Li'l Duce's Reviews Palace

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Hulk (2003) Thought I had watched it, but it was probably the one with Norton I had seen. It seems people criticized it as being dull, boring. It certainly is, as any superhero movie lasting more than 2 hours. They have to fatten it up with dialogues, personal story, background etc.:i.e. all that is not CGE: which is the main reason people watch this crap. So you have to wait 40' before you can see the transformation. Two of the fights ()the one with the dogs and the one with Nolte) are practically invisible as they are covered by darkness. Still the fight against the tanks is good, that alone earns it a 6/10.

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The Sea Wolf (1941) I bought the book in the 80's and still haven't read it. But now I probably will, at least to understand what the drama in the movie is about, as I haven't understood the Robinson's character motivations. That is to say I haven't understood the movie. Which is anyway a good adventure movie, all shot in studio with models and back projections, visually effective. Sure, apart from the Robinson's character there are other things that just don't rhyme: so Garfield and others prefer to abandon the ship in the middle of the ocean to try their fortune in a boat. And inexplicably Robinson knew about their plain but how he did is left to imagination. 7/10

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The Avengers (2012) This one gets 7-8/10 because it is all-action, little dialogue, little psychology, all CGE.

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Taken 2 (2012) I was sure I had rated this on the board, but anyway, since I gave 9/1o to n. 1, I give 8/10 to0 this one, only because I'm partial to Paris compared to Istanbul (where, admittedly, I've never been). All action, except for the introductory first 20 minutes. And it is about 90', as it ought to be.

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Taken 3  (2014) This really sucks, not a single element of originality, the plot can be seen through after 15 minutes, only stunt never seen before (at least by me) is the crashing car against the plane's wheels: that alone earns it, maybe, a 5/10 instead of a full 4/10.

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Se7en (1995) Without the Paltrow-Freeman (whose only reason to exist  is to give more drama to the finale) and the one between Spacey and Pitt dialogues  I could have given it a 9/10. So it's 8/10.

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Col cuore in gola (1968) This is good if you're longing for a headache: split screen, super-fast editing and nonsense dialogues. Based (loosely) on a novel I've read not so many years ago and which has little to do on what you see on the screen, the plot is as predictable as can be, if you care to follow it. I didn't. Boring and nonsensical, stay away from it as leper. 4/10

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Spider-Man (2002) I save the first scenes when Parker discovers his powers and the fight with the Goblin in the daylight. Jameson's comedic potential is given short shrift and the other action scenes are not worth remembering: especially the wrestling scene it was worth more invention: too short and too banal. Of course, the scenes with Parker and the girl are too many and too boring. And I missed the Ray Ellis theme from the '60's TV series. 4-5/10

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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) This is set in WWII and so it is a bit different from the rest of superheroes diet. The CGE are consequentially less obtrusive but that that is an advantage is debatable. 6/10

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Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) This episode af All in the Family is much better than the last one I had reviewed here and can't find with the search function. Still is too long and I cannot follow the dialogues as I can't remember what all of the characters and gizmos are about. But the canyon chase is good so it earns a 6/10

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Any Given Sunday (1999) I remembered only the inches speech of this one. Can't see I was wrong. I saw North Dallas Forty two-three times in the 80's  and I remember it as much better than this one. The Stone's flick is as usual too melodramatic in depicting the characters who end up inevitably looking phony. The editing, visual and audio, is as often with Stone, remarkable. 6/10   

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The Equalizer (2014) Apparentlty this was the first one of the "come back and kill 'em all" sub-genre  and Washington is surely a good option compared to the other lead characters that came afyer. The problem I have with this one is, first of all, the villain: a kind of poor man's Eddie Constantine who really isn't not even remotely scaring. And then there's too much space given to the secondary, good characters friends of the hero (but I liked how the recovery of the ring is treated synecdochically). So cuts, as usual, would have been in order. 7-8/10

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The Equalizer 2 (2018) Better than the first, less melodrama (still too much, for my taste) and a very good final  confrontation in a evacuated storm threatened town. 8/10

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Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) This is good more as a documentary of what a life in a british naval ship in the era of napoleonic wars was than from a dramatic pov: there is little in that regard. The battles, especially the first ones, are well made but the last one is hard to follow. The suicide with the cannonball is ludicrous. 7/10

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Spider-Man 2(2004) This is valued more than 1 and 3 at IMDB. But for the wrong reasons. It's not the CGE which make the difference but the pace and the characters, who act in a logical way, at least as much it is allowed in this genre of movies. Especially the realtionship between Parker and the girl evolves in a natural way. And the fact that the hero reveals his identity to her makes this acceptable. There are strange quotations from other movies (notably the B.J. Thomas hit) and Jameson is very funny. 7/10