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Reviews
Die Another Day (2002)
Cool video game!
Interesting first 15 minutes. I actually really liked it before they started to use awful CGI instead of, *gasp*, actual people and stunts. That is what made Bond different from "Terminator 2" and "XXX"! Anyways, the "special effects" were dreadful. This movie cost $140 million? The new gadgets are interesting but are absolutely ridculous. They also contribute to many of the script's mistakes. Case in point: Bond gets a nice invisible car. It doesn't really serve its purpose though if you can still see an outline of its skeleton! Speaking of mistakes, the plot is full of them. Since all of them have been already discussed, I won't waste your time. Finally, Michael Madsen was pretty funny. The only thing is he wasn't supposed to be (I guess......).
The thing I hated most about this movie is the editing. Too many movies use this clever advertising gimmick: Editor's speed the film up then suddenly slow down to slow-motion to grab the viewer's attention. Bleh! The script was sub-par but they didn't need to resort to this cheap MTV-style gimmick to keep us interested. Also (and this is just in my taste), they should have inserted the Moneypenny-VR scene at the very end. This would have ended movie on a great note and made more sense in the movie's order of events.
With that said, I kind of enjoyed the comic-book/video-game style that the producers decided on. While the director wanted to maintain an action-oriented movie and skip over anything Mike Myers might use in the next dozen "Austin Powers" films, there are an endless amounts of silly sexual "suggestions" that clearly wear out it's welcome. Zow (spelling?) was a creepy villian, not because the bald head or the scars, but those irregularities with the cold, light-blue eyes. Eeew! I didn't like the main villian, as his true self echoed the illogical MI2 "faux identity" twist (it did make a a decent twist, though) and I wasn't into his character due to his snobbish look. Overall, a neat angle, but please NEVER do it again! Get a script like Goldeneye and you won't have to worry about matching up to the competition! While I was sitting in my seat, I was looking forward to the DVD and, of course, the obligatory video game.
My grade: A generous B- (4 on IMDB scale)
Beer Money (2001)
Much Better then you would expect
A guy comes home after failing in the big city, immediately finds his old buddies and they decide to go camping. Meanwhile, he promises a cute girl that wasn't before in high school out on a date, but goes on the camping trip instead. While they are playing drinking games, a spaceship comes and drops off a weird alien. He wants to keep it, but his friend shoots it dead. With a title such as "Beer Money" appearing on such a quality cable network such as USA, one would have such rock-bottom expectations for this one. But it was pretty funny E.T. spoof, with its intended low-low brow humor. However, it is too long for its material. Worth a look.