Your Critique

First topic message reminder :

This is one is similar to the 'What are you currently ? threads

Just tell us what you've seen recently and your short reviews.

My most recent is Transformers 2.
The movie is basically: Action. Megan Fox. Action. Action. Joke. Megan Fox. Action. Action. Joke. Joke. Action. End.

[sarcasm] Can't wait for Transformers 3 [/sarcasm]

Watch the Toy Story movies!
its really good!

RedWOLF wrote:[color=red]If Omkar sees Departed he'd probably go kill himself. That's too much blood and way too much Jack Nicholson for him

whoa! hold it kyo and reddy, of course i have seen departed. AND I LOVED IT! did you lose out the phrase 'rawness depicted in a refined way' phrase in my godfather review? the violence in departed, though in some times was really shocking(the scene in which the police officer drops from the sky in front of Leonardo- gawd!

anyway i saw EVIL WOMAN yesterday. it was called SAVING SILVERMAN on the movie listings and even on imdb but when i watched it, its called EVIL WOMAN. strange, but when i looked it up, i discovered its got different titles for different countries(australia and Philippines has EVIL WOMAN) . this movie is an idiotic absolutely brainless comedy and I absolutely lapped it up, even though i usually don't go for such movies. its about the attempt of 2 friends to save their best friend from marrying a bitchy manipulative woman whom they feel is not 'one and the only one' for him. so they kidnap the woman, help their friend discover his real love for a woman who's on her way to become a nun while discovering something about themselves on the way- they are complete losers and one of them is a gay loser. the cast has jack black and the 'bitch' is the droolingly hawt amanda peet and that's enough to give this stupid flick a dekko.

that aint much blood
see the movies like saw,hostel etc
or try killbill
then ull see how blood and gore is!
godfather doesnt qualify into that category!
though godfather is still the best made movie!

@ Omkar... like i said ... you cant NOT have seen Departed... but try the others in that list... you could/should like them... The Untouchables
was one of my favorites BTW...

I think there is a Hindi movie which rips off part of the Evil Woman storyline... or it might be a coincidence... but I dont believe in coincidences... not very much anyway...

@ All... I saw Ponyo... English Dubs... does not really fit in under the Hollywood or Asian category if you think about it... check the Anime movies section for my take on Ponyo...

Well, Diwali holidays has meant that I go on a movie marathon. In last 3 days, I have watched 8 movies. Most of them good.

Romance:

Before Sunrise: Involves a He and She meeting up in train, feeling a 'connection', deciding to hang out more in Venice before He has to take his flight to America on the next morning i.e. all they have is time before sunrise. The entire movie is an intelligent conversation between the characters about a variety of topics and not just the mushy stuff. Simplistic style of movie-making and some brillinat dialogues create this excellent movie. Should be a part of the curriculum for all the aspiring romantic-fiction writers.

Before Sunset: Its sequel. In Before Sunrise, He and She decide to meet up 6 months later and don't take each other's contact nos. as they are rational ppl and they want to check whether what they felt was love or just infatuation. The meeting never happens and they chance upon each other 8 years later when He has written a fictional book on the two of them and the night they spent. This time, they have just a day to spend before He has to take off in the evening i.e. Before Sunset. I was really apprehensive of disappointment but then this is real good stuff too, just a wee bit shoddier than the previous. This is how a sequel to Before Sunrise is made.

Romantic comedy:

Love Actually: From which the shitty Salaam-e-Ishq was copied. This is all Bollywood nonsense in an endearing Hollywood style. Got many simultaneous romantic tracks before their culmination in the end i.e. at Christmas. In some stories, I actually felt like taking down notes. The tracks of porn stars and another one involving a writer and his household help falling in love even though He is English and She, a Portuguese are extraordinary. A feel good watch.

