Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Goldeneye

Title: Goldeneye
Rating: Four Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
When the dangerous weapon called Goldeneye is stolen, James Bond is sent to get it back. But he stumbles on a major scheme of treachery. And it's not just national... it's personal as well...

Mad Take:
This movie will always have a special place in my heart as the first James Bond I ever watched. Yup, this is a rewatch.
But this was a very good movie. It was a very good story, though there were a few scenes where he knew something he shouldn't, and no one explained why. The action scenes were pretty cool as well. And it's nice to see Pierce-Bond again!
This is one of my favorite Bond movies.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The Incredible Hulk

Title: The Incredible Hulk
Rating: Two Spaceships

Movie Wrapped Up:
After an accident, Bruce Banner is left with a condition. When his pulse goes up too high, he turns into the destructive and uncontrollable Hulk. The government hunts him, so they can use the radiation poisoning behind the Hulk as a weapon. Bruce manages to hide for five years before they find him. While he was hiding, he was searching for a cure.
But he's on the run again, and searching even harder for that cure. But will a power-hungry soldier cause trouble for them all...?

Mad Take:
I did not care for this movie. It was more on the enjoyable level. The story wasn't too bad, though it was confusing at times. The action scenes were okay too, but the best were during the final battle. Even there, it needed tweaking. But I just didn't care for this movie.
This is definitely not my favorite movie.

Friday, December 16, 2011

License To Kill

Title: License To Kill
Rating: Four Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
James Bond and his friend, the CIA agent Felix, manage to capture a major drug dealer. But that dealer deals his way an escape, and he targets Felix... killing his newly wedded wife and crippling him! James loses it. He goes on a personal vendetta, and loses his license to kill... this doesn't stop him, of course.
But James stumbles onto something a bit bigger than his vendetta...

Mad Take:
MUCH better than the last Dalton-Bond movie. The story was better, though I lost track of the action in an action scene during the end. Things were just better... though the special effects were sometimes a little too good.
This movie was much better than the last one. Good work, folks!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Kung Fu Panda 2

Title: Kung Fu Panda 2
Rating: Four Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
When the evil Lord Chen returns, it looks like the end of kung fu. Master Shifu sends Po and the Furious Five to stop Lord Chen. Unknown to them, there's a prophecy of a "warrior of black and white" who will stop Lord Chen, and he's trying all he can to stop this prophecy.
The only way for Po to beat Chen is to have inner peace, but he's struggling with his past. Will Po win this time, and save all of China?

Mad Take:
Not as good as its ancestor, but again a good movie. The story wasn't terrible (though needing a little tweaking), and there were some scenes that made you laugh or chuckle. It wasn't a major comedy like the first, or as good of a story, but still pretty good.
This was a pretty good movie.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Living Daylights

Title: The Living Daylights
Rating: Two Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
James Bond is sent to protect a deflecting KGB agent. It's successful, but after revealing a Russian plan, the agent is kidnapped. But James has figured out that the deflection was a fake. He goes after the deceiver, discovering a big plot...

Mad Take:
Not as good. I like the new Bond, Timothy Dalton, and how he played Bond, but the rest of the movie wasn't great. The story was pretty bad... I got confused in a few places! The action scenes weren't great either, though there were some good ones. I was bored during parts of the movie.
This is probably one of the worse Bond movies.

A View To A Kill

Title: A View To A Kill
Rating: Four Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
When James Bond is sent to investigate a "horsy" microchip mystery, he's going to get a "flood" of problems with an insane ex-KGB agent...

Mad Take:
Okay, that was my smallest movie summary ever.
But to the reviewing part. The story was the biggest problem of the movie. It wasn't stinky, but it needs work. I felt like they were just continuing adding stuff to move the movie out to its 2-hour limit! And you didn't get the bad guy's plan until the very end of the briefing... when they were explaining the plan! This story was not a favorite.
But everything else was good. The action scenes were awesome, and had you on the edge of your seat. That was simply amazing and enjoyable.
This wasn't the best, but at least the action was good.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Sherlock Holmes

Title: Sherlock Holmes
Rating: Two Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
Sherlock Holmes's best friend Dr. Watson is moving out and getting married, much to Sherlock's delight. But that's the least of their worries... an old enemy of the duo's gotten out, seemingly by magic, and he's wreaking havoc. It's up to this mystery-solving duo to figure out his motives before he takes over the world...

Mad Take:
OH MAN! And that's a bad "oh man"! I so did not like this movie!
And it was all due to personal takes and feelings. The story was actually pretty well-done, though I think it might benefit you a little more if you had read some Sherlock Holmes before. The story was the reason for the extra Spotlight.
But I didn't care for this movie. Sometimes you couldn't keep up (though it's Sherlock's nature to mumble sometimes).
But the main reason was that it scared me. And I'm not a big fan of being scared. This is not a movie to see pre-bedtime! I had to think up scientific explanations to comfort myself (I'm happy to say that a few of them were actually right). Not a good thing!
This is definitely not one of my favorite movies.

Octopussy

Title: Octopussy
Rating: Four And A Half Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
When James Bond is sent to investigate a jeweled egg caper, he is soon drawn into a scheme in which a Russian is tricking a jewel smuggler, and his goals can't be good...

Mad Take:
There were some glitches, but I believe this is one of the best Moore Bond movies. This was actually pretty good.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

For Your Eyes Only

Title: For Your Eyes Only
Rating: Four Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
When a ship is attacked with a special computer on board, James Bond is sent to find the boat and get the computer back. But there's going to be a lot of playing with the underworld here...

