Rating: C
I'll say this. Antoine Fuqua certainly knows how to create thrills and suspense. Unfortunately, Olympus Has Fallen really feels like a feeble attempt to remake the first Die Hard.
If you're watching this movie, the first thing you need to do is to turn your brain off. The scenario is completely absurd and implausible. Just sit back, and enjoy watching Gerard Butler kick some butt and deliver a couple of zingers. But aside from that, it's another attempt at mediocrity.
If you don't turn your brain off, you'll just find all the reactions of the characters don't make sense. I'd tell you what those absurdities are, but I'd just be telling you the whole movie.
~Cheers.
Showing posts with label Betrayal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Betrayal. Show all posts
Monday, 25 March 2013
Monday, 4 February 2013
Movie: Broken City (2013)
Rating: F
Maybe it's what the director intended. Or maybe it was an unintentional byproduct of filming a movie called Broken City. But this film is broken; from its name, right down to well, the entire movie itself.
With a name like Broken City, you'd expect all sorts of things about the city to be broken, you know, like post-Katrina New Orleans. But it wasn't. You had a couple of corrupt people with hidden agendas and a few knives in a few backs. That's hardly a broken city. It's unfortunate, with a star-studded cast, you were expecting...well...more.
All you ended up with, was a film that was really unbalanced, throwing things in there that really didn't need to be there. The relationship Mark Wahlberg's character had with his girlfriend (Natalie Martinez) was entirely unnecessary, a waste of time, and simply a distraction.
And by throwing in twists for the sake of throwing in twists, it just made the entire movie.... unnecessary. It's like a hockey player doing a dipsy-doodle, spin-o-rama and then not even bother shooting the puck. It's called, trying to be cute / clever without ever being smart.
~Cheers.
Maybe it's what the director intended. Or maybe it was an unintentional byproduct of filming a movie called Broken City. But this film is broken; from its name, right down to well, the entire movie itself.
With a name like Broken City, you'd expect all sorts of things about the city to be broken, you know, like post-Katrina New Orleans. But it wasn't. You had a couple of corrupt people with hidden agendas and a few knives in a few backs. That's hardly a broken city. It's unfortunate, with a star-studded cast, you were expecting...well...more.
All you ended up with, was a film that was really unbalanced, throwing things in there that really didn't need to be there. The relationship Mark Wahlberg's character had with his girlfriend (Natalie Martinez) was entirely unnecessary, a waste of time, and simply a distraction.
And by throwing in twists for the sake of throwing in twists, it just made the entire movie.... unnecessary. It's like a hockey player doing a dipsy-doodle, spin-o-rama and then not even bother shooting the puck. It's called, trying to be cute / clever without ever being smart.
~Cheers.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Movie: Chronicle (2012)
Rating: B
(Blogger's Note: A lot of movies came out during my hiatus from this little blog, but it didn't mean that I didn't watch them. Chronicle is be released today for purchase, so I thought it might be fitting to post a few thoughts to this movie.)
Over the past few years, there have been an inordinate amount of super hero movies. So what happens when you put these powers in the hands of a few teenagers still trying to figure themselves out? And what happens if one of them loses it?
Superman meets Columbine. I think it's an effective look at how different circumstances and different personalities can affect people differently. Especially in those angst ridden teenage years. But they really could have done without so much in-story handycam footage. I can understand that they would want to do that in a few situations, but as far as the entire movie was concerned? It really wasn't necessary and actually detracted from the enjoyment of what was otherwise a very well thought out movie.
What was nice about the way it was filmed tho, was that it did make the story seem more genuine. While the flow was a little slow, it felt like a natural progression to the movie, the friendship, and their burgeoning powers. How it affects them, their friendship, and their outlook of the world; giving the movie real depth and a good look at how perhaps superheroes and their nemeses come to be. That being said, I really could have done without so much of that blasted first person, shaky, handycam footage.
~Cheers.
(Blogger's Note: A lot of movies came out during my hiatus from this little blog, but it didn't mean that I didn't watch them. Chronicle is be released today for purchase, so I thought it might be fitting to post a few thoughts to this movie.)
Over the past few years, there have been an inordinate amount of super hero movies. So what happens when you put these powers in the hands of a few teenagers still trying to figure themselves out? And what happens if one of them loses it?
