Man of Steel (2013)

Review of Man of Steel (2013)

Superman is one of the most beloved superheroes there is and after the failure of Superman Returns in 2006 it couldn’t take that long before the franchise would be rebooted again. Man of Steel is that reboot and it is directed by Zach Snyder (300, Sucker Punch, Watchmen). After the success of the Batman trilogy the writing team of Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer would pen down the script. The result is Man of Steel, which just like Batman Begins tells the origin story of the superhero again. Continue reading

2 Guns (2013)

2 Guns review

Just one look at the poster was enough reason for me to go watch this movie: 2 Guns. Denzel Washington. Mark Wahlberg. With a title like that and those actors I was expecting to have a great time with an entertaining action movie. The movie started out interesting: Two men who head into a sleepy town to prepare a bank robbery. Without knowing anything about the movie I was looking forward to a great 109 minutes. Unfortunately I should have prepared for utter disappointment. Continue reading

The Big Hit (1998)

Review of The Big Hit

If this image above interests you than I can already tell you that you should check out The Big Hit if you have not seen it yet. It quickly summarises this over the top action movie perfectly as it both silly and entertaining. I had not seen this movie in ages and when I recently was browsing IMDB it came by in the suggestions. It was a film I had forgotten about until I saw its poster and I just had to revisit it. Continue reading

Killing Season (2013)

Recensie van Killing Season (2013)

Robert De Niro and John Travolta have both made names for themselves in Hollywood. Both have some memorable movies to their name and both have made some memorable movie choices later in their career. On paper Killing Season sounds like a movie which could be very interesting as it is about an American soldier (de Niro) who fought in former Yugoslavia and a man who came in contact with him during that war (Travolta, who plays his role with a heavy Eastern European accent) and now has sought him out back home to seek revenge. Set in isolated woods with no form of communication, except with each other, the two play a deadly game of cat and mouse/hunter and hunted. Is Killing Season the next Deliverance or doesn’t it even manage to kill time? Continue reading

The Act of Killing (2012)

Review of the documentary The Act of Killing

In general I do not seek out movies which have shocking footage in them. I do not enjoy watching such footage even if it’s just make belief. So you will not make me happy with movies like Saw or similar ones. With a title like The Act of Killing you have an idea about what to expect. I decided to watch this since this isn’t fiction, it is a documentary about people who killed communists in Indonesia during the sixties. Within a year more than a million people lost their lives because of it. It was something I had not heard about and I thought it would be important to learn more. What makes this documentary unique though is that the executioners themselves talk about their acts openly. Continue reading

Elysium (2013)

Review of the science fiction movie Elysium starring Matt Damon

Ever since watching Neil Blomkamp’s District 9 I couldn’t wait to see what he would be doing next as he was able to tell an amazing story in a sci fi setting. With Elysium, starring Matt Damon, he retuns to sci fi. Will he be able to tell an exciting story again? Continue reading

Obstruction 3: Pacific Rim (2013)

So because I was on a holiday and had some things on my mind afterwards I was not able to write my review for this obstruction earlier. Since I am very short on time (only 2 hours left) I’m going to have to keep this review short:

Review of Pacific Rim (2013)

We always think that aliens will come from the stars, but it turns out they come from a portal in deep Pacific. The plot (yes there IS one, in case some of you are wondering) is nothing we’ve never heard before but it’s played out quite efficiently here. the earth starts getting periodically attacked by huge monsters (Kauji – a term for Japanese monster movies), so humanity pulls together and builds equally massive robots (Jaegers) to fight back. Continue reading

Trance (2013)

Review of the movie Trance

Danny Boyle to me is one of the most interesting directors around. Looking at his filmography the movies he has directed are all very different in subject matter. Movies he has made include Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours. Trance is the next movie in his impressive career and the concept of this movie is an original one and could have easily been a Hitchcock movie with secrets deeply locked away somewhere needing to be uncovered. Continue reading

Mortal Kombat (1995)

review of the movie Mortal Kombat

What are the moments in your life that you remember? Which memories have stuck and how come you have forgotten a lot of others? Some say that the reason that some events stick is because there was a strong emotion attached to it. If I think about it, it seems to be valid point if I dig through my own memories. Applying it to movies, it is the reason I can remember a lot about one movie and have no clue what someone is talking about if I didn’t find a movie particularly appealing.

Mortal Kombat is a movie I saw when I was a lot younger and which I remember well. First of all because I used to play a lot of Mortal Kombat with a friend of mine and had a lot of fun playing it. I also strongly remember seeing the movie when it was released, partly because it was one of the first video game movies I saw but also because after seeing it I really liked it and thought the game had translated well to the big screen. Then one of the most well-known movie critics in the Netherlands slammed it and it is that fact I always remembered, because at the time I was quite angry about it. I just felt he was wrong about it. At the beginning of this year I actually met that reviewer (who now also produces movies) and it was the first thing I thought about (although I didn’t talk about it with him). When this movie showed up on the on demand service my cable operator provides I just had to revisit it to see if I was wrong at the time or if I still I thought it was as awesome as I thought back then. Continue reading

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

Review of Olympus Has Fallen starring Gerard Butler

As a man you sometimes need to see a movie which feeds your primal instincts. A movie which is raw and visceral and packs a punch. Movies like Rambo and The Raid satisfy that need and show that you don’t need a lot of background story to do so. Olympus Has Fallen’s Rambo is Mike Banning, played by Gerard Butler. He is a former bodyguard of the president, who had to stop his service because something which happened in the past. The setting here is the White House and the bad guy is current Hollywood favorite, North Korea. Continue reading