gorguruga Reviews

Chappie (2015)

Nowhere near as good as District 9 (until the last 30 minutes)

[5/10 · 3 August 2015]

I'll begin by saying I'm a fan of District 9, it's one of my favourite sci-fi movies of this century so you can imagine how excited I was when I heard there was another movie out by the same director. I'll admit, perhaps my high expectations have somewhat clouded my opinion of Chappie because District 9 set the bar so high. However, that doesn't change the fact that I had to watch Chappie in bits and pieces over the course of 2 weeks because every time I decided to give it another chance, within a few minutes there was a scene which was so implausible, or badly written, or poorly acted that I was forced to hit the stop button again.

That pattern continued for the first 1 hour 30 minutes, playing a few minutes, stopping, then resuming a few days later. The first three quarters are just littered with problems, including mediocre acting, implausible scenarios, poor scripting and questionable casting. The robot CGI is excellent though from start to finish.

But I was relieved to find that there came a point when the movie actually improved significantly. The last 30 minutes we have a pick up of pace and the show closes very well indeed so overall it was worth persisting and finally reaching the end (although I did ask myself several times whether I would ever get there).

Worth watching for the excellent grand finale, just don't expect a movie on the level of District 9.

The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)

Feels like an episode of the old Power Rangers TV show

[4/10 · 25 December 2012]

Here are the main problems with the movie: 1. Bad acting - nearly all the leading roles provide us with poor performances, including RZA himself.

2. Bad storyline/script - the story isn't terrible, although similar plots have been regurgitated countless times before. But the progression of events and the way the story is pieced together lets the production down badly.

3. Bad direction - Although there are some scenes and shots in the movie which have some fancy and praise-worthy cinematography and fx, other parts of the movie just seem very quickly shot, without care. More attention by the director would have improved things.

4. Don't care about characters - this goes back to the acting and script. At no point in the movie do you really feel true empathy for the characters. They seem like cardboard cutouts, not real people.

5. Average martial arts - while there are some impressive fight scenes, most of the martial arts in the movie is nothing spectacular.

Overall: This really comes across like an episode of the old Power Rangers TV Show, cheap and rushed. Or like the first Mortal Kombat movie. They all have a similar sort of vibe. If you removed the blood and gore from the movie you could see it as purely children's entertainment. As far as it's replay value, I'd say it's about zero. Can't say I'll ever watch it again.

However, if you're a fan of RZA and Wu Tang, you'll hear some of their tracks throughout the film and get to see RZA in the role of a protagonist. I don't think you'll be amazed by any means, but not totally disappointed. It gets 4 out of 10 from me, a lot of other kung fu flicks from the 70s and 80s, even up to present day, are much better than this. As long as you watch it without expecting anything great you'll possibly be mildly entertained. You'll want to watch it anyway if you're a Wu fan, just don't expect Fist of Legend, Drunken Master or Shogun Assassin, it's nowhere near that level but still not the worst martial arts movie out there. Just a shame that it leans more towards being a bad film than a good film.

The Devil's Business (2011)

Dire excuse for a horror movie with some OK acting

[4/10 · 20 September 2012]

The Devil's Business just came across as an extremely low budget made-for-TV movie. It was heavily dependent on the conversation between just 2 people for the majority of the movie duration. In order to carry that sort of setup off you're going to need some top quality acting and while the acting was occasionally decent in this movie, it was also sometimes below average.

Both Billy Clarke and Jonathan Hansler gave decent performances for the most part but Jack Gordon couldn't really match them for most of his on-screen time, although there was one scene where he demonstrated his true capability and that just about saved his credibility. Perhaps the scripting for his character was part of the problem. All the actors showed promise but they really needed more time and more takes to film the scenes perfectly. I assume either the budget didn't allow them to do this, or the director didn't spot the potential for improvement.

The writing overall was good and could even be considered the stand-out feature, it's just a shame that the budget couldn't be stretched considerably to make this into a real film and bring out the writing with cut-scenes and great cinematography. Instead, nearly all the action takes place in a darkly-lit small house somewhere in England. As a result, the visual imagery is just dull and boring for most of the movie and it gets tiresome rather quickly.

The production value was just a notch above the sort of movie a student might make at college or university, it was just so low that it was almost filmed like an episode of some British television show from the 80's, just sadly not with the same sort of entertainment value.

All the actors had some passion to their work, the writing was decent, the direction, while flawed, showed promise. But as a complete package, a fairly terrible movie that I just can't recommend. Maybe with a bigger budget it could have been a totally different story..

The Dinosaur Project (2012)

Fans of anything dinosaur-related should definitely check this one out!

[7/10 · 13 September 2012]

Don't let the strangely low rating on IMDb fool you folks. This movie is an entertaining mixture of a dinosaur movie and a "found footage" film. If you liked Jurassic Park and Paranormal Activity then I think you'll enjoy this movie, it's got elements of both intertwined within.

However, don't make the mistake of believing that it's trying to copy either of those movies, it stands out on it's own and is quite unique in many respects. It's highly advisable to not watch The Dinosaur Project with the expectation of seeing Jurassic Park 4, you'll almost certainly be disappointed. Instead, view it as a different twist on the whole dinosaur theme.

