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Reviews
Fury (2014)
I'm tired after watching this film... It was intensely engaging.
I am worn out after watching Fury. It was an intense film that left me tense throughout. I even found myself letting out deep sighs, as I was holding my breath without knowing. Fury is an amazing film, and a demanding experience.
I had a few doubts about certain parts of this film before seeing it. First, I am not a fan of Shia Labeouf. Second, the previews made Brad Pitt look like he was revisiting his role as Aldo Raine from Inglourious Basterds. Finally, as with most war films, there is a tendency to include a handful of worn out clichés.
Let me put the minds at ease of anybody that had those same worries. Labeouf was amazing in his role, and didn't ham up his character. Pitt may have looked like Aldo, but he was anything but. As far as clichés go, there were a couple. For instance, chambering a round in a gun that has been, or should have been, already chambered. For the most part, the film avoided clichés though.
I am a fan of war films. I have watched every kind from any country I can get them from. This has to be the best war film I have ever watched. Details are important in a war film, and those details were carefully provided in Fury. Everything looked like one would expect. Things were dirty, worn, and sometimes broken. Fury showcases a war, not a parade.
Speaking of parades, the US army didn't parade around like saviors in this. They were exhausted, angry, and fighting battles they didn't always win. There weren't showers, laundromats, or shoe shines. Fury portrays the war as violent, gruesome, gut-wrenching, wearisome, and grinding. Soldiers weren't all choir boys, and Fury made sure to portray that fact.
I can't speak on the technicals of the actual film making process, I'm not qualified, but I do know that there were beautiful shots throughout. The musical score only emphasized the emotion of each scene. It was truly beautiful. Adding to that beauty was the battle scenes.
The battle scenes were masterfully done. Bullets and shells flew through the air like one would expect. Not every pull of the trigger was a hit. Shells skipped along surfaces. Bullets came hard and fast. Earth moved with explosions and gun fire. The tracer rounds lit the screen up, as did the tanks shells exploding, especially those with Willy Pete, or white phosphorous, in them. So, during an extreme battle, there was violence dancing with visual beauty.
The main characters weren't fully fleshed out with back stories and motivations that were easily perceived, but I felt like this was one of the strongest points of the film. I still cared about each of the crew, but like them, I didn't want to know their whole bio. They were part of a strong tank crew, and their backgrounds were often nuanced.
The film didn't feel like it was supposed to be about the characters, it was much larger than that. The film is about a war that a generation of men and boys fought. This war involved killing and being killed. It wasn't pretty -- it was a dog fight. Every inch of land was taken, earned by those men. In that moment, there wasn't good or bad, there were just two sides trying to kill the other. Fury is about a war.
In closing, I highly recommend this film. It easily became my favorite war film, and that is saying a lot.
Chozen (2014)
This show SHOULD be good
On paper, this reads like a show that should be funny. There are some seriously talented actors and comedians on the cast, it is made by the same people that made Archer, an extremely funny show, and the premise seems like one that should provide laughs. The show falls flat, however.
Chozen never reaches it's potential. The writers go after the obvious jokes, the ones that are usually about anatomy, body function, race, sex, or stereotypes. These may be funny to a really young male teen demographic, but that's it. I'm fine with dirty jokes, when they're funny, but most of the jokes in Chozen feel so dumbed down that they constantly miss.
The voice acting is also hit or miss. While Nick Swardson, Danny McBride, and Hannibal Buress tone down their comedic voices, Bobby Moynihan yells his lines the whole show. It really is hard to listen to it.
I really tried to like this show, but I don't think I can watch it anymore. I was holding out hope that the first few episodes would get the lame dick jokes out of the way, but they didn't. I can't figure out the target audience for this show, and I feel like the writers don't really know either.
So, save yourself some time and skip this one. That is, unless you are a connoisseur of fine dick, rape, anal sex, racial stereotypes, misogyny, etc... "jokes." By "jokes", I mean grade school level lines delivered by someone screaming them at you.
Evil Angel (2009)
So good a group of kids could do it! Seriously, its like a group of kids made this.
Evil Angel feels like a horror film that has been put together from other horror film story lines; imagine a ransom note made from different words that were cut from a magazine. This film was so hard to watch because it wasn't fresh, new, or exciting in any way. Richard Dutcher, the director, must be totally out of touch with reality to make a film as clichéd as this. This wasn't art or entertainment, but a sickening waste of time.
I really wanted to like this film as I am from Utah and I have a friend with a small role in the film. I found myself laughing out loud or saying "REALLY?!" throughout the film. It is not a scary story. The acting is atrocious. Dutcher takes a huge leap away from his previous style of films and ends up with a hugely disappointing work of garbage. It reminds me of when I was young and I "directed" movies; It's childish like a group of small children wrote the story and then acted it out... besides all the hot naked ladies... or maybe thats also part of the childishness.
Defiance (2008)
Not even remotely enjoyable
I have never written a review on The IMDb, but this movie has prompted me to write a review. Its pointless to go over where and how I saw this movie. It is sufficient to say that I saw it with high hopes. In my eyes, it was a huge failure and waste of time. There are few redeeming qualities in this film. The costumes look great, and there is an appropriate mixture of Russian and German weapons mixed into the camp as one would expect in a camp like this. The brothers power struggle is believable and compelling. There is a lot lacking however. I spent the whole film hoping and trying to find any signs of an enjoyable film. There were regrettably not many. The stereotypes of Russians, Germans, and Jews abound and detract from the plot which is never able to engage the viewer. The way the story is presented leaves the viewer no reason to be compelled, and the cliché moments in the film, that try to draw emotion, never achieve their purpose. The end of the movie is far too predictable and embarrassing. James Bond makes an appearance as savior of the Jews as he runs around killing a whole German tank division with their own gun, and being saved by his brother right when all seems lost. This movie is ridiculous, and I feel let down as I was hoping for something great the whole time I watched, but only got to see this poorly made and clichéd film.