Actioner starring the WWE's John Cena is pretty daft but passes 90 odd minutes agreeably enough.Derivative but Cena is a little less wooden than he was in his debut movie and Renny Harlin remains,on his day a capable helmer of low-grade actioners.
Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue BD 4.5/5
Cracking zombie flick looks great on this blu-ray,though the last dvd release was very good as well.Superb atmosphere throughout, the crypt sequence is a classic.
The Tournament BD 3/5
American actioner set in Middlesbrough is a very entertaining ride.Robert Carlyle,Kelly Hu & Ving Rhames feature,the movie,about a tournament featuring the world's best assassins which is held every 7 years is very gory and never stops moving though i found the Robert Carlyle character to be a little annoying.similar to the recent Condemned movie.
saltysam wrote:Actioner starring the WWE's John Cena is pretty daft but passes 90 odd minutes agreeably enough.Derivative but Cena is a little less wooden than he was in his debut movie and Renny Harlin remains,on his day a capable helmer of low-grade actioners.
Saw THE MARINE (BD) in HMV for a fiver. Shit - is it?
saltysam wrote:Actioner starring the WWE's John Cena is pretty daft but passes 90 odd minutes agreeably enough.Derivative but Cena is a little less wooden than he was in his debut movie and Renny Harlin remains,on his day a capable helmer of low-grade actioners.
Saw THE MARINE (BD) in HMV for a fiver. Shit - is it?
The Marine is far, far better than 12 Rounds thats for damn sure
Marine is pretty good, £5 for the Blu Ray is about right I paid a few quid for the dvd, I got my cash out of that as it is a good little film with a good cast and some pretty cracking action and stuntwork.
Seek out the trailer for it and that will give you a good indication of what to expect silly, over the top action.
The Marine isn't really much cop imo,Cena is stiff as a board in the lead role but Robert Patrick makes it worth a watch.Thought 12 Rounds was better but let's face it neither are particularly good.
Ohh I found Cena great in The Marine, wodden in an action man role, but hey so was Arnie in Commando (not that it is close to that film). Robert Patrick was the best as you say he gets in everything haha
I found 12 Rounds dire, awful all round for me haha they took a fairly good idea and gave me the worst Renny Harlin film I may ever have seen I was looking forward to it as well, I just got to the ed of it in the cinema and kind of felt ripped off, if you see the trailer for 12 Rounds no need to even see the film either
Just watched Q of S for the first time. I LOVED Casino Royale, I LOVE Craig as Bond, but this follow-up could (and thus should) have been much much better.
First of all, as mentioned before by many, the action-scenes are a complete mess. You would have 5 cuts a second, making the whole thing unwatchable and thus a complete waste of the time and effort it must have taken to set-up and shoot all that stuff. Who-ever edited that, needs to be shot in the face, repeatedly, and preferably five shots a second, from different angles, while shaking him around as if he's having some kind of seizures.
Seriously, who OK's that shit!? There's no quality control on movies anymore!? There was a small fight in a Haitian hotelroom, and I almost fainted when there wasn't a cut for almost a whole second!!!
Secondly, the story. I've seen Casino Royale a few times now, so occasionally I had a clue as to what was going on, who was chasing who, and why. Keyword here is 'occasionally'. Most of the time though, I was like...'whoa... wait...what...who is that... wait...did he already have Mr. White... who's this guy....wait...what....!?.... what the...!?'
At the almost end in the base, when Bond jumps on the car and shoots someone while shouting they had a mutual friend or something.... who the hell did he shoot!? Who was the dude in Russia in the final scene in the hotelroom? Don't even think I've even seen that guy's face before....?
I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm not the brightest bulb in Philips factory... but really... they couldn't have added an extra 15-20 minutes to give us some more info and background story etc etc!?
And how the hell did Dominic Green have a picture of Bond!? One of henchmen, instead of grabbing a gun like the rest of his goons, decided this would make a great opportunity to take some pictures!?
There are just way too many questions raised, and most of them are left unanswered.
So why didn't I score it a 1/5!? Well, Craig was great, as always. At times, especially at the slower moments, the movie was pretty good, and there were just a bunch of cool scenes in there.
However, I feel this movie could have easily been much better if handled by a capable director and editor, and an extra 20-30 minutes orso, instead of it being the rushed and fucked up mess it is.
Let's hope the next Bond will not repeat the mistakes this movie made, as Bond, and Craig, deserves much better.
2.5 outta 5. Such a waste of great potential.
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
gasteropod wrote:I agree with everything you said, Yi (apart from the score).
You would have rated it lower!?
I was just reading up a bit about info for the next Bond movie, and I came across the budget-numbers for both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
Casino Royale, which was absolutely fantastic, had a budget of 102 million bucks.
Quantum of Solace, which was shorter and wayyy less impressive, including the mediocre action-scenes, had a budget of 230 million bucks(!) Yeah, I saw them smashing and crashing lots of cars, yes I saw lots of explosions and shoot-outs, yeah I saw lots of exotic locations... but none of it all left any kind of impression, thus it was a complete waste of money.
Casino Royale had a bunch of very well handled action-scenes: the chase with the free-runner and the shooting at the embassy in the beginning. The staircase fight in the Casino Royale hotel with the african bodyguards. The Aston Martin roll-over. The ending in Venice. The scene at the airport. Maybe not huge strains on the budget (apart from maybe Venice), but A LOT more interesting and memorable than any of the action-scenes in Quantum of Solace. In fact, pretty much all of the big action pieces in Q of S were just wasted because of poor directing and editing decisions.
So once again, I ask: why was this movie OK'd!? Why didn't the studio send the movie back to have it re-edited and maybe expanded!? Where did the budget go!? What a waste.
