The high IMDb vote is probably down to a desperate promotional effort by people involved in the film's production. The massive costs already suggest that there is some sort of accounting scam going on behind the scenes.
Completely overrated. There's a real mismatch of tone throughout: the swearing, off-colour humour and violence seem to be aimed at teenagers, but the lazy hole-ridden plot and a lot of the childishness seems more appropriate for a much younger audience.
The worst thing about these found footage movies is spending the first hour ploughing through scenes of inane banter intended to simulate unedited camcorder footage.
In the spectrum of parody movies, this ranks somewhere in the middle, with as many gags falling flat as succeed. That still means that there are quite a few laughs, but it feels average and a rank below even the Hot Shots films. It flopped on its release and got a critical mauling, holding 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, which it nowhere near deserves. Compared to the execrable state of modern spoof films, of the sort that Friedberg and Seltzer churn out, it looks like a masterpiece.
The story is inherently nasty and hypocritical in the way it spends a long time whipping up righteous outrage over the Pharaoh's mass murder of Hebrew children and then climaxes with the Hebrews triumphing by having God mass murder the Egyptian children. Moses doesn't seem to be in control of much at all, being reduced to looking glum as God creates chaos around him. Otherwise the movie feels humourless and sermon-like, but has some good art direction apart from some rather uninteresting character designs and OK songs.
I like the way this film emphasises the "Fear of the Other" subtext that undlerlies the Dracula story, making clear that Dracula represents fears of foreigners coming to steal our women and money. It is also the only Dracula adaptation that includes the moment from the novel where
Dracula bleeds gold coins
.
The ballet aspect is less impressive, as the choice of having a lot of fast cuts and close-ups takes away from the technical feat of the dancing.
I wish more had been made of the twins concept. It could have been used to confuse/trick the villains or the twins could have teamed up on a single enemy, but this never happens.
Looks and sounds astonishingly beautiful, but I found the story unsatisfying and uninteresting. Bill should have
just turned himself in: clear-cut case of self-defence against somebody who people saw attack him the night before. Then he runs and shoots at the cops while surrounded. He basically comitted suicide.
Desperately tries to be cool, and does show some style in many scenes, but is also aggressively quirky and unpleasantly glib. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
Completely formulaic "chosen one" summer blockbuster, with many plot beats stolen from The Matrix and given a mystical makeover. The special effects are relentless and uninteresting, none of the humour works, and the whole thing is weighted down by masses of arcane technobabble that drives the plot: the opening exposition scene alone is filled with so much magical jargon it feels like a lecture that there's going to be a test on later.
There are two very different versions of this: Lisa and the Devil is the one to watch, House of Exorcism is a butchered version with about a third of the film cut out and embarrassingly bad exorcism scenes inserted.
Rather poor attempt to do a Bourne film with a teenage girl in the lead. The action scenes are poor and the heroes never seem to be under much threat because the villains are frustratingly useless.
Two hours of uninvestable action aimed at teenage American males. Also, the Joes stand around watching while Cobra Commander kills millions of people in an act of terror that is never mentioned again.
There are flashes of bravura lyricism, particularly a desolate island with literal rivers of blood, that reminded me of how good Jordan can be, but the film is let down by a plodding, portentuous and unsurpising script with an awful lot of uninspired dialogue.
It's a very well-made film, but I found it quite a struggle to watch because I found all the characters on both sides to be utterly vile. Also, despite claims of even-handedness, the film takes an insidious pleasure in showing the Algerians outwitting and killing the French cops and soldiers, while the French victories mostly happen off-screen.
I liked the series, and initially this film feels pretty funny and a worthy continution, but the curse of TV-to-film adaptations means that the misguided need to turn everything up to 11 and provide everybody with learning experiences and triumphant arc resolutions causes the laughs to peter out after the first half hour.
Comments 226 - 250 of 502
Movie comment on The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure
ChrisReynolds
Astonishingly this is the worst-performing wide-release film of all time, somehow costing $60 million to produce and market.The high IMDb vote is probably down to a desperate promotional effort by people involved in the film's production. The massive costs already suggest that there is some sort of accounting scam going on behind the scenes.
