I feel like this documentary had all the opportunities to dig deeper into several issues and it never did. It was very nice to hear the stories of these women, and the movie was pretty well made, but it did little beyond illustrating what everyone already expected.
The plot is driven by sheer dumbness. Nothing that happens is initially out of the dumb people's control, they are just initially dumb. It's annoying,
The dialogues were so unoriginal! It was like a generic-version of a fantasy tale, they got the bones for it, but could not really flesh it.
The bad things about this movie outshine the good ones so overwhelmingly that it is even hard to remember what good things there were.
One line at the end particularly was extremely laughable, when Will Porter confronts Reynard and asks him "How do you expect me to do this with everything that I know now?" when in fact it felt like the character did not know anything at all beyond a basic "everything will be destroyed".
That is all the character has to go on. There is no relevant information on the rebels, no interesting information on the tower, the characters have no decent background or bonds, and in the middle of a huge conspiracy, we do not even understand why are there willing participants fighting for Reynard.
I do not really play video games, but I have many friends who do. The plots seem often well thought out and complete, and characters are usually at least interesting. The movie meanwhile having visuals that would already atract no one but video game fans, appears to fail these fans severely by underestimating the quality of the writing and story-telling they consume. I cannot honestly think of a single person whom I might recommend this movie to.
The first time I watched this when it was released, I was at a con, full of other fans, there were cosplayers, lots of chatting, and I didn't pay much attention. Mostly I remember a lot of cheering whenever Seiya got pounded and having many pictures taken that day. So I did have somewhat fond memories of this movie. Watching it again though... hm.
The animation is probably the best Saint Seiya has ever seen. The mood, set by the beautiful colors, shadows and textures is also something to be praised. The character design is another huge improvement over the original series, and even better than in the Hades Chapter, and overall, these technical aspects make the movie very easy on the eyes. I would say the only flaw there is the soundtrack. Several scenes seemed to demand music in my opinion, but only few had it.
The actual plot though, it was more of the same: Some god wants to harm Earth, Athena sacrifices herself to save it, the Saints fight to save her. Not that we expect anything different, really, but the development on this one is way boring, even worse than the other movies made from the series, and some of it was rather nonsensical. Marin's meeting with her brother was about the most interesting part, but I feel like I wasted my time watching the rest. Meh. Toei wasted money on this one. If only they had made the original series with the same animation quality though...
Amazing cast and acting, but unfortunately talent alone can't save a movie. With all the editing, CGI, and slow-motion the action scenes looked more like animation than live-action film. Plot-wise, it could have been interesting, but for some reason I kept counting how long until the end. The soundtrack honestly didn't help, it was bland and unmemorable. The one highlight is Queen Gorgo heading into battle, the one moment where you would actually care to look at the screen instead of checking your e-mail.
I felt like throwing up more than once. It's even crasser than the trailer led me to believe...
Definetely the most vulgar adaptation of the three. The cast is actually not bad; but they did change the way characters were played. Carrie is way darker here, and her original sweetness is never shown at all. Sue is bolder, and she seems to have a righteous goal rather a mindset split between guilt and kindness. Even Chris, while still super mean, is more bitter than the book and the other adaptations made her out. I think these changes were fitting considering high school culture of the early 2000's, but the boys were a complete disappointment. Tommy Ross, who is supposed to be so nice and likable, came out as Sue's toy and nothing more. Billy Nolan, such a questionable character in the book, appears totally uninteresting as well.
What made the movie vulgar was just how strong they made every "strange" aspect about Carrie. Everything felt forced about her life, it was all even bigger and louder than the book, even her early displays of power. Even without two other movies for comparison, this would still be a questionable piece... specially if you add the soundtrack for consideration.
There is not much I like about this movie. Every scene made me feel uncomfortable or second-handly embarrassed. Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris are very charming leads, but ugh, I am not amused by seeing people messing up and acting stupid. I could not wait for it to be over! I actually do prefer the Lohan/Curtis remake.
It is a visually interesting movie with a great cast, however the plot is dragged endlessly into silly conflict, to the point it becomes hard to stay focused. The comedy routines are alright though, I really do not think they were the worst part.
These Olsen movies definitely do not age well.
A very poor adaptation of what was an extremely fun and scary book! The movie fails to convey how truly creepy is the connection between Ellen and Rose Red, while also portraying Ellen as a very unsympathetic character, which she definitely was not. A lot of the time, the movie seems to imply that John's abusive behavior was Ellen's fault for not giving into him, which is totally absurd. Sukeena's eeriness is downplayed in the most disappointing manner, as she is a very powerful character in the novel, and Ellen's own darkness is pretty much erased. I cannot say I am happy about this adaptation at all.
The aesthetics and narration style of this movie are strangely more 80's than the original one, despite it being released in '92. It is also even worse, with uninteresting main characters and the silliest romances (was that the only way they could find to justify the choice of sacrifices? How original and plausible!). Getting to the end of it is a challenge.
It is basically local gossip caught on tape. They put actors in "scenes" that are just there to introduce the topic of a person of interest or theory and then let the actors, all familiar with the case and many from the area, run wild with their guesses. There is nothing wrong with having ideas and interpreting things your way, but I am not entirely sure of why would anyone want to film it. If anything, I see that no one's life was really as affected as news claimed, and that the case became some kind of local myth which people default back to when they have nothing better to discuss.