Superman meets Columbine. I think it's an effective look at how different circumstances and different personalities can affect people differently. Especially in those angst ridden teenage years. But they really could have done without so much in-story handycam footage. I can understand that they would want to do that in a few situations, but as far as the entire movie was concerned? It really wasn't necessary and actually detracted from the enjoyment of what was otherwise a very well thought out movie.
What was nice about the way it was filmed tho, was that it did make the story seem more genuine. While the flow was a little slow, it felt like a natural progression to the movie, the friendship, and their burgeoning powers. How it affects them, their friendship, and their outlook of the world; giving the movie real depth and a good look at how perhaps superheroes and their nemeses come to be. That being said, I really could have done without so much of that blasted first person, shaky, handycam footage.
~Cheers.
Monday, 14 May 2012
Movie: Safe (2012)
Rating: C-
There's really only one reason to watch any Jason Statham movie: To watch Jason Statham beat people up. It's your own fault if you expect anything more from any of his movies. If you're able to get anything more from his movies, you should consider yourself lucky. Haha.
Safe is no different. Aside from a few one liners and some fun fight scenes, Safe suffers from an over zealous plot-line that is so poorly executed that no amount of creative fighting could compensate. Why they decided to incorporate 2 foreign speaking gangs to be pitted against each other is entirely beyond me. This is an action movie. It really shouldn't have THAT many scenes requiring subtitles. They could have made this movie with a Jamaican gang and an Irish gang, or a Mexican gang and an Italian gang. Any two gangs would have worked.
And in this day and age, you'd think that there would be a few more actors they could have found that ACTUALLY spoke Chinese. Listening to Reggie Lee attempt to to act in Chinese when he can barely act in English was enough to make me throw up a little inside. And while James Hong's performance was slightly more convincing, they need to stop making him the token old Chinese guy in every other movie with an Asian in it.
Even putting aside the poor choice of language, the story line was made overly complicated and executed with such ham-fistedness, that there really was very little cohesion over the hour and a half movie. And finally. Jason Statham is an athlete with a black belt. Not an actor. Stop trying to make him act. Making him the weepy, soft-on-the-inside-with-a-hard-exterior, 'this isn't what i wanted' hero. Just let him fight already!
~Cheers.
There's really only one reason to watch any Jason Statham movie: To watch Jason Statham beat people up. It's your own fault if you expect anything more from any of his movies. If you're able to get anything more from his movies, you should consider yourself lucky. Haha.
Safe is no different. Aside from a few one liners and some fun fight scenes, Safe suffers from an over zealous plot-line that is so poorly executed that no amount of creative fighting could compensate. Why they decided to incorporate 2 foreign speaking gangs to be pitted against each other is entirely beyond me. This is an action movie. It really shouldn't have THAT many scenes requiring subtitles. They could have made this movie with a Jamaican gang and an Irish gang, or a Mexican gang and an Italian gang. Any two gangs would have worked.
And in this day and age, you'd think that there would be a few more actors they could have found that ACTUALLY spoke Chinese. Listening to Reggie Lee attempt to to act in Chinese when he can barely act in English was enough to make me throw up a little inside. And while James Hong's performance was slightly more convincing, they need to stop making him the token old Chinese guy in every other movie with an Asian in it.
Even putting aside the poor choice of language, the story line was made overly complicated and executed with such ham-fistedness, that there really was very little cohesion over the hour and a half movie. And finally. Jason Statham is an athlete with a black belt. Not an actor. Stop trying to make him act. Making him the weepy, soft-on-the-inside-with-a-hard-exterior, 'this isn't what i wanted' hero. Just let him fight already!
~Cheers.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Movie: The Hunger Games (2012)
Rating: B-
This movie’s been out a while, and I’ve been meaning to write put my critique out there. But due to extenuating circumstances, I’ve had to wait until now. Based on the book series of the same name, The Hunger Games had the potential of being something as visually powerful and mentally jarring as Lord of the Flies. Instead, they decided to dilute it for the Dora The Explorer demographic. Only problem is, it’s still too troubling for the kiddies, and far too gentle for anyone over the age of 10.
While I disagree with many that this book / film is an English version of the Japanese book / film, Battle Royale; I do wish that they would have taken a page from the Japanese version. Make it daring, or poetic, or shocking. Instead, in order to placate soccer moms and interest groups, The Hunger Games languishes in mediocrity; Just good enough to be worth watching, but not nearly good enough for it to be memorable.
