CrenshawPete

I'll try to keep this short. I loved the movie. Oliver Stone and Joseph Gordon-Levitt nailed it. I've read the critics' reviews, and some are saying this movie could have been so much more. Like a political statement? They've completely missed the point. The movie is called "Snowden" for a reason. It's not called "PRISM" or "NSA", because it's about Snowden, himself. It's the answer to "who" and "why".

If you want to know what's in those files, you'll need to read "No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State" by Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who Snowden sought out to release the information. Hopefully people will read the book (the answer to "what"). There's very little overlap with the movie, but it will definitely help you understand the events in the film better. Also, the book is shocking -- like jaw-dropping shocking.

I'd read it about a year ago and thought they did a heck of a job recreating the scenes at the hotel, even if that part of the story was super-condensed. In the book, there's actually a lot more drama going on during that part of the story. But again, this movie was more about the lead-up to the leak, not so much the aftermath. My dad enjoyed the movie, but since he hadn't read the book, he said it was sometime difficult for him to follow. Even if you're unfamiliar with the details of the spying programs, you'll get an "executive summary" in the film.

It's a complex topic, and I think they simplified it as best anyone could. I hope people will read the book and see the movie. As again, they serve two different purposes, but both are necessary to get the complete picture. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a highly underrated actor, does such a good job playing Snowden that at times it feels like a documentary. If you liked Spy Game, Syriana, The Insider, and The Imitation Game, then you'll definitely enjoy Snowden. A solid 10/10

Edit: It seems trolls (probably paid) are voting down positive reviews of this film. That's not surprising given the subject matter, but it only shows their desperation. They don't want you to learn about this heroic person or the serious issue of unaccountable government and corporate surveillance. All the more reason people need to see this movie!

Despite being a cross between a rip off of Godzilla, War of the Worlds, and Alien / Aliens, Cloverfield (whatever that refers to) sort of had an interesting approach: make the viewer feel like they're along for the ride. Unfortunately the execution was horrible.

I've always hated this "shaky cam" approach to TV and film that's become a fad in the last 15 years or so. Although some of my favourite TV shows and movies have been filmed using this approach, I totally despise it. What is wrong with mounting the damn camera? People are going to look back in 20 or 30 years and roll their eyes at this idiotic fad. Was it supposed to make us feel like we're there, in the scene? It doesn't.

Well anyway, someone told the makers of this movie that people love shaky cam. In fact, they love it so much so that they want to see the effect put on steroids! And so we're treated with two hours of the camera bouncing up and down and zooming in and out of focus on random things. It's an abuse, not only on the eyes, but to all the senses.

If that weren't bad enough, the first 20 minutes or so of the film is just a party where a bunch of twenty-something hipsters babble on about the usual twenty-something he said, she said nonsense while looking at their phones and nursing their beers. This is what passes for character development. For me, it was about as exciting as watching a dog lick itself where the sun don't shine... on shaky cam!

After the monster is introduced into the movie... I don't know 30 minutes into the film... we follow Rob around town. Rob is apparently some genius who makes the world go round, because all we hear about throughout the film is "where's Rob", "what does Rob think?", "what's Rob doing?", "Hey, Rob!", "Rob!", "Rob!" Not since Mary Tyler Moore in the Dick Van Dyke Show have I heard someone say "Rob" that many times on screen.

Unfortunately Rob's an idiot. He decides to go against conventional wisdom (i.e. to get out of town) and instead goes marching straight into the carnage. His friends, who follow this guy around like David Koresh, go with him on his merry adventure to an early grave. When the group finally stumbles upon the military, the military allows them to leave the secure zone and go back onto the streets! Why? Glad you asked! In order to climb to the top of a skyscraper that's on fire and has fallen over and is now leaning against another skyscraper. Apparently these folks didn't watch "The Towering Inferno".

The cover of this Blu Ray had quotes like "Terrifying!" I think it should have had quotes like "Stupid!" or "Absolutely makes no sense!" Had I been at the theatre, I would have walked out. I couldn't have cared less about any of these people or their white upper-class, privileged, yuppie interpersonal drama.

The number one problem with this movie was the camera gimmick. It was like watching unedited vacation footage shot by a five year old on a Sony Handycam. NEVER again will I sit through a movie shot like this. The second problem was the characters and dialogue, or lack there of. I can live with the fact that the plot makes no sense and the film really has no point, but the former ruins what little redeeming qualities this thing has left.

