karalynnn Reviews

Cloverfield (2008)

Good Show

[7/10 · 7 November 2008]

Glimpse of Cloverfield Monster Unique story. Takes place in NYC. Many of the images very reminiscent were of 9-11, with was a little disturbing. However, the mode of story telling was really unique and Kudos to the makers of the film. Also the actors did a really good job, not something you generally notice in a film of this nature.

I really is Blair Witch meets Godzilla (Japanese version too). But in the best way possible. The camera work, like Blair Witch, was likely to cause some Nausea, but was cool cause it really felt like the perspective of someone right in the middle of everything going' down. Plus the character Hud, who spent 99 percent of the movie behind the "documenting" camera was probably my favorite character.

We watched the DVD extras after the movie too; alternate endings were a waste of time but the "I Saw It! It's Alive! It's Huge!" feature is about the making and design of the monster and added a really unique perspective to the monster which of course anyone in the midst of a monster Attack on Manhattan would never even consider, nor would it matter but it makes the watcher (like it's designers) consider the creature more sensitively.

If you enjoy Godzilla and other oldie creature movies, and not just for the Cheese, I suggest Cloverfield.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008)

Great Kids Program

[8/10 · 27 June 2006]

That Avatar TV series is a wonderfully written well thought out Cartoon Series. The Characters aren't your usual two-dimensional types found in Kids TV. The characters are deep have their own strengths, weakness and in some cases fatal flaws.

This series gives kinds exposure to strong role models that I don't mind my children emulating. The characters are thoughtful, caring, noble and fun. The development of Prince Zuko's character through the series is very good.

This is show actually makes my children thing about philosophy, good and bad and what it means to be noble. But also it makes them think about why "bad" people may be they way they are.

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Good Adaptation from Novel

[8/10 · 2 June 2006]

Dan Brown's book adapted really well to screen. They took some artistic liberties but stuck to the book probably better than any movie out there.

Very few things were cut or simplified.

I think the reviews are kinda mediocre because people are expecting Mission Impossible 3 type action and that just isn't gonna happen.

A Symbolist, a Cryptologist and a Gimp can only get into so much action and adventure. This movie is a mystery and much more cerebral than I think most people want to deal with. I think it was wonderful and Ian Mckellen is the BOMB. He played Tebing wonderfully!!! Paul Bettany played Silas to a T!!!! And there was one part of the movie, just like in the book, where he was ruthless and Bettany did it wonderfully.

There are a lot of players in this movie and a lot is happening. If you think you are up to the mystery of The Grail definitely go watch it!!!

Silent Hill (2006)

Save your money

[3/10 · 4 May 2006]

I don't think I am this movie's biggest fan. I seriously wanted to get up and leave the theater after a short time it was that bad. Then later I wanted to leave again and then later I had a strong need to leave again.

But I toughed it out just to see the ending and endure along with the rest of our audience the groans and "what in the world?" moments. At least I wasn't alone in my groans. I wish we'd just gone to see RV at least that had Robin Williams and we knew it was gonna be stupid.

SPOILER WARNING: Overall the premise of the movie is very cool and unique. The effects were good and it used some really great techniques to get the dream-like state through to the audience. But the little girl's acting was poor, I cared none for the other characters except some crazy chick that came along for about 15 minutes in the movie. I felt the climax was eh. and the ending really left most of the audience annoyed to say the least. There were also a few GAPING holes in the tale, the one that bothered me mostly was the Sheriff. (why didn't he age?) I thought it was cool how the Husband sensed his wife's ghost around him and how things in the real world would move as she went through the area. I also like Sean Bean. (makes my happy) When the cop made her appearance someone in the theater actually said out load "Who dresses like that?" It was priceless.

Over all our conclusion was that the characters all died in the crash and since it was in this possessed purgatory of a place ended up suspended there with the other seemingly condemned souls. However, it seems the bodies weren't anywhere with the vehicles so there was another gaping hole as to, well were they dead or trapped in a alternate universe/reality with their physical bodies.

My opinion was this movie was too long and boring to be worth seeing. There were some really neat and disgusting monsters, the cinematographic style and the dream-like quality of the filming, at times, was really unique and inspired. Effects and Cinematography Great! Story and acting forgettable and generally quite uninspired.

Overall, most people I've run across have loved the film, and most movie critics felt it left much to be desired. This time I wish I'd listened to the few movie critic reviews I read, and saved my money.

