Reviews by Bobby

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Well, I feel the dialogue is awful, I just didn't give any examples. I probably rolled my eyes or covered my face at about 20 different points because of uncomfortably bad dialogue.

Everything in that movie was a disaster. Even the effects (Which were good) weren't as good as they could have been. Nothing reached it's potential.



I give it at least
thinking might write it up myself. Personally loved some of the cheese and Raimi's humour.
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Spider-Man 3 (Raimi, 2007)


I'd avoid at all cost, but knowing that it's Spider-Man, I know most can't resist. They're curious and they have to know.

Well, don't say I didn't warn you...

1/10
Thanks for a very interesting review, a different point of veiw from otheres i have read
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Knocked Up (Apatow, 2007)


No way! A raunchy comedy...with heart? You betcha.

Ben (Seth Rogen) is your typical, young slacker. He doesn't do anything except play stupid games, get high and help create a new website with his buddies that tells you when and where all nudity is in films. Alison (Katherine Heigl) is an up-and-comer with E! and just got a promotion. She now gets face time on E!

What else to do but go out and celebrate, right?

After a series of events, Ben and Alison hook up at the night club and have a one-night stand. She wakes the next morning to realize the loser she just hooked up with, and quickly cuts ties.

Eight weeks later, she finds herself calling Ben up with news that she's pregnant.

Knocked Up follows them through the pregnancy and their fight to have a relationship for the sake of their child. Both seem to have feelings for eachother, but rarely can they get on the same wavelink at the same time. Ben tries his hardest to be a good parent...he tries to muster up feelings for Alison that he's not really sure are there, he goes with her to every doctor visit, he buys baby clothes/nursery items and buys parenting books. Alison, doesn't seem to want to try as hard. She's glad he's there to help, and she is attracted to him, but she feels that the feelings are forced.

Knocked Up is a genuinely sweet and funny movie. It's so incredibly funny at a lot of points, but also unexpectedly touching, real and romantic.

The first half is much funnier than the second half, but the second half has much more depth. Throughout it all, it feels so real. So genuine.

The whole cast has great chemistry and is undeniably likeable.

The best movie of 2007 to this point.

9/10



Originally Posted by BobbyB
He doesn't do anything except play stupid games, get high and help create a new website with his buddies that tells you when and where all nudity is in films.
Kinda like CNDB.com (Celebrity Nudity Database)

Anyways, I don't think I'll be seeing this anytime soon. Maybe when it's released on Netflix.



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Ratatouille (Bird, 2007)


Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 1 and 2.

And now, Ratatouille. Considering that this movie came from Pixar, it was so earth shatteringly average that it made me want to cry.

Remy (Patton Oswalt, King of Queens) is a rat with a love for cooking. It's his passion in life. Often choosing cooking over family. His dad (Brian Dennehy) and the rest of the rat colony, all think Remy needs to stop chasing a dream that will never come true. It's time wasted.

After messing around in a local woman's kitchen, Remy gets busted and chased out of the house with a shotgun. Everyone else, in fear, heads for their little boats to float away in the sewer. Remy gets separated from his family, certain that he'll never see his family again. Hungry and alone, all Remy has is the book, Anyone Can Cook, of his all time favorite chef, Gusteau.

In his delusional state, Remy receives advice from a shoulder angel version of the recently deceased Chef Gusteau and ends out making all the way to Gusteau's old restaurant in Paris.

Remy befriends Linguini. A young garbage boy who is credited with making a delicious soup that was actually Remy's. Because Remy would never get a chance to cook, he and Linguini enter into a partnership, where Remy does the cooking through Linguini, and Linguini gets the credit.

As the movie wears on, the two run into several problems. They find it difficult to keep this secret from the overly mean head chef, Skinner, a growing tension between the two begins when Linguini falls in love with another chef, and they are faced with the challenge of cooking something for the most respected and hard to please critic in France...Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole)

Critics have raved this movie as the best film Pixar has ever made. Uh...no. This is probably their worst film ever made. Pixar has always churned out great family movies, and I've always adored the characters they create. No...not this time.

None of the characters are terribly likeable, and the laughs are very few, despite repeated attempts with gags about French people.

It was OK. Nothing more, nothing less. It's original, as most Pixar stuff is, and so that helps it along, but it just wasn't that good compared to their other work. It was a semi-entertaining, unfunny family film.