I'll be generous and give it 4/10 for a twist on the themes it ripped off, but I don't think I could sit through a second viewing. All in all this film seems to be a marketing gimmick, rather than an original contribution to the science fiction genre.

I just finished watching Oblivion, and once again, the ratings and reviews were mostly unhelpful. This seems to be a growing trend here. Movies have actually been getting better in the last half decade and yet audiences are getting more cynical. Oblivion is so much better than the 7/10 it's currently rated at on IMDb. Yes, there are some familiar ideas contained within the plot, but it definitely stands on its own, and the film is a visual masterpiece that keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Oblivion is better than all the modern Star Wars movies put together. I don't know what it takes to satisfy people, because I don't know how anyone can walk away from this film without feeling thoroughly entertained.

This film is truly underrated. I loved every minute and thought it was very inspirational and upbeat. There also aren't too many movies like The Walk, so it's unique and refreshing to watch. It tells the story of how Philippe got started with his high wire act, right up to the big event at the twin towers. The 3D effects are spectacular, so I highly recommend watching it in 3D (if possible) and on the biggest screen you can find.

Robert did a great job showing the World Trade Towers in all their glory. My dad actually thought they used the real towers in the film (he asked me "how did they get that footage!?"), so it goes without saying the CGI is really well done. But I must admit, it was hard to not get a little emotional seeing the towers again.

Easily a solid 10/10 and great family movie night experience.

This show fails to capture the era on so many levels. Mad Men, although not perfect in this regards, does a much, much better job with the styles, culture, etc. of the period. With Aquarius, they barely even made an effort to get the clothes, hair, furniture, etc. to look like the 60s. In fact, it looks more like 1997 than 1967.

Completely sloppy and uninspiring. It's like no one bothered to grow their hair out from the current 21st century styles because they never expected the series to get picked up. "Ah, just throw in a bunch of overused, cliché 60s hits. The millennials will never know the difference!"

I loved Californication, except for the seventh season, which I'd like to forget ever existed. Don't even get me started on that stinker! But Californication was unique... a bit of low-brow adult fun.

Aquarius has no raison d'être. I mean why rewrite history when the real events are sensational enough? Last summer I read "Mason: The life and times of Charles Manson." That was a page-turner! There's more than enough interesting material to make a TV series out of. The actor they chose to play Charles Manson just doesn't fit. He needs to conjure up less Ashton Kutcher and more Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys.

I wouldn't say I hate this series, but I could barely get through the pilot. It's too bad, because the concept (i.e. real events) have a lot of potential. A perfect example is the movie "Zodiac". If the writers/producers had created a series like that, it would have been quite captivating. I'll give Aquarius another watch at some point to see if I can get past its flaws, but at the moment I can't rate it more than 3-5/10.

I've been waiting for someone to make a movie like Interstellar for over 25 years. I really enjoyed The Martian; it was certainly better than most "science" fiction movies these days, but it just didn't have that mystery and wonder you feel when watching Interstellar. To be fair, most "science" fiction movies today are rip-offs of Alien(s), Star Wars (i.e. war in space), or pure fantasy (i.e. magic, vampires, ghosts). Very few, if any, deal with exploration of time and space or paradoxes that make the audience think. I loved every moment of Interstellar. It's visually stunning and has so many layers to chew on. I highly recommend watching this on a home theatre projector with surround sound and sub-woofer. It looks phenomenal on a big screen. Without a doubt, this movie is a solid 10/10. It might sound like a cliché, but I'd have to say this is now my favourite movie (and I'm a film buff). Interstellar belongs in the top 10 of the IMDb.

I'll keep this review short. If you like Goodfellas, Casino, American Gangster, Donnie Brasco, and Blow, then you're going to love Black Mass. In terms of style and direction, it feels a lot like American Gangster with shades of Donnie Brasco. Black Mass is by far the darkest of the aforementioned movies -- it makes The Sopranos look like The Simpsons -- but Johnny Depp proves once again he's one of the most talented and versatile actors alive. His portrayal of Whitey is downright scary and deserves an Oscar.

