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I reviewed I Am Leg-End a while back... rated it 83% (page 13 on here).
I liked it, but wouldn't say it was a favourite.
I liked it, but wouldn't say it was a favourite.
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The poor CGI monsters and its weak last act really hurt IAL for me. I do think the deserted city was beautifully realized though and I was also touched by his relationship with his dog.
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Been exactly 2 months since my last review...
Out of respect for Deadite, I left my thread alone as he was the last person to post in here (as you can see above) and he was one of the last to rep me for a review too.
New review coming up in the next hour or so... Rodent's Reviews are now open again.
Out of respect for Deadite, I left my thread alone as he was the last person to post in here (as you can see above) and he was one of the last to rep me for a review too.
New review coming up in the next hour or so... Rodent's Reviews are now open again.
Review #225, Movie #296
Doom
Year Of Release
Doom
Year Of Release
2005
Director/s
Director/s
Anderzej Bartkowiak
Producer/s
Producer/s
Lorenzo di Boneventura, Laura Holstein, John D. Schofield, Jeremy Steckler
Writer/s
Writer/s
David Callaham, Wesley Strick, ID Software
Cast
Cast
Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Raz Adoti, Richard Brake, Dexter Fletcher, Al Weaver, Deobia Oparei, Ben Daniels, Yao Chin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Notes And Trivia
Notes And Trivia
Along with Brian Steel as one of the creatures in the film, (who is famous for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body double in Terminator Salvation), this film has Doug Jones who played the infamous Pale Man and Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth.
The movie was panned by movie goers and critics alike for a number of things, but mainly for having very little to do with the Videogame it’s based on.
Garnering only 19% on RT, complaints ranged from “like a kid who comes over to your house and plays all your games without letting you play” to “awful performances” and even “the catering truck was probably not even up to snuff”.
Doom was also a Box Office failure, losing $5m.
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When an unseen creature tears through the Union Aerospace Corporation’s research facility on Mars, killing everyone it comes across, the Rapid Response Tactical Squad (RRTC) are called in to sort the situation out. In the team though is John Grimm… and his twin Sister Samantha is in the research facility.
On arrival though, the team and Sam realise that the base has been used for more than just a forensics lab and weapons testing facility… and that genetic research has produced something much worse than a few powerful guns.
Review:
Ok… I’ll start off with one phrase… post pub entertainment.
I say entertainment. What I mean is, when you’re a bit drunk and it’s late but there’s nothing on the telly, Doom is the movie to watch.
There’s little to no story or plot exactly apart from “we can’t let these things get off the planet” and a little side story with the Grimm Twins and a family history… but that’s it.
Everything else is simply guys shooting stuff, the occasional jump when the setting goes dark and copious amounts of un-stylised blood and gore.
The film does go extremely dark at times too. There are scenes that reminded me of Blade 2 when they end up in the sewers but in Doom there’s no blue-ish mood lighting… the actors seem to be lighting themselves using flashlights and it gets very disorientating. Not in a good way either as there’s almost no payoff in these scenes. They’re just dark for the sake of it.
The acting is pretty apt for the type of film too. The actors all seem to know they’re in a pile of crap and seem to sort of play along with it, giving only the bare minimum needed for the situation. It works though, which might sound odd, but the actors being not exactly crap, but just bordering it and it allowed me to actually get into the mind set of so-crap-it’s-actually-good.
The big fault I found, is like many Doom fans… the filmmakers have sacrificed “Hell” opening up and unleashing all sorts of baddies, and have made the term “Hell” some sort of metaphor instead.
Bad form guys. If you’re going to make a fantasy sci-fi, use the source correctly.
The film does have some redeeming features though among all the faults.
One is that the character writing is simple, yet they have dimension.
“Portman” for instance (played by Richard Brake, more famous these days as Joe Chill, the guy who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents in Batman Begins and also in Hannibal Rising) has a few layers to him, as too does “Sarge” played by The Rock.
Each character has been given a different “character”, kinda like a throwback to Predator almost where everyone has been given a treatment.
It’s nice to see this little touch in a film that’s so poorly written. The actors involved all seem to fit these personalities too, and that makes me think the casting director had their thinking-cap on while scouring the thousands (probably) of pages of B-Actors they had in front of them.
There does however seem to be a running theme of the actors almost fluffing their lines. Rosamund Pike is the worst of the lot though. She seems to be struggling with an American accent and get almost tongue-tied several times.
Which brings me to the acting.
Karl Urban, as usual is best on show as John “Reaper” Grimm. Urban as always gives 100%, makes it believeable and holds the action with enthusiasm.
