# The All-New Movie Review Thread



## ssj3boruto (Aug 26, 2006)

*Only post in this thread if you're posting a review*

In this thread you are welcome to post reviews for any movies you've seen. We'll try and build up an index which'll be kept up to date in the first post.

There's no strict format but try and keep something close to the following:



> *Film Title:*
> *Rating:*
> *Country of Origin:*
> *Genre:*
> ...



Stuff like one line reviews will be counted as spam. We can have more than one review for each subject, but remember that these are only matters of opinion.

*#*
13 Conversations About One Thing by moe
2LDK by Shroomsday

*A*
Autumn Spring by moe

*B*
Battle Royale by tobiume
Battle Royale II: Requiem by Trunkten
Beerfest by demonhunter007
Beauty and the Beast by Chee

*C*
Citizen Kane by MartialHorror
Coffee and Cigarettes by moe
Covenant, The by demonhunter007

*D*
Dark Knight, The by Black Fenix
Donnie Darko by Bro Tai Jr.

*E*
Edge of Darkness by Love
Empire of the Sun by Chee
Enchanted by HiddenMistJounin
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind by moe
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone by Hellspawn28

*F*

*G*
Grand Canyon by JB008
Good Shepherd, The by Vonocourt

*H*
Haine, La ('Hate') by Para


*I*
Ichi the Killer by Saetre

*J*
Juno by NingyoHime

*K*

*L*
Last Days by sunshine and gasoline
Lawrence of Arabia by MartialHorror

*M*
Max Payne by Taichou
Memento by tobiume
My Sassy Girl by Shroomsday

*N*

*O*
Oldboy by Hokage Naruto
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Aimless

*P*
Pan's Labryinth by Gualtieri
Pride and Glory by MartialHorror
Protector, The by demonhunter007

*Q*

*R*
Requiem  for a Dream by sunshine and gasoline

*S*
Saving Private Ryan by Captain Pip
Shaun of the Dead by Hokage Naruto
Show Me Love (aka Fucking Åmål) by less
Sin City by Captain Pip
Smart People by Vonocourt
Strictly Ballroom by Chee
Syriana by moe

*T*
Tale of Two Sisters, A by Shroomsday
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The by moe
Tropic Thunder by The MMAthematician
Twilight by Cardboard Tube Knight

*U*
Unleashed by Hokage Naruto

*V*
Vertigo by Chee

*W*
Wolverine by Hellspawn28

*X*

*Y*

*Z*


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## mow (Aug 27, 2006)

fiiiiiiiiiiiiirst post! A winnar iz i

*Film Title*:  The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada


*Director:* Tommy Lee Jones
*Actors:* Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio Cedillo, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones

It's safe to say that Tommy Lee Jones is a great actor. Infact, that's an understatment. Tommy's career spans nearly 3 decades, and in _The Three Burials..._ showcases his directoral debut. And a marvellous one it is.


*Spoiler*: _plot_ 



The basic plotline covers one major theme, the worth of a human life, the worth of the life of Melquiades Estrada, the illegal immigrant. On one hand we have the pathetic, egostical and aimless border patrol officer Barry Norton (Barry Pepper ), who  shots Melquiades Estrada while on portal. The shooting is accidental, but Pepper's action afterwards are revolting. Lacking any sympathy for Estrada, he leaves him bleeding to his death then covers up the crime by burying him in an unmarked grave. In his eyes Estrada is "the enemy"; one that doesnt deserve any compassion whatsovever.

On the other hand we have Peter Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones), a lone rancher who hires Estrdada and views him not merely as a worker, but as friend and moreso as a son. Perkins' vows to full fill his rpomise to Esrdaa, that if he died he would burry him in his little village in Mexico. To Perkins, the soul is far more important than any labelings we try to entrap a human with. The scene where he finds out his  friend has died and as he sits in his simple shack is heart breaking. 

The entire town doesnt care for the loss of Estrada, and the police force is more concered with covering up than seeking justice for the man, reburying him in the local graveyard under a different name. Perkins is outrages by this injustice, and takes it upon himself to set right what is wrong. Perkins becomes the only human amidst evil uncaring ghouls. He kidnapps Norton under gun point to uncover Estrada's grave and join him in the journay to bury Estrada for the 3rd and final time.




The storyline is non-linear, a not so uncommon quality in movies. And the fact the script was written by master writer Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams; Amores Perros) instantly hints you the quailty of movie you ar about to witness. Arriaga's style deconstructs emotions, time and space; managing to create  exptionallt authentic characters, images and connections liek a perfectly desgined jigsaw puzzle. This movie is no different. Though his style issomewhat draining (viewing the same scene frm various different POVs) it still manages to add a powerful and almost surreal aspect to every moment, to the extent that at times you cany even make the distinction between the past and the present, the real world and fantasy. 

The movie doesnt try to pull off a political view. Rather it literary pleades to to the emotions and common sense, the simplicty and the worth of every single soul. The portrayl of human connections and relationships and their importance in this dull bleak world. Here we have an aged cowboy who defies an entire town and our new "mortality" standards we seem to have set to stay true to his word and his friend. By remaining true to the most simple and basic human principles of goodness and decency he attmepts to over come injustice. Not only does he try to do that, but he also makes it a spiritual journay for Norton, one for him to repent for his sin and ask for forgiveness and redemption for his mistake and view all humans equally.

In reality; the jorunay to bury Estrada is an odessy, covering emotional boundaries so lonesome and decayind as the locations it was shot it. A most dazzling cast and acting, magnificent cinematography team up bring for an authentic observantion of our human nature. The borderlines we draw are notgeographical, but cultural, spiritual, and painfully personal.

*Rating:* 4/4


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## sunshine and gasoline (Aug 27, 2006)

_Old review just to get things going..._



*Film Title:* Last Days

*Country of Origin:* USA

*Genre: *Drama

*Plot outline:* _"Last Days is filmaker Gus Van Sant's fictional meditation on the inner turmoil that engulfs a brilliant, but troubled musician in the final hours of his life."
_
Yes, this is the movie that is "inspired" by Kurt Cobain's last days. In short it is about a young rock musician named _Blake_ that looks and acts like Kurt Cobain. This movie follows this musicians last days where he is isolated in a house out in the woods, hiding. Nevermind that his last days are very similiar to Kurt Cobain's.


*Review:*

I saw this movie last week. I went in really wanting to like it. It was very similar to Elephant. Long takes where the camera follows Blake around. Long stretches with no dialogue. I thought it was a cool movie  both visually and audiowise. 

There's no climax. It's more a series of doleful "snapshots" of customary things Blake does that happens to end with his death. NOT in the sense that the events themselves are dramatic, out of this world, or sappy because if anything this movie is void of all unnecessary attempts to play with your emotions. 

I felt that this overall apathy is what made me sad, to see someone so removed and alone even with people around him. You see these people living in his house yet no one really cares what he's up to, except when they need something from him. An especially sad scene to me was when one of the girls finds Blake on the floor after he has apparently ODed. She make no attempt to help him out, instead she just moves him out of the way and goes out and closes the door. This scene made me tear up.

Blake himself is obviously beyond the point of caring to reach out to them. The only time he reaches out to anyone or anything and probably the only time the film plays with your emotion is when he goes to his daughter's room and picks up her little shoes and a kitten and says sorry when the kitten resists to being held. So, the events of his last days do not culminate in some tragic depression ridden epic death, and that is probably what I liked about it.

Even though Gus Van Sant will never admit it, it still seems to me to be based on Kurt Cobain, the term "loosly based" is too tight for me. Far too many Kurt things going on there for it not to be about Kurt. Just watching the trailer alone makes you think "This is a Kurt movie", and then the dress code, the outlook, some of the conversations mirror all that that has been written and shown in various books and programmes. 

I know its supposed to be Gus Van Sant's take on a troubled rock star, but lets face it, its known publically that Van Sant is a fan of Nirvana and I think that he used the term "loosly" purely to avoid any hassle or grief that would come courtesy of Courtney Love's lawyers. 

I think its hard for someone who loves Nirvana to go and see this movie and NOT think of it as a Kurt Cobain movie.

*Good/Bad?*

What I found bad about the movie is that Blake mumbles about 95% of his dialogue incomprehensibly. Also the movie does have some annoyingly slow parts, but they don't bother me too much because the scenary is so beautiful to look at.

The good thing about the movie is that the movie was very strange and haunting, yet beautiful nonetheless. I myself found the movie extremly sad and depressing, which is a good thing to me. Especially when they find Blake's body is really sad. No dramatic music, or anything. They just show him from distance lying there. Very final and sad. I was weeping like hell.

In conclusion if you are just a Nirvana fan you might get let down by this, if you are a Nirvana fan and a Gus Van Sant fan like me you will most likely love the movie. 

If you are a Gus Van Sant fan you might also still adore this movie, especially if you liked Elephant.

I myself recommend everyone to see it and form their own opinions of course. I myself will be buying this on DVD.

_I give it:_
*4 / 5*


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## mow (Aug 27, 2006)

*Movie Title:* Coffee and Cigarettes



I must point out one thing in advance. This movie is a love/hate relationship. Either you will proclaim it as the most ingenius flick since the dawn of cinema, or you think it will suck more than Britney dueting with Madonna; there's no inbetween.

So here's the basic plot line:-

People meet, talk about utter nonsense over a cup of java while puffing a ^ (not the meaning of the word "respect".).

...

That's pretty much it really.

Hold up, did I mention that Iggy pop is there? Along with Tom Waits? The White Strokes (dotn run, their scene is PRICLESS) Bill Murray, Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan plus many many more.

The movie was shot over a number of years with all the above names and eccetirc actors. The project started with Jim Jarmusch when he shot the first scene with  Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright, a very VERY odd pair.The black and white collection of clips seem disoritanted and obscure, which they are, but even the dull moments do find themselves to be oddly touching; the fasicinating  manner in which all this frenzy of indiviuals gather about with shaky fingers holding up their cups toasting each other while inhaling cigs as if it was their life line (the ending scene with Mr. Mead comes to mind). granted parts of the movie can be a snooze if your not in the mood (this is stoner movie, I have no other way to describe it other than that) there' are some real treats for the spectator; Iggy pop and Tom waits meeting ina old coffee bar and getting to know each other on the wrong foot, an insianly hilarious encounter by Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan, Bill Murray unable to concieve or one underwritten piece, Two twins discussing Elvis and african american musician opperssion with a waiter ina diner and Jack and Meg White bantering about Tiesta Coli. 

So maybe the movie is too bland for your taste, but it's in all honesty spectacular. Jarmusch talent in capturing cens is quite unparalled. The philospically pointless and excptionally awkward dialouge bewteen all the colourful character is reminisnt of Seinfield before Seinfield occured. All the skits and scene are quite inchoherent, but the magical tie between them all is the coffe mugs and lighted cigs. The manner in which they act as connecting factore between everyone is dazzling to say the least, a rare oppurtinty whewre human connection is brought down to it's most simplest elements regardless of time. The under tones hints of the characters attempting to remain alwert, avoiding any social anxiety, yet remain so very aprehensive of each other is divine. Instead, the two social drugs (cigs and mugs) are now exhibited as the only factor they could bind us and successful form a bridge of communication between them, and it's absolutly beautiful.
*
Rating:* 3/4


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## sunshine and gasoline (Aug 27, 2006)

*Film Title:* Requiem for A Dream

*Country of Origin:* USA

*Genre:* Crime / Drama / Horror


*Plot outline:*

In this movie we follow the destinies of four characters and their dreams. The main characters whom the movie is about are Harry, Marion (Harry's girlfriend), Tyrone (Harry's best friend) and Sara (Harry's mother).

The film is basically about how these different characters stumble deeper and deeper into different addictions. The movie start in summer and ends in winter.

When we first meet these characters in the beginning of the movie, Harry and his friends are already using heroin and it works fine for them, life is good. Harry's mother is very much against any form of drug use. Things are about to change though, when she wins a prize to be on a TV show. 

She plans on loosing weight fast and the doctor prescribes her drugs, that I suspect are speed. 

Meanwhile Harry and Tyrone start dealing heroin and making money.


*Review:*

I saw this movie two months ago, so sorry if I make some mistakes, even if my memory is good.

Anyways, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's so amazing I'm actually afraid to watch it again. 

I don't even have words to describe it. It was very scary because of the way they turned out. From the summer where they were casual addicts to the winter of withdrawal.

In short they all fucked up in the end and ran into one wall or another. The scenes at the end are very disturbing and scary and will leave you paralysed for a while at least.

After watching it I couldn't move for about 5 minutes. It brought me down hard. I was in a sad mood for a week.

My first judgement was that it was just another anti-drug film, but once I started thinking more about it I realized that this film is about lost dreams.

The mother dreams of being on TV. Marion dreams of a design wear shop with Harry. Tyrone misses the comfort of his mother's arms. Harry, well I presume he dreamt of a life with Marion.

Once I realized that all these dreams went unfulfilled, I began to think of it as a monster film. The only difference is that the monster doesn’t have a physical form. It only lives deep in the characters heads. 

The characters are totally obsessed by their dreams. Even as their lives slowly deteriorate around them, they cling to their delusions and get more hooked to the spiral of drugs and addiction, refusing to see that they have created their own nightmares.

All of this might still sound kind of "meh" to you, but then you are not considering the fact that all of this is very stylishly filmed, fast shots and zooms to their pupils when they get high, beautiful camer work and angles showing the enviroments. Later the camera is shaky as their illusions start to come apart.

Still not convinced? Well I haven't mentioned the beautiful and awesome soundtrack. The soundtrack was one of the main reason I liked the movie as much as I did. *Kronos Quartet* did the honors of creating this beautiful soundtrack and it's an essential part of the movie.  

All these things make this an awefully desperate and beautiful movie. I really dig Darren Aronofsky's directing in this movie. 

Has anyone else seen this movie? Like I said, this is one of my favorite movies. If you haven't seen it, go see it!


*Rating*:
*4.5 / 5*


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## mow (Aug 27, 2006)

*Film Title*: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
*Rating:* 4/4
*Country of Origin:* USa
*Genre:* Romantic Comedy/ Drama
Review:

Basic plotline:-

A man awakes disheveled; impulsively, he skips work, heading instead to the shore. On this chilly February day, a woman in orange, hair dyed blue, chats him up: she's Clementine (played by Kate Winslet), he's Joel (played by Jim Carry, shy and sad; by day's end, he likes her. The next night she takes him to the frozen Charles River. After, as he drops her off, she asks to sleep at his place, and she runs up to get her toothbrush. Strange things occur: their meeting was not entirely chance, they have a history neither remembers. Our seeing how the lacune came to be and their discovery of the memory loss take the rest of the film.

Now many would approach this as any other romantic comedy, but it's far from it. This movie ranks in an "Everything Else" category. Comedic in some portions; yes. But the movie is driven by it's many powerfully dramatic and moving elements. 

Frankly, it's as honest and meaningful as they come. With easily relatable and vivid chaacters and excptionally creative plotline and script, I couldnt help but fall in love with it. And the thing about the movie was that it was *real*; painfully real. It grasped the emotions of helplessness, franticness and lack of serenity without overdoing it or neglecting it.  An internally probing and quite an emotional experience.

Jim Carrey is absolutely terrific in this, as he is very controlled and doesn't try to steal the show. This is when you really get to see his acting skills shine. and he bloody deserved an oscar for it. Kate Winslet takes the challenge of playing opposite of Carrey head-on and succeeds every single time, and she bloody hell deserved an oscar for it. Even the few minor characters and subplot presented by Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Wilkinson, make the movie much more enthrilling.

I'd like to point out how amazing the script is (and thank god, it won an oscar for that). though it might prove a tad bit difficult to follow with the many twists and turns the flash backs provide, that aspect simply leads to a more gratifying second viewing.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind revolves around the idea of ravelling in the bliss of nothingess (and; strangly enough; our rejoicing in each other's hands); as well as identity. The questions arised bytthe movie really question our judgement, emotions and our general well being. Even though that we know that sometimes our love might be destined to doom. there's a scene where Joel asks Clem in his memeories to "enjoy the moment" even though the moment was going to be destroyed forever. 

The movie is both fascinating and affecting, I was drawn to tears in some scens (one being with Joel and Clem in bed in his memories, if you dont cry during that scene then your heart is made of stone).

If flows like music or a painting. The manner in which it is shown is trully haunting, and the fashino in which is broad casts the complexity of love and our desire to both forget it and latch to it is trully remarkable.

I really can't go on, otherwise I'll destroy the plot for you all. But it's as crafty as they come. Everythign is beautiful done, and I cannot talk enough about the divine nature of the cinematography. Unique, genuinely uplifitng (and heart breaking). Possibly my fav movie of all time

4/4 bitchez, cause I iz a biased fanboy and this flick owns everything


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## ssj3boruto (Aug 27, 2006)

*Film Title:* My Sassy Girl (Director's Cut)

*Rating:* PG/PG-13/15 (Depending on area)

*Country of Origin:* Korea

*Genre:* Romantic Comedy

*Plot Outline:* Based on a series of true stories posted by Ho-sik Kim on the Internet describing his relationship with his girlfriend. These were later transformed into a best-selling book and the movie follows the book closely. It describes the meeting of Gyeon-woo (Cha) and an unnamed girl. Gyeon-woo is shamed into assisting the girl because the other passengers mistakenly think she is his girlfriend. Once he helps her, Kyun-woo develops a deep sense of responsibility for her which enables him to tolerate (somehow) the girl's abuse.

*Review:* I've been meaning to see this film for quite some time due to the amount of hype surrounding it. I've always found Asian comedy to be a bit hit and miss in translation, but I wasn't expecting to be disappointed and I wasn't.

The driving force behind the film is definitely 'the girl' with Jeon Ji-Hyeon giving a superb performance. Without stepping into unrealistic levels, she breaks through the dull cliché of most mainstream romantic comedies and gives something completely different. The male lead Gyeon-woo isn't quite as engaging and sometimes feels a little too passive, but Cha Tae-Hyeon makes him entertaining enough and balances out things quite well.

The plot seems fairly straight forward, but has some truely unpredictable twists along the way. At least one mid way into the film is a little hard to swallow, but otherwise you're kept on your toes a least a bit. The strength in this film is all around the main characters (with an absense of too many strong side characters), and they really manage the mix of hilarity and drama fantastically.

If there's one drawback of this film (and I suspect this might be helped somewhat by the initial Theatrical release), it's the length. The beginning and end drag slightly, and could have been tightened up quite easily. There's also the Pirates of the Carribean syndrome of seeming to end several times before it actually does. However the story stays engaging enough for it not to become irritating, but it's certainly no benefit.

I strongly recommend this film. Without being perfect, it's very endearing, funny and probably the best all round example of its genre.

*Screenshots:*


*Rating:*
*4/5*


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## mow (Aug 27, 2006)

*Film Title:* Autumn Spring

*Rating:* PG-13

*Genre :* romantic Comedy/ Drama

*Plot Outline*: Autumn Spring is a very indie, incredibly sweet lil Czech comdey (yes, Czech) that follows the life of two aging Czech couple; Fanda and Emilie who are polar oppsites in absolutly everything.

Fanda is the upbeat, charming experimental and happygolucky indiviual whose willlling to take any risk for a moment of laughter. A Prankster at heart who refuses to admit to old age and who used to be a theartical performer. Emilie on the other hand, is the obssesive counterpart who is apperantly fascinated byu planning their funerals and saving money to cover for caskets. A rather morbid character. Your usual elderly couple in other words; broke as hell, and with a single most selfsh excuse for a son who awaits his parents demise to gain the broken down flat they are living in.

