313 replies to this topic

[Legoman]

The Bucket List

Plot: Two men, one is a mechanic who is a whiz at trivia (Morgan Freeman), the other a rich man who owns hospitals with few friends, if any (Jack Nicholson). Both realise they have cancer, get placed into the same room for treatment and slowly become good friends. When faced with the prospect that they might as well 'go out with a bang', they make a list to do all the things in the world they've always wanted to. 3.5/5

Action: Not a lot in the way of action. But there's a little bit when doing their 'Bucket List' activities. There's a few good laughs along the way. 2/5

Chick Factor: Pretty much a zero. 0/5

Buy / Rent / Forget it: Well worth a look, but I'd probably just rent it. Maybe only worth watching twice at best. Two world class actors make this movie, might have been a dud with anyone else. Fitting ending too, always a plus.

Overall 3.5/5

Edited by Legoman, 02 August 2008 - 07:38 AM.

[petetherock]

Twilight Samurai & Hidden Blade


This is a brace of movies with quite a few areas in common, including the same director, and a samurai setting in old Japan, but offers two different scenarios.

Firstly just to get it out of the way, action junkies should look elsewhere. There is a single spurt of intense comabt in both shows, but nothing to satisfy the Jet Li / Jackie Chan fans. Both are relatively slow burners and are story telling movies, offering an insight into Samurai Japan, whilst staying relavent to our modern world. The themes of a righteous warrior struggling to keep his family together, or doing the right thing at much cost to himself, whilst holding back on expressing his love for the woman of his dreams due to class / caste differences remains true til today.

You will see no hand holding, and definitely no bedroom scenes, yet the intimacy between the star crossed lovers is so intimate and poignant. The actors in both movies are well chosen, and help to sustain the interest in a talkie type movie, and the use of camera angles, good vista of beautiful landscapes in Japan all add to the beauty of the show.

Of course having Matsu Takako in the Hidden Blade is the added bonus.

Twilight Samurai:
Plot 4/5
Action: 2/5
Chick Factor 3.5/5
Rent/buy or forget it: a keeper



Hidden Blade:
Plot 4/5
Action: 2/5
Chick Factor 4/5 Matsu Takako rocks!
Rent/buy or forget it: a keeper

[petetherock]

Wasabi

A nice French - Japanese production, showing off Jean Reno at his best as his usual stoic cop role, add an energiser bunny Ryoko Hirosue who doesn't know French and simply memorised her lines phonetically. There is a frenetic pace, with the usual foreigner (gaijin) in Japan humor but many tender moments and Jean Reno makes the movie his own, and stamps his own style, and his side kick Momo is a blast!

Plot: simple but effective 4/5
Action: whacky, but fun 3/5
Chick factor: Ryoko Hirosue is hot! 3.5/5
Rent buy or forget it: I bought it twice (VCD, DVD) recommended...esp for Luc Besson and Jean Reno fans

[jaker]

Bucket List (from above)

I would recommend not even watching this movie. Very disappointing - I'm betting these two actors wouldn't be happy with the end result.

[Mr.Bitey]

Wasabi - AFAIR (as far as i remember) its a french movie with english subs only no english track

Good movie tho

Cheers,
Bitey

[dJOS]

mr.bitey, on Aug 13 2008, 01:43 PM, said:

Wasabi - AFAIR (as far as i remember) its a french movie with english subs only no english track

Good movie tho

Cheers,
Bitey

yep brilliant movie with Jean Reno - I have it on DVD and always gives me a good laugh.

Btw, my Amazon US purchased version has an english voice-over track but movie is better in french with subtitles (like most non-english movies).

Edited by djOS, 13 August 2008 - 02:16 PM.

[GTO]

Just watched 3 movies-bought from Amazon-2 weeks delivery -very happy.
The driver, The last Ride, & the movie I felt most strongly about--"Tombstone", starring Kurt Russel & Val Kilmer. Not sure whether it's better than the "original" 1958 "Gunfight At The OK Corral" starring Burt Lancaster & Kirk Douglas, but all the same, if you like westerns, "Tombstone" is a good one.
Cheers, GTO.

