Reviews by Happy Vader

Wow, American Beauty is not just a satire of the American suburbs, but also a caricature of the whole world. Aren't we all really like this inside? I believe the characters shown in the film are really the sort of people that we cannot explain or we have them hidden somewhere at the back of our minds, while some have bought it forward, others haven't. Anyway, the Burnham's are probably the most dysfunctional family since the Sawyer's from the 70's, or maybe third to the Sitcom family. I believe the characters are not too complicated to understand and what they go through totally shows their maturity of their mind. Carolyn leads her to believe that she is the victim, even though she's not and Jane thinks that Ricky is a great person, even though he's not. I think it's all the effects of the drugs, and it has made him devoid of emotions and understanding. Also, I believe Jane to be completely confused about what's wrong and what's right and she picks the one she finds attractive.

Anyway, American Beauty is widely considered one of the greatest films of modern times and I can't help agreeing to it. It tackles issues that can be tackled but cannot be presented in such a brilliant manner as this one. The sexuality, repression, depression, loneliness, happiness, alienation, life, death and all that. I personally am a big fan of all these subjects because I can relate to it, and not just the fake-happiness, the-world-is-fine-and-nothing-is-wrong-with-it attitude many films adopt. This is almost-realistic and captures most of the feelings accurately, or at least the ones I could identify. In all, after watching this film don't be surprised if you come up with many different analysis and interpretations. Remember, this is one of those open-ended movies we get once in a-while!

From the cast, Kevin Spacey, Annette Benning, Wes Bentley and Chris Cooper were truly phenomenal in their roles as Lester Burnham, Carolyn Burnham, Ricky Fitts and Frank Fitts, respectively. I kinda found it funny when I read somewhere that the latter is gay. I think Frank was just confirming what he saw. And it proved to be wrong. Or maybe he really is, you know, in the closet. From the supporting, Mena Suvari and Thora Birch were just OK, nothing memorable and just handled their characters barely.

All in all, I don't think my analysis, or point of view of the film, holds up against the others and if you want to, you can either prove me right or wrong. American Beauty is indeed a great film but I have to see it one more time to add it to my great movies list!

8.4/10

Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee is an insanely clever movie and it is one of those open-ended films which encourages you to choose a side and come up with your own theories on who is right and who is wrong. It almost follows the same vein of Rashomon and is like a modern re-telling of Dog Day Afternoon or at least that's how I saw it. It's an impressive movie to boot with a great cast and great attention to different ethnics and races and the tension-building is unique. Just like Donnie Brasco is a totally different gangster movie and was very fun to watch, Inside Man is exactly the same. It doesn't employ the shoot here, shoot there, I don't care attitude often adopted by a-many bank heist movies. It also has a much deeper story and strikes many allusions to real life, often missed by many.

Anyway, from the cast Clive Owen (the antagonist) really gave a powerful performance and equally matching him is Denzel Washington (the protagonist) in one of his more better roles. The former's aggressive but calm and dialogue-driven performance and the latter's professionalism really did the trick. From the supporting, Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer provided good backbone. So, apart from the above mentioned, all the others were just OK.

In conclusion, probably the best bank heist movie since Dog Day Afternoon and deserves to be seen!

8.0/10

The Last Stand is everything the first two weren't and since this made it a trilogy, is the complete opposite of the Spider-Man trilogy. The reason for mentioning it is because it was released fairly around the same time and both were, and are, the weakest in the trilogy while their immediate predecessor are the strongest. Despite introducing new characters, Brett Ratner killed off, or cured, almost the same number and it didn't feel like as if he had introduced new characters at all. The script was quite wooden and flat and not enough screen time was given to major characters.

I mean, there are several flaws: Curing Mystique, killing Prof. X and Cyclops, downsizing the screen-time of Rogue and under-using the talent of Kelsey Grammer as Beast. It was a very promising role and a very interesting new addition but it was, like I said, under-used and not given enough screen-time. Also, the cast for the Brotherhood weren't strong enough. They would've made good extras though. The direction was quite OK but it could've done better, as seeing how brilliant the cinematography in X2 was.