Fanda's comrade-in-arms is his fellow acting friend; Eda, who joins him in planning and orchestrating any deceptive prank they could conjour. From possing as ticket inspectors to get young girls to kiss them; to much more complicated and rather challenging schemes.

*Review:* So it might seem a bit lame, but it really isnt. IT may seem to be another old couple flick, where the husband and wife spend most of their time bickerign about money and liffe in general. But it's much more, the movie really focuses on the institution of marraige as a whole, the power struggle ina relastionship, and most important of all; our twisted perception of life and death.

this isnt your average "hallmark" kinda flick. Every aspect was quite perfect. A solid , delightful script which was exptionally clever; fantastic and compling cast and fine acting. Exptionally memroable performances, espically by Fanda. The movie score was marvellous too and the direction was quite subtle and touching. But the best portion was the cinematography, speciaffiacly during many of the out door scenes, amazing lightening through and through.

My fav scene, (a scene which is now my favourite of all time), is when Franda and his wife are together on the train. the lightening, music and simple gestures and facial expression by the actors and their smiling faces were just enchanting. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen

I highly reccomend it if you want a simple, yet delicate movie for your vieweing pleasure.

*Rating: * 4/5


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## Hokage Naruto (Aug 27, 2006)

*Film Title*: Oldboy
*Rating*: R
*Country of Origin*: Korea
*Genre*: Drama
*Plot Outline*: A man is kidnapped ad locked up in a special prison for 15 years.  He only has a TV, bed, shower and food.  He watches the whole world through his TV.  He watches his wife's murder scene.  He is tortured for over 15 years and than is released on the prison's roof.  Than he learns he has 5 days to find out why he was locked up and release his vengance upon this unknown person.

*Review:* I had heard many great things for this movie and after a few months I finally watched it.  It did live up to its standards that I had for it.

If you want to be a movie watcher and watch some good movies than Oldboy is a must. This isn't a movie that everyone will like, but those who do sit through and see it will experience watching a great film.  Its a bit violent and their are a few sex scenes in it.  The violence is not extreme or anything but its amazing seeing Oh-daesu, the main character, take down bad guys with his hammer.

Oh-daesu isn't the only person in Oldboy who is getting their share of vengance.  The movie portrays the golden rule of 'Do unto others as they do unto you'.  

Oldboy is a tradegy since there are some few funny moments followed by depressing and saddening parts.  Oldboy mix arounds with your mind, since you might think one thing will happen but it might go the opposite way.  The main villian is diffferent than before he has the ability to make his heart stop at anytime he wants when Oh-daesu finds the truth.

The bad parts of this movie is that sometimes the movie just drags along.  Oh-daesu might go find a clue to help hm out and than he'll do something unrealted to the plot at all.  Though, not all the off-topic parts are bad most of them are symbolic.  Oh-daesu used to eat wontons in his prison, he went all over town eating there wontons even when was full.  And a forewarning that the villians revenge revealed at the end of the movie might gross you out but thats what it was meant to do if you piece up the clues.

*Screenshots*: 

*Rating: 4.5/5 *


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## demonhunter007 (Aug 28, 2006)

lets try this again.
*Title:* Beerfest
*Rating:* R
*Country of origin:* USA
*Genre:* adult comedy
*Plot Outline:* two brothers put together a team to enter in a secret beer drinking competition in an effort to prove themselves as the rightful heirs to the Van Hausen bruery.
*Review:* I came into this movie with high expectations but was dissapointed.  It did have some funny parts, but they were kind of few and far between.  Of course, im not a huge fan of adult comedies anyway.  There is also quite a bit of stereotyping going on, such as sissy boy germans, unintelligible brits, and a jewish guy who wore a different kind of yamaka everyday.  I was also pretty grosed out to see a guy jerk off a frog.  overall, i dont think it was really worth the time and money.
*Rating:* 2/5


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## mow (Sep 1, 2006)

*134 Conversations About One Thing*


*Film Title:* 13 Conversations About One Thing
*Rating:* R
*Country of Origin:* USA
*Genre:* Drama
*Plot Outline:*13 Conversations About One Thing follows the events and lifes of four characters

1) An insurance worker who is easily agrivated and jealous of his seemingly ever-so-happy co-worker.
2) A physicis rprof who has an affair and is deserted by his wife.
3) A cocky, succesful lawyer who hits a house maid in a car accident and escapes the scene
4) The house maid herself.

*Review:* The movie blends and cross references the tales of all these characters and their encounters (sometimes with each other) in daily life , and compacts them into a powerfully potent mixture; simply discussing "happiness".

The magnificnace of this title lies in how, even though the story covers various moments in each of the characters life, it never loses touches with their human aspect and vulnaberity. It's so so simple, yet so elquonet and profound. All the acotrs (Amy Irving, John Turturro,Alan Arkin, Matthew McConaughey and Clea DuVall) give such a profilic and enchanting performance, and you cannot help be feel incredibly close to them( disregarding if you detested or adored them).

The cinematography is stunning, with its extremely disjointed timeline that is expressed via a narritave blend of events, and how every scene carries on from the next, using a certain phrased uttered by one of the characters to carry out the "theme" of the next movemnt in the plot. The dialouge is witty, and every sentence, no, every word fits a carefully and masterfully weaven plot.

After watching this movie, I can assure you this: you will simply fall back on your chair/sofa, ponder your own existance and begin asking yourself "am I really happy?", which then you will realize that you are, and the amazing jazzy/swingy ending theme (Smile!..or somethign along that line) will assure you of that fact.

This movies paints such a powerful, beautiful, sorrowful and intellegent portarit of life, and how we all attempt to search for one thig...happiness. You realize that to be happy, you dont need material belongings, you dont require a signfifant other; rather; you come to realize that the simple aspect of hainga total stranger smiling at you, or simply waveing at you, gives you this unexpected air of joy and confidience in life and your actions. (the final scene)


*Rating:* 4/5


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## Hokage Naruto (Sep 9, 2006)

*Film Title:* Shaun of the Dead
*Rating:* R
*Country of Origin:* England
*Genre:* Horror/Comedy
*Plot Outline:* A man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living.

*Review:* Everyone will enjoy this movie, it especially grabs the non-horror fans into the movie.  Some of the funny parts are like when Shaun and Ed are singing and than a zombie starts moaning and the two contemplate how he has a good voice for the base.

The movie does a decent job keeping the balance of horror, comedy and tradiges.  The movie also is able to show the lifes of two 20+ year olds and how there life has barely moved.  Shaun works at an Electronic store and Ed sells drugs, though it hints it a lot.

The movie is timed nicely and doesn't use a lot of cliched comedy moments at all.  I won't spoil any moments for you but the funny parts never get old.  I've seen this movie over 5 times and still laugh at parts.  There are some parts in the movie that are very gruesome, so don't think the movie is a clean and happy movie.

If you need some laughs, Shaun of the Dead delievers.

*Rating:* _4/5_


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## ssj3boruto (Sep 10, 2006)

*Film Title:* 2LDK

*Rating:* Unrated (Probably 15)

*Country of Origin:* Japan

*Genre:* Horror/Comedy

*Plot Outline:* Aspiring actresses Nozomi (Koike) and Lana (Nonami) belong to the same talent agency, share an apartment, and have just auditioned for the same part. Nozomi is a country girl who has come to Tokyo with big dreams of becoming an actress, while Lana’s sharp tongue and flashy appearance is completely at odds with soft spoken, demure Nozomi. Waiting for the phone call that will decide their future, petty arguments escalate into hysterical violence, bringing the girls’ hatred of one another to the surface as they confront the reality of their empty, unfulfilled lives.

*Review:* This was created as part of a film contest named 'Duel', and filmed in just over a week. The setting had to be simply two battling in one setting and made in a week's timeframe. Both actresses fell ill, but it's certainly not an obvious rush job.

This is a good film, it sets out what it means to do fairly well. The beginning arguments steadily escalate and the result is fairly inventive. The action seems realistic (albeilt the delibrately shakey camera work can be over the top at times) for the most part, and the actresses are competent in their roles.

But that's about it, the main problem I have with this film is that it never really stepped above its premise. It was limited to what it could be, but there's a distinct sense that it wouldn't have really mattered who made it, because there's very little aspiration there. The acting is competent, but we are presented monotonous voice overs to tell us what the characters are thinking to begin with. There's even an over the top plot device required to trigger things in the form of a repressed flash back involving the bath. While the action's good it's far from perfect, it feels oddly controlled throughout.

The comedy element is delibrate and generally comes from the film's absurdity. There's some wit in there but I don't think it's as strong as stated in other reviews (I will say that the US release for this film isn't very well translated however, so I'll concede that some of that was likely lost). The story does work to reason how things escalate though, so the step to violence makes sense.

There's a film worth seeing here, but it's a shame it couldn't have been better. Perhaps the constrictions of the contest it was made for reduced that scope and quality, but it's hard to know. It's still above average for the genre, and if nothing else entertaining.

*Screenshots:*


*Rating:*
*3.5/5*


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## JBarnz008 (Sep 10, 2006)

​
*Rating:* R

*Country Of Origin:* USA

*Genre:* Crime / Drama

*Plot Outline:* Grand Canyon revolved around six residents from different backgrounds whose lives intertwine in modern-day Los Angeles. At the center of the film is the unlikely friendship of two men from different races and classes brought together when one (Kevin Kline) finds himself in jeopardy in the other's (Danny Glover) rough neighborhood. Features an all-star cast including Steve Martin (Kline' friend), Mary McDonnell (Kline's wife), Mary-Louise Parker (Kline's mistress/assistant) and Alfre Woodard (Parker's friend).

*Review:* I saw this movie for the first time a week ago. I found it in my dad's dvd collections and I found the plot interesting so I decided to watch it. This movie was great from the very start to the end. 

This movie is very deep and can relate to everyday life. The actors/actresses did a wonderful job on this movie. I liked the way how the characters interacted with each other coming from different surroundings. This movie is unpredictable and just a breath of fresh air. If you havn't seen this movie check it out soon.

*My Rating:*   5/5

Question: for the rating is it our rating for the movie or what the movie was rated?

_If you mean the age rating then it should really be the official rating. In the movie I reviewed above there wasn't one available to take from. Thanks for the review! - Shrooms_


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## demonhunter007 (Sep 10, 2006)

*The Protector*



*Title:* The Protector
*Rating:* R
*Genre:* Martial Arts/ Action
*Plot Outline:* A man and his father raise elephants to serve the king of Thailand.  To protect these elephants, Kham (the main character) trains in an ancient form of martial art.  When his elephants are stolen and taken to Sydney, Australia, Kham must go to save them from being misused by the largest crime organization in Sydney.
*Review:*  The story was a little poorly written.  At times it was difficult to follow and understand what was really going on.  However, it was at least original.  How many other movies are about a guy who protects elephants?

The acting was fairly decent, although it was really kind of hard to make a judgement on that since nearly all of the movie is fight scenes.

The coreography and special effects were very well done.  There were a lot of parts that made the audience groan as Kham inflicted major pain on his enemies.  There was also a lot of new moves that I have never seen before.  
*Spoiler*: __ 



Extreme sports athletes with flourescent light tubes, running up a glass wall while a four wheeler crashes through it, and tieing elephant bones to the forearms were all very new to me.




Overall, If you love nonstop, hardcore, bonecracking, martial arts action, then this movie is a must see.  Otherwise, its still a pretty good movie.

*Rating: 4.5/5*


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## demonhunter007 (Sep 11, 2006)

*The Covenant*



*Title:* The Covenant
*Rating:* PG-13
*Genre:* Action/Horror/Thriller
*Plot Ouline:* The Ipswitch colony was orignally founded by five families, who were all involved in witchcraft.  One of the five was thought to have bee exterminated in the Salem Witchhunts.  When a descendant of the fifth family appears to strip the other four descendants of their power, the eldest, Kaleb, must fight back againgst a foe much more powerful than him.
*Review:* The storyline was outstanding.  It was very original, and a great idea.  I also thought it was cool that the movie used actual information from the Salem witchhunts.  Unfortunately, that's about the only good thing about this movie.

The acting was terrible.  It seemed like the produces just grabbed some good-looking teenagers off the street and told them what to say.  I did not see any one person who truly stood out from the rest.

I was very dissapointed by some of the special effects.  Some were done well, but most weren't.  At times it was obvious that the characters were being hoisted around by harnesses instead of actually flying through the air.  I think all of the good special effects were shown in the commercials.  Also, it wasn't scary at all, or even that exciting most of the time.

I think this movie had a lot of potential that was not exploited.  If it would have had more acting talent, and better special effects, it could have been a really good movie.  As it is, it's just average.

*Rating: 2.5/5*


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## ssj3boruto (Sep 11, 2006)

*Film Title:* A Tale of Two Sisters

*Rating:* 15 (varies from 12 to 15 in different territories)

*Country of Origin:* Korea

*Genre:* Horror/Suspense

*Plot Outline:* Two girls discover a malignant force in their home while their stepmother's behavior becomes increasingly erratic.

*Review:* There is very little in the Horror genre quite like A Tale of Two Sisters. It's a beautifully shot film, and the cinematography has definitely helped it stand out. The story is an adaption but hasn't limited itself from that, and moves at the pace it feels comfortable with. I won't go too far into that as giving much anyway in the story's terms means spoiling it somewhat.

The acting is very good, and it's clear this was a piece of work very carefully put together by the crew and cast. It aims to be very highly regarded and it effectively achieves that. The writing comes together well, and although it can seem confusing at times it doesn't get excessively convoluted. It's mysterious by nature, so we're not expected to follow everything as if it's predictable. The ambiguity isn't irritating but just leaves some things to think about it.

For its genre the film delivers good scares and keeps a steady suspense. There's a good psychological insight into the characters and we identify a bit with all of them.

I recommend seeing this film at last once, as it's a classic of its genre and Korean cinema. It's not the most exciting film around, but it's still entertaining and manages to accomplish what it sets out to do very well.

*Screenshots:*

Thanks to DVD Times for these images

*Rating:*
*4/5*


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## Hokage Naruto (Sep 11, 2006)

*Film Title:* Unleashed

*Rating:* R

*Country of Origin:* France / USA / UK / Glasgow

*Genre:* Action

*Plot Outline:* A man treated like a dog and raised as a fighting machine his entire life, ends up in a coma and is taken in the care of good people, but his sinister owner is looking to retrieve his most prized possession: a non stop human weapon triggered by the collar leashed on his neck.

*Review:* First things first, this movie is a bit different than what the trailer shows.  The trailer mainly gives a dog bites master feel to it, Unleashed delievers it weakly.  If it had focused the dog bites master Unleashed could've been a much better movie.

The acting was saved by performances by Morgan Freeman.  Freeman played the blind father figure and helped guide Jet Li and Kerry Condon.  This wasn't a movie that Jet Li could've made better.  A semi-popular martial artist would've been better because Jet Li hasn't done movies about rehabilitation and stufff.  I am comparing Li to his works in Hero, The One and other movies were martial arts played a key role in it.

The story line sounded like a good hook but it didn't really deliever.  A few points of the movie with Li eating ice cream for the first time was interesting and him learning the piano.  But, everything else felt a bit mushy.  The storyline tugged action but than a soft story, not good.

Fight scenes, were a bit impressive.  Jet Li going berserk is probably a key reason to see this film.  Taking guys down with sledgehammer's, swords, metal poles, etc. is always fun to see.  The fight scenes are speed up, so don't go to crazy on how great the scenes are.

Overall, the movie wasn't too good.  Its premering on the HBO's in the US, catching it their is worth your time.  Isn't really a rental either, only if you like Morgan Freeman and some Jet Li fight scenes.

*Rating:* *3.5/5*


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## less (Sep 12, 2006)

The picture of the poster seemed disappaer overnight ​
*Film Title:* Show Me Love (Swedish title: Fucking ?m?l)

*Country of Origin:* Sweden (1998)

*Genre:* Drama/Comedy
*
Plot Outline:* Being a teenager really blows ass. Especially if you're an unpopular closet lesbian in love with one the popular girls. Or if you're one of the popular girls, not-so-secretly fed up life in general and looking for something new.

*Review:* I usually know better than to try and force Scandinavian cinema on people who doesn't understand the languages (Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are mutually understandable, if you didn't know), as our films tends to be a little too this or a little too that for the global palate. There are a few exceptions, though, and one of them is Swedish director Lukas Moodyson. His 1998 debut, Fucking ?m?l, is, put bluntly, the best teen-flick I have ever seen  by far.

I remember seeing this back in 98 when I was fourteen. Me and my mates read about it and traveled en masse to the cinema in a choir of "OMFG LESBIANS!". When we exited, at least three of us had crushes on one or both of the leads which, I realized when I saw it a couple of months ago to make sure it really was that good, are two of the most likeable female teen-leads ever. Another feat the film pulled off was making lesbian love actually seem like a real teen crush, and not just a pervy joy, which is pretty hard to do to a 14 year-old boy's mind. I payed to see this movie six times, easily the most times I've done so in my life, and the reason, apart from my crush on Rebecca Liljeberg (playing Agnes, the brunette), was that this film, apart from being funny as hell, weirdly touching and deeply human, really has teenage life pegged. It was good to know someone had it pegged, cause I, being a teenager, sure as hell hadn't.

The eye-catching title (diplomatically re-dubbed something as inane as "Show Me Love" in the touchy English-speaking countries) refers to a line said by one of the main characters expressing her opinion on the small Swedish town ?m?l, where the movie takes place. It's a quite typical small town where everyone knows pretty much everyone and with a single school full of teenagers that, unlike most teenagers on the big screen, act like teenagers. The guys are spotty dumbasses who compare cellphones and have absolutely no freaking clue how to relate to the girls, and the girls are back-talking, over-made-up, giggling pack creatures. Not to say the film portrays any character as any less than human, mind you. It's just that it's fiercely realistic.

The clueless parents, the annoying little brothers, the drinking clear non-descript alcoholic liquid out of coke bottles, the heart-crushing feeling of love, the horniness, the akward parties, the feeling that life is shit and least but last the big blank concept of the future. All of teen life condensed so nicely and charmingly that even 50 year-olds who see it should remember what it was like. 

With lesbians. 

See it.

*Rating:* Within it's genre, an easy 5/5.


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## Captain Pimp (Sep 15, 2006)

​Film Title: *Saving Private Ryan*
Rating: R (For intense and realistic war violence) 
Country of Origin: United States
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama and War
Plot Outline: In the Last Great Invasion of the Last Great War, The Greatest Danger for Eight Men was Saving... One.

Review: I'm a huge fan in war movies and this one caught my attention the most. Steven Spielberg, director of the movie, takes you back during WWII and lets you view the horror of D-Day in the first 20-25 minutes. The graphic scenes shown in the movie can be too much for people who don't want to see guts and gore bursting everywhere, but it's the real deal during WWII. 

The characters introduced in the movie includes Tom Hanks as Capt. Miller and his other soldiers who are trying to find Private James Ryan (Matt Damon). We get to see each character's personality and their background as the movie progresses. One character that would surprise a viewer is Private Upham because he dislikes violence and tries to fit in with the group. However, at the last parts of the movie, the characters' attitudes change when they are put into the test to win the battle against the Germans. There are alot of sad death scenes, which really puts our feelings for the characters. Nonetheless, this movie has great drama and shows how we should appreciate the men that fought in the war.

