My DVD reviews...Since i like watching movies and I rented a whole bunch this past week, I'll give you a brief review on it and if it was any good..These reviews are new releases, or movies that came out this past month. I'll try to review every 3 or 4 new releases I see and if anyone wants to comment or give a short review on any of these movies, that's cool.
I'll try not to give out any spoilers on the movie, but one may slip out by accident..but if there is one I'll WARN you.
And remember, I'm no professional movie reviewer, I did the best I could..
The Hunted- This movie stars Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Torro and is directed by famous director William Friedkin of 'The Exorcist' and 'The French Connection' fame. The basic plot is Aaron Hallam(played by Benicio)a soldier, goes crazy and starts killing people in the woods and whatnot cause the images of the battle which he was involved in( Kosovo,1999) starts to haunt him.Even though he got a Silver Star for his bravery.
and this is where L.T. Bonham(played by Jones) is recruited to capture him.
See, L.T.is now this peaceful man now living in the back woods of Oregon..but before he was an instructor on making soldiers killing machines and just how to survive period...They show flashback scenes on Jone's character teaching a group of soldiers(Including Benicio's character) on how to render a person useless with a knife and s***.
Anyway, there's a cat and mouse game going on with two professional trackers/survivalists which will lead up to the final confrontation between the two.
There's no special effects or anything like that, everything is practical and is more of a realistic feel to it...We don't have unrealistic gun battles or kung fu fighting going on between the two guys..
They are using real knife fighting techniques and use real techniques by a real tracker who was a technical adviser on the film and is the inspiration for Tommy lee Jone's character.
I would have been bummed if I saw this in the theater, but as a DVD rental I liked it.
It was just a simple cat and mouse game with two good actors giving good performances. Some might be bored by it, but I think it's worth a look.
I give it a C+
DVD includes a few documentaries and a good commentary track by Mr. Friedkin..he's quite articulate and knows movie making
BASIC- Basic stars John Travolta and Samauel L. Jackson(also people like Giovanni Ribisi, Taye Diggs, Tim Daly, and Roselyn Sanchez) and is directed by John McTienan of 'Predator' and 'Die Hard' fame.
The plot is complicated(well, sort of) and is basically a "What the hell happened" kinda story. See, an elite U.S. special forces unit goes through a disastrous mission in Panama. Out of the seven men and women in the squad, only 2 return... That's when DEA agent and great interrogator Travolta is brought in(stop laughing) to interrogate the one soldier who came back fine(the other one is wounded) to find out, "What the f*** happened!!!!"
Jackson's character plays this bad ass, mean Sergeant of the squad in which he is also missing.
It's a movie of a twist here, a twist there, a twist everywhere.. It's well acted and as the movie moves on you really want to know what actually happened cause there a different versions of what happened and you don't know who's telling the truth.
Anyway, when the truth is finally revealed you are thinking to yourself, Huh??? Alrighty then...........
I would wait to it comes out on HBO or whatever channel...I'm not saying it's a bad movie, it's kinda good but it makes more of a great HBO original movie than the supposed big thriller movie that came out at the movie threatre...I give it a C
DVD includes some documentaries and commentary tack by McTienan and does a good job on explaining things..
The Life of David Gale- This movie stars Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet, and Laura Linney and is directed by Allen Parker.
Well, alot of people will hate this movie and alot will like this movie..(Not Love) I liked it, but it was sorta that movie where you're thinking to yourself, "Whatever." This movie is a anti death penalty film parading or posing as a thriller and is about Kevin Spacey's character(a well respected professor) who is hardcore AGAINST the death penalty who is on...Death Row for the murder of Linney's character who was also anti death penialty...Irionic, ain't it....
Well, 3 days before he is to be put to death Kate Winslet's character(a magazine reporter) is granted the last and only interview with Spacey before he's executed...Well, he took his time, didn't he..Anyway, as she starts to interview him she starts to believe he's innocent and does some investigated reporting to prove his innocence...
