K's reviews

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 2005.



When I take the time to go to the local Bogart, pay to rent the movie, smalltalk with the chatty clerk and finally fire up the DVD player - Naturally, I expect to be entertained. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang did that for me.

Robert Downey Jr. plays the part of Harry Lockhart. He's a small-time thief who flees a toyshop when the police is alarmed. His partner gets shot and after barging into an audition where he has an emotional breakdown and gets the part, the story picks up speed. Lockhart gets involved in an investigation, along with Val Kilmer, who plays the part of a private detective. The rest of the movie is about Kilmer and Downey unraveling a complicated homicide case, due to the murder of Harmony's (Michelle Monoghan) sister.

Robert Downey Jr. is extremely good in the role of Harry Lockhart, as is Val Kilmer as Gay Perry. The relationship between Lockhart and Gay Perry is the spine of this movie and I'm happy to say that the chemistry between the two actors is outstanding. Downey's goofy comments who continuously get shot down and degraded by the cold and haughty comments of Kilmer is hilarious throughout the movie.

Downey plays that guy you feel sorry for, but laugh at, at the same time. His naive and obviously unintelligent comments such as; 'There's something wrong in Denver' and 'Perry I peed on the corpse, can't they get like ID from that?', are funny as they are, but even funnier when sarcastically degraded by a condescending Val Kilmer.

The story of this movie is complicated, however, and you might need to watch the movie a few times before you get it straight (I did), but luckily, you want to watch this movie again.
Another unfortunate thing in this movie, is the few times when the narrator (Downey Jr.) freezes the movie to spit out a joke, which don't seem that funny, since this a**hole paused your movie, just to deliver that joke. Other than that, Downey does a great job at narrating.

I love this flick. It's the kind of movie I put on when I feel like laughing. As a good comedy should, it does a great job at entertaining its audience.

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The Freedom Roads

I liked it when I saw it at the cinema, it's fun but don't think it bears up to repeated viewings .
Nice to see you starting a review thread

I really didn't get this film, I was disapointed. Everyone else seems to like it though and I'm glad you did too.

Thinking of it, I guess Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was 2005's In Bruges. Another film that I didn't see what the fuss was about and didn't find funny, whilst everyone else raves about it. The only difference being that I was weary of In Bruges from the start, whereas I was dying to see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

I really liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I thought the comedic chemistry between Kilmer and Downey Jr was hilariously good.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

I haven't seen it, but I'll check it out...

"Holy Yikes, Batman!"

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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Is that for both? Or just In Bruges?

Good review. I loved the film, and watched it three times while I had my copy from Netflix. I adore RDJ, and I thought he ate this role up. Kilmer was adequate, but this was Downey's film. I do think they worked well together, though.

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The Deer Hunter



I can’t believe I had been keeping myself from watching this movie, solely because of its age.
I was watching it with a group of friends, and even though that girl was sitting next to me, I had a hard time not watering up at some points and I was baffled that I could be this much affected by any movie.


I think you all know the story.
A group of friends, who work in the iron industry, enjoys hunting deer together. One of the guys is getting married while three other guys are going to fight in the Vietnam War. To mark these occasions they go on a deer hunt together. After the wedding (which maybe takes a bit too long in the movie) we are abruptly thrown into the action. The movie shifts to the war in Vietnam. Michael, Nicky and Steven are taken prisoners in a Viet Cong camp. After playing a deadly round of Russian roulette they escape the camp, where after the movie divides into two. We follow Michael’s return home, we see how he gets back on his feet and we see him hunt deer again. But we also see constant references to the horrors the guys experienced in the war.

Which brings us to Nicky. Nicky never returned home. He faded out from his earlier life and we follow his psychological descent. He visit prostitutes, drinks and upon stumbling into a bar where he puts a gun to his head he becomes involved in a Vietnamese ‘club’ where they play and bet on Russian roulette. The same game he and Michael were forced to play in the Viet Cong camp.
The story of Michael and the story of Nicky merge in such a heartbreaking manner, that I won’t reveal it for you, just in that unlikely case that some of you haven’t watched the movie.

This movie stars Robert de Niro and Christopher Walken. I single these two out because the other actors appear mediocre compared to them. This isn’t due to Walken and de Niro’s individual performances, but the acting between them. The chemistry is amazing – I dare say it’s the best I’ve seen. The Russian roulette scene in the camp made me feel uncomfortable. I felt sick. On the contrary to repulsing horror scenes this was a positive discomfort, since the feelings were triggered due to amazing acting instead of disgusting gore scenes.
Another memorable scene was when Nicky walked in on a game of Russian roulette. He takes the gun without hesitation and puts it to the contestant’s head and pulls the trigger, where after he immediately puts the gun to his own head – all done with a dead, indifferent look in his eyes.

