Island Movie Club *May contain movie spoilers*

I made up a Movie Rating Card to fill out after I've seen a movie. If anyone can think of any categories I might have left out, let me know. I considered doing costumes but I don't think that category would come into play much. The only other thing I can think of is casting, does it look like the right people were chosen for the cast or does one or more cast member not fit the role they're playing. Right now I'm considering that part of character development.

Here's how my rating system works. I could have gone with a straight A-F rating of every category but I wanted more of a range to pick from. You can think of it this way if it helps: 9,10=A 7,8=B 5,6=C 3,4=D 1,2=F I put a final grade for each movie so that people who don't want to read the review and possibly come across spoilers can still see the rating. The final grade includes pluses or minuses but the overall grade is a flat letter grade. A indicates that I would buy the movie and encourage friends to see it at the theater or buy it when it comes out on dvd. B indicates that I would rent the movie but I might not necessarily want to buy it. I would recommend friends who want to see it wait and rent it instead of seeing it at the theaters. C indicates that the movie was ok and I'd watch it if it was on tv but I wouldn't care to rent or buy it. D indicates that if the movie came on tv, I would turn the channel. It might be worth watching once but once is enough. F indicates that the movie is truly bad, has no redeeming qualities and you'll feel like you got ripped off if you paid to see it or wasted your time even if you watched it for free.

Take the Lead My Grade: B+ Plot: 8 Not exactly original, kind of reminded me of Save the Last Dance but this movie was better. Dialogue: 9 Some very funny lines, all the lines forwarded the plot, good interaction between characters. Character Development: 8 Good depth of characters, each one of them unique, made you care about the characters and their problems. Editing: 10 Very well done. The story didn't drag or skip around confusingly. Special Effects: N/A Music: 8 Even the hip hop music (which isn't my favorite) wasn't bad, the songs went well with the scenes and helped advance the plot. Overall Rating: B Very good. Not sure if I'd buy it on DVD. Maybe I would if it was in a bin of DVD's 2 for $10. Would definitely watch it if it came on tv. General Comments: The lady who plays Betty Applewhite on Desperate Housewives (Alfre Woodard) was in this movie as the principal of the school, and Yaya DaCosta from America's Next Top Model 3 was one of the students. The styles of dance they were learning were international style, which would be consistent with competitive ballroom dancing. The social rumba starts off with the slow step, not the quick-quick, and the social tango doesn't include leg hooks so that's how I knew they were doing the international styles. I don't know what the time frame was supposed to be for this movie but I would assume it was one school term or less, depending on when Antonio Banderas took over the detention class. There's no way they would be ready for competitive ballroom dancing in so short a time. To qualify for competition, you have to be associated with a dance school. You aren't allowed to wear costumes until you get to the International Bronze level. Assuming the students qualified by being part of his studio, they'd still only be in the Social Bronze or Silver level at best. It was absolutely right that the students were disqualified for having two guys dance with the girl in the tango. For one thing, in competition they're only allowed to dance as couples, they have to stick to approved dance moves and positions, and they must remain in closed position (dancing together as a couple, not side by side or opposite each other on the dance floor) unless they are doing a solo routine. One other nitpick. Ballroom dancing is not just for white-bread Americans, as was portrayed in the movie. There are black ballroom dancers and many people from foreign countries. Ballroom dancing is more popular in Canada, Germany, Russia, and many other countries so actually white-bread Americans would be in the minority on the dance floor. Plus, dancers are regular people and dance to contemporary music as well. In the movie the formal ballroom students didn't dance when the hip hop music came on in the competition but in real life, they would have gone right into a samba or a merengue.

