akirat-16506
Lifetime Total
5+
IMDb Member
8 years
Reviews
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
A very average action movie with great special effects, but very poor adaption and film.
I saw this at a special screening with press. I went in with very low expectations and it didn't help. The movie at best is a very average action movie with great special effects. But as an adaption and as basic movie it's a complete mess.
The plot of the film is this in short: Nova, the immortal ruler of Zalem, wants Alita heart, which for some reason is lost tech that he must have for reasons not said, and gets a rogues gallery to try to get it from her. Along the way Alita tries to remember her past.
The film doesn't follow though with most of plot points it bring in.
This film is loosely based or really a bad remake of the 90's OVA with scenes made up from looking at the trade paperback covers. The condensed original story of the OVA condensed again and major changes of original story lead the movie in to plot holes that can make you shake your head. This also leads the movie down to little to no cohesion and a shadow of the source.
As an adaption, characters are changed both in age, personality, and there relationships. The characters are here many in name and appearance.
The movie is hung up on Alita's past and showing it. The film is filled with celebrity camos mainly from Robert Rodriguez's other works. They seeming created characters and scenes just to have them.
There some very cringe worthy and cliche dialogue throughout the film.
This quot from major film review sums up the movie well: "Alita: Battle Angel sheds (or ignores?) any need for coherence anywhere except in what's projected up on the screen" I would stress the "ignores coherence"
The movie is PG-13 how they got that is a miracle. It must have skated by the graphic violence under "fantasy."
People can like this for its visual effects and 3D. I can say its probably the best 3D I've seen in a film. But it fails as movie. As adaption it leaves you wanting.
The plot of the film is this in short: Nova, the immortal ruler of Zalem, wants Alita heart, which for some reason is lost tech that he must have for reasons not said, and gets a rogues gallery to try to get it from her. Along the way Alita tries to remember her past.
The film doesn't follow though with most of plot points it bring in.
This film is loosely based or really a bad remake of the 90's OVA with scenes made up from looking at the trade paperback covers. The condensed original story of the OVA condensed again and major changes of original story lead the movie in to plot holes that can make you shake your head. This also leads the movie down to little to no cohesion and a shadow of the source.
As an adaption, characters are changed both in age, personality, and there relationships. The characters are here many in name and appearance.
The movie is hung up on Alita's past and showing it. The film is filled with celebrity camos mainly from Robert Rodriguez's other works. They seeming created characters and scenes just to have them.
There some very cringe worthy and cliche dialogue throughout the film.
This quot from major film review sums up the movie well: "Alita: Battle Angel sheds (or ignores?) any need for coherence anywhere except in what's projected up on the screen" I would stress the "ignores coherence"
The movie is PG-13 how they got that is a miracle. It must have skated by the graphic violence under "fantasy."
People can like this for its visual effects and 3D. I can say its probably the best 3D I've seen in a film. But it fails as movie. As adaption it leaves you wanting.
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Poor movie and even poorer adaptation/remake
As a movie this is just average at best. As adaptation/remake of the 1995 film classic Ghost in the Shell it's incredibly bad. This movie is more of a remake of Robocop than Ghost in the Shell because the story is manly about the main character contemplating who she is or was, essentially origin story with revenge.
It's like writer and director of this movie were given a buzz real of the original films and TV series and just yelled out lets do that. There are lots of nods/Easter eggs to the original films and TV series but the film lacks any understating of plots in them.
The only thing this movie really uses from the original films and TV series are character names, scenes (re-mixed, remade, and out of context) and surprising one musical track from the original film. The movie is slow... pacing is bogged down by many scenes of exposition.
The environment and state of technology in film is more in line with game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. This because cybernetics are still new and society is still on the edge of excepting it, unlike original Ghost in the Shell where cybernetics and full body replacements have been a way of life for decades. The film pounds down that the main character is the first of her kind but in the original was one of many.
There is so much this movie does wrong then right lets just sum it up:
The visuals are not bad but are jarring at times where CG and real sets and people collide. Its not at a level where I would say you could just watch this to just look and the effects. The soundtrack is forgetful and does nothing to drive the story. The story is very basic, uninspired and doesn't challenge the audience to think.
Bottom line if you are in for good cyberpunk movie or a fan of Ghost in the Shell skip this and go watch the original film.
It's like writer and director of this movie were given a buzz real of the original films and TV series and just yelled out lets do that. There are lots of nods/Easter eggs to the original films and TV series but the film lacks any understating of plots in them.
The only thing this movie really uses from the original films and TV series are character names, scenes (re-mixed, remade, and out of context) and surprising one musical track from the original film. The movie is slow... pacing is bogged down by many scenes of exposition.
