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Reviews
Most Wanted (1997)
Who would want this?
warning: -possible minor spoilers-
The movie started on the right foot, sadly, it fell flat on its face in less than half an hour. Our hero, Sgt. Dunn, is led through this ridiculously long and boring chase until the very end, where an extremely anticlimactic ending wraps up the entire messy package.
Being led to believe that this is an action movie, any viewer would expect some, well...action! Not so, however. This movie seems to be in contradiction to itself. While advertised as a gun-slinging flick, most of the movie is sneaking around, running, hiding, and general boring gibberish that's supposed to be some sort of brilliant plot twist. In all, there were only perhaps three or four action scenes, and even those were woefully short.
The worst part was, without a doubt, the plot. It's almost plain to see that the director had tried too hard to fit too much of a story into such a two hour movie. From the Gulf War to the First Lady's pre-White House days to a pharmaceutical giant's unscrupulous ways, the storyline ultimately loses the viewer and crashes.
The acting was passable, but not great by any means. The supporting cast, including Dr. Victoria (Jill Hennessy) were not giving enough details and basically just blurred around the main character.
American Psycho (2000)
Wonderfully surreal
[possible minor spoilers]
American Psycho brilliantly distinguishes itself from many other immature, horror hack-n-slash flicks that have plagued the decade. The tone of the movie is quite calm, giving the movie an adult, deeper level of atmosphere. The movie is in first person narrative, quite an odd, yet refreshing view of a serial killer and his motives and thoughts. From the first moments, the audience is led into the very personal life of Bateman, our psycho. His rigorous personal lifestyle and painfully sequenced daily procedures speak of a different incarnation than the cleancut facade of a wall streeter. Darker deeds and reflections surface as the movie proceeds.
The dreamlike atmosphere is greatly heightened by Bateman's numerous, intimate appraisals of music and the correspondingly cold, logical analysises of its chronology. Bateman speaks like a professor. His words are ever calm, and flows outward without hesitation or barriers. Such relaxed and intelligent demeanor is hardly what one would expect in a psycho, yet this is Bateman's greatest triumph, his double life.
As all the events are set in motion, the movie rolls faster and faster toward the end. Bateman eventually loses control of his tenuous sanity and goes postal. Then the ending comes and, after seeing half the credits roll off the screen, you realize what really happened, and then begin to comprehend the bitter-sweet anticlimax.
Well worth the time and price.
Fist of the North Star (1995)
Anime was much better
I haven't seen the Fist of the North Star for ages, then I found this copy in the vidstore. I knew that the live action version couldn't possibly do as much as the powerful and beautifully drawn anime, but I was still disappointed.
The Fist of the North Star, in its anime form, had viciously good graphics, superb story, and good voice acting. Although this movie had a far bigger budget, it fell flat against its progenitor. The fighting in the movie was horrible, especially the final fight. They two were supposed to be masters of their respective styles, yet they fought like two street thugs. Where were the trademark North Star punches and the Southern Cross combos?
Save your money for the originals.
Down to Earth (2001)
Poor performance
I had not seen the movie trailer when I went to see the movie, instead I based my judgments on a friend's opinions. Now I like Chris Rock and his comedy, but this movie just falls flat on its face.
During the movie Rock delivers a couple of funny jokes, but unfortunately the movie is sorely lacking in comedy. The movie seems want to integrate both laughter and love into one, and it that endeavor it fails. The love story in the movie is straight forward (luckily), but it detracts too much from the movie by making Rock serious and bland. After all, the movie is first and foremost destined to be a comedy, where laughter should be the primary concern. Not much of that in the movie.
The plot is also pretty uninteresting as a whole. Some parts were discontinuous altogether. If the supporting cast were meant to be funny, they certainly didn't do a good job. The couple of angels from heaven tried to make a couple of jokes, which were dry and dull. Rock's first incarnation's couple of underlings were also bland. If there's one thing they did do right, though, they made Rock seem funnier by comparison.
The Replacement Killers (1998)
Great gun fights
Typical of the Hong Kong movie genre, The Replacement Killers is an awesome display of big guns, fast bullets, and overall arsekickin' action. Chow Yun Fat is undoubtedly one of the best Asian action stars today and he displays his excellence in this movie. Mira Sorvino also does a good job as the female lead of the movie.
