Sunday, July 10, 2005
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 ****.
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 ****.
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