kademan-40962

The Thing is arguably John Carpenter's greatest film, offering constant tension, thrills, scares, levity, and more, all while truly delivering the ultimate in alien terror.

Where do I even begin? Kurt Russell as R. J. MacReady is awesome, the creature designs are out of this world, the score is haunting, the cinematography is riddled with tension, and it all conjoins perfectly. All the characters individually stand out and the increasing distrust causes great interactions and sequences to take place. The movie may also contain several of the greatest jump scares ever created from how well built up yet surprising they are.

Overall, The Thing is a horrifyingly good film that remains consistently captivating with great unique creature and gore practical effects.

Flight of the Navigator is a very innocent and fun film, offering a simple adventure with an entertaining cast and cool practical effects.

Such a good movie, the first half hour with the kid trying to figure out what the hell is going on is such a genuinely confusing and scary process to watch unfold, the second act is drawn out, yet consistently fun, and the last ten minutes are kinda rushed but still good. The score is fun, the ship interior is incredibly designed, and Max is a very funny computer voiced by Paul Reubens. Joey Cramer is pretty decent as David, able to sell the terror in the first half and over-excitement in the second half. The family are pretty quick to adapt to David's situation, but it's fine because this movie isn't meant to be pulled apart and taken seriously.

Overall, aside from a few minor thoughts regarding the pacing and a somewhat convenient ending, Flight of the Navigator is a fun family film that will leave you feeling good.

Shaun of the Dead is a hilarious zombie comedy that has quick wit balanced with genuine horror, making an extremely entertaining and rewatchable experience.

It's a perfectly subtle film in regular repetitions of dialogue and actions, repurposing and providing new context to fit the situation. The jokes are lightning fast and some could go unnoticed at first due to much deadpan delivery. The choice to establish the outbreak as a background plot is comically innovative. The writing is on another level in terms of foreshadowing, with several early interactions setting up future events in unexpected fashion. The movie portraying flesh-devouring corpses as a threat without forgetting how to have a laugh too is fantastically balanced. The editing is just as electric as the writing, and the soundtrack is effectively mundane at the start and more lively as the infection erupts. The relationships between the characters are compelling and never come off as overbearing on the story, and the actors each play their characters to perfection.

Overall, a great comedy-horror with an even balance between tones. Infinitely rewatchable and endlessly entertaining.

Finding Nemo is an entertaining, funny, and emotional movie about the fears of parenthood, surrounded in gorgeous visuals, a great score, and a fantastic voice cast.

This movie finds a nice balance between the importance of caution and risk-taking, showing several scenes that prove each perspective right, and they all come to the same conclusion in highlighting the importance of a sense for adventure. The darker tone present with Marlin is handled maturely yet subtly, as he learns to let go of past trauma and relax as well as overcoming his fears for the sake of his son. Dory is perfectly simple-minded, but not dumb by any means. Nemo undergoes the 'kid learns to appreciate his parent'arc and although it is very familiar, it's handled so maturely yet subtly. In fact, the best part about this family film is how subtle the character arcs are, making the movie so much more vibrant and fun for all ages. It's very well paced between cutting back and forth from Marlin to Nemo, and the supporting characters from Bruce to the seagulls are all so entertainingly funny. The animation captures the shimmer of under the sea like nearly nothing else has, and then fills it with such detail and life from the Great Barrier Reef sequences to the deep blue sea with nothing but tiny floating particles.

Overall, a perfect Pixar experience with lessons to adults and children coated in funny and/or genuinely thrilling ways. The dentist jokes crack me up too.

Waterworld is an entertaining swashbuckling adventure movie set in a waterlogged apocalyptic future that manages to juggle being fun and suspenseful.

This movie is big, really big. The practical sets, costumes, props, and most notably the stunts are all incredible to witness. Lots went into filling out what this world looked like and it all pays off. Kevin Costner as the Mariner is the typical reluctant anti-hero, and it works well. Tina Majorino is great as the young and innocent child character of Enola, and Dennis Hopper is delightfully menacing as Deacon. The story is the familiar "grizzled protagonist takes a kid from point A to point B", but it's executed in a way that makes it feel somewhat fresh and different enough.

