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Reviews
Charlie's Angels (2000)
Harmless fun
This movie is made with so much apparent good humor, I could repress the wide grin I had during the whole movie. Cameron Diaz plays the role of Natalie, by far my favorite of the three "angels". Her gratuitous dance scenes are humorous and very sexy. And that's what the movie is all about. I read some complaints here about how there was less nudity than in the series that inspired it. Frankly I wasn't looking for pornography, so three sexy chicks was all right with me. The movie's action scenes were obviously inspired by the Matrix, but the two movies simply can't be compared: one lolly pop fun, the other cyber-punk. These action scenes are impressive, but admittedly a little bit overdone. I can't quite give it a perfect score, even when considering it does not pretend to be the new Citizen Kane. Some of the jokes are not very funny, and they get more and more embarrassing after each new viewing. Also after multiple viewings people will most probably skip the plot development scenes and watch the T&A scenes right away. That's why I recommend getting it on DVD.
A solid 7 out of 10.
Titan A.E. (2000)
So this is the infamous cartoon aimed at teenagers...
I had heard quite a lot of mixed reviews about it, but when I saw it, I must admit I liked it. Liked it enough, in fact, to buy the DVD. I think it has quite its share of good ideas, but when the time came to execute it, it didn't come up as they had hoped. The premise is good: as the movie starts, we see our planet earth destroyed. Humanity's last hope is the Titan, a gigantic vessel that can create a New Earth for the survivors. Unluckily, a race of quasi-invincible aliens, the Drej, has decided to bring an end to our imagination (and our vanity). So from then on the movie is a race against the Drej to recover the Titan. The problem is that the revelation of what the Titan really means is late to come up, well after the audience has guessed it. And the Drej's intentions were never clearly explained, which makes them look like very standard villains. But I must say they are the most imaginative creatures I've seen in recent sci-fi movies: they are made of energy, and so are very tough to kill. They were drawn by computer, and look very electric-like. Quite a bit of computer imagery in this movie, but unfortunately it sometimes clash with the classic hand-drawn characters and locations. Sometimes it falls into cliches, other times it laughs at them (the stupid guard scene). So what we got is a flawed film, but still a very good sci-fi adventure that should please anyone sick of Disney's musicals.
Kôkaku kidôtai (1995)
My first anime movie.
One morning I got up, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth and decided to give anime a try. Since Ghost in the Shell is one of the titles I had heard the most about, I picked it up.
I didn't quite expect the kind of movie I saw. I expected an action movie full of violence, but the movie is mainly calm, pensive, and thought-provoking.
You see, in the world of Ghost in the Shell, people have totally embraced "cyber-additions" to their bodies. They upgrade themselves to become smarter, faster, stronger... almost invincible. But how much flesh must you still have to be considered human? What distinguishes humans from machines now is their "ghosts", or souls, which machines can never hope to have.
So what we have is a heroine almost completely machine, trying to stop a hacker so good, he can hack into the ghosts of his victims. Who is this mysterious hacker, and why does he seem to pursue our heroine?
Lot's of philosophical questions are raised here, and I liked the way the author(s) drew a parallel between the cybernetic evolution and the biologic one.
The score is fantastic, although I'm not used to oriental music. The characters' voices seem a little detached, unfortunately. Still, I consider myself lucky to have discovered this good a film. I definitely recommend it. 9 out of 10.
Jûbê ninpûchô (1993)
I'm just not into this stuff.
I suppose I will get flamed for this, but I absolutely hated this movie. Yes, I didn't stomach the rape scene. Yes, I thought it was too violent.
See, I saw this movie after enjoying a great deal Ghost in the Shell. I suppose I simply wasn't in the right mood to enjoy this movie... but there is more to that I'm sure.
The characters are really uninteresting, the plot is weak, and the monsters unimaginative.
But what really downs it is the action. I had heard I'd never see action like this anywhere else. Guess what? I thougth Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had much better fights, so add this to great story, likeable characters and beautiful panoramas, there is no way I could possibly enjoy Ninja Scroll.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
How can a 40 years old, 220 minutes long movie be so captivating?
I was very thrilled to buy this movie on DVD. I had never seen it, but I was convinced it would be worth it. But I never expected it to be this good. This is what I consider the perfect movie. The characters are believable, and likeable, and played by incredibly gifted actors. The scenery is superb, easily replacing "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as my favorite "desert" movie. But most of all we aren't told what to think about T.E. Lawrence. After watching the film, I still don't know if he was a genius or a madman, a hero or a hack. It is 220 minutes long, but even though I had other, more urgent things to do, I could stop the film, I had to watch it in one sitting. The only thing that annoyed me was the poor quality of the film on DVD at times. It looks like the film they used for the transfer was in bad shape, as if it had been exposed too much to the sun. I can't recommend this movie enough. A definite 10.
Spider-Man Unlimited (1999)
the only thing Saban did right was to can the show
This show is utter c**p, with a cliché storyline and without the best of spiderman: his duality and his moral decisions.
Plus suddenly Venom and Carnage turned into ridiculous stooge-like idiots. And now they morph like the T-1000 does. Wow.