Search
Search results
Darren (1599 KP) rated 3 Days To Kill (2014) in Movies
Jun 20, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Story: 3 Days to Kill starts as we meet CIA agent Ethan Renner (Costner) who along with his team is about to take down one of the biggest threats in the world The Wolf (Sammel) by eliminating his closest associate The Albino (Lemarquis) only the mission gets compromised when Ethan’s health catches up with him as he learns he only has 3 months to live.
Released by the CIA Ethan sets out on cleaning up his own personal affairs wanting to build a relationship with daughter Zooey (Steinfeld) through his ex-wife Christine (Nielsen) after years of times apart working. With everything going badly Ethan knows that it will become difficult but when fellow agent Vivi Delay (Heard) offers him a chance to live longer Ethan comes out of retirement for one last assignment.
Thoughts on 3 Days to Kill
Story – The story for this film tries to balance a dying man’s final months with his family and his CIA life that he has meant to have walked away from. The CIA story does feel very generic of this modern day slick hitman style which is all fine. The dying man’s wish story ends up feeling like an awkward comedy in places. The story also feels very long and doesn’t seem to end up deciding if it wants to be serious or not.
Action/Thriller – The action is all very good and entertaining with the opening sequence looking like it set the tone but in the end if just turns into another slick hitman film.
Characters/Performance – I can’t find anything wrong with Costner’s performance as well as Steinfeld or Neilsen, it is the Heard performance that doesn’t make sense because she doesn’t suit the character and the character doesn’t suit the movie. The movie tries to make all the characters fit into everyday experiences but for some reason Vivi character is wildly over the top for no apparent reason.
Settings – The settings are mostly all in Paris which all works for the film which is trying to make us have a location we want to visit but showing that crime can happen there I guess.
Special Effects – The Special effects are mostly used for the action sequences and they all come off to the level you need them too.
Final Thoughts –This is an overlong action thriller that ends up getting caught up in the middle of comedy too often for its own good.
Overall: Solid action film that starts too strong for its own benefits.
Released by the CIA Ethan sets out on cleaning up his own personal affairs wanting to build a relationship with daughter Zooey (Steinfeld) through his ex-wife Christine (Nielsen) after years of times apart working. With everything going badly Ethan knows that it will become difficult but when fellow agent Vivi Delay (Heard) offers him a chance to live longer Ethan comes out of retirement for one last assignment.
Thoughts on 3 Days to Kill
Story – The story for this film tries to balance a dying man’s final months with his family and his CIA life that he has meant to have walked away from. The CIA story does feel very generic of this modern day slick hitman style which is all fine. The dying man’s wish story ends up feeling like an awkward comedy in places. The story also feels very long and doesn’t seem to end up deciding if it wants to be serious or not.
Action/Thriller – The action is all very good and entertaining with the opening sequence looking like it set the tone but in the end if just turns into another slick hitman film.
Characters/Performance – I can’t find anything wrong with Costner’s performance as well as Steinfeld or Neilsen, it is the Heard performance that doesn’t make sense because she doesn’t suit the character and the character doesn’t suit the movie. The movie tries to make all the characters fit into everyday experiences but for some reason Vivi character is wildly over the top for no apparent reason.
Settings – The settings are mostly all in Paris which all works for the film which is trying to make us have a location we want to visit but showing that crime can happen there I guess.
Special Effects – The Special effects are mostly used for the action sequences and they all come off to the level you need them too.
Final Thoughts –This is an overlong action thriller that ends up getting caught up in the middle of comedy too often for its own good.
Overall: Solid action film that starts too strong for its own benefits.
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) in Movies
May 27, 2019
A Race Against the Clock After a Mission Gone Wrong
In this sixth installment (yes, it’s been six!), special agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his crew find themselves racing against the clock after a mission goes terribly wrong.
Acting: 8
Beginning: 9
Characters: 10
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Conflict: 9
Solid action from beginning to end keeps this film alive and well. This is what you come for, not a deep story or in-depth character development. You want to see Tom Cruise run really fast and jump off of tall things. While the action falls just short of the quality from the third film, it still packs a hard punch.
Genre: 9
It is surprising to me that, after six films and the following of a somewhat similar formula along the way, this franchise still continues to stand at the pinnacle of espionage action films. Director Christopher McQuarrie not only manages to keep the action fresh in Fallout, but he makes you think they could easily pull off another three. Not the best M:I movie, but it takes you on a wild ride nonetheless.
