Netherland Reviews

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Ethan Hunt Strikes Back

[9/10 · 3 May 2006]

From the prologue of Mission: Impossible III you can tell, this movie will be different from the others. It will be darker, and packed with thrills.

The story is great, the thrills are great, the actors are... you know where I'm heading. Except for the ending, which was a bit too sweet for my opinion (they could've better used a M:I ending: after the last thrill, cut to Hunt back at home, and use the same shot as in the beginning: picking up the phone, hearing a code which makes it clear for the viewers that he'll get another mission), I've got nothing bad to say about this film. On every point that M:I II failed to be a M:I sequel, this movie passed with flying colours. Nothing too romantic, no over-use of the masks, no corny fights or dialogue, more (impressive) impossible missions, a villain that actually makes an impression on you, and a couple of nice plot-twists.

In short, M:I III was better than I could hope for, and if III will be the standard, I can only hope that M:I IV will follow soon.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

fantastic ending of a saga

[10/10 · 18 May 2005]

A bit more than a year ago, I wrote my comment for Star Wars Episode II. I wrote that Episode I was a good movie, but not Star Wars-good, that Episode II was a lot better and that I couldn't wait to watch Episode III. Episode I was with Jar-Jar and a really annoying Jake Lloyd a movie for the kids, Episode II with waaaaay too much romance and an annoying Christensen was more for the ladies, and Episode III is a movie I adore! It's got great special effects (the vehicles look as 'used' as they did in the original Saga, not so fancy as in Episode I), Christensen has obviously had some great acting lessons, the tad of romance(/drama), although corny ("You've changed", "You're breaking my heart" and "I don't know you anymore"), is not irritating (mostly becáuse it's just a tad this time), the added humor is better than in the two other prequels and the space and light-saber battles are downright amazing! There are some nods to the clone wars, like Anakin's scar, 3PO's new color, the kidnapping of Palpatine and the breathing problems of General Grievous, sadly these nods won't be picked up in many countries (one of my friends asked me, "if that General Grievous is a robot, why does he seem to be so ill?") since they didn't show up on TV but as I've seen them, I myself can't complain (I downloaded them, as I did with season one and two, these however have just recently made it to DVD in the Netherlands). I love to see the Star Wars Saga completed, and I love that it ended with such a great movie. Two thumbs up!

The Vanishing (1993)

America didn't have the right to do this to a perfect story

[3/10 · 27 February 2005]

When George Sluizer was told he could direct an American version of the book "Het Gouden Ei"/the movie "Spoorloos"(outside Holland, this movie has the name "the Vanishing" too), he was told that this would only go through if the ending was changed - He was told that 'the American Audience' wouldn't approve the original ending. Of course, the original ending is much better, and without it, the movie loses its impact. Because I have already put this in the trivia section, I won't give the original ending and keep my comment spoiler-free. If you want to know the original ending, watch "Spoorloos" or read the book. This movie is absolute rubbish, and the first Kiefer Sutherland movie I don't like. Watch the original Dutch movie, which is one of the best thrillers in the world.

Tale of the Mummy (1998)

Why do I hate this?

[22 July 2004]

Let's compare this movie to The Mummy, which was released a year after this one (why wouldn't we compare? everybody does). Making a mummy movie has a downside. You have to make a story in which a mummy is released or revived, and that mummy probably wants either to take over or destroy the world. This is the same in all mummy movies, so the director has something to make up, so that his movie won't be considered as 'just another mummy movie'. First: the rest of the story, which was (for me) in both The Mummy and Talos the Mummy (or 'Tale of the Mummy', as it is also often called) quite good, though The Mummy has more adventure and comedy, while Talos was more thriller. Second is the acting, which was a bit better in The Mummy (I liked Brendan Fraser and Arnold Vosloo the most in this one). Light is... different in both, because Talos is thriller-like and The Mummy adventure, but both have the light done as it should be in their genre. Music was wonderful in The Mummy, but maybe this is also because of the different genre. The, the special effects... The Mummy had good, if not great, special effects, with mummies crawling over walls and Vosloo's face in the sand (which I thought was impossible to do and make it look good). Then, in Talos, the special effects could be described best as 'pathetic'. How do they dare to do this? The worst is, I think, at the beginning, when Christopher Lee gets it (another stupidity; They list Christopher as one of the first, but he dies about five minutes after the beginning of the movie), his upper half crawls while you see him from a spot in which you can see his 'wound'... which is a computer generated effect, and when he crawls the wound dos not stay in place but just moves forward too, so at the end of the wound you can see Christopher's clothing disappear and reappear. Why has the studio let them do this, in times when dinosaurs are artificially generated, when complete armies are made by computer? Ever since movies like Star Wars and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Studios should be ashamed of special effects like the ones in Talos The Mummy (except for, off course, things like Beetlejuice, in which special effects are made bad on purpose, but even Beetlejuice had better effects than this). Shame on thee, shame on thee.

