Mrohnoes Reviews

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Unlike any movie that I've ever seen.

[10/10 · 5 April 2014]

Over on the "Noah" board, I made a thread wherein I expressed my opinion on that film. I also mentioned that it was the first Darren Aronofsky film that I had ever seen, which surprised the people who read my review, and so they recommended a few of Aronofsky's films, and the one that was recommended the most was Requiem For A Dream. And so, I rented the film off of Amazon, and gave it a watch, unprepared for what I was about to witness.

Requiem For A Dream is like no other film I've ever seen, and even now, as I type this, I'm still attempting to figure out what I make of the film, but I will do my best to put my thoughts into a cohesive manner, so here it goes:

I was going to start off by talking about how the film handles its depiction of people doing drugs, but I'd rather you look up Confused Matthew's review of the film, he discusses it better than I ever could, so instead, I'm only going to talk about the performances and the direction.

Everyone in this film gave great performances. Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, and especially Ellen Burstyn (who deserved her Oscar nomination) each turn in some of the best acting I've ever seen from each of them, and that helped give each of their characters extra depth.

Then, there's the directing by Aronofsky. The way he shot and edited the film is REALLY trippy and bizarre, but it works, because it gives you the feeling that you too are on drugs, which gives the audience a little bit of insight as to what the characters experience when they, you know, "do the good stuff". And you could also say that it helps the audience know why the characters do the drugs in the first place.

Oh, and the ending to the film? Without a doubt one of the darkest endings I've ever seen in a film, and yet it's somewhat poignant in its message. I refuse to tell you what happens in it, just so you know.

If you haven't seen this movie, I wholeheartedly recommend it, but I will warn you that you will not, I repeat NOT, be prepared for what you will see.

42 (2013)

A compelling biopic on one of the great sports heroes

[9/10 · 21 April 2013]

You know, before I saw 42, me and my dad caught one of the trailers for the movie a few months before it came out. His reaction was something like this: "Let me guess, it's gonna about racism and how bad it is or some bull, isn't it?" I walked into 42 with these words in mind. I walked out of 42 having learned that that's not what the film is about (I'll explain later on).

42 is a well-written, well-directed biopic on Jackie Robinson, one of America's greatest sports heroes (and the movie does a great job at proving why he is just that). Before I talk about Jackie himself, I MUST bring up Harrison Ford as the owner(?) of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, who is the best character in the movie. Ford turns in his best performance in a long while and he makes the character passionate, determined, and wise, but he's kind-hearted as well. But what makes Rickey such a great character is why he signs on Jackie Robinson in the first place. As he says a few times in the movie, Rickey is doing this for the money, and he knows that if he signs on Jackie, the Dodgers will go to the World Series, which will get Rickey more money. On the surface, money seems to be his motive. But what if he had a different goal in mind? I believe his real goal is to put an end to racism, and the film hints at this a number of times. To me, this goes to show what a great man Rickey is, fighting the good fight against 40's prejudice.

As for Jackie Robinson himself, he too is a great man, caring about his wife and respecting his teammates through and through, and Chadwick Boseman does a decent job at portraying this. The story itself is also great, and it's enhanced further by a lot of little details, like how some white people cheer on Jackie, or seeing one of Jackie's teammates using his technique of leading-off the base. Little details like these just make the story all the better.

One of the problems that some critics had with 42 was that, as a movie that deals with racism, it didn't do a very good job of doing so. However, as I said I don't think 42 is actually about racism. I feel that it's more about prejudice against those who are different from you, and I can think of 2 scenes that point to this: The very first scene and the scene where one of Jackie's teammates put his arm around him, showing that they're good buddies, which riles up the white people in the stands.

Now then, with all of that said, I have to say that the movie does have a few flaws, though most of them are minor. Another one of the problems that some critics have with the movie was that it felt a little safe. Before I saw the movie, I didn't know what they meant by that, but now, I believe they mean that the film was safe when it came to the hate towards Jackie Robinson. And I have to say, I do kind of agree with them, since the worst we see are a Phillies player continually insulting Jackie and some hate mail and death threats. I also feel that the romance between Jackie and Rachel Robinson could've used more development. All of the right elements are there, I just think that more screen time would've allowed their relationship to become really good. Speaking of relationships, I think that the relationship between Jackie and the rest of his teammates could've been developed more. There are a few scenes that explore the dynamic between the team and Jackie, but I think at least 1 more scene would've made it complete.