Everything Is Illuminated (2005)

A great find

[4 May 2006]

Today I escaped into the movie Everything is Illuminated. It is full of unique, funny, quirky, and moving characters. I loved all the characters, right down to the "Officious Seeing-Eye Bitch". The movie is beautiful, and surreal at moments. The movie is based on the book of the same name and is very original. It is a movie that is about a young man's search for his roots but it is also about the connection between the past and the present, and honoring your history. This movie made me laugh out loud, say "oh no" and cry. Good Direction, beautiful locale, and great acting. I great piece of art that makes me want to find out more about the novel.

Bride & Prejudice (2004)

Jane meets Bollywood

[8/10 · 4 May 2006]

This movie is Bollywood meets Jane Austen and was just a delicious movie. This adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, I think, is my favorite modernized remake that I have seen. I absolutely loved it. The movie has Neveen Andrews from LOST. He is totally awesome as "Mr. Bingley". He is sweet, adorable and totally gets his Bollywood groove on. Bride and Prejudice was fun and sincere to Jane's vision and also quite kitschy. "Elizabeth" by the beautiful Aishwarya Rai is smart, witty, and plays a strong role in helping her father run the family farm. She is proud of her country and offended by outsiders that come and try to tell her that a better life is only attainable or worthwhile outside. Indira Varma plays the "Caroline Bingly" character and is deliciously snotty. Heck she may even be better than Anna Chancellor as Caroline in the A&E/BBC miniseries. Trust me you will love to hate Indira. "Mary" played by Meghna Kothari was spectacularly funny. So many of these characters are memorable "Mr. Collins", and "Mrs. Bennett" are delightfully funny. This is a must have for my Jane-alicious collection of books and movies. Defiantly on my wish list. I'm so glad I rented this. It is a fun film and defiantly worth the watch.

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

You can do better

[14 March 2006]

I bought myself the 2005 Pride and Prejudice staring Keira Knightley and, well, was disappointed. The Cinematography is astounding the musical score was great, The location shots are breath taking, the actors were beautiful to look at, yes they were, but the costumes were not well done. I realize the Bennett family lived in the country but Pa-lease! This was way wrong. And while some things were well portrayed, as far as, Regency society some things were so horribly wrong that it ruined the movie for several minutes while I ranted about how wrong it that was.

This movie got nominations and praise out the wazoo and I was let down because I love Jane and the BBC miniseries production of Pride and Prejudice really spoiled me. I realized that the new movie would be edited, it isn't an over 5+ hour miniseries, yet the story adaptation itself was pretty good, however, the dialog in portions needed serious help. I'm sorry, but do not modernize Jane. All the smart wit is gone when you toy with the language for portions of, often, important speeches. My favorite Bennett family member, Mr. Bennett, was very poorly represented in this adaption. He has some of the best moments in the book and unfortunately for times sake, I am sure, most of his intelligence and fatherly love is lost in this adaption. I did, however, come to like Jane Bennett more in this Adaptation that the BBC miniseries. All the other sisters are little more than background noise in this version.

Grey Gardens (1975)

Should be a Cult Classic, and kinda is

[7/10 · 16 January 2006]

Grey Gardens was enthralling and crazy and you just couldn't really look away. It was so strange, and funny and sad and sick and ……….. really no words can describe. The move Grey Gardens is beyond bizarre. I found out about this film reading my Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader, by the Bathroom Reader's Institute and it was well worth the rental and bump to the top of my movie watching queue. This movie is about the nuttiest most eccentric people that may have ever been filmed. One should watch it for their favorite Edie outfits, which I am sure include curtains. When I get old I almost wish to be just like Big Edie, thumbing my nose at normalcy and society.

Sense and Sensibility (1981)

Great for Die Hard Austen Fans

[6/10 · 16 January 2006]

Well as a lover of Jane Austen one would be hard pressed to do a reproduction of one of her books and disappoint me. S&S was a pretty well done miniseries, most BBC miniseries are well done. There was a much more book and a more through representation of all the minor characters in this movie than in the 1995 Sense and Sensibility directed by Ang Lee and staring Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson. However the 1981 BBC miniseries was seriously lacking in a couple vital points, the omission of the youngest Dashwood daughter, Margaret and this viewer found the leads of Marranne and Elinor to be so abysmally portrayed I really didn't care a bit about what happened to their characters. These women weren't lovable or very likable. Overall, between to two leads, Tracey Childs as Marriann was the better portrayal. Irene Richard's portrayal of Elinor was so dead pan and empty of any emotion, at all, that much of the movie containing her was difficult to sit through. Over all, for the Austen fan this is a must see movie, but only for the more complete story and representations. Especially the devilishly catty Miss Lucy Steele who in the Ang Lee S&S is very under portrayed.

