I had massively lowered expectations for this after all the bad reviews, which may be why I thought it was OK. Far too much Mater, but aside from him the espionage stuff was pretty fun.
Mercifully shorter and faster-paced than the first film, I think I probably enjoyed this more.
I hadn't even heard of this before the new Masters of Cinema Blu-ray, but thank goodness for them because it really is superb. Ray Milland is astounding. And the BD is excellent too, gorgeous PQ and packed to bursting with special features.
Was a bit disappointed by this one. Had heard it built up as a minor classic, and it had an intriguing premise, but it felt underwhelming -- it spends most of the movie slowly building mystery, only to brush past the reveals in half a second each!
Great entry in the Holmes canon! Very atmospheric direction, and at least one properly chilling murder too -- definitely earns its place on that horror list, in my opinion.
Seemed to hear nothing but bad things about this, but I thought it was fun. Mainly one for those with nostalgia for seeing the original series at the right age though.
And as someone else said, if you were expecting a belated third sequel to be "the greatest horror movie ever", you were always going to be disappointed.
"Americans just can't make a Sherlock Holmes movie"
Ah yes, that renowned American, Guy Ritchie...
Think some commenters are being too harsh on this. That said, it isn't as good as the first one, which was more fun and more faithful to the originals (a lot more faithful than many an uppity casual observer is intelligent enough to realise).
If you start removing TV series, where do you stop?
Take a TV movie: is that a movie or a TV show? What if it was originally shown on TV in one country but theatrically released in another?
What about direct-to-DVD content?
What about miniseries? And if you keep miniseries, what constitutes one? Americans often call a British series a miniseries because it's so short, so what counts? Or do you just follow IMDb and have things change as they change there?
The line between TV and film is increasingly blurred, and it's just going to get more so in the future. Quality TV has had film-level production values for a long time now, and it's continually spreading (it started with just premium shows on the likes of HBO, but any old network series can potentially look as good (or better) than a movie these days). And it's not just the look, it's the content. Sure, an episodic police procedural is still just factory line entertainment... but then so are blockbusters. And if you really want to assert that a 90-minute Issue Movie can cover something in more depth than a 12-hour authored season of TV...
To discount TV is just snobbery. It should stay. And if some stays, it all must stay.
This seems to come in for a lot of critical stick (when it comes up at all), but I thought it was about as good as The Four Musketeers. Neither are a patch on the first one though.
The lack of Super & Kick-Ass's crude humour both works for and against Special: it gives a different tone and feel, which is nice (and preferable to some people), but means it lacks the same kind of punch as the others. While I personally would give the later two films 5/5, this is a solid 4.
I can understand most of the criticisms of this film (even though I enjoyed it in a watch-once trashy way), but saying the "action scenes were unrealistic" makes you look dumb by spectacularly missing the point.
There's good bits in it, but it felt too much like someone gave the writers a check list of "bits of mythology you must include" and they struggled to shape a story around including them all. Shame.
It's been a while since I watched it, but looking back at my review I commented that it "is often surprisingly scene-specific, sometimes even shot-specific". So it's not "just audio", because it needs (or at least works best with) the film it's a commentary on.
It amazes me anyone can like or defend such an incompetently made film. I've seen worse, but not any I can think of from such a high-profile and once-praised director.
There seems to be some decent stuff tucked away in there, but it's buried by woefully-written dialogue, a lack of basic storytelling skill (has no one told Shyamalan "show don't tell"?) and an ill-explained world. The pacing is shot as well -- it feels like a season of TV someone chopped away at to make it fit 90 minutes, and like they did a clumsy job of it too.
And then there's a cliffhanger too! I do wish films that have no certainty of getting a sequel would stop ending on such blatant setups -- they usually fail to generate enough interest to justify a follow-up (see: Eragon, Golden Compass, etc).
Obviously this isn't a Great Film, but I think it's surprisingly good for the kind of flick it is.
It works because Elle is a genuinely nice person, and because it doesn't put down clever people and celebrate the bimbo lifestyle. It advocates being nice, trying hard and not judging on appearance or first impression, which are pretty positive messages.
Thought I'd hate this, but it's actually kinda enjoyable. The acting's crap, the plot's rehashed from countless other things, but the car action is quite good.
It's like fast food -- you know it's bad for your health, but it's tasty now and then.
I wonder if people who moan about omissions from these lists are aware they're based on the votes at IMDb, not a curated list of critically acclaimed films. If you want something on/off, go vote it up/down on IMDb and get your mates to do the same, maybe it'll happen.
