Reviews

I'm commenting on the american release of hak hap/black mask rather than any of the others, partially because this is the only i have seen and the fact that they couldnt have made the movie worse for an american audience.

Hak Hap is your standard HK film (although a bit colorful one), which generally people watch for the action only and dont expect any epic storyline or intense character development. My problem of the film is that the dubbing was absolutely terrible, and the fact that the "americanized" rap soundtrack felt completely irrelevant to the atmosphere and scenes. Once watching this film you will realize how such a simple thing as the soundtrack can enhance a movie or completely break it. Due to the terrible dubbing and soundtrack i give this film a 4/10, if a subtitled import were availible,7/10 would be more appropriate.

In closing, just throw on a bay city rollers or airsupply CD, put the video on mute while making your own soundeffects and it will be -much- more entertaining than the english dubbed version. not a bad film otherwise for HK fans.

Being a long-time fan of studio Ghibli, i already expected Princess Mononoke to be an excellent film..but it was entirely foolish of me to expect something like Kiki's delivery service or even Laputa on a more epic scale.

To say that Princess Mononoke is on an epic scale is a vast understatement, and that is regards to the animation, the story, the statement on man's inability to co-exist with nature, and Miyazaki's brilliant and vibrant imagination. I only seen the film a couple of hours ago and i am still even speechless to an extent, but i am of the realization that even for non-anime fans, Princess Mononoke (Hime) is possibly the greatest animated (or even non-animated for that matter) film of all time. it is a complete, thought provoking treasure that i will be sure to see multiple times, and multiple viewings are required to take in the complete bombardment of symbolism.

In closing i would like to say that this movie effortlessly receives a 10 out of a 10 and Hayao Miyazaki is truly the world's last visionary in existance. Go see it immediately, even if it involves driving for an hour or so (its worth it)

I entered the theatre to see fight club with reasonable expectations and expected to get my money's worth, but i didnt really expect more than seeing nothing more than 2 hours of Ed Norton and Brad Pitt fighting (and maybe a few scenes of the incredibly talented and beautiful Helena Bohnam Carter).

As the film was over i realized that it had been one of the most profound, imaginative, twisted, funny and entertaining films i have seen in recent (or even otherwise) memory. If you plan to go see it for the fight scenes, you will certainly get your money's worth, but you will likely leave the theatre with much deeper impression than that if you remain open minded throughout the entire film.

Once again excellent direction on David Fincher's part, a revelation that will completely change your perception of the film to where a second viewing is almost required, excellent performances by all of the actors, and a not so subtle social commentary make this movie MUCH more than just a fight film. It's a shame that it will generally be overlooked by the more elitist type of critics merely on the violent content. As before mentioned, i entered the film with reasonable expectations that were greatly exceeded, as of now i plan to return for even multiple viewings.

(although tempted for a spinal tap reference) on a scale of one to ten, this film EASILY gets a ten. Highly recommended to anyone capable of opening their mind beyond the violence.

It is apparently highly fashionable to bomb on this film. I would simply like to state that if you intend to watch meet joe black with the preconceived notion that it is a "3 hour long, boring and sappy love story", then by all means i suggest not seeing it because you obviously won't like it. Most of this movie's bad reviews are part of the mentality that most have that if a movie comes out of hollywood, it is supposed to appeal to all of the masses.

I found meet joe black an excellent reminder of our mortality as humans, and also a great example of character development. The story moved along as if it were a merchant/ivory film in a few ways in my opinion, and if you don't like those films i suggest passing this one over for something more stimulating like varsity blues or i know what you did last summer.

Although a bit long, i sat through the film and felt that none of the scenes in particular was a "throw away" except maybe the fascination with peanutbutter, which added a quirky little edge to the already dead-serious (no pun intended) joe black. If you are a person that is capable of sitting down and watching a 3 hour movie full of dialog and nothing more, then by all means i highly recommend this film, for i found it to be one of only a few love stories that is capable of pulling out an emotional reaction of the viewer on many different levels, including a fairly true representation of love, fear of mortality and the universal (if not by subconscience) ideal that as humans we simply do not want to die, but leave our mark on society or history before we go. This is a movie that takes all of these things that we believe that make us "human" and presents them to a cold person that knows not of human nature, and sometimes has quite a clear and true perception of life that is unclouded by emotions.

However if you are expecting anything along the lines of Titanic (a much inferior film), than i suggest passing this up. This is not the movie to watch with a closed mind, or simply by someone that cant appreciate similar movies of the genre.