Some animation movies are meant to be enjoyed by children and adults both. This is not the case with Minions, which tells the story of the adorable little white fellows that first appeared in Despicable Me before they met Gru. It's a shallow and silly story, with equally shallow and silly characters, but oh, so emphatic on the cuteness aspect, clearly aiming for the younger audience. Children will enjoy it, but parents might just fall asleep watching it. I almost did.
I felt bad enough for paying to see a movie that featured Depp, and surely my wickedness in supporting a women abuser was punished - I hated this. This OCD, strangely emotional version of Poirot looked great but tasted bitter. Strange details from the original story were changed, and I just cannot understand why, as the original was extremely concise and clever as it was, even if it did not feature action scenes where people got shot and chased. A lot of the character's background was cut, which took away from that great "assembling the puzzle" feel readers get from Agatha Christie. It just felt so... superficial. I did not get into any of the characters as I did in the novel. The interviews were short, and gave me no emotional connection to them and their past. The only positive thing is that everything was very pretty. Unfortunately, pretty was not I wanted.
Also, I am very upset that they made Helena to join in the stabbing. There was meaning in her abstinence from it.
Camera-wise, I just have no clue of what was this movie trying to accomplish. Some angles are shot in a way that looks similar to found footage, but the rest of the shots are perfectly standard. It is a very weird and distracting mix, specially when you add the heat vision-style shots that represent the point of view of the beast.
Then there is the bizarre take on Celtic mithology, in which Tuatha Dé Danann comes to mean leprechaun, as found in a mysteriously ancient book with very modern print.
I can deal with bad and cliche characters inhorror, you know. But those two things were just so wrong, I had to feel bothered!
The longer I watched it, the lower my rating for it got... and well, I quit at about halfway. It's pretty, but even that is not much of an advantage, as I feel like these scenarios are not exactly new? It honesly felt like your standard magical forest, and being high-res did not make up for the lack of creativity.
Well, the kids were really good. That's it, though.
All the jokes are sex jokes, of the most unfunny, vulgar and obvious kind.
This was a very particular type of torture.
If someone cares to explain, I have a question: Why did the fake fireman turned on them only after his tattoos were discovered? The only reason why they were didcovered is because he meant to help Kylie by making a torniquette with his jacket. So why did his intentiond turn 180°?
Otherwise, besides the questionable plot, there is the too long pre-earthquake part in which you just get to hate all the characters, and the really bad acting. To end it all, the final scene features the least convincing CGI wave you will ever see in your life. Just terrible.
In this stallment of the series, we learn that He Who Walks Behind the Rows is one of Rita Repulsa's maximized monters.
Plot: The plot is actually alright. Twins fall in love with each other and face the social stigma of it. If you can deal with incest in fiction, this movie isn't going to offend you. It could actually have been a very sensitive piece if it was made more carefully.
Technical review: Considering the cast (both MatsuJun and Eikura had solid careers long before this movie), I’m surprised it feels so… cheap? I’m not entirely sure whether it’s a matter of budget or style, but yeah. Characters have little to no make up and styling done, but that could have been a choice to make them more similar to real high school students. The clothes aren’t really fashionable nor truly flattering and Eikura sports some fried strands that makes me think they asked her to straighten her hair on her own. They made even Ayaka Komatsu look plain.
But while that could be explained as intentional, the bad light, the lack of soundtrack (several scenes in the movie that are completely silent and fail to convey a mood) and the acting itself all feel like inexperienced film-making. The dialogues were so lame that they made some key-scenes come off as awkward, and the movie is too long for such a mess. I was curious about this movie, but sort all these flaws were very glaring and distracting.
Characters: They were all just flat. Yori is angsty, Iku is naive, Yano is loyal, Kusonogi is determined. None of them are likable, or even relatable. I couldn’t feel them at all.
Warnings for the underage MatsuJun fans: This isn't by all means an indecent movie. At most, brother and sister are shown kissing, and there are a couple of implicit cases of sexual intercourse, but these were appropriately edited. There are no bad words or drugs. The only big deal is moral dilemma, so I trust anyone over 13 would be perfectly fine watching this movie.
Warnings for the original manga fans: the entire college arc is skipped and the general story is severely reduced, cutting off a lot of the drama between Yori, Iku and Kusonogi.
The most frustrating, boring and tiresome movie ever. Completely unrelated to the book as well, and not just a few chances here and there, but really, truly, completely unrelated. It felt like an endless nightmare and I couldn't stop checking the time. I'm not sure what happened here, the first movie was so good!
Poor Matt Damon looked like he was dying inside whenever he delivered a line. All dialogue was so bad, it made me feel sorry for everyone involved. The one positive point is that the production is pretty, but still not as enchanting as in other Yimou movies. The plot was bland and some details were just ridiculous, like how they end up in the wall during the first battle because the guard could not find keys to a cell, really?
It was one big eyeroll after the other. I was more entertained by my knitting than the movie, and would not have been able to finish it at all were I not doing something else.
It took me almost a week to get to the end of this movie. It just never got interesting. And the acting was so horrid, from every member of the cast, that I think Burton asked them to suck. What a pain of a movie.
I felt more awkward, "please let's fast forward through this", second-hand embarrassment than any real desire to laugh.
I couldn't actually finish it, and that fact alone allows me to rate it so badly. So hard to get into!
I love the book. The movie basically misses on everything that was important. I cannot believe the author actually helped adapting this.
