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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 7, 2018 9:38:17 GMT
The giant spider was actually not that bad, I agree. It sure took me by surprise, but sadly that was pretty much it. Overall, I was mostly left uninmpressed as I maybe went in with a bit too high expectations, much thanks to far too generous critics and their raving reviews of the film.
Fast & Furious (2009)
After the poor 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and the mediocre original, I did not go in hoping for much better by the fourth time, however it actually turned out to be maybe the "best" of the franchise, or those I have seen so far. Yeah, the plot and characters are still slim as hell, but this time I thought the more lighthearted comedic side was more toned down in favor of a more serious themed storyline, which came with some nice twists and turns along the way. It is kind of "sad" this did not follow up directly to the first one, so one could have escaped what got stuck in between them, but I guess the main leads had other projects on their mind, or some other stuff which made it take a bit longer than usual to come up with another sequel.
I liked that there were more night sequences than day sequences as well, I always prefered night time in L.A. than daytime. It creates a whole other atmosphere, or so I think. The action and stunts were superior to the ones from 2 Fast 2 Furious, which at times looked incredible cheap and more like some video game than a big budget blockbuster action release. It also helped out much that both Uruguay and Brazil got knocked out of the World Cup yesterday, by France and Belgium. Cannot stand the sight of Suarez nor Neymar and have never liked any of them as national football teams, and now I am looking very much forward to Russia vs. Croatia and then of course England vs. Sweden.
All in all, I was in the right mood last night, and therefore my rating goes from a 5,5/10 and up to a very, very kind:
6/10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 14, 2018 10:34:00 GMT
Fast & Furious Five (2011)
I still continue on with my journey through this massive box-office action franchise series, and even though I knew almost before the movie is getting started, that it will be just another "watch once, then never again", I have to admit that the further away of the first films I get, the better or more "satisfying" they end up as entertainment. Part 4 turned out to be a bit of a surprise, as I thought it was tighter and better acted than in any of the other titles I had seen (well beside part 3, Tokyo Drift, which I have still not watched, yet). Sure, with the fifth one, it continues to make things bigger and bolder, more action and larger names attatched to the screen. However, again I thought part 5 stood out even better than the 4th when it came to comedy, chemistry, action, new characters, twists and turns, villains and when even Tyrese Gibson and Ja Rule actually comes off as "likeable", then you know someone did their job very well.
Another thing, and one where I am pretty sure it is of no "accident" that the ones I have enjoyed the most, are also the ones where Michelle Rodriguez is either in or have barely any screen time. I just can't help it, she is not exactly a "favorite" of mine and I am just glad she wasnt part of the team again this time around.
6,5/10
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Post by King Conan on Jul 19, 2018 22:15:24 GMT
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning 8/10.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Jul 25, 2018 14:08:36 GMT
Fast & Furious 6 (2013)
Coming up after what I consider to be the "best" (Part 5) or most enjoyable of the far too many sequels, chapter 6 ends up in all the wrong directions, which I also have mostly bad memories of after having seen part 7 back in 2015. The stunts and action sequences which already by part 1 was ridiculously over-the-top (but in a more "mild" tone) is now gotten to a point where it feels and looks more like just another generic CGI dominated super-hero movie, and it just keeps on coming at ya, all the time. Michelle Rodriguez is back, and I guess since I am such a big "fan" of hers, I should be even more annoyed, however this time around she was far away of being close to the most painful and terrible character on the screen. Tyrese Gibson is back to his old "self" from the below average part 2 and the chemistry which I thought worked well within the team in part 4 and 5 is now long gone. The villain or villains is also pretty weak, and for me I think they should have ended it with part 6, as that is probably the closest this series came to creating a near "great" action movie.
5/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 6, 2018 11:27:02 GMT
So I finally got around to watching my copy of Out for a Kill (2003) and bah! I didn’t realise this was voted as one of Steven Seagal’s worst films until coming across a thread or two regarding his best and worst. So after watching it, I can see why. I was so bored, that it eventually became background noise as I did other tasks while tuning in and out. The premise is fine, but the execution falls flat. Seagal being half-ass mumbling his lines, providing the same nothing impression (looking constipated) every scene (be it from discovering priceless artifices to the sudden death of loved ones) and then when it came to the action he swipes around objects and his arms real fast to look like his giving it his all, but as usual the stuntmen along with the film editor are doing overtime to make “him” look good. Also some of the CGI was god awful... oh man, that bullet sequence!? Actually the whole archeology scenes at the beginning where Segeal’s professor (mmm I know) character is framed is laughably dumb. However the stupidity soon turns tedium making it a chore to sit through.