Mad Take:
It had potential, but it didn't quite make the 5-Spotlight cut. It wasn't too bad... we even got the intro with the Head of SPECTRE again. There were some good scenes, and some very cool stunts, like the chase in the bobsled slide. But both the story, and some of the scenes could have been done better. The story wasn't too bad, though... it some ways, like the scene where James learned to go due to a parrot, was clever. It needs a little tweaking, though. You didn't stay with it 24/7, but it wasn't too bad.
This wasn't my favorite James Bond movie, but it was still pretty good.

The Smurfs

Title: The Smurfs
Rating: Five Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
When the evil wizard Gargemel (sp?) is led to their village, the Smurfs take flight. But a group of five Smurfs go through a portal by accident, they instead end up in New York. They end up with a man named Patrick, and his pregnant wife Grace. The Smurfs have to find a way home, before Gargemel (sp?) fins them...

Mad Take:
This was a wonderful movie! It had a great story, wonderful special effects, and the comedy was wrapped in perfectly! It had a good dose of action, and still made me laugh!
This is a movie you want on your shelves!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Moonraker

Title: Moonraker
Rating: Three Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
When a Moonraker spaceship is stolen, James Bond is sent to investigate. He soon finds that it's not just about outer space... it's about life on the planet Earth!

Mad Take:
Not the greatest James Bond movie. The story needs work in general... you didn't stay in it 24/7! And then it changed genres, from spy to sci-fi, at the end! The effects were pretty cool, and the fact that Jaws fell in love and changed sides is pretty cool as well, but...
While it wasn't the worst, it was not my favorite James Bond.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Th Lost World: Jurassic Park

Title: The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Rating: Three and a Half Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
It is discovered that the dinosaurs have indeed survived on a different island. John Hommand sends a team, including Dr. Malcom and his girlfriend Sarah (his daughter Kellie tags along without permission), to document the island's life before it's take advantage of by his nephew, who has taken over his company.
But this nephew takes advantage too quickly, and calamity follows. If everyone does manage to survive, there's going to be trouble brewing in San Diego...

Script:
Another iffy one. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good. It wasn't really great, and didn't fulfill what the first one did. Plus, the whole San Diego scenes weren't worth it. All it did was fill another 30 minutes. The movie could have done without that. This wasn't the best.

Action:
Better than the script. I was hung on, and scared for a couple times. But it was only four-spotlight material. There was at least one scene where it was too stretched out.

Effects:
Very good. Too good, sometimes, when the scenes were gross. There were one or two bad effect moments, like Eddie getting ripped apart, but then it was a relief to see it was a dummy (literally, a relief!). It was probably one of the best parts of the movie.

Mad Take:
This did not live up to the first one's legacy. It's not my favorite movie. It wasn't entirely bad, but it fulfilled the whole "the-second-is-worst-than-the-first" legacy. But I think that idea stinks. Only a few movies have tried to break this tradition. Why do directors give up on the second? That's when you should be trying your very best! Yeesh!
This was not my favorite, but it didn't stink entirely either.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Spy Who Loved Me

Title: The Spy Who Loved Me
Rating: Four Spotlights


Movie Wrapped Up:
When submarines are stolen from both America and Russia, British spy 007, and Russian agent XXX (Triple X) are sent on the case. Before long, they're working together, but within a situation that continues to get worse, both on the inside and the outside...

Script:
Not too bad. It's better than the last Bond movie (The Man With The Golden Gun). It was actually very good.

Action:
Not so worth it. It didn't have me hanging every moment, but it was a little better than The Man With The Golden Gun.

Tech Factor:
Great! It's the return of the gadgets, and the Bond car. The Sub-Car was especially awesome. Very cool!

Mad Take:
James Bond has problems, and this movie clearly shows it. I mean, he does it with almost every girl he comes into contact with! And then there's the forever continuing-on flirting... yeesh! He even did it with XXX before they were teamed up!
But back to this movie. I know I said it twice, but it was better than The Man With The Golden Gun. It didn't make five-spotlight material, but the return of the technology was very much a good thing.
Not a fiver, but a pretty good movie anyway.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Man With The Golden Gun

Title: The Man With The Golden Gun
Rating: Three Spotlights

Movie Wrapped Up:
This time, James Bond isn't jumping into the action... the action's jumping onto him! A golden bullet belonging to a famous assassin is delivered to MI6 HQ, and it has James Bond's number. This assassin is after James!
James goes after this assassin himself, going once again to China. But he discovers there's more to all this, and it's not just his life...

Script:
This had an interesting twist. It didn't start where it usually did. But while the idea was a good one, the story itself needed work. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It was one of those iffy, not-one-or-the-other stories. This is not one of James Bond's shining moments, but it wasn't the worse either.
There's not much else to say about the story.

Action:
Again, it's iffy. This movie didn't have you hanging on the edge of your seat all the time. It didn't have many gadgets in it, though it was nice to see Q again. Again, this section was iffy.

Mad Take:
As you can tell from above, it's not one or the other. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. It might be something to have on while you're playing your video game, or working on something, and want something playing on the TV. But this wasn't the best James Bond movie (though I will say that it was better than On Her Majesty's Secret Service).
I've said this a couple of times, but this movie was just an iffy, neither bad or entirely good movie.