[jayweb]

Step Brothers

Will Ferrell, John C Reilly.

Quick review, typical Ferrell/Reilly humour, too easy to give out spoilers so I wont but if you liked Talladega Nights you will enjoy this, very silly movie but laugh out loud funny in parts.

Mary Steenburgen is great as Ferrell's mum and looks incredible for her age.

As I said, no spoilers, but very funny (caveat : if you like their humour), probably a good DVD when nothing else on.

J.

:edit: seeing Wanted today so will let you all know what I thought later.....

Edited by jayweb, 14 August 2008 - 10:48 AM.

[jayweb]

Wanted

Morgan Freeman should do a lot better than this.......

This is a revenge flick, with great CGI and actors who do not obey the laws of physics.  That aside, this is a made for the masses movie, not particularly hard to figure out but meant to keep you mildly entertained for just under 2 hours.  

The action scenes are alright and it may be a blu ray showpiece down the track, but dont expect much and you wont be disappointed.

J.

[petetherock]

Invincible

Mark Wahlberg as a 70s bar tender who makes it good for the Philadelphia Eagles is a by the book sports story with enough elements of good acting, and well filmed and authentic scenes of Phil. to make it a decent rental.

Plot: quite similar to Rookie, (old guy makes it) but nevertheless, still enjoyable.

Action: not much, and there isn't a lot of bass or surround effects.

Chick factor: 2.5 / 5

I reckon this is at least good for a rental (I bought mine)

[petetherock]

Enchanted

Watched this courtesy of a kind bro who lent it to me, it seems like a publicity vehicle for Patrick Dempsey's stellar rise from Grey's Anatomy and it is designed to portray him as the dream lover..

A slight twist on the usual happy ever after fairy tale, but it is still quite by the books and gets by if you have kids to entertain or an ultra-romantic partner starved of other such movies... 2/5

Chick factor - the girl they used for Giselle isn't that hot and Patrick Dempsey's fiance is rather old too 2/5

Action: a few bassy scenes but there isn't a lot of action and little surround effect to write home about

Rent// buy / forget it: as said, good for a rental when other options are exhuasted, a feel good movie for those fans of McDreamy...

[petetherock]

Wall E

A 700 yr old waste disposal robot, who finds the love of his life, and flies across the galaxy to rescue her and bring hope to earth?

Does it work?
A resounding yes! He had a smaller vocabulary than Arnie did in Terminator I, but with fewer words, you need a clever plot and great scenes with good cinematography for it to work. And it ranks high, amongst all the cartoon I have seen, even in my top 20 all time hits. Highly recommended 4.5/5

Action: good mix of love, action and excellant use of surround channels plus enough bass to make most HT systems rock 4/5
Chick factor: Strange as it may be, a Ipod white thin robot with a canon for an arm is quite adorable 2.5/5
Rent or buy or forget it? BUY BUY BUY, can't wait for the BR disc!

This movie will suit the kids, the action junkies and even the romantics.

[momaw]

petetherock, on Aug 29 2008, 10:41 AM, said:

This movie will suit the kids, the action junkies and even the romantics.

Sure about this for kiddies.  Apparently there is controversy over Wall e's apparent necrophilic date rape tendencies in the US.  Of course, that is the US

[petetherock]

This is the country where some chap sued Macs for not labelling their tea cups "hot"..... successfully


Go figure....

momaw, on Aug 29 2008, 04:31 PM, said:

Sure about this for kiddies. Apparently there is controversy over Wall e's apparent necrophilic date rape tendencies in the US. Of course, that is the US

[petetherock]

ghost in a shell 2

Ok so I took a while to get to this movie, but it is both exciting and yet engages you on a higher plane of thinking too.

The plot is philosophical and daring but retains much of the ethos of the earlier show. Jumping straight into this without an introduction into anime and manga may not be the best thing though.

