Search
Search results
Becka Plitt (2 KP) rated Beauty and the Beast (2017) in Movies
Jan 18, 2018
I was personally really excited to watch the live action Beauty and the Beast. It was my favorite Disney movie growing up, and I'm a huge Emma Watson fan, so I figured nothing could go wrong. I ended up not being overly impressed. There were some good things about it, of course. The CGI was impressive, the music was excellent, and everyone other than Emma Watson were extremely talented singers.
That is where my first complaint comes into play. In my opinion, the Disney Princess shouldn't be the least talented person in the film. Her voice was very clearly edited and it sounded bad. Along with that, I feel like Emma Watson made some other mistakes that took away from the movie. I'm aware that she was involved in making costume decision for her role, and I think she made a huge mistake. Frankly, Belle's dress was a disappointment to me, and many of the other things she wore were unimpressive as well in comparison to the elegant gowns worn by everyone else.
The added backstory for Belle also seemed forced and unnecessary to me. It was underdeveloped and didn't really need to be there.
That is where my first complaint comes into play. In my opinion, the Disney Princess shouldn't be the least talented person in the film. Her voice was very clearly edited and it sounded bad. Along with that, I feel like Emma Watson made some other mistakes that took away from the movie. I'm aware that she was involved in making costume decision for her role, and I think she made a huge mistake. Frankly, Belle's dress was a disappointment to me, and many of the other things she wore were unimpressive as well in comparison to the elegant gowns worn by everyone else.
The added backstory for Belle also seemed forced and unnecessary to me. It was underdeveloped and didn't really need to be there.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Justice League (2017) in Movies
Feb 9, 2018 (Updated Feb 9, 2018)
Surprisingly non-awful
CGI aliens invade in search of ancient mystical plot coupons, forcing Batman and Wonder Woman to recruit a bunch of other superheroes (the Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg) in an attempt to fend them off.
Now, you can scratch your head at some of the creative choices made here - Why the all-pervading atmosphere of heavy metal gloom? Why these particular characters? Where's Green Lantern? Why not use a better-known villain? And so on - but on its own terms, this is a competently assembled film, for the most part. (This may be due to the fact that credited director Zach Snyder departed the production prematurely and was replaced by Joss Whedon.)
I stress 'for the most part' as there are still bits of this movie which just plain make no sense whatsoever, and there's a 'plot twist' (in the broadest sense of the term) which feels contrived and tonally wrong on pretty much every level. But at least they seem to be trying to treat these iconic characters with respect, and while this isn't up to the same standard as Wonder Woman it could have been much, much worse.
Now, you can scratch your head at some of the creative choices made here - Why the all-pervading atmosphere of heavy metal gloom? Why these particular characters? Where's Green Lantern? Why not use a better-known villain? And so on - but on its own terms, this is a competently assembled film, for the most part. (This may be due to the fact that credited director Zach Snyder departed the production prematurely and was replaced by Joss Whedon.)
I stress 'for the most part' as there are still bits of this movie which just plain make no sense whatsoever, and there's a 'plot twist' (in the broadest sense of the term) which feels contrived and tonally wrong on pretty much every level. But at least they seem to be trying to treat these iconic characters with respect, and while this isn't up to the same standard as Wonder Woman it could have been much, much worse.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Baywatch (2017) in Movies
Feb 9, 2018
Funnier than expected
I'd expected to hate this film and although it a little bit ridiculous, I found a lot funnier than I ever thought it'd be.
Some of the one liners and wisecracks verging on hilarious, although they're not as frequent as id like. It's laughably bad in parts and that almost adds to its charm. It doesn't take itself too seriously. This is part of the problem though too, I struggled to tell if this was a spoof of the original show, if it was making fun or if it was trying to be serious as it flitted about. If they'd have concentrated on making this a loving mick-take of the show, I think it could've ended up being quite good. There's a scene over the end credits with the girls discussing why the swimsuits are as they are, and that's the sort of thing that should have been in the main film.
