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10 Cloverfield Lane

After a carcrash, a girl finds herself hijacked in an underground shelter, appearantly because there's global catastrophy outside?

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
23-06-2016
7

Decent scifi mystery that fails short of being great

A very decent flick with some nice ideas and a good script. The mystery of what's going on, as well as the performances and darkness were a bit mellow for my taste.
7

12 Strong

Soon after 9-11, a special forces team is sent to Afghanistan to assist a local tribe with fighting the Taliban

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
28-07-2020
6

Unbelievable

If it's based on a true story, I found it suspicious how the Taliban kept running into the line of fire, were unable to hit anything and how the Americans made perfect shots from galloping horses they never rode before. The quasi deep lectures from the tribe leader also annoyed me.
6

12 years a slave

Another movie on slavery

RockmeNow
RockmeNow
29-01-2014
7

An African American living in New york is kidnapped and sold as slave

Based on a true story addressing the gruesome consequences of slavery in the southern states of mid 19th century America. Although I can appreciate this movie and the message it portrays, there are other movies on this topic that I find more memorable.
7

13 Hours

On the 2012 attacks on USA compounds in Benghazi

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-07-2016
7.5

Chest pounding action with suprisingly restrained Bayism

The beginning was restless for the wrong reasons, everyone was chatting and doing stuff I could not follow. There's also a fair dose of Bay kitsch en patriotism, albeit less than I expected. But it's still an intense adrenaline rush - so much so that I had trouble falling asleep afterwards.
7.5

1899

A ship with migrants find another ship that went missing, and it all gets stranger and stranger from there

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
28-12-2022
6.5

A potential gem plagued by avoidable problems

This almost is a successful, super mysterious puzzler with an intense atmosphere, but I found it was let down too much by one-trick pony characters that become parodies of themselves, infuriatingly ineffective communication and strange decisions and logic throughout. The events even felt improvised.
6.5

1917

Two soldiers are ordered to leave the WWI trenches and head into German territory to deliver a crucial message

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
26-01-2020
8.5

Unique and terrific war movie

Part of me wished the 'single shot' peculiarity wasn't part of the hype, because you start paying attention to it and get drawn out rather than into the story. But it still contributes massively to a unique vibe and flow of this terrific war movie.
8.5

1BR

Woman finally finds an appartment, but the local community holds dark secrets. Very dark.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
14-03-2021
7

It turns out, a decent horror thriller

My finger was resting on the stop button for the first 15 minutes, but then the story, performances and uncomfortable atmosphere materialized and made this a worthwhile movie indeed. May have been limited in budget, but played it out nicely.
7

2 Guns

Two undercovers get into a corrupt mess and need each other to fight their way out again

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-01-2014
7

Solid chemistry but forgetable

A solid action comedy with good chemistry between the main players. It lacks standout moments though, I have already forgotten this movie.
7

2010: The Year We Make Contact

A russian spaceship takes along some americans to investigate what happened to HAL, the Discovery and the monolith

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
31-07-2023
8

An exciting continuation

While it is perhaps not as mysterious and far-reaching as 2001, this still is an exciting sci-fi epic. It may be different, but it's story fits the narrative perfectly, and features some awesome setpieces, effects and characters. Mind you: even in diminished form the story is still captivating.
8

2067

When oxygen is running out, someone is sent into the future to bring back a solution

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-04-2021
7

Fine time traveling

For the most part this is quite a charming and sympathetic movie that has it's own time traveling story to tell, without over-complicating things but still challenging you to keep up. I am not so sure about the rather insecure and frequently sobbing main character though.
7

3 Body Problem

When science appears to be broken, a group of scientists discover an amazing upcoming event causing it

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
04-04-2024
7.5

Not perfect, but loaded with plenty of scifi perks

There were quite a few elements that I found a bit of-putting - mainly that this world cataclysmic event only seemed to occupy a small group of befriended people - but this did not take away from the fact that it is a highly enjoyable specific epic, loaded with strange stuff and enticing mystery.
7.5

300 Rise of an Empire

Greeks vs Persians fight slomo. Mostly on sea.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
04-07-2014
7.5

Beautiful painting of heroic bloodshed

This side effect of the wonderful style is that is also creates veil that blocks connection with the people and story. But as a glorious ode to violence and bravery, I thought it was impressive, intense and beautifully crafted. Also: Eva Green.
7.5

3022

The crew of a remote space station is faced with tough choices when disaster strikes... back on earth

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
27-02-2021
6

Just made it

It's definitely one of those movies where, due to a lack of resources, people walk and talk endlessly in a handful of sets. So it can be plain and sluggish. But I have to say the actors, music and story are not too bad and manage to lift this movie into the realm of ok.
6

400 Days

4 people spent 400 days in a mockup spaceship to test the effects of long term space travel. Will they keep their sanity... and what's going on outside?

