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Does Rotten Tomatoes/Metacritic Really Mean Anything?

Posted by retaliators on January 18, 2011
Posted in: Written By Shane. Leave a Comment

This weekend, as you all know, The Green Hornet starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou has been released (I’m seeing it today so you’ll have my review sometime in the future). The film brought in around $40 million over this holiday and is currently at number 1 at the box office. However when you look at the critical reception, there’s definitely been a lot of hate. Rotten Tomatoes has this film sitting at a dismal 45% and Metacritic also has it sitting at a worse 39/100. This sounds like bad news.

However, from looking at some other online critics, mostly among blogs and some other big named film websites, while not admitting it’s a perfect film, they have absolutely enjoyed this movie. Now this begs on question: Does the critical scoring of sites such as RT and Metacritic matter anymore, and even to take the question further from that, did those sites really matter at all?

Now I am a big fan of movies, always have been, always will be. And the one important thing I’ve learned over my years, being on movie sites and writing on this blog for nearly two and a half years, is that film is subjective. What you may consider a masterpiece, others may not. Or vice versa. What others may consider a masterpiece you think is a mess. It all depends one your view, on your opinion of things.

So do you need sites like RT to influence your thoughts? If the film (to you) is bad and RT gives it a low rating, sure. I would definitely agree with the low score giving to Season of the Witch because the film was horrible. However, would I have known that had I not seen the film myself? Would I have agreed with the low rating if I hadn’t figured I’d sit down to see what MY OPINION is of the film, rather than looking to others to decide for me?

Take, for example, The Lovely Bones. When The Lovely Bones cames out about a year back, critical reception for the movie was very poor. And by hearing that, I didn’t want to see it in the theaters. I was listening to what other people were saying rather than deciding for myself. But once it was out on DVD I saw it and I loved it. I thought it was a magnificent film. Sure a lot of professional critics didn’t, but I’m not them. You see what I’m saying?

You don’t really need critical reception sites to control you to whether you wanna see a movie or not, nor should you think that site holds sway as to what your opinion will turn out to be. In the end it’s your call. If you think the movie didn’t deserve that much praise, that doesn’t mean your right or wrong. It’s just your take on it, and that’s what matters. If you loved The Green Hornet, that’s great for you. I have yet to see the film, but say I differ from you, that’s perfectly fine. If I hate the movie and you love it, it’s fine for both of us, because it’s our opinion. I know I’m kinda repeating myself with that, but it’s the true. In the end, our take, our opinion is what matters, not what RT and Metacritic says.

First Image Of Spider-Man!!!

Posted by retaliators on January 13, 2011
Posted in: Written by James. Leave a Comment

image

Oh yeah!!!
I am so pumped about this, mostly because if you direct your attention to his wrists you will see metal tubes in it… Yup. Web shooters. Did I not predict last year this movie would have web shooters? Yes. I did.
The uniform looks raddical, new, and cool. Andrew looks amazing. He has claw marks from the lizard on his suit.
But what makes the suit is the mask… I wanna see if they’re sticking with the pointy Sam Raimi eyes or if they’ll use the old ones.
This picture: great success.

Season of the Witch Review

Posted by retaliators on January 12, 2011
Posted in: Written By Shane. 6 comments

I’m afraid I have no way to sugarcoat an opening to a movie such as this. There really are no other ways to lead up to the unconcievable truth. Sure I could have said I haven’t been sure what to expect from Season of the Witch, or that Nicolas Cage is a good actor (despite being in some pretty bad films). But it wouldn’t matter because this one fact remains, no other way to put it:

Season of the Witch fucking sucks.

SYNOPSIS

Season of the Witch follows two Knights (Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman) on their way home from the Crusades. On their way home they are demanded to return a woman who has been accused of Witchcraft to a local town where she will stand on trial. Yet they must overcome some of the tricks the girl brings.

