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rab40
Reviews
Constantine (2005)
A generally entertaining movie
Maybe some people have a problem with this movie not following the comic, but the fact of the matter is the comic is lame. Comic-Constantine spends more time bitching about social issues than developing any sort of plot, and frankly, if the movie had contained that goofy scene from the comic where he and the demon go to heaven via the internet I would have puked in the aisle of this one. The comic is a cool concept and even though it doesn't take place in London the movie still conveys that idea. Maybe it got toned down through commercialization from its original form, but this movie was entertaining, which is far more than I can say for the comic, which reads more like a socialist propaganda pamphlet than a true story. This movie has cool effects, acting that ranges from good-enough to very good (Gavin Rosdale is excellent), and good plot and character development. If you want to enjoy 2 hours of your life, see this film, if you want to learn why capitalism and nuclear power are evil, read the comic, 'nuff said.
Face/Off (1997)
Way too over the top
The first time I saw this movie I thought to myself "hey, this is pretty exciting." After the first fight scene it quickly dawned on me, however that the action in this movie is all the same and none of it makes any sense (like every John Woo movie). First of all, lets examine the movie's main premise. Taking a face from one person and grafting it on another will not make them look exactly like them: there's their entire facial structure underneath to consider. The movie tries to briefly explain this and their two very different body types but it's very sketchy. Also, apparently medical science has progressed past scarring and major surgery patients can drive themselves home from the hospital the very same day.
Then there's the action. There are like three scenes where bad-John Travolta is in a 20 x 20 room with good-Nicholas Cage and both fail to shoot the other even with automatic weapons, yet John can kill 4 cops while simultaneously driving a high-speed boat. I understand that the good guy has to make it to the end, but the shootouts are so poorly coordinated that it's hard to believe a cross-eyed kid in a wheelchair could have fired as much as our two stars and failed to hit someone, especially when the squibs go off directly behind the person being shot at. The end seals the ridiculous deal: after missing with about 1000 gun shots, good-Cage finally finishes off his foe with the second of 2 harpoon guns that happened to be on a private leisure boat(why?), but only after John exerts about 500lbs of force with his hand on the gun's springs and staves off death for another few seconds. In conclusion, this movie is a bunch of cliché action that is too ludicrous to be entertaining. Don't waste your time with this or any other John Woo movie unless you enjoy seeing people not get shot and plenty of doves flying.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Over-hyped
I was so shocked to see this movie is in the top 250. Yes Peter Sellers is awesome, and yes, Stanley Kubrick is a genius, but this movie hardly reflects that. It's so easy to mock the '50s that one can hardly be too amused by the jokes. Also, while the image of the cowboy pilot riding the bomb has become a cultural icon, it's pretty stupid when you think about it and it's so predictable when you watch the movie that it can really be all that funny. This is simply a precursor to Chevy Chase movies, where everything goes wrong all the time and even though the viewer knows that it's still somehow supposed to be funny. Ignore Kubric's and Sellers' names for a minute and you'll realize that this isn't really that great.