*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***
Featuring: Will Smith
Genre: action, sci fi
Plot: human kind turned into monsters by virus, only one man fights to find a cure
Acting: for a one man show Will Smith does it pretty well
Drama: monsters are taking over the world
Action: not so much though there are some fights/chases with the monsters
Funny: oh yeah… like in the video store when he talks to the dummies
Visuals: New York deserted
Soundtrack: don’t remember even having one
Official website: http://iamlegend.warnerbros.com/
Comments: I don’t know what I was expecting, but there was a lot of hype about this movie before coming out. Well… Let’s not bad mouth it too much. Or let’s. There’s little dialogue in this movie and while this isn’t a problem really I would have liked it to have a little more explaining done… at least for those of us who haven’t read the book. There’s tons of discrepancies given the time and circumstances, not sure whether it was the screenplay writer or the director’s fault but I wonder how come the other 100+ people involved in the production didn’t notice any of them. The first three quarters of the movie it’s a rather decent one and not really bad but then things just got all wrong and with no reason. The ending was a big let down, even I could have come up with a better one. Come to think of it I don’t have to tire my brain at all cause he could have escape the same way the woman and the kid did. And did the dog really have to die? I know it was expected from the start but still…
Rating: 3/5
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Movie Review: Fred Claus
*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***
Featuring: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates
Genre: comedy, fantasy
Plot: sorry, unable to see the plot because of the holes
Acting: hats off to Paul Giamatti and Rachel Weisz for putting up with such crappy movie
Drama: two hours of my life are forever gone
Action: flying with the sledge… looking fake as ever
Funny: pathetically
Visuals: thank God we had Rachel Weisz to rest our eye on
Soundtrack: don’t remember
Official website: http://fredclaus.warnerbros.com/
Comments: It’s total crap. Vince Vaughan should either retire or totally change direction from these disgustingly retarded characters he’d played lately. He should try a gay or disabled part, anything but not that again.
Rating: 2/5
Featuring: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates
Genre: comedy, fantasy
Plot: sorry, unable to see the plot because of the holes
Acting: hats off to Paul Giamatti and Rachel Weisz for putting up with such crappy movie
Drama: two hours of my life are forever gone
Action: flying with the sledge… looking fake as ever
Funny: pathetically
Visuals: thank God we had Rachel Weisz to rest our eye on
Soundtrack: don’t remember
Official website: http://fredclaus.warnerbros.com/
Comments: It’s total crap. Vince Vaughan should either retire or totally change direction from these disgustingly retarded characters he’d played lately. He should try a gay or disabled part, anything but not that again.
Rating: 2/5
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Movie Review: The Golden Compass
*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***
Featuring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards, Ben Walker, Freddie Highmore, Ian McKellen, Eva Green
Genre: fantasy, adventure
Plot: girls goes north guides by a compass
Acting: so so
Drama: Nicole Kidman is the evil one
Action: bear fight
Funny: the deamons
Visuals: fake looking bears and snow… but Nicole’s golden dress is gorgeous
Soundtrack: don’t remember
Official website: http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/
Comments: I haven’t read the books. As far as the movie goes though the plot is an one liner there’s no development from there as if they’re expecting to fill in the rest with beautiful cinematics. Maybe if we’ve been brainwashed before. I really think I should have read the books to understand all the missing points they haven’t even bothered to mention about. Given the simplicity of the movie it seemed to be aimed at preschooler kids but then again it is too violent in places for this target audience. One in all it’s a big mess which leaves us with the feeling that it could have been something and we didn’t get it. It was as if we ordered steak and got a hamburger instead. Compared with the other fantasy movies released this year I’d place Enchanted on first, Stardust on second and The Golden Compass somewhere further down the list.
Rating: 3/5
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Movie Review: August Rush
*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***
Featuring: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard, Robin Williams
Genre: drama
Plot: musically gifted orphan looks for his parents
Acting: the kid is brilliant
Drama: young lovers separated by a drastic father and child given for adoption while considered dead
Action: not much, the movie has a slow somehow out of this world pace
Funny: some, but not comically
Visuals: pretty… Keri Russell still looks good and Jonathan Rhys Meyers is not too bad on the eye
Soundtrack: mixture of all types of music… very enjoyable
Official website: http://augustrushmovie.warnerbros.com/
Comments: A modern Oliver Twist story with Robin Williams as the bad guy and Freddie Highmore the runaway who only care about music and finding his parents. And in all this there are also two young adults who had lost their way for a while. Slightly hard to believe for a story anything is possible in the imaginary world. It’s a movie for the heart with a plot that could have used more development and more details explained perhaps. Of course, their timing is perfect just in time for the happy-end.
