I really enjoyed this film. The cast, acting, cinematography, sets, script all top-notch. Many of critical of the Christian symbolism etc, I really didn't find any of that over-the-top at all. What's in a name? Not a helleva lot. The film itself has moments of utter psychological distress which I couldn't help to feel personally. Emotionally I was really drawn to this film. Sure it's not perfect but for a different take on the sci-fi genre (the French always do things differently) it has its place amongst others than are original and don't follow a distinct formula. The end had such an intense visual climax it was like a massive, visceral, abstract, surreal overload. The sort of thing I'm always looking for in electronic music - hard to find but nothing feels quite like it when you do. Don't be put off by all of the negative comments, I think this film deserves your support. And keep an open mind. Having an appreciation of the abstract helps. This film shouldn't be taken too literally.
Reviews
7 Reviews
Max Payne
(2008)
One of the worst movie of '08
13 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
That a load of trite. I've played the games but frankly this shouldn't have to come into it in my opinion. Let the movie stand on it's own merits, of which is has few. Note I did not state none: the cinematography in places (location shots, urban scenes) were well done as with some of the film footage's treatment (somewhat black and white and nice depth of field exaggeration). Everything else in the film fails. The characters have no depth whatsoever. No storyline was really developed other than Max on a perpetual, monotonous mind-less hunt for his wife's killer(s). The main villain had a couple of sentences throughout the film, so I really didn't care for him. His howling like a mad dog at the moon made me laugh. Was I meant to feel he was a threat to Max Payne? Hell, Max should have dispatched him with a dictionary... that'd kept him busy. Often the scene's came across so sterile you actually saw through the pretty 35mm film treatment and saw props, a set and actors. The Angels of Death or Valkyries didn't help matters: they had no relationship to Max during his visualizations of them. So it was just plain useless eye-candy. Shame on the director and producers for this utter piece of rubbish. Mark Wahlberg should watch his next move carefully after the flop that was 'The Happening' and then this. Oh yes, and if you liked 'Transporter 3', disregard all of my criticisms: you'll love this film! 'Max Payne' in my mind truly deserves one star. First review I've given with such a dismal score!
I Am Legend
(2007)
A Missed Opportunity
29 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
As a fan of science-fiction I really did expect to enjoy this, but found it to be a massive let-down instead. There are some good moments but they are unfortunately few and far between. Basically, a lot of the movies' premise does not check out. How, when you're the last survivor of a city, do you still have electricity (and to watch DVD's on - surely you're utilizing as little as possible)? How on earth do you still manage to obtain fresh water? Food in tins - in my experience - doesn't tend to last longer than 3 years but Will looks physically stronger than ever before. Will must really enjoy pumping gas as he's driving his Mustang and some massive SUV around the city for much of the film. Of all the practical vehicles he could have chosen, these must rank last. Point is, if these critical survival issues really were based around some inch of realism, he'd surely be much worse off than he was.
Will also wasn't very credible as this scientist attempting to discover the Zombie cure, while at the same time something of a highly-trained Navy Seal, excellent with his weapons and a master of self-defense. The two disciplines are surely at odds with each other.
The pace of the film was also terribly drawn-out, there are periods where little of interest happens. Really bizarre. The characters (the few that inhabit the film) are poorly developed and the entire film just comes off as something very superficial when it really could have been much better developed. For example, Will is mentally unstable at some point when he does his usual shopping trip and is surrounded by mannequins inside of the store, notices one that's new, and has an internal conundrum over how to introduce himself. This I can appreciate: he's been without any human company for 3 years and has seen a lot of tragic events unfold. His means of relating to human life is retarded due to a lack of development. He's a little 'toasted' psychologically. However, later in the film when he meets 2 other survivors he seems within a very short period of time to adjust to his new visitors. It's like going to a psychiatrist for one session and being cured of your mental illness: unrealistic. There were many other loose ends that just never got tied up.
A real disappointment for something that could have - with more depth and intelligent rationale - been the movie of the year.
Oh, and lastly, Will plays some Bob Marley to his briefly-featured female companion near the end and asks her if she's heard of 'Marley' before (as this music brings him mentally closer to his family). Bizarrely, she asks if he means 'Damian' (whom is actually Bob's son). WTF? Is there anyone on planet earth whom can understand English who's not heard of Uncle Bob? I sincerely doubt it. Sci-fi meets Bob Marley: a peculiarity untouched!
Will also wasn't very credible as this scientist attempting to discover the Zombie cure, while at the same time something of a highly-trained Navy Seal, excellent with his weapons and a master of self-defense. The two disciplines are surely at odds with each other.
The pace of the film was also terribly drawn-out, there are periods where little of interest happens. Really bizarre. The characters (the few that inhabit the film) are poorly developed and the entire film just comes off as something very superficial when it really could have been much better developed. For example, Will is mentally unstable at some point when he does his usual shopping trip and is surrounded by mannequins inside of the store, notices one that's new, and has an internal conundrum over how to introduce himself. This I can appreciate: he's been without any human company for 3 years and has seen a lot of tragic events unfold. His means of relating to human life is retarded due to a lack of development. He's a little 'toasted' psychologically. However, later in the film when he meets 2 other survivors he seems within a very short period of time to adjust to his new visitors. It's like going to a psychiatrist for one session and being cured of your mental illness: unrealistic. There were many other loose ends that just never got tied up.