F-Zero X (1998 Video Game)

No downers

[10/10 · 5 May 2004]

I already enjoyed F-Zero on my old SNES (had to sell it to get the N64), but I think this futuristic racing game is one of the best racing games ever made! it's got everything that the original F-Zero didn't: (much)more than four cars to choose from, 3D racing, practice mode in which you can play EVERY course - not less than half of it, unlockable stuff and multi player mode. Even though the graphics (not of the course, cars and actions but the backgrounds and surroundings) might not be top notch, that's just to make sure the game cold be played at top speed without crashing frame-rates (which more than once happened to me in Goldeneye, when bombs exploded - nevertheless also a great game). Two thumbs up!

The Haunting (1999)

Some movies are made bad

[3/10 · 9 April 2004]

First, a big mistake on my part: watching this movie the night after I watched 'The House on Haunted Hill'. Since the two movies were made in the same year, and both involved a ghost house, I thought Haunting would be as good as Haunted Hill (I consider B-rated special effects and many by some called 'cheap' thrills good, Haunted Hill was one of the few movies in a long time I saw that gave me the creeps). How could I be so mistaken? This movie is called a horror, I would go as far to call it supernatural drama. The only time the house really murderers (I don't consider the ending murder), It was over too fast and you could see it coming from two miles away. Only plus to this movie are the special effects and Liam Neeson's acting. You want horror with ghosts inside walls? See House on Haunted Hill, or The Frighteners, even Casper is scarier than this.

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

Better than Episode 1

[8/10 · 21 March 2004]

After The Phantom Menace I hoped that Anakin would not be a pain in the ass this time. I was wrong to think that.

In Return of the Jedi, George Lucas used Ewoks to get children to watch the movies. In Episode 1 he tried this again, this time using Jar Jar Binks and that annoying brat who played Anakin. In Attack of the Clones, Lucas used romance to lure women to the epos... I don't know if that worked, but at least the romance is the only disappointment in this Episode (oh yeah, and Christensen of course). Don't get me wrong, from time to time, romance in a movie is good, but not in a Star Wars movie. At least not this much.

Episode 1 was a good movie, but not Star Wars-good. Episode 2 was a lot better. I can't wait to watch Episode 3!

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985 TV Movie)

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!

[1/10 · 21 March 2004]

What the hell is this!? That was my first reaction to this film (actually, my first reaction contained more swearing). This isn't Star Wars! Star Wars is space battles, this movie has none. Star Wars is the Force, this movie only has a retarded witch with a magic ring. Star Wars is lightsaber battles, this movie hasn't got any battle worth mentioning. Star Wars is humor, this movie isn't. Star Wars is a galaxy far, far away, this movie has HORSES in it!!! Besides all of this, how did Lucas get the insane idea to let a five year old baby do the leading role !? Big, big disappointment. Do you like Star Wars? Don't watch this! 1 out of 10

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)

another great Oedekerk movie

[9/10 · 1 March 2004]

You've got to like the kind of humor to like this movie, but Steve leaves me laughing on the floor every time I watch Kung Pow, I can't wait to see the sequel!

Every time I watch Enter the Fist I see new things, for instance the 'Hooters' sign on one of the buildings, the (spoiler!) alien ship flying in the air in a shot where you see the Chosen One walking away from the camera, or the pringles in the back when Chosen asks for nuts.

Well done, Steve! I hope the sequel will be at least as good as this slapstick masterpiece.

Escape from L.A. (1996)

great

[9/10 · 17 February 2004]

Escape from L.A. is a great movie, perhaps even Carpenter's best, and Kurt Russel makes Snake Plissken ten times more macho than Bruce Willis did with John McLane in the Die Hard movies.

The movie is much better than the original (Escape from New York) with good music and better humor than most action movies.