TheMovieRhino's stats
- Review count647
- Helpfulness votes412
- First reviewNovember 16, 2008
- Last reviewMay 26, 2012
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.9
Overall rating
5
/
5
Fright Night is Done Right - Outta Sight!
PostedAugust 22, 2011
Fright Night is near perfection for the genre - dark vampire drama-comedy. Colin Farrell and the rest of the cast do a bloody good job. The movie pulses with energy and a sense of danger ... while keeping the comedic underpinnings in place at all times. We find ourselves horrified and laughing at the same time ... not an easy feat. The movie's 2 hours flies by quickly like bats leaving their cave at dusk. If you like your comedy dark with a twist of horror and the macabre then director Gillespie and his team offer something you can really sink your teeth into. A fang-shaped rhino horn way up!
Yes, I recommend this movie.
Share:
0points
1of 2voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
2
/
5
Conan the Barbarian 3D is barbarically bad ....
PostedAugust 22, 2011
... somewhere Robert E. Howard is rolling over in his grave. There are a few glimpses of what this movie could have been .... but just a few. Momoa, Perlman and Lang are okay in their key roles. The problem is the story, dialogue, script and editing. These problems are too fundamental to fix with some good action character actors doing what we know they can do. Better to re-watch Arnold's original Conan which had a better overall atmospheric quality and did more justice to the muscle-bound, noble Cimerian. A disappointed rhino horn down.
No, I do not recommend this movie.
Share:
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
2
/
5
30 Minutes or Less - 15 Minutes of Laughs or Less
PostedAugust 22, 2011
... and that's just not enough to recommend seeing "30 Minutes or Less". Only 83 minutes long and it felt much longer .... 30 minutes or more .... longer. The directors and writers should have stayed with the stupid "boy humor" shenanigans they had going on in the first few minutes of the film. They progressively got more serious as the movie crawled along and that just did not work - at least for me. Expected much more and got much less. A limp rhino horn down.
No, I do not recommend this movie.
Share:
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
5
/
5
The Devil's Double is Mesmerizing .....
PostedAugust 14, 2011
.... and should not be missed! Director Tamahori and lead actor Dominic Cooper ... and the rest of the excellent cast and crew deliver a near-masterpiece in "The Devil's Double". Personally, I would give Cooper a best actor Academy Award nomination right now ... but with all the time for Oscar-targeted films to be put on display this fall and winter he may not stand a chance. It's a shame as Cooper deserves a nod. We can hope. The story itself, the script, dialogue, cinematography, musical score, special effects .... everything about this film is A+. Reminder that this is a film for adults only. Adults with an interest in recent world history will find it even more compelling. We can all sleep a bit better knowing this demonic psychopath, Uday Hussein, is not still walking the Earth. TheMovieRhino highly recommends seeing The Devil's Double. A double rhino horn up.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
Share:
+5points
5of 5voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
3
/
5
Cars 2 is a Cute, Sweet Pixar Visual Feast ... but
PostedAugust 14, 2011
... Cars 2 has its problems "too". Yes - it is visually stunning and the story zooms right along and the characters are well-defined ... but sometimes it feels like the pacing of the story is always at the same level of acceleration which becomes "tiring" ... almost boring. While the overall cuteness of everything is so sweet it almost leaves a cloying feeling in the back of your throat - as if you just drank a bottle of maple syrup. A little bit is yummy but too much is yucky. The last bit of major criticism is that much of the humor will not be "gotten" by the "under 12 year olds" in the audience. In the end this puts Cars 2 in a weird position - too adult in language humor for small children and too "car"toony in visual stylization for older children and adults. We saw far too many under 12s running around, dis-interested and/or sleeping in Cars 2. An STP decal'd rhino horn slightly up.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
Share:
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
4
/
5
Final Destination 5 3D gets an A in 3D ... but...