Haggard (2003 Video)

Skipable

[2/10 · 6 January 2006]

I really wanted Haggard to be a good movie. All the Jackass guys are adorable and generally speaking, I like all the spin-off material. There are laugh-out-loud moments in the movie that are just totally wacky but this is just CKY and Jackassish antics, that don't actually make up for the overall movie quality. This movie was painfully bad, I was falling asleep during it and ultimately turned if off before it was over.

Ryan Dunn does a decent job in the lead role but most of the acting is pretty bad. The design and cinematography felt very art school film student-ish. As it was mostly done by our favorite CKYers. At times the movie has the look and feel of a music video, and while I love to watch Bam skate his occasional skating montages through the fill were I assume only to give the move a reputable length of 96 minutes.

Unless you are only watching this to get a daily dose of the beautiful CKY men, skip this one

Troy (2004)

Very Forgettable

[3/10 · 10 June 2005]

With the amount of money and resources that Troy had available there is no excuse for such poor quality. The Direction and Screenplay were lousy. Director Wolfgang Petersen, who has a wonderful move direction history, filmed this movie as though he only intended it to be formatted to fit a regular TV screen. Much of the grandeur of the letterbox format went totally unused. I also found the liberal use of digital effects to border on the absurd at moments.

The screenplay, being the adaptation of an epic that has lived through countless lifetimes didn't even have to be that wonderful to win me over. However, I found most of the characters tolerable, in there roles, at best. Casting was horrendously flawed. People no more looked their parts than Grace Jones could pass for Snow White. Since when did the Greeks look more like Celts and Vikings than Greeks? Generally speaking the Trojans looked more appropriate than the Greeks but it was still not great.

The only moment I found powerful in the whole of the movie was when Priam (played by Peter O'Toole) was appealing to Achilles. O'Toole was able to take that moment and make it meaningful.

Body Heat (1981)

Left me wanting more

[6/10 · 24 May 2005]

Honestly, I expected a bit different movie. The fall back to classic film (40's Bogart style stuff) was more than cheesy at times. The heat wave atmosphere making everyone sweaty and just down right sticky looking was a directorial move I didn't much care for. The sex scenes were defiantly steamy, especially for the time the movie came out. Hurt and Turner were both quite hot and sexy. About half way through the movie the story really picks up and makes this a movie worthy of viewing. However, I did feel like there were some holes in the story. As the mystery unfolds, I felt there were gaps in the logic behind steps the characters took. I think a modern remake is in order with this movie.

Shadowlands (1986 TV Movie)

Well done

[9/10 · 16 May 2005]

This movie was recommended to me by the same person that blessed me with a copy of The Chronicles of Narnia. Shadowlands is one of the most amazing screenplays ever written. It is well executed, acted and directed. The cinematography is a bit dark for my taste but I'm sure it was intended to be so. The screenplay is like poetry in portions of the movie, through out the movie I found myself taking pause to reflect on the comments just made on screen. This is a wonderful piece of cinema and I can only hope that more people will run across it and add reviews. Fair warning though this was a 6 tissue movie for me. Very touching. Very Heartfelt performances.

American Psycho (2000)

Badness

[3/10 · 10 May 2005]

This movie is an inside joke in my family about the ultimate in cheesy badness. Bale is pretty to look at, this the biggest compliment I can offer American Psycho. If you aren't offended by graphic violence the movie really shouldn't bug you, but I and everyone who watched it with me found this movie very flawed. By about half way through the movie, I was just shaking my head and quite honestly don't know what kept me watching it, other than Christian Bales beautiful form. The movie is well acted and there are some suspenseful moments, unfortunately the story could have been presented in a much more engrossing manner and with fewer gaping holes. Throughout the film I found myself shaking my head and rolling my eyes.

The Phantom of the Opera (1990– )

Probably one of my favorite TV movies.

[10/10 · 8 May 2005]

Beautiful Adaptation of the Phantom of the Opera. This is NOT the musical Broadway version. The only music here is the Italian operas the opera house is performing. This version based on a stage version of the book, by noted playwright Arthur Kopit, is beautiful and well performed. I love this movie because of its character development and lack of individuals breaking into song for absolutely no reason, what so ever. The use of the Phantom's various masks to convey his mood is a very unique approach, in this film. The climatic duet between Christine and Eric and a beautiful scene with Burt Lancaster and Charles Dance (Carriere and Eric) are both very moving.

