K's reviews

K nice reviews indeed

I havent seen "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" but I am going to pick it up

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~In the event of a Zombie Uprising, remember to sever the head or destroy the brain!~

The sequel was more sci/fi, this is true. But it was too much. I liked the first one because the sci/fi wasn't overwhelming. I didn't understand the mathematical elements in it (besides the prime numbers), but that didn't matter because it wasn't the key element in the movie. The characters were. In the sequel though, the characters didn't have the same dept, since most of them were killed off fairly early.
The very complicated "theory" behind the hybercube might have been acceptable if the special effects weren't so awfull. When the story is messed up and the visuals don't make up for it, I feel like I'm wasting my time...
Well look at me, I'm reviewing even though I promised myself I wouldn't waste time on this movie.

Anyways, good morning.

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The Freedom Roads

American Psycho, Whenever



Several MoFos (you know who you are) rated this movie as one of their favorite Christian Bale performances. I expected it to be one of mine as well. The movie based on the legendary novel by Brett Easton Ellis, with Bale as the yuppie psychopath Patrick Bateman – I couldn’t wait. Especially after having experienced Bale as John Preston in Equilibrium, in which he did a great job as the emotionless-turned-enlightened government killer agent. The characters can hardly be compared but I was still impressed by Bale’s talent for playing psychotic roles. However, I was massively disappointed by Bale’s performance in this movie.
Now, I’ve only read one chapter of the book, in connection with an English class. However, it was enough to give me a good idea on how the character of Patrick Bateman was. The cold, superficial character appealed to me and I thought the character was extremely well written. After having watched Bale’s excessive and overacted interpretation of it, I felt like the original character had been raped.
When he put on the rain coat and killed the guy with the axe – the silly walk he made. Though it was comedic, I felt like he was trying to entertain a physical audience, within the movie.
The scene with the prostitutes, where he mixed his analysis of the music with perverted comments wasn’t very well done.
Through the entire movie I felt like he’d read the script and then performed the character with all the upper class superiority he could muster. It wasn’t very elegant and way too much for my taste. He was simply trying too hard, and the result was a serious case of overacting.
The voiceover – same thing.
Bale’s performance faded compared to Willem Dafoe’s. This became very clear in the scene where Dafoe was interrogating Bale. I felt like I was watching an experienced actor facing a rookie.
Then, out of the blue, Bale turns on a platter and throws out a fantastic performance, in the breakdown scene, which raises suspicion that Bale simply can’t play the upper class snob.
The chapter I’ve read was the one where Bateman tortured the homeless person. This was described in horrible detail in the book, and it was truly a disgusting read. However it was watered down in the movie. The whole situation in the book was described in a manner that was heartbreaking. In the movie it was just a couple of stabs and it was done.

I guess I just expected more from the movie based on the book, which was so violent that it was criticized of being utterly and completely pointless. And I certainly expected more from Bale.
This only sneaks up to this grade due to Bale’s performance in the breakdown scene.

I always thought American Psycho WAS a comedy.

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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

Of the 3 movie you have reviewed, I have only seen KKBB. Robert Downey Jr is the petty thief turned Hollywood actor who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery with only gay detective Val Kilmer to help him. A raucous mix of black comedy and noir thriller from the writer of Lethal Weapon.

My comment - Ok

I m going to watch other two movies you have mentioned.

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Life is all about style!

I've said this before, but in almost every film I watch Christian Bale in I feel this way too. He never seems to be natural, I never get lost in his performances, he always ACTS. The only film where this isn't true is Empire of the Sun where his young and mannered performance was perfect. We spent the film exchanging looks of incredulity when we watched Harsh Times, along with sniggering. Truly bad.
My heart sank when I heard he was John Connor

Wauv. I thought people would really disagree with me on this one...

But I kinda agree with you.
Batman, no doubt your right in my opinion.
American Psycho - obviously.
The Machinist - Scary, but real imo.
Equilibrium - Best movie Bale has ever been in.

Ramesh:
Glad you decided to give Deer Hunter a go. If you have any taste in movies, you won't be disappointed, I promise.

Seriously? What did you like about Equilibrium then???

Equilibrium, 2002.


This movie was placed on the bottom shelf in the comedy section in my local rental place. I walked by it. Then I noticed Bale's face on the cover, so I picked it up and read on the back. And I liked what I saw. Yet I got the feeling that this was totally underrated. I haven't heard of it before and the clerk had the nerve to misplace this Bale movie, which, to me, somehow gave me a bad first impression. So I rent it and watch it, and I wondered why I hadn't heard of this before and I shamed myself for being suspicious just because of my immediate, unreasonable thoughts of this movie.

