A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating. From: IMDb.com

A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Lars von Trier

Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin and others

Current release date:  2013

A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating. From: IMDb.com

A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating. From: IMDb.com

A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating. From: IMDb.com

Four isolated astronauts on board a bio-dome space craft, experience a ghostly intercession after a meteor storm, leading to paranoia, fear and death. From: IMDb.com

Oh my, Roger Christian has seen "Prometheus" as well. There is no stopping him now!

It's very easy to hate on this movie and make fun of it. After all, it's directed by the director who did "Battlefield Earth", which is generally considered to be one of the worst movie of all time (which it of course isn't) and it stars one of the uncrowned kings of straight to DVD movies, Christian Slater. But in all fairness, is this movie truly that bad? I don't think so! It's actually pretty good far what it is.

Of course this movie isn't anything too brilliant or original but common, did you really expect it to be? Positive thing I can say about it is that it actually has plenty of variety to it! Quite an accomplishment for a movie that's almost entirely set aboard a small confined space station. Its variety ensures that the movie never becomes a slow or boring one, so yes, I actually think that this movie does a pretty good job at brining entertainment.

It's basically a mishmash of different movies, all rolled up into one. It 'borrows' heavily from lots of other, better known, genre movies both story-wise and tonally. The movie especially reminded me of "Prometheus" and I just couldn't help thinking that Roger Christian had seen the movie as well and decided he wanted to do a movie just like it. But even so, as far as these type of, cheap, ripoff movies often go, this hardly is the worst one you could ever watch!

The movie is never a truly tense or engaging movie to watch but it's all still good enough to keep your interest. It also isn't as predictable as you would suspect. It still comes up with plenty of original things of its own and has a few surprises for you. It isn't always handling all of its horror elements too well but this never turns this into a horrible movie to watch as well.

Worst thing I can say about it is that it's miniature effects are pretty bad and cheap looking. Oh well, at least bad practical effects are still far better and less distracting to watch than poor CG effects.

Simply a good and entertaining enough little movie, for what it is.

6/10

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Four isolated astronauts on board a bio-dome space craft, experience a ghostly intercession after a meteor storm, leading to paranoia, fear and death. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Roger Christian

Starring: Christian Slater, Brendan Fehr, Amy Matysio and others

Current release date: 2013

Somewhere, deep down in its core, this is still a pretty good and enjoyable little movie. However, the movie still mostly works out as a poor and lacking one.

It's a movie that's based on a short story by Stephen King and it really shows that it's based on just a short and simple story. I don't know anything about the actual story but if I would have to guess I would say that the story mostly consists out of the events that transpire in this movie its third act. It's also the only part pf the movie that feels remotely interesting and truly well developed. The rest of the movie feels sort of incomplete and rushed. The beginning, the middle and the end of the movie don't really come together as one very well, as if this movie was originally meant to be a three part mini-series, with each new episode new characters and developments in it. The whole movie is building up toward the events of its third act, which actually causes the rest of the movie feel quite pointless and needlessly stretched out.n

And to be honest, it has a pretty poor cast as well. Somehow I don't think Stephen King had Christian Slater in mind, while writing the Dolan character. In my opinion, the Dolan character should had been pure evil and not the sleazy type of villain Slater was playing. He doesn't come across as all powerful and maniacal but as sort of spoiled and in some ways even weaselly character instead. Not really Slater's fault. He just wasn't the right type of actor for this kind of role. Wes Bentley also was a really poor pick for the movie its lead. He is neither charismatic or likable enough and he seemed to have a hard time handling the movie its more dramatic and emotional elements. It's hard to get behind him and like his character, which is of course a big problem for this movie.

It's also kind of annoying how they seemingly kept in the same dialog that was used in the short story, this movie got based on. Again, I don't know anything about the short story, written by King in 1993 but it certainly feels that way. Sometimes some dialog just works out better on paper and sounds kind of stupid and unrealistic in a movie, when actual actors have to utter all of the same words. it definitely took me out of the movie at times.