The only thing I really didn't get was the CGI and sfx. Did they purposely make it look really bad in homage to the show, or did was the budget spent elsewhere? It didn't work, it just looked naff.
Some of the one liners and wisecracks verging on hilarious, although they're not as frequent as id like. It's laughably bad in parts and that almost adds to its charm. It doesn't take itself too seriously. This is part of the problem though too, I struggled to tell if this was a spoof of the original show, if it was making fun or if it was trying to be serious as it flitted about. If they'd have concentrated on making this a loving mick-take of the show, I think it could've ended up being quite good. There's a scene over the end credits with the girls discussing why the swimsuits are as they are, and that's the sort of thing that should have been in the main film.
The only thing I really didn't get was the CGI and sfx. Did they purposely make it look really bad in homage to the show, or did was the budget spent elsewhere? It didn't work, it just looked naff.
Jcadden76 (64 KP) rated Deadpool 2 (2018) in Movies
Jun 11, 2018
The Cast (4 more)
The storyline
The humor
The action
The CGI characters
Better than the original... No really, I mean it.
Liked it better than the original. Still kept the funny coming from every angle, still stayed true to the characters, and it was just a fun comic book movie overall.
Deadpool 2 progresses from the Deadpool in a number of ways. We explore Wade and the rest of the cast in a lot more detail. We also get to see Wade working out his demons with a team of super heroes instead of just by himself for the most of the movie.
Personally, for me, this was the best X-Movie of them all. Better than the originals and maybe only surpassed by Logan on some levels. I really don't think it missed for me at all. Not having Vanessa in it made sense but I did get the reasoning behind it.
Stay until the end. You get a few more scenes and then at the very end you get a reprise of one of the best musical moments in the flick.
Deadpool 2 progresses from the Deadpool in a number of ways. We explore Wade and the rest of the cast in a lot more detail. We also get to see Wade working out his demons with a team of super heroes instead of just by himself for the most of the movie.
Personally, for me, this was the best X-Movie of them all. Better than the originals and maybe only surpassed by Logan on some levels. I really don't think it missed for me at all. Not having Vanessa in it made sense but I did get the reasoning behind it.
Stay until the end. You get a few more scenes and then at the very end you get a reprise of one of the best musical moments in the flick.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Triangle (2009) in Movies
Jun 21, 2018
Intriguing, disturbing & original
I watched this entirely based on the review from @Lee and I'm pretty glad I did.
I probably wouldn't class this as a horror as it's not nearly gory or scary enough, but its a very thought provoking and disturbing thriller. It's one of those films that has you wondering "WTF" right from the start - may not appeal to everyone but I love films like this. I love the confusion and the intrigue, but there is a lot of pressure on films like this to get the ending and explanation just right otherwise you wind up unsatisfied and confused. Triangle does very well as the twist ending wraps up a lot of the earlier queries, but it does still leave a slightly ambiguous ending.
If I'm being honest, maybe slightly too ambiguous an ending as I had to look up fan theories online afterwards. And my only disappointment is that halfway through the film i said "this is going to turn out like Lost isn't it?" and on reading the online theories, I wasn't far off!
Slightly dodgy cgi aside, this is a pretty good film and definitely worth the watch. Thanks for the recommendation @Lee
I probably wouldn't class this as a horror as it's not nearly gory or scary enough, but its a very thought provoking and disturbing thriller. It's one of those films that has you wondering "WTF" right from the start - may not appeal to everyone but I love films like this. I love the confusion and the intrigue, but there is a lot of pressure on films like this to get the ending and explanation just right otherwise you wind up unsatisfied and confused. Triangle does very well as the twist ending wraps up a lot of the earlier queries, but it does still leave a slightly ambiguous ending.
If I'm being honest, maybe slightly too ambiguous an ending as I had to look up fan theories online afterwards. And my only disappointment is that halfway through the film i said "this is going to turn out like Lost isn't it?" and on reading the online theories, I wasn't far off!