Viewers will be dazzled when watching this movie because the war violence scenes are so realistic and the sound effects are truly amazing. All these things make you feel like you're in the war. The acting by Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and other actors are unforgettable in the movie and would want to make you watch them more. If you want to watch a movie that has everything (except romance =P), then this movie is recommended to you.

Rating: *5/5*


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## Captain Pimp (Sep 24, 2006)

​*Film Title*: Sin City
*Rating*: R (for strong stylized violence, nudity, and sexual content)
*Country of Origin*: United States
*Genre*: Action/Adventure, Thriller, and Crime/Gangster
*Plot Outline*: In this movie, it takes you to a town where the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted and the dark resides. It's a city of endless pain and sadness. There are some that wish to seek revenge, others that lust after redemption. And then there are those hoping to do a little of both. It's a world of unlikely and reluctant heroes that try to find justice in a city that refuses to be rightful. Welcome to Sin City.....

*Review*: Personally, _Sin City_'s Frank Miller did not want to release this movie due to his previous movies that were not as top notch to the audience. Then came along Robert Rodriguez, a huge comic book fan, who wished to make an adaptation of the comic book. As a result, the movie was visually astounding and puts you into an actual comic book. Only this time, it's on the big screen.

Audience viewers would be drawn into different stories. The first one starts with Hartigan (Bruce Willis) who is a retiring cop and is rescuing a girl named Nancy (Jessica Alba) from a child molester, Roark Junior (Nick Stahl). Of course, it ends sadly for the first part to Hartigan's story and continues at the end of the movie (I shall not spoil anyting for you guys =P). 

The next story goes to Marv (Mickey Rourke) who is a thug that had fallen in love with a woman named Goldie (Jaime King). 

*Spoiler*: __ 



A death occurs in this story and Marv tries to find the killer.


 After that, you are sent into Dwight's story (Clive Owen) who kills a cop and takes the law into his own hands to defeat the corrupted law enforcement. 

This movie is truly amazing and is a must see for adults and teens. Although it is very violent movie, the visual effects would make up for the violence. Viewers may feel sad for the characters since there are many deaths in the movie. Go to your nearest video store and buy/rent this movie! You won't be disappointed!
*Rating*: 4.5/5


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## mow (Oct 25, 2006)

*Film Title:* Syriana

*Rating:* PG 13

*Country of Origin:* USA

*Genre:* (Political)Thriller

*Plot Outline:* A mulitple storyline movie; Syriana revolves around a series of interlinked characters and plots inside the twisted hallways of the global oil industry and politics:

1) The poor abused immigrants works sweating away in the persian Middle Eastern oil fields and how that is used to fuel terrorism and religious  extremists.

2) The tampering of the CIA into foreign political affairs in the area.

3) The corrupt and diabolical fat cats brokering deals inside their closed lavish offices.

*Review:*

The major players are as follows: Bob (George Clooney), an undercover CIA agent who finds out a missle has been sold to an unknown party, Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) who works for an investiment company in  Switzerland and attempts to become the finiancial advisor of a middle eastern Amir Prince Nasir Al Subaai (Alexander Siddig). Bennett Holliday (Jeffrey Wright) is a lawyer in Washington, DC firm who has to dig through a future majoroil company merger and find any dirt in it. The main firm is owned by Jimmy Pope (Chris Cooper) a texan who got rich all by hos own two hands and Dean Whiting (Christopher Plummer) a senior goverment advisor who is more or lesser a puppeter manipulating the future of the middle Eastern country.

The characters (at first) all have a seemingly separate story lines that seem to not overlap untill later on in the movie, but as you gradually watch a few clips of Clooney in Iran, Wright in his office in washingon DC and Damon in Swiss. The story begins to create a solid noose  thread by thread. You begin to learn more and more of this extremely foerign world and how these characters, their ambitions, hopes, desires and how they are manipulated and how they find themselves immersed in an unkind univerise set in mulitple locations and countries. The director really manages to prepare you well for every experience that occurs in the movie instead of simpyl tossing various scenes and being unable to tie them all togther later on.

As the story develops, more and more personalities are introduced and the story forks more and more, and the major underlining theme is showcased: Greed. Disgusting greed and how people will do anything with in their power to maintain their own well being with an utter disregard to any other human being, even if it means murder.

A clear example of this is how the two oil companies decide to merge, leading to the firing of a few workers in the middle east nation, and how two youth there is lured by extremeist to join their terrorist group. this youth is much like any western kid, sneaking away to get drunk, talking to about girls and sex, playin football instead of cricket (he's pakistani) when he is bored with his mates, having hopes and aspirations that get crushed repetadly and abused due to the fact he is an "low life" immigrant. This disappointment is what sweeps him into becoming a suicide bomber. Yes, that is horrid, but you have to understand the social and economical implications that lead to this; these youth have nothing. Absolutly nothing, they are hated for who they are, lost of work, home and identity. Then comes someone willing to feed, care and love them, and they are taken by that "false" compassion. It's a terrible terrible series of events that sadly occur on a daily basis.

The acting is never flawless. The major aspect is that there is no single star for the mive. People who go in expecting to have Cloone or Matt carrying the flick will be sourly disappointed, but that's a good thing. Most characters didnt get anymore than 15 minutes of screentime through out the movie, yet still succed in leaving an extremely memorable appearnce in your mind. The dialouge is straightforward. No puns, no witt comments, no jokes, just plain and hard hitting realistic discussions occuring bewteen each and every one. A bit stale one might think, but in a world where everything is ruthless and the brink of falling apart; it's as realisitc as it gets. The cinematography is a bit plain really, but that's not a complaint really. With so much occruing and the movie demanding your undisputed attention through out it, the fact the production aspects are so normal is a welcomed aspect and serves not to confuse your senses in an already hard to follow setting.

The major complaint about the movie? It's complexity. The fact it's extremely detailed, various events are occuring and giving birth to other events concering other characters, and the it's lengthy and missing one scene or a portion of the dialouge being missed could very well lead you to being lost. But as much as that sounds like a bad point, it isnt. This movie doesnt demand you to have a pre knowedge of the political/judiciual/ economical aspects that the movie uses as a starting ground; it simply demands your attention, much as any movie does. It might require a second (and quite possibly 3rd) viewing but it is extremely worth while.

*Final Thoughs*: It's rather rare to see a movie that digs through this much dirt, and come out with a very impressive and quite "real" result as follows. It's an indepth authentic look at a the corrupt world of oil and politics, and how they are interlinked with a region erupting with turmoil, violence and oppurtunity. 

Regardless if you dislike for it's production values, the fact it might carry hints of propaganda and/or the script, the movie trully makes you lean back on your couch and ponder deeply that "world". It's a huge, messy, and an ugly place. And that's an understatment becuase if that world is even half as corrupted as it is showcased then we are into deep shit. It's a hard hitting outing by a brilliant director tackling a hard hitting topic. Dont expect answers, expect yourself asking more questions. 

This is a movie that simply demands appluase for it's attempt to portray an engrossing and deep matter in the span of 2 hours and managing to pull it off rather brilliantly. Extremly enthrilling, and involving; it's every ounce a masterpiece as they could possibly come.

*Rating:* 4.5/5


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## Gualtieri (Dec 14, 2006)

El Laberinto del Fauno - Pan's Labryinth




*Princible players*

*Director*:: Guillermo del Toro

*Cast ::*
_Doug Jones:_ 'Pan' / 'Pale man'
_Sergi López:_ Captain Vidal
_Ivana Baquero:_ Ofelia
_Ariadna Gil:_ Carmen
_Maribel Verdú:_ Mercedes

----

*Rating:* R

*Country of Origin:* Mexico/Spain

*Genre:* Don't make me try to class it... ::sigh:: A dark fairy tale crossed with a postwar epic... Or something.

*Plot:* Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a world of darkness where there was no pain or suffering. Eventually she escaped her carers, fleeing and eventually reaching the world of light and a world of death. There she lost her immortality, her identity and eventually she withered away and died. Her father didn't give up though, instead he opened portals into the dark world so that years to come, the princess would re-appear and through three tasks prove her self and return to her true home.

A dark tale seen through the eye's of Ofelia, a dreamy young girl who passes time by reading fairy tales and telling stories. She is uprooted from her home in the city to be brought to a rural milatary outpost run by Captain Vidal, her mothers husband and her new stepfather. Adding to Ofelia's pain and frustrations her mother, Carmen, is very ill with her and Vidal's child who rests within her womb -  they both claim shall be a son for reason's unbenownst to us. Ofelia becomes powerless and very lonely as time passes and she soon finds herself surrounded with the harshness of reality and the horrors that go with it. She begins to live out her very own fairy tale upon the sighting of a strange insect which then leads to the dark fable that is so core to the films substance. In this world she encounters her guide, the un-named faun and through both worlds encounters and confronts monsters both otherworldly and human.

*Review:* Jeez-us. Me and my boyfriend walked out of a cinema silent for once. And so did basically everyone else - there was like this, stunned respect. It was only once we got down stairs when everyone began to remember their vocal chords - so it wasn't called Del Toro's masterpiece for nothing, ey?

Let me put it this way, when I first got there, I thought it was going to be a dubbed piece or something - _Empire magazine_ had raved about it too much for it to be your average foreign film, so I naturally figured either del Toro or Hollywood had changed it. But nope. It's subtitles all the way. But you know what? I keep forgetting that simple fact now. You know a movie is quality when it feels like you were watching it in your own language and when you (for whatever reason *cough*) imitate a character, you do it as if they were forever speaking in English. You can hear it as if they were. But -- Well nevermind that, there's so much more to it.

The musical score - which I'm listening to now by the by is haunting, beautiful stuff. As you listen to it, even without the visual aid you can picture everything and just be bowled over again.

The creatures of Ofelia's world are just - agh. A mean '_Pan_' (who is actually never named} is beautifully played by Doug Jones and due to wonderful prothestics, machinery and makeup, he's totally belivable. I found with '_Chronicles of Narnia_' Mr Tumnus Or whatever drew me out of the movie, his movement and his look just didn't feel real whilst you could imagine del Toro's faun right in front of you. His odd stumbles, quick jerky movements and ancient voice and just clicked and helped to immerse you completely.

And Doug Jones' other character, 'Pale Man' is unexpected and absoloutly terrifying - I mean, I'd heard about him in other reviews, but what I got was not what I thought I'd get, and whilst he was on screen the entire audience was squirming with fear and unease. Damn - sound good? Twas.

Vidal also stuck out to me as a brilliantly played character, but then so did they all, and they young star is the first pre-pubescent movie star I haven't wanted to put a shotgun to  - she was excellent, really.

There are however, some really REALLY awful moments for those who don't expose themselves to gore, in particular a scene with a broken bottle and another with the stitching of a wound with the addition of alchohol - I've never heard the sound of an entire audience squirming before, it's kinda odd. >_>

My only complaints really are the darkest parts of the real world and of the lack of more creature appearances - I was getting ready for the next wonderful one, but alas, wasn't there.

I can't really say much more without spoiling it, but damnit, if you can catch it in a theatre/cinema see it because it's limited showings and is fucking awesome.

*Well?*

So, short and sweet it's a wonderfully and terrifyingly dark piece that explores growing up, the human mind, the horrors of war, the power of a good old fairy tale and much more - part of it's success is just how much you can intepret in a couple of hours, it's full of ideas and eventually it's up to you to decide where the line between fantasy and reality lies.

A wonderful score, wonderful acting and a pure and simple masterpiece - but not one for the weak hearted or for the kiddies.

... Wow. *****

*Screenshots:*









I don't know why I liked it so much - I just did, others may disagree, but they can go screw themselves. xD


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## Nico (Mar 18, 2007)

Film Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest


Rating:  R

Country of Origin:  USA

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Plot: McMurphy, a man with several assault convictions to his name, finds himself in jail once again. This time, the charge is statutory rape when it turns out that his girlfriend had lied about being eighteen, and was, in fact, fifteen (or, as McMurphy puts it, "fifteen going on thirty-five"). Rather than spend his time in jail, he convinces the guards that he's crazy enough to need psychiatric care and is sent to a hospital. He fits in frighteningly well, and his different point of view actually begins to cause some of the patients to progress. Nurse Ratched becomes his personal cross to bear as his resistance to the hospital routine gets on her nerves. As conflicts happen, the relationship between  them grows to the edge.

Review:
Excellent film in all aspects. as a viewer, I felt that I was a patient myself. It was interesting to see how the patients became all self conscious about who they were. Jack being able to persuade them to change their routine schedule was proof that not all patients need the sort of therapy mental institutes provide. If not in some cases mental institutes help patients worsen their condition due to over medication and irrelevant conversations initiated by the nurses. it was interesting to see for every opportunity the patients had to escape, something always retained them to stay. For most of them, the institute was their home. 

They would not be able to function in society and may face rejection by others due to their stigmas. their fear of rejection is what kept them isolated in the hospital, not the barbed fence and secured windows. their only family was the ones inside the institute. Jack brought awareness to each individual in the hospital and made them realize they had a voice. When he died, a part of them died with him! The native Chief represents an important factor in this film. Natives are discriminated people of American history. We see that he too is afraid to escape into the real world because of the racism. When he observes what is done to Jack in the end of the film, he knows he is better off out in the real world. He takes the risk so he can go to Canada where most of the reserves for natives are held. There he will be accepted. Billy killing himself expresses how the doctors and nurses had power to fear and control the patients using their weaknesses in character and personality. It is a sort of brainwash and manipulation tactic hospitals use to overpower their patients. Taking away their freedom of speech, will to live be was really what made the patients ill. 

Taking away their self- consciousness and alienating them of their existence. One normal man awakens the ones who are asleep and shows them they have freedom of speech and a chance for change. When his actions begin to work, the doctors fear him, so they shock him until he is a vegetable. Making us believe everything we see even if it is not the truth. we as humans live in high secure society, but don't realize it. More and more are political systems are taking control of our freedom to live in order to have complete control our way of thinking and living. this resembles the metaphor behind this film Same with jack, he is assassinated from his essence as a great human being, to be left with no more identity and self awareness of himself.This film expresses how sometimes for some people, illness is socially constructed and not biological related. Pressures from the ideal society are what make them sick.

Final Thought: You don't really see these kind of films often. It adapted from a book, to a play then to a movie. For all we know, this may be happening now. These events can happen in any place of the world. Several things in this world are not different as they show themselves to be. This goes for film, music, places and mostly people. Also, this is Josip favorite movie and I see why. =D

4.7/5


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## Bro Tai Jr. (Aug 21, 2007)

*Film Title:* Donnie Darko

*Director/Writer:* Richard Kelly 

*Cast:* Donnie Darko: Jake Gyllenhaal
Gretchen Ross: Jena Malone
Eddie Darko: Holmes Osborne
Rose Darko: Mary McDonnell
Elizabeth Darko: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Samantha Darko: Daveigh Chase
Frank: James Duval

*Rating:* R

*Country of Origin:* USA

*Genre:* Drama / Thiller / Sci-Fi

*Plot Outline:* Donnie Darko is a psychotic teenage boy who lives in the small town of Middlesex. Donnie's mental problems materialize into acts of vandalism which are committed while sleep. Donnie often uses civil disobedience to expose the flaws and problems of others. 

Donnie's relationship with his family is strained. He often fights with his sister about trivial things, and has an utter disrespect for his parents. His parents love him dearly, and try their best to make him better by sending his to a psychoanalyst but have not succeeded. Donnie's sister is embarrassed by Donnie's condition so she takes her embarrassment out on him in the form of anger. One night while Donnie was sleep walking, a tall specter named Frank, dressed in a bunny out fit, forewarns Donnie that the world is going to end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds; October 31, 1988. Donnie wakes up on a local golf course, with the numbers 28:6:42:12 written on his arm. (28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds) When Donnie gets home he finds a crowd gathered around his house accompanied by police and ambulances; a plane jet engine had crashed into his room. 

Donnie's nocturnal vandalism starts by him flooding the school and striking the schools mascot (a snarling bulldog) with an axe. Which closes the school and in turn allows him to meet a girl, Gretchen. She and Donnie become close friends. Donnie and Gretchen spend more and more time together and they start a romance. 

Donnie, driving with his dad, almost hit a local old lady nicknamed "Grandma Death". Donnie gets out to usher her off the street, and she tells him 'Every living creature on this earth dies alone'.

After a talk with his teacher, Donnie finds out that "Grandma Death" wrote the book _The Philosophy of Time Travel_, and after reading this book, Donnie is convinced he can see what is going to happen in the future by a beam projecting out of ones chest, which is the path that the person will choose. 

A self-help/motivational speaker, Jim Cunningham, pays a visit to Donnie's school, and tries to convert the students to believe his, obviously, false belief. Jim opens the floor to questions and Donnie, acting out, ridicules Jim in front of the rest of the student body. The principal takes Donnie out of the auditorium.

Later, when Donnie is sleeping in the movies with Gretchen, Frank tells Donnie to set fire to Jim Cunningham's house. He follows Franks orders, and sets fire to Jim's house. The next day the police find a back room filled with child pornography, which baffles the community who respected him. In light of Donnie's new problems his psychoanalyst does not try to consul Donnie, but rather prescribes a heavier dosage of his medication. Donnie's actions don't only have an effect on his family, but the whole community around him. 

Donnie finally realizes that Frank the Bunny is trying to help him change his destiny, when a tragedy is soon to happen, but in turn Donnie trying to change his destiny leads to unnecessary deaths. 

*Review:* Donnie Darko was a very… interesting movies. It was surely a great movie, but I am still speechless about it. The cinematography, the cast, the dialogue, the plot, were all magnificently played out. 

The first time I saw this movie my cousin called me after he watched it and told me to go rent it. I was a bit skeptical at first, about the movie, but I went and got it anyways. I was not disappointed that I did. The movie was like a curve ball; at first I thought I knew what was going down with it, then it starts to veer off course, and I started to get confused. (Which is a good thing.)  

Jake Gyllenhaal was perfect for the roll of Donnie Darko. Anything less of him and the movie would have been a flop. Some of the acting might be a bit off key, but that doesn’t affect the movie in any way.

The cinematography was beautiful. You may not notice, but the cinematography can make or break a movie, in this case it made it. The angles, the pans, the zooming in/out were all great and really took the movie to the next level.

Over all I am still amazed at this movie. The plot might have been a bit confusing at times, and they might not explain what is confusing to you at all during the movie, but that is, what I think, the reason why they did it, to keep you confused. I am still in the dark about parts, but I like it, it leaves you to think about it, and to make up your own parts. It is very hard to make the audience keep guessing after a movie and still make it satisfying, but Richard Kelly pulled it off, and all I have to say to him, and about the movie is: “Bravo”.

*Final Thought:* This movie is beautifully played out. It takes an amazing writer to come up with something to appeal to all senses, (Yes taste) and still have it keep you guessing long after it's over. 

