It's funny how close the Underworld franchise tracks with the Resident Evil film franchise. This is the equivalent of Resident Evil: Afterlife, i.e. a sudden expansion of the original trilogy to capitalize on the 3D phenomenon. Unfortunately, practically-first-time-for-Hollywood (if we exclude their straight to video Shelter flick) Swedish directing duo Måns Mårlind and Björn Steinm, have no place directing a mid-to-high budget action film, and with brand new 3D technology to boot.
Aside of a couple of truly stunning shots that feature Beckinsale in slow motion, the cinematography and action is a far cry from the flair Wiseman showed in the first couple of films and seems to mostly concern itself with throwing cheap looking CGI stuff to the viewer, which I guess might have looked a bit better in 3D.
The plot fails to evolve in an interesting direction, after Rise of the Lycans you'd think we would have moved on from the "Lycans = bad" mentality, alas that's not the case and we are back to the same old. The new plot element instead, is an attempt to ripping the mother-daughter relationship from Aliens. At least they did it a film earlier before the Resident Evil flicks did it, lol (with Resident Evil: Retribution).
Speedman did not return to play Michael, and that would normally have been excellent news, albeit his character becomes a McGuffin of sorts, and they have a random standin play him but only from a distance, or with monster make up, which makes the film feel even cheaper. Either recast, or drop the character, dudes!
There's no Nighy or Sheen to elevate the material here, and even Beckinsale has started to seem a little bit old.
By far the worst film in the franchise, I can't really say I enjoyed much of anything about it. Like I said there were a couple of truly stunning shots, but yeah, that's pretty much it.
Underworld: Blood Wars - 5/10
Color me surprised as this film is the second worst rated (after Evolution) but in my opinion it was rather good (all things considered for the franchise of course!)
The digital cinematography is actually slick for the first time since they abandoned film after Evolution (although blacks seem milky), and there are some good digital effects as well. There are also a lot of fights, several of which are cool.
No surprise to see yet another first feature film director helming this, a chick named Anna Foerster.
The plot is rather inconsequential and gives it a kind of straight to video vibe, and it also pushes Selene to the sideline (maybe so that they can retire her - she also looks noticeably older here). At least they finally killed Michael, recognizing the actor ain't coming back lol. The direction is rather competent, and there are some good performances, particularly Lara Pulver is great and delivers that edge that was missing from the previous Nighy-and-Sheen-less film.
Dunno. This was actually alright in execution, albeit entirely forgettable.
So overall:
Films 1 and 3 are the only noteworthy ones, and despite their flaws they do deliver some entertaining parts.
Film 2 is really bad, but it might be worth to watch it because parts of it are referenced in 3. I do not recommend to continue watching after 3, even though I somewhat enjoyed part 5 - I'm sure you can find something better to do with your time.
TWIN PEAKS is "something of a miracle."
"...like nothing else on television."
"a phenomenon."
"A tangled tale of sex, violence, power, junk food..."
"Like Nothing On Earth"
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets - 6/10
Plenty of truly terrible lines, delivered in a really bad way (who can blame them, I would be just as perplexed with this script), but visually it looks really great, and I have a thing for space operas, so...
This film really needed an editor to cut a lot of excess and bad lines/acting..
TWIN PEAKS is "something of a miracle."
"...like nothing else on television."
"a phenomenon."
"A tangled tale of sex, violence, power, junk food..."
"Like Nothing On Earth"
The first story is kind of ridiculous (but not bad!) and doesn't fit in with the rest at all really, feels like someone else did that one. The last story was super boring and i had to turn it off. The other stories were little masterpieces. Shouldn't be missed by anyone who likes darker Westerns like e.g Deadwood.
Agree with the score! Excellent movie!! However, I must say the first story was my favorite. The way he killed that guy in the salon was priceless! Excellent scenes (and I hate artsy movies), great acting!! Very Very suprised. Ignore all the bad ratings, go see this western! (and I normally hate all westerns)
Dawn Wall: 8/10 : Wow! Surprised by this one! THought it will be boring because it was rock climbing..ummm think again. I had no idea what was involved and what these guys had to do. No way every would I make it 10 feet up Yosimite, let alone live up there for 15+ straight days. Sleep on the side? No prob!!! and what a stuipid b.tch the first girlfriend was.. She dumps him for another guy just after marriage. Typical bitches. I was hoping to see her fall to her death at the end..
The Predator
Yeah, no. Such a mess of a movie. The first 10 min and the last 15 are the only decent thing about this movie. The rest is a horrible attempt to mix comedy with action/horror. And don't get me started on the characters. You know something is terribly wrong when Olivia Munn's character is the most interesting/best one.
Agree with the score! Excellent movie!! However, I must say the first story was my favorite.
Yeah, i really liked it too, just that it has a very different tone than all the other stories, it's very over-the-top, almost cartoonish. It was probably not my favorite but it wasn't bad at all. I can see how they wanted to start with something like that, to draw you in and even perhaps surprise you of how bleak and realistic the rest is. However it might disappoint a few people that were hoping for stories with tons of shooting and over-the-top action.
Cheesy and over the top as it should be. Liked the dynamic between the group of lunies even if some jokes were hamfisted, and really regretted the rushed third act. As you can read in the net it was changed at the last moment because screenings didn't liked the original cut of the film I guess it was waaaay better than it is now. Oh well, hoping for a Director's Spinal Rip
Overlord - 7/10
It was decent but I was expecting something over the top. It doesn't go into the B-movie category and doesn't have almost any humor. It's basically Band of Brothers ep2 meets occult nazis.
I hope Russel jr. will get more roles in footsteps of his father. Despite him looking like a dumpling there was a scene where he transfered Kurt's charisma.
Yeah, it was enjoyable. I give it a 7.5 because even though the budget was low the fight choreography should have been better (faster, more fluent) but other than that it has a hint of atmosphere from 80'ies hard boiled action movies (the reign of Arnold).
One of those superhero movies that are so bad that they actually become watchable, props to Hardy for fully embracing it without caring about anything in the world. The plot is basically nonexistent, there are scenes that look like they've been edited with Movie Maker during a Saturday night's drinking game, the interchanges between the characters don't follow any conventional rules whatsoever, it's complete anarchy in cheesy CGI form.
And yet its insolence and the constant comedy bits somehow kept me entertained, I really wanted to hate it but..I couldn't, not completely at least. Screw you Venom! 6/10
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