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The Haunting
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Great film... a real monument to the genre that
has yet to be equalled in both originality, acting
quality, and subtle delivery...
Excellent
review as well;-)
10/10
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Forrest Gump
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In my opinion, it isn't exactly a perfect film...
far too manipulative for that... but it does stand
head and shoulders over the Hollywood fare of it's
time.
It borrowed quite a bit of it's punch
from Allen's earlier effort, Zelig, as far as
"reference" imagery goes... but it is
immensely charming and easy to relate to for
almost any viewer.
Good, solid
filmmaking.
8.5 to 9/10
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Let Me In
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Hmm... have to disagree with you there, Meanie...
but to each his own, I suppose, on actor
preference.
I guess I just didn't find it
nearly different enough to warrant it's existence
outside the superior original.
But it
could have been faaar worse... I'll give you
that;-)
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Let Me In
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I don't know... why even remake a film if you
can't really contribute anything of any measurable
weight to the original?
This felt like
a well-made afterthought to me.
Pretty and
well paced in many spots... but it really didn't
add significantly to the original's bleak but
touching central tableau... not to mention that
the casting wasn't even in the same stratosphere,
in my humble opinion. Everything great in this
presentation was either already present in the
original film or built upon ideas already explored
there. Much of the added drama and shock value
further detracted from the brilliant
understatement of the original as well.
I won't say this is a bad film... on the
contrary, it is a very entertaining movie. If it
existed in a vacuum, I'd be a BIG fan...
unfortunately, it doesn't.
Unnecessary.
Completely unnecessary.
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The Host
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Tremendous...
I was grateful to be able to
see this gem in a small art-house theater when it
released a few years back. I just revisited it on
DVD recently and felt I needed to chime in on this
site to sing it's praises (I had no idea it had
already been reviewed ;-) !!!
A bit
simplistic in it's wrap-up... and few things get
glossed over in the final act... but even with
these small short-comings, the film never loses
it's terrific momentum and unique perspective. One
of the finest "monster flicks" I've
watched in a long time.
Another great
project from a terrific new voice in Korean
cinema... (see "Mother" for another
fantastic dose of his vision)
The
critter is sexy as Hell as far as mutant design
goes... and that goes a looong way with me.
9/10 for the most original family drama with a
monster thrown in I've ever seen!
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Sunshine
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One of my favorite Science Fiction films of recent
years...
I knew from the opening few scenes
that I'd be picking it up on Blu-Ray as soon as it
was released.
Another example of how
the right soundtrack can completely transform an
already compelling movie into a truly cinematic
experience.
Regardless of your feelings about
the unusual ending elements, you can't deny that
the piece is beautifully shot and compellingly
told... another winner from Mr. Boyle.
Truly worth your time if you enjoy character
driven Sci-Fi.
The short and sweet of
it... in my humble opinion, 9/10.
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The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
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Utter and complete shite.
So purposeless and
unimpressive in any way that berating it here only
serves to grant it undeserved attention.
Someone sold a few of you a false bill of
sale...
4/10... and only that because
they kept the boom out of frame... and the image
quality was fairly high.
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The Book Of Eli
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Terrible.
Problems start with the first
computer assisted color-filtered opening shots...
just because you drain the color saturation from
an environment doesn't necessarily make for a
convincing "apocalyptic" feeling...
You want to see a really desolate world that
doesn't simply look like an abandoned warehouse
lot with a sepia toned gel over the film frame?
Watch "The Road".
I've never seen
such clean undershirts in a post-apocalyptic
setting;-)
Everything else is strictly
by-the-numbers... Denzel does the best he can with
the ham-fisted "man on a mission who speaks
in cool one-liners" act he has to maintain
throughout the film's runtime. Mila Kunis is
simply awful... but she really didn't have a ton
to work with. Gary Oldman continues to wear out
his welcome with yet another totally over-the-top
performance unworthy of his true acting talent...
embarrassing really.
The story is so
lame and predictable it hurts me to think about
it... so I won't waste your time by picking it
apart when the reviewer above gives a fairly
astute depiction of why the story doesn't work.
