Post by Dale on May 2, 2009 5:46:51 GMT -5
wrote these like a week ago and forgot to post.
Max Payne
During my time on Movie Reels, I’m pretty sure Batman hasn’t released a single film; that is until Max Payne. Max Payne has been a long time in the making, and the question on my mind was, will it be worth the wait? And the answer to that question is; yes ... kind of.
Max Payne has some good stuff going for it. It has some very good voice over that help drive the story along, and keep the viewer up with the narrative. It has some very fun action scenes and the odd piece of witty dialogue. But it also has its fair share of flaws.
The most noticeably of these, at least in my mind is the lack of development of any character not named Max Payne. There are so many faceless villains and they all seem to know Max, we don’t know why or how, we just know they do, and that they don’t like Max very much.
At times Max Payne feels like I’m watching a video game. Now seeing as it’s a video game adaption, I‘m sure some people would argue that that’s a good thing. But it’s a negative to me, because at times it felt like I was watching a bunch of action scenes, strung together with voice over’s that ultimately don’t mean that much because I just did not connect or care about the character.
And unfortunately the film followed this pattern, time and time again. Voice over; run into some thugs, action scene. Voice over; next set of faceless thugs, another action scene, rinse and repeat. This formula, the lack of “real-time” dialogue and overall character development do hurt he movie, but the dry humour and good action still make it an enjoyable read.
Overall, it’s worth checking out for historical purposes. It’ll probably be the last Batman film you read for a long damn time. And whilst it’s not without its flaws, it’s certainly not a bad way to spend thirty minutes or so.
** ¾ out of ****
Clocks: Generations
After weeks of promising Hanelle I would read Clocks, I finally sat down and read through Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2. It took eight hours, but it was eight hours well spent. Clocks is a fantastic show, it combines all the parts of Lost that I like, and all the parts of 24 I like. And for someone who says “Eww” and the mere mention of Jack Bauer, Clocks does occasionally feel very 24-ish, at least in my opinion.
I’ve been a fan of Clocks from that day forward, and was saddened to hear that Season 2 would be it’s final Season. I wanted to see these characters continue to grow, and see the next generation of characters ushered in. I believe I even posted how I thought a Season 3 could have gone, with the next generation trying to uncover some kind of conspiracy whilst the conspiracy takes place in the present day with Seth, Abaddon and company. But alas, it was not to be and “Clocks: Generation” capped off this awesome story.
And it was a fine way to end things. “Clocks: Generations” spans over pretty much every time period and setting and includes pretty much every character in Clocks history. It has all the twists and turns you’d expect from a Clocks episode and includes some great character flashbacks that only serves to delve deeper into these rich colourful character’s pasts.
On the subject of characters, Hanelle introduces us into a new character in the Clocksverse; Mr. Black. Mr. Black made for a very interesting character, almost like the keeper of the clock, setting this cast of characters on the journeys we’ve seen them take over the sixteen or so episodes of Clocks. It would have been nice to have seen him in the series because he was very intriguing and engaging and I would love to see more of the guy.
And accompanying the film are a series of commercials, set in the Clocksverse. Including a commercial for a cigarette brand, that popped up several times in the series. I really enjoyed all these little extra pieces and it just tried everything up for me.
Overall, I’m sure if you’d ask someone MR what the best series in MR history is, they’d answer with Blaggers Captain Scarlet movies. In my opinion, Clocks is the definitive MR series. It’s creative, has great characters and wonderful storytelling from start to finish. There’s been one or two hiccups along the way (Nathan Gorman anyone?) but it’s been well worth the ride. “Clocks: Generations” is a great way to end the Clocks journey and so far, is my second favourite film of the year.
*** ¾ out of ****
Max Payne
During my time on Movie Reels, I’m pretty sure Batman hasn’t released a single film; that is until Max Payne. Max Payne has been a long time in the making, and the question on my mind was, will it be worth the wait? And the answer to that question is; yes ... kind of.
Max Payne has some good stuff going for it. It has some very good voice over that help drive the story along, and keep the viewer up with the narrative. It has some very fun action scenes and the odd piece of witty dialogue. But it also has its fair share of flaws.
The most noticeably of these, at least in my mind is the lack of development of any character not named Max Payne. There are so many faceless villains and they all seem to know Max, we don’t know why or how, we just know they do, and that they don’t like Max very much.
At times Max Payne feels like I’m watching a video game. Now seeing as it’s a video game adaption, I‘m sure some people would argue that that’s a good thing. But it’s a negative to me, because at times it felt like I was watching a bunch of action scenes, strung together with voice over’s that ultimately don’t mean that much because I just did not connect or care about the character.
And unfortunately the film followed this pattern, time and time again. Voice over; run into some thugs, action scene. Voice over; next set of faceless thugs, another action scene, rinse and repeat. This formula, the lack of “real-time” dialogue and overall character development do hurt he movie, but the dry humour and good action still make it an enjoyable read.
Overall, it’s worth checking out for historical purposes. It’ll probably be the last Batman film you read for a long damn time. And whilst it’s not without its flaws, it’s certainly not a bad way to spend thirty minutes or so.
** ¾ out of ****
Clocks: Generations
After weeks of promising Hanelle I would read Clocks, I finally sat down and read through Season 1 and the beginning of Season 2. It took eight hours, but it was eight hours well spent. Clocks is a fantastic show, it combines all the parts of Lost that I like, and all the parts of 24 I like. And for someone who says “Eww” and the mere mention of Jack Bauer, Clocks does occasionally feel very 24-ish, at least in my opinion.
I’ve been a fan of Clocks from that day forward, and was saddened to hear that Season 2 would be it’s final Season. I wanted to see these characters continue to grow, and see the next generation of characters ushered in. I believe I even posted how I thought a Season 3 could have gone, with the next generation trying to uncover some kind of conspiracy whilst the conspiracy takes place in the present day with Seth, Abaddon and company. But alas, it was not to be and “Clocks: Generation” capped off this awesome story.
And it was a fine way to end things. “Clocks: Generations” spans over pretty much every time period and setting and includes pretty much every character in Clocks history. It has all the twists and turns you’d expect from a Clocks episode and includes some great character flashbacks that only serves to delve deeper into these rich colourful character’s pasts.
On the subject of characters, Hanelle introduces us into a new character in the Clocksverse; Mr. Black. Mr. Black made for a very interesting character, almost like the keeper of the clock, setting this cast of characters on the journeys we’ve seen them take over the sixteen or so episodes of Clocks. It would have been nice to have seen him in the series because he was very intriguing and engaging and I would love to see more of the guy.
And accompanying the film are a series of commercials, set in the Clocksverse. Including a commercial for a cigarette brand, that popped up several times in the series. I really enjoyed all these little extra pieces and it just tried everything up for me.
Overall, I’m sure if you’d ask someone MR what the best series in MR history is, they’d answer with Blaggers Captain Scarlet movies. In my opinion, Clocks is the definitive MR series. It’s creative, has great characters and wonderful storytelling from start to finish. There’s been one or two hiccups along the way (Nathan Gorman anyone?) but it’s been well worth the ride. “Clocks: Generations” is a great way to end the Clocks journey and so far, is my second favourite film of the year.
*** ¾ out of ****
