Reviews by keiju

Let´s call this movie a special blend of arty sociological youth urban crime and vigilante thriller. And on top of that, the cherry of an action flick protagonized by an elderly (or pensioner as they keep calling him ). Ain´t that alternative or what?

Of course it doesnt work as good as it could but it´s interesting and has lot of good moments. It even has a "The Wire" element mixed in there. The best characters of the movie are indeed the villains, not because they are interesting but because you can believe them enough to want them wiped out asap and in pieces if possible.

The protagonist, mr. Caine, is one of my old favourites (pun intented)from the seventies but here he just cant deliver the acting the movie asks from him and that´s the problem this shouldnt have been a movie about an old man playing rambo. The worst scene is the one when he gets his guns, all the realism and tension built implodes and it just goes cracy and the plot looses grip. After that the movie struggles to keep some balance by adding chaos and some extra violence to the mix (and that works better than expected).

Of course in the end they kick in a plot twist and all goes to hell nicely. The more or less happy ending of the movie doesnt feel right. The problem is that the alternative would have been too predictable. This script was incapable, perhaps, of a satisfactory ending

Extra Info: Ms. Mortimer plays a different type of cop (for a different type of murderer) and it´s nice to see a policewoman in a sea full of supersluttycops. She acts alright but not as good as the character needed to work. The rest of the cast blends perfectly in this "english projects" scenario both cops and criminals.

All the charisma in the world (meaning Matt Damon here) cant save this flop. The premise aint that good but the really bad thing here is the script, it´s so bland and soft that you just cant get interested enough to care.

It´s not the scifi element what makes it unbelievable, the characters are. They just adhere to a thin line of plot with all their strenght failing to make it even remotely sufferable.

K. Dick rocks.
Old school Sci-Fi rocks.
This is just sad.

Who could have thought that a mash-up of indie sensitivity and thrasher attitude could work this good?

One thing everyone should know before watching this movie is this: this is NOT a heavy metal movie, got that punk? This is a movie about a lot of things that happen to work great with some thrashy punky dirty in-your-face stunts.

What things you ask? Lets see. Its a movie about grief, loss, anger, coming of age, death and loneliness. It´s like an alternative little red riding hood story in a modern setting. You have the granny who represent wisdom and death, two lumberjacks (at first Natalie Portman then his father Rainn Wilson) who cant bear with their own lifes and, of course, a wolf. Guess who is the wolf?

They all exist around a sad, lonely, messed up red hood kid who just wants to get his happines back and meanwhile brings all the other characters to terms with their own selves.

CONS: All in all the film finds it difficult to balance realism with dramatism (hint: as allways the second wins) and the story doesnt work as good as it should but its way more than an ok movie. Hesher is not the protagonist but steals too much attention, Gordon-Levitt does a fair enough work with some good moments but I think his character limits him and itself.

I cant help but wonder what was the idea behind this movie... I try but I´m clueless nevertheless. I guess it tries to unify way too many issues (family, tecnology, love, social networks, anime, videogames, japan history and the list goes on) in a movie meant for teens but also for kids, young adults, adults and perhaps some grannies.

It fails but it´s interesting enough (the ending is way too long and boring, though) to deserve a gilty-pleasure watch while booing to the screen and hitting the fast forward when you feel it´s needed.

Better to enjoy under the effects of mild mind altering substances (i guess).

After watching 2 episodes my only complaint are the exaggerated stuff that happen from time to time with no other intention than to attract the atention of the less enlightened. The same things could happen plot-wise without drugs abductions or suposedly secret sex relations happening where anyone could see them in the act. With a bit less overdrama and some more reality-checks this could have been something much better but it´s really good anyway.

The best part, by far, is the acting. Kelsey Grammer does a great, great, work but the rest of the cast are good enough (with some mild exceptions) to balance the show. The plot and twists are also interesting and they are, something exceptional in TV, not overplayed. It has me hooked.

I´m not in love but close.

EDIT: After watching all but 1 episode... f**k, I AM in love. The crappy stuff is diluted along the way and the good stuff is really good. It goes over dramatic sometimes and it´s still not really realistic but god i love it.

This movie is so bad that it doesnt matter how good the original might have been. They didn´t even try to make anything valuable, just random crap for random kids who haven´t had the opportunity to watch anything better yet.

Sad.

This is funny in a way I couldnt expect it to be. It´s screwball comedy! Everything goes just right for the main character, he knows it and uses it.

It´s silly but I love to watch losers win and here Trotter does and how!

First half goes from promising to somewhat interesting but loose.
Second half (ok, perhaps last third) goes from not so good to "meh, it ended at last".

The worst of the film comes from the caricaturesque "ultraviolent" (as in The Clockwork Orange) villains in the supporting cast. The film is, also, overedited and searches too much for visual impact than the high tension that it should. The script has some good moments but there are some others where you just can´t believe what is happening (like the way she gets from south spain to germany or how a girl who has just discovered electricity uses internet).

On the good side Saoirse Ronan acts good enough, Blanchett the same (her character is not so good, though) and the premise is fun enough to get you to the end with hope. The best element is Hanna (the character) and you cant help but to hope for another, better, part although you know that just cant exist.

All in all it´s a decent film and a more than interesting way to approach the nearly dead action genre. I came to this film from the Chemical Brothers OST that doesnt work as good as I hoped. The leifmotif-song for the crappy male villain is heard so many times you´ll want to puke.

After watching the pilot (and I´m not sure I´ll watch more episodes) all I can say is: not so crappy premise BUT average (meaning "as bad as could be expected") acting, messy execution and... God! I hate Jeannie Van Der Hooven (her character is lame but she gets to make it worse)!

This would have been muuuuch funnier in a "Better Off Ted" kind of way but not as (supposedly, not to me anyways) sexy.

I´ll edit if I watch more episodes.

I hope there would be more movies like this one (2011´s "Another Earth" is another btw) where the sci-fi element is used in an alternative, "what if", way in the background. Here the alien element is not the center of the story but part of the scenery. The movie works between two characters who are believable enough to be likeable in some extreme (but not overboard) situations with a truly amazing background that happens to have some monsters.

Usually, in movies, if monsters from outer space come to Earth their influence is global, absolute, terrible and the center of the story. Here is just something happening locally that people just endures while living their lives. I find that fresh and realistic where some other could think "boring" and "useless". That´s the way I am, i guess.

Talking a bit about some other movie issues I must say that the pace is nice, slow but always moving with enough going on to keep you interested but relaxed. It´s kinda an ambient movie were things evolve more than happen. The acting is nice because it feels natural most of the time and when it doesnt you just wont care. The filming is beautiful and the special effects work great. Sometimes the movie tries too hard to be pretty and moving but that´s not so bad because it works.

This is not a horror movie, it´s not an action movie, it´s not even a thriller or a love movie. It´s a highbrow scifi movie and it´s also a not so subtle critic view of the differences between the USA´s and Mexico´s people, goverments and ways of living.

Alien monsters that happen to be in an indie/arty movie? Yes.



PS: Perhaps this should be a 7 over 10 instead an 8 but it´s so special to find a movie like this that it deserves 1 extra point just for existing.