ballisticwesker-263-233757 Reviews

Police Story (1985)

Police Story

[10/10 · 14 October 2012]

This is arguably one of the best action movies ever made. Even though the kind of character that Jackie portrays has been seen many times before; the kind of cop who doesn't always play by the rules. What Jackie did was mixing Kung Fu and modern urban cop which was never really seen before.

The plot is straightforward but quite decent too. Convincing and quite fresh. Usually when it is this kind of movie it is often hard to find places where there is some hand-to-hand combat (usually have gun play). But Police Story does and in a convincing way. When I mean in a convincing way some movies always have stupid reasons for not bringing guns.

The stunts are of course dangerous in this movie and they give an extra element of excitement too. If you think this movie is all serious (if you haven't watched it) don't worry there is still some Jackie humor. Jackie has stated that this is his best action movie and who wanna argue with that? The movie got lots of action, one of the biggest stunts ever, a decent plot and a likable and convincing character (and lots of Kung-Fu fights).

As an action movie it is in my top 10 list of the Best Action Movies of all times.

10/10

Batman Begins (2005)

Batman Begins

[6/10 · 7 October 2012]

I thought the movie was interesting in the beginning but now I kinda find it boring. The reason for it is that the movie takes itself quite seriously and combined with plot holes I find it quite hard now to like this movie. I mean the actresses and the actors are good and they are delivering good performances.

It is just the way Batman is portrayed I have a problem with. Because the director made the mistake of trying to say that Batman is Bruce Wayne and not Bruce Wayne is Batman. I mean come on the only real reason for that Batman exists is because of Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne saw his parents get killed in front of his very eyes and not through the eyes of Batman. Bruce Wayne trained to mental and physical perfection as Bruce Wayne not as Batman. Try to say that the real personality is Batman and not Bruce Wayne than you're taking away the whole motivation behind Batman which is Bruce. Batman is just a mask, a split personality of Bruce Wayne's. If Batman was the real personality then Batman is just an i**t in a suit.

About the plot holes there is one major one which annoys me to the point of wanting to you don't wanna know. The one about the scare gas at the end and that secret weapon thingy.

Anyway 6/10.

Batman (1989)

Batman.

[10/10 · 12 August 2012]

Well where can I start? I have been watching this movie since I was a child so it kinda have a special place in my heart. Maybe not the best movie to portray the "real" Batman but the story is quite intriguing. For example the villain created the hero and then the hero created the villain (the circle of evil).

Even though Michael Keaton is not tall enough to be Batman/Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton 175 cm, Batman 188 cm) he carried the role really well. He did a good Batman and a good Bruce Wayne. Jack Nicholson playing the Joker couldn't be more perfect because he manages to be clownishly funny and also scary at the same time.

Well Harvey is portrayed by a black guy (can't remember his name but I know he was in the old Star Wars movies), and Vicki is blonde(!) and Alfred is played by an old horror Icon and Gordon is fat. But the actress and the actors did quite well even though some of them had a short screen time.

I gotta say that I disagree with people saying that the sequel of this movie is darker. I think this one is a lot darker than the sequel and the reason for why I say it is because it has got a cynical sense of humor and irony. For example Batman was "created" by Jack and Batman "created" Joker by dropping him into the chemicals. Batman then gets his revenge by killing the Joker and thus destroy his "maker" and kill the man who made him which he also "created". Such irony huh?

By the way people have a tendency to forget that the character Batman was inspired by the pulps from the 1930's and Batman used to kill villains. Which some find so "UnBatman" but I think it depends from person to person who the real Batman is.

Anyway I am making the review too long so I'm finishing with: Damn good movie!!!!!!! 10/10 or whatever the f*** you say when you really like it.

Klown (2010)

Lol!!

[10/10 · 18 June 2012]

Well I gotta say that I couldn't wait to see this movie when it came out. I became a fan of "Klovn" when I saw one of the episodes and now I have the whole series in one box. Anyway this is a review about the movie. Since I am an excessive fan of the series I had very high expectations and I mean very very high.

Well the plot starts as a typical "Klovn" situation namely that Frank do something stupid so he has to do something to make up for it again (in my opinion the trademark of the series). The whole crew is back and it is always a good thing since it wouldn't have worked if any of the main characters were played by other actresses or actors.

Now I have to say the movie satisfied all my expectations and then much, much more!! This is the funniest movie I have ever watched in my whole life and I laughed so much I probably woke up my neighbors (watched it in the middle of the night). The movie got the trademark humor from the series and funny and embarrassing moments come after another.