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
If I took ecstasy and watched it, it'd probably be all right because the cutting in the action scenes would look normal I'm just not sure any film should require the viewer to be under the influence of illicit substances.
Sure, the action scenes could have been shot better and it wasnt quite the level of CR (not as good a villain/story) but it was still an exciting, entertaining film IMO.
Stop-Loss - 3/5
Solid performances (Abbie Cornish was especially delightful) and script overall. But the commentary was delivered with the subtlety of a jackhammer.
Body of Lies - 3.5/5
An enjoyable pulpy pseudo-political action thriller than reminded me of such films from the 70's, like The Running Man. Ridley Scott's skill at crafting engaging visuals hasn't diminished with age, it seems. Solid performance from Dicaprio and loved seeing Russell Crowe hamming it up as the CIA analyst with another one of his bad accents, he dominated every scene that he was in.
Valkyrie - 2/5
Usual Oscar bait Hollywood clap-trap. Christ, this bored the shit out me, I couldn't wait for it to end. The novelty of seeing Bill Nighy, Eddie Izzard, Kenneth Branagh and Tom Wilkinson playing Nazis wore off fast. At least artistically it was far better than that god awful Superman movie that Brian Singer made.
How High - 0/5
This garbage has a cult following, why? It was almost as unfunny as Supertroopers. The latter was painful to sit through, this was just boring.
Field of Dreams - 4/5
One of my favourites as child. Good to see that it's as enjoyable ever. I admit to shedding a tear or two during the finale.
For a while I was enjoying this funny and charming romcom... but then it started to take itself seriously and frankly the filmmakers weren't up to the task. Shame. The final act is unexpected but also unconvincing. Surprised to see dope smoking in a '12' cert.
Hard Candy
Very intense psychological drama skirts the edges of the horror genre. Performances are faultless - basically this a two-hander - but a few key moments are fudged by the director. Gruelling, but worthwhile.
Shooter was on TV last night. Entertaining popcorn flick, which is a bit of a mix between The Fugitive and The Bourne Identity, but the ending is so lame it just ruins the whole movie.
2.5 outta 5. (.5 is for the cute chick)
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
Just watched it. Not really sure what to make of it. It's a well made movie, good acting, complicated but intruiging (sp?) story, nice soundtrack and cinematography, but in the end you're just left.... I don't know... unfullfilled!? It's hard to explain, and also hard to try without giving away any spoilers, so I won't attempt to do so.
Still a 4/5 movie for me.
I was there, the big BNB blackout of november, 2008. We lost many that day...
Excellent, reminded me of Wild at Heart, Patricia Arquette was lovely, Christopher Walken was badass. The BD picture quality isn't very impressive though, lack of detail.
EvaUnit02 wrote:reminded me of such films from the 70's, like The Running Man.
Never heard of it. Is that a Kiwi title for something more famous?
Sorry, I meant Marathon Man. It starred Dustin Hoffman, Roy Scheider and Laurence Olivier. I often get titles of that film and the Arnie flick confused.
Markgway wrote:Starter for Ten
For a while I was enjoying this funny and charming romcom... but then it started to take itself seriously and frankly the filmmakers weren't up to the task. Shame. The final act is unexpected but also unconvincing. Surprised to see dope smoking in a '12' cert.
I've only seen the 3rd act of this film, can't say that it made me want to catch the rest of it. James McAvoy certainly is a charismatic and talented young actor though. The Last King of Scotland certainly wouldn't have been half the film that is was without him; also his and Romola Garai's performance were the things that saved that soul crushingly dull and uninteresting film, Atonement for me.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - 4/5
A down beat Western with strong characterisations and performances from the cast, Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell in particular were terrific in their roles. The character arc of Robert Ford is an enthralling watch.
The film had a haunting, subtle score by Aussie folk rocker, Nick Cave and beautiful, cinematic photography from veteran DP, Roger Deakins.
Michael Jackson's This Is It - 4/5
A highly enjoyable, well put together documentary that showed how passionate and talented Michael Jackson was at his craft. A tastefully done tribute, it didn't feel like an exploitative money grab in the least.
City of the Living Dead (Italy, 1980) – 2/5
Disappointing second installment in Fulci’s zombie trilogy. While the other two films, Zombi 2 and The Beyond, proceeded towards an apocalyptic climax, City of the Living Dead doesn’t really go anywhere after its promising opening. Fulci also mistreats the zombie concept; in some scenes the undead appear very much physical flesh eaters, while in others they are ghosts that come out of nowhere and disappear in the air. Supposedly the director tried to make the film more scary and unsafe by going against the conventions, but it doesn’t work here. Fabio Frizzi’s soundtrack is once again atmospheric.
Terminator:Salvation BD 2.5/5 Not as bad as some make out,this works well as a decent actioner but as a Terminator movie it falls way short of certainly the first couple in the series.the characters are so poorly drawn and some are given so little to do (Bryce Howard) it's pointless them being in it. Christian Bale is a charisma-less zone in the lead. On the plus side the BD gave my new sound system a good work out
is a very entertaining ride.Robert Carlyle,Kelly Hu & Ving Rhames feature,the movie,about a tournament featuring the world's best assassins which is held every 7 years is very gory and never stops moving though i found the Robert Carlyle character to be a little annoying.similar to the recent Condemned movie.
I paid a few quid for the dvd, I got my cash out of that as it is a good little film with a good cast and some pretty cracking action and stuntwork. 
I was looking forward to it as well, I just got to the ed of it in the cinema and kind of felt ripped off, if you see the trailer for 12 Rounds no need to even see the film either 
