Reviews by Shaun

Typical For These Times

Posted : 1 month ago on 29 October 2009 01:32 (A review of Terminator: Salvation)

I've long been a fan of the Terminator films so I went into this one pretty excited for the next chapter in the John Connor saga. What I got (and should have expected) was a movie with little regard for story and only concerned with non-stop action and shooting, but JUST enough so that it secures the PG-13 rating to get in all the 14-17 year old boys who undoubtedly lined up outside the theatres excited about the older movies their big brothers told them about. I guess that's why producers got an action and music video director instead of a real director who would focus more on story than on how many T-800 bodies pile up on screen. At least he had the marketing know-how to stick in that old Guns N' Roses song from the second movie for no apparent reason.

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What Just Happened?

Posted : 3 months, 2 weeks ago on 17 August 2009 02:32 (A review of What Just Happened)

This latest movie about Hollywood hypocrisy starts out at a preview of a movie with its producer in attendance played by Robert De Niro. The preview is a disaster and as it also turns out so is its producer's life. We see various aspects and relationships of his life played out which aren't very interesting or moving. One exception is a subplot involving Bruce Willis who refuses to adhere to a studio's wishes for a starring role. But there is just too much going on in the film to keep it consistent. This is a movie about greed in the film business yet it pulls no punches on the people and industry it's satirizing. And also during the movie we frequently get updates on the time of the events that are occurring. But if the movie takes place over an extended period of time then what's the point? Robert Altman's The Player (1992) handles the same subject but in a much better way, which continues to be my favorite film about the Hollywood industry.

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