Buttered Popcorn: Buzzmans Movie Review Thread

[dell71]

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.

I'm actually of the opinion that Jesse Eisenberg is just a bulkier Cera.

 

[Buzzman]

I'm actually of the opinion that Jesse Eisenberg is just a bulkier Cera.

very true they both always play awkward teenagers and talk in that same lets pause 3 seconds after each word.

 

[Buzzman]

The Final Destination (2009)

Plot: After a teen's premonition of a deadly race-car crash helps saves the lives of his peers, Death sets out to collect those who evaded their end.

Story: The story is paper thin. Somehow a should be stand alone film has turned into a franchise that has produced sequels that have only gotten worse with each film. The problem it faces is the story can really only be told one way. There’s no way around the fact that said person is going to have a premonition and try and cheat death. So the only way they can really separate itself is to give the viewers some entertaining kill scenes. Well don’t expect to find any here because all of them involve flying objects because they thought it would be awesome to film it in 3D.

Characters: There is only one decent character here and that happens to be the lead. He doesn’t go overboard and does his best attempt to recreate the same character from the first one (His name slips my mind). Everyone else is grade A douchebags. None of them feel any panic from any of the situations, Christ one girl after almost dying in a horrible way, goes shopping the next day. When death finds them, your glad because none of these characters really deserve to live.

Others: The 3D really killed the movie because they seemed to want to use 3D for every death and the only way that’s going to happen is have things fly at the screen, so when you watch it without 3D glasses, not only do you not get popping effect but you also get cheated in deaths as well. But if were planning on seeing this anyway I doubt the 3D was a factor. This franchise needs to die. Funny thing is, there going to make a 5th installment despite having named this The Final Destination. (like wtf). To throw fuel on the fire, tis going to be called 5nal Destination. Are you kidding me Hollywood? Who the hell thought that was creative probably came up with the kills for this movie.

Overall Score: 3.5/10

 

[wingsfan77]

I just saw "She's Out Of My League" and thought it was hilarious, the part near the beginning where the one guy was quoting Aladdin had me cracking up.

 

[Buzzman]

500 Days of Summer (2009)

Plot: An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her.

Story: The key reason 500 Days of Summer is great is due to the fact that everything feels real. There is no bizarre situation that forced them together or that unrealistic triumph at the end that seals there love together. It’s just two people that connected and had the flame slowly deteriorate into nothing. A few things that kept the film feel fresh was to have the story unfold from the man’s perspective, made both characters normal likeable characters, and jump around at different times in there relationship rather then follow a linear path. The jumping allows you to look for signs on how and why it fell apart instead of waiting for it to happen. Near the ending, the answer you finally get on why the relationship could never had worked was satisfying yet heart breaking for both, leaving the audience feeling sorry for the both of them at that moment.

Characters: Tom and Summer are both great film characters because you can picture them in real life. No one is glamoured here. And no one is to blame for the relationship ending. Tom is a charming and funny, but isn’t ambitious. Watching him feel on top of the world and then free fall back to earth is great to watch because with all of his experiences, it makes him a better person. Summer doesn’t do anything wrong here, and I’m glad they didn’t try and make her the villain in this by having that great scene near the end, but I really wish you could have seen it a little more from her perspective. If you look at the characters from just the start and the end, they have changed immensely. All from the experience they had with each other.

Others: 500 Days of Summer is great piece of work. It does many little things that make it so enjoyable. Such as lively metaphors in place of just simple facial expressions, or the great soundtrack it featured. A stand out was an expectations vs. reality scene that caught me off-guard because I don’t think I’ve it used in this manner before. It just was a fantastic summer hit that deserved all the praise it received. (It probably even got Marc Webb the Spiderman gig).

Overall Score: 9/10

 

[Maynard]

so i decided to watch shes out of my league based on your reviews despite that kick ass score u gave.

you know how u can tell within 5-10 mins if you are going to enjoy a film? well even though i shut it off after 10 mins i realized this was gonna be a great film to watch and i would save it for later tonight...thanks

 

[Buzzman]

so i decided to watch shes out of my league based on your reviews despite that kick ass score u gave.

you know how u can tell within 5-10 mins if you are going to enjoy a film? well even though i shut it off after 10 mins i realized this was gonna be a great film to watch and i would save it for later tonight...thanks

I'd be careful with that assumption. I watched the first 5 minutes of Youth in Revolt, stopped it because I thought it'd be funny and turned it off with a bunch of friends and ti turned out to be shit.

But if you did like the beginning then you should like the rest of the film.

 

[Buzzman]

Predator (1987)

Plot: A team of commandos, on a mission in a Central American jungle, find themselves hunted by an extra-terrestrial warrior.

Story: At the start, the testosterone level is at a maximum high. Dutch and his squad are unstoppable as they take down a whole village in mere minutes. It seemed like an action movie. But people tend to forget at its initial release it was a borderline horror film. Watching the predator watch his prey with thermal imagery and then taking out these bad ass soldiers with ease was a bit frightening, granted it was never Alien scary, but scary none the less. As these soldiers get picked off, some of the deaths were really great. (“Apollo Creeds” death till this day ranks as one of the best movie deaths.) The huge battle between Dutch and this predator had some nice action pieces and a satisfying finish, and it’s good to know that predators have the same laugh as humans.

