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nipheon
Reviews
Paycheck (2003)
A (supposedly) great book being wasted.
If I am correctly, this is the third movie done based on a story by p.k. dick, and this time they blew it. I watched "A.I." and loved it, I watched "Minority Report" and loved it, and I watched this one and was utterly disappointed.
First of all, the acting sucks. Ben Affleck is not able to play a major role, he is simply a small fish who did (for strange reasons) get invited to play with the big fishes. He is simply not up to it. The only good performance I ever saw done by him was in "Boiler Room", that was exactly the thing he can do. But here he totally chokes. Uma Thurman seemed incredibly absent, I dunno what she did besides that movie at that time, but I got the strange feeling she was somewhere else in her head while doing this one. The supporting actors are not a great help either, all small shallow stereotypes.
John Woo is a good action-flick director, but here he blows it totally. It seems he gets very bored if there are more than 5 minutes of reel running without an action scene, he either sprints from action scene to action scene or does such an uninspired, bored job that its painful. I have not read the book on which the movie is based on, but I could see its potential and I have to say its totally wasted. I mean, a man loses his memory and sends himself 20 objects to figure things out, this is such a great base to make a great thriller/mystery movie, but there is nothing of this in this movie. He basically does not even use half of these things, he just shoots his way around, very stupid. Also, the action scenes actually made me laugh, all done so cheesy and stupid, it was a pain.
on the bright side, atleast the overall look and feel does compare to "A.I" and "Minority Report", the futuristic look was very interesting and nicely done, but thats about it for the good things on this movie.
Next time, please get the spielberg/cruise team together again, "Minority Report" was such a great role for Tom Cruise, he went from "ouch" to "wow, he *is* good" for me with this one, and spielberg is simply a fine director who can do the best of such a script and material.
Starsky & Hutch (2004)
very disappointing ...
This was a major let-down. They could have done it all, because they had it all at their hands. A great 70s series to make fun of, a bunch of actors who can do very great if they want, and they totally blew it. This movie is not funny at all. The jokes are completely lame, badly acted out and old. Wilson and Stiller deliver a very sub-standard performance, Stiller just does his standard routine we have seen plenty of times over the years and it just isnt fresh any more (as a matter of fact, its boring since a few years). And for Wilson, well, I really like him, he is a nice guy and I like him even more after his cameo in the GIRL-Skatevid, but I am afraid he is not really up for a leading role, he always does the same thing, and sometimes it works like in "Armageddon", and sometimes it does absolutely not, like in this movie. For the rest of the cast, Ferrell is doing such a lame job, I guess Doggy Dog had actually pay to be in the movie, Juliette Lewis seemed awfully retarded and the only one who does a good job is Vince Vaughn, but that doesnt pull it out at all. The story is so boring, its hard to believe, they could have done this in 30 minutes, but they did stretch it to 1:40. I was actually playing some game on my cellphone when I watched it, because it was so sloooow.
So, there is not much to add here, if you want great comedy based on 70s police-series, go watch "Police Squad" with leslie nielsen, there you can see how its done. But avoid this movie.
Red vs. Blue (2003)
a heapload of funny bull***t.
this series is great. I am not too familiar with comedys done using games (and I know there are some), but I suppose this one is the the best. Its obvious that those guys know how to write funny scripts, and combined with the totally off-the-hook engine of halo, this becomes something great. First, there are loads of great quotable lines, like "Why are there 6 pedals if there are only 4 directions ?" "I always wanted to tell him that he is my son. - Oh, is he ? - No, I just wanted to p*** him off one last time." "Bumpmapping, yeah ? I have some bumps you can map right here !", "Why didnt you bury me ? - With what ? we only have rifles ! what do you want us to do ? shoot you a grave ?"
Secondly, its great that they use the limitations of the game Halo itself for some great effects, like the one where the warthog flips on top of the red (?) base, or the blue sticky grenade sticking on the neck of one of the guys.
Really, this is awesome, and I know I will miss it when its over.
Shattered Glass (2003)
good but a bit empty.
this is a very good movie. its really a kind of a theatrical play, its all about character development focusing on a very few people and the total lack of any high-adrenaline scene makes it even better (yeah, they could have done some stupid chase scene at the end or something, but they gladly didnt). Anyway, there was a not-minor flaw, after the movie was finished I was kinda disappointed because it felt abit empty and lacking stuff. I mean, the movie takes its time to evolve the story, but with credits its something around 1:33 and it just felt like there could have been done much more in it, like more of his earlier stories or similar.
however, this does not make the movie bad at all, so 4 out of 5 from me.
