megatom5 Reviews

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009 Video)

A great companion piece to the series

[9/10 · 19 October 2009]

First of all let me get one thing straight, this is in no way an original Battlestar Galatica story. Razor had a story that centered around a new character and told a somewhat self-contained story. This is almost the complete opposite; no relevant new characters, no truly new plot lines. This film is essentially a side story of the original two seasons. It deals with the attack on the colonies and the subsequent invasion and pursuit of Galactica from the point of view of the Cylons; not just the original 8 models but also the final five.

The main character is actually Brother Cavil, in two different forms one on Caprica and one on-board Galatica. We see that Cavil plays a crucial role in orchestrating the Cylon events on the Galactica, while his Caprica counterpart takes the role of a distant observer to the struggling band of survivors on Caprica.

What I really liked about this movie is that it kind of ties everything together. It retreads the old plot lines of the first two seasons, but knowing the revelations to take place it puts everything in a different light. It also explores the intense cruelty and duality of Cavil. Additionally, some of the plot lines that were never quite clear, begin to make sense. (How did Leobin know so much about Kara? Where Valeri's actions intentional?) There are three issue that I can foresee someone having with this. The first being, that some might feel it being a retcon of the first two seasons to connects the events of the fourth. While this might be somewhat true, I don't think it takes anything away from them, and if you liked the fourth season it adds something significant to it. The second issue is that it is a retread. We already know exactly what happens to all these characters. But I don't think that the compelling part of this is what happens so much as why it happens, and what feelings and emotions are fueling the Cylons. The third is that there are basically no space battles to be seen here. There is a great opening sequence where we get a much more in depth look at the destruction of the colonies, but for a show called Battlestar Galatica we might expect some space jockey action.

I am not a prude but I must say that after seeing the unrated DVD, there is a bit of gratuitous nudity. Not that I had a problem with it, so to say, but it felt a little out of place, like it was trying to be a little shocking. Maybe it was just trying to give us a taste of what the show would have been like on HBO, i dunno just felt a little tacked on.

Overall this is a great companion piece to the series, does not feel entirely necessary but at the same time doesn't feel like it didn't need to be in the first place.

Up (2009)

Amazing Pixar film

[10/10 · 29 May 2009]

I've been a pixar film since 10 years old ever since I first saw toy story and fell in love with those characters. Ever since then I've become a bigger and greater film fan and pixar I feel has kept up with that. With Incredibles they did one of the best superhero movies and with wall-e I felt they had made a sincerely great entry into the scifi genre. Up is an action/adventure movie on par with the early Indian jones movies, except for the exception that the main character is about as old as the latest Indian jones movie. This is honestly one of pixar's sadder films. I am tempted to say darker but the film is honestly a light hearted adventure once it get going. The first 20 minutes are sheer sadness though. Not since the Lion King have I felt such empathy for an animated character. From the first scenes you know that it's headed toward eventual tragedy, but this is where the story of Up picks up from. It begins with a tragedy then moves into an action adventure, unlike any film I've ever seen before. I love the characters I love the setting, I just genuinely love this movie. It's got a true blue heart but it's not afraid to make you laugh, cry, and feel the intensity that the characters feel. Additionally the Disney 3-d is amazing, this isn't the type of movie where I felt that they went out of there way to make it 3-d (i.e. Beowulf My Bloody Valentine) but the effect is quite riveting. On top of a fantastic film you get a 3-d preview of Toy Story 3, which honestly had me giddy with joy. Especially after seeing how great Up looked in it. I feel like Pixar keeps getting more ambitious with their films, Wall-e contained a blatant political message, while this film is significantly heavier than any animated film I've seen. It's about remorse and lost time, and is a reminder of why we should live our lives to fullest.

