ajackaln Reviews

Before Night Falls (2000)

Simply unwatchable !

[1/10 · 23 August 2012]

Watching this movie is like slow death ! I mean it ! The story goes on very slowly and it shows nothing special. The story is about a gay Cuban novelist who is being arrested by the regime of Castro. Yes I get it and totally agree that such like can be tough and a person who lives that life can be a hero, yeah yeah yeah , I get it OK ? But not all real stories or lives are suitable for the silver screen. I'm a broadcasting and film making student so I know exactly what should be look at when one start writing a script or even more basic a storyline! The first thing and the basic thing that the writer should ask himself is that , would the audience watch this ? Would this movie be important for the audience to watch ? This is in fact the first question that audience would ask themselves before or after watching the movie , " What is there for me or What was there for me " ? Honestly , this movie has nothing to offer the audience. The story is painfully slow and boring. Very few interesting things happen , there's no climax in the story and even worse the audience are not given enough details about the character to sympathize with them or even connect with them.

Overall , a terrible movie , I give it 1 out of 10. you think I'm being nasty ? well , here's a fact , this movie made only 4 million dollars at the box office , which we all know in Hollywood is a big JOKE! I'm not nasty now , am I ? Make good movies , you get good reviews !

The Next Three Days (2010)

Boring first half but thrilling second half !

[5/10 · 16 August 2012]

If you are one of those movie watchers who want the thriller movie to be thrilling from minute one to the very last minute , then this film is not for you ! The storyline in this film goes slow as a snail. But the last 45 minutes of the movie make up for the slowness of it's beginning.

The casting is fine but honestly I don't know why Liam Neeson should play such a short role in this film! The casting could have used a nobody instead of him for that role, since it has no effect on the story. Russel Crow is good as usual but his role limits him to show his talent. His role is a very ordinary role that you see everyday in Hollywood... An educated Joe average type of guy in trouble , that's IT ! Elizabeth Banks was also fine for her part and did a fine job portraying a woman in trouble who is about to lose her family and everything.

All and all I would say it was not a good movie. I was expecting something a bit more intellectual in which the main character is not a god of knowledge and intelligence and the rest would be just idiots who can not reach him ! This movie didn't do well in the box office either which is great prove for my opinion about this title ! The budget was 35 Millions USD but it made 21 millions USD in the box office. In Broadcast Management , we've been taught that it's called FAILURE !

Spanglish (2004)

Shoot me .... shoot me now !

[1/10 · 16 August 2012]

Words are unable to express how awful I think this film was! Another cliché story from Adam Sandler ! Why am I not surprised ? The storyline is very immature and unrealistic. The Mexican maid is a goddess of everything and the only problem in her life is that she doesn't have the money! I'm sorry but to me this is just nonsense. Somebody please tell Adam Sandler that gone the days that audience was so passive that they'd believe anything on the screen! Nowadays it's hard to fool people by such phony story lines! A story line with a Mexican Cinderella Marry Poppins who is literally a goddess in everything , from looks and brains to kinetic skills is not believable! The rule of writing says when you're creating a reality for the audience that reality must be believable. The same old story of a nagging rich housewife , a poor perfection as the maid and the great man of the house in between two is so 1950s! Another criticism I have is about it's genre. They say it's a comedy. Can somebody show me comedy in this film ? The budget for this film was 80 Millions USD ( yes that big! ) and this film only made half of that in the box office. This fact alone proves my point of view! My rating ? Oh well, Do you have anything less than 1 or worse than awful? cause that will be my rating !

Sex and the City 2 (2010)

Only if I could give zero in here, I would

[1/10 · 7 August 2010]

I just wish that we could give grade of Zero to some movies on here , if that was the case Sex and the city 2 was at the top of the list for me.

I was a huge fan of Sex and the city series and loved Sex and the City movie 1 but after watching this disaster , not that I'm disappointed by this title but also i'm not sure if I like Sex and the City TV series anymore.

What was this movie about ? how great Americans are ? how lame and ow life middle easterners are ? unreal characters , horrible story with no message and no plan. lots of technical errors in the cultural concept, racism and negative image of middle easterners and stereo type of muslims were are the elements in this disaster.

