Avathar's reviews

[Avathar]

Here i'll post my movie-reviews, since i've been writing again lately. ^^


"Cars"

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c100/buccobucco/imageNYET75006120436.jpg

There’s one thing everyone can be sure of, after watching this new animation of the guys at Pixar: It looks and sounds terrific. The CGI animation-sceneries really make believe that the American countryside is really worth visiting.

A story about a rebellious red race-car. All the speeding vehicles make the REAL cars from The Fast and The Furious bite the dust; the wonderful songs are yet again from the mind of Randy Newman, and thanks to the amazing sound-effects, yes, you’ve really ended up in the middel of a racing circuit.
The voice-acting of Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, and even so: Paul Newman (as a rustbucket of an excuse for a car, which holds an amazing secret), these voicings make the anthropomorph cars grow out to be characters of...well...flesh and blood.

And also, the director John Lasseter (Toy Story, A Bug’s Life) knows like no other how to put the cinematic aspect of cartoons in an animation like this. This way, the racing scenes are actually quite equal to the arena-races from Ben Hur, rather than something pathetic, like the ball game from Harry Potter.

And still, there are some obstacles on this race-track: the cliché-filled story and the conservative “in the old days, everything was more simple and better”- athmosphere.

But although it’s yet again quite a predictable CGI-animation, when you’re gonna watch this in the cinema, wait for the ending credits, ‘cause the best jokes are really saved up for the last. Quite good, and enjoyable.

Edit: 6/10 ;)

[Zeromus_X]

Interesting. I hope you don't mind if I stick this thread for you. ;) I look forward to seeing more reviews. Keep it up!

[Kat]

oooooo i have been wanting to see that it looks so funny is it good?

[Avathar]

is it good?

...

Don't you notice that i just posted my review on it? And no, i refuse to make a review that exists only out of one sentence. :p

[Staircase]

Very Nice! I cant wait for some more reviews. You should review Anime series too. Im always wondering what animes are worth my time or just garbage =).

But i think you should rate out of 10, Because alot of mediocre movies will get clumped together at 3. If youve ever seen X-play on G4, u know what i mean. Alot of ok games get clumped with pure crap at 3. Just a suggestion though

[Avathar]

Yes, you're quite right. :) From now on i shall rate it /10 (but in this case, it's still 6/10, then ;) )

And I usually write movie reviews, but i guess i can write ratings on manga and animé too. ^^

[Kat]

...

Don't you notice that i just posted my review on it? And no, i refuse to make a review that exists only out of one sentence. :p

:p :p
lol,no im blond that way

[Da Chink]

Do you take requests on what to review?

[Avathar]

Depends if i've read/seen it. ;)

[Avathar]

"Superman Returns"

http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/06/29/image728c2999-823e-454d-9fa3-3fac1e18e01a.jpg

People of my age probably have seen the original Superman movie when we were still very young, and it was probably the first superhero we have heard of; and it’s the first superhero-movie I’ve ever seen. Those were the times were you were astonished by the amazement which is Superman, a classical form of a superhero.

But times do change. My personal interest in the Man of Steel decreased by the horrible sequels Superman III and IV, while Hollywood tried for decades to bring back new life in this franchise.
And eventually it’s Bryan (The Usual Suspects) Singer that left the X-Men party to take on this challenge.

Singer plays with the idea of the long abscence of Superman, to make him also reappear on the white screen, back from a mysterious journey. The newbie actor Brandon Routh gets into the blue-red spandex outfit, and starts walking into the footsteps of late Christopher Reeve. But also his love of his life, the journalist Lois Lane, hasn’t been doing nothing. She has a new friend, and..... a son. Which gives the effect of a mixture of love, emotion, humour, and spectacular events!

Bryan Singer never hid away that the very first Superman movie (from 1978) always was his big inspiration to start in the superhero theme (X-Men) in the first place, and his passion literally drips of the screen.
From the moment the visualy astonishing intro starts, I was staring at the new adventure of Superman with mouth-wide-open.
And with the classic tunes, brought by composer John Williams, the emotions burst out of both the screen and the speakers.

And this wave of emotions doesn’t stop there. ‘Cause of putting the tragic love-history between Superman and Lois in the center of attention, the whole movie gets a different, and unexpected dimension.
The villain of the moment, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey’s having a wonderful time playing this role) is bringing the comical relief to the whole. His ridiculous plan to take over the world, plus his endless discussions with his sidekick Kitty are really to laugh out loud. Let’s hope Singer didn’t take the bad-guy part of the story not too serious.