The best part was the twists and when the movie was ending I thought there were no more surprises but I was wrong. Very wrong. The climax of the movie is in my opinion the best ever made in the comedy genre. I laughed so much that I had to struggle to catch my breath, man what a hilarious movie!!!!

10/10

The Thing (I) (2011)

No! No! No! No!

[1/10 · 15 June 2012]

Well the movie got Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ulrich Thomsen a good actress and actor. But it doesn't make the movie good. The movie really sucked! Around the time it is supposed to be scary I just wanted to laugh out loud or look away because it was so ridiculous. The so called "monsters" were made ridiculously unconvincing. Yes it's CGI and it's supposed to be convincing but it didn't convince me!

While the original "The Thing" is absolutely fantastic this one is an embarrassment and almost s***s on the original idea of the original. Is Ulrich Thomsen the terrific actor getting desperate or what? He did terrific movies like "Flickering Lights" and "Brothers". Then he did "Hitman" and well he acted quite well but the movie wasn't anything special really. Then you suddenly see him in this movie?!

Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a good actress but she plays unconvincingly in this one since the movie is ridiculous and there was no point in making it and it doesn't bring any originality or something new. It's just a product you can buy in the market it got no soul nor any new in it so it is a bad product. A cynical marketing exercise that is only supposed to get "easy" money. I don't usually give 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 stars because I don't like giving half stars.

But since this movie sucked so bad I give it 1/10.

Scarface (1983)

"Say hello to my little friend!!"

[10/10 · 14 June 2012]

This movie is violent, filled with anti-morality, tasteless and with a character so antihero it would be a character you would usually hate in other movies. But it still got one of the most memorable lines and at times so violent that it is artistic. In this movie Al Pacino is scary, fascinating, violent, antihero all the things you would hate about a man.

But I gotta say the movie is one of the most entertaining movies ever made and one of the most memorable ones too. For me this is the movie where Al does his most convincing portrayal of a character, even much more memorable than what he did in "The Godfather". Even though "The Godfather" is more famous than "Scarface" I think "Scarface" is a far better movie than "The godfather". Even though a grand movie "The Godfather" is I think it still gets boring and a little too long where as "Scarface" never stops to be fascinating.

So yes I think this is a better gangster movie than "The Godfather" since it doesn't let go when it first grabs your hands. This is arguable the best and biggest Antihero movie ever made in the history of cinema. If it wasn't Al Pacino playing the lead role I think the movie would have sucked because I don't think no other actor could bear such a character like Tony Montana.

Even though very violent and seems to s*** on moral it still doesn't glorify any of the things that Tony Montana does. It actually tells you not to do those things that Tony Montana does in the movie. Why? Because for every evil thing he do there will be a penalty, he does not get away with the bad things he has done in the movie. You think "oh my god such a waste of life being a man like that".

So yes beyond all that violence and senseless killings (the movie got a lot of them) "Scarface" still got a message and moral code. It is not in the violence of the movie you find it but rather after it, when you see what kind of consequences Tony face after what he did. So I can conclude this is a very violent movie and still being able to match today's standard of violence you get in modern movies but still does not glorify violence nor the gangsters and other "scum" of life.

The best antihero movie ever made in the history of cinema! 10/10

City of the Living Dead (1980)

City of the Living Dead...

[10/10 · 13 June 2012]

The title always pop up in my head every time I think of Zombies or old school horror movies. It was the first movie from director Lucio Fulci I watched, I saw the cover, got excited (I asked my mum and stepfather to buy me old zombie movies) and after I watched it, I was disappointed...

Well it was the first I saw it but I found it quite fascinating too. Even though the plot and the story did not have any logical sense to it and the actresses and actors were bad (at times so bad you actually just laugh even though it is the idea you have to be shocked). But the movie got some of the most memorable executions in the history of cinema and the effects are quite ahead of their time.

So I got more and more fascinated by this movie (and the concept of it) and by Lucio and the more I see this movie, the more fond I am of this movie. Sure the plot is utterly ridiculous, sure the acting is bad but if you see it as a whole it is quite a fascinating imagination Lucio had. So what I am saying is when you watch it be open minded and don't have too high expectations. After you watched it, it will either be a movie you love or hate.

It is one of the few movies that gives me a sense of doom, something evil crawling up my spine and chills me to the bone. So yeah I love this old horror movie.

Phenomena (1985)

Huh...?!

[8/10 · 13 June 2012]

I thought when I read the back side of the DVD cover of this movie (a friend of mine dropped it by into my room without me knowing), "Danish school girls, an intelligent chimpanzee, a mutant, masks and a girl that can communicate with flies. That are the ingredients in Dario Argento's Phenomena".