A real disappointment for something that could have - with more depth and intelligent rationale - been the movie of the year.
Oh, and lastly, Will plays some Bob Marley to his briefly-featured female companion near the end and asks her if she's heard of 'Marley' before (as this music brings him mentally closer to his family). Bizarrely, she asks if he means 'Damian' (whom is actually Bob's son). WTF? Is there anyone on planet earth whom can understand English who's not heard of Uncle Bob? I sincerely doubt it. Sci-fi meets Bob Marley: a peculiarity untouched!
Horrid fodder
26 August 2006
If you are a still a sucker for good CGI effects then you'll like it as some of this is pretty good (rogue pirates and kraken). But after so many years of groundbreaking computer graphics, this is hardly a recipe for success anymore. I found the dialogue terrible, with little wit or intelligent humour to be found. Everything felt corny and flat. At times the the clarity of dialogue was also questionable. Storyline was convoluted as characters and script wasn't very well strung together and just left me brainlessly soaking up action scene after action scene but feeling empty about the overall depth of experience. These actors were stretched to 1% of their actual acting capacity (except for a couple whom actually had the scope in their character to really shine).
Revolver
(2005)
Garbage in, garbage out!
10 November 2005
Warning: Spoilers
The entire premise of the film is utter rubbish. You don't get given another 3 days to live in order to go about caught up in the type of pursuits Jason got caught up in! Why the need to be 'protected' and to hand over all one's money when - if your last few days - surely you'd want to do a heck of a lot of other things where surely you wouldn't get tracked down anyway! I consider dying on a beach in South America a damn sight more understandable than running about forking over my earnings for some 'protection'. Without this basic premise holding the up, the rest of the film had little gravitas, in my view.
I found the film generally to be contrived and pretentious. To me it seemed to be a case of 'bullsh*t baffles brains'. Guy Ritchie also has proved to have a sense of humour, where on earth did that go? It just rambles on without much punctuation.
The animation scenes seemed totally gratuitous. A poor copy trying to match up to Tarantino's genuine love for Manga with his particular inclusion on Kill Bill.
I found the film generally to be contrived and pretentious. To me it seemed to be a case of 'bullsh*t baffles brains'. Guy Ritchie also has proved to have a sense of humour, where on earth did that go? It just rambles on without much punctuation.
The animation scenes seemed totally gratuitous. A poor copy trying to match up to Tarantino's genuine love for Manga with his particular inclusion on Kill Bill.
The Piano Player
(2002)
How many alternative adjectives for terrible can I think of?
25 September 2005
This film (available here on DVD) was so terrible, that it was - without hesitation - switched off within 20 minutes. At first flattering to see the Mother City in which I reside covered with quick cuts from moving cars etc etc, but this is not a sight-seeing documentary, nor is it aiming to be! The acting is most amateur and the plot written by imbeciles. As mentioned in a previous review, little really makes any sense. I really didn't care: with so many movies to choose from this was without hesitation dumped back on the rental counter. BTW, I've seen many dodgy movies in the last few years with Dennis Hopper and as for Christopher Lambert: 'one dimensional' comes to mind, I'm afraid.
Bad Company
(2002)
Not as bad as scathing reviews...
7 April 2003
This film, as far as action films goes, is really not all that bad. I normally don't like the genre too much for it's continuance of formula, but this film was a surprise. The choreography was very well done and there were some good one-liners contributing to some amusement along the way. Anthony Hopkins and Chris Rock act well in this film, alongside the twisted Russian mafia boss whom was brilliant, also to be found acting in the superb Guy Richie film 'Snatch'. The photography of Prague was stunning, great camera angles and a dramatic mood portrayed well in this beautiful city.
Regarding the Trevor Rabin track 'BMBBO'... I loved immediately it for its grace and sombre melancholic mood when I heard it in the film, but was so mistaken when finally getting hold of the track... what trickery! The beautiful strings and violin, the elegance and subtlety, gets butchered a minute in by tacky electronica. what a shame to have this masterpiece ruined. In the film obviously adaptations were made for particular scenes and I got the high-octane 'alternative' version, as released on the CD, which by the way, sounds like something from the 80's, a Jean-Michelle Jare lasertropic overdose.
Regarding the Trevor Rabin track 'BMBBO'... I loved immediately it for its grace and sombre melancholic mood when I heard it in the film, but was so mistaken when finally getting hold of the track... what trickery! The beautiful strings and violin, the elegance and subtlety, gets butchered a minute in by tacky electronica. what a shame to have this masterpiece ruined. In the film obviously adaptations were made for particular scenes and I got the high-octane 'alternative' version, as released on the CD, which by the way, sounds like something from the 80's, a Jean-Michelle Jare lasertropic overdose.
Tell Your Friends