It's got moments of humor, moments of horror and 5 different species of satisfying CGI dinosaurs (a few more species would have been nice). There are quite a few great dinosaur shots, including one scene where a dinosaur is filmed from first person perspective while swimming with it's siblings, which I thought was very well done. There are scenes with flying dinosaurs, swimming dinosaurs and land-based dinosaurs, so there's quite a mix of dinosaur material incorporated.

The acting is about average for today's standards, there's a mix of good moments and not so good moments, it's really nowhere near as bad as one of the other reviewers has mentioned, all the actors did an adequate job. I've seen a lot of big budget Hollywood movies with acting that was far, far inferior to this. None of the actors deserve awards for their performances but they all (story-permitting) deserve to be rehired for the sequel.

And one thing to mention is the camera work, I thought it was filmed exceptionally well with some very inventive usage of the first-person perspective, nicely mixed with third-person shots. I was actually hugely impressed at how well it was filmed for the constraints that a "found footage" film puts on the director. From a technical point of view, it's probably one of the best examples of the genre in my opinion. I'm not really a fan of "found footage" film as such, but this movie is a brilliant example of how to use it effectively. And there are a number of people with cameras in the movie, so we get to see different camera angles too.

By no means is it perfect though, there are moments in the movie which are implausible and the scripting could have been improved in places. But I could say the same for a lot of movies I've seen, and many of them are, again, big budget Hollywood blockbusters. This movie isn't trying to teach you about dinosaurs, it's not scientifically precise, it's not trying to emulate the epic nature of the Jurassic Park franchise. All it's trying to do is entertain you, in a sort of pop-corn flick fashion. At the same time however, it's unique, absorbing and well-directed.

With a somewhat open-ending, I'd definitely be interested in watching part 2 if it ever gets produced. Remember, it's not Jurassic Park, it's a different spin on the dinosaur theme but with understandably similar consequences of human and dinosaur coexistence.

If you're a fan of anything dinosaur-related then this is a movie you don't want to miss. Just go into it with low expectations (like I did after seeing the low IMDb score) and you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. I give this one a 6.5.

Dragon Eyes (2012)

Good fights, good story.. Just missing that extra something to make it special..

[7/10 · 11 April 2012]

After leaving jail, Hong (Cung Le) travels to St Jude where he encounters a whole host of new problems which threaten to either send him back to the joint, or stop him breathing permanently.

The story is built up quite slowly and it's only until later on in the film that things start to click into place. The action scenes are introduced and filmed very well, you can feel the kicks and punches as they land. Cung Le did a terrific job of choreographing those action scenes.

Great fights (and quite a number of them too), interesting story with the whole master/mentor element being used, solid direction for the most part and pretty good acting for a martial arts flick by all the prominent actors. Van Damme and Peter Weller play their parts well and are a great addition, while Van Damme doesn't get a great deal of screen time but his presence is certainly still felt.

So why did I end up giving this a 7 and not a higher score? Well, and this may be considered a >>> S P O I L E R >>> It's the ending of any movie, the way things are concluded which can often leave the most lasting impression on you, no matter how good the movie was before it reaches the final few scenes. And this is where the problem lies. The last 15 minutes of the movie just seem extremely rushed, forced and clichéd. Such a shame that not more time was taken with the ending and that the fights at the end could have been introduced in a superior, more logical way. While the fights themselves were still entertaining, it seems by the end of the film they just wanted to get it over with and bring it to a close. <<< END SPOILER <<<

All in all, worth watching for the good fight scenes, interesting story, solid direction (for most, if not all of the movie) and decent acting for a film of this type. 7/10

The Chronicles of Hollow Earth: The Next Race (2009)

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You! Awful Movie.

[2/10 · 31 January 2011]

This movie had a premise with a lot of promise but unfortunately it just doesn't deliver and it soon devolves into a dull, boring and uninspired production.

Also entitled "Dark Metropolis", the movie screams of very low production value, some awful scenes which should have been removed or re-filmed and perhaps some misguided casting.

Eric Scott Woods main character seemed completely miscast at first, he just didn't fit the part of a leader. Perhaps if they had more takes to choose from they could have made some of those scenes work better but as it is he comes across initially as a very bad actor and throws the movie off it's rails. Later on though there are some scenes where he does a much better job, showing he had potential all along but, whether it's due to a low budget and time restrictions preventing them from re-shooting some scenes, his performance early on in the movie leaves a lot to be desired.

There's also some cheap voice sound effects which serve to emphasize that a **SLIGHT SPOILER** Channeler is "possessed" or "inhabited" by an non-physical alien "spirit".**END SPOILER** It's the typical pitch drop effect which has been so overused in movies that it's outright redundant now and only serves to lower the tone even further.

Some of the scripting is awful too while other parts are acceptable. It's inconsistent and just doesn't work for the most part.

The one fight scene was unrealistic and appeared painfully staged. It was like a fight scene from an old 1950s run-of-the-mill cowboy movie, totally inauthentic and immediately laughable.

