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symphonyofnames
Reviews
Vantage Point (2008)
Interesting idea, just not developed
They had an interesting idea, but it just didn't play out. There wasn't enough time given to really build up a mystery that I cared about enough to want to see the solving of. Also, the rewinding things got annoying. I did not appreciate watching the president get shot four of five times over. The same footage too, in some parts. It just didn't do it for me. They spent too much time just trying to cram in what happened, not necessarily how it all come together, or even why really. They showed the terrorists actually carrying out the plan, but how did they get it all to work? You barely have enough time to get attached to any of the characters either. The only one who I felt the audience had any attachment to at all was the black guy who helped the little girl. Don't ask me what any of their names are either. Overall, I would not recommend seeing it.
WALL·E (2008)
Not that great
In lieu of a plot, this movie has a series of plot holes strung together, which all get overlooked on the premise if it being a kids' movie. This was not as great as everyone is making is out to be. I don't know why everyone has picked this particular Disney Pixar movie to make a stink about. The humor was nothing new; it's the same stuff they've been doing for years. They did start off with some good ideas. These ideas, unfortunately, were not developed nearly as thoroughly as they should have been. The first part of the movie features Wall-E rolling around doing nothing in particular, and some superfluous shots of a cockroach. When EVE's ship takes off, I was sitting in the theater, hoping and praying that Wall-E would get on it, as I watched everything that could be vaguely interesting in the movie try to fly away. What happened up in the ship wasn't much better though, so I don't know why I wasted time hoping. The focus was taken off of what could have been the real message of the movie: a commentary about how the corporate world and our increasingly leisure-filled lifestyle will one day destroy the planet and leave everyone in space. This is not a particularly new or original idea, and certainly not as brilliantly demonstrated as someone like Orwell or Huxley has already already done. The focus of the movie was taken off of this, and put onto a cutesy little romantic story about two robots who chase after the film's Macguffin (a plant). This really should have been more of a subplot. I felt like a lot of things could have been cut out without really changing the movie at all; a lot of mishaps the main characters face aren't really pertinent to the story at all. For example: the plant is taken away by a bad robot. The film's characters chase after it, invoking a lot of slap-stick comedy. And then, just when they get close to their goal, THE SAME THING HAPPENS. It's not needed. I felt like if they wanted to really make a point, they should have made their point and not tried to dumb it down. It works well as a kid's movie, but I really don't think it's any better than any of the other animated movies about robots, or fish, or animals that they've done before. Just my take on it.
Epic Movie (2007)
Do. Not. Watch. Ever.
I'll be honest, I did not see the entire movie; I walked out after twenty minutes. At that point, I was about ready to try to choke myself to death on popcorn. It was awful. Every second that I saw was positively awful. There were absolutely no redeemable qualities whatsoever. I don't know how the writer and directors managed to produce this; you'd think that halfway through they'd realize they had garbage and try to do the world a favor by scrapping it. I don't know who read the script and said: "wow, this could be really good. Having the faun from Narnia do a spoof on MTV's cribs? That's a terrific idea!" If you haven't seen this, you are lucky. Don't. Try hard not to. I can't stress to you how awful this is. To think that someone allowed the same crew to create another abomination is borderline unthinkable. This is quite possibly the worst piece of film I have ever seen.
Dungeons & Dragons (2000)
Bad, but so good.
I give this movie three stars for the actual quality of the movie, i.e. acting, special effects, writing, etc. In entertainment value though, this movie is a solid ten stars. Quite possibly the best thing I've seen in a long time. It's one of those movies that's so awful it's incredibly funny to watch. I cried laughing it was so amazing. The plot is about as cliché as you can get; a couple of adventurers going on a quest to get a carefully guarded magic item to stop an evil sorcerer from taking over a fantasy kingdom. A plot like this is doomed to stupidity, but it makes the movie even better for it. This is definitely worth the watch, as long as you know that you've got a poorly made, poorly written movie.
Son of the Dragon (2006)
No.
Unless you're twelve, this movie really isn't worth it. It's obviously a low-budget film with B actors, and with a genre like fantasy that sometimes requires intense CGI work that's not good. I knew it would be bad when I rented it. I enjoy laughing at bad movies. I didn't know how bad though. It's bearable, until after hour 2, then it really starts to burn. Fighting styles go between normal fighting that obey the laws of physics, and wire-fighting. There's no real explanation for the transitions. It has a plot, but once again, it's obviously a kid's movie. It seems like there are explicit moral lessons of the day that are being conveyed, like Sesame Street or something. It's bearable. But much better if you're, say, nine.