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ian-jones
Reviews
Lions for Lambs (2007)
Thought provoking and excellent dialogue
Seeing as this film was only 80 mins long i was sceptical before sitting down to watch it thinking there cannot be much content to such a short film based on the average length of films these days. How wrong was I !!!! This film had me glued right from the opening scene and craving for more when it got to the 80 minute mark. Tom Cruise was perfectly cast as the smart, intuitive and ambitious senator and Redford had me hanging off every word as the college professor, so much so he even had me wishing i had a tutor like that when i was at college.
overall it might be short and it might be a bit close to the mark in certain circles but for me this is surely one of the best dialogue films i have ever seen. I could use the words short and sweet to describe it but that would belittle the film because in THIS films case LESS is most definitely MORE.
Independence Day (1996)
Typical American gung-ho save the world rubbish
I'm not going to waste my time slating this film as most people will have already seen it by now and this is of course just MY opinion. Over-budgeted, badly cast, badly acted drivel. I don't think i have ever seen a movie with this many mistakes in it. I have just read the "goofs" part of this review and yet no-one...NO ONE has spotted the biggest goof in the film. The scene with Jasmine walking in the aftermath of the initial alien attack shows her surrounded by nothing but rubble where all of the buildings used to be, She and her son of course survived by being in a concrete shelter in a tunnel and yet the little trees that are on the side of the road she is now seen walking on are all intact.... Are these super strength trees or something ????? Trees that can withstand what a million tons of concrete cannot !!!!! Fire and shockproof trees.....Amazing !!!!! Come on Hollywood get with it........Stop sending this rubbish over here....
Gridiron Gang (2006)
True Story - Inspirational
When i first saw this film advertised i naturally assumed it was going to be a Poor mans "Coach Carter", i say that because as enjoyable as "The Rock" is to watch he is never gonna win any Oscars. Having said that i do honestly believe his overall acting credentials have gone up a notch with this performance. Back to the film though, I had no idea this was based on actual events and characters. The film was good enough on its own but when you see the real character footage at the end it sort of left me with a bump in my throat which was quite refreshing. I don't know about the Mustangs stats as a team but i don't care, the fact they took part was enough to see the kids wanted to change within themselves. It was nice to see a sports orientated "Teacher and Students" flick with a difference. Yes, all the usual clichés are there and you find yourself liking the so called "bad guys" and disliking anyone who slates them. All in all i was glued from start to finish. Excellent character development, excellent cast and a truly excellent choice of storytelling.
Pathfinder (2007)
Crap crap crap crap crap
Hmmm.....where do i begin. Not at all sure whether i should bother. As with most films i don't like trying to push my opinions of films on to other people. I believe you should all watch a film and judge for yourself. With this film however, I feel i should save you the time you would waste on it. As my summary suggests this film is for want of a better word "CRAP". Karl Urban was a good baddie in the "Chronicles of Riddick" but sucked in "DOOM". This guy already has the stereotypical brooding image and so he will always be cast in a role with few words which is just as well coz he cant act for S**t. All in all this film is dark, moody, gory and that is it. 100 mins of bad acting, bad scripting and very bad lighting,it even looked like a cam-like rip off for a while it was so bad. There is even a 2-3 minute sex scene with our hero and the local totty which was sooo out of place it was slightly embarrassing to watch. All in all not a good film by a long way, Most of the actors involved will be hiding there faces all the way to the bank, and if there not they should be.
Best of the Best (1989)
Low budget Martial Arts
Basically this film is one of the better low budget martial arts films to come our way in the late 80's and early 90's. The plot is for all to see within the first 20 mins or so, it doesn't really get anymore complicated than that other than 1 vital bit of info that is kept from us until 20-30 mins to go. Oh, and also the film doesn't end like most and was quite refreshing to see to be honest.....(I won't spoil it for you, you have to watch it to find out). Yes it's cheap but it is also chearful in a "got nothing else to do or watch one evening kinda way". The VOICE of Darth Vader - James Earl Jones is in a starring role as well as Oscar winner Eric Roberts (Julia's older brother) in a weird role for him, guess money must have been tight back then.....
Go see it......worth a watch.
Shooter (2007)
Shooter - hmmm.....maybe, maybe not.
As far as action movies of this day and age go this one was quite good, plenty of action and lots of blood. The opening sequence was very well done and epitomised the kind of work snipers and spotters have to deal with. This aside, the rest of the film seemed to lose focus, the main plot gets moved up and down and side to side so many times that it made it hard to keep track of who was good, who was bad or who was just there to be shot.....I was always waiting for a sucker punch that never came. Mark Wahlberg's stock has increased in Hollywood over the last 3 or 4 years ever since "Four Brothers" and most definitely "The Departed" so he could pretty much make a TV movie right now and still appear in the next Scorsese flick.
All in all an enjoyable watch but no Oscar nominations for this one.