*Screenshots:*

*Rating:* 10/10


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## Vonocourt (Sep 25, 2007)

*Film Title:* The Good Sheperd
*Rating:* R
*Country of Origin:* USA
*Genre:* Spy/Thriller/Drama
*Plot Outline:*Laconic and self-contained, Edward Wilson heads CIA covert operations during the Bay of Pigs. The agency suspects that Castro was tipped, so Wilson looks for the leak. As he investigates, he recalls, in a series of flashbacks, his father's death, student days at Yale (poetry; Skull and Bones), recruitment into the fledgling OSS, truncated affairs, a shotgun marriage, cutting his teeth on spy craft in London, distance from his son, the emergence of the Cold War, and relationships with agency, British, and Soviet counterparts. We watch his idealism give way to something else: disclosing the nature of that something else is at the heart of the film's narration as he closes in on the leak. Source:

*Review:*I have to say, I like long movies. Sergio Leone's films, The first two Godfather films, and the Lord of the Rings films as a few examples. But this movie, only weighing in at 2 hours and 37 minutes, is a fucking test of endurance. Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson, a reclusive man who becomes a government agent. Before he is sent on a mission, he impregnates a woman, feelign the child must have a father, he does the noble thing and marries a woman who he doesn't love.

That is just one story-line in this multi-layered and non-linear film. The film actually starts off in 1961, with the botched Bay of the Pigs invasion. Aware of a traitor, Edward is given to the task to find out who the leak is. One night at his house, he finds a picture of a white man and a black woman during intercourse, and a cryptic recording of a females voice.

The movie then goes to explain Edward's Backstory, with the occasional tidbit of the 1961 storyline.The main problem with this movie, is that there is no energy in it. The movie plods along, introducing new characters left and right,who quickly leave, many without any payoff. The few who do get some more screen time are usually turned out to be traitors...or not. The movie constantly changes the motives of characters, and there are some people who I thought were antagonists, yet never are seen after they were revealed to be doing wrong, leaving you with a look of confusion on your face. Plus, one of the scenes that is supposed to bring up tension, falls flat on it's face. Trying to get you to fear for a character you've never actually seen before in the movie. With lots of cuts, and dramatic music in this scene...it just makes you feel dissapointed at the result.

But yet, could this just be a effect of making a more realistic spy movie, focusing on interrogations and secret meetings, rather than car chases and gadgets. Hell, it's probably even slower in real life than what is shown.

Now, while the movie is part spy, it's also part Drama. This is where Edward Wilson's personal life comes in. He met what could've been his true love in college( a deaf girl...get it), yet was forced to marry a woman after a one night stand. The week after their wedding, he was shipped to Europe, for five to six years. He returns home to meet his son he has never seen before. These scenes bring the most painful part of the movie. His son is just looking for some attention, yet Edward keeps brushing him away. Jr.(the son) after having a nightmare, asks his father to stay in the room with him for a little bit.   Edward, seeing his "work" phone go off, leaves with only a "Go to sleep son."
Ed's definitely not going to win any awards for best father. His relationship with his wife, while not as painful to watch, is just as cold.

And what was revealed at the end of the movie is quite possibly one of the weakest things I've seen in a while, call it "Rosebud on life support."

I can't decide whether the fault should be put on the writer, or the editors. Robert De Niro handled the director's chair quite well.It's just that the movie is just too long and slow, yet, I don't know if making it shorter would've helped. While the pacing has problems, the acting was mostly pretty good. Matt Damon pulls off the "quiet intellectual" quite well, which is helped by the fact that people are actually turn away from him(unlike the cliche, quiet badass in every anime...I'm looking at you Sasuke!). Angelina Jolie doesn't fare as well...seriously, her acting probably brought the score down. The cameos, and the movie is ripe with them, are quite good. Joe Pesci is seen for a few second as a illegal cuban immigrant, and De Niro's cameo brings up some dark humor(each time he is back on screen, more of his legs are missing).

Did I hate this movie, no. Did I love it, no. This movie is just above average.

*Rating:*6/10


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## Trunkten (Oct 26, 2007)

*Film Title*: Battle Royale II: Requiem
*Rating*: 18
*Country of Origin*: Japan
*Genre*: Thriller/Action/Horror/Drama

Having enjoyed the first one so much, I decided to borrow Battle Royale II off of a friend the other day. I severely regret wasting my time.

*Warning: The following post may contain spoilers*

It starts poorly, and never recovers. The opening 20 minutes or so are a complete rip-off of the beginning of the first film. Class of rebellious kids are chosen at random, taken on a coach trip, gassed, end up in a room with their teacher and several soldiers. Except Kenta Fukasaku (Son of Kenji, who died before the filming of this second installment) decided that there was no need for any backstory to any of the characters, meaning we know nothing about them, or their motives, and as a consequence, feel nothing for them. Maybe I would have been able to overlook this had it not been for two of the worst acting performances I have ever seen from the leading male student, and the over-the-top, annoying teacher, who deep down just wants to play a game of Rugby.

There is a fair amount of USA bashing thrown in, for no apparent reason when it comes to adding anything to the already shaky narrative, as the teacher writes up a list of the countries America has bombed since the end of WWII, but it goes no further than this (apart from a slight mention from the Prime Minister of Japan near the end), and brings nothing to the film.

I still had hopes that the actual 'Battle Royale' would be able to save the film. Surely it would build on the original, with more twists, interesting deaths, and clever black humour. Alas, it spectacularly fails to deliver. The only change this time round is that it appears to have become a 'tag team' game, where each student is paired with another, and when one dies, the others electronic collar explodes. Also, the battle becomes rather pointless as, rather than fight each other, the class is sent to kill the 'terrorist' Shuya Nanahara. 

Cue a scene for scene, poorly attempted, Saving Private Ryan rip-off, half the class dead within 30 seconds of the game beginning, a quick climb to the hilltop base, a few landmines and more deaths to people I don't care about, and eventually coming face to face with Nanahara again. The obligatory struggle with conscience, before teaming up to defeat the 'grown-ups'. Some more fighting, this time the group of about 20 students taking on an entire battalion of troops, eventually being whittled down to Shuya, our leading man from the new class, and Beat Takeshi's daughter from the down the phone in the first film (Who happens to be the only interesting and well developed character in the film), whilst the rest of the survivors make their escape. They are losing the fight, girl dies, Shuya and New Guy get ****ed off, apparently defeat well over 100 soldiers single handedly, escape the island before being missiled, and live happily ever after with there friends.

*Spoliers finished*

A poor attempt from start to finish, and doesn't deserve to carry the name 'Battle Royale'. Maybe if Fukasaku Sr had survived long enough to see this through to the end, things could have been different. However, he did not, and this pathetic attempt from Kenta will no doubt have his father turning in his grave.

2/10 (That's being generous.)


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## Jeff (Dec 30, 2007)

Film Title: Enchanted (2007)

Rating: PG (Scary images, mild innuendo)

Country of Origin: USA

Run Time: 107 Min (USA)

Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Musical

Director: Kevin Lima

Starring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Idina Menzel, Susan Sarandon, Timothy Spall

Gross revenue: $164,971,565 (Worldwide) (As of Dec. 30, 2007) 

*Plot Outline*: A classic Disney fairytale collides with modern-day New York City in a story about a fairytale princess who is sent to our world by an evil queen. Soon after her arrival, Princess Giselle begins to change her views on life and love after meeting a handsome lawyer. Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?
Source: 

*Review*: Honestly, when I first entered the theater with my girlfriend I was trying to think of an excuse for me to fall asleep and not make her mad.  Normally, movies that contain such cliches as princesses, talking animals, and a handsome prince make for a long, strenous battle between my eyelids and lala land.

Quite to my surprise this movie was a sight for sore eyes; never once rendering itself to following the "Disney Princess" cliche as seen in the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.  At once the movie pushed past the guidelines of any Disney fantasy movie before it, placing Princess Giselle into the real world of New York City, with her whimsical views on life still intact.  The random occurances of singing and the love story that develops between Giselle and Phillip is one of the most touching ones in Disney history thanks to the uniqueness of it.

A key aspect to this excellent movie that completely surprised me was the abundance of talented actors and actresses who played their parts extremely well.  Amy Adams possesses the beauty of a Disney Princess and successful translated the fairy tale world without missing a beat, as well being sexy enough to wow the adult audience as well.  James Marsden was a great prince charming, and it was a pleasure to see Susan Sarandon as the evil Queen.

Disney finally showed kids around the world, as well as adults, that true, everlasting love could be found not only in a land that exists in our dreams...but our very own backyard in this real world around us.  The ambition and risky move by Disney not only paid off in their young, eager fans who did not grow up around Aladdin and Lion King, but in the adults and teenagers that could relate.

Great Job Disney!

Rating: 10/10

Strengths: Amy Adams, Soundtrack, Interesting Story

Weaknesses: Sometimes corny

----

Upcoming ones once someone else posts: Godfather, Hot Rod.


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## Vonocourt (Jul 28, 2008)

*Smart People*

*Rating:*R
*Country of Origin:* USA
*Genre:* Romantic comedy


Well, seeing as how Ellen Page was in this movie, I decided to give it a try. And boy oh boy, was I in for 90 minutes of "meh."

Dennis Quaid plays some hobo who is also a part-time english professor at a college. His adopted brother is a middle-aged loser played by Thomas Haden Church. If you find Church attractive, by god hurry up and get this movie. Two shots of his butt, supposedly for some joke...but I didn't laugh. Ellen Page plays Dennis' daughter, a smart young republican. Shoeface Jessica Parker plays some bitchy doctor, and some random guy plays Quaid's son, his name, "I'm not in this movie*." But for good reason, the few frames that did feature a cardboard cut-out of him made me wanna punch him. Goddamn punk insulted Vanessa(Page).

Well, I can't say I really watched the movie...since I basically fast-forwarded through any scenes that did not feature Ellen Page. But luckily, the plot is so generic, I didn't miss much. The whole family is a clusterfuck of _normal _people with exaggerated quirks...hmm, never heard that before. The completely straight guy is "I'm not in this movie," which is probably why he isn't more prominent.

So, synopsis: Some hobo has been acting socially retarded since his wife died, finds Shoeface, they fall in love. Hobo's daughter doesn't like Shoeface...blah blah blah, adopted brother gets daughter high and drunk...daughter bitches. Shoeface gets pregnant, she bitches. Hobo realizes how socially retarded he is, they all accept each other. The end.

All together, a mediocre feel good film. Probably will end up on Lifetime someday.

*Rating:*C

*Stolen Joke.


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## NingyoHime (Jul 29, 2008)

*JUNO*
*Rating:*R
*Genre:*Comedy/Drama/Romance
*Summary:*Sixteen year-old Juno MacGuff is the type of girl that beats to her own drummer, and doesn't really care what others may think of her. She learns that she's pregnant from a one-time sexual encounter with her best friend, Paulie Bleeker. Juno and Paulie like each other, but don't consider themselves to be exclusive boyfriend/girlfriend let alone be ready to be a family complete with child. Although she would rather not be pregnant, Juno is fairly pragmatic about her situation. Although there, Paulie really leaves all the decisions about the baby to Juno. Initially she decides that she will have an abortion, but that's something that she ultimately cannot go through with. So she decides to have the baby and give it up for adoption. But first she has to tell her father, Mac, and stepmother, Bren, that she is pregnant. Although they would have preferred if Juno was on hard drugs or expelled from school, Mac and Bren too are pragmatic about Juno's situation. The next step is to find prospective parents for the yet unborn child. In the Pennysaver ad section, Juno finds Mark and Vanessa Loring, a yuppie couple living in the suburbs. Juno likes the Lorings, and in some respects has found who looks to be a kindred spirit in Mark, with whom she shares a love of grunge music and horror films. Vanessa is a little more uptight and is the one in the relationship seemingly most eager to have a baby. On her own choosing, Juno enters into a closed rather than open adoption contract with the Lorings - meaning she will have no contact with the baby after she gives it up. During the second and third trimesters of Juno's pregnancy which she treats with care but detachment, Juno's relationships with her family, with Paulie, and with the Lorings develop, the latter whose on the surface perfect life masks some hidden problems.
*Rating:*The Movie Itself wasn't bad,teh Storyline was pretty decent. But It wasn't..the movie that deserved THAT much hype. It killed it for me almost, I mean I almost didn't wanna see it because of it. I caught it on ShowTime and decided Why not. I have to admit I was a little dissapointed..I expected better from a movie that supposidly was Amazing. I mean I guess its amazing in its own way because not alot of movies are made about this type of subject..so I gave it credit for doing that.

The movie, didn't hold my attention as well in some parts and I was tempted to turn the channel but I kept watching..seeing if it would get better. It did somewhat, I'd reccomend this movie if you want something different..and if your like I am there wasn't anything on.
*Overall Rating:*6/10


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## Black Wraith (Jul 29, 2008)

*Film Title:* The Dark Knite
*Rating:*12
*Country of Origin:*America
*Genre:*Action/adventure
*Plot Outline:*There's a new psycho in town who wants the bat dead.
Review:The movie starts of slow and I thought it was quite boring however after the first part the it shows it's true colours. All the actors play their roles brilliantly and perfectly and the story is interesting and draws you in. The new take on the Joker (Heath Ledger) is brilliant, he made the Joker into a guy who just doesn't give a shit about anything besides killing and putting a smile on your face.
The biggest problem with this film is that it is too long, this I think is mainly because of the inclusion of Two Face. If they made that part of the story separate and made the next movie on Two Face things would have gone together better. On the other hand how they created Two Face was brilliant and the way he grows to become a psycho. 
*Rating:*8.5


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## Chee (Oct 7, 2008)

​
*Film Title:* Empire of the Sun (1987)

*Rating: *PG

*Country of Origin: *USA

*Genre:* Drama. Military and War. Period Piece. Drama based on book.

*Length:* 153 minutes.

*Plot Outline:* A young expatriate British boy, Jim, played by Christian Bale is separated from his parents during a Japanese invasion on Shanghai in World War II. Eventually he ends up in a prison camps and learns to survive along the side of a group of American prisoners, one played by John Malchovich. 

*Review:* I was a little unexcited to watch this movie when I got it in Netflix, since I watched about 15 minutes online and it didn't exactly keep me interested. I wanted to kick myself in the ass when at the part where I cut it off at everything started to change for the characters. I'm not saying this is a slow film, I was just not in the mood to watch it. But I'm glad I forced myself to.

This gorgeous film is directed by Steven Spielburg with superb acting and beautiful photography. This is Christian Bale's first feature film, and my god could he act. Unlike other child actors that it sometimes feels like they are reading directly from the script, Bale _was_ the character. Right from the start, a snotty British child with a fascination with planes right down to the end where the three years in a prison camp had almost killed his childlike innocence.

This has to be one of my favorite war films, next to Schlinder's List. Because it indulges us in Jim's character (instead of just showing us the Holocaust camps in Schlinder's List) we as an audience become emotionally attached to Jim. This film should recieve more praise, everything about this film is flawless, it's a definate watch.

Rating: 10/10


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## Ippy (Oct 18, 2008)

*Film Title:* Max Payne
*Rating:* PG-13‎
*Country of Origin:* US
*Genre:* "Action/Adventure", Suspense, Thriller, Drama
*Plot Outline:* Much like the game(s), this movie centers around Payne and his search for his family's killer.
*Review:* It was like watching Mark Wahlberg take a shit for an hour and a half.

If you don't take my above assessment as warning, I hope you think Wahlberg's the most handsome man to walk the face of this Earth, because the first hour consists solely of close up shots of him performing the most mundane tasks associated with cop dramas possible.  They show him standing, walking, getting in and out of cars, looking through papers, and staring off into space in almost every angle imaginable.

With a movie entitled "Max Payne", you wouldn't expect it would take 3/4's of the movie to finally get to the action, but you'd be wrong.  It lacks all the things that made the games fun: gritty narrative and story telling, good action, and a good mix of the three.

I lost about two hours of my life that I can never get back.
*Screenshots:* Pick any still shot of Wahlberg, imagine him with a constant scowl, and you've already seen most of the movie.
*Rating:* The theaters should be paying *you* to watch that movie.

.000001/5


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## MartialHorror (Oct 25, 2008)

*Film Title*: Lawrence of Arabia
*Rating*: PG(although would be PG-13 by todays standards)
*Country of Origin*: England(although it takes place in Arabia)
*Genre*: Adventure
*Plot Outline*: Lawrence is an english soldier who leads an Arab revolution against the Turks.
*Review*:
?Lawrence of Arabia? is an epic masterpiece. Beyond that, it?s really amazing to say how much it has inspired. Indeed, this movie might embody what the term ?epic? actually means. Despite this, it also takes its material seriously. Modern day epics, like ?Pirates of the Caribbean? focus more on action and humor, while ?Lawrence of Arabia? focuses more on the dark side of things.

Usually, two things are attributed to this movies greatness. The first is the score, which like the movie itself, almost defines the genre. It gets you into the mood, so much that the first five minutes is one segment of just music, no visuals. Personally, I?m not sure if that was a good idea, but it just gives testament to how good the score is.

The second and most obvious aspect of the movie is its cinematography. Never has a film looked so?big at this point. The scenery is breathtaking, and the large production value helps. We see scenes of at least hundreds of horsemen riding. One scene has the camera placed high up and we see an entire city being overrun in one shot. Today this wouldn?t be so difficult, with CGI and all, but back then this was amazing. Yet above all, what makes the cinematography great is that it captures both sides of the desert. It?s beautiful, but can be devastating at the same time.

Yet neither of these are really what made the movie for me. To me, the best aspect was the character of Lawrence. He?s English, but doesn?t really have English mannerisms. Hence, he?s usually scorned by his fellow countrymen. He almost seems to want to become Arab, but they all look at him as some white guy. Sure, he is a great white guy, but still a white guy. His self identity is shown to be even more obscure when we learn he was the son of a mistress. Hence, he truly has no home.

Another interesting aspect about him is his personal beliefs. He detests killing and considers it to be barbaric. He bonds with the Arabs, but he detests their methods of violence. This is fine, but eventually he dwelves into it and loses himself into it. One of my favorite scenes is when Sherif Ali, who introduced Lawrence to Arab ?barbarianism?, reacts to Lawrence?s massacre. He starts yelling how barbaric Arabs are, which Is used to make a point that Lawrence is actually worse than the Arabs.

The final bit about Lawrence?s development refers back to my first point on him. His self identity becomes so obscure, he eventually seems to think he?s an actual prophet. His superiors and allies all look at him in wonder, while secretly fearing him. The movie ends on a strange note, with Lawrence leaving Arabia with a melancholy explanation. He isn?t sure if he succeeded, and isn?t sure what he?s going to do from now on.

The cast are all superb in their roles. Peter O?Toole has lots of charisma, while hiding it under his noble persona. Eventually, when he is beaten(and possibly raped) by the enemy, he snaps and it?s amazing how much he changes. Alec Guinness(Prince Feisal) is known for his role in Star Wars(Hint: ?Use the force, Luke?), and I mainly recognized him due to his voice. He just has an awesome presence. Omar Sharif(Sherif Ali) is brilliant and a special mention should go out to Anthony Quinn(Auda) who looked and acted very authentic. The cast is large, with some big names in small roles, so I won?t name them all.

Overall, ?Lawrence of Arabia? is an epic journey. It is the story of the rise of the Arabs as well as Lawrence?s search for personal growth. Oddly, it doesn?t appear the journey is completed, which reflects reality I guess. Regardless, I recommend that you watch this film. It?s almost four hours long but it goes by surprisingly quickly.


*Rating*: 4/4


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## MartialHorror (Oct 25, 2008)

*Film Title*: Pride and Glory
*Rating*: R
*Country of Origin*: U.S
*Genre*: Police drama

*Plot Outline*: A detective learns his brother-in-law(also an officer) might be corrupt and involved in a massacre of four other police officers.