Jennifer Lawrence gave an admirable performance, and Stanley Tucci is one of my favourite supporting casts. But that's about it. And I suppose I should give credit to the direction of Gary Ross for moving the movie along fluidly because let's not forget, the actual "games" don't start until about the middle of the 140+ min movie.
On top of that, the side stories just felt entirely too contrived and there were just too many holes in the movie. I mean, aside from the wolves that appeared out of no where for no particular reason, there really was never any real danger to Ms. Lawrence's character.
But judging from the reception of this movie, it looks like the film adaptations for the next two books of this trilogy is just going to be more of the same.
~Cheers.
This movie’s been out a while, and I’ve been meaning to write put my critique out there. But due to extenuating circumstances, I’ve had to wait until now. Based on the book series of the same name, The Hunger Games had the potential of being something as visually powerful and mentally jarring as Lord of the Flies. Instead, they decided to dilute it for the Dora The Explorer demographic. Only problem is, it’s still too troubling for the kiddies, and far too gentle for anyone over the age of 10.
While I disagree with many that this book / film is an English version of the Japanese book / film, Battle Royale; I do wish that they would have taken a page from the Japanese version. Make it daring, or poetic, or shocking. Instead, in order to placate soccer moms and interest groups, The Hunger Games languishes in mediocrity; Just good enough to be worth watching, but not nearly good enough for it to be memorable.
Jennifer Lawrence gave an admirable performance, and Stanley Tucci is one of my favourite supporting casts. But that's about it. And I suppose I should give credit to the direction of Gary Ross for moving the movie along fluidly because let's not forget, the actual "games" don't start until about the middle of the 140+ min movie.
On top of that, the side stories just felt entirely too contrived and there were just too many holes in the movie. I mean, aside from the wolves that appeared out of no where for no particular reason, there really was never any real danger to Ms. Lawrence's character.
But judging from the reception of this movie, it looks like the film adaptations for the next two books of this trilogy is just going to be more of the same.
~Cheers.
Monday, 16 April 2012
Movie: Lockout (2012)
Rating: D
I have a big love/hate relationship with Luc Besson movies. I love the premise, hate the execution, and love to rip on them afterwards. Lockout was no different. If you've read some of my critiques, you'll know how much I hate holes in movies. This movie just had hole after hole after hole, with poor lighting, editing, and I do believe, that somewhere in the beginning sequence, they forgot the put the finishing touches on some Special Effects (CGI).
It's almost like Mr. Besson is doing charity work. He comes up with ideas, writes the initial screenplay, then offloads it to some poor up and coming director salivating at the opportunity at having Luc Besson in his credits at the end of the movie. Lockout seems to be yet another example. Both James Mather and Stephen St. Leger just seem overwhelmed with directing this movie.
Looks like Guy Pearce has been hitting the gym and looks great as a grisly framed agent on a one man rescue mission of the president's daughter played by Maggie Grace. Their relationship is what you would expect between a wily veteran and a sassy, but doe eyed beauty, and while a romance is somewhat inevitable in this kind of movie, how it blossoms is entirely contrived and there is no chemistry whatsoever. Quite honestly, the only person that stood out in this entire movie is Joseph Gilgun who plays the crazed brother of the main villain in the movie.
~Cheers.
I have a big love/hate relationship with Luc Besson movies. I love the premise, hate the execution, and love to rip on them afterwards. Lockout was no different. If you've read some of my critiques, you'll know how much I hate holes in movies. This movie just had hole after hole after hole, with poor lighting, editing, and I do believe, that somewhere in the beginning sequence, they forgot the put the finishing touches on some Special Effects (CGI).
It's almost like Mr. Besson is doing charity work. He comes up with ideas, writes the initial screenplay, then offloads it to some poor up and coming director salivating at the opportunity at having Luc Besson in his credits at the end of the movie. Lockout seems to be yet another example. Both James Mather and Stephen St. Leger just seem overwhelmed with directing this movie.
Looks like Guy Pearce has been hitting the gym and looks great as a grisly framed agent on a one man rescue mission of the president's daughter played by Maggie Grace. Their relationship is what you would expect between a wily veteran and a sassy, but doe eyed beauty, and while a romance is somewhat inevitable in this kind of movie, how it blossoms is entirely contrived and there is no chemistry whatsoever. Quite honestly, the only person that stood out in this entire movie is Joseph Gilgun who plays the crazed brother of the main villain in the movie.
~Cheers.
