mihaitutu7 Reviews

Replicas (2018)

The idea was interesting, the acting was poor...

[4/10 · 17 December 2020]

I think the movie had a real thing going for itself: the idea is original, interesting and for a budget movie, it looks good. The only problem is the acting in it, in accordance to the event which are unfolding.

So, this guy has an accident and he loses all his family members. How would any human being react? I believe we will be in shock and react in that manner. Instead he is composed and finds a fix for this. Kind of unnatural reaction, don't you think? Big fan of Keanu Reeves, but in this one, it's like I see a steamed down, family version of John Wick, not a real human being.

Then, this friend comes along and helps him with 4 dead bodies, with little conscience problems. As if this is a little problematic, but I'm ok of hiding 4 bodies and steal 8 millions dollars of equipment and nobody asks questions. True, they try to justify this in a way, but still it feels farfetched.

I can go on with this, but I think there are short videos called what is wrong about this movie in 2 minutes or something.

Thus, my opinion is that this movie had potential if they tried a bit more to be convincing and the characters would have been more human. In this way, the movie will be criticized and push back potential viewers.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

This movie is about the Avengers actually!

[9/10 · 1 August 2016]

The Avengers: Age of Ultron fell a bit short in my opinion, as the action of it was intended to prepare the Civil War part. So, the main attraction was actually this movie.

By far, the movie surpassed its predecessors because of the amount of superheroes involved (actually, all of them :) ). The conflict rises on a political matter but every single one has its own motivation to state their ground. The plot is simple but well written while it offers the chance for introducing other heroes, such as Black Panther and Spiderman.

There is a fine twist to the movie that may surprise a lot of people (the victims of Winter Soldier in the late 90's mission) and another one which will make the most die hard fans wonder what will happen next (regarding the not dead of Captain America).

Yet, the movie is fun, has its intense moments and sets ground for some cool developments. Cannot wait and see what other things will happen in the MCU next :D.

The Flash (2014–2023)

How to expand a superhero universe right!

[9/10 · 1 August 2016]

The Flash was intended to become part of team Arrow, yet it got its own show. And this was the best thing that could happen to the DC universe in the series.

The show is very fun due to great acting, decent CGI and well written main plot, which unfolds step by step, in a meaningful way. Even the pseudo science is catchy because of the funny way it is explained by Cisco, Barry or Caitlin.

The series is based upon the DC universe, but unlike others, it respects most of the comic book stories and background. Yet, the producers have a little touch and twist which will delight even the most die hard comic book fans.

If you are looking for an easy to watch superhero movie, this is the one. It does not require you to have a certain age, but it does make you enjoy 45min of quality entertainment.

The Back-up Plan (2010)

Predictable but totally laughable!

[8/10 · 17 August 2011]

I don't get it why people so undermine this movie. It was indeed predictable most of the time but come on, there were many moment of laughter.

I saw this movie with an ex girlfriend and we were seeing many moments we had on our first dates and we enjoyed to see it was inspired from real facts. Many of the comical situations do happen in real life and it really gets to you when you see it from outside.

The main plot may be a little exaggerated, how everything comes together but it's a classic date movie and you cannot have such high expectations from it.

The cast is OK, even though Jennifer Lopez is a little overpowered by her role, but she manages in the end to pull it of. Alex O'Loughlin is the perfect "I don't know if I want to be a father but I love this woman" guy and makes every moment a real delight.

Everyone gives it a 4 or 5, I give it an 8 because you can have a blast if you watch it with your girlfriend or ex.

Battle Los Angeles (2011)

It wasn't about the aliens, it was about the marines...

[5/10 · 16 August 2011]

I'm a big fan about the invasion type movies and this one was OK in my opinion just because it centered around the army doing something and less on the aliens. Besides other movies where someone is a genius and realizes the weak spot of the aliens, here we have pockets of marines scattered around Los Angeles, trying to find survivors.

The movie isn't about an apocalypse, it's about seeing real people do real stuff: orders given just like in the marine core, soldiers scared to death... hell, everything in the movie is about the reaction of people.

It's true the movie doesn't deliver what it promised and it is a linear action, predictable most of the time, but I enjoyed seeing Aaron Eckhart get inside his characters mind. The CGI is lame here and there, but again, it is about people reactions.

The only reason I give a such high mark to this movie is that the actors really play well throughout all the movie and they deserve the credits for not making a full disaster out of this movie.

The Walking Dead (2010–2022)

Zombie Apocalypse, Here I Come!

[9/10 · 15 August 2011]

I am a little surprised of how many opinions are out there and how many struggle to criticize this show. They are somewhat harsh to this new SF horror series as far as I am concerned.