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
24-09-2016
3.5

Annoying

Right from the beginning I was incredibly annoyed by this. Everything and everyone is so phony, cheesy, unrealistic and slow. There's a pale spark of excitement in the whole 'what's happening' mystery, but I wonder if even the writers really knew.
3.5

47 Meters Down

Two girls go cage diving with sharks, but then the crane breaks and they end up on the bottom

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-05-2018
6.5

Not really immersive, a bit shallow (haha)

The main actors do their best but ultimately it isn't as immersive as I was hoping for, in part also because of some dubious underwater physics and patronizing dialogue. I wonder how this would have been without any underwater intercoms... I am betting a lot more special.
6.5

47 Ronin

A bunch of samurai revenging their master
average 6.2

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
28-09-2014
7

Classic Samurai tale, but not as exciting as it could be

Loaded with beautiful and colorful Japanese scenery, folklore and tradition. Should satisfy Samurai enthusiasts. I wasn't really sucked in though, perhaps because there's no clear character to focus on.
7

RockmeNow
RockmeNow
06-05-2014
5.5

Even one hundred samurai could not have saved this movie

Mythical Japanese story presented as cinematic fairytale with overly dramatic and generally unconvincing acting. Every now and then some nice special effects to keep the bored viewer slightly entertained....
5.5

5th Wave, The

Girl tries to rescue her little brother amidst an alien invasion in 5 waves

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
21-08-2016
5

Derailed

After a reasonable start, it derails in cheesy teenage love stories, unexciting screenplay, annoying army-squads comprising of teenagers and emo's, and sloppy movie making with aliens that conveniently look just like humans.
5

6 Underground

Group of very cool hitman people aim to set free a country from an evil dictator

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
14-04-2020
6

Failed experiment

I was in for it; could an overload of non-stop Micheal Bay signature crap eventually transform into a trance-like satisfying experience? We'll never know, because even he couldn't keep up the initial pace, and let this slide off to a more generic and only somewhat amusing actionflick.
6

65

Astronaut crashes on some planet and must face the dangerous creatures living on it

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
09-04-2023
7.5

Simple but highly enjoyable

I guess it's guilty of doing some dinosaur cliche's, and perhaps we won't ever be impressed by them again as we once did. But I liked seeing them in a different scifi context, and I also thought the movie was a simple but very solid and amusing ride. Adam manages to elevate it far above pulp.
7.5

9th Company, The

Russian soldiers get trained for a mission in Afghanistan

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
30-10-2016
6

I think I was supposed to hate the other guys

I'm sorry, was I supposed to care about these obnoxious, loud, misbehaven, ugly, drinking, gang raping soldiers? Once the stage moves to Afghanistan the movie gets better, but not enough to make up for it.
6

A.I. Rising

For a long journey, a cosmonaut will be accompanied by a female android engineered to his taste

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-09-2021
6.5

ok, but would have benefited greatly from better writing

With just a some fairly modest modifications in the dialogue and story line, such as more profound elements of philosophy, existentialism, psychology and perhaps some horror, this would have been great. As it stands though, it still is a decent sci-fi tale.
6.5

Accountant, The

Autistic man has a special talent for accounting, and appearantly for some darker activities as well

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
02-01-2019
6

Too far-fetched

This didn't really connect with me. The story is way too far-fetched, made-up and over the top to be taken seriously, and it dwells in the tiresome notion that autistic people must have superpowers.
6

Act of Valor

Seal team hunts down a terrorist across the world

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
01-06-2013
7

Wicked action saved the mission

One the one hand, we have very peculiar acting, misplaced slo-mo shots and indigestible patriotism and voiceovers. On the other, we have exquisite action scenes and a Call of Duty-style story telling that works very well.
7

Ad Astra

Astronaut sets off on a journey to make contact with his father, who was last seen at Neptune.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
07-10-2019
7.5

Works as a trip

Upon first viewing, I was put off by the apathetic Brad and a bunch of dissonant shenanigans in the story and space tech. But if you manage to just drift along with this dreamy, peculiar and beautiful space adventure, it can be quiet absorbing.
7.5

Adrift

Freshly in love couple sail a boat across the Pacific back to the States. But misery strikes, wrecks the boat and now survival is up to her

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
02-06-2019
6.5

Ruined by constant flashbacks

For it's entire duration, the movie alternates the present with flashbacks in which we have to endure a sugar coated love romance with cheesy music to boot. This constantly resets the tension and sensation of despair, making this survival movie much less intense than it could and should have been.
6.5

