mal karma Reviews

The Bourne Identity (2002)

What does a cold war product have to do?

[9/10 · 9 April 2007]

Overall and excellent film. Bourne and the rest of the Treadstone program are arguably the deadliest men alive (those who survived at least). Smart and dangerous. In my opinion this is what modern spy thrillers should look like, how do men without an enemy act? soldiers need an enemy, and if there isn't one, they create it. Tension moves along with the story. But then something goes wrong.

On a more technical side, the dialog could have been better, but it is both the (tacital) narration and the acting what carries the plot of the movie. Of course, the characters ain't poets and philosophers, they are CIA agents, trained assassins, and a German bohemian lady. Then we have the great action and chase scenes. Plus, one thing that never ceases to amaze me, perhaps the only series of movies filmed almost entirely on-location, a remarkable feature.

I have the same opinion for Supremacy, and can't wait for Ultimatum.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

rednecks get funny

[7/10 · 9 April 2007]

Going straight to video (here at least), makes this a movie hard to understand for non-Americans. I just had too little information about Nascar racing, but I made the effort, and in the end I really liked it. Not many major laughs, but a great time overall. It has tremendous cast too. Sometimes the comedy got repetitive, and the 'frat pack' feeling was notorious.

The only drawback to note is, precisely, the effort I had to put to like it.

Special mention for the guy who is not only French but openly homosexual also.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015)

Actually, Quite A Good Show

[8/10 · 9 January 2003]

Since Homicide left the screen, there hasn't been a good police drama (except for Third Watch). But this show fills in the void.

Although the CGI explanations given to the viewer to acompany the actors often tends to be too graphic abd sometimes even morbid, it is gret to have that feeling that finally you are learning something from the TV (since there is no more X Files) and are not watching the Discovery Channel. The cast is very good...looking. But I have no complaint about their performances. But their characters are something odd. In Law & Order (both original and Criminal Intent, haven't seen SVU) there is absolutely no character development, it is only case after case after case; in H:LOTS the character development often filled half or even two thirds of an episode. Here you have case after case, with the difference that the characters are much more likable than L&O, and often print their own personality in the episode. But as some reviwers said, it is very odd how they do both forensics and detective work. Finally, and although I don't know where it is filmed, Las Vegas is a good relief to the usual NY or LA locations.

Hope it will some time in the future take the lead as the most popular TV show and kill for ever The West Wing's popularity

Will & Grace (1998–2020)

Don't Buy It

[9 January 2003]

scenario no.1: gay man(I) falls in love with another gay man(II), and gay man's(I) female straight friend also falls in love with gay man(II).

scenario no.2: straight woman falls in love with straight man, and straight woman's male gay friend also falls in love with straight man.

scenario no.3: set in the near future; gay man falls in love with straight female friend and live happily ever after. Hopefully, The End and credits roll: thanks to all the actors and crew members who made this piece of crap possible.

Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005)

Gimme South Park Now!!!

[9 January 2003]

this sux! it is boring and predictable, how many times will raymond and wife have everything prepared for a romantic weekend and either their children or ray's parents will come out to spoil everything??

family oriented and politically correct, this is something that only a flanders-like person would have the pleasure to watch. not to mention the amount of awards and nominations it is getting, it's unbearable just like sex and the city, the west wing, will and grace etc. tape it and watch it with your family on sundays after church.

Babylon 5 (1993–1998)

Great Even For A None Sci-Fi fan

[9/10 · 9 January 2003]

It's a shame I couldn't get this one from the begginig. This is THE Sci-Fi show (if you don't count The X Files as Sci-Fi). It is way better than Star Trek: it didn't have the technological chit chat; human race was weak and corrompted, yet optimistic and full of potential; realistic to the bone, in 200 and so years that could be our world; an evolving story and characters that made you believe they were real; not as many races as in ST (actually it is better this way) but that differenced each other in something else than the ears; a philosophical, political, chaotic universe. Great acting and writing, many but many characters that carried on a story that was about nothing else than life and death.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Mixed Feelings (Redux Version)

