The best I can say about this film, is that they try very hard to narrate a story whose original inspiration can't be truly adapted in a faithful way for a modern audience. Therefore, most of the film is an original story, inspired by Jules Verne's book, and featuring some characters from that book. Let's say it's Jules Verne meets LOST, Land Of The Lost and The Outer Limits. Enjoyable and offering some original premises, that would benefit of more screen time, like a mini-series. Worth the look.
Obtaining a copy of this series, has been a total pain, but the tapes of knowledge were obtained (in VHS). The special effects are flawled, and the series itself suffers from being shot in video instead of 35mm. The first episode is great, but the quality of the scripts, acting and production only decreases as the series progresses. Campy at times, dead serious at others, probably could have been saved with a different producer, and better scripts.
The premise is directly taken from the Appleseed book. Not the best, but watchable. However, the graphics and animation are awful. ARISE looks beautiful compared with this cheap PS2 graphics fare. The music is also bombastic and muffles the japanese dialogue. Not worth the wait.
Sadly, it has almost nothing to do with Adam's novels. They kept just the name of the main character, the clueless sidekick, the cat and the dog. The narrative lacks the british wit and crazy charm of the orginal series, the philosophical implications of chaos, or the novel's extreme confluence. Seattle (or should I say, Vancouver) is a lousy replacement for London, as in the novels the city becomes another character. It's enjoyable, but the original series did more in its 3 episode run than this in 8.
The first season of GITS SAC 2045 is so uneven and poorly written, that you can skip the first 5 episodes without losing a single plot point. The whole story could be summarized in 60 seconds of dialogue. The remainder six episodes are uneven, but enjoyable, except the last one. Now, the CGI is VERY distracting and subpar, with only a few highlights here and there. The producers made a poor choice leaving behind their wonderful ARISE hand-drawn animation style just to settle with a PS2-era garden-variety CGI fare. The music is intrusive and bombastic in many episodes, but there are a few good pieces in the last episodes. As the next season will keep the same look and plot, it's a shame this opportunity for a true GITS series is lost.
This episode is inspired in a real life member of The Zetas (also known as MS-13), Brenda Paz. She was killed in 2003 for informing the FBI about the gang's criminal activities; two of her former friends were later convicted of the murder. However, she was killed in American soil.
I'm glad that Michael Weatherly got a nice gig after NCIS so soon, because he's such a terrific actor. However, this series seems to me like another version of Lie To Me. It feels uneven, and honestly I don't see it passing from the first season with this premise.
A very obscure Toho movie, that isn't really THAT bad. Looking at it now, isn't particulary politically correct: japanese actors in "blackface", and mocking the native's customs while mentioning that Japan occupied the island in WWII (and we all know how brutal the Japanese were during that bloody period of Asia's history) and that's why those noble savages know how to speak their language. Regardless, the monster action looks as good as the rest of the Toho greatest hits.
To be honest, I was expecting something entirely different. This was a whole different fare for me, and it never felt like an adventure, but more like a s*** hits the fan CGI-fest. Two kids are sent by their ass-tired parents (hey, Judy Greer!) to a totally secure JP that has been operating without major problems for 10 years in order to visit their aunty, who happens to run the whole operation, and who's too busy to care any less for them. Like an echo from the 90's, the big bad corporation who runs the park has a CEO who decides to create a new dino species with the initial motive of boosting ticket sales, because as any parent who has taken her/his kids to Orlando surely know, Mickey can be fun for the little devils only a few times. Their ulterior motive is revealed later, and I won't spoil it for you, but it's as just as lame as you might expect and totally unrealistic (like taming a flesh-eating tornado to kill your enemies). Anyway, as it could be predicted, the "asset goes out of containment" and things go awfully wrong. One single dino literally wrecks havoc and destroys a muti-billion touristic attraction.The whole time I was thinking in the back of my mind "Gosh, those lawsuits are gonna be awful, InGen and Masrani Corp are soooooo broke right now". It's a so-predictable late 90's movie that it's a little bit more fun than JP3, but only barely. The story has many plot holes and tries to support itself on outdated conventions. What made this flick at least tolerable for me (besides the excellent 3D conversion), was Chris Pratt as the "Raptor Whisperer" who becomes (of course) the "reluctant" hero who happens to be also humble and funny (and a former lover of the kids aunty). He's getting typecast so fast into those roles, I'm afraid. My hopes were too high for this movie, and I was utterly disappointed. Maybe you won't, until you settle down from the adrenaline rush and notice the paper thin story. Sequels like this one are the reason why I own only the first JP movie in Blu-ray, and gave away the other two.
