Did It Suck Movie Reviews

Archive for October, 2009

Review:     3.5 Stars

Astro Boy is based off a cartoon TV series that still has a cult following today. Growing up I used to watch Astro Boy quite often and I really appreciated how this movie pretty much kept to the origin of how Astro came to be.

Astro is a robot that was created by a brilliant scientist, (Dr. Tenma), after his son was killed in a terrible accident.  He created Astro to look and act like his late son Tobio (Toby), and even went as far as to program him with his sons memories.

The movie animation is full of soft bright colours that kids will find attractive and fun,  I just sat back with a smile to watch an old childhood memory fly across the silver screen.  Fans of Astro boy should be happy with this film, along with kids under 12,  as this movie is really geared for a younger audience.  I for one can’t wait for Blu-ray  which leaves me to my final thoughts … Unless your an Astro boy fan or a kid under 12 etc;  wait for the DVD.

-Dan Kersey

Review:     3 Stars

Almost like Harry Potter meets The Lost Boys in a laid back fantasy adventure story that rolls out nicely.  Also a good film for the non-Twilight fans.

Two friends that come from different sides of the track meet their destiny, or fate, when they venture out to see a Freak-Show.  They discover a Vampire that just wants to live a simple life, but there is a cold war going on between the Vampire clans,  and the two friends soon find themselves in the middle.

What kept this film interesting was how simple the story was and, even though slow, it moved along quite well.  No great action or fight scenes no spectacular special effects,  just a simple story.   The movie did lack a little on the exiting side of things and really had no climax.  As much as I liked this film, it had potential to be much better, and needed a bit more bite to it.   Wait for the DVD.

-Dan Kersey

Review:     3.0 Stars

The latest edition of the Saw franchise is now out in theaters. I spent a bit of time watching all the old Saw movies to catch up and be ready for this release and provide an accurate review.

The Saw movies feature lots of little twists and turns and learning and make you think a bit about the relationship happening with the characters in the movie. This version however hands everything to you on a silver platter. I found the movie highly predictable after the first 15 mins. Don’t get me wrong, lots of blood and gore for Saw fans, but nothing compelling and making you think and try to figure it out.

If you’re a Saw fan, you will like this movie in general, but might be a bit disappointed by being babied along. Nothing in this movie is compelling to see in the theater so wait for DVD release.

-Carl B. Constantine

Review:     2.5 Stars

This movie is obviously based off  the book Where the Wild Things Are, a book that has been loved by kids for decades, but I’m not sure if the movie will.

Max is an angry boy that has an imagination to match as it takes him to a place full of monsters where he can be himself and have fun.

Its a cute film but lacking in story direction,  yet, each scene tells a story in itself.  I can’t really see this movie being good for kids under 8 or 9 due to the fact that It’s quite slow and that the film is more about the complicated relationships and personality’s playing out in the different monsters.

I was hoping for something more out of this movie but, as it turns out, it was more so-so then anything.  A good renter for a quite relaxing night.

-Dan Kersey

Review:     3 Stars

Right from the start you know that David Harris (The Killer) starring Dylan Walsh is not a man to be trusted or even shake hands with.  As the movie gets deeper you come to realize that David is not just a killer but also suffers from various mental issues.  The Stepfather is a remake of the original 1987 film which stared Terry O’ Quinn.

Much smarter than I expected but lacked suspense and had very few ‘Jump’ scenes.  The characters were portrayed as (mostly) true to life,  smart and good realistic thinking when trying to rationalize their suspicions around David.  As a thriller it’s a bit on the dull side, I did however love the ending of this movie, it’s not what you’d expect.

Despite the great ending, the movie desperately needed some good scare scenes and the suspenses was like riding a roller-coaster at 1/2 speed. It was an OK film but  defiantly a renter.