These scenes were executed with amazing acting. However, the scenes wouldn’t be half as powerful, was it not for the great writing. The Russian roulette is an extremely powerful tool and the movie is plastered with brilliant symbols. One of the best is the scene with Michael and the deer. After a lengthily chase Michael finally catches up with the deer but he realizes that he can’t shoot it. The deer superiorly regards Michael, after which it slowly walks away without dignifying him another look.
Michael had just returned from the Vietnam War. He’s shot people and yet he couldn’t shoot a deer. The majestic and superior gaze of the deer seems as a symbol of the indifference and idiocy of mankind. The deer seems superior compared to Michael. It has no worries and it does not bring pain and suffering to itself. This same indifference is emphasized via Nicky, which seems to have given in to it and thrown his life away, and the green barrette who utters; “just f*ck it all’, in the beginning of the movie. The game of Russian roulette alone is filled with idiocy and meaninglessness and this game is equated with the Vietnam War itself. And war in general for that matter.


It’s been a long time since I’ve watched a movie that had this kind of emotional impact on me. I’ve always loved Walken due to his performances in ‘The Prophecy’ trilogy and his minor roles in movies such as ‘Pulp Fiction’ and even ‘Balls of Fury’ and ‘Man of the Year’. But his performance in this movie laid the basic to the man’s foundation of awesomeness. At least for me.
I’ve got nothing but love for this movie. One can argue that the story was a bit slow to start with, but, to me, that didn’t hurt the movie at all.

Very nice review K, and thanks for watching a film that must seem ancient to you! I'm always really happy when I read of films that affect people so much, it means you're a good open person

Talking about loving Walken, have you seen The Dead Zone - I love him in that.

Thanks for reading.

I have not watched The Dead Zone. I'm on the hunt for great movies though and everything starring Walken deserves at least to be rented in my opinion. It's added to my list now.

Cube, 1997


*This review contains a spoiler concerning part of the ending*
The movie sets out by killing a man in a rather grotesque manner. We see an anxious and sweaty man crawl through a door into one of the cubes. The man is clearly panicking and looks like he hasn’t eaten for days. As he places his feet on the floor of the cube a sharp cutting sound emerges, after which we see the man’s body fall apart in pieces. Then the metal net swings back in position. When you’ve seen this you pretty much know what the whole movie is about.

We follow five characters, which, from the beginning, are trapped in a cube. They soon discover that the cube is linked with other cubes on every side, thus giving the impression that they are trapped in a fairly large cube. The movie is basically about these five characters’ escape from this place.
Naturally the movie is very character based. Since the sets and visuals in this film are very alike (only differs with different colors) the excitement has to come from the characters and the traps. Now, these characters are as follows:
We have the cynical cop, Quentin,
the high school math prodigy, Leaven,
the indifferent, tired-of-living architect, Worth,
Holloway the doctor
and finally the autistic Kazan.
It’s interesting to see how the different characters react in this sort of situation. Not to mention the interaction between them. Watching people lose their minds and throw away their values and ethics are always good fun. When combined with creative death traps – doubly so. The characters’ psychological descents are a large part of this movie, and it’s executed with fairly good acting.

This is really what this movie does. It takes these characters, these archetypes, and place them in a life threatening situation where they’re absolutely helpless. They’re not evil or bad people - they’rehuman, like you and I. “They”, the anonymous people behind the cube, have decided that these five people should be put through this, and done so without no obvious reason. It’s utterly and completely pointless. They’re not some masked lunatic with reasons like the victims not enjoying life. They’re invisible throughout the movie, as are the reason for the cube itself. This builds heavy suspense, and I was genuinely frustrated that I wasn’t told what’s outside the damn cube.

This movie was good, but yet I felt like something was missing. Making a decent movie out of virtually one room and some special effects is an impressive achievement. However, the movie had a tendency to become too static, and the mathematical theory behind the cube wasn’t that exciting, to put it nicely.
The actors’ performances were good, though the actor playing Quentin had a little too much crazy eyes going to take him seriously sometimes. The characters lacked depth somehow and seemed shallow, to me. I say this due to the lack of background story, so the characters, as mentioned before, are archetypes and not individual characters with dept, so to speak.

Rent, don’t buy:

Good review K. I've only seen Cube once, a year or so after it was released, but I really enjoyed it. Haven't bothered with the other two films though.

I really liked reading your review; it reminded me a lot of how I felt after watching it. The Deer Hunter was even in my top 10 for quite awhile. Either this was my first introduction to Christopher Walken, or it's where I first became aware of him, but after that I was a fanatic and had to see everything he had done.

Thanks.
Do you mean the other two films I've reviewed in this thread or the remaining two of the Cube triliogy?

I mean the other two films in the Cube trilogy K. I've already said how I felt about KKBB a couple of posts after your review. I liked The Deer Hunter, but I haven't seen it for years.

Don't bother with Cube 2: Hypercube and Cube Zero, they're pretty awful.

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100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

Having seen the first one, I just couldn't see the point in any more of them. Much like The Matrix. Anyway, from what I've have heard about them, it appears you're right UF.

Great reviews, keep it up

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Glad you gave Cube a decent rating, I've given it a higher one because I really adore it.

The sequel takes the franchise into a more sci/fi direction and the third film (a prequel) goes wrong by trying to explain everything.