dtander-1 Reviews

Cyberpunk 2077 (2020 Video Game)

A great vision that became an awesome game.

[10/10 · 7 February 2024]

Despite a lot of early bugs and technical issues, the dedication of the developers and production company has turned this into one of the greatest games of all time. It touches so many genre bases (without necessarily being 100% in all of them), the intriguing, involving story, the beautiful art and world design, the iconic characters (and the actors that voiced them brilliantly), the crazy action and huge range of interactions and abilities available to the player, the AI variation that makes replays always surprising and challenging, the layered quests that only slowly reveal themselves...always to thrill and occasionally to shock the player to the core...all of this adds up to a gaming experience like no other that I've experienced.

The Lost City (2022)

A fun popcorn movie

[7/10 · 27 March 2022]

I wouldn't pay a premium price to see this, but it's funny and fun. Some great laughs, Gotta say, Sandra Bulloch's behind looks pretty fine for a woman in her fifties. Channing Tatum is a good foil for Bulloch's brainy character, although his character's evolution doesn't seem very consistent throughout the movie. Dan Radcliffe makes a convincing villain and Brad Pitt is a very amusing supporting character without stealing the movie. It just goes to show that good actors and a decent plot and writing can make even lightweight fare quite satisfying, for an afternoon matinee, at least. There's a sequel suggested...I'd definitely consider seeing that one.

Red Notice (2021)

A fluffy timewaster...

[7/10 · 17 November 2021]

If you're a fan of any of these stars. You'll probably get a kick out of this movie. Lots of silliness and improbable stunts, overly crafted one-liners. Not exactly predictable, but the surprises feel engineered. A little too slick.

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Not quite a total waste of time, but almost.

[5/10 · 24 July 2021]

Good SFX? Check.

Good talent? Check.

Some good action? Check.

Smart, thoughtful script? Bzzzzzzt. Total fail. This movie was aggressively dumb, and I'm not normally picky about everything making perfect sense in an action movie. Plus, there were some crashing continuity errors that really should have been caught before release. I like the stars and there were a few good action pieces, but if those hadn't been present, it would have been total garbage.

Can't recommend.

StartUp (2016–2018)

Fun show, but...

[8/10 · 30 May 2021]

Lots of absorbing drama and many great characters, but somewhat spoiled by fanciful technical details, both in terms of computer networks and finance. Also, the 3rd season got a little soap-opera-ish...characters having issues and bouncing off each other while the story recycled some themes and was generally thin...although the plotlines including Mira Sorvino were pretty gripping.

I'd still welcome a 4th season to bring the storylines to a conclusion...Season 3 ended on quite a cliffhanger...

V-Wars (2019)

Just barely watchable. If it gets a second season, it needs to raise its game

[5/10 · 12 December 2019]

This show has some interesting ideas and decent performers, but it's slow and unimaginative in execution. If it had been packed into 6-8 episodes it might have moved along with a bit more excitement. A lot of events seem to happen off screen...perhaps for budgetary reasons. The final episode has a few cliffhangers and teases a more action-packed second season, but the lack of action, sex (the language is 'R' rated) or horror pizzazz in the first could prevent it from ever happening.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

Not all that and a bag of chips...

[6/10 · 24 June 2018]

This movie is technically amazing and has some great action set-pieces, however there are very few surprises, and the characters feel one-dimensional. Enjoy it for the spectacle and don't think too hard about the characters.

Altered Carbon (2018–2020)

Brilliantly realized but challenging to follow plot

[9/10 · 11 February 2018]

Caption says it all. I read the novel some years ago and hardly remember any of it, so the series definitely felt new and fresh. Now I want to read the novel again...

Sabotage (2014)

A challenging movie, but a hacked up trainwreck in the end.

[7/10 · 15 August 2014]

I was excited to see this movie, but it was never released to theatres in Canada. This only made it more intriguing to me, and I snapped it up when it arrived On Demand cable. To say it is gory, violent and extremely 'dark' is barely scratching the surface. It invites strong reactions, both positive and negative I've enjoyed many of these actors in other movies, and in most cases, they displayed some remarkably different characters in Sabotage. Arnie as a manipulative good guy-turned criminal mastermind? Sam Worthington as a grungy hardcase named Monster? Olivia Williams as a hard-nosed detective? Mireille Enos, who always seemed drab and dour in other roles, was _outstanding_ as the profane, sexy and crazy/violent Lizzie.

Reading the IMDb trivia, I see that the end product of this movie is something far removed from the filmmakers' original intent. I can believe that with no difficulty. It has the feeling of being massively edited and altered...the story seems sketchy and the characters poorly developed. I can understand many of the negative comments, and maybe I'm seeing too much of what's not there...but I was glad to see this film. With luck, there will be a director's cut edition available on Blu-Ray that lets us see it as the creators intended.

Dead Man Down (2013)

Not your usual action-thriller-romance...

[8/10 · 12 March 2013]

I really liked this movie. The way the plot gradually revealed itself, along with the slowly developing relationship of the lead characters makes a pleasant change from the usual Hollywood formula. I can understand why some people had difficulty with it for that reason, and the many noir-ish, art-house touches that made it interesting to watch for me, may have seemed irrelevant and pointless to the typical action thriller fan. It's nice to see a movie that respects the intelligence of its audience. Good acting throughout...Colin Farrell has had some bad luck with roles and movie choices, but I've always found him to be a solid performer. This may be the first time I've ever really liked Noomi Rapace...the delicacy and desperation of the damaged Beatrice, on many levels, was well-drawn and sympathetic. I found the movie's ending a little pat, but it fit well enough. Maybe I'm too old and cynical.

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)

Absolute crap

[1/10 · 14 September 2012]

I really liked the first ResEvil movie, and I've been going along with them ever since, but this is the end of the line for me. This movie was a total waste of time and money. There's no plot, just a situation that Alice has to fight her way out of. There are some good stunts but nothing we haven't seen before. Most of the action is just ridiculous...bad guys that don't die, guns that don't run out of ammo, characters that can be interchangeably good or evil at the whim of the scriptwriter. It's like a five-year-old playing with toy soldiers. The actors are so wooden, and look so plastic that I honestly couldn't tell if they were CGI creations or actual human beings.

Milla and her husband should be ashamed of themselves.

Transparency (I) (2010)

For a low-budget movie, not at all bad.

[6/10 · 13 May 2012]

Despite its obvious low budget, and some weak writing, I thought this was a pretty good movie. The plot is a little contrived and some character development could have been handled better but overall I found it worth my time to watch. If anything, I'm impressed the movie did so much with so little.

Lou Diamond Phillips is a solid performer, and I didn't find much to criticize even with the supporting and bit players. It wasn't as highly charged as the typical Hollywood effort (I'm thinking of TAKEN here...a movie with a vaguely similar theme and plot) but instead it had a more documentary feel that contributed to my willingness to overlook some plot holes.

Underworld: Awakening (2012)

Great action and effects, but mainly for the fans...like me.

[9/10 · 20 January 2012]

The summary says it...this movie is all about the action and effects and pounding sound track...and Kate Beckinsale, not that there's anything wrong with that. However it merely dips its toe into the world of Underworld, and has less actual story than a typical TV episode. I enjoyed it a lot, but if you aren't a fan of the earlier movies you likely won't. If you're not familiar but are intrigued anyway, view the first two movies on home video.

One more thing...I saw this one on IMAX 3D and while the 3D didn't add much, it didn't take away much either...the screen image was bright and clear despite the dark sets.