Author Archives: abstractviews

There is certainly nothing wrong with the production value of this movie.  It’s well made and well told.  And it’s an interesting remake of the storey.  However it’s lacking something, that something is definitely not big muscles, but it simply doesn’t come across as a great show.  There is no charisma.  No charm.  No interest in siding with the good guy or bad.  It’s just mindless action that passes in front of you.

I really enjoyed the version in 1982 with big Arnold, but looking back it was one of Arnold’s early movies, and I doubt in reality it was any better.  He also had no personality in his acting at that stage.  So being young and loving action movies I liked it.  If I were to watch it for the first time today, I wonder if he also would appear to lack the same soul this version lacks.  So that being said, I think the lack of soul in this movie is due to Jason Momoa’s performance.  But I think he has a lot of potential.  Let’s hope he develops that spark that Arnold also did and brings more life to his future action films.

6/10

What’s Your Number is an excellent romantic comedy.  It’s fun and entertaining, and it’s over before you know it.  And with Chris Evans in it, how can you go wrong.  And yes he is only partially clothed in a lot of scenes.  It would be a good movie without the partial male nudity, but it bring it up to a 9.

9/10

A made for TV movie, about the adventure of a female archeologist that gets involved through a crime with a police detective, both professionally and romantically.  And as the title suggests, it revolves around an artifact of the Templar Knights.

It’s an okay movie.  Definitely TV/cable quality.  Our heroine has a confidence to her that draws you in and keeps you watching.

5/10

Neverland is a made for TV 2 part mini-series.  It’s about how Peter Pan came to be, and it’s told from a somewhat new and interesting perspective.  To say too much more would give too much away.  But I can say I enoughed it quite a bit, it’s very well done and the special effects are also quite good.

Any fan of Peter Pan should enjoy this unique prequel to the storey.

9/10

Almighty Thor is an almighty bad movie.  I’m going to give this almost a whole point higher rating than IMDB, only cause our Thor (Cody Deal) is kind of hot.  He can’t act his way out of a wet paper bag, and I mean really wet and soggy paper bag, but he looks good in what they give him to wear.  Which was in general too much.  In fact if you look at the write up and credits for him on IMDB, most of it credits him playing a Centurian or a Roman Soldier.  And that seemed odd till one comment was of him as a centurian at Ceasar’s Palace.  So would this mean he’s sorta kinda famous as one of those wannabe actors that wears the fake armour and walks around Ceasar’s Palace?  Cody’s a good looking guy with big muscles and looks good in fake armour, but I’d be afraid he might go hungry when that’s gone, if he was to keep acting at that point. 

Which brings us to his co-star Richard Grieco, who I remember getting his big break in “Jump Street” years ago with Johnny Depp.  I remember thinking back then something similar about him.  He was pretty and had big muscles, and let’s assume he looked good in fake armour.  His acting is still on par with that of his work on Jump Street.  But I’m hoping his hair in Thor was a prop, as it looks pretty darn real and scarey.

I doubt this movie was intended to be funny, but you will find yourself smiling at times and shaking your head often.  For example every time they use Thor’s hammer, how the foam rubber bounces, not only when they hammer something or someone, but when they place it on the ground and it bounces and roles around like an inflateable ball.  Very sad people!

Hopefully you will do better than me and watch it in one seating, as I had to break the torture up to about 6 different occasions to make it through.

Would I watch another movie starring Cody Deal?  Yes, definitely!  But it won’t be due to his acting or the quality of movie it will likely be.

3/10

I never saw this movie in the theatre.  I have to wonder how many people did.  Cause let’s face it, how many of us find trains very exciting?  An action story about a runaway train never excited me personally.  So I let my DVR record this one on cable and I was quite surprised, it’s an excellent movie! 

I can’t think of anything to criticize in this one, accept that I’m personally not a fan of Denzel Washington.  He seems to add his own personal phrases and the way he says things to every role he plays.  His speach patterns are identical in every character he plays.  And every character he plays in every movie seem the same to me, they just wear different cloths.  He’s one of those well known actors that has stage presence and simply bring themselves to every role.  In my mind, it’s not so much acting as it is being confident and famous.  But his typical character’s aloof arraogant sarcastic attitude works well enough in this role.

This movie makes trains exciting, and holds your attention the whole way through.  See it.

10/10

When deciding what movies to watch, one thing you can take to the bank, seeing Samuel L. Jackson’s name in the cast list is no indication of a good or bad movie.  He’s been in some really good movies and has been part of some real stinkers.  And this movie is one of the later.  He’s an extertaining character and always brings some level of interest to a show, but this movie is bad and low budget.  Our main character is played by Kellan Lutz, a young fairly good looking guy with a killer bod.  But a good actor he is not.  It’s like they brought some guy off the street and payed him to pretend to be an actor for a day.  That’s the level of this guy’s acting skills.

As far as the story goes, it’s a good and interesting concept; a private and hidden modern day gladiator ring, producing pay-per-view fights to the death on the Internet.  But it’s so poorly made, acted and directed, that there is no hope of a truely enjoyable watch.  Realize it’s bad, and if you enjoy watching bad fight movies, you might still want to watch it till the end. 

Keep in mind it’s rather graphic and gory.  But it’s all part of it’s sick charm.

4/10

If you don’t know the gist of the storey of Dorian Grey, then this isn’t the place to educate you.  It’s a classic tale.

I’m not an expert on the storey or it’s history, but it seemed to me to have some original twists on the classic version.  It’s far from a mainstream movie, so likely not for everyone.  It has a little of everything, including soft porn.  This is a deep, twisted and thought provoking movie.  I loved it.

10/10