Displaying Review 1 - 5 of 11 in total

• Is it normal when your sister tries to bite your head off? Ekhm... read it if you cant judge for yourself. — for Resident Evil
  Written by oldzia999 on 13.03.2010

  Resident Evil is a one of many movies that were based on a game. And I must say, most of the time that is some good, badass cinema. And Resident Evil is no exception. If you’re thinking it’s another silly, zombie movie then you’re wrong. In this movie there’s a scientific explanation and a back story to everything, and unlike other zombies, these can easily make you one of them. Just one scratch and you’re infected. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me first give you a quick plot description without giving too much away.

  At the beginning of the movie, we learn about an Umbrella Corporation that controls most of the world’s pharmaceutical market. But that is not all they do (that would be boring). In their super cool, research facility called the Hive, located beneath Raccoon City, their scientist do forbidden, viral research. That’s where they develop a T-virus. A virus that not only kills you within a few hours, but after you’re dead, it animates your body to become, yes you guessed it, a flesh-eating zombie. If that’s not enough to scare you, the virus spreads by any possible means. So when someone breaks a vial containing the virus inside the laboratory, things don’t look good for the Hive’s employees. The Red Queen, a super computer with artificial intelligence (which, lets face it, never bodes well in sci-fi movies), that controls the building, seals all the exits as to keep the infection from spreading.
  Then we are introduced to Alice (Mila Jovovich). She wakes up in what seems to be an abandoned mansion. She has a short-term memory loss, confused she walks around exploring the rooms. She comes across Matt (Eric Mabius) who also has amnesia. Suddenly they both get seized by a group of commandos working for Umbrella. They tell them that underneath the mansion there is an entrance to the Hive, and that their mission is to reenter it to find out what went down there, and to manually switch the Red Queen off. They have no idea why she killed everyone or what’s awaiting them inside. On their way to the train that leads underground, the group comes across Spence (James Purefoy) who just like Alice and Matt suffers from amnesia. They all enter the Hive, and that’s where the fun begins.

  I like the way the movie progresses. The viewer doesn’t know anymore than Alice does. And just as she gets flashbacks of her past, and the pieces start to fit together, so do we start to understand more and more of what’s going on. It’s nice to have a movie that doesn’t give everything away, but lets us explore the Hive together with the characters. Everyone seems to have something to hide, and you get everything from betrayal to mutating monsters, and all of that while running away from the walking dead, who will want to eat your flesh for lunch. Expect to be scared, surprised and (my favorite) excited about some good ass kicking! The director and producer Paul Anderson really makes an effort with this one. He also makes a few nods to the Resident Evil games that the fans of them can try to spot.

  Now there, you can’t have a good movie without a suitable soundtrack. To me it’s like the smell to the taste. Music is 60% of the movie experience, and for Resident Evil composed by Clint Mansell ,Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson. The electronic beat goes well with the story, it gives me chills every time I listen to it. For this review I listened to some of the tracks on its own. But knowing the story I saw the parts of the movie they were used for, and couldn’t find a comparison I wanted. I played it to my dad, and asked him what this music reminded him of. He said it sounds like the dead are rising from the grave  I think that ought to do it. Besides if you don’t believe me, watch the movie and see, or rather listen for yourselves.

  This review is starting to be longer than I anticipated, but I want to add that I don’t think the movie doesn’t have any flaws. It’s bound to have imperfections. Like whatever CGI was used in it, lets just say, we have seen better. Also the dialogues could have been made longer. The characters seem to talk only about what needs to be said, the information the viewer has to hear. I think a little chit chat would have helped to create deeper personalities, but I guess there isn’t much on your mind, when one is trying to stay alive.

  To sum it all up, in Resident Evil there’s something for everyone who likes science-fiction genre. Strong women (just for the guys I might mention that Michelle Rodriguez stars here), smart men, viruses, monsters, crazy computers, vicious dogs, a lot of action and suspense (which, hats off to Mila Jovovich who did all but one stunt all by herself), all shaken together and served as red as Bloody Mary! Plus if you like this one, you have 2 more sequels to watch straight after, and another one coming up this year!
  So if that sounds good, then grab your remotes and let the train to the Hive take you for a ride, just don’t forget you have only 2 hours to return! ;)

• Green with envy? Hell yes! — for The Incredible Hulk
  Written by oldzia999 on 13.03.2010

  I know what you’re all thinking. Overrated CGI and good cast don’t always make a good movie. And you would be right (look Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), but not in the case of the Incredible Hulk. This movie is like a rollercoaster ride, just when you think “the worst” is behind, you go forward faster than before. Of course my judgment might be a little off, since the first time I saw it, was in the cinema. The effects are always bigger, brighter, better when you watch it on the big screen. But all Marvel fans, and people, who just like science-fiction movies with a fast-paced action, should enjoy it no matter the size of the screen.