Friday, 17 June 2011
Movie: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Rating: A-
Too many sequels are money mongering excuses to build a franchise, that just regurgitate the same story in a different setting (ie, The Hangover Part 2). Kung Fu Panda 2 is among the select few sequels that might actually be better than its first installment.
The story, while nothing new, is compelling enough to be retold. The jokes actually have some thought put in to them and fitting for all ages. The star studded voice cast did an admirable job.While I would have liked to have seen the supporting cast be more involved, the story would have been far too complex to properly use ALL of them.
I loved the artwork when they were talking about the past, in particular, Po's little stuffed toy. Very adorable. It's great to see them use a different art style to differentiate what is now and what was THEN.
Is it twice the awesomeness as advertised? Yes it is!
Too many sequels are money mongering excuses to build a franchise, that just regurgitate the same story in a different setting (ie, The Hangover Part 2). Kung Fu Panda 2 is among the select few sequels that might actually be better than its first installment.
The story, while nothing new, is compelling enough to be retold. The jokes actually have some thought put in to them and fitting for all ages. The star studded voice cast did an admirable job.While I would have liked to have seen the supporting cast be more involved, the story would have been far too complex to properly use ALL of them.
I loved the artwork when they were talking about the past, in particular, Po's little stuffed toy. Very adorable. It's great to see them use a different art style to differentiate what is now and what was THEN.
Is it twice the awesomeness as advertised? Yes it is!
Friday, 27 May 2011
Movie: The Mechanic (2011)
Rating: C+
I'm not sure why anyone would ever want to remake a Charles Bronson movie. Thankfully, the 2010 version of The Mechanic is much improved with Jason Statham playing the lead role of Arthur Bishop.
In the simplest of terms, one word summarizes this movie. Gratuitous. The sex scenes, the bullets used, the stunts performed; were all applied generously throughout the movie. In the trailer, he said that his jobs sometimes need to look like accidents. It made me think of a movie from Hong Kong called, 意外 (Accidents) that came out a few years ago. And I kind of wish they made more of the assignments look like accidents. There was little subtlety in this movie and it made the movie a little bit obvious.
Jason Statham is perfect for this role. He does most (if not all) of his own stunts, can actually fight, and looks completely at ease doing it. Ben Foster on the other hand, reminded me a little too much of this Stand Up Comic with Cerebral Palsy I've seen called Josh Blue. It also seems to me that Donald Sutherland is getting lazy. He still gets his title credits, but the amount of time he spends on the screen is getting shorter and shorter. And it's a bit of a waste to cast such a powerhouse to play little more than an extended cameo. They also need an entirely new role for Tony Goldwyn, or just stop casting him. The second he shows up, you know he's going to end up being the bad guy. But.... With Mini Anden sashaying across the screen with those swaying hips, totally makes up for everything. Haha.
The stunts are over-the-top, explosive, and fairly original. The interplay between Statham and Foster is credible, and despite a couple of holes in the story, is a fairly solid action movie.
~Cheers.
I'm not sure why anyone would ever want to remake a Charles Bronson movie. Thankfully, the 2010 version of The Mechanic is much improved with Jason Statham playing the lead role of Arthur Bishop.
In the simplest of terms, one word summarizes this movie. Gratuitous. The sex scenes, the bullets used, the stunts performed; were all applied generously throughout the movie. In the trailer, he said that his jobs sometimes need to look like accidents. It made me think of a movie from Hong Kong called, 意外 (Accidents) that came out a few years ago. And I kind of wish they made more of the assignments look like accidents. There was little subtlety in this movie and it made the movie a little bit obvious.
Jason Statham is perfect for this role. He does most (if not all) of his own stunts, can actually fight, and looks completely at ease doing it. Ben Foster on the other hand, reminded me a little too much of this Stand Up Comic with Cerebral Palsy I've seen called Josh Blue. It also seems to me that Donald Sutherland is getting lazy. He still gets his title credits, but the amount of time he spends on the screen is getting shorter and shorter. And it's a bit of a waste to cast such a powerhouse to play little more than an extended cameo. They also need an entirely new role for Tony Goldwyn, or just stop casting him. The second he shows up, you know he's going to end up being the bad guy. But.... With Mini Anden sashaying across the screen with those swaying hips, totally makes up for everything. Haha.
The stunts are over-the-top, explosive, and fairly original. The interplay between Statham and Foster is credible, and despite a couple of holes in the story, is a fairly solid action movie.
~Cheers.
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