Much more funny and lightweight than the previous "Invisible Man" films. Was pleasantly surprised to see Shemp Howard (of Three Stooges fame) in a supporting part as a stooge-like gangster.
Stunning, sometimes raw, but very artful, it tells a lot of sometimes painful truths about Native peoples, sobriety, and the era of the Indian boarding schools. Sort of a mix of 2002's Skins and 2010's Winter's Bone.
Much sillier and action-heavy than the first. Reminded me a lot of the gore-and-comedy zombie movies it pays homage to, such as Dead Alive/Braindead and Evil Dead 2.
Fairly funny, if a little flat at times. Not sure if the fact that this is one of Robin Williams' final films perhaps overshadowed some of the humor of the movie, although I felt Williams was pretty terrific as the surly patriarch of the family.
Pretty fun animated family adventure. Felt a bit like a mixture of some of Hayao Miyazaki's fantasies, like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Sprited Away", with some of Leiji Matsumoto's space epics, particularly "Galaxy Express 999".
The trend of retelling old stories to make well-known villainous characters into more sympathetic antagonists is not really new (see John Milton's take on Lucifer in "Paradise Lost"), but it seems that ever since Gregory Maguire's "Wicked" novel, we've been seeing a lot of movies that turn classic villains into misunderstood protagonists, or even transforming them into dark heroes.
Like "Wicked", "Maleficent" does a fairly good job of creating a more sympathetic character out of the villain: in particular, her motives for placing a curse on an infant are no-longer quite as trivial as a forgotten party invitation. While I loved first half of the film, which focused on the back-story of Maleficent and created a much larger world from the old Sleeping Beauty story, much of the ending kept me in constant eye-roll mode.
After creating a more complex, morally ambivalent, and interesting Maleficent, it felt like the writers just traded one villain for another by putting the black villain hat on a different characer
(in this case, the head of Aurora's father, the king)
, which felt a bit lazy to me. Much like Disney's earlier film "Oz, the Great and Powerful", their reliance on pat resolutions creates a weak ending, resulting in something that feels like a bad fanfic.
Fairly standard action-comedy anime with the requisite horny idiot hero surrounded by scantily clad, panty-flashing females, some of whom are either in love with or trying to kill the hero. Lots of fan-service and risque humor, but not a whole lot of originality.
Fairly satisfying follow-up to 2010's "Outrage", with just about every surviving character from the previous movie getting killed off by a vengeful Beat Takeshi and company. Filmmaker Kitano seems to truly delight in dreaming up new and exotic ways to kill despicable characters.
Really fun. Like most people have already said, it channels the spirit of John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Ridley Scott's "Alien". While there's a bit of editorializing about climate change, the story is likely inspired by the real bleeding glacier in Antarctica (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Falls about the glacier), proving sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
Extremely disappointing sequel that throws out the wit and odd charm of the first film in exchange for a ridiculous sci-fi plot involving female cyborg assassins and elements stolen from Marvel's "Iron Man".
A comedic, historical action flick with touches of war and heist film, it comes off like a Chinese "Inglourious Basterds". The story rambles a bit and gets sort of convoluted and confusing, and the ending was not quite as satisfying as one would hope. Still, it was pretty fun.
Teen comedy mixed with time-travel sci-fi tropes and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-style suspense. Manages to balance out a unique sci-fi plot with just enough touches of humor to avoid becoming self-referential parody like most horror/comedy blended movies tend to be.
One of the better films made about bullying and high school violence, somewhat similar in tone and theme as the 2004 film "Mean Creek". Interestingly, this movie actually pre-dates the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, which inspired so many other movies like Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" and Lynne Ramsay's "We Need to Talk About Kevin".
A laughably-terrible, soft-core parody of The Terminator, of the Japanese, straight-to-video type. Not the worst low-budget Japanese flick I've seen, but nowhere near a "classic".
Honestly, when will the folks at Fox realize that the only way to make a really great Wolverine movie would be to unfetter it from the confines of a PG-13 rating? You mix a dude with claws with an army of yakuza and ninjas, you tend to expect something on the scale of The Bride's swordfight with the Crazy 88's in the first "Kill Bill". Instead, your left with NO dismemberment and very little bloodshed... it all becomes quite underwhelming.
Was actually won over by this one when they decided NOT to reveal the bad-guy's motives or backstory... suppose it leaves room to explore in the sequel. I've seen too many movies whose pace was bogged down by too much exposition. It kept up the tension pretty well, and it was a constant cat-and-mouse game between the killer and the "hero", who has to be the most unlucky thief in the world.
Comments 26 - 50 of 192
Movie comment on The Invisible Woman
DJPowWow
Much more funny and lightweight than the previous "Invisible Man" films. Was pleasantly surprised to see Shemp Howard (of Three Stooges fame) in a supporting part as a stooge-like gangster.Movie comment on Kunoichi nimpoden: Kaen imbi
DJPowWow
aka: "Ninja Vixens: Flame of Seduction" (USA DVD title)Movie comment on Rhymes for Young Ghouls
DJPowWow
Stunning, sometimes raw, but very artful, it tells a lot of sometimes painful truths about Native peoples, sobriety, and the era of the Indian boarding schools. Sort of a mix of 2002's Skins and 2010's Winter's Bone.Movie comment on Død snø 2
DJPowWow
aka: "Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead"Much sillier and action-heavy than the first. Reminded me a lot of the gore-and-comedy zombie movies it pays homage to, such as Dead Alive/Braindead and Evil Dead 2.