Memorability: 9
Pace: 9
Plot: 9
Resolution: 9
Wasn’t perfect, but solid enough to wrap the film up nicely. I was hoping for a little more for Ethan, but something tells me that things are going to work out for him just fine in the end. You will definitely leave the movie excited from the seventh installment.
Overall: 91
Mission: Impossible—Fallout is clever enough to make you use your brain, but not too over-the-top where you’re left thinking, “Wait, what?” I have mad respect for McQuarrie as it’s hard as all get out to keep a franchise fresh. After a terrible second try, the franchise has been balling ever since. Long live the running of Tom Cruise!
Acting: 8
Beginning: 9
Characters: 10
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Conflict: 9
Solid action from beginning to end keeps this film alive and well. This is what you come for, not a deep story or in-depth character development. You want to see Tom Cruise run really fast and jump off of tall things. While the action falls just short of the quality from the third film, it still packs a hard punch.
Genre: 9
It is surprising to me that, after six films and the following of a somewhat similar formula along the way, this franchise still continues to stand at the pinnacle of espionage action films. Director Christopher McQuarrie not only manages to keep the action fresh in Fallout, but he makes you think they could easily pull off another three. Not the best M:I movie, but it takes you on a wild ride nonetheless.
Memorability: 9
Pace: 9
Plot: 9
Resolution: 9
Wasn’t perfect, but solid enough to wrap the film up nicely. I was hoping for a little more for Ethan, but something tells me that things are going to work out for him just fine in the end. You will definitely leave the movie excited from the seventh installment.
Overall: 91
Mission: Impossible—Fallout is clever enough to make you use your brain, but not too over-the-top where you’re left thinking, “Wait, what?” I have mad respect for McQuarrie as it’s hard as all get out to keep a franchise fresh. After a terrible second try, the franchise has been balling ever since. Long live the running of Tom Cruise!
Lee KM Pallatina (951 KP) rated Street Fighter (1994) in Movies
Feb 27, 2020
A cult classic that's better than legend of Chun Li
1994 saw the release of street fighter, a live action take on the videogame phenomenon.
Starring Jean claude van damme as colonel Guile, a man leading the United nations army against evil dictator General M.Bison (Raul Julia)& his forces.
Guile convinces ken & Ryu to join/infiltrate
The United sides of both Bison and Sagat which becomes problematic.
Chun li & colleagues Balrog & E.Honda are planning on taking out bison themselves.
Although there's more comedy than action, the amount of effort put into the character portrayals, costume designs and character's actually in this is brilliant considering it's only about 90 mins long.
Each character looks near perfect to their videogame counterpart & Raul Julia is no doubt the stand out actor.
Fun from beginning to end, 1994s street fighter is one for die hard fans...now quick, change the channel!
it is an American/Japanese action film written and directed by Steven E. de Souza
Byron Mann - Ryu
Damian Chapa- Ken Masters
Kylie Minogue - Cammy
Ming-Na Wen - Chun Li
Wes Studi. Sagat
Grand L bush - Balrog
Roshan seth - Dhalsim
Miguel A Nunez jr - Dee Jay
Robert Mammone - Charlie/Blanka
Peter tuiasosopo - E.Honda
Gregg Rainwater - T.Hawk
Andrew Bryniarski - Zangief
Jay tavare - Vega
Kenya sawada- Captain Sawada
Based on: Street Fighter; by Capcom
Production company: Capcom
Country: United States; Japan
Starring Jean claude van damme as colonel Guile, a man leading the United nations army against evil dictator General M.Bison (Raul Julia)& his forces.
Guile convinces ken & Ryu to join/infiltrate
The United sides of both Bison and Sagat which becomes problematic.
Chun li & colleagues Balrog & E.Honda are planning on taking out bison themselves.
Although there's more comedy than action, the amount of effort put into the character portrayals, costume designs and character's actually in this is brilliant considering it's only about 90 mins long.
Each character looks near perfect to their videogame counterpart & Raul Julia is no doubt the stand out actor.
