Category: 4 stars

Good movies are reviewed in this category. These films are not necessarily masterpieces, but I enjoyed watching them. I would probably watch most of these films more than once. Have a look around for suggestions on what to grab for your Saturday evening.

Black Snake Moan

I just watched a really powerful movie – “Black Snake Moan“.  High quality, and I’m not talking about the DVD copy.

I liked this film from the first seconds.  Before it even started, it positioned itself as a blues movie.  And I love blues.  Gladly, the blues vibe, the atmosphere, and the soundtrack lasted through the whole film.  Some great stuff there, with the “Black Snake Moan” song scene being one of the best music scenes I’ve seen in the movies.

I liked the story and the way it was told.  It was very worked through.  Sometimes predictable, sometimes unexpected, but really followed through.  Probably the fact that the director Craig Brewer was also the one who wrote the script has something to do with it.

Also, there was really good acting.  Samuel Jackson played a character who was (or at least looked) much older than he is.  He did a really good job at that.  Christina Ricci, that little girl from the “Adams Family” … well, she’s not little anymore.  And she’s steaming hot. But not only that, she is a good actress too.  Her character in this movie was rather complicated, but she managed it just fine. Justin Timberlake pleasantly surprised too.  I just recently watched a film with him, and he is so different here that I didn’t even recognize him until the closing titles.  This guy too can act. And he seems to be picking up quite a lot of practice recently.  Also, there were quite a few good supporting actors in the film, so that the whole thing felt like real, like they are indeed inhabitants of a small rural town.

This film, although entertaining, is not purely entertainment.  It feels like it was done, because the filmmaker had something to say, something to show. There are a few things to think about during and after the movie…

Overall, a really nice film.  Strongly recommended for any fans of good acting, drama, and or blues music. 8 out of 10.

The Simpsons Movie

Are you a fan of Simpsons?  If so, this ,”The Simpsons Movie” is the absolute must see for you.  But then again you probably already watched it. Me, on the other hand, is not a big fan.  I like to watch an episode of Simpsons now and then, but I am getting tired of them pretty soon.  And that is probably the reason for it taking almost a week for me to watch the whole movie.

Normally, I allocate time for movie watching in such a way that I won’t be interrupted. But during the last week I simply didn’t have that luxury, even though the movie was already rented.  So, I decided that technically this movie is not a film (it’s an animation), so the normal guidelines can be bent a little bit.  I saw the whole thing in about three or four sessions, with a little bit of overlap to get me back to where I stopped the previous time.

I have to say that this movie is nice. It is not disconnected from the cartoon series.  It’s just longer and has a bigger story, but overall it looks and feels like the usual Simpsons.  The animation is the same, the humor is the same, and the sound might be slightly better than the TV version (I don’t have anything at hand to confirm it).  So, what’s more there to say?  It’s the Simpsons. If you like them, watch it. If not, then not.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Live Free or Die Hard

I just watched “Live Free or Die Hard” DVD, also known as “Die Hard 4.0”.  I was trying to catch it in the cinema, but somehow that didn’t happen.  I’m glad I finally caught up with it.

I was something anxious and worried about this new “Die Hard” episode.  After all, the previous parts were so good, and it’s been more than 10 years since the last one (the last one was “Die Hard: With a Vengeance” dated 1995).  With this new one be as good as those parts?  Isn’t Bruce Willis too old for this?  I had no clue, but follow-ups to some other films of the past proved to be worthy (*cough*Rambo*cough*) – that gave me hope.

“Live Free or Die Hard” turned out to be as good as the previous movies.  And maybe even better.  For one, special effects and the whole visual craft went a long way since John McClane had a gun in his hand.  Even watching it on a 15″ screen gave me shivers sometimes.  I imagine how impressive some of these scenes looked in the cinema!  Sometimes, of course, it goes a bit too far – like in that scene with a fighter jet, truck, and bridge – but in action movies with Bruce, Sylvester, and Arnold it is always better to go a bit too far rather than not come close enough.

Another thing that I was worried about before watching this film was the computer theme.  The 4.0 is the title of the film suggested that there will be a lot about computers.  Plus I saw the trailer, and it was obvious that we are back to square one with graphical user interfaces for searching, tools with progress bars for password breaking, and all sorts of communications, security, and general IT terminology.   Well, the computer side of the film was as bad as you can get it.  But, on the other hand, it was so unrealistic from the very beginning, that I had no problems abstracting it away from the real life.  Meaning that in my mind there was this natural separation of how computers work in real life and how they work in this particular movie.  So that wasn’t a big problem.

Overall, the film was very nicely done, entertaining and in the same mood as the previous ones.  So I got what I expected and even more so.  I’ll give it a firm 7 out of 10.

Syriana

Syriana

I rented “Syriana” when I saw George Clooney and Matt Damon on the cover. Not that they are a guarantee of a good film, but they are a pretty good sign of one.  And indeed they both did a nice job in this film, however it wasn’t enough for me.

This time though, my criticism (critinism?) is not of the film itself, but of that particular DVD that I rented.  It didn’t have English sub-titles (although I don’t know if it didn’t have them originally, or if this DVD was a pirated copy).  Half of the movie takes place in Middle East and there is a lot of non-English talk happening.   I couldn’t make much sense out of it, except for the general dramatic mood and some people over there not being very happy with some people over here and vice versa.

Other than that, the film looked to be very nice – it has a certain mood, there is some good photography, and there is also a lot of human appreciation, which is something I like seeing in the movies.  That is when people appreciate other people for just being people.  There aren’t enough films out there promoting appreciation.  It was nice to see this one did.

I’d rate it as a 6 out of 10, with reserving a lot of space on either end of this rating due to not understanding half of what was said.

Planet Terror

Planet Terror

Today I watched an excellent movie “Planet Terror“.   It’s packed with action, zombies, quotes, comedy, and romance.  It has lots of special effects, great photography, and music.  If you ever watched more than three zombie movies which were released in late 1980s or early 1990s, you’ll love this film.

It is Robert Rodriguez’ re-incarnation of “Army of Darkness” in the perspective of bio-chemical accident with military personell involvement and a taste of Desperado.  That’s the best description I can come up with.  But really, you should better see this one.

7 out of 10.