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The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
A too hurried reinvention of Spiderman that pales compared to the previous trilogy
I enjoyed Spiderman and Spiderman 2 very much, and think they deserve a little higher rating here on IMDb. They had good story line, well done acting, good action sequences (especially the second movie) and the good mixture of drama, love and action that I associate with a classic superhero movie. You may complain that it's a little too conservative in style, not daring to take new leaps, but the director did however succeed in making the very best of that kind of movie.
When I first heard about a new movie I was skeptical since I think that the "old" movies are still keeping up in quality to this date. I got that usual feeling about Hollywood making the best to make more money, adding nothing to already good movies but some new visual effects and new actors. However I saw that the movie had a quite OK ranking of 7.4 on IMDb and that critic reviews were not too bad in my home country so I decided to give it a chance.
The movie however, turned out to be as much of a success that I first expected. In this version Peter Parker is much more of a careless average teen riding his skateboard and going to school, and we don't get a chance to start feeling any sympathy or care for him while his personality and relationship to other characters are not developed at all. At times it feels like watching a commercial version of Spiderman where everything is happening too fast.
Spidermans love interest follows the same fate as Spiderman himself, lacking any problems as well as personality. One of the great accomplishments in Spiderman & Spiderman 2 was that they managed to make the antagonists into characters you at least could relate to in a certain degree, and then turning them into monsters in a somewhat believable way (for a superhero movie). Here we have a very nicely behaved and boring scientist that turns into something as original and fascinating as a giant lizard... Well, this is a superhero movie and you should not expect seriously deep characters with truly complex relations (those didn't exist in the previous installments either), but I still expect a Spiderman you could get into as an adult and not a movie with acting more like a regular high school movie.
Also, the problem with being Spiderman and at the same time living a life as Peter Parker has to a much higher degree turned into moral lessons about helping your family in the household, one more thing that makes the movie feel more suitable for younger viewers.
The action sequences is quite OK actually and doesn't lack anything special, but the movie won't be remembered for them either.
The only thing that really is improved is the visuals, with some cool sequences when we see the world as Spiderman when he flies between the skyscrapers. However, with all improved special effects I think the movie is a little too bold as it starts to feel like they are there only for their own sake and not supporting the movie. In a movie like this I prefer special effects for their requirement and not as standalone attractions.
In the end this was merely OK for a standalone movie. Nothing was all terrible (maybe besides a few really cheesy things such as the skateboard scene and the girl wanting Parker to take pictures of her boyfriends car) but the movie suffers from being inferior to the previous installments, while still reminding them a lot. Trying to refresh Spiderman with a new movie right now doesn't only sound bad on paper; it was a failed attempt.
Besökarna (1988)
A lack of story and surprise moments
The film begin promising. A family moves into a big house at the country side. The first part of the film is more like classic Swedish drama than horror. The characters act realistic, the atmosphere is rather gloomy and sometimes depressed overall, while the family having problems with the economy and the relations between the mother and the father. From here, it goes downhill. Strange things begin to happen in the house, but the father seem to be the only one who take notice about them. All of those things are very sparse and simplistic, which is not a mayor problem even if you begin to feel a lack of surprise moments. The characters (especially the father) begin to act more and more stupid towards the end and you just feel frustration about their actions, rather than sympathy for them or fear of the ghosts in the film. When the ghosts finally make their "real" entrance, it is not scary at all, and they just shows a little bit too much muscles (a lot of explosions that ruins the horror atmosphere and other stuff) which the film suffers from thanks to the bad special effects. Íf there would be at least a somewhat good background story or some solved mysteries about the ghosts or the history of the house, the movie would be worth watching, however there are none of those at all.
When I decided to see this film, I prepared for a not too good but somewhat enjoyable horror film. I was waiting for the horror to start but when it did I wished it would have continued as the beginning of the film instead.
Why should you consider not seeing this film? - Not very many surprise moments at all - Not very scary or atmospheric house or surroundings - Not a very good plot (there are no background-stories or solved mysteries about the ghosts in the house) - Bad special effects that ruins the film - Sometimes stupid and annoying characters
Why should you consider seeing this film? - As a drama, it works, at least in the beginning...
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Make sure you are ready for something that is just "too much"
I don't know if "horror movie" is the right word, cynical slaughter fits better. Don't see this movie if you wanna be scared, don't see this movie if you want to see a mindless slaughter with teenagers being killed in fun ways, see this movie if you wanna see something that's full off suspense, breaks every border and just goes to far.
In the beginning we are introduced to the family. To uncontrolled dogs, too stereotypical American parents, their son and two daughters, and one of the daughters husband and their baby. In the beginning I am sure I won't feel any sympathy with the cynical family, something which radically changes. After all there is a family this time, not a bunch of stupid teenagers or something like that.
The "scarriest" moment is the beginning when you don't know whats going to happen. Then the movie just turns psycho. I have to say I almost got angry sometimes. When the two younger girls gets raped, the baby gun pointed and the father burned alive outside, it almost hurts. "WHYYYY?" you are thinking while watching this. To make you very angry at those mutant-things, which are the "monsters" in this movie, is the right answer. There are also a lot of gore, but I don't find the gore very hard to watch compared with the twisted attempts against the family.
Those mutants aren't very scary, but their is a absurd fascination about them, even if you most of all want them to die. The movie really succeeds to make you feel sympathy and suspense, the only problem is if you can't handle it when the movie goes to far many times.
The less-good things in the movie is the acting, and sometimes not the very realistic reactions and actions by the characters. And the soundtrack that makes up for an irritating double moral. There is some heroic victory themes playing while the mutants in the characters revenge are getting brutally killed. I don't understand why , when the movie itself are criticizing the US for nuclear tests in the desert (in this movie causing people to turn into mutants).
However, just see this movie if you at least know something of what is coming up.
Moscow Zero (2006)
And they walked and they walked and they walked, and then they ran a little bit....
This line is a good summary of this movie. If you have read it, and watched 20 minutes of the movie, you will know exactly how the rest of the movie is going to behave. Some researcher named Surgei (pronounced SirGay) are searching for hell in the underworld of Moscow. However he seems to have disappeared, and his friend Oven follows with a team to search after him. Could they have find a more boring plot? Some bad actors looking after an old man in the underground. The acting is very bad, the romance really feels pointless and untrue, often there is no good reason for the way the characters are acting, nothing is scary and most of all: there's not happening anything interesting in the whole, entire movie. They just walk, asking some gang leaders and other guys about the way, walk some more, complain some, finds the old man, and then they run, and finally finds the way out of the underground.
The only thing that provides me from giving this movie the lowest of all ratings is the atmosphere. If you just want to see a movie for that, this may be a good choice. It's dark, and it's mystical and murky. However, the rest of the movie is really dull. You just sit there all the time, waiting for the movie to begin or something to happening. It's actually happening some things, but they are not very well performed. For example, i didn't really notice when one of the characters disappeared, and I swear I wasn't sleeping or something. And I don't understand what's dangerous with these children... They just run around in the underground together, scratching it walls with sticks (I suppose it is meant to be scary in some way).
Just watch this movie if you are in immediate need of some murky atmospheres.