recent product reviews
Shutter Island (2010)
A classic thriller. Scorsese definitely channeled Hitchcock for this one. Story is nice and twisty. Great sets, careful special effects, and smooth, sweeping camera motions really set the mood. Some editing/continuity errors. I know a lot of it was intentional, but some of it was just sloppy. DiCaprio’s good at…
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Drive (2011)
Intriguing. Artsy direction, with beautiful photography and poignant moments of silence and reflection. The mixed score of echoey percussion (reminiscent of Heat) and the 80’s-inspired soundtrack, along with the old school font and colors for the title and credits, give the film a very interesting feel. Early on, the lack…
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The Dream Team (2012)
Some good stories, some good footage. But instead of individual interviews of players saying how awesome it was, group interviews may have rekindled some of that old camaraderie. Would have been nice to see. Graphics showing the actual scores of games they played as they progressed to the gold medal…
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Thunderball (1965)
A magic combination of action, one-liners, and sexuality separated Bond movies from the rest. But here, we’ve got a the goofy story, bad dubbing, and dated effects.
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Ted (2012)
Polished and touching, but I was expecting more real comedy from Seth. There’s lots of easy “I can’t believe he said that” humor, but not much real wit. Somehow, I think that this was a learning experience for Seth. His future live-action movies will be much better.
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997)
An insult to Verne that something so low-budget and poorly acted was made from his masterpiece. Julie Cox is attractive like an alien.
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Oldboy (2003)
A twisted story, raw and intense. Choi Min-sik keeps us engaged the whole way. Nice photography and editing.
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Das Boot (1981)
A noble attempt to make a real movie during an otherwise awkward and unsatisfying few years in film history. But there’s not much going on. These guys spend days on end looking for other boats and picking at each others pubic lice, and it feels like we’re watching it all…
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Mary and Max (2009)
Funny writing and great animation. Pretty cool how everything form Australia was brown and everything from New York was gray. All the dark humor is fun but is so excessive that it prevents any real drama. Lots of farting and random animal suffering. Death is whimsical. The main theme is…
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Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger – London, New York, Johannesburg (2008)
Chris Rock’s got it. Good stuff. Your standard Rock material, topical and on point. Amazing how seamlessly it’s all woven together. Rock seems to be pretty good about staying on script.
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I'm a photographer, web developer, travel enthusiast, and movie buff living in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.In the summer of 1993, I started writing reviews for every movie I saw and haven't looked back. I'm up to 2,388 reviews now. This makes me cool or a complete dork, depending on your perspective.
Some of these reviews contain spoilers, so if that bothers you, don't read!
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