Advantageous

Without a job and with a daughter to support, a woman decides to earn money by having herself tranfered into a younger body

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
17-06-2018
6.5

Different, interesting but very slow

A sober, slowly moving drama that doesn't over-please the viewer, has some decent performances by the cast and is certainly 'interesting'. As a whole though, it really is very slow up to the point of lifelessness, some more spices would have been welcome in places.
6.5

Afflicted

While documenting a Eurotrip, two friends also document one of them turning into a vampire

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
18-08-2015
7

More interesting than scary

A combination of natural acting and convincing effects create some effective WTF moments. Well done, but it wasn't really scary - mostly because they seem sort of ok with the transformation.
7

After Earth

After crashlanding on a hostile planet, a boy must embark on a dangerous journey to save himself and his father.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
19-10-2013
7

Decent scifi survival adventure

I thought it was an original and good looking adventure that kept me interested all the way.
7

After Yang

A man tries to get his broken droid and familymember fixed, and finds out a deeper level in it than he realized

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
08-11-2023
6.5

Atmospheric but ultimately too thin

Saturated with a mellow and melancholic atmosphere that almost gets you in a dreamy state as well. I appreciative how it's more of a wandering, soul-searching sort of poetry than a clear-cut story, but ultimately I found it too thin on substance to make a lasting impression.
6.5

Age of Tomorrow

An alien attack on earth, seen from the perspective the crew of a space mission and also from some firefighters on earth

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
27-06-2022
3

Make sure you are drunk first

I bet that if you got drunk, and watch this with some friends, who are also drunk, you could fall into a state of endless uncontrolled laughter. Other than that, we are in Sharknado territory quality wise, but without it intentionally trying to be silly (I think).
3

Ahsoka

Ahsoka and apprentice must stop evil warlord from returning from exhile

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
08-10-2023
4.5

Pretty bad

I liked some of the spaceships, and some characters I like too. But unfortunately, the main characters, Ahsoka (with her unbearable smirk) and Sabine (look at me I am a rebel), were unbearable. Also, poor combat, poor plotline, slow pacing, and even more useless stormtroopers abound.
4.5

Air

In a poisoned world, Noah-like facilities harbor deep frozen scientists for better days. Two engineers are periodically woken up for maintenance duties.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
17-03-2018
7

Minimally pulled me through

A low budget affair that is in danger of having way too much time to fill up, and does so with long, overstretched scenes with very little in it. But, they managed to put in enough mystery and anxiety about the ending to make it work and keep me interested. Not too bad!
7

Air Strike a.k.a. The Bombing

In a chinese village under constant bombardment from the Japanese, a Chinese pilot is sent on a ground mission to transport a valuable cargo.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
30-11-2018
3.5

A tiresome mess

So I saw the version with English voiceovers for all Chinese people so that Bruce Willis didn't need to speak Chinese. It makes this mess of a cringe movie even worse, no matter how many explosions there are. The shelter scene is oddly impressive by comparison, like it was made by a different team.
3.5

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alexandes wishes that for once his family could experience the awful bad luck has usually has during the day

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
26-04-2015
6.5

A bit too constrained

I expected some more anarchy and mayhem with a title like that. Now it is a funny but rather tame and polite comedy with too few standout jokes and all kinds of morals and lessons to boot.
6.5

Alien

On their way back to earth, a spaceship investigates a distresscall from a planet

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
31-10-2021
9

Redefining

I am going to rate it sky high for redefining (space)horror, design and science fiction in general. It is iconic, but I have to admit anno 2021 it is actually, finally, starting showing signs of aging. My son wasn't too impressed nor terrified. Some of that is a legacy from our memories.
9

Alien Invasion

A group of partying kids accidentaly hatch an alien and now need to stay alive

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
23-03-2024
3

Amateur movie without an x factor

Looks like it was put together in a weekend with a bunch of friends who acquired an alien suite. I was looking for some quirks to make this worthwhile still, but was unable to find any. It's hardly an invasion, but perhaps at this level that doesn't even matter.
3

Alien Outpost aka Outpost 37

Mockumentary of soldiers in some outpost fighting aliens

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
25-05-2015
4

Badly done scifi

A confusing, unexciting and poorly done movie with bland characters. It is slow, uninteresting and misfires with really phoney 'interviews' in between. The whole documentary approach can't save it.
4

Alien Predator

Team of soldiers sets out to investigate what happenend to another team of soldiers who investigated a mysterious crash landing

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-01-2019
2.5

Not frosty

All this is are shaky shots of soldiers making their way through the jungle, delivering an (often bizarre) stream of military speak and cliches as they go along. Stay frosty! Some of the make-up effects of dismembered limbs are the only thing of any quality.
2.5

Alien Space Battle

Spacemission to rescue a victim from a Mars mining accident gets involved in a alien threat to all mankind

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-04-2023
3.5

Cute, sympathetic even, but not good.