Rating: 3/5
Featuring: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard, Robin Williams
Genre: drama
Plot: musically gifted orphan looks for his parents
Acting: the kid is brilliant
Drama: young lovers separated by a drastic father and child given for adoption while considered dead
Action: not much, the movie has a slow somehow out of this world pace
Funny: some, but not comically
Visuals: pretty… Keri Russell still looks good and Jonathan Rhys Meyers is not too bad on the eye
Soundtrack: mixture of all types of music… very enjoyable
Official website: http://augustrushmovie.warnerbros.com/
Comments: A modern Oliver Twist story with Robin Williams as the bad guy and Freddie Highmore the runaway who only care about music and finding his parents. And in all this there are also two young adults who had lost their way for a while. Slightly hard to believe for a story anything is possible in the imaginary world. It’s a movie for the heart with a plot that could have used more development and more details explained perhaps. Of course, their timing is perfect just in time for the happy-end.
Rating: 3/5
Friday, November 30, 2007
Movie Review: The Mist
*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***
Featuring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Genre: horror, thriller, sci fi
Plot: creatures from the mist take over the world
Acting: believable
Drama: survival is at stake
Action: fights with the beasts
Funny: not at all
Visuals: disgusting… horror freaks will have a ball
Soundtrack: -
Official website: http://www.themist-movie.com/
Comments: I’ve never read one of Stephen King’s book, I started one a few years ago and then I put it away and never finished it, it was just not my cup of tea. Oddly enough I’ve always liked the movies made after his books. It’s the only reason way I watched The Mist. Maybe I shouldn’t have. It left me with a shaken up feeling that I found it hard to get rid of. The way I remember it King’s movie used to be more about the psychology of fear, a feature that still remains, and less about the actual violence. Well, except for maybe the Children of the Corn series. You want to see monsters and people ripped in half? There you go. And here’s some more. Beside the fact that it portrays normal human reactions, as bad as these may be, and you know from the start that nothing good can happen on the way, after all it is a King movie, nothing can prepare for the ending. Who on earth wants to see cutie Thomas Jane with that bovine look of his suffer to no end even after the movie ends? It makes no sense and even in the context of the movie it doesn’t make any. And I would say more but I don’t want to spoil it for everyone else, so see it for yourself… if you dare.
Rating: 3/5
Featuring: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Genre: horror, thriller, sci fi
Plot: creatures from the mist take over the world
Acting: believable
Drama: survival is at stake
Action: fights with the beasts
Funny: not at all
Visuals: disgusting… horror freaks will have a ball
Soundtrack: -
Official website: http://www.themist-movie.com/
Comments: I’ve never read one of Stephen King’s book, I started one a few years ago and then I put it away and never finished it, it was just not my cup of tea. Oddly enough I’ve always liked the movies made after his books. It’s the only reason way I watched The Mist. Maybe I shouldn’t have. It left me with a shaken up feeling that I found it hard to get rid of. The way I remember it King’s movie used to be more about the psychology of fear, a feature that still remains, and less about the actual violence. Well, except for maybe the Children of the Corn series. You want to see monsters and people ripped in half? There you go. And here’s some more. Beside the fact that it portrays normal human reactions, as bad as these may be, and you know from the start that nothing good can happen on the way, after all it is a King movie, nothing can prepare for the ending. Who on earth wants to see cutie Thomas Jane with that bovine look of his suffer to no end even after the movie ends? It makes no sense and even in the context of the movie it doesn’t make any. And I would say more but I don’t want to spoil it for everyone else, so see it for yourself… if you dare.
Rating: 3/5
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Movie Review: Enchanted
*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***
Featuring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Susan Sarandon
Genre: fantasy, adventure, comedy, romance, animation
Plot: cartoon princess lost in the real world
Acting: very good
Drama: the Princess falls in love with a real human
Action: Prince Edward is always chasing something, and did I mention the dragon?