Rosamund Pike, as I said above, is pretty out of her depth and is struggling with her lines. She’s also no Scream-Queen. A particular scene with one of our creatures banging against a window and her screaming at it is laugh out loud hilarious and yet also immensely painful to watch. Pike is abysmal in this film.
Dwayne The Rock Johnson is a surprise though. He stifles his lines a couple times like Rosamund but when it comes to the action and having a complete change in character as the film unravels is played brilliantly by The Rock.
Backup comes from Raz Adoti, Richard Brake, Dexter Fletcher, Al Weaver, Deobia Oparei, Ben Daniels and Yao Chin.
Most have little to do except wise-crack every now and then and get chomped. Richard Brake is prett good though as the drug-fuelled pervert “Porter” and Al Weaver as “The Kid” is a memorable role.
One of the most likeable of the background guys is Ben Daniels as Eric “Goat” Fantom. He’s the religious Soldier of the gang and holds the screen exceptionally well even though he has only a handful of lines.
Like the rest of the film, the action and effects are a mixed bag too.
The CGI is awful but the practical effects are top notch.
The CG is worse than something Paul WS Anderson churns out for his Res Evil movies but the practical effects beat most films of modern time. The puppetry and prosthetics are really very good in this film.
There’s a mixture of some pretty exciting chase scenes through dark narrow tunnels and waterlogged basements and the thumping soundtrack adds a lot to what could be generic gunfire and explosions.
The scene at the end in first-person mode is good to see, but wasn’t utilised brilliantly tbh and has way too much CGI.
The other problem is that the film goes into Zombie oriented territory rather than bringing anything new to the table.
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All in all, so-bad-it’s-good… but also so-bad-it’s-just-bad.
Half-decent disparate characters, some decent acting, and decent action/practical effects… the rest is pretty poor and will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the Videogame Fans.
Anyone else, watch it after a few beers and there’s nothing on TV… just make sure you’ve got a few drunken friends round as well. Then it may just, only just, be a blast.
My Rating: 43%
Glad to see you are 
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I have had a bosting idea for my #300 movie review...
YouTube link of me talking about a movie.
It was mentioned ages and ages ago between SC and I, but I thought I may well make my 300th movie... a video review... and make it the special one.
Would it be allowed by the Mods?
YouTube link of me talking about a movie.
It was mentioned ages and ages ago between SC and I, but I thought I may well make my 300th movie... a video review... and make it the special one.
Would it be allowed by the Mods?
Why wouldn't it be allowed? I'd love to see a video review!
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Review #226, Movie #297
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Year Of Release
2014
Director/s
Marc Webb
Producer/s
Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach
Writer/s
Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, James Vanderbilt, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
Cast
Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Sally Field, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott and Paul Giamatti
2014
Director/s
Marc Webb
Producer/s
Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach
Writer/s
Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, James Vanderbilt, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko
Cast
Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Sally Field, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Campbell Scott and Paul Giamatti
Synopsis:
When Harry Osborn is brought home from Boarding School and discovers a deadly family secret, he makes every effort to find an end to the plight of the Osborn Bloodline. Discovering what the cure may actually be, things will get incredibly complicated for Peter Parker...
... meanwhile, Parker and Gwen are also torn between their feelings and their futures when Gwen decides to take a scholarship in England... but things are even worse behind the scenes than they think when Max Dillon a massive fan of Spider-Man, who is a lonely and put upon nobody that works in the electrical engineering dept. of Oscorp...
... finds himself in an accident...
Review:
Wow.
I thought it'd be extremely difficult to better the first movie, I rated it 95% on page 32 of my thread.
The sequel though... simply rocks.
Upgraded in many areas. The first film is toned back into reality. As I said about it, it's an origins story. A lead up.
This film keeps within the realms of reality as much as it can and incorporates the fantastical side of the comics, with little regard to the rest of the realism to be honest, and makes the action and effects side of things immensely beautiful to watch and also heartpoundingly exciting.
This movie feels like a culmination of "fan want"... in terms of the bigger action, fans for a long time have been stuck with the crappy Spider-Man 3 from Sam Raimi and have wanted larger set pieces and wider story.
Amazing gave them some of that, but was held back for the story.
Amazing 2 however, ramps the action through the roof, has huge destruction value, oodles of storylines and plot devices and never shies away from the occasional hit of genuine peril. I mean, in this film, there are deaths. Spidey doesn't save the day every single time with every single character who is in danger.
It stands out because of this slight tilt toward the braver side of the Age-12 rating.
One thing that lets the film down though, is the underdeveloped plot with Max/Electro.
