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Marlowe
Marlowe's stats
- Review count3
- Helpfulness votes1
- First reviewMay 3, 2008
- Last reviewJune 4, 2011
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating4.7
Marlowe's Reviews
Overall rating
5
/
5
Best James Bond movie so far
PostedJune 4, 2011
Marlowe
from Norwood, MA
This X-Men movie is very satisfying. It takes us back to the beginning of the first movie when Eric is captured by Nazis and put in a concentration camp. This movie begins there, and works well to show the deeper motivation of Magneto - not the megalomaniacal villain at all, but a wary victim of oppression once, who refuses to be again.
Not only that, but it treats well the relationship between Charles Xavier and Mystique, which is far more complicated than it was portrayed in previous films. It also reveals why Xavier is not eager to harm "enemy" mutants.
But the real treat in this one is the Bond-esque feel. Taking place around the time of the first James Bond movie, this X-Men movie has all the familiar Bond elements - secret submarines, white-clad villains, blond bombshells seducing Russian generals. It has it all.
Who could ask for anything more?
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
4
/
5
Sucker Punch - The trailer does not lie.
PostedMarch 26, 2011
Marlowe
from Norwood, MA
After months of anticipation for this movie, after viewing a trailer that looked like it had everything except the kitchen sink - hot chicks, robots, zombies, mechs, airships, lasers, ninjas - I was ready buy my tickets, and noticed the Tomatometer was at 25%.
Uh-oh, said I. My 15-year-old daughter is going to be disappointed. But I bought the tickets anyway. I couldn't miss this.
Remember a few years ago when "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" came out? Great visuals, awful acting, mediocre story.
Well Sucker Punch was lining up to do the same thing to me - dash my hopes.
But let me tell you, and perhaps it's BECAUSE those low reviews lowered my expectations, but I really liked this movie.
I begin to see that many critics no longer go to movies to enjoy them, but to show their writing skill and cynicism by finding clever turns of phrase to tear them down. This movie doesn't deserve that treatment.
It's a graphic novel on film, and as such, it's just about as good as one gets. Not quite as good as "The Watchmen" or "Scott Pilgrim", but better than "Kick-Ass", and I LIKED "Kick-Ass". And let's not talk about how they murdered "The Green Hornet!" (That was like watching a Green Hornet movie starring Seth Rogan.)
My daughter, who I thought would be disappointed, was far from it. She was reveling in it.
The soundtrack is gripping, with my ears perking up as a lovely female voice sings "Sing Me To Sleep", a desperate suicide song by The Smiths. Now I have to buy this soundtrack. My daughter also noted the excellence of the soundtrack.
The story is dark. Very dark. It's basically a rape fantasy in a corrupt mental institution. I can name about 100 movies this takes elements from including "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to "A Series of Unfortunate Events" to "The Uninvited" to "Frances", the Frances Farmer movie with Jessica Lange - well look, I said 100, and I meant 100. Not all of them bad, either.
But I lied about one thing. This movie has everything INCLUDING a kitchen sink.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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Overall rating
5
/
5
Hit or Miss? Hit!
PostedMay 3, 2008
Marlowe
from Norwood, MA
Superhero movies have a large hurdle to jump - legions of fans who think it should be exactly a certain way, who are not terribly tolerant of new vision, or poor execution.
I'm happy to report that in this hit-or-miss genre of film, Iron Man hits. And hard.
Thanks almost entirely to Robert Downey Jr, one of this generation's finest actors (and lamentably, most self-destructive people) and flawless CGI, this film delivers with a punch.
It seems to make not a single mis-step. There's nothing hokey or cliche, nothing dumb or stupid, with the one problem I had with the film being the incorrect portrayal of time at one point, allowing the film's eventually-revealed villain to be far too good at controlling his creation, while we see a lot of Tony Stark's experimentation and training, we see none of the villain's, and yet he appears to be more than a match for our practiced hero.
That aside, (and that WAS my only minor complaint) I loved everything about this film. The casting was excellent, and I thought Gwyneth Paltrow was well-cast as the loyal, faithful, and quietly sexy assistant.
The moments of comedy with the robots, and the intelligent computer were welcome, not overdone, and pay off in the end.
With most super-hero films these days, I generally walk in with trepidation, not knowing if I'm going to be treated to something good, or made to watch a mediocre piece of tripe.
Glad to report that this film far more than met my expectations, it exceeded them, and I'm very very pleased.
-M-
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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