Disappointing movie. The acting is ok, but not convincing. Story is not really interesting (I watched it 3 days ago, and I cannot even recall it without trying really hard) and the 'wise' lessons are pretty silly, lack impact and are misplaced several times.
Try to find something better, if you can't, don't expect too much of it and you will be fine.
Great movie! Need to write a long review to exactly point out why, but don't feel like it right now. The fun thing is you can compare it to 'Oblivion' (2013) with Tom Cruise, which has similar themes, and conclude that this lower budget movie is better in almost every aspect.
The ending doesn't give me enough satisfaction, but overall this is a great work!
Not really interesting. At best a movie to play in the background when having beer with friends.
I expected a bad movie, but I got a fun action movie with a surprising high amount of enjoyment.
It is fast paced with good action. Yes the story is really thin, but that's to be expected from a movie like this. In the end the story was actually better than I expected it to be.
Filled with cliché's and all, but enjoyable. Can't call it a bad movie.
I had high hopes for this one, but in the end it just can't keep the attention.
It derrailes in farfetched subplots and over the top writing and acting. Dropped the series after 6 episodes.
Good classic, but lacks a proper ending.
This cover picture is from 2007, the tree of life. Not 2004.
Line-up of 2004:
Brian S
Benjamin Bates
Paul van Dyk
Megamix
Sander Kleinenberg
Erick Morillo
Joost van Bellen
Underrated series. Enjoyed this more than the TRON movie. Unfortunately it couldn't keep me interested for the whole first season and I dropped it. It fails to deliver for an older audience.
Really funny anime (with lots of Ikkitousen-like fanservice, so you need to be able to handle that) with some nice action in it as well. It is a bit too fast paced to build up a really decent story, but it manages to deliver nonetheless. Of course a lot of clichés, but not to the point that it gets tiresome.
Decent and enjoyably but not a masterpiece.
This series succesfully shows the exact opposite of blockbuster movies: Create a great story with mediocre special effects and lesser known actors.
The writers behind this show do an amazing job creating one wonderfull Fairy tale adaptation after another. I did not like their previous work, but I think the writing is getting more mature (but they still make some errors that are frustrating.) But mostly they are not afraid to change major aspects of the fairy tales if necessary.
The creaters of this show also worked on 'Lost' and the 'TRON: Legacy' movie.
I really love how Rumpelstiltskin plays the evil maniac, especially during the first season. But there are more noteworthy roles in there, like the evil queen, her mother, Belle, Hook or Peter Pan. Emma Swan is pretty well played, but compared to the extreme characteristics of the fictional characters she is a bit bland.
The things I dislike most are probably some repeated main themes (family feuds/bad parent-child relations) and that they copy the characters of fairy tales a bit too literal from the Disney franchise from time to time.
Overall I think it is on of the best non-comedy shows of the past few years.
PS. I am glad Lady Gaga never replied on the invite to play the Blue Fairy.
Note: This review was written after watching the first 2 seasons.
9/10 Better than the first one, as expected.
Warning: Heavy spoilers for people who did not read the 3rd book!
It was better than the first movie on many points, especially the ones I expected it to be. But it still has some flaws, besides the obvious ones the first movie had as well.
First off, the obvious ones: Both movies fail to capture the scale of Katniss' inner stife concerning Peeta and Gale, and the influence of the home front (especially her sister and the role her mother had in the family.) I think this will severely lessen the impact of her sisters death in the final movie in 2015, just like it reduces the relationship Katniss has with her two 'boys' to a more common love triangle than it actually is.
In defence of the screen writers: it is hard to picture this strife on screen without getting long voice-over monologues, drag the movie out too much and make it boring. Since this choice was already made in the first movie, it was only logical they continued on this path for consistency.
- Secondly, the movies lose a lot of strength for people who did not read the books. This is because of the lack (or scarce amount) of background information. For non-readers this makes the basic outlines of the story a bit farfetched. (Why are there hunger games? What does the capitol wants to protect besides its own decadence? How come the districts didn't revolt earlier? These are a few questions that are easily asked, but not properly answered.)