*Review*:

When "Pride and Glory" ended, a few things stood out in my mind. The first was, despite the lukewarm reviews, I actually enjoyed this movie. The second was that it felt like a dumbed down version of "Gone Baby Gone". Yes, the movie plays around with morality and makes you wonder which choice you'd make, neither one being easy. However, this movie sets this up and doesn't really resolve itself at the end. In fact, the movie itself had plenty of plot holes and loose ends. 

The directing is pretty intense, but I didn't always agree with him. At times, the film felt too grainy. For the most part though, he just serves the script, which oddly is the best thing about this. The first thing it does right is making sympathetic characters. Even the bad guy is pretty sympathetic. At times, I thought the story was convoluted, but then I remembered that these unimportant subplots tie back into character development. It works. Finally, despite being over 2 hours long, it goes down really quickly. 

Edward Norton is simply intense as the good, yet wounded, detective. He redeems himself for his bland performance in "The Incredible Hulk". Colin Farrell is believable as the brother-in-law in question. Jon Voight gives one of his better performances as of late as the father. Noah Emmerich is a good actor, and does well here, but is upstaged by the rest of the cast.....who all just own. 

Overall, "Pride and Glory" is a good cop/drama/thriller with well developed characters and a decent storyline. Sure, it was not all that it could be but I still liked it anyway.

*Rating*: 3/4


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## MartialHorror (Oct 28, 2008)

*Film Title*: Citizen Kane
*Rating*: PG
*Country of Origin*: U.S
*Genre*: Drama

*Plot Outline*: Charles Foster Kane, a massive newspaper mogul, has died. His final words, "Rosebud", has reporters trying desperately to find out what it means. Through interviews, they slowly learn who this man really was.

*Review*: 
Citizen Kane is often listed as the greatest movie ever made. Orson Welles, a genius, is the director here. He decided he would do a movie about the life of William Randolph Hearst, the biggest newspaper mogul ever. He obviously fictionalized it since Hearst was still alive. The result was a controversy that would destroy both men. Ironically, Welles seemed to inject some of himself as Kane. Hence, Kane is a blend of Welles and Hearst. Yet as I said, both would destroy each other over the controversy. Hearst became a joke who everyone thought "Kane" was an accurate portrayal. Welles would have difficulty making movies after this. It's pretty sad....

While I was watching it, I wasn't all that impressed. The characters felt mostly wooden and I had difficulty liking them. The overlapping dialogue got on my nerves as well. I'm  also still not sure if I liked the performance of Dorothy Comingore as Susan, but I kind of like how they did her character, making up for this fault. I also couldn't deny that this film definitely had sharp dialogue and strong performances. Eventually, I got used to these negatives to the point where I didn't have a problem with them anymore.

However, like it or not, you can't deny what Welles achieves as the director. He didn't invent "Deep Focus Photography", but he used it more than everyone else, making it popular. He also used some really exotic angles. They actually tore out part of the floor so they can put the camera in the hole, making Kane out to be larger than life (Note: Often, when the camera is looking up at someone, it empowers them. When it looks down at them at an angle, it takes away their prestige. Watch "Psycho" for a great example of this when the detective enters the Bates home. Anyway, they use this in Kane to REALLY empower him).

Another amazing aspect is the lighting. The reporters faces are all shadowed and I loved how menacing Kanes castle looked(Burton would make a similar castle with the same effect in "Edward Sissorhands"). Welles also heavily uses expressionism, even to the point of making the fireplace HUGE, to make a point of Kane's state of mind. However, my favorite technical achievement is the editing. Kane and his wife act like loving newlyweds at the breakfast table. Then you skip a few years(?) at the same place and watch how they grow antagonistic towards each other, all done in less than a minute. It's a spectacular scene.

Now let's go back to my complaint about unlikable characters. Indeed, Welles does a great job acting as Kane, and you see his charismatic side as well as his tormented side. But to me, what made this film great was very small. It was the last few seconds, revealing what rosebud actually was. It gave the film all its needed depth right there. It's ironic, as the reporter concludes that even though rosebud is a missing piece of the puzzle known as Charles Foster Kane, it wouldn't necessarily show who he was. This seems believable and acceptable, but the final scene proves this wrong, and I loved the movie just for that. 

Is Citizen Kane the best movie ever? I don't know. I'd say other movies definitely come close to it. My personal favorite is "Jaws", but "Once Upon a Time in America" might be there as well. It's difficult to say what the BEST movie is, because they are all hard to compare to each other. It comes down to your tastes, but at the absolute least, Citizen Kane is definitely up there.

*Rating*: 4/4


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## masamune1 (Nov 28, 2008)

*Film Title:* Licence to Kill
*Country of Origin:* UK/ US
*Genre:* Action/ Adventure; James Bond flick

*Plot Summary*

Bond's pal Felix Lieter gets married....only to have his wide murdered and his leg fed to a shark. 007 is out for revenge, even if it means going rogue to achieve it. His target is drug boss Franz Sanzhez, who as it turns out is about to revolutionize the drug smuggling business via hiding his merchandise in petroleum.

*Review*

_Licence to Kill_ is the Bond film a lot of people seemed to expect/ want _Quantum of Solace_ to be, except with Daniel Craig. They 
have a lot in common- a South American setting; Bond clashing with both his own superiors and a US agency; an action-style Bond girl;- but the main thing is that _Licence to Kill_ is all about Bond being out for revenge, and being extremely nasty about how he gets it. 

_QoS_ was, as far as many viewers were concerned, _supposed_ to be like that, but it was'nt- Bond, instead, was only a little nastier than he was in _Casino Royale,_ only a little more of a pain for his bosses, was actually out for answers and his "Quantum of Solace" for the events in the last film, and when he actually gets the chance for vengeance against the scumbags responsible he actually lets them off with it (more or less- he _was_ prety mean when it came to the killers of his pal Matthas). 

The point I'm getting at is this- if you want to see what James Bond on a vengeance spree is like, check out _Licence to Kill,_ by far and wide the nastiest, most violent, and most brutal interpretation of the character ever put on screen. 

And for some reason, people think it sucks.

But it does'nt suck. 

In fact, it might be one of the best Bond films ever made. 

One thing you should remember about James Bond is that each actor who plays him, plays him differently. Sure, there are a bunch of common elements, but generally speaking each performance is going to be different, and the actors will generally emphasise some of these elements over others. In Dalton's case, the elements in question concern the hard-edged Bond, the one less interested in humour and more interested in doing what needs to be done, or more accurately what _he_ feels needs to be done. 

And it is things like that that keep the series going. Dalton may be the least charismatic of all the James Bonds, but he _is_ still James Bond. To be sure, he is not very good at portraying charisma- and if you have seen pretty much any other Dalton performance outside of Bond, you will know what I mean: cheesy smiles, bad humour; James Bond is actually the only thing I've seen him in that I think he did convincingly. 

But he does it very convincingly. The scriptwriters, following his first turn in _The Living Daylights_ (another underrated action-fest), had gotten a taste of Dalton's strengths and weaknesses as Bond, and this film plays to his strengths. This is a violent, borderline sociopathic Bond, but the scrpit calls for that, playing down Bond's charm with women and not really giving him too many reasons to draw on it. This is Bond well and truly pissed. 

And the reason the series lasts so long is that it gets to do stuff like this, occasionally focusing an entire film on just one part of Bonds oh-so fascinating character. 

The man that he is pissed off at is one Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), a South American Drug Baron Felix Leiter had been spending years trying to put away and, with Bonds help, finally did, with disastrous consequences once the man escapes, courtesy of a traitorous friend who is, nonetheless, a little shaken to see his pal mauled. 

And it is little moments like that- the henchmen and second-stringers getting their own chances to at least hint that they are not just one-dimensional nobodies, but characters with their own backstory and depth- is something that sets this apart from a good many other films, Bondian or otherwise. It's nothing that special, but it's a nice little touch.

As for Sanchez himself, say hello to perhaps the meanest, nastiest, most violently unpredictable bastard James Bond has ever faced. When we are told about real-life Drug Barons like Pablo Escobar or Manuel Noriega, they are sometimes called real-life Bond villains- their larger-than-life personalities, megabucks lifestyle, and seemingly unbridled power and ambition up there with the worst of SPECTRE and company. 

When Bond actually does find himself up against someone like that, there is an outcry because Bond, apparently, should'nt be taking on such small fry as a drug lord. 

That's all well and good, but it does'nt change the fact that Robert Davi has otherwise given us one of Bonds' best baddies. Franz Sanchez is a ruthless, paranoid, violent, abusive, power-hungry sociopath, but he who is also a very charming and charismatic figure who values loyalty above money and rewards it when given, sticks to his word, and- most importantly of all- actually strikes up a friendship with 007, for his part at least. 

A few Bond baddies don't start off knowing just who and what he is, and a couple have some warped feelings of comaradery with him (again, Bond rarely feels the same), but Sanchez is unique for actually thinking he can _trust_ James Bond, accepting him as an employee and a friend whilst blissfully unaware that the man is hell-bent blowing his brains out. Their interactions are some of the best in any Bond film for that, Bond posing as a loyal chum whilst similtaneously plotting his death and oiling the wheels of Sanchez's paranoia, setting him on the path to killing his henchmen via uzis, forklift trucks, and blowing them up in a de-pressurised chamber (maybe or not a homage to _Live and Let Die_, the novel of which this is partly based on). 

The Bond girls are good, but not too memorable. They are fleshed-out, but they are just not that interesting, though they do show that they have brains and brawn of their own to call upon. Sanzhez's arch-henchman is Dario, played by some guy called Benicio del Toro who seems to be enjoying acting as such a nasty piece of work. Q is here, and gets his biggest role to date by actually helping Bond on his mission, and not just providing him with gadgets (which, of course, he does). 

And the action? This is amongst the most violent and explosive Bond movies ever filmed, the stand-out scene being the one where Bond hijacks a seaplane in mid-air, after escaping from heavily armed scuba-smugglers who just killed yet another of his friends. The finale is of the classic "exploding evil lair" variety, followed by an epic chase with tankers, bazookas and Franz with a big-ass machete'.

This film is underrrated, and it needs to be recognised. If you went to _QoS_ look for a violent hard-ass, this is the film for you. This is Bond as an 80's action-hero, 'cept 10 times bigger and more over-the-top. And despite all the naysayers, it works. It really is an enjoyable film, if you take it for what it is. 

And if there is one lesson you should take away from this film, it is this-you do _not_ piss off 007.

*8/10*


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## Chee (Nov 30, 2008)

​
*Film Title:* Strictly Ballroom (1992)

*Rating:* PG

*Country of Origin:* Australia

*Genre:* Comedy, Romance, Indie

*Length:* 94 minutes.

*Plot Outline:* After a championship ballroom dancer, Scott, looses his partner because he improvised dance steps, he continues to rebel when he chooses a beginner dancer, also an ugly duckling, to be his new dance partner in the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix.

*Review:* Baz Luhrmann’s style is bluntly obvious. From ridiculous close ups of people’s faces in almost every single frame to the odd color scheme that makes it seem like you’re on a LSD trip. Most of the movie seems like its set on fast-forward, making it annoying and just plain noise. His style is not hip, it’s not fresh, and it’s certainly not creative, it’s just plain annoying. From the moment Strictly Ballroom started, I knew it was by the same guy who did Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet (both of which are extremely irritating movies) and I knew that I wasn’t going to like this film. I was correct.

Strictly Ballroom is practically a ball of predictable mess. From cardboard cutout characters like the perfect ballroom dancer, Scott, to the ugly (but wait! She’ll be pretty after a couple of dance montages!) beginner dancer, Fran. The campiness of the direction makes it hard to take these characters seriously. Fran has problems at home and Scott isn’t welcome there, but after they show off their dance skills, they magically become friends with the uptight brother who also knows how to dance. It seems like Luhrmann doesn’t want to throw rocks at his characters, they are barely challenged even by Scott’s stage mom, Shirley Hastings and the grump of the ballroom, Barry Fife. Even when his partner left him because he improvised some steps at a dance competition (oh no! He improvised!) it doesn’t even affect him. Predictably, Scott and Fran fall in “tru lub”, dancing away at the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix, not caring if they when or lose. Ah, the power of love.

The direction is near horrific, being Baz Luhrmann’s first film, he tends to place characters in the middle of every single frame…wasn’t that a big no no, or is it okay because he’s being “hip” and “fresh”? When he isn’t raping cinematography, he is raping the actors. Doing close ups of their faces every five seconds is unflattering and honestly, looks stupid. The characters are ridiculous; they look like they popped out of a wacky music video from the 80s. He successfully uses almost every cliché in the book. From dull characters that only care about one thing, dancing, to the ugly girl that could be beautiful if she just got rid of the glasses. 

What Shall We Dansu? took as innocent and “do what you love to do” kind of theme, Strictly Ballroom destroys. There isn’t much of a lesson learned here, again, while there appears to be a conflict between characters, Scott and Fran are barely nudged by it. Yes, Scott does ultimately learn that competition isn’t everything; the problem is that he knew that from the start. So while Scott and Fran are busy “fighting the power”, it’s up Barry Fife and his mother to get the near-nonexistent plot moving again.


*Rating:* 1.5/10


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## Chee (Dec 4, 2008)

​
*Film Title:* Vertigo

*Rating:* PG

*Country of Origin:* America

*Genre:* Thrillers, Classic, Suspense and Mystery

*Length:* 129 minutes.

*Plot Outline:* A retired detective with a crippling fear of heights is hired to follow a mysterious woman in which he later falls in love with.

*Review:* Vertigo is pure Hitchcock, suspenseful, offbeat characters and an eerie ending. A retired detective has a fear of heights and looks for a job at a friend’s large shipbuilding company. But instead of getting a job there, Elster wants him to follow his wife, Madeleine. Madeleine has an odd routine of traveling around the town, staring at a painting and a grave of Carlotta Valdes, a woman who took her life around 100 years ago. Madeleine seems to be entranced by this, and appears to try to commit suicide by falling in the San Francisco Bay. As they visit a forest, Madeleine runs up a mission tower as John attempts to follow her but stops halfway because he suffers from vertigo. She is seen later thrown out of a window to her death, John then gets thrown into court and then later into a mental hospital that seemed rather pointless to the film. He then starts to visit all of the places where Madeleine used to go to and sees a woman, Judy, with darker hair that almost looks exactly like Madeleine. John then follows her up to her hotel room to get a story out of her (a woman from Kansas who now lived in San Francisco for 3 years) and then he asks her out to dinner. He forces her to change her clothes and dye her hair to look like Madeleine and after he sees Judy put on a necklace that Madeleine used to wear he forces her up the mission stairway so that he could re-enact the scene. She then falls out of a window when a nun comes out from the shadow. His vertigo is cured, but with the price of Madeleine’s real death.

This film was rather interesting, up to the point where Madeleine is in his apartment. From that point on they start to kiss each other like ten times throughout the movie. The rushed romance made me raise my eyebrows in strong disbelief. The romance also seemed to push aside the plot and actual story making it more confusing then it actually is. Midge was a useless character in this film, bogging down the plot even further. There was nothing wrong with Hitchcock’s directing, he used very “new” techniques for the time period this film was set in. I loved the flashing colors and dizzy circles to represent vertigo and the soundtrack for this film was suspenseful and enveloping. I believe it just happened to be the wrong kind of screenplay for Hitchcock’s abilities; maybe a couple of revisions would’ve done justice to the film.

Hitchcock’s films are also very famous for focusing on the dark side of his characters. From a peeping tom in Rear Window to a woman who stole $40,000 in Psycho. This one focuses on a man who is afraid of heights and ends up forcing a woman into looking like the girl he “used” to love. The forced romance bogs down the theme, but it is still present. It’s not a happy one, but John ends up being a cause and effect to the death of Madeleine because of his vertigo. But who cares? They’ve only known each other for roughly three days; not including the what-seemed-like weeks of John’s stalking of course. In my opinion, the screenplay should’ve put Midge’s character in Madeleine’s shoes. Cut out one useless character and make it a more believable romance. Overall, this film was good, not great like Hitchcock’s other films, mediocre at best.


Rating: 7/10


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## Ippy (Dec 7, 2008)

*Film Title:* Tropic Thunder
*Rating:* R
*Country of Origin:* US
*Genre:* Comedy
*Plot Outline:* _(taken from RottenTomatoes.com)_ In it, a desperate director named Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) trying to make a Vietnam war movie drops his pampered actors into the heart of the jungle. Cockburn's stars include Stiller as an action hero who's starting to make bad career choices, Jack Black as an insecure low-brow comedy star going through heroin withdrawals, and Robert Downey Jr. as an Australian Oscar winner so lost in his "craft" he underwent a procedure to become black for his role. In the jungle, they remain under the delusion that they are still being filmed even after they encounter a dangerous gang of druglords.
*Review:* Easily one of the funniest movies I've ever watched, from start to finish.

No lie, from the first few seconds of the movie, you will already be laughing hard, and won't stop until at least an hour and 15 minutes into the movie, where things slow down a bit as they prepare their "Wet Offensive".

Satire on this level is hard to come by, as the movie's creators really take digs at the Hollywood movie industry at all levels, from the actors, directors, agents, and finally on up to the heartless big wigs, all the while making you laugh the entire time.

The only thing keeping this movie from a perfect score was the aforementioned "Wet Offensive" preparation, where during those ten minutes, I barely uttered more than a small giggle.

If you don't like this movie, either it was made to satire _you_, or you simply have no sense of humor.
*Screenshots:* Just go watch it!
*Rating:* 4.5 out of 5


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## Chee (Dec 10, 2008)

​
*Film Title:* Beauty and the Beast (1991)

*Rating:* G

*Country of Origin:* America

*Genre:* Animation, Children, Musical, and Romance

*Length:* 90 minutes.

*Plot Outline:* A beautiful girl with a beautiful personality becomes a beast's prisoner but soon falls in love with him, as he falls in love with her.

*Review:* ‘Beauty and the Beast’ has gorgeous traditional animation with a blend of CGI that looks like it was drawn, thrown in. Different from other fairy tale films, Belle takes awhile to fall in love with the beast, not love at first site. This makes ‘Beauty and the Beast’ a unique Disney film. The animation is superb and seems more like live action than being drawn.

The story revolves around Belle, a beautiful girl who is the odd ball in the town, indulged in fairy tales instead of swooning over Gaston, a selfish man who believes that he is the best in the town and who wants Belle to marry him just because of her looks. Belle is also very protective and loving of her inventive father, who gets lost in a forest and ends up as the Beast’s prisoner. She is determined to save him, and sacrifices herself to be the Beast’s prisoner instead of her father. The Beast was actually a prince, but his loveless heart toward an ugly old lady, who was actually a beautiful sorceress, put a spell on him turning him into a beast until he found someone that loved him back before the rose wilted and died.

The beast ultimately learns how to love, and Belle falls in love with him in return. Not caring about his appearance, but his personality. This theme is expressed perfectly, without being to overbearing, the screenplay, direction and animation all fit soundlessly.

