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Jason and Shawn review: 127 Hours and Faster

127 Hours

Shawn: Well, I don't know if a movie can get closer to a documentary than this. Although flashbacks and flash forwards aren't included in most documentaries. However, this is a dry watch, as I figure it would have been a fairly dry experience to suffer through. I've watched the actual documentary about Aron Ralston and have to give the man a tonne of props. That was a good documentary, and interesting. This wasn't, and something about James Franco bugs me. So 127 Hours rates an Ugly for me.

Jason: 127 Hours is a great story that isn't told properly. Director Danny Boyle leaves that canyon as much as possible, which pulled me from the experience. Every flashy camera trick and hallucinatory image used to capture what is going on in Ralston's mind is great to look at, but it mutes what tension there is in the film. This is a personal, emotional story that didn't engage me one bit. It's hard not to compare this to Buried, which tells a similar story better. 127 Hours rates a Bad for me.

Faster

Shawn: I've liked The Rock in everything he's done. He is a great actor and we need a decent action star right now. Though he has very little in terms of lines in this movie, he says a lot more with his face than I was expecting. Sure, this is a cliched story, but I found it mind-numbingly entertaining. It's simple and determined, with some good action. I will watch it again. It's a Good for me.

Jason: OK. What went wrong here? Why didn't the alternate ending on the Blu-Ray make it into theatres? The theatrical ending is typical Hollywood happy-crappy bullshit. The alternate ending is the one this decent action movie deserves. Faster is a straightforward film that veers from the course too often. I don't care about Cop's drug problems, nor do I buy the hitman character one bit. When The Rock is onscreen, this cooks with gas. When he isn't, it's a bit of a bore. A Bad for me.
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Comments

  1. CasinodwarfMarch 6, 2011 at 7:33 AM

    Faster was Good for me as well. Dwayne was bad ass in this movie.

    I have not seen 127 hours and I will not. Stupid dude cuts off his own arm due to his own stupidity?!? Not my scene. I like Franco though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We Came from the BasementMarch 6, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    Fair comments Casinodwarf. Fair comments.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael StewartMarch 10, 2011 at 11:36 PM

    I'll probably watch "Faster" since I like action films, but probably not "127 Hours" since I've never really been into those kinds of films.

    ReplyDelete

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