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Show Dogs (2018)
Show Dogs (2018)
2018 | Comedy
8
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Yes I'm giving it four stars and I don't care what you all say!! I laughed on more than one occasion and found it an amusing lift to my day... so ptttttttttttttt to all you misery guts who are saying it's terrible.

The only bad bit about the film was having to share the cinema with children on half term... although I was highly entertained when the 12 year old girl in front of me who had been snapchatting for 50% of the films dropped her phone on the floor.

It's daft humour and it really lifted my spirits, and those are the best movies to have. Even if the CGI panda and tiger were a little terrible.

To sum it up, this movie is basically Rush Hour with dogs. That alone should make you want to see it.
  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
2016 | Fantasy
Some of the lighting is well implemented (1 more)
Colin Farrell
Bad CGI (2 more)
The movies 3 leads are extremely annoying
Johnny 'oooh' Depp
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - Or JK Rowling and the Never Ending Quest for More Money
Contains spoilers, click to show
First off, full disclosure, I have never been a fan of the Harry Potter franchise. I’ve read a few of the books and seen a few of the movies and it just isn’t my thing. Honestly, I’m not even a fan of fantasy in general, I think Lord Of The Rings is nonsense and Game Of Thrones is vastly overrated and the last Harry Potter movie I saw was the fourth one. However, I was willing to go into this movie with a clean slate and hopefully have it win me over and unfortunately it didn’t. Also this review will contain spoilers if you care about that sort of thing.

This film is a prequel to the other Harry Potter movies, this time set in America rather than Britain and telling the story of the events that led to the great wizarding war between Dumbledore and Grindlewald. The film did have potential, to see what would have essentially been WWII fought with magic could be really cool but unfortunately all we get here is setup and that actual event we want to see will probably take place 4 or 5 movies down the line. The film opens with Eddie Redmayne’s character, Newt Scamander going to New York from London to set free one of the beasts that he keeps inside his Tardis-like brief case. Then he ends up in a bank and meets a ‘Nomaj,’ which is this film’s lazy version of a ‘muggle,’ who we learn is a simple lonely guy that just wants to open his own bakery and that’s another character cliché ticked off the list. We now have the double act of the nerdy, sniveling protagonist and the overweight sympathetic sidekick. Also, for the rest of this review I will be referring to the baker character as fat bloke and this isn’t to be derogatory, but is purely because the script relies on the, ‘fat, jolly, sympathetic, pathetic loner’ stereotype and passes it off as a character arc. If the script isn’t treating the character with any respect, then why should I? So fat bloke it is then.

So the two of them of course have the exact same briefcase and after some cartoony looking CGI animals escape from Redmayne’s case in the bank the suitcases predictably get mixed up and then the fat bloke gets his bakery loan declined and returns home with Redmayne’s suitcase, then more bad CGI animals open the case and attack the fat bloke. Redmayne’s character then gets arrested by some wizarding inspector for letting the, ‘Nomaj,’ (urgh) get away after seeing the animals in the case and is taken to the New York Wizards base, I guess? Then it’s revealed that the wizarding inspector that arrested Redmayne is a bit of a shit inspector and she is trying to redeem herself in the eyes of her superiors, so in front of this high wizard council, she confiscates the case from Redmayne and opens it only to reveal a bunch of cakes inside. Yes, really… Who writes this shit? Rowling is doing to Harry Potter what Lucas did to Star Wars during the prequels at this point.

So Redmayne gets set free and he goes to fat bloke’s house to find him lying on the floor, then some more bad CGI later the inspector turns up and they take him back to her house to meet her sister? Friend? Does it matter? She ends up becoming the love interest for fat bloke. Then for no apparent reason Redmayne and fat bloke enter the case and he shows fat bloke all this crazy shit that apparently humans aren’t supposed to see and then Redmayne does some more sniveling and decides they have to sneak out of the girls’ apartment and recapture the animals that escaped in the bank and from fat bloke’s apartment. They get a couple of the beasts back then they go to central park to find Redmayne’s horny rhino and they dress fat bloke up in a leather rhino costume and use him as rape bait then they ice skate for a bit and capture the rhino. Again, really… I am not making this shit up for satirical reasons.