Funny: very funny and unlike Stardust it really fits
Visuals: nice, very nice without being over the top or trying to be really fantastic
Soundtrack: great musical numbers written by Alan Menken who also wrote the scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame… would have liked to hear Patrick Dempsey sing too
Official website: http://enchantedmovie.com/
Comments: This is one of those modern tales that have the potential to become a cult and be remembered years to come. This having been said, and let me insist on the part that this is indeed a great movie, there are some things that annoy me. The lead actors are a bit too old for their parts, like a good 10 years too old. While they all look great, fairytales Princesses are supposed to be in their late teens or early twenties and not in their thirties like Amy Adams is. And let’s not even mention Patrick Dempsey who’s in his forties. It is obvious that Amy Adams has studied the Disney Princesses well, perhaps too well even, since she’s playing a real life one to the dot sometimes even exaggerating it a bit too much. Big wide open eye doesn’t bother us so much in cartoon characters but they’re not natural for normal people. The white dress she’s wearing in the beginning is lovely, must be magical too since she gets with it through the sewer, in the metro, gets rained on and does a full house cleaning in it managing to have it remain bright clean. And how many days do you think she’d last in the lawyer’s house before she ran out of curtains and carpets to make new dresses of? Patrick Dempsey plays his part perfectly impersonating this a tad cynic single father who’s swept away by the beautiful girl escaped from the asylum, sorry that should be Andalasia. He’s the one who looks best in period attire, reminding us vaguely of Leopold from Kate & Leopold played by Hugh Jackman. He could have used a better nicer fiancée though. Getting to James Marsden now, he plays the valiant handsome silly Prince were so used to in all Disney movies. No wonder the Princess has to save the day! I feel like Susan Sarandon could have been used more, and so the sidekick chipmunk. But other than that it’s a lovely story fit for children and adults too, perfectly fit for holidays. Enjoy!
Rating: 4/5
Featuring: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Susan Sarandon
Genre: fantasy, adventure, comedy, romance, animation
Plot: cartoon princess lost in the real world
Acting: very good
Drama: the Princess falls in love with a real human
Action: Prince Edward is always chasing something, and did I mention the dragon?
Funny: very funny and unlike Stardust it really fits
Visuals: nice, very nice without being over the top or trying to be really fantastic
Soundtrack: great musical numbers written by Alan Menken who also wrote the scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Newsies, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame… would have liked to hear Patrick Dempsey sing too
Official website: http://enchantedmovie.com/
Comments: This is one of those modern tales that have the potential to become a cult and be remembered years to come. This having been said, and let me insist on the part that this is indeed a great movie, there are some things that annoy me. The lead actors are a bit too old for their parts, like a good 10 years too old. While they all look great, fairytales Princesses are supposed to be in their late teens or early twenties and not in their thirties like Amy Adams is. And let’s not even mention Patrick Dempsey who’s in his forties. It is obvious that Amy Adams has studied the Disney Princesses well, perhaps too well even, since she’s playing a real life one to the dot sometimes even exaggerating it a bit too much. Big wide open eye doesn’t bother us so much in cartoon characters but they’re not natural for normal people. The white dress she’s wearing in the beginning is lovely, must be magical too since she gets with it through the sewer, in the metro, gets rained on and does a full house cleaning in it managing to have it remain bright clean. And how many days do you think she’d last in the lawyer’s house before she ran out of curtains and carpets to make new dresses of? Patrick Dempsey plays his part perfectly impersonating this a tad cynic single father who’s swept away by the beautiful girl escaped from the asylum, sorry that should be Andalasia. He’s the one who looks best in period attire, reminding us vaguely of Leopold from Kate & Leopold played by Hugh Jackman. He could have used a better nicer fiancée though. Getting to James Marsden now, he plays the valiant handsome silly Prince were so used to in all Disney movies. No wonder the Princess has to save the day! I feel like Susan Sarandon could have been used more, and so the sidekick chipmunk. But other than that it’s a lovely story fit for children and adults too, perfectly fit for holidays. Enjoy!
Rating: 4/5
Monday, November 19, 2007
Alexei Yagudin in Victoria Daineko music video
http://www.nsk.kp.ru/daily/24003.5/81883/
http://www.sokolov2007.ru/post57462837/
Lookind forward to hear him sing.
http://www.sokolov2007.ru/post57462837/
Lookind forward to hear him sing.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Movie Review: Lions For Lambs
*** MIGTH CONTAIN SPOILERS! ***
Featuring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cuise
Genre: political drama
Plot: new disastrous plan to take over Afganistan
Acting: tree big names who don’t hold back but could certainly give more
Drama: the state of affairs in America
Action: bad war scenes… the verbal duel is somehow enthralling but lacking as a whole
Funny: no, and it wasn’t supposed to be
Visuals: poor, cheap… miles away from being Hallmark material… and it’s just not right for Robert Redford at his age to look better than Tom Cruise.
Soundtrack: did it have one?
