This is a nifty little
movie about firemen. I’m super biased going into this one, but ill do
my best to review it fairly. A firefighter (Joaquin Phoenix) finds
himself trapped in a huge building fire. While he waits to be saved, he
reflects on his life and everything that has happened leading up to his
being trapped. John Travolta played his chief, who spends the movie
trying to figure out a way to rescue him.
First off, it should
be stated right up front that this movie is not ‘Backdraft 2’ and should
not be compared to ‘Backdraft’. The only comparison that I can think of
between the 2 is that they are both about fire fighters. That’s it.
Anyways, the plot moves between Joaquin Phoenix being stuck in the
building and reminiscing about his life. That formula works ok, but
sometimes it gets a bit annoying. But I guess that is how they keep us
watching to the end so we can finally see what happens.
Some pluses would be
the acting and the technical aspects. Joaquin phoenix is really good
here. He seems very capable of the dramatic talent that it takes to
encompass one mans life in a movie. Good job. Also, John Travolta is
good, which was a big surprise seeing as he has only been in crap for
the last few years. Also, it was nice to see Robert Patrick with a
good, non-TV role again. Some of the technical stuff is pretty close to
how it is in real life, but there is some stuff that cant be done in a
movie because it just would not work. There are actually smoke in the
fires in this movie, a thing which is absent from a lot of other
firefighting movies.
Overall, this was a pretty exciting movie. The rescue scenes were
certainly top notch. A lot of time was obviously spent on them and it
really comes though. And the dramatics are there too, so the average
moviegoer gets into the characters, learning about them and caring about
them before certain big events happen. The final huge plus is that the
director doesn’t let his whole movie revolve around the big action
scenes. Movies like that are ok sometimes, but they draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag
when something is not exploding. There are some cool action scenes,
but the best and most moving parts are of the people going about their
lives. This is a thoroughly enjoyable movie that knows when to blow
things up, but also know how to play off the viewers emotions. nice
job. (Edward Black)
Just what
the world needs, another mediocre horror anthology film. The
premise/framing sequence is that a husband and wife take turns telling each
other “scary” stories that are supposedly true. An Iraq war vet returns
with a lust to kill and a face covered in raspberry jelly. A nerd becomes a
hit with the ladies when he uses a new cologne, but winds up with more than
he bargained for. A vampire hunting priest has his mission complicated when
his daughter (from before he became a man of the cloth, I guess) becomes one
of the undead. All the segments are technically competent in a well made
porno kind of way, and the acting ranges from passable to genuinely good,
but the stories are uninspired and far from scary. To me, it just felt like
a collection of clichés and conventions, with no real style or energy to
make up for the lack of original ideas. Plenty of nudity and gore if that’s
your thing, but not much else of interest. (Bob Ignizio)
This is a simple low
budget zombie movie spoof from the UK, which just happens to be the
funniest movie I have seen in a long time. Spoofs can be hit or miss,
since the jokes in the movie usually are only funny to the people who
like that specific genre. This is where ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ excels. It
manages to pack in a lot of laughs that only the true horror fans will
get, but there is also a lot of stuff that any random moviegoer will
find funny. The movie is about a go nowhere loser (Shaun) who
languishes in his boring repetitive life. His girlfriend is sick of him
too. His only friend is another loser named Ed (good name choice!).
Eventually they figure out that the world is being taken over by the
undead and they set off to save everyone.
This just might be the
best comedy to come out in years. I’m not over exaggerating, either.
The acting is way above par, especially for a low budget movie. The two
leads (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) are really good, to the point that it
doesn’t even seem like they are acting like friends, but rather like
they really are friends. The pacing, direction and jokes are all there,
too. The movie never lets up.
Towards the end,
things seem to take a more serious turn and that took away from the
films impact a bit for me, as it was too fast of a change from spoof to
a more serious tone. It does not ruin the movie though, just seemed a
little strange. And towards the end, there is a good amount of gore,
some of which will definitely shock people not accustomed to horror
movie violence. This movie succeeds because you don’t have to be a
horror fan to like it or get the jokes. In fact, a lot of the jokes
would have suited a slapstick comedy just fine. They just happen to be
in a horror spoof here. Check it out because good times are had here.
