rogerg100 Reviews

Dune (2021)

Must see - best in a cinema or with surround sound

[10/10 · 5 January 2024]

This was the best movie since 2020 .

The visuals are stunning and the audio adds to the narrative.

While I am sure it is a good movie also at home, put on surround sound or make sure you are in a quite room with sound up and light out.

The movie is a totally captivating sci fi movie playing out the story of a noble man, Duke Leto and his family and soldiers coming to the harsh dessert planet Arrakis . The sand worms are not the only obstacle they needs to learn to overcome .

It is filled with mystery via the Bene Gesserit's ( a sort of monastry) ominous prophecies and veiled messages .

This is like an adult Star Wars saga with more detail , better story and but also more dry ( excuse the pun)..

Outside the Wire (2021)

Not really confusing

[7/10 · 2 December 2021]

This is a action movie mixed in with quite a good sci fi/ AI story that many missed the point of.

If you followed AI/ watched Elon Musk on the future of AI would help.

The synopsis is that a Drone Pilot, Harp ( Damson Idris) disobeys and order gets reassigned to the ground under Captain Leo ( Anthony Mack).

Before they engage on their first ground mission we learn that Leo is a droid. Leo seems a cool trained killer droid but actually according to his words has a lot of feelings.

Many missed this point but it makes it an interesting story.

There was a missed chance to develop the villain -Victor and the main characters more . That's why it is 7 Stars and not 9 stars.

Altered Carbon: Phantom Lady (2020) Season 2, Episode 1

Season 2 is as good as Season 1 perhaps even better

[8/10 · 16 December 2020]

I do not understand the hatred for Season 2.

It's in many ways better than Season 1. It's certainly original and moves the plot along very well.

The opening Scene has Kovac as a singer . This annoyed some reviewers. To me it makes perfect sense , that if you visit 40 planets, looking for someone you might be looking to pick up some skills like singing and hanging out in pubs to get people to open up to you.

Furthermore people have issues with Antony Mack. I really do not know where this stems from. ? His character is actually less wooden than the in the first season.

Season 2 actually has much more interesting villains. Villains that one can at least identify unlike the über Villains of Season 1 . People also forget some flaws of Season 1 : Some character development of some very important lead Figures , in my mind was severely lacking. Season 2's is much better in that regard. I rate the first couple of episode of Season 2 only a 7 or 8 star , some of the others episodes are 9 star or 10 star.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Not as good and not as bad as many write

[7/10 · 29 May 2018]

This movie is actually better than I expected but not in the top 100 movies of all time nor in the top 10 of this year. Don't expect much or any character development in this movie. 95% of all the characters were already introduced in previous Marvel movies. You would have had to have seen at least ten others marvel movies to get any joy out of this movie .

So this one goes straight to the action .The super heroes are in groups and they fight separate fights and the movie seems scattered . The obvious plot does not make up for it, the characters do not develop further , it often feels more like a good computer game then a movie. So cannot give it more than a 7 * .

It is not as bad as you might expect from such a movie and the plot does get a bit more interesting, however simplistic it is... Super heros are no longer invincible , unfortunately many of them are still far from human . We cannot really identify with them or estimate if any of their actions actually make any sense - we are a spectators, like spectators of a video game we have never seen before.. For example how much punishment can a super hero or super villain take before he dies, we have no idea and there is no gauge. Sometimes they just get up again other times not..

The movie does have some interesting sub plots and parts to it , yes even the villains have a human side. Nevertheless the main villains motive for wanting to destroy half the universe is unsatisfactory, at best .

The good part is that it is not too predictable, the movie has good CGI and well actually good actors in most of the roles.

Dunkirk (2017)

The movie is 3d the story telling is one dimensional .

[4/10 · 6 August 2017]

This movie is about the British and French soldiers trapped on a beach by the German soldiers. It is a movie with very good visuals and camera work and CGI. It lacks dialogue and character development. Even less so than super hero movies.

In Dunkirk you will be riveted to the seats by the action scenes, boats sinking, airplanes, air-gun fights for a good 30-40 minutes, but then you start to wonder if this is what the movie is all about. At the end you just realize you wasted 2h of your life.

However, if this movie were not based on an historic event - which could be summarized into perhaps 3-4 sentences, it would not get a vote of 8.5 Somehow people are scared to vote down boring historic movies. Historic movies can have beautiful character development, this one did not. The movie is 3d, the story is one dimensional. Don't give it a high vote just because it is based on WWII..

The Equalizer (2014)

Good acting but turns into Steven Seagal movie

[5/10 · 28 September 2014]

The characters develop, the story unfolds..then after 40 minutes it turns into a Steven Seagal movie..played with Denzel Washington !! This is not as good as heat/ training day . I think I prefer Kevin's Costners' 3 days to Kill about 10 times over this. I hope he is the good uncle in the next movie!