Drama/Fantasy:

Green Mile: Made me realize the genius of Stephen King on whose book this movie is based. Its narrated by a police officer working in the execution block of a prison called the Green Mile. This block uses electric chair to people sentenced to death and the officer played by Tom Hanks is supposed to oversee it. One day a man convicted for a beastly crime arrives. In the days running upto the execution date, Tom and his collegues discover that he's harmless, helpful and has supernatural powers and start wondering how such a nice man is sentenced to death. Extremely emotional with powerhouse performances, King style badass-ness and the most disturbing scene I have ever seen, this movie ranks in my list of the top 5 of all time.

Drama:

Stand By me: Made me realize the versatility of King on whose novella The Body this movie is based. Its about a group of children in their tweens losing their innocence as they embark on a journey to see a dead body of a boy killed recently but never found. Its not cute as you might expect, has plenty of crassness but still an engaging experience with the friendship of Gordie and Chris standing out.

Shit comedy:

Scary Movie 5: No story. I couldn't bear it beyond 15 min and fast forwarded through it. Avoid it at any cost.

Date movie: Extreme gooeyness is supposed to make you laugh. Crap crap crap crap.

Ninja Assasisin
weak story line and even weaker dialogues
it has gory violence too.

the good things about the movie are the stunt cordination and the graphics are mindblowing

the first half is pure crap but it starts gettin better in the second since there is more fighting

an ending fight with an ultra super boss villain
sub boss levels
5 hit combos
its like a game based movie!

The Golden Child;
Mwahahaha! the first part is damn funny! I mean with all the funny dialogues. And then its all romance and the peela crap in the end... must watch if you like sarcasm and Eddie Murphy X Tibetan chick

The Attack On The Pin-Up Boys:
watch if you don't mind Korean slapstick stuff about chucking shit (literally) at popular guys. Really funny when the popular guys end up begging the 'attacker' to actually throw shit at em to make them even more popular. Yeah, and the actors are all Super Junior members (except KyuHyun who was recovering from a car accident then). Random jokes, rather childish and weird...but hell lot of fun!

Oookay, It's been a while since I came to this thread so here goes-

Scott Pilgrim vs The World:
INSANE. And Pretty good. It's basically part love story part action, and pays homages to classic arcade games in almost every third scene.


True Grit-
Jeff Bridges acts pretty well. As does the female-14 years old and nominated for best supporting actress, not bad. What I really enjoyed were the authentic accents and the Ending, which isn't stereotypically happy. But not sad either.

The Kings Speech-
Really good. Well made stuff. Colin Firth plays a stutterer really well, showing the problems he has but keeping the portrayal dignified at the same time.
Helena Bonham Carter is finally in a role that isn't a witch/crazy cat lady/disheveled psycho.

Black Swan-
Whoa.
Just...Argh. Guys watching this movie might be a little disturbed, because it lures you in with some really steamy scenes and then twists them when you least expect it, messing with your brain to no end. Natalie Portman REALLY puts herself into her work in this one.
I mean REALLY.

Tron (the old 1982 one)-
I wanted to watch TRON mostly because it's place in nerd culture is fairly secure, The first movie to really use high quality computer generated animation and special effects.
Story wise, it's a little juvenile initially, but if you let it slide the rest of the movie compares the inner workings of a computer to a vast city. And it makes this comparison well.

Tron Legacy:
I came to see if this would be worth the hype. And also- DAFT PUNK. Holly crap their music is the glue that holds this movie (somewhat) together.
Mostly crazy Action sequences and Oh-My-Gosh the VERY attractive Olivia Wilde(This is the ONLY movie where she looks good) are the other reasons to watch this movie, along with big budget special effects.
Jeff bridges tries to put some depth into the proceedings by talking about 'philosophy, duuuude', but fails miserably. It's standard Summer Blockbuster stuff, really.


Superbad-
a VERY rated-R kinda deal, but brilliantly funny in my opinion.
The main storyline involves underage people trying to buy alcohol, with some of the most disgusting jokes I've ever heard, but forget that.
The REAL peak of the movie is with it's side story, which involves a person called McLovin, and some really irresponsible cops. They should just edit that into a separate movie altogether because it's flippin hilarious.

