Suspect's Reviews

Corpse Bride (Tim Burton & Mike Johnson)




"Relies more on visually pleasing the audience"


Victor messed up his vows during a wedding rehearsal, and is traveling through the woods, reciting his vows. He stops to rest in the woods,and while practicing, he gets them right and puts his wedding ring on a finger-shaped stick in the ground and says his wedding vows. The stick turns out to be a rotted finger belonging to a murdered girl, who returns as a zombie and insists that she is now Victor's lawfully wedded wife.

When seeing this film, one will make the connection to The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is unfair in the sense that they are two totally different films, only similar in the animation. Leave it to Tim Burton to take us inside his "cooky-artist" head to bring us the beautiful Corpse Bride.

Technically, Corpse Bride is ahead of the race in every sense of the word. Lightyears ahead of NBC in terms of style, with quirky characters bug eyes and legs as thin as toothpicks. Stop-motion animation is a form that should be more explored in film. Corpse Bride unfortunatly relies too heavily on it's animation and strays away from it's story.

It seems the motivation of the main character, to fall in love with this corpse is a little hard to follow. At first, he's terrified of her, then wants to run and hide from her, then falls in love with her and will die for her...but loves someone else in the end. Corpse Bride takes all these emotions throws them into a blender and hits the ultra mix button. This leaves the viewer with an awkward feeling at the end towards our so called hero.

Okay, so it is a kids movie, so harping on the emotional value could be unfair. But Depp as the lead offers nothing to the movie, which his character always looking shocked, we get Depp voicing it all whimpy. It's good to see the other cast members giving their voices more range, I mean when you hear Christopher Lee's voice as the towns Pastor it's so deep and recognizable that anyone can notice. Helena Bonham Carter does the best with her incredible singing talent and voiced with alot of depth and emotion.

Danny Elfman's score, along with every other Burton movie, takes the film to another level. With surprise musical numbers, which aren't too aparent in films these days. It takes you back to those old Disney films.

Seeing the underworld, so vibrant and alive, and seeing the living world, so dreadful and dead, it makes you wonder who's really who in this world. Seeing the two at opposite ends is a feast for the eyes, which is what many people will see this movie for. If you're looking for great animation and musical numbers, then Corpse Bride is the film for you, other-wise the story is kinda of dead.

7/10

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Suspect's Reviews

Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi)



"Spider-Man 2, Better Than The First, On Numerous Levels"

Peter Parker can't seem to catch a break. Being Spiderman has brought him nothing but problems as far as his personal life is concerned. Not only that, Mary Jane is engaged to astronaut John Jameson, and Peter may lose her forever. Things are so bad for him he decides that he doesn't want to be Spiderman anymore. Then a freak accident transforms Dr. Otto Octavius into Dr. Octopus. Peter realizes that only Spiderman can stop him, but of course, problems arise. Mary Jane gets caught in the middle, and Harry Osborn, who still blames Spiderman for the death of his father, wants him dead.

Sam Raimi being the Spider-Man fan that he is, finally is able to treat the audience with a superhero movie to be remembered. Spider Man 2 goes down in history as one of those sequels that is able to out due it's predecessor.

The sequel improves on so many things that were wrong in the original, here the actors are finally comfortable in their roles, like Kristen, I didn't believe her in the first one, but this one I did. She was able to showcase her emotions more and the chemistry was there. Franco's character and performance was over-the-top. But Franco uses this to his advantage and pulls it of. Alfred Molina stole the show in this film, he was Doc Ock, perfect villain and perfect for the role. McGuire is now Spider-Man, whereas in the original, we only saw him as the nerdy Peter Parker, it took him two tries, but he finally nailed it.

I loved how it went all Evil Dead in the doctor scene, with the people screaming, then out of nowhere BOOM, chainsaw, classic Sam Raimi and a great homage to his best film to date. But who can forget the Bruce Campbel cameo, and Hal sparks of course. Was there too much comedy??? well, I'm 50/50 on that, the one scene that everyone seemed to hate, but I loved would be the "Rain drops keep falling on my head"

The little freeze at the end had my laughing, because it's Sam Raimi, he knows how to handle comedy for perfect situations. Although there was too much comedy from Peter and not enough from Spidey...I only recall one comedic thing said from Spidey, to Doc Ock in the bank...something along the lines of "Here's your change", then throws money at him. Where is the friendly neighborhood Spidey we all grew up with and love.