The movie is not original at all, the ending is pathetic, careless,.. the characters become inconsistent and careless! I should have left after 60 minutes..Did the script writers/ directors get impatient half way through ? did somebody tell them we need more Steven Seagal?

Disappointed, I still give it a 5 ***** . 3 * for the first 40 minutes. and because the villain was also a good actor and 1* for Denzel ..It could have been 8 * easy had the middle to end of story been more believable, the characters more consistent/ careful.

Chef (2014)

Family movie

[5/10 · 18 September 2014]

This movie is sweet with some good actors, good characters and a few jokes. The movie is about a chef that takes his job very seriously with lots of passion who has a mean one dimensional boss a son a hot divorced wife etc. The characters are all interesting except his boss. If you like to watch a family movie/ romantic movie this is 7 Star!! easy!

However it is classified as comedy with a joke about every 10 minutes. Even Jaws( horror) had Jokes and so did Commando (action). That does not make them a comedy !! This is a family drama with some jokes!

This spoiled it for me since I wanted a good laugh ! There was not a single funny joke until the 40th minute! Most jokes were as much dramatic/ sad as funny.

I was on the verge of leaving then Robert Downey Jnr entered the scene . He was there for 5 minutes yet somehow after this - not sure if the actors suddenly realised it or the script writer- but the movie picked up life!

Overall it was still way to serious for a comedy! I am not sure who classifies comedy to the genre for this family drama with occasional jokes.. So for a family movie 7 starts for a comedy 4 stars. So I can settle on 5 *.

Let's Be Cops (2014)

A lot better than expected

[7/10 · 17 September 2014]

I don't know why so many people give it such a low review. I guess if you had to only watch 1 movie a year and this is it you would be disappointed..

It a classic like Beverly Hills cop of Bad boys. , but it is one of the better comedies in the last months.

So two losers dress up as cops for a masquerade ball and go with it and Jake Johnson is actually quite funny in the way he just goes for everything.. no matter how crazy..

Is it often corny yes, is it very cliché yes : but does it make you laugh: yes! Is it entertaining yes.

If you looking for meaning i.e. drama comedy/ family comedy/ romance comedy this is not going to appeal to you.If you just want to laugh it will.

There is another part of irony. The thriller/ action part of this movie was actually better, more realistic and more clever than that of movies like Need for speed/ fast and the furious 5/6.

Don't expect too much now either. it is comparable to 21 and 22 Jump street , but somewhat less funny and less original jokes.

Godzilla (2014)

Mostly boring -unless you are into monsters.....does not add up ,

[4/10 · 25 May 2014]

Besides being mostly boring, story seems to repeat itself over and over ,not enough build up, humans and characters are mostly left as spectators ..so why watch it? A movie should always be a story of a human .. unless you are into monsters.. ( your 12 year old kid might be but adults should not..) So about 3/4 in I had yawning about 4 times already.. Then comes the --not so exiting ending-- and now huge plot holes surfaced . Unfortunately these are at critical to the whole outcome of the movie, not going to write spoilers.

So 8 (for a perfect entertaining movie but nothing too novel) +1 for CGI +1 for slightly original story on the theme. -3 the story needs to involve humans more or intelligent beings or we need to know what the hell they are thinking..! -1 no real characters to follow that are entertaining. -2 for major plot holes

So cannot give it more than 4.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Un unexpected boredom

[4/10 · 14 July 2013]

..yes the characters and the settings are good and Lord of the rings was riveting, but this . I am sorry Muppet Show in a big cave ... The action scenes are like Tom and Jerry.. come on they are not funny, Tom and Jerry is at least funny ..and they are not full of suspense either because the story is just lacking. and the characters are not attractive because they are all hobbits and dwarfs, so why do I need to watch 45 minutes of that. I am not in admiring CGI for the sake of it. And the opening scene is just way too long..25 minutes for a breakfast??

As for the story. all this gold we are shown that the dwarfs had.. what's the point if a quarter of the worlds population swims in Gold..and all it does it attract Dragons? Surely it is as valuable as iron then. So trying to look past that I was looking forward to a suspenseful film but I could predict almost everything.. and Golem was not as good as last time. The story is just too simple and too drawn out. Leave it for your kids under the age of 12.

Life of Pi (2012)

Visually appealing but story dwells too long on irrelevant detail

[6/10 · 3 March 2013]

The book might be very good but as a movie it is just a story that could have been told in a short movie( 20 minutes) with the same effect and the same beauty and same message and same option for debate and thought about it. I do not like movies that are there to carry a message, e.g. Contact and the message become more important then the characters and the story moving forward.

The movie is visually very appealing, if it were not for CGI effects would get a much lower rating, I am sure.

