Article ITT I attempt to review every movie I've seen.

I only wish I looked at stickies more often (I'm on page 23 so far). Great stuff Beast!!!

If you have seen it (if you haven't then please watch it):

Harakiri
 
Wow...school is hitting hard this semester. So as you can probably guess the quanitity of reviews will probably take a nose dive. Which is unfortunate since I've seen a couple of good films that I want to review. Anyway I'll try to get a new review or two up tomorrow.
 
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Title: Attack the Block
Year: 2011
Country of Origin: UK
Director: Joe Cornish

Story: A small band of hooligans have to battle a small scale alien invasion in intercity London.

Review: Of late there have been a one or two craptacular alien invasion films to come out of Hollywood. Attack the Block is fortunately not one of those movies, it's a smart and witty take on a somewhat tired genre. It's also a film that suffers from the worst limited release that I've seen. Literally all summer long various movie sites and reviews have been plugging the hell out of this film, but it hasn't played anywhere near me. We're talking about a film that had a May release and my area is just getting it in August. Which, all things considered, was sort of a good thing. That might not make a whole lot of sense, but let me explain. In the wake of the London Riots this film carries a greater political context since the protagonists fall into the group that were doing most of the looting. The film does a decent enough job humanizing the group of protagonists and allows us to empathize with them. Which, even though the film was shot well before the riots, allows for another layer for the characters especially for someone whose not native to London.

Anyway, this film is dripping with style. From the script, direction, and monster design the whole production feels pitch perfect. The pacing is solid with a near perfect build in tension and some great action highs. The main character goes through a pretty good arch and leads to a satisfying ending. The supporting cast a great job in their roles especially considering their age ranges and the fact that this is the debut film for most of the cast. Overall for what it is, this film could hardly be better. It's an incredibly entertaining film and one that more people need to see.

[8.5/10]
 
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I Just saw Red State. It was not bad... For me it seemed to miss the mark.

But I did see Moon too and got to say. I damn like that movie. Pretty spot on with what you said about that one. Can't wait to see what kind of Sci fi directer he becomes.
 
ChocolateVillain said:
I Just saw Red State. It was not bad... For me it seemed to miss the mark.

But I did see Moon too and got to say. I damn like that movie. Pretty spot on with what you said about that one. Can't wait to see what kind of Sci fi directer he becomes.
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I haven't seen Red State yet, but I've mixed things about it.

As for Moon, see Source Code. It's Duncan Jones' second film. I really liked it though there are some who didn't.
 
Aye. I have seen Source Code and did too like that one. I was kind of skeptic about it at first but after seeing Moon. I went ahead and watched it and was very impressed. When I get some time I plan to watch Attack The Block (Funny thing I thought when I heard about this movie, I was thinking it was going to be a remake of Attack The Gas Station)

Another movie I finally got around to seeing was The Warlords with Jet Lei.
 
Still have yet to get around to watching Attack the Block... But I did see The Guard and that was one hell of a movie! Very witty dark humor in that. Gleeson was outstanding it.

Also notice that Hollywood remade 13 Tzameti... Watched about 10 min of it and had to turn it off.
 
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Title: Harakiri
Year: 1962
Country of Origin: Japan
Director: Masaki Kobayashi

Story: Oh man, this one gets depressing.

Review: Harakiri is a beautifully told story about personal tragedy and revenge. This tale is set in a period of Japanese where disgraced Samurai sought out house of lords or clan leaders as a suitable place to commit seppuku. Our protagonist is one of those Samurai. What follows is an engrossing and powerful tale told mostly in flashback. The film is well direct,ed acted and written. So I guess if your game for the sub-titles you'd be hard pressed to find a better film than this.

[9.5/10]
 
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Title: Gamer
Year: 2009
Country of Origin: US
Director: Neveldine/Taylor

Story: In the near future nano implants in the brain allows people to control other...blah blah blah.

Review: The sad bit about this movie is that it's from the brilliant minds of the two Crank movies. I swear these guys are capable of awesome things and they waste it on this movie. Anyway, here's the issue: The story is tired and has been done to death. Yeah, exploitation of violence in the media is bad and video games will turn us all into raving maniacs...so what else is new. The action is chaotic and not really well done. It's by the numbers and frankly a little dull. There is better action films out there...like Crank 2.

[4/10]
 
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Title: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Year: 2011
Country of Origin: US
Director: Rupert Wyatt

Story: It's a prison escape film...with monkeys.

Review: I can't believe...or at least I couldn't believe it when I saw this film a month ago. A prequel/reboot of the thankfully dead Planet of the Apes franchise...i mean there is no way in hell that can be good. Right? I mean I would have bet like a thousand bucks that this film would have sucked...and I would have lost a thousand bucks. Not only is this movie not bad, it's actually great.

This film is a perfect storm of talent. Relative new comer Rupert Wyatt seems to be a natural at directing a film this big. The acting a competently done; the real standout though is Andy Circus, or the guy who played Gollum in Lord of the Rings. Circus actually pulls off the the chimpanzee protagonist beautifully and makes the character completely believable. Oh and did I mention that this is a prison escape movie, yeah, and a good one at that. Quite literally the best prison escape film that I've seen in a decade. This is the biggest surprise of the year and one of the best films of the summer.

[8/10]
 
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Title: The Expendables
Year: 2010
Country of Origin: US
Director: Sylvester Stallone

Story: A group of mercenaries go to a nondescript tropical island where they find a corrupt general doing corrupt things with a corrupt white dude.

Review: Of late there have been a plethora of action movie that exist entirely to do action. Films like Shoot 'Em Up, Drive Angry, and the Crank movies. These movie do action well, but not much else. What the makers of these films forgettable is that an action movie needs more than just action, it needs a plot structure to incorporate the action and characters that are both interesting and memorable. Without these you get a string of action scenes that carry no weight and whose outcome becomes uninteresting. The Expendables is kind of like those movies but is a little smarter about it...well not really.

It's a film that was billed as the ultimate testosterone filled action fest, fill with manly men killing people in manly gory fashion...and in this aspect the film succeeds. Which if that is what you're looking for, then hey you know there you go. For me though, it was decent enough film. I mean it doesn't do anything particularly special other than it being competent. So yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's alright.

[6/10]
 
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Just saw Driver. I liked it. Was very Refn like movie... But was not a fan of Gosling. I just kept picturing him as young Hercules the whole way through...
 
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Title: Drive
Year: 2011
Country of Origin: US
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

Story: A strong silent type guy who moon-lights as a getaway driver meets a damsel who is somewhat in distress. Which under normal circumstances is fine, but this is a noir film...so god help our protagonist.

Review: First and foremost, it is important to note that this film is not like the Fast and the Furious. I say this because I'm pretty sure that everyone in theater, saved for my friend and I, though this was going to be like the Fast and the Furious...and well they were sorely disappointed. Frankly I'm pretty amazed that this got a wide release. This film reeks of indie arthouse, which isn't everyone's cup of tea.

So, now the big question; is it any good? Yes, but it's not great. It's a very well done film. The direction is pitch perfect and it's easy to see why Refn won best director at Cannes. The acting is top notch, Gosling pulls of a character that is both likable and somehow off. Its like the protagonist simultaneously gets people, but doesn't really know how to interact with them...or something like that. The story is standard noir fair, but it's done with enough style and finesse to make it memorable. Overall, it's a film that is well worth watching for someone whose willing to put up with a violent arthouse noir. On the level of Refn's other films that i've reviewed; it's better than Valhalla Rising, but not as good as Bronson.

[8/10]
 
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