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All reviews - Movies (34) - TV Shows (7) - DVDs (4) - Books (4) - Music (8) - Games (27)

*tic*

Posted : 15 years, 10 months ago on 4 May 2008 07:23 (A review of Matchstick Men)

When I first saw the trailer for this movie I wasn't really interested and after watching it that feeling wasn't to far off.

Nicolas Cage plays Roy Waller, a depressed con artist with several mental disorders, agoraphobia, germaphobia, OCD, and a tic. At the start Roy has a panic attack and his parter suggests going to a shrink. He tries just to get drugs from his old shrink but can't and so he finds another and gives him the drugs but with a condition to go and contact his ex-wife and child that he left years before. He finds out who his daughter and it rejuvenates his spirit for one more long-term con. The rest of the movie is Roy's life struggling between the con and his daughter and even brings her into it.

The acting, music, writing, and directing as a whole makes the movie seemed boring and bland.

While the premise did seem interesting with a good twist at the end and could have a good movie but fails and just turned out to be a average movie that I say would be only for hardcore Nicolas Cage fans.


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A good reason why people shouldn't becom

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 15 April 2008 05:46 (A review of Bruce Almighty)

Continuing with my Jim Carrey series after some bad ones, Bruce Almighty is a lot better then the others.

Carrey plays Bruce Nolan, a news reporter for a New York station that fails to earn a anchorman position and flips out and loses his job and blames God for his misfortune. So God calls him and invites Bruce to meet him and give him is powers and find out what it's like to be God. He uses his powers to get his job back and also get the anchorman position, but in the process ignoring peoples prayers and losing his girlfriend.

Acting on Carrey's side is pretty good this time as he was finally funny and enjoyable to watch and the rest of the cast fit their parts really well, with the exception of Jennifer Aniston who could never act.

The writing in the movie is bit witty and doesn't feel like it forcing laughs and Carrey and even Steve Carell have good funny dialog.

In the end this is one of Jim Carrey's better movies that in genuinely funny and while I wouldn't want to watch again anytime soon, I would watch again if forced to.


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I found my pet myself, so leave me alone

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 15 April 2008 05:27 (A review of Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls)

Readers of my last couple reviews can see that I've been on a Jim Carrey streak, thanks to Netflix, and the sequel to the first Ace Venture, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, is next on the chopping block.

Again Jim Carrey stars as Ace Ventura, pet detective, who has lost the will to find pet after failing to rescue a raccoon in the Himalayas and went to become a Tibetan monk and find inner peace. But he is almost forced back in to becoming a pet detective again in order to find a great white bat that has gone missing.

Not much has changed since the first movie as Carrey isn't very funny and neither are the other characters.

The whole story is really boring and the most of the jokes are still bad sex or scat jokes.

Really the whole movie is worse then the first and again not one I would want to see again.


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Please don't find my pets

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 8 April 2008 05:38 (A review of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective)

As I said before in my [Link removed - login to see] I'm not a fan of Jim Carrey and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is better then MM&I but still pretty boring.

Jim Carrey plays Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a guy that specializes in finding lost/missing/petnaped pets and returning them back to their owners.
The major story of the movie is the kidnapping of Miami Dolphins mascot dolphin, Snowflake, and Ace goes on to find it while uncovering a bigger plot that includes Dan Marino.

While Carrey is a bit funnier then MM&I he is still boring and mostly unfunny and supporting cast doesn't help the movie either.

Writing is a bit of a saving grace as some of the dialog is witty and most of situations are well used but Carrey acting killed most of it.

Overall Ace Ventura: Pet Detective is a pretty average comedy that could have been really funny but wasn't due to bad acting.


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Near perfect anime

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 30 March 2008 04:01 (A review of Cowboy Bebop: The Perfect Sessions - Limited Edition DVD Box Set)

When I first started watching anime the first show I watched was Dragonball Z.
But Cowboy Bebop was the anime that really had me hooked.
The show is set in 2071 and chronicles bounty hunters on board a spaceship, named Bebop, on their travels for bounties.
Most episodes are about the bounties but slowly shows the back story of all the characters with all of their stories coming to reaching a fulfilling end.
Voice actors for the English dub is wonderfully done and fits the characters.
The writing for the show is great in giving all the characters a sense of depth and having a story line feel rewarding in the end.
Art work is is also great, showing wonderful detailed solar system that feels alive and action scenes are fluid.
And the music for the show is strangely perfect with a mix of jazz, blues, rock, electronic and other genres that fits brilliantly to every situation.
Overall Bebop is a near perfect anime that I can, and have, watch over and over and still enjoy it every time.


