lbuttny
Lifetime Total
1+
IMDb Member
12 years
Reviews
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Is the director trying to actively sabotage this series?
I'd like to preface my review with this: I was a massive fan of the first two movies in the series. The action, the witty dialogue, and the music all made for two incredibly enjoyable movies. Did you have to suspend belief at times? Sure. But overall they were well-done and you felt like you got your money's worth.
Now, this film was an utter abortion. It was the equivalent of Fast and Furious in space. The plot felt like it was drawn up on a napkin. So much was left unexplained or didn't make sense to begin with. The main villain's character was so poorly written that it honestly makes me question if the writers let their kids handle his backstory and dialogue. They never even explained where he got such a large following and fleet of ships!! I could drone on for hours about the rest of the plot holes, but if you want to waste your time, go see the movie.
As for the action scenes, I felt like the producers think that the more clutter you fill the scene with, the better it is. Are starships now indestructible? Why was gravity constantly ignored? Larger scale does not equal better action!
Seriously, there is nothing redeeming about this movie. Go rewatch the first two and pretend this never happened. Call a loved one. Or an in-law. At the very least, don't go anywhere near the movie theatre, and maybe we can convince Justin Lin and his entourage to go take their "talents" elsewhere. Like a local high school play. Although I have no doubt that they would ruin that, too.
Now, this film was an utter abortion. It was the equivalent of Fast and Furious in space. The plot felt like it was drawn up on a napkin. So much was left unexplained or didn't make sense to begin with. The main villain's character was so poorly written that it honestly makes me question if the writers let their kids handle his backstory and dialogue. They never even explained where he got such a large following and fleet of ships!! I could drone on for hours about the rest of the plot holes, but if you want to waste your time, go see the movie.
As for the action scenes, I felt like the producers think that the more clutter you fill the scene with, the better it is. Are starships now indestructible? Why was gravity constantly ignored? Larger scale does not equal better action!
Seriously, there is nothing redeeming about this movie. Go rewatch the first two and pretend this never happened. Call a loved one. Or an in-law. At the very least, don't go anywhere near the movie theatre, and maybe we can convince Justin Lin and his entourage to go take their "talents" elsewhere. Like a local high school play. Although I have no doubt that they would ruin that, too.
Elysium (2013)
Elysium gets worse and worse the more I reflect on it...
This movie was such a colossal failure on so many levels. I don't usually write reviews for movies, but this monstrosity was so atrocious that I felt compelled to warn unsuspecting potential viewers of the steaming pile of sewage that is referred to as "Elysium".
Where to start
First off, the plot was a laughingstock. Even if you can ignore the choppy camera-work that looks like the doings of a toddler with a buffed up camera, there's no ignoring the plot. Some examples of the numerous holes in the plot 1) Apparently, if a grenade gets blown up inches from your head, your brain is still intact and it can be repaired at Elysium. 2) If Carlyle could make the code to make Jodie Foster president, then why didn't he just make himself president or give himself all the power, by implementing the code himself or subtly adding a nuance in there? Not the sharpest tool in the shed. 3) Where are all the satellites to help track down Matt Damon while he is fleeing the villains? It seems some of the technology 100+ years in the future has actually regressed. 4) If the medical terminals can literally give a person a new head, through repairing a "brain", why can't they disable the sociopathic tendencies of characters like Jodie Foster on Elysium? Once again, only certain technology has evolved for the director's benefit. 5) In order to let one spaceship enter Elysium, you must allow all spaceships to enter too by taking down the no-fly zone. That makes total sense. 6) Last but certainly not least: the ending. Apparently everyone is going to live happily ever after on Elysium now? Every rich person on Elysium just wanted all those poor people on earth to suffer! But now the world is sugar plums and everyone lives happily! Yay!
Secondly, there was never any point in the film in which I felt connected to the characters in any matter. Why was this? Well, none of them had any depth. The dialogue was one cliché after another. The primary villain in the story appears to have some sort of speech impediment, because for most of the movie he is inaudible. A well-told story will also have a villain that has deeper complexities as to his/her background and motives. This character was just a bumbling moron. Matt Damon and Jodie Foster did the best that they could, but their scripts were so poor that it would have been more interesting had they been reading off the menu at a local Olive Garden. The exchange regarding the hippo between Damon and the little girl that is dying of seizures had me cringing in my seat at the awkwardness of the whole matter. I should have walked out then and there.
Also, why was the best look we ever got of Elysium one where we saw a few trees and a woman swimming in a pool? Would looking at the inner workings of the politics and lifestyle on Elysium simply have exposed this film for the fraud that it is? I'm not going to go too deeply into the themes of the movie, as everyone has their own opinions, but it doesn't take much to realize the hidden (and rather misguided, imo) opinion of the director in this one. The message was about as subtle as receiving a ton of bricks to the head. View at your own risk for your blood pressure will likely rise after watching this one, as it objectively is a pathetic disgrace of a film.
Where to start
First off, the plot was a laughingstock. Even if you can ignore the choppy camera-work that looks like the doings of a toddler with a buffed up camera, there's no ignoring the plot. Some examples of the numerous holes in the plot 1) Apparently, if a grenade gets blown up inches from your head, your brain is still intact and it can be repaired at Elysium. 2) If Carlyle could make the code to make Jodie Foster president, then why didn't he just make himself president or give himself all the power, by implementing the code himself or subtly adding a nuance in there? Not the sharpest tool in the shed. 3) Where are all the satellites to help track down Matt Damon while he is fleeing the villains? It seems some of the technology 100+ years in the future has actually regressed. 4) If the medical terminals can literally give a person a new head, through repairing a "brain", why can't they disable the sociopathic tendencies of characters like Jodie Foster on Elysium? Once again, only certain technology has evolved for the director's benefit. 5) In order to let one spaceship enter Elysium, you must allow all spaceships to enter too by taking down the no-fly zone. That makes total sense. 6) Last but certainly not least: the ending. Apparently everyone is going to live happily ever after on Elysium now? Every rich person on Elysium just wanted all those poor people on earth to suffer! But now the world is sugar plums and everyone lives happily! Yay!
Secondly, there was never any point in the film in which I felt connected to the characters in any matter. Why was this? Well, none of them had any depth. The dialogue was one cliché after another. The primary villain in the story appears to have some sort of speech impediment, because for most of the movie he is inaudible. A well-told story will also have a villain that has deeper complexities as to his/her background and motives. This character was just a bumbling moron. Matt Damon and Jodie Foster did the best that they could, but their scripts were so poor that it would have been more interesting had they been reading off the menu at a local Olive Garden. The exchange regarding the hippo between Damon and the little girl that is dying of seizures had me cringing in my seat at the awkwardness of the whole matter. I should have walked out then and there.
Also, why was the best look we ever got of Elysium one where we saw a few trees and a woman swimming in a pool? Would looking at the inner workings of the politics and lifestyle on Elysium simply have exposed this film for the fraud that it is? I'm not going to go too deeply into the themes of the movie, as everyone has their own opinions, but it doesn't take much to realize the hidden (and rather misguided, imo) opinion of the director in this one. The message was about as subtle as receiving a ton of bricks to the head. View at your own risk for your blood pressure will likely rise after watching this one, as it objectively is a pathetic disgrace of a film.