Heh, I was just gonna post this. I almost want to watch it now just to see how much I hate it, but that would involve paying the people responsible, so I'll just wait and rent it.
)
Heh, I was just gonna post this. I almost want to watch it now just to see how much I hate it, but that would involve paying the people responsible, so I'll just wait and rent it.
Total Recall (again) - 6/10
This bugged me a lot more than the first time(s) I watched it, namely because I never noticed just how many plot holes there are. Why did Quaid go to Recall if everyone the Agency planted was telling him not to, despite it being integral to their plans? Why did they give him that holographic watch thing if it not only worked against them in the end, but they didn't even seem to know about it? Why does Cohagen pull a Bond villain and leave Quaid and Melina in the room to be erased, and then in the very next scene he's telling Richter to go kill him like he already knew he'd escape? Why does it take ancient alien technology to create air by essentially just melting ice with hot metal rods, and how the **** does this entirely terraform the planet in 2 minutes flat? IN WHAT UNIVERSE IS ARNIE BELIEVABLE AS A ****ING SUPER SPY?!
(Oh wait, True Lies
Anyway, despite all that, it's still really enjoyable. The practical effects have held up well in some cases (the bullet wounds look just as good as any action movie in recent memory), and in others are hilariously dated (basically anything involving Arnie's face). The one liners are pure indulgence (SEE YOU AT DA PAHTY RICHTAH). The acting is deliciously shlocky, and yet many of the characters still manage to come off as sympathetic. Also, three titted hooker. Nuff said.
1. Did not read my review.
). The 'princess' (role reversal... in a Disney film?! ) is equally well characterised, but I feel like she's at odds with the setting a bit. She's your typical modern, independent Disney woman (even moreso than usual), but she has something that few of them really had - ambition. This is nice in principle, but I really didn't like how it panned out, since ultimately it seems to go counterpoint to the moral of the story, making it a bit more cloudy than it had to be. There's a lot of things that made me feel that way, actually - the plot and characters often seem to be heading one way, but then the movie will suddenly remember it's taking place in a Disney fairytale universe and it'll pull a 180 just to satisfy the unbreakable rules of that world. Still, if you look at it through the eyes of it's intended audience, there's not really anything here that makes it bad, it's just a collection of little things than hinder it from truly living up to it's heritage.
Princess and the Frog - S'okay
Grabbed this to see if Disney still had it, and... well, all the rudimentary elements are still there. It's lively, it's colourful, it definitely plays to your senses, and the characters are endearing enough. I especially liked the prince, who comes into the movie looking like any other vapid, soulless Disney prince (save for like, Beast and Aladdin, neither of whom were really princes), but comes out like one of the more charming Dreamworks protagonists (pretty sure he even does the face a few times
Oh also, loved Keith David. I could listen to that voice all day. :3
Daybreakers - Yeah nah
Solid concept, but I think they took it a bit too far. If anything it's refreshing to see a vampire film that is actually a vampire film, I just wish the plot had lived up to it's clever premise. That aside, a pretty enjoyable action horror, not to mention fairly well acted. I don't usually like Hawke very much but he plays his role well here. Sam Neill fits into the skin of an evil corporate vampire a little too well. Dafoe is good, but kind of wasted on an uninteresting character. Also OBLIGATORY MAORI ACTOR seriously what is up with this, Hollywood? That character didn't even need to be in the film, are you just trying to fill a quota?
) and I have a strange urge to drink black coffee now
The ending can't really be called such if you go by the source material - the comics are all self-contained stories, although they overlap at times and share common characters. Which isn't to say the movie shouldn't be judged on it's own merits, but if you enjoyed it that much you really owe it to yourself to check out the comics, if only for the sake of context. That said, the movie does a pretty good job of capturing their style and tone, so don't expect anything more upbeat.
Samon's reason for existence in a sentence.
