martin-1415 Reviews

The Avengers (2012)

Must see!

[9/10 · 6 May 2012]

I am a fan of the recent Marvel superhero movies. Spiderman, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and especially Captain America. The Avengers is better than all of those. All of the heroes in The Avengers get a moment to shine on screen, even Nick Fury. Going into the movie I was a little disappointed to know that Loki was going to be the main protagonist, but after seeing the film I can see why this was the case. The Avengers ties a lot of the previous movies together, and having Thor's brother as the bad guy made that more efficient. It's a long movie, but when it was over I didn't feel beat up and ready for the story to be over the way I do when trying to watch an entire Harry Potter movie. Even the Lord of the Rings movies seems too long to me, but thanks to a great story and even better dialog I never became impatient during The Avengers.

The standout from The Avengers is clearly The Hulk. You spend most of the movie waiting for him to appear and it's amazing when he finally goes on a rampage. At two points during the movie The Hulk actually got applause from the audience.

Highly recommended, I can't wait to see it again. Let's hope The Avengers 2 is half as good!

Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

80's Style Fun

[8/10 · 9 February 2010]

Growing up in the 80's was a dream for action movie fans. The 80's and early 90's made super stars out of the somewhat questionable acting abilities of men such as Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers and Mr. T. Recently I watched the latest sequel to Universal Soldier. I was expecting to be thoroughly entertained by an el-cheapo direct-to-DVD type disaster. What I got to watch instead was a straight up action movie that was far better than anyone would expect.

Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren reprise their roles from 1992's Universal Soldier. They are both much older, but still able to pull off amazing fight scenes and stunts. In this newest sequel we get UFC star Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski as a next generation universal soldier who must be stopped before he can detonate a bomb that will release nuclear material from Chernobyl. :) I know how that synopsis sounds, I expected it to be just terrible. Great direction, really amazing stunt work, and a high body count made this one a surprise pleasure. The extended fight scene between Van Damme and Lundgren alone makes it worth seeing. I recommend this movie to anyone who misses the good old days when action stars had few lines and took more punishment than is humanly possible.

The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972)

Not sure why people recommend this one

[2/10 · 7 June 2008]

After reading a few reviews here on IMDb I thought I'd give this one a shot. This movie started out promising, but quickly became tedious and boring. This one is far too long and wastes way too much time on scenes that have nothing to do with moving the story forward. I am a huge fan of movies about possession, but this was very disappointing. It was interesting to see Shirley McClain so young, and the acting in general is competent, but unfortunately it's just not a very good example of the genre. The only really enjoyable feature of this movie for me was watching the scenery of New York from back in 1972. It doesn't change that much, really. Go rent The Eyes of Laura Mars, or The Exorcist, and skip this one.

Until Death (2007)

A Strange Experience for the Fan

[7/10 · 16 September 2007]

I am not afraid to admit I am a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme movies. As corny as most of them are, they are usually a pretty good example of the more showy aspects of martial arts. Most of them are simple revenge stories, with Jean losing a loved one (or several) and then relentlessly killing everybody until he gets to the big bad guy.

This movie is a different kind of Van Damme vehicle. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, he gives a subtle performance here, even if it is yet another revenge movie. As a broken down cop, addicted to booze, heroin and sex, he's just not the hero. In real life Van Damme has had problems with drugs, and his face is now aged and somewhat tired-looking.

There isn't as much physical action (martial arts) as you would expect, but there is significant gun play.

While Until Death is a little too long (very common these days), it's a revelation to watch Van Damme actually act. At a few points you still get that feeling that he's overreaching his abilities as an actor, but for the most part his work in this movie is actually pretty impressive. I for one would love to see someone put him in a real A list movie, playing a character role, I really think he could pull it off after watching this one.

New Orleans is practically a character itself in this one, with practically every cop corrupted in one way or another. On a side note, they should have gotten another actress to play his estranged wife, as the actress here has marginal talent at best. Recommended for Van Damme fans who want to see him grow up a little.

The Dark (2005)

A really good find

[7/10 · 20 January 2007]

The strong acting alone makes this one worth watching. Very creepy, great atmosphere, and for the first time in a long time I didn't guess the ending. Well worth renting, I would have liked to have seen this in the theater. Very little gore, this is a good example of a straight-up ghost story. I especially liked the fact that there are really only 5 characters in the entire movie. Great use of location. Very believable relationship between estranged husband and wife. I don't usually take the time to review movies, but after just having watched The Dark, I felt I had to recommend it. Go rent it today! Maria Bello! Horror movie! What else do you need?