Piotzar's stats
- Review count27
- Helpfulness votes7
- First reviewOctober 19, 2009
- Last reviewJuly 14, 2013
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating3.6
Overall rating
4
/
5
One Strange Movie
PostedSeptember 30, 2012
Piotzar
from Belmont, MA
Age:65 or over
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
4
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
3
/
5
Acting
5
/
5
Story
3
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
The story of this movie moves in a kind of bell curve, giving you the sense that it's building up to something and then rolling over into nothing much, leaving behind (in it's wake, so to speak) a jumble of interpretations. But the acting! Phoenix is amazing, I guess playing crazy is easier if you know what you're doing. Puts all the hammy portrayals of the disadvantaged to shame, which is most of them. Riveting. Hoffman, good, as always. You wind up watching this movie just to see the acting. The ending is just where it ends.
Pros great actors
Cons slow
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Fascinating, Almost Great
PostedSeptember 30, 2012
Piotzar
from Belmont, MA
Age:65 or over
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
5
/
5
Special Effects
4
/
5
Art Direction
5
/
5
Acting
5
/
5
Story
4
/
5
Camerawork
5
/
5
Ignore all the questions about time travel, you don't need scientific underpinnings to enjoy this. The acting is excellent (Bruce Willis, who knew?), Jeff Daniels does a wonderful turn. What I wound up enjoying most was the cleverness of the craft. The dialogue was sharp, but almost as noticeable when no one was talking. The filming was by turns Blade Runner and Signs, yet original. Kind of surprising ending, but not important. Go see it.
Pros well paced, great story, great actors
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
3
/
5
Way below the hype - a little tedious, a lot stupid, but okay
PostedJuly 23, 2012
Piotzar
from Belmont, MA
Age:65 or over
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
3
/
5
Special Effects
3
/
5
Art Direction
2
/
5
Acting
3
/
5
Story
2
/
5
Camerawork
3
/
5
The plots get sillier, the dialogue gets dumber, the action gets more predictable (and less exciting) and all the dramatic voices get more Darth Vaderish. With no hype, just another vacant summer movie (not a bad thing). With all this hype it becomes a little bit of a joke. Redeeming feature: Holloywood is apparently a good country for old men. Watching Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, even when they're not doing much, is always a pleasure. Lovely irony in Bane's occupy wall street posturing. Lower your expectations, and be pleased. This is a tired story in the hands of a tired director and a tired cast.
Pros not bad
Cons too complex, slow, old-fashioned effects
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
3
/
5
B grade summer sci-fi movie, with big pretensions.
PostedJune 13, 2012
Piotzar
from Belmont, MA
Age:65 or over
Gender:Male
Goes to the movies:weekly
Dialogue
2
/
5
Special Effects
4
/
5
Art Direction
4
/
5
Acting
3
/
5
Story
2
/
5
Camerawork
4
/
5
If the hype hadn't been so excessive this would have been another summer sic-fi movie with sound acting, good sets and effects, and some silly religiosity and philosophy. I thought that Alien being a great movie and Ridley Scott being a great director would ensure a higher level of pleasure and story-telling. Writers and directors, and stars, ultimately seem to get so overwhelmed with fame, fortune and fans, that they believe they are on the earth for a higher purpose, to explore deeper questions. This had the depth of a freshmen philosophy course, and tried to deal with so many subjects, characters and plots that nothing ever truly developed. Yes, there were some thrills, but the movie itself is surprisingly dull, It never developed the kind of simple, straightforward momentum that Alien enjoyed. And if it did start, it got derailed with an actor so badly made up to look old that he was distracting, and occasional religious symbolism (feet washing, really?), and some truly silly dialogue. Having said all that, forget the hype, lower your expectations, pay the 2D price and have an okay 2 hours.
Pros cinematography and effects
Cons too complex, slow, dumb
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
3
/
5
Mixed Bag
PostedJanuary 6, 2012
For all the good reviews, the extraordinary bits of acting and the literary lineage, this movie is strangely uneven and ultimately unsatisfying. Oldman and Firth do a fine job, both get better with age. Some of the later action sequences, out of the office, are very good. The filming is interesting. But there are parts that move so slowly and so confusingly that I actually dozed off for a second! So did my wife. I seem to remember that this may have been true of the Guiness version, but in small segments on the small screen it wasn't so noticeable.
No, I do not recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Old Fashioned Fun
PostedJanuary 6, 2012
I swear this plot, much of the action and alot of the pacing were stolen directly from an old James Bond movie, although I can't remember which one. Tom Cruise, looking age appropriate, sails through a role for which he is almost too old, Simon Pegg is charming, Jeremy Renner is very good. Special effects, esp the building sequence, are good without being very innovative. Moved along steadily but not excitingly.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
5
/
5
Great Family Fun
PostedJanuary 6, 2012
Thoroughly enjoyable. Matt Damon really can be almost anything. Children and animals are all cute. Not a surprise in sight, but a most pleasant way to spend some time, with or without kids.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
perfectly good
PostedSeptember 10, 2011
This movie has much going for it: everybody is in it, the subject is topical, the direction and filming are very good, the message (good people do good things, bad people do bad things, virtue triumphs) is fine. Matt Damon is amazing, he literally disappears into an everyman persona. Gwyneth Paltrow is also good and gets just deserts for singing country. With everything being so good, yet so predictable, the movie's shortcoming is that it doesn't really sweep you up in the fear or chaos that are happening. That's the difference between good and great. See it.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Good, Not Great
PostedNovember 28, 2010
The movie counts on the audience being long-time Potter fans. Without an instant identification with the characters the movie would be shallow and tedious. Special effects were good, most scenes faithful to the book. Leads are getting a little long in the tooth to be truly believable. I never felt the movie was too long, that is I didn't check my watch, but it did feel tedious and slow in many places. It's a 90 minute movie stretched so the franchise can rack up another few hundred million.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Funny Old People
PostedNovember 20, 2010
Apologies to Bruce Willis, who isn't quite old enough, but the movie belongs to Helen Mirren and her aged friends. She is absolutely hysterical, great comedic timing. Everyone else is very good, and it's nicely packaged. Not too pretentious, just fun.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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