zigspective's Movies > Movie reviews by zigspective

Death of a President

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 4 July 2007 08:42 (A review of Death of a President)

The first thing that worried me was they couldn't even come up with an original assassination attempt. It was a cobbled combination of Regan and Kennedy.

After the president is shot it just falls apart, plot holes are numerous between different segments of interviewees. The experts ramble on sounding like complete non-experts.

I was quite looking forward to this movie but in the end it was a disappointment.

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Sicko

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 2 July 2007 11:16 (A review of Sicko)

I will preface this by saying that every source of every bit of information needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

However if you can watch this movie and say that there doesn't need to be a serious re-haul in the American health system then you may indeed be the "sicko."

This movie actually made me cry, a woman's husband being denied treatment for kidney cancer, in the hospital she worked in, by her insurance company it was disgusting. He died. And he wasn't the only one, there is a list, a list, of people who died or were going to die because of their HMO denying them care, denying them treatment for cancer saying that it wasn't necessary, it wasn't fatal, the procedures weren't tested enough, and any other excuse to avoid shelling out a buck.

I don't care how you feel about Moore, you need to see this movie. If you have health insurance and think you're safe you need to see this. If you happen to be one of the lucky one who lives with universal health care you need to see the risks of privatization and how it can destroy your health care.

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Ratatouille

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 2 July 2007 10:53 (A review of Ratatouille)

This is quite honestly a cute and memorable family film.

The animation is what we have come to expect from Pixar. What really impressed me about this one however is how rich and textured the environments were, especially in the kitchen. It felt warm and inviting just like a kitchen should.

The characters are wonderfully original and actually fairly complex individuals for an animated film. Adding some dimensions above the comprehensions of five-year olds for the adults of us which Pixar also has a history of doing well.

It was cute, it will give a few laughs and you will genuinely enjoy yourself.

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Shooter

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 2 July 2007 10:32 (A review of Shooter)

Unfortunately this movie failed to hold my attention. Although plot felt good and complete, it wasn't gripping.

It feels almost like the movie has been done before, and in a way it has. This style is just very popular right; highly trained individual, who is betrayed by the government, and somehow is able to take down countless numbers with ease.

Three years ago this might have felt fresh but now it's seems a tired format.

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To Cheese Or Not To Cheese

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago on 15 May 2007 10:53 (A review of Spider-Man 3)

Eventually one has to ask themselves is it better to have intentional or unintentional cheese.

Ok well that's not really a question. Unintentional is always the worst and this movie had plenty of both unfortunately. It was painful at times, full of painful giggles wondering "What the hell were they thinking?"

I won't take away, the action sequences great as usual, effects...amazing. But they spent too much time on cheese and too little on actual meaningful plot.

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Taking the piss out of the Action Film

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago on 26 April 2007 10:17 (A review of Hot Fuzz)

I would have to say the best part of this film is in fact the filming technique and how it just outright mocks the high action cut shots, pans and the "high intensity" close-ups.

There are plenty of general laughs however. One of those movies that if you don't laugh once you probably aren't the type to be invited to many parties, people consider you to be a bit of a downer. But you are guaranteed to have some fun however and there are so many parts where you just can't help but chuckle.

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Did Timmy Fall Down the Well?

Posted : 1 year, 7 months ago on 28 March 2007 10:41 (A review of Fido)

So what if we fell into an alternate universe where radiation from space turned the dead into zombies? Well this movie tries to answer that question.

Think Lassie. Only instead of Timmy (K'Sun Ray) a collie named Lassie, he has a zombie named Fido (Billy Connelly), who happens to have the hots for Timmy's mom Helen (Carrie Ann Moss) and has a nasty habit of eating people.

Honestly though unless you have an irrational fear of the 1950's this isn't a scary flick or the typical zombie movie. What it is, is a charming little comedy that is sure to give you a few laughs and has no problems poking fun at itself.

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Short Little Review

Posted : 1 year, 9 months ago on 20 February 2007 10:48 (A review of Pan's Labyrinth)

This movie is probably one of the best examples of a journey into the psyche of a child.

Our young heroine Ophelia is a girl living in a time of turmoil, she escapes the real dangers and troubles of her life by retreating to her fantasy world. Where her real life is relatively complicated moral ground and outcomes are shaky her fantasy world is simple with a clear end and defined right and wrong. It is absolute escapism when she needs it the most.

This dark fairy tale has fantastic imagery in both the “real” and “fantasy” world albeit very gruesome. Only the very desensitized will not flinch at scenes of graphic torture and gaping wounds. It's a visual feast I would recommend watching without reading the subtitles.

Not much of a family film but likely to become an artistic classic.

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Review

Posted : 2 years ago on 6 November 2006 11:29 (A review of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan)

Warning:

If you have a problem with nudity do not see this film.
If you have a problem with male nudity do not see this film.
If you have a problem with male on male nudity do not see this film.
If you have a problem with ugly ass male on male nudity do not see this film.

You have been warned.

Send a reporter from a 'backwards' country to the United States to interview people to learn about the American culture and way of life. Of course the reporter isn't really from Kazakstan, in fact not a reporter at all but a comedic actor...but the people he's interviewing don't know it.

At first look (and probably second, and third, and those couple where you just didn't want to look or even admit you have eyes) this movie seems to be about seeing just how much you can get past the censors. And you have to feel for the guys assigned the task of rating this one, the ethnic slurs, bigotry, language and the aforementioned nudity...well I would just love to see the comment notes.

However unlike many others of its genre this movie makes some fascinating comments on society as we know it in North America, all through the eyes of a very 'backward' foreigner. The character of Borat is sexist, a bigot, a homophobe and in his journey across the United States he finds plenty of people just as sexist, just as bigoted and just as homophobic, however the character of Borat is a fictional one and, sometimes unfortunately, the people he meets are not.

It fits it's comedic element as well of course, a packed theatre and the laughs were coming through a lot more often then the gasps. If physical comedy is what you're after, if ignorance just has to make you chuckle and you don't mind the excrement and nudity, this film is definitely worth the watch.

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