Name: chelano
Most Recent Reviews by chelano
I just want to know what the heck happenes to Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus through the ten years in between the first movie and this one? Age hit them hard. Especially Sean Patrick Flanery. At first I didn't even think it was the same guy. This film had very problems not making it as interesting as the first. First the Saints are just old. They do not seem as cool as they were when they were young. Another thing is that a lot of the scenes in this film were redone versions of scenes from the first. There is a scene with Julie Benz walking through a crime scene that was just like Willem Dafoe in the first. Also I really liked the way they filmed the first. It had more character where this was filmed more normal. It wasn't bad, just wasn't as good as the first. Then you have Clifton Collins Jr. He made a pretty cool character, but how he got to join the Saints was too easy. David Della Rocco was in the Saints in the first cause he was a friend. Clifton Collins Jr. just got lucky. Billy Connolly is still in the film and ok and Peter Fonda makes an appearance as a friend of Connolly's. Most of the original cast did come back for the film and it was great to see them. But it was really interesting to see what ten years does to the body. It just seems like the first movie focused on fun and this was too technical. You could tell on some of the new characters they came up with. Overall, it was fun to watch if you are a Boondock Saints fan, but it will never touch the greatness of the original.
There is something about combining dirty accents and guns that can make anyone cool. The ending and a couple scenes could of been a little more eventful, but other than that, it was a great movie. The brothers or "the Saints" were played by Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus. These two were just the meaning of cool. There were some side characters also who really knew how to to act. One in general is Willem Dafoe. He really took control of his character. Now Billy Connolly was in it shortly too and he was also pretty good even though he did get a big speaking part. The movie combines killing with the Lord. The only people the Saints are killing though are bad Mafia type guys. Once they are done, they say a prayer in their native language and put pennies on their eyes laying them to rest. Like a good guy, bad guy feel. The way the movie was filmed was fantastic. They would show the dead bodies killed by the Saints, then Willem Dafoe would say, "this is how it happened" leading into a flashback showing everything. The movie added some humor also because of the way people got killed. Nothing started right for the Saints, but in the end they did end up killing the guys they needed. The weak minded towards bad language would not enjoy the film because it has some pretty crude dialog, but it does fit well with the film if you know the culture. Overall, this film almost makes you want a gun for the Boondock Saints makes it look so easy to use one. But probably wouldn't be a good thing.
I really do not know what Takashi Miike was thinking when making this movie. He moved away from the horror, but kept the crazy. This movie was pretty messed up, but in a different way. A man fantasizes about being a superhero and it comes true because the world is being attacked by aliens. There is a lot more to the story, but you will have to watch it to see what I am talking about it. If you know Takashi Miike, you will have to watch it to understand it all. The movie also makes fun of old and new superhero type movies, but the cheezy ones, like the Power Rangers. In fact because it is making fun, some of the scenes will really have you laughing. Sho Aikawa plays the so called Zebraman and does an excellent job. Going from a shy older man who does not connect with his family to the powerful Zebraman. The rest of the cast really doesn't need to be mentioned here. I will say that most of them did an excellent job of acting for the most part. There is CG in the film; mostly for the aliens. Combining the mind of Miike and the writers really came up with some strange aliens. They are so evil, but also come off as cute at parts. The story again has a deep meaning behind it, but if you don't catch it, the film seems just strange. But if you like strange, then you got yourself a good movie. I did enjoy the movie for the most part, but I would not recommend this film to Miike fans for they may look at him in a wrong way.
This film had a low budget but a lot of meaning. It looked like something you would see on TV, but in full you can really tell it is a movie. The film shows an interesting version of heaven and hell. The pearly gates are not really pearly either. They are the Gates Of Rage and you have three choices. Be reborn, curse someone until they die or wander around like a ghost all your life. Kind of has the heaven effect with some reincarnation added. You would expect the special effects to be high, but all you get are some interesting sparks added to some cool sword fighting scenes. The cast is interesting. There are only really about four characters worth mentioning although all the side ones do have personalities. Yumiko Shaku does an ok job and has a cool fight scene, but that is about it. Shosuke Tanihara is a detective trying to avenge his dead girlfriend played by Yumiko. He shows the most emotion in the film. Then the "bad guy" is played by Takao Osawa which was probably my favorite performance in the film. Takao had an evil sidekick played by Kanae Uotani. She had some of the best fight scenes. She really had the look for her character also. This film is like a fantasy and a horror piece put into one. You have death and you have magic. The story was interesting, but was missing pieces. Overall, it was fun to watch though.
I can't believe I am saying this, but this film was much better than "The Tribe". Cory Feldman and Jamison Newlander come back for their roles as Edgar and Alan Frog. Well Feldman kind of had to. The story was not too bad and surprisingly the acting was not too bad. There were a couple characters were who pretty horrible in the film, but luckily the movie wasn't really focusing on them. The film kept its cool vampire feel and did manage to keep both versions of "Cry Little Sister" in the film as well. This movie is basically trying to end the Lost Boys movies. The reason is because the alpha or head vampire is in the film. If Corey Feldman can stop him, then it is over and anyone who was turned by a vampire under him, will be cured. This goes for Alan Frog was was turned in the story line of the other two movies. The movie stayed more with the first film and acted like the second one wasn't even made. Plus Corey Haim's character was mentioned in the film as well to help remember him. Now the first movie was made in the late 80s so the music was focused around that. The second was focused more on a death metal feel. This one was electronic dance music; which makes sense I guess for 2010. I have always liked the style of vampires in the Lost Boys and even though the movie wasn't the best, it was still nice to see them again.