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And I thought Live aus Berlin was great.

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 30 March 2008 12:03 (A review of Völkerball )

For the poeple that don't know, Rammstein is a German industrial band that are well known all over the world and been a favorite of mine since 1999 and I heard Völkerball was coming out I knew that it would be great but I heard there was a limited edition I just had to get it, even if it cost me $150.
The limited edition has the full Nîmes, France 2005 concert on two CD's unlike the standard version with the best of the concert, live footage from Nîmes, London, Tokyo, and Moscow; a making of the Reise, Reise album and long video of interviews with the band, and a awesome tour book with pictures from the concerts in beautiful artistic black & white photos.
Whenever I'm going to a concert that has a band that I really like I'm always a little worried that they sound terrible and I would lose all respect for their music and never hear them again. But when I heard Rammstein's Live aus Berlin live album I haven't been worried and been wanting to go see them live and this live album is making me really want to see them.


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...And the rest with follow to the aweso

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 29 March 2008 11:32 (A review of ...And the Rest Will Follow)

I'm been a fan of Project 86 since their Truthless Heroes album and when I heard this album was coming out I was excited and looking forward to a great album. But what I got was their best album to date.
From their first few albums Project 86 was a rap-rock band, which was a good Christian alternative to Rage Against The Machine, but after Truthless Heroes album they went to a hard rock/post hardcore band and in ...And the Rest they pretty much mastered that sound having really hard and catchy music and lyrics that have a dark tone and sometimes critical of the church but somehow still sounds very Christian which is weird in the industry but still on par with the bands other previous songs.
In whole I really like the band and this album is a must listen for any hard rock fan even if their not a Christian.


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NOFX at their best

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 29 March 2008 10:45 (A review of The Greatest Songs Ever Written (By Us))

If you take all of NOFX's songs and put them together you would make a great NOFX greatest hits album... oh wait, that's what they did!
NOFX has been around the punk scene a long time and well respected too and this album takes the bands best hits from the past 15 years and puts it in one album showing off 28 great punk songs.
I find the music really catchy and what I really find appealing is the lyrics which can be very political or sarcastic and funny. From Dinosaurs Will Die which predicts the death of major record label, to The Separation of Church And Skate in complaining about the punk scene becoming crappy, to Don't Call Me White about stereotyping.
Even though I don't agree they all their songs say, some of the lyrics I do agree with and the music is great and the album is a great way to catch up for new fans and a good look back for long time fans.


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Thanks EMT's

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 29 March 2008 10:18 (A review of The Artist in the Ambulance)

I was kinda late for the whole Thrice bandwagon when their first two albums came out but I have picked them up and The Artist in the Ambulance was my first album and it's a great one.
Listening to the previous albums I heard some less then perfected sound that was great hearing and in Artist they perfected it with great hard rock riffs and beats, intelligent lyrics speaking about people not caring about poor countries just because their different to the Salem Witch Trails, and background effects that enrich their sound to something really great.
I really like Artist in the Ambulance and only wished that the band would have keep this sound instead going the way they did and so I rate this their best album and would recommend to anyone.


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"My name is gladiator."

Posted : 15 years, 11 months ago on 29 March 2008 05:35 (A review of Gladiator)

Blood, guts, politics, romance, and conspiracy is all in Gladiator and makes for an awesome movie.

Russell Crowe portrays Maximus Decimus Meridius, a general in the Roman army and is loved by Emperor Marcus Aurelius who promises him that when he dies Maximus would become the next Emperor. But the Emperor's son Commodus, played by Joaquin Phoenix, finds out and murders his father before he is able to announce Maximus' to succeed and becomes the new Emperor. Commodus then tries to kills Maximus but he escapes only to find he son and wife killed. He is picked up by slave traders and is forced to become a gladiator and leads him the rest of the movie to getting his revenge with Commodus.

The acting in Gladiator is exceptional as everyone is perfect fit for their characters. Crowe is steely, vengeful, and compassionate and makes Maximus come alive. Phoenix is a great surprise and plays a wonderful paranoid narcissistic Emperor. And is rest of the supporting cast fills in the movies characters wonderfully giving the movie true depth of character.

Music is great and epic as is should be and gives me chills still.

The scope of the scenes from the wardrobe, sets, and special FX are awesome and truly epic.

Gladiator is absolutely wonderful movie , must see for anyone, and should be a requirement for every guy to see to be considered a man.


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