michaelradny

The Bourne Identity is quite fun and faced paced, but really that's the only thing that makes this film watchable. The storyline is nothing new, whilst the cat and mouse chasing sequences (even though epic and thrilling) have been done to death. However, even though riddled with action movie clichés, The Bourne Identity does set itself apart from other films like it, with fantastic acting and a new spin on the secret agent idea.

Even though The Bourne Identity could very well of been another James Bond movie, it does have some individuality about it. Whilst not everything is perfect in this film, it is a good one to watch if you need a bit of cheesy Hollywood action in your life.

Ip Man can easily say that it is the greatest true Kung Fu movie ever. It feels as if you are watching some sort of machine take down every opponent in a brutal fashion. It has got some Mortal Kombat vibes about it, but even so, that makes it all the more fun. It's also history based, even though I am rusty on my Japanese-Chinese invasion knowledge, it felt as if it bought some authenticity and realism into the film.

Ip Man may be a film you put off, but if you get the chance to watch it, you will defiantly savor the good taste it leaves in your mouth. One of the best Kung Fu movies around, except for Kung Fury.

Seconds Apart starts off ultra dark and sinister. It makes you feel as if you are watching some dirty snuff film, or that you are apart of some bizarre witchcraft. Whilst it does have some confusing elements about it, Seconds Apart is, for the most part, enjoyable. The whole investigation idea does feel unnecessary, and the story does go off on some weird tangents, but overall it does connect nicely.

Seconds Apart may not be the greatest film ever made, but even in it's mediocrity, it still has enough light to shine through it's bleakness. This film will definitely only be for those daring enough to try out some of the weirdest cinema since Eraserhead.

Circle may come as a shock too many viewers, as it is surprisingly good. Whilst it does have a few annoying filler sections, the concept and execution of the film is flawless. The film is very similar in themes to Cube, but the social commentary that this film provides is quite something.

Circle may in fact be the best surprise film since We Are Still Here, as it offer up enough story and thrills to keep you guessing to the end. Whilst you can determine who will go at certain stages quite easily, the ending is as hard to predict from the first seconds of the film, until the last few seconds of 'the game'.

Maps To The Stars may be a bit weird for the mainstream viewer, but looking into this star studded film really is eye opening to the arrogance and behaviors of the Hollywood famous. Whilst it's not something new to showcase Hollywood stars behind the scenes or in their true colors, David Cronenburge really shows off his knowledge on the subject and gets into the real grit of the truth.

Whilst Maps To The Stars is nice at times, it does fall off the rails a few times in this movie. The ending's CGI effects are laughable at best and sometimes the whole script feels like it loses it's way. But all-in-all this film does deserve some credit.

Sisters probably won't hold, nor standout, that much to a modern crowd, but what De Palmer serves up is still quite thrilling. Whilst labeled as a horror, their isn't really that much to scare you; thriller, however, yes! It still has that aged feel about it, which is reminiscent of 1970's horror/thriller movies, but it just feels lacking once you get into it.

Sisters does redeem itself by adding suspense and mystery about it. For any film buff, you will definitely by able to appreciate what Sisters is, and once you come to terms about how it's filmed and the script, you will more then likely enjoy yourself.

This film comes under the category "it's so terrible it's good". Well, almost. It is good in some aspects, it builds up the tension and it also has a fairly good plot. But what makes this more on the terrible side is that it has horrible acting, horrible dialogue and nothing really makes sense.

Night Warning may be a fun film to watch, if you can get your hands on a copy, but besides from what is generally a campy film, it is awful in very other way. Just wish this film had more money behind it for it to become fantastic. Everything has been laid out there, and even though I hate remakes, this one may be a good one to do so.

Thesis is bone chilling, mind boggling and a very fine thriller. The mystery throughout is enough to get you hooked. The whole film is so well constructed, that it isn't until the final minutes of the film that you find out what is really going on and what happened. The story is too original to put into words, so daring that it is impossible to imagine.

Thesis is a great film, an idea that has been lost in such a genre. It's hard to spot any imperfections in this film, given, that some of the decisions made are questionable. However, this is the most frightening film about a mystery hunt that I can ever remember watching.

Whilst it was a fairly original concept for it's time, despite other movies like Cannibal Holocaust paving the way, it has now gone down as the trend setter for found footage film. A modern audience may see this film as another cheap, scare free, shaky cam, found footage movie, but if you put it in context to when it was released, it's quite an original horror tactic.

Whilst The Blair Witch Project hasn't aged well, it is still fun enough to look back on and see when this horrible found footage phenomena started. It may not be as grand as you once remember it, but at least it's not the worst found footage film ever released.