Don't understand the criticism about the pace -- thought that was absolutely fine. McConaughey surprisingly good too.
At the end of the day, it's nothing more exemplary than the best feature-length TV detective/legal series... but I guess they don't really do that form in the US (whereas here in the UK, TV's loaded with them), so as an outlet for that it was a nice slick example.
If you accept it's going to be ridiculously daft, it's actually quite enjoyable... for a while anyway -- mainly when Cruella's being good -- but then it just begins to rehash the first film.
Well, I enjoyed it, once it got going (there's a whole lot of needless pottering about in a train for the first half hour). Naturally it doesn't bear a huge resemblance to its real-life inspiration, though people criticising some bits might want to read up a bit:
"The firing squad trying to hit the button was ridiculous." From Wikipedia's page on the real incident: "police shot at an Emergency Fuel Cutoff switch, although this had no effect because the button must be pressed for several seconds before the engine is starved of fuel and shuts down."
"Pine is the unbalanced rookie with a heart, and Washington is the skilled veteran with the know-how and heart. Sound familiar ?" The film might make it extra cliched, but in real life there was "a crew of two, an engineer with 31 years of service and a conductor with one year's experience". Sometimes cliches are cliches cos they're true, eh.
Like several other commenters, though this was good fun. Pretty much what was advertised too, so anyone expecting anything other than Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in some deliberately silly action sequences and mass-market comedy had their expectations set all wrong.
Comments 226 - 250 of 277
Movie comment on Hawaiian Vacation
badblokebob
Better than the feature-length film they attached it to, which probably wasn't the brightest idea.Movie comment on Cars 2
badblokebob
I had massively lowered expectations for this after all the bad reviews, which may be why I thought it was OK. Far too much Mater, but aside from him the espionage stuff was pretty fun.Mercifully shorter and faster-paced than the first film, I think I probably enjoyed this more.
Movie comment on The Lost Weekend
badblokebob
I hadn't even heard of this before the new Masters of Cinema Blu-ray, but thank goodness for them because it really is superb. Ray Milland is astounding. And the BD is excellent too, gorgeous PQ and packed to bursting with special features.Definitely a forgotten classic.
Movie comment on Bad Day at Black Rock
badblokebob
Was a bit disappointed by this one. Had heard it built up as a minor classic, and it had an intriguing premise, but it felt underwhelming -- it spends most of the movie slowly building mystery, only to brush past the reveals in half a second each!Movie comment on The Scarlet Claw
badblokebob
Great entry in the Holmes canon! Very atmospheric direction, and at least one properly chilling murder too -- definitely earns its place on that horror list, in my opinion.Movie comment on Scream 4
badblokebob
Seemed to hear nothing but bad things about this, but I thought it was fun. Mainly one for those with nostalgia for seeing the original series at the right age though.And as someone else said, if you were expecting a belated third sequel to be "the greatest horror movie ever", you were always going to be disappointed.
Movie comment on Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
badblokebob
"Americans just can't make a Sherlock Holmes movie"Ah yes, that renowned American, Guy Ritchie...
Think some commenters are being too harsh on this. That said, it isn't as good as the first one, which was more fun and more faithful to the originals (a lot more faithful than many an uppity casual observer is intelligent enough to realise).
Blog comment on Home Improvement
badblokebob
If you start removing TV series, where do you stop?Take a TV movie: is that a movie or a TV show? What if it was originally shown on TV in one country but theatrically released in another?
What about direct-to-DVD content?
What about miniseries? And if you keep miniseries, what constitutes one? Americans often call a British series a miniseries because it's so short, so what counts? Or do you just follow IMDb and have things change as they change there?
The line between TV and film is increasingly blurred, and it's just going to get more so in the future. Quality TV has had film-level production values for a long time now, and it's continually spreading (it started with just premium shows on the likes of HBO, but any old network series can potentially look as good (or better) than a movie these days). And it's not just the look, it's the content. Sure, an episodic police procedural is still just factory line entertainment... but then so are blockbusters. And if you really want to assert that a 90-minute Issue Movie can cover something in more depth than a 12-hour authored season of TV...
To discount TV is just snobbery. It should stay. And if some stays, it all must stay.
Movie comment on The Return of the Musketeers
badblokebob
This seems to come in for a lot of critical stick (when it comes up at all), but I thought it was about as good as The Four Musketeers. Neither are a patch on the first one though.Movie comment on Special
badblokebob
DJPowWow has it pretty much spot-on.The lack of Super & Kick-Ass's crude humour both works for and against Special: it gives a different tone and feel, which is nice (and preferable to some people), but means it lacks the same kind of punch as the others. While I personally would give the later two films 5/5, this is a solid 4.
