Reviews

I was kinda forced to watch this one, but in the end I gotta say, it was better than I thought, even though I'm a Rashida Jones fan boy. I'm not really that much into RomComs, but every once in a while I'm crossing paths with one that I really liked, and this one is definitely one of them.

A lot of things have already been said here, so the only basic point I wanted to make is this: while Celeste & Jesse Forever is really funny, sweet and witty, it loses a little grip where depth is concerned. And that I kinda was expecting out of a Rashida Jones written story.

Maybe Celeste Forever would have been a more appropriate title since the story clearly revolves about her and not so much on Jesse. The most prominent thing missing is a little more insight into his relationship with Veronica. Just a glimpse here, a hint there, but basically we're left to guess about what's happening over there.

Don't get me wrong, while watching it I was perfectly happy about the fact that Rashida has way more camera time than her title partner, but after a little reflection there's a bit missing, even for me.

Apart from that, "Celeste & Jesse Forever" is a well penned, directed and acted movie with a rather un-Hollywood like ending, which is always nice to see.

The only thing I didn't like about this movie was actually the one thing I thought would be the most hilarious about it. But in the end Ron Perlman's appearance was just over the top and none of his lines were really that funny. Jax Teller and Clay Morrow stoned and dancing together, well, there was a hint of fun, nothing more, nothing less.

The rest of the movie however was really funny, at least from where I'm standing. Especially Lizzy Caplan and Chris Noth were outrageously hilarious, with Chris O'Dowd and Charlie Hunnam finishing a close second.

Additionally, if you're a SOA disciple, like me, then you will get an extra kick out of seeing Charlie Hunnam as this quirky normalo who is worlds and worlds away from being his hard as nails SOA alter ego who is the president of a one per center biker gang.

Yes, sometimes this whole thing gets really weird, but they somehow manage to stay in bounds and don't go completely overboard when it comes to the funny moments. Except for Ron Perlman's drag/post-op transsexual persona.

All in all a very enjoyable experience for me and I'm sure to watch this one again.

First things first: if I could vote 0, I would.

Okay, so here's the deal: five minutes in we get to see mass funeral that is taking place in the Albanian country side, which would be a perfect setup for a fiery speech that will ultimately be a call to arms. Well, it kinda is, but thanks to the utter and endless stupidity of the producers/director, Rade Serbedzija delivers his cry for revenge in English. Yes, I am serious, it really is in English.

So there I was, already p***ed from the get-go, but little did I know that this hiccup will be just that, because what follows from there on out is basically unwatchable.

One of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen is the car chase through Istanbul when Maggie's character is driving and her father (Liam Neeson) is constantly nagging her with an annoying "Quickly!" or "There's no time!" or "Faster!". All this is so unbelievably ridiculous it makes you wanna turn it off immediately. Why I actually sat through to the bitter end I do not know, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have missed anything at all.

I loved the first one, I really did, because it is a superbly enjoying shoot 'em up revenge movie, but this sequel, this is just ridiculous.

You know, I really wanted to deconstruct Taken 2 in my review piece by piece, but honestly, I've already spent enough time on this...

The Factory isn't the worst movie I ever watched, it's not the best either. It's just there and I'm basically indifferent to it.

I watched it only because of Jennifer Carpenter which was nice, but my personal highlight would be Mae Whitman who acted her heart out in this one and gave a very convincing performance, as did her two co-stars down in the basement. Dallas Roberts is always a good choice as the psychopathic villain and so is Sonya Walger in general, but here she's just plain awful. But I'm inclined to think that that was thanks to her role and the dialogue she had. If her character wouldn't have existed, no one would have cared.

As for the twist at the end, well, any sane person can see this one coming from a mile away. A really cool idea would have been if it wasn't her, now that would be awesome and would have made for a real twist in the story. But this way it is what it is, a solid and slightly above average movie, nothing more, nothing less.

Well, I admit, I liked it. But I will also admit, that is because I think they don't take themselves too seriously here. If they do, then this really is a train wreck from start to finish.

One thing I've read a couple times now in other reviews is people complaining about the priest praying away the zombies. Well, if you don't understand the idea behind that, then it's pretty obvious you haven't seen Rec 2, because then you'd have the answer to that particular question.

Anyhow, I think moving away from the documentary camera style when Koldo kicks in Atún's camera in the kitchen, was a great idea, because some things just tire themselves out, and that would obviously have been one of those. What I like about this particular moment is the certain dramatic change that happens, when we as the viewers take our first real look on things from the outside.

But the film in general has a whole different dynamic than the first two, because it doesn't take place in the confined place of a shut down building in the middle of Barcelona. Here we have wide open spaces and there's a lot of ground to cover. I'm thinking that's one of the reasons why they turned their back on hand-held cameras, because it wouldn't work as well as it did in the building.

One major issue I personally have is that there's not much story to tell. Rec 3 basically is the ugly little appendix clinging to the first two, something the world doesn't really need, because we don't get much more insight on the whole concept Rec has created with part one and two. It's just a zombie/splatter film where both the people in it and the storyline make all the horror movie faux-pas you can think of. For instance, after all hell breaks loose, literally, some of the wedding guests make it to a chapel where they can hide from the zombies, because those can't get in. In a completely unnecessary move those people leave that chapel and step into a bus to drive off, but of course they never make it. That whole thing is both illogical and completely unnecessary when it comes to the story.

