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Reviews
The Perfect Host (2010)
this was interesting, but...
Why is john there in the first place?! I really enjoyed this movie and my wife tells me that the answer to this question is "otherwise there would have been no movie!" While she is correct, of course, there is still a little issue for me of the whole of LA and poor John finding himself on this detectives doorstep. This film is wonderfully acted and has a very compelling story. It kept me guessing and kept me intrigued. Its a really unique story that turns your ideas of "bad" and "good" on their heads. I recommend it but just don't expect to understand its origins. There is no logic to be found there and attempting to find any is just going to disappoint!
Flawless (2007)
Easily an 8 if only...
Demi could act even just a little bit! To be fair, it wasn't totally her fault this time around. I think that her character might have been written by someone in the 1950's who really had no idea what women are/were like. However, her on screen actions would have been better suited to a bit part and not the central female lead of an otherwise wonderful heist movie. My wife says that she figured out where the diamonds went about 15 minutes before I did but in reality I had actually stopped caring about the nature of the heist and was continually shaking my head in disbelief @ the slapstick vocal antics of the dizzy dame in the varying shades of form fitting attire! I could forgive a slip or two from someone in her position due to shock or something but she basically takes out a bullhorn @ every opportunity and shouts major plot points and personal concerns near the people who are supposed to be investigating the crime. Its really unfortunate that a better actress or a better writer for women (or both) couldn't be brought into the project because I think it could almost have lived up to its name then. As is, its still a better watch than a lot of the shiny schlock out there. At least it has the always wonderful Michael Caine!
The Job (2009)
The devil might be in the details...
But you will never know it. I love Ron Perlman. Everything he is in, even if the movie itself isn't great, I always like his performance. This even stretches that appreciation a bit thin. There was so much potential here. Everything started out so compelling and I was so eager to find out where these interesting characters were going to go and what was motivating them. Then it all just...fell apart. I am not really even sure when it happened. Maybe when Jim (the devil?) was "killing" Martin? Maybe when Mr. D's thugs were threatening Bubba after the killing was supposed to have taken place? Regardless, I was left feeling lost and disappointed at the end of this film. Too many unanswered questions and not enough follow through with the promises of the first half of the movie. I am giving it 5 stars only because I really did love Ron Perlman/Jim/the devil. Something about his acting made even this plodding picture barely bearable.
Ajeossi (2010)
Reality in action?!
It is pretty rare to watch an action movie and actually feel like there was a measure of not only reality but a little justice as well. While there are parts of this film that are obviously not the civilized definition of the latter, there is something very satisfying about suspending your disbelief. There is really no happily ever after here which is a welcome change to me. I have always felt that movies that have to wrap up everything in a neat package for you somehow cheapen any sacrifices that were made by the characters to resolve their stories. Obviously, there is a fine line between the entertainment value, the reason we watch movies in the first place, and the appreciation for the gravity of what we have watched. It is really nice to watch something that actually makes you feel like all the blood and stress that brought you to the end credits actually had some impact. This film has that in spades and doesn't sacrifice the entertainment factor to get there. There are some very graphic scenes, which to me only enforces this message. Real fights wouldn't be pretty and people who won them wouldn't be unscathed. Also, people who are capable of killing large amounts of people, for whatever reason, shouldn't immediately be put in charge of the well being of children. This is a fantastic movie that got a lot of things right!
Dead Space: Aftermath (2011)
Haven't played the games.
I haven't played any of the games or watched any of the other movies. In fact, I didn't even know that there were other movies until I finished watching this waste of a film and logged onto IMDb to tell everyone to not waste a minute of their life on this! As if the story wasn't contrived enough, the animation style varies wildly throughout the movie. A couple of the sequences look OK but most of them are pretty poor. Plastic, Poser animations for the characters and cookie cutter backgrounds. I don't understand how things like this get made. You would think that at some point in the production, someone who had seen a decent animation would have told these folks to stop wasting their time!
It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010)
Its kind of a good story...