  So for those, who are unfamiliar with the story of Bruce Banner, here’s a quick plot description. So the said Bruce (Edward Norton; Fight Club) is a scientist, who instead of using the usual guinea pig (where’s the fun in that, right?) tests gamma radiation on himself. He believes it’s for the good of mankind, but the truth is US, particularly General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (William Hurt), wants to use it to make super soldiers (think Special Ops. on crack, just green). Obviously the experiment goes wrong. Bruce changes into Hulk, an out of control monster, destroying the lab and injuring some of the scientist, among whom is Dr. Elizabeth Ross (Liv Tyler; LOTR), General’s daughter and Bruce’s love interest (yeah, and you thought your relationship was complicated). Bruce flees out of the country and goes to Brazil. He works there, making sodas and all the time trying to find a way of curing himself. For that he gets in touch with another scientist, a man who calls himself Mr. Blue. When nothing helps, Bruce is forced to send him his blood sample (it’s still red, not green, in case you wondered). As it always happens Bruce’s hideout is soon discovered, and the US Army is on the hunt for him. He manages to escape, and then decides to go back home. Coincidentally he bumps into Elizabeth, and after a few chats, some explosions and a lot of screaming they go on the run together. They go to Mr. Blue, who turns out to be quite a peculiar (if not crazy) cellular biologist Dr. Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), and he (almost) promises to cure Bruce. The only problem is, in his excitement about gamma radiation, he synthesized Bruce’s blood and made, well, a lot (you can guess where this is going). Before they have a chance of destroying the supply, a special ops soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) gets hold of it (having some injected in him before) and turns into, what is, and can only be called an Abomination. And the rest, well you have to watch the movie to see what happens next!

  I hope I already convinced you to give greenie a chance. If not, then I will add that Edward Norton, being the complete opposite of what Hulk looks like, portrays Bruce superbly (but doesn’t he always?). Tyler is good, and the love between the characters is shown in a more subtle way, by their on-screen chemistry and the fact that Betty is the only one that has any effect on Hulk. She calms him down on more than a few occasions. The film has some good dialogues (even funny at times), which movies like that usually lack. Plus for CGI enthusiasts, the special effects are close to perfect, which makes the action seem more real and in the end, at least I, found myself really rooting for Hulk!

  Go and enjoy it, because if you look closely and watch what’s on the computer screens at the very beginning of the movie, you will know there’s more to come from the green hero!

• Time for New Moovie? — for New Moon
  Written by oldzia999 on 14.03.2010

  Please, don’t hate me for writing about such a (what’s the word), trivial movie. What I mean is that New Moon has a simple plot, there are no hidden, deep meanings or metaphors, and it doesn’t deal with important issues. Like all the fans (especially females) would tell you, it’s a love story. And although I watched Twilight, after that I wanted nothing to do with the series. So what’s changed? Well, I saw it only because of two things: natural curiosity and Michael Sheen. I am a fan of the latter ever since Underworld, so when I found out he signed up to play Aro, I was shocked. He is a good actor, what made him (except the money) do it? Well maybe it was the growing popularity of the series, or maybe he just wanted to be a vampire for a change, because after seeing the movie, I can tell you it wasn’t because of the greatness or the originality of the script.
  Let’s start with the plot. Hadn’t I read the books, I would have had no idea, what exactly this movie was about. Is it Bella and Edward? Jacob and Bella? Edward and Jacob?
  Bella (Kristen Stewart) is in relationship with Edward (Robert Pattinson) at the start of the movie, then he leaves because he is “no good for her” and takes his whole family with him. Months pass, Bella cant get over him, but still she chooses to befriend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) , who is (surprise, surprise) in love with her (and also a warewolf). Just when they get close to each other, Alice (Edward’s sister) comes back to check on Bella and tell her Edward is on his way to Italy. He wants to ask the vampire royal family to kill him (yeah, you guessed it, he still loves Bella).So in the last 20 minutes, this movie tries to introduce some action. Alice and Bella race against time to save Edward.

  Sounds simple, so why does this movie last over 2 hours? It’s because rather than base the script on the books, it literally follows them. Although the director Chris Weitz did a pretty decent job with what he had, I still believe he should have insisted on cutting more scenes out. Most of the actors do well. I especially liked the young kid Lautner, he played very convincingly, and turned mostly cliché dialogue into a bearable one. Stewart is just watchable as Bella, although every time she and Edward kiss, she looks as though he had bad breath. But Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning as creepy, red-eyed, people eating vampires were just great! It seems whether a warewolf or a vampire, Sheen has a knack for playing monsters. Fanning as the unemotional Jane looks very much the part. Billy Burke as Bella’s concerned father was just as good.
  The huge warewolfs (read:wolfs) done all in CGI, I actually liked. It’s not easy to make fur look real, but I was nearly convinced here. Overall the special effects wouldn’t win an Oscar (well they didn’t), but you are not going to squint at the screen either.

  So what’s the verdict? Well, I give it 5/10. It’s not the worst story, although one we heard and seen a million times before. Should have been made shorter and more to the point. But if one is feeling particularly bored, and this is the only DVD you haven’t yet seen, I give it a green light. But if you want to see some action, or are looking for a properly romantic movie to watch with your girlfriend, watch something else. Oh, and I just want to say the all the commercial stunts for this series, the whole team Jacob/Edward thing, are awfully off-putting. If it hadn’t been for that, I would have given it 6/10.
  I do hope the new movie is better.

