Dr. Jones's Reviews

Raiders of the Lost Ark

As my username is drjones, I thought that this would be fitting to start of this main thread of reviews. Enjoy!

Raiders of the Lost Ark is directed by Steven Spielberg, and stars Harrison Ford with Karen Allen. The best part of this film by far is Harrison's performance, and he makes Indy so likable that it is hard not to love the movie. Marion is a strong female character, and is the perfect compliment to Indy. Sallah is also terrific. Beloch is a cool villain, but he is overshadowed by his Nazi counterpart, Toht. He is terrifying, and is enough to give a child nightmares. The action is top-notch, especially the car chase, where Indiana is dragged behind the car. Also, I believe that the opening scene of this film is the best ever. It is so incredible, and introduced us to Indy, and set us on the incredible adventure. The main argument against this film, of course, is that if Indy had not been there, the result would have been the same. Although this is true, I believe that it is very metaphorical, showing that you don't have to save the world to be a hero, that if you do your best to help others, then everything will turn out fine. I have no real flaws with this film. It is incredible. I believe that this is my favorite film of all time. Without blinking, this film most definitely gets an A+

Great review of a great movie.

But that line in your review made me think of this scene in the movie:

Sallah: They call him Bellosh.
Jones: [laughs] Belloq! Belloq.

Thank you so much! I'll post more reviews tomorrow.

Great scene by the way.

I'm looking forward to reading your reviews.

Thanks!

Leprechaun
Starting off with such a great film made me want to contrast that with this. Enjoy!

Leprechaun is directed by who really cares, and stars Rachel from friends. Oh, and Warwick Davis! It is about a murderous Leprechaun, who, when brought back to the US, takes his first victim by... giving him a stroke! Oooh, scary. It features laughable special effects, and ludicrous kills. One of the most memorable is a man being killed by a pogo stick. Then the Leprechaun steals a toy car and keep space with police on a highway. He can also ride a tricycle real fast. Totally not speeded up film thre! No, Warwick really rode that tricycle. It also has an "Of Mice and Men", rip off, except with a large Irish stereotype as Lennie and a John Connor type as George. I am Irish, and frankly, this film is offensive. With all of the Irish characters drunk the whole friggin time. The climax to the film is laughable, and the Leprechaun is not even interesting because he is unkillable. Even his weakness does not kill him. Honestly, there is nothing redeemable about this movie, other than the hospital sequence, which is decent. However, this is a huge guilty pleasure of mine, and I gave it a few points for that. Leprechaun gets a D.

This is just filler so I can click the "Suggest for Movie Reviews" button.

Hmmm, you're not seeing it already? I don't recall having a post minimum for it. But I set it up awhile ago...

No, I saw it. I just forgot on my Leprechaun one.

Under the Skin
This is copy and pasted from an earlier review, with some added. I wanted to put it on my main thread.

Under the Skin, the 2013 horror film starring Scarlett Johansson, is about an alien woman who seduces men, and brings them back to her room, where terrible things happen. I thought that Scarlett Johansson was very good, and carried the film. However, some of the men she captures are not actors, and it shows at some points. Also, not every scene in the film is on par with the rest of it, such as the nightclub scene, which has no effect on the rest of the film. It sometimes shoves its ambiguity down your throat, and you can tell that it is forced. Some characters, like the man she has a relationship with at the end, and the ranger, come off as plot devices rather than characters. Other than that, I thought the film was very strong, especially the ending. It has a very metaphorical nature, and has a message about our cosmetic society. It does overstate this at some points, as many message films do. Still, it is a good movie. Under the Skin gets a B+.

Let me know if you have any suggestions/comments. All are appreciated!

Images.

__________________

Thanks. I will put some pics in my reviews from now on.

Drive(2011)


Drive is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, and stars Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. It is an immaculately shot film, great cinematography. However, the chemistry between Gosling and Mulligan was just... not there. Their interactions seemed stunted, and many scenes felt pretty awkward. The beginning hour or so was not great. I am okay with slow build, but there is slow build and then what I'll call "snail build." The scenes throughout the first hour were fairly repetitive. But when Oscar Isaac walked into the movie? He was a spark plug. After that, the movie was great. The heist that was conducted, and Driver vs. the Mob were very good. The supporting performances by Ron Perlman as a mobster and Brian Cranston as his boss were amazing. I think the ending was solid, although nothing to brag about. All, in all, Drive was a good movie, no more, no less. Drive gets a B.

Ex Machina(2015)


Ex Machina is directed by Alex Garland, and stars Domhnall Gleason, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander. It is about an artificial intelligence, Ava, who was invented by Nathan, basically the founder of google in real life. When Caleb is called to help run tests on Ava because he won the chance in a raffle, he slowly begins to fall in love with the robot. This film is very strong, with near perfect performances by Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander, and a very good performance from Gleason. The effects on Ava are amazing, especially with the budget of only 15 million dollars. Alicia Vikander perfectly plays Ava, mixing becoming self aware and human with the stereotypical "I am a robot" acting. The score is amazing as well, mixing creepy with some action sequences. As Caleb discovers Nathan's old experiments, the film becomes darker, and when given a choice whether to take the expected twist, they do not, which is nice. There is a major flaw in this film, however, and it involves the questionable decisions by a pilot near the end, which takes it down a notch for me. Another flaw is the nudity, which I am fine with, but after a while, it becomes gratuitous. All in all ,Ex Machina is a great film, and I strongly recommend that you see it. Ex Machina gets an A.

As always, any feedback/comments are appreciated.

I thought Ex Machina was one of the best movies of the year, far better than several others that were Oscar-nominated.

Definitely. Loads better than The Revenant and Brooklyn. I think it is the best movie of 2015.

I agree that it's better than both of those movies, although I liked Brooklyn.