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harinam
Reviews
The Descent: Part 2 (2009)
Very disappointing
The first Descent movie rocked: really hot girls, a rocking peaceful/shocker change, and intriguing albino subhuman monsters. The second Descent movies lacks the hot girls. And, the two hot girls from last time are made ugly or at least ravaged looking. The horror aspect is a campy B movie from start to end. The mythology of the albino subhumans is not further developed. It's actually a simplification of the first movie.
Juno was one of the hottest girls on TV in the first one. In the second one, she only makes a brief appearance, limping, unsightly, and mono-syllabic.
The first Descent is an outstanding experience. The second Descent is a bad B movie with only superficial relations to the first one.
Trigger Man (2007)
Horrible
Contains spoilers The movie plot can be summarized in a few sentences: Three guys go hunting in the forest. Two of them along other people get shot in the head without explanation. The last guy can stand in the clear, shout and do anything without getting shot. He gets to walk through an old factory and has the evil people walk right into his scope without a struggle. The villains are conveniently dressed in black and look like villains.
That is the whole story, not summarized but in detail. Everything is drawn out with a guy standing ringing a door bell. We wait with him. Long shot of guys being bored in the woods and sleeping. We can take a nap with them. The one drawn out shot of following a female jogger could have been redeeming, if we could see her butt or boobs bouncing.
There dialog is less then Terminator and it is not because there is so much action. The characters just don't talk. And, then they don't even have something corny to say like 'I'll be back.' If my buddy shot this on the weekend, I'd cheer for him, because it is quite a feat to figure out the camera controls. To pay money to rent this as a DVD is totally inappropriate.
The one thing that is a little funny is the extra with the director telling, how they local police didn't realize that they were shooting and treated them like a random guy walking around with a gun. If they'd have filmed that, I'd be sure it would be more fun to watch then the movie.
Into the Wild (2007)
Not all that big on outdoor adventure
*** Warning spoilers ***
The title 'into the wild' suggested a movie about the outdoors and outdoor adventures with a little plot to tie it together. That's not what it is. The movie is mostly very sad about a young man strolling towards his demise with many kind people warning him on the way.
If you like sad movies and family drama, it is a nice movie. Don't watch it, because you want to see stunning nature and learn about some great outdoor adventures.
For my taste, it was painfully sad and I wanted to turn off the DVD many times, if I wouldn't have been too curious to find out, if things would get better.
Cloverfield (2008)
YouTube takes over the Big Screen
SPOILER!!!! The movie has an interesting take by skipping opening credits, closing credits, and being entirely shot from the perspective of a character video taping inside the story. (I didn't see Blair Witch.) While something may seem like a great idea, it sometimes isn't actually enjoyable to watch. The camera angle made me feel the whole time, like I was watching a movie. A good movie experience for me, is when I get so absorbed in the movie that I forget that I am watching a movie or sitting in a chair. The perspective constantly reminded me of that.
The idea of 'oh, it'll be so much more realistic and thus scary' by shooting it, as if it were a real tape from the incident, bombs with 'how much longer, do I have to look at floors, running feet, and face shots that only show the mouth? The final part of the movie has a distinct Disney Land/Universal Studio ride feel. The action is over the top. A helicopter goes down. The guy with the camera gets chewed by the monster and spit out. Have you been in the ride of Star Wars or 'I shrunk the kids'? That's what it feels like. It makes you feel like you are in an audience, while someone keeps yelling 'oh, my god' in a pathetic approach to make you feel scared.
BTW, did anyone notice that the insects in the subway looked like small ant lions from the video game Half Life 2?
Sunshine (2007)
Consider carefully before watching
I have avoid signing up with IMDb to add a comment. However, this movie needs a warning. Usually, IMDb ratings above 7 are fail safe to be a good movie, if perhaps not my taste. This movie is rated above 7 right now. It left me puzzled to its point. And, comments of other reviewers show that I am not alone.
*** WARNING SPOILERS *** There are lots of shots of the sun and the spaceship. If you like the eerie feeling of drifting through quietness, vast space, and a shining sun, hey the movie is for you.
If you need a bit more like characters or action or plot, you may be sorely disappointed.
- The actors are kind of cute, but the movie doesn't provide an opportunity to fall in love with them.
- There is kind of an action going on, yet, it is always in little pieces that leave little suspense.
- Half way through the movie, I figured, hey maybe this is just a quiet backdrop for a really gory horror act to start later. The horror act is a joke.
- At one point, there are weird flashes in the camera that suggest something supernatural. However, that is never further explained and stops on its own.
The movie left me hanging, what does the director want me to really enjoy or pay attention to? There is this thing, where the movie tries to avoid having heroes. It avoids stereotypes for macho behavior. It actually works hard to avoid a lot of stereotypes. However, it doesn't offer anything new and interesting.
In regards to art movie, yes, there are many themes like saving the world from its end (dying sun = global warming), religion (the slasher in the end) vs. science. Yet, none of those themes are developed to put a new point out.
So, in the end, it is a movie of watching gold and sun animation in space. If you like those movies, you may like this one. For me, adding a George Clooney butt or Jessica Alba boob may have been required :)