Flawed but enjoyable, 10 July 2010
star rateing out 10
review of Our family wedding
Do not pay attention to the ridiculously low rating this film has accumulated. It's hardly one of the best movies you'll ever see, but it is overall much more enjoyable than not.
The young leads are a charming, believable couple, and you do root for them.
I thought the more obvious (meaning unfunny) racial jokes were actually kept to a respectable minimum, considering that culture clash is the main premise of the movie.
Some scenes work better than others. One involving the families figuring out the "seating schematic" is quite clever and funny. One involving a bathroom is a rather shameless and unfunny ripoff of a scene from "Father of the Bride."
Carlos Mencia, I have to say, I don't think is funny or a particularly good actor. I kept finding myself imagining someone else in the part (*cough* George Lopez... or anyone else, really). But he wasn't enough to ruin the movie for me.
The best parts of the movie were the story with Forest Whitaker and Regina King, and anything with Charlie Murphy, who has a small but hilarious role. The one scene featuring him and Taye Diggs was the one time I laughed HARD. And yes, as another reviewer pointed out, the actress playing the sister was excellent.
Most of the plot points are predictable, yes, but I didn't really hold that against "Our Family Wedding." I at least had a better time than I've had at most real weddings. I give it a 6 out of 10.
Flawed but enjoyable, 10 July 2010
star rateing out 10review of Our family wedding
Do not pay attention to the ridiculously low rating this film has accumulated. It's hardly one of the best movies you'll ever see, but it is overall much more enjoyable than not.
The young leads are a charming, believable couple, and you do root for them.
I thought the more obvious (meaning unfunny) racial jokes were actually kept to a respectable minimum, considering that culture clash is the main premise of the movie.
Some scenes work better than others. One involving the families figuring out the "seating schematic" is quite clever and funny. One involving a bathroom is a rather shameless and unfunny ripoff of a scene from "Father of the Bride."
Carlos Mencia, I have to say, I don't think is funny or a particularly good actor. I kept finding myself imagining someone else in the part (*cough* George Lopez... or anyone else, really). But he wasn't enough to ruin the movie for me.
The best parts of the movie were the story with Forest Whitaker and Regina King, and anything with Charlie Murphy, who has a small but hilarious role. The one scene featuring him and Taye Diggs was the one time I laughed HARD. And yes, as another reviewer pointed out, the actress playing the sister was excellent.
Most of the plot points are predictable, yes, but I didn't really hold that against "Our Family Wedding." I at least had a better time than I've had at most real weddings. I give it a 6 out of 10.
Romantic comedy review
science fiction review
Badly Conceived., 30 September 2012
star rateing out of 10
Author:Calvin Evans from Manchester, UK
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Looper was enjoyable enough but I really can't understand all the praise. Maybe I expected too much of this film, but I was looking forward to a slick piece of speculative sci-fi that was thought- provoking, realistic and fairly deep. Instead, I got a lazily strung together generic action movie with a splash of time travel and super- powers.
"I don't want to talk time travel sh*t" or something along those lines is commonly used in this film to breeze past any plot holes and presumably stop the narrative become too complex. This irked me as it was one of the main draws in my opinion.
I was very frustrated by the little amount of effort that was put in to creating a futuristic society. Forget the realistic near-future depicted spectacularly in films such as Children of Men. This world is more akin to the recent Dredd 3D film. Shallow and lacking in realism. Personally, I would love to have had more information on the state of government etc as the mobs seemed to be running everything but there really isn't any explanation given to this at all.
The dynamics of time travel in this film are completely unbelievable. The notion that you can chop someone leg or whatever off and their "future self" will lose it is completely absurd. You're clearly creating a brand new entity when you come back in time. Put it this way. If I created a copy of myself from 0.1 seconds ago next to me. Are we going to be magically linked? Probably not. It also presupposes some sort of multi-verse scenario, in which case, Bruce Willis's character shouldn't even exist in that eventuality. I don't want to rant about this too much but I thought of all the ways they could depict time travel. This was one of the worst.
And then there are the superpowers. Come on. Everyone has pretty much agreed biological evolution is basically over for us and it's all about technical augmentation now. The idea that in 33 years we'll be developing telekinesis is laughable to the point where the fact you're meant to accept this is almost offensive.
On top of this, the whole plot in general is very hard to swallow and lacks in verisimilitude. Again, I find myself being forced to accept these absurd scenarios such as the fact that the mob can't dispose of bodies, but can set up secret time machines?? Or that they have to send them 30 years back in time and not just 2 billion years or whatever.
And then there's the 30 year montage. Oh dear lord. I turned to my girlfriend and said. "Man, don't you just hate it when you get old and suddenly you're Bruce Willis". There was actually laughter in the cinema when Levitt morphs into Willis.
All in all, I really wouldn't agree with the reviews saying its clever etc. In my opinion the plot is extremely lazy and is secondary to the action. Which is fine. If you want to watch an action film. One of the main reason's I've even written this view is to counterbalance these reviews raving about this very mediocre film calling it a "masterpiece". I read reviews touting it's cleverness or how it goes to extra lengths to not leave plot holes and I think: am I even watching the same movie here?