The reason why the first two rocked was because of Bryan Singer's ability to combine and showcase such a large number of characters and give them appropriate screen-time. Every character stayed on-screen as long as he had to and then another appeared. In The Last Stand, we barely get to know the character that he disappears without a word and doesn't appear for long minutes. So my verdict is: Quite-boring, flat at times but the inclusion of Kelsey Grammer was good!

6.0/10

The films takes off in a believably scripted manner and, while mid-air, pulls unexpected punches, like as if an armless man suddenly re-grows his limbs and starts punching you senselessly, but it crash lands in such a horrible, terrible, manner that you wish you had stopped the film earlier. Man, the ending is so f*** embarrassing and totally detached from the rest of the film, just like the Know Your Enemy guitar solo. Totally detached, but in the case of the latter, it was actually good!

The opening 15-or-so minute airport scene is one of the best directed and scripted scenes in recent history. I enjoyed it and I thoroughly enjoyed the impeccable chemistry between Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. If there is but one reason to like them both, it has to be Red Eye. Then we have the plane shots, the majority where the movie is set. Man, the way the camera effortlessly flows throughout impressed me. I've heard many people complain about the unrealistic feel but from my experience, that's just about the most realistic portrayal of the passengers and stewardesses. That's how they acted all the times I've flown in airplanes. Up to the last five minutes of the movie, Wes Craven has his position in check and knows what to show, when to show and what not to show.

Anyway, the supporting "extras", oh well, cast were just average, badly overshadowed by the main two leads but that's not the point, the point is WOAH! what the hell happened to Brian Cox here? I mean, he was so wooden and totally detached. Everyone has their ups and downs and his down is this film. Totally so-not-into-it! So there you go, another great film by Wes Craven and although Jackson Rippner is of no match to Craven's previous icons, I have a feeling the character will somehow end up on many "great villains" list after when they see this film.

OK, so that was all the ups. Let's talk about the major Setback of Red Eye: the ending! Argue all you want but this film has probably the worst ending of all time. Did I stutter? I mean it. Such a fantastic ride only to ended in such a weak, pity manner that you would want to bang your head on a wall to forget it. If the ending, somehow, seems fitting, then please try to convince me that it really was because I honestly don't see it. So take my advice: Skip the last 5-7 minutes!

So, in conclusion, a great film, even greater performances, and one of the best "terror-in-the-air" movies!

8.5/10

Now this is how a superhero film should be done. Almost flawlessly executed and expertly detailed. This is one of the only four superhero films deserving of being titled the king of superhero movies (the other three being Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2 & Batman Returns) and which is funny because they're all immediate sequels to their predecessors. Anyway, X2 is simply unavoidable and it's full of great scenes and moments, like the opening for instance. Man, if that isn't one of the best choreographed opening, then I don't know what is. The peep-hole shot? Classic!

As before, all the main cast were impressive but it was the inclusion of Brian Cox (William Stryker) and Jim Cummings (Nightcrawler) that won me over. The characters were strong additions and were greatly cast. Another redeeming point was giving Shawn Ashmore (Iceman) a much prominent role. What Singer achieved in the first film through Anna Paguin, he achieved through him in this one. It was a good move. It has the old-message of how parents don't understand or are not able to accept the situation and sibling-envy, which is very common in almost every household. But that's not the point, the the point is how realistically it was handled. At least to me it seemed!

In all, a very greatly detailed movie and it has almost everything you can ask for. One of my personal favourites!

8.2/10

X-Men is a very impressive movie, although it always gets overshadowed by its immediate successor and it's not hard to see why. This one is kinda raw, delivers the goods, but feels unpolished, hurried even. But I gotta say, I loved Bryan Singer's direction and his way of handling such a big cast. Gotta give him that. Like some of the superhero films, this one also has messages and themes to it to which audiences can relate to, in this case: Outcast, loneliness, insecurity and the like. I enjoyed the way how the film starts off and brilliantly keeps rolling till the finish. But it was a little low on the dialogues though but that's nothing.

Speaking of performances, Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier), Ian McKellen (Magneto) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) were fitting and iconic in their roles. All three masterfully tackled their characters and fleshed it out 100% and never faltered one bit. It's a good thing Singer kept them in the sequels as well. The rest of the cast were pretty decent, although I liked them better in the sequels, but none were as impressive as Anna Paquin (Rogue). She's like a modern-teen icon for, what, insecurity...??? Maybe? I loved her performance and her chemistry with almost everyone was good!

