), staring Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon. If you like Jules I would recommend that you check out Robot & Frank.

No name actors, with a no name script. The only saving grace of this film is the fact that it keeps some of the elements of the original novel. The good, the beginning and ending of the movie is lifted almost directly from the original HG Wells novel, the Martians are depicted almost exactly like Wells describe them and the tripod walking machines are almost exactly as described in the 1898 novel.

The bad, most of the movie focuses on three youths and their typical teen angst. Most of the movie is simply the young characters simply traveling from place to place boringly, very boringly. There is nothing redeemable or captivating enough to make you connect with any of them in any way shape or form. You could have taken the first 15 minutes of the movie and the last 10 minutes of the movie and shoved them together in a 25 minute webisode and had a more enjoyable watching experience, for the hour in the center of a movie nothing happens except walking around and arguing.

Sticking close to the original novel was interesting, but the execution was sorely lacking, I've seen better high school productions.

My rating of three stars breaks down as follows, one star because you can't give any less, one star added for the look of the machines in the aliens matching the original novel, and one star added for keeping the beginning and ending of the novel intact, that's the best I can do.

This is a great film, well acted and based on the true story of the miracle staircase at the Loretto Chapel.

If you are ever in or near Santa Fe, New Mexico you should take the time to visit the Loretto Chapel and see the miracle staircase for yourself. I have been there twice and both times I was mesmerized. For a believer, this incredible structure and the story behind it increases your faith and makes you realize that miracles do happen and are right there for all to see. For the nonbeliever, the skill and craftsmanship that went into this amazing structure nearly 150 years ago is stunning.

This film tells the story of the construction of this extraordinary piece of architecture that even now inspires awe. The film is well shot and acted, even though at times the budget constraints of a TV film are evident.

My only complaint is that the film diverges too much, in my opinion, from the true story behind the staircase. The story of the construction of the staircase is amazing all in itself, however, in defense of the writer and director, I can see how it would have been difficult to turn into a 2 hour TV movie. So the additional subplots of the vengeful architect, and other nefarious characters, although not part of the original story are not too distracting from the real story. Plus, the basic elements of the original story are all in place in the film.

This is an edge of your seat thriller that will suck you in and leave you totally exhausted at the end.

My wife is perhaps one of the most critical movie critics I have ever known. And when I loaded this film up her comment was, "I don't want to watch a war movie tonight." But in a few minutes she was sucked in and remained glued to the screen for the duration. Afterwards, as the credits rolled, her comment was one word: "Wow!"

Today after having slept on it, and admitting that it may have affected her dreams, she said that Eye in the Sky is not just one of the greatest war movies ever, but, in her opinion, is one of the greatest films ever. Her favorite movies are Shenandoah, with Jimmy Stewart, and The Patriot, with Mel Gibson. This film ranks right along with those. This film presents the moral and ethical dilemmas of modern warfare superbly.

Eye in the Sky is Alan Rickman's final live action film. Released shortly after his death, it is a fitting end to his incredible career. His final line is powerful and chilling; especially when you know it was his final film moment, "Never tell a soldier, that he does not know the cost of war".

When watching this there are several things you must remember. This is a fan film done on a shoestring budget. Keeping that in mind I found this to be a good solid 7 film. The dialog was a little stilted at times and some of the makeup and costumes showed the low budget. But did anyone who reviewed this as bad ever see TOS? I doubt it. Overall this film stands on it's own and if you go into this understanding that this is a low budget fan film this is worth a watch. As far as the story being hard to follow, I don't get it I understood the story clearly. Disregard the naysayers and watch this, but understand the context in which it was made. I really hope this gets picked up as a series.

The movie basically follows the three act formula, and although the crusty veteran and out of element rookie has been done before I enjoyed Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds on the screen together. There is plenty action and a fair amount of comedy. there were some plot holes and the ending left a few unanswered questions. Even with these flaws my wife and I both feel like there are many worse ways to spend a few bucks on a hot afternoon. This is not a blockbuster or a classic movie, I would classify it as a good popcorn flick. Contrary to many other opinions here we both recommend this as a watchable movie, as long as your expectations are reasonable.