[8 January 2003]

insanity, colonialism, cold war, death, life, desire, reality, fear, duty, etc. all of these subjects get a a part in Apocalypse Now, all of them are interestig and are also well developed. but they tend to be too developed, enough for a +3 hours movie. it is waaaaay too long and slow to move on, i believe coppola made some scenes longer deliverately because he just wanted to. i didn't like brando as the mad man rogue colonel (and check out the trivia he probably didn't like it either), but dennis hopper and robert duvall give the best performances in Apoc, specially duvall and his chopper assault, by far the best scene of the movie.

you were suppose to hate kurtz and consider him just a mad man who had to be stopped. you are to love kilgore for his way of watching the whole war (basically it meant moving to the next position to find the better waves) and his behaviour towards the enemy. but it is not clear what to say about willard.

it was a mistake to make the kurtz's stronghold scenes so long, and not to include the french farm part which thankfully was in the redux version and showed a third point of view about vietnam.

i bet coppola could have made this movie far more interesting and catching if he had wanted to.

Reba (2001–2007)

can get worse

[25 December 2002]

nothing new with this show starring raba macentire or wathever. it's simply more of the same family show, with the aggrgate of annoying texas accent (no offense). the same boring stupid jokes for another bad comedy about an actor, that should dissapear as most WB shows.

A Few Good Men (1992)

Nicholson Takes The Credits

[8/10 · 11 November 2002]

Jack Nicholson made one of the most believable, outstanding performances as Col. Nathan Jessup. Cinical, sarcastic, arrogant, bad ass, everything you could want for an anti hero Nicholson has it. His great performance and a good cast, specially when it comes to the marines, are the most appealing point of the film. Anyway it's enjoyable and sort of makes you think about morality and loyalties. 7/10

2103: The Deadly Wake (1997)

Bizarre

[10 November 2002]

It was bizarre both and bad, actually. The strange baby, the odd plot, everything was there to confuse. Even the props were lousy and the ship was plain ugly. Really nothing great about it, and nothing good either. Just common crap. One of many.

Men of War (1994)

Shooting But Nothing Yet...

[23 October 2002]

This one wasn't really that bad. Catherine Bell and Trevor Goddard bring us familiar faces, and of course does Dolph Lundgren. One surprise was having *two* soldier chicks, when usually we get only one. And the fact that not all of his team follow Nick to save the villagers (which seems like more factual for a heartless merc) is also... well OK.

So this is more of the same but one or two action stuff and the landscape make it slightly more than average B Movie. Only for cable.

Supernova (I) (2000)

20 Light Years Of Crap

[9 October 2002]

Bad bad bad bad. Bad.

Horrible casting, with the black guy who talks like a sissy and Angela Basset who didn't dare to show her stuff. And of course bad acting too.

The 'plot' (if any) has mostly no sense, and the few (and I mean it literally) rational points of it have been done before and much much better.

The FX, while not bad, are average, and the ships and props are amongst the worst things in this pitiful crap.

Don't bother 'cos you'll end up hating coppola and hill for bringing this trash

Tombstone (1993)

The Only Western Flick I Liked

[8/10 · 8 October 2002]

This has been the best western movie I have seen and liked. Even though they aren't many, this is still one of my favorite films of all times.

Specially good is the casting and the acting, lots of good actors doing fine and ground breaking performances.

If all far west movies could be like this one, it could become my favorite genre. It's a shame I haven't seen it for quite some years, I could use some of it in order to recover from so much garbage out there on cable.

If you like westerns, you'll like Tombstone. I you don't, you'll love it anyway. And if you haven't seen it...what are you expecting?

Greg the Bunny (2002–2004)

Except For Some Acting Troubles, It's Amazing

[7 October 2002]

What's not to like about Greg the Bunny? the puppets are simply f*****g hilarious, they all have their very own characteristics and... the outstanding voice job. Yes, their voices are awesome and help to forget the poor puppet design...like if that matters! remember that other TV show with simple characters design which is also politically incorrect... yes I'm talking about South Park.

