Stainless_Steel_Rat
Joined Sep 1999
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews18
Stainless_Steel_Rat's rating
I got to see The Fountain at São Paulo's International Film Festival (the film I was most interested in seeing at the festival).
Best summed up in two "w" words: weird and wow! Without giving anything extra away than you'll see in the trailer it's a strange love story set across hundreds of years. Mix in a dash of Solaris and 2001, along with a historical crusade, and even some present day romance, and that gives a bit of a feel for it.
Great soundtrack by Clint Mansell, and some stunning visual scenes by Darren Aronofsky. Aside from the interesting story Aronosfky presents, and great performances particularly from Hugh Jackman. Like Solaris, 2001 and other films that don't hand you "the answer" on a plate, it's not one for mainstream audiences. 10/10
Best summed up in two "w" words: weird and wow! Without giving anything extra away than you'll see in the trailer it's a strange love story set across hundreds of years. Mix in a dash of Solaris and 2001, along with a historical crusade, and even some present day romance, and that gives a bit of a feel for it.
Great soundtrack by Clint Mansell, and some stunning visual scenes by Darren Aronofsky. Aside from the interesting story Aronosfky presents, and great performances particularly from Hugh Jackman. Like Solaris, 2001 and other films that don't hand you "the answer" on a plate, it's not one for mainstream audiences. 10/10
The Matrix Reloaded continues from where the Matrix left off of course. Neo has been freed from the virtual reality computer system, The Matrix, and is now planning with his compatriots from Zion (an underground colony of humans) to destroy the machines. Events are overtaken when it transpires the machines are trying to destroy the humans also. Therefore a race transpires to stop the machines reaching Zion, to save what remains of humanity.
Similar to the first film Matrix Reloaded has a blend of incredible actions sequence, but they are much longer than in the first, also a much larger number of "talkie" sequences. The plot is relatively complex (none of the people I watched this with understood it fully, other than me). Fans of The Matrix may well like Matrix Reloaded, but there's no guarantee of course due to the differences.
There are a lot of negative comments and naysayer's about this second outing for The Matrix. Personally I think a lot of it stems from pessimistic comments. In some sense the first film makes the second film a victim of its success. The first film offered so much originality, perhaps not in plot, but certainly in many other areas that overwhelmed the unoriginal plot. The second film though similar is distinctly different in pace to the original, rather than being evenly toned it tends to vary between long "talkie" sequences and equally long action sequences. Many of the pessimistic comments come down to the film action sequences being too long, and equally the overuse of the talkie sequences. Personally I see this from an optimistic point-of-view. The action sequences were so good in The Matrix I didn't want them to stop, and therefore I could gorge myself on those in Matrix Reloaded. The talkie sequences offered a change in pace as well, and some more insight into the developing plot. A lot of pessimistic comments are made about the dialog, and one-liners. I don't think the Wachowski brothers were trying to write a biblical epic here, the dialog is what it is, and I didn't see any prophetic about it, and I didn't need to. So in terms of negative comments, some of the fight sequences don't look quite as sharp as The Matrix 1. That's really the only bad thing I have to say. In terms of story, Matrix Reloaded has more originality than the first but still feels similar to a lot of previous films and other media. The acting is generally better than the first, particularly Keanu Reeves who I found a slightly odd choice the first time round. Of course the movie oozes style and excellent cinematography. The music is perhaps a little more lacking that the first, and it uses a lot less non-original music that the first, replacing it with score. Despite this some of the set action pieces are excellently scored, which balances out the musical problem. In summary a different movie to the first, but equally fantastic. 5/5
Similar to the first film Matrix Reloaded has a blend of incredible actions sequence, but they are much longer than in the first, also a much larger number of "talkie" sequences. The plot is relatively complex (none of the people I watched this with understood it fully, other than me). Fans of The Matrix may well like Matrix Reloaded, but there's no guarantee of course due to the differences.