Movie comment on Chef
DJPowWow
Made me hungry the whole time watching thisMovie comment on A Merry Friggin' Christmas
DJPowWow
Fairly funny, if a little flat at times. Not sure if the fact that this is one of Robin Williams' final films perhaps overshadowed some of the humor of the movie, although I felt Williams was pretty terrific as the surly patriarch of the family.Movie comment on Uchû shô e yôkoso
DJPowWow
aka: "Welcome to the Space Show"Pretty fun animated family adventure. Felt a bit like a mixture of some of Hayao Miyazaki's fantasies, like "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Sprited Away", with some of Leiji Matsumoto's space epics, particularly "Galaxy Express 999".
Movie comment on Maleficent
DJPowWow
The trend of retelling old stories to make well-known villainous characters into more sympathetic antagonists is not really new (see John Milton's take on Lucifer in "Paradise Lost"), but it seems that ever since Gregory Maguire's "Wicked" novel, we've been seeing a lot of movies that turn classic villains into misunderstood protagonists, or even transforming them into dark heroes.Like "Wicked", "Maleficent" does a fairly good job of creating a more sympathetic character out of the villain: in particular, her motives for placing a curse on an infant are no-longer quite as trivial as a forgotten party invitation. While I loved first half of the film, which focused on the back-story of Maleficent and created a much larger world from the old Sleeping Beauty story, much of the ending kept me in constant eye-roll mode.
After creating a more complex, morally ambivalent, and interesting Maleficent, it felt like the writers just traded one villain for another by putting the black villain hat on a different characer
Movie comment on Bijitâ Q
DJPowWow
aka: "Visitor Q"What the hell did I just watch?
Movie comment on Honô no rabirinsu
DJPowWow
aka: "Labyrinth of Flames"Fairly standard action-comedy anime with the requisite horny idiot hero surrounded by scantily clad, panty-flashing females, some of whom are either in love with or trying to kill the hero. Lots of fan-service and risque humor, but not a whole lot of originality.
Movie comment on Autoreiji: Biyondo
DJPowWow
aka: "Beyond Outrage" (USA title)Fairly satisfying follow-up to 2010's "Outrage", with just about every surviving character from the previous movie getting killed off by a vengeful Beat Takeshi and company. Filmmaker Kitano seems to truly delight in dreaming up new and exotic ways to kill despicable characters.
Movie comment on A Cock and Bull Story
DJPowWow
aka: "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story"Movie comment on Blutgletscher
DJPowWow
aka: "Blood Glacier"Really fun. Like most people have already said, it channels the spirit of John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Ridley Scott's "Alien". While there's a bit of editorializing about climate change, the story is likely inspired by the real bleeding glacier in Antarctica (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Falls about the glacier), proving sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
Movie comment on Cat Run 2
DJPowWow
Extremely disappointing sequel that throws out the wit and odd charm of the first film in exchange for a ridiculous sci-fi plot involving female cyborg assassins and elements stolen from Marvel's "Iron Man".Movie comment on Le notti erotiche dei morti viventi
DJPowWow
aka: "Erotic Nights of the Living Dead"Just plain terrible. There's a very good reason why there aren't more zombie pornos out there.
Movie comment on Zubekô banchô: Yume wa yoru hiraku
DJPowWow
aka: "Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams" (DVD title)Movie comment on Pi fu
DJPowWow
aka: "Eastern Bandits"A comedic, historical action flick with touches of war and heist film, it comes off like a Chinese "Inglourious Basterds". The story rambles a bit and gets sort of convoluted and confusing, and the ending was not quite as satisfying as one would hope. Still, it was pretty fun.
Movie comment on +1
DJPowWow
aka: "Plus One"Teen comedy mixed with time-travel sci-fi tropes and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-style suspense. Manages to balance out a unique sci-fi plot with just enough touches of humor to avoid becoming self-referential parody like most horror/comedy blended movies tend to be.
Movie comment on A Better Place
DJPowWow
One of the better films made about bullying and high school violence, somewhat similar in tone and theme as the 2004 film "Mean Creek". Interestingly, this movie actually pre-dates the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, which inspired so many other movies like Gus Van Sant's "Elephant" and Lynne Ramsay's "We Need to Talk About Kevin".Movie comment on Mizutani Kei: Insatsu no toriko
DJPowWow
aka: "Terminatrix"A laughably-terrible, soft-core parody of The Terminator, of the Japanese, straight-to-video type. Not the worst low-budget Japanese flick I've seen, but nowhere near a "classic".
Movie comment on Choi-jong-byeong-gi hwal
DJPowWow
aka: "War of the Arrows"Really fun. Makes me want to learn archery!
Movie comment on Stay
DJPowWow
aka: "Sleeping Dogs Lie"Insanely funny. I'm always surprised by how Bobcat Goldthwait's movies manage to balance crass, gross humor and more thoughtful social commentary.
Movie comment on The Wolverine
DJPowWow
Honestly, when will the folks at Fox realize that the only way to make a really great Wolverine movie would be to unfetter it from the confines of a PG-13 rating? You mix a dude with claws with an army of yakuza and ninjas, you tend to expect something on the scale of The Bride's swordfight with the Crazy 88's in the first "Kill Bill". Instead, your left with NO dismemberment and very little bloodshed... it all becomes quite underwhelming.Movie comment on Ôkami kodomo no Ame to Yuki
DJPowWow
aka: "Wolf Children"Wonderful animation with a great story that's both sad and heartwarming at the same time. Reminded me of some of Miyazaki's best films.
Movie comment on The Collector
DJPowWow
Was actually won over by this one when they decided NOT to reveal the bad-guy's motives or backstory... suppose it leaves room to explore in the sequel. I've seen too many movies whose pace was bogged down by too much exposition. It kept up the tension pretty well, and it was a constant cat-and-mouse game between the killer and the "hero", who has to be the most unlucky thief in the world.Showing items 26 – 50 of 192