Donnie Darko-
At first I was like
Then I was like :?
Then I went WTF??
At the end, after reading the supplementary materials I was all :O

Seriously, It takes some time to get it.


The Green Hornet:
Disappointing. I wasn't expecting much, since it's Seth Rogen as a superhero, but this was even worse than I expected. It's like he couldn't get over the excitement of being in an Action movie and stuck every possible cliche into it.

RED


Amazing adaptation of a great comic- RED has great performances from all it's main actors.
Who are all, coincidentally, brilliant with their comedic timing. Bruce Willis though, is starting to get typecast as a Old,Bald, Tough guy in all his movies.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
If you ever wondered how Jhonny Depp acted so well as the borderline insane Captain Jack Sparrow, watch this movie to see him as Hunter S Thompson, crashing through Las Vegas absolutely loved up on drugs. It's a cult movie, though personally I don't see the point to it.

Austin Powers 1,2,3
Leave your brains behind while watching these spoofs of Spy movies from the 60's.
i.e. It spoofs movies from the 60's, like James Bond: The Spy who Loved Me and Goldfinger... It's good for a laugh or two, but be warned- it's fairly crude.

Up In The Air
Comedy-Drama. Good Comedy-Drama in the style of Jason Reitmans movies like Thank you For Smoking and Juno. George Clooney puts in a solid performance.


Thats about it for now...

Red wrote: How's the comic compared to this, Arr0w? Any better?
Besides the old videogame references, the best part of the whole movie for me were the songs.... expecially; Threshold, Garbage Truck, I'm So Sad So Very Very Sad, I Hate You Please Die, O Katrina!
The movie was awesome. And I really wish I caught this one in the thaters. Totally worth it.

The comic is actually better, story reference-wise. But it gets slow during the third book and kinda brooding and sad just before the final Showdown.
Also, the songs were AMAZING. That Bass Battle tune? Brilliant. And Garbage Truck, Threshold, and even Ramona, in a weird way...

Also, this never released in theaters in India. At least in Mumbai. Believe me, I was keeping track.

Red wrote:

AHA!!!
Finally someone else who's seen the movie!! YAY!

It was pretty trippy to be honest. It's a one-watch kinda thing. I don't think I'll ever go back and watch it again.

Red wrote:
the random female characters have names with double meanings; Felicity Shagwell(hmm... Heather Graham), the Japanese twins Fook-Yuu & Fook-Mi, Ivana Humpya, and that other lady in the first movie with some vag-reference.

It's Ivana Humpalot and Alotta Fagina.
Also that german lady- Frau's Lez friend 'Unibrau'.

The movie that I've watched recently is 'August Rush'

It's a pretty ordinary movie with an average, predictable ending(I was expecting much better)... The cast is okay(I liked Freddie Highmore)....
But, what stands out in the movie is the music...The concept of music connecting people is pretty nice.

I've injured meself, so I'm sitting home for the last few days. Ended up watching a fair few movies.



I just watched AKIRA and The Girl Who Leapt Through time. The deserve individual threads. Yup, THAT GOOD.

I also watched Lord Of War- Nicholas Cage movie loosely based on stories of arms dealing across the world. It's about a guy who becomes the biggest arms dealer in the world and then things start going strange for him.

It's been a while since Nick Cage put in a good performance, so this one was surprisingly good.

also, the opening sequence is one of the best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHn1zogeyO4

Source Code was fairly good. But I found the romantic part quite silly.
How exactly are you going to make a half decent connection between people when

Spoiler:

Also, a doubt I had about the end-

Spoiler:

As for Thor- I thought it was just O.K.
Nothing great.

Oh and as for the Heimdall controversy-According to TV tropes.