Stuff starts to come out on what really happened, there's some twists added in there to make this film giving you more even more of a "Oh Brother" kinda feeling...And if you have more then 5 brain cells you'll probably figure out what is going on here..cause somethings a bit fishy going on in these here parts...
Although Kobe Bryant would relate to this film a WHOLE lot cause what happens to Kobe happens to Spacey's character..
And it is scary on how easily you can be accused of rape by a girl and really ruin your life..
So that part was really reviting...and Linney gets naked in the film..Ho Hum
I give this movie a C-
Wait till it comes on TV to see it..You may enjoy there, but probably not seeing it on DVD..
I didn't watch all the DVD extras, there's a ton..mostly about the death penalty in Texas..the commentary was boring, mostly cause it was hard to understand the director..he had some Brit/Australian accent...
House of 1000 Corpses- This movie stars alot of unknowns..the only person you might recognize is Chris Hardwick of MTV's Singled Out fame and is of course is written and directed by the great Rob Zombie..I was really excited to see this movie and you know what, it's pretty darn good!
It's about 4 young people(two guys and two girls) who are on some sort of road trip and make a wrong turn through this town called Huntsville(I think that was the town) and stop by this gas station/amusement ride place where the owner is an ugly fat clown(He's disturbing looking) The clown takes them on this little "ride" thingy where they sit on this little buggy and go through the history of mass murderers like Albert Fish and Ed Gein and of course...Dr. Satan..who was a Dr. at a mental institute way back when who did ungodly experiments and operations on the patients there..he was eventually killed and hung..and one of the guys wants the clown to give them directions to the tree where the Dr. was hanged..It's not that far from where they are.
And that's where all the fun begins....They meet this family on the way there(well the daughter first) and she's freakin hot......Think 'Deliverance' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' cause obviously Rob was inspired by both these films..and it takes place in 1977. I'm not gonna say anything else about the plot...but the HOT daughter has this funny, cool, evil laugh that was scary...and you get a nice ass shot of her too in one scene!!!!!The brother was great in the film and did an excellent job on displaying his demented ways..Grandpa was very funny..
It's not as scary as it is gross...Don't get me wrong, there's some creepy stuff in it, but alot of grossness.
Obviously, it isn't a critics film but people who love this genre will love this film and the people who don't will think it's retarded..Just like the recent release of Freddy VS Jason..critics hated it, but the fans loved it
I give this movie a B-
There's only a few extras...the docs aren't that long, but it has a cool DVD screen...The ugly clown speaks to you while you're at the main menu, which is funny..also the HOT daughter speaks to you when you enter the DVD extras screen and does her creepy laugh...also Rob Zombie does a good audio commentary..he's very articulate and does a great job of explaining on how this was done, and the stuff in the background that you didn't notice..it was good
Final Destination 2- I saw this at the movies theater and wasn't to impressed..although the opening scene the franchise is famous for is quite good..but I rented it anyway cause I like the see the extras and stuff.
The movie stars mostly unknowns, mostly Canadian actors..but stars Ali Larter, A.J. Cook and Michael Landis..
Plot? there's really no plot, you're just waiting for how the people are gonna get killed...A.J. Cook's(A cute girl) character is an exact replica of Devan Sawa's character from Final Destination 1..She has a premonition of the things to come..and she's freaked cause it comes true..It's also the anniversary of the crash of flight 180(The plane from the first film)
So all the people she "saved" has made DEATH pissed..So they ALL must die a horrible death!! BuWAhAAAA!!! Anyway, the dialog is crap and doesn't really make sense, but who cares..All you are waiting for is how they will get killed..They're all pretty good, some better than others..but I liked the film the second time around. I recommend the film, just don't go in expecting some great masterpiece...But I still liked FD1 better
I give this movie a C
There's alot of DVD extras..a 30 minute "making of' documentary, the 'Infinifilm' feature, they talk to a bunch of nuts who have had near-death experiments, a few more..also a commentary by the director,a producer, and screenwriter...They were lively, but not to much info on the making of the film..a couple of inside stories..but not very interseting..I would skip it.
