PedS's stats
- Review count386
- Helpfulness votes92
- First reviewMay 31, 2008
- Last reviewApril 27, 2013
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.4
Overall rating
4
/
5
Adventure at Sea
PostedApril 27, 2013
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
4
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
3
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
This movie is based on a true story about an adventure undertaken by Swedish explorers to prove that the people of Peru road an ocean current for 100 days and settled in Polynesia. It was a far-fetched notion back then, but they took to see in a raft and proved it. As you can imagine, there were some amazing challenges being at sea for 100+ days, not least of which is that sharks accompany them throughout the journey. There are some very thrilling scenes with sharks and terrible storms that throw them around the ocean. I enjoyed this movie and was very entertained throughout. I think anyone who likes adventure movies, especially ocean adventures, will be thrilled from start to finish. The fact that it really happened was an added bonus.
Pros well paced, great story
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Young Activists Experience Love an Life Problems
PostedMarch 18, 2013
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
4
/
5
Special Effects
2
/
5
Art Direction
2
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
2
/
5
Two young women rebel against social norms and worry about nuclear war in England during the mid 1960s. The young women are the daughters of two women who have been best friends for a long time. For the most part, this is an engaging story with plenty of terrific moments. One of the women is a poet and her father supports just about anything she wants to do as long as its rebellious. It all makes for good fun.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Cons too complex
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Epic Romantic Tragedy!
PostedNovember 17, 2012
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
4
/
5
Special Effects
4
/
5
Art Direction
5
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
5
/
5
Camerawork
5
/
5
Anna Karenina remains one of the great tragic stories of all time. This new retelling mixes elements of the stage with classic Hollywood moviemaking. Let me explain. There are many scenes that either start or end on a theater stage, as if to create a limited window into the action or drama that's unfolding. There are even scenes that are highly choreographed where all of the characters are doing routine movements in unison. It works well, for the most part, and elevates the artistry of the scenes. There were moments when I was tired of the gimmick and didn't care for it, but it was well established and added a certain flair that I appreciated overall. Aside from this, it's essentially faithful to the Tolstoy novel and that's not a bad thing at all. Keira Knightley is excellent!
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Florida Swamp Thriller Full of Characters with Dirty Secrets
PostedOctober 5, 2012
Dialogue
3
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
3
/
5
I enjoyed all the dirty little secrets and flawed characters that drive the plot of this seedy Florida swamp thriller. The story is simple. Two investigative reporters form Miami go to a small town near a swamp to investigate the sentencing of a man who may have been unjustly accused of murder. The cast of this film is first rate and they all play their challenging roles very well. Unfortunately, the whole of this film isn’t as good as some of the character development that it carries off so well. Efron and Kidman’s characters, for example, are well developed and solidly performed. I would recommend this movie to people who like soaps and daytime drama series; it’s also good for fans of the performers because most of them do a good job. However, there are too many complex issues that come into the story without developing into anything that it’s frustrating at times.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Cons too complex
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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0points
0of 0voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
3
/
5
Get Taken Again!!!
PostedOctober 5, 2012
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
2
/
5
Special Effects
4
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
3
/
5
Story
3
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
Liam kicks butt again! This time around, he and his ex-wife get taken and the daughter has to perform some heroic acts to free them from the revenge-focused Albanians he assaulted in the first film. However, Liam is the main attraction and most of her actions are setup to free him and not much else. Once he gets loose, Liam unleashes all of his mano-a-mano skills to drive each of them to their knees (at least shortly before killing them). Anyway, the formula still works. My only criticism of the film is that he doesn’t do as much damage this time around as he did in the first one. There’s a great car chase scene through narrow Turkish streets that reminded me of the Bourne movie. Still, there’s no reason to believe that you won’t enjoy this film if you enjoyed the original Taken. I did and (spoiler alert!) this one sets up nicely for a third one.
