DVD : 1/5 Rating : Tokyo Rampage

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
i had high hopes for this movie - mainly cause well... from the plot description. sadly when i saw it it was very disappointing.

it was very slow... and the movie didn't live up to the title of 'Tokyo Rampage.' the story was more like a.... tokyo disturbance more then a rampage.

it's basically bout a gang / yakuza fighting to establish itself and being too scared to do so. so what does the boss do? he tries to get some nut to do it for him... and the nut isn't that interesting either (shown on cover).

it just wasn't a very good gangster movie - with no real insight to that sub-culture / life. i would not recommend this movie.

DVD : 1/5 Rating : Hoodwinked

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (apple.com)
Official Website
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
saw this the other day - and don't ask why but i also saw the extras on the dvd. the extras 'making of hoodwinked' i thought was more interesting then the movie iteself.

it explained how they came up with the story - got an illustrator to do some very basic drawings and then sat around a table with some friends and recorded the script. they quickly edited the sound and drawings together and then showed it to some local kids ranging from 4-10 year olds.

i can't say if the kids will like this movie or not but if you're an adult you won't. it isn't like shrek. the story is kinda boring and the 'who dun it' is really simple to figure out... but then again they did target audience for 4-10 year olds.

DVD : 1/5 Rating : Shogun Assassin

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
what a disappointing movie. :(

i had high hopes as this movie is based on one of my favorite comic series - lone wolf and cub. i rented it - and started watching it when to my joy the intro of the movie was familiar to me. i had heard it in Kill Bill part 2 when Uma's character and her daughter watches a movie... it's this movie.

so with gleeful content i watched, only to be utterly disappointed. first the main character choice... it was just hard for me to believe a fat-ish guy with a double chin to be a bad ass samuria, plus the movie seemed more like a compilation of fight scenes from another movie / show. the story arc was poor - if you can even find it and they butchered the characters.

they made the final villian the shogun who happened to be a wizard??!?!?! WTF?

avoid it... avoid it at all cost. read the comic series instead.

DVD : 1/5 Rating : Glory Road

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (apple.com)
Official Website (Disney)
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
how hard is it to make a feel good movie about determination, team work, leadership and overcoming hardships for disney whose already made movies like 'remember the titans' - well apparently very hard.

this movie was HOOOOORRRIBLE, and it's a real shame considering the movie is based on true events which is / was amazing. the story is about a Texas Western coach back in 1966 who led the first all-black starting line-up for college basketball which ended up winning the NCAA national championship (the first time ever an all black line-up was played - cause the belief was that black players were inferior to white players).

so why was the movie so bad. cause i didn't care about any of the characters, nor did i feel their pain, nor did i see the connection between the black & white team mates - hmm... last time i checked sports movies were about team work.

unlike 'remember the titans' this movie focuses on only 2 aspects. 1 - the seven black players and how they interact with each other. 2 - the coach and his interactions with the black players.

thats it. the wash over racism, wash over 'team work', wash over race relations between the black and white players - they pretty much wash over everything and you're left with a very empty shell of a sports flick.

yes - i really disliked it that much. it's a real shame too - considering the impact of this event had ripple effects to all parts of american life / sports / etc...

DVD : 1/5 Rating : Poseidon

LINKS :
Rotten Tomatoes
IMDB
Wikipedia
Trailer (apple.com)
Official Website (Warner Brothers)
Blue Dot

IMHO REVIEW :
bad as bad can be. this movie came out to theaters - and quickly went away - after having watched this i understand why.

it sucked (imho) for the following reasons.
1. it was all special effects - no character
2. you just did not give a hoot about any of the characters - so when they died you're like 'bout time.'
3. did i mention no charcter development
4. no lay of the land. it spends no time what-so-ever explaining the lay of the land (in this case boat) so you have no clue as to the progress of the characters.

so what would i have done?
1. made the whole intro like the love boat - introduce all the characters and give sometime for character development and interaction

2. spend some time having the cap. of the boat show the boat off - that way when the shit hits the fan the viewer can have a mental image of where the characters are heading.