The first season of GITS SAC 2045 is so uneven and poorly written, that you can skip the first 5 episodes without losing a single plot point. The whole story could be summarized in 60 seconds of dialogue. The remainder six episodes are uneven, but enjoyable, except the last one. Now, the CGI is VERY distracting and subpar, with only a few highlights here and there. The producers made a poor choice leaving behind their wonderful ARISE hand-drawn animation style just to settle with a PS2-era garden-variety CGI fare. The music is intrusive and bombastic in many episodes, but there are a few good pieces in the last episodes. As the next season will keep the same look and plot, it's a shame this opportunity for a true GITS series is lost.
I must agree that this movie "borrows" a lot of plot elements from "Escape From New York" and "Escape From L.A.", so I see the point in Carpenter suing (and winning half a million Euros from) Besson. Guy Pierce is an excellent actor, with the tough job of making us believe the story, and it delivers his lines with humour and candor. It really cracks me up. Oh, and Joseph Gilgun got his part in Preacher for this movie, so we all got going that one for us, which is nice. As long as you forget everything you know about science, gravity, medicine and common sense, this is a very funny movie, and I really did enjoy it.
An improvement over the theatrical version, the Ultimate Edition is a better cut with some narrative patches, but not yet a great movie. Some scenes from the original release are trimmed and others totally missed (some very important for character development, as the fist fighter that Wayne helps in his match), as expected, because there is a limit of assets that you can have on the disc. However, the problem persists: the narrative is still very much disjointed and chaotic, with those lame dream sequences trying to serve as plot points and all the main characters developing telepathy by the third act, so they "know" where to go and what to do without exchanging a single word or even a glance. I would gladly give up half the screen time devoted to the action sequences in order to add more dialogue and clarify tons of plot holes and get rid of so many character contradictions, not to mention why in heaven and hell Luthor decided to put all these events in motion. When it comes to franchises, every director must play with the toys at hand, be grateful of having the chance and return them into the box in one piece, so others can play after him. So, you don't kill characters just to have fun (Kimmy Olsen), or alter a half a century old geography setting to place two N.Y.-size cities one across the other because it pleases you, just to name a few. Snyder is a great visual artist, and really I do happen to enjoy his films in a visual sense, but I don't like his vision for the DC's Extended Universe, and I can only really hope someone takes it from his hands before we end up with Darkseid as the antagonist in less than two movies (the Mother Boxes and the "dream" are so obvious). Remember: it took Marvel almost a decade just to place the chess pieces on the board for one single game with Thanos. After Thanos... it will be hard to find an all-powerful adversary. Warner is making a disservice to DC trying to play catch up and introducing their villain so soon. Take 10 years and a dozen movies to develop settings for the Darkseid battle. Enjoy the game, and let us enjoy it too.
Basically a so-so remake of The Towering Inferno (1974).
The main problem with this series, is the editing. The thematic and emotional jumps that come out of nowhere. It's a mess, despite a good chemistry between the leads and the excellent acting from Clayne Crawford. What I like the most is that instead of channeling Gibson, he made his own character tick. The weak parts of his acting are sadly when he tries to incorporate the film's canon. Every time he goes for those moments, the character feels cheap. He shines when he delivers his sincere southern charisma. They need to get rid of the shadow of the movies, and depart from them. As far as possible, so this series gets its own voice. Then again, this is Fox, and it'll get cancelled after one season, anyway.
