An American animated comedy series created by Joe Murray, directed by Sue Mondi and Brian Sheesley.
Anthropomorphic animals are at summer camp. Lazlo the monkey stars with his friends Raj the elephant and Clam the rhinoceros. The scoutmaster is Lumpus the moose. They are always involved in some type of absurd situation.
American animated series of this time period were noticably poor in terms of plot and writing, but this is the exception to that trend. It didn't seem like "stupid kids' stuff", but more universal humor dealing with exaggeration and hyperbole. Some of the elements which entertained me most were the dung beetles (my favorite characters voiced by Steve Little), Lougie Llama and Lazlo's arms making impossible shapes. The animation style is very traditional and cartoony. Creator Jo Murray also made Rocko's Modern Life, an earlier cartoon which I like as well. Carlos Alazraqui voiced Rocko and Lazlo, Tom Kenny voiced Heffer on Rocko's Modern Life, Spongebob on Spongebob Squarepants, Eduardo on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Scoutmaster Lumpus and Slinkman on Camp Lazlo. Mr. Lawrence voiced Filburt on Rocko's Modern Life, Plankton on Spongebob Squarepants, Edward, Dave, Ping-pong and Nurse Leslie on Camp Lazlo. Jodi Benson voiced Ariel in The Little Mermaid (1989), Tula in Pirates of Dark Water, Patsy, Jane Doe and Almondine in Camp Lazlo. The series was produced in 16:9 aspect ratio and originally aired in 4:3. I watched a 4:3 version and it makes me wonder what got cut out or modified to change the frame shape. I rate this good.
American action adventures directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Harrison Ford.
An archaeologist is trying to get the ark of the covenant before nazis do, rescue magic stones from a cult in India, searching for his father and the holy grail and returning a crystal skull to aliens before the soviets get it.
Pretty cool stuff. I like Temple of Doom the most because of the action scenes and comedic relief of Short Round. I think Indy gets beat up a little more in this than the others too. The rest are alright and fill out the story of the main character. One of the film classes I took cited Raiders of the Lost Ark as being filmed well. I can see them all being filmed well, with lots of planning to get timing right. This is one of the sets that I like to watch consecutively, just because of length. I rate it adequate because it all just blends together into a whole story to me and it's relatively good, but there are far better films.
An American romantic comedy directed by Anne Fletcher, starring James Marsden, Edward Burns and Judy Greer.
A wedding planner is a bridesmaid at all of her friends' weddings. She falls in love with a reporter who writes a newspaper article about her.
Stupid. The plot did not hold my interest, but the characters did show some depth. Acting and dialogue were what the current internet calls "cringe-worthy". I think the "Benny and the Jets" musical number was too much. Video was typically bright and saturated. Audio was not too shabby. I could hear everything and it was not overly dynamic. The best part of this was the spikes on the main character's collar at a goth wedding (image). I really don't like writing bad reviews, so I try to make them short. I rate this bad. Don't watch it.
An American crime drama directed by Robert Luketic, starring Lawrence Fishburne, Kevin Spacey and Jacob Pitts.
A math professor at MIT recruits a student who is trying to get into Harvard for his secret club. The club learns to count cards and goes to Las Vegas in hopes of winning money. Seduced by money, glamor and popularity, the students begin making mistakes.
Not bad, but not good. The stale plot branched off in predictable ways and the characters were not developed well. The main character (Ben), the professor (Micky) and the head of security (Cole) were developed some and had back-story, but nobody else did. I'm not saying that every character needs to be developed, but if they are important enough to be in like 5 scenes, they need some back-story. Video looked good, but very predictable for the time. There was some underexposure, but it looked chosen because all films show Las Vegas casinos being unevenly lit. Audio was actually a little bit loud, but generally seemed even. I rate it o.k. because it's a mediocre movie. Watch it or skip it, whatever.
An American comedy directed by Jason Friedberg, starring Carmen Electra and Tony Cox.
A young man has an apocalyptic dream and then disaster strikes the city during his birthday party. He goes to save his girlfriend with the help of some other people at the party.
This plot summary is only vaguely accurate. The film seemed more like a series of sketches and vignettes than a continuous story. There were a few moments which made me laugh, but it was generally a pile of crap. I thought Amy Winehouse, Flavor Flav, the sewer princess and Michael Jackson were funny. It should be obvious that the writing for this was total trash. The acting was not much better. Special effects looked more amateurish than if they had all been done in 1973. Editing was too fast. I could go on listing every film element because it all sucked. This was also almost a musical. There were lots of songs with singing and dancing... I rate it bad because at least it made me laugh a few times. Don't watch it.
An American animation by Bill Plympton.
A man who hangs out at a bar grows wings.