This, apart from some incredibly stupid and
unbelievable narrative choices, make it almost
impossible to take this overly maudlin and
self-important film seriously. I mean... when I
finally hunt down, shoot, and defeat my greatest
nemesis... it simply doesn't make any sense to
actually fucking CHECK to see if he might not be
dead, right? Ugh.
Add all this to one
of the most unconvincing and ridiculous twist
endings in recent film history... and you have a
swirling shit-storm of film that actually hurt my
eyes to get through. The last scene alone gave my
oldest cat diabetes...
3/10
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Salvation
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But seriously... how do you REALLY feel about the
film?
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The Landlord
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Haven't seen this... but I saw Splice this
afternoon with a friend...
Wow... never
have I seen such a tremendous premise so marred by
terrible choices in a single run-time.
Terrible. It could have and should have been
better.
It could have been superb...
and parts of it were... but bad storytelling
choices and a lack of restraint degenerated the
proceedings into lame, predictable pap by the last
reel.
Soo disappointing...
My
advice to those looking for a kinda cool and
creepy modern Suspense/Horror flick, see the first
HALF of Splice... and then leave the theater and
come up with your own ending! It'll be more
satisfying and less predictable than this
disappointing effort by Vincenzo Natali. It
really starts off creepily and builds nicely...
but it really slips into pattern and has such a
wrote ending that it almost hurts to watch.
Polley is utterly pedestrian, as usual, but even
her clothesline acting almost works for her
strangely detached character. Brody lends real
credibility and breadth to the proceedings but it
eventually outdone by the sadly by-the-numbers
wind-up.
This wouldn't have bothered me
so much if it just hadn't started so incredibly
well... if I'd expected a cheesy, dime-store
Horror ending... I'd have been less disappointed.
It's just heartbreaking that it couldn't sustain
that quality throughout.
Remember
kids,.. just because you can... doesn't always
mean that you SHOULD.
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Beowulf
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Hmm... I enjoyed the poem as well, Lucid.
Guess we need to find a copy that has pretty
pictures alongside the verse to keep Ginose
interested should he choose to revisit the work;-)
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Survival Of The Dead
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Disappointing...
Some REALLY poor story
decisions and some overly ham-fisted humor
elements keep this from living up to the original
trilogy... but it is certainly head-and-shoulders
above either of Romero's more recent efforts.
I basically agree with the reviewer's
assessments in regards to the film as a whole...
only more so.
This was just a few script
re-writes shy of a much better film...
I
mean... the whole "twin" angle....
REALLY? Almost painful to watch, truly...
All in all, quite entertaining... but not nearly
as good as it should have been.
A fresh,
intriguing concept given short shrift through some
unfortunate choices.
A better effort
overall than the last two to be sure... but still
not worthy of a place besides the first 3 classic
films.
As a Romero fan, I give it a generous
7/10... but if I didn't love the guy and admire
what he represents among low-budget filmmakers, it
would score a bit lower.
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The Road
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An excellent adaptation of a fine book...
Still... it lacks a bit of the poetry of the
written story, opting instead for a relentless,
grinding sort of narrative that the book
intersperses with contemplative internal dialogue
to break up the monotonous misery of the
characters. Regardless, the heart of the tale
comes through this cinematic retelling to great
effect.
I just wish that more of the
sublime internal narration of the Father from the
book found it's way into the film... but that is
just a personal preference.
The film works
well even without it.
A rare example of
a Director truly honoring his source material in
an almost reverent fashion.
An achievement
that is tragically under-appreciated among most
filmmakers these days.
Excellent.
9/10
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The New Daughter
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If you actually bother to sit through this
shite-fest... I feel pity for you.
It
took almost everything I had to wade through this
cliche-ridden train-wreck to get to the utterly
predictable ending... my co-viewer and I even
managed to offer several ways to better the
narrative and sloppy character acting AS WE WERE
WATCHING THE THING... it was that unimmersive.
Terrible pacing, simply awful acting, and a ending
"twist" so ham-fisted in it's delivery
that it gave my cats diarrhea just being in the
same room that the film was playing.
I
will only give some credit to the last few seconds
of the film for at least trying to salvage an
already hackneyed ending with a slight edge... but
that alone does not erase the eye-blistering abuse
that the rest of the film inflicts on it's viewer.
There is a definite reason this movie got dumped
in so few theaters...
It sucked.