Dragonball Evolution (2009)

Evolution more like Devolution

[2/10 · 12 April 2009]

I'm almost glad this film exists not because it's good in anyway but because of how bad it it. And I find that the terribleness of this title has everything to do with the Hollywood studio system in particular FOX STUDIOS. Throughout the years Fox has obtained many notable franchises and completely crapped on all the mythology and character building those series had, and instead making a base level POS turd that would make them a few millions. Case in point all the Fantastic Four movies, Alien, Predator, and X-men. Now they slide their slimy hands into anime. making one of the sorriest excuses of a film I've seen in years. Yeah the characters have the same names and there are winks at the series for fans but the essence of the series is never captured and the entire film feels like western studio drivel. And honestly I find this inexcusable. Granted i wasn't expecting some great storytelling with a Dragonball movie as the show was mostly driven by the action. But come on what the hell is this movie? I hope no one pays to see this, more than that I hope no one ever sees this. I saw this film for free and wished I hadn't wasted the time. My advice steer clear of this flaming Kamehameha of $###.

Charlie Bartlett (2007)

Terrible Mess

[1/10 · 24 September 2008]

I saw this film for free at a preview screening at USC. I was hoping to like this film as the previews seemed somewhat funny, and hey it was a free movie what's not to like. Well I will tell you everything (but Robert Downy Jr.). To begin with the plot deals with a kid who continuously gets kicked out of all the expensive private schools in town and finally has to attend public school. His mother thinks he has a behavioral disorder and sends him to a psychiatrist to get diagnosed and hopefully get so pumped full of pills he'll calm down. This eventually leads him to going crazy on Ritalin, and after he stops. So what does he do, he takes the drug that did so much harm to him and starts selling it in school. Not only does he do this but he gets so many other prescriptions for other kids, in order to be popular. This is the main fault of the film I believe, Charlie's only motivation is to be popular. I'm a 22 year old college student, high school is pretty fresh in my mind and it is nothing like this. It also has a schizophrenic tone to it, one minute kids are wiling out having a great time on meds the next it's a serious moment about the dangers of it, but it's done in such a tacked on way it feels like they are forcing one huge pill down your throat. Also there are the performances, all across the board they are bad, even Robert Downy Jr. feels bored here. Most of all what I hated about this film was the way it seemingly marginalized substance abuse, at one point he is giving psychotics to kids, these have the potential to utterly destroy a person's brain. If they never tried to be serious with it I wouldn't have a problem with it, but that's the biggest problem it tries for serious drama completely forgetting the stupid crap that came before it. UTTERLY ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

Pointless Drivel

[1/10 · 24 September 2008]

I wanted to like this film but honestly it kept on trying to have this forced young feel that I hate so many movies are trying to live up to. Whenever I see movies like this I know it's made from some person in their late 30's or 40's trying to connect with today's youth and it sad and pointless drivel. The acting feels pretty phoned in. I like Michael Cera a good bit, but the actress playing Norah I just couldn't like. She's been in other movies I hate as well so maybe that animosity is just carrying over. The so called humor falls flat and feels very forced. Again it feels like the producers are screaming "HEY KIDS IPODS indie rock, youth of America love this!!!". Most of all why I think I don't like this film is it's a studio trying to do a Juno type film. I don't mean the story as this story is a soul-less studio abortion, but the dialog tries to be trendy and of course they play all the trendy indie bands, kids relate to so well. To sum up simply don't ever watch this.

Burn After Reading (2008)

A great Coen Brother Comedy

[8/10 · 13 September 2008]

I saw this film opening night. I had pretty high expectation of this film and it honestly lived up to it. Every character is played to a T, and the no nonsense directing only helps propel the film. To begin with something must be said about Brad Pitt's performance of Chad, the very ignorant yet ever energetic gym trainer. This is easily one of Pitt's funniest performance, and one of my favorites as it drops the usual weight attached to most of his leading roles. This brings me to the next great thing about this film, each of the stars gets about equal screen time, there really isn't a 'supporting' actor in this. George Clooney is equally as entertaining as the playboy adulterer. Frances Mcdormand is as charismatic in this as she was in Fargo, it's good to see her with the Coen's again. The Coen's directing in this is one of the best things about it, the shots and the music are all done as if it were a serious spy drama, which of course it isn't. What this creates is a brilliant spoof of the spy genre, not in an over the top sort of way but with subtlety. IF you are a Coen's fan see this. While it's not as outrageous of their comedy magnum opus The Big Labowski, it is on par with their other comedy effort such as O' Brother and Raising Arizona.