I just hope that this was the LAST Sex and City ,

good bye Carrie, Charlotte , Miranda and Samantha .... hope I'd never see you again !

shame on the writers

Once We Were Strangers (1997)

Good concept , bad writing

[7/10 · 5 August 2010]

Once we were strangers is tells the story of an Italian living in New York Illegally. the main character or the hero of this story is this Italian guy and his name is Antonio who has still stayed Italian despite of living in America. he falls in loves with an American girl. but that's not all , Antonio also has an Indian friend who gets married to an Indian girl.

Basically , this movie is about the clash of cultures in a very smooth and soothing way. very conservative Indian culture, self centered and economical based American culture and passionate and easy going Italian culture. this is the concept and the good part of the movie that I liked but having a good concept does not mean the writing would be good as well! I think the story had a great potential to be developed more. lack of enough drama was obvious in the story , lack of passion was even more obvious. the characters were very amateur and not mature enough. Indian characters were not good attachments for this story and they kind of killed the story of the Italian - American love. just when the audience is going to get to the depth of Antonio and Elena's love story , the Indians come up and distract the audience. Although I have to give it up to the writers that they slyly show how some immigrants change everything about themselves to become more American but some just live in America with out forgetting their own heritage just like our hero in this story , Sicilian Antonio. the choice of the nationality of Antonio was perfect because Italians seldom forget their heritage even after years of living in America. But I still stick to my point that the story of Indian lovers was more of distraction rather than being helpful to develop the main story.

All and all , I have to say I enjoyed this film because of it's brave subject , not all people now a days have the courage to tackle cultural subjects specially in North America.

Made of Honor (2008)

please show us something new

[6/10 · 9 May 2010]

I gave this movie 6 out of 10 because even though it was not great but did not make me turn it off , like many other Romantic comedies usually do! unfortunately the romance is becoming more and more corny in Hollywood.

If you are a girl in your sweet sixteen years and dream of a man like Patrick Dempsey , you'd love this movie. you can see him taking his shirt off several times in this movie and I guess to producers that was more important rather than the corny and weak story of a Casanova New Yorker falling for his best friend and after lots of boring twists tell her I love you and then turn down a Scottish with the money for the Casanova New Yorker! I understand it's just a movie but please show us something new ! we're bored with one or two attractive actors and actresses needling each other around for 90 minutes and kiss in the last 5 minutes and happily ever after !

Whatever Lola Wants (2007)

too much Cinderella story but fine after all

[6/10 · 14 April 2010]

Whatever Lola wants is one of those happily ever after movies that you can find every now and then but what will make you follow the story is the beautiful Egyptian dance and music.

I'm not going to take this movie very seriously since it was just very fun , casual and easy going Cinderella story and you surely will love if you are in your sweet sixteen , or even teenage years ,specially if you are a girl but older than that you may only enjoy the music more than the corny story which by the way was not even close to reality ! How on earth ONLY the talent can be enough for a blond girl to become a star in the world of SHOWBIZ in a country like Egypt where all the producers are men and crave for white blonds??? I rest my case !

Training Day (2001)

good performances , bad and uncooked story !

[3/10 · 9 April 2010]

I had read lots of great reviews on this title but unfortunately I have to admit that I was disappointed after watched it.

Denzel Washington gave a strong performance as usual but I think for the very first time in his career played a negative African - American role. Ethan Hawke was surprisingly great at his role although his role did not have much of affection to show just many physical action.

you may think if the performances were good then how come you did not like it !

Answer to that question is simple , it takes more than just big names or good performances to make a movie that everybody can connect to. the most important element is the story. unfortunately the story of the Training day was kind of childish, very unreal and raw! the writers had to cook the story more and answer basic questions on the minds of the audience about the sequences of the movie. for example we never realized who were those Latino guys ? who was Eva Mendez , a girl Washington sleeps with , a whore or his wife ? why didn't anybody help Washington in the neighborhood?

The biggest turn off for me was the scene where Hawke shot Washington! it was so unreal! first of all , in real life LAPD guys are trained to shoot and they don't flirt with the suspect just like Hawke did with Washington , they count to 3 or maximum of 5 and then boom they shoot! they don't wait for your bullshit ! second of all , in real life and in an African - American neighborhood no White has the balls to stand with a gun in his hand shooting another African American while he does not have ANYTHING to show that he is a cop!

Another questionable scene was at the same moment , when Hawke was going away with the money , Washington who was shot in the butt was jumping up and down ! who on earth can even stand with a bullet in his butt ???? Or how strong a very average and kind of slim man like Hawke can be to survive all that punches he got from Washington , jumping down from a building and still being the tough guy and standing on his feet and giving the bad guy to justice !