All in all, this is a must-see for everyone, regardless of your skin color or your opinion on baseball. 42 gets a 9 out of 10 from me.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Transformers: Who Cares About Story?

[5/10 · 15 July 2011]

As is with a Micheal Bay film, you can expect the story to be bad, and such is the case with this movie. Before I go on, I will say that this movie's story has less problems than that of Revenge of the Fallen, but that's not saying much. I won't go into the problems with the story, as other users have listed it's problems for me, but I will go into a plothole I noticed. At the 2-hour mark, the Autobots make a triumphant return, even though we saw them get blown up on a shuttle. "How did they even survive?", you wonder. They say they were never on the ship (CLICHE!). "Then why did they hide, instead of helping get rid of the Decepticons?" No answer, of course. Other than that and the other problems other users noticed, I will say the effects are great as always and the voice acting is decent. If you haven't seen the Transformers movies yet, I guess you can start with this one.

Billy Madison (1995)

Crude, Unfunny, With a few Memorable things

[5/10 · 23 June 2011]

Let me say this, I'm an Adam Sandler fan, OK? But out of all the Sandler movies I've seen, this is the worst by far. That's not to say it's an awful movie, but it got there a few times (horny principal, anyone?). While most of the movie is not funny, most of the jokes that are funny are insults to Billy Madison, making fun of how dumb he is. There are also a number of pointless scenes, like the times where Billy is singing, or when the O'Doyles are killed in the explosion. Most of the jokes in the movie are ridiculously unfunny (borophyll, anyone?). Half the time I kept thinking I was meant to be laughing at these jokes, but just couldn't bring myself to do so. Also, the villain was way too obvious, way too early. Overall, I found this movie to be worse than Big Daddy, but I didn't find it terrible. If you like this movie, that's fine, I just didn't.

Green Lantern (2011)

Green Lantern: The Average Joe of the Superhero Movies

[6/10 · 22 June 2011]

They say that if you've seen one superhero movie, you've seen them all. That's not entirely true, but if every superhero movie were like Green Lantern, then it would be true. Green Lantern is your typical superhero movie, so if you've seen quite a few superhero movies (like I have), you'll know what's ahead. This is the problem with Green Lantern, it's too predictable and does nothing new to make it stand out from the crowd. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, but it's not a good thing either. There are 3 good things in this movie. One, Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond is delightfully hammy and fun to watch. Two, the SFX are cool and what they do with the Green Lantern ring is also cool, and Parallax's design suits its evilness. Third, the fight between Hal and Parallax is the best scene in the movie. Other than those things, it's average. If you've never seen a superhero movie and/or are a Green Lantern fan, this movie is worth seeing. Everyone else should see X-Men: First Class.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)

Fantastic CGI and great fight scenes can't make up for a plot that's nigh incomprehensible

[4/10 · 20 June 2011]

I had heard about this movie many a time, and to me it seemed to be a movie that you either loved or hated. I had heard that the movie had no plot but sometimes I heard that it had a great plot. I decided to take it upon myself to take a look at the movie. The summary up there should tell you what I think of the movie. For one thing, the CGI is absolutely mind-blowing! I mean this movie came out in 2005! You would think it came from the future, like say, 2020, but no, it's 2005. Also, the fight scenes were a blast to watch and there's plenty of sword play and explosions to keep you entertained. Sadly, though, that's where the positive ends. Out of all the movies I've seen, this movie had to be the one movie where I couldn't begin to understand what the hell was going on. If you wanna know the plot, get an FFVII fan to tell you. At least in EVERY OTHER MOVIE EVER MADE, you could, at the very least, get a vague idea of what's going on. This movie, however, will confuse the hell out of its audience, unless they're FFVII fans, then they'll probably understand a bit of it. I'm not an FFVII fan, so I didn't understand, so I'll play the games instead, like you should. I did say this seemed like a love-hate movie, but honestly, I don't hate it, as the good things about the movie are really good. The movies I hate are ones that enrage me in one or more ways (looking at you Hoodwinked Too!). This is not one of those movies. If you love the movie, good for you, you'll probably need to explain the plot to me. If not, that's also fine. Whether you love the movie or not, is up to you. Mrohnoes, out.