The entire flick is testosterone-driven, accomplied by metal and techno music, it's blast.
Strange Days (1995)
Good idea, bad result
This movie should be considered more of a action/suspense flick rather than a sci-fi movie, as the only 'scientifically fictional' component of the film is the 'SQUID', a synonym for a handful of hastily assembled vocabularies.
Although the idea is interesting, the plot of the movie winds down into well-worn, cliched paths and thoroughly depletes the movie of its original flavor. The first few minutes do a good job at grabbing the viewer's attention, but the intensity crashes down almost immediately after the liftoff.
There seems to be two subplots coccooned inside the film, but unfortunately they connect poorly. Thus, even though are supposedly related, any significant link is not readily obvious.
It's apparent that the director attempted to translate the problems that presently plague society into a fictional setting to analyze them. However, the topics he chose were far too broad, even worse, his views and opinions, transmitted through the medium of the movie itself, were also shallow and lack any sense of depth.
If this movie was only composed of the first fifteen minutes and the last fifteen, it would achieve a significantly higher rating.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Fantastic
Silence of the Lambs is amazing. I watched with a couple of friends on a Friday night and, in all honesty, was the highlight of the day. The acting was superb, with Sir Anthony Hopkins putting up an utterly believable, shockingly gruesome facade as Dr. Hannibal Lechtor, Jodie Foster was also great, her performance was very fitting for her character. Not one scene felt out of place in the entire movie, the logic and action were perfectly complimentary.
Cannot wait to see Hannibal.
Wo hu cang long (2000)
An engrossing interplay of martial arts, romance, and emotions.
Without a doubt, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the most dazzling films of the year. The scope of the film is epical, like that of Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator. Artistic visualization was superb, from the deep wheel tracks outside the ancient capital to the magical chase through air, water, forest, and land. From the bleakly yellow, cracked earth of the desert outlands to the lush and vibrant forests of the mountainsides, from the sullen imperial magnificence captured in the panorama of the Forbidden City to the stout display of human will and fortitude depicted in the mountain monastery, the film is a vast ocean of visual similes and metaphors.
The characters are well fleshed out and poly-dimensional. Respectful traditions clashes with youthful abandon as the old and young ideals collide. Love, romance, hate, revenge, all the emotions are given a domain in the film and their interplay is what makes the movie a philosophical giant.
Fighting-wise, the movie holds up to its promise. From the very start, characters wielding an interesting variety of melee weapons clash and chase. Masterful choreography helps blends the very limbs of the combatants into a thunderous whirlwind of strikes and parries. The punches, wristlocks, and the amazing footwork will have the viewer dazzled.
If you still have not had the pleasure of watching this movie, you are missing out on something wonderfully refreshing and elegant. Go for it!
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
An entertaining comedy.
An entertaining comedy, Mrs. Doubtfire is an amusing tale of talented actor trying to win back his kids. Robin Williams once again displays his talent and humor in this movie. By pretending to be persons of different genders, Williams is forced into a variety of hilarious, and often embarrassing situations. The plot is believable and the laughs are light-hearted, unlike the lame jokes cracked in many of today's movies.
Check it out.
The Art of War (2000)
A horrible mess with a confusing plot
This movie is almost a complete disaster. Wesley Snipes is one of my favorite actors and I had high hopes for the movie, but the product completed disappointed me. From the very start the movie became too unbelievable. Some action scenes were completely unrealistic and impossible (jumping thirty feet down onto hard ground without even a groan). The movie is supposedly modern-day, yet the technological attributes of the familiar objects in the scenes were completely off the charts (somehow an infrared port on a laptop has the speed of a 100BaseT LAN...).
As the movie progressed, things became worse, much worse. The characters were extremely difficult to comprehend. The movie tried to introduce a lot of elements in order to insinuate a web of intrigue and deception, but unfortunately it backfired and the result was a net of messy, half-done characters, leaving the viewers trying to figure out who was who and did what. I myself couldn't understand much of the supposedly finely interwoven plot, there were the UN "special agents", the Chinese, the Americans, the "triads", a right-wing Nazi and somehow, out of nowhere, there were a bunch of Vietnamese. For most of the movie, I sat there and tried to sort out what was going on.
