azraeliz Reviews

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Whole lot of fun!

[8/10 · 1 April 2023]

This movie is so much fun, it's not trying to be anything else. As a veteran D&D player for over 30 years it was heaven sent, since the other D&D movies were abysmal to say the least ( the first is so f. Atrocious).

This movie is not perfect but it entertained the hell out of me, so time well spent. It has a lot of details from the Faerun world and the general D&D books. I will see it again because there are things I must have missed while laughing . Even my 2 boys age 11 and 9 enjoyed themselves and want to see it again soon. Now is time to introduce them to the world of RPG. Highly recommended movie :)

Velma (2023– )

Who is this for?

[1/10 · 20 January 2023]

Curiousity killed the cat they say, and oh man regarding this show it killed alot of feelings in my body. Im a fan of the scooby do material, watched the tv show when i was a kid and saw the live action movies in theatres and loved them. So i was very interested in seeing the backstory of my favourite character, Velma. But i got something totally different, the character is now obnoxious. Im very saddened on her personality shift. There is nothing likable in this narcissistic character.

And the other characters dont fare any better.

I only managed to watch the first episode btw, i didnt have the heart or patience to see the other episodes. Fans of the Scoobygang should avoid this...i honestly dont know who should watch this, it lacks heart, humour and good writing. This is a sad day for televison :(

Why? (I) (2021)

Predictable horror killed with atrocious sound design

[2/10 · 25 July 2022]

I love indie horror movies and i have seen alot of them over the years.

I always expect less than subpar audio and video, so when that is done well that its always a huge plus. This movie however has the distinction to have the most annoying and irritating score and sound design i have heard in a movie. All supense is killed with dreadful bass tone and overbearing music.

Pushing the volume to 11 to try to fix the obvious flaws of the movie(script, acting, direction) just made everything even more awful. With less is more approach the movie might have been more entertaining but unfortunately that did not happen.

I have not seen other movies by this director, but if he has the same sound team i will avoid them.

The Battery (2012)

A good short movie gem hidden in a movie that is way too long.

[4/10 · 25 August 2014]

A low budget movie about 2 baseball players traveling through zombie infested land. That is the basic concept of this feature. I found this movie to be very interesting but in my opinion it would have worked much better as a 25-30min long short flick. I see lot of good ideas bubbling under the surface but it's dragged on by way too many music scenes of those 2 main characters smoking, eating or just doing nothing. that is not the right way to add to the length of the movie. The music was OK :) I see a bright future for all involved, especially Jeremy Gardner. Overall it's well made budget movie. but this flick has too little flesh on the bones to justify the 100min running time.

Drive (I) (2011)

Intense and with great attention to detail

[9/10 · 9 March 2012]

Saw this movie without knowing anything about it and was totally blown away. the attention to detail was beautiful, the camera-work, the music, the acting, the script and the editing was awesome. In a time when action movies are edited like MTV videos it's a breath of fresh to watch movie where you actually see everything and experience all the subtle details. the movie builds up slowly, you really don't't know who the main character really is(played by Ryan Gosling) but you are given hints throughout the movie. and the movie builds up its tension slowly but surely. I was pleasantly surprised to see who the director was after I saw this movie, since I loved Bronson and Valhalla Rising. Nicolas will be on my to watch list in the future. and Ryan Gosling, which was brilliant. The supporting cast had no weak link either, nice to see Albert Brooks play a bastard :)

Cthulhu (2007)

Total disappointment

[3/10 · 10 April 2009]

When I heard about this movie last year I was very excited, maybe this time they would make a good Lovecraftian movie. I've been a fan Lovecraft for over 20 years now, and have read all of his stories and seen almost all the movies based upon his work. And as a general rule, those movies have been pretty bad, with 2 or three exceptions. But lets talk about this movie. It's based loosely upon on "Shadow over Innsmouth". the good things about the movie are the underlying dread and the nihilistic view upon current world affairs. The settings are good(a gay main character is an interesting twist) and the filmmakers manage to make the movie look creepy in few places

But...the bad things are too many to ignore. The acting is very bad, the main protagonist gets very annoying as the movie goes on. The editing makes film disjointed in places. The photography is like on a America funniest home video and the script is badly focused. After 40 minutes you cant wait for the film to end. And I must mention Jason Cottle wig/hairpiece at the beginning of the movie, it's atrociously bad and very funny to look at. I realize that the movie was made on tight budget and I respect the filmmakers for trying to make the best movie they could. I see the potential but they are not there yet.

For me this movie was a total disappointment, because i made the mistake of having high expectations for it.

Cleaner (2007)

Finally a good movie from Renny Harlin

[7/10 · 24 August 2008]

I had very low expectations for this movie. Renny Harlin hasn't made a decent movie in many years so I expected the usual crap, but i was very surprised. It had good plot, very nice acting and was well made. Samuel L. Jackson plays a retired police officer who has a "Cleaning company". He cleans up murder scenes and other scenes of death. One day he does a job in a mansion and gets trapped in a web of deceit.

The Movie unfolds in a low key, unusual for Renny, which usually has lot of noise and action in his movies :) It has lot of blood though(not surprising given the title...) So basically this movie is a good way to spent hour and half. Hopefully Renny boy is out of the slums....

Fate (2008)

Overlong melodrama with unlikeable characters

[4/10 · 18 August 2008]

I've been a fan of Korean movies for many years now, and they have managed to produce some of the best movies I've seen. The distributors of this movie managed to build lot of excitement for it but it didn't live up to the hype. The name of the movie(destiny/Fate) basically tells us that these characters are stuck in a situation which they have little power over. It Begins well with nice fighting scene but manages to dwindle into a overlong melodrama. It would have helped the movie if the characters were likable, but all of them are unlikable and uninteresting. The acting isn't that bad, so i must put the blame on the writers and the director. The action scenes after the first one, are all the same and quite boring. So all in all I was very disappointed with this flick. :(

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

What Phantom Menace should have been

[5/10 · 10 May 2002]

I went on this movie with no expectations, since i was deeply dissapointed with phantom menace. But George Lucas really manages to pull out a great movie this time. The actors really get something to work with (Hayden Christianssen does excellent work), the plot is strong and exciting, the action scenes are awesome and you leave the cinema with a smile on your face. Great entertainment all the way :)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

My favourite movie of all time

[10/10 · 15 September 2000]

This cinematic masterpiece is so enthralling that you totally forget how long it is(over 200min). Everything is so great about this movie it is like you feel the heat & vastness of the desert, it is like you´re there. just like every great movie should do. The casting is brilliant & I cant find any fault to this masterpiece. David Lean is greatly missed.