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Reviews
The Dark Knight (2008)
Dark Knight shot in daylight
This movie was a complete turn around from Movie 1. Movie 1 has darkness, grace and sense of awe. The second movie was choppily edited, bad continuity errors such as bike driving into mall scene where it approaches window to smash through then cuts to scene where it hasn't even got near glass. Im thinking who edited this! The worst thing of all was the choice of daylight scenes all the time as opposed to the dark look of the first movie. Gotham might as well be Chicago, we saw no CGI strange skyscrapers and no monorail system. It looked too normal and helicopter shots of buildings looking sunny. Wheres the dirty gritty feel? No new weapons, no secret weapons that could kill everyone. The main character just uses standard guns, rockets and TNT, oh yes and some dogs. Wow. Real imagination being used here, not! No flashback scenes to show Batman in training years, no references to his youth and wrestling with his past... no references to the Jokers past or flashbacks to how he became who he really is now with his cut mouth. All just skipped past.
I was left thinking Mr Nolan, is this really you directing this. It could easily looked like any other movie out there.
I did enjoy the movie but its a pale 5 out of 10 compared to the first movie. A lot of catching up to do in the next one. Its a bit like the matrix, how do you top it. Well at least you try... not relax and start to get lazy.
Cloverfield (2008)
I was excited but after watching it not any more
Its an average disaster movie with "Godzilla Final Wars" like special effects. Considering the hype, the fact that we have to suffer hand held camera-work which makes our moments of view of the creature, rather frustrating I felt after watching that I was being cheated of experience. Really the filmmakers got away with not having to do so much because of the hand held effect. If they had been making a full cinematic movie they would have perhaps screwed it up because it would have been harder to pull off and look good so I am sorry I just see this hand held stuff as a way to skimp out of good filmwork. For this reason I feel I was cheated. Also the people in the Uk didn't get a simultaneous release date when the movie was advertised as 18.1.08 and no name.. so the whole appeal became a joke when people in the UK never got to see it on that date. Thanks Hollywood for screwing the UK again and making the movie an instant pirates dream. Godzilla Final Wars wipes the floor with this movie anyday.
Blueberry (2004)
I thought 10 out of 10
Some people have said that there was a lack of drama or acting in this film. I disagree... I though all of the characters acted well in this film and do have character however because of the cinematic feel of the movie people who are easily distracted are watching the whoosh and not peoples faces. They are used to up close TV style of acting and this film has sequences where actors are set further back from the camera in complex moving scenes.
Some of the camera-work including the sky-cam shots were so breathtaking they made me want to be that eagle and when you get to see a sky shot which zooms over the hills to show you where all the riding parties are moving I have never seen this done before and was such a great use of camera that I had to buy this movie for its technical excellence. Most movies imply locations by telling you where the other actors are... this movie flew you there and in a Western this is totally new use of this effect and made me feel that this was a Western brought totally up to date with the latest Cinematography.
The 20minutes of CGI is again something never before seen in a Western. This follows on from similar use of such footage by the director in another production he did - worth checking out if you liked seeing the snakes and lizards and crocodiles etc... I've heard some people comment to me this was very much like a DMT trip experience. Flawless CGI... not looking tacky but organic and fluid reality. If the CGI had been off just one bit people would have trashed this movie to death. Testament to the fact that the CGI is untouchable and people will still be praising this movies CGI in 20 years time just as they did with special effects from 2001.... its up there with the greats. People hae been usint the visuals in clubs on video projectors... this must say something of how impacting it is.
Werewolf: The Devil's Hound (2007)
I couldn't watch it was so bad.
I had to skip through this movie because the acting was just so bad it was bellow porn movie standard. You had all of the cheesy effects like illuminating by spotlights so it it is like daylight then having people running around with nightvision **safety goggles** who cant see or hear the werewolf when it grunts about 5 ft away from them... Extended sequences which involve people getting mauled and they just drip and drip and drip and drip until your actually falling asleep from the lack of shot change. This movie reeks of some fool sponsoring it and getting everyone from their family to act in it. The movie was shot at a warehouse which looked like it was a film studio. Hey lets scrub locations... lets just film it in a film studio and set the storyline to be in a film studio. Wow... what a way to save $70 of the films budget of $2000. There were scenes where the main heart throb (who actually looks like a geek) wanders down a corridor (1 minute of boredom) to another corridor (1 minute of boredom) to a doorway. Then he goes outside and there's more boredom as he realises a door is open.... more boredom as he goes and shuts the door. I realise now I'm actually really totally spoiling the plot for you here. Without these key scenes the movie would just fall apart, cant you tell ;-) Grrrrrr! Yeah there's this as so much more pointless junk in this movie that you really will be able to put it down and go make some food and not come back. Can anyone explain to me why when the main character heard a dog howl in the distance he freaks out and runs inside the building. Nobody from this main section of the movie had even been killed by any form of werewolf at this point, nor even been scared by one. A dog howling... please come on....why did this guy start running. Did he know something that wasn't included in the script. Doh! There's loads of pointless romance and chatting and time fillers. Yes its a movie where they overdo the special effects to hide the bad makeup on the werewolf so don't be expecting too much. I bothered to pause the movie on the more closeup scenes of the werewolf and it really is latex and you can almost see where the different paint was used on the nose and the face of werewolf. Probably household emulsion paint. There should be laws which stop people hiring movie camera equipment and making this kind of crap. How do they get it released. Some great movies get made every year and cant get releases and then rubbish like this gets released in their place.... whats wrong with the movie industry.