Movie comment on Drive Angry
badblokebob
I can understand most of the criticisms of this film (even though I enjoyed it in a watch-once trashy way), but saying the "action scenes were unrealistic" makes you look dumb by spectacularly missing the point.Movie comment on Captain America: The First Avenger
badblokebob
There's good bits in it, but it felt too much like someone gave the writers a check list of "bits of mythology you must include" and they struggled to shape a story around including them all. Shame.Movie comment on Chatroom
badblokebob
Started off interestingly, but completely lost its way through the second half.Movie comment on Despicable Me
badblokebob
Preferred Megamind, personally.Movie comment on Megamind
badblokebob
Funny to see some people describe it as slow -- I thought it moved at a fair lick, quicker than I expected even.I enjoyed it. Shame it seems to have disappeared in Despicable Me's shadow.
Movie comment on Commentary! The Musical
badblokebob
It's been a while since I watched it, but looking back at my review I commented that it "is often surprisingly scene-specific, sometimes even shot-specific". So it's not "just audio", because it needs (or at least works best with) the film it's a commentary on.Movie comment on The Last Airbender
badblokebob
It amazes me anyone can like or defend such an incompetently made film. I've seen worse, but not any I can think of from such a high-profile and once-praised director.There seems to be some decent stuff tucked away in there, but it's buried by woefully-written dialogue, a lack of basic storytelling skill (has no one told Shyamalan "show don't tell"?) and an ill-explained world. The pacing is shot as well -- it feels like a season of TV someone chopped away at to make it fit 90 minutes, and like they did a clumsy job of it too.
And then there's a cliffhanger too! I do wish films that have no certainty of getting a sequel would stop ending on such blatant setups -- they usually fail to generate enough interest to justify a follow-up (see: Eragon, Golden Compass, etc).
Movie comment on Legally Blonde
badblokebob
Obviously this isn't a Great Film, but I think it's surprisingly good for the kind of flick it is.It works because Elle is a genuinely nice person, and because it doesn't put down clever people and celebrate the bimbo lifestyle. It advocates being nice, trying hard and not judging on appearance or first impression, which are pretty positive messages.
Movie comment on 2 Fast 2 Furious
badblokebob
Thought I'd hate this, but it's actually kinda enjoyable. The acting's crap, the plot's rehashed from countless other things, but the car action is quite good.It's like fast food -- you know it's bad for your health, but it's tasty now and then.
Movie comment on The Lady Eve
badblokebob
Have to agree with sureup -- really enjoyed it, until the final 2 minutes when it just rushes to an end with no logic.Toplist comment on IMDb's Crime Top 50
badblokebob
I wonder if people who moan about omissions from these lists are aware they're based on the votes at IMDb, not a curated list of critically acclaimed films. If you want something on/off, go vote it up/down on IMDb and get your mates to do the same, maybe it'll happen.Movie comment on The Lincoln Lawyer
badblokebob
Don't understand the criticism about the pace -- thought that was absolutely fine. McConaughey surprisingly good too.At the end of the day, it's nothing more exemplary than the best feature-length TV detective/legal series... but I guess they don't really do that form in the US (whereas here in the UK, TV's loaded with them), so as an outlet for that it was a nice slick example.
Movie comment on 102 Dalmatians
badblokebob
If you accept it's going to be ridiculously daft, it's actually quite enjoyable... for a while anyway -- mainly when Cruella's being good -- but then it just begins to rehash the first film.Movie comment on Unstoppable
badblokebob
Well, I enjoyed it, once it got going (there's a whole lot of needless pottering about in a train for the first half hour). Naturally it doesn't bear a huge resemblance to its real-life inspiration, though people criticising some bits might want to read up a bit:"The firing squad trying to hit the button was ridiculous." From Wikipedia's page on the real incident: "police shot at an Emergency Fuel Cutoff switch, although this had no effect because the button must be pressed for several seconds before the engine is starved of fuel and shuts down."
"Pine is the unbalanced rookie with a heart, and Washington is the skilled veteran with the know-how and heart. Sound familiar ?" The film might make it extra cliched, but in real life there was "a crew of two, an engineer with 31 years of service and a conductor with one year's experience". Sometimes cliches are cliches cos they're true, eh.
Movie comment on Knight and Day
badblokebob
Like several other commenters, though this was good fun. Pretty much what was advertised too, so anyone expecting anything other than Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in some deliberately silly action sequences and mass-market comedy had their expectations set all wrong.No classic, but fun enough.
Showing items 226 – 250 of 277