X: First Class (2011)

The Best X-Men Movie yet

[9/10 · 20 June 2011]

I love the X-Men movies, including The Last Stand and Origins (Yes, seriously), but this one is the best yet. The story is well put together and ties in nicely with the original 3 movies, not perfectly, mind you, but does so well enough that only the most hardcore fans will notice. The best part of the story being the relationship between Charles Xavier/Professor X and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (no not that kind of relationship, get your mind out of the gutter, good god), and we also see how Magneto became a villain, which I love (though you'll spot a Star Wars connotation in there, but whatever). There are 2 small problems with the story. One, a few of the mutants' powers are not explicitly explained, they are shown, but not explained. Two, it would've been nice to see how they got their powers and their first reactions to learning they have powers, (Though, I think a few powers are shown in the opening scenes of the 1st movie) In addition to the great story, there's a lot of great action as well, giving this movie a close-to-perfect mix of story and action. Are you a fan of comic book movies, the X-Men movies, and/or the X-Men in general? If so, then this movie is a must see.

Watchmen (2009)

Big Bore-fest of a Movie

[6/10 · 17 May 2011]

I love to see movies based off comics, because I know there will be lots of action to keep you watching and entertained. However, this movie decided to screw the audience and bore them to death. It is likely the most boring movie I've ever seen. "Oh what do you know? You've never read any of the Watchmen comics!", you say. That's only half true. Prior to seeing the movie, I had yet to read the comic. However, a few months back, I found the comics and read them, and I must say, I was quite impressed with them. The movie is very faithful to the comics, in that they both have massive amounts of dialogue. In a comic, that's fine, as we are reading the words to get what's happening. The problem is when you adapt that to film, all that dialogue, with little action in between, will bore your audience. The only good parts of the movie were the action scenes, what few there were. If you want to get your fill of Watchmen, go find the comics and stay away from the movie.

Big Daddy (1999)

Adam Sandler: Worst Parent Ever

[6/10 · 17 May 2011]

When I saw this movie on Crackle.com, I thought "Hey, Adam Sandler is funny, so I'll like this movie" After all, people love pre-2000 Sandler. Unfortunately, this movie is hardly funny. Most of the humor comes from how much Sonny (Sandler's character) fails at being a parent for Julian (his son). Basically, Sonny allows Julian to do whatever he wants. I'm fine with that if it's only for the humor. The problem is WHAT he allows Julian to do. Some examples are: peeing in public, covering all messes with newspaper, etc. You're probably saying "Well, Julian is only a little kid, he doesn't know that he's doing the wrong things" That's where you're wrong. Sonny is TEACHING him to do these things. At this point, I became steamed at how utterly dumb Sonny is, but the nail that seals the coffin is that once Julian goes to school, he does these things. Unsurprisingly, his teacher is not very happy. "Julian should've known not to do those things in SCHOOL, it's common sense, duh", you say. Allow me to repeat myself: SONNY TAUGHT JULIAN TO DO THOSE THINGS! And not once does Sonny tell him not to do it in school. Don't blame the kid, blame Sandler! At least Sonny teaches Julian the right things afterwards. Now when Social Services takes Julian away so they can take care of him until a new family comes by, most people would start crying, but I say "Thank God!"

Now let's get into the good parts of the movie. The other humor comes from Rob Schneider, who is treated as the comedy relief of the movie. The stuff they do to him is actually quite funny. Also, the movie does get better in the 2nd half. My favorite scenes are when Sonny and Layla are together. I'm not sure why I like those scenes, but I do.

Summary: The movie had potential to be funny, with Sandler being the idiot parent allowing the child to do whatever he wants, but it suffers greatly. Most of the humor felt nonexistent, though the movie got better in the 2nd half. Overall, if you're a die-hard Sandler fan, check it out, but everyone else should keep looking.

Rango (2011)

A Great Tribute to the Traditional Western Film

[9/10 · 12 May 2011]

When I first saw the trailer for Rango, I didn't know what to expect. After seeing the movie, I can say that this is a great movie. It has a great story, great characters, great voice-acting, and also, great animation. One thing I noticed were two references to other movies set in the West. The first is when Rango smacks into a car. The driver looks to be modeled after Raoul Duke, specifically from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. The other is when Rango hallucinates about the "Spirit of the West", who gives him some encouragement. If you're a fan of the Western genre, you'll notice that the spirit is modeled after Clint Eastwood. If that wasn't enough, it turns out the spirit is called "The Man With No Name", a reference to "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", which also had Clint Eastwood in it. The only thing I didn't like in this movie was the humor, which was groan-inducing, to say the least. Other than that, this is a great movie. Check it out sometime.