A generous 6/10



A system of cells interlinked
Thanks for the review! I will probably skip this one. I am one of the few people on the planet that thought Nemo was just OK. I liked The Incredibles and Cars quite a bit, tho.
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I wish you would go into more depth with you're Ratatouille review. Perhaps I could be skewed on this, I love the movie, but frankly I'd think it would deserve more than the extended plot recap, then brush off that you gave it, even if I did agree with your quick evaluation ("not funny, lesser Pixar"). For starters, you called the characters unlikable, which doesn't really tell us what you didn't like about them.

Since I just critiqued you're review, it's only fair that I give you mine.



You ready? You look ready.
I loved Ratatouille and my only compliant was that, after a while, it seemed to drag on but, I felt that way with Toy Story 2 and still loved it. I disagree that it was their worst film because Cars was pretty bad.
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I wish you would go into more depth with you're Ratatouille review. Perhaps I could be skewed on this, I love the movie, but frankly I'd think it would deserve more than the extended plot recap, then brush off that you gave it, even if I did agree with your quick evaluation ("not funny, lesser Pixar"). For starters, you called the characters unlikable, which doesn't really tell us what you didn't like about them.

Since I just critiqued you're review, it's only fair that I give you mine.
They're all unlikeable for different reasons. Since there are so many, I'd be rambling if I explained it all. It's easier to say that, then Remy is annoying, Skinner is too over the top to the point that I want to pull out my hair, etc.

Mainly it was that the characters were annoying.



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Rescue Dawn (Herzog, 2007)



The biggest compliment I can give Werner Herzog and his crew is this: Rescue Dawn is the most well developed plot of this year.

Rescue Dawn follows Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) and his struggle to survive in the jungles during the early stages of Vietnam.

All Dieter Dengler has ever wanted was to be a pilot. He was pretty much neutral when it came to war, but his main reason for signing up for military service was so he could fly. His one and only passion.

His first mission was a heavily classified mission in Laos. Dieter is shot down and begins on the run in the jungle. It doesn't take too long before he's captured and sent to a prison camp of sorts. He's locked up in Vietnamese huts with 5 other men. The two he immediately connects with are Duane (Steve Zahn) and to a lesser extent, Gene (Jeremy Davies)

One thing becomes obvious quickly. His captors are relentlessly mean and his cell mates are borderline insane. Especially Gene. Dieter appears to be the only one who completely has it together.

Dieter becomes frustrated and quickly realizes he's not going to live much longer if he stays where he's at. Along with the 5 other fellows, Dieter plans his escape.

What Herzog does so brilliantly in this movie is set it all up to come full circle. In the opening scene, Bale and others mock a training video that tells you what to do if you are stuck in the jungle on your own only to end out needing similar skills when he's on the run. The 5 men all appear crazy and we wonder "What's with these guys? Is Dieter the only sane one in the bunch?" well, Herzog makes you feel claustrophobic in that camp. Slowly we see Dieter's mind go and start to understand that all of these fellows were probably just as sane at one point as Dieter.

This is a slow paced, expertly developed war drama. If you don't like slow moving character studies, avoid at all cost, but if you can even slightly appreciate such a thing, you will love Rescue Dawn. One of the better films of 07.

9/10



I saw Rescue Dawn late last year, and while I am a mega Herzog fan I was a bit disappointed in the flick. First of all, I think his original documentary on this subject, 1998's Little Dieter Needs to Fly, is absolutely brilliant and that having Dieter tell his story in his own words is infinitely more horrifying and amazing than the dramatized version with actors. The actors, especially Bale, Zahn and Davies, are all fantastic, as usual. But if you watch Little Dieter, what he describes is so much more vivid than the dramatic recreation. It would almost have to be, as to truly recreate those horrors would be nearly impossible. I also thought the final scene of Rescue Dawn on the aircraft carrier was bizarrely hollow and felt an inch away from parody to me, though I don't think Herzog intended it as such. Maybe he did? Dunno. I hope there's an audio commentary track with him on the eventual DVD release, because I'd be curious to hear his thoughts and justifications for the scene.

Rescue Dawn is a good movie, but frankly not up to Herzog's own very high standards. And especially not up to the expectations for this film created by the sheer brilliance of Little Dieter Needs to Fly. The documentary is the one I would unreservedly recommend everybody rush out and see as soon as possible, if not sooner. Rescue Dawn...notsomuch. Other than for the great work of the actors, of whom Jeremy Davies steals the film and goes to the kinds of physical extremes in his portrayal that Bale was famous for in The Machinist.

