Taken 2 REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present his review for the feature film, "Taken 2." This film takes place in Istanbul, Turkey. Retired CIA operative Brian Mills and his family are on vacation when the father of a kidnapper Brian killed when saving his daughter seeks revenge. 

Well lets begin with the positives shall we? Well I am going to have to say again that the acting that Liam Neeson gives us in this film is great. He pulls off the role of Brian Mills again with a superb performance. Maggie Grace still does wonderful as his daughter, Kim. They still have that amazing chemistry they shared in the first film. Famke Janssen plays the mother of Kim. She did in the first film. You never really saw much of her in "Taken" but in this film she really excels, well done. Rade Serbedzija is the villain in this film and he can play one pretty well.  Now I really did enjoy the action scenes in this film, they kept you on the edge of your seat once again. They were again bad-ass as in the first film. 

So the negatives from this film. Well let me just say that the first film is WAY better than the second. The direction and the camera angles of this film were that shaky camera type, and I found them okay in some spots. Sometimes I found them extremely distracting and annoying. How come they never brought back the original director for this film?  Then there was the plot again . . . REALLY? What really happened in this film? What I mean by this is that the movie was over just as it began really. It was really slow in the beginning of the film, dedicating a lot of time to build up. Then they built up to something that was quick and never really lasted long. You just felt like the movie was over as soon as it began. Way to fast-paced of a film. Then there was the fact that a girl with NO training at all, did what she did. That is just ridiculous, there is no way that is possible. Then the premise of this film also had bothered me. Revenge on the guy who killed your son because your son kidnapped your daughter? No I found the premise of this film to be ill thought of a dumb. Then there is the music. In the first film it was good, this film it . . . SUCKED! I felt like it intruded on the scenes and I found it to be extremely annoying. 

So all-in-all what did I think of "Taken 2?" Well it was a good mindless action flick. If you like action just to see action you will enjoy this. Otherwise this film does not have much going for it. I will give it the rating of popcorn flick along with rent worthy. As for the rating out of five, "Taken 2" will get a 2/5 rating. 

Well thanks for reading . . . so to answer the question of seeing this film or not this weekend, well that is up to you really. If you like mindless action then yes. If your looking for a really good movie to see . . . pick something else like "Looper" if you haven't seen that yet. Well now make sure you stay tuned for more reviews of motion pictures . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff 

Fantastic Four REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for Marvel's "Fantastic Four." In this film, a group of astronauts get superpowers after being exposed to a cosmic radiation storm that they were originally going to do tests on. They learn they need to use these powers to oppose their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom.

Well I decided to watch this film because I was in a superhero mood last night, and well here are some of the positives I got from this film. Well I loved the cast in this film. I thought Ioan Gruffudd did a really good job as Reed Richards or a.k.a. "Mr. Fantastic." There was also Jessica Alba in this film . . . to whom I thought did a decent job with her character. She wasn't as good as the rest of the cast, but I thought she did alright for this movie. Chris Evans was born to play the character of Johnny Storm a.k.a. "The Human Torch." He just pulls of that cocky care-free attitude perfectly. So well done Chris. We also have Micheal Chiklis as Ben Grimm or "The Thing." He did excellent as his character. Like I said this was the perfect casting for the "Fantastic Four," but of course every hero need a villain and Julian McMahon plays the role as Dr. Doom perfectly! He is 100% a perfect villain. One other thing I liked about this film is its key way to keep you somewhat interesting (with the powers they have), and it's attempt to make this whole thing a little more real. I thought it did a decent job with it.

Now the negatives. Where shall I start? Well the plot is just to obvious and blunt. You know where this film is headed right from the beginning. If you haven't seen this or have never even read the comics, you will know the bad guy like instantly. It wasn't interesting really at all, and I just feel like there was no creativity going into the making of this. All the big problems in the action scenes, or what should be a great epic fight scene just has a quick and easy fix to it. Which to me is really annoying, because you watch this whole movie waiting for a huge fight scene and then BAM easy fix . . . all done. The the special effects within this film are so outdated. You can so tell almost everything is done with special effects, for which this movies time is pretty bad. The dialogue and love story within this film is super cheesy. You feel like this movie is a comic in itself. Most superhero movies these days (even for this movie) have a dark tone to it. "Fantastic Four" tries to have a dark tone to it with "Dr. Doom" but it fails at it miserably.

So all-in-all this movie has a great cast who do a good job with there characters, but the plot and story they are portraying is not good enough to make it a good film. It may keep you somewhat interested because of the cool powers, but in the end you might want to rent this film if your having a superhero movie night. It would be enjoyable with friends so you can talk and won't be hurt if you miss anything. On a scale out of five, I am going to give "Fantastic Four" a two out of five.

Well thanks for reading . . . I hope you have enjoyed this review of Marvel's "Fantastic Four." Now if your new here please help me out by spreading the word about this review site (if you have enjoyed them so far). I would greatly appreciate it, as it helps me continue to review movies for you all. I would also like to say make sure you vote on the poll in the sidebar . . . time is running out. Thanks again for reading and now make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff

The Possession REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for a genre of movies that I will review few of "The Possession" which is a scary movie. In this film a young girl makes her father purchase an antique box at a yard sale, not knowing that inside the box lives an ancient evil spirt. The girl's father and ex-wife team up to find a way to end the curse upon their child.