Then we see a real life prick Ezra Miller playing some sort of weird emo child who is beat by his mother and we see he is working with Colin Farrell to find a big bad dark spirit that is killing people around New York. Colin Farrell is definitely the best thing about the film at this point. After this a bunch of other stupid shit happens, like Ron Perlman and John Voight coming into the movie, showing a ray of potential then being totally wasted. The movie drags in the middle, but eventually after some more fat jokes, bad CGI and sniveling, all of the creatures are captured and Ezra Miller turns into a black death cloud or some such nonsense. Then he is boosting around New York, fucking up shit as he goes and so Redmayne and Farrell follow him down to the subway to stop him. Redmayne seems to be talking him down and then Farrell shows up and essentially tells him to join the dark side. Then there is a CGI wand battle and the council from earlier show up out of nowhere and kill the black cloud of death. Then Colin Farrell gets pissed off and in the best scene in the movie murders half of the council members before he gets arrested by Eddie Redmayne with some magic handcuffs.

Then the worst part in the movie takes place. It is revealed that Colin Farrell is actually Johnny Depp in disguise. I mean he is Grindlewald in disguise but the important part for me is the replacement of Colin Farrell with Johnny Depp. Now I’m not the world’s biggest Colin Farrell fan, he is great in, ‘In Bruges,’ but other than that he is pretty meh, but he was definitely the best thing that this movie had going for it and they fucking swapped him out! With fucking Johnny-‘ooh’-Depp. As if this movie wasn’t shit enough they swapped out the best thing about it for Johnny Depp, the biggest joke in Hollywood. I’m done, fuck this movie, fuck Johnny Depp, fuck JK Rowling, fuck Harry Potter, I’m out.

Okay, let’s briefly talk about the technical side of the film before I score this thing. The whole cast of this movie is phoning it in, so the acting is fine but nothing to write home about, Farrell is the best thing in this movie, but I feel that in the sequels it will just be an ‘ooh,’ off between Depp and Redmayne. The direction is okay as the movie plods along sufficiently, but the writing is wildly inconsistent and the plot as stated above is all over the place. The lighting and cinematography in one scene are fantastic, when Farrell and Miller are conversing in a dark alleyway but other than that they are pretty mundane too. The score is suitably Harry Potter like and the CGI is also to a similar standard of the Harry Potter films. The problem with that is that the CGI was ropey and of a fairly poor standard in the Harry Potter movies 10 years ago and it doesn’t seem like it has improved much since then. This movie isn’t for me, but even from an objective standpoint, based solely from a moviemaking perspective this movie is poor.
  
Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)
2008 | Action, Animation, International
8
6.2 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Detail in the animation (1 more)
Ties in to the Resident Evil games time line
Excellent animation
A very good CGI animated film with a great level of detail, really makes it realistic as possible. They even used motion capture for the characters in the film for greater realism. At last a Resident Evil film that does tie in with the games! Bringing Claire Redfield and Leon S.Kennedy back together for more Zombie mayhem. Set 7 years after the Resident Evil 2 game where Racoon City was nuked and in the time line of the games after Resi Evil 4 and before 5. The story plot is simple but this is really like watching a playback of playing the game. If your a Resident Evil fan you will love this. The DVD also has tons of extras, making of, Leon interview, Resident Evil 5 footage plenty to entertain you.
  
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
2016 | Drama, History, War
Good but too Hollywood-ised
This is yet another true life story I've never heard about until watching the film, but its a fascinating and harrowing story.

Andrew Garfield gives a great performance as Desmond, and his story is truly an intriguing one. The second half of the film during the actual war was very well done, it seemed very realistic and graphic without being too ott gory. And the documentary footage at the end of the real Desmond Does nearly had me in tears.


The main problem is this film has been Hollywood-ised, with over the top and out of place acting from some actors (my other half pointed this out early on and it was something I couldn't then unsee!) to irritating slow motion and patchy CGI. If they could just tell the real story without embellishing, it'd be so much better.
  
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Sarah (7798 KP) rated Mama (2013) in Movies

Apr 15, 2018  
Mama (2013)
Mama (2013)
2013 | Horror, International
I thought I'd heard a lot of good things about this film, but watching it recently, I must have been horribly mistaken.