Solaris-THE HORROR, OH.. THE HORROR!!!!! This disaster stars George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Viola Davis, and Jeremy Davies...and is directed by Steven Soderbergh(also the screen play written by him) and produced by James Cameron. How, you say such a bad movie can be made by the likes of Soderbergh and Cameron???? I haven't the slightest clue..But it's awful..
What is it about? I'm still trying to figure that out..Basically Clooney plays a psychiatrist(who himself is depressed cause his wife committed suicide a few years ago) who is asked to investigate the strange happenings on a space station near something called Solaris..Solaris isn't a planet fore say, it's a planet like object..Some sort of intelligent organism thing.Sorta looks like a colorful Milky Way galaxy.
Anyway, when he arrives some people are dead, there's only 2 survivors(Davis and Davies) and he wants to know what's happening..I guess you start to think, what is it? A ghost, did monsters do this??? Umm, I don't know if i should go more into detail on what is happening but i don't want to do spoilers, but nobody ain't gonna see this crap, so I'll do it anyway.....
*SPOILERS*
All 3 remaining crew members are getting "visitors." What visitors you say??? Well, Clooney's visitor is his dead wife, The guy(Davies) brother comes to visit him and it isn't revealed who visits the other crew member...But Solaris seems to be pulling energy from their subconscious to create these beings..and the crew is trying to fight from going insane..cause of what's happening..
*END SPOILERS*
The movie is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW, BORING, SLOW, SLOW, and BORING...Did I mention it's SLOW and BORING???
I had the volume on full blast and still had a hard time trying to hear the actors..I even had to put the damn subtitles just to hear half the dialog..
This is a remake of Andrej Tarkowski's film of the same name(which I didn't see)from the early 70's. So I can't make any comparisons, but nothing can be as bad as this pretentious garbage..You'll have trouble staying awake to the end and when the end does come you're thinking to yourself, "Huh?"
It's so bad that i actually have to keep saying how bad it actually is just to seethe it through your minds..
Some nice camera work, the small visual effects it has is pretty..but that's all it has going..I guess I could compliment the actors on their performances, but there was hardly any dialog on the film!!!Although people over 50 might find this movie good, that ain't me. I'm done..it's bad and slow, and boring..that's all I have to say about that..
I give it an F
The DVD includes a commentary track by both Soderbergh and Cameron..I don't know if it's any good or not cause there's no way I'm going through that movie again to hear it...But I'm sure it's just as boring as the movie..
The actual documentary is more entertaining than the movie.. Screw you Solaris!!!
Phone Booth-This movie stars Colin Farrel, Forest Whitaker, and Kiefer Sutherland(with an appearance by Katie Holmes) and is directed by Joel Schumacher.
I was surprised on how good this movie was....97% of this film takes place in a phone booth, how can that be good? Well, if you like physiological thrillers, then you'll like this. The plot basically is this hot shot publicist played by Colin Farrel(who tries his best doing a NY accent) is held hostage by a sniper in a phone booth in Time Square. The sniper is threatening him if he leaves or doesn't do what he asks he will shoot him...Colin does a great job in this film(besides the accent) showing a wide range of emotions he has to go through during this crisis. Basically the movie is a morality story with Keifer Sutherland exposing all the lies and betrayal that is the life of Farrel's character.
There's a nice little twist at the end that may or may not leave you satisfied, but was still a nice ride.
Also, Kiefer Sutherland was perfectly cast for this role cause of his sinister, menacing voice that he has...When you hear him talking from the phone it sounds like he's talking into a big boom mic instead of the muffled sound you might hear in other movies of someone talking on the phone..but it's very dramatic the way they did it, sounded like he was right there.
The movie is only 80 minutes and it goes by real quick..I recommend the film..it's good
I give it a b-
The DVD has no extras, only a commentary track by director Joel Shumacher...I guess it's informative, but listening to Joel speak is incredibly boring..I think he's strung out on Valium or something...