Slightly dodgy cgi aside, this is a pretty good film and definitely worth the watch. Thanks for the recommendation @Lee
Sarah (7800 KP) rated The Thing (2011) in Movies
Jul 28, 2018
An unnecessary prequel
The problem with most prequels is they feel the need to overexplain things that aren't necessary. A certain amount of ambiguity is good for a film, and often allows the watcher to come up with their own theories. And this is the main problem with this prequel - did we need to know exactly what happened to the Norwegian team? No not really, as we saw enough in the original to use our imagination. So this prequel for me was entirely unnecessary.
It also didn't help that the plot was for the most part very similar to the original, which begs the question why make something so similar? The creature designs etc were very good, creepy and pretty scary and very in keeping with the original, but they completely ruined it with the horrendous cgi. Why they didn't stick with physical effects I'll never know, as it made the creature just look shoddy. The ending is potentially also a bit of a plot hole as it then doesn't tie in to the original.
There are a few things in this that could've been improved, but even with that, it'd still be an unnecessary prequel.
It also didn't help that the plot was for the most part very similar to the original, which begs the question why make something so similar? The creature designs etc were very good, creepy and pretty scary and very in keeping with the original, but they completely ruined it with the horrendous cgi. Why they didn't stick with physical effects I'll never know, as it made the creature just look shoddy. The ending is potentially also a bit of a plot hole as it then doesn't tie in to the original.
There are a few things in this that could've been improved, but even with that, it'd still be an unnecessary prequel.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Sucker Punch (2011) in Movies
Sep 20, 2018
All style, no substance
Apologies in advance to all of the male Smashbombers, but this film basically feels like a teenage boy’s fantasy. I saw it when it first came out at the cinema and wasn’t impressed in the slightest, but I thought I’d give it another go in case I was wrong. Unfortunately I wasn’t.
Girls wearing barely anything, mental asylums, brothels, monsters, war zones, robots, dragons, zombies.... did nobody stop to think that this was maybe a bit too much? Zack Snyder has compared this to Alice in Wonderland, but it is far from it. The plot could’ve worked better if it had just stuck to a girl resorting to a inner fantasy world to escape reality in a mental asylum, but instead it just gets far too ridiculous and silly. Visually it looks very good, although I don’t think the CGI looks quite as good on the small screen as you’d hope, and the soundtrack is great, it’s just a shame the rest of the film is so dull and laughably bad. You’ve got some great actors in here (even a brief cameo from Jon Hamm) but they really are wasted in this.
Girls wearing barely anything, mental asylums, brothels, monsters, war zones, robots, dragons, zombies.... did nobody stop to think that this was maybe a bit too much? Zack Snyder has compared this to Alice in Wonderland, but it is far from it. The plot could’ve worked better if it had just stuck to a girl resorting to a inner fantasy world to escape reality in a mental asylum, but instead it just gets far too ridiculous and silly. Visually it looks very good, although I don’t think the CGI looks quite as good on the small screen as you’d hope, and the soundtrack is great, it’s just a shame the rest of the film is so dull and laughably bad. You’ve got some great actors in here (even a brief cameo from Jon Hamm) but they really are wasted in this.
Sam Hill (23 KP) rated Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019) in Movies
Jun 21, 2019
Right from the start this movie feels like something made by people who know, and love Pokemon, and their love shines through in the quality of production. The movie is perfectly balanced in terms of exposition for those who have barely heard of Pokemon, and those (probably smaller) people who've dragged them along to watch it.
The start is a little slow and the lead character Tim (Justice Smith) starts the movie very much not wanting to be there, which turns out to be a fantastic complement to Ryan Reynold's Pikachu when he eventually turns up, very much a kid friendly Deadpool pushing his unwilling accomplice into investigating the mysterious circumstances of Tim's dad.
The CGI representations of Pokemon was spot on, they move naturally and look just the right side of realistic.
Also as a side note the movie very nicely ties up all the loose ends in the movie, there was no cliff hanger or set up for a sequel, and no massive gaping plot holes to endlessly niggle at your conscience.