Personally, I found myself rather disappointed. review found on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276104/reviews?ref_=tt_ov_rt
star rateing out of 10Author:Calvin Evans from Manchester, UK
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Looper was enjoyable enough but I really can't understand all the praise. Maybe I expected too much of this film, but I was looking forward to a slick piece of speculative sci-fi that was thought- provoking, realistic and fairly deep. Instead, I got a lazily strung together generic action movie with a splash of time travel and super- powers.
"I don't want to talk time travel sh*t" or something along those lines is commonly used in this film to breeze past any plot holes and presumably stop the narrative become too complex. This irked me as it was one of the main draws in my opinion.
I was very frustrated by the little amount of effort that was put in to creating a futuristic society. Forget the realistic near-future depicted spectacularly in films such as Children of Men. This world is more akin to the recent Dredd 3D film. Shallow and lacking in realism. Personally, I would love to have had more information on the state of government etc as the mobs seemed to be running everything but there really isn't any explanation given to this at all.
The dynamics of time travel in this film are completely unbelievable. The notion that you can chop someone leg or whatever off and their "future self" will lose it is completely absurd. You're clearly creating a brand new entity when you come back in time. Put it this way. If I created a copy of myself from 0.1 seconds ago next to me. Are we going to be magically linked? Probably not. It also presupposes some sort of multi-verse scenario, in which case, Bruce Willis's character shouldn't even exist in that eventuality. I don't want to rant about this too much but I thought of all the ways they could depict time travel. This was one of the worst.
And then there are the superpowers. Come on. Everyone has pretty much agreed biological evolution is basically over for us and it's all about technical augmentation now. The idea that in 33 years we'll be developing telekinesis is laughable to the point where the fact you're meant to accept this is almost offensive.
On top of this, the whole plot in general is very hard to swallow and lacks in verisimilitude. Again, I find myself being forced to accept these absurd scenarios such as the fact that the mob can't dispose of bodies, but can set up secret time machines?? Or that they have to send them 30 years back in time and not just 2 billion years or whatever.
And then there's the 30 year montage. Oh dear lord. I turned to my girlfriend and said. "Man, don't you just hate it when you get old and suddenly you're Bruce Willis". There was actually laughter in the cinema when Levitt morphs into Willis.
All in all, I really wouldn't agree with the reviews saying its clever etc. In my opinion the plot is extremely lazy and is secondary to the action. Which is fine. If you want to watch an action film. One of the main reason's I've even written this view is to counterbalance these reviews raving about this very mediocre film calling it a "masterpiece". I read reviews touting it's cleverness or how it goes to extra lengths to not leave plot holes and I think: am I even watching the same movie here?
Personally, I found myself rather disappointed. review found on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276104/reviews?ref_=tt_ov_rt
real life event based film review
Real American Beauty - an exceptional movie, 10 September 2007
star rateing out of 10
Author:dinglis-2 from Canada
I've never posted a comment regarding a movie but feel compelled to after attending a screening of Into The Wild at the Toronto Film Festival last night. I won't speak to story here as it's covered in the other comments.
This is a movie of real beauty. It made me cry. I felt moved in a way that happens very rarely. It was an inspiration.
The feelings it evoked were all based on the power of the acting and the writing. The words were real and human. The relationships seemed real and human. This may not seem like a great feat - but I consider it a true rarity. It didn't feel calculated and artificial, like so many movies (read: Crash - but I'm not here to bash that...). It was very organic, natural and (I can't say it enough) just beautiful. Cripes, it's making me sound like a hippie, for heaven's sake. This for me was Penn's best work since Indian Runner.
What it reminded me of...
- Terence Malik - Herzog? - in a strange way Cassavettes? - Hal Ashby (more Coming Home than Harold & Maude...) - even a bit of Ken Loach
- Ruby in Paradise - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Five Easy Pieces - Easy Rider
... but when I list those it's not because of plot similarities (though there are some) or style (although I think you can definitely see the influence of some great films) - it's again because of the heart of it. I heard a few people at the screening comment that the film was "too long" but I don't agree. I think exploring a journey of this magnitude required visiting all of the people he touched and taking the time to see the land.
Hal Holbrook was just perfect, as was the cast as a whole, and I think Emile Hirsch is really going places - he was fantastic and he owned the role. Eddie Vedder's music worked perfectly as well - not distracting or quirky - just a part of the whole.
The film received a standing ovation and quite a few tears were shed. Magic http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/reviews?ref_=tt_ov_rt
star rateing out of 10Author:dinglis-2 from Canada
I've never posted a comment regarding a movie but feel compelled to after attending a screening of Into The Wild at the Toronto Film Festival last night. I won't speak to story here as it's covered in the other comments.
This is a movie of real beauty. It made me cry. I felt moved in a way that happens very rarely. It was an inspiration.
