film Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Breaking it all Down

Posted on July 31, 2009July 29, 2009 by Alexander Case

Movie Review – Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix

Get Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix on DVD or Blu-Ray from Amazon.com

Well, my film reviews now move on to the most recent Harry Potter movie to be released on DVD/Blu-Ray, Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix. Now, I haven’t read the novel of this one yet (though it’s entirely possible that I’ll have read it once this review goes up – I’m writing this on July 13th). So, anyway, I’m watching this in preparation for watching Half-Blood Prince when it comes out (and hopefully doing a round-table podcast with Bureau42, which will be up by the time this review goes out). So, it’s time to see what I think of this movie.

The Premise: Following the events of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, and the revival of Voldemort and the death of Cedric Diggory, Harry has been traumatized to say the least, and returning to the Durstleys isn’t helping things, and neither is the smear campaign being done by the Ministry of Magic against Harry & Dumbledore, one that would impress even William Randoph Hurst. In the midst of all this, Dementors attack Harry & Dudley, forcing Harry to leave home for the safety of his family and hole up in the Black estate, the current base of the Order of the Phoenix, the group working to take down Voldemort once again. Further, when Harry goes to Hogwarts, he faces a new Defense Against The Dark Arts instructor, Dolores Umbridge, who is working to take control of Hogwarts – and then there are those disturbing dreams Harry’s got. Read more

Posted on June 26, 2009June 25, 2009 by Alexander Case

Film Review – Assault on Precinct 13 (Original)

Get Assault on Precinct 13 from Amazon.com

When I was in middle school, I saw a movie called Big Trouble in Little China, by a directer I’d never heard of before by the name of John Carpenter. This movie kind of opened up my mind a bit. I’d seen martial arts films, before, stuff along the lines of old Bruce Lee films, as well as some of Jackie Chan’s movies, but I’d never seen Wuxia before. Seeing martial arts done in a modern setting, combined with the magic and mysticism that was used in Wuxia films basically blew my mind. That movie got me into watching a lot of martial arts film (though I have difficulty watching some of the films I probably wouldn’t have had problems with before – I couldn’t even get started with High Risk/Meltdown, due to the bad plot and the blatant cheap shots at Jackie Chan – which I found in poor taste).

Anyway, the film also got me interested in seeing some of John Carpenter’s other films, and I later would seek out The Thing, which was my first HD-DVD purchase (yeah, I backed the wrong side in the format war), and Escape From New York, as well as Halloween. I would later see the remake of Assault on Precinct 13, which I checked out from the Library and enjoyed (though it was critically panned), but the library didn’t have the original, and I wanted to seek it out and see it for myself.

Well, we come to now. I am now an adult with my own source of income, a Netflix account, and PS3. I finally rented John Carpenter’s first traditionally made motion picture (he’d previously made the science fiction film Dark Star, which was his true first film, but it wasn’t made in the traditional fashion – with the film being made in fits and starts over several years as money permitted), and the question is now, how is it for a true first film? No major spoilers this time around, just one for a quick, plot insignificant one-off gag. Read more

Posted on May 8, 2009May 7, 2009 by Alexander Case

Movie Review – Star Trek (2009)

I’m not the guy writing the review for Bureau42 – which means that my thoughts on the movie go up here. So, it all comes down to this simple question – it’s technically an odd numbered Trek movie, whether you consider it number 11 or number 1. After all the hype, after seeing the re-designed ship, seeing the cast list, learning whose directing it, and reading the prequel comic. There is only one question that needs to be answered – is it good?

Note: I’m going to try to avoid spoilers – I may not succeed. So, for those viewing this on the site, I’ve got the meat of the review below the cut. If you’re reading this through the RSS – be warned. I may include some material from the Star Trek: Countdown comic as being “not-spoilers.”

Posted on February 20, 2009April 29, 2009 by Alexander Case

Movie Review – Out For Justice

A lot of Steven Segal’s movies are getting released on Blu-Ray. Now, I like martial arts movies, I recognize that Segal is crap. However, I do also recognize that, like Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, there was a time where Segal was not a joke, and his movies were coming out in theaters rather than coming out directly to video. So, I’m giving those movies a shot. I’ve reviewed Under Siege elsewhere, so I won’t be reviewing it again here. However, what I will be going with is Segal’s 1991 “classic”, Out For Justice.

