tobiwalker

I just saw this movie for the second time and liked it even more.

I'm familiar with both Austen and Romero, and found this mash-up hilarious, both book and film.

If zombie comedy tickles you, this will hit the spot, and if you're familiar with the inspiration, even better.

I have to disagree with another reviewer -- if I were going to teach Jane Austen to high schoolers, I'd start with this movie, have them read the book and then re-watch the film (or suggest they read the book it's based on). There are so many issues to explore in the film beyond the manners and mores of Austen's book, from the geography of Southern England to the pros and cons of various Asian martial arts.

Editing gets choppy toward the end and the sisters never really distinguish themselves as individuals, Matt Smith is very funny as the pathetic suitor and I could look at Douglas Booth all day.

Everything about this little film is predictable but lovingly created. I'm in my sixties, so the goth culture is something I know about only tangentially, but really, it's just dressing for a classic story of teen heartbreak. The movie was made in Portland, Oregon (which I like because I live there) and nicely shot. The number of women involved in the production is exciting. All the actors acquit themselves well.

It's delightful seeing a young woman explore who she is and come away with knowledge of herself after not too much damage. I think girls ages 12-15 would enjoy this film, and I'll give a fond wave to Hot Topic when next I visit the mall.

As an adult who enjoyed the movies enough to read the books, I knew that the author, Rick Riordan, was disappointed with the way the movies represented his books. This series was supposed to be his attempt to do an adaptation that pleased him. I'm assuming he had plenty of input into this limp, lackluster series and that Disney did its best to put what he wanted on the screen.

The boys play their angst-ridden characters acceptably but the young actress playing Annabeth makes her so unpleasant I can't understand why she's been brought along. I've gotten through six episodes and am going to abandon the quest and go home. The CGI effects are great -- it's too bad the storytelling doesn't live up to them.

British trials aren't live-streamed as are American trials so I have no idea of what goes on in a British courtroom, English or Scottish, and I can't know whether the representations in this series are accurate or cartoonish; but I do watch a lot of American trials and I can see how lack of evidence leads to failure to reach justice for heinous crimes. This show is not inaccurate in that regard. How I wish we Americans had the option of the Scottish "Not Proven" verdict!

Nor is it inaccurate as to the behavior of a sociopath, though I doubt anybody thought to be so dangerous as Liam Foyle would be allowed to throw a threatening temper tantrum in an American lawyer's office without the cops being called, charges filed, and the publicly-appointed lawyers asking to be removed from the case.

The show's message is that little details matter even as they leave out much that would make it more realistic. That the messenger is David Tennant is the cherry on top, watching him makes me wish the series had been given the additional episodes they would have needed to properly flesh out the story.

Obviously formulaic with a trite, derivative plot. Effects were fairly decent (ships but no aliens) and writing was predictable but I was impressed by the acting which, especially by the kids, was pretty good. As someone at an age where I don't keep up with tech I love seeing the kids save the day with their superior computer skills. Now if only they'd come and show me how to use my smartphone! A bit of plot to fil out the review -- the president, his son and brother turn fighting an alien invasion into a family affair with the help of a couple local computer whizzes. I like alien invasion movies and this one was not a waste of time at all.

All of us dog people believe our puppers have super powers but A-X-L really does. The characters are stock good or bad teens and evil scientists but the robot dog truly captures the nature of dogginess. I wouldn't know motocross from hot cross buns but as an adult I really loved the portrayal of A-X-L, who was competently created with a mixture of puppetry, special effects and per the credits a "man in suit!" There's no offensive cursing or bloody bits in this movie, just teen bullying that's clearly bad behavior. I think kids would really like this film and of course so would a dog lover. Who wouldn't want a robot dog?

I am so totally not the audience for this show, I'm not a kid and haven't watched any of the precedents. I'm just watching it because I subscribe to Disney Plus, it isn't about punching people and I thought the premise sounded cute. The humor is predictable and snarky but what strikes me most is the art direction -- both costuming and set decoration are just weird. Do kids really dress like that? Why would villains bring abstract art sculptures to Texas? I watch people on sitcoms behave incomprehensibly badly to one another all the time but in this one the writing gives them an excuse to be a-holes, they're villains. Overcoming their villainy could offer a very powerful message to the right group of youngsters but can't they do it without the horribly ugly presentation?

With the gore, I lasted ten minutes. I loved the premise, the humor and the engaging Nicholas Hoult. I did not love the gore. At 67 I'm not the audience for this film, and I should have realized that when I saw the R rating. Now, films can be rated R because they feature ADULT SUBJECT MATERIAL or they can get that rating because they're full of cursing, nudity or, like this one, gore. Obviously there's a market for this -- Peter Jackson tapped into it with his first low-budget feature, "Braindead." George Romero did, too. Here a ton of money was spent on everything and then drowned by buckets of stage blood. Less gore and a PG-13 rating and this movie might have a much wider audience. It has more to offer but it limits itself...