But if the puppets are amazingly funny, the humans on this show don't really atract me. Seth Green was OK as Scott Evil, but is not convincing here as Jimmy, and perhaps so aren't Gil (another angry boss and dmanding father), Allison (nice legs but nothing else), Dottie (blonde dumb naïve and a bit slut). But somehow I liked Junction Jack as the voice of experience who can tolerate everything.

It happened to me with two other comedies-not-sitcoms: Shasta McNasty and Undeclared were removed after only one season (as the matter of fact, GtB is replacing Undeclared on the Fox network in Latin America). I guess this show is condemned to dissapear even though it is the only Fox comedy show worth since ever.

If it became more adult and politically incorrect it could become a South Park made of flesh and bone... and artificial fur.

BTW, I never saw Meet the Feebles, and probably never will as I believe Peter Jackson will live out of the Lord of the Rings franchise like George Lucas, so it doesn't matter if GtB is not as original as I thought, it still rocks and is the funniest show until the new season of Friends.

The District (2000–2004)

Not A Bad Show

[7 October 2002]

Yet, I could name you a dozen other crime shows that are ten times better than The District, mostly Homicide, Third Watch, CSI, Law & Order and some X Files (sometimes it's more an FBI drama than supernatural sci fi).

Has a good casting except for the Ella Farmer and Temple Page characters and actors. They could change them in the next season and I wouldn't miss them or even notice the change. And not a bad script and some of the acting. They should just put some more supporting characters, or even leading ones. Or at least recurrent. Or at least remove some of them. Just saying.

One more thing, they MUST bring back Kitty the secretary (Scarlett Chorvat)

Overall, it's been done better but it is still a worth watching show.

Zoolander (2001)

For Some Reason I Almost Didn't Laugh

[8/10 · 6 October 2002]

Why I didn't laugh? Dunno. Maybe because I was expecting one stupid joke after another and so on like in Zucker/Zucker/Abrahms movie, those that you can't help to laugh like one of those idiots starring the movie. Or maybe Zoolander just isn't funny. No. I'll stick to the first option. Perhaps I had had a bad day. What's good about Zoolander are the characters and the female cast. And not to mention the amount of great cameos like Jon Voight and Vince Vaughn as Derek's father and brother, and David Duchovny as the deep-throat-anti-conspiracy-former-worlds-greatest-hand-model.

If you like Ben Stiller as much as I do, Zoolander is a smart comedy funny sometimes, that you'll like. Just don't expect to laugh at your ass for 90 minutes, it's simply not enough.

6/10

Swordfish (2001)

Sometimes OK, Usually Bad, Yet Accurate At One Point

[5 October 2002]

What point you asking? the senator and the rogue inteligence agents say or believe that in order to protect the American's 'freedom' (or what is left of it today), they are willing to kill inocent people from hostile countries. The End Justifies The Means. Bring Terror To The Terrorists. Who thinks like that, in today's US Gov? well, Mr. Bush Jr.! the very president of the United States of America. Just wanted to make clear the close this movie got, probably not wanting it, to reality.

Now let's get to the movie.

The acting is not good at all, even from Halle-Nice-Breasts-Great-Legs-Yummy-Yummy Berry, but it's not awful either. Certainly, I hate Travolta, think Hugh Jackman can get better and love that accent from don't know where that Sam Shepard sports with class. And Halle Berry is I believe one of the three most beautiful women in show business ever. But actually hers, Shepard's at some point and Don Cheadle's performances were the best of the film, all of them average though.

The script is terrible, and i won't say anything else. But the plot was somehow realistic, interesting and original. I guess the script is like a transport created only to carry the plot. Which could have been in a better place if it had been placed in a movie like Mission Impossible, and could have centered in the thriller field and not the techno crap with a lot of explosions, technology and pretty people. Anyway, some good twists of plot made it not too predictable as it happened to me with MI2. Hey, you could say Swordfish combines the espionage and technology from MI1 with shooting and exploiding from MI2. Have to figure out what film deals with terrorist attacks perpetrated by an underground covert gov agency. Perhaps the Femme Nikita TV show (horrible if you ask for my opinion). It also had a very good ending, not happy if you ask, but still good. I've seen the other two endings from the DVD extrafeatures and gotta say they chosed the best of the three.