I know it's just a movie but , what I'm trying to say is :

entertain us , don't ridicule us!

Into the Storm (2009 TV Movie)

Outstanding

[10/10 · 6 March 2010]

I simply loved this movie. amazing story of bravery and great leadership and chivalry. I felt very connected to this movie as an Iranian since my own country was in 8 years of bloody war with Iraq( read the world)! The writing was flawless , lovely story telling with almost all angles of Winston Churchill's characters. I liked how the writer showed how important Mrs.Churchill was in the success of Winston Churchill as one of the best politicians of the history , with out doubt.

casting and direction was just perfect and let's not forget unbelievable make ups that were done on the face of the actors and actresses. Epic job by the costume designer(s) as well. but I think everybody agrees that the best of the best in this film is the performance of the leading actor whom by the way I can not believe did not win golden globe after this outstanding performance.

In the end I have mention the big mistake by the writers made in writing , the movie shows that Stalin , Roosevelt and Churchill meet in Tehran but they never mention the main reason of that meeting. the main reason of that meeting was to decide over the new government of Iran after the removal of Reza Shah whom they assumed was pro Germany. Allied government needed Iran to be saved from Germany who had racial roots with Iranians because of Iran's key role in the middle east and more importantly it's resources and of course Persian Gulf as the key to Suez Canal. also fall of Malaysia and Philippines was never mentioned which was another error made by the writers. the way they pictured the war it was like world war 2 was all about and around Britain which was not the case at all.

Sex and the City: Catch-38 (2004) Season 6, Episode 15

Best things in life are free

[8/10 · 21 December 2009]

before I start my comment on this episode of Sex and the City , I would like to say that this show is one of my all time favorite and always speaks of the truth and reality, that's why it's one of my favorites.

this episode of Sex and the city basically talks about the time passing and how we shape our lives. some people like Miranda can not have fun even in their honeymoon while some like Samantha are fighting to live even for the painful moments like honeymoon !!! I love some messages of this episode like SAINTS and SINNERS both suffer from the same thing. in life and specially in relationship , nobody's safe. when it come to love everybody , even the very tough acting people are suffering from the sweet pain of love just like cancer that does not care about your age, wealth , nationality and life style, it hits NUN and Samantha at the same time. Love hits you like a cancer , regardless of who you are , you just have to open your heart to it.

Carrie's message is also very lovely , WHY ARE WE SHOULD-ING OURSELVES ? really , why ??? who says a woman is a woman only when she bring child! who says men should be so macho and not show emotions to be men! all these stupid rules that we did not make should not be followed. as Madonna says in her song , HUMAN NATURE , I'm not breaking the rules , I never made !live your life to the fullest and live in the moment , don't think what may or may not happen in the future with somebody you are with, enjoy your moment with him or her and things would go on track. relax and take life easy , don't jump out of bed right after sex! what makes us human is our emotions not work , expressing the emotions is way more important than what would be our next thing to do after making love to the one we love ! Another nice message of this episode was to make sacrifice for love. in a relationship t's always US not ME , some people can not digest this idea but it's true .

take life easy and live it to the fullest , everything is reversible but life is not! listen, TICK TACK TICK TACK , it's going on now.

Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

What the...... ???

[6/10 · 11 December 2009]

I saw it's trailer in Cinema two months before the release date. the trailer is very well-done but the movie , NOT SO MUCH!

first let's start with casting, casting and the actors did a good job in this movie specially Jamie Foxx was great a usual.

now let's move to the visual effects and the action scenes which was also well-done. my main criticism is focused on the story and to be more specific , the characters were not well developed. when you are writing a story , after you give birth to the characters you have to develop them but the characters in this movie were not well developed and did not have a basic and main definition which lead to a stupid and very boring ending with no moral message or anything !

Besides , I find the story of a man against a big American city like Philadelphia very stupid and not believable at all. it's true that in the world of cinema anything can happen BUT producers and directors should consider that audience has BRAIN too and should not insult us by stupid scenes !

all this said , I gave it 6 out of 10 cause at least it did a good job entertaining and of course did OK in the box office.