The environment and state of technology in film is more in line with game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. This because cybernetics are still new and society is still on the edge of excepting it, unlike original Ghost in the Shell where cybernetics and full body replacements have been a way of life for decades. The film pounds down that the main character is the first of her kind but in the original was one of many.
There is so much this movie does wrong then right lets just sum it up:
The visuals are not bad but are jarring at times where CG and real sets and people collide. Its not at a level where I would say you could just watch this to just look and the effects. The soundtrack is forgetful and does nothing to drive the story. The story is very basic, uninspired and doesn't challenge the audience to think.
Bottom line if you are in for good cyberpunk movie or a fan of Ghost in the Shell skip this and go watch the original film.
Momentum (2015)
Momentum – it lacks it
This a basic robbery movie that turns to political intrigue. From the trailer I though I would get a decent action movie. But the movie fails to build any momentum by layout every possible action in front of the viewer. If something is important the camera focus on it which runes any sense of a reveal/tension in later scenes.
One glaring issue is the complete failure of the use of a sound track/score. It should help and lead the audience through the actions on screen and help build moments. But the score is heard throughout the film no matter what is happening. There is no high or lows and very generic. I think there are only a few 15-30 second intervals where music isn't heard. If anything the score takes away from what happing on the screen.
If it weren't for the strong cast this movie would be unwatchable. With some heavy edits to give some sense of tension this movie could have been saved but the ending is left open ended like they planed to have a sequel resolve the political intrigue.
One glaring issue is the complete failure of the use of a sound track/score. It should help and lead the audience through the actions on screen and help build moments. But the score is heard throughout the film no matter what is happening. There is no high or lows and very generic. I think there are only a few 15-30 second intervals where music isn't heard. If anything the score takes away from what happing on the screen.
If it weren't for the strong cast this movie would be unwatchable. With some heavy edits to give some sense of tension this movie could have been saved but the ending is left open ended like they planed to have a sequel resolve the political intrigue.
Fantastic Four (2015)
The Worst of the 4
Ignoring all the drama that movie had with its director and a completely reimagining the origin of the Fantastic Four the movie starts off OK and then moves to complete lunacy.
The first half of the movie is the origin of how the Fantastic Four got their powers and how they learn to deal with them. Then the last half/third is a poorly constructed action sequence to save the world that also introduces a villain.
I think calling what people were doing in this movie as acting is an insult to Actors. If this movie had released before the casing of "Creed" Michael B. Jordan would have never had a chance to read for a part. The last part of the film the Actors seem to lose all interest in the film and appear to be just reading lines aloud.
Tone of movie goes from serious to a bad cartoon show. An example of this is the character "Thing." He is sad and angry most of the film. He has become a killing machine for the government, one scene shows a kill counter of one of his successful missions. But at the end he is happy/friendly and like first part of the film never happened. If the tone and story stayed constant this could have been at least an average movie.
I know from all the drama that was reported on the making of this film that the last half is something that the studio filmed without the director because they disliked his cut of the film.
So it would be great to see a Director's cut and see if what he was trying to do was really that bad. At the very least it could be a more focused narrative then what came out.
It sad the best Fantastic Four film is still Roger Corman's.
The first half of the movie is the origin of how the Fantastic Four got their powers and how they learn to deal with them. Then the last half/third is a poorly constructed action sequence to save the world that also introduces a villain.
I think calling what people were doing in this movie as acting is an insult to Actors. If this movie had released before the casing of "Creed" Michael B. Jordan would have never had a chance to read for a part. The last part of the film the Actors seem to lose all interest in the film and appear to be just reading lines aloud.
Tone of movie goes from serious to a bad cartoon show. An example of this is the character "Thing." He is sad and angry most of the film. He has become a killing machine for the government, one scene shows a kill counter of one of his successful missions. But at the end he is happy/friendly and like first part of the film never happened. If the tone and story stayed constant this could have been at least an average movie.
I know from all the drama that was reported on the making of this film that the last half is something that the studio filmed without the director because they disliked his cut of the film.
So it would be great to see a Director's cut and see if what he was trying to do was really that bad. At the very least it could be a more focused narrative then what came out.
It sad the best Fantastic Four film is still Roger Corman's.
American Ultra (2015)
Not Really a Movie
The MK-Ultra program is ripe for an action, drama, or comedy movie. American Ultra tries to all of them at once and fails at them all. Trailer and marketing for the film portray this as a pot/stoner comedy but from the very beginning of the film it is clear not. The film dances around drama and action most of the time, mostly drama. Parts that could have been funny are over shadowed by over the top gore & violence or the overall too seriousness of the situation and dialog. The soundtrack/score would find a home the Bourne series.
