The Review Thread

[Serpentine]

Movies, books, TV shows, music, whatever. Just review stuff. With luck, it'll be a handy resource on whether something's worth paying for.

Try to be informative as possible (without spoiling, of course). Specify what you did and did not like about it, keeping in mind that what makes or breaks a deal for you may not be so for others (say, for one person it's the prettiness that matters, for another the plot, for another it's how realistic the characters are).

My understanding of ratings out of 5 are as follows:
0 = absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
1 = very bad
2 = probably only worth seeing if you have a particular reason to (e.g. favourite actor/director/theme)
2.5 = worth seeing
3 = good
4 = excellent
5 = absolutely no weaknesses whatsoever.

If you disagree with someone's review, consider writing your own rather than just responding.



To get us started:


Astro Boy
Saw this yesterday. I think it's great. Much better than the stupid timeslots (9am and 3.45pm!) the cinema gave it :smallannoyed:

It touches on some fairly deep topics - personal identity, grief, death, bit o' the ol' child murder, abandonment, war-mongering political leaders, etc - but it never feels heavy. It stimulates some interesting questions (is Astroboy Toby with a new body, or is he a whole new individual in his own right?), and is genuinely touching at times. Yet it is also laugh-out-loud funny in places, and the action is really exciting.

Some people may dislike the animation style. They de-animed it quite a lot. Personally, I'm on the "like" side of it, but not by very much. I thought it was okay, with some good bits. The obvious differences between Astro Boy and the other people were a bit annoying (you'd think his solid stiff hair and comparatively oversized eyes would be a bit of a give-away...), but it didn't really matter.

The voice-acting mostly seemed pretty solid. There were a couple that didn't seem quite right, but again, it didn't make much difference.
There were a few weaknesses. It felt like they could have done more with the comic relief robots, for example, and the relationship between Astro and Cora (Kora?). The ending was also... just a bit unsatisfying, and the villain... Would anyone really get that obsessed with winning an election? Especially someone already in power? Well, maybe, but it seemed like a pretty weak motivation to me.

Overall, I found it hugely entertaining. I look forward to a sequel (maybe even a new TV series if they do it right), and until then, I think I may see it again with my nephew...

Rating: OOOOO

[Serpentine]

What, no love for reviews? It's not like Playgrounders to be retricient when it comes to voicing opinions... If you don't have the time for an involved one, quick-and-dirty would do.
Alright then, another to get us started:


The Princess Bride
I must confess, from the outset, a significant bias that will certainly colour my rating of this, as it's one of my favourite movies of all time. I know some people just don't/won't like it, though, and I'll try to keep that in mind.
This movie is both a great fairy tale, and a parody of fairy tales. It is full of classic stereotypes, that are exaggerated rather than subverted: the noble hero, the hapless maiden, the small genius, the gentle giant, the despicable villain, the wise old man, and so on. They are all both very simple characters, and well-defined. I, at least, am made to care about all the characters we're meant to care about, and hate the characters we're meant to hate, with one possible exception: Buttercup just isn't terribly likable. She's just a bit too useless, although that is probably the point. It would be nice to see a decent female character, but that really comes with the subject.

As well as being very well-written, they are also absolutely perfectly cast. Noone but Patinkin could be Inigo Montoya, Cary Elwes is and will forever be sweet Westley, and Fezzik... well, physical restraints aside, Andre the Giant is absolutely adorable, with just the right amount of menace. As with the characters themselves, Robin Wright is a bit flat - and I've heard it said that it's a bit of a stretch casting her as "the most beautiful woman in the world"* - but she doesn't really have much to work with.

The plot, while certainly saturated in Narrativium^, is the archetype of the best of swashbuckling fantasies. I don't recall any gaping plot-holes, and it's always exciting.

Obviously humour varies from person to person, but I find it hilarious. The snappy delivery of memorable lines is something film has over books, and this is exploited to its absolute fullest. It is with good reason that Princess Bride is quoted ad nauseum by its fans.

The fight scenes are among the best in film; it is obvious that the actors trained with a professional. The climax makes one want to stand up and cheer, and there are some genuinely tense moments.