The ending was one of the cheesiest I've ever had to witness. First the viewers are forced to imagine a public, world-famous building as a dangerous killing ground, then we are "gifted" with a quasi-Mission: Impossible-esque fighting scene with people dodging bullets. That was when the movie hit the absolute dirt. The dying scenes were way, way too deliberately overblown, in a corny attempt to show the pain and the force and whatever the director had in his mind when he was finishing up the movie.
All in all, the worst part of the movie was its sorry excuse for a plot, if you've watched Mission Impossible before, you will have the plot figured out fifteen minutes into the movie, I promise.
Gattaca (1997)
A fabulous experience
Gattaca is a vision of a dystopic future, where the genetically engineered are known as the "Valids" and are the social elite. Those who are born naturally are "In-Valid" and are considered second class citizens. It's a brand new phase of discrimination.
A wonderful experience, Gattaca uses the most simple statements to portray the deep emotions embedded in it. From the melodious and gentle theme music, to the tone of conversation, to the orderly and clean environment, Gattaca strives to trim the unnecessary details and give the viewers the emotions and triumphs that the protagonist endures and encounters.
The Peacemaker (1997)
A thoroughly unpleasant experience
The Peacemaker, quite simply, is a complete hive for cliches. The plot is so completely unoriginal that viewers can positively predict the ending from the very start. Russian mobsters steal nukes; Russian mobsters tries to con everyone else; the Good Guys are smarter and rush in and kick some evil rumps and rescue the nukes.
While some of the action may have been fun to watch, the unimpressive plot leaves a dry taste in the viewer's mouth and makes the film a boring experience.
The Jackal (1997)
An exceptional bore
The Jackal is quite simply one of the dreariest movies I've viewed in my life. Bruce Willis is the "Jackal", a professional assassin. He is hired by a Russian crime lord to eliminate the head of the FBI. This happens about ten minutes into the movie and from there the whole film went downhill. From the beginning the movie was totally unbelievable, in a bad of course. While some movies successfully produces a suspension of belief, The Jackal is simply outrageously beyond belief.
All the cliches one expects from an action movie are in The Jackal. As I sat on the couch trying to watch the movie, I could predict the plot lines. The characters are completely flat, the attempted emotions in the movie have absolutely no human feel. It was as if the characters are reading off the script somewhere. Much of the movie is passed by waiting for Willis to assemble his gadgets and get reading for the assassination. The entire process is so boring that The Jackal could have been a blank documentary film about how a hitman prepares himself for his "jobs".
Willis is supposedly an expert in disguise, yet the viewers are never allowed to see him disguising himself. Apparently, the director assumed that the audience would imagine this and not ask any questions. A serious continuity problem.
All these issues and more make The Jackal an utterly unenjoyable film, and I truly regret the time I spent watching it.
Dark City (1998)
Great Sci-Fi Experience
Dark City is one movie that I didn't really expect to be as good as it turned out to be. When it was shown in theatres I passed it up easily, thinking it to be a weird, incomprehensible dark flick. I was wrong.
The movie is fantastic. The concept is original and refreshing, as good as the Matrix, if not better. The ideas are fun and mind boggling, much like Matrix was. The acting was excellent, the characters portrayed their respective parts well and provided the film with believable events.
If you have not yet seen this movie yet, I strongly suggest you go out and get a copy at your earliest opportunity.
Jason and the Argonauts (2000)
Not a bad film with lots of action.
This was not a bad experience. I finished viewing the two part movie today and found it to be relatively entertaining. The epic mythological story was brought to the screen by the same director as Merlin, another piece that I enjoyed. The movie incorporated action, dialogue, and special computer effects into one and creates a degree of believability. Some parts of the movie got boring because of old cliche plot turns, it was trivial to guess the outcome of some scenes because they were just too obvious. The second half of the movie was far more enjoyable than the first, because of the climax and better fight scenes..
If you did not catch this on TV, than it might be worth your while to borrow/rent it for a night or two.
Rating: 7/10
Judge Dredd (1995)
Fun action flick
Sure, it's not some emotionally heavy film or some deep, thought-raising movie, but it's a damn cool action movie and a funny one at that. Stallone and his sidekick, Schneider fight, run, and squeeze their way through the many hazards and giving some awesome special effects and some laughs. If you are one of those hardheads who only appreciate "moral" or "theme" in a film, then you wouldn't necessarily like this movie, but if you are looking for a cool sci-fi flick with lots of gunfire, explosions, and special effects, Dredd is your man.