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Post by James on Aug 6, 2018 14:18:38 GMT
Last Action Hero (1993) - 7/10
What can I say? It's Arnie's most overlooked film about him as an action star and his fan, this kid gets sucked into the movie he's watching. It's very self-aware and there are constant jokes about action film clichés. With that, the movie is quite funny and there were moments I did laugh. Unfortunately, this is the most kid-friendly Schwarzenegger flick, as there's barely any violence, making it seem like they play it too safe. On the whole, pretty good, but far from any of his best movies .
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 7, 2018 15:44:45 GMT
Last Action Hero (1993) - 7/10 What can I say? It's Arnie's most overlooked film about him as an action star and his fan, this kid gets sucked into the movie he's watching. It's very self-aware and there are constant jokes about action film clichés. With that, the movie is quite funny and there were moments I did laugh. Unfortunately, this is the most kid-friendly Schwarzenegger flick, as there's barely any violence, making it seem like they play it too safe. On the whole, pretty good, but far from any of his best movies . I am glad you enjoyed it, as it seems to be one of those movies which divides rather than unite the Arnie fanbase or even fans of the 80s and early 90s action genre. Agree that it is his most overlooked or maybe even the most underrated as I am always surprised when people bring it up as one of the "worst" movies of the 90s, and keep thinking to myself that "What if it had not become a box-office failure?", but instead ended up as just another Arnie blockbuster. I would easily put it among his top 3 films of the 1990s, even beating out True Lies (1994) which was great but Last Action Hero is the one among with Total Recall and T2 which I never get tired of seeing and still have the old Arnie "magic" kept alive. Also, Last Action Hero might come with one of the best soundtracks of the action/comedy genre, I mean it is one hell of good time and what I love most about it was how it pretty much ignored the grunge era (well, minus Alice in Chains) and instead had lots of metal and hard rock acts bangin' out some truly great classic tunes, such as: AC/DC - Big Gun, Megadeth - Angry Again, Alice in Chains - What the Hell Have I, Michael Kamen and Queensrÿche - Real World and Def Leppard - Two Steps Behind.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 7, 2018 15:54:40 GMT
So I finally got around to watching my copy of Out for a Kill (2003) and bah! I decided to just look it up and see what I had rated it with, an I gave it a 3/10 but I really do not remember much of the plot anyway. So I guess it did not put up much of an good impression. Kind of "amazing" to see how he got a second chance of getting his act together with Exit Wounds (2001) becoming a hit in the theatres, then only less than 2 years later he is back to making DTV releases, but this time around way worse than anything he had done uptil that point and it was to be soon followed by an seemingly endless run of b-movies.
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Post by James on Aug 7, 2018 19:20:12 GMT
Last Action Hero (1993) - 7/10 What can I say? It's Arnie's most overlooked film about him as an action star and his fan, this kid gets sucked into the movie he's watching. It's very self-aware and there are constant jokes about action film clichés. With that, the movie is quite funny and there were moments I did laugh. Unfortunately, this is the most kid-friendly Schwarzenegger flick, as there's barely any violence, making it seem like they play it too safe. On the whole, pretty good, but far from any of his best movies . I am glad you enjoyed it, as it seems to be one of those movies which divides rather than unite the Arnie fanbase or even fans of the 80s and early 90s action genre. Agree that it is his most overlooked or maybe even the most underrated as I am always surprised when people bring it up as one of the "worst" movies of the 90s, and keep thinking to myself that "What if it had not become a box-office failure?", but instead ended up as just another Arnie blockbuster. I would easily put it among his top 3 films of the 1990s, even beating out True Lies (1994) which was great but Last Action Hero is the one among with Total Recall and T2 which I never get tired of seeing and still have the old Arnie "magic" kept alive. Also, Last Action Hero might come with one of the best soundtracks of the action/comedy genre, I mean it is one hell of good time and what I love most about it was how it pretty much ignored the grunge era (well, minus Alice in Chains) and instead had lots of metal and hard rock acts bangin' out some truly great classic tunes, such as: AC/DC - Big Gun, Megadeth - Angry Again, Alice in Chains - What the Hell Have I, Michael Kamen and Queensrÿche - Real World and Def Leppard - Two Steps Behind. It is pretty underrated; I don't hear too much talk about it. But I still prefer Total Recall, T2 and True Lies in terms of his 90's films. I think it would be more memorable if it weren't a box-office failure, but still not as liked as his other movies.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2018 3:53:43 GMT
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
I thought it had a great premise and great action scenes, but there was too much unnecessary fluff in my opinion. In particular the scenes in the brothel and the romance subplot. I wish there would have been more focus on the action and the mystery, because it was great whenever it was handling those things. The characters could have used some work too. The movie was oversold to me, so that added to my disappointment a bit. The locations and effects were something else the movie handled well though.
6/10
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Post by Morgana on Aug 8, 2018 8:05:49 GMT
stefancrosscoeJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom 6.5/10. I thought it wasn't as good as the previous entries.
