Year: 2014

NOTHING

fpaul FF=7

The title pretty much says it all.  It started off okay, but I soon lost interest and fell asleep at about the 30-40 minute mark.  Maybe I was simply tired and the high FF isn’t fair, but that’s the way it went down. I wasn’t interested enough the next night to pick up where I’d left off.

FF= 7

BLACK DAWN

fpaul FF=5

Why do I keep torturing myself with Steven Seagal movies.  Each one is worse than the last.  He used to have a commanding screen presence, now he’s just there, wandering through plotless action films that don’t even have good action.

FF= 5

THE FOG (2005)

fpaul FF=3

I’ve heard AWFUL things about this remake, but in the past that’s never stopped me from watching a film.  It wasn’t so bad. Predictable and a little cornfusing, but it doesn’t suck all the things and stuff I was told it did. Thing is, Adrienne Barbaloo or not, I never liked the original. Maybe because my expectations were so high for that one; but compared to Halloween it was a huge letdown. And after what I’d heard about the remake, well, maybe my expectations were so low that it seemed tolerable.

FF=3.

THE BROTHERS GRIMM

fpaul FF=1.5

I didn’t have high hopes for this, but with Terry Gilliam at the helm I had hope. It could have been wonderful (to quote Jeffery Lyons’s re: The Keep film). This could have been a puissant story about the power of myth if Gilliam hadn’t played it so broadly. I loved the way elements from Grimm fairy tales were worked into the narrative, but the overall impact was vitiated by silly characterizations. (Though Lena Headey was wonderful, and I liked Heath Ledger as the visionary brother.) I didn’t FF much because the premise was so appealing, but the elements didn’t gel. I find this sort of film extremely frustrating because all the makings for greatness are there but they’re squandered.

FF=1.5

DOOM

fpaul FF=0

Y’know what? Not bad. Better than not bad. Fun. But you’ve got approach it as what it is: a film based on a videogame. The storyline offered some surprises and is more intelligent than it needs to be. I think if you’ve played this game, (as I have – and very few males out there haven’t), you’ll have a good time. The first-person shooter sequence is straight out of the game –- that and the BFG (wow) had me grinning. Favorite line: The Rock saying, “I’m not supposed to die!” as he gets pulled through a grate by one of the mutants.

FF=0