The action sequences are quite random, they pop out once in a while, but yet again, quite amazing. If it’s the Man of Steel stopping a plane from crashing, or catching a bullet with his bare eye... each wonderful action we see him do, he still prooves he’s one of the most beloved superheroes of all time.

But in conclusion, a lot of viewers will kinda dislike the emotional vastness that holds this film, and even some might describe it as a supersonic chickflick, which it is, ‘cause it still holds the typical dull moments of a modern romantic movie. But above all, it’s definetly worth to go see Superman in action, once again!

8.5/10

[Staircase]

8.5/10! wow... i thought that movie looked horrid. I just cant get used to seeing a grown man wearing tight blue speedo, and red underwear, and being the strongest superhero.... Meybe ill take another look at it.

[Avathar]

8.5/10! wow... i thought that movie looked horrid. I just cant get used to seeing a grown man wearing tight blue speedo, and red underwear, and being the strongest superhero.... Meybe ill take another look at it.

Heh, that's just the thing, most viewers will have a view on Superman for being too old school, or something like that. ;) But indeed, you'ld have to look beyond the old fashion of the theme, and enjoy the classics.

[Kat]

i never did like super man....guys in spandex
bla :P

[Hydra]

lol, sounds nice. XD Review POTC2. O_O I saw it, but I want to know what another thinks of it. :D

[Avathar]

Haven't seen that yet (not yet in the cinemas here), and I heard amazing good reviews on it. ^______^ So exciting, I already adored the first one.

[Avathar]

"Romance and Cigarettes"

http://movies.themoviebox.net/images/romanceandcigarettes/main.jpg

Nick (played by James ‘Tony Soprano’ Gandolfini) has anything but an easy life. Living together with a wife and three daughters doesn’t always run as smoothly. Next thing that happens, Kitty (played by the charming Susan Sarandon) finds a love letter Nick wrote to another woman. The poor labourer is ultimately having a secret relationship with the trash-talking Tula (Kate Winslet).

When I watched Romance and Cigarettes, I really found that it does contain resemblances with an in-between-version of The Sopranos. The stereotypicalness can be really bothering for probably most viewers, although it could have its charm. Not only the setting (New York Suburbia), but also the cast seemed very familiar (next to Tony Soprano, also Tony’s sister Aida Turturro and a guest-role of Steve Buscemi appear in this film).

But pretty soon I did realise that I am watching the bizarre dreamworld in this movie, which is John Turturro’s thing. The characteristic actor wrote this crazy musical (and you have to love musicals like with that factor, remember recent musicals like Moulin Rouge! and Southpark The Movie) on the set of the movie Barton Fink, and that’s noticeable:

Bright, colourful characters? Yep! Bizarre situations? Present! Odd humour? Check! And above that, the spicey roles in this movie are even prepared to burst out into great songs! (songs like Delilah, by Tom Jones, and It’s a Man’s World by James Brown are part of Romance and Cigarettes’ themeplay)
Or even better, coming out of nowhere, they might start of with a dance (Christopher Walken steals the show quite often in this film as the uncle who’s consumed by the power of love).

Most people that’ll watch this, and are in the right athmosphere of a feel-good movie, will probably feel like moving to the rythm, and humming a song or two. Although there is a melodramatic ending to this festivity, mood swings are part of ordinary life, and a part of this swinging flick.

7/10

[Avathar]

- Thom Yorke
"The Eraser"

9/10

http://harpmagazine.com/img/news/20060514_yorke.jpg

I usually dislike the hitparade and every single bit that’s connected to it, such as questions like “What’s your favourite band of all time?” Usually I’ve found that rubbish. But if I had to make an answer to that, at the moment my answer to that question would be: Radiohead.

BUT, then I’ld mean “half” of Radiohead. The glorious, colourful, melodic, rocking, intriguing half. The other (worse) half would be the overload-of-experimental, cold electronic, monotone part.

The neurotic bleeps and other noises like the monotone pianobeats, which Thom Yorke starts with in his first solo-album “The Eraser”, these sounds make me think of the worse. But, with the effort, after one time listening to the whole album, that same expectation seems to be clarified. These nine pieces of music (I couldn’t call it “songs” in the true context) are an advancement on the earlier experimental Radiohead, the band of “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box”, “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” and “Hunting Bears.
Call me conservative or whatever, but honestly, this isn’t what I expected of his first solo-album, at first.

Thom York solo (he himself hates the term, but that’s what it’s all about) is simply saying Radiohead without the group, and with (more) electronics. Literally all of the tracks are ruled by the rattling of drumcomputers, and other percussions, brought forth out of machines.
And even so, sometimes he adds (like in “The Clock”) some verbal percussion to it as well.