I expected more and can give it only a 6/10. Perhaps if you do not mind movies that are there to carry a message, more so than tell a story and love CGI you will enjoy this movie and find it very beautiful.

Bridesmaids (I) (2011)

as a guy ..only watch this if you are forced to

[2/10 · 28 June 2011]

Althouth this movie has some real jokes..most of the movie consists of boring chick stuff and old cliché jokes...so as a guy don't think you will enjoy this. you can pretend to but only watch it if you have to.. :)

The chick moments are too long and too annoying.. I personally prefer most romantic comedies to this movie, girl fights are just terrible to watch on screen. Besides the movie is offensive and discriminates against Germans. USA and Saudi Arabia are the police state these days not Germany. .writers of this movie..travel a bit please..create some original humor.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Matthew McConaughey can act!

[9/10 · 5 June 2011]

Others have said it already : this is a very intriguing movie and now that Matthew McConaughey is not looking so good anymore, maybe he actually started to take some acting lessons and it shows. OK the review is not about him, but he does delivers in the movie. The story line is also very original and intense. This is not your typical court drama..but things form the past catch up with the characters of the movie and all this time the movie stays full of suspense and pretty realistic as far as I could tell. I never like talking too much about the storyline, since it can spoil the first 20 minutes of a movie..so the story is a criminal lawyer who likes to cut corners and bend the law and bribe people to get information that probably goes a bit too far. He has clients of all sorts, mostly criminals and shady characters with some amount of cash , but then he gets a high profile case about a rich young good looking guy(Ryan Phillip-- his acting was not the best) that presumably tried to kill a prostitute, but was knocked out and caught int the process.. The actors and storyline deliver some intense moments between lawyers and State attorneys and lawyers and clients and also puts the attorneys in moral and legal dilemmas, it is often like a chess match played out in and out the court room. Don't expect action but a good thriller. Best : don't expect much and just watch.

Fast Five (2011)

unoriginal. full of plot holes and just totally over the top

[2/10 · 18 May 2011]

over the top: if jumping buses in "speed" bother us compare to speed, the action in this movie is a jump over the empire state building.. with a bus.

Secondly it is full of plot holes in peoples action and what they say ..right at the ending..go through what people did just 10 minutes ago in the movie.. makes no sense.!..u got to start asking yourself was i dreaming or in a different movie ten minutes ago? The movie starts well, but ..the tension between Brian oConner and Dominuq Toretto is just not there anymore and this makes the whole movie bland.. soon u find yourself in a completely unoriginal plot..aka almost identical to the plot from "the Losers" , "The expendabels" and so many others..just with the plot holes as above and a worse story and more boring....when the action starts it gets ridiculous quickly...I like fast and furious I and IV..this one was the worst of the serious.

Adventureland (2009)

Not really a comedy

[4/10 · 6 October 2010]

This is not really a comedy but a teenage love story , that is one reason I am giving it a **** . I had to fast forward the end because of utterly bored, ..Although there were a few jokes in the first 20 minutes of the movie.. they completely and uttetly disappear.. the movie just changes and ..what did they run out of jokes..forget they are making a comedy?? The other reason I give it **** only is because even assuming you are a teenager..and want to take something home and learn valuable live lessons .. you are not going to learn anything..except that smoking weed somehow turns a nerd into a cool guy.. I really don't see much even teenagers can take out of this movie.

Scent of a woman etc.. are so much better than this.

The acting is all round good. So for a comedy this is 3 stars for a teenage love story/ drama 6 stars.

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

The story and the characters are a disgrace.

[2/10 · 26 September 2010]

Resident Evil 1 to 3 are by no means art or the best sci-fi ever written, but at least they were entertaining, watchable and the plot was somewhat interesting. In this movie none of the characters actions or the story line makes any sense ..this can be seen within 3 minutes of the movie..when a lead character puts her live at risk completely unnecessary..as is revealed only a minute later.. future actions just get more stupid and the story only gets worse from there..

Even the bad guys are awful to watch..Take all irritating 1 dimensional evil characters/ monsters of all the worst movies you have ever seen..and you will find them all again in here..The heros are no better.

The only reason I give it 2 stars is as a result of the cinemtogrophy . However the characters and the details of the story are so bad that even in 4D this movie would only get 3 stars.. since it is "only in 3D" I will give it 2 ..I need to quote somebody else: "The movie is a disgrace even for resident evil." I feel embarrassed for the people that made this movie....heck even for people that acted in this movie... they surely need to be desperate for money...

District 9 (2009)

Men in black meets alien nation.

[9/10 · 10 September 2009]

The first hour of the movie was meant to be funny. I was a funny mockumentary. The accents are very thick..of everyone. (Not all south Africans have such a thick accent, just some.) Vicus was not the brightest...etc.

