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The Great Wall (2016)
Starship Troopers in fantasy China
As the summary says. Albeit without what layering and social commentary Starship Troopers came with.
Mindless rote action-adventure film, watchable if you're keen on wasting your time and suspending your intelligence and desire for more substantial fare.
Limitless (2011)
The philosophy of getting something for nothing
Limitless is a film that's problematic on many levels.
Firstly its based on a popular misconception about brain activity: that we use only a small amount of of our mental powers leading to the assumption that we'd be superhuman if we could harness all of it. In fact, here's the expert's opinion on the subject, taken from Wikipedia: "Neurologist Barry Gordon describes the myth as laughably false, adding, "we use virtually every part of the brain, and that (most of) the brain is active almost all the time"." In short: we use just as much as we need at any given time, no more no less.
However, factual inaccuracies are the least problematic issue with Limitless. It is the main character that breaks the film. A nobody, with no obvious talent or desire to succeed gets a designer drug that gives him superhuman intelligence and, avoiding all the hard work that goes into succeeding in life - he climbs the social, financial and intellectual pyramid literally overnight. Up to this point we still sympathize with him because we know this course of action leads to an inevitable downfall, a price that has to be paid and a lesson to be learned. Yet that never happens - at the end the main character is still fundamentally unchanged, still a nobody without the drugs, which he has managed to refine so as to use them without repercussions. That is the core of this film, getting something for nothing - twice. The lesson learned? Cheat as much as you can, use people as much as possible, regardless of who gets hurt (several deaths occur indirectly or directly the responsibility of the main character) and you will be rewarded appropriately. Just don't get caught doing it.
Truly, the main character makes the corporate sharks he associates with in the film look like honest, hard working individuals. In fact, even gangsters have it harder than this.
At certain points the movie devolves into pure fantasy - a sequence where the main character fights several individuals by recalling knowledge from Bruce Lee movies and fighting video tutorials - as if memory had anything to do with skill gained by endless repetition.
As for the rest, the performances are decent. There are a few nice camera tricks with continuous zooming in. The direction is competent, the movie itself watchable.
The subtext however, renders it mediocre at best.
Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie (2010)
Uninspired
Ultramarines is based (thematically) on a futuristic tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40K. The Warhammer 40K universe is a heavily militarized, Gothic styled fantasy universe that masquerades as sci-fi, while keeping all the common fantasy tropes. Its main attraction are the human super soldiers "Space Marines" - basically medieval knights in space and their fight against "enemies of the imperium".
Ultramarines depicts that fight in a small scale, through one mission of the Ultramarines chapter (fraction within the SM). Unfortunately the universe is very badly conveyed and the storytelling scope is so limited its obvious that the primary target of this film are the fans of WH40K.
As it stands they are the least likely to be pleased with the outcome. What is shown is one uninspired mission, loaded with every cliché imaginable, gripping a terrible script (although the actors made an effort) and wrapped in outdated CGI.
Its like a single episode of a TV series, or a comic book in terms of storyline and characterization - a part of a whole that never comes.
As a passive fan of WH40K I really wanted to like Ultramarines, but apparently it had neither the budget nor the creative drive to truly embrace the universe that its supposed to portray. Instead its a routine military/horror flick with characters you can't tell apart and a story you will not care about.
Skip it.
The Illusionist (2006)
Charming and entertaining
Anybody who has read the user comments on "The Illusionist", will probably notice that its a love-hate affair. To some it is thoroughly uninspired, boring and predictable - to the others its entertaining, smart and enjoyable.
This entirely depends on your state of mind when you start watching "The Illusionist": if you willingly place yourself in the position of Eisenheim's audience, letting his hypnotic personality lead you (as well as Norton's exceptional acting), you are sure to enjoy the movie, to the full extent. However if you always look for mistakes, and approach every moment with the disbelief of a critic, ultimately you will spoil the major twists and end up feeling that the movie is nothing special.
The Illusionist's best trait is that it isn't too ambitious for its own good. It attempts a love story, mixed with mystery and a sprinkle of the supernatural - and it succeeds in all of these things. Told with a fairy tale like quality, without any political, pseudo-philosophical or other today usual, movie "baggage", it aims to entertain in the purest sense of the word.
"The Illusionist" has very few characters, but they are all very well realized. Norton as usual steals the show, given his enormous talent, and effort he puts into each role. Paul Giamatti, and Jessica Biel surprised me with the quality of their acting, given that my opinion of them wasn't really high. However, they did their roles well, and I will look in on their films in the future.
Other notable high points of the movie are: excellent cinematography, fantastic music and a decidedly "old school" approach to movie making that pours out of "The Illusionist", which would have been nothing special in Hollywood a few decades ago, but today is entirely refreshing (especially the lack of any "usual baggage").
The verdict? Watch it. Its worth it. Should I buy it? I would also say its worth the money.
White Palace (1990)
Interesting drama & romance
This movie is interesting to watch if not particularly original. At its core is the relationship of a young man (Max, played by Spader) of high social standing with a poor, much older woman (Nora, played by Sarandon). Both of them have experienced loss (his wife died & her son died), and they waste their lives in self pity and mourning, not being able to let go. Being in a similar situation, they recognize each other for what they are and after a chance encounter develop a firstly sexual and then increasingly romantic relationship. But problems arise for them, because of the social and age differences, which are the main twists in the romance.
The White Palace is a basically a simple love story, with above average acting (Sarandon and Spader both have their high and low points) and moderately interesting characters. I gave it six stars, but in a good way, since the movie does well what it attempts to do, which is good, romantic entertainment without breaking new ground.