Plot Development:
That being said, the 2nd movie manages to picture the cruelty of the capitol a lot better than the first one. This makes sense from a storyline perspective, since from this moment on Katniss gets more aware of the full scale of the oppresion in all the districts.
They stay true to the book, without getting to much attached to it. Maybe the first half (the victory tour) is a bit rushed, but that's understandable to avoid stretching out the movie too much.
Personally I think the movie needed 10-15 minutes extra to create that extra bit of (emotional) impact and explanation for a few things (like said earlier) or leave out a few scenes completely. Examples are the jabberjails in the arena or the replacement of the old peacekeeper. Also the conversation Katniss has with President Snow in her Victory Road home was too rushed, and lost its impact.
They managed to make some parts of the story even more clear, and the ending is way more satisfying than what Collins did originally. Less open-ended and more of a step-up to the next movie.
Acting:
Except for Donald Sutherland (President Snow ) I thought all the actors did a better job in the follow up movie than in the first one. It was obvious that they grew into their characters over time. Especially Elizabeth Banks (Effie) was exquisit and the faces Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) did were top notch. She might be a bit too sweet and confident for Katniss, but she pulls it off. Also new character Johanna Mason, pictured by Jena Malone, was a really good casting decision.
The actors managed to give strong emotions to their characters, while they impressively managed to avoid overacting. Something that could happen easily in this story. They also got a few whimsical lines and responses in there that will make you smile.
Visual:
CGI were great, as expected of a modern high budget movie. They did not overdo it, which is a compliment for movies with this allure nowadays, and looked realistic, sharp and terrifying. Great job especially on the subtle way how they made the poiseness mist look. The only CGI I did not enjoy was the Tsunami (so the wave ON water, not when it came out of the forest.) This felt a bit cheap.
You notice the movie is by a different director, but nothing changed dramatically. Again, he jumps from 1 situation to the other a bit fast in the first part, and convo's are a bit cramped in because of the relatively fast scenes with information. So this can feel a bit messy. To make up for this, the arena scenes are detailed and beautfull. There are some interesting peek-throughs (deep shots) that keep the direct environment visible, and even one from a first person perspective. Not a fan of some of the close-ups though, they felt a bit cut-of at times.
Oh and costumes, great costumes that is, but A LOT of costumes :P
Sound:
I didn't really get up in your face, but managed to get the theme through to you at the important parts. Since I haven't paid attention to it in particular, that's all I have to comment on it unfortunately.
Enjoyment/Overall:
Great movie to watch, just like the first one. Has a good balance between action, stories, character development and originality. Depending on what kind of movies you like, the first half could be experienced as rushed or maybe uneventful, but the second part makes up for it in both cases.
All the flaws mentioned earlier are for the most part minor flaws, and do not compromise the movie for the most viewers.
ps. There were 2 'beeps' for the f-word when I watched it in cinema. I am interested if more people had this, and if someone knows if that will be on the DVD/Blu-ray too. Usually those words ain't censored in my country.
Average NatGeo series. Interesting, but not every episode is as good as it could be. Like often with these shows, it tends to be too repetitive, but they have done way worse.
Over the top at some points with the explicit violent scenes. Also, revenge stories are never the best ones. Very good twist at the end though.
Unfortunately not a movie for me, therefor a low ranking.
Starts with a great first season, but deteriorates fast during the 2nd and especially the 3th season.
If you are interested in History this is a must see!
Actualy, this is a must see for everyone!
A pretty good summerisation of the history of the world in past 75 years, with the USA as a main line.
The great acting, good soundtrack and solid storyline alone would already make this film a pretty good one. But the depth of the story and background of the characters gives this movie an extra layer that a lot of 'coming of age' movies lack.
First off, the acting is superb. Every character that has some role in this movie, even those without lines, is casted perfectly. The 'bad guys' and 'bullies' are not played out as villains, or stereotypes (except for the no name students.) There is no ultimate good guy, not even the main character. It looks on screen as if the characters hang out outside of their working hours as well. This resulted in the cast behaving so naturally that it didn't feel staged.