And what was up with some of the technology that was being used in this movie? My goodness! Are we sure this movie wasn't somehow made back in 1999 and not released until 2009? Or perhaps the film-makers thought; 'Hey, Stephen King wrote this story back in 1993, so lets also set this movie in 1993'. There was even a Game Boy reference, which had me scratching my head. The movie already feels terribly outdated, even though it was made only 4 years ago.

Guess it's still the type of movie that's kind of good and entertaining to watch late at night, when absolutely nothing else is on. That's also the way I saw it. It isn't really a terrible movie but a kind of weak, bland and stupid one nevertheless.

5/10

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It was obvious what this movie was trying to achieve but in my eyes it failed miserably.

Yet again, here we have another one of those movies that features multiple different story lines, involving different characters, that are all intertwined. The story lines keep coming together, as the movie continues to tell the same story, seen from multiple different perspectives. It shows how certain choices could affect another person and an outcome of a situation. The so called ripple effect. That's all fine and good but the problem with each and every storyline in this movie is that they are all far from interesting or fun to watch.

It's all due to a combination of things. One are its characters. Absolutely none of them get properly developed, so why should you care about anyone in this movie? Another problem with the movie is that it's being a comedy, more than anything else really. Problem with that is that the movie just never is a funny- or very fun one to watch. All of the situations are highly improbable and at times it feels like the stories are going nowhere and just aren't moving forward anymore after a while. Besides, the way some of the stories are connected at times is all far from solid. The story approach doesn't really work out too well in this case. The movie is besides lacking a good clear point to its story. I just don't know what was supposed to be the moral of this movie and what I was supposed to take out of it

It makes this not only a very lacking movie but also a quite annoying one at times. Especially since it really seems to think that it's being a very clever and funny movie. Well, first of all, the concept and the approach of it all isn't all that terribly original and innovative anymore but secondly- and what's worse about it, is that the execution of it all is a far from effective one.

Because the storytelling is non-linear as well, it often jumps back and forth in time. This actually causes the movie to slow down and drag a bit, also since you already know everything that's eventually going to happen of course. It just doesn't change or adds all that much that the story gets told from different perspectives, since the movie never manages to becomes truly interesting with its story or engaging with any of its characters.

No, it doesn't matter that the likes of Christopher Walken are in this movie as well. I don't even understand why he said yes to this movie. Guess it was just a fast and simple paycheck for him or maybe he is friends with someone that was involved with this movie. Anyway, it's not like he is the main character of this movie, though of course he still gets advertised as such.

A poor genre effort.

4/10

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This is one pretty annoying movie to watch. Not necessarily due to its script, performances or low-budget action scenes but more so because of its visual style.

With its 'hip' style of filmmaking, it totally seems to think its being the coolest thing ever but in fact the editing and just overall visual style of movie works out as something annoying instead and makes the movie nearly unwatchable at parts.

You also just can't say that this is being the most creative or original movies out there. It's one of those movies that tries to be like "Desperado" and "Payback", in which its one man against basically an entire town of outlaws. Seriously, everybody seems to be have something against the movie its main character, for no good reason whatsoever!

And that as well is something that makes this movie a pretty bad one to watch. It never gives us a good reason or explanation why everybody seems to be after the main character, from the first minute on. And how hard could it have been to write in a scene in which the main character messes or steals from the wrong Mexican guy, or falls for the daughter of some sort of Mexican drug-lord? It lets things just happen, without developing- or setting anything up properly enough.

But OK, fair enough, the movie is an action flick, which after all in most cases means that the story comes sort of secondary. It's often more about its charismatic main lead and of course the action itself. And I do admit that Scott Adkins is a pretty good and likable action movie star, who however needs some bigger roles in bigger movies soon, or else he's going to miss his boat. This movie won't help his career forward, that's for sure.

And about the action itself; well, this movie isn't filled with any big explosions or car chases. Instead it relies on some good old fashioned hand-to-hand combat and some simple formulaic shootouts. None of the action ever stands out really, not in the least also true to its directing and editing style. The style really prevents you from ever getting into this movie, or to just simply let you enjoy its action.