I don't know what it was about Paper Towns; it may have been the nostalgia or possibly just the mystery and feel-goodiness of the film, but I really enjoyed it. It had a consistent pace throughout, it felt genuine and heartfelt, whilst also being surprising. Yes, it does have some of the common and generic tropes that plague these types of films, but for some reason it really worked in this film.

Paper Towns is not perfect, nor is it original, but its fun and will make you feel something inside. It is also enjoyable, full of funny moments and just has a nostalgia trip that will make you remember back to your last days at school

Hachi: A Dog's Tale seems to be no different then any other animal- slash-pet film made to target children and families. It is a sweet tale, but not as grand as it has been led to believe. It's a pretty generic story, much like Marley & Me, but for any animal lover, this film may be closer to your heart then for people that aren't so close with nature.

Hachi is a cute looking dog, but the film is the same, cute, but nothing stunning. It may be the case that this film feels pretty unrealistic in a sense, or that the actions that take place are dumbed down for a younger audience, but this film is pretty average, but enjoyable nonetheless.

While Sinister starts off like a cliché horror movie would, it does from time to time become original enough so that it stands out. But in between some of Sinister's great moments, there are long, boring and filling scenes which take you right out of the moment. I will commemorate Sinister for using original horror techniques rather then the traditional jumpscare, but there just isn't enough heart and substance in this film for it to be entertaining throughout.

It does suffer from some poor characterization, writing and story elements, but on the other hand it does serve up some nice twists and turns in the story. Just wish the film was more consistent in it's approach.

This is a beautifully tragic story all about love and betrayal. It's very heartbreaking, so be prepared for many scenes to tug at your heartstrings. It's also wonderfully acted and shot, going from post war ruins into a more established society, making every scene worthwhile and have purpose. Pheonix does entertain throughout, though it is depressingly sad, and it will take a lot of energy out of you.

Pheonix is one of the most heartbreaking love stories ever told. It's highly emotional, but what would have made it even more tear jerking is if the soundtrack was replaced. However, with all that said, Pheonix could go down in history as a fantastic post war film, in fact, one of the best. A truly original and sad exploration of the cruelty and greed of human nature.

Frozen starts off with quite an unfortunate event for our three protagonists. The start makes you think 'what if' and makes you feel sort of weird and sort of guilty in a way. However, these three people get stuck on this chairlift and then you begin to think that the rest of the movie will just be them in one place, and your right. It gets a bit boring, then it gets a bit stupid. The film is completely unrealistic and also riddled with coincidences that make the story even more unrealistic.

Apart from the low IQ decision making by our leads, the film also has a tough time trying to keep you interested. It gets pretty boring pretty quickly, with only a few scenes that will keep you interested in between. Don't go into this film expecting a realistic disaster situation, because you won't get one, instead you may very well be completely frustrated like I was.

Amadeus is probably the most exciting film about classical music and Mozart ever. It's so wonderfully filmed in such an extravagant way, from the costumes to the set designs to the glorious music that plays from scene to scene. It may possibly be the best biographical interpretation of any person, as the film becomes alive with fun, joy and fantastical persona's.

Mozart may well be the most iconic film about any musician. The acting is phenomenal, and Mozart's laugh is something that carries this dialogue heavy film through. Despite Mozart's childish behavior, you always want him to be on screen. Though the film is long, especially the director's cut, Amadeus is a fantastic film that will always go down in history as one of the greats.

The Lobster actually takes a pretty interesting idea about love and societies views of it and creates quite a dramatic piece about it. One can delve deeper into analysis of this film, but even at the surface this manages to be quite a journey and entertaining movie. Whilst it defiantly has its moments, the one minor flaw that I found was the prolonged sequences midway through the film. However, with that said, it's greatest moments are in the films writing. It's darkly comical, political and touching (in an oddly sick way).

The Lobster provides quite a entertaining two hours for its viewers, giving them something quite provoking and, at points, quite heartfelt. Towards the end, and I really enjoyed this, was a somewhat reference to Dogtooth, and without spoiling it, it was what put the cherry on the cake.

Warrior is a pretty engaging film, emotionally. However, with that said, nothing else feels all that striking about it. The film has a tendency to drag on and harp on some of the more uninteresting moments of the story, whilst it also tries to complement it with quick and fast paced fighting scenes which ultimately make the film unbalanced.

Warrior was slightly disappointing, with it giving too much heart as to feel it is being to serious. There are parts which drag and become boring, but it's ultimate sin is inability to focus in on what the film is; is it a sports film, is it a family drama or is it a redemption story. In saying that, some of those genres fit in well within Warrior, but all of them together makes it oddly unsatisfying.

Bridge Of Spies acts as if you are ordering food at a restaurant (much like that one scene with all the food in East Berlin). However, you've ordered a rare steak and what comes out is a medium steak. It's the same food, and you'll eat it, but it's not what you ordered. Bridge Of Spies just feels too cautious in it's approach. The trailers were extremely misleading (tho I don't judge the film on that) and nothing really happens. Instead of the suspense and highly intense story I was believing I was going to get, I got a courtroom drama with a cliché side story instead.