3/10... with maybe an extra point added
for the last few seconds of the film... if you're
still bothering to pay attention to the
proceedings by then...
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Shoot 'Em Up
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I get what this film was trying to do... and for
about 15 minutes or so, it almost succeeds in
carrying itself further than a short viral video
posted on youtube.
Utter and complete
shite.
While it seems silly to actually
critique this film because of the concept behind
it... it doesn't succeed in what it set out to do.
By the last reel, I was completely bored and
flicking between this and fucking Mythbusters
because I wanted to see if the chicken gun
experiment was going to work!
It's
easy to hide inept film making behind the old
"I meant it to be bad" concept
defense... but for me, this film just flat out
sucked wind from the get-go. Clive Owen is a joke
as this character and Bellucci just embarrasses
herself here. Don't get me started on Giamatti...
what a waste of his considerable talent. Still,
he was easily the best part of this film... too
bad he didn't have more screen time.
I'll end with this... the movie flopped and to
date hasn't earned back it's budget costs for a
reason... and it wasn't because folks "didn't
get it".
Strictly a late night rental...
if that. Better films in this genre abound... Hot
Fuzz anyone?
5/10 if I'm drunk when I'm
watching it.
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Dog Soldiers
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This was a lot of fun... and in my humble opinion,
a far better film then the director's much-lauded
later effort, "The Descent".
Simple
but effective, and not overly insulting to his
audience's intelligence... Mr. Marshall gets high
marks for this fun little romp in Lycanthropy!
8/10
The look of the werewolves
in this film borrow quite heavily from "The
Howling"... but if you are going to
appropriate, one should always lift from the
BEST!
GO ROB BOTTIN!!!
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The Descent
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Overrated.
I found it to be
entertaining... but some of the raw stupidity we
were made to swallow story-wise was just
embarrassing. Lotsa plot holes and nonsensical
reasoning involved... but I suppose if you can
look past that, you'll find a nice gory gem in
this film.
Some really great ideas for
sure... muddled by cliché and careless
plotting devices. Some of the most gripping parts
of the film occur early on during the stressful
spelunking scenes. Once the critters show up, it
kinda spirals into predictability... but I can't
overly complain about that. It's just the stupid
set-up that galls me... the whole
"undiscovered cave system that a trained
guide decides to go along with WITHOUT a proper
map".... fucking ridiculous. After that, the
thing just kinda degenerated for me.
A
good "B" Horror flick. Turn off your
brain at the onset and you'll be fine.
I, for
one, am tired of having to do so.
7/10
PS: Saw the US ending... stunk
up the entire proceedings. Just terrible. That 7
is only if you tack on the film's original running
time. It's STILL a clichéd ending... but a
far better one than the garbage the US audiences
had to swallow.
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Resident Evil
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I'm with Chad on this one, I'm afraid...
Utter shite.
3.5/10
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Tropic Thunder
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Mmmm... gravy;-)
Overrated.
A 7/10
for me for a strong start that petered out long
before the credits.
Entertaining enough
though...
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The Blob
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The remake amped up the gore a bit and added a
more frenetic pace to the proceedings... which
worked well, I must say, for a remake.
Still,
the original has a strange sort of freshness that
doesn't seem to really tarnish with age...
Something about the grotesque
"redness" of the thing... the terrible
"otherness" that a creature from beyond
with no real form brings to the fore... or perhaps
the almost abstract nature of a monster that can't
really seem to be harmed or stopped because it has
recognizable weakness to strategize against...
Whatever the reasons. this film stands head and
shoulders over many of the critter features
produced at this time in American cinema.
Even upon viewing it today, it's vibrant color
schema and accurate period paranoia of the unknown
still delivers.
And as an added bonus... we
get to see Steve McQueen act like an almost
complete milquetoast... which in itself is almost
terrifyingly alien!
STILL an easy 8/10.
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Zombieland
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Terrific fun, this... I enjoyed it in spite of
myself;)
I have to concur with
Nirrad... I, too, found this to be more enjoyable
than Shaun of the Dead. At least it was
consistent in tone all the way through the
film.
It surely isn't perfect, but it was so
fresh and earnestly funny in a way that didn't
feel forced that really stayed with me long after
it's running time. It didn't even degenerate into
the ubiquitous predictable twist ending
cliché that I was dreading...