Pros well paced, great story
Cons bad acting
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
5
/
5
Battlefield of Human Emotions
PostedSeptember 14, 2012
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
5
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
4
/
5
Acting
5
/
5
Story
5
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
This is intentionally not an easy film to sit through. It's principally the story of two men, one in total control of his life and the other in a constant state of confusion and inner struggle. The so-called master is played perfectly by Hoffman. He's the type of man who honestly believes he has figured out life and human behavior and takes up the cause of sharing the knowledge. His polar opposite, Quell, is played to the hilt by Joaquin Phoenix. These two men form a strange, and dependent, relationship that's often painfully destructive. At the end, they can't continue to be together because they're constantly at odd. Their connection, however, is undeniable and parting is incredibly painful for both. I recommend this movie as a suspenseful and highly dramatic human comedy, not unlike this director's previous work "There Will Be Blood." Just know that it's not a light-hearted film to sit through and you will have to sit there and think about the pieces being presented to you.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Cons too complex
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Surprisingly suspenseful
PostedSeptember 8, 2012
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
5
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
3
/
5
I didn't know much about this movie going into it. I knew it was about a writer who finds an old book and passes it off as his own. However, that's just a small part of this intricately woven story of love and the profession of writing and storytelling. First, there's the past: an American GI in Paris falls in loves and experiences some truly difficult relationship traumas. He temporarily separates from his wife and pours his heart out on the page and completes a terrifically personal novel. The next storyline is the story within another book, which is essentially the main storyline of the movie where a writer passes that American GI's novel as his own, sells it, and it becomes a huge seller. The original author, the American GI, shows up to confront the fraud to further advance the story. Finally, the third and final layer, which serves to tie all the stories together, is of another author telling both stories, the one of the American GI and the fraud, as the author of yet another novel. It sounds like it could be difficult to follow along, but it's really not. The pace is enjoyable and suspenseful and it all just works well.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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+4points
4of 4voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
5
/
5
Outstanding!
PostedAugust 21, 2012
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
5
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
5
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
This movie is about a little-known Detroit-born folk musician from the late 60s and early 70s who became "bigger than Elvis or The Rolling Stones" in South Africa. Apparently, a copy of one of his earlier albums, which didn't sell at all in the states, sold 250,000+ copies in South Africa. He went on to inspire a generation of revolt against the South African Apartheid government was viewed as a hero of that country's revolution by its citizens. Meanwhile, this musician, known as Sixto Rodriguez in the USA, gave up on music as a profession and took to construction work and a very modest life in Detroit. It wasn't until the late 1990s that a South African investigative reporter began his exhaustive search for the life story of this musician, who was believed to be dead to the South African people. They actually believed he had committed suicide. Once the truth came out and the people of South Africa realized that he was alive, they brought him to their country and treated him like a Rock God! He went on to perform more than 30 sold-out concerts in that country and finally achieved the fame he always deserved. I say "deserved" because one of the most remarkable things about this film is his music. It has a Dylanesque quality to them that are nothing short of remarkable. It just goes to show you that true talent can be appreciated by some but not others. This guy was talented by any measure of the word and yet he was not appreciated in the USA, yet in South Africa he is a legend greater than Elvis or The Rolling Stones. Hard to believe, but this movie gives us the story in a beautifully inspired way. It caught my attention from beginning to end.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors, great documentary
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
3
/
5
Best Friends Decide to get a Divorce
PostedAugust 5, 2012
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
5
/
5
Special Effects
2
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
2
/
5
A married couple decide to get a divorce and suddenly stop fighting and start hanging out with each other like best friends. They have known each other forever and the thought of losing each other isn't really something they have factored in. Their friends are thoroughly confused and say things that motivate them to start seeing other people and deal with the divorce. This gets complicated for them and they go through something like the 9 stages of grief. I really enjoyed this movie and thought there were many, many extremely funny moments. It's not a light comedy by any means, but it will keep you laughing the entire way.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Cons too complex, slow
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Love and the Mind of a Writer
PostedJuly 27, 2012
PedS
from Los Angeles, CA
Age:45 to 54
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
4
/
5
Special Effects
2
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
4
/
5
Story
5
/
5
Camerawork
3
/
5
This is a terrific love story about a lonely writer who writes the love of his life and she comes to life. It's a beautiful sci-fi love story that just works on many levels. He lets his brother in on it and this lends crédence to the story, which develops nicely into the usual inspiration for a book that he ends up writing. Yes, this is another one of those movies about a writer with writer's block who gets cured only after tremendous strife, but this formula works beautifully again. I think this movie will have wide appeal and I recommend it to everyone, young, older, those in love, those who can't seem to find love, and those who currently want nothing to do with love. It's fun to watch and well told and acted.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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+3points
3of 3voted this as helpful.