Movies

Brazil

Sometimes I surprise myself by the kind of movies I find accidentally. “Brazil” is one of those highly recommended classics that I’ve never heard about before.

Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Genres: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Kim Greist, Jim Broadbent, Barbara Hicks, Charles McKeown, Derrick O’Connor, Kathryn Pogson, Bryan Pringle
IMDB raintg: 8.0
My rating: 8.0 [rate 8.0]

This film came just in time. I was about to get pissed off with all the crap that I watching recently – cliche copies of copies of copies that as predictable as Formula 1 for the last few years. And suddenly I get across this movie, which came out twenty years ago, is included in IMDB’s Top 250 movies of all times (#199), has Robert De Niro in it, and is one I’ve never heard anything about.

The movie is very original. The story, the setups, the costumes – everything. But the feeling of deja vu wasn’t leaving me from start until the end of the film. The story felt a lot like something based on George Orwell’s “1984” spiced up with lots of satire from Monty Python and mixed with personalities from World War II movies.

A very small investigation confirmed my deja vu feeling. The director of the film – Terry Gilliam – is a part of Monty Python gang. He has written, directed, and acted in a number of Monty Python flicks. He has also done a number of other well-known movies, especially in sci-fi area. One of those well-known films is “Twelve Monkeys“.

Interesting story twists, good character development, great acting and lots of amazing special effects make this film into a real masterpiece.

Resume: highly recommended.

Drumline

Martin suggested that I saw this movie, so I did. “Drumline“.

Directed by: Charles Stone III
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Music
Cast: Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Jones, Leonard Roberts, GQ, Jason Weaver, Earl Poitier, Candace Carey, Shay Roundtree, Miguel A. Gaetan, J. Anthony Brown, Afemo Omilami, Angela E. Gibbs, Tyreese Burnett, Brandon Hirsch
IMDB raintg: 5.3
My rating: 3.0 [rate 3.0]

This is a really really crap movie. Completely. It is one of those billion movies that use everything cliche. The story is a mix of talanted kid getting though a college movie with some sport movie about college football team or something. All that is new there – instead of football kids are playing drums.

All acting sucks in this film. Character development is non-existent. There is no drama what-so-ever. As there is no comedy at all. Not even romance. Nothing.

The only thing that made me watch this movie through and give the whole 3 points out of 10 to it is music. Not that it was exceptionally good or anything, but it was a lot of it and it was of a rather large scale – orchestra-type. And they weren’t playing any classics so it was somewhat interesting to listen.

Other than that – the movie is a complete crap. Ignore it.

The Italian Job

Vladimir remind me today that I wanted to see “The Italian Job” – the original version from 1969. After work I rushed to Martin’s DVD club and luckily he had one for me.

Directed by: Peter Collinson
Genres: Action, Comedy, Crime
Cast: Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Benny Hill, Raf Vallone, Tony Beckley, Rossano Brazzi, Margaret Blye, Irene Handl, John Le Mesurier, Fred Emney, John Clive, Graham Payn, Michael Standing, Stanley Caine, Barry Cox
IMDB raintg: 7.3
My rating: 7.0 [rate 7.0]

Continue reading The Italian Job

Johnson Family Vacation

Johnson Family Vacation (2004) The problem with me is that I don’t finish things that I really should to. And on the opposite – I go all the way with stuff that I shouldn’t even be doing. That is probably why I picked up not one but two movies randomly today. And both from the bad movie lot. “Johnson Family Vacation” was the second.

Directed by: Christopher Erskin
Genres: Comedy
Cast: Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa L. Williams, Solange Knowles, Bow Wow, Gabby Soleil, Shannon Elizabeth, Steve Harvey, Aloma Wright, Shari Headley, Jennifer Freeman, Philip Bolden, Rodney Perry, Christopher B. Duncan, Lorna Scott, Kevin P. Farley
IMDB raintg: 3.7
My rating: 2.5 [rate 2.5]

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They Crawl

Choosing the movie to watch in a hurry never worked for me. “They Crawl” is just one of those silly attempts to randomly pick a good movie on a stand with bad ones.

Directed by: John Allardice
Genres: Horror, Sci-Fi
Cast: Daniel Cosgrove, Tamara Davies, Dennis Boutsikaris, Ken Lerner, William Keane, Scott Rinker, Brandon Karrer, Bennet Guillory, Tim Thomerson, Tone Loc, Mickey Rourke, Grace Zabriskie, Andi Eystad, Chase Hampton, Adam Gordon
IMDB raintg: 3.4
My rating: 1.0 [rate 1.0]

This is one of the worst movies that I have seen in a long while. Really.

The story is very simplistic, predictable and boring. There is no acting what-so-ever. The usage of Mickey Rourke’s name is totally marketing move. His screen time accounts for less than a minute. And he is only in one very short scene.

There is no character development or any attention to details. Camera work is as cliche as it can be. Computer graphics and other special effects suck big time. They made me think that I can do better, although that is totally not my area.

That’s about all the time that I am going to spend writing about this film.