Hoodwinked! (2005)

One of my favorite animated movies!

[9/10 · 12 May 2011]

We all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood. A little girl goes to her grandma's house to bring her goodies, but it's really a wolf in disguise, but thankfully, a woodsman comes along to save Red and her granny from the wolf. But what happens when you take that story, and give it a twist of crime drama? You get Hoodwinked! At first, the idea of taking a classic fairy tale and adding a bit of crime drama seems like a risky idea, but it works very well. It's told from the perspective of 4 characters: Red, Granny, Wolf, and Kirk the Woodsman. All of their stories are told in flashback, and in each, there's something new, like new locations, characters, etc. Rarely do you ever see something another character has seen, but when you do, it's always in the perspective of the character whose story is currently being told. The one thing that remains constant is where they all end up. I won't give away the plot, so go read that section of the movie's page here. I will say, that when they reveal who the villain is, you won't see it coming (and it's not idiotic, like in the sequel). I don't have much else to say, because this is a movie that needs to be seen to be believed. Great writing, likable characters, good story, and overall, it's a great film. The only bad things are the animation (which looks stiff by today's standards), and the random music number towards the end, which is silly beyond belief. Despite those, I still love this film, so go see it.

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011)

Most disappointing sequel ever

[2/10 · 11 May 2011]

The 1st Hoodwinked movie will always be loved by me. It has good writing, sound, acting, and story. It is the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, mixed in with some crime drama, and it worked v....Huh? What's that? Oh god, the f**king sequel. Wow, what a disappointment. The problems? The story isn't as good, the writing is crap (expect many done-wrong references to much better movies), and various other problems! Let's start with the story. Basically, the HEA(Happily Ever After)Agency mentioned in the first movie turns out to be like the CIA of the Hoodwinked world. The heroes from the 1st movie (except Red, I'll get to that in a minute) are on a mission to save Hansel and Gretel from an evil witch. But they screw up, and Granny gets captured, even though, you know, she's capable of preventing that from happening to herself (yeah, a few of the characters' traits and personalities were changed for no reason). Now the HEA calls upon the help of Red, who's currently training in the mountains from Kung Fu Panda with the Sisters of the Hood. She fails the test given to her, and is given some bulls**t legend about a magical truffle, which, when eaten, makes the person unstoppable. It also turns out that the recipe for the truffle was stolen, and everyone freaks out. Some agents of the HEA come by and pick up Red to bring her to the HEA. By the way, we never see the Sisters of the Hood again, so you won't care about them. OK, screw it, I'm not talking about the story anymore, because I didn't care about it. I'll just say that the evil witch is not the main villain, but Hansel and Gretel are. One reviewer on here likes this twist, but she apparently didn't stop to think about how the hell that would work, because it doesn't make a lick of sense. Now the writing was "meh" to say the least, but the references just sucked. Though the worst of all, has to be the scene where Red finds a table that has the tools and ingredients needed to make the Magic Truffle. When Red tries to concentrate, her granny's words come to mind. Then, out of nowhere, we hear Obi-Wan say "Luke, use the Force." My god, that was painfully forced. Thankfully, the rest of the references aren't as bad, but they still suck. There are 3 other things I should mention. First, is that the billy goat from the 1st movie is here as well, except he's part of a running joke where he gets hurt by falling or being flattened. Guess how many times they repeat this joke? FIVE TIMES. That is LAZY. And it's not even funny. Second, as you watch the movie, you'll probably notice characters from the 1st movie. The problem? None of the main characters acknowledge their existence, even though they were important in the 1st movie. Third, if at all possible, DO NOT see this movie in 3D, because there's nothing remotely 3D in the movie that would make it worth paying a few extra bucks. Overall, Hoodwinked Too! sucks, though it's not god-awful (but it got there 10 times too many), as the action scenes range from decent to good. If you want some Hoodwinked!, go watch the 1st movie.