PCP on DVD - Haven't I seen these before? 6 film adaptations reviewed.

Time for your next hit of PCP:  Pop Culture Panorama.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have developed about a 60 movie backlog of films to review, of films I’ve watched over the past couple months.  I’ve had enough time to watch the movies and jot down some observations, but not enough time until now to actually write the reviews.  So, I will be doing shorter than normal reviews of these films until I am caught back up, in convenient multi-packs of movies by genre.  Today I’m going to do reviews for 6 films that have either been made before as a TV show, movie, or video game:  Prince of Persia, Clash of the Titans, The A-Team, Sherlock Holmes, The Green Hornet, and Robin Hood.  Who says Hollywood lacks originality?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – 2010, Rated PG-13.  116 minutes.  Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, & Alfred Molina.  My rating: 6 out of 10. 

This flick was based on the popular video game of the same name, but the plot was not as similar to the game as it could have been.  It is an entertaining film, in the sense that the action is fun, but a coherent narrative and strong acting are something the film is definitely lacking.  It’s a decent way to kill 2 hours, but personally I’d rather go and play the videogame again.  My personal highlight of the film is the character played by Alfred Molina.  He hams it up and steals the scenes he is in, and Kingsley is also good as the uncle of the titular prince played by Jake Gyllenhaal.  Jake isn’t too bad, but he is about as Persian looking as I am, which is to say not much.  As an adaptation of a videogame, this film is probably one of the stronger ones (and it is the highest-grossing one of all time), but as a movie on its own, it is only average.  Had this not been based on a video-game, it probably would have had a much smaller budget or not been made at all.

Read the other 5 after the jump!

PCP on DVD - Oscar pictures 2010 7 pack of reviews

Time for your next hit of PCP:  Pop Culture Panorama.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have developed about a 60 movie backlog of films to review, of films I’ve watched over the past couple months.  I’ve had enough time to watch the movies and jot down some observations, but not enough time until now to actually write the reviews.  So, I will be doing shorter than normal reviews of these films until I am caught back up, in convenient multi-packs of movies by genre.  Today I’m going to do new reviews for 6 films that were heavy Oscar nominees last year, and also reprint my review of Inception from last year that I wrote for my friend’s blog.

The Social Network – 2010, Rated PG-13.  Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, and Justin Timberlake.  My rating:  10 out of 10.

If you’ve ever wondered how Facebook was created, or if you are a heavy Facebook user like me, then this is a film you have to see.  This was a great film from director David Fincher, the man behind two of my all time favorite films – Fight Club and Seven.  All of the cast members were great, and the script from Aaron Sorkin was outstanding.  The time jumps between the two different settlement hearings were a great way to tell the story and to keep things interesting and fresh during the story.  By not being linear, it actually makes the story more compelling.  It’s actually a great story, and I can see why Zuckerberg felt compelled to donate hundreds of millions of dollars right around the same time this film came out, because it totally makes him look like a giant douchebag.  Jesse Eisenberg was excellent as Mark Zuckerberg, he gave a great performance in this film.  He’s going to have a great future in the movies.  I loved his line about the Winklevi – “If you were the guys who invented Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook.”  Timberlake turns in a good performance as Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, who convinces Zuckerberg to drop the The from The Facebook to make it just Facebook.  As a user of Facebook since back when it was still The Facebook, I actually remember when they did that drop.  Andrew Garfield was also outstanding as the betrayed cofounder of the company, Eduardo Saverin, and I also liked Armie Hammer playing both of the Winklevi twins thanks to some computer trickery.  In short, it is a great film that truly does define our generation.

Read the other 6 after the jump.

PCP on TV - Lost Season 1 better late than never!

Welcome back to Pop Culture Panorama.  Today I’ll be talking about the TV show Lost.  I never watched Lost when it was first on the air, and by the time I wanted to watch the show, all I heard about it was that it was confusing and if you were jumping in to it late, you would be totally… well, lost.  I knew this would be a show I’d like, because I love the work of J.J. Abrams, especially Fringe, and I love sci-fi in general.  So this summer I resolved to watch the entire run of the show on DVD.  I just completed power-discing through the first season (including watching 17 episodes in one weekend), and these are my thoughts and observations about this show. (WARNING:  mild spoilers ahead if you’re like me and never saw the show before).

