**A good film, but not as memorable as some people say.**
Director Sidney Lumet created this film based on a true incident that is still the subject of study by police cadets today: a homosexual who decides to rob a bank to pay for his partner's sex change, but who takes the manager and the employees as hostages when things get complicated, and desperately tries not to be killed or arrested by the policemen, who surround the place and try to control a maddened crowd, who are not sympathetic to the authorities. The film was made and released in 1975, and it could not be more appropriate to the time in which it was made: the great decade of civil disobedience, of challenge to authorities and the affirmation of the gay movement.
I confess that I'm not quite aware of the real incident behind the script. For that reason, I prefer to focus on this very well done dramatization. In addition to the design of sets and costumes, and an intelligent choice of the filming location, the cinematography is very well executed, and the film has very good visual qualities. The pleasant pace is reasonably fast at first, but slows down midway through, perhaps emulating the back and forth of negotiations between the authorities and the clumsy robbers. And if history is a mirror of its time, the same can be said of the dialogues, where swear words are used with a liberality previously unthinkable.
Although many consider this film a must-see, I honestly disagree. It's a must-see for fans of Al Pacino or Lumet, it will certainly be a good suggestion for a 70s film cycle, but that's basically it. It's a pretty good film, but it can hardly be classified as memorable. Al Pacino is a great actor and is experiencing a particularly happy moment in his career when he makes this film, but I have to recognize that he made several better films, before and after. Just think of “Godfather 3”, “Scent of a Woman” or “Devil’s Advocate”, to name a few. John Cazale is good in a more understated role, and Charles Durning and Chris Sarandon both deserve praise for a job well done.

Recently I have gotten on kicks for both watching and appreciating the works of director Sidney Lumet and the classic (i.e., 70's) performances of Al Pacino. Thus I came across this film, which I had on DVD forever. It'll interesting to watch the recent documentary on the character Pacino portrays, 'The Dog'--just found out about it earlier today. I loved Lumet's films he made before this that I've seen--'12 Angry Men', 'The Fugitive Kind', 'The Hill', 'The Anderson Tapes' and 'Murder on the Orient Express'--and he's superb at getting the gradual self-destruction of his characters that just seethes through the screen.
At this point, Pacino could do no wrong in his work--he had that firm grasp on his immense talent and just what he needed from it to do remarkable work, some of the finest characterizations in contemporary cinema. Do both he and yourself a favour and don't bother with anything he's made since 'Heat'.

**What if the experts are wrong! And how it affects the common man!**
Jodie Foster did wonderfully as a captain of the ship. She could have acted in it, instead concentrate only on the direction, so that opportunity went to Julia Robers. With George Clooney onboard for one of the main roles, this was one of the best team to work together, as well the film was very enjoyable. So better than what I thought of it and I feel I should have given a better rating. But one thing is for sure that it was made for the people to have a good time, not for the critics morons.
A real time narration, takes place in one normal morning is a newsroom studio where the financial expert Lee Gates, going to give his advice to the investor where to put their money. But the show suddenly got hit by an intruder when he takes the host as a hostage. He demands some answers from him regarding what he'd said a week ago in the same show, which led him to lose all his money. With this kind of complication how its going to conclude was nicely told with some edgy scenes towards the end.
Both, Clooney and Julia was good, but it was Jack O'Connell who hand upper hand. He has done some great films lately and now this, I hope he continues his good work. It was inspired by the real glitch that saw in the stock market, but altered to suit the cinematic, especially turning it into a crime-thriller with some powerful characters to deal such an interesting situation made big differences in its success.
The writing was good, because, it was kind of realistic like what a common man do and his intentions are when he can't understand the terms the experts speak or give the reason for the loss. So there are some pauses like 'what next' kind of stuffs that intentionally did. Despite a serious thriller, there are some funs. Whom you're going to cheer is up to you, but it keeps your head up all the time with its fine pace and developments. This is not the best among you find from this year, but surely a good watch if your purpose is entertainment or timepass,
6/10

"A slick and satisfying vehicle for the capital-M/capital-S charisma of two of Hollywood’s most reliable Movie Stars..."
Read the full review here: http://screen-space.squarespace.com/reviews/2016/5/13/money-monster.html

