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pbertovich05
Reviews
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
A deep space encounter of beauty
Not only is this one of the most awe inspiring movies ever, it was even more so when it was released in 1968. Kubrik creates a beautiful and illusive vision of the future and its an almost orchestral depiction as the spaceships spin and glide with Earth in the background. Never before in time had a movie captured space travel so well.
The end of the movie is a little strange for my taste but the rest of the movie makes up for it with an interesting story and even better antics that make you wish you could travel in space.
The memorable scene is when the futuristic stewardess is walking on the carpet with her "grip shoes", at the that moment you know that this is space and anything can happen.
A brilliant look at the future that stands up even today as I am writing this in 2009, mostly because humans still haven't reached the capacity that the people in the movie have and when we do get there we'll look back at this movie and marvel at Kubrick's vision.
Man on Wire (2008)
A nostalgic look into the past
In these modern days of cinema its only a couple times a year that something cinematicaly beautiful is put onto the screen, and even then its not always so easy to see because these movies are not always playing at your local cinema. Up until this point in 2008 (its December) I really didn't see much in the way of great great Cinema. Sure the Dark Knight was "great" but only in the modern sense of action and media hype, it really had no substance. A couple months ago I briefly noticed this article in the Boston Globe about this documentary called Man on Wire. I read it and it intrigued me, a man walking on a high wire between the twin towers? what? I wanna f@###ing see this shiz. Obviously its playing nowhere. Last Night I was able to rent the last copy...
...As soon as Man on Wire begins it sucks you in. This story was just crazy to me, being younger I had never been told of such an event. the movie starts like Oceans Eleven, these french people (some speaking only in French) begin telling this tale of how they snuck into the towers. Before you get your answer the story of Petit begins. The story of a unique French man who for some reason fell in love with walking on high wires. The movie follows his attempts at danger at places around the world and introduces you to all his friends. As he travels the world, the movie is building up to the big walk on the world trade center. The amount planning and luck that these people acquire is amazing.
In the end this is a story about a man in world not seen today, a world at ease with itself. Not only that but you really miss the twin towers after seeing Petit's love for them in the movie. Nowadays its all guns, police and terrorism, in this movie's time of 1974 it was different.
Seriously watch this movie and if you think it sounds gay or something f#$% you go watch The Dark Knight and waste away.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Batman just got really modern
This was the most hyped movie of the year and probably one of the most hyped movies ever. Even with the overhype I had to see Heath Ledger play the joker because the trailers looked awesome. So I finally paid my ticket and watched the movie.
The movie starts off really strong, the opening scene was an absolute blast (literally). From that point on though I didn't feel the same action. The rest of the movie just seemed, drawn out and completely over the top. Honestly where did the joker find a rocket launcher in Gotham City? This movie was just too long and much of the dialogue was something that a kid writes in senior creative writing and thinks it's brilliant. Also the director did an excellent job of warping the joker from one place to the next, the joker must have had a helicopter or a really loyal taxi driver. One second he's here and the next he's on top of that building. Probably the last straw was when Morgan Freeman showed up. He turns around and the camera is at a low angle as if to show the arrival of Morgan Freeman the ultimate modern narrator who is now in every movie, an older version of Samuel L Jackson who is soft spoken. They kind of made up for it when Debo from Friday showed up as the scary convict on the boat.
After sitting in my seat for two and half hours as characters appeared and disappeared the movie finally ended, and it ended in a very cliché way. Way to say the title of the movie as the last word in the film, thats never been done ever?
and The Dark Knight had to include the bain of every modern movie, being able to track people's cell phone calls. This little gimmick is in way too many movie these days.
so ya I sat there for two and a half house and my butt really hurt, I wasted ten dollars on a cool movie, but one that wasn't as good as people claimed. Maybe next time Christian Bale will take some cough drops before showing up on set.
Up in Smoke (1978)
You don't have to smoke to like this
Okay going into this movie I had no idea what this was going to be. All I knew is it was a stoner movie. Little did I know this movie was going to be absolutely hilarious. Cheech and Chong are brilliant in their "protrayals" of stoners. Completely oblivious to their surroundings Cheech and Chong relax and smoke weed while the world unfold around them. This is movie contains brilliant lowbrow humor that you can laugh at completely sober. The weed jokes are there but they are not needed to keep this movie rolling. This movie unfolds itself while you watch Cheech and Chong try to have a good time. From the opening scenes where you learn about each character to the classic stage scene finale this movie will have u laughing all over.
