Film Review - Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Beverly Hills Cop was first released in 1984 and stars Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a tough as nails, foul mouthed, street smart cop from Detroit whose friend Mikey is murdered after leaving Beverly Hills with stolen property, upset at Mikey’s death, Foley heads to Beverly Hills where a world of trouble awaits him.

Personally, I enjoyed this film a lot, enough so that I would have seen it if I was alive at the time it was released, Murphy is on top form in the role that made him a star, showing real charisma and screen presence as well as a mouth all his own, the supporting cops in played by John Ashton and Judge Reinhold help support Murphy very well by being the straight edge to Murphy’s funny man and last but not least Gil Hill as Eddie’s boss in Detroit almost steals the show with his F-bombed tirade.

Out of 5, I will give this a 4, it has great humor and enjoyment value.

Film Review - Dick Tracy (1990)

Dick Tracy was first released in 1990 and is based on the comic book by Chester Gould, the film stars Warren Beatty who also served as director as Dick Tracy himself, the story concerns Big Boy Caprice played by Al Pacino uniting the mob bosses of the city for a massive take over bid, but not if Tracy has his way.

I have to say that I really enjoyed Dick Tracy a lot, the visual design of the film is rich and colorful as well as the use of makeup, Beatty and his team did a great job and I also liked his performance as Tracy, it hit the right note between a hero and a man, I also enjoyed some of the other actors in particular Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles.

But there were some set backs, Danny Elfman’s score at times was a little too reminiscent of his score for Batman the year before and I thought that Pacino went a little too over the top at times.

Out of 5, I give it a firm 4 and a half, some great art direction and performances make this definitely worth watching.

Film Review - Batman Begins (2005)

With the Dark Knight now in cinemas, I thought I would go back and revisit Batman Begins, the predeceasing film, the story concerns a young Bruce Wayne who sees his parents murdered in front of him, following this he retreats to an unknown part of the world to train himself so that when he returns to Gotham, he can take on the criminals and corrupt, but the newly formed Batman will have to deal with more than that.

So how does Batman Begins compare to Dark Knight, well Dark Knight is easily the better film but Christopher Nolan’s first Batman film is no slouch either, Christian Bale is very good as Batman/Bruce Wayne as are others, but if there was a weak link it would be the love story being shoehorned in and the storyline with the water supply running a little long.

But all in all, this deserves a firm 4 out of 5 and nicely sets the stage for the future.

Film Review - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit stars Bob Hoskins as detective Eddie Valiant who has turned to alcohol following the death of his brother at the hands of a toon, who work with humans in 1940’s Hollywood and have their own home called Toontown, but when the owner is found dead, TV star Roger Rabbit is the prime suspect and he needs Valiant’s help to clear his name, before an evil judge clears him permanently.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a lot of fun to watch, as it’s a technically impressive film brilliantly combining the real and the animated worlds as well as the Disney and Warner Brothers cartoon staples that also creates some priceless encounters, but if there was a failing behind the film, it takes a sharp turn in the third act as we head into Toontown, it is here that the film loses the edge it built up and turns into a live action cartoon with a weak ending.

But despite that, the film entertained me so I give it 3 out of 5.

Film Review - 300 (2007)

300 is based off the graphic novel from acclaimed comic artist-writer Frank Miller and watercolour artist Lynn Varley, who worked with Miller on the successful “The Dark Knight Returns”, credited for giving the Batman character back his darker roots, the story concerns Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) learning that a vast army of Persians led by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is coming to conquer Sparta, concerned for his people, he leads a small force of 300 to make their stand.

Much like 2005’s Sin City, which made extensive use of Digital Photography and Effects to help bring Miller’s distinct visual style to life, 300’s director Zack Snyder employs the same technique to help bring his film to life, on the one hand it is nice to look at but for people like myself, who prefer the use of real sets and stunt people rather than computer graphics, this is a bit of a letdown.

Another main bone of contention that I had with the film was the extensive use of slow-motion during the action sequences, this has been a problem for me since the Matrix debuted in 1999, ever since then, pretty much every action and/or sci-fi film has tried to rip it off, be it in the plotting or the use of its effects and camera angles, to me, this is nothing more then a lazy copout rather than a chance to do something new and unique.

On a positive note, I really enjoyed the designs of the Persian army, which were from Miller’s original work, the design of the Immortals and the various giants were in my opinion very memorable, the first time I saw Xerxes, I couldn’t help but think of the Humungus from Mad Max 2, I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it was something that I could say about the film that was at least memorable.

On the whole, the film was OK despite my criticisms but focusing a film on its special effects rather than a proper screenplay with a good story and characters you come to care about is just really weak IMO and this film needed something more behind it, but then again, the film following Hot Fuzz had a lot to live up to, so make of that what you will.

Web Links - DVD/Blu-Ray News

Hi everyone.

I've decided instead of posting news on thre blog that I would share the links to the news sites that I use.

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk
http://www.dvdactive.com
http://www.ezydvd.com.au

Those three sites should give you the news you need regarding US, UK and Australian DVD/Blu-Ray releases.

Bye for now.

Sim W.

Film Review - Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Spider-Man 3 is the third installment in the Spider-Man series, and concerns Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finally finding a balance between his life as Spider-Man and his normal life with Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) but life in the big apple for the two is about to get a lot more complicated.

Spider-Man 3 is also director Sam Raimi’s third shot at bat, having done the previous two films, and the expectations were very high, Spider-Man 2’s huge reception 3 years before had many fans very satisfied but could they pull off another hit or succumb to the high expectations set by the previous film?

Well, in my opinion, I felt that this film failed to do both as well as in my eyes, deliver a proper Spider-Man film, the first film sort of promised it before completely falling apart in the second half and the previous film became too schmaltzy, with the announcement of the Venom storyline, It looked to me that this would finally happen but sadly didn’t, which was IMO disappointing.

The film also suffers from two other major problems, with a 140 minute running time, the film has at least 10 main characters to contend with and sadly, rarely does anything with most of them, they’re there for a few scenes as a centre point but after that, they’re mainly background fodder or used as plot points, an example of this is Kirsten Dunst and James Franco, who were front and centre in the previous two but shoved to the sidelines in this one.

The third main problem is the use of three villains instead of one, the villains are Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), the New Goblin (Franco) and Venom (Topher Grace), compared to just the Green Goblin in the first film and Doc Ock in the last film, this is a big problem, especially Venom, who is used very little considering his status in the comics, this problem also appeared in the Batman series and was one that I was happy to do without.

On a more positive note, Spider-Man in the dark suit was very good, exacting his revenge on the Sandman for his uncle’s murder was for me, the highlight of the film, sadly though, the film fails to deliver more scenes like it, as the film opts for Emo humour instead which is nothing more than groan inducing rather than funny.

On the whole, the film was OK but follows the path Return of the Jedi did, with the main lead given the meaty storyline and the side players shoved to the background, but whereas that film delivered an excellent finale, this just delivered a huge failure with little redeeming value.