mikhail007 Reviews

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

OK at best

[6/10 · 7 March 2014]

I loved the original 300. It was the most satisfying movie I've ever seen. It delivered on every expectation I had. Unfortunately, 300: Rise of an Empire did not.

This movie tries to recreate original 300's magic but fails at every point. The visuals were bleak. Actions scenes were kind of repetitive. A lot of them were done with CGI which didn't look real. The main character, Themistocles, just wasn't as badass as Leonidas. I didn't care much for him. If I dare say it, there is too much plot. Or rather it's too convoluted. There is a bunch of factions of half naked guys and I don't know/care what they were trying to do. Overall, this movie is just boring.

On a side note, rise of what empire are they are talking about? There were never really any Greek empires, definitely nothing around that period. I know, I know this is not a movie that should be expected to be accurate but still this is a major point.

Pacific Rim (2013)

Badass

[8/10 · 22 July 2013]

This is a really entertaining movie. Everything about it is really cool. Badass robot designs. Scary monsters. Cool fighting scenes. Beautiful visuals. The 3D effect wasn't an after thought. It was actually really noticeable and added to the movie's beautiful visual design. Pacific Rim is an homage to the monster movie genre and to many anime series such Evangelion. If you are a fan you will love this movie. The plot is fairly simple and the characters are not that deep but despite this there are still a few emotionally gripping scenes. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the film. It struck a balance between seriousness and lightheartedness. The movie is serious enough to make you care enough for the characters and believe that the world is plausible. Yet it is light enough for you to have fun and a good laugh at times.

Overall, a really good time at the theatre. 8 Jagers out of 10

The Wrestler (2008)

Excellent acting and directing beautifully shows what happens after 15 minutes of fame

[8/10 · 11 July 2013]

This movie provides a glimpse into a life of an aging professional wrestler whose glory days are long behind him. Acting performance by Mickey Rurick is absolutely outstanding, perhaps because he can easily draw on experiences from his own life. It is easy to sympathize with him and you quickly get emotionally involved in his life's struggles. The atmosphere in the movie helps to transmit the themes of isolation and cruel realities of life. This movie is a character driven drama. The plot is pretty straightforward. It mainly serves to show different aspects of Rurick's character. Overall, this isn't a ground-breaking movie but it accomplishes everything it set out to do.

Lincoln (2012)

For such a dull movie, surprisingly historically inaccurate

[5/10 · 3 January 2013]

First of all, this is probably the dullest movie I've ever seen. This is not because there is no action scenes. One of my favourite movies is 12 which has zero action, black and white, and a steady camera. Lincoln is just dull because the dialogue was boring and awkward. Half of the movie is about congregational procedures which is like watching CSPAN from mid 19th century. It is amazing that even though this movie is so dry, it is largely historically inaccurate. This movie focuses solely on Lincoln during the time when 13th amendment was being pushed through congress. It doesn't go into his childhood at all. It narrows the view of history by portraying the cause of civil war is solely slavery. It paints Abraham Lincoln as lonely hero who is only goal in life is to correct injustice of slavery. In reality the cause of civil war is very complex. Abraham Lincoln himself did not believe in equality of races. This is evident by his public speeches. Spielberg made a movie about the legend of Lincoln instead of the historical person. I think that completely invalidates the film. Since this movie took some liberty in the use of historical facts, it could've went all the way and did something like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. At least that would've been exciting.

The only saving grace of this movie is phenomenal acting performance by Daniel Day-Lewis.

Porco Rosso (1992)

Beautiful, Imaginative, Funny, Heartwarming

[8/10 · 2 January 2013]

This is another brilliant movie from Hayao Miyazaki. He creates a beautiful world where Adriatic sea is controlled by Air Pirates. Where you can have your own hideaway island. Where you get around using your own seaplane. At it's core this is children's cartoon. It's very bright both in terms of atmosphere and colour. Maybe this is what made me like it so much as an adult. Watching this movie brought me back to my childhood when I used to dream of adventure. The movie is beautifully animated, full of humour and eccentric characters. There is a little love story. There is a little coming of age story. The plot is pretty straightforward but very consistent. Overall, an amazing movie, go see it.