Well worth a watch, especially if you, or your kids, are Pokemon fans.
The start is a little slow and the lead character Tim (Justice Smith) starts the movie very much not wanting to be there, which turns out to be a fantastic complement to Ryan Reynold's Pikachu when he eventually turns up, very much a kid friendly Deadpool pushing his unwilling accomplice into investigating the mysterious circumstances of Tim's dad.
The CGI representations of Pokemon was spot on, they move naturally and look just the right side of realistic.
Also as a side note the movie very nicely ties up all the loose ends in the movie, there was no cliff hanger or set up for a sequel, and no massive gaping plot holes to endlessly niggle at your conscience.
Well worth a watch, especially if you, or your kids, are Pokemon fans.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) in Movies
Dec 22, 2019
A worthy sequel
The Gremlins films huge favourites of mine as a child (worrying as I probably wasn't old enough to watch them), but I always preferred the sequel. Watching it back now, I'm so pleased to say it's still a worthy and rather entertaining sequel.
The plot has been scaled up since the first film, and whilst it's missing the christmas and horror style setting, it more than makes up with the sheer daftness of the entire story. It's ridiculous but so funny, with some great physical effects with the Gremlins, especially as they get themselves into new and interesting situations. Seen as this was released in 1990 the CGI is a little dated but fortunately this is used sparingly. The original cast are back, with some wonderful additions in the marvellous Christopher Lee and Robert Picardo. I remember parts of this terrifying me as a child and whilst it doesn't have quite the same effect now, this definitely isn't a kids film! This entire film is just wonderfully smart, silly and just a riot from start to finish. Definitely underrated and overlooked when it comes to the Gremlins films, but for me a worthy sequel.
The plot has been scaled up since the first film, and whilst it's missing the christmas and horror style setting, it more than makes up with the sheer daftness of the entire story. It's ridiculous but so funny, with some great physical effects with the Gremlins, especially as they get themselves into new and interesting situations. Seen as this was released in 1990 the CGI is a little dated but fortunately this is used sparingly. The original cast are back, with some wonderful additions in the marvellous Christopher Lee and Robert Picardo. I remember parts of this terrifying me as a child and whilst it doesn't have quite the same effect now, this definitely isn't a kids film! This entire film is just wonderfully smart, silly and just a riot from start to finish. Definitely underrated and overlooked when it comes to the Gremlins films, but for me a worthy sequel.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Village of the Damned (1995) in Movies
Nov 16, 2019
Thumpingly unsubtle SF remake turns up the horror dial but doesn't seem aware that sometimes less is more. After a strange town-wide blackout, the citizens of Midwich (do they really have 'villages' in Northern California, anyway?) discover ten women have simultaneously become pregnant. They give birth to eerily similar children who seem to have psychic powers.
Released in 1995, this is very much The Midwich Cuckoos for the X Files generation, but ends up just another signpost marking the decline of John Carpenter as a film-maker worth paying attention to. The sad thing is that he really does seem familiar with both the original British film and the source novel (elements of the book missing from the 1960 film reappear here) and is obviously trying to do his best to honour them, but where John Wyndham is chillingly subtle and understated, John Carpenter is just walloping the audience with a succession of predictable set-piece 'shocks'. Reasonable CGI but overall it looks cheap and unconvincing; some reasonable performances from an interesting cast, but there's a limit to what they can do with such a duff script.
Released in 1995, this is very much The Midwich Cuckoos for the X Files generation, but ends up just another signpost marking the decline of John Carpenter as a film-maker worth paying attention to. The sad thing is that he really does seem familiar with both the original British film and the source novel (elements of the book missing from the 1960 film reappear here) and is obviously trying to do his best to honour them, but where John Wyndham is chillingly subtle and understated, John Carpenter is just walloping the audience with a succession of predictable set-piece 'shocks'. Reasonable CGI but overall it looks cheap and unconvincing; some reasonable performances from an interesting cast, but there's a limit to what they can do with such a duff script.