More is Better

So this was new format I tried and decided not to do again.  Why?  Too much freaking work.  This was when myspace, still, was one of the blog sites for we noobs, and well yeah I had to rewrite this one and I think a second attempt just like it much later on all over again.  Not easy.  So here is my first, and I think only attempt to do this.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

War of the Worlds, Dead Man Walking, The Apostle, and Fantistic Four

How ironic is it that I have four reviews and one of them just so happens to be the Fantastic Four.  No I didn't plan this it just happened.  so lets get started
War of the WorldsOkay so lets get down to it.  First movie on the review block is War of the Worlds.  First of all wow!  This is a kick ass movie.  The directing is awsome, but then again what else would you expect from Steven Spielberg?  (Okay witht he exception of A.I.)  He proves in this that his isanity stage in A.I. is over.  (I give that *+ out of ****)  The writing is very good, almost nestalgic to the book, the radio show, and the original movie.  The FX in are out of this world, to the point of making you believe that the Tri-Pods are real.  Yeah thats right CGI looking real.  It is that good.  Now one of the big parts, the acting.  I don't always agree with what Tom Cruise has to say or what he does (okay almost never) but his performances are very rarely bad.  This is no exception.  He is, once again, awsome.  Showing the very good character acting that he always seems to let out in his movies.  Dakota Fanning does a great job as well.  Her dry dead pan I'm a little girl humor lightens the movie at points when it desperately need lightening.  Let's not forget the actor who is in it the least amount of time in Tim Robins.  I have only seen to bad Tim Robins movies in my life.  One I cannot remeber the name of and the other was Erick the Viking and even in those two he still did a pretty good job.  In War he pulls off the part that has made him famouse rather well:  the crazy guy.  The paranoid insane guy who lost every thing when the aliens attacked and was not about to let them get him. 
War of the Worlds is non-stop action and non stop intrigue with very few slow points and very many gernuinely great sequences.  It gets ***+ out of ****
Dead Man Walking
This is one that you can pick up in your video store.  It stars Sigorney Weaver and Sean Penn.  The movie is about a nun who is consuling a man on death row awaiting exicution in the next several days for murder.  During the film what seems to me to be a very good look into the death penalty system and the degrading quality that it leaves on people.  The films is very dark and not happy at all.  The addition of flashback scenes both fictionalized and realistic in Weavers characters mind of what Penn's character has done adds tot he emotion of sorrow and pain that the film portrays.  The movie ends with Penn's character confessing his sins to Weaver of what he has done and finding the redemption that he has been seeking.  I give it *** out of ****.
The Apostle
What do you get when you have a movie written, directed, and starring Robert Duvall?  You get The Apostle, and Indie film that was payed for pretty much completely by Duvall.  He plays a minister who discovers his wife has been cheating on him with his assciate pastor, has stolen his church from him, and now wishes to leave him.  In a fit of rage and insanity Duvall, who has tried to do the Christian thing and turn away and forgive, slams his associate in the head with a baseball bat.  He starts his run from the law and redicates himself by a self batism declaring himself The Apostle.  Leaving a mega church to start a small church which in a matter of months grows, saving and helping those that most have turned there backs on, and eventually saving his close friend that has let him stay in his home while he was doing his ministry we see his character greatly evolve.  In the scene were the police are leading him away he says to his friend, "Your going to heaven son, your going to heaven and I'm going to jail."  We see how he has truely changed.  Duvall's directing style is wonderfully done as is his script, a script that he had been wanting to do for years but no one wanted to risk doing it.  Paying from his own pocket and making it without the interfearence of any studio is what adds to the creativness and greatness of this movie.  This has been around for some time I recommend renting it or catching it on IFC.  I give it *** out of ****.
Fantastic Four
Does Fantastic Four get the perfect four stars?  Dear sweet Christmas no!  This is the most recent of the movies scene by me, last night in fact, and I must say that it is not bad, in fact it is good, but there is no Comparison to the original Superman, the Spiderman movies, the X-Men movies, or Batman begins.  Nor is it at the end of the spectrum that Batman and Robin exists, followed by Superman III and IV, or for that matter the atrocity that was Captain America made in the 1990's.  It is right there in the Middle with Daredevil, Punisher, and (though I diss this movie to no end it is not as bad as I let on) The Hulk.  It was worth paying 6.50 once to see and waiting for it to go to the Dollar Movies or to Video before I see it again.  First lets go with the story.  It was not that close to the Comic book.  To start with the mistakes lets go with Victor Von Doom or Dr. Doom.  Doom in the comic books became Dr. Doom before the Fantastic Four were the Fantastic Four.  In the movie he became Doom in the Cosmic storm that created the FF.  He recieved his powers the same way.  In the comic his powers where a combination of Magic and Technology.  In a very dry attempt to promote love interestest into the movie, the had Sue Storm (played by Jessica Alba) and Reed Richards (don't ask me his name now...) fall for each other in the movie.  In the comic they were already engaged when they went on there mission.  Almost completely ignoring the already existing love interest that existed between Alisha and Ben Grim (Micheal Chicklas) aka The Thing that is the more interesting beauty and the beast romance, they simply turned it into a side story.  There are upsides to this movie however, it is funny and very amusing at points.  The Effects of the film are awsome and the acting by the Members of the Four is not to bad, especially by Chicklas.  His emotion is that of what I remeber from the comic book.  Alba doesn't do to bad of a job either and the fact that there is a scene were she strips down to her underwear while invisible and then reappears in the middle of a crowd both getting a laugh and giving the fan boys what they want helps out.  The directing is not bad either.  Not great but still decent.  I recommend going to see it only once if your paying 6.50 to see it and waiting to watch it later either at the dollar movies or on dvd.  Like I said is it the worst hero movie I have ever scene, no.  is it the greatest, deat god in heaven no.  It is just good and in the middle.  All and all I give it **+ out of ****.

