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imalamin
Reviews
Kissing on the Mouth (2005)
An OK idea with the poorest execution!
OK, I kinda like the idea of this movie. I'm in the age demographic, and I kinda identify with some of the stories. Even the sometimes tacky and meaningless dialogue seems semi-realistic, and in a different movie would have been forgivable.
I'm trying as hard as possible not to trash this movie like the others did, but it's not that easy when the filmmakers weren't trying at all.
The editing in this movie is terrible! Possibly the worst editing I've ever seen in a movie! There are things that you don't have to go to film school to learn, leaning good editing is not one of them, but identifying a bad one is.
Also, the shot... Oh my God the shots, just awful! I can't even go into the details, but we sometimes just see random things popping up, and that, in conjunction with the editing will give you the most painful film viewing experience.
This movie being made on low or no budget with 4 cast and crew is not an excuse also. I've seen short films on youtube with a lot more artistic integrity! Joe, Greta, I don't know what the heck you were thinking, but this movie is nothing but a masturbation of both your egos. You should be ashamed of yourselves! In conclusion, this movie is like what a really lazy amateur porn movie will be if it was filled with 3 or 4 lousy sex scenes separated by long boring conversations and one disgusting masturbation scene. If that's not your kind of thing, avoid this at all cost!
August (2008)
Good... in its own way.
I wasn't expecting much when I went in for this movie, but boy was I surprised! Josh Hartnett's character, Tom, is one of the slickest most confident man on screen and he totally charmed me. The story is about Hartnett's character and his brother's dot com company and how they tried to keep the company afloat in the August before September 11th. Some of the dialogue was very well written. I liked Naomi Harris's character, although I think the character was underdeveloped. His brother played by Adam Scott gave a very good performance also. All in all, I think this is an enjoyable drama which ended very well but with many unresolved story-lines...
The Dark Knight (2008)
The night is Darkest before the Dawn...
Is there anybody out there that was more excited about this movie than I was? Maybe
but most probably not. I've been looking forward to another Batman movie since the credits rolled on "Batman Begins" back in 2005. Batman is a movie that needs no synopsis, even for non-fans. But in case you are totally clueless, all you need to know is that Batman is a guy that dresses up in a bat costume and fights crime in Gotham city. The Dark Knight continues where Batman Begins left off. Christian Bale reprises his role as Barman from the last movie, and this time he has two new villains: The Joker, played by Heath Ledger and Two-Face/Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart. This is no doubt the most hyped movie of the year, especially with Heath's sudden death, and I must tell you it was up to the hype, or very very close to it. There's a buzz for an Oscar campaign for Heath and I'll tell you right now that he was absolutely amazing and deserves an Oscar, or at least a nomination. If Warner Brothers didn't tell us Heath was playing The Joker, I swear not many people would have guessed it was him. I know I wouldn't have. So is this a good movie or just a good-Joker-used-to-promote-an-average movie? Good question. But an even better question is did you watch Batman Begins? Did you enjoy it? If you watch this movie, you'll never want to watch Batman Begins again because The Dark Knight will make it look like the worst movie you've ever seen. I promise you. Everyone is talking about The Joker, but Harvey Dent/Two face is equally as good. His make- up, as Two Face will blow you away, and his acting is nothing less than amazing. Everyone else reprised their role from the last movie; all except Katie Holmes which if you ask me is a good move because I felt she didn't really belong in the first one. She is replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal, which I love. Director Christopher Nolan is a genius (Yes I know all the directors I reviewed are geniuses). He not only made an awesome superhero movie, but an awesome crime/detective movie. His brother Jonathan Nolan worked on the script, and since I saw Memento which the two worked on, I know that these two were born to work together. So is there anything bad about this movie? As another critic rightly put it, "This movie was too long, but I'm only saying this so it seems like I'm doing my job..." That being said, I don't think the length of this movie is a problem at all. I mean, The Godfather ran for almost three hours, I don't hear anyone complaining. Moreover, in most long movies, you'll see a scene or two that can be cut to shorten it, The Dark Knight had none. It was pure two and a half hours of awesomeness! The closing speech of the movie ended with Commissioner Gordon saying "... he's the Dark Knight". Then there was a black screen. It was at that time that I noticed tears rolling down my cheeks because of how lucky I feel to be alive to witness this cinematic masterpiece. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the first movie I've given 5 out of 5 stars!