It’s a bitter irony that 12 Strong was released only three years before Kabul fell faster than Kevin Spacey’s career. Then again, this movie has as much to do with the war in Afghanistan as the Arab uprising has to do with Lawrence of Arabia — which is exactly where director Nicolai Fuglsig and screenwriters Ted Tally and Peter Craig seem to have gotten their idea of General Dostum (Navid Negahban), whom they have filtered through George C. Scott's Patton, and given a Historical Hero Upgrade.
Generally speaking, the film lives in its very own fantasy world. Granted, most movies take liberties, but what 12 Strong does is more akin to libertinage. It purports to depict "one of the US military's most stunning achievements," which Al Quaeda "considers ... to be their worst defeat."
The former... sure, why not? As for the latter, though, Al Quaeda may or may not consider it its "worst defeat," but even if they did, methinks they wouldn’t be caught dead admitting it, so the question is, who exactly is your source?
Furthermore, we learn that the real-life General Dostum and Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) "remain close friends to this day" — which means that you’re never too old to have an imaginary friend, what with Mitch Nelson being a fictional character and all (based on Green Beret commander Mark Nutsch, who I assume had the good sense to not want to be associated with this dumpster fire).

In every aspect a decent war film with a story worth telling. Too bad the cast doesn’t get to shine enough, but the technical aspect, the score and the fact that it's based on a true story still make ‘12 Strong’ worth a watch or two.
8/10

Not really my sort of thing, but I can't go so far as to say that it's "bad". It's a little formulaic and it's a lot American patriotic (ironic given that the star is Australian), but it's... I guess "professional" is the word that best suits it? I wouldn't begrudge the target market for enjoying _12 Strong_ is what I'm saying.
_Final rating:★★½ - Not quite for me, but I definitely get the appeal._

Oddly, the version of this movie I watched contained both English subtitles and dubbing, and after a while I wished I could turn off the dubbing and go with just the subtitles, so that their mouths would always move at the right times.
I watched the U.S. production of this with Daniel Craig many years ago, and I liked it, but I don’t remember it clearly enough to compare the two. My f=general impression, though, is that this original is better.
Of course, the Lisbeth character is the real hero here. A rough childhood and beyond have molded her into a tough lady indeed, mentally, physically and emotionally. Oddly enough, she is the only character who seems to show any growth by the end of the film, perhaps partly due to her having so much room to grow emotionally.

When a nuclear-powered submarine goes missing, scientists-cum-salvagers “Bud” (Ed Harris) and his estranged wife “Lindsey” (Mary Elizabeth Mastroantonio) are drafted in to find out what’s happened. The area where it was lost has become something of a “Bermuda Triangle” with mysterious power surges and electrical failures but luckily (?) they have the help of navy SEAL “Lt. Coffey” (Michael Biehn) and his team of gun-toters to assist as they dive deep under the ocean. Things doesn’t quite go to plan and they are dragged even deeper, where she is convinced that they are not alone - and that what they are seeing isn’t natural, nor man-mad either! Might it be possible that there’s another species peacefully adorning the ocean floor that’s had it’s fill of mankind and it’s dangerous tantrums? I can’t say much for the acting here, it’s all a bit wooden and with not much by way of decent or scientific dialogue here it’s largely left to the increasingly maniacal Biehn and to some stunning visual effects to deliver the story. It’s that imagery, coupled with the vivid imagination of James Cameron that keeps this slightly over-long adventure moving seamlessly. There’s a predictable, if rather heavy-handed, moral at the denouement (anyone seen “Warlords of Atlantis” from 1978?) and, indeed, the whole thing is riddled with environmental messages of some degree but it’s still essentially a quickly paced and claustrophobic adventure film with plenty going on. It looks great on a big screen with Alan Silvestri’s score compensating well for the banality of the writing, and I quite enjoyed it.