So really, there are just no good reasons why you should ever watch this movie!

4/10

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An action movie can be as bad as it wants with its story and acting but it's an absolutely unforgivable thing when it totally fails to entertain me.

This movie did absolutely nothing for me. It wasn't engaging with either its story or characters, there wasn't really any spectacular action and they completely forgot to make the movie a fun one to watch. It takes itself far too serious, even while it clearly had the right sort of main plot line and characters in it, to turn this into an amusing action vehicle.

The movie is a pretty confusing one to watch, not because it features such a complicated or clever written script but because it all gets told in such an incredibly uninteresting and ineffective way. It's hard to keep paying attention while watching this, also because it never seems to reward you for it, with for instance one standout action moment, or a snappy piece of dialog, or any unexpected and surprising moments. Of course in essence all of these action flicks are more or less the same with either its setup and main plot line but at least most action flicks still work out better than this movie. This particular movie just never really seems to take off.

Can't really blame Sylvester Stallone for any of this. I mean, he does what he can and he's actually still very convincing as an action hero, even at the age of 66. The fault lies more with its directing and definitely with its writing as well. It's disappointing that an action movie expert such as Walter Hill fails to bring any sort of distinctive style to the movie, or provide it with any really spectacular or enjoyable, straightforward and good old fashioned, action moments.

Bad thing about the story is that it also seems to heavily rely on its 'buddy flick' aspects and dynamics, without creating a strong or believable enough bond between its two main characters. Really, it's probably true that the movie would had been a better one, if it wasn't focusing on these aspects and decided to be a more straightforward action flick, with just Sly alone, as an one man army against 'the world'.

But really, despite of all of the other criticism, the biggest problem with this movie remains that it just isn't ever being a fun one to watch! I would have been most likely OK with this movie if it just had a bad plot and mediocre action moments in it but the movie not being really fun or entertaining enough in anyway, is absolutely inexcusable!

Back to the drawing board Mr. Sly and Mr. Hill!

4/10

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Westerns never really have been my thing, let alone new age westerns. Modern style of film-making just doesn't feel all that suitable for the western genre, in my opinion, so I'm never really excited to watch a new one when it comes out. And perhaps this is also the attitude you should have toward this movie. That way, when your expectations for it aren't too high, this movie won't disappoint you and might even surprise you, since its definitely not a bad movie at all. Nothing too remarkable but certainly not as bad as you perhaps would expect.

It's a well enough made movie, all things considering. I mean, this clearly is not a movie with a too high budget, or else it also wouldn't had featured Christian Slater as the main star but it still does a lot of things well and never becomes a horrible or boring movie to watch.

The main reason why this still remains a far from great movie is its story. It's just a tad bit too simplistic all and not all that engaging. It besides seems to be lacking a certain roughness and rawness to it, making this movie feel like a bit of a fluffy western-wannabe. It has a bit too many soap opera like developments to it as well, which really wasn't all that necessary for the movie and its main story.

Sure, I know this movie is based off on an early John Wayne movie but even John Wayne made some disappointing westerns, of which "The Dawn Rider" was one. So it's not like its source material was any more solid really and they actually did very little to improve on it.

You still might expect something more or something special since Donald Sutherland also stars in this but this is what Sutherland is often up to now days; starring in as many bad low budgeted productions as he can, when he isn't working on something big, as if he hasn't build up enough pension yet. Besides, it's a small part and he doesn't really impress with it.

I have to say the action is somewhat decent in this and it at least shows some blood as well, which is not something that could be said for every western out there. There are a couple of nice shootouts, that seem more suitable for an action flick but they are welcome additions to this movie, regardless.

The movie really is nothing too great but it's still much better than you most likely would expect.