Posted on February 15, 2009April 29, 2009 by Alexander Case

Review of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and other Notes

Before I get into the movie review, I just want to mention that I have gotten approved for a press pass to cover Kumoricon in Oregon for Bureau42.com. So, if any of you reading the blog will be attending Kumoricon, I will be there. Now, I just need to finish getting Linux installed on my notebook and getting it up and running with my Wireless card so I can more easily live blog during the convention. Anyway, on with the review.

Posted on October 26, 2008 by Alexander Case

Movie Review – Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Yeah, I did a Dracula review yesterday. However, I watched that movie about a week ago and I was late writing the review – plus I watched another Dracula movie today, so I’m reviewing that one today. Think of it, sort of, as a compare and contrast.

This time, I’m reviewing Francis Ford Coppela’s take on the story, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” The author’s name is included in the title for, in part, rights reasons. However, the inclusion is significent in that this really is Bram Stoker’s story. There are some changes to the story, but with one exception they expand upon material that was covered in Stoker’s original book, rather then excising material from the story, as with most of the prior film versions (notably Universal’s version with Bela Legosi, and Hammer’s version which I reviewed in my last update).

Posted on October 25, 2008October 26, 2008 by Alexander Case

Movie Review – Horror of Dracula

Well, we’re getting to October, and Halloween, so, it’s time to watch some horror movies, and of course, to review them. So, we might as well semi-start things with the classic Hammer Horror film “Horror of Dracula” starring Christopher Lee as the titular vampire and Peter Cushing as Abraham Van Helsing.

The film starts in the right place, with Johnathan Harker on the way to the castle of the mysterious Count Dracula – only it changes things up quickly by having Harker being there fully aware of the Count’s nature, and actually being an assassin there to kill him. This, and all of Harker’s scenes in the castle really summarize the movie in a nutshell, in terms of it’s high points and low points.

Posted on July 16, 2008November 3, 2018 by Alexander Case

Review – War (aka Rogue Assassin)

Well, I finished watching another movie, so I might as well write about it. This time it’s War – which those of you who are outside the US might know as Rogue Assassin. It’s a Jet Li – Jason Statham vehicle that’s pretty interesting, but it has some room for improvement.

Before I get started writing the review though, a quick rundown on my review scores and what they mean. I score on a 1-to-10 integer scale (no fractions of a point). 1 is the worst, 10 is the best. 2-3 is crap, but with one or two redeeming factors. 5 is meh or generally mediocre. 7 is good, but not fantastic.

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Alexander Case

Review – Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room

The collapse of Enron is one of those incidents in business history that is certainly going to end up in the history books. The death of what appeared to be on of the strongest companies on the market changed the way the goverment, and the public, looks at business even more then the Dot Com Collapse did. The key here is, though, why? Why did Enron, which by all appearances was one of the strongest corporations on the stock market, collapse like a house of cards? That is the question that this documentary aims to answer.

Posted on June 8, 2008 by Alexander Case

Review – Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii Director’s Cut DVD

Call me pretentious (“You’re Pretentious”) but I like Progressive Rock. I count Rush, The Moody Blues, Horslips, and Jethro Tull, and Pink Floyd among my favorite bands). I grew up on the middle 3, and picked up the former and latter up as I grew older. I saw Rush live in concert last year when they came to Portland to play the Clark County Amphitheater, and have watched Pink Floyd’s concert DVD Pulse. However, I had not yet seen Floyd’s most famous concert video – their performance in Pompeii, with their “classic” lineup, at least to American eyes and ears – Gilmour, Mason, Waters and Wright – most American listeners, especially nowadays, would be not be familiar with any Floyd’s earlier material with Syd Barrett; they’d be familiar with Barrett’s influence on the group, but they would not have actually listened to the band’s two albums with Barrett.

So now, thanks to the wonders of NetFlix, I have finally gotten around to watching the Pink Floyd Pompeii Performance, and I’d say it’s good. The DVD though, is a more than a bit of a mixed bag.

Posted on June 2, 2008February 16, 2025 by Alexander Case

Movie Review – “Operation Condor 2: Armor of God”

Jackie Chan is one of my favorite comic actors out of the cinema of Hong Kong. He has, rightfully, been compared with Danny Kaye, with regards to his physical comic prowess. Having heard good things about the second film in the series, and having been amused by the first film, I popped this one on the ol’ NetFilix queue, and then promptly forgot about it. Well, having now bumped it to the top of the queue and given it a watch, I figure I might as well share my thoughts on the topic, particularly while I’m trying to expand the content of my blog to stuff that isn’t about wrestling.