On the other hand, the plot becomes a bit reliant on a typical cliché every now and again. Jeanne Tripplehorn as Helen was good, but came off as either two-dimensional or as a forced love interest. Due to the heavy use of practical effects, the occasional uses of CGI are very noticeable. But none of this was to an extent that stops you from enjoying the movie all together.

Overall, Waterworld was a very enjoyable movie with a good cast of characters, often predictable plot, and a great premise and setting.

Ghosts of Mars is an intentionally cheesey action movie from John Carpenter. It is also unfortunately not very good, with questionable acting, special effects, and editing.

Ice Cube's character looks and acts like a dollar store Snake Plissken, and the story feels like it's a more goofy rendition of Escape From LA. I compare it to that movie instead of its predecessor, Escape From New York, because Carpenter seemed he didn't quite know what to do with this movie, similarly to Escape From LA. To the movie's credit, the score feels so different from most of Carpenter's music, which is interesting for him coming out of his comfort zone. The set pieces on Mars are impressively detailed, and the costume and makeup for the possessed antagonists are relatively creepy too.

However, the action tends to just come up spontaneously and stupidly, backed up with poorly delivered 'witty' dialogue. The story has lots of poor decisions made by characters, but if the movie was made to be intentionally cheesey then I don't know if that was on purpose or not either. Natasha Henstridge was not a strong lead, being greatly uninteresting and equally overshadowed by Ice Cube. Speaking of, Ice Cube knows exactly what kind of movie he's in, and absolutely carries what the intentional tone was perfectly. I do not understand what the thought process was behind Jason Statham's character, but it was confusing to watch anyone interact with him. Also, the editing was a weird thing to experience, being a distracting conglomeration of fades, wipes, and regular old cuts, making a queezy and inconsistent experience.

Overall, a movie with a good idea behind it, but failed in its execution of virtually everything about it.

Made up of slapstick humour, raunchy humour, toilet humour, and everything in between, Dumb and Dumber is absolutely, gut-wrenchingly funny.

Road trip comedies tend to be the best kind, giving numerous hilarious circumstances for characters to work through and this movie is no different. Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels prove to be an extremely capable comedic duo, with some of the biggest laughs coming from just their chemistry. The supporting cast are all pretty one note, but none really fall flat or come off as boring. The story, as with most comedies, doesn't matter too much but makes enough sense in the events of the movie. Not one line of dialogue falls flat in this movie. The soundtrack hilariously backs up the scenery with some outlandish songs and a decent score.

I tend to not be the biggest fan of toilet humour and see it as the lowest form of comedy, but somehow the actors just sell it all flawlessly. Also, for some people some aspects may not work for them and other aspects may not work for others.

Overall, Dumb and Dumber is a relentlessly funny movie that will make its audience laugh with its great co-leads and their raw chemistry.

The Cable Guy is an incredibly entertaining movie that only subtly, until the climax, brings to light the dangers regarding the world's ever growing reliance on television entertainment.

The story is genuinely thought-provoking, granted to an extent, making audiences consider how much time they're spending with their TV rather than interacting with everyone else. Jim Carrey is eeriely sinister yet somehow hilarious as the Cable Guy, able to manipulate virtually everyone and everything through his lispy charm and offering of free cable. Matthew Broderick is okay in this, playing the victim character pretty well but sometimes comes off as bored. The B-plot regarding the Sweet brothers was an interesting one, showing how involved the world is willing to be in the lives of people they never met, especially that of celebrities on trial. The jokes and comedic sequences are all top notch, with Carrey providing some of the best combinations of funny dialogue and physical comedy, as he does with most of his roles. The dark nature this movie takes with the Cable Guy's extensive stalking is suitably disturbing and provides hints of legitimate terror throughout. The soundtrack is typically 90s, very good but not all the songs feel like they fit the movie as perfectly as they might have aimed to.

Overall, some really funny stand-out scenes that leave you laughing and put-off at the same time, whilst also informing you that people growing up with television need time apart from it and should only take it in healthy doses.

Lisa Frankenstein is an electrifying throwback to the imperfectly perfect nature of 80s movies, able to provide a relatable protagonist, funny sequences and moments, and a killer story.