This is a poor excuse for a horror film. The plot is ridiculously weak and silly and it's this way right from the very opening scene. I do think Jessica Chastain is a good actress, but not in this. She isn't given a massive amount to work with and does badly with what she does have. The CGI is very poor for the most part and is often laughably bad, and the scares are just predictable. What really killed this film for me though is Mama herself. She isn't in the slightest bit scary or creepy, and instead looks that odd and weird that she's actually quite funny. She just looks terrible, and it kinda kills a horror film when the main terror is laughable.
  
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu  (2019)
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019)
2019 | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
The cgi (1 more)
The story
Is a bit all over the place (0 more)
Detective Pikachu doing a Video game movie right
Contains spoilers, click to show
Detective Pikachu was one of the movies I had planed to see this summer being the fact that it is the first live action Pokémon movie.

I was highly surprised with how well the story was handled and how it maintained the main themes of the Pokémom franchise (friendship, love, and striving to be the best)

Though I do believe that the movie had the issue of thinking it needed to have its audience seeing something happen at all times such as having the Apom (Apalm?) attack last what felt like ten minutes.

I do think that the ending is satisfying with having the main character to grow closer to his father.

I do recommend seeing detective Pikachu expecially if your a long time fan of the Pokémon franchise.
  
Bumblebee (2018)
Bumblebee (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
This was a good film (except for the scenes I couldn't see that included a certain wrestler.)
The Transformer movies have steadily slid into convoluted messes of CGI and plot holes. So, heading into this one I didn't know what to expect. This still had the robot fighting action you expect but seemed to take a step back from the other films and focus on a well-written story. Hailee Steinfeld is good in her role. She along with the ET-esque Bumblebee carry the heart of the film and force the audience to care about the "Robots in Disguise," something earlier films in the series seemed to have forgotten about. John Cena is also decent in his role. Overall, it's a cute and fun story of loss and rising from the ashes of that loss to return to life again. In my opinion the best one in the series.
  
Jurassic Park III (2001)
Jurassic Park III (2001)
2001 | Adventure, Sci-Fi
This is where the sequels really start coming off the rails
The third Jurassic Park movie is pretty poor. For multiple reasons.
The main reason has to be the script - it has to be - because the acting talent is not bad by any means.
Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Tea Leoni - all great actors in my opinion.
But it's hard to connect with any of them throughout the run time (I swear I hear her shouting "ERIC" in my sleep sometimes)

A lot (not all) of the practical dinosaurs have been replaced with shoddy CGI, and to top it all off, the movie just ends. Very suddenly! And I can't figure out why... It's a good deal shorter in run time than the first two. Maybe Joe Johnston just got bored.

On a final note, is a velociraptor talking a low point for the franchise? Or hilariously great? You decide (ALAN)
  
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Erika (17788 KP) rated Good Omens in TV

Jun 2, 2019  
Good Omens
Good Omens
2019 | Comedy, Sci-Fi
David Tennant (1 more)
Michael Sheen
I'm not a huge fan of Neil Gaiman (or a fan at all), and I was kind of meh on the novel this is based on. But, when I saw David Tennant and Michael Sheen were cast, I was interested. On a whim, I ended up starting the series last night, and wanted to stay up all night to finish, but didn't.
I liked the series way more than the book itself. I was hooked, and Sheen and Tennant were perfect in their roles. The humor was good, and the casting for the other characters was strong too. Jon Hamm as Gabriel was my other favorite.
Of course, with any TV show, the CGI was shoddy, but it kind of seems like the norm to me. Overall, I'm glad Amazon produced this miniseries, and I may have to watch it again.
  
Big Game (2015)
Big Game (2015)
2015 | Action
8
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
It’s been a long time since a simple action movie was just good fun, rather than being exasperatingly long, complex and full of mind-boggling CGI.

Big Game is the complete opposite of those things and much fresher because of it. With Samuel L Jackson’s trademark wit and brilliant comic timing, he plays President Bill Moore with fantastic energy, very much like he did in Matthew Vaughan’s Kingsman: The Secret Service earlier this year.

With a plot that doesn’t require any knowledge of prequels or sequels, this is pure popcorn entertainment and a brilliant way to spend an evening. Yes it’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination with a poor first third, but when the finale is this much fun, you’ll have too much of a good time to remember what came before it.

https://moviemetropolis.net/2015/05/10/incredibly-well-made-big-game-review/