A beautiful, and tragic love story.

Finding Neverland (2004)

Simply Beautiful

[10/10 · 2 May 2005]

Finding Neverland is VERY good movie. It is WONDERFUL Story telling. We laughed. We cried. The cinematography was beautiful, the costuming and casting was great. Generally speaking, kids can be difficult in dramas, but young Peter plays his role very well. Nick Roud plays the eldest Davies son powerfully. Depp and Winslet are a wonderful team together and play off one another great. Depp is funny, sentimental and debonair. Winslet is a perfect matriarch for four precocious sons. Superbly acted and an amazing adaptation to Big Screen for this play. A beautiful, piece of writing with some very sentimental moments about growing up sons. Beautiful all the way around.

Igby Goes Down (2002)

Definitely worth the rental price

[8/10 · 2 May 2005]

Igby Goes Down is great drama, I didn't get much of a dark comedy vibe from it at all. Kieran Culkin gives a sensational performance as Igby. Culkin plays Igby as a great, sarcastic, punk, and I imagine it is the sarcastic remarks that run through the whole of the movie that puts Igby Goes Down in the Comedy Genre. Sarandon is a great overbearing mom. Some of the more dramatic moments are played so well by Culkin that I had to take pause and just absorb it for a moment. This is a unique piece of story telling and execution definitely worth seeing. I did find the movie dragged some near the end but overall a top notch effort by all parties.

Ultrachrist! (2003)

A Good time

[7/10 · 26 April 2005]

I found Ultrachrist to be a laugh out loud good time. Jonathan C. Green's portrayal of the childlike savior returned to earth was great fun. The opening of the film is totally cute and the Finale is as well. Yes the movie is low budget but it is a Hoot. My only problem was it seemed to drag along near the end. It is only 92 minutes long but begins to feel like it is +2 hours, before the resolution occurs. For those wondering about a rating PG is pretty much what it qualifies for with Kissing Lipstick Lesbians and an Dominatrix. Overall the acting was sketchy but no one rents a movie this low budget expecting Academy Award winning anything. I had a good time and it wasn't even that blasphemous.

Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989)

Wonderful Screen Adaptation.

[6/10 · 4 April 2005]

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989) Well this was one of the hardest parts of the book series for me to read and even as a motion picture it was kind of slow. I think all the children did a better job performing in this movie than in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The animated effects were of greater quality in this installment of the miniseries as well. Again the filmmakers were very true to the story penned by Lewis and deserved commendation for that. Again my kids enjoyed the story but since it was painfully slow and at times the film didn't hold their attention quite the same as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

The Silver Chair (1990)

Good script adaptation from book to movie

[7/10 · 4 April 2005]

The Silver Chair is the Third and final installment of the BBC miniseries production of C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. The adaptation from the book, like the other two DVD's in the series, is right on. And like the other two movies the effects are pretty old school, but considering this was a made for TV miniseries that is over 15 years old, it is forgivable; and as the series progresses the effects do improve. I over all the ensemble of Eustace (David Thwaites), Jill (Camilla Power) and Puddleglum (Tom Baker) worked very, very well together. And I also feel obliged to add that Tom Bakers portrayal of Puddleglum was superb, but that is to be expected by "Dr. Who".

SPOILER ALERT:

The only parts of the movie that disappointed me was the lack of explanation as to why the Earth Men were throwing themselves into the deep crevice, that should have been edited out of the miniseries if it wasn't to be expounded upon. I was also not very impressed with the portrayal of the enchanted Prince Rilian.

Comic Book Villains (2002 Video)

Delicious Dark Comedy

[7/10 · 28 March 2005]

Comic Book Villains was a delicious Dark Comedy. Well scripted and well acted by a really great cast. A delightfully likable and hateable cast of characters make up the story. I highly recommend it for anyone and everyone who has ever been into anything or known a person who is a little obsessed with something.

I found out about the movie by checking out the Nevermore Film Festival website where I first learned about Bubba Ho-Tep so it was right along the lines with that movie. I laughed out loud, I cringed and squirmed in my seat and shook my head in total astonishment. A great effort by everyone involved.

However I don't think I will ever get used to Cary Elwes with an American Accent.