Kathryn Newton shines as the titular Lisa, able to go from understandably secluded to outlandishly confident in herself at an otherwise outlandish rate but somehow that makes it work. Carla Gugino and Liza Soberano also provide a hilariously over the top stereotype and a refreshingly grounded performance, respectively. Cole Sprouse gives a really funny performance as The Creature too, providing a lot of physical comedy. The soundtrack compliments the movie wonderfully, and the set design is incredibly practical, both able to be colourful yet suitably eerie at times.

The pacing of Lisa coming out of her shell could be understandably taken as 'too quick', however the establishment of her being secluded due to her past helps support that she had an in-built confidence that was merely hiding rather than not there at all. The movie's darker moments are often very hilariously sudden, but for some people the hilarity might undermine the horror behind it, but I had little-to-no issue with it.

Overall, I found this movie to be a really good dark comedy that kept me entertained from start to finish.

Hit Man is a very average experience with an admittedly entertaining premise, providing few laughs and a sudden love story that hijacks the plot.

This movie's pacing was very uneven, with the first 20 minutes of introductions and little setup not only felt hollow but also like it could've been shortened to 5-10 minutes, and the actual plot doesn't really get going until about 30 minutes in too. Glen Powell gives a pretty good performance of acting dorky and kinda introverted, yet it feels like most of that is because his glasses are doing most of the acting for him. He's able to play a fun variety of hit men, but that isn't really the central focus. Adria Arjona is pretty good at the love interest with what could best be described as innocently dark intentions.

The jokes from many of the side characters didn't really work for me, most notably Gary's two police associates, played by Retta and Sanjay Rao. There seemed to be some kind of underlying message about how we're all capable of change in one way or another, but I feel like that was included to justify the surprisingly dark yet underwhelming ending this movie pulls.

Overall, there's not much to say about Hit Man, aside from being an occasionally darkly humorous and empty movie that you'd put on when you don't want to think too hard.

The Fall Guy is an incredibly funny movie from the consistently entertaining David Leitch, with a great pairing in the form of Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.

The action in this movie is great, featuring great stunt work (both the meta stunts and actual ones), and great choreography. The comedy is mostly inoffensive, but always effective thanks to the chemistry between Gosling and Blunt as well as entertaining supporting cast members such as Winston Duke and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The romance between the leads is compelling and convincing in that 'only in a movie' sort of way. Moreover, the plot is flimsy but strong, in a predictably entertaining sort of way. And the soundtrack hilariously compliments the events taking place, although not always to full effect. The meta approach to movie-making was particularly clever and funny, setting up many cool sequences in the film.

Not many strong criticisms, the KISS song "I Was Made for Lovin' You" is a great song, no doubt about it, but it feels a bit overused by the end. The mixing of the three aforementioned genres doesn't blend perfectly, and instead the movie kinda transitions between being an action-comedy, a romantic-comedy, and an action-romance, the movie feels like it only utilises two at a time and the change is a bit noticeable at times.

Regardless, The Fall Guy is an extremely entertaining yet imperfect movie with much action and laughs to keep audiences invested and a pretty straightforward-yet-twisty story to wrap it all up.

Unfrosted is a waste of an otherwise simple family movie premise, with extended, drawn out jokes and a lightning fast pace that derails the fairly empty story.

In all fairness, the movie appears to be well-meaning, with a clear passion put into the settings, costumes, and aesthetic. Some of the jokes get chuckles, with the biggest laughs coming from the occasional newscaster bits. The over the top nature is tonally inconsistent, but depending on who you are it'll have its moments.

But that's all they are, moments. Because seriously, what a waste of an otherwise relatively stacked cast, comedians ranging from stars like Jerry Seinfeld to pros like Hugh Grant. The celebrity cameos are unnecessary, distracting, and disappointing. The movie's speedy pacing doesn't allow audiences to fully get to know any of the main characters. The story for any comedy doesn't need to matter too much, but the acting doesn't ever really match what it seems to be aiming for. The soundtrack is grossly over the top and dominant over the visuals, engaging the distractions from the movie itself. There are also moments where the movie pokes fun at life in the 60s, such as JFK and the space race, but it feels so out of place and isolated from the rest of the film.

