Well sence I made one, and I thought I wouldn't I'll start out with a little review.
The Grudge
Well after seing the original version (Ju-On) of this, I went to apple trailers, watched the trailer for this, and thought I was in for a treat.
To start this off I'll say what this movie was about.
The Grudge is the of one who dies in a powerful rage. Everytime someone gets killed by this curse, another one is born, and it's basically a chain.
Anyways after leaving the theatre, I was extremely disappointed, probably one of the biggest disapointments sence "The Day After Tommorow", the movie had a few cheep thrills here and there. But overall the only reason you might want to see The Grudge is to see Gellar. Her acting has improved. Not an oscar worthy actress but maybe she'll be on her way in a couple years.
Waiting for replies? Actually I was busy writing a review...I did ask...but just because your title says "pimpin" in it doesn't mean your thread is going to be better than everyone elses.
Who cares who's thread is "better", neither of you apparently know how to form concise reviews, and that comes with experience.
This is how I usually write mine:
"You Can Count on Me"
"YCCOM" is a story of total plausibility, which is what drew me in. Samantha (Linney) and Terry (Ruffalo) were orphaned in 1982, after a car accident claimed the lives of their parents. Fast forward to 2000. Sammy is holding down a job at the local bank, while her nomadic brother drops in and out of trouble, work, jail, and life in general. After months without correspondance, Terry comes back to see Sam in Sunnydale, but only because he has no money. He then forms a relationship with his nephew, Rudy (Culkin).
Samantha isn't without her issues, however. Under the stress of a new boss, a failed relationship which produced a son, a new relationship on the horizon, and a subsequent affair, Sam also takes in Terry. Uneasy with the bond that has been forged between uncle and nephew, Sam must decide what is more important. Helping her brother in his time of need or protecting her son from Terry's nasty disposition and worldly views.
Without question, this is easily one of the best indies I have ever seen. Mark Ruffalo is absolutely brilliant. It was eerie to watch, having been in similar financial straits myself. His mannerisms reflected his sheer humiliation, while his outlook on life was made clear by his approach to things as simple as dining out. It was just mesmorizing. Laura Linney was superb as a conflicted single mother with her balancing act. Even Mathew Broderick, whom I hear very seldom from, delivered.
Considering the depth of the main story, and it's 4 sub plots, incredibly, everything was balanced meticulously and developed thoroughly. Totally devoid of anything in which you could get lost in, aside from the sheer brilliance in the acting of Linney and Ruffalo. Like I said before, the "real life" feel and plausibility of this movie kept me in it the whole way through.
Mark Ruffalo is as underappreciated as they come, and anyone who begs to differ needs to rent this movie immediately.
You can certainly count on "YCCOM" for a solid 2 hours of definitive independent cinema.
8.5/10
Take from that what you will. Alls I have to say is watch out, cuz I just signed up for the MVP card at Hollywood Video.
3 videos a day, 7 days a week 31 days in a month..that equals 93 movies maximum I could see and EASILY review should I choose to do so.
It's not difficult to give a review some validity.
Basically all you need is a long winded plot review. Then a bunch of filler to make your review seem longer then it really should be (because lets face it, if something is long, most people think that it's instantly valid). To accomplish this just babble on about someones acting in the movie or make some witty remarks about a funny line and how it hurt the movie, or you can mention other movies that are similar and what you liked or disliked about this particular movie as opposed to those similar movies.
Then what precisely you didn't/did like about it (this parts actually important) and what you thought about the plot and blah blah blah some more.
Also break down paragraphs properly and add spaces between paragraphs because that makes your review seem longer, and as we already established a long, well organized review with proper spacing will gain more credibility then the same exact review with the same wording without the proper spacing.
Hey, Cinemaddiction, first off I rate movies 0-**** which I think is a better system...second of all, I HAVEN'T even started my reviews...I just put up a list of movies that I thought were great...It takes awhile to write a good review...and however most of your review was plot description, which I avoid in mine mostly because people will only read them if they've heard about it or seen it before, so there's no point in stating the plot in detail like you did...I talk more about what I thought was good or bad about the movie...but that's just me...
4 stars, IMO, doesn't give a reviewer much range. Secondly, most of my sample wasn't a plot review. In fact, 2 paragraphs were used to set up the movie, the 3rd being what I liked about the movie, the 4th being what I disliked, and the final paragraph weighs the overall pros and cons. It's pretty formulaic.
People only read reviews of movies they have seen? I think not. People look to reviews so that they can decide wether or not they want to see the movie. Reading a review of a movie after having seen it is pointless, unless you're looking for a debate.
See, I review lesser known movies, the likes of which most people skip over, not the Hollywood blockbuster bullshit. I've probably done more reviews for indies and Horror and Sci Fi than anything else.
Gender: Male Location: Welfare Kingdom of California
All this trouble over reviewing a movie. Big deal! Just write "I like it" or "didn't like it" Add extra comments and that's it! Is not like you're getting paid for this.
[edit note]Don't forget to use spoiler tags!
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Last edited by WanderingDroid on Oct 26th, 2004 at 09:05 PM
True true...But however Cinnemaddiction, I review ALL movies and I didn't say it was people that had JUST seen the movie that read the reviews of them...I ALSO said people that had "heard of the movie" meaning people who want to know if it is good or not and have heard of it before and want to know if it is any good...People don't read reviews usually of movies they have never heard of...sorry...and actually the 0-4 scale is the most widely used rating system...Think major critics...its the one most movie goers are familiar with...they don't want to know if you gave it 5.99.9 out of 10. 0-Terrible. *-Bad. **-Fair. ***-Good. ****-Excellent. And course there is the half stars...that is what I will use and what many people find easiest to follow. Now, enough debating. These are our opinions of movies and movie reviews. Goodbye.
Last edited by hunchy on Oct 26th, 2004 at 10:20 PM
Just an editor's note, that was to read "wants", not "want's". Here's another apostrophe for ya.
You're no fun.
**** critics, and **** people who are cinematically/mentally inept to such a degree that they can't decide on a movie on their own.
I mean..
The reason I reviewed the movies I did was to raise awareness to movies that I felt deserved some attention. Now, as subjective as that may be, I feel as if I can write without bias most of the time, which everyone can appreciate. People know that I personally watch most everything. That's why, given you appreciate my review of, say, "Collateral", you may be tempted to read the review following that for "Lost Skeleton of Cadavra".
Unless someone puts it out on the table, how will they ever know?
Cinemaddictio, what you review is totally cool. I'll review any movie I've seen, Independent or major...I was mainly talking about the rating system...and Solo and I are gonna close down our threads and begin a new one where we both review and debate the movies...kind of like Ebert and Roeper.