True Blood (2008–2014)

Vampire Smut: Bad plot, bad accents, and just plain bad

[1/10 · 11 September 2008]

First off I have to say that this program probably isn't intended for me (college aged male), but I am an avid fan of the vampire genre all in all (excluding those Anne Rice novels except Interview). This seems more for those people who like the Twilight novels and the more racy Anne Rice books. All in all though it's not the triteness of the show that gets me, plenty of vampire stories have been successful without being the least bit original. My problem with this is the acting is terrible, the pacing is atrocious, and just the general presentation of the show is abhorrent. The plot focuses on the in your face virginal Suki (not sure how you spell that) a psychic who won't accept her paranormal state, and her meeting the vampire Bill, which you are almost sure is Bell by the horrible accent Anna Paquin puts on. This takes me to my aforementioned point, as a preface I live in the south and have spent many years around the people from Louisiana, and they talk nothing like this. Every time I heard the forced southern accents I wanted to rip my hair out, Hollywood in general does bad southern accent but these are soo bad it was almost insulting. This is coupled with pretentious acting for an onslaught of suck. Back to the narrative, so virgin meets vampire from there I'm sure it goes into a budding romance that will take nearly the entire season to come to fruition. I've seen the first two episodes, which is two hours of the series, none of which I couldn't predict what was happening not to mention it took forever to get there. Honestly it felt more like some awful Anne Rice fan fiction than anything else. Finally I come to the other awful part about this show, is the way it ends it's episodes. They just end at some arbitrary point. It's kind of like if you are watching a movie and the power just goes out randomly that's how these episodes end. I understand trying to create tension with a cliff hanger, but just ending without any sort of rhythm to the narrative just leaves a terrible feeling with the viewer. If you read this just know that I feel better having ripped this POS apart, by chance that you like this show and hate me for it then go ahead. Like I said I realize it's not for me, but I also realize how terrible it truly is. To think this got greenlit over Preacher is criminal, criminal I tell you!

Speed Racer (2008)

A great underrated family film

[8/10 · 1 September 2008]

Growing up I used to watch the speed racer cartoon mostly for humor as it's campy yet lovable tone was always fun to watch. I have to say that this was captured perfectly in the new film. While many critics have panned this film, I found it to be a good all around family film. Everyone has seen or knows of speed racer's camp value, I think if you were to try and look at this film as it own entity it might fall flat on it's face. Yet taken in the context of the series it's a great continuation. The performance are all handled well, Emil Hersch is particularly good in the titular role. The only part to rag on is the role of Spritle but he was always annoying, and that's generally his character. Something almost must be said about the art direction. I've heard many people complain that the CGI looks bad, on the contrary it is given a cartoon look for a reason, which is simply that it wants to emulate a cartoon. I think that would be the best description of this movie is a live action cartoon, similar to The Mask but turned up to 11. All in all this is possibly the best thing the Wachowski Bros have done since the original matrix. I'm glad to see they are capable of handling different material other than philosophy thick scifi (not that there is anything wrong with that).