But there are definetly highlights for sure with this record. “Analyse” is a very astonishing track, and very innovating. “Black Swan” is an example of a good mix of a nice groove, with the continuing of growing advancement throughout the three following songs.
“Cymbal Rush” is just like a fairy tale. So melodic, and the beauty lies within his themes, as usual: typical Thom would be about the environment (the amazing “It Rained All Night”), the political situations (“Atoms For Peace”), and suspicious death cases (“Harrowdown Hill” was the place where the body was found of David Kelly, but he committed suicide in his house)
, and also his remarkable love life:

‘When you walk in the room I start to melt, I start to follow you around like a dog. I’m a dog , I’m a dog, I’m your lapdog.’

Most critics from London studios have said that this album is very danceable. Danceable? If your name is Thom Yorke, and you dance like a motorized disturbed wallflower, then yes.

But why 9/10, you might wonder? Because “The Eraser” is a music album that’s on the grow. The first impression for me was just as a collector of outtakes, and demos of forgotten Radiohead-would-be-songs.
But after giving the effort, I simply adore this album, it’s like Thom Yorke finally shows what he’s really all about, and it’s prooven to be something beautiful.
I can already consider this record as one of the best of this year. I think I’ve listened to it toroughly about 15, 16 times, and I’m pretty surprised that at first I disliked most of the percussion work, and almost described it as annoying, BUT, a person can change.

One of the (without a doubt) most talented popmusicians of his generation has manufactured a peculiar, personal, adventurous album, which is certainly good enough for me to enjoy it to the max.

[Avathar]

"Miami Vice"

http://bloggywood.se/wp-content/uploads/2006/01/miami_vice.jpg

First off, I'ld have to say: This new Miami Vice movie is after my feeling the most daring action-thriller you could see in the cinema this year.

Fans of the 'old school' tv-series be warned: Ricardo Tubbs and Sonny Crockett are no more. So don't expect the beloved eighties trademarks, such as no more mocassins, no pastel-colours, and no Elvis the crocodile pet.
Now it's time for Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell to play their roles (very fitting roles, even though these two aren't exactly my favourite actors). But in this film, they play both overdone tv-icons and ultra-brutal undercover-agents; who have lost significance of the border between show and existence, and between servant of the law and involver of crime.

Their violent job and scarse private life are entangled hopelessly, and that's what causing the problems when loose-edged Farrell begins a relationship with the mistress of a glotious drugbaron.
Bullets are flying around, the high-speed chases (on land, on water, and in the sky) are looking seriously life-threatening, and the gun-fights are breathtaking.

But still, I find this a long expected movie adaptation by the former co-producer of the original series, Michael Mann ('Heat', 'Collateral'), and he succeeds in bringing forth anything but a corny blockbuster piece.
There's obviously aimed for an adult audience, 'cause there's nowhere in this movie a moronic one-liner, or a pseudo-acting hiphopper to be found. And besides the cold hard impressiveness of the already mentioned parts, the viewers are also being treated with sensual scenes (co-actrices Gong Li and Naomi Harris are astonishly great looking than ever).

And above all, Michael Mann's working method tends to go to a level of experimental cinematics than to an average Hollywood action-flick. The bold mix of old-fashion AND digital camera-footage sometimes has a disgruntled effect (viewers could become sea-sick by just watching the long boatride sequence).
The contempary use of dialogues makes the film containing an almost abstract impression. The immer fitting musical score is saying more than words.

The true lovers of a nostalgic trip to the eighties or people that expect another lame 'Bad Boys'-look alike: they'll have to set aside their preferences.
The people that are in for an ultimate anti-blockbuster, they know which movie to pick: Miami Vice.

8/10

[Kat]

hmm sounds interesting......i wanna see it now ^.^

[Phoenix Flame]

Ava...how about a videogame RPG series???

I always wanted to know what .Hack was about. If not, that's cool.

[Avathar]

Well, I'm not into games lately (as in like, months), so I only write music and movie reviews. =o

[Hydra]

Well, I'm not into games lately (as in like, months), so I only write music and movie reviews. =o
Have you seen "The Number 23" or "The Abandoned" yet?

:O

[Avathar]

It's Europe here, baby. The Number 23 LOOKS MIGHTY GREAT, but not yet here in the cinemas for quite a while~

Next time, but not now, I'll make a rather fine music review (including actual music, /me uploads <3).

[Hydra]

Ooh, that's right, I "almost" forgot.

I heard it was great too, but I need to see it. =(