Not bad as time travel movies go. But the sets were atrocious and the acting was weak. As with many time travel movies the plot was predictable. Probably the most disappointing prop was the time machine itself. It looked like they went down to the local hardware store and picked up a load of plywood and a few cans of spray paint. In fact the time machine prop resembled a backyard storage shed you can buy at your local Home depot. The actors appeared to be sleepwalking through most of their scenes. Ned Beatty did his best to provide us with a good performance, but he was unable to carry the movie by himself.

That being said, the movie deals with time travel as well, if not better, than most time travel movies. The fact the the writer at least tried to provide us with a reasonable flow of events and seemed to have more than a passing interest in providing us with a logical time travel tale increases my appreciation for this little low budget flick.

I enjoyed almost every minute of this series. I thought it was far above the average SyFy flick. The special effects, while not perfect, are very adequate. The story is imaginative and refreshing. I found myself drawn in from the beginning. Watching Bob Hoskins as Smee again was pure joy.

Every part of the story was as logical and well thought out as any fantasy could be. Often in movies I find myself thinking "Why would they do that?" That was not the case in this movie. Other than some mistakes made that any child could make, the characters all acted logical within the parameters of their character.

Unlike some other fantasy TV that left us with nothing but questions at the end, (Lost, I'm looking at you.) origins and motivations for almost every character and aspect of the Peter Pan story is given, and satisfactorily explained by the end.

Another aspect of the series that I like is the fact that by the end Every story line and mystery is satisfactorily wrapped up with a nice big bow on top. Yet with this nice satisfying ending the door is still left open just enough for a sequel.

The only negative aspect I can find in this is the depiction of Tinkerbell. Somehow I found it lacking, but that could easily be attributed to personal tastes.

As a child of the 70's I grew up with Commander John Koenig and Dr. Helena Russell. I was one who truly believed that by the year 1999 we would have a permanent base on the moon accessible to all, but such was not to be. The dreams of a future where space travel was common place was replaced with bloated social programs and endless wars. Watching this short clip brought back the memory of those childhood dreams, of the future could have, no, SHOULD HAVE been, a future that was snatched from the hands of my generation. As I wiped a tear from my eye I wonder, was I weeping for Space 1999 and Moonbase Alpha or was my sorrow for what we could have have had?

Well I went into the theater with high hopes and try as I might I could not maintain them. Kathy Bates was terribly miscast and the reactions of the military were not believable at all. Even so I tried to like this movie, and right up until the very end I thought that it was going to end up being an average movie but alas that was not to be the case. The ending was the worst slap in the face I have ever received from a science fiction movie. I felt like the director crept into the theater and spent the last two minutes of the movie beating me in the face with a half rotten salmon. Please someone take this directors union card away so his is not able to ruin any more classics!

Well I paid my Three Dollars and sat down to watch this movie last night. My first complaint is that the movie is offered for download only in one format, Flash Video. And although two different resolutions are offered only the high resolution version would download, the medium resolution version was a broken link and although I have 4 meg DSL the server speed was so slow I had to wait almost three hours before enough of the movie was cached to have a uninterrupted viewing session. Finally, after three hours I was watching the movie. The movie starts a little slow as is with many sci-fi films while we are being introduced to the various characters and back stories. Eventually the primary story line is developed and we are somewhat engaged by what we saw. It was refreshing to see many of our friends from various incantations of Star Trek making appearances in this movie. Every version of Star trek had a regular who made an appearance in this film. I will lay them out here

Shilling - Walter Koenig - Chekov Star Trek -TOS, Crystal Barry - Marina Sirtis - Deanna Troi Star Trek -TNG, Dr. Lattis - J. G. Hertzler - Martok Star Trek DS9, The News Anchor - Tim Russ - Tuvok - Star Trek Voyager, Andreas Cabrosas - Gary Graham - Sovol Star Trek Enterprise.

