Lots Of Reviews

[Mr_Vindictive]

I finally broke myself away from my new found addiction to Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and got around to watching some movies this weekend.



Fantastic Four - Besides X-Men, Fantastic Four was always my favorite comic when I was younger.  I was psyched about seeing the movie in the theater, but missed it for one reason or another.  I rented the DVD this weekend, and was actually surprised by how good it was.  I didn't expect much, and I got much more than expected.  The special effects are pretty good, and the acting was pretty good as well.  The highlight of the film for me though, was seeing Michael Chiklis in a full latex "Thing" costume - worked much much better than any CGI would have.  

7/10


The Dukes Of Hazzard - Once again, a movie that I had low expectations for, that actually was quite enjoyable.  I hated the film at first, but once the southern rock soundtrack kicked in and the chase scenes started, I was all for it.  Really enjoyed this one, and I now need to buy the soundtrack.  Hot girls, fast cars and great music = well worth a rental.  Not to mention Burt Reynolds looking like a pimp.

7/10


The Island - Yet another surprise for me.  I hate Michael Bay's films with every ounce of my being, yet this one worked really well for me.  The action is tight, the acting is quite good and the story is servicable.  This is one that I now regret not seeing in the theater, cause I know it would have been a hell of a lot of fun.  I highly recommend this one.

8/10


The Comedians Of Comedy - So, I don't know how many of you have watched The Comedians Of Comedy on Comedy Central.  It's a half hour mini-doc that follows comedians Patton Oswald, Brian Poshen, Maria Bamford and Zach Galifianakis.  I rented the full documentary from Netflix and had a blast with it.  These are some of the funniest comedians working today, and it's great to see them getting some spotlight.  Poshen, Patton and Galifianakis are all hilarious, with Bamford being just a bit less funny than the rest of the troupe.  Worth renting but keep in mind it's not for the easily offended.

8/10


Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus - One of the worst things about Christmas is the crappy movies that all the channels show.  My wife loves them, and I am subjected to them year after year.  I guess it's proper payback for the crap I've made her watch.  

Single Santa is about a guy named Nick (Steve Guttenberg).  He's Santa's son and needs to marry a woman before becoming Santa at Christmas.  He meets Beth (Crystal Bernard from Wings), and falls in love.  Blah blah blah, sugary Christmas crap, blah blah blah.  End.

Now, I don't expect that acting in a "Hallmark Original" to be very good, but come on!  This was awful!  Arrrgh......stay away from this film.

2/10


Meet The Santas - We live in a world with hunger, war, and terrorism and yet someone felt they needed to unleash more evil upon us by making a sequel to Single Santa.  This time, Nick and Beth are engaged and are staying at Beth's parents house for the holidays along with Nick's parents.  Hilarity ensues!

This one isn't listed on IMDB if that tells you just how bad it is.

Once again, awful awful awful film.  I'll be so glad when Christmas is over and these movies stop.

2/10



King Kong - This was the highlight of my weekend.  3 and a half hours of pure joy.  I felt like a child again watching this film, memories of the original floating around.  Peter Jackson has created his masterwork with Kong.  It's the film that everyone will remember him for, and with good reason.  He has done what others were unable to do with Kong.....he gave him humanity.  I love Cooper's original, but Jackson has created a film that is just a bit better.

-slight spoilers ahead-

The one scene that clinched it for me was when Kong breaks loose in the theater.  Jack Driscoll is standing on the balcony and Kong looks up at him, and there is pure hatred in Kong's face.  I was taken aback and just how life like it looked.  Absolutely stunning.  I fell in love with the Kong that Jackson has created, and I will not lie - there was a tear in my eye when Kong fell.  

The only problem I had with the film was the CGI in some portions.  Kong's facial CGI was perfect but some of the scenes didn't "seam" together well.  One scene in particular is where the crew is running from the dinosaurs.  It was so painfully obvious that they were running in front of a green screen.  I don't know if the "fakeness" was done on purpose or if it was a lack of polishing due to time restraints, but it did take me out of the film a bit.

Other than that, it was perfect.

9/10

[odinn7]

I saw the Fantastic 4 and the Dukes last weekend.
I didn't hate F4 but I thought it could have had a little more "super hero" stuff in it. It seemed like the movie just spent too much time with them becoming and then trying to undo it all. As a plus, Jessica looked wicked in her tight suit...as little as they actually showed of her.

Dukes was better than I thought but still they stomped on my childhood by changing too much. I will say that the chase scenes were fantastic. One scene that had me laughing was after the General Lee was fixed up and they headed to Atlanta and were stuck in traffic. All the different comments that people were making was great...especially the lady in the mini-van. I also found that even though I normally can't stand her, Jessica Simpson was fairly easy to look at. Well, once I was able to forget that she's Jessica Simpson.

[Ash]

I also liked Fantastic 4.
The last 10 minutes are definitely the best.

I rented The Island but haven't watched it yet.
Gonna do that tonight after work.

[dean]

The Island was better than the last few Michael Bay films, and was enjoyable [I also saw it a the cinema which helped]  Though for a movie which tells us to question the order of things, we aren't exactly invited to question the movie with a few silly moments.  But yes, over all it was fun.

Fantastic 4 was fantastic, but there was always a little something missing from it, which I can't actually figure out.  Still it was fun, and that's what counts!

Dukes of Hazzard: don't care about it really.  Jessica Simpson makes it all the more a 'no-go' for me [I can't stand her]  But nice that someone out there enjoyed it.

And King Kong was awesome: yes the CGI didn't seam together well like you said, but for the most part, damn, it was good.  Really good.  If you don't see it at the cinemas, you better have a huge TV screen, because it is well worth seeing on a huge screen with loud sound.

[Scott]

Tried to pick up THE ISLAND tonight at blockbuster but it was out. Sounds interesting and I wanted to see it at the theater, but missed it. Maybe by next week.