"The Abyss" features a random assortment of sequences which look suspiciously altered to accommodate the course of the film and one of the most obvious is why Bud isn't instantly crushed to death by the pressure while plummeting to what appears to be certain death. And how can he possibly rally himself so quickly when he is already caught in the unforgiving grip of delirium? And how can he be capable of successfully defusing a nuclear warhead after enduring such trauma? The film also enthusiastically throws every conceivable obstacle at its cast of characters - that would probably include a kitchen sink if they had one available - as Murphy's Law is unleashed upon them and runs rampant like never before in any previous film to produce what is essentially a thrilling and completely enthralling motion picture experience.

A fantastic movie ruined by the studio's shortsightedness. Be sure to watch James Cameron's version of this movie, aliens included, to get the full and best experience! The cinema release was a botch. The Abyss proves you can have a big action film that hits all the right marks with zero profanity!

Cameron's Marvellous Close Encounters Of The Sea Kind.
Special Edition
A deep sea oil crew are called upon by the military to investigate the events that saw an American Nuclear Submarine crash down in the abyss. As the crew, and their hot headed Navy Seal passengers, get down deeper, it would seem they are not alone down there.
The Abyss is a flawed movie when put under the microscope, even allowing for the reinserted (and much better) ending that James Cameron was forced to cut by idiot studio executives. Most glaringly obvious as a fault is that The Abyss, after holding us for 2 hours of engrossing cinema, can't quite seal the deal as a deep (hrr hrr hrr) message movie for the modern era. What isn't in doubt upon revisits to the piece is that it's at times spectacular, at others it's joyously ambitious, both things coming together in one big loud boom of being a blockbuster with brains. James Cameron can never be accused of not trying to entertain the masses, and here, with a bit more thought on a humanist level, then we would have been talking in the realms of masterpiece.
The making of the film is itself worthy of a movie, a fraught and angry shoot with many problems, of which I wont bore you with as they can be found at the click of a mouse. But Cameron pushes hard because he wants to please and dazzle, and he does, every buck and sweat drop is up there on the screen to be witnessed. The lead actors put in great work, Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio give the film its centrifugal emotive heart as the warring Brigham's, while Cameron fave Michael Biehn does a fine line in Gung-Ho decompression nut case! The technical aspects do dazzle, the visual effects rightly won the Academy Award in that department, and both the cinematography (Mikael Salomon) and art design (Dilley/Kuljian) are worth the price of a rental alone.
It's true to say that The Abyss is a fusion of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind & The Day The Earth Stood Still, but really I don't personally see anything wrong with that! As a spectacle it rewards the patient in spades, as a deeply profound moving picture it falls just about short, but even then a less than 100% Cameron picture is still one hell of a ride to be on. 8.5/10

'Office Space' is great!
The first chunk of the movie really is just like the 'The Office'; this walked so that could run etc. Amusing to see the printer scene in its natural habitat, I've seen it out of context and parodied ('Family Guy', obviously) a few times but evidently had never seen it in the film it originates from.
The cast are terrific. This is the first time I've seen Ron Livingston act, aside from a few minor showings in four other movies, and he's very good - surprised I hadn't previously seen him in a lead role or knew of his name up until now. Nice to see Jennifer Aniston appear, while Stephen Root and Gary Cole are amusing. Credit to the others too, e.g. David Herman and Richard Riehle.

Really enjoyable, gentle, fun comedy about a very relatable topic.

I suppose you have to enjoy a certain type of comedy to truly appreciate Office Space. Be open-minded when you watch it! There are so many great scenes (like taking a terrible fax/printer to an open field and beat it to death with bats etc.) and great quotes (my favorite is always going in the background of the office scenes: "Corporate account receivables, Nina speaking, just a moment." and she just repeats it over and over.
A stellar cast tops it all off. No idea how they made it for $10m. Ron Livingston is superb in his 'I just don't give a shit about work anymore' attitude. Jennifer Anniston is just a quirky waitress that works nearby. Ron's attitude is definitely rubbing off on her. Gary Cole plays the stereotypical boss. Stephen Root plays the office hermit who ultimately.. well, you will have to watch it!

Office Space (1999) is a great movie. An artful satire on the realities of everyday life of office clerks. You definitely will get a special type of emotions from viewing, if your work is directly related to office routine. Every time I'm filling the tax forms for my co-workers, like 8825 form I keep remembering this movie.