The feelings it evoked were all based on the power of the acting and the writing. The words were real and human. The relationships seemed real and human. This may not seem like a great feat - but I consider it a true rarity. It didn't feel calculated and artificial, like so many movies (read: Crash - but I'm not here to bash that...). It was very organic, natural and (I can't say it enough) just beautiful. Cripes, it's making me sound like a hippie, for heaven's sake. This for me was Penn's best work since Indian Runner.
What it reminded me of...
- Terence Malik - Herzog? - in a strange way Cassavettes? - Hal Ashby (more Coming Home than Harold & Maude...) - even a bit of Ken Loach
- Ruby in Paradise - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Five Easy Pieces - Easy Rider
... but when I list those it's not because of plot similarities (though there are some) or style (although I think you can definitely see the influence of some great films) - it's again because of the heart of it. I heard a few people at the screening comment that the film was "too long" but I don't agree. I think exploring a journey of this magnitude required visiting all of the people he touched and taking the time to see the land.
Hal Holbrook was just perfect, as was the cast as a whole, and I think Emile Hirsch is really going places - he was fantastic and he owned the role. Eddie Vedder's music worked perfectly as well - not distracting or quirky - just a part of the whole.
The film received a standing ovation and quite a few tears were shed. Magic http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/reviews?ref_=tt_ov_rt
Action film review
Stunning Conclusion to an Epic Trilogy, 16 July 2012
star rateing out of 10
Author:John from United States
Not being a huge fan of superhero movies, I didn't have much expectations for Batman Begins. However viewing the 2005 Christopher Nolan production, I was pleasantly shocked. Then after my huge expectations for, "The Dark Knight", Christopher Nolan blew my expectations to the dust. Will the same happen with the 3rd and last film, "The Dark Knight Rises"? Quite simply, Yes! My big expectations were once again, blown away. What a production! This is a true cinematic experience, to behold. The movie exceeded my expectations in terms of action, and entertainment. The editing, sound, score, visuals, direction and action are all top notch.
The film contains a fine cast of talented actors. Christian Bale, of course still makes is a great Batman. Michael Cain is fantastic, as he always is. He gives such a powerful performance, he really ought to be considered for an Oscar nomination. Tom Hardy as Bane is utterly terrifying, at times, and completely ominous. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman/Selina Kyle is a scene stealer. She is completely engrossing. Everyone is so great, the dynamic scenes between the actors are so well done, so well written, and so well directed. The Dark Knight Rises is is emotionally riveting and amazing to view.
At a running time of almost 3 hours, the film never becomes dull, which is pretty impressive. The movie's action sequences are spectacularly well created and very intense. The dialogue between the character's are intelligent and highly believable. The movie's soundtrack is terrific and really exemplify's many of the movie's scenes. Extremely well editing and sound use really develop many of the movie's action scenes, so it's not just explosions and visuals like in many other movies. Nolan creates a grand, dirty, engrossing world, and his action sequences just hum.
In conclusion, this film is a gorgeous reminder that great writing and direction can enhance any movie-going experience, even superhero movies, which are usually thought of as mindless entertainment. I am wholly satisfied with Christopher Nolan's vision and thank all who worked on this film for bringing such an intricate interpretation of its very famous literary source. I cannot recommend this film anymore than I have, I just have to say everyone and anyone should see it. 10/10"
star rateing out of 10Author:John from United States
Not being a huge fan of superhero movies, I didn't have much expectations for Batman Begins. However viewing the 2005 Christopher Nolan production, I was pleasantly shocked. Then after my huge expectations for, "The Dark Knight", Christopher Nolan blew my expectations to the dust. Will the same happen with the 3rd and last film, "The Dark Knight Rises"? Quite simply, Yes! My big expectations were once again, blown away. What a production! This is a true cinematic experience, to behold. The movie exceeded my expectations in terms of action, and entertainment. The editing, sound, score, visuals, direction and action are all top notch.
The film contains a fine cast of talented actors. Christian Bale, of course still makes is a great Batman. Michael Cain is fantastic, as he always is. He gives such a powerful performance, he really ought to be considered for an Oscar nomination. Tom Hardy as Bane is utterly terrifying, at times, and completely ominous. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman/Selina Kyle is a scene stealer. She is completely engrossing. Everyone is so great, the dynamic scenes between the actors are so well done, so well written, and so well directed. The Dark Knight Rises is is emotionally riveting and amazing to view.
At a running time of almost 3 hours, the film never becomes dull, which is pretty impressive. The movie's action sequences are spectacularly well created and very intense. The dialogue between the character's are intelligent and highly believable. The movie's soundtrack is terrific and really exemplify's many of the movie's scenes. Extremely well editing and sound use really develop many of the movie's action scenes, so it's not just explosions and visuals like in many other movies. Nolan creates a grand, dirty, engrossing world, and his action sequences just hum.
In conclusion, this film is a gorgeous reminder that great writing and direction can enhance any movie-going experience, even superhero movies, which are usually thought of as mindless entertainment. I am wholly satisfied with Christopher Nolan's vision and thank all who worked on this film for bringing such an intricate interpretation of its very famous literary source. I cannot recommend this film anymore than I have, I just have to say everyone and anyone should see it. 10/10"
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