Surrounded by comedians, generating little laughs, an overall fairly unfunny and inoffensive experience that probably had good intentions, but will likely be forgotten by the moment you finish it.

Nic Cage on a plane. A good prisoner, put in the middle with a whole bunch of varying types of very evil prisoners. It's his daughter's birthday, and nothing will make him late.

This movie is seriously, stupidly, spectacularly entertaining, providing a cargo jet's worth of amazing explosions and fiery action, supported by a cast of lethal characters each played by capable actors. Cage brings his usual 110%, this time with a southern-draw that somehow just works. John Malkovich is suitably menacing alongside Ving Rhames and Steve Buscemi, each in their own way of course, and John Cusak does a decent 'good cop' performance as well.

The final act goes on for quite a while, with the adrenaline felt throughout the movie starting to wear a bit thin, but the action is still very well done and consistently fun.

Overall, Con Air is a great Nic Cage action flick, providing lots of tension, one liners, and explosions from start to finish.

Regardless of being considered 'another raunchy rom-com' at face value, beneath it is something truly funny and endearing, with several quirky characters in their pursuits of Mary.

Ben Stiller and Matt Dillon make perfect contrasting leads with two very different approaches in seeing Mary through numerous situations that increase in absurdity and hilarity. Cameron Diaz is perfectly kind as Mary, playing the unaware-but-not-dumb in reaction to the men in her life pining for her. The heart of the story fits very well, portraying the fear of losing your one chance at love and what you'd be willing to do to attain it.

The range of comedy goes from relatable to absurd in a heartbeat, almost always seamlessly, and the final act I feel like couldn've been expanded upon a bit more. The humour probably won't speak to everyone, but I think the raunchy nature really amplifies the movie as a comedy.

But overall, There's Something About Mary is a hilariously heartfelt treat that's sure to make most audiences laugh.

'The Twilight Saga' comes to an end in possibly the most subversively underwhelming way. However, you can't really hold it against this franchise for at least being very consistent with its quality.

This movie is treating its moments of culmination as if it's been highly anticipated when, in actuality, the series has not been building up to the conclusion it reaches, which only happens due to a misunderstanding that's slowly resolved. The CGI baby is freaky, distracting, and just so perplexing that it's best left ignored. Bella apparently has a brain now, and with it a problem with Jacob imprinting on, and therefore protecting, her baby, as she's constantly leaving it in anyone else's protection other than her own. Edward has lost all of his appeal at this point, being left as one of the least compelling characters in this instalment. Carlisle, Alice and Charlie are my personal stand-outs, and are each noticeably absent or sidelined in favour of newer, more uninteresting characters. Michael Sheen's presence is felt more here than in maybe any other instalment, but still so brief that he's hardly all that interesting even though he's supposedly the primary overarching antagonist. The effects, score and camera work are on par with the previous films, which isn't saying much but there's not much else to say.

A suitable end to an overly broody, dramatic franchise, with improved acting compared to the other films, and a resolution that just let's you know it's all over now.

A wedding and a pregnancy, that's all this is. It takes almost two hours, to have a wedding and a pregnancy. Granted, with lame vampires and underwhelming werewolves.

Why oh why does it take a whole two hours to accomplish what happens in this movie? Marriage, pregnancy, consequences, that's basically all that happens, no overarching Michael Sheen in this one to keep it as a somewhat compelling drama. In my eyes, this could've been a wedding montage, a slightly more rushed version of the pregnancy segment of the movie, and combined with a slightly more rushed 'Part 2'. Then you've got a three hour adaptation of Breaking Dawn. It's probably not gonna be much better, but it'll end it all a hell of a lot quicker. The acting has once again improved by a minuscule percentage, Alice, Charlie and Carlisle remain stand-outs. Bella, Edward and Jacob have a much more believable relationship with one another, regardless of the consistently bad dialogue.

Such a shell of a larger story with content that leaves you feeling empty, dreading the conclusion of Breaking Dawn and 'The Twilight Saga' rather than anticipating it.