Having said all that, I have to give a special shout out to Ezra Miller who did such a good job that he probably would have played everyone from the screen whith any other cast.
The storyline is very realistic, even though there are a few turn of events that might make you wonder if you would've done the same. But remember this is a coming of age story, and making mistakes are a big part of growing up.
It does not often get predictable. Even the 'does he get the girl' part was not set in stone for me. The first schoolball is probably the most cliché part in the movie, and some of the camera techniques used. But hey this is not an art house film. :P
Every character has it's own complicated background story, but because they do not spell it out for you in full detail it makes the characters more human and appealing. It is as if you are getting to know them while the main character is getting to know them, and the obstacles within himself too.
This realistc setting and chemistry between the actors made me memorize my own time in High school and the friendships I have made there and how we/I used to be.
There is a line at the end of the movie that made this even more relevant since realized I thought something along those lines too back in those days:
"I know these will all be stories someday. And our pictures will become old photographs. We'll all become somebody's mom or dad. But right now these moments are not stories. This is happening."
I guess if you had a bad time in High school you wouldn't have had those feelings of course. But in the end it makes saying goodbye (and especially the goodbyes in this movie) more emotional. The characters are aware of the future, and what awaits them. Luckily the movie lets you fill in what could happen afterwards for yourself.
Interesting movie, but fell short to what it pretends to be. Just look very closely and you probably won't notice :P
Intriguing mini series. Tennant shows his top notch acting is more than just Doctor Who, and the other actors are decent as well.
Storywise pretty well written, but unfortunately not very ambitious. Still there are some interesting situations.
Terrible film. I heard it was based on a book, and I am 100% sure it wasn't this bad. So I guess we have to congratulate the screenwriters for doing a really bad job.
As a movie it is one of the worst blockbuster movies I have seen so far. It makes me want to rewatch Cloverfield to make my decision which one is worse, but I can't do that to myself.
Plotholes, bad background information, easy ending, the (ever occuring in bad movies) unrealistic non-anticipation of practically everyone, irrelevant side characters, ignoring the laws of physics and too good to be true coincidences.
Only 2 or 3 average jokes.
More close to a parody than an homage to the original series.
Bad casting choices (the hair colour of Penny alone for example), 2 new irrelevant characters, Dr claw's face, no plot role for Brain (dog), no self-destructing message, Chief Quimby is arrogant in stead of angry and doesn't smoke a pipe, and even Dr claw's catchphrase is done wrong... I can understand why they wouldn't dress the dog up in a disguiss, but this is weak.
And so many non-subtle product placement it hurts.
Something positive? Yeah, it is mildly entertaining if you forget there ever was a Gadget show.
Arguably one of the best Marvel adaptations. Too bad it was canceled and ended with a major cliffhanger.
The series is absolutely not comparable to the weak sauce of the movie with the Fantastic Four.
I'm not a big Tobey Maguire fan, but he did a good job in this movie.
Ridiculous movie.
The first 2 were already questionable, but this one might be the worst adaptation of DC or Marvel up until now.
Worst movie ever (until now.)
Definately fell short to it's predecessor. Where #1 was pretty unique, this one doesn't really stands out unfortunately. Still a fun movie though.
Lacked zing, too much cliché and an extremely predictable story.
Of course it is very good for kids, but I'd advice to give them some of the older Disney movies in stead of this.
The filming makes this movie worth to watch. There are some exquisite scenes, especially noteworthy is the (seemingly) single-shot scene where the main character has to rescue the pregnant lady from a building where the resistance fighters and immigrants hide and keep her captive. This while the building is surrounded by soldiers and tanks from the UK army.
Note: I edited this comment bc i did not agree with my opinion from that time anymore, and I could not delete it fully.
Great classic, with still a high enjoyment when watched today. Even though it can feel a bit lacking when placed in our time.
"Either the most awesome dumb movie ever made, or the dumbest awesome movie ever made" - Honest Trailers.
Kinda sums it up.
