Category: Movies

Hazard, Olga, and I went to the cinema to see “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow“. I was somewhat expecting this movie since the trailer was good and pictures from IMDB site were excellent. It turned out to be a complete disappointment.

This movie had a lot of potential. Probably, more than any other bad movie I have ever seen. So many things were imagined, thought over, designed, and worked at that they could easily make 10 sequels for it. The problem is that nothing of it actually stayed on the screen for more than 10 seconds. Gigantic robots that could transform from flying machines into walking warriors, airplanes that could fight under water, flying air platforms, fantasy world with dinasour type of creatures, space rocket with all sorts of animals flying into space, and much much more – all of that was perfectly designed but never shown appropriately. Even Angelina Jolie in tight leather uniform (German kind) with only one eye stayed on the screen for as much as 2 minutes overall. All of this was such a loss. Pity.

Another thing which was very original but harmed a movie a lot was the retro-type of shooting. Just yesterday I learned how give pictures a glow in Gimp and suddenly I get a whole movie done like this. Low saturation, high contrast, dark shadows, and glow over everything and anything is very very very tiring for the eyes.

And on top of all that, PG rating killed the story. Imagine having a movie about the war and the end of the world without a single drop of blood and anyone saying one cursy word. Very unrealistic and boring. Call me spoiled.

I will rate this film as 4 out of 10. All 4 points are due to the guys who were designing and creating decorations, machines, costumes, weapons and other items. Really great job.

Finally, “The Chronicles of Riddick” ran through our cinemas and we got a chance to see it. Excellent movie that is. It has nothing to do with the first part (“Pitch Black“), except that few minor references were made to it, and, of course, that Vin Diesel was playing Riddick in both.

This time it was a wierd mixture of Star Wars with Lord of The Rings. Lots of knight-type armor and weapons mixed with cross-universe travelling and star fights. Excellent work on scenery and decorations there too.

A couple of things I wish they could have done different were camera work and lights. It seems that the budget was limited for the special effects, because every time there was a serious battle of fight camera started shaking and moving around while there was a lot of this annoying stroboscopic blinking light. It looked kind of great for the first 3 seconds, but the 20 minutes later my eyes were about to fall out. And I really wanted to see some more details of what is happening and how instead of these blurry moves around with pieces of everything flying around. That part sucked.

Still, the movie provided for some descent entertainment, withough a bunch of boring scenes (there were a couple, but they were kind of mandatory and short). I would add some more blood, but than it wouldn’t have passed the PG-13 rating that it was given. Overall, this film is a very good reason to visit a cinema. I’ll give it a solid 8 out of 10.

Olga and I just watched “The Perfect Score” on DVD (neighbooring with DVD club owns). It is one of those funny and easy going films about students’ life. In this one, students go steal major tests papers to know the answers in advance. Basically, the point is, like everything during college years, is to have lots of fun along the way.

The stoned chinese guy owned the whole film. And parody on “The Matrix” was great too.

This movie fits in what it was supposed to be and offers good entertainment. 6 out of 10. I think I am getting old. If I saw it while in the college that would be a hit. :) If you are in college – watch it, it’s about you.

Watched “Extreme Ops” on DVD. I wanted to rent this movie on multiple occasions, because of its cheap and catchy title and a nice snowboard guy on the cover, but a low rating at IMDB kind of set me back. This time though, I was in a hurry and wanted to get over with the renting stuff, so I took it without much thinking.

It’s an excellent movie about extreme sports done by people who obviously love extreme sports. Especially skiing and snowboarding. With some skating. And parachuting. And rock climbing. Lots and lots of extreme action. Very nice footage. They even tried to put some story behind. The story sucked, but it wasn’t needed that much anyway. Soundtrack was very appropriate. I wish there were more of it though. I also enjoyed the natural type of acting by most of the cast. Surely this film has its entertaining value. It’s not going to provoke any deep thinking though.

I’ll give it a 7 out of 10. Part of the marks are to compensate for the low rating it has. I really enjoyed the flick.