The Wild My Grade: C+ Plot: 6 Certainly nothing new. There have been lots of movies of animals out of their element (Madagascar, Homeward Bound, etc). Part of the plot at the end of the movie was just thrown in and not fully explained. It could have been done better. Dialogue: 8 Some good lines, a little boring sometimes. Character Development: 7 Good overall except for the squirrel. Jim Belushi's voice didn't fit the squirrel and the squirrel wasn't very cute or lovable. I liked the squirrel in Hoodwinked better. The other characters had voices that fit the animals' personalities pretty well. Editing: 8 The story moved along smoothly until toward the end and then it dragged for a while, as if they tried to stretch the movie out longer than they should have instead of wrapping it up. Special Effects: 8 I counted the animation as the special effects. Most of the animals were very well done. The scenery and lighting were spectacular. Only the squirrel and some pigeons didn't look right. The proportion of their heads to the rest of their bodies wasn't right. Also, at one point there were some chameleons in the movie and they were almost as big as the squirrel. Clearly the scale of them relative to the other animals was off. Music: 6 Most of the music was good. There was one song I didn't like and unfortunately it was repeated a few times near the end of the movie. Overall Rating: C I would recommend this movie over Madagascar and if parents are looking for a good movie for their kids. Younger kids might find some of the scenes frightening. There was no bad language, no gory scenes, and only one mild potty joke. General Comments: One scene that kind of made me laugh involves the animals competing in a curling competition with turtles as the stones and a broom. If it wasn't for Terry at RTVP, I wouldn't even know what curling is. The animals meet some alligators (or crocodiles?) in a sewer in New York and they have New York accents. They were funny. There were a few inconsistencies. For one thing the animals steal a small boat and use it to follow a large tanker from New York to Africa. There's no way such a small boat would have enough fuel for the trip. Plus the animals don't eat at all after they start their journey. At one point one of the animals runs into some hippos deep in the jungle. I'm pretty sure hippos aren't jungle dwellers. Their name means "river horse" and they stay pretty close to the water. A few nitpicks: At one time the lion roars a big roar at the wildebeasts. We see air coming out of his mouth but there is no roaring sound. I don't know if that was an oversight or done on purpose but it made for an anticlimactic moment. Plus, we never find out what happens to the animals at the end of the movie. Do they return to the zoo? Stay in the wild? We're not given any indication of what happens next.

V For Vendetta My Grade: D+ Plot: 3 I'm sure there was a plot in there somewhere but it was a convoluted mess and lost me. Dialogue: 4 The characters were way too wordy but strangely didn't explain much. There wasn't as much connection between the characters as I would have liked. Character Development: 4 We were given very little understanding of the character's backgrounds and as a result I didn't really feel empathy for them. Editing: 3 The editing was choppy, going back and forth in time and resorting to flashbacks many times. It made the plot unclear and seemed to be thrown together haphazardly. Special Effects: 8 Very good visual effects, particularly in a fight scene toward the end of the movie. Music: 5 There really was no movie soundtrack, just background music, which was too loud at times and drowned out the characters talking. However, the music in the scenes did set the appropriate mood. Overall Rating: D It was a bit disappointing and I wouldn't recommend it for a rental. There were some good parts in the movie, including an unexpected twist in the middle which helped improve the movie's overall score. General Comments: One thing I didn't like was the mask the main character wore didn't have his mouth showing so when he went into long diatribes (which was often) all he could do to show emotion was bob his head and wave his arms and that got annoying quickly. It was like watching the Burger King dude or Barney give a political speech. That lack of emotion also kept the audience from connecting with the main character. We never do see the man behind the mask. I kept thinking we'd get to a scene where his identity and face were revealed but it never happened. There were few nitpicky items. For one thing, they kept showing a big screen of the chancellor talking and the guy had gnarly teeth. I kept wondering why we had to watch his awful teeth. I was distracting watching them and didn't pay attention to what he was talking about. Also the main character is supposed to have been burned but he doesn't act like he was. Burns leave the skin tight and make victims loose their flexibility but he didn't have that problem. One part where the editing particularly bothered me was when there was a conversation between two characters. One had a black background behind him and the other had a light background behind him. The camera kept switching every few seconds to show each man face on as they were talking and the switch between the contrasting backgrounds was very annoying. One other nitpick--the main character wanted to encourage people to meet up and show their support for his cause a year from the date he asked them to. That would never work in real life. It's hard enough to get people to remember an event a month away. Probably no one would remember or care about his event a year after the fact. :roll:

Scary Movie IV My Grade: A- Plot: 8 The plot was a mix of plots from various movies. A little bit strange at times but probably because I haven't seen all of the movies being parodied. Dialogue: 9 Really funny! The dialogue was true to the characters from the movies but a little more over the top. Character Development: 9 Great job of capturing the essence of characters and scenes from the original movies in the short skits. Editing: 8 There were several storylines going on at once and interacting with each other but each one was clear. Special Effects: 10 Excellent! Just like the original movies. Music: 6 Didn't really have a score. It used sound effects and background music similar to that used in the original movies. Overall Rating: A Very good! I would definitely recommend it to others, particularly those who like movie parodies like Spaceballs and Airplane. I would buy it when it comes out on dvd. General Comments: This is the first of the Scary Movie series I've seen and it has me interested in seeing the others. I love this type of movie. The only thing that kept me from giving it a higher score is that a lot of the comedy in it relied on you being familiar with the movies being parodied. If it had been funny enough to stand on its own without having seen the original movies it would have been perfect. It was still really good, though! Scenes to watch for--Dr. Phil, Brokeback Mountain spoof, Michael Jackson. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

