Buttered Popcorn: Buzzmans Movie Review Thread

[Buzzman]

When in Rome (2010)

Plot: Beth is a young, ambitious New Yorker who is completely unlucky in love. However, on a whirlwind trip to Rome, she impulsively steals some coins from a reputed fountain of love, and is then aggressively pursued by a band of suitors.

Story: The appeal of the movie was supposed to be funny, but when you sit down and watch it, most of it was actually annoying. Its hard to believe Kristen Bell had a hard time meeting a good guy and they overdid the finding “true love’ discussion way too much. It seemed every other scene she was having a conversation about why she loves her job over men. The ending was laughable in a bad way and you thanked god when the credits rolled.

Characters: Kristen Bell is better then this. Her character was boring, humorless, and depressing. She constantly cried about everything and turned little things into dramatic events. All of the men she “stole” there love from were extremely stupid, which is disappointing because they were actual funny actors stuck in impossible situations. Everyone was in cruise control cashing in on a quick buck.

Others: This movie literally wasted everybody’s time. Why it was made in the first place is beyond me. It is one of the worst movies I’ve seen. Romance movies this year have so far been blah. The one redeeming quality it has happens to be the picture of Josh Duhamel character after he gets injured and his football career is ended. (struck by lightning amusingly). I wish I could find an image of that because it looked fantastic.

Overall Score: 0/10

 

[Buzzman]

Escape From New York (1981)

Plot: In 1997, when the US President crashes into Manhattan, now a giant max. security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in for a rescue.

Story: It is one of the most intriguing plots still today. The film used the Cold War to its advantage and made a awesome movie out of it. The idea that the crime rate would jump high enough to make New York a big prison is brilliant. Then have the President crash in there a day before a huge international peace meeting; what a neat coincidence. Snake adventure threw New York to save the President defiantly has its ups and downs but when it gets down to it. It was an awesome one. The ending was just icing on the cake. Snake is just so badass.

Characters: Snake Plissken by all means shouldn’t work. He’s not the strongest fastest, smartest man; he’s just above average. His voice sounds like he has something stuck in his throat, and says some of the dullest one –liners. But he has an eye patch and a mullet so who really gives a fuck. He’s awesome. No one else matters; Unless you count the US President who has a British accent.

Others: This is considered a cult classic and has a mass following. You can understand why it was loved so much with some of its stunts but you can definitely understand why someone would hate it as well. I happened to love it and wish I could have seen it back in 1981. It was probably a great theater experience.

Overall Score: 8/10

 

[Buzzman]

Splice (2010)

Plot: Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named "Dren", the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators - only to have that bond turn deadly.

Story: The story is a fascinating one to watch. You get to see the “specimen” named Dren grow up and develop into a human being after they combine animal and DNA together. It’s awesome to see her learn and discover things, but still be as confused as ever with the actions her “guardians” take to keep her away from thee world. The morale factor is played well with the film, but I wished they would have faced more consequences for what they created. The scientists that created her have the constant pressure with keeping her safe and hidden, but don’t realize they are in over there heads. The bond they form is touching, but then the last fourth of the movie comes and fucks everything up. Ripping everything apart and turns into POS horror film that resorts to disgusting antics to gain the audience attention.

Characters: Dren is the star of the movie. She’s so darn cute growing up, you cant help but adore her. As she ages, she starts becoming a more interesting figure. You learn so many things about her as the movie progress but then they turn a 360 on her character and ruin everything she had become; truly disappointing. Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley give great performances as the two scientists; however, the woman’s background was a wasted opportunity that they ignored near the end.

Others: I love movies with low budgets because its more on story then anything. The first 90 minutes were great, but that ending segment was just terrible and felt completely out of place with the rest of the film. It truly ruined a great movie experience. It had the potential to be a great one, but instead falls flat and runs out of gas.