Comments: The movie is definitely telling the truth but even with two if not three very good actors fails to deliver. Why? First it should have started with a better script. The three interdependent storylines never intersect and the movie isn’t perceived as a tight unit. Second there are problems with each storyline. Cruise tries and he usually is, or used to be, good in debating stories. This time it just doesn’t work. I initially blamed it on the script and it’s true that his character is weaker than the other two but the movie is badly written as a whole given that it’s not smart and it’s just stating facts. And then it occurred to me. Cruise will never be believable portraying such a character, even if he as an actor might be able to do it, we are just too used to see him as the good guy, maybe not perfect but definitely a good guy, a hero, to the core.
With Meryl Streep there’s whole different problem. She does a very good job, but somehow I would have imagined her part being played with more edge or by someone with more edge. She’s supposed to be a tough reporter who’d covered wars in her career before too. And she gets a panic attack when she understands the truth? What about the hotflushes she displays? At those 57 years of age we’re told she is menopause had to be over, people. As for the crying at the sight of the graves… she wouldn’t have survived in the business for so long if she had been so impressionable.
The poor soldiers sent on a death mission are not at fault. Their background and education had brought them there and their characters were too much schematized to expect anything more. Want a war movie? Watch Rescue Dawn, there’s true war.
So now we get to the college scenes, the place where America’s future is being prepared. Well, by the look of it there’s not much hope for that future. What bother is the fact that we’re seeing nothing to convince us that Redford’s character really is a brilliant professor. He is being academic, detached somehow in spite of his honest efforts to wake up a so called bright promising student. That we don’t buy his belief it’s beside the point.
The most annoying and ultimately disappointed part is that through the entire duration of the movie it keeps you waiting for something, something worth waiting for, something defining, a catharsis, that we don’t get. The movie is left with an open ending that should somehow suggest America’s options to take one path or another and make a change, but once again it doesn’t have the impact they were hoping for. As a political and social statement it works, but as a cinematical experience it doesn’t, not at all.
Rating: 3/5
Featuring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cuise
Genre: political drama
Plot: new disastrous plan to take over Afganistan
Acting: tree big names who don’t hold back but could certainly give more
Drama: the state of affairs in America
Action: bad war scenes… the verbal duel is somehow enthralling but lacking as a whole
Funny: no, and it wasn’t supposed to be
Visuals: poor, cheap… miles away from being Hallmark material… and it’s just not right for Robert Redford at his age to look better than Tom Cruise.
Soundtrack: did it have one?
Comments: The movie is definitely telling the truth but even with two if not three very good actors fails to deliver. Why? First it should have started with a better script. The three interdependent storylines never intersect and the movie isn’t perceived as a tight unit. Second there are problems with each storyline. Cruise tries and he usually is, or used to be, good in debating stories. This time it just doesn’t work. I initially blamed it on the script and it’s true that his character is weaker than the other two but the movie is badly written as a whole given that it’s not smart and it’s just stating facts. And then it occurred to me. Cruise will never be believable portraying such a character, even if he as an actor might be able to do it, we are just too used to see him as the good guy, maybe not perfect but definitely a good guy, a hero, to the core.
With Meryl Streep there’s whole different problem. She does a very good job, but somehow I would have imagined her part being played with more edge or by someone with more edge. She’s supposed to be a tough reporter who’d covered wars in her career before too. And she gets a panic attack when she understands the truth? What about the hotflushes she displays? At those 57 years of age we’re told she is menopause had to be over, people. As for the crying at the sight of the graves… she wouldn’t have survived in the business for so long if she had been so impressionable.
The poor soldiers sent on a death mission are not at fault. Their background and education had brought them there and their characters were too much schematized to expect anything more. Want a war movie? Watch Rescue Dawn, there’s true war.
So now we get to the college scenes, the place where America’s future is being prepared. Well, by the look of it there’s not much hope for that future. What bother is the fact that we’re seeing nothing to convince us that Redford’s character really is a brilliant professor. He is being academic, detached somehow in spite of his honest efforts to wake up a so called bright promising student. That we don’t buy his belief it’s beside the point.
The most annoying and ultimately disappointed part is that through the entire duration of the movie it keeps you waiting for something, something worth waiting for, something defining, a catharsis, that we don’t get. The movie is left with an open ending that should somehow suggest America’s options to take one path or another and make a change, but once again it doesn’t have the impact they were hoping for. As a political and social statement it works, but as a cinematical experience it doesn’t, not at all.
Rating: 3/5
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