(Edward Black)
Everyone knows that fast food isn’t healthy, but
just how bad is it? Morgan Spurlock set out to get the answer. He
decided to eat nothing but McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
for an entire month. He had to eat everything on the menu at least
once, and every time a cashier asked him if he wanted to “super size”
his meal, he had to do so. The results were surprising to everyone,
including the doctors and health consultants Morgan spoke with before
embarking on his experiment. He gained 10 pounds in one week. His
cholesterol shot through the roof. His liver, as one doctor describes
it, turned into pate’. His relationship with the food became very
similar to that of a drug addict to his substance of choice. When he
went too long without McDonald’s he suffered from headaches, depression,
and other ill effects. When he got his fix, he suddenly felt better.
Spurlock admits that most people don’t eat as much
fast food as he did, but the sad fact is some do. Many of them are
children, especially now that school lunch programs have given up any
attempts at providing nutrition. It’s easy to say that people who eat
nothing but junk get what’s coming to them, but the fact is the way
McDonald’s and other companies market to consumers, starting from a very
early age, is geared to make us a nation of burger addicts. It’s a
large part of the reason this country has an obesity epidemic, which in
turn leads to more and more serious health problems.
Aside from making some very good points, ‘Supersize
Me’ is also highly entertaining. The footage is well edited to show the
high (and low) lights of Morgan’s experiment, and how it affects him and
those around him. You really feel for Morgan’s girlfriend, a vegan
chef. And when you see Morgan trying to get down a double quarter pounder meal, super-sized, you know what’s going to happen but can’t
turn away. Spurlock also interviews a number of experts who provide
valuable information and help break up the monotony of just watching a
guy eat McDonald’s for an hour and a half. He even tries to get a
representative of McDonald’s to offer their side, but like Michael Moore
in his quixotic quest in ‘Roger & Me’, ultimately fails. Without
debating the merits of their messages, I’d say this is as good or better
a film as Moore’s ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’, and a strong front runner for this
year’s documentary feature Oscar. Check it out, but be warned. You may
never eat a Big Mac again. (Bob Ignizio)
This is a nifty little
movie about firemen. I’m super biased going into this one, but ill do
my best to review it fairly. A firefighter (Joaquin Phoenix) finds
himself trapped in a huge building fire. While he waits to be saved, he
reflects on his life and everything that has happened leading up to his
being trapped. John Travolta played his chief, who spends the movie
trying to figure out a way to rescue him. 
Just what
the world needs, another mediocre horror anthology film. The
premise/framing sequence is that a husband and wife take turns telling each
other “scary” stories that are supposedly true. An Iraq war vet returns
with a lust to kill and a face covered in raspberry jelly. A nerd becomes a
hit with the ladies when he uses a new cologne, but winds up with more than
he bargained for. A vampire hunting priest has his mission complicated when
his daughter (from before he became a man of the cloth, I guess) becomes one
of the undead. All the segments are technically competent in a well made
porno kind of way, and the acting ranges from passable to genuinely good,
but the stories are uninspired and far from scary. To me, it just felt like
a collection of clichés and conventions, with no real style or energy to
make up for the lack of original ideas. Plenty of nudity and gore if that’s
your thing, but not much else of interest. (Bob Ignizio)
This is a simple low
budget zombie movie spoof from the UK, which just happens to be the
funniest movie I have seen in a long time. Spoofs can be hit or miss,
since the jokes in the movie usually are only funny to the people who
like that specific genre. This is where ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ excels. It
manages to pack in a lot of laughs that only the true horror fans will
get, but there is also a lot of stuff that any random moviegoer will
find funny. The movie is about a go nowhere loser (Shaun) who
languishes in his boring repetitive life. His girlfriend is sick of him
too. His only friend is another loser named Ed (good name choice!).
Eventually they figure out that the world is being taken over by the
undead and they set off to save everyone. 
Everyone knows that fast food isn’t healthy, but
just how bad is it? Morgan Spurlock set out to get the answer. He
decided to eat nothing but McDonald’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
for an entire month. He had to eat everything on the menu at least
once, and every time a cashier asked him if he wanted to “super size”
his meal, he had to do so. The results were surprising to everyone,
including the doctors and health consultants Morgan spoke with before
embarking on his experiment. He gained 10 pounds in one week. His
cholesterol shot through the roof. His liver, as one doctor describes
it, turned into pate’. His relationship with the food became very
similar to that of a drug addict to his substance of choice. When he
went too long without McDonald’s he suffered from headaches, depression,
and other ill effects. When he got his fix, he suddenly felt better. 