Well hm I might as well get the negatives out of the way in this film even though there are quite a few within this film. Well I want to start with the way the film flowed. It seemed to move really slow most of the time. This wasn't just due to the screenplay, which wasn't really the greatest (seemed kind of blotchy), it was due to the direction of this film. There were scenes where the camera just paneled around something, and when it did that it seemed to take forever. I think the director, Ole Bornedal (perviously done: "Nightwatch") was trying to build the scary moment, but when in reality he was just slowing the movie down more. Then there were some scenes that I feel like it should have showed more and didn't or it just wasn't as scary as it could have been. Then there was actually one thing about the script or story I guess that had bothered me quite a bit. There was this very relevant character to the plot in the whole film, then something happened to him but you never really knew what happened to him. Moving onto how scary was this movie, well it was creepy (more on that later) but I feel like they used to many "jump scares" which in a scary movie I feel like they shouldn't use to many of them. Then there was one person's acting in this film that was just on and off. Jeffrey Dean Morgan played, Clyde (the father), and his acting was really good at some points, but then there was sometimes within this film where I wanted to punch him for being so bad.

Now good things from this scary movie. Well I am going to have to say that this movie is a good creepy scary movie. It does scare you, but in a creeped out sort of way. If you know what I mean? So I do give it some credit for that because scary movies I have been watching lately haven't really creeped me out or scared me except for making me jump. This film though had me freaking out from a minute into the film. I did like how in some scene though that the would just BANG cut to the next! It gave the film a more creepy edge to it. Then the acting by Natasha Calis, was spectacular . . . oh she played Em, the girl who was possessed. I felt like she did a very good job being EXTREMELY creepy in some scene. Ugh she just creeped me out. One last thing I do want to say is that this film does have a good story to it that kept me somewhat interested. Could have been better, but wasn't really a negative (almost).

So all-in-all I think that this is an excellent movie to watch for a scary movie night! Probably want to start with it at the beginning, and then continue on with better ones from their on. So if your having a scary movie night, this would be a great film to pick up at your local rental place! That's it though, thats all I would give it for that. On the scale out of five though . . . I would give "The Possession" a two out of five.

Well thanks for reading this review, I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry haven't been doing reviews and other posts, been so busy with friends leaving for college. Seems like now I am going to have more time to do reviews though . . .  and to watch movies. I do want to say thanks if you have been trying to get the word out about "The Motion Picture Buff Reviews" I really appreciate! Every page view helps me continue to do this. So make sure you subscribe by email in the sidebar, so you will be emailed when I update the blog with another post! I do want to say thank you again for viewing and to make sure you stay tuned for more . . . coming soon.

The Motion Picture Buff

The Expendables REVIEW

The "Motion Picture Buff" would like to present a review for the feature film "The Expendables" starring and directed by Sylvester Stallone. This film is about a team of mercenaries who are given an assignment to take out a corporate military leader and a rouge CIA operative on a Latin American island.

So lets start out with the positives in today's review shall we? Well I thought this film did a great job at being a popcorn flick. I know that might be weird to say, but I feel like that is the sole purpose of this film. It is just for all of us to see our favorite action actors together in one movie. It does a good job at just entertaining the shit out of us. I want to say though that this movie did surprise me with actually having a relevant plot. I thought this movie was going to be literally all about the action, but it didn't it had something that was somewhat relevant. Now moving onto some of the acting within this film. I did enjoy Jason Statham in this movie. I thought he did a good job with his character, along with Jet Li.

I move onto the negatives now though because this film seemed to have quite a few of them. Lets start with the main guy Stallone. Ugh he is a good actor, but nope man I can barely understand what you are trying to say. Not a huge biggy but I think in a movie I shouldn't have to deal with trying to understand what someone is saying. I also want to point out that I felt like the movie was focused just upon Stallone. I mean sure there were some other scenes with Statham, but I feel like that was just an attempt at developing characters (attempt and I mean that, just an attempt). Otherwise the camera and story seems to evolve around Stallone.Then we move onto the plot. I said above I liked how this movie had a plot, but I never said I liked the plot. It just seemed to jumpy and a mess. Then the dialogue in this movie was just slow and just didn't seem natural. Then the action scenes in this film were awesome but way to over staged and the blood in this movie didn't even look real. I feel like with these actors who have been in loads of action movies, they could have unlocked there true potential but they didn't. The visual effects in this film aren't great at all. Almost anything that you can think of that would require visual effects, you can notice that they used visual effects. One more thing I do want to mention though, is that I fell like Stallone and all these other old action movie stars are just trying to relive there glory days. They just needed a better film.

So all-in-all I really didn't enjoy this movie a whole lot (my mind would wander off during the movie). I will say though that this movie would be a good popcorn flick for one night of watching movies. So if your having a movie night and thinking of movies to rent, these movie wouldn't be too bad of choice. It isn't anything special. Just something to watch and see some badass moves. For the rating out of five, I would have to give this film a two out of five though.

Well thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this review of "The Expendables." I do want again to say thank you for helping me get over 1000 page views in exactly two months. I can believe it, to me this is truly amazing for me. I hope you continue to enjoy my posts of reviews for movies, and about the motion picture world. Make sure though you subscribe by email (in the sidebar) so you can be emailed when I upload a new post here. So stay tuned . . . for more.

The Motion Picture Buff