Tag Archives: movie review

Feb 7 2014

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Hawking and Alien Planet

I missed a day (or two) of my reviews so today I’ll do two, just to catch up a bit, hehe.

Hawking
(2004) Benedict Cumberbatch, Lisa Dillon, Tom Ward, John Sessions, Peter Firth and Phoebe Nicholls

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A wonderful little film that I found quite by accident on YouTube. I was showing my husband something on Stephen Hawking when, much to my surprise and joy, I found this film starring Benedict Cumberbatch, who I absolutely adore. And he knocked it out of the park with this one. His acting was out of this world. I totally believed his performance. The film on the whole was very good, only one part was a little laggy, the rest was wonderful. A solid 8.5/10.

I’m not sure if the film is on Netflix. but here’s the whole thing from YouTube.

 

Alien Planet
(2005) John C McGinley (v.o.), Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking, George Lucas, Wayne D Barlowe and Curtis Clark

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Pretty darn cool “what if” scenario to what we would find on an Earth-like planet, Darwin IV. Everything in the film that has to do with the travel and the planet itself is made with awesome CGI, and features “real interviews” with scientists who are working on the actual project, but who were asked to act as if the project were already under-way and successful. It’s really cool. 9.5/10, great fun.

The film is currently streaming on Netflix, and there’s a full version on YouTube.

 

Enjoy! And I’ll try to not skip any more days, hehe.

M.

Feb 4 2014

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Solomon Kane

Solomon Kane
(2012) James Purefoy, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Pete Postlethwaite, Max von Sydow, MacKenzie Crook and Jason Flemyng

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Yes, it’s a been there, done that kind of film, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a fun ride anyways. James Purefoy is wonderful in the title role, buckling his swash very well. The damsel in distress is suitably hot, the villain suitably evil, and the fighting suitably bloody. A very good popcorn flick, I give it a solid 7.5/10.

The film is currently streaming on Netflix. Enjoy!

 

M.

Feb 3 2014

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Paradise

Paradise
(2013) Julianne Hough, Russell Brand, Octavia Spencer, Nick Offerman and Holly Hunter

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I wanted to like this, but in the end it was just too talky and preachy for me. It had a few really good scenes, and one or two really bad scenes, which just turn it into a really average movie. And as someone with a chronic illness who has to take a lot of medication in a day, the way they treated her need for the meds and the way they had her “just decide” that she didn’t need them any more was dumb and offensive. Just because you’ve had a life epiphany does not mean that all of a sudden you won’t need your meds any more. And giving that impression is stupid and dangerous. But anyways… I did love Russell Brand, though, as usual. 6/10, just for him.

The film is currently streaming on Netflix.

 

M.

Feb 1 2014

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Cujo

Cujo
(1983) Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Christopher Stone

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Cujo, the book, was awesome and scary and tense. A brilliant read. Cujo, the movie, bored me to tears. I almost fell asleep. When the majority of what’s written in the book is happening inside the character’s head, that’s a good indication that it probably won’t be a great movie. It was 93 minutes long, but it felt like 3 hours. If I’m lucky, I won’t ever have to watch this again. 1/10, and that’s just because I love Stephen King.

This film is not streaming on Netflix, but I imagine that you could rent it in a real video store, if you care to be bored.

Oh, here, I found the full film on YouTube… in German. It may be better like that. Enjoy ;-p

 

M.

Jan 29 2014

Mel’s 5 Second Review: The Paperboy

The Paperboy
(2012) Matthew McConnaughey, Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo and Scott Glenn

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I guess with the cast this film boasts, I was expecting too much from it. It was superbly acted, as I knew it would be (John Cusack is one of my favourite actors), but the film itself is over-long (or rather, it feels over-long even though it isn’t really, clocking in at 1h46) and dull and transparent at times. I have to admit though, I was disturbed by John Cusack’s character, as I guess we’re supposed to be. But I’m so used to seeing him as a good guy, this was very unsettling. 6/10

The film is currently streaming on Netflix, if you’re interested in seeing it. A word of warning: it’s very brutal. The sex/rape scene was especially uncomfortable to watch. But here’s the trailer, in case my warning interested you instead of deter you:

M.

Jan 28 2014

Mel’s 5 Second Review: Introduction and Hellraiser

So, I figured I’d try out a regular, daily post. But since I don’t want to spend hours on it every single day, I needed it to be something that I could do quickly, but would still be interesting. So I decided to review movies. Movies from any year, not just the new releases. It could be a film as old as film itself, or it could be a film that was released yesterday. The only rule is that it shouldn’t take you any longer than a minute to read, a minute or less. Hence the title: 5 Second Review. Of course I know a minute is longer than 5 seconds, but really, who needs to be so literal in life? For my first review, I’m going for a film that I’ve done nothing but bash since the first time saw it, more than 10 years ago; Hellraiser, based on the Clive Barker masterpiece, The Hellbound Heart.

Hellraiser
(1987) Ashley Laurence, Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Sean Chapman, Doug Bradley, Oliver Smith and Robert Hines

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Alright, so I have to admit it, Hellraiser is nowhere near as bad as I remember. That said, it’s still not the masterpiece everyone heralds it as. It’s, simply, a good movie. Although why they turned Kirsty into Larry’s daughter instead of being his ex is beyond me. It added nothing to the story. And why is he called Larry, anyways? His name was Rory. Also, I think they should have had the Cenobytes respect their bargain with Kirsty, as they did in the book, instead of trying to take her too. They may be demons, but they had their own sort of honour. Hopefully the remake will stick even closer to the book. In case you’ve never seen it, I do recommend it for any fans of the horror genre, and since I’m so nice, I found a full copy for you to watch. Aren’t I sweet?

And that’s today’s 5 Second Review. I’ll keep them coming every day from now on. Hope you enjoy, and stay tuned for more!

M.