Overall Score: 6/10

 

[Buzzman]

Remember Me (2010)

Plot: A romantic drama centered on two new lovers: Tyler, whose parents have split in the wake of his brother's suicide, and Ally, who lives each day to the fullest since witnessing her mother's murder.

Story: The movie teases you unintentionally by always stopping short on most of the subjects it starts, which is frustrating as hell. It’s like starting a sentence and stopping halfway through and starting another one up. We never really know why our characters act they way they do because of it. It starts in typical fashion as a lot of romance movies but refreshingly strays away from the cliché’s (but there are some) and takes the path of a far more realistic approach. It’s message of always living your life is clearly recognized throughout the movie, so the ending they take, while surprisingly in execution, feels like a disrespectful ploy for the sake of dramatic entertainment. (if you want to know the ending because you don’t plan on watching this, click the spoiler)

 

The message of living your life because you may die at any second is shown with our character looking out the window of the 97th floor of the World Trade Center on Sept 11. It was a twist that wasn’t seen coming, but I find it very disrespectful because it was a cheap ploy for entertainment purposes.

Characters: Tyler, our main character, is frustrating to like. He’s always angry and doesn’t shy away from showing it. They hint at why’s he like this but never actually go into any details. His father is a far more intriguing character. He’s a powerful business man who appears to be work first and family second. It would have been really nice to see more of an on screen relationship with his family with flashbacks to see how he turned his sons against him. On the other side, our female lead, Ally, and her father needed more screen time. Both never got enough to really form any kind of connection with the audience.

Others: While better then any other romance movie I’ve seen in 2010, it still is average. All the woman that sees this will talk about how great it was, with its powerful ending (I researched on IMDB that the average female under 18 gives this a 9), but don’t believe it. It does have a far more realistic approach at the love story, but it’s nothing you’ll be thinking about once the credits roll. You could for sure use this as a date movie to earn yourself some points with the girls though because it is a watchable film they’ll definitely love.

Overall Score: 5.5/10

 

[Buzzman]

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Plot: A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.

Story: DreamWorks hits another jackpot with How To Train Your Dragon. At its basic core, it’s a coming of age story; a good one at that. The adventure we watch is fun and entertaining. It doesn’t necessarily do anything that blows you away, but there never was a dull moment. It had plenty of comedy and numerous heart-filled moments that all great animation movies have today. The action was early and often with the battles actually being the best I’ve seen in an animated film like this. Everything draws you in so much that before you know it the are credits rolling, leaving you with a very satisfied taste.

Characters: The true star is the actual Dragon, Toothless. It never says physical words, but expresses itself through facial expression and body language that is adorable. The relationship the dragon forms with Hiccup is very fun to watch. Hiccup is our hero we root for and the actions he does makes him very enjoyable to watch. He’s the first Viking to actually think before his actions, which marks him as the “abnormal” kid in the tribe, but by films end, he’s the greatest Viking of them all. The relationship with his father is something we all can connect with at some point in our lives, and it was nice to witness.

Others: This was the first film since Avatar to get the 3D right. The colors and animations provided for some nice eye popping experience. DreamWorks has really turned into a powerhouse. It’s right up there with Pixar as one of the best movie studios in the business. Since this was based off a book series, so there will no doubt be more to come and lets just hope the sequel is up to par with the original because this film deserves all the attention it got and then some.

Overall Score: 8/10

 

[Buzzman]

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Plot: 19-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

Story: The movie starts off very slow, not a lot happens here. You wait for it to kick into gear, but it keeps it slow pace for most of the movie, which really killed it for me. It took so long for anything to happen that by the time the battle comes, I found myself not caring what happened. Just so many things went wrong. The dialogue was confusing to hear, Alice was one of the most boring leads, and the film spent to much time showing off its visual effects that the story was paper thin. Nothing was surprisingly, and when she finally climbed back out of the hole and into the real world, you smile knowing it’s almost over.