There are a lot of negative comments and naysayer's about this second outing for The Matrix. Personally I think a lot of it stems from pessimistic comments. In some sense the first film makes the second film a victim of its success. The first film offered so much originality, perhaps not in plot, but certainly in many other areas that overwhelmed the unoriginal plot. The second film though similar is distinctly different in pace to the original, rather than being evenly toned it tends to vary between long "talkie" sequences and equally long action sequences. Many of the pessimistic comments come down to the film action sequences being too long, and equally the overuse of the talkie sequences. Personally I see this from an optimistic point-of-view. The action sequences were so good in The Matrix I didn't want them to stop, and therefore I could gorge myself on those in Matrix Reloaded. The talkie sequences offered a change in pace as well, and some more insight into the developing plot. A lot of pessimistic comments are made about the dialog, and one-liners. I don't think the Wachowski brothers were trying to write a biblical epic here, the dialog is what it is, and I didn't see any prophetic about it, and I didn't need to. So in terms of negative comments, some of the fight sequences don't look quite as sharp as The Matrix 1. That's really the only bad thing I have to say. In terms of story, Matrix Reloaded has more originality than the first but still feels similar to a lot of previous films and other media. The acting is generally better than the first, particularly Keanu Reeves who I found a slightly odd choice the first time round. Of course the movie oozes style and excellent cinematography. The music is perhaps a little more lacking that the first, and it uses a lot less non-original music that the first, replacing it with score. Despite this some of the set action pieces are excellently scored, which balances out the musical problem. In summary a different movie to the first, but equally fantastic. 5/5
The Big Blue is a story mainly centred around Jacques Mayol (Jean-Marc Barr), a free diver. Free diving is a sport where people dive as deep as they can with a single breath, and no equipment other than a rope and a weighted mechanism to take them to the required depth. Although to say the story of Big Blue is just about free diving does not do it any justice. The story starts in Greece with Jacques as a child, then moves forward to "present day". In the story we also have Enzo (Jean Reno), Jacque's lifelong friend and nemesis who motivates him to free dive in competition (so he has some competition) and also gets him work in other areas of diving. During this work Jacques meets an insurance investigator Johana (Rosanna Arquette), and a romance starts (albeit mostly from her). The story continues as Jacques struggles with problems in his past, present and future.
The Big Blue is an unusual movie. There is some silly (but arguably funny) humour. Also there are some serious levels including romance, and how we deal with problems from our past, our existence, and our future. The film is also quite long (in the aptly named "version longue") at about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Fans of Jean Reno would certainly love this movie.
I really enjoyed this film. The main story is very light and thinly stretched, so to really enjoy it I feel you have to look deeper at the characters and read between the lines. I also really enjoyed the humour, which was silly but fun and was a good counterpoint to the serious scenes. Jean-Marc Barr was absolutely stunning as Jacques, bearing in mind the number of underwater sequences that were required as well. It's a real shame that we don't see Jean-Marc in more leading roles. Jean Reno was also extremely good, and although for me an irritating character Rosanna Arquette put in a reasonable performance. The cinematography is another lush element of the film, with the beautiful locations and underwater sequences (especially those with the dolphins). Eric Serra's soundtrack is pretty good also, although sounds a little dated. As mentioned, this review is based on the "version longue". 5/5
The Big Blue is an unusual movie. There is some silly (but arguably funny) humour. Also there are some serious levels including romance, and how we deal with problems from our past, our existence, and our future. The film is also quite long (in the aptly named "version longue") at about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Fans of Jean Reno would certainly love this movie.
I really enjoyed this film. The main story is very light and thinly stretched, so to really enjoy it I feel you have to look deeper at the characters and read between the lines. I also really enjoyed the humour, which was silly but fun and was a good counterpoint to the serious scenes. Jean-Marc Barr was absolutely stunning as Jacques, bearing in mind the number of underwater sequences that were required as well. It's a real shame that we don't see Jean-Marc in more leading roles. Jean Reno was also extremely good, and although for me an irritating character Rosanna Arquette put in a reasonable performance. The cinematography is another lush element of the film, with the beautiful locations and underwater sequences (especially those with the dolphins). Eric Serra's soundtrack is pretty good also, although sounds a little dated. As mentioned, this review is based on the "version longue". 5/5