I already got interested when I read through "Danish school girls..." I thought it was some kind of joke. But I was wrong there were/are danish school girls in this movie. Well anyway I wanted to see how Dario pulled off these crazy ideas in this movie so after 20 minutes or so I started to watch the movie.

I gotta say Dario pulled it off quite well being reasonable entertaining and being more gory than most "toothless" horror movies. Jennifer Connelly carries the character quite well and so does Donald Pleasence, the plot of the movie was told better than I expected. I think the concept of the movie is far more better than most modern so called horror movies and has a better gory side to it as well.

Well it's no means a quality movie but it is still quite entertaining and so much better than most modern "horror" movies.

8/10

Heart of Dragon (1985)

Yay!

[8/10 · 12 June 2012]

If you think that Jackie Chan can't act then go watch this movie. Why? Because he actually acted quite well in this movie along with Sammo Hung who got out of his usual ways and acted a retard.

If you're used to Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon then you might be surprised that Jackie can actually act a complex character (unlike the stereo-types he did in Hollywood). Not many actors can cry (or at least drop a tear) in front of a camera and Jackie actually did it.

Sammo Hung plays quite well as Jackie's retarded brother and it must have been hard to act a retard (not to mention he dropped some tears too). We mostly get to see the two doing some action movies where the plot(s) have to get in line for the action, so it was good to see them do a movie where the plot comes in first row.

Yes I said it, unlike most of the movies they did together this one relies more on acting and plot and all the action is just a plus. I got quite touched with the way they both acted and the plot and the story was quite good too, very touching. There were times where I cried watching this one and I never expected to cry in a Jackie and Sammo movie so yes it is a good movie with good acting.

But although I gotta say it is not his best movie either. 8/10

The Young Master (1980)

The Young Master

[8/10 · 5 June 2012]

One of Jackie's most memorable movies ever made since it brought the early prototypes of Jackie's now trademark choreography. It is not Jackie's best movie since he had to rush making it (and I'm pretty sure it would be one of his best if they had given him more time) but you sure can't miss this movie since this is the movie that set the cornerstones of his later trademark choreography.

In this movie you see Jackie's good slap-stick-humor and a mix of his "old" and "new" fight choreography. Yes it is visible it was a rushed affair and part of it ain't that great, but this is a must for Kung Fu films and Jackie Chan fans.

I especially want to praise the ending of the movie which is comparable to Legend of the Drunken Master, one of Jackie's more memorable and more famous Kung Fu film. In this movie (along with Legend of the Drunken Master) Jackie actually gets scary, right there in your face staring at you in the eyes in the final fight scene.

Good movie, not his best but still good. 8/10

Qivitoq (1956)

Wonderful.

[10/10 · 5 June 2012]

The movie is wonderful and it managed to withstand time since it was made in 1956. The movie didn't only catch the harsh, cold and merciless nature of Greenland but also the wonderful side of it, if you haven't been in Greenland it's hard to understand what is so wonderful about it or when you don't know how the way the inhabitants are/were.

The way the Greenlanders are portrayed couldn't be more correct, for example before the time Greenlanders stopped being hunters and began to work instead, everybody didn't see any future in fishing and it's true in the old days when hunters were humiliated they became "Qivittoq" (correct Greenlandic spelling of "Qivitoq"). Roughly translated to English it would mean "mountain wanderer". Also the feeling of knowing everyone and having the kind of closeness that is present in the small villages in the movie couldn't have been more precise, it was like entering my hometown just smaller and more (lot more actually) primitive.

It must have been a nightmare shooting the film on the icecap since it's quite dangerous and I can't praise the people enough who made this movie, and even risk limb and life to make this movie. You also get to see a small lonely figure of a kayak between the mighty icebergs, and it must have been quite frightening since like many people say that ice is treacherous.

This movie is an unseen and overlooked masterpiece that was made and forgotten in time. I'm so happy I bought it on DVD since I wanted to see it since quite a long time ago. I also gotta say that this movie is relevant now as it was then since it carries some part of Greenland's history. For example when Denmark began to "modernize" Greenland and make it more "danish". Well they succeeded in modernizing Greenland but they did not succeed in making greenlanders "danish". The movie was mainly made because Denmark wanted to show they are good colonists by "raising" their "children". The danish being the parents and the greenlanders being the children.

Now you get it, this movie carries a small amount of Greenland's history and one of the biggest influences on Greenaland.

