Quick Movie Reviews: Vol 2
A while back I did this because I was feeling lazy. Well it’s back not because I’m feeling lazy but because I tend to watch a lot of films and this month has been a bonanza. Sometimes I just don’t have it in me to write an entire review because I know I’ll be too biased or don’t have much to say. I’m also thinking of having this as a regular thing every month. So without further ado let’s look at the next three contestants.
Limitless (2011)
I didn’t mind this movie at all. Bradley Cooper really does carry this movie and without his leading man skills this film would have probably exploded from the schizophrenic feel. The main problem is that it’s not sure what it wants to be, light sci-fi, drama, comedy, thriller. It’s hard to get in the right mood and because of this the movie does feel disjointed, and something I can’t give full marks to. I haven’t seen this type of rapidly altering mood in a movie since Man of the Year (which I also liked). Maybe with some more fine tuning this could have been a very decent movie. The right ingredients are there but maybe some more time on script and direction would have been a plus. Oh and Robert DeNiro phones in another performance, he’s good but I want to see him stretch a little, we all know he has it in him.
Battle: Los Angeles (2011)
Wow! I’m just amazed at the anger that is thrown towards this movie by critics. They are going on like this is one of the worst alien invasion movies to grace the silver screen. I would rank this higher than Independence Day as a movie, yet rotten tomato gives ID4 61% and B:LA 33%. One complaint is that other than Aaron Eckhart’s character everyone is just a cliche character, gee you mean like all the characters in ID4? Aaron Eckhart by the way truly is the be all and end all of this movie. His performance is where everything is centered and I was cheering for him throughout the film. Complaints could be leveled at the shaky cam on display, yet I could see a lot more here than say The Bourne movies, and yet this shaky cam feel is exactly how I think it would feel in the heat of battle. Sure I’m not claiming that this is a perfect film, it’s pretty straight forward and don’t expect any deep moments, but I had some real fun in this movie and on a visceral level I was pleased.
The Mechanic (2011)
In my mind there are two movies in one here. The first half was awesome. Jason Statham was great in a role that he’s done countless times before; Ben Foster is also gold as the apprentice of Statham’s hitman. There is a great slow build up, and we do get some quiet moments where we get to see how the two characters operate. One is cold and calculating yet wants something more, the other is overly emotion and in a downward spiral and yet wants focus in his life. Then we hit the half way mark, the action kicks in and I absolutely hate this god damn movie. Sense is thrown out of the window, plot holes start appearing like wild Pokemon, rapid fire editing actually confuses me and I’m not sure what is happening on the screen, endings happen that reek of reshoots and test audiences, and finally I leave the cinema actually pissed that I’ve wasted my time on this movie. This is a pretty damn rare occurrence. I shouldn’t get this worked up over a movie but somehow The Mechanic just did. So I’ll say it loud and proud, SCREW THIS MOVIE.
Limitless (2011)I didn’t mind this movie at all. Bradley Cooper really does carry this movie and without his leading man skills this film would have probably exploded from the schizophrenic feel. The main problem is that it’s not sure what it wants to be, light sci-fi, drama, comedy, thriller. It’s hard to get in the right mood and because of this the movie does feel disjointed, and something I can’t give full marks to. I haven’t seen this type of rapidly altering mood in a movie since Man of the Year (which I also liked). Maybe with some more fine tuning this could have been a very decent movie. The right ingredients are there but maybe some more time on script and direction would have been a plus. Oh and Robert DeNiro phones in another performance, he’s good but I want to see him stretch a little, we all know he has it in him.
Battle: Los Angeles (2011)Wow! I’m just amazed at the anger that is thrown towards this movie by critics. They are going on like this is one of the worst alien invasion movies to grace the silver screen. I would rank this higher than Independence Day as a movie, yet rotten tomato gives ID4 61% and B:LA 33%. One complaint is that other than Aaron Eckhart’s character everyone is just a cliche character, gee you mean like all the characters in ID4? Aaron Eckhart by the way truly is the be all and end all of this movie. His performance is where everything is centered and I was cheering for him throughout the film. Complaints could be leveled at the shaky cam on display, yet I could see a lot more here than say The Bourne movies, and yet this shaky cam feel is exactly how I think it would feel in the heat of battle. Sure I’m not claiming that this is a perfect film, it’s pretty straight forward and don’t expect any deep moments, but I had some real fun in this movie and on a visceral level I was pleased.
The Mechanic (2011)In my mind there are two movies in one here. The first half was awesome. Jason Statham was great in a role that he’s done countless times before; Ben Foster is also gold as the apprentice of Statham’s hitman. There is a great slow build up, and we do get some quiet moments where we get to see how the two characters operate. One is cold and calculating yet wants something more, the other is overly emotion and in a downward spiral and yet wants focus in his life. Then we hit the half way mark, the action kicks in and I absolutely hate this god damn movie. Sense is thrown out of the window, plot holes start appearing like wild Pokemon, rapid fire editing actually confuses me and I’m not sure what is happening on the screen, endings happen that reek of reshoots and test audiences, and finally I leave the cinema actually pissed that I’ve wasted my time on this movie. This is a pretty damn rare occurrence. I shouldn’t get this worked up over a movie but somehow The Mechanic just did. So I’ll say it loud and proud, SCREW THIS MOVIE.
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