ray.orourke Reviews

Chernobyl Diaries (2012)

Stupid gets you killed, duh.

[5/10 · 24 March 2013]

The movie leaves a lot to be desired. Pretty much none of them deserved to live. None of them knew how to react in an emergency situation that's for sure. For crying out loud learn how to stop a wound from bleeding, learn how to apply a splint, apply some logical thinking like a makeshift stretcher for the guy with the leg wound. Everybody stick together. Don't go running off into the dark night when you don't know what's out there. Certainly don't sit in a van with the dome light on and be the brightest thing for miles. When something is chasing you and you're trying to get away it would be an awesome idea for you to STFU and not scream at the top of your lungs in some wild panic. Stupid decision after stupid decision gets everyone killed, or worse, and you all deserved it. For once I'd like to see a scary thrilling action adventure movie where smart tactical thinking gets the survivors out of the mess they're in rather than just painfully watched them get torn asunder by making the dumbest mistakes you've ever seen.

Oh yeah - and if the military tells you to stay out of an area, its basically a good idea to heed their warning.

The only reason I gave this movie as many stars as I did is because the setting appears to be real, which is definitely unique to see the actual Chernobyl area of Pripyat. Unbelievably this area has people living in it again now!

Newsreaders: Gay Camp (2013) Season 1, Episode 5

Offensive without the benefit of being at all humorous

[1/10 · 15 February 2013]

"Gay Camp," comparing the atrocities of the holocaust to summer camp, is completely devoid of humor and as offensive as you could possibly imagine. If there was ever a show that needed to be cancelled, this is it. Our community is still dealing with suicidal teenagers, and in an age when a campaign called "It Gets Better" becomes necessary, this show is just too over the line of what should be acceptable television. It basically attempts a bad joke that the way to deal with gay teens is to send them to be treated as inmates to a Nazi concentration camp. I'm sorry but I don't find the history of how gay people were treated in concentration camps (the origin of the pink triangle) nor the bullying and mistreatment of gay teens to be at all humorous.

Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

Stupid Humor

[8 January 2003]

If its possible, I feel as though I lose IQ points whenever I watch Tom Green. I can stand him in small doses best, he's much better to watch in Road Trip than in this movie. His gags are the of the variety that some of them are so stupid they're funny, others are just plain stupid, and still others are so stupid they make you cringe.

If you're able to just turn off your brain completely you may be able to enjoy this movie better. You'll definitely hurt yourself if you try to think while watching this movie.

I Am Sam (2001)

Great Movie!

[9/10 · 27 January 2002]

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This is truly a great movie, and has definitely changed my opinion about Sean Penn's acting ability (I had never thought very highly of him before, ever since all those reports of physical violence against the media). I went to see this movie with my brother and his girlfriend, who happens to be a professional, working with children of this type (autistic, mentally challenged, etc.). She left the theater in tears, and absolutely loved the movie. Her opinion of Sean Penn's character was that he was very true to form. The love you see between him and his daughter, is incredible.

What follows might contain some spoiler info, so don't read on if you don't want to know anything about it before going to see this film, which in my own humble opinion, I highly recommend that you do.

Every film you see requires that you be willing to partake in something called "suspension of disbelief," which many other posters flaming this film do not appear to understand much about. They present us with a story, not always the entire life story of the character, but about a specific instance in their lives. They never said anything about how Sean Penn was raised, not until very deeply into the film, and not much about it. The agoraphobic neighbor never really says anything about why she can't come over to Sam's apartment to help with the baby, not until much later in the film do you find this out. I like a little mystery, I like trying to figure things out before they spill the beans, they really don't need to go in to a dispose' of all the why's and wherefore's, just put it into the context of the story and play it well, which I think they have done a superb job of doing. Take it for a simple fact, Sam has a baby with a hooker. (How? You must've missed that line in the film, she was "sleeping" over at his place, perhaps she felt guilty about taking advantage of the poor guy when he took her in off of the street.) I don't know how much you know about young children, but most of the ones I've seen have extremely short attention spans - which would explain Sam's loss of reality/lucidity at times. I've also seen a lot of very intelligent children, children who are much smarter than their age group would indicate, so Sam's daughter's intelligence isn't so surprising after all. The lawyer came around, though it took some major time for her to do so - the hectic pace of her life and how she had been living it would explain that quite well. Even the evil witch foster mother comes around at the end, though I would have loved to see that other lawyer get what he deserved for all the pain he put Sam through.

So, in my own humble opinion, ignore these flamers and go enjoy this film. It has wonderful characters, great music, and truly manages to touch the heart. My rating? A 9, extremely close to 10.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Thanks for such a wonderful film!

[10/10 · 25 November 2001]

I've never read any of the books, but knew that this film appealed to my tastes. Often I'm worried that a film will not live up to its expectations, and the bar was set rather high for this film. I'm glad to be able to report that this movie has earned its current status and any awards it might receive. The character development went along rather well, and the details shown in the movie were a beauty to behold. The length of the movie might prove to lose the interests of the very young, but all the adolescents in the theater with me were deeply involved in the movie - another great thing to see! I've rated this movie a perfect 10, eagerly await the next film, and can't wait til I get my hands on one of the novels! Thanks for such a wonderful film!

_____

June 23, 2007:

I've since seen all the movies to date as well as read the 6 books that are out so far and have my name with the local bookshop for the 7th when it comes in. I'm eagerly anticipating the next movie and the final book's release shortly, and am at the same time wondering what will happen of Harry and the whole "wizarding community" after the 7th book hits shelves - what are we going to do without them?

Natural Born Killers (1994)

The worst movie I've ever had the displeasure of wasting time on

[1/10 · 6 March 2001]

This film has absolutely no merits to it whatsoever, except perhaps to give us a glimpse of what high schools might be like a few years later. Its very sad to see what Woody is doing with his career. I loved him in Cheers, but ever since seeing him in this movie my opinion of him has changed dramatically (for the worse).