5/10

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After watching their respective partners die, a cop and a hitman form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater and others

Current release date: February 1, 2013

After watching their respective partners die, a cop and a hitman form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater and others

Current release date: February 1, 2013

After watching their respective partners die, a cop and a hitman form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy. From: IMDb.com

Directed by: Walter Hill

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater and others

Current release date: February 1, 2013

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(Review originally written at 18 November 2007)

A war movie done John Woo-style sounded like such a good idea on paper. The slow-motion action sequences and other typical Woo-ism elements are often even more laughable than beautiful or realistic. Same goes for the deeper and sentimental meanings of the movie.

It's obvious John Woo wanted to make a "Saving Private Ryan" realistic like war movie but the movie gets stuck somewhere between Hollywood action/war entertainment and a serious war movie.

The battle sequences look too fabricated and planned out, which is of course a killer for the movie its realism. Sure the battle sequences all look fine and it obvious cost some serious money to make this movie.

Between all of the battles and action within the movie, there are lots of slow moments. Guess it tries to be deep or something, also about the Navajo-culture, in those moments but it instead feels pointless and often like a drag. Same goes for most of the sentiments within the movie. It's also the reason why the movie is quite long.

The movie is an underwritten one that for a genre movie is too formulaic. It's mostly a predictable movie that offers very few surprises or original moments. A shame, since the concept of the movie is definitely an original one. The movie also doesn't bother to tell where and why they are fighting. What are all these battles? Why are they being fought? And yes, of course the movie also finds room to put in a love-story. All of the character also remain pretty shallow one's, no matter how far they dig into their past.

Nicolas Cage just wasn't made for these sort of movies. The movie is filled with some other well known names in it and most of them do a good job. It's not like the acting is one of the weakest elements of the movie but that still doesn't mean that everyone was correctly cast.

It's definitely a watchable movie but its shortcomings just prevent this movie from being a great or really memorable one.

6/10

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(Review originally written at 24 August 2007)

Was this movie even being targeted at one specific age group or group in general? It's doubtful, since the movie stars of as a fast paced and brutal straightforward action flick but after the movie its beginning it slowly turns into a a more sappy and generic movie, when a young boy and his mother get involved and of course the tough main character starts to sympathize for them.

Yes, in all fairness the movie did begin promising. It was definitely a case of style over substance but it showed some good and entertaining potential. After the beginning of the movie almost all of the entertainment value of the movie goes down the drain and the movie becomes nothing more than just another average genre piece, in which a couple of thieves constantly chase- and steal from each other, with all of the usual twists, confrontations and action.

The cast isn't too surprising. Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and Christian Slater are about the three best known actors in the business that are Elvis fans. They played in many Elvis Presley related movies before and in some cases the actual person. It does is surprising how big the cast is and how many big names are in it. Courteney Cox, Kevin Pollak, David Arquette, Jon Lovitz, Thomas Haden Church. It's the sort of movie that makes you wonder why all these actors actually agreed to be in this. Courteney Cox was surprisingly good and shows that she can handle different and more carrying and serious roles. Also good to see Kevin Costner in a more villainous role for a change but its not like he shines in it. Ice-T makes a fun cameo but problem with it is that in his cameo he is being treated as a big star, which he of course isn't. It's as if his cameo is supposed to be the ultimate highlight of the movie.

Even though the movie is fast cut and has a high pace, the movie still feels overlong and not really that thrilling or exciting. This is because there is basically very little good or interesting ever happening into the movie. Its moments are too predictable.

I think I can say that Elvis himself also wouldn't had been too happy with this movie. It prominently features his character, impersonators and his music but it at the same time is a movie that glorifies violence. Seems like the Elvis-link was the only put into the movie to grab the audience attention and make this movie seem different and more special than just any other genre movie.

It has it decent moments, which still help to make this movie a sort of watchable one but it at the same time also features some incredibly bad and disjointed storytelling, with moments in it that in the end just don't make sense or even seem redundant. There also are perhaps a bit too many characters and story lines that just don't interest or work out the way they were supposed to. The ambition during the making of this movie was definitely there but the execution of it all and the eventually end result is just below par.

5/10