I had a young friend who absolutely adored this group and I never cared to explore why -- the music isn't my cup of Faygo, shall we say. Still, I was aware of the stir the ICP created in the zeitgeist and how loyal their fans were, so was curious to know more. This documentary touched on enough aspects of the ICP experience for me to feel like I understand why they're so meaningful to so many. We meet the men behind the paint, we meet their Juggalo friends and we learn something of the history of the band and their legal troubles. Amazing how seriously government can take what is basically Grand Guignol theater with soda substituting for blood and read it so wrong. . Every musical group should have fans as passionate as Juggalos and obviously the FBI has NO sense of humor and didn't grow up listening to Alice Cooper.

This is one of the most absolutely gorgeous bit of world-making CGI I've ever seen. Not being familiar with the source comic book material, I can't say whether it truly represents it, but on its own I was happily immersed in the worlds. The story was trite and Buck Rogers-ish, the aliens interesting and well-realized but the lead characters were beyond uninspiring. At first I put it down to my own age, that being in my 60s was what led me to see the two leads, Dane DeHaan as Valerian and Cara Delevingne as Laureline, as children. Apparently others feel the same way. It felt like a Disney teen special, like watching middle-schoolers trying to play Shakespeare. They go through the motions and say the words but can we really believe a thirteen-year-old has the depth of Othello?. There's a reason why Han Solo wins Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker doesn't -- Leia is a WOMAN, Han is a MAN and Luke is a BOY (and of course her brother but we don't know that and neither at first does he.). A young Harrison Ford Dehaan is not!

It's been over fifty years since I read the books the film is based on and at first I was hoping that it would capture their whimsy but instead I got butt jokes. The art direction and costumes were fabulous and the CGI work excellent. The voice actors were badly miscast -- an English squirrel speaks with an American accent and so do the African animals. I prefer my films with a PG-13 rating but this gorgeously-mounted production seemed aimed at 4-year-olds. Is a dog scooting his itchy butt across the floor really funny? Do we really need to end the big climactic scene with an enema? Given all the A-listers involved I was hoping for more, but the film was hampered by a foul script. I could hardly bear it.

...this film won't disappoint. There's not much pretense at a real story or any character development but plenty of very stupid people that you don't much care about running and screaming and being eaten along the way. It wasn't too gory, either, which appeals to my inner 8-year-old who's there for the dinosaurs, not the slaughter. The British accents were a nice change for this American and some of the scenery is really unexpected. The movie is derivative and repeats cinematic dinosaur tropes like velociraptors in the kitchen and ripples in a glass indicating the approach of a T Rex but for me, that there even are cinematic dinosaur tropes is magnificent. Who needs a plot when they've got a T Rex?

I don't think I've ever watched an Eddie Murphy movie before but this one was suggested in the comments of a recent New York Times article on George Santos, the New York congressman who scammed his background and used some shady money to get elected to Congress just last November. The director of this movie understood their material perfectly, they've got a background including sharp satire of British government. From the perspective of when I'm writing this, the movie is less of a comedy and more of a horror show. I'd put it into the same category as John Carpenter's "They Live" but perhaps even more chilling for being more realistic. Definitely chilling rather than funny. And absolutely a must-watch if you care at all about the current farce going on in American politics.

This is exactly the kind of show I like -- a little science fiction-y, large prehistoric creatures (although not nearly enough of them), a complicated cast with folks of all ages and no sex or continual fist fighting -- but it feels like the second season just left me hanging. Wikipedia suggests the second season was supposed to consist of 14 episodes but, so far, we've only had 7. Will our heroes return to when and where they need to be to resolve problems? Will they decide to undo the damage caused if it means they must remain in the past? Do I get 7 more episodes? Or am I stuck with an unresolved story, as stuck as I'd be if I'd landed in the actual La Brea Tar Pits?

It took Canadian filmmaker Frederick Kroetsch 10 years to reach his original goal of creating reality TV out of his subject, wrestler Teddy Hart, but when he finally did, the film became as much about Kroetsch's journey as it did Hart's trainwreck life. In my mind, Kroetsch succeeded in telling both fascinating stories and rewarded our patience with that tragic almost-anticipated twist at the end. I know absolutely nothing about wrestling, pro, amateur or otherwise, but it becomes clear that the women in Hart's life are both enablers and victims, often at the same time. I feel sorry for the family legacy Hart shamed, the women he destroyed, I even feel sorry for the cats, but Kroetsch is, I suspect, a better filmmaker and a better man for the experience. It's sad he could not uncover whatever happened to Samantha Fiddler, she and her family deserved better than that arrogant weasel. I'm glad the project finally reached a screen and I enjoyed it very much.

