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Bill Bonfanti |
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7/17/2008 12:54 PM |
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FilmGo's REEL Reviews for Real People primarily focuses on current theatrical releases. |
By Bill Bonfanti on
6/24/2009 4:48 PM
7.5 out of 10
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is one hell of a schizophrenic movie! There are parts that are terrific, high octane fun and there are parts that are so bad you can’t help but cringe during them. Fallen also strives to be more adult than the original featuring more suggestive dialogue and sexual situations than the first film, but at the same time is geared more towards kids. I realize that doesn’t make much sense, but here is a perfect example. There are two new Autobots (the good guys) named Skids and Mudflap who are solely in the movie to provide comic relief and crack up youngsters. The only problem is that these characters curse quite a few times. It seems like a rather odd contradiction to me. Kids run out and buy the toy versions of these lovable, silly robots… just don’t repeat any of their dialogue from the movie! All in all, the good outweighs the bad, but the first film is way superior.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
6/19/2009 3:50 PM
6 out of 10
Year One, a prehistoric stoner age comedy starring Jack Black and Michael Cera is an amusing at best comedy that never quite gels or deliver big laughs. You might chuckle a bit, but that’s all. Don’t get me wrong, Year One isn’t a terrible movie, it’s just not a great one either. I expect more from director Harold Ramis, one of the geniuses behind the funniest movie ever (in my opinion), Ghostbusters. Then again Ramis has always been sort of hit or miss; for every Groundhog’s Day there is a Bedazzled. The main problem with Year One is that it plays as a series of different sketches and never coheres into one definitive film.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
6/12/2009 3:26 PM
8.5 out of 10
The Taking of Pelham 123 is a slick, reimagining of the 1974 original that is filled to the brim with suspense, action and the one thing that is missing from many big budget spectacles, good old fashioned character development. Director Tony Scott has crafted a tension filled thriller with both John Travolta and Denzel Washington sharing a chemistry that propels the film to its rocketing conclusion.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
6/6/2009 2:23 PM
9 out of 10
The Hangover, starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis as three men who take their buddy, Doug (Justin Bartha) to Vegas for his bachelor party is one hell of a party that will leave you drunk with laughter. Directed by Todd Philips, The Hangover takes the Vegas bachelor party that we’ve seen so many times before and puts it squarely in ludicrous territory resulting in a bevy of laughs and smiles.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
5/29/2009 11:42 AM
9 out of 10
After a decade spent filming the Spider-Man trilogy, director Sam Raimi returns to his Evil Dead horror roots with Drag Me to Hell, a terrifying movie that is no doubt the scariest film I’ve seen in ages. Raimi has created a horror film with too many to count jump out of your seat moments along with multiple gross out moments that will make you want to go home and take a shower. In fact, I jumped out of my seat more times during Hell than I have during the last 10 fright flicks I’ve seen combined.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
5/22/2009 3:08 PM
8 out of 10
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the sequel to 2006’s smash, comedy hit is just as good as the first. Many sequels tend to be the same movie with a bigger budget, but Smithsonian escapes that trap and tells a completely different story than the original. Smithsonian also manages to come up with fresh comedy rather than retread all the funny moments of the original, although some of the better bits do pop up again; the slap fight between Stiller and the monkey comes to mind.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
5/21/2009 3:21 PM
5 out of 10
It pains me to say this but Terminator Salvation really isn’t very good. It is an action packed spectacle with absolutely no soul. All the prior Terminator films in the series, including the underappreciated third entry, are infinitely better than Salvation, in every possible way. Hell, even the recently cancelled television series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is far superior.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
5/19/2009 8:51 AM
After 4 seasons on the run, the adventures of Michael Scofield, Lincoln Burrows and friends has come to a gripping, satisfying conclusion with the 2 hour series finale of Prison Break which aired this past Friday on FOX. I’ve been a fan of this thrilling, ORIGINAL series since the very first episode and I can tell you for sure that the finale had more twists and turns than a season of Heroes; it was one hell of a roller coaster ride much like the entire series itself. If you haven’t yet watched it, I warn you there are major spoilers ahead.
After 4 seasons of watching Michael think his way out of every impossible situation imaginable, I was disappointed that the series ended with him dying from a brain tumor (presumably); what can I say, I’m a sucker for...
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By Bill Bonfanti on
5/15/2009 3:20 PM
5 out of 10
Let me start my review by saying that I wasn’t a fan of 2006’s The Da Vinci Code, although I do love the book by Dan Brown. Understandably, I went in to Angels & Demons with lower expectations and I felt very much like I did during Code…. Bored. I will say that Angels is better than its predecessor, but truthfully that’s not saying much. Adapting both The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons to the big screen seems like a no brainer on paper, but in reality it just doesn’t work.
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By Bill Bonfanti on
5/14/2009 7:45 PM
Just thought I’d share some random thoughts I’ve been having lately about FOX’s upcoming series, Glee, AI, the Lost finale, J.J. Abrams and the fate of Chuck.
As I was watching the American Idol results show with my daughter last night, we saw an extended commercial for FOX’s new fall series, Glee. Is it just me or should this be called High School Musical: The Series? I asked my daughter (who is 8 and therefore an expert on all things HSM) what she thought and she couldn’t agree more. In fact she seemed horrified that a new show was about to rip off her beloved franchise. I mean really, it has the same plot. The only difference is that a glee club stands in for the drama club. There’s the High School Jock (I think he plays football instead of basketball; major creative difference) who upsets the social status...
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