lissner Reviews

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Unsatisfying

[4/10 · 31 May 2006]

I need to state up front that I am a fan of the first two X-Men flicks, but this one just didn't measure up.

The biggest problem is the lack of meat. I don't mean that Wolverine appears sickly, I mean that the story was mostly bones. Interesting, but not nearly as engaging as the first two films.

I lost track of all the new characters and story lines. It's harder for me to care about or be interested in characters that have little development. For example, you get a very good history of Wolverine spread out over the first two movies. This enables the viewers to pull for or against the character. In this installment, you get some mild background on the one mutant with the bird wings. Seeee! I don't even remember his name. That was the most for a new character in this movie.

It was like eating bad pizza. I mean, I'll eat it and am happy it's at least pizza, but I'll sure complain afterwards because I know it could have been so much better.

Running Scared (2006)

Running Stupid

[5/10 · 25 February 2006]

This movie had its foot on the accelerator from scene one forward, but not in a good way. The director/writer tried so very hard to make a cool looking stylized movie that the actual good parts get lost in over the top acting/yelling from Paul Walker, crazy unnecessary lighting, camera angles, jittery flashbacks, closeups etc. You get to see a bullet go through a piece of bread a couple of times, not to advance the story or develop character, but more to show something that might be cool, but ends up being annoying.

In fact, most of the characters for a majority of the movie are simply annoying, loud, or over the top weird for effect. One character meets up with no less than 5 crazy other characters each trying to be more disturbing than the next. Once again, more annoying than anything.

The truth of the matter is that there is a good story underneath all of this terrible direction and out of control presentation/writing. It is very frustrating to see what could have been a good movie get lost in heavy handed lunacy guided by crank.

I ran to see the movie and sadly ran away once it was done.

Shade (2003)

Surprised in a couple ways.

[7/10 · 25 July 2004]

Sometimes I look at movies in terms of expectations and judge accordingly. Like 21 Grams, high expectations...and fell short. Shade, a straight to video/DVD with Stallone, mediocre at best expectations. This movie exceeded my expectations and in fact, I'd be more likely to recommend it as a rental then 21 grams. I was certainly entertained and thankfully Stallone, unlike some other straight to DVD releases, is NOT the star.

What was also unusual, was the fact that I didn't pick up on all the plot twists and they were plausible plot twists which made me feel like an actual story had been played out instead of left wondering, "where the hell did that come from"?

Better then average movie and way better then average straight to DVD. Certainly worth renting. Enjoy. If nothing else, the opening and closing credits show the viewer some very impressive slight of hand and how it's done by card sharks.