My Fourthd Review

Sweet buttery Jesus what was I thinking.  At the end of this review I say that this is not better than the Matrix.  Yeah...I was a fool then.  Don't get me wrong The Matrix is a bad ass movie, but Equalibrium, in my humble opinion, was so much better.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 

Equalibrium

In the future city of Librium feeling is illeagle.  To ensure this is possible Father, the facists leader of Librium, issues promium, a medicine that dispatches all feeling, to be given out to the public.  To ensure that this medicine is enforced and that those who have rebelled are brought down The Gramaton Clerics were created.  They can sense emotions even before someone might know that they are having them.  John Preston is the most highly decorated and highest ranked cleric...and he has beung to feel.
This is the premace for the movie that I have been bringing up time and time again on the blog.  Just imagine the martial arts of Kill Bill and the Matrix, the unbelievable ariel movements of The Matrix, and the idea of an opressive criminal system of Minority Report.  Yeah that's Equalibrium or in lamens terms Kick Ass.  Christian Bale plays John Preston, a dark and brooding anti-hero/hero, (he gets a lot of those doesn't he?) the highest ranked cleric, who after he discovers that his partner is feeling and then kills him, remembers his wife, who was arrested on sense crimes, starts to have emotions of his own.  The movie you would think with the Kill Bill/Matrix/Minority Report discription would be action packed.  Not as much as you would think.  Instead there is a psycological ideal to it as you watch Preston go from Father's Weapon against the resistance to the Champion of the Resistance.  Yes there is action and dear god it is pretty.  I never knew that guns and martial arts could go together, but they do.  Unfortunately it can be slow.  So slow that I do not recommend watching it when you are really tired(I dozed off and had to rewind 30 min of the movie, then again I don't sleep that well so...).  I recommend being a little awake when you start. 
As always Bale does it again.  He manages to catch your attention early on and keep it.  He makes what was already a medocer movie into a pretty good movie.  Taye Diggs is in the movie and makes an excellent villian.  Being the self serving and self promoting cleric that wishes to only further his career by catching Preston in the act. 
In conclusion the movie is good.  very good in fact.  It has very beutiful action sequences, martial arts with guns, psycological strong points, and a very good anti hero/hero depending on your perspective.  Does it have it's flaws yes.  It can be slow, and it can seem a little over done on the stressing of emotion sometimes, in fact maybe one time, and though Diggs makes a good villian, his acting was not the greatest in the world.  Is Equalibrium the greatest movie ever?  No.  Is it the worst movie ever?  Dear sweet Christmas NO!  It is a very good movie and is very entertaining.  If you are into some good action sequences, psycological moments, and a dark story, then this is for you.  If your are looking for non stop no plot I like movies that have no plot then step away from the computer slowly.  If you are looking for the movie that is better than the Matrix, go see Batman, or rent Pulp Fiction.  Though not better than the Matrix, I would say it is damn close to being as good.  I highly recomend that you at least give this movie a rental with a **+ out of ****.  It is pretty good

My third attempt

This was my third attempt to review a movie through my text...I started getting a little better at it and hopefully all three of you who reed my blog will agree

Monday, June 20, 2005

Movie Review of El Mariachi

For those of you who have visited my site you know I like Robert Rodreguez. For those of you who have read my blog you know I like Robert Rodreguez and Indie Filmes. What a coincedence Rodreguez's first film was an Indie. Yes El Mariachi.

This is the first of the films in the Mariachi triology, Desparado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico are the other two, and is made up completely of unknown actors. When I say completely I mean it. None of them had ever really appeared in any motion picture. The closes thing any of them came to was appearing in some of Rodreguez's short films. Some had a little acting experience, others like Peter Mardequet (I think that is his name) had none, and it does not show at all. This movie was made for $7,000 and was raised by a combination of Rodreguez allowing medical experiments to be done on him and his short film Bedhead going through the film festival curciut. (Bedhead is on the DVD and is actually very enjoyable and extremely funny) Once again if you think a $7,000 dollar movie would look like crap, you would be wrong. It looks like he spent top dollar on it. The effective lighting, cut away and back film style, and creative Camera angles contribute to this. Did I mention that the entire film was done in almost one take. Yeah that's right, almost every shot was done in one take. Uno. Un. Once. Once again, it does not show. They figured out exactly how to shoot around mistakes through creative means and made a better movie because of it.

