Movies205's Reviews and Discussion Thread, VOL 2.- THE SUMMER HAS RETURNED!

[Movies205]

Bride of Frankenstein
Directed by James Whale
Rating: 8/10

Another great entry in the Frankenstein series, a very direct sequel that picks up right where Frankenstein leaves off, you could put the two movies together and no one would be able to tell the difference. But here's the key, that trumps movies like Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, or Matrix Reloaded/Revolution. They both tell complete stories, complete with complete acts, so you're not left unsatisfied if you only watch 1. You could actually completely skip Frankenstein and watch Bride.

I like Bride of Frankenstein quite a bit because it expands the story and the characters. Dr. Frankenstein's trouble soul is now revealed and how he deals with the consequences, nearing the abyss of great depression. While the monster strives to find a place to fit in a world where he's alone. The cinematography is great, as are the effects, and hte monster is a joy to watch. Some things I disliked though, a minor quibble the Monster Make-Up he's still one creepy son of a *****, but it's not as good as it was in the first movie. There are some really slow parts mainly due to exposition that isn't needed in the first place such as the bs science. The Dr. Pretorius is far too hammy. And lastly where is the Baron FRankenstein he's just disappeared form the last film. Also the first 5 minutes with Mary Shelly is not needed IMO.

The character scenes with the Monster are great, you really feel his pain, and hte final scene is quite touching. So all in all besides some slow parts, cool flick

 

[Carmine Falcone]

Crank sounds like what I expected from The Transporter.

 

[Movies205]

The Elephant Man
Director: David Lynch
Rating: 10/10

The previous two films by Lynch I've seen are Dune and Eraserhead, Dune has some cool bits to it but over-all lapses into a mundane flick with sting in it. Eraserhead is a real cool surreal flick but with no real discernable plot structure it gets a bit slow/pretencious but definately worth rewatching. So at this point my opinion of Lynch was he's worthwhile but not my favorite, this def. has turned me into a Lynch fan.

The plot courtesy of IMDB.com:
Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a 19th-century Englishman afflicted with a disfiguring congenital disease. With the help of kindly Dr. Frederick Treves, Merrick attempts to regain the dignity he lost after years spent as a side-show freak.

The Elephant Man is to me a perfect allagory for the wickedness of men, from our good friend the Doctor(Anthony Hopkins) to the dastardly bastard Bytes (Freddie Jones), and the magnetic pole which draws in all these forces is the poor Elephant Man, John Merrick (John Hurt). Let me clarify for a moment, the Doctor is not an evil person but everyone has the ability to do evil, and what I like about this movie is that it shows you that even good has the power to be evil. The doctor though only shows interest in Merrick as some kind of object that could propell his status as a doctor, and isn't till the midpoint of the moive when he really recongizes Merick as a human being, and he sits there asking himself the question, "Am I evil?". Which in my opinion is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen and really touched me, in terms of why we do things. This is one of the reason I loved this film because it shows how thoughtless and callous we are as human beings. It also shows the pain of being different, and how you'll never truelly fit in.

And also let's not forget John Hurt, his performance makes my all-time top 4 peformance list. He plays it to perfection, he play Elephant Man's innocents without being grating or over-bearing, and the scene where he's running and screams, "I AM A MAN! NOT AN ANIMAL!". Anthony Hopkins is great as well. The cinematography is beautiful and I abolutely love the lighting and shadows. What I found interesting was I wasn't nearly as repulsed at Merick's appearance as I was at the way he was treated. Anyway great film

 

[Movies205]

Crank sounds like what I expected from The Transporter.

It's a very slick film but occasionally like I said can be a bit too ridiculous, and I like the sparcity of the comic relief because then it was actually fighting, and the over-abundance of action kind of weakens the thrills a little bit but overall it's a solid flick

 

[Carmine Falcone]

^ I might need to check that out. I like Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt is the **** (you should check out a movie called The Hit...I did a brief review on it in this thread)

 

[Movies205]

All right I'm done with the reviews time to add to the main page...

 

[Mr.Webs]

I can't believe I just noticed this....our thread banner on the first page? It's the final shot from The Third Man.

 

[black_dust]

Crank
Directed by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor
Rating: 8/10

This film was an awesome mindless acton flick! Balls to the wall action and excitement. I like how the movie gets to the point straight from the get-go with no exposition, since the director seem to have the sense to realize he wasn't crafting a hugely deep film and his character was the same character we all know and love, that gritty hitman with a heart, so there was no need for expoisiton we could just fill in the blanks. The pace is fast, and there's some action at least every five minutes. The short running time of 80 minutes was great, since the movie never gets too bog down. But don't worry there's still character development and you grow to love teh characters, thus making the action not worthless. There's plently of memorable scenes, and an ending that'll send you for a doozy. My only beefs are as follows. The movie strides a fine line between riduculeness and reality, it doesn't go head first in to ridiculouness/self-parody like Transporter 2, but at times it does trip over the line, these times does cause an eye-brow to be raised, and some of the gratuious nudity/violence wasn't needed, and felt un-natural, like it didn't seem very Statham like. Over-all I liked it more than Transporter 2 because while self-parodies are fun, when it can be done in a somewhat serious manner it's even better.

I saw this tonight have to agree with most of your points. I loved the film thought it was a great popcorn flick with loads of action and comedy "DO I LOOK LIKE I HAVE **** WRITTEN ON MY HEAD!!!!!" Yeah....

8.5/10

 

[Obsidian]

Munich

This is a ridiculously misunderstood film. Many people thought it would provide a clear cut answer to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it doesn't. It's not an Anti-Palestinian film, but a film against violence. Steven Spielberg tells the tale of what happens after the massacre of the Israeli athletes in Munich of 1972. He doesn't condone the violence that happened that day, nor should he, but neither does he condone the violence done in relatiation against some people who may or may not have been involved with the Munich massacre. The film chronicles the jobs of "assasination squad" led by Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana). Bana, here, gives the best performance of his career as Avner, a man whose conscience gets the best of him as he's out killing those the Israeli government has deemed responsible for the Munich massacre. This guilt that Avner feels because of the people he has killed turns into paranoia when he believes his family might be in danger because of any mis-steps he might have taken while he was out doing the bidding of the Israeli government. This film brings a huge sigh of relief because of Spielberg's previous film, "War of the Worlds", which I felt was mediocre at best. Speilberg pours his heart into this film and his idealogy on the cyclical nature of violence. This film is a gritty thriller with a message and I recommend people to look at it with that mindset instead of thinking that it'll give crystal clear answers. The only problem I had with the film was a certain scene in the end which I can only label as bizarre. I won't spoil it, but most people will know what I'm talking about.

9/10

 

[Movies205]

It's coming... May 4th, the return of a marvolous tradition... Till then don't post here, just bumping so it's not deleted....

 

[Apollo]

what did you think about babel?

 

[Movies205]

what did you think about babel?

I haven't seen it yet, I'm in college... Where I get a 100+ pages to read every night, I'm lucky if I can squeeze in a movie a week, perhaps 2... Hence why this thread is returning May 4th!!

 

[Movies205]

Bump so its not deleted