Change Your Image
Masquerade_Ball
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
SOS: Save Our Skins (2014)
So what should you expect when you watch SOS: Save Our Skins?
SOS is a nerdy, absurdist comedy.
I had the impression the writers were fans of Douglas Adams' "Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe" there are plenty of silly one liners scattered throughout the story along with some dry humour. I personally never had any real laugh out loud moments but a few giggles to myself. The style of humour is definitely closer in style to the Nick Frost/Simon Pegg "Cornetto Trilogy" movies than that of the American "Epic Movie" or "Scary Movie". I'd say SOS was better than any of the "Movie" movies, but definitely not as good as "Shaun of the Dead".
This movie had a low budget and it was apparent with the level of special effects: think "indie film" rather than "Star Wars" or even "SyFy channel" here. That being said, the video, sound, and direction were all well done - this didn't look or sound like a youtube amateur project, it just suffered from low budget visual effects and props, but that can be forgivable in a comedy.
The plot isn't particularly engaging, it really plays out as just a series of acts. I actually watched this as a 4 part mini-series of 20 minute episodes and not as a full length movie. It seemed to suit that format better in my opinion. The pacing was a bit slow in parts, but didn't feel too stretched out.
Overall, it's a simple plot, some silly gags, low budget effects, and a bit of a "meh" ending. SOS isn't a movie I'd recommend unless you can see past the cheap visuals, or you can appreciate the nerdy humour. SOS is not a bad movie, it's just not a particularly good one.
Doctor Who: The Big Bang (2010)
deja vu anyone?
The change of cast is always an adjustment for everyone, but by the end of Season 5 I got used to Matt Smith as the Doctor. In general, the cast - great.
The stories - OK. The fans of Russell T Davies seem to criticize this season. Steven Moffat fans are singing his praises, despite the obvious fact that neither of them wrote that many of the episodes.
The nag that I got from watching this season was a sense of Deja vu, the stories seemed familiar, safe and contrived. Before this season started I heard a lot of talk about how Moffat was to bring us a darker, deeper Doctor, which captured my interest. How was this going to work out? I asked myself; well pretty much same-old- same-old really! At the end of this season you will have a feeling of 'Well... oh... hmmm....good...now what?" and the lure of the line from River Song "Next is when everything changes", which was used almost from the very beginning of the new series (Even Captain Jack!).
Season 5 is enjoyable but forgettable, let's hope for more from season 6.
Hancock (2008)
A different kind of Superhero movie
Hancock may appear at first to be typical superhero movie like Spiderman, Hulk, Ironman etc... however the intent with this movie was to be outside the typical superhero movie genre - IE: don't expect super villain(s) and a back-story about Hancock's origins (although some of this is revealed in the movie, the origins aren't covered in much depth).
Jason Bateman shines in this movie as a struggling Public Relations consultant who takes up the challenging role of Hancock's PR representative. Bateman's character is endearing to the viewer as we see his endless optimism for Hancock's potential, which results in some comical scenes between Bateman and Smith eg: "Say 'Good Job Officer', 'goooooood jooooob'" :).
I was actually slightly disappointed by Charlize Theron's performance which has been criticized by others, but that is open to interpretation - let's just say she doesn't have a good poker face. However this doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the movie.
As many of you will have already seen the trailers you may notice that this isn't really about any major conflict or world saving mission like all the other superhero movies. This was never the intention of Hancock. Put simply, it is the story of Hancock coming to terms with who he is and realizing his true potential - to be a great hero (rather than a bad hero).
The special effects are good, the story is more humor than action, but it's a good enough mix to keep you entertained from start to finish. Hancock is an enjoyable, fun movie with a good storyline (for a comedy/action flick) that should satisfy all but the most demanding of viewers.
7.5/10 (rounded-up to 8/10)
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)
Dude, it's a Lama!!!
4.7 out of 10, well maybe, considering if people don't like a movie they usually just give it a 1/10. So technically speaking, just under 50% of voters didn't like this movie.
So why wouldn't you like a movie, with 2 stoners, a "sci-fi" spin, and lots of hot chicks? Perhaps you're over 40, or maybe you are conservative, and think these 2 characters are a shameful bi-product of the failing education system. But enough about the people who didn't like it.
Many label this a stupid movie, which is spot on, it's stupid, which is what makes it funny (in my opinion). Watching these two bungle their way through this "adventure", with ad nausium jokes is definitely not for everyone though. Some stand out moments include a drive thru Asian woman, who continually asks "...and then?". "...and no end then!!!" "...and the-een???"
Also a blind kid who takes advantage of his disability to cop a feel on a "hot alien babe".
After watching "Paycheck" again recently (Ben Afflect, Uma Thurman), there is some storyline connection between both movies, but they are as dissimilar in style as this movie is to Bill & Ted. Anyway, good stupid fun for those willing to give it a chance.
and then?
Epic Movie (2007)
Please refer to reviews on Date Movie
Some movies are funny, some are not. This movie may be funny to you, if you liked Date Movie, since both films are pretty much the same in cast and script quality.
Epic Movie is a loosely strung together collection of slap-stick comedy sketches based on various epic movies (Pirates of the Caribbean, Nacho Libre, Chronicles of Narnia, X-Men, Superman, etc...) so it's probably helpful if you have seen a few of the epics this movie takes off at, to understand the jokes used. (If you've seen the clips during MTV video awards, you get the idea on the kind of jokes I'm referring to). Epic Movie tries to cash in on the Scary Movie, Date Movie, "Movie" Movie franchise, but doesn't measure up to the originality shown in the Scary Movie series.
It doesn't take a genius to recommend that you save your box-office ticket money, and if you're interested, wait for the DVD, since this isn't an essential big screen movie.
Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God (2005)
What an Anti-Climax
After watching the First D&D movie in 2000, I thought I might give this one a view, on DVD since it never hit the big screen down here.
Spoilers Start -
The Fantasy Dilemma: We have our damsel in distress, a sorceress in training who sucumbs to a decaying curse. We have our villain, Damodar AKA Mr Blue-Lip-Gloss (who was the evil side-kick from the first movie). And of course we have our bunch of heroes, a banded together D&D cliché group consisting of a thief, swordswoman, wizard-type, and other generic types. Unfortunately they each die before you can really associate with their characters (unlike the first movie). A few scenes hinted at some promise to the movie, such as the "blink and you'll miss it" battle against the Ice Dragon, but ultimately these random skirmishes, plus the anti-climactic climax do little to save this movie from the DVD bargain bin.
Spoilers End -
This movie also has a "made for TV" feel to it as well.
I wouldn't recommend this to general movie viewers, but if you enjoy D&D fantasy movies, this will be some entertainment, but it's far from a classic in the genre and pales in comparison to many big budget fantasy films.