Reviews by Prelude

After the mildly disappointing Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones wrapped up the trilogy with an awesome film. It was an easy recipe: bring back ancient religious artifacts (in this case, the Holy Grail), bring back Nazis, and have lots of great fights and chase scenes (on a boat, on a tank, on motorbikes).

It's not near as great as Raiders of Lost Ark, but its still a very worthwhile sequel.

I can't wait to see how they wrap things up after ending the trilogy - but regardless, Indy 4 will be a monster hit no matter how which way the story goes.

This film has caused a few quarrels with my best bud. We usually have same likes/dislikes in films, but he absolutely despises this film, mostly because its too 'Hollywood' and the story is too crazy, but I strongly feel it was a great sci-fi thriller. The idea of stopping crimes before they occur raises lots of moral questions, which makes it a 'thinking' movie, which is what I love about it. With any system that appears perfect, there will always be people that abuse the system and corrupt it to their benefit. It even makes a morality issue towards Iraq War and the whole concept of a pre-emptive strike. Do we have right to stop someone before they hurt someone else? And what if they were totally wrong (like those damn pesky missing WMDs)? Or as in the film, does society have a right to arrest someone before a crime is even commited? And the lead character gets wrongly accused and has to evade authorities.

It also shows a very bleak future with surveillance and micro-chips everywhere and inside everyone. Very scary future, indeed, but one which we seem to be heading into. Even the little stuff, like walking into a store, and the store scanners recognize the shopper by his micro chip, and talk to him personally about if they liked their last purchase and recommend something to him. Its really not that far-fetched story, as I can easily see this happening in the near future. Interactive shopping. GPS in every car. We're already urged to microchip our pets, and get all our kids 'fingerprinted' for safety's sake, cameras in many downtown areas to monitor people's activities, all are clues show we're heading to a police-controlled big-brother-is-watching-you type of society. Which makes me admire what Spielberg has achieved with this film.

Highly recommended.

Normally, I never would have bothered with a Costner flick for the rest of my life, but he shocked me. I'm glad I caved in and saw this film, despite Costner's lead role. Probably his best performance ever, going thru so many emotions. I too felt compassion for this serial killer. odd.

And I agree with Jason's review. Demi Moore was so miscast, and so pathetic. She single-handedly managed to keep this film out of IMDb's Top250 list with her performance. But it shows that even with such a bad role on her part, Costner still managed to carry this film well on his own (though Hurt was awesome too).

Credit also goes out to the script and the plot. Felt truly original, and it had a couple of wicked twists that I never saw coming. Very nicely done.

And in an Interview, Costner hinted this is part of a trilogy, which makes me really interested in any sequels for this, hopefully minus Demi this time. Or at least have Costner kill her off.

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."...

When Russell Crowe takes off this helmet and reveals who he is, and says those lines, i get chills down my back everytime.

I love this movie and every scene in it. I don't know how else to say it. lol

From the very start, when we're shown a roman legion assaulting the barbarians in the woods, and the flame-catapult launch one after the other, followed by a barrage of arrows, and finally cavalry charging thru the woods, I knew this film was gonna be a favorite of mine.

So many memorable scenes, powerful lines, and the ending is just so damn beautiful it nearly 'gets' me everytime. And Joaquin Phoenix! Damn, can anyone else possibly play a villian better than he did? he deserved an Oscar for that role!

If you haven't seen it yet, bloody hell, RUN to the video store and rent it, or better yet, just buy it and then watch it.

And if you've rated this anything less than an 8 out of 10, are you sure you've watched the same movie?? I also noticed someone on my 'friends' list gave this a 1 out of 10 (and she gave a Olsen Twin film a 10 out of 10). So sorry, you're getting booted off my list for such an insult (you know who you are).

I'm not sure why this is such a popular comedy. I normally love Jim Carrey, and love wacked out comedies with crazy plots (such as being God) but I can't seem to remember anything THAT funny in this film. It's been a while, but normally, i remember the really funny films, or at least the best parts, but this film is so... so... i guess 'forgettable'.

I remember the start had a few funny moments, when Carrey was a disgruntled TV reporter, and then the dog having to pee on one tiny piece of grass, but that's about all. And even if I may have enjoyed the film back when i first saw it, if it doesn't leave a lasting memory with me, I can't give it more than a 6 out of 10.

And for the record, NO, Jennifer Aniston can't act. The sooner she retires, the better off the movie industry will be. Re-launch Friends and stick her in that role til she's 50, but please make her stop making movies.

