Movies of 2008 Review

10,000 B.C.

• Prehistoric Epic

Feels like the films "Apocalypto" and "300" combined. Somewhat generic "bad guy kills tribe, kidnaps girl, and main hero gets angry, gathers troops, and kills the other tribe" but in the ancient world with some anachronistic creatures lurking about. The first half takes place removed from civilization and is enjoyable. Disappointing ending with supernatural bringing back to life of the female character. Camilla Belle was a good casting choice for the main girl, making the film better, and as much as viewer won't want her to die, once dead, she should have stayed dead. Every thing's perfect happy endings get mundane. Roland Emmerich isn't the best director but does something worth watching every now and again. Ironically, he directed and produced "The Patriot" starring Mel Gibson, who later went on to do Apocalypto, which Roland Emmerich seemed to barrow from to some degree for this film.

Cloverfield

• Sci-Fi Horror

Similar to a docudrama, this film starts off somewhat painful. Viewers will likely be critical of the initial ways the director tries to make a film, from the perspective of one of the characters with a video recorder, incorporate elements of standard cinematography. If viewers bear with the weak opening, the film gradually gets better. The final result of all the characters efforts is done in good taste. Unfortunately, the film doesn't offer viewers an explanation for why a giant creature comes to New York, the origins of the creature, and if there is any hope for mankind. The film just ends. The are also some questionable issues with potential bad movie physics in how a giant creature would impact buildings, subways, and objects in a large city. This is a movie worth watching if you have the imagination to play out the final battle of man versus creature in your own mind.

Rambo

• Action

Hey I avoided watching this for the longest time and for all the obvious reasons. Then, there was nothing else on so I committed 91 minutes of my life to Rambo Part 1000 and was pleasantly surprised. It was actually a good action flick. When compared to the mindless action films that have been spun out of Hollywood lately, Rambo does pretty darn good. It's been 20 years since John Rambo's story was first told. Now, if you take the first Rambo movie, and this one, and discard all the Rambo films in-between, the stigma might not be so bad. Sylvester Stallone has kept in better shape than Schwarzenegger and looks the part of an X-Vietnam war bad-*ss. The mercenaries that join his crusade to rescue some naive meek Peace Corps volunteers look tough and have experience, yet they haven't been where Rambo has. He is sort of like the grandfather of mercenaries that has to set his arthritis aside long enough to bail out the younger generation of heroes.

Untraceable

• Cyber Crime Thriller

What is interesting is that the writers actually did some legitimate termonology research. However, there were many typical Hollywood's misunderstanding of computer science elements in this film, but perhaps fewer than average.

(will write more later)