Fun from beginning to end, 1994s street fighter is one for die hard fans...now quick, change the channel!
it is an American/Japanese action film written and directed by Steven E. de Souza
Byron Mann - Ryu
Damian Chapa- Ken Masters
Kylie Minogue - Cammy
Ming-Na Wen - Chun Li
Wes Studi. Sagat
Grand L bush - Balrog
Roshan seth - Dhalsim
Miguel A Nunez jr - Dee Jay
Robert Mammone - Charlie/Blanka
Peter tuiasosopo - E.Honda
Gregg Rainwater - T.Hawk
Andrew Bryniarski - Zangief
Jay tavare - Vega
Kenya sawada- Captain Sawada
Based on: Street Fighter; by Capcom
Production company: Capcom
Country: United States; Japan
Gareth von Kallenbach (971 KP) rated Mowgli (2018) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
When humans encroach on the jungle they get too close to the animals that call the jungle home. It’s inevitable that they clash. When Shere Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch), a tiger who has no regard for the rules of the jungle, slaughters a group of humans only a child survives. A black panther, Bagheera (Christian Bale), saves the boy, Mowgli (Rohan Chand), and takes him to live with a group of wolves. There he is raised by his mother, Nisha (Naomie Harris), and tried to become part of the pack by Baloo (Andy Serkis), a black bear. Mowgli must train with Baloo to become a member of the pack. As he trains he sees that man expand. With this expansion the man brings back Shere Khan. He kills many of the cows and leaves them for the humans to find. This makes the humans enlist a hunter, Lockwood (Matthew Rhys), to kill the tiger. Also Bagheera believes that sending Mowgli to the humans will keep him safe. Mowgli, just a young boy, must now try and bridge the animal world he knows in the jungle and the human world.
This is a live action retelling of the novel by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book. Actor/Director Andy Serkis creates a beautiful story with really well done CGI. The visuals are really well done and by far the best part of the film. The cast, which also includes Cate Blanchett, Eddie Marsan, Tom Hollander, etc. make the animals they voice come to life. This take on the famous story is familiar but also changed ever so slightly from previous versions that it keeps it interesting. Young actor Rohan Chand does a decent job of carrying most of the live acting portions of the film.
The film really made me feel nostalgic at times. The film does take a little darker look at the old classic and would say it is for a little more mature audiences than the 1967 cartoon or 2016 live action, both The Jungle Book, takes on this story. The visuals are really good but the story does miss at times. I really thought that the climax really had a slow build but then really finished quickly. There was definitely room for improvement there but overall it was a pleasant movie experience. The theater viewing was visually really good and I am sure it would be a decent home experience with the Netflix release.
This is a live action retelling of the novel by Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book. Actor/Director Andy Serkis creates a beautiful story with really well done CGI. The visuals are really well done and by far the best part of the film. The cast, which also includes Cate Blanchett, Eddie Marsan, Tom Hollander, etc. make the animals they voice come to life. This take on the famous story is familiar but also changed ever so slightly from previous versions that it keeps it interesting. Young actor Rohan Chand does a decent job of carrying most of the live acting portions of the film.
The film really made me feel nostalgic at times. The film does take a little darker look at the old classic and would say it is for a little more mature audiences than the 1967 cartoon or 2016 live action, both The Jungle Book, takes on this story. The visuals are really good but the story does miss at times. I really thought that the climax really had a slow build but then really finished quickly. There was definitely room for improvement there but overall it was a pleasant movie experience. The theater viewing was visually really good and I am sure it would be a decent home experience with the Netflix release.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Jurassic Park (1993) in Movies
Feb 19, 2018 (Updated Feb 19, 2018)
Spielberg's eek-it's-a-dinosaur adventure movie may not have the gobsmack value it once possessed when photo-realistic CGI had yet to rule the earth, but still stands up well due to traditional storytelling virtues, retains the power to irritate palaeontologists with its dubious approach to nomenclature.
Billionaire with mysterious background (i.e. Lord Attenborough's accent wanders a bit) plans to open high-tech theme park with real live dinosaurs; clearly hasn't seen Westworld; chasing about ensues. Long build-up before the biting starts to happen, but Spielberg's corralling of the action sequences is masterly and the casting is extremely good. Still not sure it warranted five whole sequels, but that's what a massive box office take gets you, I suppose.