Now, I've got to say the critical reviews below are ridiculous. I'm reading comments like this movie doesn't bring anything new to the genre of gangster movies. By that logic no movies should have been made after The Godfather or The Goodfellas. This is a true story about Irish gangsters in Boston who colluded with the FBI during the 1970s and 80s. These are scary, unlikable people -- you know, like cold blooded killers actually are. If you want realism, and you're not squeamish, then this film delivers. A solid 10/10

I can't understand how The League made it past the pilot. It's got to be the most infantile, unfunny show I've ever seen. I love It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, with its crazy episodes: the U-Haul road trip, the Mexican home makeover, the P Diddy shrimping boat. That show can be low-brow and far out, but it's extremely well done and the cast is excellent.

The League is clearly a cash grab to capitalize on / ride the coat-tails of Philadelphia's success. Unfortunately, it fails at everything. The characters aren't only unlikable; they're extremely abrasive, especially Ruxin! The jokes are all immature bathroom humor and sexual innuendos even a high school student would cringe at, and they come at you one after another in rapid fire. If you've got nothing to offer, then I guess you hit the audience with as much shock value as you can and hope that something sticks.

A woman sitting in a high-end restaurant shouting shouting about her p-word isn't funny. Neither is coming up with stupid catch- phrases like "vaginal hubris" or "Eskimo brothers." These people are supposed to be lawyers and plastic surgeons? Where did they graduate from, the University of Beavis and Butthead?

Perhaps making a comedy about sports isn't easy, since football seems to be just a backdrop in the episodes I've watched so far. I don't consider myself prudish or easily offended, but this show rubs me the wrong way. The writers probably thought they'd struck gold when they came up with the idea for the "I shaved my ****s for this?" t-shirt, which was displayed proudly in one of the early episodes. Immature and abrasive shock humor is really the only way to describe this train wreck.

I'm kind of concerned that A) this show has lasted for so many seasons and B) it has a pretty high rating on the IMDb. This doesn't say much for the taste or maturity level of our society. I think we're definitely regressing. Is it the state of the education system? I don't know, but I can only hope this doesn't represent the average football fan.

I'm only on disc one but already I've seen enough. This is NOT The Bourne Identity, Syriana, or Spy Game. The writing is embarrassingly bad, with all the clichés and nonsensical plot twists you'd expect from a group of high school students. Even Michael Bay would cringe.

Let's go through just a few of the ridiculous aspects of the show...

First, we've got a government agency whose headquarters resemble something out of a Marvel comic book. There's all kinds of funky, hipster lighting, redundant glass/metal wall panels, and giant computer screens everywhere. The best way to describe it is Bat Cave meets star-ship Enterprise. More like a futuristic Starbucks than any government or corporate building I've ever seen.

People wander in and out like there's no security, and they have computer technology that hasn't even been invented. If the government had a fraction of this technology, we'd be colonizing Mars by now. And these government agents have no moral quandaries exploiting this technology for personal use.

Your daughter ran away? No problem. Don't bother calling the police. Just punch in her phone number and the "Bat Computer" will spit out all her email passwords!

Now if your teenage daughter just ran off to meet some college boys, would you

A) wait for her to come home and then punish her

B) call the police and let them know you're concerned your daughter might be in trouble

or

C) shred the constitution and exploit government resources to hack her computer, follow her to the furniture store that she broke into, and then proceed to enter the building and clean up the mess she made (i.e. a crime scene) at 1:30 in the morning -- without ever notifying the police.

And who starts off a crime spree by breaking into the furniture store they work at just so they can dance on a table top before leaving the premises with the lights on and the car parked outside??? And if you're going to kidnap someone it might be a good idea to tie them up first. Just saying.

We've got government agents who murder and plot against each other, hack civilian computer systems, break into private property (without warrants), and carry guns with silencers... to protect us. Yes, you read that right: government agents who use silencers! Because you never know when you're going to have to quietly whack someone.

So the entire first season revolves around an assassination plot. Do they notify the politician and his staff right away? No, Jack is too busy making personal calls to his wife and trying to foil some convoluted interoffice corruption plot.

We're told the assassin is flying in from Germany. We then cut to a scene on the plane where a shifty German "photographer" is asking how soon they'll be landing in LA because he has to meet with this politician today to "take photographs." Ohhh he MUST be the assassin, right!?!? Wrong!!! The clever writers throw a plot twist at you. It's not the photographer after all, but rather the pretty young woman sitting next to him. Oh these writers are crafty!

