Random Movie Review: Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield to me, was a popular movie within the community and I felt with the good immediate response from friends, it must be a good film. However, I was very disappointed when I finally saw it. Maybe this was because I was expecting too much. It had a very boring and basic plot and poor camera work during the movie was ridiculous.

I see Cloverfield as a cross between The Bourne Ultimatum and War of the Worlds, either of those movies are better Cloverfield in many ways. The similarities to War of the Worlds consist of large monsters trying to kill people and the main characters having to run to safety. I thought The Bourne Ultimatum had bad camera work, but this movie is filmed entirely on a hand held. A lot of the scenes were dark and hard to see, i think this was a major factor in my bad response to it.

The cast consisted of nobody famous, or that I had heard of. This wasn't really a factor when you identify all the things that were average with this film.

The plot was really basic, beginning with a terribly boring party that lasted the first half an hour. Things did not improve when the main characters were running from the monster. Sadly this is the basis of the storyline.

I found Cloverfield to be a poor quality film that could have been improved with better cinematography, better cast of actors and a better plot.

Official rating: 4/10

Random Movie Review: Hitman (2007)

Hitman is a fantastic action movie released on 21 December 2007. I have only just seen it and was impressed by the plot, cast and camera work.

Timothy Olyphant plays the main character Agent 47. He is a hitman and has been trained since he was a child in all areas of combat. During the movie you see his skills in using a sniper, a battle using samurai swords, plus his excellent skills at hand to hand combat.

I found this movie very entertaining as it is the genre I like best. The director has done a great job on camera work, and I find this an important factor in making a good film.

This movie is quite similar to the Bourne series, so if you enjoyed them I highly recommend you go and see Hitman. My official rating 7/10.

Random Movie Review: Knocked Up (2007)

Knocked up is a great comedy featuring Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl. You may recognise Seth from his recent appearance in Superbad, and Katherine's regular appearances on Grey's Anatomy. Knocked Up is a great film, providing an enjoyable experience for the viewer. The film is rated R. It features nudity (breasts) and a whole vocabulary of vulgar language. Older teenagers to young adults would enjoy this movie the most because the style of the movie and the comedic value seems to be directed towards that age group. However, I'm sure older people would still enjoy this film.

Knocked Up does not look like a fantastic movie after watching the film's trailer, however I, and I'm sure others will concur, found the movie a lot better than expected. Main character Ben Stone didn't think much of himself in general. He hang out with a few sad looking guys that he smoked weed with. This was before he went to a club and met Alison Scott. They shared a few drinks. Alison ended up taking Ben back to her apartment and they shared sexual intercourse together, unnoticed by Alison, Ben had carelessly chosen not to wear a condom. This is the base of the storyline.

8 weeks later Alison begins to vomit while working at her job at E! Alison and her friend ( Leslie Mann) take a pregnancy test, and it is revealed Ben is the father of this accidental baby. The movie ends with Alison giving a painful birth to the baby. This whole event is quite humerous, as she screams in pain at the male nurse and the ignorance of her doctor.

Remove the comedy from this film, and it wouldn't be impossible to tell it apart from a non fiction film because of the respectable storyline. It shows the journey two people undertake when they make a mistake of accidental pregnancy and cope with the consequences.

I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to any young adults that are looking for a laugh, and who knows? maybe a life lesson on the way.

Official rating 7/10!

Random Movie Review: SiCKO

Michael Moore has made another documentary, this time concentrating on the heath care of the citizens of the United States. I rather enjoyed fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, which were Moore's previous documentaries. Now i have enjoyed this one, targetting the U.S. health care system and comparing it to other countries. Moore and some rescue workers from 9/11 visit places like Cuba and Britain, and enjoy the benefits of their different health care systems.

Moore begins the documentary by telling the story of a few Americans that have injured themselves and how their insurance companies strive to find a reason not to pay expenses. To ultimately keep the insurance companies quite wealthy, and not having to pay out as much.

We learn a little more about the corrupt health care system. Moore explains that the voluntary workers that assisted in 9/11 are still suffering health problems and they cannot seek help within America. Moore then gathers a group of the volunteers and tries to sail to Guantanamo Bay prison, after informing us that the prisoners get better health care then most Americans. After hearing a siren while in the boat, they decide to cancel their visit. They go to Cuba instead and reap the rewards of the free health care after going to a hospital and allowing the volunteers to seek free medical attention.

It is quite interesting to learn more about other countries in this film. I particularly enjoyed the visit to France. Moore follows a government employed doctor to make house calls. This conveys how different some countries can be from the rest of the world.

Official rating 8/10 . I liked Bowling for Columbine better :)

Random Movie Review: Prison Break Season 3

Season 3 of Prison Break has aired in the U.S. The series began with Michael Scofield deliberately robbing a bank to go to jail. He did this to help his brother Lincoln Burrows escape. He achieved this at the end of season 1 and spent season 2 on the run.

Season 3 consists of Michael being in a very low quality jail. This has run over from season 2 and the long chase to find all the escaped prisoners. In this jail he meets some fellow inmates that he had escaped with along with a few guards as well. The jail is full of criminals so bad, that they have fights to the death and there are no guards. This is until someone escapes and is be shot by guards in towers around the perimeter of the prison.

This is an entertaining series and I would consider all to watch. I'm anxious to see what happens in the next episode, and if Lincoln can manage to help his brother escape.

Random Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Getting a bit old now that it has left the cinemas and is on it's way to DVD, Harry Potter 5 is the latest movie to hit the cinemas in the popular series. The release of this and the last Harry Potter novel has been overwhelming for some Potter fans.

I liked the movie and thought it did a satisfactory job of showing the main events from the novel. One thing that i noticed was the style of the movie compared to the previous ones. This new director brought a non-serious side to the storyline. It was almost comical at some stages where I had thought the author of the novel J.K Rowling had anticipated it to be a serious situation. Through this and use of music, I found the new approach quite lame.

However with the financial amounts that are invested into this production, it does have a professional look to it. The characters all dressed up add realism to the film, as the audience can really believe in the world of magic at Hogwarts.

Some people would be upset that a lot of material was left out of the movie, however they should consider the length of the novel and the challenge it would have been to sculpt it down to an appropriate length for a movie.


My official rating is 7/10.

Random Movie Review: Bourne Ultimatum

It was always going to be hard to make another addition to the Bourne series following such a large expectation. On a whole, the movie was great and almost up to par as the first two.

One negative outcome to this was the change in camera effects to the first two films. Ultimatum included shaking camera effects, extra blurry effects and all this just made the movie look like it was filmed with a little hand held camera. This got annoying at times but thankfully, it steadied out to be bearable for the majority of the movie.
I think it featured a great ending. Without giving too much away, it alludes to another movie in the series being made, which is what most of us are hoping for.

My overall review 6/10 ....... mainly due to the poor camera work.