The show has an abrupt start in the pilot episode and the mystery of the worldwide plague is building up very nicely. I know it is inspired by a comic book, but TV directors have to step in and put their own creativity in the movie and cannot follow the comic storyline as it is. Yet, in my opinion, the show goes in a good manner and points out the event that are truly meaningful.

For those who say it is a soap opera, I strongly disagree. It has it's chatter sequences and there is a lot of family story lines, but what do you want to happen? There are pockets of humans left among the millions of dead zombies, they had to show us how they struggle to survive. A series only with gore and gunshots would have killed the show in two or three episodes.

The CGI is good enough and the cast is well chosen. The actors blend in with ease and give the show the authenticty of the moment very well. The storyline unfolds little by little what happen and keeps in the dark many other answers, motivating you to watch the next episode.

In my opinion, this is a good show, with not so many unpleasant horror pics, but it gives you the spooks when you think about what happens over there. My only regret about the show is that the first season lasted only for 6 episodes. Hope the next one will be longer as good as the first!

Stargate SG-1 (1997–2007)

The Best Sci-Fi TV Series Ever!

[10/10 · 14 August 2011]

Stargate SG1 is not a TV series, but a whole universe in which we see gathered full explanations for the unanswered questions of mankind. What's with the pyramids in Egipt? Why did ancient people believe in so many Gods? Do aliens exist?

Using a device called "stargate", humans begin to travel to other planets to gather new technologies, to encounter other races and establish diplomatic relations but also to engage several enemies. At first, it sounds like a low budget action series with shooting and poor effects. That is not the true at all! In this movie, everything that happened in history has another meaning, totally different then we learned: the Egyptian gods where actually aliens called Goa'uld that brought humans to Earth to work, the Asgard gods where actually aliens from a race called the Asgard, who were the caretakers of humans, Merlin was actually an ascended being and so on.

The cast is just great. Richard Dean Anderson fits perfect in the role of the colonel, as a soldier with lots of experience but not so good with high tech equipment, Amanda Tapping is Major Carter, the science whiz that figures stuff out, Michael Shanks is Daniel Jackson, the archaeologist who correlates everything and Christophor Judge plays the role of Teal'c, the alien sidekick in pursuit of freedom for the Jaffa. All of them play their roles very convincing and the chemistry between them can be seen throughout the whole series.

The plot is gradually built and renewed with many things each season (because they always thought the end of the season was the end of the series). The special effects used in the movie are not very cheesy but make the movie more authentic this way. Later on, more CGI is introduced, but in such manner that it feels everything is in place.

I strongly recommend everyone who have not seen this series to take time and see it. In my opinion, this is how the a good TV series should begin, evolve and end. And if you watch it all, take time and see SG Atlantis as well :)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

One of the best superhero movies!

[8/10 · 12 August 2011]

Being a comic book fan of the Marvel superheroes, this was a movie I was not going to miss and thank God I didn't! Captain America is one the best superhero movies ever made.

The movie follows in large guidelines the story from the comic books. Captain America is the result of an experimental serum administrated on Steve Rogers by the Allies. Also, he is the only super soldier, as the scientist who developed the serum was killed soon after it's application.

On the Nazi side, there is the Red Skull, or Jonas Schmidt, head of Hidra, the Nazi advanced science department. He tested on himself the superhuman soldier serum, but the formula he had was incomplete.

The action is pretty much simple: WW2 was being won by the Nazi, as the Red Skull developed weapons with unconventional firepower (they discover a relic from the Asgard gods which generates huge amounts of power) and the Allies use Captain America to comeback. The Allies organize surgical strike missions with Captain America in front line and little by little, destroy all the Hidra bases.

The final battle takes place on the Hidra bombardier, which was heading towards the big cities of USA. Captain America fights the Red Skull in an epic battle, but Red Skull disappears when he grabs the Asgard relic (in my opinion the Asgard relic was a miniature teleportation device, similar to the one used in the movie Thor to get to other planets). Captain America cannot stop the plane and crashes in Antartica, where he sleeps for 70 years until Shield units find him.

The CGI used in the movie is balanced, good looking and makes the movie authentic. Many of the stunts aren't CGI-ed, and because it's a WW2 movie, we can only appreciate the props and scenery.

The characters have room for development and we can see how everybody interacts with each other, on all layers. Apart from other superhero movies, this one blends the human relationship dynamics with the fast pace very well. There are a lot of jokes that open up the mood but the action is action. The fight scenes are very well designed and coregraphed.

All in all, this movie is a must as it is very very good. Also, another reason to see it is to have a complete idea of what the Avengers will look like.