It would be neat if we got enough members in the club to start divying up movies for members to see and rate for us. We might not be able to cover every movie showing (unless the club got really big) but we could do most of the major ones. For instance, if there's a movie based on a comic book, Matt might want to review that one and if there's a movie about a serial killer, I might be the one to review it since I have a Criminology background.

American Dreamz My Grade: B Plot: 7 The plot was an interesting idea. It kind of got lost and unclear in parts with so many interweaving storylines. It was a good behind the scenes look at the duties of the President and his staff and putting together a reality show. Dialogue: 7 Not much of interest in the beginning. The dialogue was a bit cheesy in some parts but it was meant to be that way since the movie is a spoof. Character Development: 7 It was just right for this type of movie. A shallow look at shallow characters. Editing: 5 The movie took a while to build. It could have been more polished. Special Effects: 8 Not bad. It looked like you were in the President's office and on the set of a reality show. Training camp for terrorists didn't seem authentic but, once again, the movie was meant to be a spoof so maybe that was intentional. Music: 8 Very much like American Idol, included the theme song for the show American Dreamz, "Dreams with a Z!". The singers on the show were better than actual American Idol contestants. :lol: Overall Rating: B I could point out a million things wrong with this movie but overall I liked it and that's what stood out. General Comments: The movie wasn't a straight spoof of American Idol but it had many parallels. It was more of a spoof of reality shows in general. I have to wonder if people who don't watch reality shows would like it as well because they wouldn't understand some of the comedic references. Hugh Grant is obviously supposed to be Simon Cowell. His accent, the clothes he wears, and the reviews he gives the contestants are consistent with Simon. The main girl is the typical small-town country girl looking to hit it big by exposure on a reality show. She could have been Carrie, Kellie, Diana Degarmo, Jessica Sierra, any contestant like that. Some of the other lookalike contestants included Bo Bice, Nadia Turner (or was it Jennifer Hudson?), Clay Aiken (I think), and one that I thought was supposed to be John Peter Lewis. I couldn't place some of the others. Dennis Quaid is always great and he did a fantastic job as the President. Obviously he's supposed to be George W. The scenes with the President reminded me of the show Spin City, where the staff are there to make the President seem more competent than he really is. I don't generally like Hugh Grant and I didn't like him at the beginning of the movie but once he got into his part as Simon he was really good.

United 93 My Grade: C Plot: 6 The plot was a straightforward account of the events on 9-11, not just flight 93 but all of the planes involved. Dialogue: 7 It wasn't overdramatized with passengers giving eloquent, emotional speeches so it seemed authentic. Character Development: 8 There's no way to know how true they were to the actual passengers. I wondered while watching the movie if they based the characters on real passengers on the plane. Would it be harder for friends and family of the actual passengers to see characters based on their loved ones or would it be harder if the characters bore no resemblance to their loved ones? Editing: 8 The movie was in realtime so it didn't skip around. It slowly revealed events as they happened. One complaint I had was the ending. The movie stops abruptly after the passengers storm the cockpit and dissolves into extreme closeups and blurry images. Then you see nothing but text on the screen explaining what happened in the aftermath of the crash. It seems like they could have had a smoother ending than this. Special Effects: 9 The events looked like they were portrayed realistically, the scenes from inside the plane looked real. I wondered if they used actual footage shot on 9-11 for some of the scenes of the 2nd plane hitting the World Trade Center. Even the blood and injuries to the passengers who got cut by a knife looked real. In V for Vendetta the blood was too liquid and too purple so it looked fake. Music: 5 The music was low-key and didn't impede the storyline. Didn't add anything to it, either. Overall Rating: C We'll never know all that was said and done on flight 93 but this movie seemed to accurately portray what might have happened. General Comments: I noticed that there were no children on flight 93 and I wondered if that was true in the real event. Almost every flight I've been on has had at least one family with children on it. Speaking of children, I was kind of surprised to see that there were children in the audience of this movie. It doesn't seem like the type of movie kids would be interested in seeing so I wondered if their parents made them come to it or if the ones who were there possibly had relatives that were involved in the real events. Maybe some of them saw it for a school project. The movie certainly brought the audience back to the day these events occurred. As it unfolded, I remembered what it was like that day at work when all this happened. A girl next to me had her hand over her mouth from the time the terrorists are conspiring onboard until they take over the plane. After that she was leaning against the guy she was with turned away from me but she seemed to be very emotionally affected by the movie. I had a hard time rating the movie because obviously the events of that day weren't scripted and weren't played out by actors. It was regular people going about their lives as usual until unforeseen events ended their lives. Personally, this was not the type of movie I would want to watch over and over again, which accounts for the relatively low grade I gave it, but for the type of movie it is, it was an excellent account and very well done. Certainly worth watching at least once.