Part of the reason behind the casting of Heimdall was to keep away racists
There are Neo Nazi morons and suchlike that tend to like the Norse gods or worship some twisted version of them. Studio execs were worried that these bastards might cling onto the film like a lamprey sucking away at the bottom line. Though i am not going to say this was the only reason why he was cast (he was pretty damn awesome in the part), but i could imagine some studio execs and marketing guys looking over the list of people who want to play the role and did well and said "of these three final guys, lets go with the black guy because he is going to keep those racist morons away"

Though thats mostly because Thor is the factor that makes Marvel comics cheesy and corny and unbelievable. All good characteristics of a sandwich or pasta, but not good for a comic book.

I mean, Thor is a God, apparently. And at full God mode he can kick anythings butt.
Consider the Avengers Movie in a situation Like this.

You have a God- Thor.
You have a giant monster of brute force and destruction- The Hulk
You have a guy in an impenetrable armored suit that has more weapons than certain countries.
^And he comes with a sidekick who's basically the same with more weapons.
You have Captain America- A Super Soldier who fights with his...Unbreakable Shield?

At this point things start getting unfairly skewed in terms of powers.

I mean, after those four guys, the rest of the Avengers can just sit in a corner and fap, for all the good that they do.
Spiderman? Angsty teenager with a dry sense of humor,.
Hawkeye? A guy with good aim. Using a Bow and Arrow. That guy is so dead it's not even funny. Whats he going to do against enemies that warp the very fabric of space-time?
(By the way, that WAS Hawkeye making a cameo in the movie)
Luke Cage- Big Black Guy. Yeah, thats basically it. WTF is he even doing here that the first four can't handle?

So yeah, I dislike Thor.
Still the movie was kinda fun.
Did you see the post credits scene? It ties this movie in with Captain America.

And I'm not really looking forward to Cap America as much as I'm looking forward to X Men First Class. The trailers looked great (But I still haven't forgiven them for Origins:Wolverine)

Jin wrote:Ninja Assasisin
the good things about the movie are the stunt cordination and the graphics are mindblowing

What about Rain, man? I sat through the entire movie only for that guy. *O*

The movie that I've watched recently is 'August Rush'

It's a pretty ordinary movie with an average, predictable ending(I was expecting much better)... The cast is okay(I liked Freddie Highmore)....
But, what stands out in the movie is the music...The concept of music connecting people is pretty nice.

Robin Williams was awesome in the movie, but it wasn't his best. I agree with you on the "Outstanding music" part.

Ah... its been forever since I posted here last... lots of movies have come and gone in that time...

But... lets stick to the recent ones... in no particular order...


Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: I read the book a long time ago... had forgotten most of what had happened so the movie was not completely ruined for me...

This movie has a fantastic cast... top notch performances all around... direction is also pretty good... story jumps between flashbacks and present time so viewers may struggle to get a sense of the timeline sometimes... but they have done a good job of dropping enough hints that you can reconstruct the story if you're paying attention...

7.5/10

Tintin: Well this movie released very late out here... and I am a big Tintin fan so my views are understandably biased... I went in with high expectations and while they were not all satisfied... I did not come out disappointed...

Sure they took a lot of liberties with the story... and kinda turned Tintin into Indiana Jones... but they did set it up for a sequel where I might get to see Prof Calculus... and given how well they mixed the stories together... they might throw Sponz, Mueller or Alcazar into the mix too...

Animation was amazing... the scene in the rain with the seaplane was superb...

7.8/10 (People who are not rabid Tintin fans might take off a half star)

50/50: Now... not many people may imagine that a movie about a dude with cancer could be funny and inspirational and not offensive at the same time... esp. if you have Seth Rogen in the mix.... but 50/50 manages that... with style... This is arguably the best drama cum comedy I have seen in years... every actor has done a fine job... Seth Rogen included... I would say more... but you have to see it to believe it...

8.2/10

Haywire: Despite the title... this is actually a very.... simple... movie... straight line story telling for the most part... flashbacks are clear cut and viewers will never have trouble establishing a timeline... the best way to describe it is a no frills spy movie... no sports cars being unnecessarily blown up or otherwise manhandled... no super gadgets... there is also only one unnecessary cocking of a gun and pulling of a slide (as far as I can tell)... and the ending is suitably 'obscure'... most importantly, the director does not waste precious minutes explaining things which don't need to be explained... he chooses to assume that his audience is at least capable of connecting some dots themselves...