Characters: Dutch is the guy here. His arms are as big as tree trunks and he’s born to kill. He is one of two in the group that you feel could actually take on a predator one on one. The other was Billy, who had the unfortunate situation of not knowing his enemy enough to put up a real fight. “Creed” was a non factor up to his death, in which his arm put up a good fight. The Predator himself was awesome, but I wonder if he’d be as good a hunter without that fancy shit. The first time it’s face is revealed, your in awe; one crazy good sight to see.

Others: Predators is better then it actually is. The dialogue might have been crap, and the characters one dimensional, but none of that stopped it from being awesome. Watching Arnold himself vs. one of science fictions best character’s was as good as it sounded. It created a whole new universe for fanboys to drool over and raised the bar for the genre. It also greatly influenced video games for years and still stands up till this day.

Overall Score: 10/10

----------------------------------------------------------------

Predators (2010)

Plot: A group of elite warriors are hunted by members of a merciless alien race known as Predators.

Story: Here they try and bring the Predators back to its roots by trying to recreate that magic of the first film in the series. First thing they did was get rid of the cops, scientists, and Denver townsfolks brought back actual killers that could stand tall with the Predators. The problem was, none of them really seemed capable of killing one by themselves, so why choose them? The action scenes were few, with some gun spray and one explosion, but they were trying to get the horror back to the franchise. Only problem is it’s not terrifying anymore. Plus with a group of murderers, do you actually care if anyone gets killed? Speaking of kills, that was the greatest improvement. They have some fantastic kills lined up and one character even tops “Creed” when the predator does a full spinal rip with the skull attached. The final kill in the movie was a bit disappointing, but still, satisfying, leaving the characters with a “well, fuck me” ending.

Characters: As I said, none of these guys could take no a predator by themselves. Hell three of them don’t even belong there, they felt out of place. Adrian Brody does his best Dutch impression and seems smart enough to kill one, just doesn’t look the part. The rest of the group range from pathetic to silent killer, with a few surprises. Though the Chinese guy is a complete cliché, he still is brilliant wielding that slick suit and pistol. The prisoner, Stans, looks like one weak mother fucker, spews out some of the greatest lines you will ever hear. Laurence Fishbourne and Danny Trejo feel like such a waste here. They have no chance to even bring anything to there roles. Anyone that does happen to see this completely feel the doctor was such a dumb character? Why they chose him is beyond me.

Others: It definitely falls short of the first film, but its better then what we got after that. This feels like a poor mans Predator, but still a very solid one. It took a page form The Most Dangerous Game, and threw it into the Predators Universe. They could potentially build off this, but it would have to obviously change it up a bit otherwise it would just be a re-hash of this one. One last thing, not a spoiler but might be if you were looking for it

 

One thing if eel they completely missed out on was the Aliens in all of this. I know they wanted to separate itself from those horrible Alien vs Predator films, but this movie was a hunting game in which they were hunting down the worlds most dangerous creatures and since they have already established Aliens in this universe, at least a reference to them would have been awesome. Like a skeleton or a brief killshot of one because they had other non human creatures as well, so why not Aliens. That alien skull at the end of Predator 2 was the best thing about that movie. Just a little rant. What do you think?

Overall Score: 6.5/10

 

[Maynard]

finished up shes out of my league. Pretty good movie and alot of laughs. But the final 20 mins or so were not very good even by this type of movies standards. The whole breakup and get back together scenerio was kind of stupid and not really funny when it tried to be.

his family was really funny

 

[Maynard]

Brooklyn’s Finest

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

watched this one too. Pretty bad movie. it managed to keep me interested enough to watch the whole thing. I agree that the characters all sucked. Gere role was probably the one that most the least amount of sense at all to me in regards to why this role was even in the film. And hawke was a terrible role for all the reasons u mentioned. I like Cheadle, but for as good as he was in crash i thought he sucked in this one. He didnt feel like a undercover and he didnt feel like a gangster.

and the directors weak weak attempt at the crash like intertwining of stories was just plain aweful. I really dont know how i made it thru this film when i think about how bad it was.

EDIT i will also mention that i didnt not know u reviewed this until after i watched it. I wish i had checked in advance

 

[Buzzman]

finished up shes out of my league. Pretty good movie and alot of laughs. But the final 20 mins or so were not very good even by this type of movies standards. The whole breakup and get back together scenerio was kind of stupid and not really funny when it tried to be.

his family was really funny

near the very end I thoguht the whole plane situation was hilarious. Because A.) he's stuck sitting by them after finally blowing up about them and B.) Despite being broken up, the one girls ex-boyfriend was still going with them to Branson. But yea the whole chase through the airport wasn't funny.

 

[Buzzman]

Cop Out (2010)

Plot: A comedy about a veteran NYPD cop whose rare baseball card is stolen. Since it's his only hope to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, he recruits his partner to track down the thief, a memorabilia-obsessed gangster.