Hancock (2008)
All in all... Entertaining
You know how Gotham City loves Batman, and how everyone in New York City is a fan of Spiderman? Have you ever wondered what a superhero would do if everyone hated him and everything he does goes unappreciated? You're not alone, and Hancock is here to answer our question. Hancock is a movie about an alcoholic superhero, John Hancock, played by Will Smith (I Am Legend), who everyone hates because he does more damage than good. He then saves the life of a Public Relations representative; Ray, played by Jason Bateman (Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium), after which Ray decides to help Hancock change the society's image of him. Ray's wife, Mary, is played by no other than the always beautiful Charlize Theron (Monster). Truth is; the less you know about this movie before going in to watch, the better. So is the movie any good you ask? Hancock is directed by Peter Berg, remember him? He is the genius that brought you last year's The Kingdom (also starring Jason Bateman). The guy is a really good director. The movie is very well directed and there are some really amazing shots in there. It is written by Vince Gilligan (Creator of TV series Breaking Bad and Co-producer of TV series The X-Files) from an original story by Vincent Ngo. Not trying to sound like I know more than I actually do, but this is where the little flaw of the movie is. Let me explain. I've read Vincent Ngo's original script, "Tonight, He Comes", and it is amazing. When it was rewritten into Hancock, Vince Gillian changed it a little, and personally, I think it did more harm than good (ironically, so does Hancock). Also, I think this movie is marketed very wrongly. It is being marketed as a comedy Superhero Movie. If you go in with that mindset, you sure are going to be disappointed; because for a superhero movie, the action sequences weren't that many. So if you want to really enjoy Hancock, I suggest you go in with the mindset of watching a Comedy - Drama in which the main character just happens to be a superhero. Do you really want me to talk about the acting in this? I mean, the fresh prince himself is the main character. We all know Will Smith can win an Oscar by just making a cameo. Well, maybe not; but he is very good. Charlize Theron is probably not going to win an Oscar for this like she did for "Monster", but that is not to say she's not amazing. And Jason Bateman: Funny as always. Even the extras in this movie weren't bad! If you were to divide Hancock into three parts, I'd give: the first part 4.5 out of 5 stars, second part 4.5 out of 5 stars and 3 stars for the third. This is because the third act is lazy and felt really out of place. Too many unimportant things happened and there wasn't enough development or attention to the important ones. That being said, the movie still lets you go with a smile on your face; just make sure you stay after the credits. So what's up with that Eagle? Don't know the Eagle I'm talking about? Go watch Hancock... you know you want to.
Get Smart (2008)
Smart, in more ways than one.
For those that don't know, Get Smart is the Big Screen adaptation of a 1960's TV Series of the same name, which is a spoof of Spy movies, mostly James Bond. It is centered around a CIA-like organization called CONTROL agent, Maxwell Smart and his partner Agent 99 as they try to stop an evil organization, KAOS from taking over the world. Granted I've never watched a single episode of the original TV series, so I'm reviewing this movie as a stand-alone movie. The movie starts off with Smart (Steve Carrel, 40 Year Old Virgin) an analyst in CONTROL desperately wanting to be a field agent, but because he was so good at what he does (Analyzing stuff), the Chief (Alan Arkin, Rendition) refused to promote him. In a twist of fate, there was a security breach and the identities of all the CONTROL agents became known to KAOS, thus the chief had no choice but to promote Smart. Smart was partnered with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway, The Devil Wears Prada) who thinks he is incompetent and inexperienced. The rest of the movie involves Smart and 99 trying to bring down KAOS while uncovering KAOS's plans, which included assassinating the president of the United States. This movie was very well shot, and it clearly had a budget, because the stunt scenes all looked amazing. The movie has no strong plot, but so does every other parody movie, so it was expected, but the dialog was witty and funny, and I found myself laughing hard through most of it. The casting was perfect. With Steve Carrel and Anne Hathaway as leads, you have other great actors like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Masi Oka from "Heroes" and Terry Crews from "Everybody Hates Chris" supporting. I especially like the way they made Smart actually smart, because I am tired of seeing dumb people doing dumb things on the screen just to get a laugh. In Smart's case, he was a smart analyst who was just too inexperienced as a field agent and thus made a lot of silly mistakes which were really funny. Even though I liked almost everything about this movie, there were scenes I felt seemed out of place, and a few special effects weren't so convincing. But all that is just mild criticism because the rest of the awesomeness called "Get Smart" is going to blow you away! Get Smart will easily make the cut of my favorite comedies of the year. I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars for everyone.