In conclusion, one of my favourite superhero films and it's definitely worth checking out!

7.5/10

Sin City is stylish and professional. It's a game changer, this one. Visually, this film is just brilliant and the cinematography is miles high better than most and the cast is near-to-perfect chosen. Sin City is so different from other comic-book movies that it cannot be named in the same sentence as Spider-Man or others. It's sadistic, brutal, violent and unforgiving, something like a more perverted version of Eastern Promises. But don't let the violence part put you off. The blood is shown in either stark white or other colours but it's done it a stylish manner. Frankly speaking, the film's true artistic and cinematic touch is in all of Hartigan's sequences. The last 20-or-so minutes had me mesmerized.

From the great ensemble cast, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Brittany Murphy, Benicio del Toro and Powers Boothe played their characters to almost perfection, each having their great moments here and there and creating powerful and/or dominating personalities onscreen. From the others, both Rosario Dawson and Devon Aoki were fitting in their roles and I can't think of anyone else replacing them. Alexis Bledel as a prostitute was unconvincing at best and totally detached. Although her performance was just OK, Jaime King truly is a dame worth "killing for, worth dying for, worth going to Hell for!" And Jessica Alba was also quite OK and her chemistry with Bruce Willis was nowhere great or memorable.

All in all, definitely not for kids and definitely not while eating. Sin City packs solid punches and not only saws off your arms but hacks them to little, tiny pieces... OK, I'm gonna stop right here!

8.5/10

Since I was in the mood for something light and fresh, Captain America proved to be a good surprise. It gave exactly what I wanted but frankly speaking, could've done much, much better. The thing about Marvel movies are that they're hardly violent, dark or gritty and are all about one-liners, colourful display and a wide array of characters. The three very ingredients this film is made up of. Since I got nothing much to write on this film, I'll skip to the best part: performances!

Chris Evans is one of the top 10 best actors to ever portray a superhero (seriously, Human Torch was pretty decent) and Captain America is probably his second-best effort to date, performance-wise, the first being Sunshine. Uptill to the point where he gets injected by the Super Soldier Serum, he pretty much had his character in check but kinda lost focus after the injection. He became the script, not the character but I really enjoyed it. A new surprise was Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter. She reminded me some of the female cast from Schindler's List. Very eye-friendly and a great performance. After what seemed like a long time, Tommy Lee Jones and Stanley Tucci were very interesting to watch and very likable in their performances and their characters and they both shared good chemistry. Full of interesting small scenes here and there, I still like watching the whole scene where Colonel Chester Philips (Lee Jones) is introduced. Great line delivery. Then we have Hugo Weaving who, in my opinion, ruled the film by his mastery. He is flawlessly talented and has a knack for playing great, almost classic, characters and Red Skull is his latest, and one of his damn greatest, effort to date. He held the film in his shoulders to the point where he and Captain America first meet near the end of the film. After that it was like he lost interest in his character but managed to pack solid punches. If there's just one reason to watch this film, then it has to be Hugo Weaving!

So basically I wanted a light, cartoonish film and this really is one. I wasn't expecting much but it had nice surprises here and there. So, overall, my verdict: A pretty good film, could've done better, suitable for watching it one time only!

6.5/10

Watchmen presents itself like a golden sword half stuck in sand. It attracts people. But what it doesn't show is that it's actually blunt and not much. That repelled most viewers, me included!

Zack Snyder is a pretty great director and two of his films are some of my favourites (300 & Dawn of the Dead) but Watchmen is a good example of mixed-feelings. I loved the cinematography and the stylish feel to it but it somehow felt detached, as if it didn't wanted to be in the same room with the others. He handled it quite well and yes, I agree it certainly is beautiful to look at but doesn't really quite match up to the expectations.

The cast was well chosen and Jackie Earle Haley had the top-hand as Rorschach and he handled his character flawlessly. Malin Akerman was a good surprise and she handled her character Silk Spectre well too. The rest of the cast were decent!

In conclusion, I indeed have added it to my "Worst Movies" list but after seeing it for the second time, my feelings have softened and, even though it's gonna remain there, I wouldn't call it "Worst" anymore, but just plain OK. I think Bryan Singer could've done better.

7.5/10