Reviews by chitown41

chitown41 says "Outside Bond Tradition but Ok Stand-Alone Action" about Casino Royale

chitown41 — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:54:48 GMT

I was not a Craig fan going in but had really no impression of him. I like James Bond movies in that you know what to expect. If you are a Bond fan, you may not like this film. However, if you like action movies but do not appreciate the Bond film phenomenon, don't miss this film.

As an action film, I believe it stands on its own with the top of them. Casino Royale has a little bit of what you look for in any action movie...a thin story line, passable plot and acting with some chases and explosions and some wit and human to fill in the gaps. The humor is not among the best or worst for the action genre, but passable. Basically, passable fits this movie on most all counts. There is an original chase to start the film off...perhaps it would have been better served somewhere in the meat of the movie. Regardless, it is not your typical chase and gets points for that. There are some gaps in story and unresolved issues or questions that if you like things to add up, it will probably bug you.

Ok,......

chitown41 says "Shrek If Your Bored..." about Shrek the Third

chitown41 — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:15:33 GMT

Although Shrek 2 was not as good as the first, it benefited from the addition of Puss in Boots. This 3rd, and hopefully final, attempt was not as interesting, not as funny, not as innovative as either of the previous. The creators apparently are resting on their popularity-by-name and the fact that Shrek was a big hit to carry whatever they put across.

Shrek 3 felt as though there were a bunch of people in the room throwing out ideas and they drew them out of a hat and put them together to string a movie. OH, what if we have the bad guys try and turn their stories around...like, um, Unhappily Ever After. OR, wouldn't it be funny if donkey and puss changed bodies....yeah, lets do that. Oh, I know, what was that one, Sword In the Stone....little Arthur....yeah, lets put him in here. Definitely, this will be good.

It appears they had too many ideas and went with them all and through them in a movie. Which, by the way, would have been cool if possibly they engineered it in a tale of many tales......

chitown41 says "All Action No Substance" about Transformers

chitown41 — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:18:40 GMT

A child's fantasy movie at heart, Transformers taps into the little boy in everyone. There is enough shared experiences to pull you in but don't think too much about anything. There are logic problems in the interactions of robots with the environment. If the robots walking around at one time cause a simulated earthquake, why at other times is their no apparent affect? If the largest autobot is going to land in a swimming pool and transform and walk away, then the father of the home looks out and says what happened to the pool but you don't show the audience that the pool looks any different, why, would you do that? Stupid one-liners that feel forced and the over-use of the repeated "NOs" throughout become annoying and lose their appeal after the first 20 or so.

As far as the fight scenes, yes what everyone has been waiting for, between autobots and decepticons, they are confusing, it is often difficult to tell who's who. Autobots: 2 yellow, 2 grey/silver, 1 blue/red. One interesting...

...