Change Your Image
bebop987
Reviews
Serbuan maut (2011)
Possibly the best martial arts film I've seen
After seeing the trailer, I knew I had to see this movie. Rarely our my high expectation met but The Raid surpassed it. If your seeing this movie, it's because you want to see action and The Raid hit every mark. The action is a mix of shootouts, hand to hand weapons, and mostly good ol' fashioned fists.
The Raid proves again how far behind American action films are. I've seen other great foreign action films like Ong-Bak, The Protector, and Ip man but The Raid surpasses them by highlighting a martial art style not shown in any recent films. Its brutal and never lets up. It's not your typical ultra clean fighting that has been done to death but something that looks real and desperate at times as people try to survive outnumbered.
Story wise it isn't anything great but at the same time it's better than most martial arts films due to interesting twists and being incredibly well paced to before you know it its over and you want more.
If your a fan of action films, there isn't any better out there now or any even close in decades past.
Inception (2010)
The Diamond of Summer 2010
If you liked Nolan's previous films "Memento" and/or "The Prestige", you will love Inception. Like those films it does a good job of setting the ground rules for the world so you are never confused but at the same time reality can be distorted but it never does at the expense of the story. Deep down this film is about forgiveness and letting go but also has a great sci-fi sheen that never takes that idea away. Even if the story doesn't hook you than you will be in awe of the set pieces that put many other films to shame where you never can predict what will come next. Overall this is a great film that will stand out this summer of lackluster films by being smart, action packed, and containing real emotion and heart. I can't recommend it enough.
Public Enemies (2009)
Good but will be forgotten after a few months
I saw this at a midnight showing with some friends. It's a good movie but could have been so much better. The main complaint is that Christian Bale's character for how much screen time is given isn't that interesting.He's very one dimensional where we only see one side of him. It isn't Bale's fault that he wasn't given much to work with on the character. Comparing this to Michael Mann's classic "Heat" where he focuses on the criminals and the cops chasing them. This feels very weak where Al Pacino was shown in different lights from father and husband to a dedicated detective. Christian Bale's character could have been any generic cop and given far too much screen time for someone with no personality.
A lot has been made about the digital HD camera used in filming. It is hit or miss throughout the film. Sometimes it looks great especially during some of the daytime scenes. Than sometimes during a few of the nighttime shootouts you'll think your watching a re-enactment on TV than a movie. Also at first what I thought was problems with the theater's sound system I saw it at, it seems that it wasn't just mine where during a few scenes it seems like the character's dialogue is cut off or too quiet.
Still this film is still a solid effort with Johnny Depp doing a good job as the charismatic Dillinger to what Michael Mann does best which is crazy shootouts. The film has some memorable scenes but the film as a whole is in the category of not being bad but at the same time will be forgotten a few months from now. So overall good but clearly it was trying to be "Heat" in the 1930's and it just didn't pull it off as well.
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
3D doesn't even save it
I went in not expecting much and I really can't say that I was wrong. This movie followed every horror cliché imaginable with every character tripping to the ground at least once and exploring dark areas alone. I thought we were past that but I guess not. The acting isn't worth mentioning except the line when the bad guy dies "Nooooooooooo!" What really ticked me off though is the """""""Twist""""""""ending. I won't ruin it but it basically involves the movie bold face lying to you about a scene earlier. This was just lazy writing where the screen writer wrote himself into a corner and the only way he could get out of it was to disavow what the audience saw earlier. I gave it a two though for the fact that the 3D for what little they did and repeated multiple times (you will lose track of how many times a flash light is pointed at you in 3D), a couple of times it was done well. I couldn't imagine how bad a movie it would be without the 3D gimmick.
The Spirit (2008)
"That's just plain weird"
"The Spirit" is a bizarre movie. Things are shown on screen without ever actually explaining even though you would like one. At times I had no idea what was going on and you really don't get much info about anyone's motivation for doing anything. The dialogue doesn't help as most of the time it has nothing to do with anything and is pretty laughable in a non-campy way which I think it attended (I hope). The spirit himself looks like Toby Maguire and the Hamburglar had a baby but isn't likable at all. Even though he is given the most screen time, it never seemed liked he did anything other than make out with every woman on screen or talk to cats. Samuel L. Jackson of course is always entertaining no matter the role. The art direction is amazing and the action is pretty good. But these elements don't save it, the story and characters just don't carry the movie as a whole. Overall for how incredibly weird this movie is, it isn't memorable. I think it would be okay to see it on DVD or TV but I wouldn't bother to pay to see it in theaters.