Action: the surround use on my DTS ES 6.1 DVD was excellant and this would be tier 1 for sound 4/5

Chick factor: dolls and robots are not quite chicks so 1.5/5

Ren, buy or forget it: I think it is a keeper for those into manga

[petetherock]

Happening

This is another one in the vein of Signs, Village and the like... a mixture of suspense and political correctness thrown in as well. Plants kill, this is the main scare factor and it all feels a little .... limp and lame.

Mark Wahlberg tries hard and his co-actors, the girl from Cloverfield who gets bitten, and the maths guy who also did Assault on Precinct 13 try to keep the movie moving along, yet there is a sense of everyone milking a rather shallow plot. 2.5/5

Action: plants don't make very exciting killers and releasing toxins which cause the victims to kill themselves is novel but not a match for the worst Jerry Bruckheimer effort. 2/5

Chick Factor: sigh also low 2/5

Rent, buy or forget it: if you are stuck on a plane with no much choice this is ok, otherwise, I think there are other choices even for that dull weekend


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Sparrow

Simon Yam, and other smaller names in a Johnnie To movie should be interesting and this move centres around 4 professional pickpockets, who meet this gorgeous "complicated girl" who is played by a smoldering Kelly Lin. There are plenty of slow-motion action scenes which are the trademark of J To.

There are plenty of twists and turns, although the plot is weaker than his best efforts. 3.5/5

Action: there are no big explosions, but the efforts of pickpockets trying to outwit one another is quite intriguiing. 3/5

Chick Factor: ok, Kellly Lin is still smoking hot at her age... The slightly older, but still sexy and gorgeous and slightly vunerable expression is appealing. She has to run about Hong Kong in her heels and she makes the moves with style and grace. Asian Grace Kelly? possible... something about these complicated women appeal eh….

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Rent, buy or forget it: I would at least rent this, even for Simon Yam's acting and Kelly Lin alone...

[petetherock]

Forbidden Kingdom

Ok the whole plot is not that great, and reminds you of some family PG type episode from the eighties… but when the action starts, its all good. The directors tear the original Monkey God story to bits and just keep a naughty MG running amok but with a good heart? Hm…. Then comes Jackie Chan as a pseudo-immortal…. Now you see the paper thin plot…3/5

Action: now we are talking… a 15 minute battle between JC and Jet is worth the rental alone. It actually makes me wonder… what if they also hired Donnie Yen for a threesome… mind-blowing 4/5

Chick Factor : Liu Yifei and Li Bing Bing light up the screen, but Liu YiFei is a true SYT with the saccharine sweet petite looks to make the whole episode watchable even when Michael Angarano appears. 4/5

Rent, Buy or Forget it: For the action scenes and the audio alone, I will get the BR disc. Those kungfu fans will like this.

[petetherock]

Speed Racer

This review is quite simple to write, simply because there isn't much to write home about... After making Matrix (actually after making the first Matrix) the War brothers have lost their Midas touch and I must say, I would tell those expecting this to be good to walk away...

Action: it comes in spurts and those who like a good race will find something to keep watching, but its not imaginative or exciting enough. Maybe if they showed it now to time it with the F1, their box office takings might be better. 2.5/5

Chick factor: for a racing movie, there was precious little to see 2.5/5

Rent , buy or forget it: stay away...

[petetherock]

Three Kingdoms

Ok, Andy Lau is a prolific worker and he has been milking the ancient warring times period action drama for a couple of years at least. From the Ambush to his other works, he has tried very hard to earn his pay. Throw in Maggie Q and Samo Hung for effect and you have another period drama here. Strangely for Samo, he does not do much action, and this may reflect his growing age. So with 2 actors who are not known for their kungfu prowess and only one with a proven acting record, this is quite a handicap to overcome.
There is liberal adulteration of the original story, to suit the movie but those who are not familar with the original Romance of the 3 Kingdoms will not notice much.
The prime characters are still there, with some old stalwarts like Ti Long doing some cameo work...