The young woman seduces him in order to steal his press pass (her partner has surgically altered himself to look like the photographer). She then blows up the plane and parachutes into the Mojave desert where her colleagues have no problem locating her right away. Why she couldn't just land at the airport is beyond me. And what good is the press pass of a dead photographer?

I'm truly amazed and baffled at how this show got such critical acclaim. I know taste is subjective, but I wonder about the intelligence of anyone who thinks this is one of the "best shows ever written." As PT Barnum supposedly once said, "Nobody ever lost a dollar by underestimating the taste of the American public."

UPDATE:

I wrote this review after seeing only two episodes. I've since completed the first disc, and wow what a mess! Here's what I've seen since...

• The counter-TERRORISM unit still isn't investigating the terrorist plot. Right now they're focusing on everything BUT the terrorists.

• The SAME day the politician learns of the assassination plot against him he also learns his son once threw the guy who raped his sister off a building. Okay, is this subplot REALLY necessary??

• The police eventually make an appearance, but they're unbelievably incompetent caricatures. One cop shows up and starts helping Jack chase a "bad guy" even though she (the cop) has never heard of CTU. She just takes Jack's word that he has some special authority to chase people with a gun.

• The frat boy kidnappers in the inconspicuous purple Scooby-Doo van (with the neon license plate holder) apparently had masking tape and a gun all along, but it took them until the fourth episode to tie the girl up! In the third episode they left the girls in the van unrestrained with the door open.

• The terrorists are the most disorganized criminals imaginable. But what makes no sense is how the sniper is waiting on the hillside when they go to retrieve the ID. If only the two female terrorists know the location, how could the male terrorist know where to position the sniper ahead of time?

Did anyone read the script before they started filming? It's impossible to put into words how bad this show is. I think the real-time concept, coupled with total amateur writers, killed any potential the show had. In order to keep the action going in "real-time" they had to invent all kinds of wild tangents and subplots to justify such a rapid pace.

The only positive thing is it makes great material for a myst3k night. At least then you won't mind the ticker counting away the time wasted on this mess.

I bought all seven seasons on DVD because my coworkers raved about how funny this show is. OK, I wasn't impressed with the pilot, and now that I'm on season three, I can say without a doubt that this rehash of old ideas doesn't get any funnier. In fact, I have yet to laugh at a single joke.

To be fair, if they got rid of Ted (fiery car crash, anyone?) and canned the writers, the rest of the cast might have potential. Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Segel, and Alyson Hannigan are certainly knocking themselves out. But let's deal with what we've got, rather than what it could be.

What we have is clearly a rip-off of Friends, among other shows. "Vomit free since '93"? Seinfeld. Pretending to be a tourist in your home town in order to pick up women? Seinfeld again. And the moustache fetish/attraction from the tattoo removal episode? Threes Company. I could go on.

And speaking of the tattoo removal episode... Seriously, it takes the doctor TEN weeks to tell Ted the reason she won't date him is because she has a daughter and thus devotes all her time to her child. Who writes this nonsense? A normal adult would just tell the guy the reason in the first place... But then that wouldn't open up the situation for all kinds of hilarious hi-jinx, now would it, kids?

These so-called "adults" live a goofy, adolescent lifestyle, like no university graduate I've ever met. It's almost like a 14-year-old girl's fantasy of what awaits her after she graduates high school. I'm actually embarrassed for the writers and embarrassed to be watching this show in my early 30s. At least the twenty-something characters on Friends acted like adults with real careers.

Which brings me to Ted, who is perhaps the most annoying main character in modern sitcom history. I can't stand him! What twenty-something male spends all of his time obsessing about getting married -- especially when he hasn't even met Ms. Right yet??? And surprise, all the women on the show are attracted to him, like he's Brad Pitt. In fact, all the girls in the bar look like models and are one-dimensional air-heads who ALWAYS instantly fall for our overly-nice drip of a main character.

Barney: "Have you met Ted?" Perfect-ten female with googly eyes *falling all over herself*: "Hiiiii Ted!"

Speaking of annoying, the limo/cab driver with his stupid fruity smile and "Helloooooooo!" catch-phrase makes me want to join a fight club. Apparently there's only one cab driver in this juvenile fantasy version of New York city.