Bridge Of Spies is underwhelming, tho if you deal with it, the middle portion of the film is quite fast paced and well filmed. However, if you look at the two sides of the middle, you'll find a slow paced, uneventful, cliché riddled, classic Spielberg film and a classic Tom Hanks performance. Nothing all that new nor great, but at times enjoyable.

This thriller crime story has never been replicated, nor has it copied from another. It's a chilling, dark and scary tale of murder and religious fanaticism. It works on so many levels, despite the obvious acting floors that the 1950's seemed to implement into many of their films.

The Night Of The Hunter is among the terrific and historic films ever made. It feels old, naturally, but does a great job in keeping up with it's suspenseful story, which is both enjoyable and original, and it rates highly for it's effectiveness. Despite a few strange acting movements and choices, The Night Of The Hunter is a great film.

Stalker is among the more artistic films from Russia, which goes to say that it also is pretty good. Aside from being interesting, it's scenery and story are among the best I've seen in a sci-fi film. It feels authentic, the tale is bizarre but intriguing and the camera and actor direction are beyond stellar.

Stalker provides us with a fresh taste of reality. The future is so dim and brown that it almost feels as if you could imagine the dystopia being that way. Taking from historic war depictions, Stalker makes you feel unsafe everywhere you go, if that is the aim, they nailed it on the head. Stalker alongside Solaris are two very fine Russian works from the same director that should not be missed.

The Green Inferno is a confusing film. I feel as if it doesn't quite understand what message it is giving; is it anti-green; is it pro- genocide; is it a parody; is it a social commentary; it feels jumbled and the ending doesn't help it's cause either. However, strangely, I found this film quite easy to watch, amidst the blood and guts, which felt sort of bizarre, but a good bizarre.

The Green Inferno wasn't as great as I hoped for, but with that said, it wasn't as bad as I was lead to believe. Yes it seems to suffer from a few weird scenarios, but in my opinion I feel that this goes beyond a tribute to cannibal films, and actually embraces the elements that make them 'bad' and creates an almost satire out of it.

Network starts off with a bang! A controversial approach to increase ratings for a T.V. news network soon turns into addiction when the T.V. executives find out the formula to network success. However nice this may sound, it just doesn't always work with it's nagging social commentary on peoples obsession with violence, sex and profanity. What does work is the first half hour or so; so explosive in it's approach, it's just a shame that the entirety of the film can't keep up with the pace.

Whilst Network is very good in some regards, it just out right fails in other aspects. The performances, even the story, stand out the most, but what fails is the repetitiveness of the films themes and the symbolism of peoples underlying obsessions. An interesting film to say the least, but doesn't pull through for this film to become fantastic.

It's a gangster film, in a time when gangster films have been done to death. In order to create one that is truly good and stands out from the rest, you must start off with a good initial idea. This film lacks that idea, and creates an extremely generic, clichéd crime film that more than certainly over stays it's welcome. This movie took me two days to watch, and throughout I was wondering if it was possible to get any more boring. 320 minutes of hacking off limbs, weird music scores in the middle of a scene and nonintellectual dialogue just ruin what could have been an epic if they could have pulled off such a runtime.

Ultimately Gangs Of Wasseypur fails on a grand scale. Nothing in this film is remotely interesting, the film takes too long to end (hence it takes too long for anything meaningful to happen) and the direction, acting and script almost make it the worst I've seen. I would give it an 'F', but I don't think it is deserving of that.

Mary And Max is one of the most heartfelt, serious, honest and depressing films I have ever seen. It is unlike me to fall this much in love with a film, and yet, this film is just so dark and sad that I almost feel guilty for having it so close to my heart. The animation, the Australian references, the black humor, all combine to create one of the most sentimental films of all time.

Mary And Max truly is an original film. Never have I seen so many innuendos in a film that create so much comedy, yet so much sadness. Admittedly, I thought this was a child friendly film, but it is foreshore created for adults, as they will only get the true struggles of loneliness, mental illness and darkness which surrounds the lives of so many people.

The Lives Of Others tells the dark and mysterious story of the GDR spying on the lives of people in East Germany. It's a deep film that has you teetering on the edge of suspense, drama, mystery and thrills, as you develop your understanding of the characters and the lives they live. This is the East Germany version of The Conversation, but what's different about this is the historic value and the truth behind the GDR's controversial motives.

One of the finest conspiracy films ever made. It's deep in detail, rich in character and beautifully shot. There is enough story for it to carry out its runtime without boredom, whilst there is also enough surprises for you to never be left on a linear story that may become tiresome.