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Very entertaining but don't expect greatness

[7/10 · 17 April 2012]

Cabin in the Woods is a very entertaining movie but it's not a great movie. Based on the reviews and the rating you might be led to believe that you will experience brilliant acting, engaging dialogue and plot full of twists and turns. You will not get any of that out of this movie. No matter how you look at it, it's a teenager horror movie with a familiar premise: a group of teenagers go to an isolated location where they are haunted by some evil. What sets the movie apart is that it's aware that the audience have seen all the horror movie clichés a thousand times. So what it does is it puts a slightly different twist on everything. The dark humour, the gory deaths and random sexual scenes feel very fresh and entertaining. Also, the special effects are pretty awesome. There is really not much else to say about it.

So relax and enjoy the movie for what it is. Don't expect any thought provoking dialogue.

Hanna (2011)

A misleading trailer and mishmash of different genres will leave most viewers disappointed

[6/10 · 12 April 2011]

From the trailers Hanna looks like Bourne series with a young girl as a heroine. However, there is not much action in this movie and the action scenes that are present are not that great. The fighting is not choreographed well and camera angle is switched often during the sequences to hide this fact. This leaves you let down and nauseous. This movie is a more of a coming of age story with a target audience of adolescent girls. This makes Hanna a very bizarre combination of genres that will likely disappoint both action flick lovers and people who enjoy more watching drama movies.

Overall I would rate this movie meh (with a shrug of shoulders). Maybe rent it when it comes out on DVD and forget about it.

5.5/10

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)

A descent gory adventure

[6/10 · 28 March 2011]

As the title suggests this movie is about a homeless man with a shotgun bringing justice to a corrupt town. Nothing more and nothing less. The movie is filled with gory and over-the-top death scenes which are mostly pretty entertaining. And this is what this movie is mostly about. There is a story line but its purpose is only to string the violent acts together. There is not much character depth. The villains are evil with not much purpose to their evilness. But that's what you expect from this type of movie. The acting is descent but not outstanding. Although, Rutger Hauer, who plays the hobo, is absolutely phenomenal in his role.

This movie pays homage to the Grindhouse genre, and is very reminiscent of Tarantino's and Rodriguez's "Grindhouse" movie which too pay homage to this genre. In fact "Hobo with a Shotgun" was one of the fake trailers in "Grindhouse". However, "Hobo with a Shotgun" doesn't quite live up to the standards set by Tarantino and Rodriguez. The kills don't have as much style and dialogues lack certain edge and liveliness.

Overall, this movie is descent. Check your brain at the door and enjoy the gory ride.

The Expendables (2010)

Entertaining but fails to use its full potential

[6/10 · 14 August 2010]

Expendables had very high expectations due to its stellar cast. So I was very excited to see the movie although I knew high expectations often lead to disappointment. After watching the movie, I felt like it failed to realize its action movie potential although I still enjoyed watching it.

The plot is very simple but works well and is what you would expect from an action flick. There are a few really awesome action scenes but most are just OK. It wasn't quite as gory and shocking as Stallone's other recent action flick, Rambo 4. The dialogue between characters was entertaining for the most parts but some of the punch-lines left me with a feeling that there will be tumbleweed moving across the screen in the background. The biggest disappointment came from the fact that most of the cast, other than Stallone and Statham, get very little screen time. Willis and Schwarzenegger are just cameos and don't even shoot anyone. It still boggles my mind how a movie with two of my favourite action heroes don't even let them kill anyone.

So overall, it's still worth watching this movie on the big screen just to see all of the action heroes in one movie, however it definitely doesn't live up to its expectations.

Rating: 6/10