Twister is a very fun action-thriller movie, giving insight into the adventures of storm chasing with a good emotional plot supporting it.

Always a joy to see the ever-entertaining Bill Paxton, and it was a good change of pace to see him playing the lead straight-man. His chemistry with seemingly everyone is solid gold, this time ranging from Helen Hunt to Philip Seymour Hoffman. The storm sequences build up with great fear, tension, and danger, and the tornado effects hold up well enough that they convince you of what you're watching unfold. Cary Elwes and his storm-chasing crew are portrayed with a mostly realistic competitive manner and make great secondary antagonists to the storms themselves.

The CGI effects are a bit iffy at times, but never take you out of the movie completely. The ADR is sometimes noticeable and distracting when it occurs. The story of Bill sorting his life with Jo and Melissa is good, but relies a bit too much on convenient radios that impossibly pick up on conversations.

Overall, a really fun thriller showcasing the true power storms carry, and the actions and danger that follow.

Heathers was not the typical 'high school comedy with a twist', containing a lot more bite than anticipated and darkly comical context to its plot.

It's performances from the cast are all top notch, creating an uncomfortably comfortable world that only verbally challenges and seeks to prevent further mayhem. The repetitions in the funeral scenes and conversations with parents and teachers get increasingly disturbing. The seemingly unaware humour creates great satire towards the treatment of the connection between high school, hierarchy, and suicide, and Christian Slater and Winona Ryder create a fitting final punchline.

However, the music in the movie feels like it doesn't always perfectly fit what's going on, and feels a bit too over-the-top upbeat. The story takes a while to properly get started, and the pacing is a bit jumbled, but okay overall.

Although a bit more of an acquired taste for some, Heathers is a good dark comedy with some funnily eye-opening moments.

This time, it's original. This time, it's got Edward and Jacob together. This time, it's not as bad as New Moon, but oh my gosh it drags.

After tolerating bad wigs, bad acting, bad writing, and melodramatic, brooding, moody, young adults, now the vampires and werewolves are properly interacting and it's somewhat interesting. Bella's whole plot is deciding who she'll be with for the rest of her life; the technically underage werewolf rebound, or the technically overage vampire poet. For two movies, Bella has unmistakeably chosen Edward, yet now for no real reason other than forced plot drama, she's having trouble deciding. Other than the drama, an underdeveloped sub-plot regarding new vampires raised by Victoria and her deception of one of them is greatly sidelined and really just gives the movie a third act that'll make up for the 'resolution' in the drama. The cinematography merges the filters of the previous two movies fairly well, and the acting seems to slowly be improving with each film.

Overall, another one with another cliffhanger that feels like it's setting up something that isn't nearly as 'cool' as they think it's gonna be.

We're back, and worse than ever before. New Moon is the next chapter and introduces Jacob in a much more significant role than in the first movie, much to my personal chagrin.

Having Edward leave and then literally and figuratively haunt Bella effectively illustrates the worst heartache can be. However Edward's absence in the grand scheme of things ends up having no real consequence for anyone else. Jacob is such a shoehorned rebound it hurts to watch the movie that's trying to convince you he and Edward are equally as appealing to Bella. The introduction of the werewolves was set up in the first one and played out pretty okay in this one. However, their ability to not have their transformation restricted to a full moon and have them be fairly in control of their wolf forms was equally as disappointing as the portrayal of the vampires in this world, with the removal of what makes these creatures truly intriguing. The acting is somewhat better but the dialogue is just as awkward. The cinematography is a lot more steady and the filter is much more vibrant, complementing the new werewolf faction and contrasting the filter of the vampire-lead predecessor. The introduction of the faction led by Michael Sheen was briefly interesting and felt like an actual threat, but wasn't enough to save my opinion of this movie.

Basically the first movie but Jacob is now Edward and its uninteresting werewolves instead of uninteresting vampires, and there's an equally uninteresting cliffhanger that doesn't feel like that much of a cliffhanger.

Twilight is a very moody, atmospheric movie. It's also filled with typical uncompromising young adult drama and rewrites vampires for a different kind of audience.