I gave myself time to wait a little bit to watch this movie two weeks after the premiere. It was in an excellent 300 seats movie theatre with only 3 people at 8:00 P.M. The movie, as a visual spectacle, works as such: excellent photography, good acting, very nice VFX's, and excellent music. The problem, is the narrative. For a movie, it's a bloody mess, that actually would work GREAT on a miniseries, with enough time to expand the plots and flesh out the characters. I didn't have problems to follow the story because I'm used to read books with hugely disjointed or dreamy plots. But this is a visual experience, and that sets a whole different level of expectations for the CASUAL viewer. DC Comics buffs won't have problems to find the virtues of this movie (and I must confess myself a fan of Batman) but I have to point out that the couple that was in the theatre with me, left the movie about 1 hour into the show, so I ended up watching the rest alone. I'm buying this Blu-ray (hopefully a director's cut) for my collection, but to be honest, BVSDJ needs one hour more of exposition and plot to really tell the story right. This movie will lose money, that's for sure. I just hope that fact doesn't mess with the rest of WB's plans, because I'm really looking forward for Suicide Squad and Aquaman (albeit not James Cameron's, sadly). As a bottom line: I'm sure there's a good BVSDJ movie in there, that was probably left on the cutting floor, and damn, I would loved that one!.
Not a good movie, by far. Very predictable as the plot really is quite simple and many times makes no sense at all. Very cheesy and the ending is really a downer, quite depressive indeed. However, it has excellent shoot-them-up action sequences and it looks amazing on the screen. Really nice photography, make up and VFX. The moral of the story is - at least for me-, don't you dare to care for any of the characters. None of them. The documentary of the movie is way better than the movie itself.
With a different cast, this premise could make up for a nice thriller. However, this isn't Capricorn One, and I couldn't shake my sense of disbelief: the cameras and tape recorders they show on frame, are all from different ages (the wrong ones), so is the clothing, vehicles, and the vocabulary is American-contemporary. There are a few sequences that are good, and made me keep watching, but the ending is a complete letdown. One tidbit: the front projection screen technique wasn't first used or developed by Stanley Kubrick. It has been around since 1949 and it was extensively used in the early 60's, so it's unlikely that bright film students (as the protagonist are meant to be) that love international cinema wouldn't be aware of it.
Not a good sequel. It has its moments, but the plot is almost laughable. Very disappointing.
A huge amount of changes were made from the plot in the original novel. From the color of the shark, the ethnicity of the cast, and the place in earth where it happens. It really is a popcorn movie made for a Chinese audience, fully intended to please them, and it really does so. That's why it is so bad. I'm glad Jason Statham had a nice pay check for this one.
Back in the day, this episode made me rage quit Enterprise altogether for at least a year. I truly hate religion fanatics or anyone who even considers religion when it comes to decision-making situations, or act based upon religion.
Well, it's an entertaining and funny comedy, with a good cast. The story builds up slowly until it reaches a point of no return and the stakes are high. About my only complain are the damn cameos. Every ten or so minutes, there was a cameo or a nod to the previous movies, and it was so damn distracting. This movie stands on its own, and doesn't need those tricks to lure the fans. I don't know if the film with make any profit at all for the studio in the end, but I'm willing to watch it again when it gets to Netflix.
