Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Undefined Gamer: Rematerialization of the Mini-Reviews

I've been a very naughty boy. So many movies have I watched, but
not reviewed. In penance, here is another helping of mini-reviews.





                         The Perfect Getaway

      When a group of tourists find themselves far from society on the
Hawaiian Islands with a killer in their midsts, no one is safe from
scrutiny... or each other. Brilliantly paced, this thriller will keep
you on your toes and will keep you guessing, until its almost too
late. Though not perfect, this film is a lot of fun, and every flaw in
this film is relatively minor. The actors are all bringing their A
game. Add that to its stellar script, and you have a movie that's
download-worthy.


A Perfect Getaway gets 5 stars out of 6.


                                          The Island

      Arguably the best movie of Michael Bay's career, this sci fi thriller
stars Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as two clones on a future
Earth. Beautifully plotted, this movie has almost none of Bay's
trademarks and as a result, rises above Bay's other works. As
expected, McGregor and Johansson put on stellar performances. Despite
not having any of Bay's usual trademarks, this movie still has
noticeably good production qualities. In fact, just about every aspect
of this movie is either good, or great. Everything works. I don't have
anything to complain about this movie. Go see it now. You'll be glad
you did.

The Island gets 6 stars out of 6.

                                            Eagle Eye

      A government computer tries to kill the President through its own
citizens. Starring Shia LaBeouf, the movie centers around a single mom
and a college dropout-copy boy whom just recently lost his twin
brother to this very same program. The movie well written, but is a
long way from being great. The all-knowing Eagle Eye guides our heroes
with absolute power, allowing them to evade authorities Jason
Borne-style. Again, I enjoyed it, but the film was far from perfect.
LeBeouf does the best with what he's got, which is substantial, but
despite his efforts, the film is constantly held back from being great
because of its flaws.

                                                          Eagle Eye gets 4.5 stars out of 6.


                                              Disturbia

      Another Lebeouf flick, this one centers around a troubled teen
who has just recently lost his father. Due to his grief, his grades
suffer and Lebeouf's fist collided with his spanish teacher's face.
This lands him under a 3 month house arrest. To spend the time,
Lebeouf tries everything, from making a tower out of twinkies, to
watching tv, but he eventually settles on stalking as a hobby. Bored
out of his mind. he spies on all the neighbors. That's kind of a
problem, as his nextdoor neighbor is kind of a serial killer.
      Again, acting-wise, this is a solid Lebeouf flick. Like Eagle Eye,
Disturbia's writing could've been better, but is substantial
nonetheless. However, despite its excellent pacing, the movie never
really goes the extra mile and crosses over from the land of "good", to nation of "great."

Disturbia gets 5 stars out of 6.

                            Terms and Conditions May Apply

      I have to admit, I only knew about this from a chain e-mail.
"Terms and Conditions May Apply," is a documentary released on the
Pivot network, about the subject of NSA snooping. The documentary
yields some shocking evidence about the nature of the NSA and their
monitoring of US citizens, much of which was revealed by
NSA-whistleblower Edward Snowden. Just how much power the NSA has is
astonishing, and their track record is sketchy at best. As with most
documentaries, this one won't hook you unless you're very interested
in the subject, thankfully, the subject matter is very interesting.
The NSA effects all of us, whether we know of it or not. Including
interviews from the likes of Margaret Atwood and Orson Scott Card
(don't worry, nothing offensive comes out of Card's mouth), the
documentary for me helped spur further research into the NSA. If you
have a vague idea of what is going on, I strongly urge you to watch
it. It makes some great points and is extremely infirmative, as a good
documemtary should.
Terms and Conditions May Apply gets 5 stars out of 6.

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