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Reviews
The Evading (2007)
It's terrifying...
...just how much a movie can disappoint.
I had read a mixed bag of reviews on The Evading before watching. There seems to be a large divide of those who love it and those who hate it so as I began to watch I tried to forget everything I had read and judge it totally of my own mind.
First of all we'll deal with the acting, it was terrible. I'm being serious when I say it made me cringe in some parts. Especially from the main character Josh Carter (Eric Stevens). However don't let me throw you any by singling him out, he was just the grubbiest piece of coal in what turned out to be...well, a huge pile of coal. No diamonds here I'm afraid.
The script was bad, the camera work was worse and story verged on the edge of ridiculous for the most part then took a huge plunge to the abyss of idiocy with an ending that made me want to whisk my own brains with a rusty spoon.
The only reason this 'movie' gets a 3 rather than a 1 is for the sole reason that I did like the idea behind it. It's just a shame how poorly it was all pulled off in the end.
4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
REVIEW FOR NON COMIC BOOK FANATICS! *Potential Spoilers*
I'll start by stating my position on comic book movies. As I have never been into comic books but still have a soft spot for any type of dramatic hero, I always judge these movies on the basis of exactly what they are...movies! I do not care if things don't agree with the original comics.
That said, what a waste of time! The acting is horrendously bad at times and has been served up with extra helpings of cheese. I'm sure that if the people who claim to have liked this installment watch it again they will agree. Special mention to Jessica Alba's portrayal of Little Miss Force Field, Sue Storm, which was horrible to be frank. An especially nasty moment would be her embarrassing spew near the end about 'protecting people.' However she is not on her own as most of the cast are quite frankly horrible this time around apart from one. Julian MacMahon is clearly an actor who is destined for huge things yet to come. Most people will recognise him from drama Nip/Tuck, but he clearly shows here that he is born to play a baddie. Every time he appeared on screen my spirits lifted a little but I wait patiently for the day he is offered a sinister role in a serious movie rather than one this is aimed for kids.
However, acting is not the worst part of 4:Rise of the Silver Surfer. The plot is so idiotic is made my head spin. Spiderman movies have offered us a feast of baddies over the trilogy but sadly the writers of this movie served up a giant planet eating gas 'thingy' with a silver slave on a surfboard and expected us to swallow. Please don't think I'm being harsh as I was impressed by the Silver Surfer at the start, but the amazement fairly disappears when he loses his board becoming this pathetic wreck and won't stop talking in that annoying slow way. The reason for him and the gas ball being connected is kind of explained, but the reason for needing so many damn holes on the earth is not, the way I seem to be understand it only one hole was needed. And to conclude, just in case your not annoyed at wasting £6 on entry fee yet, the ending makes NO SENSE AT ALL! What exactly did he do to the big planet munching cloud? Maybe this is a 'need to read the comics' bit but it seemed to be so pointless and poor I was left thinking..."all that money on making this movie, and they end it like THAT!" This 'plot' is also twisted around the sub plot of the Fantastic wedding, I won't discuss it because you'll spend enough time cursing it yourself when you have seen this movie.
What about the CGI I hear you shout? Polished but pretty basic in my view.The Silver Surfer looks cool but not that cool and Reed's stetchiness looks really really fake most of the time. Of course I know it is fake but isn't it supposed to look real-ish? Take the Sandman is Spiderman 3 for example, his expanding looked cool and real...in fact, if good CGI was all you were wanting from this movie watch Spiderman 3 instead.
ONE GOOD POINT OF 4: THE RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER: I witnessed a trailer for Transformers and that looks amazing!
The Prestige (2006)
A real magician tries to invent something new...
...and that is exactly what what Christopher Nolan has done with this wonderful piece of conjured magic. In 2000 he amazed the viewing audience with his wonderful Momento and...trust me...this is equally as good if not better! Christian Bale shows us once more that his Reign of Fire days are well and truly behind him as he puts in a dazzling performance as the moody and slightly arrogant Alfred Borden, who triggers a series of hate fuelled events when his hunger to make tricks seem more dangerous causes the death of his colleague's wife. His former colleague, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), then sets out to destroy not only Borden's career but his whole life along with it. The pair are quickly caught up in a 'punch-for-punch' type battle which, it soon becomes very clear, will not have a happy ending. Also, credit to Michael Caine for his calming performance of Cutter who seeks to help Angier succeed but yet at the same time shows, by contrast to himself, just how enraged both characters of Borden and Angier are becoming in the battle.
What Nolan has done is not only created a visually beautiful movie with his Victorian era setting but also shown us what lengths man can be driven to through competition in a way which can be related even to the present day. However, the end of the movie will not please everyone as it takes a huge jump in the science fiction direction. I however loved where he went, and I think that anyone who has even the slightest glimmer of imagination will too.
A lot of people have compared this to another movie of 2007, The Illusionist. Don't! This is David Copperfield, whereas The Illusionist is Paul Daniels. A must see of 2007!
About Schmidt (2002)
Complete Snorefest!
Films like this should come with a health warning because after the first painful 30 minutes I felt like gouging out my own eye balls.
Alright, I am a huge fan of Jack Nicholson and I can see what the whole thing was aiming at but in the end what we received was nothing but a dull, depressing waste of 125 mins of my life.
Considering that the director Alex Payne contributed to the writing of the horrible Jurassic Park III, I should have known not to expect the greatest movie I've ever seen.
3/10 for effort and an original idea, but could have been done so much better.
The Hills Have Eyes II (2007)
Gore Galore!
Sometimes movies aren't always about twists and mind puzzling plots.
With horror movies gradually becoming more and more in depth, The Hills Have Eyes II is a refreshing back to basics movie. It makes no attempt to pretend it is anymore than a gore fest and it is for this reason that I strongly recommend it to anyone who thinks they have the stomach for it. As the movie begins we are shown a tremendously realistic birth scene which lets us know straight away the tone of the movie. This is then followed by an hour or so of brutal killings, a crazy friendly fire death and plenty of 'I knew it was coming but still I jumped' moments.
Don't expect much and you'll be happy.
Smokin' Aces (2006)
Stunning!
Having seen the trailer for Smokin' Aces at the same showing I first saw the trailer for 300, I was more anticipating the latter. However, after now having watched both I find myself feeling that I enjoyed Smoking Aces more probably because I didn't expect it to be up to much.
Basically, the story is: One man is locked up in his hotel suite while an array of (mostly incompetent) hit men and would-be captors slog it out to reach him first. Throw in a few tight ass coppers and our hero and we have a movie.
Yes parts of this film were stupid, parts were funny though they were not meant to be, but all in all the acting is strong throughout, the action scenes are pulled off very well and there are enough twists to keep those looking for a decent plot happy (including the death of big main character early on). I loved this movie!