Part of me really wants to hate a movie like this. Portrayal of mental illness like its a seasonal affliction is one of the reasons that a lot of people continue to be mis and under treated. The stigma of mental illness in our society is unfortunate and movies like this are not going to do a lot to change that perception. Then, I tell myself to just lighten up and enjoy what a pretty good story! I really enjoyed the movie on a lot of levels. The actors are all quite talented. Even though the characters are painted with rather broad strokes, they are still people that I want to like for the most part. Some of them, having grown up in a world much like theirs, I can even identify with. I wish very much that the lesson that is learned to "accept the things we cannot change" was one that more people could subscribe to. Craig is an everyman. A youth in America who is overwhelmed by choice rather than hardship. His typical over-privileged lifestyle is not a new story and the realizations that he comes to are not groundbreaking. Still, he makes you feel good about little things and about appreciating what you have.
The Experiment (2010)
Would have been, could have been...
This would have been wonderful. Lots of very talented people and a very interesting script. However... The love story here is the most unnecessary thing every! Why on earth would we care that the lead character gets to India for a girl that he has known for 6 days? Pointless. I would have had a much easier time with everything that happened if the time-line of the film had been more like 6 months instead of six days. It seems lazy of the filmmakers to expect us to imagine that a couple of days of in-your-face exploits would drive a group of basically non-descriptive people to riot in an experiment that they stand to loose a lot of money in. The premise goes to hell, in my mind, if you ask me to believe that regular people would choose to revolt rather than get a paycheck. After all, they answered an ad that promised 14000$ for 14 days of work. These are not the type of people who have real hefty expectations of their work environment. Overall, I think the thing that saddened me the most about this film is the contrast between Brody and Whittaker. They are both actors who I respect immensely and its unfortunate to see them played against each other in this way. The movie would have been fine with the difficult of normal people thrust into different roles w/o the race card being played. Maybe that was not the intent of the writer/director but in my mind it was an obvious connection that didn't need to be made. Black guy gets megalomaniac and white guy gets vicious. Thanks for the cookie cutter racial rant. Also, the guard w/the eyeliner was a wonderful addition (if only there were a sarcasm font!)
Youth in Revolt (2009)
2000's Hughes
Like some previous reviewers have noted, if you don't enjoy Michael Cera, stay away from this one. I would also recommend that if you don't like some of John Hughes earlier films, you might also not enjoy this movie. I like both but Cera more than Hughes. However, I don't know how long that will be true. I first saw Michael in Arrested Development and I don't know if I have seen him play anything except for George Michael since. That is fine for awhile but I get the sense that I might grow tired of it eventually. This movie was enjoyable for its absurdest sensibilities and for some decent casting. Nothing really blew me away but I genuinely believed that everyone in it was who they were playing. I didn't appreciate the end message which seemed both disingenuous and heavy handed. Still, its nice to see a movie about unabashed love and teen awkwardness portrayed w/o a high degree of shock value. Maybe I am a little old fashioned but I can still appreciate a good (mostly) clean coming of age film.
Armored (2009)
Quite OK!
Here's the thing. This movie is not great. The character development is lacking and the story is fairly simple. However, I felt that the acting was quite good and the dramatic elements of the plot came through nicely. In an era of special effects in the place of content, this was a refreshing change of pace. There were a lot of things that could have been added that would have made this a much better film but overall I came away with a positive feeling. Giving the characters more depth and more motivation would have been helpful as well as showing us a few more aspects of their lives and what compelled them to come up with their plan. Also, a few of the actors were too young for their roles (they were supposed to be friends with the leads father but were actually his age.) Still, this was a lot better than some of the other drivel that passes for "action/thriller" movies these days.
Ninja (2009)
just plain...and bad...
There is really nothing positive to say about this movie. I bought it on blu ray as part of a 5 for 20$ deal @ blockbuster. I would just sell it somewhere but i wouldn't want to subject anyone else to this nonsense. I have seen martial arts films w/a white guy as the lead that were not horrible (not many, but they are out there...Last Samurai for example) but this is not one of them. Not one actor was decent and not one scene was worth while. My wife and I were ESPECIALLY annoyed at the female lead who kept getting beat up. Seriously, save yourself 1.5 hours of your life and watch anything other than this junk. It isn't often (in fact, this is the first time) that I would give a movie 1 star but this truly deserves it!