There is no secret to what is happening to the main character. There is no build up to anything.
If it didn't have Jesse Eisenberg & Kristen Stewart this would have been direct to home theater or buried in deep cable.
There is no secret to what is happening to the main character. There is no build up to anything.
If it didn't have Jesse Eisenberg & Kristen Stewart this would have been direct to home theater or buried in deep cable.
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)
Name doesn't match the film
From the reviews I thought this was going to be a train wreck of a movie but it wasn't. It could have been easily a PG-13 teen comedy, horror movie but the movie as a whole is under minded by a few juvenile jokes that bring in unnecessary nudity and sexual situations that just slow film down.
From the title and trailers you would think that zombies and survival would be at the forefront but it takes third of the film to really get to the zombies. In some ways this film feels like a bad re-imagining of Return of the Living Dead.
At one point I wondered when this film was written, a nearly 20 year old Pop singer reference from the late 90's seems out of place if these teen scouts are from 2015.
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is a great name but Scouts vs Zombies would be more accurate. There is no guiding like Zombie Land. Most of the movie is the main cast running from place to place and looking for help.
Overall this is a movie might make the rounds in someone's zombie horror night movie marathon but it's just average movie at best.
From the title and trailers you would think that zombies and survival would be at the forefront but it takes third of the film to really get to the zombies. In some ways this film feels like a bad re-imagining of Return of the Living Dead.
At one point I wondered when this film was written, a nearly 20 year old Pop singer reference from the late 90's seems out of place if these teen scouts are from 2015.
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is a great name but Scouts vs Zombies would be more accurate. There is no guiding like Zombie Land. Most of the movie is the main cast running from place to place and looking for help.
Overall this is a movie might make the rounds in someone's zombie horror night movie marathon but it's just average movie at best.
The Shannara Chronicles (2016)
What if Abercrombie and Fitch made Lord of the Rings
This is MTV's attempt to bring Terry Brooks Shannara series to the small screen. With MTV this could have been there exit from mass produced reality TV and preteen soaps to real main stream drama. But MTV seem to decided spend a lot of money to create a mediocre Teen drama aimed at pre-teen girls.
MTV vision of the show seems so come from the question "What if Abercrombie and Fitch made Lord of the Rings?" I say this because the main cast is mainly of young, hypermasculine males and thin female models. Elves look more like albino orks then classic elf imagery.
Production value is all over the place. There are season actors like John Rhys-Davies who are doing and incredible job bringing this world to life. But then you have the relatively unknown main cast that appear to have only gotten the part because of their appearance, reading lines not really what I would call acting. When you have the seasoned actors on the screen at the same time as the main cast the visual difference of the level of acting can be cringe worthy.
The score music seems very out of place because it is surprising good, too good for this show.
Sets are inconsistent at best. Wide panoramic shots created with CG look very good but latter when panned to the live action, sets look out of place and/or very cheap in comparison. Some of this could have been fixed if they ran the show though some film filters to reduce the sharpness and lack of contrast from the digital video.
The show is close to the source material so the overall story is there if you can get past all the teen angst that's been added. If you're a teen girl this show is more likely going to appeal to you, young men in the show have a hard time keeping their shirts on the entire episode. Fans of Terry Brooks Shannara and those who enjoy serious fantasy or drama deserve better than this.
MTV vision of the show seems so come from the question "What if Abercrombie and Fitch made Lord of the Rings?" I say this because the main cast is mainly of young, hypermasculine males and thin female models. Elves look more like albino orks then classic elf imagery.
Production value is all over the place. There are season actors like John Rhys-Davies who are doing and incredible job bringing this world to life. But then you have the relatively unknown main cast that appear to have only gotten the part because of their appearance, reading lines not really what I would call acting. When you have the seasoned actors on the screen at the same time as the main cast the visual difference of the level of acting can be cringe worthy.
The score music seems very out of place because it is surprising good, too good for this show.
Sets are inconsistent at best. Wide panoramic shots created with CG look very good but latter when panned to the live action, sets look out of place and/or very cheap in comparison. Some of this could have been fixed if they ran the show though some film filters to reduce the sharpness and lack of contrast from the digital video.
The show is close to the source material so the overall story is there if you can get past all the teen angst that's been added. If you're a teen girl this show is more likely going to appeal to you, young men in the show have a hard time keeping their shirts on the entire episode. Fans of Terry Brooks Shannara and those who enjoy serious fantasy or drama deserve better than this.