Furious Grimm Lord

Movie Review: The Fast and the Furious (2001)

This is a movie that I never had any intentions of renting, or for that matter, watching at all. It was on TV in HD so I thought I'd give it a spin. The only good thing I can really say about this movie is that the cars were pretty cool. That's about it. Otherwise, this was a pretty clunky ride. I think this was Vin Diesel's break out movie but it's hard to see why. Other than looking a bit dangerous and aloof there isn't anything else to his performance. The cars were less stiff and flat than his character. The plot is simply ripped off from an older Keanu Reeves movie called 'Point Break'. Simply substitute car racing for surfing and bam you've got a new movie. Here we've got a group of street racers who are ripping off cargo from trucks during their spare time. The way they steal the things is absolutely ridiculous though. As they race down the freeways 1 car races in front of the still-hurtling-down-the-road semi-trailer. Then a masked criminal leans out the passenger window, shoots a hook from a crossbow into the front of the cab and climbs across to the truck, forcing it to stop. This is an insanely stupid plan. Luckily for our anti-heroes the truck driver doesn't do the smart thing or the panicky thing which would be to either:

1. slow down
2. speed up
3. turn left
4. turn right

Just about anything would fling this fool onto the road. Of course the movie has to end with a big race to see who's swinging the biggest carburator. I'd stick with Hanna-Barbara's 'Wacky Races' if you want to see some good asphalt action. 5/10

Movie Review: Lord of War (2005)

I was very impressed with this movie. Nicolas Cage finally gets a decent role again. Here he's a unscrupulous arms dealer who deceives his family and becomes one of the biggest movers and shakers in the bloodiest game out there (not talking about rugby here either). The opening credits play over the life of a bullet, from it's creation in a factory to it's final resting place in the forehead of a young African boy. This is a good indication that this movie isn't going to pull any punches and it really doesn't. A particularily movie scene has Cage and his brother working out the final details for a big sale, all the time knowing that their product will be used immediately on the village of refugees just behind them. Interestingly, IMDB states that no US studio would back this film and all funds were provided by foreign sources. 8/10

Movie Review: The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Ever since I saw 'Timebandits' I've been a huge Terry Gilliam fan. I became even more of one when I learned he was a member of Monty Python. His movies always have a real sense of 'fantasy' to them. 'Brothers Grimm' has this feeling but unfortunately it's not all that interesting. Damon and Ledger play the 2 brothers. While the historical pair simply gathered old fairy tales and publish them, our movie twosome are fraudulent ghostbusters. They charge handsome amounts to rid towns of ghosts and spirits that they themselves are 'staging'. Along the way they become enbroiled in a real mystical situation as an on witch, who lives in a entranceless tower, kidnaps children to regain her youth and skin tone. What makes this movie somewhat weak is that it is part slap-stick comedy, part fantasy, part horror, part romance. It can't really seem to decide what it wants to be and suffers as a result. 6.5/10