This is possibly the best Pixar animated film to date. Being Pixar, naturally the CGI animation is incredible, but more importantly, the adventure and the amount of laughs found throughout are definitely above most other animated films, with the exception of Shrek, Flushed Away, and Hoodwinked.

The beginning is quite possibly one of the harshest starts of any children's cartoon. At least Bambi waited til the end to have the mother die, but Nemo's mom (and every egg except for one) get eaten in the first few minutes, but the story required such a start to make the dad over-protective of his son, and when Nemo gets captured by a scuba diver, it's up to him to go find and save his son. And what a fun adventure it is. He gets help from a fish with severe cast of short-term memory loss, which was a great way to keep jokes going all the way throughout; then there is encounter with sharks, encounter with deep sea trenches and the scary fish that live down there, jellyfishes, turtles, the ever-funny flock of seagulls, and more.

But story keeps jumping over to Nemo's own adventure in a dental offices' fishtank where he meets a colorful gang of fish, and Nemo with his new friends are determined to escape back to the sea themselves.

A beautiful story, lots of laughs, and well recommended for everyone in the family, young and old. A future classic has been born.

And taking my daughter to a fish store and seeing those same fish swimming around makes her face light up with joy, so that in itself earns it an extra point in my books.

Once a couple of years, a complete indie film manages to blow me away. This time, it's 'Cashback'. Absolulety beautiful movie, romantic, and hilariously insane as well.

its certainly a very original story...

Boy loves girl. Boy loses girl. Boy develops insomnia. Boy takes night shift at supermarket to kill time. Boy learns to 'freeze time' to enjoy beauty of everything and everyone around him. Will boy realize the perfect girl is right in front of him? And if he's too late, can he turn back time, or only freeze it to savor the moment one last time before she walks away?

sounds deep, romantic, and fantastic? that's because it is. now throw in pure brilliant comedy from start to finish with great narration, a sex-starved buddy, great childhood flashbacks, and a unique and colorful night-crew at the supermarket, and you've hit a grand slam of a film.

it feels like part 'Some Kind of Wonderful', part 'Eternal Sunshine', part 'Napoleon Dynamite', part 'American Pie', and part 'Trainspotting' (don't ask me about the last one - perhaps the colorful bunch of eccentric brits made me think of that film)

I look forward to Sean Ellis' next project. He's gonna be one director to watch out for.

also should probably mention there is a LOT of nudity in this film, including several full frontal female nudity, but its not a sex film. its a film about pure beauty - nudity in strictly artistic sense.

Where did this movie come from? I never heard of it or saw it advertised, but I now have this in my 'must buy' dvd list. Man, Boyle hit a grand slam with this film. And he pulled off all those awe-inspiring special effects on such a tiny budget. The first half really gets you into the story, and you feel for all the characters, and when one bad decision and mistake cause the mission to unravel, and some of them die, while others sacrifice their lives for the mission, you really feel for them. and the last 15 minutes or so, when it turns more into a space horror/thriller rather than a drama, that was the icing on the cake. My wife liked the film until that part, but she doesn't like blood and killings so to each their own, but I found it added so much to the already well developed storyline.

The next day, i glanced up at the sun and was admiring how powerful and beautiful it is - it's amazing that a low-budget sci-fi film about travelling to the sun can have that effect.

Just a note: this is NOT armageddon-like; the story is quite complex and you really need to pay attention or you might get confused like the other review on here did, so don't get half drunk, munch away on some popcorn, and expect to keep up with it. the film requires you leave your brain wide open for the plot to sink in, and when it does, it's a beautiful ride to the sun's surface to save humanity.

and as someone mention on IMDB forums, the casting of Cillian Murphy was perfect. his bright blue eyes really contrast perfectly with the sun. almost like fire & ice.

leading off my negative review of "bridge to terabithia", I saw this film immediately after that one and folks, THIS is how to make a family film that is enjoyable to both adults and children. I loved the sci-fi and mysterious element to it; the story really draws you in, and the 'bunny' and the mysterious rocks really captivated my daughter throughout. And when the girl was crying because she didn't want the toy 'bunny' to die, i found it more emotional than in 'terabithia' when one of the main character died. lol

go figure.

I was imagining this film to be perhaps a scaled-back version of 'Chronicles of Narnia' but i found it to be extremely slow, dull, very little and not too impressive special fx, and just too depressing to let my kids see it. it touches on topics such as bullying, failing to live up to father's expectations, financial problems at home, and to top it off, death of a child. This is definitely more of an adult drama than a child-friendly family film. I think it's a case of being marketed to the wrong crowd. I was expecting a fun family adventure with some fantasy thrown in and I got a sap-fest emo-drama.