Jeff’s Movie Poster blog

Mission: Impossible III - My Review
Jeff posted in Movie Review on May 7th, 2006

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Let’s say this right out. I was VERY disappointed in this movie. I enjoy action movies as much as the next guy, and the more explosions and chases and violence the more I get caught up. This movie had all of that. Pretty women, handsome men, exotic locations, fancy cars, great stunts… and yet it failed to deliver for me.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as Owen Davian. He truly seems like an evil, unrelenting bad guy. No long exposition, when he comes face to face with Ethan Hunt he just beats the snot out of him, over-coming Hunt at every turn. In one scene, when Hunt is ‘questioning’ Davian, Davian just remains cool, calm and collected and gives up nothing. Like you’d expect. When the wheel is turned and Davian has Hunt restrained and threatening to kill Julia (Michelle Monaghan) Hunt wimps out, begs, pleads, cries and negotiates the whole time!

Ving Rhames is great again as Luther. He’s the comedic foil in this piece and pulls it off quite well.

Reading the IMDB user comments on this film, I was surprised. A ton of comments about how great it is, how it will rejuvenate the franchise and how brilliant J.J. Abrams is having done Alias for all those years so he brings back that sensibility to the movie.

Poppycock.

The whole direction and plot are derivative nonsense in my opinion. We see stunts from previous movies (the fast drop by cable from M:I:1 and more), chasing “The Rabbit’s Foot” (evil world-ending device) which they NEVER explain, the love story/engagement/romance is forced and Julia (who is smart enough to ask “Where did you learn to do that, why am I in China? What’s going on?”) still accepts Ethan handing her a gun and teaching her how to use it way to easily. Then she kills 2 people without blinking.

I will give Abrams and crew some credit. The special effects and stunts were first rate. When the missile attack on the bridge happens, people are moved by the blast. Things change. For once, they began to respect the physics of explosions and guns. At one point, they blow up a car, and we pull back to see a catering table at the event knocked over by the blast. Very real.

Again, like before, I give the popcorn a higher rating than the movie.

Plot Summary
IMF leader Ethan Hunt comes face to face with a dangerous and sadistic arms dealer while trying to keep his identity secret in order to protect his girlfriend.

Directed by
J.J. Abrams

Genres
Action, Adventure, Thriller

Cast
Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Keri Russell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bahar Soomekh, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup, Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q, Sasha Alexander, Greg Grunberg, Michael Berry Jr., Carla Gallo

Lucky Number Slevin
Jeff posted in Movie Review on April 30th, 2006

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Went to see Lucky Number Slevin this afternoon using a free pass I got from Silent Hill last week (film stopped for a few minutes) and was pleasantly surprised by it. The premise is pretty straight forward. Josh Hartnett had a series of things happen and he ends up at his buddy Nick Fischer’s place where he meets up with Lucy Liu. He is also mistaken for Nick who apparently is into the cities to biggest mob bosses for a whole lot of cash.

Rather oddly, Slevin doesn’t complain too much about the mistaken identity and signs on to kill The Rabbi’s son for The Boss to wipe out his debt. At the same time, The Rabbi brings him in to remind him how much Nick owes The Rabbi. From there it’s a twisted tale of cross, doublecross, shadows and intrigue.

I’d avoided seeing this movie because I heard bad reviews. Overall, I really enjoyed it, alot more than I expected to. Josh Hartnett’s good, Bruce Willis is good, Morgan Freeman is good, Sir Ben Kingsley is good, and I thought Lucy Liu was GREAT! She’s petty funny in this and very unlike her previous roles that I’ve seen.

Pay attention to the beginning, it’ll be important at the end, as everything comes full circle.

Plot Summary
A case of mistaken identity lands Slevin (Josh Hartnett) into the middle of a war being plotted by two of the city’s most rival crime bosses: The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley) and The Boss (Morgan Freeman). Slevin is under constant surveillance by relentless Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) as well as the infamous assassin Goodkat (Bruce Willis) and finds himself having to hatch his own ingenious plot to get them before they get him.

Directed by
Paul McGuigan

Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller

Cast
Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Michael Rubenfeld, Peter Outerbridge, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Chamberlin, Dorian Missick, Mykelti Williamson, Scott Gibson, Daniel Kash, Daniel Kash, Dmitry Chepovetsky

Silent Hill
Jeff posted in Movie Review, Opening This Week on April 24th, 2006

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Let’s start with what I liked best about this movie. I thought the popcorn they served was first rate. Of course, I haven’t had popcorn in over a month, but seriously, this stuff was pretty damned good.

Oh right, the movie. Silent Hill is based on the videogame of the same name and was apparently quite popular. The film took in just over $20 million on it’s opening weekend, but I don’t expect that to last.

The film is pretty cool to watch. The special effects are quite good and very believable. If I’d ever done drugs (or contempated it), I’m sure this is what I would have seen, maybe with more colors. The whole visual tone of the film is quite dark and sombre, until the end shots of Sean Bean’s character, which contrasts agains everything else going on, so it makes sense.

Wait. Did I say “makes sense?” Naw, couldn’t have because very very little in this movie makes sense. Even with a big long 5 minute (no kidding) scene with the kid (Jodelle Ferland) doing nothing but explaining it to us. It left me more confused.

In the end, I think a lot of people are going to walk out of this movie going “Huh?” wondering when so-and-so died and what the hell was it all about between then and now. It’s too messed up to follow for your typical audience, especially anyone who’s looking for a good slash/scare flick.

Highlights:

• Good popcorn (your results may vary)
• Nice visual effects
• Gotta love the dominatrix cop
• Mr. Canoe Head with the 8 foot sword! He Rocked.
• People ripped apart by living barbed wire.

Low-lights:

• Plot
• Story
• Acting. I swear if Radha Mitchell yelled “Sharon” one more time I wouldn’t hit her. And then as precious Sharon’s about to be sacrificed, Radha’s character has to say “It’s ok, honey, everything’s gonna be fine.” I’d hate to see her definition of “Everythings going badly”

Plot Summary (IMDB):
A mother searches for her sick daughter in the haunted, deserted town of Silent Hill.

Directed by
Christophe Gans

Genres
Drama, Horror, Thriller

Cast
Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger, Kim Coates, Tanya Allen, Alice Krige, Jodelle Ferland, Janet Land, Colleen Williams, Christopher Britton

Rent
Jeff posted in Movie Review on December 2nd, 2005

Directed by
Chris Columbus

Cast
Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Tracie Thoms, Taye Diggs, Julia Roth, Porscha Radcliffe, Stephen Payne, Darryl Chan, Ken Clark, R.C. Ormond, David Fine

Wow. That’s the first word I have to say about this movie. Followed by INCREDIBLE, AMAZING, ASTOUNDING and a whole string of other superlatives usually only seen during Hollywood ad campaigns. Seriously though, this movie was truly one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.

Perhaps because I’ve seen too many Hollywood popcorn-blockbuster-explosion-fests this year. I’ve forgotten what a REAL FILM can be like. I actually cried for a few minutes near the end of this film. The death of one of the characters had a much stronger effect on me than I’d anticipated. I also found myself laughing with the characters and getting caught up with them as they celebrated, and as they struggled.

The music was amazing. I practically ran home to get the soundtrack. None of the stores had a copy on hand (surprise) so I ordered it from Amazon. If you’d like to order it, click here.