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Reviews
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
SO close to being perfect!
(WARNING - may contain spoilers. Actually, it WILL contain them.)
OH this came so close to perfect! I have a few gripes about it, and a few good comments.
First the gripes:
1) WHY are the dead walking?? Sure, the priest *suggests* that Hell is full, but it never really just comes out and says it. I wanna know what happened to these folks! Maybe the mystery is supposed to be part of the horror, but when I see a horror movie, I want answers!
2) To me, the movie starts out WAY too fast. Everything is hunkey-dorey when BOOM she's thrust into a world of terror for no particular reason. All within the first 10-15 minutes. I want a story to set up at least a little bit before I see people mutilated.
Now the nice compliments: 1) In this one, the dead were actually scary!! None of that "fifty years in the grave" look with grey make-up and old men. And none of that "Buuhhhhh I'm coming to get you" slow zombie stomp/walk with the arms straight forward thing, either. No chanting of "Brains! Brains!" The dead were like normal people only harder to kill because they were FAST!!! Now the characters actually have reason to run. The dead are more like the savages we make them out to be, not 99-year-old geezers that have the munchies.
2) The ending. At first I thought it was dissappointing, but then I watched the rest of the credits and was thoroughly fulfilled of my need to NOT have a "Drifting into the sunset" ending.
All in all, I'm giving this movie an 8, which in my book is really, really good!
Hulk (2003)
Three words: Boring as hell
This had the potential for a good movie. Good graphics, good fame, and good advertising. There's only one thing it lacks - A PLOT!
I've never read very many Marvel comics, so it's not coming from a biased opinion. I really enjoyed both X-Men movies and Spiderman was ok. The Hulk was boring, with a skeleton of a plot. My friends and I left in the middle of it and went to Stage, and came back for the ending. No surprise, it was still boring as hell. I'm glad we left.
The Cell (2000)
Visually Amazing
I have one word to say about this movie - Wow. I'm not even a Ms. Lopez fan and I still liked it. The plot in this movie is fairly well done, although the idea of "entering a crazy dream world" is already extremely overdone. The visuals in this movie are more than enough to make up for the plot, however, with amazingly creepy ideas at every turn. **** out of five.
Vincent (1982)
Nothing Short of Amazing
I first saw the last 3/4 of this short on HBO in between commercials a looooong time ago. As I watched the credits flash by and the eerie music play, I sat there, speechless. It was the most brilliant thing I had ever seen, especially since I am madly in love with creepy things. I looked and looked and looked and could find NOTHING on it since I never knew the title. Years later (Nov. 2002 to be exact) I got the Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition and I watched Vincent. As I watched it and saw the last part and the credits, I sat there once again speechless. I now owned the greatest short film that I had ever seen, and I finally knew the name of it. This short is so amazing because it has so much meaning and feeling packed into about 5 minutes, and it flows so flawlessly that it leaves one in awe. I find it astounding that one can write something so deep and make it into a five minute short and not come out with something chopped up and terrible. 5 out of 5!! Kudos to Tim Burton!
Cel Damage (2001)
A deliciously great game with few flaws
At first this game might seem a little silly and monotonous, but that's just BEFORE you play it. There are only three levels for all four themes, but that gives one MORE than enough to do when they are smashing each other like crazy and trying not to get smashed at the same time. There are also three types of game play, which gives a gamer even more to do. It's not all just one big free-for-all like in some games.
The humor in this game is pretty good, with interesting throw-ins at every turn. Each character has plenty of things to say, which fits them beautifully, and the voices match the characters just as well.
The weapons in this game are very well chosen. Some are normal, like a chainsaw or a baseball bat, but some are really original, like Sinder's wood chipper and Fowl Mouth's tommy gun.
The characters in Cel Damage have to be some of the most complete characters I've seen in a demolition derby game like this. They aren't just "Character number one with no story, but a cool name" and "Character number two who is pretty, but without a story or interesting name." They all have names, stories, mini-movies about how they got onto the show, and their own unique look that is like no other character on the game. Each character is NOTHING like the last.
The gameplay is well done. It's not very jumpy, and the camera angles aren't annoying. The only downfall of this is that too much can sometimes happen on the screen, leaving you wondering just where in the heck your character is among all of the others. One would think "Well, that just means they did a good job at blending everything and it doesn't get slow or jumpy when a lot happens on the screen", but usually, when you can't see where you are going in this game, a quick smashing follows. On a very rare occasion can you escape from one of these situations without being smashed.
Overall, this game is pretty amazing with the cel-shading, making it look like an extremely elaborate yet violent cartoon. Temporarily losing your character is the only flaw I can detect in this game, and I give it nine out of ten stars.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
My comments on the first Harry Potter movie
To me, the movie wasn't all that great. It skipped a lot of parts from the book. I know they couldn't ALL be included due to running time, but a few MAJOR parts were left out, leaving all who have read the book wondering when it's going to happen. Also, some of the acting is bad at the beginning. Dumbeldore and McGonagall weren't that great then. It sounded pretty robotic. The special effects were GREAT, however! It gets brownie points from me on that. It's a great children's movie, but for people like me that really spot out stuff that is wrong, it's a little less than wonderful.
Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
My review of 13 Ghosts
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This is a good movie to watch and, if you're a fan of William Castle, to own. It was freaky enough to make me jump a few times, and the suspense in some places was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Having all of the glass boxes down in one place was a good idea for the producers because it creates a sense of tension that one of the boxes are going to open at any minute, letting out the Angry Princess or the Hammer or perhaps even the Jackal, the Charlie Manson of the ghosts. The effect of the ghosts being in the glass boxes was amazing. They all had their own prison. It was great when special effects would kick in and they would try to attack people but get stopped at the glass. This, to me, is a definite must-see!