*Rating:* 10/10


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## Cardboard Tube Knight (Apr 8, 2009)

*Film Title:* Twilight
*
Rating:* PG 13
*
Country of Origin:* USA
*
Genre:* Teen Drama Romance...Comedy? Vampire thing...yeah
*
Plot Outline:*  A girl moves to a North Western town only to fall in love with a boy who guards a mysterious secret. (yeah I wrote this shit)
*
Review:* Alright, many of you are probably shaking your heads in disgust right now and wondering what the Hell I am thinking. Well here is what I am thinking, people had loved this movie so much and hated it so much I had to watch it and see what the Hell was the deal. I mean there was so much animosity between fans and people who didn't like it that I *had* to see what was up. 

My motivation: I love to watch bad movies and make fun of them so even if it was bad I could have had some fun. But what I got was a bit of a shocker. The movie wasn't horrible and managed to remain pretty much average the whole time. At times it bordered on pleasant. The parts where they were playing baseball or the part when they first go to the Cullen household were probably my favorite but just some of the secondary characters made it. 

The goofy Asian kid (a staple in any teen movie) and Bella's big chested friend (whom wardrobe seemed to make good use of) were funny as were all of the vampires. At times Bella was even comical and cute, she was effective in being this girl who seemed out of place only because she really wanted to (very emo) but at the same time as you watch, this weird kind of beauty creeps up in her and she looks better and better as the thing wears on. 

All of the Werewolf Native American people were kind of squandered, I mean they could have gone somewhere with that. It was nice to see a black vampire again though, its good to see they didn't forget us . I would like to see more Hispanic and Asian vampires though. Its like they don't bite them...

Now about that, the handling of the Vampire mythos, everyone was so concerned when they heard about it all, the sparkling and the whole bit. It didn't bother me as much as I figured it would. The sparkle was a nice twist because it was kind of hinted at that the reason that they didn't go into the sun was because they would die. Which isn't the case, they would just look like they had been sandblasted with glitter. 

To those who say they didn't need to be vampires, well I say they kind of did because how else would she have thought of what they were. I mean if they were Windigo, would she be like "I know you're a Windigo!" She's not Agent fucking Mulder, most supernatural beings aren't common knowledge. That left Myers with a handful of things, Mummies, not right...Zombies, they're more or less Mummies with out the tomb rot, and there are other choices but none of them embody the idea of the vampire. Raw sexuality and this lust for blood as well as this overwhelming attractiveness that they've developed almost as a way of  helping them to hunt. 

My biggest complaint, the guy who played Edward seemed like he over acted the awkward sometimes and then at other times he seemed alright. His acting wasn't consistent really. 

*Final Thoughs:* Liked it honestly, didn't love it, definitely didn't hate it. It was an average flick. The kind of thing you watch once and file away.  I get why it was hyped by younger girls and the like but I don't get the attitude many older people have towards it. 

*Rating: *6.5/10 

The point five there is because of the best part of the movie, Ashley Greene:


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## Hellspawn28 (Apr 22, 2009)

*Film Title:* Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

*Rating:* Unrated but not recommended for children under 14 years of age due to large amount of blood, small nudity scenes, and Evangelion Unit 01 in Berserk mode may frighten small children

*Country of Origin:* Japan

*Genre:* Animation|Action|Sci-Fi|Drama 

*Plot Outline:* The plot is about a teenaged boy named Shinji who is summoned by his estranged father to Tokyo 3, and His father is the head of the organization Nerv which was made to protect humanity against a group of monsters called "Angels". Later he meets a female women with pruple hair named Misato Katsuragi. She later picks shinji up and takes him to Nerv headquarters with a bit of trouble along the way thanks to the attacking Angel named "Sachiel", His father is the head of the organization Nerv which was made to protect humanity against evil and Shinji is informed much to his surprise that he is to pilot what appears to be a giant purple robot called "Evangelion" to fight against the attacking Angels. Shinji must save the Earth from evil as he deals with his way of life and meets an injured girl named Rei Ayanami will have to do so in his place.

*Review:* I saw the movie like a month ago in Washington, DC at the "Seventh Annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon", and I have been waiting for this movie since 2007 now because I have been a Evangelion fan for a very long time now and I have been hype for this movie when I found out that their going to remake it into a series of movies. So after waiting two years for the movie, I'm going to say that the movie was worth it. Since this is a remake that means things have been change around like any other remake since we don't see the second half of this battle through Shinji's flashback and it happens all at once like in the Manga which is better and cooler too. I also feel like the story feels rush in the second half  of the movie since they remove the part where how Touji finds out he's a pilot since he wanted to beat him up for hurting his sister that was killed in the city during the battle with Sachiel. Another scene that was change was that Shinji disobeyed orders so badly after the battle with the 5th Angel named "Shamshiel" (It the 4th Angel in the original series) and got chewed out by Misato whose pissed at his whiny teenaged attitude. After this Shinji decides to run away then unlike the original version he ends up in a really seedy part of town full of strip clubs and goes around parts of Japan like a forrest at the statue of Jizo-san. He never gets to have his chat with Kensuke in the woods since he gets found by Nerv before that can happen unlike in the original series. Another new thing that was added into the movie was Ramiel which is the sixth Angel in the movie and it is full CGI where  whenever it fires its beam it changes intoa weird shape and can use two other types of beams, each more powerful then the one before it. Overall the story is great and it has a few flaws but not enough to ruin it for me or anyone else that seen the series but newbies might have a problem with it though.

The animation for the movie is amazing and everything look fantastic such as the layout designs, how backgrounds look and the overall animation looks great. The movie also fused with 2D animation and 3D animation also which they did so great that most movies failed at.The only flaws I had with the animation was that a few scenes where to bright that made a few scenes hard to see. The music is almost is the same as the original and most of the music that they used in the original series is still added into their as well with the sound effects. The movie also has a new ending song called "Beautiful World" from Utada Hikaru (A Japanese pop artist) which was chosen from her single Beautiful World/Kiss & Cry. She also provided a reprised remix of the series original ending theme "Fly Me to the Moon". The movie is  composed by Shiro Sagisu who also did the score for the original series and the popular anime called "Bleach". Nothing else to say other then the music is great and Shiro did it again as the composer. The action scenes in the movie are great and their fun to watch, and their not boring as well. They play out the same in the original series but this time their blood that pops out of them when they get destroy. 

Nothing to say about the acting other it voice acting and the movie has all of the voice actors from the original series return for the movie. I seen the series in subs before and I never care about the Japanese voices before but I'm used to them from playing the video games. Not bad voice acting but I never care for them anyways. If you watch the end of the movie their is a big suprise at the end which is a teaser trailer for the second movie.


*Spoiler*: __ 



The movie ends giving us a shot of the sruface of the moon where a mysterious boy named Kaworu froma coffin on its surface. Then a new Unit appears and it the Sixth Evangelion Unit, and its pilot flying down from the Moon), unidentified ghostly floating humanoid entities with haloes with the words "Adam" and "Lilith" flashing between them, and a newly introduced female character with brown hair and glasses appears afterwards.





*Final Thought:* Overall this movie was great and I really love it since I have been waiting two years for this movie, and it was worth the wait. This might be the best 2D animation movie I seen in a while now since they stop making a lot of 2D movies now, and we get a bunch of crappy 3D movies like Fly me to the Moon and Star Wars: Clone Wars. For those who are new to the series, I quite sure this will serve as an excellent starting platform into the series and might want to check this out first or rent the original series on DVD. If you're fan like my self then you will enjoy this movie a lot since it lot easier to understand the plot and intention of the characters, and with all the plot making more sense than the original series, and not to mention that the action scenes are much better too. I was lucky to see the movie at DC then wait for it on DVD and it was a great experience I had at the movies in a long time next to The Dark Knight. If you get a chance to see this movie then check it out at a movie screening or wait for it on DVD this fall. If you want a movie with a great story, beautiful animation, fast action and a movie that has science mixed with some reglion, check this out.

*Screenshots:*







*Rating:* 4.5/5


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## Hellspawn28 (May 4, 2009)

*Film Title:* X-Men Origins: Wolverine

*Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity * 

*Actors/Actress:* Hugh Jackman, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins

*Country of Origin:* United States

*Genre:* Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Adventure 

*Plot Outline: *

James Logan also know as Wolverine and his brother Victor Creed (who will later become Saber-toothed) run away together as children in the mid 1850's after Logan kills their biological father who had murdered Logan's adoptive father. After serving together in many wars they are recruited by William Stryker to serve in a special unit made up of mutants. When Stryker orders the destruction of a village that refuses to reveal the location of a 'precious metal' Stryker yearns for a unknown item and Logan quits the unit and goes off to live a life of peace and isolation as a lumberjack in the Canadian Rockies. Stryker shows up and asks Logan to come back into the fold as part of a new Weapon X project and Logan refuses until he finds out that his wife is dead that he must find his brother that kill her then stop Weapon 11. 

*Review: *

Seeing that I?m a big Marvel fan I wanted to see this for a while now ever since when I hear about Wolverine getting his own movie. I enjoy all three of the X-Men movies even the 3rd one which a lot of people did not like but I did for the fun story and great action scenes but my personal favorite in the X-Men series would be the first one without a doubt due to the dark tone it has and the great character devotement. So I got a chance to see this when it came out on May 1st which was a few days ago and I have to say that I enjoy it a lot. Much better then the 3rd movie and I would say it almost good as the second film in terms of action and story. While the first movie is my favorite in the series but this one is almost close but it does have a lot of flaws to begin with. The action scenes where very good and they where great to watch which I enjoy the most out of the X-Men movies since they always to give out good actions scenes. The action scenes do look nice while the CGI in the movie does look rather bad since most of it looks like it came out of a video game cut scene which is a bad thing since video game cut scenes graphics can look bad for a movie depending on which film that you are watching. Another issue I had with this movie was the placing which rather boring in the first 10 to 20 minutes of the movie since you are most likely going to wait for action to happen but you get these boring scenes of characters that you don?t really care about at all in Wolverine life. Speaking of characters which is something that I should mention because their very little character development in the movie since they have very little background story behind them which can cause confusion for people who don?t know anything about the series or seen the first three movies. You have characters like Dead pool, Blob, and Sliver Fox who appear in the movie but you don?t know that much about them at all and when Sliver Fox appears who don?t know who she is or how Wolverine meet her in his life after running away from the destruction of a village, the story and development is just confusing and is pretty messy to begin with. The acting in the movie is pretty good and Hugh Jackman plays as Wolverine again which a pretty good jobs at since I like him as Wolverine because his acting skills fit well with the character. The other actors like Ryan Reynolds as Dead pool who did a better job then I expect because his comedy skills fit well with the character and did a better job in the 3rd Blade movie that came out in 2004 (Which was another Marvel movie at the time) and the other actors like Danny Huston and Kevin Durand are pretty good too, I had no issues with the actors at all other then Lynn Collins who was pretty wooden at some points of the movie. The music score was good I have to say and I don?t really care for the score in the movie but I did enjoy the ending theme which was pretty cool to listen to but nothing else to say about it since it nothing special. In the previous films and the comic books, the main reason that Wolverines' amnesia plagued him partly hinged on the fact that he was said to have been viciously evil and cold-blooded. The movie is based on the X force comics that came out in the 90?s at the time and the movie did flow the comics pretty well other then the final scene where 
*Spoiler*: __ 



Wolverine lost his memory from a gun bullet which was a stupid idea since in the comics he lost his memory from healing his damage all over his body after blood lust.


 Everything flow the comics pretty well and Blob appear in the movie also who did not appear in the Weapon X comics at all. And it was cool to see him even though it was a small scene and was not need to add him. 

*Final Thought: *

Overall the movie was a solid action flick and I enjoy it a lot even though it had major flaws. The movie is a good way to kick off the summer season while it not as good as last year Marvel film like Iron Man but the movie was just pain fun to watch and it not a film to be taken serious since the X-Men movies where never realistic to begin with and the movies where for action then the storyline most of the time. If you like the other X-Men movies or a fan of the comics then see the movie for your self since it a fun flick and it much better then X-Men: The Last Stand which came out a few years ago. If your not a fan or never seen the other movies then rent it on DVD or see it with a friend so you don?t have to pay for it because this movie will  cause confusion for people who don?t know anything about the series even though it a origin story. So the movie is a good flick and it not as bad then people said it is. 

*Screenshots:*







3.5/5


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## Para (May 28, 2009)

​
*Film Title:* La Haine ('Hate')
*Rating:* 15 (R)
*Country of Origin:* France
*Genre:* Crime/Drama
*Plot Outline:* The film follows a day in the life of Vinz, Saïd and Hubert. A friend of theirs, Abdul, is beaten and hospitalised by police, sparking a riot. A policeman loses his gun during the rioting, and it is recovered by Vinz, who threatens to kill a cop should his friend die in the hospital.
*Review:* I first saw this film in a French A-level class and I was blown away. If I was to sum in up from the half-hour or so that I saw in class it would probably be "Tarantino in French", but even that doesn't do it enough credit. I immediately went out and bought a copy. I mean it's difficult to decide on the best part of this film; is it the cinematography, the script or the acting? The characters are realistic and likable, even with their faults. Vinz and Hubert play polar opposites and clash at several points, Vinz holding his ground on "an eye for an eye" for the majority of the film while Hubert insists that "hate begets hate".

The message of this film can be seen in one quote from the character "Hubert", probably the wisest of the three youths:


> Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper? On his way down past each floor, he kept saying to reassure himself: So far so good... so far so good... so far so good. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land!


It is a reflection of society's attitude of not looking towards the future because everything seems fine in the present. With the current recession I guess a lot of people can look back and appreciate that message.

La Haine somehow manages to be gritty and upfront with issues without coming off as preachy, and writing this review has made me want to watch it yet again. It's not enough to write a few paragraphs about it. Go and watch it.

*Rating:* 5/5


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## Saetre (Feb 5, 2010)

Ichi The Killer:



Koroshiya 1 (Also known as Ichi The Killer) is based on a popular manga by Hideo Yamamoto and it's directed by Takeshi Miike.

*Plot:* When the Yakuza boss Anjo disappears with a fortune of his gang, his sadomasochist number one Kakihara and his men search for him. Kakihara suspects a member of the rival Yakuza gang and tortures trying to locate his boss. Kakihara realizes that he has committed a mistake and finds out that the man who abducted Anjo is a man named Ichi, a psychopath who was sexually abused as a child. Ichi's boss, Jijji, controls him and makes him eliminate the entire gang by using his martial arts skills.

*Review:* Ichi The Killer is ultra violent and not for the faint -- hearted with its frequent scenes of torture, rape and dismemberment. Kakihara is the coolest character in the movie, he loves to torture and be tortured simply because he thinks it's fun and cool. The plot is original and may be Takeshi Miike's best movie . Some scenes are so violent that it's actually funny, and Miike is an expert when it comes to torture and shocking its viewers. Watch the unrated version, it's much more violent than the UK version. Ichi The Killer is a love story with great performances, dizzying moodswings and an awesome soundtrack.

8/10.


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## Love (Feb 5, 2010)

​
*Film Title:* Edge Of Darkness
*Genre:* Drama/Thriller

*Plot Outline:* 
As homicide detective Thomas Craven investigates the death of his activist daughter, he uncovers not only her secret life, but a corporate cover-up and government collusion that attracts an agent tasked with cleaning up the evidence

*Review:*
I wasn't extremely excited to see a film starring Mel Gibson, I've never really been a fan of him, but I thought I might be pleasantly surprised. This movie was originally based off of a six episode series from 1985 that recieved many positive reviews and even won some awards.
The film starts off pretty normal, but suddenly things get very rushed, it's hard to process everything that is happening.
The ideas and mystery in this movie are interesting, but there seems to be too much going on at once. I also found that many of the scenes were repetitive. Gibsons acting overall though was very good, although some of the lines were extremely cheesy and laughable.
A lot of killing, blood and death. 
The number of twists in this movie make it almost impossible to understand what is exactly what was going on, by the end you will definitley be thoroughly confused. 
The ending was terrible and cheesy.



*Spoiler*: __ 



Example of extreme confusion;
In one scene Thomas Craven is throwing up in his sink due to exposure to radiation.
Suddenly he is taken by the men from Northmoor and wakes up in some sort of basement at Northmoor. He beats up a guy working for Northmoor and escapes.
Cut back to him throwing up in his sink.
Was that scene neccesary?




*Rating: *
5/10


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## HaagendazStudios (Feb 20, 2010)

Film Title: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 



Genre: Adventure/Fantasy 
Plot Outline: A teenager discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods. (from IMDB)

Review:
Just to say, i read the book and this is alot bias about me reading the book and seeing the movie afterwards.

The book was intense read all 5 books and i loved it.
However, i cannot say the same way i loved the first book as the first installment of the movie. Yes i could say yeah they made a movie of percy jackson but im really mad at all the cuts and twists they made on the book itself. First things first. They changed many big details such as the oracle which is really important in many the books later. Also, they did not say anything about kronos. Kronos dammit is a huge antagonist of the book not talking about him will result in not making the next sequel. These were my big concerns while the rest just irritates me. They did not add clarisse who was a bully to percy jackson and finally they made the children older they are right now 17 when they are supposed to be 12. 

Besides the bad parts there are good parts of the movie. The effects were gorgeous and the plot was not half bad if you do not count about the things they cut off. They probly did not have enough money to start the movie big but it was ok for a movie. I'm glad that they did make a movie about the percy jackson series but i do hope another director will make the next movie of this series. 

The best part to me in this movie is that they made grover a crazy awseome black pimped out character which was a great move.

Screenshots: 


Rating:
6.5/10


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## Deleted member 174958 (Mar 8, 2010)

*Film Title:* Alice In Wonderland

*Rating:* PG
*Country of Origin:* The United States
*Genre:*  fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar. 
*Plot Outline:* 19-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.
*Review:* If you were a fan of the books, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, you'll find this movie to be nothing like either of the books. Every character but the Red Queen is nothing like what they were supposed to be. The Mad Hatter, he's supposed to be mad-as in crazy. Not mad as in literally mad. You could tell Burton was trying to make Johnny Depp's role more than what it's supposed to be. And because of that, we lost sight of the main character, Alice. The way that all of the characters came in at once really rushed the story. You had no time to grow attached to them. It was like they were just thrown at you. And one of the most memorable lines in the movie wasn't even done right. The line; "*W*ho *a*re *Y*ou" was completely butchered and was nothing like how it was supposed be done. They had the right actor but it was just not done right. If it wasn't for Helena Bonham Carter(Red Queen)I would have walked out of the theater and never looked back. But because of how intriging and true to the original character she was, I had to see what was in store for her. And I have to say, she is about the best thing in this movie.

The plot was a mixture of both books and left me feeling as if the story was everywhere at once. Combining both stories in one movie really wasn't a good idea for them to do. 
The music score was very good, though, it was about the best thing in the movie. That and the CGI, because the CGI was beautiful. I just wish we could have seen more of the talking flowers and the caterpillar...which we had about a minute for.

But, the thing that was the worste part was how dark and gloomy the story was. It took a book that was supposed to be wacky and fun, and made it into a Nightmare. And that's not how these books were. The original movie and books were colorful and nonsenical. For instance, there's a scene in the movie where Alice has to walk across a blood river and she had to walk on floating heads. As my dad said, we were expecting the heads to speak in a British accent and say "Do ya always walk on people's head" something that would be silly and not too serious- just like what the Cartoon movie did. But no, there was nothing silly or nonsensical, just dead heads floating in blood. 

I was half expecting this movie to atleast make me laugh, and it did kinda. Like, three or four times. So if you go into the theater thinking this movie will make you laugh a lot, it won't. When there was jokes(which was rare)the jokes weren't very funy. And there's a particular scene at the end of the movie involving the Mad Hatter...where he dances...yea, that wasn't funny.