We're also left to guess on why Clara knows all those martial arts moves. Yes, she turns into an angry bride, who still thinks this has to be her day, so she starts wielding the saw ripping zombies apart, which has a nice touch to it, but in the end it doesn't make any sense, unless they would have explained it to us.

And that's why I think this is rather a fun project that, as I've said in the beginning, doesn't take itself all too serious. Also evidenced by a Sponge John figure, who's there for some funny parts until he's feasted upon by the zombies.

That Clara's mother could have been killed by a simple gut shot is downright stupid, because that hasn't worked in any of the other movies, so why now? And that both Clara and Koldo weren't turned by simply getting zombie's blood in their mouths during they killed some of them is also beyond logic, because as we learned, that's one way to get infected.

With all that being said, I still liked it and I certainly will watch it again, because when all is said and done, it is a fun movie, just don't think about it all too much.

And Leticia Dolera alone is well worth to sit this through as she brings a different kind of crazy to the table. In the end, when she and Koldo step outside, she's at her very best in the grande finale.

Now, if Rec 4 Apocalipsis is anywhere near this one, then I'd really disappointed. As I said, Genesis should be looked at as a fun movie that's just there for the pure sake of it, and hopefully it also poses as the introduction to an epic ending of this fine zombie series.

This is pretty simple, this. For me, "Safe" is one of the best movies I have seen in a year, maybe even a decade.

Why? Well, because it has Jason Statham at his absolute best. The build up to the fight scenes is rather extensive, but when the fighting finally commences, it was all worth the while, not only for dramatic purposes, but this comes down to the story as well.

Admittedly, said story might not be the most innovative one, but it's just perfect to keep things moving when no fists or bullets are flying, and there's a lot of that in "Safe".

Then we got tons and tons of bad guys, and apart from Germans, probably the best bad guys there are in such movies, the Russians and the Chinese, exclusively driving around in German cars (so that's covered as well).

A little detail on the side, well, for me it's actually a really big deal, as both the Russians and the Chinese solely talk to each other in their own language. Yeah, so you will have to read a few subtitles, but that's always worth it. I just hate those dumb a** movies, when for example the Arab villains are talking in English to each other. That is pretty much the epitome of Hollywood stupidity. But none of that in "Safe".

*SPOILER ALERT* I also think the ending is absolutely genius. When you're about to lean back and prepare for the end game, the fight between the two main characters that will eventually lead to the big finale, well, when your back hits the couch or whatever, it's already over and some more bullets were flying around. Actually, they were pumped into the bad guy. I really liked that little twist, because it's not the typical Hollywood action movie formula I for one am rather tired of.

Last but not least, Christine Chan. She's a really great addition to the movie, because her persona keeps some of the balance in the movie, meaning, when you're breathing in and out after Statham has punched, kicked and shot his way through another bunch of bad guys, she's calming down the whole shabang with a few punch lines of her own.

I can totally see why some won't like "Safe", over thinking things to a certain extent, but I just sat back and watched. From the first moment on I was hooked, and I thought the ride that you take to get to the end was a superbly entertaining one.

Yes, "Safe" is exactly my kind of movie, a specially trained good guy, who's basically taking on a whole city, bad guys from the East, German cars, guns, fighting, inner demons who have to be battled for a short while at least, and many many cool shots.

That's why I'll vote "Safe" a sold 10 out of 10.

And now I'm gonna watch it again.

...or so I thought, at least before the very end. No spoiler alert here, but I gotta say, the end kinda salvaged this one from being a whirlwind fail of epic proportions.

After watching Hijacked, one thing is entirely and abundantly clear, Randy Couture is no actor, and probably never will be. I didn't watch this in the first place because I thought so, no, I picked this one because Randy Couture is a former MMA fighter, and that's what I wanna see him do in movies: fight. There are a few of those sequences in Hijacked alright, but those are way too scarce and way too short. Instead of writing a role for him where he had to manhandle his opponents the right way, the producers and writers of Hijacked obviously want the other way, hoping they would outsmart us all, by giving Mr Couture a dialog driven part. Well, that didn't work out so well, so they actually outsmarted themselves.

Yes, there are a few glimpses of real surprise, like two very premature deaths for instance, but that's right about it. Often enough you should stick with what you know, because 99% of the time it will work, but that's not what they were gunning for here. The dialogs seem to have been written by some five year old, the acting is at times worse than at my local summer amateur theater, and the story line seems like a potpourri of movies seen a thousand times before. Why in the world Dominic Purcell agreed on participating is way beyond me. And Vinnie Jones probably just did it for a laugh, or maybe he lost a drinking bet, I don't know.

To be fair, the story would have been sufficient, if there would have been less dialog and more fighting. Just a good ole Steven Segal-esque movie, that would have done just fine. But no, they wanted to make a "real film" out of it, and in the end missed almost all points by a mile. So yeah, this movie has no point at all, and I'll be damned if ever watch this one again.

As for Randy Couture, well, I think his stuff might even work as a lead, but he would need a real script for that, less dialog and sure as hell more fighting scenes. Because that's what he does best, and if he doesn't see that, well, than his acting "career" is already done. I would watch real action movies starring Randy Couture as the lead persona, I really would, because the fights on Hijacked, as short as they were, reminded us of what he can do with his fists, elbows and knees, so just let him do that. All that of course doesn't mean write an awful movie and Couture will fight his way through. No, write something good, something that actually makes sense, and then you let him fight the bad guys. Sounds rather easy, but as Hijacked has showed, it's far from it.