Yes, it has a low budget. Yes, it has stock characters. Some of the actors are better than others and the plot is formulaic -- a old destroyer on its final cruise encounters unexplained events and must rise to the challenge. But this is exactly the sort of movie I like, a conflict with aliens that doesn't involve lots of fist fights, gore or kissy-face. The suspense ramps up throughout and although the climax is predictable, it satisfies. "American Warship" is totally suitable for little kids, a bit gross, a bit scary but full of camaraderie and folks working together to get the job done. Booyah!

I'm always looking for something to watch that's not about smacking folks around or adults making kissy faces and this dog-centric adventure was gentle and mostly focused on the kids and dog. It reminds me of the live-action family entertainment Disney once made.

Filmed on location in Utah, the small town setting and beautiful scenery frame a typical tale of kids solving a mystery. The baddies are caricatures, the kids are formulaic and the dog is cute and well-trained. The mystery is laid out step-by-step so that even younger kids can follow it, and there's nothing in the movie that would offend even the most sensitive grandma.

I found myself wanting more in the series but given that this movie's from 2014, I suspect the kids have grown up and the dog's long-retired. A good watch for the under-10s (and the over 60s!)

If you move past the non-CGI effects, this is a great movie (the effects, for the time, are excellently done.) It wasn't until the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in 1989, 13 years after this movie was made, that we truly demonized oil companies so seeing them so broadly portrayed as villains would have been fresh when this was made. That "Deep Throat" could be a plot point and the ape so non-consensually lascivious is a great reflection of 1976 contemporary culture, when we were less publicly squeamish about sex than we are now. Unlike in the 1933 version, Kong actually gets to stomp some folks on-camera. His brutal death was hard to watch and the human love story ends ambiguously, but of course the true love story was always Kong's.

This film wasn't well-received at the time of its release but I think it deserves to have cult film status even if only for the music. Special effects may have gotten more slick since 1995 but women haven't gotten any sassier. I think today's girls will appreciate this much more than did mid-90s filmgoers.

Monster Trucks starts off full throttle and stays in high gear throughout. This clever film blends an engaging cast and the most endearing creatures since ET in a heart-stopping family adventure that's mostly about love and respect, for the environment and each other. No blood, no guts, no terror, no fist fights, just a feel-good story that lets us root for the underdogs all the way through to the end.

This Australian film is just the kind of film I like, science fiction, alien monsters, real people and a dog. It's a romantic love story about the importance of love and community when times get tough. The violence in it was all appropriate (if sometimes messy) and the message is of hope and perseverance in the most dire circumstances.

Monsters have changed so much since Ray Harryhausen gave us Jason and the Argonauts and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad but the story of the romantic quest is classic and the monsters are so amazing these days. Imaginative, charismatic, well-presented, it reminds me of "Shaun of the Dead" with its relatable characters and humor in desperate situations. There is also a truly excellent dog, a real dog, not a CGI dog but the kind of dog you'd want beside you in dire circumstances and desperate situations.

Michael Rooker is a delight. The music is well-chosen. Some of the scenery is spectacular. The art direction is immaculate. In fact. I see no flaw in this film. I just didn't want to give it a 10 and make the novice director's head swell.

Young people with lives full of the things young people's lives are full of are sent on an adventure that involves science. No fistfights, no blood, just the drama coming from characters attached to one another in a situation they can't resolve. The science is lightly touched upon -- the true plot is how these friends remain friends. A pleasure to watch.

The schtick between Wilder and Mostel is mildly funny but the Springtime for Hitler play buried near the end of the movie is, without a doubt, one of the most hysterically funny things I've ever seen on film. I could live without seeing the rest of the film again -- Springtime for Hitler (and Germany!) I could watch again and again!

I don't usually need a trigger warning for media but for this one I would have liked it. I'd heard great things about this film and looked forward to watching it but after first the coercive rape and then the violent rape of the same woman, I'd had enough. It looked to be a great performance by Vincent Price which I'm sad to have missed.

I absolutely loved this movie. It spoofed both bad science fiction B-movies and Americans, the effects were top notch and the premise original.

As Americans we so rarely get to see ourselves through the eyes of other cultures. The Iron Sky political parodies were as silly as Saturday Night Live, I cracked up when I heard the name of the American star destroyer, because of course, it's bound to happen.

What the Third Reich Nazis did was not funny. If we can find These Fourth Reich Nazis ridiculous, and laugh at them instead of hate and fear them, we'll probably be stronger for it. I think this film would be a great discussion piece for teens, with race, politics, nationalism, and aggression treated as the bad behavior it is. Sometimes we learn more with laughter than lecture?