THE GOOD

Honestly…I can’t think of anything. There are a couple of set and costume designs that feel like they are from the Crusaders time. But that’s it. So now that that’s outta the way…

THE BAD

Look, I’ve already stated that I hated this movie, and even looking back on it now, I can say not only that the film was pointless, but it didn’t need to be made in the first place. It serves no purpose, brings no moral question, no message or reason. It’s just there, and it shouldn’t be.

Where to begin? The visual effects are very poor in this movie, especially near the end where our heroes face off with a Constantine-style monster (how original). It’s a typical Hollywood ending with overblown, terrible CGI that looks like it’s from back in 1998. To think, Avatar came out more than a year ago with mindblowing visual effects, and unfortunately some filmmakers don’t pay attention that with time they could’ve made it better. But then again with the million times this film has been pushed back they could’ve shot a better film. But they didn’t and now we’re here.

The dialogue is atrocious, lines that make “The Phantom Menace” seems like Shakespeare. Even Ron Perlman, who is awesome, has crumby lines and doesn’t really do much as a character. Nicolas Cage. Ok, look I love the guy (no homo). I think he’s a great actor and despite some bad roles, he usually is better than the rest. Here he turns out to be among the worst. In fact all the actors are at their worst, but that could be due to bad writing.

Even the action scenes were dull and went with the “Bourne” style of shooting, the kind where the camera is shaking and you have no idea what the hell is going on. Even they couldn’t get this right.

And riddle me fucking this, Batman: If the girl is a witch, who is set to be murdered somehow, and obviously she doesn’t want to die, than why, in the name of holy fuck does she sit back and do NOTHING in this film. Why didn’t she just kill the men taking her then and there and save the trouble. Sure the movie would’ve ended, but I think I’d be grateful.

And there are certain moments that brings up the Church and how Cage’s character has this inner torment about what God thinks is right and what the Church thinks is right. And they just throw it out there and never resolve it or expand on it. And there are many other examples of something like that in this movie.

There are so many other things I can mention, expand on, nitpick, but in the end it would all lead to the simple fact that this film is just a piece of shit. Terrible dialogue, terrible visuals, terrible story, terrible EVERYTHING. All in all, it’s just an unholy mess of a film and will make my bottom ten list. And I say that with much promise.

I give Season of the Witch a 1/10.

Interested in G.I. Joe Sequel?

Posted by retaliators on January 9, 2011
Posted in: Written by James. Leave a Comment

image

Any movie that takes place in the summer, and has the name of an 80′s cartoon franchise as well known as GI JOE, is bound to make bank. With fifty mil on its opening week, clearly it did just that. But does that make it a good movie?

I loved it, I bought it and own it. But I see no future in it. Here’s why; the director, Steven summers… walked out on it. And he is one shitty director. Storm shadow is dead, and the Snake eyes/Storm shadow scenes MADE the first one.

AND… they still have the top notch ace cast of Tatum and Wayans. Fml. So, am I alone here, or does everyone want another Joe movie?

Spider-Man Reboot Script Online. Fake Or Real?

Posted by retaliators on December 19, 2010
Posted in: Written by James. 1 comment

SOURCE: COMICBOOKMOVIE.COM

Read it, and you be the judge!

Uncle Ben approaches the burglar in his home. Uncle Ben confronts him and they exchange dialogue. Ben says it was fate that brought them together. The burglar shoots Ben.

Credits Roll

Peter wakes up to his police scanner. Massacre at ESU. He investigates. Captain Stacy is introduced. Peter looks through the destruction and finds a photo of two people he recognizes. Richard and Mary Parker.

Peter has a flashback of his parents giving him to Uncle Ben as a child.

Gwen and Peter go to school. We view the different personalities of his high school.

Captain Stacy debriefs the police force about the situation that occurred earlier that day. They have a lead that the “killer” made his way to the sewer system. They load up.

Peter leaves class. Curt’s wife and Billy Connors wait for him outside. They ask him if he has seen Curt. Peter promises her that he will find him.

Peter has a fight with Aunt May when he asks her questions about his parents and she doesn’t reply. He let’s off steam by going for a swing.