If you know and like Plymptoons as much as I do, you know that the plot cannot be expressed in a few simple sentences, but that the premise spins off into many ideas and sub-plots. As much as I like Plympton and as good as this was, it just was not as good as his other stuff. It was a little more serious and lacked some of the absurd exaggerations which make his other films so enjoyable. The animation was cleaner, like Cheatin' (2013) instead of rough and sketchy like The Tune (1992). The music was also similar to Cheatin', but featured less classical pieces. Also like Cheatin', it had no dialogue. Having seen 6/7 Bill Plympton films, I would say that the animation cleaned up over time, but the humor decreased. I rate this good. Watch it if you like strange animation, just know that all of his other stuff is stranger.
A Swedish music documentary directed by Stefan Rydehed.
The history of the Norwegian metal band, Mayhem is told through interviews.
I thought this was excellent. The interviews were far more serious than Until the Light Takes Us (2008). There was lots of background noise in most of them, but the monologues came through very clearly. The video was 1 camera angle per interview, but it looked fine except for one point. There was a few second clip going into one of the sections in which camera or sound gear could be seen to the left. Being 90 minutes just about Mayhem, it was obviously more informative about that band. What I really liked was seiing different photos of Pelle/Dead. I rate this good and would probably watch it again sometime.
A Chinese wuxia directed by Ching Sui-tung, starring Donnie Yen and Leon Lai.
A princess' father, the king is killed in battle and she takes the throne. Some of the government rulers/warlords are plotting against her and shoot her with a poison dart. A hermit saves her and they fall in love. The princess must restore peace to her kingdom and reunite with the hermit.
A classic example of the new Chinese way of filmmaking. The hour and a half duration seemed right because of dynamic pacing that rose and fell with action. The simplistic premise was difficult to follow in the plot because of language. More on that later. There were basically 3 characters: the princess, the hermit and soldier x infinity. Obviously, the princess and hermit were the most developed main characters. I had issues with dialogue because of subtitles. The only ones that synched with the film were clearly written by an non-English speaker. Sentence structure and word order were the main issues. This made it nearly impossible to follow the plot. The acting all seemed fine though. I really liked the sets. They all looked professional, but my favorite was the hermit's treehouse. Camera-work was all beautifully done as well. There was lots of shot variety, mostly in distances from extreme close up to sprawling landscapes. What I didn't like about video and camera were the giant battle scenes in the flat desert. Boring. There was no flying, but there may have been some undetectable wire-work involved. The audio was all mixed right and the soundtrack was typical of the area and time. Style and flavor seemed like the filmmakers had watched too much Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero and House of Flying Daggers. This has a 5.9/10 on IMDB and 38% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. I rate it o.k. because it was very typical of the genre, area and time, but didn't really innovate or get creative and unique with the tools available.
A Canadian comedy directed by Matthiew Klinck, starring Joe Mantegna.
A pair of male Easter bunnies who live together get fired because they skipped hiding eggs in a house.
This was rather odd. The plot held my attention because the premise was so strange. The characters were cast well, but didn't come with much back-story. Grown men in Easter bunny costumes definitely gets the viewer's attention. The video was done quite well. I could see everything that was happening very clearly and there were some creative camera angles used. The audio was a little low, but I won't really hold that against it. I think that the weird choices of soundtrack music worked well in this case. Overall, this is basically what I'm looking for in a movie to give a good rating. It's something that was made well and stands out in a crowd. I rate this good. Watch it!
An American comedy directed by Dennis Dugan, starring Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Lainie Kazan and Rob Schneider.
An Israeli counter-terrorist moves to New York City to be a hairdresser.
This is why I don't watch comedy. The plot was trite and vapid trash. The characters were living, breathing stereotypes and the main character was a white man playing Middle Eastern. There were some interesting video effects like hacky sack with a cat. The audio was good quality technically, but the content was annoying. The whole deal seemed like a cheap ploy to make Americans like Middle Eastern people. Overall, a steaming heap of new Hollywood bullshit (haven't used that one in a while). I rate this bad. DO NOT WATCH!!!
An American documentary by Kurt Kuenne.
A filmmaker travels the country, interviewing everyone who knew his friend. The friend had been murdered by a woman he had started dating and was pregnant with his son.
This was pretty cool. I think that Kuenne did a great job of putting it together. There were sappy scenes about how much people loved each other mixed in with murder and hatred. The video was mostly the interviews that were conducted while making this, but it also included clips of the two boys making early videos and some home movies and still photos. The audio was done very well. All of the dialogue in the interviews sounded fine and there was appropriate background music. Out of the entire duration, my favorite moment was the grandfather saying "that fucking bitch!". Overall, a little too sappy for a documentary about murder. I rate it adequate. You might want to check it out.
An American horror directed by Bryan Bertino, starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman.
A couple are terrorized by masked attackers all night. Jehovah's Witnesses find them in the morning.
This is exactly what I don't like about newer horror films. The hand held camera shooting into total darkness and terrible audio production are all I need to say here. I rate this bad. DO NOT WATCH!!!
A British American romantic drama directed by Richard Linklater, starring Claire Danes.
A young man joins a theater troupe led by Orson Welles. Welles is a jerk of a boss, but the main character meets an actress and they begin a romantic relationship. He also has a romantic interest in a writer girl whom he meets in a music shop.