RV My Grade: B+ Plot: 7 The story is highly improbable. However, overall it's something that people can relate to. It's like an extreme case of the worst-possible scenario for all RV owners. Dialogue: 9 There were many funny parts. The audience was rolling with laughter for about 75% of the film. There were quite a few potty jokes but they were pretty much visual gross stuff not including sound effects so they weren't too offensive. Character Development: 9 The characters were well done. They interacted well together as a family, each character had their own personality and they were very likeable, with the exception of the guy's boss, who is supposed to be a jerk. Editing: 7 The story was slow to get started but sailed along smoothly after that. One little nitpick, though. The main character loses a laptop computer and another family gets it back and follows him to return it. They make a big deal of trying to catch him and yet when they finally do, they never show them giving the laptop back to them. It's like that part got forgotten in the editing. Special Effects: 9 The stunts, although unlikely to occur in real life, were done well. There were no times where it looked like the stunts were done by a stunt double, in a studio using a green screen, or using miniatures. Music: 9 The music fit the story well and different music was used for different characters, matching their personalities. Overall Rating: B It wasn't as good as Vacation but it was one of Robin Williams' better movies. It was a good film for parents with teenage children and people who have gone RVing before. General Comments: It's kind of remarkable to think that a movie about RVing hasn't come along before. This movie was a lot like Vacation except that instead of following a family traveling by car, this one takes place in an RV. Even though the audience went wild it, I didn't think it was as good as Vacation. It didn't have the memorable lines and memorable moments that Vacation had. One thing I really liked about it was even though the story was farfetched and overdone, Robin Williams wasn't too out there. He has a tendency to be over the top and seem to be trying too hard to be funny at all times but he seemed like a genuine dad in this movie. He does well in family films where he can show that he has a heart and is more than just a crazy, funny guy.

The Sentinel My Grade: A Plot: 9 The story was well told--not too boring, too hard to follow, or too predictable. Dialogue: 8 The dialogue was clear and interesting, although there were no memorable lines. Character Development: 8 The movie couldn't go wrong because it had a fantastic cast. They worked well together and in scenes by themselves. Each one of them added their own dynamic to the story. I was particularly interested to see how Eva Longoria (Gabby from Desperate Housewives) would do. She didn't seem like a housewife who had stumbled into a cop drama so she passed her test with flying colors. Editing: 9 Most of it was very well done. There were a few flashes of images and the sound of someone talking (like on a phone) but they were brief moments and I think were put in to make you aware that different events in the storyline were connected. Special Effects: 10 Excellent camera effects. Instead of just planting the camera in one part of the room and shooting the action in one place, they used panning, following, zooming and framing to make the scenes come alive. I hope this movie gets an award for cinematography because it certainly deserves it. Music: 5 There was no real score to the movie, just background music. Overall Rating: A This was an excellent drama, the best one I've seen in a while. It will appeal to many different types of people. There are enough chasing and shoot 'em up scenes to satisfy the action film buffs and enough puzzles and intrigue to satisfy the more intellectual crowd. General Comments: At one point, they have the secret service agents take polygraph examinations and I wondered if that would happen in real life. Police and federal agents know that polygraph tests are notoriously unreliable so I would think they would use other methods in an investigation. Maybe not, though. They might start with a polygraph just to get an idea of who to question further. I had to look up fingerprinting methods to make sure the method used in the movie was correct. One of the agents takes a plastic glass from a crime scene and has it developed with a chemical fume. I thought it was superglue since we studied that technique in my crime scene investigation class. A quick search of the web found that would be consistent with use on a plastic glass so they didn't drop the ball on this small detail. :wink:

View Full Version: Island Movie Club *May contain movie spoilers*

View Full Version: Island Movie Club May contain movie spoilers