Monday, April 14, 2008

Super Spectacular Edition of the Stinger503's Movie Fiesta!

That's it! I have a huge backlog of movies that I've seen and haven't reviewed. I'm doing them all right now.

28 Days Later
Excellent movie. **Possible spoilers**- The final 'standoff' scene was very surreal because you had the girls in these strange dresses and it took place in a renaissance type of mansion with paintings and such. With the rain, which looked like Sin City and the infected running around
*End spoilers*
Although it's not an actual Zombie movie it was very good, definitely a horror classic. I think a great thing about this is that it doesn't really use any cheap scare tactics like things popping out at you and musical 'shocks' that you see so much in modern movies. I think a reason for that is the infected themselves are very scary. Although **spoilers** I thought it was kind of cheap to have the one guy turn infected by getting a drop in the eye. Also it was sort of stupid that the guy started the air raid siren and the army guys freaked out and went after him. Like wouldn't you say "Um...that isn't hurting us. Let's stay here."
**End spoilers**
In the end it was just a good ole fashioned horror flick. Definitely in my top 20 of all time. I can't wait to see 28 Weeks Later.

Acting: 8/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Overall: 8.5/10
Rated 18A (ONT) R (USA) Great horror movie!

August Rush
This was a little heartwarming movie. It's about music more than anything. Basically these two musicians (the guy from the Tudors girl from MIII and Waitress) get together (honestly weird though, the guy sings Moondance and the girl has sex with him). And surprise surprise a kid (charlie from charlie and the chocolate factory) is born. The girls father is protective of her talent and has the kid sent to an orphanage!

Now I haven't really spoiled anything for you because this is pretty much what happens in the first 20 minutes (aka on the back of the box). Robin Williams plays a dickhead who, what's the word...exposes, no... scams, no... exploits! There it is. He exploits children's talents but sort of mentors them in a nice way too. So the kid is good at music and is trying to find his parents. The movie is very vibrant and sounds really good. I sort of agree with critics that the plot is sort of coincidence filled but Roger Ebert puts it best "but it's supposed to be".

Acting: 7.5/10
Story: 9/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
Rated PG13 Nice musical movie! Props for using Moondance as a major song too :)

Alien Versus Predator: Requiem (AVP:R)
I was glad this movie didn't play out like most horror/action movies do. This movie is pretty merciless. I think the problem for me was that the Aliens themselves are pretty scary but you need suspense for maximum effect. I think that really lacked in this movie.

SPOILERS AHEAD!



What bugged me was that there was only 1 predator! 1! I said to myself what the hell? That isn't going to do shit! And guess what I was right! I also felt sorry for the little girl who watched her father be eaten by an alien. Can you say "scarred for life".



End Spoilers

That acting felt sub par and you could see where the plot was going half the time. What I did like though was the setting. Unleashing Aliens on an entire town is 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
times better than the group of explorers in Antarctica from the first AVP.

Acting: 6/10
Story: 8/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 7/10
Rated R Okay scary movie. My girlfriend didn't like it.
P.S. I'm not big on Alien lore but isn't the face huggers the only thing that can make the warrior aliens (things that come out of stomach). And isn't the queen alien the only one that can lay eggs with face huggers? Because in the first Alien the alien couldn't reproduce by itself I thought but in this movie they could. Also little tid bit, part of the filming was in Coquitlam, BC.

The Big Lebowski
Strange, strange movie. I, at the same time, get it and don't get it. Was there anything to get at all? The Coens again directed this and boy do they know how to make a movie. Right now I'm reading an analysis by Rob Ager and if your unfamiliar with his work, get familiar!http://www.collativelearning.com/ or look up RobAg88 on youtube for his video anaysis.
To finish up acting was great, setting was great, story was great. Just a strange movie.
Acting: 10/10
Story: 8.5/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Rated R Strange movie but a classic must see nonetheless. P.S. I definantly have to watch again and find a couple Dude quotes.

In The Valley Of Ellah
Wow Tommy Lee Jones is my favourite actor of all time. He is my god. Look at the resume:
  • The Fugitive
  • No Country for Old Men
  • Three Burials of Meliques Estrada
  • this movie

There are a whole bunch more too.

Basically the movie is about a soldier coming back from Iraq who goes missing. And Tommy Lee, his father, goes looking for him. Now I don't want to spoil anything but the movie is very good and pretty powerful.

Acting: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9.5/10
Overall: 10/10
Rated 14A(Can) R (US) One of the greatest movies of the past year.

Call of Juarez (Xbox 360)
I wanted to review this when I got 1000/1000 but that's looking unlikely now. Overall the story is good. The voice acting was good. The gameplay worked well and it was very entertaining. The multiplayer was surprisingly good unfortunately there isn't very many people. Basically the plot has you playing two roles. Candleboy (can't remember his name) and a reverend. Basically the Reverend sees the kid and his murdered parents (the father is the revs bro.) and the kid runs assuming the rev would think he did it. He does think the kid did it and hunts him down. The gameplay has you as the kid basically jumping around, using arrows and the occassional gun. The Rev is a former gunslinger so you get this 'mini game' where you go into slo-mo and shoot people as your crosshair goes over them. It's fun. You also get shottys, snipes and the odd gattling gun/cannon. Riding horses is pretty fun too.
Programming: 9.5/10 : No glitches except for the voice overs.
Graphics: 8.5/10 : Not perfect but very nice
Story: 9.5/10 : Fun and not repetitive! Good variety of levels!
Atmosphere: 9/10 : Old west is always awesome.
Control: 9/10 : The rope was an ass but when you got used to it, it was okay.
Achievements:
Overall: 8.5/10 : The game is definantly worth a playthrough so rent or get it for teh chep $$!

P.S. Can't wait to read the Big Lebowski analysis!

No comments: