jo-185-56717 Reviews

300: Rise of an Empire (2014)

Terribly stupid and pointless

[2/10 · 17 March 2014]

How could you mess up a sequel to 300? The story of the first movie was simple and straight forward, yet jam packed with wit and beautiful details...and came along with a look that was fresh and sexy, very self assured and uncompromising.

Rise of an Empire is a joke compared to the original and a huge let down for anybody who appreciates good (or even visually appealing) movies. The story is unnecessary complicated but doesn't make much sense. While the visuals in the first movie seemed stylized and fresh, ROAE seems cheap, the 3D never really impresses (enough to justify it's use) and I had a hard time finishing the movie, partly because I couldn't believe how they could do this to the franchise...and how Zack Snyder is still part of this...I don't think he sleeps well these days.

Typical Hollywood sell out of a creative original idea. Really surprising to me are all those good reviews all over the place, but I guess quality standards are just ridiculously low these days.

Avoid if you can!!!!!

Cloud Atlas (2012)

If you are a movie lover, do yourself a favor and watch this piece of art!

[10/10 · 31 October 2012]

Let me start of by saying that - even though I've seen a LOT of movies - I've never encountered anything like this. And that's a very good thing!

Cloud Atlas is everything a movie should be and so much more. I won't go into the story because I find it too deep to simply describe, you just have to see it for yourself. But as the summary says - if you are a movie lover, do yourself a favor and watch this piece of art!

The Wachowski brothers (best known for their Matrix universe (which I agree, only the first was really revolutionary)) and Tom Twyker (The Perfume) team up to redefine "epic".

From the amazing storyline (which is not your typical predictable risk- less mainstream) to the state of the art cinematography, the mindblowing special FX and the incredible future vision, this film just sucked me in from the first moment, not even understanding why it's so enchanting, and kept me laughing and crying through out the whole time. It's long, but you won't notice because it is SO good, time flies by.

Again, don't let this movie flop, go watch in in the theater where it's meant to be seen. You won't regret it if you see it with an open mind!

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

It's really THAT good

[9/10 · 29 October 2012]

After reading many good reviews about The Raid I had high expectations for this Indonesian martial artwork. I'm a big fan of the first Ong Bak and this one exceeded Tony Jars masterpiece in my opinion.

The story is clearly designed for one purpose: To be able to put as much action into this epic as possible (it's not the most original, but hey, who cares?!). The choreography is beautiful, cinematography over the top (so creative and still always on point), the editing is astounding. I've watched a lot of martial arts movies but this one made me feel the pain more than any other movie I've ever seen. You know the feeling when your body twitches with the action? Yes, it's THAT good!

I'm throughout impressed by this and command the writer director team! Indonesian cinema isn't the most popular but this movie puts it on the map. Can't wait to see more like it!

Bill W. (2012)

Mediocre movie about a remarkable person

[5/10 · 27 October 2012]

First off, I'm not a recovering alcoholic so the movie didn't strike a chord in me on that level. However, I do respect Bill W.'s work tremendously. Unfortunately, the movie failed to deliver in my opinion. While it offered an amazing inside in the founder of AA, its presentation was lacking all over. Throughout the whole movie I felt like they could have wrapped this up into a 30 minute piece for the history channel (with better writing) which would still do the man justice if well done. The detailed story dragged on for what felt like days, the reenactment was "ok" but really nothing special and I could have dealt with less. It took the director 9 years to make this which explains the slow paste this movie had IMO.

Again, a needed portrait of an important person - but a little documentary piece wrapped into a whole movie. I'm sure AA members see it different.