Characters: As stated, Alice is remarkably boring. Whenever she talks it’s a question and nothing else even when its not. It got annoying quick. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter looks like he’s having a blast but I couldn’t understand half the things he said because he mumbled and spoke gibberish a lot. The Red Queen was the films best character. She was funny yet unforgiving and made a great villain for the film. Her sister, the White Queen, needed a completely new look. As hot as Anne Hathaway is, her costume was vomit worthy.

Others: The visuals were the selling point from the get-go for Disney. The 3D was good but it never really had great 3D worthy scenes. The colors made for some nice manipulation, but the whole thing just seemed to be a disappointment. The world thought otherwise since it made a billion dollars at the box office. I never had high expectations, yet the movie still couldn’t meet the low bar I had set for it. Hopefully the rest of Disney's movies don’t follow this film’s path of style of substance.

Overall Score: 4/10

 

[Buzzman]

The Bounty Hunter (2010)

Plot: A bounty hunter learns that his next target is his ex-wife, a reporter working on a murder cover-up. Soon after their reunion, the always-at-odds duo find themselves on a run-for-their-lives adventure.

Story: There’s not to much to say about The Bounty Hunter. It doesn’t stray away from any cliché, its jokes aren’t funny, the situations aren’t funny, the cast has no chemistry, and it’s not entertaining. It is in the top 10 worst movies I’ve ever seen. Despite seeing it for free, I feel I wasted my time. If you must know, it follows the actions of a divorced couple who seem to hate each other but while the bounty hunter ex- husband tries to take her to jail, they both realize her news story his ex-wife was covering was something much bigger and in there journey for the truth, they fall back in love. How touching and terrible. Any movie that can be summed up in two sentences is shit.

Characters: Boy has Gerald Butler gotten fat. Once a badass, now he plays the same guy in every romance movie studios throw at him. By good chance you’ve never seen his romance movies, he always play a dick with supposed charm to woo a woman, but he’s never likeable. Aniston has really destroyed a rising career with her too, playing the self-confident woman in romance movies. Such a perfect a pair to star in such a shitty movie.

Others: This movie really defines these two actors. They literally cruised to get a check and yet how terrible it was, it still made bank at the box office. It’s so frustrating to see that happen because there are films that deserve better but you throw in two popular faces and boom. The fans come running. If you come across this movie, brake it and save the next person the trouble.

Overall Score: 0/10

 

[Buzzman]

Green Zone (2010)

Plot: Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.

Story: It actually presents an interesting outlook on the Iraq war, but most of the information is added for entertainment purposes which is in fact, false information. The beginning feels like a real soldiers at work, looking for Weapons of Mass Destruction, you feel you can connect the dots if you’ve actually followed the Iraq war. But when the search keep coming up empty, it turns more into a one man army, out to uncover that the war was started under manufactured information. Some might say this is “anti-war” and “anti-America” but the actions of Matt Damon’s character are actually the exact opposite when you strip it to the bone.

Characters: Matt Damon is a badass once again, but this isn’t Jason Bourne like everyone is saying. He is just an above average soldier who wants to save lives, and he will do it the best way he can. His mission throughout the film is what he believes is that way. The pentagon advisor, Clark Poundstone, is a nice snobby man who believes he’s untouchable but we the audience know otherwise. Then there is Saddam’s secondhand man. He has a screen presence, but his actions seemed out of place for a General ni the Republican Guard.

Others: Many people seem to be saying this is just like a Bourne flick but it’s not, its more war-based then spy thriller.America though, was not ready to see an Iraq War movie about WMDs, as you can tell with its 100 million dollar box office loss, but it’s a shame because this was an entertaining flick. It never backed away from the critical reception it received while in production and the film’s product turned out good, but it did do some things that were baffling with some of the actions Matt Damon’s soldier did, they were downright unrealistic.

Overall Score: 6.5/10

 

[Buzzman]

Youth in Revolt (2010)

Plot: While his trailer trash parents teeter on the edge of divorce, Nick Twisp sets his sights on dream girl Sheeni Saunders, hoping that she'll be the one to take away his virginity.

