I hate to dislike movies. As someone who tries to catch at least 3 a week (more if I can), I usually wind up accepting the vast majority of entertinment thrown at me. I can meet it where it is and enjoy it for what it is. When i don’t like a movie, like really don’t like it, Itry to go online and read the opinions of Variety, The Hollyowod Reporter, and Roger Ebert for some insight.

Maybe there was something I missed, ya know? Sometimes, however, after reading these reviews as well as a message board over at The Movie Blog, I just accept that I didn’t like the film; and that’s okay. I don’t have to. Those who do, who “got it” and enjoyed it, I am very happy for, but I can accept taht some movies I just hate. Open Water happens to be one of them.

Now, first and foremost, I wish those who had success through the film, the director and actors and crew, the very best. This was an indy film to the max–under 150k budget, all produced, coordinated, and completed by a husband-and-wife duo, out-of-pocket. They gambled on a dream, and it paid off. I am unabashedly happy for their success. They certainly earned it for the risk they took in this production. The actors likewise took a risk, and I applaud their efforts.

That being said, I felt the directing in this film was not only uninteresting and flat, but I abhorred the performances by the leads, felt awkward by the gratuitous nudity; and felt an overall sense of nihilistic depression by the movie’s end–not only because the ending is so uneventful and poorly played, but because the characters were so hollow and foolish that I could not but help but think, “We humans are doomed.” In fact, the best directed and acted part of the movie is the segment involving a a man who forgot his scuba mask and the screw’s miscount as a result. Other than that, the movie had very little I enjoyed or could even tolerate. I really didn’t believe the actors for a moment, and the shot selection, less a solid 20 shots, was horrendous–like a high school student film by someone uninterested in the movies.

I mean, it really takes alot for me to just dislike a movie start-to-finish. Sometimes it’s a theme, an exploitative sequence, or a bad performance. Sometimes I just think it’s all a mess. Open Water seems to be the victim of all or any of these personal pet peeves of mine, and for that, I give it a 1

I enjoyed Ocean’s 3, and I should say right now that it is a better movie than say Spider-man 3 or Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, both of which I enjoyed more, simply because I am a fanboy. Luckily for me, I have constructed the movie write-ups as a “meviews” of my personal like or dislike for the movies, not their actual quality. Hence, I am giving Oceans 13 a little lower score than those other blockbusters; but truth be told, it was better than them on every level.

Frankly, Ocean’s 13 is more of the same. It’s arguably charismatic actors fully embracing their Hollywood personals and imbuing characters with them, resulting in some fun time. It’s not much different than the last two movies aside from its experimental, nonlinear structure. In earnest, as the movie doesn’t bring much new to the table, and it doesn’t have the effects or scope to warrant the big screeen, it’s not a necessarily theatrical experience. A rental of the flic would have been just as good, I think.

Really, I am guessing I liked this so much was that my expectations were lower than dirt. I really couldn’t get into Ocean’s 12, and I was ready for this outing to be just as mediocre. I dug Ocean’s 11, and this one was just like it. It was fun, engaging, and while imperfect, moved at a great pace and had a good deal of laughs. I am giving it a well-earned 4, and I will probably enjoy watching it again on DVD and catching some gags and stuff I missed!

What to even say…How to even begin.
Ong Bak is awesome. Or rather, Tony Jaa is awesome. Not since Bruce Lee has the raw power, not timing or size, but POWER of a Martial Artist been so completely evident and awe-inspring. Tony Jaa, the film’s star, may not be the next Jackie Chan or Jet Li, but he is the next Bruce Lee. He is the only martial artist to display Lee’s charismatic perfection of martial arts and power to match it. When Jaa hits people in this movie, you can tell he’s holding back, BUT it still looks like he is beating the tar out of them–and isn’t that what martial arts flics are all about.

Jaa stars as a villager seeking the stolen head of his home’s idol/buddha in this fish-out-of-water flic filled with martial arts mayhem. He encounters former citizens of his village in the big city, uniting with one and hunting another. He is taken advantage of, constantly attacked, and cheated; but the stoic hero never loses sight of his goal, never stops his pursuit, and never lets up–culminating in an ending move on one of the film’s main villains that my friend Dean lovingly Dubbed, “The missile”. If you watch the movie, you’ll know it.

I really can’t praise this movie enough for its action. The story, the characters, the jokes, everything surrounding the action is serviceable but nothing overly interesting or entertaining. But that’s the beauty of current DVD technology. You can pick this thing up and just watch the fights, and they are worth the price of admission or rental. Jaa really gives the audience something they haven’t seen before, elevating a very mediocre movie to something really exceptional and worth owning.

I am giving Ong Bak a 5. It’s no masterpiece of cinema less its relentless fight choreography and its star’s charimsatic martial arts talents. Those things, however, are well worth multiple viewings.