7.8/10

Hugo: Martin Scorsese... and 3D... the twain have finally met... and the result was nothing short of spectacular... this movie is a visual and historical treat... particularly for the more hardcore cinema lovers... but where Scorsese really impressed me was in the manner he converted what could have been a documentary about Melies into an entertaining and engaging family movie... not a genre he is known for... I would say more... but words wont do this film justice... you have to see it to believe it...

8.5/10

The Whistleblower: Serious film on a serious subject... graphic violence and brutally honest depiction of the atrocities sometimes committed by the very people who are supposed to stop them... Rachel Weisz in arguably her best performance ever... The film is fast paced and keeps you on the edge... the climax is very well done... even though the ending is... well... no spoilers from me...

7.8/10

Super 8: The film makes no secret of the homage being paid to Steven Speilberg and his movies... but it still manages to be original and entertaining at the same time... Lots of children in the cast (probably another tip of the hat to Speilberg there) and they are well used without being annoying or too cheesy... the adult cast also does well... playing their roles with conviction... the alien itself is sufficiently mysterious... the viewer does not actually see it until late in the movie... and when you do see it... its big and has enough strange appendages to keep you scared but interested... The story has various elements to it... not just the alien... and that makes it more... real... somehow... it also keeps you from getting bored...

7.5/10

Drive: This film is graphic (to say the least), a very terse no nonsense movie. Heck, they manage to get through the whole movie without giving the main character an introduction. Yep, no name... people just call him 'the driver.' I felt like I was watching an episode of Golgo 13, the dialog is THAT limited. Anyway, nothing too fancy in terms of stunts or suchlike, but the killings are... extreme. When people die in this movie, they REALLY die...

7.8/10

Ides of March: I went in with high expectations for this one and came out a tad disappointed. Objectively speaking it is a good movie, but somehow I felt that it would be about a much deeper conspiracy. Anything more I would say would spoil it. Good acting all around, even Marisa Tomeis cameo ish performance.

7.2/10

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: First of all, this film is not for the faint of heart. Although supposedly watered down from the stuff in the book, there are at least two scenes which one might find... disturbing... It is worth the watch nevertheless, and I am almost certain that those scenes will be edited out in any version released in India. Naomi Rapace shines with Daniel Craig offering steady support, even with a rather meager and shallow character to work with.

8.2/10

MI4 Ghost Protocol: None of the MI movies other than the first have really impressed me. The first had an element of suspense which none of the others even attempted to replicate. This one does try to create an aura of suspense initially, but sheds it pretty quickly. That said, the stunts in this one are mind blowing, the sequences in Dubai in particular. The story writers took care to wrap up all the little threads into a neat little bow at the end, something I thought was a nice touch. Even the most minor character had a meaningful role to play. But having said that, I was supremely disappointed with Anil Kapoors role in the film. As a rather senior member of the Indian film industry, I think he should have refused to participate.

7/10

Captain America: As far as superhero movies go, this one is nothing special. Not as bad as some, but nowhere near the best either. Good effects and decent acting I suppose, although much time is devoted to chaotic battles.

Personally, I enjoyed the 1st half of the movie (lets call it 'before power up') more than the latter half ('after power up'). Once he gets his superpowers, the movie becomes very humdrum, standard superhero fare and very few of the humorous moments which were more abundant before the power up.
Another key flaw is that the villain never really inspires the dread, or hate or any other emotion that one would expect. There is no doubt that he is suitably evil and suitably powerful, but he basically does nothing. You never see him really get involved in the movie, even for his own evil plot. I mean, in every other superhero movie, the villain is ever present, he will take the initiative to do stuff himself, or at least be seen gloating or cursing and or giving out orders or performing some villainy with his own hands... no such luck here.
In my opinion, this movie is a pool of wasted potential; an opportunity squandered. Perhaps they are focusing on the Avengers, but they lost the chance to make a great movie here and settled for average...

