rox-ul Reviews

Life of Pi (2012)

Visually marvelous (especially in 3D), but story could have been told better

[7/10 · 12 January 2013]

The story was a bit slow, but I never felt like leaving the theater, because it was also entertaining in a crazy-beautiful way, and even more beautiful was the visual effects.

I did not get the ending at first, and so I was not very impressed. I was even a bit put off. But the movie stayed with me, and as it sunk in I gradually began to understand and appreciate what it was all about. I later looked up the "explanation" to the original story from the book on the Internet, and I must say the movie is lacking, and makes it quite difficult to understand. This is sad. I think the intended message is worthwhile.

Angels & Demons (2009)

Not for Atheists

[5/10 · 21 May 2009]

After reading the book I was looking forward to watch a movie that did not preach "praise the lord" to me, which Hollywood movies usually do. Well, this movie (too) preached "praise the lord" to me. Normally I just ignore it, but this move was supposed to be based on a book with a quite different message.

I got my first bad feeling when the scientists at Cern where portrayed as careless, clueless, risk-taking, irresponsible children. I thought, hey wait... this is completely opposite to what the book is all about. And it got worse. Much worse. Langdon suddenly is a believer (deep down inside... yeah right), and the only bad thing the church ever did was mutilate statues and kill four suspicious scientists some hundred years ago; everything else is skipped, and replaced with religious moral speech!! The mixed emotions you get in the book are replaced with carefully labeled good guys and bad guys.

Yes, it disappointed me!

Besides from that, it is a good action movie. Not super great, but absolutely not bad in any way. The plot turns about the same way as in the book, and it is all very exciting and high-paced. I could watch it again if I had nothing better to do, but that's it.

Solstorm (2007)

Good movie

[9/10 · 14 April 2008]

This movie may lack somewhat in how it's performed, but it didn't bother me much. The high vote is for its plot, and now I want to read the book after seeing the movie. What the book may not have though, is the beautiful scenery of northern Sweden.

This is a movie about good and bad. If you think good and bad is difficult before you see the movie, you will hopefully think it is even more difficult after seeing it. If you on the other hand believe that things can only be either good or bad, you will probably not like this movie.

The religious stuff in the movie is pretty far out, and very clear on that point, so I don't think "ordinary" religious people will feel offended by its (mostly) negative portrayal.

Bride of Re-Animator (1990)

Stupid and not scary

[2/10 · 15 August 2005]

Maybe I was in the wrong mode when I saw this movie, but I couldn't help thinking it was only stupid. I don't mind when ghosts and monsters behave as they usually do, but when a doctor cuts a body in parts to reanimate it, it's sort of quasi-scientific, and I DO get disturbed when the head starts puffing out talk through its mouth without any lungs. Such crafts calls for at least a tiny little demon to first posses the doctor in question. And it wasn't a bit scary. All "monsters" were either cute or in some way something you'd sympathize strongly with, except they'd sometimes do very uncalled for evil things, which just made the move even more stupid.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Good plot, corny interpretation

[6/10 · 29 May 2003]

The movie is about being a samurai -- to follow the samurai way and be able to "perform one last action even though your head has been cut off" (in the film the hero is obliged loyalty to his master, but master at a turning point becomes enemy).

The movie contains lots of quotes with "samurai wisdom", but they are almost impossible to understand right without background knowledge. Instead they are made into puns (not very good ones). I guess the film is supposed to be cool and comical, but in my opinion it fails so bad that the otherwise really good plot is almost totally obliterated.

If you like ancient East-asian war strategy this movie has a good plot with a good twist at the end, but I would not call it a good movie.

The Crew (1994)

Good drama

[6/10 · 3 May 2003]

I like this movie. It is a good drama with intense and thrilling emotions, though it is not an action movie. Maybe the acting could have been better, but still the dialog works very well. Also the sometimes dramatic photo works very well in enhancing the scenes without getting disturbing.

The plot is a boat trip that does not end as it was intended. The characters (the "crew") have different intentions with their life, but their reasons might not be the best and so it leads them astray and sometimes on colliding courses. For some the smog finally lifts while others stay helplessly lost.