It's kinda hard to know if he was a fan of Spidey before or after he was saved by our favourite Webslinger.
Also, the reason behind Electro having a vendetta against Spider-man feels convoluted.
I get the point that this guy has some sort of attachment issues and is a bit odd, to put it bluntly... but going from fan to enemy felt very rushed.
The rest though, even the relationship between Harry Osborn and Parker, is well put together and believable and Parker's relationship with Aunt May and the disappearance of his parents is expanded brilliantly and adds a massive depth of character to the story of Peter's past.
This movie also has that lovely touch of humour that made the first film so much fun.
Again, the humour is through the dialogue and well written characters rather than just a load of slapstick and visual stuff.
Along with the humour though, are hits of real and genuine emotion. I cried at this film at two separate points.
Now that takes something special. I never cry at films, especially comicbook films.
The acting is top drawer too.
Andrew Garfield as Parker/Spidey is yet again proving he's the perfect choice for the role.
This time round he's more mature, a little naïve at times when it comes to other people's feelings and Andrew manages to balance to rebellious and tortured Peter and the wisecracking Spider-Man perfectly.
Emma Stone also, yet again, proving she is perfectly cast. Her bubbly and loveable Gwen Stacy is backed up by a genuinely strong yet fallible love interest for Andrew. We saw this in Amazing... in Amazing 2 she manages to capture the heart of the viewer.
Her on-screen chemistry is also on top form.
Jamie Foxx plays our villain Max Dillion, aka; Electro.
Now, Foxx makes a huge impression as a comicbook villain. As always with Foxx he gives absolutely everything to the role but the bad side is the writing of the character.
It was just too rushed and that made it unbelievable. If they had just taken a little more time developing the Max Dillon side of the character, it would have been better. The Electro side of the character is utilised brilliantly though.
Dane DeHaan as Harry though, nails this role.
The last time I saw DeHaan was in Lawless and he rocked... here, his change in character, even in his gait, is brilliantly pieced together... one downer though, he wasn't utilised as well as he could have been. I was hoping for a 2 Vs 1 with Goblin and Electro... but it wasn't delivered. This is obviously just an introduction for Harry, like the first film was an intro for Spidey.
Back up comes from Paul Giamatti in more of a cameo role tbh... and Sally Field as Aunt May is in one of the 2 scenes that brought me to tears with some great, and highly understated acting.
The action and effects, like I said, have been ramped up.
We have huge battles between Spidey and Electro that leaves chunks of the city in ruins, leaves the city in darkness... it's choreographed beautifully too. Some of the slow-mo style action scenes we saw in the first film are used again here and they don't disappoint.
The backing track that kicks in when the action gets going adds some great tension and excitement too...
... there's also a bit of fisticuffs between Spidey and Harry that leaves a huge impact on the development of Peter Parker and it's shot so well it's hard not to actually feel what happens. It's very hard hitting.
When Harry Osborn is brought home from Boarding School and discovers a deadly family secret, he makes every effort to find an end to the plight of the Osborn Bloodline. Discovering what the cure may actually be, things will get incredibly complicated for Peter Parker...
... meanwhile, Parker and Gwen are also torn between their feelings and their futures when Gwen decides to take a scholarship in England... but things are even worse behind the scenes than they think when Max Dillon a massive fan of Spider-Man, who is a lonely and put upon nobody that works in the electrical engineering dept. of Oscorp...
... finds himself in an accident...
Review:
Wow.
I thought it'd be extremely difficult to better the first movie, I rated it 95% on page 32 of my thread.
The sequel though... simply rocks.
Upgraded in many areas. The first film is toned back into reality. As I said about it, it's an origins story. A lead up.
This film keeps within the realms of reality as much as it can and incorporates the fantastical side of the comics, with little regard to the rest of the realism to be honest, and makes the action and effects side of things immensely beautiful to watch and also heartpoundingly exciting.
This movie feels like a culmination of "fan want"... in terms of the bigger action, fans for a long time have been stuck with the crappy Spider-Man 3 from Sam Raimi and have wanted larger set pieces and wider story.
Amazing gave them some of that, but was held back for the story.
Amazing 2 however, ramps the action through the roof, has huge destruction value, oodles of storylines and plot devices and never shies away from the occasional hit of genuine peril. I mean, in this film, there are deaths. Spidey doesn't save the day every single time with every single character who is in danger.
It stands out because of this slight tilt toward the braver side of the Age-12 rating.
One thing that lets the film down though, is the underdeveloped plot with Max/Electro.