Story: O boy is this a big messy pile of shit. Our character meets a semi decent looking girl and goes gaga for her. Then he goes on a quest of terrorism, with the help of his alter ego, so they can be together. His actions are boring; he never really does anything that’s actually that funny. Other then a few one-liners from his alter ego, the movie was just stale. Once his girlfriend’s brother was introduced, all hell broke loose. The movie turned into some weird ass shit that I couldn’t tell was supposed to be funny or serious.

Characters: I don’t know how Michael Cera finds work, he’s the second most one-dimensional character in Hollywood right now, and its not even a good one. Even his alter ego was the exact same thing, just with some different dialogue. The alter ego really didn’t even play a part in the movie; he was unneeded dead weight. The girl shares no chemistry with Cera, which throws everything he does for her out the window. Justin long makes one of the most bizarre appearances I’ve ever seen. He must have been high the whole time, only explanation I can think of.

Others: Its up to standard with just about any other Cera movie, but it tries to play a different card by not being so happy about everything. It fails miserably. One thing the film did was get some big names and not use them. Essentially only using there names. Zach Galifianakis and Steve Buscemi are in it, but get five minutes of screen time. This movie failed miserably, and it will be one of 2010s worst films.

Overall Score: 2/10

 

[Buzzman]

The A-Team (2010)

Plot: A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.

Story: Boy was the plot a big mess. It was jumping all over the place. Anything anyone needed was handed to them, and there were more explosions then smart dialogue; In the end it doesn’t matter because it was a fucking good time. It had the most absurd but awesome action pieces, hilarious running jokes, and a wonderful cast. It makes plenty of references to the TV Show, but make no mistake, this could have been called something entirely different. This had guns blazing, hilarious gags, and death around every corner. It was a mighty good time. I mean what other movie will show someone driving a tank through the sky.

Characters: The cast was great. Nelson played a wonderful over the top Hannibal, Cooper charmed his way through the action, Jackson did his best (but short) Mr. T impersonation, but the real stand out was Copley as Murdock. He showed he has the range of any actor by having a laugh out loud role that had you cracking up the whole movie. They all played well together and seemed like a bunch of old friends having a good time. The villains were good enough foes for the team and had some funny moments as well, but the A-Team just stood out over everyone else in the film.

Others: If your looking for the first real summer blockbuster then you found it. Iron Man 2 was good but could never meet the hype; But The A-Team was just awesome. It was just that likeable action comedy that you see during summer that the audience can have a good time with. Too bad more people decided to go see The Karate Kid remake with chicken legs playing the kung fu kid. One thing that stood out with the camera during the action scenes was it moved fast like a Bourne movie but not nearly as effective. I can see it causing a headache early on that could ruin the rest of it, but don’t let that stop you from having a blast.

Overall Score: 8/10

 

[Buzzman]

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Plot: Woody, Buzz, and the rest of their toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, departs for college.

Story: Is it possible to make a sequel to a movie 12 years old and still have it be top notch entertainment? It is for Pixar. They took the same characters we fell in love with years ago, and showed us there final adventure. The story has always been about the relationships Andy has with his toys and toys themselves with each other. A lot has changed. Andy is going away to college and hasn’t played with the gang for years. There eagerness to be loved works its way into the audience and plays with your emotions. Those same emotions you had the first two times around, the ones that make you want to be a kid again. Two scenes in particular grabbed at you the most near the end of the film that gave Toy Story the proper send off it deserved. Easily taking the throne as one of the best movies ever made.

Characters: It’s the same characters we grew to love, but only a select few have survived the yardsales and donations over the years. Woody and Buzz lead the charge, with Potato Heads, Rex, Hamm, Jesse, Bullseye, and Slinky Dog follow. Woody was front and center the star of the movie. They showed how much Andy has meant to him and how much he has meant to Andy. It was just wonderful to witness the sendoff Andy and him had together. For the rest, it’s exactly what you come to expect, they were all there charming selfs. The addition of Ken and Barbie made for some great laughs, and our villain, Lobo, was one you felt sorry in the end because of his troubled misunderstanding.