Story: The first scene was actually pretty funny with Tracey Morgan doing movie impressions during an interrogation, but everything went downhill from there. A bunch of unfunny scenes ensure on a stupid adventure and our two cops are either boring or annoying. It tries to recreate those buddy-buddy cop duos you saw in the 80s, but they don’t gel together and the movie has absolutely no action whatsoever. The last thirty minutes was extremely unoriginal, and turned a 90 minute film into what felt like three hours.

Characters: Bruce Willis was boring here. At times this guy is really enjoyable, but films like these leave you wondering where it all goes. You can only play a cop so many times. Tracey Morgan was expected to me. I just don’t find his acting funny at all. He’s like the black version of Vince Vaughn to me. The thief’s role in all of this was overdone and you can tell it was improvised. The bad guy in this made me a dumber person just by watching him. He’s the stereotypical Columbian/Mexican gangster who brings nothing to the role.

Others: The movie was just a mess. Why Kevin Smith chose this to be his first directional gig on someone else material is beyond me. It’s boring, long, and shows nothing of his brilliance. Stay clear of this trash. It’s not worth your time.

Overall Score: 3/10

 

[Buzzman]

Up (2009)

Plot: By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

Story: Pixar really nailed it. There are two stories to be told here. One is an adventure with Carl and Ellie and another with Carl and Russell. Both mean two different things to Carl but have the same impact none the less. The scenes between Carl and Ellie are filmed wonderfully, each scene establishing a part of the relationship they had together. In true Pixar fashion, they can even bring water to an adult’s eye. When we get to the second adventure, Carl is struggling to cope. Watching Carl transform from that sad old man into a courageous fatherly figure is a treat to watch. He finally understood a part of Ellie’s mind he never understood before.

Characters: Carl is one of Pixars best characters. He feels like the old man who lives down the street. He’s unintentionally funny, is old fashioned, and can still tussle at his age. You see the world from his eyes and understand his emotions. When he feels, you feel. None of that is expressed more then when he’s with Ellie. Ellie was the glue that held the film together, giving Carl a reason to go on. Russell was funny from the get go, as the clueless kid looking for a role model. The bond between these two feels real. The rest of the cast was great from the army of dogs, to the forgotten villain, to Dug the Dog and his willingness to love. All bring laughs and depth to an already deep movie.

Others: Up is an adult film that children can still enjoy. Its biggest reward was being nominated for Best Picture of the Year because it deserved it. Pixar created one of its best films with the unlikely hero of Carl. Sure there were times of disbelief with the balloon concept and army of dogs, but they pulled you back into reality that this is just a movie. If you haven’t yet experienced Up, you need to.

Overall Score: 9/10

 

[j.hen]

Up definitely had one of the best scores in a film since Two Towers.

 

[Buzzman]

Its just me but I always get impressed by plenty of background music in both movies and games.

 

[I LastWish I]

You've inspired me to download UP. Hope its good dawhg

 

[wingsfan77]

POINT!

 

[Point Blank]

Up

Plot: By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America. Right after lifting off, however, he learns he isn't alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

Story: Pixar really nailed it. There are two stories to be told here. One is an adventure with Carl and Ellie and another with Carl and Russell. Both mean two different things to Carl but have the same impact none the less. The scenes between Carl and Ellie are filmed wonderfully, each scene establishing a part of the relationship they had together. In true Pixar fashion, they can even bring water to an adult’s eye. When we get to the second adventure, Carl is struggling to cope. Watching Carl transform from that sad old man into a courageous fatherly figure is a treat to watch. He finally understood a part of Ellie’s mind he never understood before.

Characters: Carl is one of Pixars best characters. He feels like the old man who lives down the street. He’s unintentionally funny, is old fashioned, and can still tussle at his age. You see the world from his eyes and understand his emotions. When he feels, you feel. None of that is expressed more then when he’s with Ellie. Ellie was the glue that held the film together, giving Carl a reason to go on. Russell was funny from the get go, as the clueless kid looking for a role model. The bond between these two feels real. The rest of the cast was great from the army of dogs, to the forgotten villain, to Dug the Dog and his willingness to love. All bring laughs and depth to an already deep movie.

Others: Up is an adult film that children can still enjoy. Its biggest reward was being nominated for Best Picture of the Year because it deserved it. Pixar created one of its best films with the unlikely hero of Carl. Sure there were times of disbelief with the balloon concept and army of dogs, but they pulled you back into reality that this is just a movie. If you haven’t yet experienced Up, you need to.

Overall Score: 9.5/10

I'll have to check this out.

Good shit as always bro!

 

[albidnis]

I saw "Despicable Me" I thought it was awesome. Can't wait to see your review on it.

 

[Buzzman]

I'll have to check this out.

Good shit as always bro!

Thanks. I'm surprised you haven't watched it yet. Did you ever see the review Dell posted of it a few months ago in his thread?

I saw "Despicable Me" I thought it was awesome. Can't wait to see your review on it.

I actually can't wait to see that. After the reviews its gotten its got my attention.