Runaway Jury (2003)
very good except for some lazy actors
well, cusack gets better and better.
however, he is only one star so lets get to the movie.
first of all, another good grisham plot. I love these movies and this again is one that makes me go "oh, if only half of this is true then some things are really going wrong". also I am very aware that some people might mislike this movie mainly because of the statement it makes, but I did enjoy it even more for that because I am rather happy with all this anti-gun action going on in the US lately and I surely hope it changes a few things, so thumbs up for that. anyhow, I was kinda disappointed that they didnt take more time to depict the actual case and the gun-makers, I think a few extra minutes spent for them would have been good for the plot. its not really the big picture here, they mainly focus on that "thriller" part, but thats fair enough.
However, there are some flaws with the actors. cusack is good, most of the supporting actors are good too (the bad guys for example), but hoffman and hackman did not really well. They are capable of so much more and it seemed to me they were rather running on 75% or something (maybe to avoid acting cusack on the wall, I dont know).
and the worst thing are the last 5 minutes where everything suddenly goes "peace and love"-style and this stupid soft music kicks in, I rather would have wished it would end when they threatened hackman, and this really destroyed a few things for me.
however, this is a great movie with a good story so 4,5 out of 5.
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
very great odd movie
I recently saw this and my one word description is "odd".
to give the rating first : I think its great, but ...
the first half of the movie is totally useless. I mean, you have to watch it to have an idea about whats going on, but after this first part was finished I realized that it was very boring, I did not get very much of it (they always talk in this strange language which seems to be focussing on "least words possible") and its basically a bad intro for the only thing important in this movie :
THE CHASE SCENE (tadaa !)
well, and this is where it really kicks off.
(a bit of advice here : if you get bored in the first 45 minutes and wonder whats this all about, maybe skip right to the chase and watch the first part again when you are finished with the movie and feel like it).
and this chase scene is ... well ... incredible. its really raw, pure 70s style, no special effects, its not glamourous, its not "cool", its simply cars chasing each other on roads. its sometimes intense, its sometimes scary (a few of the scenes on the highway which were filmed behind the windshield made me bend my toes) and most of all its realistic. my gosh, I never ever saw victisms of something like that depicted in a movie, and there it is : people getting hurt because something smashes into their cars and people being pulled out of burning cars (which was really odd because after watching all these action flicks I did expect those cars to blow up every second ... reminded me of "the last action hero" : "are all cars bulletproof in your world ?") and more.
the big flaw is the end, where he suddenly escapes them all and has loads of time to change his car, but this just seemed like an emergency "we have to end this here" choice.
so, all I can say again is : this is a really odd movie, the only thing that really matters is that chase scene, which doesnt even have much of a connection to rest of the film and you do not identify with anyone seen in this movie, there are no heroes, no real story is told and everything seems to be a rather sloppy wrapping for "the chase".
well, I would give it a 4 out of 5, but (the best for the last) because this one just looks like one of the blueprints for the "sabotage" video of the beastie boys (made by spike jonze) I will give it a 4,5 out of 5.
go watch the some of the most intense 40 minutes of movie history. this thing kícks the highway scene of matrix 2 right off the table.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
this one is great, just pay attention
first of all : before you nag about the movie, make sure you have understood the dialogue between the architect and neo. this is the breakpoint of this movie, this dialogue completely twists the first movie and all you have seen of the second movie, leaves you completely puzzled and lets you eagerly await the 3rd movie. this one scene alone makes those follow-ups worthwhile.
apart from that, come on people, its a great action-flick aswell. the first 30 minutes suck badly, but then the action starts and never stops. the kung-fu is great, the shooting is great, and hugo weaving as agent smith has to be one of the coolest villains ever in movie-history. his cold agression is just mindblowing.
so for christs sake, try to understand what the f*** is going on and lighten up. 6 of 5, definately.
Dark Days (2000)
Incredible Documentary
I first read the Book by Jennifer Toth "Mole People", which was very interesting, but I was quite surprised when I found out that there was this movie about the same subject.
This movie is great and terrible. Great in terms of the subject, the way its presented and the pictures, terrible in terms of the things it presents. Its hard to grasp the way people are living there.
Watch this, its important.
6 of 5.