Also... some of the best opening credits
EVER!
As a further bonus... it has the
distinction of being one of the few films in which
I didn't want Woody Harrelson to get curb-stomped
within the first 10 minutes of listening to him
stumble through dialogue... Merry Christmas.
Fun and goofy with gore to boot... what
more do you want from a Horror comedy?
I might lower the score upon a re-viewing... but
I found it entertaining enough to rate a solid
8/10 upon my first experience with it.
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Land Of The Dead
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Dunno... this just felt out of place with the rest
of Romero's zombie oeuvre... just seemed a bit too
by-the-numbers and Hollywood styled for my
taste.
I think that giving the man a bigger
budget is the last thing anyone should do...
He excels at making the most out of very
little... and the addition of known actors only
somehow lessens the sincerity of the narrative.
It just felt more like a Tom Savini flick than a
Romero film.
I wonder if he will ever
manage to capture that raw menace that the
original trilogy had, along with the bizarre
almost light-hearted comedy that snuck its way
into the terrifying proceedings so successfully
with the earlier films... Diary of the Dead only
serves to solidify my fears...
Not
terrible, by any means... but a disappointment.
7/10
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Van Helsing
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C'mon now... just keeping this thing going is just
making you look foolish. Take your lumps and go
back to the kiddie table... I promise to let you
know once we get to the applesauce... (smooch!)
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Van Helsing
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I think not... while not exactly haute cuisine
(look it up, smartypants), the fries at McDonalds
can occasionally be worth devouring during a
cheesy movie night.
And yet you claim
victory on the basis that I lowered myself to
eating those fries... while clearly claiming that
I "get a 2.5 for WASTING french fries like an
asshole"?
Hypocrite.
You
lose.
Next?
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Blood Creek
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Holy Crap!
Just saw this tonight with a
buddy... and your review couldn't have been more
spot-on!
What a total waste of
potential!!!
All you have to do is
listen to the Director commentary and the problem
this film had possibly escaping mediocrity is
clearly explained... at some points, Schumacher
unapologetically can't even remember where he got
the source material for some of the sets and
background information for the story! He comes
off like a drunk queen dishing dirt on some drag
show he can't clearly remember from his drug hazed
past... (no disrespect intended to any of our gay
readers... this is simply how it sounded to me) He
simply glad-handed his actors and can barely keep
himself relevant to the action occurring onscreen.
It's actually painful to listen to... but it
truly explains a lot.
How this man
continues to get work in Hollywood amazes me... he
must have someone to do his pitch work for him,
because he comes off like a scatterbrained dolt
hardly worthy of the attention he demands.
Nice work by Fassbender as Wirth...
especially so in the flashback sequences.
A potentially interesting piece of
horror... completely RUINED by substandard
direction. BOY... you really aren't exaggerating
about the plot-holes in this film... they are so
glaring that they utterly subtract from the
experience as a whole and even make the slipshod
CG effects almost tolerable by comparison.
Ouch... what a waste.
I just wish
that I could UNSEE it.
5/10 for a cool
premise utterly wasted by an unfit director.
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Van Helsing
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They were soggy and flavorless... and only useful
for either clogging a neighbor's exhaust pipe or
throwing at the screen during a awful film.
YOU get an entire stained cardboard
container of said shit-fries for your snide
comment, courtesy of the McDonalds on 48th and 9th
in Hell's Kitchen, New York.
Suck it.
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Van Helsing
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Utter shite...
The review above sizes
it up quite nicely... only it's worse.
If a
movie can feature a magnetic leading man, three of
the greatest classic monsters in film history, and
one of the best looking women working in film
today... and STILL put me to sleep (between the
occasional infuriated screaming jags while hurling
soggy french fries at the screen)... it deserves a
special place in cinema Hell.
Avoid.
2.5/10... and only that because the credits
successfully roll at the hateful thing's finale.
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Black Dynamite
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I hear you, Chad... but to be honest, this just
didn't really have the legs for a full feature
film.
It started off hysterical, I
whole-heartedly agree with you there... but as the
film wore on, it just started to feel forced to
me. The intensity of the film itself just fizzled
out.