Continue after the jump for my thoughts on the show.

PCP on DVD - Apocalyptic 6-pack film reviews.

Time for your next hit of PCP:  Pop Culture Panorama.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have developed about a 60 movie backlog of films to review, of films I’ve watched over the past couple months.  I’ve had enough time to watch the movies and jot down some observations, but not enough time until now to actually write the reviews.  So, I will be doing shorter than normal reviews of these films until I am caught back up, in convenient multi-packs of movies by genre.  In honor of the failed May 21^st apocalypse that didn’t happen, today I’ll be tackling 6 movies that deal with an apocalypse in progress or on a post-apocalypse world.

2012 – 2009, Rated PG-13.  158 minutes.  Starring:  John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, & Danny Glover.  My rating:  5 out of 10.

Director Roland Emmerich is great at making things go boom on the big screen with stunning visuals and scenes of destruction.  In Independence Day he blows up New York, DC, and LA.  In The Day After Tomorrow, a tidal wave floods New York.  Here in 2012, he goes even bigger, with tidal waves cresting over the Himalayas, Los Angeles disintegrating under a massive earthquake, and the dormant volcano under Yellowstone going boom with a massive fury.  Despite its entire visual spectacle, the film itself isn’t particularly that good, just like most of his other films.  He gets decent performances out of the cast, with Woody Harrelson in particular standing out as a crazy conspiracy theorist who is actually way more right than anyone else around him.  Oliver Platt is also great as the slimy political operative doing his best to survive the disaster.  Danny Glover is stoic as the Black President doomed to have an apocalypse happen during his term.  Ever notice that in Hollywood, whenever there’s a Black President of the U.S. bad things happen?  Whether it’s Deep Impact, 24, The Event, or 2012, it seems Hollywood likes to really hose Black Presidents with misfortune during their fictional terms.  But back to the film, 2012 is great at showing off cool visual tricks, but in the end is rather dull because the visual tricks are so over the top that they move into the realm of complete implausibility, with things happening that the characters would never actually survive if it occurred in real life.  Worth watching if you have a huge hi-def screen, a blu-ray player, and a good surround sound system, but otherwise you can pretty much skip this one.  Go watch Independence Day again instead, its much more fun than this one.

Read the other 5 reviews after the jump!

PCP on DVD - Hyperviolent 6-pack

Time for your next hit of PCP:  Pop Culture Panorama.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have developed about a 60 movie backlog of films to review, of films I’ve watched over the past couple months.  I’ve had enough time to watch the movies and jot down some observations, but not enough time until now to actually write the reviews.  So, I will be doing shorter than normal reviews of these films until I am caught back up, in convenient multi-packs of movies by genre.  Today I’ll be tackling 6 extremely violent movies I recently caught on DVD.  These are guy movies through and through due to their extreme levels of violence. 

Predators – 2010; Rated R.  107 minutes.  Starring Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, & Danny Trejo.  My rating:  7 out of 10.

The original Predator with Arnold is a classic, but the sequels, especially the crappy Alien vs Predator films, never could live up to the original.  This one does what it can to reinvent the original, while still staying true to what makes it good:  lots of guns, violence, and action.  Instead of taking place in a jungle on Earth, the film takes place on an alien world.  The predators abducted killers from all over the globe and transport them to a planet that is basically one large hunting preserve for them.  It is a neat concept, and it allows the film to expand on the Predator mythology as well, introducing new varieties of Predators, new alien technologies, and other alien species as well, such as their hunting “dogs.”  Adrien Brody is actually surprisingly capable of holding his own as an action actor, something you aren’t used to seeing from him at all.  For the most part, the movie is pretty straightforward and not a lot of thinking is required, but I did like having Topher Grace’s doctor character as one of the characters, and not a soldier or gangster like the others, it is as if the predators intentionally chose a medic to care for the team.  This entry into the Predator franchise is just a tick behind the original in terms of enjoyment level, but it is far ahead of Predator 2 or the 2 AVP movies.

Read about the other 5 movies after the jump!