I really enjoyed this. A great ensemble cast delivering a gangster thriller that pokes it's tongue out at just about everything/body whilst still retaining enough menace to keep it engaging. As ever with Ritchie films, it does run a bit to dialogue - and this one has an, at times, irritating narrative. Tom Wilkinson ("Lenny") is quite good as the mob boss who facilitates - and takes a cut from - most big property transactions in London; and he makes a good living from it. A Russian oligarch arrives on the scene and engages Lenny, and his slimy but ruthless sidekick "Archy" (Mark Strong) to help his with a fairly mammoth development. At this stage it all starts to go a bit pear shaped and we slowly become aware that there is much more afoot. There are several fun subplots with Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Thandie Newton all having some skin in at least part of the game; and Toby Kebbell is cracking as his dead-loss, rockstar, coke-head son "Johnny Quid". The writing is taut and humorous, and the violence much more "fantasy" and implied - even kinky, on occasion, than gory. The whole thing is a thoroughly entertaining piece of cinema - complete with killer lobsters and the smallest of cameos from Hugh Grant!

Someone is trying to make easy money, but gets screwed. However, there is always a bigger fish in the pond looking to eat the smaller fish. In this movie, lowly criminals meets councillors, junkies, dead musicians, dirty accountants, nasty crime bosses and filthy rich russians. Sounds like another movie by Guy Ritchie, more or less, and it does indeed follow the same rhythm (and theme) as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
The movie opens with the narrator, Archy, who breaks down the plot for us in tiny, easy-to-digest bits, and thats definitely my least favorite bit in the movie, but sadly, needed. This plot is a twisted labyrinth, that constantly shifts from one person to the next. There are no real heroes here, just fish eaten by sharks, hunted by humans, killed by... you get the point.
RocknRolla has a huge cast, and some big names too. In smaller roles, you'll see names such as Tom Hardy (Handsome Bob), Jeremy Piven (Roman), Thandie Newton (Stella) and Idris Elba (Mumbles), and in the bigger, you find names like Gerard Butler (One Two), Mark Strong (Archy) and Tom Wilkinson (Lenny Cole). Most of them delivers quirky and fun characters, and some of them even gives us a bit to think about, like Tom Hardy's role, Handsome Bob, who is coming to terms with being gay.
The movie is fast-paced to begin with, but slows down a bit later on. It has the obligatory violent Guy Ritchie scenes that reminds us of the early movies of Quentin Tarantino, but in the end, it is all a bit hollow. This is a movie about greed, about screwing over those with money, or even, those without.
_Last words... looking for a bit of solid entertainment, a good plot (not too easy to get your head around, but not too hard to loose you either) and some nice solid actors (and actresses), this is definitely the movie you are looking for._

Ritchie repeats again the same template and this is not one of his best shots.

Has a great first half but really lets itself down after the monster makes its first appearance. Still a solid horror, definitely worth a watch but nothing to cry about. The first house sequence was really well done and genuinely scary 3/5

David Bruckner's The Ritual is an atmospheric horror film that effectively combines psychological tension with a touch of the supernatural. The story follows four friends on a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness, where they encounter not only the haunting landscape but also their own fears and regrets.
What sets The Ritual apart is the authenticity of the characters and their relationships. The dialogue and interactions feel natural, and the bond between the friends comes across as genuine, with years of shared history subtly woven into their exchanges. This grounding in realism makes the escalating terror all the more impactful.
The film takes its time building suspense, though some scenes linger longer than necessary, and certain dialogues feel repetitive. These moments, while noticeable, don’t detract significantly from the overall experience. The latter part of the movie veers into unexpected territory, delivering an unsettling and imaginative climax that feels fresh in a genre often bound by convention.
Visually, the film is stunning, with the eerie forest serving as a character in its own right, amplifying the isolation and dread. The Ritual succeeds in blending human drama with horror, creating a story that's both haunting and deeply relatable. While not without minor flaws, it’s a compelling watch for fans of atmospheric and character-driven horror.