In terms of CGI effects, aliens or anything like that - they are virtually non-existent. There's only ONE static shot of the underground city which is actually regurgitated more than once in the movie and there's one (very poor) weapon firing effect. That's it! No more effects.

All in all, this turned out to be worse than most sci-fi TV movies. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, even die-hard science fiction fans. It felt more like a school play with adult actors who nearly all did a pretty poor job. A total waste of time and money. And what makes it worse is that they had the nerve to imply there was a sequel in the pipeline! An unforgivably bad movie. The only reason I gave it a 2 (and not a 1) is because all the actors showed potential, they just didn't fulfill that potential in this movie.

Ong Bak 2 (2008)

Worth watching but ignore the title!

[6/10 · 7 April 2009]

This movie is a completely different story to the original Ong Bak. It should never have been titled Ong Bak 2, it has nothing to do with the original movie. Now this isn't a bad movie by any means. The fight scenes are occasionally impressive, cinematography and acting is of a tangible quality. The story follows the common formula of a male who looses his family to evil-doers as a boy, and avenges them as a man. That's pretty much it. To finish things off, the ending is a great cliffhanger and I admit I'm looking forward to see the sequel "Ong Bak 3", scheduled for release this year.

But, they should have called it something totally different because, while it is good on its own and the sequel is already anticipated, it does spoil the opportunity of having a "real" Ong Bak 2, with the same characters as the original and a continuation of that story. They used the name Ong Bak just because of it's popularity, but they failed to realize that the original Ong Bak story deserves an authentic sequel. And in fact so does this movie. Really both movies should have formed the foundations for two totally separate franchises.

Stardust (2007)

The best movie of 2007

[10/10 · 15 November 2007]

Brilliant cinematography, great dialogue and excellent acting make this movie the best of 2007 hands down! This is really a movie with something for everyone and must not be missed. I'm not a regular viewer of romance driven movies but this one was like nothing you've seen before because it really had so many elements to it and was directed so well with the perfect cast of actors. It has genuine comedy, action, drama and fantasy that will not disappoint and a superb musical score that completes it. Even if you absolutely hate romantic movies, you will love this because it is much much more than just a romance movie.

From the opening scene, with an accomplished narrator introducing us to the spectacle about to unfold, you know you're in for a treat but I remained a little skeptical for the first 10 minutes thinking that there was no way the movie could carry on in such a brilliant and entertaining way.. I assumed it would get a little boring after a while, after all it is over 2 hours long. How wrong I was! There was not one moment in the movie that lost my attention and to me that means it was close to perfect! I rated this movie 10/10 because it did everything it was supposed to do, and did it very very well. I think its so good that at the time of writing this, on IMDb.com the rating is 8.1 and that is a slightly unfair rating! Exceptional and rare, cinematic genius, must not be missed.

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003)

The cradle won't rock..

[26 June 2004]

Cradle of Life was a major let-down and the second half seemed very rushed apart from some of the cgi scenes. So many things in this movie were just cumbersome and generic, there were no real fresh ideas.

The acting was very poor in parts and only Angelina Jolie could be considered as having good acting in the film. The other actors were occasionaly very rigid as if they were reading the lines right off the script. There are some scenes with the male sidekick that I thought were so badly acted they would have been better off as comedy out-takes.

Overall the word "cradle" is paramount because this film will probably be more appreciated by kids. For a more mature audience, I'm afraid the cradle won't rock.

Blade of Fury (1993)

Not bad, definately not a classic

[11 October 2003]

This movie suffers from poor english translation and hence questionable voice-overs. For the most part, action is well choreographed with some interesting wirework which can be taken either as humorous or quite fascinating, creating a strangely magical effect. It depends on what mood you're in as to how you'll take the wirework.

The action can't really be faulted and there are a few of those fights which you find yourself watching eyes wide open, refusing to blink incase you miss a vital move. But that aspect of the film can only add a degree of interest to an otherwise average title which wouldn't really be worth watching were it not for competent fight scenes. The poor script translation takes alot away from the film at times especially when one or two proverbs are translated like they expected the audience to be five year olds. Overall: 6/10

5 Pattern Dragon Claws (1983)

Entertaining Flick..

[7/10 · 8 October 2003]

This movie is your run-of-the-mill kung fu action flick. No original ideas or concepts just genuine, authentic, no holds barred kung fu with some crazy dubbing thrown in. Worth the watch but you might be disappointed if you paid over £5 for it. Budget buy. 7/10 Gorguruga

20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)

After a good start, start yawning

[12 August 2003]

It starts off fairly well with the special effects being introduced quite convincingly. What really kills this movie off though is the lack of quality scripting and the stale unrealistic acting from the American actors. The European (and Mexican - the kid?) actors do keep some of the interest there but unfortunately only have limited exposure. It just plays like a selection of set-pieces with some script lines thrown in here and there to break things up a little. For its time I'm sure it was quite an achievement but through modern eyes it's dull and uninspiring. Don't bother with this one. 3 out of 10.