Add to this the endless flash-backs-within-flash-backs, and you've got the most pretentious recycled garbage that ever survived a pilot episode. Make no mistake, this "romantic" (read cornball) comedy may have fooled some of the less mature viewing audience -- those who are too young to have seen good comedy -- but this will NOT stand the test of time. I hope the writers and producers are enjoying the money while it lasts. I sure as heck will avoid any turkey their names are attached to from now on.

In closing, if you're checking this show out for the first time, I recommend watching the episode "Dowisetrepla" with all of its "is what I should have said" and it's "is what I did say." If you find that hilarious, then this show is definitely for you. Enough said.

First off, I'd like to say that this is a decent movie, but those who go in expecting something along the lines of Syriana, Munich, or Spy Game will likely be very disappointed. This film is actually much closer to Donnie Brasco, but not nearly as good. In Breach, the "how" and "why" are never explained. If you want to know the answers to those questions, then you're probably better off getting a book on the subject because they won't be answered here. In fact, the movie begins only months before he is captured, and no Russian contacts are ever seen. One major problem I had was that Mr. Hanssen is portrayed as a two-dimensional villain. This is partly due to the failure to explain *why* he did it. He appears almost comically evil, while the executed Russian KGB defectors are implicitly regarded as the unfortunate good guys. However, reality is never black-and-white. Yes, what he did was terrible, but the Russians would regard their defectors as the evil ones and Mr. Hanssen as the good guy. Again, I'm not condoning what he did, but I think the writer/director should have been more impartial in their portrayal or Mr. Hanssen because the real story is certainly more complicated than is shown here. 3.5/5

This review is for those of you who have not seen this movie yet. Please, please, read it all! You may thank me, you may not. I'm not here to change the minds of those who think this is "the" gospel of movie telling. I made the mistake of buying the dvd before I had seen the movie because (A) the movie had amazing reviews on here and (B) it was only $12 brand new!

After watching Requiem for a Dream, Spun, Traffic, and The Basketball Diaries, I can safely say that this was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I will first review this by comparing it to the latter films.

I acknowledge that alot of the techniques/effects in Spun were ripped-off from this movie, however after viewing both I find Spun to be [oddly] more disturbing than this movie [even though Spun is supposed to be somewhat satirical], and thus Spun does what it set out to do: show you 3 days in the life of a driver of a meth cook. Neither films are really worth seeing but I give Spun credit for making me cringe at the thought of drugs.

Traffic doesn't quite belong in this review, although in the drug genre and a great movie, it's more crime-drama and has a documentary-style-feel.

OK, now people seem to act like Requiem for a Dream, a movie about New York heroin addicts, has never been done before. Ha!!! Guess again, it has been done and 1,000,000 times better! If all the Leonardo DiCaprio haters can get over that hate for just 102 minutes, you'll see what Requiem should have been, plus it's based on a novel, which is based on the true life of Jim Carroll. It's one of my favorite movies of all time.

As for Requiem...

[Possible spoilers coming]

It is hard to comment on the plot itself. What's the point of the movie? To tell you drugs are bad... but with unbelievable outcomes? It's a film that's more concerned with artful direction than content. Is Ellen Burstyn a good actor? Yes, but her character is too dimwitted to be believable. Secondly the mother starts using drugs after the son does. My guess from the movie trailer was: mom's a speed freak and her son picks up this behavior from exposure to it. Like a child raised in a bad environment is likely to pick up the same bad habits. Or monkey-see monkey-do, as is the case often in real life... Not so in this plot.

The <>fictional<> plot is mostly about 2 friends and a girlfriend running around trying to get a fix during a time when smack in New York is in shortage...haha ya right! Except its choppy and 90% of the footage is just scenes of people laying around in their apartment strung out, complaining and scheming.

The most coherently told story is that of the dimwitted mother, who receives a call out of the blue that she's going to be a contestant on a game show even though she never applied to be one. So she starts using speed to fit into a red dress to look good on the show, which was a prank call or something?

What's the final result? Mom ends up in a mental ward having shock therapy, son ends up in a hospital, having his arm amputated by doctors [in the most blood-splattering fashion, the likes we haven't seen since the chainsaw scene in Scarface] from an infection stemming from needle injections, friend ends up in jail, and girlfriend ends up doing dirty deeds in a gentlemen's' club. So this is reality? This movie is realistic? I think not.

If you want to see realistic and you are mature enough that you can do without jumping refrigerators with mouths, dildos, and blood-splattering amputations folks, Requiem has it all!], please watch The Basketball Diaries.

The end.