Stacy let’s his man go into the Sewer system. We get an Aliens-esque scene where The Lizard takes out his men. Spider-Man gets in on the action. A battle ensues. Spidey grabs a torn piece of cloth from Lizard’s back.

A man gets killed by the Lizard. Spider-Man stays for the man’s last few breaths.

Flashback of Spider-Man catching Uncle Ben’s killer, and letting him live. He is strung up in a warehouse. Capt. Stacy( then Detective) is awestruck by what he sees.

Spider-Man and Capt. Stacy call it a day.

Peter is at school colecting supplies and tools in order to identify the cloth’s orgin (Fun scene). He eventually comes to the conclusion it’s Curt Connors.

Flashback of Peter working on a regeneration report with Curt Connors. Curt explains that his project is going to change the world. The fact that he is testing on himself is implied.

Cut to Spider-Man breaking into Empire State. Grabbing Curt’s experiment logs and tapes. He listens to each tape (scene is intercut with Capt. Stacy going to a crime scene where the Lizard’s destruction is in every corner.)

Spidey walks down a corridor and confronts The Lizard. Another battle develops. Spider-Man makes an attempt to talk to Curt when fighting the Lizard. However, The Lizard is merciless and continues attacking.

Peter is beat down after the fight. He heads home and to bed.

Peter is talking to Gwen in the library. They have great character interaction between each other, until there are appearances by a dead Uncle Ben, Richard, and Mary Parker. His parents haunt him because they want justice for their deaths. It is all in fact a nightmare.

Gwen gets a phone call at 5 am. Peter is waiting outside and needs someone to talk to, about the nightmare. She invites him in her home.

Peter meets Captain Stacy. He was a friend of Uncle Ben’s. Stacy shows a lot of interest in Peter’s life. Stacy leaves the scene.

Peter browses around the kitchen. On the table is a file labelled “Richard and Mary Parker”. Peter steals it. He thanks Gwen and says she helped more than she knows.

A lighthearted scene occurs when Peter calls in sick from school. The exchange of words between the “sick” Peter and the secretary is amusing.

After the call, Peter opens the file and begins reading.

Flashback to Richard and Mary Parker going over their mission. Richard Parker will sneak into the Oscorp laboratories and look for any information on the disappearance of several civillians. Mary Parker will distract the head of security, Nels Van Adder, for the time being.

Richard breaks into the facility and finds that the missing civillians are being experimented on. We have references to other villains. He gathers evidence.

Mary flirts and extracts information about Norman Osborn as she speaks with Nels Van Adder.

Richard and Mary accomplish their mission and move back to their getaway vehicle.

Nels Van Adder immediately calls Norman Osborn. He explains the situation that just occurred and we see the getaway vehicle explode entirely. Mary and Richard Parker are dead.

Peter is in utter shock. His anger is displayed and Aunt May comes to comfort him. Peter apologizes to May for his outburst earlier.

Peter realizes he cannot fix the past and listens to the formula tapes of Curt Connors as his teacher explain the lesson. Peter manages to answer the questions asked by the teacher as well as figuring out a formula for the antidote.

While his classmates work on forming a solution in class, Peter is forming the antidote.

Gwen Stacy sets the table for dinner. Captain Stacy and Gwen speak about Peter and how they both like him. He says that he has work to attend to and that he will be back in a few hours.He says goodbye to her.

Peter works on homework as he listens to his police scanner. He hears a call that matches Lizard’s description. Peter suits up. Aunt May wishes him safety as he leaves his home.

The address of the call is the warehouse where Ben’s killer was caught.

Scenes interlock of Captain Stacy driving to the scene of the crime, Spider-Man swinging, and Curt’s wife and son watching the news.

As the huge warehouse emerges…

Flashback of Captain Stacy looking at the perp webbed by Spider-Man. This is the first time any of the officers have seen a thing so amazing. Stacy sees Spider-Man on a building watching overhead.

The officers rush into the warehouse. The final battle begins between Spider-Man and the officers against The Lizard. Plenty of bloodshed.