10/10

Project A (1983)

Project A :)

[10/10 · 26 May 2012]

This is my favorite Jackie Chan movie because it gives a lot of thrills and a lot laughs too. Also Chan's acting is more convincing than in Police Story (but I like Police Story 1 & 2 so don't think I say they are bad) and it manages to have a good plot and story mixed with a lot of action and humor. One of the things that makes it my favorite Jackie movie is the stunts. The stunts are of course very dangerous and no Hollywood actor would do them, Jackie, Sammo and Yuen makes the stunts look like elegant ballet dances and I almost always get tears in my eyes while watching the movie of sheer joy!

The humor is just so good and I always get a smile on my face when I remember one of them. One of the big pluses is that Sammo and Yuen is in this movie and it makes the movie so much more better than it already is.

It may not have the same ferocious, demonic :P and of course devil-may-care-funny ending as Legend of the Drunken Master (which in my opinion, one of the best climaxes ever made in the history of cinema) but I think the only movie which can match it is the sequel.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up! 10/10

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Dark Knight

[6/10 · 19 March 2012]

I think this one gets a little long and boring. The same way as Batman Begins and it portrays Batman which in my opinion in a wrong way. Well let's start with how he is portrayed here. I mean Batman wanting to stop being Batman? That is quite wrong. Bruce Wayne is obsessed with Batman, needs Batman so much his mind and body would start aching. Batman wouldn't want to stop being Batman because of a woman or someone "better" than him (in this case Harvey Dent). Why? He needs Batman to punish the criminal element that took away his parents; he has a personal vendetta against all criminals. But at least this movie portrayed him as the better man by not let him kill criminals.

I also gotta say the movie got too many sub plots that doesn't necessarily have to be there, and the goofs are too many and too visible and the fighting scenes doesn't convince me, too slow (Batman Begins didn't have that problem and I know it's hard to do fight scenes and takes a lot of effort but still).

I don't like it either that Rachel (the character) is played by another actress (never really liked or had interest in Katie Holmes but still), which makes it harder for me to take the character seriously which again makes it harder for me to take the movie seriously. I also wanna say the story gets boring since it's so serious and have (like I said) many sub plots that doesn't need to be there. So in my opinion a Batman movie should not be this serious since it has it's origins from a comic book.

I don't wanna call it a bad movie, I think it will be ridiculous if I do. But I rate the movie 6/10.

The Beyond (1981)

When I first...

[10/10 · 13 March 2012]

Saw this movie I had nightmare after I watched it and it never happened before. Sure I have seen a lot of horror movies like "The Exorcist", "Chucky", "Night of the Living Dead", "Carrie", "The Shining" and more good and crappy, old and new horror movies but I am not here to talk about them.

Well first of all I have a certain interest in Lucio Fulci and his way of making movies. He may not be the best director compared to the other directors from the world but he got an interesting way of making horror movies. From sadistic executions to the more abstract elements of filmmaking. The first line of his Zombie "Trilogy" was "Zombi 2" (a good zombie movie) and the second was "city of the Living Dead" and the third being "The Beyond".

Watching them it's quite fascinating the first was quite more like a straight forward zombie movie (but not following the usual zombie movie clichés), the second one (City of the Living) is more abstract and has something more to the with the supernatural and the third The Beyond is even more abstract and has even more of the supernatural.

If you approach the movie with logical thinking and sense it won't help because the movie is so abstract and like many people says it has no obvious plot. But the movie can still be quite cruel and sadistic when someone is getting killed (a little Lucio Fulci touch that unlike many horror movie directors is not afraid of being extremely sadistic in his way of showing executions). So yes the movie can be quite scary and this one gives even more a sense of doom and gives chill to the bones much more than the first two "Zombie" films.

It's no means a quality movie like "The Exorcist" or "Dawn of the Dead" (not the remake) and other horror movies but since it's the first film to give me nightmare I'll give the movie 10/10.

Death Race (2008)

Remakes...

[4/10 · 30 January 2012]

Taking an old movie and redo it again because it was either a big hit or a classic I like the idea but I never really approved it because 90% of all remakes are often bad and have never really something new to tell. That's why I find this movie boring... I didn't have any expectations to this movie and I didn't wanna watch it. But since my friends were watching it and I was bored and had nothing to do so I watched the movie, I'm not gonna say it wasn't all bad the car chases, the fights, the one liners were OK and the actors and actresses were not that bad.

But this is a remake, you don't really get anything new and they are often bad. But at least Death Race got some audiences and I recommend it for guys that just wants to see some action, hot girls and nice cars.