TheMovieRhino's stats
- Review count647
- Helpfulness votes412
- First reviewNovember 16, 2008
- Last reviewMay 26, 2012
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.9
Overall rating
4
/
5
A Glorious Movie - Just a Scalp Hair Shy of Great!
PostedAugust 22, 2009
Tarantino always leaves his signature. He has oodles of style. He uses violence as an allegorical paintbrush. He places songs into the fabric of a movie to drive emotion and underscore the color of a scene. His characters are often two-dimensional....in a good way. His dialogue is witty, character-appropriate and fits like a complex puzzle with the last piece being "plopped into place". This movie is pure Tatantino with that other signature scrawl - actors that fit well into their bigger than life screen persona's. Pitt & Waltz are both amazing! The only weaknesses are common Tarantino indulgences - it's too long & some of the mid-movie dialogue is too in love with itself. Still a darn good movie - near great! See it on the big screen.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
2
/
5
The Bad News - Starts Good, Dies Fast!
PostedAugust 17, 2009
One must know the general type of movie this is from the trailers, advertisements & posters. Knowing the genre I thought the first 30 minutes was pretty funny. The movie lost it's bearing in act II - day 2 on the car lot. Instead of keeping the same funny flow of humor...it began to ebb towards unnecessary pathos and slowed itself down. Piven is okay in the lead and his band of ninja car salespeople are okay and the secondary characters are okay. Problem is they are just okay and then they ran out of the original really funny stuff way too soon. This may be a good one to rent so you can enjoy the first 30 minutes at home and, when it begins to fall flat, you can finish some of those home projects you've been "putting off".
No, I do not recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
3
/
5
Just enough to make it worth your Time & Travel
PostedAugust 15, 2009
You should see "The Time Traveler's Wife", either in-theater or rent it later, not because it is a perfect movie....it is not. See it because it does lay out an interesting, complex sci-fi concept in a pretty clear fashion. The editing and acting are all top-notch. Throughout the movie I was fascinated with the concept of random time traveling and "blinking" in and out of people's lives that may know me. That said - there are so many plot holes that the movie could have been called "The Swiss Cheese-maker's Wife". Too many "holes" to list here. There is still enough well-done material to get your brain "whirring" and that makes it worth your time investment.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
5
/
5
District 9 is Mighty Fine! Original! Well Done!
PostedAugust 15, 2009
Original and well put-together movie that just happens to be science fiction set in an alternate reality. Just the right amount of "hand-held" camera work which infuses the film with a documentary realism better than most movies that attempt this technique. Almost feels, near the end, that one has actually "lived through" this period in our "recent past". Quite a feat considering the primary characters are highly evolved insect-like aliens from another planet! Definitely in The MovieRhino's Top 10 for 2009! Invade your local cineplex and see it soon! This one will give you lots to think about post-viewing.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
A Fun, Action, Loud, Colorful Movie! Go Joes!
PostedAugust 9, 2009
In the sixties I had a bunch of the original Hasbro G.I. Joe dolls that I loved playing with, collecting all the various gear and uniform sets along the way. What Barbie was for girls....G.I. Joe's were for boys....and we had fun! I skipped the later comic book adaptations which the movie flows from. Knowing that the action film is based on an articulated doll, a comic book and an animated cartoon ... I had a general idea about what to expect (and it wasn't some grand war movie like "Saving Private Ryan"). This flick is a "blast"....often literally! Loads of fun. Constant action! Better than Transformers! The only weak spot I could see was that the CGI a couple of times looked too much like CGI. Still a fun, colorful romp...see it!
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
The Perfect Getaway is Nearly Perfect!
PostedAugust 9, 2009
Love watching Milla Jovovich & Tim Olyphant on the big screen and they do not disappoint. They both do great work in this suspense, action, psycho-drama that snakes it's way through twists and turns to it's "surprise" conclusion. Steve Zahn keeps getting better with each new movie and keeps surprising me with his range. Great acting, fantastic scenery & cinematography, tight editing and pacing, above average dialogue....all make for a fun bit of movie escapism. Really, the only weakness is the "meat of the story" as it is a fairly common "B movie" plot. That said....it gets an A+ in production values and acting! See it!
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
5
/
5
Jubilant about Julie & Julia...Simply Scrumptious!
PostedAugust 7, 2009
Streep and Adams demonstrate why they are likely the greatest actresses of their respective generations practicing their craft today! Spot on perfect portrayals from both! Director Nora Ephron does a master tailor's job of stitching together the tapestry of the lives of these two women using mouth-watering french cuisine as the thread. Our human shared experiences can relate on such an intimate level to the intensity we experience in two sensory-flooded areas of our lives - s*x & food. In this film we can almost smell and taste the food that Julia creates and Julie duplicates - a cinematic tour of the finest cuisine - that will tingle your every taste bud. Any way you look at it - this is one delicious feast! Devour it at a theater soon!
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Serious movie about funny people - slightly flawed
PostedAugust 2, 2009
A well-intentioned effort by Apatow and his cadre of actors. This is a serious movie sprinkled with bits of humor....but humor is not the crux of this film. The flaw is the unnecessary indulgence with "teenage boy humor" (flatulence & intercourse jokes & f-bomb lingo). Why inject this drama with an over abundance of this stuff? It is distracting....like eating your favorite dinner at a really nice restaurant and finding a long hair in your food mid-way through your meal. You want to like the food....it's great food....but....a hair! Dad blast it ....the hair diminishes (if not ruins) and otherwise perfect meal! All this and it is still worth seeing as Sandler & Rogen show us what they are capable of!
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
1
/
5
No Need to Add The Collector to your Collection...
PostedAugust 1, 2009
Nothing horrifically redeeming about this sadomasochistic movie that tries to create "shock scenes" of cruelty and torture (should not be that hard to do....) and fails at doing this with any minimal level of quality and/or creativity. Perhaps we should start a new category of movie called "cringe horror". Cringe horror would be based on a theme of sadism where the audience "cringes" when a character is impaled by fish hooks, has portions of their bodies hacked off, has their mouth sewn shut, falls into multiple bear traps, etc. We cringe in shared pain & empathy more than we are filled with suspense / more than we are frightened by sinister forebodings. This is a D- cringe horror flick. Please skip it!
No, I do not recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
5
/
5
95 minutes well-spent watching 500 Days of Summer
PostedJuly 26, 2009
Interesting, original boy-girl relationship movie that digs deep into the tendons and sinews of romantic relationships, expectations and how our past experiences and unfulfilled expectations shape our emotional bonds. Director Webb takes chances and succeeds as he drives the audience back and forth along the 500 day relationship time line. In the end it is as if he has sewn stitching across a wound as everyone "heals" and moves on to the next romantic "gymnastic workout". 500 days of Autumn anyone? Funny, quirky, original, emotional and satisfying. Well storied and acted. Bravo to the whole team! See it!
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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