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vaticanknight23
Reviews
Troy (2004)
already underated
I think that most people going to see Troy were looking for something a little more akin to Ridley Scott's gritty Gladiator film. But that is not the case with Troy, it is gritty yes, but in a different way. The film takes place on a huge scale and is full of epic battle sequences and one on one combat scenes, all very intense. A lot of people have criticized director Wolfgang Petersen's heavy use of CGI but I doubt it would have been possible to get 50,000 extras who know how to stage fight with 3,000 year old weapons.
The performances in Troy rely heavily on the actor's abilities to seem serious through the admittedly weak dialogue and because of this film's pedigree the performances succeed in being just what they need to be at any given time. Brad Pitt looks and acts like what i imagine Achilles would have looked and acted like. Brian Cox, the new European villain du jour has a great time as Agamemnon. Eric Bana stands out as the reluctant Trojan champion Prinec Hector and Peter O'Toole and Sean Bean are solid as usual.
My only complaint about the film are the characters of Paris and Helen. Both seem selfish and weak and it is maddening to watch Orlando Bloom perform his final scene. Otherwise, a great underated film.
Van Helsing (2004)
could have been so much more
I followed the hype for this movie pretty closely and I was excited that it was directed by Stephen Sommers who borough us the Mummy films and starred Hugh Jackman. But about 30 minutes in the movie goes on auto-pilot and the effects completely take over. It seems doubtful taht Hugh Jackman had to do much physically for this film as CG(computer generated) versions of him seem to be doing all the work. I enjoyed the campiness of this film, the supporting cast was great (Richard Roxburgh is great as an over the top Dracula and David Wenham as the bumbling side kick gets most of the laughs) but I felt like I was watching a cartoon. And maybe taht was the whole point, but I'm a little old fashioned and I don't mind some of that new fangled CG stuff to make way for some good IL' traditional stunt work. I think given a smaller budget this movie would have been more then just a 2 hour sense assault.
The Maxx (1995)
this show is awesome
While it might be a little hard to come by these days, this shortlived MTV animated series based on the comic book of the same name is a real treat. The animation is brilliant and looks like a comic book come to life. The voice acting is top notch and the dialogue is unlike any other I have experienced in a comic to screen adaptation. The story is a little confusing at times, but bear with it and all will be explained. The Maxx was a show ahead of it's time and hopefully someone will be inspired enough by it to attempt another comic to screen adaptation with as much edge and grit. If you cant find these episodes in a video store, then go try kazaa or bit torrent sites
X2 (2003)
best super hero movie ever
I looked forward to seeing X2 as i loved the first film and it is an understatement to say I was blown away. This film is the finest example of how to make a sequel, take all the things that made the first film great, and add a whole new element in the form of bigger battles, new characters and new dimensions to the old ones. The film is a little over two hours long and it needs to be to give all the chracters their own moments, although I think cyclops and rogue were very underused. But that is just to give more screen time to the real star of the show, Wolverine, who is given more freedom by the PG-13 rating of this film to do what he does best, kick serious ass. X2 is easily the best comic to film adaptation out there, besting even the original Batman in my eyes, a 9 out of 10.