The filter makes up most of the atmosphere, a lot of the scenes are done with tilts and strange angles that don't do much other than show off how tall Robert Pattinson is compared to Kristen Stewart. A lot of vampire lore gets majorly rewritten or forgotten, with the sun apparently making vampires glimmer rather than burn, they show up in mirrors and photos now, and their emotional lust is significantly stronger than their hunger. The performances are either bad or abstract but I'm gonna safely assume this movie isn't as artsy as it might appear, with acting ranging from wooden to wacky to somewhere strangely in-between. The story is pretty straightforward with such orchestrated drama it feels tailored for its impressionable audience with this outsider who falls for a threatening, brooding, loner that turns out to be apart of a family of semi-friendly vampires.

Overall, it is what it is, and what it is isn't a great movie, however isn't nearly as awful as you'd expect, but so far removed from the typical vampire archetype that it's appeal is a unique taste that isn't for everyone.

30 Days of Night is a great survival horror movie with captivating terror and a consistently tense and isolating atmosphere.

Performances are all really great, with the best coming from leading opposites Josh Hartnett and Danny Huston. Ben Foster, although not as present, makes quite the impression that really kicks off the fear felt throughout the rest of the movie. Huston plays his character in a reserved manner and manages to feel like such an overarching threat across the town. But it's Hartnett who really shines as the protagonist, the cop who's willing to save as many people in his town as he can, and is able to make the tough calls. The score is foreboding enough, but doesn't make too much of an impact until more towards the end. The town itself and some particular overhead shots in the second act really makes the atmosphere, and therefore the movie, work very well.

A few of the townies really felt like individual characters, however there were a few that were given more of a spotlight, yet didn't feel like they were fully fleshed out. But that's a light criticism in an otherwise good film.

Overall, a highly atmospheric and scarily entertaining survival horror movie.

Grown Ups sits squarely in the middle of the road in terms of Adam Sandler's clever and dumb humour. No where near as bad as his worst movies but not even close to his best.

Sandler invites pretty much his entire group of usual suspects and just, hangs out with them for 90 minutes. Kevin James and Chris Rock are pretty funny but I find David Spade and Rob Schnieder actively unfunny. It's hilarious to me how the likes of Salma Hayek and Maya Rudolph are in this as well. The story really only exists to tie everything together and doesn't really matter. All the kids I found ranged from annoying to just plain unfunny.

Some of the comedy works for me, most of it doesn't. The primary amount of laughs comes from the casual and effortless chemistry between the cast members.

Doing seemingly the same thing in a whole new way, and then completely subverting your expectations. This is what's in store in Back to the Future Part II.

This movie is brilliant on almost every level. The way the camera merges the same characters together in the 1955 sequences is mind-blowing to me in just how seemless it feels. The 'older them' makeup is sublime throughout, the fashion representing each timeline is great (although wonderfully weird in the 2015 sequences), and the alternate 1985 sequences are surprisingly dark but still manages to be entertaining. The stand out performance has got to be from Thomas F Wilson, who manages to perfectly play numerous versions of the same character Biff as well as Griff. Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox continue to entertain as Doc and Marty, and the audience is able to get more of how their present day versions of each other get along, compared to the first movie where it was mostly present day Marty and 1955 Doc.

The only thing I can't shake is that I feel like not all the time travel logic is on par with the original movie. There are more rules, some of them make sense, and some others feel like they were made to justify why some events can happen and others can't.

Overall, a perfect follow-up that manages to be nearly as spectacular as its predecessor, that promises to be concluded in an entertaining fashion in Part III.

Men In Black is a greatly clever and funny movie, with aliens going about their everyday lives seemingly like humans, and then the MIB serve as a patrol to stop any suspicious activity.

It's a fantastic concept executed wonderfully and lead by a great duo in the form of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. The camera movement and score keep the anticipation, excitement, and intrigue going, almost never pausing either. The movie cracks at a good fast pace, overwhelming you within the world. The plot is provocative for audiences to consider when it comes to acceptance of what we don't understand, but mostly in humorous doses to keep entertained.

Overall, a really entertaining sci-fi comedy with a different kind of perspective that keeps you laughing and thinking.