But there are lots of Herzog's other non-documentary efforts I would urge one to see long before you got around to Rescue Dawn. For those, check out the Werner Herzog appreciation thread HERE.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



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Went to AMC yesterday, I've now seen all the nominees.

Here are my reviews in order of who I believe deserves to win. From last to first.

There Will Be Blood (Anderson, 2007)


There Will Be Blood is the 4th major studio release from Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson.

Known for his large, star-studded casts, PT Anderson went a completely different route with this film.

Blood is loosely based off of the Upton Sinclair novel "Oil!"

In There Will Be Blood we follow the rise of one Daniel Plainview. A caustic fellow who loves money and not much more. The movie opens with about 15 or 20 minutes worth of silence. No dialogue, just grunts and nods. PT Anderson really didn't open the film strongly with this. The filming is beautiful and the actors do the best they can, but I think Anderson made a serious mistake letting it go as long as he did. It got to the point where you could tell he was intentionally trying to not have anyone talk. No matter what his purpose, it just became annoying when words were necessary and all we saw was Daniel Day-Lewis grimace and nod his head.

PT Anderson needs to take a lesson from Sergio Leone and Once Upon a Time in the West. The art and the way Leone paints the silence of the three outlaws waiting in an empty station was much more effective and not as forced as Anderson's direction in the opening 15 minutes. That's just where my problems begin.

After the death of one of his workers, Daniel Plainview adopts the man's child and decides to raise him.

One day, business very good, but not quite booming, Plainview gets a visit from a man named Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) who informs him that there is endless amounts of oil nearby and he'll tell him the location in exchange for money.

Daniel, a little skeptical, agrees and he and his son H.W. head off to the Sunday ranch, the home of Paul's family. He quickly discovers oil there and tries and gets the land from them for a cheap price, hoping they don't realize what's there. Eli, Paul's "Twin brother", recognizes that oil is there, and bargains for a higher price and 5,000 dollars for his church. Still, a steal for Daniel.

Throughout the next two hours, we track Daniel from what at first seems like a kind man (Good to his son, stopping an abusive father, generally courteous to the locals. etc.) to someone who is manipulative, greedy, and violent.

Daniel Plainview's rise and life spent polarizing those close to him is so close to Citizen Kane that it borders on plagiarism. The difference in this movie is only that it's Oil instead of newspapers, the character depth of the lead isn't as good, and the ending is much worse.

Daniel Day-Lewis adapts his role to the point that it's scary. I believed him 100% and he deserves the Oscar, but a few scenes aside (Mainly the church scene where Daniel is told to repent) this isn't anything special, IMO. It was a technical masterpiece, but overall it was disappointing.

4/10

More to come...



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Michael Clayton (Gilroy, 2007)



Michael Clayton is the curious thriller from Writer/Director Tony Gilroy (Writer of the Bourne Trilogy)

George Clooney stars as Michael Clayton. A do any dirty job lawyer who is caught up in the biggest lawsuit in U.S. history. Michael's firm, Kenner, Bach, & Ledeen, is defending U/North in the lawsuit which involves over 400 people and 3 billion dollars. After his friend Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) loses his mind, strips down naked in a deposition over the lawsuit and starts trying to sabotage the defense of U/North, Michael begins to unravel the truth behind who his firm is defending.

Michael Clayton gives you all the info you need. There were times in the theater where I was sitting wondering if we weren't supposed to get it yet, or if I was just lost. Gilroy does a great job of loading you with information for you to piece together, just like Michael has to. In the final 10 minutes, it all makes sense. We get it. Enlightened at the moment Michael is. That's what I love about this film.

Everyone around you knows what's going on. Michael and the audience are the only ones that are confused about what exactly we're seeing and hearing. Gilroy puts us in Michael's shoes. We only understand what he understands, and it's really difficult to make such a movie and still keep your attention. Lesser films would have people frustrated with what would seem like a teasing nature, but Michael Clayton expertly paints the picture of a first person investigation. What is the purpose in knowing all along what is wrong, when Michael himself doesn't even know?

Clooney and Wilkinson are great in this film. Tilda Swinton is decent in her role, but the Oscar nomination really puzzles me.

I don't know how to elaborate anymore on the story without ruining the experience and feeling the mystery.

Still, I definitely recommend it.

8/10