Apart from the fantastic title and some passable CGI here and there, I could not find anything to recommend about it. The subpar actors continuously having to deliver anxious spacecombat jargon really got on my nerves. Also known as "Attack on Titan", but that won't save it.
3.5

Alien Warfare

Specialforces team is scrambled to investigate what happened to some lab. (it was aliens!)

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
30-08-2021
3.5

Almost abysmal

There is something about it that keeps it from being completely abysmal. Perhaps the borderline passable actors, the almost successful attempts at jokes, some slightly interesting moments, some semi ok action. But make no mistake, this is a pretty crappy movie. Those alien suits, gees.
3.5

Alien: Covenant

A colonial spaceship decides to do an unscheduled stop at an unknown, potentially habitable, planet when they pick up broadcast from it

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-06-2017
7

Another great alien movie that is also a huge disappointment

It still manages to shock and awe with intense alien encounters en space tech porn. But the more it wants to elaborate on the story and origins of the creature, the more it destroys. I wish I had never seen a live engineer - the single dead one was 100x more intriguing.
7

Alita: Battle Angel

Man rebuilts a cyborg he found in a trashpile. A very special cyborg it turns out...

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
25-02-2019
8

Great

Fearing a hysteric and flat CGI bonanza, I was pleasantly surprised. We actually get to like the characters, it's exciting and original. It has a nice big-amazing-adventure vibe that I haven't felt for while. But yes, it does feature awesome, bright daylight CGI in every scene.
8

All Is Lost

Solo sailer tries to survive when his ship is rammed by an adrift sea container.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
10-02-2014
8

Intimate and gripping

Very good and very close portrait of a man struggling against all odds. The absence of dialogue is mesmerizing and effective. I felt guilty opening a beer while watching this. I think that's a good sign (but I still opened one nonetheless).
8

Along came Polly

After being brutally dumped on a honeymoon, a man gets a second change with an highschool (true) love

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
17-05-2015
7

Funny and witty

An above average funny movie with quite a few good laughs. It's all courtesy of Stiller's monumental talent for painfully cringe-worthy situations we can all relate too. The rest of the cast is not too shabby either.
7

Alpha

Set in the stone age, a boy gets seperated form his group and must find his way home, but befriends a wolf along the way

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
16-12-2019
8

Beautiful and heartfelt

I like to think of this as perhaps the first domestication of wolfs, eventually leading to dog breeds. Extremely pretty, akin towards kitsch, but never crossing that line. The storyline is also gripping, making me care about this journey and swallowing tears near the end.
8

Altered Carbon (season 1)

In a future bladerunner-like world where peoples change bodies as they see fit, a man is asked to investigate a murder

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
05-04-2020
7

Ups and downs. Mostly up though.

I liked the overall concept, the dark yet sensual atmosphere, and some cool action scenes. But I was struggling with the ice cold characters, a lot of talking, the unnecessarily complicated story and the ridiculous Agatha Christie climax with the big reveal with everyone standing in a room.
7

Altered Carbon: Resleeved

In a world with interchangable bodies, a man looks after a girl who is hunted down by just about everybody. But why?

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
09-04-2020
7.5

A fine anime

A fine anime with sweet, non-standard animations and drawings, an interesting story and a couple of very intense action scenes with wicked ninja's.
7.5

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

The chipmunks fear that their dad's love interest might lead him to abandon them, so they set out to sabotage the engagement.

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
06-03-2016
6

Ok for kids. An endurancetest for adults.

Sure, it's an uncomplicated fun adventure, kids will get some fun out of it, and let's not forget the effects blending so seamlessly we don't even notice them anymore. But a kids movie equally suitable for adults, this is not.
6

Amazing Spider-Man, The

Man gets spiderpowers and saves the world from lizardman

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
21-02-2013
6

Pretty whatever for someone amazing

Making wisecrack remarks while flying through the air during a live threatening battle - kind or ruined things for me. Lizardman not scary either.
6

Amazing Spider-Man 2, The

Spidy vs electro and that green dude on the flyboard

Wittenberg
Wittenberg
06-09-2014
6.5

Stunning and tiresome

There's an abundance of slow and uninteresting scenes that somehow don't flow well, and slowly drain your ability to focus on this. By the time the vivid, beautifully done action starts, I was too exhausted to care.
6.5

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