Anche libero va bene (2006)

Great casting and direction

[6/10 · 22 November 2009]

To tell you the god's truth the movie or maybe it's better to say the story did not catch me that much, but since I have a huge passion for Italian culture I liked the movie because it kind of showed an aspect of modern Italian life although very limited and basic.

the story could be more touching, I feel like whenever the audience is going to get connected to the plot and the story the passion that should lead the audience to get connected to the movie gets cut ! After I made it crystal clear that I did not like the story and expected more I have a confession to make! I loved the casting. the actors and actresses were chosen perfectly. Kim Rossi Stuart , not just looked so good with beard but the beard suited him well to play a mature man and a father. the children had similarities in their face features with the Rossi and the actress playing the role of the mother.

getting such a strong acting out of children is so hard but Rossi did a great job both as a director and actor.

It is not a Sicilian story nor a hot cat walk show in Milan but really worths watching even just for the good acting.

Management (2008)

As cold as it gets!

[5/10 · 13 October 2009]

This movie was the coldest romantic movie I had ever seen! I'm just sorry that I can not have that 90 minutes of my life that I spent on watching it , back! Not just that the story is not believable and silly but the performance of first female character is a disaster! as usual Jennifer Aniston is senseless when it comes to act for the silver screen! the plot reminds me of old Indian movies in which every thing turns in to a mess but in the end again happily ever after occurs and everything is lovely and great! this is not real and it is not a touching comedy! it's true that life is full of miracles but thinking that your audience is stupid would not make a miracle happen for you! when your movie sucks , it does not make any money and as you can see the gross for this movie is BELOW 1 million dollar which rarely happens when a star like Aniston plays in a movie but when the plot is silly nobody would pay to watch it! The most bothering thing for me is the writer's bounce between drama and comedy, in fact I think the writer(s) hardly knew how to make this movie FUNNY and COMEDY! when you write a comedy at least you have to have WIT but I hardly could smile!

Surrogates (2009)

Terminator, Bruce Willis style !

[4/10 · 13 October 2009]

Bruce is losing his touch! I'm a fan of him but to be honest he is losing his touch on the silver screen! after some disastrous movies such as Whole Ten Yards, 16 Blocks , Hostage , Lucky Number Slevin and of course Die Hard 4 he did it again, played in another disastrous movie but of course it's my point of view but in general if you look at the gross of SURROGATES at the box office you'll see how bad it was even there.

Bruce Willis gave a solid performance although the character did not need any passion! the only thing which was good in this movie was the ray of hope for SURREAL subjects in Hollywood industry. at least this movie was a SURREAL with the hidden message of" it's better to be imperfect rather than being senseless. " In the end I would like to add that since this movie was based on a comic story of course teenagers would have a better connection to it and that's why this movie has an above average rating here on this site. Bruce Willis is now a fallen star and for coming back to the top he has to be more careful with the roles he choose. maybe the only success of his after 2002 for him would be OVER THE HEDGE in which he was the voice for one of the main characters in that animation. he is so talented but he has to learn how to use that talent to become a classy star not just a fallen box office star.

Land of the Lost (2009)

that 90 minutes would never come back !

[1/10 · 16 September 2009]

I did not watch any trailer before going to watch this movie I just decided to watch it when I saw some posters of it in Manila and I did not even read any review or comment about this movie before going to watch it. with the name of Will Ferell I thought this movie is going to be hilarious but I was totally wrong. from the start it was a total disaster to me and not just that it could not make me laugh but rather I felt like being insulted by it. in 90 minutes maybe I smiled couple of times but of course you expect more than a movie made at the highest level of cinema and being shown all over the world.

Mr.Ferell should stop wasting money and start considering a new way of making people laugh and not insulting their intelligence. this movie could not even make a 3 year old laugh though with the big monster dolls in it seemed like a kindergarten movie which of course even children of under 3 would be bored with after no time !

Milk (I) (2008)

Not what I expected !

[6/10 · 26 April 2009]

I personally think this movie could've been way better than what came out. it's way too general and I believe the screenplay could've been written with more details , like how Milk got that close to that young gay boy who helped him a lot and also some other people around him. the director could spice it up with more love scenes and more focus on Harvey Milk's personal life and relationships. Sean Penn gave a memorable performance as Harvey Milk. one of the best things about this Oscar movie was the casting , I highly doubt that the casting could be better than this , everybody were for the right role specially Mr.Penn as the man of courage Harvey Milk. in the end I would like to say it again that it was not what I expected by still a good movie to watch ,you will be amused by Penn's performance.