Talking about technology, yesterday my computer rebooted from zero, think it's ICQ's fault, and had to reinstall many drivers, programs and my preferences for the whole Windows OS. So watching this millionare, state of the art pieces of equipment working so well without jamming and reseting was not a nice view.

The action scenes were actually quite good. Yes, more explosions and shooting, although not so many dead people as you would imagine, and the opening scene with the blast á la Matrix was excellent, and so was the down the hill scene, it's a terrific stunt work.

Good action, big explotions, nice boobs, interesting/factual plot and a lousy script and acting make of Swordfish not a bad movie if you are watching it with your eye and not your brains. Perhaps one of the best of the genre, or you rather see Collateral Damage? But of course, this is just for some entertainment.

24 (2001–2010)

Best Of The New Shows, Yet...

[30 September 2002]

I watched the whole first season (ok, I missed a few) for two reasons: I generally like Kiefer Sutherland works, and I wanted to undeerstand better that 'real time' crap; my conclusions: Sutherland was ok, and the 24 hours real time stuff is the only innovation, everything else is more of the same. And I didn't like the way they explained in the first episodes that Jack Bauer had acussed some of his agents of corruption (so, he's honest) and that he's an ex- army special forces (he's like a really tough, brave and cool guy). I mean, this are the kind of things that you should figure out for yourself and should not be told by the narrative, specially so early in the show.

SPOILERS

I still can't understand the traitor stuff. First they make you believe that the traitor was George Mason (too obvious). OK, it's not him, all my hypothesis got flushed. But the traitor was...Nina. Yes, she worked for the same people who just a few hours before ordered jack Bauer to shoot her to see if he was reliable. They can't just don't care about such a high ranking informant inside CTU (ah!, is it FBI, CIA, NSA, or the writers believe themselves cool enough to create their own agency?), and if so, if they are stupid enough, so is Nina who would let Bauer kill her. And when she realized she wasn't dead, I am no rogue federal agent, but I would give a call to my employers and... I don't know...maybe order them to kill Bauer's wife and daughter, perhaps? just sayin'.

All in all, it's not a bad show. As you don't know who could die next, it keeps you hooked up to the end. And the surprise guest stars as Lou Diamond Phillips and Dennis Hopper as the man behind all are an extra were... surprising. Duh.

An extra interest in the show I got: Bauers daughter, Elisha Cuthbert. Man, that girl's hot!!!

The West Wing (1999–2006)

I've Had Enough

[30 September 2002]

I am really sick of this show. First it didn't seem to be too bad, it had Martin Sheen on it so I thought it could be nice watching him on the dumb box. But that's it. Didn't like any of the characters or even the actors, that includes Mr Sheen; they often talk fast and at the same time, and given the fact that the dubbing guys *suck* I can't follow the whole dialogue and get lost after 5 seconds of conversation. And the stories are usually all alike. I simply never care for those guys. And I just can't stand that these actors and actreses not to mention the whole show are always winning or get nominations for every major award there is, just check out the Emmys, where I don't know if it was leading or supporting actor that, out of 6 nominees, 4 were from here. Just like Will & Grace, Sex & the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, etc., I knew I had had enough of it.

But a few month's ago I had a revelation: as well as with The Agency, they show you what they want and make the presidency look good, which doesn't exist on any country. Don't buy it specially nowadays with that prehistoric ape in the White House.

Hell, if you like this it's 'cause you're a fanatical yankee who only cares about is wiping Saddam from the globe. Open your eyes, shows like this won't make the US look good across the border.

It's a shame for John Wells to have made this pathetic...thing. I really like his Third Watch...

Scream (1996)

I'll Let This One Go

[30 September 2002]

Teen horror, duh, seen more than enough, are all the same, and the same boring stuff over and over again.But, i'll let this one go because of the usual reasons: it was the first Scream, it was the first of the new avalanche of teen horror movies and it's Wes Craven. Just that, and the sort of cool and funny ending. I hope we won't get more of the genres crap, we have really have enough...

