The newest edition to the reviewers of the site is sadly, Snrub. Here's a link to all his damn reviews.

Before Sunset: http://www.worldofkj.com/Clough-BeforeSunset.php - A
Oldboy: http://www.worldofkj.com/Clough-OldBoy.php - C-
Sahara: http://www.worldofkj.com/Clough-Sahara.php - B-
xXx: State of the Union: http://www.worldofkj.com/Clough-XXX.php - B

Snrub, I can't get access to all your reviews. Karl hasn't updated the main site and review section in a while. If you can, post the links to your reviews and I'll update this post.

How can I possibly follow that marvellous introduction?

*farts*

Honestly, I don't need my own thread. My stuff's not really that interesting (or good). Thanks though!

I think the reviews I've read are great. M$B and OldBoy. These threads get fed at will, when the front page is updated, because some members like to give you feedback in a thread that's all your own. Its got your name in the sig and everything, so now you're *officially special*.

Oh, trust me, Snrub. I completely agree. Your reviews don't warrent it's own thread.

But, dolce insisted. And, I have to listen to dolce or face the whip.

Enjoy.

I'll be honest, I'm genuinely uncertain as to whether you're being serious or sarcastic right now, zing.

Either way, thanks for the thread. I think.

That's the good part. You'll never know.

They call me the man of mystery. Then, Jay Roach took it and gave it to Austin Powers. Shagadelic.

It's sarcasm mixed in with a sprinkle of truth. I call it, truthasm.

Nice Snrub, its the same grade I gave Old Boy. I think the surprise elements worked against me instead of going with my favor. Maybe its just me that viewed the last 40 mins of the movie as sickening but I can understand people loving the movie and seeing it as art

I call the above not funny.

Snrub, don't listen to Zingy. He's being TOO optimistic.

But, anyways, your reviews rock. Write more of 'em.

Nice, Snrub. Congrats.

Zing -- you should make up a fake moniker that sounds like a real name, rather than have yours as be "by Zingaling". Just pick a first name and then have last name Zing, that way people will know its you yet it sounds real.

I'm sure others have nagged you about this, just adding my voice to it.

Just make it, like: Zeen Galing

http://www.worldofkj.com/Clough-Constantine.php

That's the only other one I could find. It would appear a lot of the links to my older reviews are dead, presumably happened when the site was redesigned. 'Tis of no importance!

Thanks for the kind words, Torrino, Archie, Roid and Dolce!

What other ones did you write, Snrub?

I'll ask Karl to find the links.

I have a request as a reader of WoKJ. Browsing through reviews right now, I couldn't find how to get to any reviews other than the few ones that are posted as current. On the page where a review is printed, how about making the author's name into a link that brings up an index of their reviews? I'm aware that this is more work and nobody is getting paid here, but perhaps it is a goal to shoot for? Something to work towards, when time and energy permit?

I've found the links, they're just seem to have been taken down. The ones that are missing seem to be The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby and Saw.

I especially enjoyed your review for the 1999 Matt Damon movie The Subtle Bump.

Sahara review!

Sahara

By Snrub

It’s difficult to pin-point what it is about Sahara that makes it work. It has all the telltale signs of failure - a b-list cast, a first-time director with a famous dad, production delays up the wazoo, Matthew McConaughey... But somehow, Sahara manages to rise above other similar genre offerings to achieve something very few adventure films in recent years have. The Mummy did it, just barely. National Treasure did it in spades. Now Sahara too has achieved the rank of being a superlative action/adventure fluff film.

The film, based on a Clive Cussler novel of the same name, follows dashing adventurer Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) and his trusty sidekick Al Giordino (Steve Zahn) as they attempt to find a legendary ship from the Civil War era long since thought lost. The clues lead them to a part of Africa, where, by sheer coincidence, a sexy doctor for the World Health Organisation (Penelope Cruz) believes a potentially catastrophic plague is originating from. A series of mishaps involving the region’s military (governed by a nefarious warlord, no less) convince Pitt and Giordino to help sort out the plague business and unravel the conspiracy that lies behind it. Gunfights, car chases, camel rides and much derring-do ensue.

Matthew McConaughey stars as the ludicrously named Pitt, a role surprisingly suited to his chiselled, surfer-boy charisma. McConaughey’s long lingered on the cusp of stardom, never quite making the crossover into bona-fide movie star. But Hollywood seems to have a limitless amount of goodwill for the guy, and he’s nothing if not persistent. Sahara seems, at first, to be just another attempt for him to leap onto the a-list by nabbing his own successful action franchise, and all things considered, it’s not a bad try. Ultimately, he delivers a thoroughly believable Pitt, a tanned, heroic figure with pearly whites and a cheesy grin.

The rest of the cast all vary in their roles. Zahn makes a terrific sidekick to McConaughey. Their banter is both funny and realistic, imbuing the pair with a perceived history as rich as it is symbiotic. The only weak link is Penelope Cruz, who sputters and starts as a doctor who winces at the sight of dead bodies. Thankfully she remains a blank slate for the most part; a plot device designed to keep McConaughey and Zahn on the case, while occasionally doing her darndest to look pretty.

If there’s a problem with Sahara, it’s focus. In that the first half of the film doesn’t really seem to have one. In fact, Sahara seems to be structured rather like a Simpsons episode, wherein the first ten minutes of the episode tend to have very little to do with the rest (remember the episode when Homer starts to plan Grampa’s funeral, only to wind up with a tennis court in his back yard?). Initially, the search for a legendary boat looks to be the film’s main focus, with Penelope Cruz and her plague apparently a sub-plot inserted to get her along for the ride. Come the second half, however, the boat’s been almost completely forgotten. You keep expecting it to spring up and become relevant again, but by the time it finally makes an appearance; it’s become more of an afterthought than a crucial plot point.

