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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) Directed by Thor Freudenthal

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 7:30 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , , , ,



Can't even really remember why but I still gave the first movie a pass. Perhaps I just wanted to root for another children's movie franchise to step into Harry Potter's footsteps. And to be honest, out of all of the Harry Potter ripoffs/wannabes, the Percy Jackson series seemed to have the most potential. Now, after watching this second movie, I'm just not so sure about any of that anymore.

I was actually always hoping for a second movie to be made, for while the first movie was a far from great one, it had plenty of potential in it. I thought that a second movie would fix- and avoid all of the flaws and problems of the first movie but as it turned out, this movie has far more problems and inconsistencies than its 2010 predecessor.

I can't even really tell you what this movie is all about. Sure, it has a fairly straightforward main plot line, about Percy Jackson and his gang having to find the mythical Golden Fleece, in order to protect their village but I have literally no idea about the hows or whys, of all of it. Too many things in this movie just didn't made any sense to me, simply because the movie hardly explains anything at all. I expects you to just go along with things and while this may work for some very young children, I needed just a little bit more. There hardly is any story to latch onto. Even basic stuff such as a love story and a clear main villain is missing from this movie. Instead of having one good, strong, main villain, the movie has a bunch of 'small' ones, of which none really ever come across as all that threatening or original. OK, so the big devil looking guy from the end of "This Is the End" shows up but even he gets easily beaten. Sorry to spoil things but it doesn't really matter, since it's all such a small and seemingly insignificant part of this movie.

Nothing that ever happens in this movie seems to be important to its story. It's lacking focus and a decent enough build up to anything. It just lets things happen instead. It basically is a traveling adventure movie, in which the heroes constantly run into new characters and come across some magical and mythical things occasionally. It just never made any sense to me why they first had to find a certain person, after that had to travel to a certain place and after that had to find a certain creature/object. It's all like a generic video game but a very poorly told and constructed one and I can't even play for myself! It makes this movie a repetitive and a just not all that interesting- or exciting one.

And speaking of video games; some of its special effects seem to come straight out of a cheap and early video game. OK. to be fair, sometimes the effects are quite good looking but at others, they are sorely lacking. Just not acceptable for a big, 2013, movie. It's as if they spend all the time and money on getting a few effects right and pretty much ignored- or forgot all about all of the other effects. I hate stuff like that and it's always the mark of an inconsistent movie.

It's perhaps also true that the movie is taking itself a tad bit too serious. Instead of being a fun adventure movie, filled with lots of comedy and likable characters, the movie seems more concerned about just simply telling its story, which wasn't a very remarkable or strong one to begin with. The director Thor Freudenthal made no real effort to ever provide the movie with some memorable or original moments, which is also truly part of the reason why this movie ultimately is a very forgettable one.

Seriously, more was to be expected from a mythological adventure movie, directed by a guy named Thor. It's not like the movie is truly terrible or a totally unwatchable one but it's nothing special and really truly a far from thoroughly entertaining, original or interesting enough one to watch.

5/10

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6 new movie clips: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 2:59 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , , , ,




In order to restore their dying safe haven, the son of Poseidon and his friends embark on a quest to the Sea of Monsters to find the mythical Golden Fleece while trying to stop an ancient evil from rising. From: IMDb.com






Amelia and Michael (2007) Directed by Daniel Cormack

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 4:55 PM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , ,



(Review originally written at 25 September 2007)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

To put it simply, this is a really well made short film. It's only 10 minutes long, so it's obviously and notably restricted with its story development and characters but the movie does a very good job at telling the story in its limited amount of time in a very effective- and above all also realistic way.

The movie is kept deliberately small, in terms of its dramatic elements and character emotions. It's the reason why the movie feels very real and warm, even despite of its depressing story and overall atmosphere. It's the main reason why I regard this movie as a very well made one.

The editing still feels quite clumsy in parts. For instance the back- and forward cuts from the internal and external shots in a sequence don't always feel consistent. It feels like it's taking place in a totally different time-line and universe so to speak, even though it very well might had been all shot on the same day and on the same location. Some music in those sequences could perhaps had worked miracles. It at least would had made it more consistent. The movie also uses one or two too many fade outs right in the middle of the movie. I never have been a big fan of fade outs. To me it always seems like the cheapest, most lazy and most simple way to make a jump in time and to end a sequence. I prefer a more creative solution, though in this particular case the fade outs are sort of suiting with the film its 'slow' pace.

The cinematography on the other hand was really superb. It gave the movie a totally professional look and feeling. I especially liked the lighting in some of the sequences.

Anthony Head plays a real solid role in this film. Also his presence alone is already good enough to uplift the movie. The other main part is being played by Natasha Powell. She's obviously not too experienced but her performance feels very natural because of that, which is a real positive thing.

I also really liked the ending of the movie, in which nothing has changed, despite of what happened all and everything is just the same as it was before, as if nothing had ever happened. It's a real good and interesting ending of the movie that is also brought very well to the screen; The movie ends basically just in the same way as it started out. No words are spoken but everyone know what the ending means. It makes it very effective but it however also at the same time feels quite abrupt. But I think this is more because of that the movie HAD to be below 10 minutes long. Or perhaps it's just because of it that I don't too often watch these short sort of films.

The film is about as good as you could expect from a 10 minutes short. Good story development, professionally put together, with an overall good sense of realism.

8/10
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