It's kinda hard to know if he was a fan of Spidey before or after he was saved by our favourite Webslinger.
Also, the reason behind Electro having a vendetta against Spider-man feels convoluted.
I get the point that this guy has some sort of attachment issues and is a bit odd, to put it bluntly... but going from fan to enemy felt very rushed.
The rest though, even the relationship between Harry Osborn and Parker, is well put together and believable and Parker's relationship with Aunt May and the disappearance of his parents is expanded brilliantly and adds a massive depth of character to the story of Peter's past.
This movie also has that lovely touch of humour that made the first film so much fun.
Again, the humour is through the dialogue and well written characters rather than just a load of slapstick and visual stuff.
Along with the humour though, are hits of real and genuine emotion. I cried at this film at two separate points.
Now that takes something special. I never cry at films, especially comicbook films.
The acting is top drawer too.
Andrew Garfield as Parker/Spidey is yet again proving he's the perfect choice for the role.
This time round he's more mature, a little naïve at times when it comes to other people's feelings and Andrew manages to balance to rebellious and tortured Peter and the wisecracking Spider-Man perfectly.
Emma Stone also, yet again, proving she is perfectly cast. Her bubbly and loveable Gwen Stacy is backed up by a genuinely strong yet fallible love interest for Andrew. We saw this in Amazing... in Amazing 2 she manages to capture the heart of the viewer.
Her on-screen chemistry is also on top form.
Jamie Foxx plays our villain Max Dillion, aka; Electro.
Now, Foxx makes a huge impression as a comicbook villain. As always with Foxx he gives absolutely everything to the role but the bad side is the writing of the character.
It was just too rushed and that made it unbelievable. If they had just taken a little more time developing the Max Dillon side of the character, it would have been better. The Electro side of the character is utilised brilliantly though.
Dane DeHaan as Harry though, nails this role.
The last time I saw DeHaan was in Lawless and he rocked... here, his change in character, even in his gait, is brilliantly pieced together... one downer though, he wasn't utilised as well as he could have been. I was hoping for a 2 Vs 1 with Goblin and Electro... but it wasn't delivered. This is obviously just an introduction for Harry, like the first film was an intro for Spidey.
Back up comes from Paul Giamatti in more of a cameo role tbh... and Sally Field as Aunt May is in one of the 2 scenes that brought me to tears with some great, and highly understated acting.
The action and effects, like I said, have been ramped up.
We have huge battles between Spidey and Electro that leaves chunks of the city in ruins, leaves the city in darkness... it's choreographed beautifully too. Some of the slow-mo style action scenes we saw in the first film are used again here and they don't disappoint.
The backing track that kicks in when the action gets going adds some great tension and excitement too...
... there's also a bit of fisticuffs between Spidey and Harry that leaves a huge impact on the development of Peter Parker and it's shot so well it's hard not to actually feel what happens. It's very hard hitting.
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All in all, an relatively underdeveloped villain in Max, but Electro was utilised nicely.
Harry, Gwen, Parker, May... all make massive impacts on the story and the writing and general aura of the movie is top notch.
The humour is there, the tragedy is there, the action is definitely there.
One of the best comicbook films going, and an even more amazing follow-up to The Amazing Spider-Man.
My Rating: 96%
All in all, an relatively underdeveloped villain in Max, but Electro was utilised nicely.
Harry, Gwen, Parker, May... all make massive impacts on the story and the writing and general aura of the movie is top notch.
The humour is there, the tragedy is there, the action is definitely there.
One of the best comicbook films going, and an even more amazing follow-up to The Amazing Spider-Man.
My Rating: 96%
I guess I'll give you a rep, even though I have no trust in these new Spider-Man movies and I actually liked Spider-Man 3 (though I understand the negative reviews for it).
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Wow. ? My spidey-senses are tingling.
Growing up with Raimi's Spider-Man films and being such a fan of Tobey Maguire in the lead role has left me with some bias toward these new films. If they wanted fresh faces, that's fine, but I still fail to see the reason for rebooting the franchise so quickly. I didn't particularly like the first Amazing Spider-Man, largely because it wasted so much time retelling an origins story that everyone already knows. I doubt I'll like the sequel, either, but who knows? I'll check it out sometime soon.
Growing up with Raimi's Spider-Man films and being such a fan of Tobey Maguire in the lead role has left me with some bias toward these new films. If they wanted fresh faces, that's fine, but I still fail to see the reason for rebooting the franchise so quickly. I didn't particularly like the first Amazing Spider-Man, largely because it wasted so much time retelling an origins story that everyone already knows. I doubt I'll like the sequel, either, but who knows? I'll check it out sometime soon.
