A.i. (Artificial Intelligence)

Watched it with a friend this time. Better the second time.

4.5/5

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This film wasn't acted very well IMO, the only good actors were Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman and Jason Isaacs, all of which are too cool to be in this movie. I still think the directing was better, a bit more like the first and second films, don't care what you say Riley.:P
I can't believe the new one is getting good reviews, I thought everyone was going to hate it because they were taking so much stuff out.

3/5

filmyguy1

Planet Terror

Pure bloody entertainment.

mindgamestudios.com | YouTube | Twitter

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Walking into this movie with no positive expectations; just like HP5, I was pleasantly surprised.

As a diehard Harry Potter fan, I didnt think it was perfect. Like the other recent movies, I felt the transition from book to film could have been much more efficient, and the flow of the movie was way too fast.

I have just a few things about this movie I need to get off my mind:

1. There were two scenes in this movie that added nothing to the plot whatsoever. The first was the breif love between Harry and the waitress. I know its meant to show that Harry is getting older and everything, but it just didnt work in my opinion. I would have rather seen Dumbledore collect Harry from the Dursleys - as in the book that scene is hilarious.
The Second scene was the burrow attack. Now, not only was this not in the book at all, but it just had no point. It was unexplained, unprovoked, and a complete waste of screentime. I swear it was just an exuse for an action scene, but why not actually use the end battle instead. And what did we learn from that scene? That Harry Potter is.....Harry Potter! No-one acknowleges afterwards what happens, and if Dumbledore can fix a broken house within a few pointless seconds - its not a tragedy at all.

2. I just didnt like the casting. Horace Slughorn, young Voldemort, and Teenage Voldemort, are not how I imagined. Maybe its just because I just didnt imagine them to be like that, but still. Young Voldemort is a robot, Teenage Voldemort is a snout nosed snob who isnt the slightest bit charming - as described in the book (they even gave him a tweed jacket, like the story was set in Harrow or something). Slughorn, I dunno. The role works, but Slughorn is portrayed as a silly old git, rather than the sly, cunning Slughorn in the book.

3. Did the director read book 7? There is no reference to the Hallows or future Horcruxes anywhere. The ring isnt explained at all, the locket is barely explained, and where the hell was the Tiara in the room of requirement? And your goind to have a difficult time fitting the story together if you cut out Kreacher and Dobby - again. The only reference to the final book was the mention of Regulus Black, so thats a step in the right direction I guess.

4. Harry and Ginny's romance was bad. Compared to in the book when Harry gradually started falling for her, right from the very beggining you know the're going to end up together. . I hate it when Directors treat us like we're stupid - this is a 12A, we're not a bunch of kids.

5. What a pathetic ending. The Inferi scene was too slow, the death scene too fast, and then suddenly it ended before you could ask: What just happened? What poor structure. Plus, what happened to the big Battle in Hogwarts? If you wanted an action scene, why not use that instead of making one up as you went along?

Whilst the critisim above may sound like I hate this movie - I dont. The movie was Hilarious, utterly Hilarious. Its not Fantasy, its Comedy. Rupert Grint was always the clown previously, and was a complete joke in HP3, but in this movie he deserves an Oscar for such outstanding comedy. I take my hat off to you Mr Grint.

Overall, whilst the movie is arguably the best since HP2, it suffers from the usual poor transition from book to movie.

The series so far goes like this in OWL marks:

HP1: Outstanding (O)
HP2: Outstanding (O)
HP3: Dreadful (D)
HP4: Acceptable (A)
HP5: Exeeds Expectations (E)
HP6: Exeeds Expectations (E)

An improvement - but not a huge one...

-MRB

Listen, I don't like it when people "fix" other people's quotes, there's something very arrogant about it, not to mention the fact that you can mislead people. Don't do it.

Joss Whedon's Serenity

The past week has been a whole lot of "Firefly" for me.  I watched the whole series first, and tonight I concluded it with the movie.  For those of you who don't know, Firefly is a series that Whedon did back in 2002.  It is, to put it simply, a space-western with a bit of steampunk, but the whole thing doesn't revolve around it being steampunky.  The series has a good story, good acting, even good CGI for its time.  Unfortunately, it didn't get the best ratings.  It was canceled after its first season, much attributed to its funky time slot on Friday nights.  Later, Whedon (and the fans) wanted a conclusion to the series.  The team who worked on the show bombarded networks and studios with requests to either pick the show back up or do a TV movie. Then, the internet came into play.  Fan sites like browncoats.com fireflyfans.net popped up and grew.   Then came their salvation, Universal studios, who picked it up and decided to make a movie. This movie came in the form of Serenity, the name of the Firefly model ship that much of the series take place.  And let me tell you, it was epic.

Here's the deal: Not only did a failed show actually do the impossible and get it to movie theaters, but they did it extraordinarily well.  It was relative to the series, but also could make sense to a viewer who had not seen the series.  I enjoyed the acting, the writing, and especially the special effects.  This wasn't a big-budget film.  This made the special effects quite good, because it wasn't an "oooh, look at the CGI!" movie (thought the CGI was indeed quite good for 2005) and they actually tried to keep the CGI down. one thing I found interesting was that in the second scene, there is a shot without cuts that goes on for 4 or so minutes.  I like how this works to give you an intro to the characters.  I was never bored for a minute of this film, it always keeps you on the edge of your seat.  I simply love the writing, which is consistent with the style of the series.  There's sad, happy, hilarious, and much more. I strongly recommend this film for anyone who remotely enjoys sci-fi, steampunk, western, or generally awesome things. I think it may be more enjoyable if you watch the series, but it's not a pre rec by any means.

Shiny.

Rambo: First Blood
Very good story wise but needed a little more action.

Rambo: First Blood Part 2
Started with lots of plot, which began to deteriorate towards the end but the action was satisfying.

Rambo 3
I wish they finished with 2. This was terrible.

2001: a Space odyssey
Slow starting off but started to pick up, great until the last 20 minutes where my my brain melted.

Sky Captain and the world of tomorrow
I loved the classic feel it had but it was quite dull and uninteresting.

Borat

meh, I like the second the most.

[10]]

Deep Impact

I watched this for day two of my quest and I thought it was rather good. I watched it on VHS so the video quality was crap. It's a nice story. Nothing breath taking, but an enjoyable watch nonetheless.

Die Another Day

By far my favorite James Bond movie. I watched this for day 3 on my quest. I loved every bit of it.