Green Lantern (2011)

Big noise for a big disappointment

[5/10 · 11 August 2011]

When I decide to go see a movie at a theater, I watch the trailers, read some reviews and so on. For this movie, I ignored the scores, the reviews and even the trailer, hoping everyone was too harsh on the movie. But, in the end, I draw the same conclusion: it's disappointing at all levels.

The acting is good, Ryan Reynolds fits into his character well, the other characters do a good job to sustain the action but the plot is awful. It's inconsistent, jumping from a scene to another without any linkage, some things that happen must be deduced by the audience. So many things happen at the same time and many of them are unimportant.

They spent a lot of money on the special effects, yet I wasn't so impressed by what they did. It lacks imagination and vision for a superhero movie. Other movies with less special effects are a lot better due to the storyline (take for example Captain America: The First Avenger or XMen First Class).

All in all, I rate the movie with a 5 because of the cast and good act and for being the first Green Lantern movie. I really hope they will learn from this failure and make the next, not better, but good enough so we can be satisfied and forget about the first.

The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019)

Nerds can really make you laugh, and this it the proof!

[9/10 · 10 August 2011]

I was searching for another TV series to watch and a friend of mine recommended me to follow TBBT. I was skeptic because, as far as I was told, the show was about some geeks going there, doing science stuff and blah blah. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot... and that was all I needed to go on and watch it week after week.

The jokes are very well written and the actors play the show exemplary. In fact, if you watch the show, it blends science and nerdy stuff with basic human needs (Leonard wanting to make "coitus" with Penny) in a hilarious way. The texts are more than you want and the situations presented can really exist (I know for a fact that guys like Sheldon do exist).

As far as the characters go, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) does a great job to maintain the focus of the show around him with his odd behavior, strange rules and arrogant showoffs, Leonard is stuck between normality and nerd-ism, having the role of explaining Sheldon's actions, Raj and Howard are the sidekicks and Penny is just at the wrong time at the wrong place.

To understand better all this jibber-jabber, stop reading reviews and watch the show. It is comedy as it was meant to be!

Stargate Universe (2009–2011)

Great potential but not enough creativity

[6/10 · 28 December 2010]

I'm a great fan of the Stargate franchise. I've watched all the seasons of SG1 and SGA and really hoped that Stargate Universe will give us other adventures to think of. I was wrong.

Stargate Universe is something between Battlestar Gallactica and Star Trek Voyager. The goal of the show is to watch how people develop under great circumstances and try to get back to Earth. The plot is simple but the way it is unfolded destroys the spirit of Stargate. It is like watching people talk, talk, talk, and when there can be action... they just talk and talk. The close camera action feed is something new to the show... but I think it is the only thing which is new...

Stargate is about encountering new technologies and new alien races... In this show, in the first season we encountered one alien race... throughout 20 episodes... How's that? That part of the space is so inhabited? The second season started to give a more promising look indeed. The story becomes better, the relationships between the characters are improving to give the show a meaning... but it is a little bit too late. Season 2 will be the last for this show, as MGM decided.

I just hope they will learn from this and make something about the movie which will give an end to SGA.

Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

Let's be serious...

[4/10 · 4 January 2010]

We have here the third movie entitled Universal Soldier. The first movie was indeed a blast, with lots of action, explosions, fight scenes and the protagonists (Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren) made the movie a real deal for the genre.

"Regeneration" brings back them but in another situation, out of the blue. In the second UNISOL, Luc was human, he had a daughter, here he is fighting to regain his emotions and inner thinking... What happened to his daughter? Who's Dr. Sandra Fleming? She is supposed to be the one who helped him for the last two years to integrate into society. But... in the second movie he was already reintegrated into society.

Let's go further. We meet the new Andrew Scott, a clone. Howcome the clone aged? His DNA was procured when he was at the age of the first movie. I am no science whiz, but I know that DNA doesn't age... Cells do. And why is he so eager to understand the meaning of life. As I know, Andrew Scott turned into a psycho because of the war and couldn't deal with the fact that the war was over. Now he is a philosopher... ?! Apart the plot that is so ambigous, we have the fight scenes in which Van Damme masacrates about 40 men. The blood splatters left and right as like the human body is a balloon filled with red paint. And we never see blood wounds from the bullets Luc took.

A very cheap effect is the moment when Van Damme enters the open space and he shoots a gunned car. The car crashes into a tree, explodes but the tree doesn't move an inch. Trees are trees not concrete! In my opinion, they destroyed a very good movie (the first) with the low budgets they made after and with this apotheotic disaster...

Even tough I like Van Damme and Lundgren, I rate this movie with a 4...