I recently rented the Dark Crystal because i managed to skip over it all of those years as a child. As a child i grew up with an insane amount of dedication to Willow, Legend, Masters of the Universe and other fantasy epics of the 80s (a dying breed that in my opinion is film's best overlooked genre). After watching the Dark Crystal i was so amazed and in awe it was almost as if i were a kid again. Sometimes one would wish that Hollywood would look to the past instead of future, because the special effects and puppeteering in the Dark Crystal wowed me more than all of the recent CGI special effects films put together,and this was a movie made in 1982! Not until someone sees this film can someone witness the genius that Jim Henson truly was, and likewise with Frank Oz and everyone else that contributed to the film. It's a shame that this movie has never received the credit it deserves. Hopefully with the upcoming release of the enhanced version on DVD, all of that will change.

As before mentioned the best reasons to watch idle hands would be for the always great Seth Green's performance, and (from a male point of view) newcomer Jessica Alba. Aside from that, it was really difficult to tell if Idle Hands was actually paying homage to a few previous cult horror classics or whether or not it was blatantly ripping them off.

Just about everyone has pointed out the possessed hand similarity from the ever so great Evil Dead 2, but there are quite a few others as well. Most obviously to myself was the burrito scene that had taken the idea of feeding food to a severed head from the dinner scene of Peter Jackson's classic "Braindead/Dead Alive", however in braindead it was ten times more hillareous. If i knew that it was intentionally making reference to a couple of these great movies and not ripping them off i would rate it much higher, however that isnt the impression i got.

Overall it held my attention for an hour and a half but no more than that, i simply found it quite tolerable for the new breed of horror films aimed solely at a teenage audience (and since when did the offspring play at highschool dances?).. but i also found it another nail in the casket of the classic gorefilm that actually contained substance. If you want a good horror film, go rent anything directed by Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson or George Romero. Idle Hands is really only worth renting if you have seen everything else out there and need a decent movie for the night.

The state has been off the air for even years now, but even still i manage to quote it on almost a day to day basis even by accident. to say that the state was the funniest television show ever created is a gross understatement.. may blueberry johnson, mean ass sal & frankie the pig, figgy, emmet & lyle, berry & levon and everyone's favorate's "the jew, the italian and the red head gay" rest in peace, for they will always live on in our hearts.

As someone that has watched a movie almost every single night for what is almost to be 4 years straight, this has to be the worst film i have ever seen in my entire life. The crow: city of angels was a pathetic and pretentious attempt at trying to recapture the feeling of the original, only that it falls short in so many ways, it almost seems as as if it were a parody. tim pope (which i expected much more of due to his long time work with the cure) truly turned this film into a live action comic book (a very bad comic book). the plot was a carbon copy of the first, only lacking the stunning performances of Brandon Lee, Michael Wincott and Rochelle Davis. It also completely lacked the emotional impact of the first in every single way possible. All throughout the first crow i was immersed within the story of Eric Draven avenging the rape and death of his fiance'. It was such a stunning performance you could actually feel the anger and longing exuding from the character. City of angels does its best to pull out an emotional impact of the murder victim in such a cheap way of it being a child and it's father.

In the area of villains, instead of the truly twisted character of "Top dollar" from the first film, we receive a sadistic and stereotypical "villain" that portrayed such cheapness that you could only find elsewhere on the WB or UPN at 2 in the morning. I couldnt have cared less about the characters and only sat through the film to truly witness in it's entirety of how much it did its best to defimate the first one. Yet constantly the argument is made that it is an entirely different film with different characters and shouldnt be compared to the first, well after sitting through city of angels i only had the impression that the character was originally intended to be Eric Draven and the writers simply fell asleep at their desks during production. Only it gets worse, yet another sequel is in the works at the very moment, hopefully it will be better than this waste of film was. The only bright spot is knowing that i am not alone in millions of other fans out there that seen this film as a complete travesty to the memory of both the original film and Brandon Lee.

Great Expectations is one of the few films that can incorporate stunning visuals, one of the best soundtracks to ever grace a film and simply characters that you truly care about by the end of the film.

It's true that the character development on the character of Finn is a little weak, but the characters of Estella and the over flamboyant and heartbroken Miss Dinnsmore certainly make up for Finn's minor flaws. Personally i found the film very enjoyable and immersive, and the incredibly imaginative cinematography will certainly keep anyone's attention as well.

This film is a stylish and brilliant remake of a classic and could almost be considered timeless compared to other recent attempts at "updating" the classics which fail in comparison(such as the recent failed attempt at romeo and juliet). Great Expectations is certainly worth a rental (or even purchase) for anyone that enjoys simply a good, immersive movie with some absolutely beautiful imagery.