7.0/10

I honestly think this is the best thread on the site as of now...

kyo wrote:


Drive: This film is graphic (to say the least), a very terse no nonsense movie. Heck, they manage to get through the whole movie without giving the main character an introduction. Yep, no name... people just call him 'the driver.' I felt like I was watching an episode of Golgo 13, the dialog is THAT limited. Anyway, nothing too fancy in terms of stunts or suchlike, but the killings are... extreme. When people die in this movie, they REALLY die...

7.8/10

I watched this one a month back on a friends recommendation. I found it mighty weird, the music being the main contributor to this feeling.
The story was a bit...minimalist? Not a regular heist movie. Not a regular crime movie, no straightforward structure. It's like someone filmed a few days of someones life with as many camera angles as he could and then put it together.

But it has it's moments. Such as-

Spoiler:

Super 8: The film makes no secret of the homage being paid to Steven Speilberg and his movies... but it still manages to be original and entertaining at the same time... Lots of children in the cast (probably another tip of the hat to Speilberg there) and they are well used without being annoying or too cheesy... the adult cast also does well... playing their roles with conviction... the alien itself is sufficiently mysterious... the viewer does not actually see it until late in the movie... and when you do see it... its big and has enough strange appendages to keep you scared but interested... The story has various elements to it... not just the alien... and that makes it more... real... somehow... it also keeps you from getting bored...

7.5/10

Is it really worth watching? I saw a preview that was a hidden playable level on the game 'Portal 2', but it seemed very vague. Like Battle LA. I didn't like that movie.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: First of all, this film is not for the faint of heart. Although supposedly watered down from the stuff in the book, there are at least two scenes which one might find... disturbing... It is worth the watch nevertheless, and I am almost certain that those scenes will be edited out in any version released in India. Naomi Rapace shines with Daniel Craig offering steady support, even with a rather meager and shallow character to work with.

8.2/10

I've downloaded this a week back but haven't gotten down to watching it yet. My time has been occupied with reading the 'Hunger Games' novels before the movie comes out so I can rub my cool hipster-ness in everybody's faces and say 'The book was better'
(UPDATE-
I'm on book 3 and the series started to suck terribly around the end of book 2. The fact that the whole series is only 3 books long is the only thing keeping me going. That, and also I want to see if everybody dies.

I have a bad feeling that when the movie comes out it's going to be the next 'Twilight')

I gave the novel of 'Girl with a Dragon Tattoo' a shot but the E book had shitty mistakes and a tiny font, so I dropped the idea a few chapters in. It didn't seem that disturbing, I got the feeling that it was going to be a 'Swordfish'-style action plot revolving around Hacking and things.

Captain America: As far as superhero movies go, this one is nothing special. Not as bad as some, but nowhere near the best either. Good effects and decent acting I suppose, although much time is devoted to chaotic battles.

Personally, I enjoyed the 1st half of the movie (lets call it 'before power up') more than the latter half ('after power up'). Once he gets his superpowers, the movie becomes very humdrum, standard superhero fare and very few of the humorous moments which were more abundant before the power up.
Another key flaw is that the villain never really inspires the dread, or hate or any other emotion that one would expect. There is no doubt that he is suitably evil and suitably powerful, but he basically does nothing. You never see him really get involved in the movie, even for his own evil plot. I mean, in every other superhero movie, the villain is ever present, he will take the initiative to do stuff himself, or at least be seen gloating or cursing and or giving out orders or performing some villainy with his own hands... no such luck here.
In my opinion, this movie is a pool of wasted potential; an opportunity squandered. Perhaps they are focusing on the Avengers, but they lost the chance to make a great movie here and settled for average...

7.0/10

Captain America was terrible. I hated it, and I hated myself for expecting it to be good. By far the worst movie in the Avengers lineup.
The dialogue was horrible, the plot was sparse.

and WTF was with the ending? Or, not quite the ending, the scene just prior to the ending?