The problem with this movie (IMHO) is
that as a whole is that it didn't really parody
the real guts of Blaxploitation... just the
surface affectations. I know, it's just a comedy
picture... but if you want to stay funny for the
entire length of a full feature film, you've got
to push a few more boundaries and not rely on the
same sort of easy Saturday Night Live/ Mad TV gags
that made up the bulk of this film.
It
just didn't have the guts of the films it was
trying to emulate... and it actually just got
downright silly towards the end... the whole final
fight scene was downright disappointing and a real
letdown after all the build-up to that point.
Just didn't seem funny enough for me...
It takes more than tricky film stock effects and
hanging boom shots to make a really telling
parody... this film had all the details right...
but lacked the self-righteous soul of the films it
was purported to make fun of.
Uneven
and weak at it's finale... this film felt rushed
to me.
Again... agree to disagree... I
understand your affection for the film for sure...
it's just didn't hit me that way... and while I
was very young at the time, I actually grew up
with those films Black Dynamite emulates. This
just felt like an overlong SNL skit to me.
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Black Dynamite
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There's a reason this flick ended up on the
Blockbuster's rack as quickly as it did...
It certainly starts up strong... but it
loses it's punch long before the final reel.
By the end of this flick, the humor seems forced
and the last scene runs endlessly on... as if the
filmmakers simply didn't know how to appropriately
end the damned thing.
I'm all for
parody (and I have great affection for the
Blaxsploitation films of the 70's), but this
film's heavy-handed delivery feels threadbare by
the time the credits roll.
I suppose that it
is because this film works so hard to be
over-the-top from the get-go, it has a hard time
sustaining intensity throughout it's full running
time.
Still, for a late night rental, a
lot of fun can be had with this guilty pleasure of
a film... but it takes more than a bucketful of
racial jokes and tired sight gags to really
impress me these days with a comedy.
Fun but deeply flawed... 6/10. 7/10 if you just
dig on retro one-liners.
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Teeth
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A lot of missed opportunities in this little
film... ended up being a bit gimmicky to me in the
end.
It just seemed half-baked... a lot
of what drew me to the film was completely glossed
over in favor of stereotypical teenage
shenanigans.
The acting isn't half bad... but
it really doesn't venture into the other half of
the spectrum either...
It just seemed like
the story was holding back a great deal... if
you're going to do a film about "vagina
dentata" then fucking DO IT... don't dance
around the edges of the thing for dramatic effect.
We all know what young teenagers are like when
they awaken sexually... and yet this film only
dips its toes into a well that could be
fascinating to explore given the storyline. There
is a wealth of interesting character building that
could have been done... even without showing the
"goods".
A great, edgy
concept with all the bite taken out of it...
unconvincing.
I give it a 7/10 only
because the last reel had some of the
"teeth" the rest of the film lacked.
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Avatar
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Did you enjoy your meal, 385?
I hope that it
wasn't overly distasteful... I mean, at least
afterwards you hopefully enjoyed a fine dessert...
my complete respect;)
All ribbing
aside...
Such interesting discussion between
you and Ginose... pity it couldn't be over a more
noteworthy film, IMHO.
Still... the people
need their popcorn flicks... and this juggernaut
certainly fills the bill, eh?
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Avatar
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I don't think a blow by blow list of the
plot-holes would serve any purpose but to drum up
conflict between fans and detractors of this
film... but I will mention this...
While I do understand the idea of certain local
phenomenon causing computer scanners to go awry
for the Earth forces... we still clearly saw
during the "Tree assault", they were
perfectly able to fire rockets/missiles mounted on
helicopters/cruisers and cause massive
destruction... camera guidance anyone?
Why the HELL did they have to HAND PUSH huge
pallets of explosives out of a frigging cargo
hatch of a plane to destroy the "Spirit
Tree" towards the end of the film?
Even
high school students these days can manually
direct fireworks at range... no less futuristic
aircraft from a culture able to span light years
of space travel!!!
This ridiculous
contrivance was only executed so that the craft
would get close enough to the defending Na'vi as
to force a conflict between Jake and Col. Miles...
because realistically, they could have either
nuked the damned tree from orbit (now that
"negotiations" had failed) or rocketed
it into oblivion from a distance... as would be
possible with EVEN TODAY"S TECHNOLOGY!