The warehouse begins falling apart. Captain Stacy saves one of the officers from the falling rubble. Costing his life. Spider-Man uses the antidote on Lizard. He transforms back to his human form. Spidey goes to the dying Captain and Stacy says, ” You did good, kid.” Gwen is calling on his cell phone, as Stacy takes his last breath. He dies in Spider-Man’s arms.

The final scenes: Gwen and the officers at the funeral. Spider-Man watches from a distance. Curt’s wife walking with Billy as they see Curt emerge from the beginning of the street. they run to him and embrace. “Richard and Mary’s File” on the NYPD’s desk. Norman Osborn waking up to his television being switched on. The news plays of the NYPD surrounding his penthouse. The police knock on his door shouting that they have a warrant for his arrest. A note on the coffee table writes, ” From Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.” Peter, Aunt May and Gwen help her pack some of her things. Peter notices a door leading to the attic. Hundreds of thousands of copies of unsolved case files make up the attic. All of which Spider-Man is ready to solve. We have a final swing.

Throughout the film, Peter Parker narrates and we find out what is going on in his head.

The opening credits are going to be Watchmen-esque with Spider-Man fighting petty crooks.

Tron Legacy Review

Posted by retaliators on December 19, 2010
Posted in: Written By Shane. Leave a Comment

http://filmonic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Tron-legacy-poster.jpgI must admit that I never saw the original Tron, but I’ve heard several things about it. At the time it was made, it was the most advanced in visual effects. I’m still up to checking it out. As for my anticipation for Tron Legacy, I really wasn’t too excited for it. Don’t get me wrong, the trailers and advertisements looked promising, but it just didn’t click with me. But I got a chance to see it yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised.

THE GOOD

The film is GORGEOUS. I was in awe every moment we were in this world. While I wouldn’t say that the visuals kick Avatar out of the park, but I got the same feeling watching the visuals in this movie that I did when I watched Avatar. This world is brought to life on screen, and you begin to blend into the environment.

I was a little worried before seeing this because of Garrett Hedlund, who while not a bad actor has really never impressed me (his best role was in Four Brothers and he even got knocked out by Tyrese Gibson. That says a lot). And while he doesn’t give a legendary performance here either, he does a pretty good job. Jeff Bridges of course is awesome as usual, and lights up the screen everytime he’s onscreen. But a smaller role that I really enjoyed was Michael Sheen. I will admit that he was overacting, but his character was very enjoyable and funny.

Daft Punk does the score for this movie, and it is beyond excellent. Not only does it sound great, it makes you feel like you are in this world. And the sound design is incredible as well.

Holy Jesus, the action scenes were awesome!

THE BAD

While most of the visual effects were incredible, there was one little detail that really annoyed me: the face of CGI Jeff Bridges. It looked AWFUL, and it looked CGI. It also kinda reminded me of The Polar Express, were the movements were right, but the eyes just looked dead. It was an incredible mess. Good thing the rest were good.

While the actors are pretty good, the dialogue felt off at times. I especially felt this from Olivia Wilde, which is weird to say seeing as earlier this year she was a huge Oscar contender.

I was intrigued to find out that Tron is actually a character in a sense. And he’s not even used that much in the movie. That didn’t sit too well with me.

OVERALL

While it does have it’s flaws, the good outweighs the bad so much that it overcomes these flaws. Tron Legacy is a fun, visually beautiful film. I wish I could’ve seen the original Tron before seeing this, but I’m definitely going to be seeing it soon. The visuals were stunning, Daft Punk’s music brought the world to life (and might find its way onto my IPod), and overall I was completely entertained.

I give Tron Legacy a strong 8/10.

Thor Trailer

Posted by retaliators on December 11, 2010
Posted in: Written By Shane. 1 comment

Yesterday we got a poster for the upcoming Thor movie, and today, the official teaser trailer has been released. And it looks glorious. While I’m not familiar with the comic, I’m looking very much forward to this movie. Cannot wait.

Here it is, check it out:

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