Pretty decent. The plot held my interest because things were happening. Stuff was changing. The characters were very static, but their personalities were revealed with greater depth as time passed. The video all looked good quality. The only thing I really noticed were a few crane shots and general good composition. The audio was great. I could hear all of the dialogue and it was accompanied by an appropriate soundtrack. One thing I couldn't help but notice were the GIGANTIC ukuleles. These things are like 4-string acoustic guitars! Overall, this fills in like 95% of the check-boxes on my criteria list. I rate it good, mostly on production value.
An American comedy drama directed by Barry Levinson, starring Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, John Turturro and Bruce Willis.
A film producer has problems with his divorced wife, a film with a shocking ending and an actor who refuses to shave.
This was no good at all. The plot seemed pointless and the characters were despicable. The only redeeming qualities were the fictional film's shocking ending, the audience's reaction and the crazy, british editor. The audio and video were run of the mill normal. Overall, it's not worth watching. I rate it bad.
A British comedy drama directed by Mike Leigh, starring Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan.
An elementary school teacher takes driving lessons form an angry man.
This wasn't painful, but it sure wasn't any good. The plot was not focused. There was so much other stuff going on besides the main story. There were also far too many characters that were not involved in the main story. The technical aspects seemed fine. I just thought it was very desultory. Sorry for not writing up a storm about this crappily mediocre movie, but I have more important things on my mind right now. I rate this poor.
An American horror thriller directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, starring Bradley Cooper, Brooke Shields, Ted Raimi and Vinnie Jones.
A photographer sees a model before she is abducted and reported missing. He investigates and finds a butcher who rides a subway.
This was a little on the lame side. The plot almost held my interest, but the characters seemed shallow. The villain was the most developed character of all. Pacing was on the slower side, which I liked. The camera-work included lots of unintelligible scenes like Enter The Void (2009) which is a very bad thing. There was a lot of digital blood involved and it was very clearly fake. The ending seemed stupid and tacked on like they didn't think about it much. Overall, not so great. I rate this poor.
An American war film directed by Edward Zwick.
A group of Jewish refugees hide in a forest during WWII.
WWII is the most overplayed setting ever and I was unable to find subtitles that translated the foreign language sections. This meant that about half of the dialogue was unintelligible. The main character who leads the Jews was identifiable, but everyone else just kind of jumbled like in a mass grave. The plot was simple, but effective and had some action scenes appropriately placed to keep the audience awake. The pacing was a little slow, but that seems to be my speed because I understood everything that was happening, if not everything that was said. Given that, I also liked the length of just over 2 hours. The camera-work was really good (or just to my liking) because they captured many scenes of the forest during different seasons. There was, however, some snow during the wedding which I suspected may have been composited in with After Effects. It just did not float as naturally as I would have liked and there were too many flakes being blown upwards by wind that did not effect the actors. Overall, I dislike war films, but the majestic scenes of natural beauty interspersed with action were to my liking. I rate this adequate.
A Canadian horror slasher directed by Ryan Nicholson.
A pair of bowling teams get in a fight at a bowling alley and decide to have a competition the following night. A femal bowler is raped by the men on the other team when she goes back in to get her purse. The night of the competition comes and people begin to disappear.
All of the actors in this film seemed to have Tourette's syndrome. The production quality was quite low, but fit the classic slasher style. There was some nudity including female anatomy points, but I am unable to award male anatomy points for the cock-shots with genital mutilation. With a simple plot that only twists quickly at the end and extremely shallow characters, this is not what I would call a good movie. My favorite part was the ball waxing machine insulting people. I'm rating it o.k. You might want to check this out if you're into low budget horror flicks.
A documentary by Amenstop productions.
A heavily narrated presentation about the ruling elite and how they control the world.
This is one of my favorite conspiracy films. I remember talking about it with my friend who "woke me up". The audio and video quality were a little uneven on the version that I got and it was obviously a VHS rip. This film tilts my documentary scales in the right direction with more talk than techno and more education than entertainment. With about a 6 hour duration, there is enough information presented to get deep into the subject matter. Don't read my review of this film. Watch it! I rate it best.
A Canadian documentary by Ben Stewart.
Information regarding how religious and political systems work, war and the nature of reality is communicated.
Too much repetitive techno! I swear they must have recorded less than 10 minutes of music to use for the whole 2 hour film. There's a drum track that plays for the first section, a section without music in the middle and then a keyboard/synth sound for the third section. These tiny tracks repeat ad nauseum. The information in this film is great and I think that it would be an awesome introduction film for anyone who is just getting into this subject matter. The many strands of the web of control are touched upon and it would give a new researcher ideas of what to look into. There's a gentleman in a suit towards the end who says that in a room full of darkness, a single candle can make a big difference, but no amount of darkness can enter a room full of light. I rate this adequate and would recommend it as one of the first few conspiracy/new world order documentaries to watch. Unfortunately for this film, the inferior musical score prevents a higher rating.