This movie had a lot going for it until the ending. The ending was very uneventful and it was almost like they gave up. Not sure if that is what they were going for. First off, this is not an Adam Sandler movie. He was just cast in it. For this role he really did an excellent job too. Nice of him to get away from his comedic background. Sandler's character is basically on the verge of going insane from his family of a million sisters and his dead end job. Also from a phone call he makes in the film. The film is full of intense loud noises to also make the viewer go insane. It is like you can feel exactly what Sandler's character feels. Emily Watson is the love interest and she does a decent job. The only other actor worth mentioning is Philip Seymour Hoffman who was excellent, but really didn't have that big of a part. The story of the film was pretty good, but seemed to lack at parts that did make the viewer a bit bored. But luckily it did pick back up. The whole thing the film is getting at is that love can cure all; I guess. Besides the ending, the film is interesting to watch. Just make sure you do not have a slight headache before watching for it make get worse.
Almost a perfect movie in my eyes. One thing that really caught my eye throughout the film was the use of special effects. There was a little CG in the film but most of the explosions were done they way they were suppose to; in real life. That combined with the camera work was quite intense. They really had the camera angles going and that really added a better action effect to the film. The film is like an Western, but newer. You still got guns and horses, but with some added vehicles thrown in. The music also was a nice effect adding old time Western with newer electric and some Japanese feeling. There are many names in this film and they were all excellent actors. But I will just focus on the good, the bad and the weird. Woo-sung Jung was the good and he was the one that added the Western feel. That and he really knew how to spin a rifle which was intense. The bad was Byung-hun Lee who dressed like a freak out of a band, but for added effect. You could tell in his mind he was a little crazy and it showed every time he killed. Then you have the weird who was Kang-ho Song which brought a little comic relief to the film. Everyone knew how to act and this film really showed that it had a budget and took a lot of work with special effects instead of CG scenes you see now a days. The only thing I didn't like was that the movie did run long, but that made me think it was going to be a huge ending. It was a decent ending, but not the one you would expect from all the build up. But that little error did nothing to really ruin the film for it was dynamite watching from start to finish.
This comedy only had a few moments of the funny feeling. Most of those moments had Jan Lynch in them. So always has an interesting take on her characters and even in this low whole she still seemed to shine. The rest of the cast was not really there. I guess Matt Servitto was ok in his whole, but just not the best. Bryan Callen was not that funny on Mad TV and he was not that funny in this movie. His soon to be wife was played by Alexie Gilmore, who I found more annoying in her role than funny. Colin Mochrie shows up as a character and was pretty horrible at it. I am not even sure why he was put in there. Maybe it was a joke by the writers, I don't know. So a couple is about to get married, but they have to go to a meeting first with someone who is married. Everyone is taken up at the last minute except for one couple and later you find out why. I could see the movie being a lot better than it was if it would of just pushed the envelope a little more. But it seemed like it was consistently being held back by a giant censor. This is the type of film that could of done a lot better if it was aloud to just do what it wants. So overall, it just didn't have the laugh factor or the story needed to keep the film exciting to any viewer.
Not that bad of a film, but not amazing either. It had a small cast, but only some seemed to fit. Jennifer Aniston was decent and Steve Zahn was pretty funny at parts, but some of the writing to the film didn't fit that well with the characters. This goes the most for the ending. The ending was a bit over the top and really made you lose interest. Woody Harrelson was also in the film and he really didn't fit with his character much. The story, like I said, just faded off at the ending, but up to that point, it was pretty decent. It wasn't crazy funny, but it did have its moments to get a little chuckle out of the viewer. The story is that a guy randomly meets a girl who shows up at the hotel he works at. Then they sleep together and he falls for her, but she leaves. You can only guess what could go on from there. The film at parts was trying to be serious and for the most part it did fit, even with the little humor they added in from time to time. But again, when the movie was over and it was all panned out, it just didn't have the impact it needed to finish clean.
I only have one complaint about the film, but I will get to that at the end. Lets first talk about the story. It was top notch excellent. All the unanswered questions from the first one were mostly answered in this film which gave the viewer a relaxed feeling and able to enjoy the film. The film was not boring. It has great action and the parts with no fighting had great dialog. Seeing the movie in 3D was interesting. In the real world, the film was shot in 2D and switches to 3D when you enter the grid. That was a clever way of doing it instead of filming the whole thing like that. The cast was great. I was unsure about Garrett Hedlund at first, but he really pulled it off. Bringing back two of the main characters from the first was an amazing win. This was Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner. But here is the problem. This film takes place now so Bridges and Boxleitner can play their parts as older people. But for flashbacks and for the programs TRON and CLUE. They had CG faces. Disney did the best job they could at making them look real and on some scenes it was hard to tell. But other scenes, especially the flashbacks, it looked really fake. But I will say the rest of the CG and the update Grid was simply breath taking. A couple side characters that were enjoyable were Olivia Wilde as Quorra and Michael Sheen as Zuse. Wilde was a gem in this film and really played her part well as the female sidekick and the so called "eye candy". Michael Sheen's character was so animated, he was a joy to watch and added a little comedy to the film. One more set of side characters were the DJs in the club played by Daft Punk; who wrote the score to this film. There music was perfect for it and seriously sent chills through your body at point. The story again was great and leaves a cliffhanger, but a good one. If you want to know the answer, you have to play the video games released on PS3, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo DS if you want a little prequel. Anything to get people to spend money. This will be a great and memorable film.
