Rolex24 Reviews

Pottersville (2017)

So many good actors in such a bad movie.

[4/10 · 26 December 2018]

First off, know that essentially this movie has nothing to do with It's a Wonderful Life. It's a total borrowed interest play to get people to watch it. It could easily be any town name or Squatch for that matter.

Pottersville falls into this odd new type of movie we're seeing these days from streaming services. It's essentially a bad TV movie with passible production quality and really really high caliber acting. It's kind of unbelievable the cast that is in this movie.

The story telling is incredibly predictable and painfully linear. Like bad Lifetime movies, it has a crappy stock score underneath most every scene to tell us how we should feel.

It's terrible and whoever decided to make this should feel bad.

The Dead Inside (2011)

Highly creative zombie, ghost, horror, dramady, musical. Thats good, but a bit too long.

[7/10 · 2 December 2010]

This film was highly creative and at times entertaining, but ultimately falls short of being great. The Dead Inside is a complex story of a young couple going through seemingly normal problems until the problems become surreal and supernatural . Often the hallmark of a great film is it's ability to blur the lines of classification. The problem is, in this film they aren't very blurry. It is, at times, a musical, at others a horror, sometimes a comedy and a serious drama at others. Where it goes wrong is it seems to delve too far into each area for too long making it confusing as to what the overall feeling the audience is supposed to have. I noticed the director was also the editor and I think that may be what is the biggest problem with this film. It just starts to drag on and on. The musical scenes are pretty good and the dialouge is good too, it's the seemingly endless scenes of people sitting and staring into the mirror or at the computer or at nothing. Good to great music, nice camera work (but has a very video look at times), good script, good lyrics and good acting (though not the best singing voices) just needs some serious editing.

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

This movie is so stupid

[8/10 · 17 August 2006]

I love it! Get your mutha *&^$%# ass to the mutha (&*$^(* theater. People go to movies for different reasons. I doubt many are going to see SoaP expecting fine cinema. If you go in with the expectations that this movie is ridiculous then you will like it. There are several scenes where they do exactly what every one in the audience wants (perticularly the first major snake attack in the bathroom) The music is strange. The title sequence was like a 70's sitcom. The plot is horrible and predictable. The acting is actually OK. The worst part was a 30 second scene that they took too seriously where one of the flight attendants died. Its very entertaining and its pretty suspenseful in parts. It makes you want to pick your feet up off the floor sometimes. Its great because it's not pretending to be anything that it is not.

Superman Returns (2006)

"Flying is statistically still the safest way to travel." Still got the kitsch and thats good.

[8/10 · 30 June 2006]

Superman Returns was very enjoyable. It was not perfect but it actually beat my expectations, which I consider to be pretty high. I think some people take this movie too seriously. They talk about how unrealistic something is and they forget it's a movie about an alien from another planet with superhuman strength. It's an old school comic book style plot so it's not the most developed thing in the world. Why Lex Luthor wants to replace the east coast with a big chunk of dead volcanic rock is beyond me, but he must be stopped!

Here is my breakdown:

The Acting: Par or better for a superhero flick.

The Cast: Great. Brandon Routh is a great Superman. I didn't like Spacey as much as Hackman but he was still really good. Kate Bosworth did a good job Much better than Katie Holmes in Batman Begins or Spiderman's girlfriend, whoever she is. She (Bosworth) didn't have the depth of character that Margot Kidder did as Lois Lane but she did well and is certainly much better to look at and listen to. There wasn't much to the kid. I didn't think he was really good but he wasn't annoying like kids in movies can be (Jake Lloyd). Parker Posey, Perry White, Jimmy...all done well.

The story: Pretty good. Could have used further development in some places and maybe not as much in others. Superman spying on Lois was kinda weird.....as well as when he is standing in the kids room it was kinda creepy.

The effects: I thought they were good. I can't figure out why some people are saying they are not.

Favorite scene: The airplane scene at the beginning.

Least favorite scene: Parker Posey (not because of her) in the old Mustang with no brakes. I thought there could have been a more imaginative diversion.

I liked:

*Goofy, Clark Kent.

*The sonic boom when he flies really fast.

*The effects. I really liked they way they let you hear the super hearing.

*Stelth Superman….it was cool how they didn't always have a big swoosh every time he flew by (like in the old ones). Sometimes you could hear the cape flapping.

Other Complaints: *Lois sends a fax with the coordinated of the boat....kinda lame. *I didn't like that superman has a kid. ( really its just that I don't want 2 Supermen in the future) *Hospitalization of superman at the end seemed kind of unnecessary, or at least too long. I would have rather seen a more through resolution to the Lex Luthor on the Island situation. Especially since Superman failed to follow through with the court date and what not. (maybe in the sequel) * It was a little to long. It started of really well with smart cuts, not showing every little thing. As the movie went on it seemed some places were unnecessary. I'm really nit picking here though.

Overall: The characters and the action are what make this film. Superman Returns retained a lot of the kitsch that made the 1978 and '81 version unique and fun. Very entertaining. First summer movie to even come close to the hype. My belief is that if you were a fan of the old ones you'll like Superman Returns.

To those who think Superman Returns is UN-American I will point out that in this movie he is predominately in the United States (or Space), He saves the space shuttle, lightly crashes a plane into a baseball field ,drinks a Budweiser and tries to get with a married woman (not at the same time). While it may not be the most pro-American Superman it could have been, I didn't feel like it was made for in international audience. I'll even go out on a limb to and say that I doubt it'll be at Cannes.

Poolhall Junkies (2002)

Not "the worst" but don't get hustled into thinking it could be good.

[4/10 · 17 March 2005]

After reading some of the other comments I'm not sure I can really add anything new. But I'll try.

Breakdown of rating (what is averaged to get the overall rating):

Plot:*** Writing:*** Cinematography:***** Acting:**** Editing:** Continuity:****

It wanted to be Swingers in a pool room really bad. It just wasn't. It was trying too hard to be smart cool and funny and dramatic at the same time. Christopher Walken was entertaining as always although even he could not polish the crappy dialog at times. Decent cinematography at times. But overall it felt like a bunch of crazy stories your buddies might tell (which can be entertaining). But when its loosely tied together with a weak plot then no one really cares. There wasn't much pool playing. The guy was only great because everyone said he was. The pool playing that there was, was music montage trick shot b.s.

I thought several times "well that certain elements could have been cool if they had only done this or that". The main thing being: The movie should have started with his brother stealing that crap and going to jail and then did all that back story in quick flashbacks or explanations. I didn't care about the girlfriend, the law-firm, the friends, his brother's stupid band, the old guy that owned the pool hall, the dumb guy that ran the RV lot. Maybe some of those characters could have been better if they were more developed but as they were they were lame (especially the Asian kid, who you never even see with a cue, who took his college money to go play on the road because he thought he could be a good hustler because he was inspired by the main character who everybody is sure is the Emperor of pool but for no reason.)

The bottom line: Mildly entertaining. (some of its entertainment value is in how crappy it is a times). It's an independent what do you expect. It's not the worst thing ever like some of these fools are saying but don't let Christopher Walken's name fool you into thinking it's a good movie. Rent it if you're alone and they don't have what you want to see.