This was great. The fictional dystopian society, which seems ideal on the surface but obviously isn't. The path John Preston takes to discover this and the obstacles he must overcome.
The fact that things had gotten so bad, that the people were unable to see all this beauty surrounding them, was brilliantly depicted in the movie via the scene where Partridge read the poem to Preston (brilliantly done by Sean Bean), who was evidently unaffected by it. But somehow it still left a mark, which lead to Preston's enlightenment, thus illustrating the point that no matter how cold, emotionless and psychopathic one gets, there's always going to be a small piece of humanity left, proving that this person is still human.
This was also brilliantly illustrated in the scene where Preston wakes up, and experiences a sunrise for the first time. Bale did a great job there. I would even say that I was so caught up in the movie, at that point, that Bale actually came on as believable.

People tend to focus on the fight/action scenes, instead of focusing on these aspects of the movie. Not that there was anything wrong with these scenes at all, they were very enjoyable, but it's a shame that they cause the audience to write this movie off as just another action flick.

Christian Bale was truly great in this movie. Think about it - how do you act without being allowed to show emotions? My point is, that even though Bale was playing an emotionless character, for a significant part of the movie, he was still a joy to watch. He made juice without oranges.
And since the original character was played brilliantly emotionless by Bale, the turned-enlightened character became that much more powerful, and had that much stronger of an impact - at least on me.



Prestige, I assume from your signature that you're quite the Nolans fan, and thus slightly insulted that I chose this movie over the Batmans (do correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not denying that they are great flicks but they just didn't work for me. I'm not elaborating, one random movie review is more than enough, for one day.

Read George Orwell's 1984.

Thanks Sleez, I'll add it to my list.

Or visit Britain. Same diff.

lol

[quote=KasperKristensen;524887]Equilibrium, 2002.


quote]


Well you certainly made the film sound a lot better than it actually is and I applaud you for taking the time to do an in depth review. The problem with playing an emotionless character is that you can only go so far with them. The character is, after all, emotionless.

And i'm not insulted by your choice at all, mate. I was very surprised that you would say that, yeah. But not insulted at all. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Obviously the Nolanised Batman films won't be to every single living breathing person's taste and I can understand that.

Performance wise, I reckon Bale was exceptional as Patrick Bateman. In terms of being in his best film, it's The Dark Knight for me.

[quote=The Prestige;525345]I can understand that.

Good Will Hunting, 1997


Will - Beethoven, okay. He looked at a piano, and it just made sense to him. He could just play.
Skylar - So what are you saying? You play the piano?
Will - No, not a lick. I mean, I look at a piano, I see a bunch of keys, three pedals, and a box of wood. But Beethoven, Mozart, they saw it, they could just play. I couldn't paint you a picture, I probably can't hit the ball out of Fenway, and I can't play the piano.
Skylar - But you can do my o-chem paper in under an hour.
Will - Right. Well, I mean when it came to stuff like that... I could always just play.

I'm very subjective when it comes to Good Will Hunting.
I remember seeing it for the first time with my aunt, when she was attending high school. After having watched it, I knew right then and there that I wanted to go to high school too. The movie had a huge impact on me, and even though I’m not a brilliant prodigy I related to the character of Will Hunting. The character fascinated me and, at that time, I could identify with Hunting’s anger and his feelings of being misunderstood.



This movie introduced me to Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Robin Williams, all at once. I honestly couldn’t have wished for a better introduction. The fact that Damon and Affleck wrote this film, starred in it, and won Oscars impressed me a great deal, and it only made the movie better.
Damon’s acting impressed me even more, and he became the ‘ideal actor’ to me, at that time (I hadn’t watched that many movies, other than cartoons). It was with Damon’s performance in mind that I began taking acting classes.
Robin Williams’ character, the psychologist who doesn’t care about materialistic possessions and prestige, but merely wants to help and influence people, became my ideal view of how a psychologist ought to be (this kind of character is what Williams does best – if you don’t believe me, you should watch Dead Poets Society and Patch Adams). Williams’ character spawned my thoughts of some day becoming a psychologist myself.