*Rating:* 5/10
I give it a 5 out of 10 because it was atleast nice to see such pretty CGI put to use. If you loved the classic movie and the books, and is hoping this movie is like those, I suggest you just not see this movie. Over all, I won't be buying the DVD or going back to see this movie.


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## john4life12 (May 17, 2010)

"To know Lloyd Dobler is to love him. Diane Court is about to know Lloyd Dobler."

*Film Title:* Say Anything...
*Rating:* PG-13
*Country of Origin:* USA
*Genre:* Romantic Comedy | Drama
*Plot Outline:* A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college. 
*Review:* I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this film. Awful Romantic Comedies are a dime-in-dozen these days, but this effected me on so many different levels. I laughed, I cried, I cursed, and the film was so well done that I felt not ashamed for it.

John Cusack plays Lloyd Dobler, the popular, truthful, and charming 19-year old young man who has just graduated from high school. He has no real plans for his future, only that he has an interest in kick-boxing. Ione Skye plays Diane Court, the top student of the school as valedictorian and winner of a Scholarship to England.

Upon hearing Diane's graduation speech, Lloyd sparks an interest in her. He proceeds to call her at home in hopes of getting a date, only to be told that she isn't in by her father (played by John Mahoney). He writes down Lloyd's number for her to call back. She later calls back, and Lloyd is very nervous, often stumbling through sentences. He asks her out, and she is quick to deny him, but finds humor in his persistency and agrees.

They go to a graduation party together, and people are surprised to see her there, especially with Lloyd Dobler. The party goes well, and on the way home, she says "No one knew me before tonight." Lloyd replies, "They knew of you. Now they know you."

And this is the start of a touching romance. I will leave the rest of the plot unmentioned in fear of spoiling. The film is wonderfully acted, written and directed (written and directed by Cameron Crowe) with almost surreal chemistry between the two young leads. A perfect example of the hardships one can come across with the transition from childhood to adulthood. The iconic scene where Lloyd plays his boom box outside Diane's window is memorable, but can be practically overlooked in comparison to other emotionally gripping scenes of the film. It is a tale of honesty and dishonesty, and I can with confidence recommend this to anyone regardless of age or gender.

*Screenshots: *


*Rating:* 4/4
​


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## Comic Book Guy (Jun 19, 2010)

​


*Film Title*: Toy Story 3

*Rating*: G

*Country of Origin*: USA

*Genre*: Animation; Family; Fantasy; Adventure

*Plot Outline*: Andy grows up and is going to college. What will become of his toys?


*Spoiler*: _Review_ 



If you lived through the 90s, you probably know about the Toy Story films.

The original in 1995 was not only a landmark in animation but was also a *darn* great film, even _beyond _the audience of young children. From there, the magic that is Pixar began.

4 years later, Pixar did it again with its sequel. It not only respectfully _and _successfully followed the first film -- it also built on and developed from the themes established prior. And like the original, it was another great film with the same audience-reaching power.

11 years later, everyone has come to Toy Story 3. A second-sequel film, the '3' movie of the series, the latest edition that makes Toy Story a trilogy.

With the history of _*so-so*_ '3' movies, _can_ Pixar beat all odds and succeed in living up to the previous films and recreating the wonderful magic again?

Yes, indeed.

_*Brilliantly*_.

For those of you who watched the previous Toy Story films, the first 10 minutes alone is *pure* and _*wonderful*_ nostalgia.

And then we proceed into with the story.

The premise this time: Andy is all grown up, heading off to college. What will become of the toys?

The answer: A lot, that makes you laugh, tear, and rejoice and wistfully remember your own childhood.

It deals with a theme of life that everyone on the planet has lived through at least one point in their lives -- growing up, moving on from childhood, and all the things that come along with it, from wistfully reminiscing and yearning for the past to preparing for the eventual and ultimate future that is the rest of your life. . . and the decisions that you make from it all.

This is the foundation of Pixar's Toy Story 3.

The incredible triumph that is Toy Story 3 can not be defined in the countless moments of the film -- and there are many, from significant to the Easter Eggs -- but if I were to start, I would immediately point to its story and the themes that explores.

Like Toy Story 2, the 3rd film builds and develops from the themes previously explored in the preceding film. However, what is absolutely amazing about Toy Story 3 is that it *revisits* *all the themes* that _both_ Toy Story 2 and the original Toy Story explored and, _*bittersweet*_ but *best* of all, brings them all to their eventual, heart_felt_ conclusion.

With all that said, Toy Story 3 is one of Pixar's most mature films to date and, by Pixar's stands, _arguably_ its darkest. It even features what I believe to be the film villain of the year and, if I may be bold, one of the best film villains ever.

I don't entirely believe that the youngest and even the _general and 'innocent'_ young viewers G-audience will be able to, ahem, _process_ the darker moments of the film, never mind its scary elements (viewers know what they are!).

But ultimately, for them and everyone else, Toy Story 3 and the series itself are literal touchstones in our lives. We all have come-at-age at one point in our lives. The entire series and this latest and last installment is a heart-touching address and tribute to our lives.

To conclude?

Should be a candidate for film of the year? _Definitely_.

Should be nominated for the prestigious Best Picture at the Academy Awards? *Absolutely*.

Toy Story 3 is the best second-sequel, the best '3' movie of all time, making the entire series one of, if not *the* best trilogy of all time.





*Rating*: 10/10


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## jux (Jan 15, 2011)

*Babel*

*Director:*  Alejandro González Iñárritu
*Genre* Drama
*Rating* R
*Country of Origin* France, USA, Mexico

*Plot Summary - rip from IMDB*
Richard and Susan are a couple from San Diego, California who are vacationing in Morocco while their two children are at home with their Mexican housekeeper, Amelia. A rifle finds its way into the hands of a local herdsman's young sons, who recklessly take a shot at a tour bus and hit Susan in the shoulder, causing her severe injury. The distraught Richard calls home to tell Amelia of the situation, who shortly departs for Mexico to attend her son's wedding, with Richard and Susan's children in tow. Disaster thus multiplies, with the situation in Morocco ascribed to terrorists in the media, while Amelia meets with trouble at the Mexican border when she attempts to return to San Diego with Richard and Susan's children. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a widower tied to the rifle in question, a complex shift of ownership to which the audience is privy, attempts to deal with the memories of his recently deceased wife and his strained relationship with his deaf teenage daughter. 

*Impressions.*
A powerful story that comes together in one neat little package at its last few scenes, supported with great acting, slick cinematography and a gritty atmosphere, about impossibly tragic moments of  misunderstandings and communication errors.

*Story*
In Genesis ‘The Tower of Babel’ depicts the consequences of unchecked ambition, where God punishes the human  race by splitting languages in the world preventing the stairway to be built as a result of inability to communicate. As a result humankind is left in a state of confusion and dislocation. This is the premises of Babel; a movie portraying three disjointed stories, connected only by a rifle, and the dire events that ensure due bad decisions and failure to communicates, snowballed by the chaos theory: one action that causes a ripple effect. Within each story, prevailing societal issues are explored and explored well, which could seem like politics pushing, but cannot be disregarded for the truths they reflect. We see how different countries and their cultures deal with different situations. Cultural differences and barriers are explored. Once again, the story essentially becomes about the relaying of information and the consequence of actions; the damaging effects of Richard and Susan’s lack of connection, leading to the death of their child, the two boys withholding of information that only worsen an already bad situation, the bland assumption that media take from situation, rather than assessing it, a child’s likeliness to become incredibly traumatized and frustrated when being halted basic communication(of both physical and familial),  how the police are simply depending on the information they’ve been given, albeit being wrong, in order to fufil their jobs and. in turn, justice. There is something so real about Babel. Each character grows through their situation in the fragments we view. To a degree watching and enjoying Babel really depends on how much you can sympathise with a character. Should people be held one hundred percent accountable for the mistakes they have made, or is everyone’s story entirely situational, with some extremely bad luck and should be viewed with mercy? The weakest story is probably the one about Amelia, who simply makes bad decision after bad decision, and having the worst luck, but despite the premises, Iñárritu is able to form a very real representation on illegal immigration between America and Mexico.  

*Criticism*
Although it has been highly criticized for ‘having a plot that goes nowhere’ and being to absurd as a situation, I highly contest. First of all Babel isn’t about a linear story line with a introduction and conclusion, it rather sets out to depict fragments and dilemma’s of the character’s life; starting in the middle and ending in the middle, giving you a glimpse of what seems to be their worst moments. Every single story essentially adds to a new spectrum to the overarching theme; that whether it be language barriers, cultural divide, an impairment, or simple failure to connect with another individual, this lack of communication, preventing us from inherently understand one another is one of our greatest downfalls. Yes, it may be completely outlandish that such tragic stories are somehow interwoven, but it’s a movie, simple as that, and Inarittu had to connect his otherwise disjointed storylines with a motif somehow. 

The only real downside of this movie was its length, which actually becomes it’s ultimate failure if there was one. Some scenes that really take the liberty to overindulge could have been cut short. Other moments, such as Amelia leaving her children in the desert, the nephew forcing his passengers out of the car,  (logically-wise did not make any sense) did not sit very well with me and the fact that everyone but the America’s got the shorthand of the deal was a bit lame. 

*Acting*
Very well done with some unforgettable moments. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett actually take very minor roles, despite their faces taking up entire photo, but succeed in making believable characters. The strength of the acting is what carries the stories, and makes up able to connect and feel for everything that happens. Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza. 

*Overall
*It is one of those nothing happens even though lots of things happens sort of movies.  Nothing is completely given finality and the ending is ambiguous. But this is what I like about Babel, for it is a story about communication errors and withheld information, and with the small pieces we’re given of a clearly larger picture, it is in the end up to us to decide what these last few unclear yet powerful moments are all about.

8.5/10


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## Stunna (Jun 17, 2011)

*Film Title:* Twilight

*Rating:* PG-13

*Country of Origin:* USA

*Genre:* Horror, Romance, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy 

*Plot Outline:* A teenage girl moves to a small town where her life is intertwined with that of a vampire lover.

*Review:*
Now, I?m obviously late for the bandwagon, but that?s not really relevant. I decided to sit down and watch Twilight to really discern for myself what was good about it and what was bad. Unfortunately, the bad severely outweighs the good, and I recognize the film for the load of cinematic dribble that it is. But, to be fair, I suppose I?ll begin with what I liked about the movie, and then cover the less favorable aspects? but this will be brief.

Now, I have to say, visually, Twilight isn?t great or anything, but the blue tint that seems to haunt every single scene at least seems fitting for the movie. I assume it?s supposed to reflect the cold nature, both physically and metaphorically, of the vampires, primarily Edward Cullen, our hero of this story, and the second main protagonist, who is, as I said, revealed to be a vampire, but I?ll touch more on that momentarily. The blue tint is also supposed to represent the emotionless and cold Bella, the second protagonist, and our heroine, if my assumptions are correct. Again, I?ll touch on that momentarily. The soundtrack, which seems to be constructed of purely independent sources, also fits the movie. I didn?t care for most of the songs, but it fits with the teen demographic that the movie is obviously targeted to. Those are all of the positives that came to mind while watching the movie, which may be due to preset biases, but I highly doubt that. Now to what went wrong, let?s begin with the characters, whom are the biggest problems with this movie.

As I stated, the main character is Isabella ?Bella? Swan, who moves to Forks to reside with her father because her mother and her stepfather are going to travel abroad. Moving to Forks, she meets up with her father, whom she hasn?t seen in a long time, and she also seems to immediately collect an ensemble of underdeveloped, comedic relief friends at her new high school. This astounds me, as Bella is a very bland character, and an unconvincing leading role, especially if she is supposed to represent the average teenage girl. Her father and her friends are shy interesting as well. All of the scenes where she converses with these characters are very boring, and almost Seinfeldian in nature; by that, I mean they carry on in a very realistic manner, in that they speak of very trivial and uninteresting topics. However, Seinfeldian conversations are supposed to be comedic, that?s what?s entertaining about them, and why they work. These conversations often lead to nowhere, and the topic of which are usually irrelevant to the plot and involving uninteresting teenage crap.  If awkwardness was what they were striving for, they succeeded.

Our other protagonist is a vampire in disguise, Edward Cullen, who resides in a family of vampires who all go by the same surname, though they are not necessarily related. Edward is almost over a hundred years old, but retains his youthful appearance as a seventeen year old, continuing to attend high school as a seventeen year old would, along with his ?siblings?. The plot begins rolling when Edward finds himself uncontrollably attracted to Bella due to her peculiar stench, and his inability to read her mind. Why she has this stench, and why Edward is incapable of utilizing his telepathy on her is never explained, so we are forced to continue wondering why Bella has such relevance to the overall plot, why Edward lusts after her so, and why he?s willing to risk the secret and sanctity of his family over this bland, bland girl. Edward displays some of his otherworldly abilities rescuing Bella, but insists that they remain apart? and yet he continues to stalk her afterwards, not even allowing her the chance to pursue him in return.  Bella finally realizes that something is up, does a search on the surname ?Cullen? (which leads her to a plethora of information on vampires. Good job, Cullens, why pick such a conspicuous name) and comes to the conclusion that Edward, is, indeed, one himself.

Now, this is where it gets really stupid. Bella realizes Edward is a vampire; realizes that he can barely control his lust for her and her blood; and confronts him, alone, in the woods. She then proceeds to pronounce her love for him, and boast that she has zero fear of the consequences of her hormone induced lust for vampires. Edward confirms that the feelings are mutual, and invites Bella into his den of vampires, one of which struggles to combat his starvation for human flesh (pretty inconsistent, as he seems very capable of resisting Bella?s blood in the film?s climax). This ?average girl?, Bella, is pretty quick to accept the existence of vampires, throw herself into one?s arms, enter the den of a family of vampires, and almost sleep with Edward whom breaks into her room at night. There?s a difference between curiosity and love. Unfortunately, this movie lacks the intelligence to comprehend basic human emotion and common sense. It insults its audience by claiming that it?s showing what real love is, with the most imbecilic cast of characters.

Anyway, allow me to put that rant on the characters aside and get on with the plot, if you can call it that. Throughout the film?s first act, we are given glimpses of three nomadic vampires who are terrorizing forks. Said vampires later confront the Cullens, and do to the genius of Edward (inviting Bella to play baseball with them); the nomads quickly set their sights on Bella, dedicating themselves to devouring no other man but her. We?re given no reason for their obsession with Bella, but let?s assume it?s due to her non-explained powerful stench.

The film ultimately reaches a climax where James, the leader of the nomad vampires, corners Bella and assaults her, nearly killing her until Edward arrives to save the day. The two partake in a horrendously choreographed fight full of awful special effects like unnecessary slow-motion, something this movie obnoxiously shoves in our faces whenever a vampire is doing anything faster than a powerwalk. James is killed when reinforcements arrive, Bella is hospitalized, and she and Edward ignorantly continue dating.

In short, I must reiterate that this movie is a giant insult to its audience. The characters are either unrealistic, unforgivably uninteresting, or a combination of the two. It doesn?t feel like any of the characters grow, at least in a positive light, and unfortunately, I feel like it will only get worse with it?s sequels.

*Rating:* 3.5/10 | D


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## TetraVaal (Sep 28, 2011)

Oh my God this site is so fucking awesome. Do you know how many reviews my wannabe-critic ass is gonna be posting in here once I get them all refined?


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## Beautiful Anaka (Nov 11, 2011)

*Film Title:* Saved!
*Rating:* PG-13
*Country of Origin:* U.S.A
*Genre:* Comedy, Drama
*Plot Outline:*  Two weeks before school begins, after seeing a vision of Jesus in a pool, Mary makes it her mission to save her boyfriend after he tells her his shocking secret... he thinks he is gay!  To Mary's dismay, the plan doesn't work and she ends up pregnant.  Mary's situation allows her to question her faith, discover her "real" friends, and that family comes in different shapes and sizes.

*Review:* When I first heard about this movie, I didn't know what to expect.  This movie has become one of my favorite movies of all time!!  I love how the movie is satire and questions life; don't take things literally all the time because it may not be true or fit your situation.

*Quotes:* 

Lillian (Mary's Mom): I keep trying to remind myself that when Jesus closes a door, he opens a window.
Mary: Yeah, so we have something to jump out of.

Screenshots: 
Rating: 10/10


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## silenceofthelambs (Dec 23, 2011)

*Film Title: Raging Bull
Rating: R
Country of Origin: U.S.A.
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Plot Outline: Middleweight boxer Jake La Motta attempts to seize a shot at the title in 1940's New York. Little does he know, his boxing and love life are unequivocally incompatible.
Review: Raging Bull is a work of tough beauty, the story of the glorious rise and tragic fall of a boxer whose temper and violence turn him into a terror inside the ring, and a self-loathing failure outside of it. Attempting to channel his rage through boxing, he soon finds that he can't cope with his personal demons merely through the act of destroying his opponents. His sundry problems transcend anything he could have imagined, and as a result feels his former glory, his former life, and former love, slip away.

No doubt, there are scenes that are intense, testing the lengths of our cinema-watching capabilities, but in the end we can't do anything but have sympathy for this man who doesn't understand why the world has (supposedly) wronged him. He tries to comprehend why things are the way they are, but during each apparent realization, is struck with another tragedy that sends him back to his old ways. (Soon enough, even the brother - played by Joe Pesci - who always supported him, through thick and thin, deserts him.) The film is truly a testament to the twofold nature of the soul (one side, powered by love and the assurance that there are people who care about you in this world, and the other, wrought with the ordinary human failings and limitations that do not make us inherently "evil" - rather, desperate and sometimes woefully irrational), a parable about the true meaning of "heart" (La Motta in the movie loved boxing, but finds that his one true love has caused him to shun everything else around him).

Do not be fooled, however; just because this is a movie about a boxer does not mean it is a duplicate of the much-loved Rocky; on the contrary, instead of being sentimental and portraying a man's ascent to the top, Raging Bull illustrates our most fundamental weaknesses, and shows us (through La Motta) how we can all fall, in the simplest of ways. An unsympathetic hero who we ultimately garner affection for - that is the best summary for this Martin Scorsese masterpiece. (Boundless credit must also go to Robert De Niro, who actually increased his own weight through voracious sessions of food consumption in order to fit the image of the overweight, past-his-prime La Motta in later years).

Rating: 4.5/5; 9/10.*


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## Gaawa-chan (Nov 3, 2012)

Gonna say right now.  If you haven't seen the film I'm recommending, go find it.  It's fantastic.  Watch this trailer:

Link removed

... and tell me you don't want to see it.

...

You're lying. 


*Film Title:* The Sword of Doom (大菩薩峠 Dai-bosatsu Tōge, "Boddhisattva Pass")

*Rating:* No rating.  I'd guess R, but whatever.

*Country of Origin:* Japan, 1966

*Genre:* Jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) with lots of action and arguably horror.

*Length:* 119 minutes.

*Plot Outline:* An incredibly skilled, amoral samurai named Ryunosuke Tsukue who believes himself to be unbeatable commits a series of cruel and selfish deeds in a story of dishonor, betrayal, insanity, and death.