Billionaire with mysterious background (i.e. Lord Attenborough's accent wanders a bit) plans to open high-tech theme park with real live dinosaurs; clearly hasn't seen Westworld; chasing about ensues. Long build-up before the biting starts to happen, but Spielberg's corralling of the action sequences is masterly and the casting is extremely good. Still not sure it warranted five whole sequels, but that's what a massive box office take gets you, I suppose.
AT (1676 KP) rated Lady and the Tramp (2019) in Movies
Jan 4, 2020
Overall, the new Lady and the Tramp movie was cute. However, I didn't love that they completely recreated the Siamese cats. The were so classic to the old Disney animated version that it was sad to see them be so changed, assuming due to modern social issues. I wasn't nuts about the new cats or their new song. I also missed the puppies at the end of the animated movie! They also didn't have the Bloodhound get hit by the horses at the end of the live-action version. So some scenes were watered-down a bit, but all in all, the dogs were still cute and it was fun to see. I'm just personally still a bigger fan of the Disney animated version, I guess.
Vegas (725 KP) rated Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) in Movies
Mar 28, 2020
A family film that still has a feel good feel to it...
A trainee witch is looking after a group of children in wartime Britain when her final lesson in witchcraft doesn't arrive... What follows is a search for the final spell on a magical bed... Trying to stop a German invasion and a fair bit of singing and dancing...
Angela Lansbury stars, in a role far removed from the character that she would later become famous for and puts in a great performance as the novice witch...
A live action and cartoon film that works really well when the two bend together, and is just the sort of film to bring a smile when things are getting you down...
Angela Lansbury stars, in a role far removed from the character that she would later become famous for and puts in a great performance as the novice witch...
A live action and cartoon film that works really well when the two bend together, and is just the sort of film to bring a smile when things are getting you down...
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Collateral (2004) in Movies
Apr 9, 2020
Crazy Taxi 2004: The Game
Collateral- mixes action, suspense, thrills and Tom Cruise as the villian, that is unheard of. Cause he usually plays the hero/good guy. But in this movie he plays the villian.
The plot: After a long day, LA taxi driver Max is about to knock off when sharp-suited Vincent offers him $600 to make five stops. Sounds good until Vincent turns out to be a merciless hitman and each one of those stops involves a hit. As the night goes on, Max starts to wonder if he'll live to see the sunrise, as the pair are hunted by the police and the FBI.
Its a game of cat and mice, but in a cab. Its a excellent movie.
The plot: After a long day, LA taxi driver Max is about to knock off when sharp-suited Vincent offers him $600 to make five stops. Sounds good until Vincent turns out to be a merciless hitman and each one of those stops involves a hit. As the night goes on, Max starts to wonder if he'll live to see the sunrise, as the pair are hunted by the police and the FBI.
Its a game of cat and mice, but in a cab. Its a excellent movie.
Matt Peers (0 KP) rated Aladdin (2019) in Movies
Apr 20, 2020
A great live action remake. The kids and I fully enjoyed this one. If you have to choose between this one and The Lion King remake, give The Lion King a miss. Aladdin does not skimp on the music, it even gives Princess Jasmine her own new powerful number. There is a strong Bollywood influence that creates a feast for the senses no matter what your age. Overall, Aladdin gifts us with more original content and developped characters whereas The Lion King remake played out like a less cute, uninspired carbon copy of its original. Robin Williams' genie was inimitable but Will Smith's own take is 'fresh' (geddit?) and just as charismatic in its own right. If you have kids, treat them to this.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) in Movies
Jul 14, 2021
Assault on Precinct 13 is great for many reasons, but chiefly it's all down to the characters. Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, and Laurie Zimmer head up a diverse cast, and off the top of my head, I struggle to think of a trio of leads that are so well realised and put together. Their struggle through an evening of violence is one you want them to live through.
The narrative is straightforward and engaging, the villains are pretty faceless but intimidating, the action is decent, the cinematography is visually pleasing, and director John Carpenter provides yet another banging soundtrack to one of his own films.
It's a gritty and hard hitting thriller that serves as further evidence for why Carpenter is one of the greatest.
The narrative is straightforward and engaging, the villains are pretty faceless but intimidating, the action is decent, the cinematography is visually pleasing, and director John Carpenter provides yet another banging soundtrack to one of his own films.
It's a gritty and hard hitting thriller that serves as further evidence for why Carpenter is one of the greatest.