Bee Movie (2007)
Not up to Pixar's standards
Unfortunately for Jerry Seinfeld, this movie did not live up to the standards we have come to see with pixar movies. To Pixar's credit their movies are always very entertaining no matter what age you are while keeping the jokes there for the kids. Bee movie lacked in the humor department. Maybe it is my age but the bee jokes were just lame and got old after the first five hundred times jerry Seinfeld made them. Jerry Seinfeld didn't need to make this movie because he has plenty of money from his show and thankfully he got this out of his system.
NOTE: The scene with (a certain goodfellas actor) was the best part of the movie.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Best movie of 2007
Only a couple times a year there comes one of those movies. A movie done by a well known name where you can expect quality. When I heard the Coen's were working on this movie I got excited, it seemed like their first good movie in a couple years based on the reviews I was seeing. Personally I hadn't seen a decent movie by them since O brother. Anyways, I rented the movie a couple of days ago and I was instantly sucked in. The scenes of the eerily quiet desert landscapes and slowly developing plot was great. I was on edge when Llewellyn found that group of cars. From that point on the movie was an edge of your seat thriller done tastefully by people who know movies.
It was a great change from all the Hollywood crap seen these days to watch a movie not made by Hollywood, but by film makers.
Commando (1985)
comedically violent
Reasons to see this movie:
1. Arnold jumps out of a plane that is taking off and survives. 2. Arnold buys a rocket launcher at a wal-mart type store 3. He kills the top villain by throwing a pipe through his chest. 4. He stabs a guy in the chest with a pitch fork. 5. He chops a soldier's arm off with a machete. 6. He throws a guy off a cliff and laughs it off. 7. He knees a civilian Spanish man in the face and hides him in a closet. 8. He snaps a villains neck in the seating area of a plane. 9. He picks up a phone booth while someone is inside it. 10. He chops someone's scalp off with a saw blade. 11. There are so many classic lines you'll be LYAOF.
Goodfellas (1990)
A good movie about some bad guys
Goodfellas is just one of those movies. It has everything from great directing and acting to awesome music and memorable comic moments. In this case, the directing is by Scorsese and the acting by Deniro, Pesci and Liotta so its all superb. Throughout the movie you get the classic comedy that comes along with Joe Pesci and Robert Deniro and some great music to go along with all these great scenes. A lot of people claim that the godfather is the greatest movie of all time. To me, watching Goodfellas is just as engrossing but more fun to watch thanks to Pesci, Deniro and Liotta. Goodfellas is just one of those movies that movie critics can enjoy, but so can your average movie watcher.
I Am Legend (2007)
I am impressed
Before seeing this film I was iffy about if it would be good or whether it would just be another end of the world action movie. It is actually quite the contrary. This movie is full of emotional scenes AND scenes that will have have you on the edge of your seat. From the start of the movie you'll be wondering why will smith is alone and you will find out why in the film. Your heart will pound in your chest as you follow Smith through an eerily quit times square. I'm not about to ruin the film but it does a good job of explaining why Smith is the only person walking around. As you follow Smith through the film you will learn not only about why the city seems so empty but you also get go deeper into his mind and learn about him. This movie is about that person who is alone in this world and just looking for a special friend. Luckily Smith is that person and its a hell of a good time watching Smith deal with his surrounds. In the end I think you'll have gone through enough different emotions to appreciate that person sitting next you in the theater.
300 (2006)
Something was missing
The reason I decided to watch this movie is because it was getting rave reviews on IMDb among other places and it was also recommended to me by a friend. SO anyways I sat through 300 and noticed a couple things. First, I became extremely bored half way through the movie. I noticed myself spacing out as I realized that beyond the flashy visuals there was really nothing to 300. It had all the makings of an average movie. The battle scenes were not only cliché but they became repetitive as the same thing seemed to happen in each one. The CGI characters seemed straight out of Lord of the Rings and there were a couple boob shots as well as the persistent shots of ripped male abs to keep the audiences attention. After all was said and done I realized this movie was just a money machine ready to be advertised and marketed towards testosterone driven men and maybe even some women who might appreciate the ripped abs which were exposed. These exposed abs did not seem like a good battle uniform. Not to say I don't appreciate cool visuals as I loved Sin City but this movie just seems less like a film and more like a flashy product being advertised on MTV.