Heres a quick plot synopsis. Azul is a very bad man living in prison and making a living with a cellular phone and a few loyal men. His old partner Moco is a sadistic and greedy man and sends his boys to the prion to kill Azul...It doesn't work. Azul leaves the prison and picks up his guitar case full of weapons. When I say weapons I mean a MAC 10, .45 pistols, Sawed of shotgun, and grenades. Yeah he is fully armed. On a highway the mariachi trys to hitch a ride, he doesn't succeed. When he gets to town he is cast aside by every singal bar who claim that the way of the mariachi is dead. Because of his guitar case and the fact that he wears all black, Azul wears nothing but black as well, Moco's men confuse the mariachi for Azul.

This is an exciting movie filled with action, adventure, and romance. It's Rated R for violence, some language, and some sgestive content. I give it *** out of ****. Rent or buy it. It will be worth your money

My Second Review

Second verse same as the first

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Batman...
Current mood: amused

Okay as of yesterday I saw Batman Begins and I must say this: It is awsome. Christian Bale is at his best. He is the greatest Batman since Michel Keaton, possibly better. His acting is at a level that I have not seen it at since I saw him in Equalibrium(Haven't written a review on that yet but I will later for now I rank it as **+ out of ****, maybe *** out of **** I'd have to rent it again). He doesn't make me think he would be a good Batman he makes me think that He is Batman. Dear God he did a freaking good job. I have said this about him before but I will say it again American Psycho I thought was one the suckiest horror movies I had ever scene, but I watched because Mr. Bale was just that Good in it. Dark and Brooding Characters are his Speciality. Katie Holmes also did a very good job. Showing her Katie Holmesness throughout the entire film and giving the esscence of what she can do in movies was fully there. Morgan Freeman, I have yet to see Morgan Freeman do a bad job in a movie yet. He showed his dry humor througout the entire film and did an awsome job. Micheal Cain...It's Cain for crying out loud, playing Alfred! How kick ass is that? He did an awsome job. Mr. Liam Neson sid a spectacular job playing Raj Alghoul. Bale, Holmes, Freeman, Cain, Neson...all in the same movie...nough said. The movie starts out smooth and continues that way throughout the entire thing. The plot is unbelieveable, which is exactly what it should be for a hero film making you think outside of the box. I say unbelieveable because I don't see much of this really happening and it reminds me what it was like back when I went to Food Lion and Bought Batman comics off of the shelves. The Dialogue is smooth and well written. The Directing is dark and gritty, possibly more so than Tim Burtons in Batman and Batman Returns. The camera Angles are out of this world and that makes it even more awsome with the fact that there is little to know CGI in the movie almost all if not all the stunds were done by stunmen and Christian Bale himself. The Batmobile, which when I first saw it I did not like, turned out to remind so much of what it was and still is in many ways in tthe comic. Despite a few points were the movie is slow and maybe a little too unbelieveable(key word maybe) I thought it was worth the price of admission and then some. I give Batman Begins ***+ of ****

My First Reviews

This double, and short, review was written during my senior year of high school on myspace. Please Excuse the suck.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Dear GOd I have been gone from my sight way to fricken long
Current mood: anxious

Yeah...So I have ben gone and not updated my site for god knows how long. Let's see what have i go to say...Oh heres something last two weeks I have seen two kick a$$ movies and well i must admit that they are very fricken good. First one is Million Dollar Baby. I saw that one last Friday or Saturday (I'm pretty sure it was Sat.) but dear God I know now why it won the best picture award. Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank rocked and deserved thier oscars as well. I haven't seen Ray yet so I really don't know if Clint Eastwood got robbed or not (though right now I am leaning toward yeah he got screwed). he did however get the best director and picture award so I don't think he is complaining to much. it is about a girl who wants Eastwood to train her. At first he does not care to but eventually he does it any. It goes from classic Rockyesc underdog story to this girl will be the champion to dear go I want to take a shot of cyanide because it's so sad but so good. I highly recomend it I give it a **** out of **** start (this * means starts this means + half a star) The second film I saw on Friday night and it was Episode three. All I have to say is after two semi good movies that were far from the original Star Wars Trilogy standards George Lucas got it right. I am not going to say much plot whys but I will say that is starts will a sweeeeeet space battle and goes to a very nice peek a total of 5 lightsaber battles. Oh yeah can we say Chewbacca? Yeah he is in it to but you don't know for sure its him until close to the end. Like I said after two movies that I found to be alright This one rocks, even though it is still not quite as good as the original trilogy. I give ***+ out of ****

An Intro

This blog will be dedicated to movie, book, television, and anime reviews. I will start by posting my old ones from way back in my myspace days and a few more recent ones from my facebook days. Hopefully I get a little bit of a following simply because I would like to be able to give out a good opinion. Until then enjoy.