Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Inglourious Basterds
Grade: A- (Watch it)
Review: A movie Quentin Tarantino fan's will appreciate. Tarantino builds a series of great hero and villain characters (all are fun in their way). Movie has great dialog scenes in multiple languages (English, German and French); just enough of brutality for guilty pleasure (more like Pulp Fiction and not like that Kill Bill nonsense).

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A Perfect Getaway (2009)

A Perfect Getaway
Grade: C+ (Rent it)
Review: Original, flawed, but worthy a rental. Interesting character development, beautiful nature and scenery, effective suspenseful moments, nice twist.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

District 9 (2009)

District 9
Grade: A- (Watch it)
Review: Refreshingly original take on alien movies. Simple and interesting story. Special effect are transparent and blend with scenery without drawing attention to themselves. Human characters - including the lead - are all selfish, numbing ignorant, and inconsiderate toward others. Although alien slum living conditions unavoidably brings parallels with immigration issues, racism and discrimination; these issues don't overshadow the story or attempt to force themselves on the viewer (in fact they are secondary). Documentary feel gives it an eerie sense of reality. I look forward to the sequel, although I don't see how any sequel can beat this one.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Last House on the Left (2009)

The Last House on the Left
Grade: C+ (Rent it)
Review: Charles Bronson style vigilante bad guys get it real bad movie. Loved it. For people who say it is sadistic, I say get lost pansies.

The Hurt Locker (2009)

The Hurt Locker
Grade: B (Watch it)
Review: This is a great war movie without forced political agenda. Small cast, simple story, with realistic depiction of soldier life, suspenseful actions and warrior comradeship moments.

The Great Buck Howard (2009)

The Great Buck Howard
Grade: C+ (Rent it)
Review: The character Buck Howard is inspired by the 1970s mentalist The Amazing Kreskin. Interesting character, good acting by John Malkovich. Worth to rent.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Funny People (2009)

Funny People
Grade: B- (Watch it)
Review: I left the movie with better opinion about Adam Sandler. The movie is funny (rated R funny), the story starts strong, but has a weak ending. Sandler and Rogen show some good acting, but the rest of the supporting crew tries too hard to deliver the funny one liners. Sandler is maybe good because he is playing himself; nevertheless he does a good job playing a comedian facing mortality and dealing with loneliness in show-business. This is a nice drama/comedy but director/writers in the attempt to have a "real" ending; ended up with real dumb one.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Drag Me to Hell (2009)

Drag Me to Hell
Grade: B- (Watch it)
Review: This is a good old fashion horror movie. After the success of The Ring and 28 Days Later we had to live with a series of terrible horror movies (the worst one being The Grudge). Drag Me to Hell has a small cast, it is refreshing in it's simplicity of movie devices, and it delivers the suspense the horror fans want.