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Rep for the effort Rodent. Unfortunately I disgree with about everything you said.
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Shame. I guess you guys are still hung up on the overly colourful Raimi outings. Comparing them to the new films, Amazing outweighs them in almost every way.
They're also based on different comics. Raimi's were the Spiderman comics, Webb's are based on The Amazing Spider-Man.
I was weary about rebooting the other comic so soon myself as well... however I was surprised at how much more fun in a less-comic way they are.
Watching Raimi's films, I find them to be just way too bright and colourful and far too campy.
Spiderman was half decent. Not great, but decent.
Spiderman 2 was a lot better.
Spiderman 3 was gash. Utter rubbish.
They're also based on different comics. Raimi's were the Spiderman comics, Webb's are based on The Amazing Spider-Man.
I was weary about rebooting the other comic so soon myself as well... however I was surprised at how much more fun in a less-comic way they are.
Watching Raimi's films, I find them to be just way too bright and colourful and far too campy.
Spiderman was half decent. Not great, but decent.
Spiderman 2 was a lot better.
Spiderman 3 was gash. Utter rubbish.
Review #4: Cowboys And Aliens.
Another 'western' from me, kind of.
Interesting concept based on a comic book of the same name and it certainly feels like it too. But mostly in a good way.
The way the two ideas are put to screen don't quite gel properly, though maybe that's down to the whacky idea in the first place.
Though in saying that, Cowboys And Aliens doesn't try to be a western, nor does it try to be a sci-fi. It's somewhere in between. A genre I've never seen before outside of a Dr Who episode or even the terrible Wild Wild West.
Daniel Craig is interesting as the rough and tough 'man with no name'. Similar in ilk to Eastwood, though Craig's story is explained over the duration of the film.
Harrison Ford is almost perfectly cast as a grizzled old war veteran with a heart. He does the job, but you can't help feeling sombody else could have done it better.
As too is Olivia Wilde as the beautiful western Damsel in distress. But with a twist.
Supporting cast from Sam Rockwell and produced in part by heavy weights Spielberg and Ron Howard, the movie almost can't go wrong.
As far as the writing and action goes, it's definitely a popcorn movie.
Fun, loud, storyline written about as good as it could have been, the dialogue well written and is well recited from the cast and the CGI is wonderfully rendered.
The film makers, especially director Favreau, at least had the gumption to hide the CGI based enemy in the shadows till the end. When unveiled, the Aliens don't disappoint either.
Seen as a low percentage scorer when it first hit cinemas, I think that should be ignored and let the viewer decide whether they like it or not.
Certainly a must see for anyone who hasn't, solely because of the chalk and cheese premise.
I for one am a believer.
My rating 85%
Another 'western' from me, kind of.
Interesting concept based on a comic book of the same name and it certainly feels like it too. But mostly in a good way.
The way the two ideas are put to screen don't quite gel properly, though maybe that's down to the whacky idea in the first place.
Though in saying that, Cowboys And Aliens doesn't try to be a western, nor does it try to be a sci-fi. It's somewhere in between. A genre I've never seen before outside of a Dr Who episode or even the terrible Wild Wild West.
Daniel Craig is interesting as the rough and tough 'man with no name'. Similar in ilk to Eastwood, though Craig's story is explained over the duration of the film.
Harrison Ford is almost perfectly cast as a grizzled old war veteran with a heart. He does the job, but you can't help feeling sombody else could have done it better.
As too is Olivia Wilde as the beautiful western Damsel in distress. But with a twist.
Supporting cast from Sam Rockwell and produced in part by heavy weights Spielberg and Ron Howard, the movie almost can't go wrong.
As far as the writing and action goes, it's definitely a popcorn movie.
Fun, loud, storyline written about as good as it could have been, the dialogue well written and is well recited from the cast and the CGI is wonderfully rendered.
The film makers, especially director Favreau, at least had the gumption to hide the CGI based enemy in the shadows till the end. When unveiled, the Aliens don't disappoint either.
Seen as a low percentage scorer when it first hit cinemas, I think that should be ignored and let the viewer decide whether they like it or not.
Certainly a must see for anyone who hasn't, solely because of the chalk and cheese premise.
I for one am a believer.
My rating 85%
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That's one of my earliest attempts at reviewing. Not just the 4th review on here, but also the 4th review I ever wrote 
Has anyone actually gone back and re-watched Raimi's first Spiderman film? It has not aged well.
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I have a couple times. Yeah, since watching the two Amazing films of recent years, I'm not really that big a fan of Raimi's films anymore.
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