This ‘review’ hasn’t been like the other reviews I’ve made. I’ve left out commenting on all the technical elements, such as the composition, symbolism etc. But when it comes to this movie, they just aren’t important to me and they have nothing to do with this movie being in my top ten list. This is the only movie, which have influenced me to this degree. When I had finished primary school I had no clue what I wanted to do. Who knows what I would’ve done, and where I would’ve been today, if this movie had escaped my attention. Maybe I would've just sat around watching movies all day. Call me nostalgic.

A rating would be pointless.

Jersey Girl, 2004.


“My dad says that life can be split into two categories. New Jersey and New York”.

There are movies that completely shatter your expectations. Often these movies star actors, which usually do something completely different, or they are directed by directors, who normally make movies with very different themes. Reign Over Me was very serious and not something you would normally expect from Adam Sandler. Stranger Than Fiction and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are similar movies, starring actors, whose main occupation have formerly been comedies. Jersey Girl does the same thing.

Kevin Smith is the man behind movies such as Clerks, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. These are all comedies, containing dialogue based humor, which mainly relates to a younger audience. Some find the so-called Viewaskewniverse hilarious, while some regard it as juvenile and immature. However, I would be surprised if both audiences couldn’t appreciate Jersey Girl.

The movie starts out similar to Spanglish. The main character’s daughter reads a school essay, which tells the story of her life with her father. Her mother died giving birth to her, leaving her father (Ben Affleck) to raise her alone. The father, Ollie, doesn’t want to face that his baby depends on him and he distances himself from her. This result in him having an angry outburst in front of reporters, which results in him being expelled from the music industry for good. He becomes a street sweeper, the same job as his father (George Carlin) posses. Ollie is very bitter that he’s lost his high profile job, which affects his relationship with his daughter. His father has to put him in his right place and Ollie finally realizes that he has to take responsibility and adapt to his new situation. The story escalates from there, until we finally realize that Ollie has been secretly bitter that the mother and his daughter have taken his ‘ideal life’ away from him. Eventually, Ollie comes to terms with his current situation and accepts his new role in life – a father.

I’m pleased to say that Jay and Silent Bob don’t make an appearance in this movie. Holden McNeil and Banky are also gone, which seems like a statement from Smith. This isn’t that kind of film. Like Reign Over Me this movie differs from its heritage by being serious. Unlike Clerks this movies actually has something to say. The sole purpose of this movie isn’t to entertain via humor, like Smith’s previous works, but to entertain via strong emotional scenes, good acting chemistry and a meaningful message. The former immature humor has been replaced with a more mature kind of humor.

Ben Affleck does a surprisingly good job as a loving father and the chemistry between him and Raquel Castro (the daughter) is amazing. I normally don’t think much of child actors, but Castro really impressed me. Besides, she was adorable.
George Carlin plays the role of the working-man-grandfather. Don’t expect to see any typical Carlin humor, though Carlin does have his moments.
Ollie’s girlfriend is played by Liv Tyler (Lord of the Rings). Her eccentric and slightly kooky character is very lovable and very well played at that.

This movie is properly sprinkled with very emotional, humoristic and heartbreaking scenes, which gives the movie a boost when needed, and maintains the viewer’s attention.

This movie is very unlike Smith. I was looking forward to watching a comedy you didn’t really need to commit too, but I ended up watching a descent movie with a nice message. Ollie spent the first eight years of his life with his daughter, longing for a life that was long gone. He wanted the high profile, glamorous, New Yorker life back, without realizing that everything he really needed and loved was right there – in New Jersey.

>>Casually bringing this up again to possibly get a minimum amount of feedback<<

Are these last two reviews bad? I'm not whining, I want to know. Constructive critisism is very welcome.

I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with the reviews of the two Ben Affleck films, but I will make some comments. I realize that you like Kevin Smith, so it makes sense that you mention him while discussing Jersey Girl. However, since you like Good Will Hunting even more, I find it surprising that you never mentioned its director, Gus Van Sant, in your write-up. Both of your reviews are very personal, and I find that a good thing, but maybe you could personalize your comments even more. For example, how did Damon impress you so much that you took acting classes? What things did he do specifically which you related to so much?

As far as Jersey Girl goes, are you impressed with it because it's a Smith film which seems more mature than his others? What I'm trying to get at is would you have liked it as much if somebody else had directed it? Or perhaps, would you have even watched it if Smith hadn't directed it?

I agree with much of what you say in your reviews, but I'm not sure that the reviews totally put me inside your head, especially since you find both films significant, especially Good Will Hunting. I don't have to get inside your head to appreciate what you say and how you say it, but it will get my attention more if you cut me to the bone the same way the movie cuts you.

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