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His Girl Friday (1940) - 7/10
I'm tempted to give it even lower than a 7 because some aspects of the film were a bit annoying to me but I recognize that sometimes when a character really makes you angry it means they did a good job acting. So much manipulation by some characters that I was surprised to see in something from the 40s. Smart writing and some fantastic editing keep it moving. Just when it starts to drag it picks up.
Haven't seen it but I love the remake Switching Channels with Burt Reynolds, Kathleen Turner, and Christopher Reeve.
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Posted: |
Aug 10, 2013 - 4:04 PM
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By: |
Sirusjr
(Member)
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Elysium (2013) 6/10
Even though I didn’t particularly like everything about “District 9? I recognized the elements that led some Hollywood executive to give the director, Neill Blomkamp, money to make a big budget action movie. His mech fights showed us a different side of the science-fiction spectacle movie, specifically mechanical effects that looked really cool. I was hesitant coming into “Elysium” but I am now more convinced that Blomkamp has skills as a director. He also has a great eye for special effects and action sequences but would do well to bring in a writer to help him on his next movie.
Given the obvious social commentary in “District 9? I was not surprised by the social commentary dripping off the “Elysium” trailer. I am not convinced much by the message “Elysium” pushes, so perhaps that was what kept me from liking the movie more than I do.
In the future presented in “Elysium”, earth is an overpopulated slum. Anyone with enough money to escape lives in a separate orbiting habitat called Elysium where they have a machine capable of curing people of any illness. It appears as if there is no cost to running these machines and yet the citizens of Elysium keep these to themselves. In order for the machine to even function to cure someone from Earth, it must be tricked with a fake Elysium ID.
Matt Damon plays a worker living on Earth who becomes terminally ill through an accident at work and decides to fight his way to Elysium at all costs so that he can be cured. We are treated to some exciting action sequences as he fights the people sent by Elysium to stop him. “Elysium” is one of the more gory action films I’ve seen in recent years, although the action sequences are relatively short. People are blown to bits on screen a number of times in detailed ways that you rarely see on screen these days. The fight scenes are impressive and include a fight scene between two people in exoskeletons that make them extra strong.
Ryan Amon wrote a pounding rhythmic action score for “Elysium” that blends orchestra with synthesizers. The music is a typical modern action score complete with wailing woman, heavy horns, and string ostinati. It does its job with the film and fits with its futuristic setting but doesn’t really stick with you after the film.
Though I enjoyed the movie overall, there were a few things that bothered me. For one, there were a few spots where characters behaved so stupidly that you could tell they it was only so that certain plot elements could work out. I won’t bother explaining these in detail but this is why I suggest that Blomkamp should hire a writer. Still, the most glaring annoyance with the film involves the medical machines. Though there is no apparent cost to using them, nobody on “Elysium” bothers to offer access to the people of Earth. This could simply be attributed to their lack of caring for the poor unwashed masses of Earth, but it also doesn’t seem to be in their best interests to withhold care.
For one thing, since they rely on the people of Earth for labor and manufacturing, it can’t be beneficial to simply let them die. Furthermore, since it seems the only thing that makes the people of Earth want to disrupt the balance of life on “Elysium” is their need for medical care, it would placate the masses if they had maybe one machine per country. The machines cure people so fast it wouldn’t take long for all the people with terminal illness to get cured.
Despite its flaws, “Elysium” displays some interesting ideas of how the future might look with the assistance of technology. It is interesting to watch all the little aspects of tech that make their world different. The action scenes are also unlike anything I have ever seen before on screen. Though we may see a number of movies featuring exoskeleton fights in the future, this is the first I’ve seen, and it is really cool to watch. If you are a science fiction fan and can ignore some of the more annoying aspects of social commentary in the film, it is a solid summer film and worth watching in theaters.
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Count me in among those who found D9 stupid. Sure it has good if not strong ideas and themes but once Wikus becomes a Prawn Hybrid, the film goes to hell and becomes idiotic.
- Really, the guy is the FIRST case of this and was filmed during work and no one watches the footage?
- The government is quick to whisk him off and have him test weapons but they too are stupid to not track his movement for the last 24 hours.
- They want to dissect him to study him... really? That would be like dissecting a dog's nose to see how it works and then try to fuse it with a human and mind you, Wikus is the first and thus ONLY link they have but once he runs its "just kill him"
And the things that happen to keep the story moving:
- A Baby Prawn happens to know how to work and pilot a machine that predates him but naturally does it at the last moment when needed.
- The exo-suit has a protection A.I. that saves our heroes in the nick of time.
- Our hero can barely stand conflict but becomes an all out killing machine in the third act.
It certainly brought the GORE and ULTRA-VIOLENCE but nothing else. Glad to read others found it as stupid as it was.
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RED 2 -- 7/10
This is a fun and silly film that thankfully doesn't take itself to seriously and is just as fun as the first film with the same humor and action that made the first one such a welcomed surprise.
Loved it.
PACIFIC RIM -- 7/10
While the script has some serious problems [a lot of which feel like scenes were cut] this is still a solid action film with some pretty impressive action scenes. I personally enjoyed the hell out of it and the score but it does have it weak points but still, this thing has more heart than all of the TRANSFORMERS combined and I would rate it with REEL STEEL as proof that CGI can in fact have heart especially with the right talent behind it.
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