The Ritual is a monster movie with psychological ambitions and seemingly a decent budget. The jötunn monster is actually quite good and so are the cyclic re-enactments of the early on liquor store trauma. Unfortunately the rest of the movie is as bland as the title and relies too much on exotism of the deep Swedish forests. Sadly even that component gets watered out and the endgame cultists seem to be some recycled wiccans from Scotland rather than pre-christians of northern Scandinavia.

RELEASED IN 2017 and directed by David Bruckner, "The Ritual" is a psychological adventure/horror about four British dudes in their 30s who embark on a hike in remote northern Sweden wherein it slowly becomes evident that some THING is stalking them in the dark woods. Will any of them make it out alive?
This is basically a meshing of “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) and “Ogre” (2008), but without the tongue-in-cheekiness of the latter. There’s also a little bit of “The Wicker Man” (1973/2006). Like “Blair Witch” the foul-mouthed protagonists become increasingly horrified in the foreboding forest and eventually turn on one another. But the sylvan cinematography is leagues superior due to the spectacular Romanian locations as opposed to the pedestrian film-work of “Blair Witch” in Maryland (which is understandable since the latter is a “found-footage” flick).
I’m not going to give-away the creature, which isn’t fully revealed until the last fifteen minutes, but it’s basically a hybrid of the monsters in “The Relic” (1997) and “Wendigo” (2001), albeit bigger, and superior to both. The second half deviates from the book and people complain about it, but it’s superior to the lame black metal cult of the book IMHO and you can’t beat one potent sequence that smacks of hell-on-earth. There’s also an intriguing element about achieving nigh-immortality at the price of submissive veneration. Despite these positives, the movie’s a little uneventful and humdrum, plus it's lacking in the female department.
The movie runs 1 hour 34 minutes and was shot entirely in Romania. WRITERS: Joe Barton wrote the script based on Adam Nevill’s 2012 novel. CAST: The four protagonists are played by Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier and Sam Troughton.
GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)

I'm sorry, but who the fuck, with no promotional material, and with a name as generic as _The_ fuckin' _Ritual_, told this movie, it was allowed to be so good?
_Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._

The fight scenes were pretty bad on some of it. The movie was decent for the comedy but not for the action.

I have seen worse. I have seen better. Charlie’s Angles was always a part of jiggle tv which made it sadly a labeled brand no matter what direction you approach it from.
However I refuse to engage in a pointless debate of judging Elizabeth Banks Girl Power version vs. Mc Q’s non stop pop culture sample a thon.
Both seem to me a mirror image of lucridity that belongs to their respective eras.
My opinion should be given greater weight on this matter because I found a way to use the word Lucridity.

I really did want to like it.
So many of these girl-power-team-up action films that we've gotten in the past decade feel so hollow. Don't get me wrong, I know there is a huge sect of assholes that were absolutely unwilling to ever give this movie a chance, and had pre-ordained that it would be terrible and they hate it before a single frame was shot, and that almost every single dude in that sect made that decision specifically because of the fact that it's a movie with women in the forefront, and it is good and right to target those dudes with your derision. But having actually watched it... Yeah it's feminism with a teeny splash of gay but like... It's a very **corporate** feminism and a very **under-the-rug-able** gay. Which isn't good, but could have been fine, except that it was the only thing that I was looking forward to, and also seems to be what makes _Charlie's Angels_ think it has done enough. But it's so boardroom driven and paper-thin, which I could hack if the actual plot was any good or any number of other things that you normally look to a movie for, but by and large those aspects aren't just hollow, they're straight-up bad.
_Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._

what a junk, is all i can say

A pointless reboot for the Woke generation. I wouldn't mind quite so much if the director focused more on a believable storyline than a Twitter-pleasing one instead.
Banal to the extreme, a complete waste of time and money: these contemporary iP reboots simply are not working, especially when the political dogma is more or less forced down one's throats for the sake of a good story,

2019s ‘Charlie’s Angels’ is a fun watch with a great cast, especially a scene-stealing Kristen Stewart (she has a dance number and I need her in a ‘Step Up’ movie ASAP). I really hope this does well, as there is huge potential for sequels exploring all these new Angels. If you like pure joy, I highly recommend checking it out on the big screen.
- Chris dos Santos
Read Chris' full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-charlies-angels-a-new-generation-of-angels-another-barrel-of-fun