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 8, 2018 14:32:20 GMT
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)I thought it had a great premise and great action scenes, but there was too much unnecessary fluff in my opinion. In particular the scenes in the brothel and the romance subplot. I wish there would have been more focus on the action and the mystery, because it was great whenever it was handling those things. The characters could have used some work too. The movie was oversold to me, so that added to my disappointment a bit. The locations and effects were something else the movie handled well though. 6/10 That is pretty much how I felt when I first caught hold of it on VHS back in late 2001/early 2002. Some terrific fighting and action sequences, and also the premise as you mentioned was very interesting but somewhere along the way it kind of got a little too "slow" and I lost interest halfway through. Re-watched a few years ago and still it did not grow on me and awarded it a kind 5/10.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2018 21:16:46 GMT
Speed (1994) 7.5\10
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Post by stefancrosscoe on Aug 10, 2018 8:33:33 GMT
Sacrifice (2011)
Well, that was a bad one. Not unwatchable but still something I knew would be a long and mostly not so enjoyable ride for the next 90-95 minutes or so. Anyway, Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as yet another b-movie cliche ridden "version" of Denzel Washington where he is portraying a sad and depressive Police Detective who has lost his family after a failed undercover "routine" job and is mostly tired of everything and drinks aways his life through a bottle of alcohol, (almost half of the scenes where Cuba is invovled, he is lying with his head on a table surrounded by empty alcohol bottles all over, just to point out how much of a sad and miserable figure he is) or looks just dead tired and worn out. You never really feel much sympathy with him either, even though the director surely tries to stuff lots of sentimental flashback sequences and voice-overs all over the place, throughout the movie.
Christian Slater also appears, and on the Blu-ray cover, he is next to Cuba as the "main" lead, but I do believe he is only in for about a 5-8 minutes maximum, or maybe even less. Damn, when did these guys whom 18-20 years back was involved in some truly great films, and seemed to have the world in their hands for many years to come. Now they dump out these awful DTV/VOD trashy titles along with other former 80s and 90s greats like Val Kilmer, John Cusack and far too many I think. But I guess the short answer is simply, easy money!
All in all, the movie suffers mostly not because of either Gooding Jr. or Slater, but the horrible "acting" by the villains. It is so bad and delivered in such a painfully and amateurish manner, they cannot have been making a hard effort by tracking down some half decent actors to do the parts. But I guess also a lot of the blame must be given to the screenwriter and director as well.
3/10
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Post by lostinlimbo on Aug 18, 2018 15:14:27 GMT
DEATH WISH II - 82' A simply presented, but violent, exciting, no-nonsense and straight to the point vigilante justice follow up to Bronson's original cult classic from 8yrs earlier. Director Michael Winner, still imbues his film with some directorial skill and style, though not as gritty as the first— this would be due to a change in setting from early 70's NY, to early 80's LA—and perhaps more exploitative. Excellent Jimmy— Led Zepplin—Page score, that works in well with the proceedings and is almost like another character in the film. I love Page’s score for Death Wish II. Those sickening drones, and screeching riffs really eats away at nailing a mood, and alienating the viewer. With only credits for Death Wish 2 & 3, it would have been great to see Page contribute his talents to other films, but I remember reading somewhere. He only did the score for Winner as a favour.
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Post by forca84 on Sept 25, 2018 0:53:08 GMT
"Criminal" (2016) I dug it.
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Post by lostinlimbo on Oct 29, 2018 4:00:26 GMT
The other day I watched a lean and mean Alistair MacLean adaptation Fear is the Key (1972). Potent cast with John Vernon and Ben Kingsley as the heavies, along with Suzy Kendall and Barry Newman as the man on the mission. A personal one. The first 45 mins are exciting with some stellar car chase sequences accompanied by a racy big band score, but once the plot takes over expect the usual confounded twists and turns, but sadly that’s when the momentum slows down. Still it remains engrossing thanks to the performances.
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Post by darkreviewer2013 on Dec 2, 2018 2:54:13 GMT
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
A follow-up to the high-octane thrill ride that was John Wick, Chapter 2 ups the ante, with even more intense action sequences, more blood and guts and a more elaborate story-line. Enjoyable though it was, the novelty factor had worn off for me second-time round and it felt as though this film was desperately attempting to do everything in its power to surpass its predecessor. It didn't. At least not for me. A solid action flick nonetheless.
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Post by kuatorises on Dec 6, 2018 17:35:08 GMT
Love this movie!
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Post by lostinlimbo on Dec 8, 2018 22:42:24 GMT
Black Eagle (1988) Extended cut A very bone-dry star vehicle for Sho Kosugi (Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja). However his co-star Jean-Claude Van Damme easily outshines him, despite not doing a hell of a lot as a KGB henchman. Quite a boring and stilted spy film for most part, but the Mediterranean locations are distracting and the two martial arts stars come to blows at least twice.
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