The scenery and costumes are generally adequate, but not terribly spectacular. It doesn't look particularly dated, fortunately, but nor is it exceptionally polished.

In summary, its hardware, shall we say, is good but not brilliant, but the script is fantastic.

OOOOO

*The section in the book covering Buttercup's development into the most beautiful girl in the world is my favourite part. I urge everyone to read the book, if only for that.
^See: Discworld

[AstralFire]

I might contribute sometime soon-ish, but most things I have partaken of lately have been popular things I didn't like. I'd make the thread argument heavy. :P

The substance is good, Serp, but can I bug you to join some line breaks together to make full paragraphs and then double space between paragraphs? The current formatting is a teensy bit hard to read, sorry.

[Serpentine]

Bad reviews are fine, and if people disagree they can do their own :smallwink:

Fair enough, I'll see what I can do.

[Haruki-kun]

What, no love for reviews?

Actually, I love reviews and I love reviewing. I just can-t think of anything TO review. :smalltongue:

I'll be sure to come back as soon as I do, though.

[Serpentine]

Sorry AstralFire, I was going to do indents, but the indenting system is nigh-useless :smallannoyed: Hope it's easier to read, anyway.

[AstralFire]

-thumbs up!-

[Zeb The Troll]

RE: The Princess Bride

Also one of, if not the, top of my list of movies. I'm one of those that's seen it so many times I don't actually have to put it in to enjoy it anymore, just sit back and watch it in my head. :smallcool:

Anyway, were I to do a review, I'd say pretty much exactly what Serpentine said. The movie's not about the costuming and it's clearly done on a budget, but I think that gives it some of its charm. The cast is fantastic and the story is everything you could ever want in a romantic fantasy pirate comedy, in spades. With the exception of Buttercup, who is good for needing to be saved but not much else. Thankfully, the rest of the characters more than carry the film (nope, the book didn't do her any justice either). There are subtle hints that could serve to date the film (the boy is playing an Atari 2600 and there's a poster of William "The Refrigerator" Perry over his bed) but they don't detract from the movie and most people would probably overlook a little detail like that anyway.

[pita]

Inglourious Basterds
What can I say about this movie? It's got Nazis, Brad Pitt as a Jew with an Appalachian accent, people getting their head bashed in with a baseball bat, people getting scalped, Hitler screaming about a bear jew, Goebels (I know I misspelled that) crying with joy as well as having the only sex scene in the movie, three Tarantino cameos, and two conflicting plans that actually work together.
This, my friends, is what a Quentin Tarantino movie embodies. It's blatantly disrespectful, drawing the wrath of many, many groups for showing Jews doing bad things to Nazis instead of the other way around. I'd actually like to stop the review for a second to talk about that matter. The Nazis commited atrocities that have never been matched, not even by the Jews in this movie. Saying that it's anywhere near is Holocaust denial. Also, it's foolish to think that Jews would never do the horrible things in this movie. Take a Jew from the Holocaust, and show him where a tied up Nazi is, I'm fairly certain that Nazi would not survive the five minute mark. It's not politics, it's human nature. Now back to the movie. It's brilliantly funny at times and absolutely tragic at others. And boy is it fun. It's two movies: One, about a Jewish girl called Shoshanna trying to survive in Nazi occupied france, and one about Brad Pitt killing Natzees. What's surprising is how well these two movies work together. It's an absolutely brilliant movie, Tarantino's best. I love it.
6/5 THIS MOVIE IS SO AWESOME IT CAUSES A PARADOX OF AWESOMENESS.
Sunshine
What happens when you take a cast from all over the world, with a director who later won an Academy Award for an Indian drama, and set it on a spaceship on its way to the sun?
You get this.
The special effects are stunning. The plot is excellent, although, as with every other sci-fi plot, it has some holes. The acting is brilliant, notably that Fantastic Four guy whose name I can't remember doing a very good job, and Cillian Murphy, proving that while he is super-awesome at villains, he's not bad at heroes.
My only problem with it was the lack of a sense of humor among the crew. It was very odd, in my opinion, that only one joke was told throughout the movie.
4/5

[Serpentine]

Zeb: I forgot to say anything about the casting! I'll go fix that now.