Also appearances by other actors who have appeared on Star Trek include Richard Herd, Alan Ruck Eric Avari, and Andrew Koenig. Also we can not miss our old friend Apollo (Richard Hatch) From Battlestar Galactica.

All that being said, the movie it self wanders a bit before becoming a courtroom drama. Overall the movie appears a bit like a sci-fi version of Law and Order. This is not necessarily a bad thing as courtroom dramas have long been a staple of entertainment. However I felt like the very end of the movie was a bit of a Cop-Out I rather expected a more thoughtful ending from Mr. Koenig. Overall I feel like this was a rather average Sci-fi flick. I will continue to anticipate movies from our beloved Mr.Chekov but I hope next time he puts a little more thought into the ending. Overall 6.5 out of 10

I was absolutely blown away by this movie. Usually with any movie no matter how much I like it I can find some sort of fault. Sometimes it is minor sometimes major, usually it involves one of the lead characters doing something totally against logic sometimes it involves a unclosed subplot at the end. But this movie is perfect I can find nothing wrong with this movie. The director created one of the most incredible fantasy worlds ever shown on the big screen. And De Niro… What can I say he was so wrong and so right at the same time. I would have never thought it was possible but he was so wrong for his part in this movie that he became the only right choice, absolutely beautiful.

That sums up my opinion of this great movie.

I viewed this movie last night at the IMAX theater in Nashville TN, and was blown away. Burton and Depp have come together to remake a modern classic that is even better than the original. So many remakes go horribly wrong and pale in comparison to the original they are based on that you leave with a bad taste in you mouth. A few examples "Rollerball", "King Kong", "Pyscho", and that attempt at remaking one of the worlds greatest comedy's "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" that was remade into that travesty "Rat Race", even Mr. Burton himself had a horrible remake misfire with "Planet of the Apes". Other movies, such as "Twelve angry men" and "Godzilla" do nothing to improve on the original.

This is NOT the case in this movie. This is one of the few examples where the remake is not only better, but Much better than the original. Mr. Burton has produced a movie that at first appears to move very slow, but suddenly before you realize it you are caught up in a whirlwind of sights and sound that passes far too quickly. Suddenly you realize all the bad children have disappeared right before your eyes and you have felt not one ounce of remorse for any one of them. (The only remorse I felt at this point was that the movie was nearing its end…) But… not quite Mr. Burton gives us an extended ending that is MUCH more satisfying than the original. Often times good movies end so quickly that you feel the same as you do after spilling your pumpkin pie on the floor after thanksgiving dinner. You had a great meal and are full but something is missing at the end. This is the way I felt after viewing the original, but this is not the case here, viewers are treated to a great movie with a VERY satisfying ending.

A further note on the actors, every one in this movie gave a great performance that was fitting of their character, however top Kudos go to Johnny Depp and David Kelly for their performances as Willy Wonka and Grandpa Joe.

And VERY special praise and Kudos to Mr. Deep Roy for his incredible performance as the Oompa Loompa. I have never been more impressed with one actor playing more than one character than I was with this.

One last piece of advice; If there is an IMAX theater anywhere near you showing this movie, make the drive, the sights and sounds in this movie when blown up to super size makes an incredible impact on 3 of your 5 senses, Sight, Sound, Touch. (You can feel the rumble of the boat and the machines in the factory.) it is well worth the extra effort and admission.

Most of the reviews of this movie are sharply divided between great and terrible, with few opinions falling in the middle ground. I am no different; I think it is one of the greatest spectacles in the history of cinema.

Instead of simply reviewing the movie as many others have done more eloquently then I could ever hope to do. I will instead attempt to address a few specific issues that many people are pointing out again and again.

