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dleary69
Reviews
Colonials (2023)
Could have been so much more, if geared to adults!
The scifi aspect of this film could have been better if a bigger budget allowed for more than half of the film where real people were portryaed. The other half plus looked like cartoons, and it's very obvious. Characters that should have been portrayed as stronger were cast as whimpering little girls, and these are the guys I'm referring to. Script jumped around and forward too far to feel like a story was being told and each chapter seemed like it was shot without continuity present to fuse the scenes together for the director. Must have been past the directors bedtime. They tried to tell too much story into a small time frame and it really felt jerky. Star Wars it isn't, even though it appeared they were trying many aspects of it to draw in viewers (eg: prime villian in a black exoskeleton suit from head to toe). I had to get up a few times and didn't feel like I missed anything, dsolate planet, evil warlord, hero stops crying and remembers everything, big evil space station blown up, and hero's on the way to help! If you watch the characters you'll see the odd shimmer along their edges for the green screen while the cartoon backgrounds move along. Starship Troopers was a better production value than this as well as a better story. This all being said by a devout scifi fan for most of my life. I gave them 3 stars for showing upi to read the lines.
Planet Dune (2021)
The studio should be ashamed to put this out there.
Sean Young at her best, which isn't saying much. Her best role was probably the original Blade Runner. This movie, as I can't call this film or good cinema, should never have been made. It's a poor knock-off of the Dune films, but taken to the lowest level of quality entertainment for a science fiction movie. The story, if there really is one, is weak as are the performances by it's actors. I can't fault them as they were paid to act in this. The writers are to blame because it looked as though it took them a full lunch break to do the screenplay for this. The effects were weak, ineffective, and the story was so far from the Dune series, but trying to be like it, that it boggles the mind. This is Dune, but isn't! The Rubenesque Sean Young's acting should have been far better from all her years in Hollywood, but came across like a high school play during summer school break. Bringing the worm into the story further ruins this as it tries to emulate a good franchise with a no brand knock-off with a Hollywood actor to try to get viewers. Props to the other actors, they tried, but it was like watching a carpenter building a house with no hammer, nails, saw, or lumber! In a nutshell, you may have guessed that I didn't like this movie and you would be right. I read all the Herbert Dune books and this isn't part of it. Don't waste part of your life viewing this movie. Find a better one as there are many, new and older, that are in a class well above this trash.
Terminal (2018)
I just wanted to take a look to see if I wanted to watch it.
By the time I decided I was going to watch the film the twins were leaving the terminal and they were rolling the credits. I was just going to give it a peak to see if it was worth watching. I couldn't take my eyes away once I started watching because the story, seemingly obscure and a bit all over the place, was compelling and works in this situation. It's like watching a Frank Miller film like Sin City, with ever changing surroundings and plot twists that invariably take you through the full gamut of intertwined lives and stories, to it's inevitable conclusion. At the end, the entire film made sense and I was left amazed how fluid this confusing story actually was. The jumping around is deliberate and without it this film would have been boring, to say the least. I, for one, really enjoyed this film and without Margo Robbie as the titular psychopath with her expressive face that rolls easily from demure to psychotic, without missing a beat. Many people said they didn't like the film, and with some this is a kind way of saying how much they hated it. As a viewer, not a critic with my head in a dark place praising my cinematic knowledge, I enjoyed this film and I think it got a bad rep from people that set the bar way too high for this film noir. This film doesn't leave any loose ends, and leaves you satisfied that there were no secrets that the director left out, or added, that made no sense, like so many quick cut and run movies out today. I hope this film, not movie, makes some money in after theater sales, it deserves it.
Valhalla Rising (2009)
A Dark and Moody Masterpiece
I had reservations about whether I'd actually like this film, based on mixed reviews. Fortunately, I don't go by by reviews most of the time unless it's a comedy that I'm on the fence about. This, however, is a brilliantly dark and moody masterpiece. When you watch this film take my advice and don't try to think about it, take it in, go with it, and then let your breath out at the final scene. This film seems almost Fellini inspired, on a similar visual effect level as The Seventh Seal(Det sjunde inseglet (1957)), also dark and moody. There are times when I honestly can't rationalize what is actually occurring on the screen. Frankly, don't even try to. You could be in a room with 10 people of various backgrounds and get 10 different interpretations of this film with the ending throwing away whatever interpretation you arrived at by mid film. Is this a SciFi film? Yes, no. Is it a religious journey? Yes, no. Is it a film you need to sit down with your favorite beverage and snack, having already used the restroom, and watch uninterrupted till the final credits? Yes! I could tell you many different reasons why this isn't mainstream entertainment and direct you to the same old and boring theater crap that's being released nowadays, but this is something so different that it needs to be watched. If you like cartoon ogre's and talking VW beetles you'll hate this. If you like real film this is a keeper. I, for one, loved it!
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Should not have let so many years go by....too bad!
I am a big fan of the Indiana Jones stories. This episode appears to be setting up the 'new' son for his own movies or maybe even a television series. After this installment I won't be looking for it in either place. The story almost hooked me until the jumping around started with the storyline, most notably the KGB agents who looked and acted more like recycled Nazi's from earlier episodes, the flying monkeys (the trees where a bit of a distance from the cars)and the flying saucer. When the ship appeared I got up and left the theater feeling like Harrison Ford should have taken the high road and passed on this one, but I'm sure it was a good payday and you can't fault him for that. I'm sorry, I know many will disagree with my opinion of this film but it left me feeling empty where the others made me feel satisfied and wanting more. So much potential!
PS. How many noticed the Ark of the Covenant in the broken crate before the warehouse scenes ended.