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

Mortal Kombat: Horribleation

[28 September 2002]

Could also be spelled 'Mortal Kombat: Horribleaction' (horrible+action, the action is horrible, get it?)

A Spoiler is Present, But You Shouldn't Even Care

Until this movie I had never hated (or even disliked) any movie I saw at a theater. Me and my friend just couldn't believe the amount of crap we had just witnessed, and I was barely 12 at the time of it.

I saw the first one with more friends, when I was ten, but I still think today, 17 y.o., that it has some good things like a very decent cast and a director that somehow makes his best. I actually got to like Paul W.S. Anderson's Event Horizon and Resident Evil.

It's bad from the beggining when we realize that they have change almost all the original cast (except for Kitana and Liu Kang, who hopefully will die in the... third movie!) and hated them even more when they killed immediately my favorite character (talking about Johnny Cage who didn't say anything *smart* or at least kissed Sonya goodbye).

Whoever thought that the skinny Sandra Hess could replace the athletic and beautiful Bridget Wilson as Sonya was out of his mind. And the choice for Rayden sucked too, I'd prefer Mr Highlander for ever.

There's really nothing good in this movie, the action, script, acting, casting and directing are incredibly bad and will make sick anybody with some sort of good taste . And the plot is even more ridicoulous than the videogame.

A reviewer said that those who don't like MK:A it's because thay don't like the videogame or haven't played it. Too bad I've played every version for many gaming systems, and liked it to the point I even bought the comic and some action figures. Too bad I'm a big fan who grew old and realized how bad a videogame to movie can be.

This movie is not the kind of crap that will at least entertain you for a couple of hours like it happened to me with Armageddon. Don't bother, it is not worth in any way.

Perhaps the only good thing (if any) is the short and dumb but nevertheless mud wrestling between sonya and the other girl (either Jade or Mileena, the last one I think), but too short... and too many clothes.

Probably the only good point (if any) from this movie was the mud wrestling, but it was too short and too dressed.

Traffic (2000)

One Of The Best Of The Decade

[10/10 · 26 September 2002]

'Traffic' is about the eternal war between the drug dealers and those people in the governments that are trying to 'erradicate' them. Even though there has never been a true advance in that field, which is actually growing.

The acting is great even for Catherine Zeta Jones, who always seemed to be reading her lines from a board somewhere. The environmental lighting is great and gives more depth to the scenes, and remarks the social, economical and cultural differences between the countries. This is also a movie about loyalty, morality and principles. And not to mention devotion and maintaining an objective look of the situation, no matter what is going on around you.

This is a film that can't be missing in any good modern top 10 or 20. One of the best in the decade and probably history. Just make sure the right side will prevail.

10/10

The Trigger Effect (1996)

Mayhem In Civilization

[6/10 · 26 September 2002]

It was OK. A decent cast and production. Just shows how easy it is to lose everything we've done in 2000 years of history. Which is basically our civilized behavior, and then drag us down to the most basics of the animal instincts: surviving.

Heat (1995)

Two Great Actors In One Great Movie

[8/10 · 26 September 2002]

De Niro & Pacino shine together even though they don't share almost no time on screen. The rest of the cast and performances are either OK or adequate, and it has a good script too, with some of the greatest filming locations in LA in Hollywood's history. But what is really, and the only thing that beats Pacino and De Niro together, was the bank shooting, which to me ranks as one of the best action sequences ever.

8/10 because some lack of substance, anyway a terrific job.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Much Better Than Pulp Fiction

[9/10 · 26 September 2002]

You can really tell this one is Tarantino's first (major?) work. It has a great cast, terrific script, really good performances and breathtaking scenes. And it has what Pulp Fiction did not realize, a better storyline with a more convincing plot. The anonimacy that we get dragged into works perfectly well and allow us to think by ourself, and come up with our very own character development. Perhaps with some more runtime it could have been among my Top 5.

9/10