*Review:* The Sword of Doom is gripping from start to finish with laudable pacing and build-up, fantastic cinematography (it's a Jidaigeki film, of course it does), striking use of music and sound effects, fantastic action, a disturbing and fascinating main character, and a memorable script. This movie was supposed to be one of three, which is why it has such an abrupt ending.  But that is its ONLY flaw.

Ryunosuke Tsukue is an unusual lead character, very well-portrayed by his actor Tatsuya Nakadai.  He comes off at first as merely uncaring, but over the course of the film is shown to be disturbed, his actions becoming increasingly erratic.

For classic samurai film fans, Toshirō Mifune plays the antithetical character to the lead, Shimada Toranosuke, an outright beacon of samurai virtue and a needed contrast to Ryunosuke.  Fight scenes with either Ryunosuke or Shimada are exciting and will leave you wondering why the people attacking them don't get a hint and run away while they still can. Sadly, this leaves you longing for a battle between them, which never occurs.  I assume that it was to occur in one of the planned sequels, but they were never made.  This is a disappointment.

Other characters of interest include Ohama, a woman whose life Ryunosuke essentially ruins, Hyoma Utsuki, whose brother Ryunosuke kills (he's out for revenge, of course), Omatsu, a girl whose grandfather Ryunosuke kills, and Shichibei, a wandering trader who sees Omatsu as a daughter of his.  

This movie has everything.  It even has a ninja... a badass ninja!


Rating: 9/10 for abrupt ending with no final showdown between Ryunosuke and either Shimada or Hyoma or the ninja.  Other than that, it's perfect.


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## Laura (Dec 11, 2012)

*The Hobbit*

*Film Title:* The Hobbit

*Rating:* PG-13

*Country of Origin:* New Zealand

*Genre:* Adventure/Fantasy

*Plot Outline:*

The story follows a band of 13 dwarves that head out on a quest to rescue the _heart of the mountain_ (a special stone that glows in the dark) and reclaim their home from a dragon called Smaug who attacked and killed their kin many years ago. 

With the help of Gandalf the Grey, they employ Bilbo Baggins (a hobbit) to steal back the stone for them as hobbits are able to pass by many people unnoticed and Smaug will not recognise the smell of a hobbit.

They travel through many dangers and hardships along the way and encounter many strange beasts and creatures that you don't see in the LotR.

*Review:*

It was not as dark and sad as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, nor was it as adult. It was slightly more oriented toward a younger audience with plenty of jokes, singing and almost comic action scenes.

The landscapes throughout the movie are very beautiful, and you might recognise a few from the LotR scenes many years later. Personally, the magic was a bit lost on me because I recognised almost all of the scenery and have memories of myself there in some of the places.

It was filmed using a higher frame rate than usual, which made it seem much more real, so combined with the 3D experience it made it much easier for the viewer to imagine they were in the movie. I found the 3D also made the action scenes seem a little cartoonish at the same time.

I would definitely recommend seeing this movie, although it was not quite on par with the LotR movies, it was a very well made movie nonetheless. It's suitable for an audience of all ages with no sex scenes, drug use or strong language, but a reasonable amount of violence.

*Rating:* ★★★★★/★★★★★


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## Stunna (Dec 28, 2012)

*Film Title:* Princess Mononoke

*Rating:* PG-13

*Country of Origin:* Japan

*Genre:* Animation, Adventure, Fantasy 

*Plot Outline:* On a quest to relieve himself of a curse, young prince Ashitaka finds himself caught in the midst of a war between the gods of a forest and a nearby mining town, complicated even further by the titular Princess Mononoke. 

*Review:*

When it comes to having a green Aesop, many films fail to properly present it without coming off as heavy-handed, and, or, over-simply portraying it. This is evident in films such as _FernGully_ and, more recently, _Avatar_. However, these are masterfully avoided in Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece, _Princess Mononoke_, the greatest environmental film I have ever seen. 

The film revolves around the efforts of its protagonist, Ashitaka, a young prince from a small clan believed by the outside world to have been destroyed hundreds of years ago. Ashitaka is quickly established as a brave, selfless young man, with a disdain for violence and a respect for nature and spirituality. When a demon possessed boar passes on its curse to Ashitaka, he is forced to leave his village and seek a cure for his ailment, or face death. His travels ultimately bring him to a mining village, Iron Town, where he is welcomed by the townsfolk. Ashitaka returns the villagers warm behavior until he learns of the destruction they have caused in the nearby forests. The film is careful to ensure that you sympathize with the natives of Iron Town and grow to like them as Ashitaka does before it reveals their dark ambitions, painting them in both a positive and negative light, as real people are.

The human disregard of the sanctity of nature has caused the gods of the forests -- the wolves, apes, and boars -- to take the offensive against them. Amongst the wolves is a young human girl, San, known to the villagers as Princess Mononoke. She too hates humans for their abuse of the forest, and the film has a couple scenes that note San’s sensitivity when it comes to her own humanity, but this is not explored any further than necessary. Like the humans, the beasts are not portrayed as wholly good or evil. Their plight is an understandable one, but their modus operandi is arguably just as vile. 

_Mononoke_ features Studio Ghibli’s signature gorgeous animation and awe-inducing soundtrack. The epic, sweeping score compliments the beautiful artwork and fluid animation, bringing feudal Japan to life, and making Ashitaka's quest all the grander in our eyes. The forests are equally bright and dark, colorful and bleak, creating a feeling of mystery and mysticism. The action here is swift and surprisingly brutal, without creating too jarring of a contrast with the rest of the world around it.

The genius of _Princess Mononoke_ lays in the true to life portrayal of the characters, themes, and the very world itself. All of the characters (save for Ashitaka, who acts as a neutral surrogate for the audience) have their imperfections and attributes that make them relatable. The acknowledgment of the fact that corruption and hatred is a double-edged sword is perfectly shown through the curse that plagues both man and beast, which acts as a metaphor just as much as it does a plot device. There is no black and white, and the movie does not answer any questions it raises. It presents the world as it is, and appropriately makes it as difficult as it in the real world to take a stance.

*Rating:* A

In short: Amazing artwork, gorgeous animation, and an epic score are not what brings this world to life -- it is Miyazaki's skill at creating believable characters with sympathetic ambitions and vices, making this one of his finest, if not _the_ finest, movie in his filmography.


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## Stunna (Dec 28, 2012)

*Film Title:* Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster 

*Rating:* Unrated

*Country of Origin:* Japan

*Genre:*  Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

*Plot Outline:* When King Ghidorah, a monster from the stars, begins terrorizing Japan, it’s up to a small band of humans to unite Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra to defeat the extra-terrestrial terror.

*Review:*

Long gone were the days where Godzilla and his rampage of utter destruction acted as an allegory for the hazards and repercussions of nuclear warfare. As Toho’s series became more and more popular, the King of Monster slowly found himself becoming tamer, even heroic, so as to appeal to a wider audience – specifically children. This is evidently the case in Toho’s fifth installment in the _Godzilla_ series: _Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster._

In order to evade political turmoil in her home country, a young princess flees to Japan to be guarded by a somewhat hesitant, but determined detective. However, things go amiss when the princess’ plane is destroyed in mid-air, cancelling his mission before it rightfully begins. At around the same time a meteor shower plants a meteorite on Earth that instantly draws the attention of nearby scientists due to its magnetic properties, much to the disdain of a prophetess who makes her presence known all around Japan, warning the natives of incoming destruction. Due to her uncanny resemblance to the princess, the prophetess becomes the target of the police, the media, and a band of assassins sent from her rival country to finish the job.

It is clear that the focus of the drama lies on the human characters, and their struggle to both understand and prevent the peril that looms over them throughout the first act of the film. The problem here is that the characters are not necessarily engaging enough to sustain your attention. They are characterized enough for a monster film where they are not the main attraction, but the story is not much to praise either. While there are no blatant contradictions, the incongruity of logic is unmistakable.

This is alleviated somewhat when the monsters take the stage about _half way_ into the film, but not as much as one would hope. As aforementioned, the terror of these beasts is gone. While there are impressive shots of Godzilla and Rodan wrecking their signature havoc, they soon become near parodies of themselves when their epic battle is reduced to a game of volleyball played with a boulder. Godzilla’s atomic breath is traded for an affinity for hurling and punting boulders, and their new taste for comedy comes off as overly silly, even for this kind of film.

This is compensated for with the debut of King Ghidorah in the series, whom is quickly confirmed to be a greater terror than Godzilla ever has been before, but the failure to truly provide the all-out, no holds barred monster mash as promised leaves this film feeling a bit incomplete. This could have been the best of the series so far – as nonsensical as some plot points may be, the human side of the story is at least an interesting quasi-political drama, albeit a simple one; and the premise of three monsters versus one super monster is awesome, but ultimately a tad anticlimactic. As it is, _Ghidorah_ has to settle for just being enjoyable due to its campy feel and few moments of greatness, rather than being wholly amazing. 

*Rating:* B-

In short: the camp of the series, dark human subplot, and classic destruction makes this worthwhile, but the film's failure to take most of its monsters seriously enough results in a climax that is underwhelming for how long it takes to show up.


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## Stunna (Dec 28, 2012)

*Film Title:* Les Mis?rables

*Rating:* PG-13

*Country of Origin:* United States

*Genre:* Drama, Musical, Romance

*Plot Outline:* In 19th-century France, Jean Valjean, who for decades has been hunted by the ruthless policeman Javert after he breaks parole, agrees to care for factory worker Fantine's daughter, Cosette. The fateful decision changes their lives forever. (IMDb)

*Review:*

_Les Mis?rables_ was promoted to be a game changer in the musical genre of film. For the first time ever, the actors portraying the characters would be both acting and singing simultaneously, truly imitating the stage musical from which the film is adapted (not to be confused with the original Victor Hugo novel). I was instantly enticed by this, as well as by the other promotional material, and I disregarded any potential flaws with this method, however obvious they may have been. I dreamed a dream, but alas I was in for a rude awakening.

_Les Mis_ tells the story of one Jean Valjean (played by Hugh Jackman), who, after serving a nearly twenty year sentence for selflessly stealing a loaf of bread, breaks his parole to begin a new life. When a young child, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), is orphaned, he sees caring for her as a chance to make amends for his past sins, and decides to do so even while he is hunted by the ruthless inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), and while the June Rebellion looms in the horizon.

The two biggest characters here are obviously Valjean and Javert, both of whom have their own intertwining character arcs throughout the film. There is an assortment of other characters too, some more memorable than others; but ultimately, however interesting they may appear to be on paper, the film fails to make them compelling enough, or give enough time to their characterizations to truly sympathize with them or their situations. To compensate for this, the film panders to the audience, wrenching out any and all emotion they can, mostly through the, admittedly well performed, classic songs (I have to admit that a couple scenes got to me). The reason for the lack of well spent time is the most glaring sin of the film: its ambition.

Every scene in _Les Mis?rables_ is sung. You could count the number of lines spoken normally on a single hand. One may defend this by stating that that is the purpose of a musical, but unfortunately, the movie is strangled by overly indulging in its own genre, while somehow also failing to take advantage of it at the same time. Due to the fact that every line is sung, scenes move along somewhat briskly, and too many lines are expository ones, feeding information to the audience. This is of course one of the cardinal sins of film. Being a visual medium, it is of utmost importance to show, not to tell. However, the film meets another wall here as well. As good as the production value may be, you are rarely, if ever, given a chance to truly appreciate the sets and costumes due to the fact that a good three-fourths of the shots are focused on the primary singer’s face, and little else. Presumably this is due to the fact that the singing is performed live, and so to maintain satisfactory quality, the camera and mike must be near the actor at all times. The limitations here are evident, and the film can be a bore to watch consequently.

_Les Mis?rables_ is an admirable film, because one thing you cannot say about it is that the production team did not try. No one phones in a performance, and the aspirations of the director are clear to see. Alas this is the ultimate folly of the movie. As a musical it fails because it does not take advantage of the liberties that the genre provides. The shots are boring and lifeless rather than extravagant and fantastical, and the characters, who are indeed the heart of this story, are never truly brought to life, leaving the overall film with a whimpering pulse that soon gives out.

*Rating:* D


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## Stunna (Dec 29, 2012)

*Film Title:* Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind

*Rating:* PG

*Country of Origin:* Japan

*Genre:* Animation, Action, Adventure

*Plot Outline:* Warrior/pacifist Princess Nausica? desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet. (IMDb)

*Review:*

Adapted by the same man, Hayao Miyazaki, who wrote the original manga from which it is based, _Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind_ was the original success that gave birth to Studio Ghibli. The film also set many precedents for future Miyazaki pictures: a brave heroine, flying technology, and an environmental theme. In some ways, the movie is comparable to the future Ghibli film _Princess Mononoke,_ which is also notable for it's green Aesop. However, _Nausica?_ pails in comparison to it's predecessor.

In the future, one-thousand years after an cataclysmic war triggered by genetically engineered Giant Warriors, the remnants of mankind live under the constant threat of the hazardous Toxic Jungle, as well as its inhabitants: giant armored insects called Ohmu. When the last of the Giant Warriors' embryo lands in the Valley of the Wind, Nausica?'s hometown, the young princess finds herself caught up in a struggle between nations in an attempt to preserve nature as well as mankind.

Nausica? herself has been called by many one of the great heroines of anime. She is brave, selfless, kind, strong, and beautiful. And boring. Nausica? is basically the perfect heroine, perfectly embodying classic heroic traits, with little complexities to make her an engaging protagonist. Being a pacifist, the film teases the audience by implying a delve into what is hinted to be a violent second nature, but there is no development into this. Furthermore, Nausica? is portrayed even by the film's characters as a Mary-Stu, failing to acknowledge what would sensibly be seen as shortcomings in her character, and therefore also failing to make her more interesting as one. This problem plagues many of the characters. Not to say they are all perfect, but that they are nearly all uninteresting. Unlike _Princess Mononoke_, which took an environmental message and made it enticing with it's grey characters, _Nausica?'s_ fail to stand out as more than devices to service the plot and its message.

These missteps are made up for in the aesthetics of the movie. One can never enough praise the art direction of a Miyazaki film. The world created here is a brilliantly exciting one. Machines with interesting designs, forests that feel both fantastic and horrible, and creatures that can induce feelings of both horror and sympathy. Visually the film is a bulls-eye, as one would properly expect. The musical score however feels dated -- you can tell this is an 80's movie.

_Nausica?_ is by no means a bad movie. It is a good one, but also one that was clearly made before Miyazaki had truly hit his stride as a director. There is a lot to love here, but with somewhat unpolished characters, and a contrived climax to boot, the movie fails to really make an impact with the theme that it presents.

*Rating:* B


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## Stunna (Dec 30, 2012)

*Film Title:* Spirited Away

*Rating:* PG

*Country of Origin:* Japan

*Genre:* Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy

*Plot Outline:* In the middle of her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and monsters; where humans are changed into animals; and a bathhouse for these creatures. (IMDb)

*Review:*

_Spirited Away_ is without a doubt one of the best animated features ever created, and arguably one of the most magical tales in the world of cinema to ever have been birthed. And its creator is none other than Studio Ghibli’s mastermind, Hayao Miyazaki. Created for and inspired by five young girls who were friends of his family, Miyazaki sought to make a film that would portray a young heroine that they could look up to, and tell an amazing story whilst doing so. Miyazaki’s efforts are evident, as the film is deemed by many his magnum opus, and for good reason.

Ten-year-old Chihiro Ogino and her family are moving to a new town, leaving behind all of their friends and family. This of course upsets Chihiro, who quickly establishes herself as whiny, cautious, and frightful. When her family stops to explore a seemingly desolate amusement park, Chihiro is horrified to find that it is anything but, and soon thereafter her parents are turned into pigs, leaving her stuck working at a bathhouse catering to demons, spirits, and other apparitions. However, she manages to endure with a select few memorable allies, including the ominous, yet familiar Haku.

The bathhouse is one of my favorite settings portrayed in film. Every single creature that inhabits it, from the anthropomorphic beasts, elemental spirits, gods, and witches are wonderfully designed, all with intricate appearances and entertaining personalities. The vibrant colors, top-notch artwork, and excellent animation truly make this a surreal world distinct from the mortal realm, and easily engrossing you with it's imagination. It is complemented by some of, in my opinion, Joe Hisaishi’s best work. His score is so powerfully moving, propelling every scene in which it is featured, and ingraining itself in your mind and heart.

All of this is tied together at the core of the movie, which is at its heart a coming-of-age tale for Chihiro. Initially insecure, timid, and shrill, Chihiro slowly develops throughout the film, growing in maturity and influencing those around her as she does so. Her growth is believable and heartwarming, because as she takes on more responsibility, and the movie’s secrets unravel, it’s themes of love, personal accountability, and growing up become more evident.

It is near impossible to not fall in love with _Spirited Away_. Every character is memorable, every scene recalled with fondness, and every frame wondrous to behold. Miyazaki’s movie is nothing short of a masterpiece, and a must-see for not only fans of animation, nor fans of film, but for fans of life and love.  

*Rating:* A+


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## Stunna (Dec 30, 2012)

*Full Title:* Battle Royale

*Rating:* Not Rated

*Country of Origin:* Japan

*Genre:* Action, Adventure, Drama

*Plot Outline:* In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act. (IMDb)

*Review:* 

Based off of a novel written by Koushun Takami in 1996 (and published in ’99), both the film and it’s source material, _Battle Royale_, were met with controversy and critical acclaim due to its portrayal of teenagers massacring one another (in quite gruesome and gratuitous ways). Despite this, the praise overwhelmed the criticism, and in 2000 the book was adapted and directed by Kinji Fukasaku, who was inspired to do so due to his own personal experiences. 

In an alternate early 21st century Japan, in response to student rebellion and disobedience, the Japanese government has begun taking classes of students, dropping them off on an abandoned island, and forcing them to combat one another to the death until a single student remains. The class that the film revolves around includes a variety of different characters who, although they may not be distinctly familiar, unique, or even distinguishable from each other, act as substitutes for the audience to project themselves onto. Those that do stand out are sure to leave an impression. The protagonist is fifteen-year-old Shuya Nanahara, who finds himself struggling due to the recent suicide of his father, leaving him orphaned. After his best friend is killed, Shuya swears to protect his love interest, Noriko Nakagawa, though he initially finds himself too weak mentally and physically to do so.

The characters here are not heavily developed – not even the main leads. Flashbacks are utilized to establish motivations and pathos, and are aided by the score. Exciting, fast-paced pieces keep the action tense and the suspense thrilling, and slow, operatic, and classical pieces are used often in the wake of a death or action scene (whether tragic or exhilarating) to create a jarring contrast that both unsettles and unwinds. The lack of complex characterization here is permissible do to the fact that the aim of the film is not to provide a classic character arc, but to represent what normal people either devolve or evolve into to survive or protect their loved ones. As it is, the characters work well. Even without knowing much of them past the surface, the movie does manage to make you sympathize. 

As aforementioned, the score here works well, complementing the scenes where it is featured, notably the action ones. The combat here is fierce, relentless, and the bloodshed not for the faint of heart. The camera captures every essential moment, shaking about appropriately to contribute to the tense situations.

_Battle Royale_ is a movie that works well even if the viewer is ignorant to whatever message it is trying to teach, which is always a positive. Subtle enough to be missed, but strong enough to leave an impact and leave you satisfied regardless. The brutality never feels excessive because seeing these people in these situations, and their bonds with one another, the viewer cannot help but wonder, and possibly realize, who they would be in the scenario, and if they would be the last man standing.

*Rating:* A


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