First and foremost of course is the charge that the movie is anti-Semitic. The Idea that this movie by any stretch of the imagination could be considered anti-Semitic goes so far beyond ridiculous as to be ludicrous. I cannot even find the adjectives in my vocabulary to explain my disdain for this accusation. A few words that do come to mind are; preposterous, absurd and yes even stupid. As Mr. Gibson himself has pointed out, there were only two groups of people present at the events portrayed in this movie, Jews and Romans. What… Did you expect Mr. Gibson to use Russians and Aborigines? It was plain that not all of the Jews or Romans wanted Jesus to suffer, just as it was plain that some on each side did. If anything the Romans were depicted as the blood-thirsty savages, the Jewish leaders were simply following their own rules. Blasphemy was a crime under Jewish law and they were blind to the truth of Jesus being the Son of God. So when Jesus uttered the phrase, ` I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.' they were bound by Jewish law to condemn him to death. The greatest crime committed under Jewish law as applied to this case was the fact that they conducted an Illegal trial at night. There are other aspects of the capture and trial of Jesus that were questionable but this is not a forum for debating points of ancient Jewish law. People that find this movie anti-Semitic need to look deep into their own psyche, as they must have issues with hate and anger that need resolving. Instead of hate and anger toward any one person or group of people depicted in this movie I felt pity and sadness for them. They were only fulfilling a destiny that had to be fulfilled. As Jesus himself said `Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'

Some have made the statement that the movie is not true to the scriptures or left out important details or added others. Two thoughts come to mind. First this is a movie and a movie will never satisfy all of the preconceived ideas and opinions that have formed in peoples minds of a well-known topic, especially a topic as well-known and deep seated as this one. Second, although there was obviously some dramatic license taken in the making of this movie, I could find NOTHING that was counter to the accounts given in the four Gospels. There were things shown that are not mentioned in the Gospels but just because something isn't mentioned we don't know that it didn't happen. It quite obvious to anyone who has read the Biblical accounts of the events portrayed in this movie that not even the authors of the four Gospels saw things in exactly the same light. There are events in some that are not in others, and words spoke in some that are not in others. It is as the saying goes `A matter of perspective'. This is Mr. Gibson's perspective on Christ's suffering.

Others have said the movie was nothing but a gore-fest with little or no attention paid to the events that precipitated the events portrayed in this movie, or what happened next. Did you read the title? The movie is titled `The Passion of the Christ'. The word PASSION when taken in its ordinal meaning and when applied to the crucifixion, means something completely different that what it means today. Today we equate the word passion with lust and desire, but its original meaning was suffering. So to make it a little simpler for those who don't understand you could re-title the movie `The Suffering of the Christ' and then it might make this a little clearer. The movie did not attempt to show the entire life of Christ or even the events after his resurrection. That has been done many times before, and who on this planet does not at least have a small concept of the story of Jesus Christ. This movie was about his suffering, the day that defined his love for mankind. That is why PASSION means suffering; he loved us all so much with such a pure PASSION that he willingly endured this SUFFERING for the salvation of mankind. This is even more amazing that if as a believer you consider that at any moment he could have called on God to stop the suffering and God would have done so. Jesus himself said that if he wanted God would send more than twelve legions of angels to save him. Even if you are a none-believer you must realize that when brought for trial before the Jewish elders he could have denied being a prophet and escaped the torment that was sure to come. But without his sacrifice there would have been no hope for mankind.

Although I am not a Catholic, I am a believer and I believe God is reaching out to mankind in any way he can in today's world. All God is looking for is a `Willing Vessel' to do his work and he has found one in Mel Gibson. Kudos to you Mr. Gibson for following you heart and producing a thought provoking film that is speaking to the hearts of many people. I myself have seen people who have not darkened a church for many years return after seeing this film.

Wow, I loved this movie. While the pacing of this movie is somewhat slow and talky, this fact detracts absolutely nothing from the overall quality of this movie. This is a cerebral western, although the good guys and bad guys are black and white the movie itself makes you think. I found the characters and story to both be very believable. And the cinematography was UNBELIVEABLE. I found myself wanting to visit Wyoming and Colorado after watching the movie. (Too Bad the movie wasn't filmed there.) The gunfight scene at the end was one of the best gunfights I have ever seen put on film, it was chaotic and confused, just as real gunfights are, very realistic. I watched the DVD version and the deleted scenes fill in a few details. Also the short featurette on the real history of the open range included with the DVD is very informative and enjoyable. I highly recommend this movie.