This is a huge course correction that practically negates TLJ. It has its moments, and given what the director-writer had to work with, it's understandable how it ends with such a feeble whimper. This isn't a good film and shouldn't be mistaken for one. TROS is a very disjointed, clearly rushed, derivative experience, that shows its editorial seams, packed with callbacks to all the good things the original trilogy had to offer in order to make you up for it. The visual effects are quite good in most places (nothing stunning or eye opening), but some in the third act are not really at par with the rest of the movie. The plot could be written up with a crayon in a napkin, and I wouldn't be amazed if that was the case, as this isn't Citizen Kane. The amount of loose ends and plot holes this film has, are way too many to me. This is a $300 million plus film (without accounting for marketing, re-shoots and extra CGI) and yet, it doesn't feel as good on the screen as Infinity War or End Game, (very good films made by the same Disney company). After leaving the theater, I was not full of hope, sad or willing to buy another ticket or even willing to watch this movie ever again. I felt nothing but sorry for George Lucas and couldn't care any less about what happens to Ben, Finn, Poe and Rey. The problem with this film when compared with any of the original trilogy is that those felt timeless (grounded on mythical archetypes, Japanese samurai films, Westerns, Flash Gordon serials and the hero's journey) and this plot will look very dated by next year, I'm sure of it. Luke Skywalker took 5 years to master the arts of the Jedi, having two Jedi masters to introduce him to its philosophy. Rey has some old books and voices in his head to kinda learn in months a lot of fantastic new Jedi powers that made no sense. No matter how much it makes back at the box office, it will lose in long-term repeated viewings (one time is enough for me), Blu-ray and DVD sales, and of course, merchandise. It is a good thing we have The Mandalorian to keep the franchise in life support until the inevitable reboot comes along in 5 years. Edit: Forgot to mention that there were only 9 people on the first IMAX showing of TROS on this movie theater (this is a 3.5 million people city). Back in 2015, all the showings were packed for TFA the first 4 days.
I have to say that after watching every single Star Trek episode available, that this is THE WORST series finale, ever (even TOS's Turnabout Intruder was better). Awful doesn't even comes close to describe it, as it's a complete let down after a better than expected season. Charles Tucker's death is totally unnecesary, and the last scene with T'Pol is less than stellar. The true final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise is Terra Prime, not this crappy bookend.
One of the most depressing films I have ever seen in my entire life. I do not recommend this one to anyone emotionally struggling during the pandemic. Awful, awful ending.
14 minutes of wasted & inconsistent time. Deeply disappointing even as a webisode.
It's not as bad as I thought it would be, after all the behind the scenes drama. However, the plot isn't something to write home about. It was top-notch VFX's (the train sequence is THE BEST in the whole movie), and some good action sequences here and there, but I couldn't care any less about the whole story. The main characters are totally underdeveloped by the end of the film, and those I could care about to know more, are dead. It this was a pilot for a TV series about Han Solo, then it's on the spot, because you can take your jolly time to fully flesh out and develop those characters on subsequent episodes. But this is one of the most expensive films ever made, a long and irrelevant side-story in a franchise that it's already in deep trouble since The Force Awakens. Suddenly issues that weren't relevant to the original trilogy (like the hyperfuel) are now the center piece for social commentary and some twisted political agenda that I don't care about. If you haven't seen it, you might as well skip it and wait for it on cable or something.
The first time I saw this movie, it felt all wrong. 15 years later, it still feels a lot is missing. It's still a nice flick to watch over while on the plane or catch it on late night cable, but not something I would spend money to buy.
Well, I saw it at last, and it was an utterly disappointing experience. Rogue One is a disjointed film with almost no real plot, badly drawn characters and tons of fan service. The first half hour is so jammed that it feels like a trailer, while the rest of the film is lacking character development. It really shows the places where the film was pierced together on re-shoots, as those are the moments of "fun" or when everything slows down with pointless exposition. I didn't see anything from the teasers and trailers on the finished film (where is "isn't this is a rebellion... I rebel", Forest Whitaker's speech or the many, many battle scenes on the ground?). The main character was so flimsy and flip-flopping on her resolution and motivation that I couldn't care any less about her by the end, even when they made a point negating any chance of a sequel. I gave it the benefit of the doubt after my lousy experience with The Force Awakens, but as for me right now, Star Wars ended on the Endor celebration. I'm not paying for nostalgia anymore.
Ok. After watching the movie at a midnight premiere and sleeping a little bit, I must say it was entertaining, but can't stand up to the hype. I'm a fan, but I'm not even trying to comparing it to any of the original trilogy, as this is practically a remake of SW:ANH, beat by beat, not an original movie. The trailers made it feel mysterious, epic and trascendental, but the end product feels shallow and rushed. That said, it's better than the prequels, but as I feared, mostly JJ Abrams' usual fare. At the end, I was leaving the cinema without the feeling of rush from the previous movies, and not caring for the next one,
I just hope this movie survives to the hype. None of Abrams movies ever has.