The train fight is one of the best action sequences I've ever seen. I was waiting for him arms to rip out of their sockets when he was trying to stop the train from crashing over the edge. The CGI is a big improvement here, it's not all goofy comic book looking, here we see a man swing from building to building, anybody notice the costume looks darker in the CGI moments, maybe it was just me but it does.

One gripe with the villain...not enough screen time. I wanted to see more of him, but whenever he's on the screen, you know it's good. It's clear that Molina is the scene stealer here.

The film though was a little lengthy, they could of taken out a "swinging moment" here and there, those were all over the place. Raimi ends the movie perfectly, setting up the third installment, with the look of "Am I doing the right thing?" on MJ's face. Nice homage to The Graduate. Raimi flushes this film full of classic homages, whether it's from his own, or just classic films like King Kong, they always add a nice touch of coolness to the film.

This is one of the better superhero movies out there, the fans of Spider-Man will enjoy and the movie goer will be entertained, this is a winner in my books

8/10

^^^
Barf

2/10 IMO

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Thanks for the reviews Sussie

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BATMAN BEGINS (Christopher Nolan)




"Batman Makes His Dark and True Return"


As a young boy, Bruce Wayne watched in horror as his parents were killed right in front of him, which leads him to become obsessed with revenge. Leaving Gotham, Bruce Wayne seeks counsel with the dangerous but honorable ninja cult leader Ra's Al-Ghul, Bruce returns to his now decaying Gotham City, which is overrun by organized crime. The discovery of a cave under his mansion, along with a prototype armored suit, leads him to assume a new persona, one which will strike fear into the hearts of men who do wrong; he becomes Batman.

What the makers of Batman Begins wanted to do was to make the audience forget about those Bat Nipples, those bright neon streets and horrible puns made by horribly casted villains. Nolan and co have not only brought the franchise back to life by obliterating Schumachers version, but to some have out-done Burtons classic Gothic original.

Written by David. S. Goyer and under the direction of Nolan, who has done no wrong in the directing chair, Batman becomes what he originally was in the comic books. With this new fresh start we see how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, and in doing so, we get a more human and round character of Batman, unlike in the former series. More true to the comic books then Burtons and more entertaining then Schumachers, this Batman is able to regain the fans it once lost...and gain some new ones.

Nolan doesn't throw action at us from the start like the latter films do, it takes it's time to build up emotion and the character of Bruce Wayne. For those who actually did enjoy Schumachers mess, will find this movie a tad slow and boring, because Bale doesn't become Batman till half way through the picture. It's safe to say that the best Bruce Wayne is Bale hands down, he is able to bring both characteristics from Keaton's and Kilmer's style, to make this Bruce Wayne perfect. While some may not be digging the whole Batman voice, it's actually more true to the comics then the others have done. Batman is suppose to have a dark harsh voice.

Some of the fight sequences were hard to follow are not all that entertaining, the two that pop into my mind would be the first fight in the prison, the editing is so fast and the camera is too close up for people to actually see what's going on. The second fight sequence is when Batman goes into the city and fights the "henchmen" ninjas, it seemed to slow paced and not hard hitting enough. Other then that, the action sequences were very entertaining and for the most part, better then the other Batman films. The Batmobile chase scene is a sensation for the eyes to watch.

This Batman film has the best performances of any other, Bale is the new Bruce Wayne/Batman and he knows what works and what doesn't. Murphy is delightfully evil and eccentric in his performance of The Scarecrow, this is the best performance in the film. Murphy is an underrated actor, who will eventually get more and more recognition. Oldman is one of the best bad guy actors, so seeing him in a new refreshing role really shows his diversity. Neeson is able to show his experience through this role, he acts as a teacher to the others in his performance. He knows what to do and gets to the point. Wilkinson, with his little screen time, is able to stand out as a high point. Good performances all around from Freeman, Cain and Hauer.

Now, I was a huge fan of the old Alfred and the new one seems a little to energetic to me, Cain was good, but I just got the sense of miscasting here. I can see the role being played by an unknown actor and it would have worked better. Katie Holmes of course was a weak point, her character seemed to have no emotional attachment/chemistry with Bruce Wayne, and Holmes to Bale for that matter. She is so out of place in this style of film, and Wantanabe basically stands there and says a couple lines, nothing more.

The film is a great restart for a new franchise, which is undoubtedly going to get better and better with such villains as The Joker and The Riddler, hopefully done right this time. With the great cast and director in the same positions, I see BATMAN on a scale higher then that of Spiderman and X-men.

8/10

nice reviews man...

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Bale was a muscle man that didn't impress as Wayne nor look good in a bat costume.