-Dan Kersey

Review:     4 Stars

As an anticipated movie, Law Abiding Citizen got the job done without the letdown.  Gerard Butler who recently stared in Gamer, has a much better movie roll in this drama/thriller. Gerard’s character, (Clyde Shelton), is a man that has lost his family to murder only to watch the killers make a deal with the Judicial system that didn’t meet up with Clyde’s expectations of real justice; heads roll from there.

Smart and well thought through movie,  unfortunately the trailers give a lot of the suspense away to the anticipation of Clyde’s next move.  Never-the-less,  this movie has its wow and ‘OMG’ moments.

Final thoughts … It was a tough decision on this review because there wasn’t much that I didn’t like in this film and I didn’t feel too bad paying to see this movie, but even with ‘all’ the ‘excellentness‘ this film has to offer, there’s really nothing anyone’s going to miss on a smaller screen if they wait for the DVD.

-Dan Kersey

Review:     3.5 Stars

ok, yes, I know this is a late review, but time and money are not always on the side of us movie critics, so sue me.

I finally got a chance to see this movie, and I brought 3 of my 4 kids (aged 8, 10, and 12) to the movie. This movie was fun. For adults, there were parts of the movie that are just plain corny, but you have to remember that this movie designed for kids, and MY kids really enjoyed this movie and had a great time.

Since this review is late, you may have already elected to see this movie with your family. If you haven’t, you need to go see this with your kids before it leaves! GO WATCH IT!.

-Carl Constantine

Review:     3.5 Stars

I’m happy to say I was quite pleased with this movie, it has a good combination of humor and story.  As far as the funny is concerned, the film goes  just to the borderline of ‘over-the-top’ humor in some scenes,  I found this approach to be refreshing and a nice change.

The Movie has a group of friends agree on a get-away together to a resort called Eden.  The friends/couples agree to journey to this paradise in support for their mutual friends who are having problems in their marriage and can only afford to go on a group rate.  Unknowingly to everyone,  all the couples are forced to take part in the group program or they must leave the island.

I enjoyed this comedy because it put the funniness into plausible situations.  Even with the supporting eccentric characters through-out  story,  the director seemed to place a cap on overdoing unrealistic personality’s and situations just to get a laugh.  This in turn, made the film more ‘true to life’ funny and also relative.  I would also like to say that it’s nice to see Jason Bateman playing in a movie that he can be remembered in.    This is a great date movie and is well worth a ticket.

-Dan Kersey

Review:     3 Stars

This is a nice relaxing film, it has a some good laughs and even some touching moments.  I was expecting this movie to be a bit funnier then it was.  Don’t get me wrong, it had its moments, but very few of them.

We start our adventure in a world where everyone only speaks the truth, or even worse,  speaks everything thats on their mind at point blunt.  No one knows how to lie or what a lie is until Mark (Ricky Gervais) discovers that he can tell people what isn’t.

I felt like the film wasn’t quite thought through somehow as it left a lot of loose ends that needed to be addressed as the film seemed to change lanes but stayed on course at the same time and then realizing this is a run-on sentence that doesn’t have anything to do with what I started saying.  ….Which concludes my point.

I did enjoy the film,  however,  was quite disappointed overall. Wait for the DVD when you need a nice relaxing movie watch at home.

-Dan Kersey

Review:     4.5 Stars

LOL,  eeeeeeew funny!  Gore shy need not apply, so don’t see this movie if you get squeamish with gory movies.   Right from the get-go Zombieland oozes entertainment without holding back those ‘leave it to your imagination on what happened’  scenes.   Not your typical zombie movie as this is in no way a horror film its more like comedy meets horror in a shooting gallery of the undead.  The premise of the story backdrops where an infection spreads through the human race,  leavening it to the survival of the fastest.

Putting aside all the crazy zombie killing,  the inner story and interactions between all the characters worked well and added to the movie as a whole.

The only reason for not giving this move 5 Stars is the fact that the characters were portrayed as generally smart, and a few dumb director decisions put the characters in some stupid situations where they should have known better.  I had some good laughs and for zombie lovers of all genres this movie is killer.  Definitely  worth a Ticket.

-Dan Kersey