Others: While Toy Story 3 didn’t have anything amazing to show off its 3D, it’s animations were incredible and the enhancement from the 3D added an extra spark to it that made it one of the most enjoyable 3D films to date. Pixar is truly the best at what they do. They set the bar up high and jump over it every time. Toy Story 3 is up there with the best trilogies of all time, with Toy Story 3 being one of the best standalone films of all time. If you decide to see one movie this year, choose this. You owe it to yourself.

Overall Score: 10/10

 

[Buzzman]

Brooklyn’s Finest (2010)

Plot: Three unconnected Brooklyn cops wind up at the same deadly location after enduring vastly different career paths.

Story: The movie is fairly inconsistent and decides to skip right threw the building block and just throw scene at you while pretending they already connected them by showing you the lives of three different cops. The problem here is that all three cops aren’t very likable and they never show you anything but clichés from them. The paths they take and the ending each character doesn’t come as a surprise to you. That dramatic finish they tried to build up just wasn’t any good and makes you feel like you have wasted your time.

Characters: The three cops that you follow aren’t likeable because of the dumbass decisions that they make throughout the movie. You have to wonder how they have managed to get where they are and didn’t already die or fall away from the job of being a cop. Don Cheadle as the undercover, is interesting but maybe that’s because they don’t reveal anything about him, Gere’s retiring cop is boring and cliché but possibly the most realistic, and Hawke’s dirty cop routine was laughable as he constantly referenced his bible quotes. Just way too many cliché’s and laughable decisions to feel any emotions toward these guys.

Others: Antoine Fuqua has shown once again that Training Day was just lightning in a bottle because everything he’s touched since then has been mediocre at best. He even went back to the same genre with this film and doesn’t even come close to anything remotely entertaining. Its time he gives up. When you take a character driven movie where no one cares about the characters you put out, then something is seriously wrong.

Overall Score: 3.5/10

 

[Buzzman]

Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)

Plot: As a string of mysterious killings grips Seattle, Bella, whose high school graduation is fast approaching, is forced to choose between her love for vampire Edward and her friendship with werewolf Jacob.

Story: This time around you get far less cheesy dialogue and a lot more action scenes that somehow involve silver statues. The dialogue was a big step up from previous films with most of the dialect coming off more natural rather then the fake shit from the novel. There is still the love triangle going on, but its better paced and you get some good laughs out of it. They all feel less annoying because of it. Action is the other part of the story. There’s plenty of it with the creation of a newborn vampire army, to the battle between them and the myths of Forks. The weird thing about them (because they want to appeal to kids I guess) is none of the vampires had blood. They were like glass statues that broke on impact, giving off some crappy looking special effects. And at least the ending wasn’t some dumbass cliffhanger.

Characters: Bella sort of takes a backseat in this movie to all the vampires and werewolves, but she was far less awkward and less depressing to watch. Edward and Jacob actually played off each others competitiveness well and made the love triangle more bearable. They had some intentional and unintentional funny moments about there rivalry for Bella. Like I said before, I think the dialogue has a lot to do with the improvements of all three. The Cullens actually get screen time and you find out about their past that sets up the end of this movie and a big part of the next.

Others: It’s a vast improvement over the previous two but that’s not saying a whole lot because of how bad they actually were. This one is no masterpiece in itself but its entertaining and actually seems to have built substance for the characters. The big showdown at the end was a little bit of a letdown just because it didn’t seem like a violent fight they made it out to be. Its nice to see a film actually progress from sequel to sequel instead of the other way around.

Overall Score: 5/10

 

[Buzzman]

The Ex (2006)

Plot: A slacker is forced to work for his father-in-law after his pregnant wife steps away from her high-paying job.