I think a lot of people are missing the satire/ irony of aliens living in District 9 in South Africa until 17 years ago. Non-white South Africans were forcefully moved from one districts. e.g. district 6 to another district until the 1980s.

These apartheid laws etc. were mostly implemented and followed through by afrikaans people ( white people with the thick accent, Vicus van der Merwe is such a very typical Afrikaans name the other one is Kobus.) The awkward scenes are really funny and meant to be funny. Also the scenes where he gives candies to aliens / pops their eggs is very funny dark humor.

Comedy needs to be added to genre! so make it: Action <> Drama <> Sci-Fi <> Thriller AND comedy

If you don;t get this you might miss a * or ** from the movie and the first half might seem a bit boring. I find it is much more funny then Men in black actually. I could have watched 3h of the first part.

Please don;t expect another THE MATRIX / TERMINATOR / YOUR SCIFI MOVIE HERE experience. It will NOT WOW you in that way. I think it was also not that rounded off with the best sound tracks, best cast etc. But since it was so different to anything I have seen before, had no famous stars to support it, I still give it 9 stars.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

Boring and not funny

[4/10 · 19 June 2009]

This movie was boring and not really funny. Maybe entertaining for kids... Ben Stiller really disappointed.. it starts of kind of funny but then everything is like in Night at the Museum I, with nothing new added. The jokes are just not funny..their is romance and adventure and your odd little corny joke, but there is not enough of anything one can really laugh at or identify with . It should have either been a comedy or an adventure story or a romance movie .. and well probably just stuck to comedy: This is Indiana Jones meets Sesame Street... just does not work for me. I think if you go with your kids under the age of 10, I guess they can find it entertaining.

Fast & Furious (2009)

Best one from the series

[8/10 · 12 April 2009]

I did not expect much from this movie, except some mindless action movie.

It is not that much more but enjoyable and much better than the last few from the same series. Also better then the last James bond movie and especially better than the stupid transporter 3. Well if you don't like car chases you can still follow the story which is not great but not stupid either. I think they could have done more considering the two main characters are on opposite sides of the law and are very close and have a past.

Well I don;t like saying too much about the plot etc...don;t expect the best movie of the year either...

Unleashed (2005)

Karate Drama

[6/10 · 30 August 2005]

Saw this movie in a cinema. Worth watching but leaves the audience a bit confused about what kind of a movie it should be. The story is about a man kept as a dog and unleashed like a fighting dog. A money lender/ gangster uses him to frighten and fight people when collecting his debts... Good movie but not great. The movie actually combines Karate and Drama and a bit of music. Not very typical and not my favorite genre..if there is one like this. The two types of films don't combine that well together especially when the 'sound of music' is thrown in as well... Danny the Dog contains good karate scenes and also some emotionally moving scenes. Good acting all around by Morgan Freeman and others. Still I would not give it more than a 6 out of 10. I prefer comedy and karate or thriller and karate to this weird combination.

Vanilla Sky (2001)

Excellent movie. great sound track

[9/10 · 1 August 2005]

o.k. it is a remake, but a good one. If it was an original I would have given it a 10. I think it is slightly better than the original. This is open for debate. I prefer the music of Vanilla Sky and that made it greater pleasure to watch. So if I had to watch Vanilla Sky 3 times in a year or OPen your eyes I would much rather watch Vanilla Sky. ( maybe the subtitles of OPen your eyes also put it at an unfair disadvantage.

This is a movie about so many things and they are all so true to human nature and yes also not. I don't want to spoil it.

I maybe a IQ snob but I use this movie to judge peoples intelligence. If they don't like it I have always found they did not get it... regardless of their sophistication. (bugger of spell checker)

Cheers

Bringing Down the House (2003)

Boring..dreadfull predictable

[2/10 · 7 September 2003]

I have ever walked out on a cinema movie before but after half an hour of bad jokes (were there supposed to be any ?) and a lot of irritating cliches I could not take it anymore....I heard the movie does picks up a bit afterwards.. well it could possibly not get worse.. switch on the TV and change channels until u find any sitcom.. I am sure it will be funnier than this movie.

Unforgettable (1996)

Thriller , full of suspense

[9/10 · 10 March 2001]

This is true thriller . It is very intense, full of suspense- very clever. It does not contain glamorous unbelievable action sequences , or gorgeous heroines. So it is not your typical box office movie. Ray Liotta gives an excellent performance as a doctor who was accused of murdering his wife. He was drunk that night and could not remember what happened. Now he is trying to unravel that night. He plays the role vulnerable - yet tough intense and mysterious. This role was written for him- I doubt anybody would have played it better. The only other actor I could image in this role is Gary Sinise .

Ray Liota's keeps the viewer guessing as to what really happened.

If you are a Ray Liota fan , watch this movie. If you love thrillers this one is also for you. If you liked Mission Impossible I and II,- give this movie a skip.