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tatooinekenobi
Reviews
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
it shud have died with jim cameron
just as i always suspected. Rise of the Machines should never have been made. ok fair enough, the studio has made a profit, so for them and for arnie ($30 million dollars in his pocket and respect to him) and it was in fairness a fairly decent film. but in context with the earlier films The Terminator and Judgement Day, it doesnt even compare.
James Cameron wrote Judgement day clearly to have a closed ending, so no sequels could infact be made, and therefore as such we have an immediate hole in the T3 plot. this however i can just about abide.
But the constant self parody of arnie's T-800 character erased all the intensity and seriousness for which he was originally created. he no longer is the unstobbable murderous cyborg, but instead a comic figure which audiences laughed at consistently. the for a start it relinquishes any potential intesity the film may have had.
also the first two terminator films had schwarzeneggers character as still character which would kill at the slightest opportunity, again this was gone in favour of a more younger audience pleasing character. all well and good, but in context with the this world created by James cameron it does not fit.
i could go on forever about holes in the plot and nitpick consistently but i know a lot of ppl have yet to see this. and most probably you will enjoy it. but serious observers of the first two who were enthralled by their brilliance will be disappointed by such a lesser film
Vanilla Sky (2001)
a film which descends into the ludicrous
The hard emotional attatchment of the initial themes are ones to be credited, with the pursuit of love and coping with physical deforment. after having everything (looks, money, women...the seemingly western notion of a perfect life. at this point it is a seemingly good film which would claim relative critical acclaim. yet without giving anything away the ending is one of such proposity its hard to even comprehend. its almost laughable. to its credit it suprised me. but in the context of the film it doesnt fit. those who havent seen these, you'll see what i mean. you'll love or hate the ending. i personally think its a cop out.
Interceptors (1999)
hilarious
it was a while ago i saw this, but it will always stay in my memory as one of the funniest films i have ever seen, and its not even meant to be funny. if u havent seen it, i reckommend it, and watch out for when our hero is interrogated in a chair, or the fly kick japanese fella. top quality comedy
L.A. Confidential (1997)
great adaptation
the film is astutely streamlined interpretation of the incredibly complex but brilliant James Ellroy novel. Curtis Hanson is excels as director and the cast itself are all perfectly cast (apart from sid hudgens played by de vito).
concentration on the nite owl killings is the films objective, for cinematic quality and to keep audience attention this was understandable. the many many subplots, and an almost perverse violence in leonards novel are absent but the flow of the movie would have been greatly hindered.
a great film in its own right, comparison with the book is slightly unfair due to its size (approx 500pgs)but the core of the story is still there although astute social critique of 1950's L.A(however, still very relevant to today also-e.g Elmore Leonards 'Get Shorty'-on a much lighter note) are clearly absent.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
a huge disappointment
as a fan of kubrick films of great kubrick films such as barry lyndon and clockwork orange, i put space odyessey in my video player with great anticipation....but what i saw was pretentious cinematography. there was barely a decent storyline (apart from Hal which i concede was very good).
There were glimpses of a great film, like Hal which ive already mentioned but even as a landmark film which i also agree it to be (in terms of special effects), Kubrick relys far too much on his skills with the camera and showing what he thinks is clever and not enough on the story. i mean the discovery of immortality was a joke i have 2 say. i just sat there and i said to myself "is that it?"