Movie comment on Streets of Fire
ChrisReynolds
Ignore the plot and dialogue. The musical numbers and neon-noir production design are what make this movie so good.Movie comment on The Monster Squad
ChrisReynolds
Completely overrated. There's a real mismatch of tone throughout: the swearing, off-colour humour and violence seem to be aimed at teenagers, but the lazy hole-ridden plot and a lot of the childishness seems more appropriate for a much younger audience.Movie comment on The Dyatlov Pass Incident
ChrisReynolds
The worst thing about these found footage movies is spending the first hour ploughing through scenes of inane banter intended to simulate unedited camcorder footage.Movie comment on Loaded Weapon 1
ChrisReynolds
In the spectrum of parody movies, this ranks somewhere in the middle, with as many gags falling flat as succeed. That still means that there are quite a few laughs, but it feels average and a rank below even the Hot Shots films. It flopped on its release and got a critical mauling, holding 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, which it nowhere near deserves. Compared to the execrable state of modern spoof films, of the sort that Friedberg and Seltzer churn out, it looks like a masterpiece.Movie comment on Cani arrabbiati
ChrisReynolds
Suspenseful and nihilistic portrait of some deeply unpleasant characters. This film is very good and deserves to be much better known.Movie comment on The Prince of Egypt
ChrisReynolds
The story is inherently nasty and hypocritical in the way it spends a long time whipping up righteous outrage over the Pharaoh's mass murder of Hebrew children and then climaxes with the Hebrews triumphing by having God mass murder the Egyptian children. Moses doesn't seem to be in control of much at all, being reduced to looking glum as God creates chaos around him. Otherwise the movie feels humourless and sermon-like, but has some good art direction apart from some rather uninteresting character designs and OK songs.Movie comment on Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary
ChrisReynolds
"Money! Stolen from England!"I like the way this film emphasises the "Fear of the Other" subtext that undlerlies the Dracula story, making clear that Dracula represents fears of foreigners coming to steal our women and money. It is also the only Dracula adaptation that includes the moment from the novel where
The ballet aspect is less impressive, as the choice of having a lot of fast cuts and close-ups takes away from the technical feat of the dancing.
Movie comment on Double Impact
ChrisReynolds
I wish more had been made of the twins concept. It could have been used to confuse/trick the villains or the twins could have teamed up on a single enemy, but this never happens.Movie comment on Beyond the Black Rainbow
ChrisReynolds
Like a nightmare in a good way for most of the running time, but the ending is a big let-down.Movie comment on Days of Heaven
ChrisReynolds
Looks and sounds astonishingly beautiful, but I found the story unsatisfying and uninteresting. Bill should haveMovie comment on The Boondock Saints
ChrisReynolds
Desperately tries to be cool, and does show some style in many scenes, but is also aggressively quirky and unpleasantly glib. Leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.Movie comment on The Sorcerer's Apprentice
ChrisReynolds
Completely formulaic "chosen one" summer blockbuster, with many plot beats stolen from The Matrix and given a mystical makeover. The special effects are relentless and uninteresting, none of the humour works, and the whole thing is weighted down by masses of arcane technobabble that drives the plot: the opening exposition scene alone is filled with so much magical jargon it feels like a lecture that there's going to be a test on later.Movie comment on Kandisha
ChrisReynolds
Posted by the director on IMDb:Movie comment on Culloden
ChrisReynolds
A fascinating account of a fascinating conflict. Informative and very moving at the end.Movie comment on A Horrible Way to Die
ChrisReynolds
Hold the camera still!Movie comment on Lisa e il diavolo
ChrisReynolds
There are two very different versions of this: Lisa and the Devil is the one to watch, House of Exorcism is a butchered version with about a third of the film cut out and embarrassingly bad exorcism scenes inserted.Movie comment on Hanna
ChrisReynolds
Rather poor attempt to do a Bourne film with a teenage girl in the lead. The action scenes are poor and the heroes never seem to be under much threat because the villains are frustratingly useless.Movie comment on G.I. Joe: Retaliation
ChrisReynolds
Two hours of uninvestable action aimed at teenage American males. Also, the Joes stand around watching while Cobra Commander kills millions of people in an act of terror that is never mentioned again.Movie comment on The Closet
ChrisReynolds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_8O3DCuppAMovie comment on Byzantium
ChrisReynolds
There are flashes of bravura lyricism, particularly a desolate island with literal rivers of blood, that reminded me of how good Jordan can be, but the film is let down by a plodding, portentuous and unsurpising script with an awful lot of uninspired dialogue.Movie comment on La battaglia di Algeri
ChrisReynolds
It's a very well-made film, but I found it quite a struggle to watch because I found all the characters on both sides to be utterly vile. Also, despite claims of even-handedness, the film takes an insidious pleasure in showing the Algerians outwitting and killing the French cops and soldiers, while the French victories mostly happen off-screen.Movie comment on The Inbetweeners Movie
ChrisReynolds
I liked the series, and initially this film feels pretty funny and a worthy continution, but the curse of TV-to-film adaptations means that the misguided need to turn everything up to 11 and provide everybody with learning experiences and triumphant arc resolutions causes the laughs to peter out after the first half hour.Movie comment on Danger! 50,000 Zombies!
ChrisReynolds
Youtube linkMovie comment on The Land Beyond the Sunset
ChrisReynolds
Beautifully moving and sophisticated in its use of a final image of magical realism open to interpretation.Showing items 226 – 250 of 502