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Reviews
More Than a Game (2008)
They're just human
To be honest, one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. A truly feel good movie. I'd heard about Lebron James, but never really knew much about him. Then my son and me watched the movie. To say it was inspiring (especially for the little guy) would be a gross understatement. The best part of the movie was finding out that Lebron became who he is today, because of a small group of people that became his extended family. As a parent, and a fellow human being, its hard not to have tears well up at the end of this one, because we all want to be loved. They all found that love - in each other. The side effect was an amazing basketball story.
Mutant Chronicles (2008)
Good Flick to pass a couple of hours of deadspace
We watch movies to be entertained. We watch movies to learn about history or the present, or possibly even the future. We watch movies to escape the daily drudgery of life.
Or in this case, because I had a few hours to kill and didn't feel like turning in.
It was okay. I liked the feel of WWI (trench warfare, old British helmets, rifles w bayonets) mixed in with weapons that fired bazooka type shells.
But the sudden flip to zombies running around the screen tearing everything up didn't make much sense. Heck, put all your boys into tanks and drive all over these things and the machine loses. They can't use weapons cuz they've got a big knife for a hand that CAN'T go thru steel. Case closed. But for some inexplicable reason, the world is overrun with these things. Sigh.
I like the lead actor, Thomas Jane. Mostly because I've seen him in "The Mist" and expected more of the same. It took the better part of half a movie, to finally realize that HE was the lead actor and not Ron Pearlman - that being Ron's sudden demise.
I liked Ron Pearlman in "Hellboy" and thought he might make a go of this flick sans makeup. He did okay. Until the end, where they put him in makeup and give him a ginsu knife for an arm.
The feeling of the movie was nifty. Nice use of black and white. Love the "steamships". And the swordplay, what little there was of it.
The good guys win in the end. And for the most part, thats what we all want in a movie. Some satisfaction and justice, and going to bed at night knowing that good will prevail over evil.
The Alphabet Killer (2008)
One of those movies where you hope the ending is going to save it
Starts out sorta creepy. Kids dying. Don't really want to see that anywhere, even in a movie. Yet as a parent, it really hits home. My wife who normally falls asleep even in the best of action movies stayed awake thru the entire flick. Mostly because we were both hoping for justice. We got WAY less than that. Not only was the ending a "What the hell?", but we COULD NOT understand or comprehend was the last printed lines in the movie:
"A fireman was exhumed in 2006 and cleared of the murders. Nobody has been convicted of the crimes to date."
What? There were no firemen in the movie! What happened to the psychiatrist gone bad? You can't expect people to pay money to rent your videos to give them cr@p like this. Never mind paying box office prices. And you wonder why bitemetorrent is as popular as it is.
You'll wind up getting a rep for pushing the "artistic license" window, and people will stay away. Far away. Especially producers.
The Mist (2007)
Amazing - a message of hope
Simply amazing. I too watch dozens of films a month. Every once in a while I come across a truly amazing gem. This was one of those gems.
This wasn't a film about horror. The horror veil is there merely as a medium for King's work, as other posters have iterated. It was a message, a glimpse as it were, of our own society in one of its darkest moments. The entire broad spectrum of humanity played out in this one single film. Bravo! to the director, screenwriter and all the other people involved for a brilliant adaptation of a story I must read one day.
Day to day life is nothing more than one "challenge" after the other. How we deal with these challenges, is what define us as human beings. What keeps us going, from challenge to challenge, is hope. Steven King's message to us was a simple one - never lose it.