I'm feeling to lazy to explain what I mean, so I'll just let HISHE do the talking for me.

Spoiler:

I know they had to explain Caps return in present day America somehow, but I don't remember the comic's origin story being that bad.

I must confess, I'm a bit biased. I really don't like Cap America as a character. I can't help but see it as a symbol for the loud and obnoxious patriotism that the world associates with the USA. I understand that the character shot to popularity after it was used as propaganda material or whatever, but it seems tired and cliched now.

MI4 Ghost Protocol: None of the MI movies other than the first have really impressed me. The first had an element of suspense which none of the others even attempted to replicate. This one does try to create an aura of suspense initially, but sheds it pretty quickly. That said, the stunts in this one are mind blowing, the sequences in Dubai in particular. The story writers took care to wrap up all the little threads into a neat little bow at the end, something I thought was a nice touch. Even the most minor character had a meaningful role to play. But having said that, I was supremely disappointed with Anil Kapoors role in the film. As a rather senior member of the Indian film industry, I think he should have refused to participate.

7/10

MI:1 was great.
2 was meh
3 was meh
4 was meh, until the point where the 'Mumbai' (Actually Canada) scenese with Anil Kapoor. At which point It got more of a FUUUUUUUUU- reaction out of me. I don't care if he makes an ass out of himself, but It felt like a caricature targeted at Indians in general, couldn't help but feel a bit pissed.

The MI movies are basically an excuse to show Tom Cruise running toward the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJdMDvjfyQ0

Another observation from my friend- When Tom Cruise has longer hair in an MI movie, it's a bit worse than usual.
i.e MI2 and MI4

Super 8: I dunno... I liked Super 8, it had a bit of Ridley Scotts Alien meets Speilbergs ET kinda feel to it...

Battlefield LA: This was a WTFJH movie. The problem was that they didnt actually give us a conclusion. Not to mention there was no apparent backstory for the aliens either... I mean...Why were they invading us in the first place? I realize that US army dudes and dudettes are probably all badasses... but seriously? Going back to fight some more... like immediately...? Coulda taken some R&R...
Heck they even gave us an explanation in Independence day and the Transformers movies for crying out loud... not even in an anime do they forget to mention why any invading alien race actually wants the earth...


Since my last entry here... I have seen...

Safe House: Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. They do their damndest to make this movie feel 'fresh.' But get no help from the script which just comes off as a Bourne series wannabe. The problem is that there are too many spy movies with too similar scripts. That said, Denzel and Reynolds still put in a star effort... they really are the only reason I would tell anyone to watch the movie.... cause they could simply watch the myriad other spy movies and mishmash them to arrive at this story... Denzels role was also a good one. His character was refreshingly different from most you will see in this genre.... a real antihero... Reynolds on the other hand had a fairly stock 'naive n00b spy' character to work with... and he does it well...

7.6/10 Simply beause Denzel and Reynolds did such a good job with such an overused looking script...

I try not to rate movies under 7 unless they're godawful.... and I usually manage to avoid those... this one was certainly not bad enough to get a 7...

Standard spy movie script:

Good-guy / good-gal agent is seen performing some 'routine' mission.
All of a sudden he/she is hunted by his own agency or just drops into the middle of some godawful mess.
Agent discovers that they are part of some conspiracy or have been otherwise framed.
Agent kills random henchmen or some supposedly bad-ass assassins etc
Agent obtains some evidence of his innocence
Agent blows the whistle on his corrupt superiors or maybe just kills them (killing is more likely to occur if superiors managed to escape legal punishment)
In between all of this, some of the agents friends/lover and/or family are usually killed or taken hostage to put pressure on him. Of course he rescues them and sends them to a safe location and/or exacts vengeance (as necessary), but the order varies.
Agent is shown to be still alive and still badass and living happily ever after (there is usually a scene of reuniting with the lover or family at this point, friends are shown sipping coffee or other beverage in some chic looking bistro/bar).

New movie released on V-day "the vow "it seems cool
There also an intresting one called the woman in black