• Kind Of Boring. — for The Fourth Kind
  Written by oldzia999 on 21.03.2010

  I have heard a lot about this movie, have seen the trailer a few times, and it looked interesting. So being a fan of Mila Jovovich I thought I would give it a try. And having watched it, I honestly think that Universal is running low on money, and are out of good ideas, since they have to go down to this level.
  First of all: the plot. So at the start of the movie we are treated to a message from Mila Jovovich. She says the movie was based on factual events, and that she portrays a psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler who this story follows. And that was supposed to intrigue the viewer, and on some level it succeeds. And then we are told that the director included real life footage. Why don’t just make a documentary?!
  The makers try to show the movie and the actual footage at the same time as to say: Yeah, we didn’t make this up, that’s exactly what happened”. To me it failed miserably. Although the “actual” Dr. Abigail Tyler looks as though she had just escaped from an asylum, other than that, the footage doesn’t look real at all. Dr. Tyler tries to convince us that in a little town called Nome in Alaska, something (Sumerian speaking, owl like aliens) are abducting people, then apparently conduct research on them and return them, only to make them commit suicide( I’m serious!). The abduction most of the time occurs at night at precisely 3:33 or otherwise whenever suits them. I think the screen writers or the director wanted it to be a horror of sorts (at least that’s what it says on the box), but the stories to me didn’t make much sense. Some of the patients say it has been happening to them since they were young, yet the suicide doesn’t occur until Dr. Tyler starts investigating. To add to the already convincing story, Dr Tyler is accused by a local sheriff of somehow contributing to the evil that gripped Nome (at some point the sheriff, being a man of high IQ I’m sure, suggests Dr. Tyler lifted a man and broke three of his vertebrae injuring his spine).
  There are no scary or even jumpy moments at all. The music that usually helps to set the mood in movies like that, is barely there. Overall I don’t know why I even bothered. Oh no, I do, I wanted to know if the actual footage was really real! Well, to save you the search, I asked my trusted friend (his name is Google but I call him G), and as far as Nome is concerned, there were no weird disappearances or abductions like the movie claims. So there it is.
  Watch it if you’re curious or like UFO theories, but to someone who wants to see some horror/action/suspense just go and look elsewhere.

• How do you stop a killer that has already been caught? — for Law Abiding Citizen
  Written by oldzia999 on 21.03.2010

  I thought I would be the first one to review this movie, but unfortunately I was wrong. I say unfortunately, because the review of my predecessor was short, and might have put you off watching, what to me is a great movie.
  Gerard Butler stars as Clyde Shelton an engineer designing weapons for the government, whose wife and daughter were brutally murdered. He saw it all happen, and was unable to help them. Then after a year struggle in court the real murderer walks because of a deal with Butler’s attorney (Jamie Foxx) that puts his accomplice in prison. After that everyone forgets the whole thing, everyone except Shelton. Ten years pass and suddenly the real murderer is found dead, cut into pieces. Obviously Shelton is the prime suspect, and so is taken into custody. After some smart backtalk and a few odd requests from Butler, he admits to the killing. But he also promises Foxx, that all the people who let the bad guy go free (and that’s everyone from the judge to the people working for Foxx) will die unless he lets him go. And this is where all the fun begins. I don’t want to give anything away, so I will not describe it, but believe me when I say that the screen writers didn’t make Butler a weapon engineer without a reason.
  The movie might have a few gruesome moments, but I think they were necessary to create all the emotions the characters are feeling, besides come on, this is no movie for kids. If you’re sensitive to blood go and watch 12A rated movie.
  Also I like the idea of not having a good or bad side here. It’s more about who is more right, the grief stricken husband and father, or the US law represented here by the district attorney. Because like Foxx says to Butler off the record, he praises him for killing the bad guy, but he still has to put him in prison, because that’s how it works.
  For the fans of action this is the movie to go for. It has everything from suspense to surprising ending, and good dialogue in between. The chemistry between the main characters is superb, and the fast paced action is twisted around Foxx and his colleagues rethinking and judging their own decisions, that don’t look as the right ones anymore.
  Butler’s character is very good because it combines the strong, violent characteristics that all of us have, but that only surface when they’re forced out of us, with the caring man who holds on to the remnants of his happy life that is already long gone. This is about a man that has nothing to lose, not anymore.
  Then we have Foxx’s character, who has a loving wife and a child, and a job he takes as seriously as it gets. In some ways he is a mirror image of Shelton, of him as he was before his family gets murdered. They are alike in many ways, but Foxx just lives by an advice he was once given “once you make a decision, live with it”. He thinks he stands for justice, and refuses to look any other way.

  This movie is more than just a thriller, it shows the ridiculousness of the US law, and that there are perfect crimes, at least in the metaphorical sense. Anyway, I definitely would recommend this movie to anyone who can appreciate not only the images that are seen, but everything else that makes a good movie.