Change Your Image
rayjaymor
Reviews
Amusement (2008)
Some of the worst pacing of any movie ever.
I don't think I've ever been so bored watching a horror/thriller movie.
To say that this movie crawls along at a snail's pace would be an understatement. Even the action sequences feel long winded, likely aided by the boredom that is instilled when the suspense building scenes just take so long that you end up forgetting what you were supposed to be scared of.
The cast does the best they can do, and the script is fine - but whoever cut the movie together either had nothing to work with and was trying to stretch it out as far as they could, or they have some kind of edging and then denial fetish.
The movie tries to go for shock value with violence but never quite delves into any legitimate consequences for the characters until an extremely cheap ending that has about all the creativity of someone running out of paper in their notebook.
1hr and 24m of my life that I am never getting back, but that's solely on me for not giving up after the first 30 minutes.
It doesn't even fall into the "so bad it's good" category it's just plain bad.
The Pastor and the Pro (2018)
Extremely good movie, let down only by a mediocre conclusion.
This film has some amazing things going for it. The performance by Kelly Cunningham is superb, and whilst the rest of the cast is decent as well she definitely carries the fim.
The camera work and film quality are also quite good.
The writing is amazing with clever and entertaining dialogue and interesting characters. I was hooked and laughing most of the way through the movie.
It seems to fall apart late in the third act however where a lot of intricate and clever webs are weaved but the writer didn't really know how to end it.
The final twist in the story seems unnecessary and only serves to leave us with a relatively disappointing conclusion that makes the ending feel extremely rushed and disjointed.
RoboCop (2014)
I was expecting disappointment, but was pleasantly surprised. I'd buy that for a dollar!
I am a die-hard fan of the original Robocop movies (more the first two rather than the third) as well as the TV series. As far as claims of "destroying the franchise" go I definitely believe the Dark Justice mini-series still claims that title.
There is no doubt, a lot of fans were very concerned when they saw the trailer and the new "suit". It's a huge deviation from the accepted canon of Robocop, and my initial impression was that this movie would be an extremely poor remake.
Now, don't get me wrong - this movie definitely does not surpass the original Robocop (this is definitely no Nolan Batman trilogy) but it's actually a very interesting and quite entertaining movie in it's own right -- but more in a 'Aliens vs Predator' popcorn flick, rather than a timeless classic.
The good: I actually think the new robocop suit worked quite well; and I oddly enough now find myself thinking the new suit is more believable than the slow, clunky version of the 80s. Whilst not nearly as violent as the original it offers plenty of action and you will not be disappointed with the action scenes. As shown in the trailer a huge deviation from the canon is that Murphy's family are more involved this time around and it made for an interesting (but underused) plot device. There are also plenty of one-liner references to the original movie to pay homage for the fans --- I'd buy that for a dollar!
Samuel L Jackson's Pat Novak (an obvious take on the likes of O'Reilly Factor style "news" shows) was brilliantly done as the film's satire device - and Jackson clearly lavished this role. (His last few lines in the film are quite brilliant).
However, some niggles do hold this movie back from being the classic that the original was. The script, whilst enjoyable, simply does not have anywhere near the depth of the original. Whilst there are some dark moments it is not terribly engaging; this is more a statement of how brilliant the original was however, rather than a statement on this movie.
So long as you're not comparing it to the original, this movie is a 9/10 and quite a lot of fun.
But, Peter Weller will always be 'Robocop'.