While this movie is certainly very predictable, it actually turned out to be quite good and enjoyable. If you love Eastwood, you will love his character...James Woods is great and his sparring with Eastwood is the best part of the movie...Denis Leary was a surprise and you will really care for Isaiah Washington and his very low key character. Acting and direction were very good...the race against the clock was a bit much but entirely expected. Worth a watch for Eastwood fans.
rabbisanta's Reviews
Displaying Review 11 - 15 of 25 in total
-
-
I have never felt more betrayed by a film premise than I was by this film. I made the mistake of reading Alan Moore's brilliant graphic novel of the same name, in which several villains, anti-heroes and protagonists of questionable value from victorian novels are tossed together as a sort of super hero group. His work was such a work of genius (including literary references in almost every panel and sometimes even in the background for the astute) that I couldn't wait for the movie to be released. So not only was I emotionally crushed once by the mind-numbing stupidity of this film, but a second time because I could recognize the squandered concepts. The characters had all been "laser-sharked" from their original incarnations to make them more acceptible as action movie heroes. For instance, Mina Harker, rather than simply a strong-willed survivor of a vampire attack, was depicted in the film as an actual vampire herself. Mr Hyde, instead of a repugnant monster that makes your stomach churn, has a heart of gold. Connery's character goes from being an elderly opium addict to being immortal. The Invisible Man wasn't even the same one from the novel or movie. There were a few moments that suggested at redemption: the use of Dorian Gray as a villain and the depiction of The Nautilus with a giant lingum for a conning tower (only those familiar with Hinduism would really catch that one), for instance. Ultimately, however, these moments became less and less frequent, the script became more and more inane, and the CG effects more and more tacky. As I said, not only did I find this to be a terrible film unworthy of the actors involved and the source material, but I actually felt betrayed that such a great idea could be ruined so completely.
-
This film opened up to the world as a major blockbuster with Razzie potential from some critics. However, some movie-goer's, like myself, happened to enjoy this film, and as a shooting star of a moneymaker, Armageddon soars high in the universe. A giant, global-killing asteroid, like the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is 18 days away from hitting the Earth. NASA's been caught with their pants down and needs a new plan to stop the rock. They enlist the help of Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis), an expert deep core driller, to train their astronauts and help them drill into the asteroid and plant a nuclear bomb. But Harry figures the astronauts can't be trained in time and opts to go with his own oil drilling crew. To get the flaws over and done with, Armageddon is sometimes too far-fetched that it becomes a little bit laughable, and Bruce Willis' character, Harry, is the hero. He isn't likeable one bit, unlike Willis' former heroic gun-aimer's and space travelling characters. But those things are quite minor, and great performances from Liv Tyler and Ben Affleck – especially Tyler, as the beautiful and Earthly young girl who sends her two most important men into sport – make up for Willis' half-effort. Also, a star-studded cast supports the three stars, including the never bad Steve Buscemi, giant Michael Clarke Duncan, the calm Owen Wilson and the weirdly watchable William Fichtner. All these actors play their roles well, and each have more faith in the story than some of the other main stars alone. Michael Bay controls his crew well, and he works excellently with the special effects team to create a stunning view of space, and some awesome blasting sounds that will unnerve you. Armageddon is not as bad as you may of heard, and even though it isn't Best Picture material, it is still an excellent form of entertainment, a film that is able to mix romance, thrills and full-on adventure nicely and without struggle.
-
WOW! I am utterly flabbergasted! To those who recommended this, hats off in thanks;-). Bigger, Stronger, Faster goes up (possibly with my top 10 Documentaries of all time) unquestionably with my top 3 docs of '08. Its entertaining, educational and most of all it is VERY thought provoking!! Some of the questions it raised were ones I was expecting. But some delve deeper into the spine of America and who's say so is manipulating what we believe to be fact. WOW!! I thought this issue was one I knew my stance on. I thought it was cut and dry. I thought I knew the facts. Whoa boy was I wrong. I now know I don't know. There is so much more to the story than my school teachers, coaches, or politicians would ever admit. Most of us know the reefer madness propaganda was a political agenda item. Now we have an argument that anabolic steroids may have no worse effects than over the counter meds. Roid rage was a myth. Really? Will people look back 50 years from now and laugh at the politicians who pushed this propaganda through our schools. Chris Bell begs the question are classical musicians using beta blockers in the wrong? What about Air Force Pilots on uppers? Clear right? Wrong. I could stretch the question to include ADHD medicine. Who decides these things for us. I think it makes sense to get as much information as possible to make an educated decision. It is not that the doc is pro anabolic steroids. Bell clearly states he is NOT. BUT it unbiasedly presents both sides. Most of us have heard the one side already so its the other that'll be surprising. I have not changed my stance, but I have come to respect the other side a whole lot more and realize there are still some unanswered questions here. Bell does a great job at presenting facts, information and leaving questions for the viewer to explore. VERY worth watching if your open to doing a little thinking. Hope this is Helpful!
-
This documentary is a well rounded, in-depth introduction to the horrors behind why a hamburger costs less than a bag of carrots. If you want to learn more about the patenting of food and Monsanto, then watch The Future of Food. Corn is taking over the fields? Watch King Corn. Is fast food bad for me? Watch Supersize Me. This doc touches on all those bases and then some. Few people would let cameras in to see the conditions the animals are kept in, but one woman showed her chicken (?) coop. We also see "tame" footage of slaughterhouses (compared to the stuff you might see on a PETA website). We hear about the dangers of E. Coli in the food supply - it's not a matter of "if" but "when". You can probably google E. Coli outbreaks and there's something in the news about it somewhere. We see a bit on illegal immigration. This is not a souped up liberal documentary, I promise. I'm pretty conservative and cant recall seeing any liberal bias. It's not a party causing this offensive treatment of our food supply, the whole system is messed up. High five to that organic farmer, Joel something. Well shot documentary. The graphics and pie charts were Grade A. If you're not familiar with where your McD's comes from, I would think this film is a must watch.