Story: For what its worth, the first 45 minutes was a decent comedy. It had a few good laughs and good chemistry between the two foes. But it seemed like they hit a wall and couldn’t muster up anything original after that. The second half was laughable in a bad way, and all that on screen chemistry turned into awkward jokes without the punch lines. And every character never had repercussions for what they did; everyone just shrugged it off and moved on like nothing just happened. Its fine to be unrealistic, but to throw it completely out the window just isn’t entertaining.

Characters: Zack Braff is what your used too. He has his awkward conversations with his uncoordinated movements, so you already know if you like him or not. Batemen on the other hand seems to be hit or miss type of actor in his movies, but here he’s funny for the most part, with his wheelchair disability providing nice jokes to fall back on but that ending was just so bologna and he went on cruise control near the end. (Probably because he just wanted this to end.) Also Amanda Peet is in this too. She’s a funny person but she wasn’t even used in this. Such a waste.

Others: If your really into Braff, you’d probably enjoy this. If you’re a fan of Bateman from Extract or Couples Retreat, you might enjoy this. If you don’t like either, definitely stay clear. It’s not very good.

Overall Score: 4/10

 

[Leftwich]

This sounds like a good name for a porno.

 

[Buzzman]

This sounds like a good name for a porno.

That honestly made me laugh out load, I mean loud.

Anyway Front Page is up to date. Thank God I just started otherwise it would've took a shitload of time to do.

 

[A Tasty Burgerr]

I don’t know how Michael Cera finds work, he’s the second most one-dimensional character in Hollywood right now, and its not even a good one.

I can't think of anyone who is more one-dimensional than Michael Cera lol

 

[Buzzman]

I can't think of anyone who is more one-dimensional than Michael Cera lol

You know, after this quote. I can't even remember who the hell I had at #1 when i wrote that, it had to be Jesse Eisenberg or Channing Tatum.

 

[stevsta]

The Pacific (HBO Mini-Series)

Plot: A 10-part mini-series from the creators of "Band of Brothers" telling the intertwined stories of three Marines during America's battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.

Story: The min-series is split into three stories about three different characters. While all three are well done and must see television, it was a bit disappointing that one of the three stories was boring and the other felt unfinished, leaving only one completely solid story. The one I disliked was the story of the soldier promoting the war. Its not that it’s bad but its already been done before and they didn’t stray off from the path all the other movies took, so you already knew what was going to happen to this character. The other one felt unfinished because just when you were starting to get involved with the character they just end his story until the last episode. The one story that gets the most screen time, not coincidently, is the best story told. The marine you follow fights the internal battles that they war has stirred up inside him and is the one marine that you feel for.

Characters: The problem this series has was following the stories of three marines that are all in different units. While it added freshness each episode by changing the perspective, it also limited the screen time of each one and at times it had too many characters, so that when something happened to someone you had to think who the hell that guy was. Jon Basilone is the marine that promotes the military after achieving a medal in battle, and while he does a solid job, he can’t really show anything we haven’t seen. Robert Leckie is the most intriguing marine, and his performance is wonderful as a man who understands the consequence of battle. The last marine is Eugene Sledge (played by the only red haired child actor of the 90s) and he has the most juice to his story and the transformation he takes gives him the worst fate of all three.

The best performance of the show was Merriell Shelton played Rami Malek (pictured in the spoiler). His character started off extremely lost and dark with one psychotic scene and as the series went on, you understood why he acted that way, and his characters last scene was a perfect fit to such a great character.

 

Others: The Pacific is must see television and it’s definitely one of the best mini-series ever made. It definitely was a nice change of perspective on an overshadowed part of the Second World War. While you won’t get as involved with the characters of this series compared to the ones from Band of Brothers, you will still get fully immersed in the environment and battles in this one. Not only should you watch it for the entertainment value, but you should watch it for yourself.

Overall Score: 9/10

completely agree with your review this series was pretty good (helped I was reading the book alongside in history class as well) and although it wasn't as great as bob when it comes out on blueray it will be a purchase from me

 

[JBregz]

I gotta see the pacific actually.