Cillian Murphy's character is flat and weak to scarecrow's original story line. Cillian Murphy's worst performance I've ever seen.

Oldman played a character anyone could be, versatile yes, but not any better than anyone else could do.

Neeson was pretty good, although his character was unconvincing in the script, Neeson's acting compensated.

Morgan Freeman was the big name black man, Michael Cain was too little alfred and more Michael Cain.

And, while you may disagree with me on any point, how DARE you surmount a compliment for Rutger Hauer who's face was in the movie thrice and didn't do jack for the story. He was a worthless individual to watch. So, no "good" performance by him if it could've been done in 5 minutes by a 3 year old who can type on an amiga.

It's called an opinion.....so I do dare.

I do agree with your Cain comment, and Freeman, but still not bad at all.

Mindhunters (Renny Harlin)




"Relies on twists and turns when the star power leave"

On a remote island, the FBI has a training program for their psychological profiling division, called "Mindhunters", used to track down serial killers. The training goes horribly wrong, however, when a group of seven young agents discover that one of them is a serial killer, and is setting about slaying the others through elaborate traps. Each death is predicted at a certain time and the 7 profiling agents have to wait till their time comes.

Here is a film that looks to have it all, a great cast, a director that can deliever thrills, a pretty good premise, and a mystery/who is the killer style type ending. Well, looks can be decieving as only half of this is true. Harlin is able to deliever the shocks and thrills that he wanted to, but in the end, it hurt the film more then it did good.

Val Kilmer is an actor who would choose more interesting roles, then basic money grabbers, even Batman Forever would classify as an interesting role, as BATMAN, until schumacher...but here in mindhunters we get Kilmer for a mere 15 minutes. In that short time span he does manage to own the screen giving a good performance to something so little. Slater is another big name actor attached to this thriller that doesn't last long, one can only assume that these two actors needed some cash fast and did a quick gig here to fulfill the need.

Once these two highlights of the film are gone, the only person known to the major audience would be LL Cool J, who you know will survive because it's LL cool J.

Harlin keeps us interested in the story as the killer leaves a watch with a time set on it, which indicates at what time the next person is going to die. We have no clue who and no clue how, but what we do know is that it will be some kind of contraption. Much like the jigsaw killer, the victims are put in these inescapable predicaments.

The ending to the film is the downfall, it could have been a tighter ending. It may take a second viewing to understand what happens, not because it's a confusing story, but they way they presented it to the viewer was confusing. If Harlin were able to better explain the situation and not just try to make the audience believe one thing for the sake of a shock/twist, then Mindhunter could have been a great thriller, but with it's flaws and misleads, it falls a couple feet short of goodness. It still stands as a popcorn flick to enjoy, and not think too hard about when it wants you to.

6/10

ENVY (Barry Levinson)



"They should have used VA-POO-RIZE on this turd"


Tim and Nick, best friends, neighbors and co-workers, whose equal footing is suddenly tripped up when one of Nick's get-rich-quick schemes actually succeeds: Vapoorize, a spray that literally makes dog crap, or any other kind for that matter, evaporate into thin air. Tim, who had scoffed at Nick's idea and passed on an opportunity to get in on the deal, can only watch as Nick's fortune and Tim's own envy grow to equally outrageous proportions.

When you hear of a movie that stars two comedic power houses such as Jack Black and Ben Stiller, a gifted director, Barry Levinson, and the one and only Mr. Christpoher Walken, you'd think that it would make for a sure fire hit. Unfortunatly, we get a film that is so utterly horrible that it had to be publically apologized for.

Alot of Ben Stiller movies are the same, he'll play a loser (Envy), a weirdo (Zoolander/dodgeball) or a bad things happen to him guy (Meet the Parents/There's something about mary). But when put into the right cast and with the right creative team, you can find a success with him (Royal Tenenbaums). Why couldn't the creative team behind ENVY pull off another hit for Stiller, well the main problem would be the fact that it is not funny.

The only funny parts of the film, come from a guy that gets shot with an arrow, then probably walked off the set. Walken is the only redeeming factor in this trash. Weisz and Stiller have no connection and are not believable as a married couple. Jack Black tries the best he could with the material written, but there is only so far that one man can go....he goes nowhere.

Levinson should have sensed from the beginning that this wasn't going to fly and bail, same with the cast, but they thought that they could pull it off because hey, we got two funny guys in one movie here. Straight from the beginning it throws useless stupid jokes at you "Don't taste my pants." It's delivery isn't the best either.