Action: some stuntwork, lots of wireplay and slow-motion stuff 2.5/5

Chick Factor: Maggie smolders and schemes her way... 3/5

Rent, buy or Forget it: It was interesting enough to watch on a plane, so I would say it is a renter

[petetherock]

Cast Away


I cannot think of another actor who can pull off an hour worth' of monologue and still engage the audience. Plus some shameless plugging for FEDEX, and swiss army knives, the movie's poignant moments take time to build up, but losing "Wilson" and meeting Helen Hunt after being given up for dead was special.

Helen Hunt doesn't get much screen time, but she makes the most of it. This movie can too soon after his previous Oscars, but I honestly think he deserved to win. Tom Hank is a skilled thespian.

Action: The airplane crash and the ship passing by to rescue him provides some bass workout. The rest of the movie is about dialogue and the BR version locks it clearly onto the screen. 2.5/5

Chick Factor: minimal in this movie

Rent, buy or forget it: I bought the BR and will rewind back to the last couple of chapters of the movie often, quite touching and meaningful. Yes even men watch meaningful movies, esp with Tom Hanks in it!

[petetherock]

Replacement Killers

This was Chow Yun Fatt's first venture into Hollywood, and despite a less than resounding success, was the first of many more mainstream debuttals for others, as Asian heavyweights moved into the West. Using a MTV director may not be the best idea, but the movie wasn't bad, just not brilliant, esp with John Woo and Chow in the headlines.

I enjoyed this on LD and looked forward to its entry into the BR world. On a seperate note, Mira Sorvino spoke much better Chinese than anyone on the set, since she was a graduate of Beijing Uni!

Plot: simple gunfight, revenge and bad guy gone righteous with loads of gunplay thrown in 3.5/5

Action: Good use of surrounds and bass, with plenty of action interspersed with minimal dialogue as Chow's English was rudimentary at best 4/5

Chick Factor: Mira is quite hot and feisty 4/5

Rent buy or forget it: well if you are a Chow Yun Fatt fan, this is a keeper but it is worth a rental at least and get it on BR. 4/5

[petetherock]

Hoodwinked

A sleeper hit, which proved to be quite a nice watch. A twist on the orginal tale, with action and a detective style who-done-it storyline throw in, and a froggie Hercule Poirot , and you have a good watch. 4/5

Action: even on DVD, the bass and surround elements are well used 4/5

Chick factor: well, this is an animation so pass...

Rent buy or forget it: I think it is worth a rent at least

[MarkH]

Thanks for ruining the plot of The Happening mate, I was about to watch it tonight. Perhaps you can put Spoiler alert where a spoiler is about to take place?

[petetherock]

August Rush

Kid who is made by two music loving beautiful people who plays music to find them. Simple yet sweet plot but the outstanding bits come from the music, the guitar slapping is awesome and the two leads actually look intense and there is real chemistry to make this by the books movie watchable.

There is no action but the LFE channel is well used, and the rear channels also get a decent workout esp in the BR Tru-HD soundtrack.

Chick factor: Keri Russel doesn't seem to age in this movie and she looks fine 3/5

Rent, buy or Forget: worth a rent at least, and if you get this on a bargain, its a keeper. I also bought the soundtrack. Kaki King's guitar play is quite awesome.

[petetherock]

Wanted

Put a hot chick with tattos, revenge, and lots of fascinating gunplay together, mix in a nerd who in the matter of days turns into an assasin and add sound effects. Mix with vigor and created a new movie.
One thing I remembered about this show was how it took the 'bullet time' concept and molded it into a higher level with reverse deconstruction (my own term).
The plot is simple and does not add too much to the action revenge genre but it work quite well. 3.5/5

Chick factor: A Jolie is still alright but she is showing a few lines here and there, Botox? 3/5

Action: lots of creative shooting and clever ways of picking people up in a TransAm Corvette... 3.5/6

Rent, buy or Forget it: worth a rent at least


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