The Signal (2007)

Intense, funny, and best of all scary

[9/10 · 1 September 2008]

A good deal of modern horror films just haven't been my cup of tea. The genre of torture horror has come to the forefront, which to me is borderline smut. But I digress, this film is what all of those movies aren't. This one has the full package brains, balls, and even a bit of heart to it. The characters in the story are portrayed well, and the acting is good for an indie film. This film does implement the trend of breaking it into 3 parts or "transmissions" as they are called here. For a lot of films this is unnecessary, and when the film first began I thought such was the case. Then when the big tonal shift occurs in transmission 2 you realize why this is done. I was surprised how well it all came together at the end. To say the least I really was surprised by this film, it does justice to the horror genre. I don't say this often but I would LOVE a sequel to this, it seems like there are so many more stories that could come from this.

Son of Rambow (2007)

Kid's Dramadey

[4/10 · 29 August 2008]

I had heard about this movie when it was circulating through the indie circuits, and thought the premise sounded interesting. Also being a fan of Rambo drew me to it. The most deceiving thing about this film is both of the aforementioned things. The premise seems funny and lighthearted, but really to me this was much more in tune with a dramadey rather than a straight up comedy. I wanted to laugh and have fun with this movie but there was just way too many dramatic parts. I'm not against giving some weight to comedies (hey it works great in Judd Apatow films), but here it just feels like a majority of the plot. Not to mention Jessica Hynes, who plays the mother, is completely wasted here as a staunch religious quaker type, who you really hate at some parts. There are also several subplots that get in the way and draw out the film too much. Also if you detest 80's glam like I do then you should simply skip the early scenes with the french kid, complete waste of time. The best part of this film is the end. It has a very nice heartfelt ending, but it feels like a little too late at this point. I wanted to like this film, but I simply couldn't.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Money Sucking Crap

[3/10 · 20 August 2008]

When it was first announced that another star wars clone wars series was commissioned I was quite excited, then I found out Genndy would have nothing to do with it, then I heard it was CGI, then I heard they were releasing the pilot as a movie. AS you can see it continuously snowballs in crap as it thunders downhill. This "movie" (TV pilot turned money sucker) wouldn't be all that bad on TV, but the fact is Lucas expects you to pay 10 bucks to see a Saturday morning cartoon; plain and simple. The writing matches that of Power Rangers minus the lovable camp and retaining only the stupidity. Like Power Rangers it is also very repetitive. How many times is a clone trooper shooting lasers at droids entertaining? And the thing is it should be cool, The first 2d Clone Wars pulled this off so many times and made it very exciting and dare I say suspenseful.With this movie they just repeat and reuse the same stuff over and over again.

Now on to the characters. Surprisingly Anikin is actually tolerable in this, Yoda is Yoda, but with Obi-wan the acting felt flat even for a Saturday morning cartoon. Then there is this little brat names Asoka, she is terrible. She not terrible in her acting or even the cheesy banter between her and Anikin might be tolerable outside of a Star Wars movie. But it is a star wars movie, and she is supposed to be training under Anikin yet constantly ignores his orders, talks back, and generally disrespects him. I mean aren't Jedi supposed to be this noble order with high respect for those more wise and learned? Think about if Luke Skywalker continuously made jokes about Yoda's age the entire time, that's Asoka. It'd be like if you threw Kimmy Gibler or an unfunny tween chick version of Bart Simpson into a temple of Shaolin Monks, it makes no sense what so ever. I guess that's what really defines this movie nothing makes sense in it, even worse than the episodes 1,2, and 3.

Then there is the general feeling you get from the end of the "movie", that none of what just happened really mattered. Remember after you saw episode I and you kind of thought to yourself "most of this movie is CGI fluff" (coughpodracecough), that is this movie. Action just to fill time, jokes to fill space on a script, and a plot that goes nowhere as fast as a Sarlac pit, which I think might be more tolerable than Asoka.

All in all this type of program might work better on TV, especially being on Cartoon Network (and reruns on TNT). Even then my 10 year old nephew who has seen the original trilogy, the Genndy clone wars, and even the prequels, hated this. Excuse his unpolitical correctness but he asked me "Was this made for retards?", which after seeing this isn't a bad question. I don't think it was made for them just made by them.