Name: jimaz
Most Recent Reviews by jimaz
I have learned not to keep my hopes too high for movies with lots of hype and expectations. I just assume it will be a letdown and be overjoyed if its not. That worked with the recent remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still", which is one of the worst stinkers in recent years. With "Star Trek", a franchise near and dear to my heart, I especially kept a guarded hope. I am very happy to report that, despite a few flaws, it came through and then some. With clever casting and editing, it captured both the power of the original series and todays culture of fast pace effects and action, as well as throwing in a few surprises along the way. At the heart of this entertaining popcorn epic is Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Their dead on versions of a young Kirk and Spock will leave even the most loyal fans very satisfied. Although to a lesser degree, the rest of the original crew characters do a good job. The drawback are obvious ones. A complicated over the top video game like plot that so many of todays sci-fi movies like to have could have been done to a smaller degree with the same results. The other would be, and kind of ironic at that, the appearance of the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy. It is great to once again have the legend in character. But the idea of bringing back Spock again from the past or future or whatever, has been done several times before in movies and TV shows, and has got somewhat stale. These are some of the weaker scenes in the film. It's time to let the Nimoy version,(as well as the other original actors,) go and live on forever in our hearts and reruns. I for one am excited about this reboot idea, and can't wait for the sequel,with guarded expectations,of coarse.
It would pretty much be impossible to describe this movie in detail. It's one of those films you have to see yourself and be the judge. You either love it or hate it,nothing in between. Chances are your going to hate yourself for loving it so much. Where the first "Crank" was a fast moving train out of control, this one has the train jumping the tracks and destroying everything in its path with no way to stop it. A fast,funny,mindless,nonstop masterpiece of outrageous stupidity. Not quite as good as the first movie as a whole because in this case,less is more. But it outdoes the first with its humor and cartoon like bodycount. Jason Statham is fast becoming one of my favorite action stars ever,and here he is at his best. Stick around during the end credits for some funny outtakes.
An okay political murder drama about a newspaper reporter (Russell Crowe) trying to uncover the truth behind some behind the scenes dealings of his congressman friend.(Ben Affleck) Nothing groundbreaking and a bit slow to the point. As usual,Crowe is great.(Although he's starting to get a little thick around the middle) Affleck is his usual bland self. It's probably time for him to go the reality show circut. All in all a film that you could wait to rent.
This movie surprised me in several ways. At first I thought I was going to another "Superbad" because the same makers did this film. While I didn't get that bathroom humor I was expecting, I did get a sweet little well made story thats funny in a different way. This kind of thing has been done before. You know, the nerdy teenager falls in love with a cute girl who is from the other side of the tracks. Both have boring parents that don't understand them, so they make there own rules as long as they can get away with it. Throw in another hottie that threatens to break up their relationship. Blah. Blah. Blah. What sets this apart is the wonderful young cast. It seems the producers have a knack for this. (It worked in "Superbad" as well") A great date movie well worth the admission.
This is my second review of this film. Not much has changed from the first one except that on DVD in plays much better watching at home. The reason is because you can understand those latin accents that were so hard to make out in the theater. As far as the film itself, I still think it was not up among the best of Bond. The editing was terrible. But Daniel Craig is great. By far the best Bond since Sean Connery. I have a feeling the producers learned a great deal from this film and the next one will probably be the best. Can't wait.
As history will tell you, the really good movies have scenes in them that stick with you long after you left the theater. For all the technology that is available to filmakers today, their is a surprising amount of movies in recent years that don't do that. It seems the thing to do anymore is remakes of old classics, remakes of old T.V. shows,and remakes of remakes. Throw in some modern special effects and some 20 year old actors playing 40 year old characters, and promote the hell out of it so we can all sucker in to it and waste 10 dollars. However, every now and then a surprise makes it's way past the garbage and gives us a blast of cinema pleasure. "Knowing" does just that. There are several scenes that stay with you.(Including an airplane crash and train derailment that are so astonishing and scary they have to be seen to be believed) Nicolas Cage, an actor who has made several really good fun movies, (The Rock,Con-Air) and some not so good,(pick one) plays a collage teacher who comes across a 50 year old piece of paper written by a child that predicted all major disasters in the world. The problem is the really big disaster on that paper has not happened yet. Now it's up to Cage to try and warn the world that the end is near. The makers of this film take an idea that has been done before and make it work to the max with clever writing and some really tense moments and awesome special effects that will leave the audience feeling they got their money worth,and remember.
Yet another big budget Sci-Fi/Fantasy thats all style and no substance. Not quite as bad as "The Day the Earth Stood Still" remake. But you still find yourself looking at your watch wondering when will it ever end. At two hours and forty minutes,it seems to drag on forever. What bothered me the most was that there was no chemistry between the main characters who are playing what turns out to be a violent live action version of "The Incredibles". There interesting by themeselves, but not as a whole. This should have worked. But like other recent films of this kind, the studios are more interested in the resale profits that visual and sound effects can bring to DVD and Blue-Ray. Bummer.
To make it short and sweet,everything you have heard about this movie is true. If you only see one more movie all year,make it this one. I can't say enough about this fantastic film that grabs you from the start and never let's go. A very poor young man in India wins a million dollars on a game show and is then accused of cheating, although they can't seem to prove it. His life is then brought back in flashbacks to reveal the reason for his knowledge. The young cast does an outstanding job. The very realistic scenes of that country's slums will not promote any tourism there anytime soon, but makes for a movie experience not seen for quite some time.
Sorry people. I know I'm in the minority on this one. But I thought this movie was way overblown because of the Heath Ledger thing. Sure he was great as the Joker. But "Batman Begins" was a much better film than this one. I also thought Christian Bale was wimpy as the caped crusader. I gave this film a second try to see if I missed something. Nope,I didn't. Okay,let me have it fellow film buffs.
I must admit I'm not a hugh Tom Cruise fan. But he keeps making these dam good movies. His comic role in "Tropic Thunder" was classic,and now this. Considering the garbage that most movies are lately,we can count on Tom to give us a flick that's worth the price of admission. I loved this movie.