Sahara really shines when the action kicks in. Playing homage to countless adventure flicks, but never feeling unoriginal, the film is at its best when the bullets are flying and the logic is stretched to its very limits. Sahara combines the best parts of the Bond and Indiana Jones franchises with charm and flair to create a film that compares highly with its contemporaries (unlike a certain Mummy franchise). Hopefully it’s only the first of many cinematic endeavours for Dirk Pitt and his trusty sidekick Al.

Overall Grade: B-

Sahara review is now up on the front page: http://www.worldofkj.com/Clough-Sahara.php

Just looked it over. You have a really extraordinary way with words. I loved this part the best:



That and I agree with you about Cruz. i haven't seen Sahara, but I consider her an incredibly over-rated actress to begin with. Nice to see she continues to persevere without acting skills or appropriate role selection.

Interestingly enough, Matthew still won't be A-list even after Sahara. Something about him i guess. He's not bad, and has been in many 100 million blockbusters and love stories, and he's still not a star. Ah well.

Glad to see you enjoyed it, didn't realize you had disliked The Mummy. I thought everyone would be comparing this to that franchise, since they seem pretty similar in nature.

Cheers for the kind words, Dolce!

Penelope Cruz is not only a bit of a pants actress, but she's actually quite ugly to boot! How she got the status of sex symbol is beyond me. Matthew McConaughey's a fine actor, with plenty of charisma and boffo good lucks, but he made a few too many poor choices at his career peak and paid the price. Now the shine's gone and I think he's doomed to forever wander in not-quite-A-list-dom.

It's not that I disliked The Mummy. It passed the time, and I had fun watching it. But it didn't hold a candle to the films it was trying to rip-off.

Thank goodness. i didn't want to say it for risk of getting ousted from the forums, but I concur wholeheartedly.



Like Reign of Fire? That movie was hilarious.

As a suggestion, you're first post in this thread, start an archive of all your movies as they come up, in one post, so that it's easy for people to check them out. I'd say put it in the firt post as I and Zingy can, but you don't have access to that, so put the list in the first of your posts. It would be a shame if people couldn't look over all of them because the main site is still going through alot of changes. This way people still have a route to them, and they difeinately should.

xXx 2: State of the Union

By Snrub

Wow, I was not looking forward to seeing this one little bit. In fact, I never really planned on seeing it at all. Sure, I thought, I might catch it on Cable eventually, but other than that, I don’t think I’ll be wasting my hard-earned cash on what looks to be a pile of utter tosh. A strange twist of fate and two hours later, and my opinions have been duly flipped on their head. xXx 2 is not only not tosh, it’s actually pretty damn great.

The first thing that looked wrong with this film is its star, Ice Cube. Hot off unconvincing action roles in the likes of ‘Ghosts of Mars’ and ‘Torque’, I was resolute in my disapproval. He’s too cuddly to be an action star, I mused, while sipping on a steaming cup of espresso one lazy afternoon. What kind of damned fool would cast him in the same league as action dynamo Vin Diesel? I pondered, only moments later. Now, though my opinion on his cuddlyness hasn’t altered (even when he’s at his most scowly, I just want to hug him!), I’ve certainly been forced to change my mind on whether cuddly can sell action.

The film itself starts off awfully. The pre-credits sequence is ridiculous, as is the post credits jailbreak. But even as I sat in my cinema seat, snorting derisively (and somewhat arrogantly) at the on-screen shenanigans, I couldn’t help but be a little entertained by the mindless action and corny dialogue (I don’t think there’s a conversation in the whole film that doesn’t involve Ice Cube delivering a snarky, yet audience rousing, put-down). By the time The Cube flew a boat onto a bridge, crushing a police car before waddling off in slow-mo, scowling adorably as everything explodes behind him, I was completely sold on the whole thing.

The adverts do little to really sell this film on its urban appeal, instead opting to make it look like a political action thriller with a few more explosions than usual. But by the time Cube gets together with his old car-jacking buddies (including Xzibit, playing Xzibit with aplomb) to take on half the US army and the White House, you realise exactly what this film is: the perfect modern day upgrade to the 70’s blaxploitation flicks. Practically every white person in the film is evil, and the film’s climactic action scene is essentially much the hood versus the army. Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson and Xzibit taking on the White House in a tank? It doesn’t get much better than that.

I was never a fan of the first xXx. The action sequences were ludicrous (not to mention dull), Vin Diesel never really convinced as an X-treme sports junkie/superspy, and the whole thing felt more like a low-rent Bond than a up-to-date Bond equivalent. This time out the film manages to distance itself from Bond comparisons and creates a cosy niche all its own. The action sequences are still ludicrous, Ice Cube certainly doesn’t convince as an ex-Navy Seal, but the whole thing is so damn entertaining you don’t care. Or rather, you shouldn’t. Putting too much thought into this film is doing it a disservice. It’s so entertaining, so mind-numbingly silly and, at times, so awful, that it borders on being an all-time classic. I hope I’m not alone when I say, roll on xXx 3.

Final Grade: B

Snrub liked xXx2?!

It's gotta be a good movie, then, if Snrub liked it that much.

It's really not as bad as the RT critics say :wink:

Glad you liked it Snrub.

Hehe, that's funny, my older brother also made comparisons between it and those totally crazy blaxploitation films from "back in the day". I'm definitely pumped for seeing this in all it's batshit crazy awesomeness.

Your review for Before Sunset brings up many of the same points as mines did. Thats to say i mostly agree with what youve said; notably on the sencirity of the leads.

I found it way more engaging than its predecessor though. Which did not age well