Movies

21

I got really surprised today. I was checking out which film should I go and see, and out of five movies that I checked, none had an IMDB rating of less than seven. That’s a hard choice! So, I asked a friend to come with me. I couldn’t decided which one of the top three films I wanted to see. He wanted to see only too. Only one was common, so we got in and watched “21“.

Do you know those films where a bunch of guys think up some sort of system to beat the casino and win a lot of money? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where a girl falls in love with a guy for how nice he is, and he starts walking a dangerous line and she tells him so, but he responds with something like – “that won’t affect me”? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where they show good friendship of really weird people, and then some of those people make some huge mistakes and let their friends down, but after, when they realize that they were wrong, and they are sorry, their friends let them back in? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where they cast one or two celebrities and surround them with a bunch of unknown but really nice actors and it all plays out nicely? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where they have some really nice photography, especially if any scenes take place in Las Vegas? That’s one of those films. Do you know those films where … eh, enough.

This is a really nice movie which is mostly entertaining, but reminds of a few things that we should never forget about. There is some really nice photography and sound. There is enough good acting to make it really enjoyable – Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne are on the opposite sides of the fence, surrounded by a few young actors and actresses. There is a bit of drama in this film, and there is some sense of humor. There is nothing major about this film, but it’s made of quite a few small and nice bits.

Overall, 7 out of 10. Good entertainment.

Smokin’ Aces

$Smokin\' Aces$

I just watched a criminal action with a bit of drama – “Smokin’ Aces“. And I liked it. There were some really good things about. The photography was creative, fresh, and interesting. Costume design as a part of character development was outstanding. Especially those Nazi punks … they looked and behaved like they were no less than “Rammstein” band. Bloody scenes were as bloody as they should be in such a movie, and the humor had a nice black scent to it.

One other thing that well was the cast. There are a lot of characters in this movie, and there is not much time to develop them or to go into depth with each. But it wasn’t a problem – everyone performed really well. Sometimes it felt like the good old “Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels“. It wasn’t that good though.

Overall, a very decent movie for the fans of the genre. 7 out of 10.

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 Marksman

Another attempt to match the mood for war and destruction with an appropriate movie, and another failure. This time it was a Wesley Snipes’ flick – “The Marksman“. The funny thing here is that I actually saw this movie before, at least twice, and I couldn’t remember it at all. There are only a couple of moments that fire flashbacks, but both of them are towards the end of the movie. Hopefully next time I will remember it.

This film had some budget, but it ended up seriously boring. There isn’t much happening at any moment, and there isn’t much going to happen at any next moment. On top of that, there is a lot of idiocy about military intelligence and Russian-American relationship.

Rating: 4 out of 10. Save your time and money for something else.

The Hunt for Eagle One

Picking random movies of the DVD rentals shelves has its consequences. One of those consequences is an ever increasing chance of picking up a really terrible movie. And that’s precisely what happened to me the other day. I was in the mood for a war movie, something with US Marines, helicopters, one of those extremely poor Asian countries hidden under the cover of jungles… The DVD cover of “The Hunt for Eagle One” looked promising, even though I was a little bit suspicious about the title.

It turned out to be a really bad movie. The surprising fact about it was that I actually recognized a few actors in it. But it was still really really bad. The sound was bad. The acting was terrible. Special effects sucked real bad. And the dialogs were disgusting. Sometimes, bad things can be so bad that they actually end up good. But this movie is not one of those cases. It’s just terrible bad.

And even having the principle of watching every movie from start to end uninterrupted didn’t help me this time. After about watching it for two minutes I started fast-forwarding. After watching a few random scenes for roughly another minute, I gave up and switched it off.

Rating: 1 out of 10. Avoid at all costs.