Ricky Gervais Live: Animals (2003)
This is Ricky, or seems to be
Ricky Gervais is a funny man. **Yes it is true.** Some people don't get the humour that he puts out. However I certainly do. If you dont like Ricky Gervais'isiss's humour then you probably wouldn't want to get to know the man better by paying lots of money to see him perform a short run comedy routine live on stage. However if you see the world as Ricky probably does, then your hard earned money is far better off with him... do want to pay and now this DVD is the only way to savour that moment... No edits, no scripts. Is this the real Ricky Gervais that we hear Stephen Merchant (co-writer for the office) in the extras of the office talking about. I for one think it is.
There are many memorable and unique gags, some jokes which have links to the office and there is a video clip shown to the audience where he gets a very respectable offer from his female ex boss.
With it seems, and ever widening exposure in the media to bestiality jokes, ala Tom Green, we see Ricky take a wholeheartedly different approach to this sorded but funny comedy subject.
I agree with other reviewers that Ricky doesn't totally gel with the audience, but that is his charm. He is doing it his way and exploring a new style of comedy which does not require him to meet Pantomime timing and audience expectations. He does say, "This is a lecture". So really it isn't meant to be comedy. It is just hysterically funny.
The best way i can describe it is very warm and cosy in a very warped kind of way, garnished with lashings of indifference. "onlyyyyyy meeeee." And if you dont like this review, well it is not your fault.
Mimic: Sentinel (2003)
rear window remake with a twist
This movie hits the mark as a rear window style remake. Newer movie styles are employed. Many unexpected sharp shocking elements come forth in a half seen Hitchcock way. You dont know if the main character is telling the truth or is acting as the boy that cried wolf. As events take more of a turn for the wierd and nasty you know that something is very wrong. Because I had not seen the first two mimic movies when I watched this I honestly thought that the story was going to get very Hellraiser in content and was dealing with the supernatural. This is not how it actually is though! The first two thirds of the movie are slow rear window style and the last half shifts up a gear to a very disturbing race for your life. Clever psychological camera work and bizzare character movements add to the chilling feel that something is not right with the world you are watching. I am looking forward to seeing the first two movies now because of this third movie.
Du bei chuan wang (1972)
Great film and idea
These films are great in a series. If you enjoy this one youll love One Armed Boxer 2 even more. Shame somebody doesnt re-release these on DVD. Even the sound effects are classic. Someone moves a finger and you hear gunshots. Someone twitches you get explosions. I love it. Over the top as hell! Give me more. Pure comedy or genius, I can never decide!
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002)
NOT BAD SPECIAL EFFECTS
Some people will hate this movie. Some will love it. If you come from being a lover of martial arts movies and like the breakdowns of how fight scenes are created and faked to make them look better there is a lot in this movie that will give you clues as to how the scenes are made up. A lot of what you will see in this movie is cheap and nasty but the blue screen matte work is second to none. They replaced the original movie characters with the new ones and put characters into scenes that weren't there in the original movie. This seamless working of blue screen effect is evident throughout the movie. In fact the only time you know they are doing this is when they want you to know they are...
There are some very funny CGI characters in this movie and references to Matrix and other movies are present also.
I like the cheek, the overdone out of sync voice gags and the cheeky way one person does all the voices. Its a real love it or hate it movie. I loved it. Thank god someone in Hollywood has the balls to make a movie like this even though it is bound to be unpopular with many. Quack quack. Weee ooo weee ooo weee. You have to see the movie to understand why this is funny.
That said, spending major amounts of money on blue screen, cgi and matte work for a "take a chance" movie might seem like madness to some, but perhaps this movie will gain cult video release status.
Fritz the Cat (1972)
psychedelic drug and drug culture animation
I enjoyed this animated film because it was slow paced and could be easily watched over a pint or something more sedatory. The characters suffer the usual problems of nazi state anti drug cultures whilst at the same time try to rise above the constraints. Fritz is a cat who certainly has nine lives and seems able to get the pussy - cats and doesnt ever lose hius head, stays cool amongst his pals. Like an x rated top cat episode.
If you follow Ralph Bakshis work you can see how he tries to develop characters that dont try to explain themselves to you with over obvious monologues, they just are the way they are, take it or leave it. This style pops up in all his animations and indeed may have been the reason "Cool World" (Bakshis Animation/live action flick) was misunderstood by many because of its multilayered self possessed characters. (I loved Cool World) You may get the feeling you need to know more about the characters before watching the film. However I have never seen any Robert Crumb comics, but still enjoyed Fritz The Cat.