Change Your Image
goosepoop357
Reviews
End of the Spear (2005)
This movie holds up despite a few technical problems...
Just saw it and despite some choppy editing at a couple places, this movie is certainly worth an evening out to the theaters.
I knew very little about this movie going in to it. I knew it involved missionaries in the Amazon, but not much more. I also have to admit that I was rather skeptical because most low-budget movies with a Christian theme that I've seen have a technical problem, such as average acting, sketchy editing, etc that detract from the movie experience. This movie's main problem was the editing. Not all the movie was edited poorly. The fighting scenes were wonderfully edited for example. I've never seen spear fights that looked as real as in this movie. In Troy for instance, most of the spearing involved a quick edit from a throw, to a jump cut to the actor with the spear already sticking out of their body. In this movie, there are some scenes that I'm still wondering "how'd they do that?" However, there were a couple scenes that were not highly emotional scenes where it looked like the transition from one scene to the next was an afterthought. I was left feeling like the scene ended before it should have. There were only two or three scenes like this though, so it's not much of a detraction for me.
On the other hand, the rest of the editing was top notch. The cinematography was excellent and the story was very compelling. Considering how large of a change missionary work had on the original American peoples' way of life, the story was very relevant historically. The acting in the beginning of the movie seemed a bit overzealous at times, but the performances by the actors playing the Waorani characters more than make up for this early problem.
By and large, I think this is a movie that is worth a look and will certainly eventually make its way into my DVD collection.
Weekend at Bernie's II (1993)
This is how bad this movie is...
I ordered a large pizza tonight from a well known pizza place (that will remain nameless to save its reputation) that was offering a free DVD with the pizza. So, from the limited selection, I decided on Weekend At Bernie's 2.
The DVD came in a paper sleeve. Not even a plastic jewel case. After watching it I realized that the movie didn't even deserve the sleeve. THAT'S how bad this movie is.
The premise is stupid, the dialogue is bad, and not even the slap-stick humor performed on a corpse was even smirk invoking. Others have said that the only laugh they got from this movie was when Bernie was dancing. Stand in front of the mirror and dance around like a complete moron. Do you make yourself laugh? Then you STILL won't like this movie. It's awful, absolutely awful.
As far as the careers of the people involved, just ask yourself one question: where are they now?
If you can answer that question, then you'll understand how bad this movie is.
Watching this movie is like having gangrene infect my eyes. Spare yourself the anguish. Let it collect dust in the video store and rent ANYTHING else.
No stars.
Mother Lode (1982)
A movie for those cold dark nights
I remember seeing this movie when it first came out. The opening scene scared the heck out of me. Seeing it so many years later, it still holds my attention.
As is stated already, the cinematography was well done and the acting (particularly by Heston) is first-rate. I thought the director did a very good job of creating an atmosphere that scares as well as intrigues. The story is a good one, the sort that you hear around the camp fire.
And yes, I agree that this should be on DVD. I'd buy it in a second.
A well made movie that stands the test of time.
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
This was a good ending to a very creative and fun trilogy. 9/10 rating.
I was apprehensive when I went in to see Matrix Revolutions. I think I liked Reloaded more than most people did, but it wasn't without its problems and I was hoping those problems had been solved in Revolutions. I was not disappointed. This review is going to focus on addressing some of the criticism that this movie has received, so be prepared.
I don't really need to talk about the special effects or the fight scenes because I presume that every one here will have already realized that the Matrix trilogy has set new standards in both areas, so I'll skip that aspect of the review. The acting (yes, even by Keanu Reeves) was very good. I know that many people can't separate Keanu from Ted from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but that's their failing, not Keanu's and certainly not the failing of Revolutions.
One thing that people HAVE to realize/remember is that Reloaded and Revolutions are one movie. Rather than have people sit in the theatre for four hours, the Wachoski brothers decided to split it up. The effect this had on the audience was a feeling of emptiness at the end of Reloaded. Characters that had been introduced weren't expanded upon in the normal way of most other movies. But, the Matrix trilogy is somewhat unique, so it breaks out of the traditional mold of the typical movie experience. For that, I'm grateful. Too many action and sci-fi movies nowadays are meant to only visually dazzle the audience. As a result, you have poop like Star Wars: Episode One. Critics tore episode one apart on that very point. "No plot, only eye candy which gets old very fast." So, the Wachoski brothers decided to put some thought into their story. What has happened now is that the critics and the audience are used to seeing eye candy with no substance. So, what were the critics complaining about in Reloaded? Too much talk, not enough action to hold their attention.
Now I know, this is supposed to be a review about Revolutions. So, here it is. Revolutions is meant to finally fill out all the characters from the other two films, give the audience some semblance of finality and leave a few questions unanswered so the audience would still have something to speculate about after the movie was over. Since most of the characters were already known in the beginning of Revolutions, there was no need for character introduction. This lended more time to flesh out the story, which was done superbly. George Lucas should take some advice from the Wachoski brothers on how to wrap up Episode III.
Maybe some people like having the ENTIRE story spelled out for them, but in my experience, the talk and speculation between people on the ideas of the matrix was half the fun of the trilogy. So, if everything was spelled out, there wouldn't be the fun of speculating and formulating your own opinions concerning the Matrix.
More than that, I feel that this movie provided more closure for the trilogy than most other on-going movie series such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Indiana Jones and the like.
When all is said and done, I thought that Revolutions had much of the same wonderment as the first movie, the action of the second movie, and more story than either of its predecessors while answering several questions from the first two movies. Revolutions demands more of its audience than the usual empty, mass produced, cookie cutter action/sci-fi movie that Hollywood usually puts out. That's why the Matrix Trilogy will most certainly stand the test of time and delight audiences years from now. This movie wasn't without its problems, but if you're going to go into this movie expecting it to follow the usual hollywood, cookie-cutter "third film", you'll hopefully be pleasantly surprised. Revolutions transcends the confines of the mass-produced hollywood movie. It provides the eye candy while getting your brain involved.