PostedAugust 14, 2011
...a D in originality. As to be expected Final Destination 5 3D is a re-hash of what we have seen before in FD 1, 2, 3 & 4. What gives FD53D an extra punch is the 3D itself. The story and lack of dramatic originality scores a low D- but the 3D opportunities and 3D effects are very cool. Cannot recommend FD53D in 2D but the 3D version is worth the visual experience .... this is all true ONLY with the caveat that you know the type of movie you are seeing .... a movie in the violent horror movie genre (we are assuming you have seen all or some or at least one of the previous FD films). NOTE: the 3D effects in the opening credits alone make seeing this movie worth a ticket - eye popping. A quivering, bloody, deja vu 3D rhino horn up.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
Share:
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
5
/
5
Kidnapped is Unflinching, Violent and....
PostedAugust 14, 2011
...absolutely not for everyone. Kidnapped is a gritty, emotional, psychological, violent imagining of what a brutal home invasion "robbery-gone-awry" might well be like. When I say "brutal" I mean "brutal". The writer-director takes us on a journey through ... shock .... terror ..... fear .... hopelessness .... finally a glimmer of hope .... and back to a violent, depressing end. No fantasy about the good people triumphing here .... just, stark finality. It is almost harder to watch because the atmospherics, dialogue and cinematography are so perfectly done. The camera work is masterful with long continuous shots - sometimes in double-screen - that capture all of the tensions that exist on varying levels with all of the participants. The final 15 minutes might be the most depraved and hard-to-watch 15 minutes of any film in recent memory. Be discerning .... but if your film palette allows you to sit through graphic realistic violence with empathy and appreciation for the film-making skills involved then seeing Kidnapped is likely worth your investment of time and attention. If your movie viewing sensitivities lean toward easily being offended by intense violence and realistic brutalizations then you should forgo this one. A cautious bloody and broken rhino horn up.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
Share:
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
5
/
5
The Movie To See This Weekend is "The Help"....
PostedAugust 13, 2011
....some of (if not the) best acting and actor ensemble yet this year. This movie could have been so rigid, maudlin and one-dimensional .... it is not. The only negative criticism I can strain to come up with is, at times, the story on-screen seems a bit too pat ... just a bit too "discernible" and "clean". This is being overly picky (I think) and the acting is so good in this film that it would be fair to overlook many levels of picayunish nitpicking. This movie can be enjoyed by all adults over the age of 18 but will be appreciated most by those with memories of the fifties and sixties civil right movement and Jim Crow. The costumer, cinematographer and set designers nail 1963 atmospherics. Don't miss seeing one of the best films of 2011 in a theater. Good bet that this one carries Oscar weight. A rhino horn up.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
Share:
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
5
/
5
Another Earth is Not Just Another Movie ....
PostedAugust 8, 2011
... and it is well-worth seeing. What a grand surprise. I was expecting something manipulative and pretentious. What a joy to see a great emotional story that is tangled up in a sci-fi premise that allows the writer to explore various paths to a resolution... a healing .... and atonement. Even the ending is a great twist that will force you to think, for some time, after you leave the theater. Original and enjoyable for all of its 92 minutes "Another Earth" is a film that has sparse dialogue and allows the premise and story to visually unfold like a cinematic piece of origami. A double rhino horn up.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
Share:
+2points
2of 2voted this as helpful.
Overall rating
3
/
5
Terri is a "character study" gone awry....
PostedAugust 8, 2011
.... of an overweight, isolated teenager trying to find his way. I liked many of the characters in "Terri" and much of the acting. The problem with Terri is the story itself.... I just did not believe much of it. Terri is massively obese, living alone with his uncle who has serious problems (dementia, etc.) and he cannot seem to get to school on time, he misses classes, etc. In spite of the dismal state of affairs he seems relatively well-adjusted .... that's the part I had trouble swallowing. Yes - he kills rodents and feeds them to scavenger birds, he fantasizes about a girl and he seems to identify and feel frustrated with his categorization as a "good kid with troubles". I simply did not believe the premise and the lead character's personality for a second. It seemed manipulative and somewhat shallow .... when it should have been nuanced and more complex. Cannot recommend spending money in a theater but maybe worth exploring as a rental in a month or so. A rhino horn slightly down.
No, I do not recommend this movie.
Share:
+1point
1of 1voted this as helpful.