When you have yourself a comedy with big names attached, you would think that someone somewhere would at least try to make it funny, in one little bit. The dialogue is terrible, at no point do any of these jokes hit the nail on the head. Walken is only funny because he is Walken. The way he speaks, the tone of his voice, his delivery makes the character what he is, not what the poor written dialogue is.

This turd is so bad, that it didn't even take the worst movie of 2004 spot. That's was the crapfest CATWOMAN, at least for CATWOMAN is can say that it was the worst movie of 2004, ENVY has absolutely nothing to say for itself. If any movie is to make you want your money back, hit your head on a table and would make you rather watch a piece of crap float around in a toilet bowl, ENVY is it.

1/10

I can't believe somebody else has seen Mindhunters!
We seem to have similar views on the film, although I forgot to mention how bad Johnny Lee Miller's American accent was in my review.
Again, I think this was potentially a good idea for a film, but it lets itself down by trying too hard to be clever and throw some early curveballs ( i.e. Slater's short stint ), and yes the ending was a mish-mash, again trying to throw one too many twists.
As for Batman Begins, I really liked the film, Bale has brought more depth to Bruce Wayne/Batman than any of the other actors, but I realised whilst watching the film at the time that it would be one of these films that you either love or hate.
A more intelligent superhero film firmly based in reality, indeed Nolan himself see's Batman as a James Bond type character as well as a superhero. I liked the fact that all his gadgets were feasibly explained, and even the fear inducing toxin was a more realistic foe for Batman to tackle.

Good reviews as always, keep it up! ( ooooooooooh-er )

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Thanks for the great reviews Suspect

Christian Bale was not complex or deep. He was psychologically shattered from an incident that had his parents killed in front of him. He wants revenge, characters around him say no, the script gets hypocritical. Predictable and not very deep. Their was no depth, merely a storyline that was written before it ever hit the paper.

A more intelligent superhero film based in reality? How does that make it more intelligent? Is fantasy and science fiction stupid? I find that comment quite insulting, especially with a story as simplistic as batman begins. Fantasy and Science Fiction can be deeper/complex than any realistic movie because of the barriers that can be broken. I found the realism to be gritty, not more intelligent, Solaris is a science fiction/fantasy type movie and it is possibly the most intelligent and deep psychological movies I've ever seen. Realistic does not equate to more intelligent.

James Bond Type: Nolan can do what he wants, but his characters mish mashed. At one time I thought it was the dark knight, at another I thought it was the detective, and another I thought it was the caped crusader. This would be cool if they all fleshed out, but they didn't, in my mind, and it just ended up being something never seen, but something NOT interesting.

I think it's cool you think every area of batman's technology had to be explained and then not used.

But what I think is cool is when Batman uses his gadgets, and with style. End of batman anyone? He goes in his bat plane, makes a symbol on the moon, drops down through the city, nukes the hell out of the joker, joker then proceeds to fire one pistol shot at batman and send him crashing to the ground. All this happening to a danny elman mastery of music.

So, while Batman Begins may be more realistic and more "dark", it doesn't have style, the story is flat, and everyone over acts to be more noir like when a movie like batman is noir from the get go.

More intelligent? Please.

Thanks once again for enlightening me, you really are the master of all things film!
This site allows people to express their opinions, we won't all like and agree with each other, but I find your tone insulting, the batplane against the moon, how cheesy, were you over the moon when Schumaker added bat nipples?
As for Solaris, I prefer the original, as stated, we all have opinions.
Perhaps I should run all my future post and threads by you, especially as you seem to hold yourself in such high regard.

WTF??? Solaris?????

Yeah, didn't think the Soderbergh/Clooney effort was as good as the original.
However, it's all about opinions, good or bad!

really? i thought he did such an exellent job in hackers that i was actually blown away when i found out he was scottish.....

I don't try.
I found your statement about "a more intelligent" batman pretty insulting as well.
How wrong of my to suggest that Batman Begin's self righteous and cliche romp through a percieved darnkess could not be the perfect treatment to inventive fantasy (batplane on the moon, not the nipples).
Ok?
Only if you want wit, humor, and logic.

Yes you're right, because I'm sure you have so much experience, wisdom and wit crammed into your 16 years!
Man, why am I arguing with someone who is blatantly copying someone elses views on Batman Begins?
Come back when you have your own opinions, and you might want to look up plagirism in the dictionary!


P.S. there is an argument relocation thread if you want to continue, I was going to take off the kid-gloves, but I guess I might have to keep them on!!!