August - Short Reviews

15. 8. Teen Spirit (2011) - 2 / 10

I felt like watching a high school comedy, but it's hard to even try enjoying this film.

Teen Spirit is like Mean Girls meets ghosts, which seems so ridiculous it could be something good. There is a lot of potential in the story. With the right writers it could be hilarious. Well, they failed. The whole film just makes you cringe. It has every bad cliché trope in the book and eventually everything deep feels fake. This is the kind of high school movie 8-year-olds like, but anyone else probably just feels annoyed.

I for one want to forget I ever saw this movie. Sure, there were few feel-good moments (that's why I'm giving this movie a 2 instead of 1), but apart from that 6 % of the film everything feels forced and just... horrible..

17. 8. Barely Lethal (2015) - 7 / 10

There's something more important than watching good movies, and that's watching movies that make you feel good. So whether it's an award winner praised by critics or a silly high school / secret agent movie, it doesn't matter. Barely Lethal is such a nice and fun movie, which is why I saw it again, even if it isn't the best movie out there.

19.8. Shark Tale (2005) - 7 / 10

It always makes me nervous to watch old childhood favourites. Like, how bad were they this time?

But luckily Shark Tale (which I always thought was Shark's Tale) isn't as embarrassing as childhood favourites can be. Sure, there are a few immature jokes, but hey, what kid movie hasn't? But this movie is still genuinely funny.

The best part of this Shark Tale is that the plot could easily be changed so it could fit the human world, in which case it would be quite a hard crime thriller. You could even keep the music which would give it a nice feeling.

Of course Shark Tale isn't as good as it could be, but at least I'm not embarrassed since I loved this movie when I was eight. Shark Tale was the first movie I watched in English, and it remains the only movie I've seen with the commentary.

21,8. Down with Love (2003) - 3 / 10

I once saw pieces of Down with Love on TV. The film is extremely silly and over the top. That was the first thing that caught my eye then and made me interested. However, after all these years that level of silliness just feels annoying. Of course this movie has something amazing as well, like the kind of plot twists you would never see coming, and a lot of them. Still, even they don't seem to be enough to salvage the movie. It's boring, and eventually quite predictable, if you don't the plot twists that shuffle the pack a bit. The 60's aesthetic and music is a nice touch, but eventually this movie was a big let down. The cast is excellent, though.

24,8, Take Me Home Tonight (2011) - 4 / 10

I saw this DVD sitting on the shelf at the rental store so many times, and I finally decided to actually watch it. Eventually it turned out to be such a disappointment. I hoped for more plot than just "LOL we are at the party and that's my crush" and blah blah blah, whatever this movie was supposed to be about. The story is really boring and only a few characters are relatable.

The cover promised me the talented cast will make me laugh out loud. Sure, the cast is talented, like Topher Grace, Anna Faris, etc, but I don't think I laughed out loud once.

The best thing about this movie is the 80s aesthetic, that's it.

26.8. Men in Black II (2002) - 9 / 10

I've always loved Men in Black and I think it's hard to try to review your childhood favourites. I mean it's one thing if you watched the movie when you were certain age but not afterwards, but I've watch Men in Black II several times.

Still, Men in Black films are always fun. They are fun whether you are a kid, a teenager or an adult, and that shows something. They have interesting technology and aliens in them. It's the kind of franchise I always want to know more about the alien species and the widgets and maybe the history of MIB, all that. Maybe the things that are briefly viewed in the movies aren't thoroughly thought out, but they always look like so much fun.

I like the story and I like the characters, the music, almost everything. Sure, the first one is much more interesting than this one, but that's mostly because the first one feels so new and we can see it through J's eyes, because it's just as new to him. While the second movie is just as good and interesting, it doesn't feel as fresh. Still, an excellent film, the best kind of science fiction there is.

28.8. Men in Black 3 (2012) - 10 / 10

For some reason it has been hard for me to begin writing this small review.

Most of the time sequels are horrible, if the filmmakers just come up with them instead of knowing there will be a certain number of movies. However, Men in Black 3 is just as excellent as the first two, but it has something new to give, since agent J has to go back in time to save his partner agent K. We get to know more about K, even if some of the knowledge we get is in contradiction with other stuff.

Everything that's good with the first two movies is still good in the  third one, and it offers newer things: more alien species and more celebrities who are in fact aliens or MIB agents, stuff like that. These films never fail to make me smile, even if there are very heart-breaking scenes in them as well.

29.8. The Last Heist (2016) - 1 / 10

You know how there are those B-movies with the weirdest concepts like giant spiders fighting a shark with four heads? Well, The Last Heist is a bit like that, but a lot more boring: bank robbers versus a serial killer. Nothing in this movie was good.