I could go on forever... but why
bother?
I know it's just a movie and that
suspension of disbelief is part and parcel for
this fare... but stuff like this really began to
add up for me and eventually became far too forced
for me to ignore anymore.
To be
honest, I'm ALREADY finding myself forgetting
whole sections of the film... aside from the
obvious set pieces... and that says a lot.
A
visual romp... not terribly original or
impacting... but entertaining nonetheless.
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Avatar
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Ok... here is where I pretty much write my own
epitaph by damning this film to mediocrity.
And that's what this movie is... barring all the
technological and special effect wizardry, of
course. Sure, there are some that will say that
the ends justify the means... but I wholeheartedly
disagree. If James Cameron had invested even a
FRACTION of his budget on a better script (or even
another round of rewrites or editing passes), we'd
have a far more memorable film on our hands
here.
We're given all we need to know
about the main character in the opening voice-over
(and even that is fairly concise; we don't even
really learn much more about him, his brother, and
what makes him tick throughout the entire
eye-blistering length of the film) because Cameron
doesn't want to waste any screen time on character
development. All that happens to this character
in the entire running time of the film is that he
has a change of heart that we see coming from the
opening credits.
Why? Because this film
is such a painfully obvious lift of "Dances
with Wolves" (and to some degree "Little
Big Man") that we can't help but see that
decision coming from a mile away. Everything from
the shamelessly obvious rape of the Native
American imagery to the shockingly stereotypical
portrayal of the military mindset reeks of
ham-fisted appropriation. I'm all for reoccurring
themes within film, folks... but some of the
unimaginative ways that those aspects were used in
this story were disappointing. Considering the
time it took to get this juggernaut of a film out
to theaters in the first place... the shortcuts
taken are a real letdown.
Ok... most
kids these days probably haven't seen the films
that this movie borrows so heavily from... (and
there are plenty) but this criticism aside, the
hollow, stereotypical characters within this story
don't illicit any real empathy or connection to
their respective plights. Throw in a few
ridiculous plot-holes and you have all the
ingredients for a 7/10.
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Thirst
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Interesting... I interpreted that sort of almost
comical desperation to be a bit of last minute
humanization of a fairly monstrous character
towards the end of the film.
I think that
those last scenes gave an almost childish sadness
to the proceedings that would have been simply
maudlin otherwise.
I agree about the
films length... that's for sure... but I think
that the amazing moments of the film FAR outshone
(is that even a word?) the more bloated passages
and that your practically mediocre assessment of
the film is still a bit jarring. I'd give the
film over a 7 just for the incredibly creative and
unromanticized approach to vampirism Park took...
and that beautifully restrained initial building
leaping scene! And in what other movie do we get
to see the lead actor smash the nose of the female
romantic interest?
But what do I
know?
Anyway, I'm just glad you didn't hate
it.
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Thirst
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I agree it was a bit overlong... but did that
alone warrant a 6.5, Chad?
What else didn't
you like about it?
I'm genuinely
curious, you see... I like the Director's work so
much that perhaps I might have missed something in
my fanboy stupor;)
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Friday The 13th
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Holy Cow... this was much worse than I imagined it
would be!!!
Caught it on cable tonight while
painting... what a fucking buzz-kill...
I'm not a HUGE fan of the series anyway... the
original notwithstanding;)... but this was an
utter disaster.
The series has always boasted
a primal... practically supernatural killer at
it's heart.... this just seemed like a modern
cash-in without real regard to the source
material.
Also, the whole sister angle was
not only contrived as Hell... it turned out to be
completely purposeless in the end.
I
give this mess a generous 2/10 for the tremendous
physique on the blonde in the last sex scene...
bless her...she died on a set of friggin'
antlers... what a waste.
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The Night Of The Hunter
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I dunno... I didn't have as many problems with the
narrative and character development as you did
with this film... any quirky pacing I chalked up
to the industry standard at the time...
I do, however, COMPLETELY agree with your final
assessment of the film. It is a brilliant piece
of work... for it's time especially. It has aged
remarkably well to boot... few films have this
much emotional clout so many years after their
initial release.
There's not much more
for me to say that wasn't already well-covered
here.
All in all, an excellent review of a
classic film. I also give the film a firm 9/10
score.
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Transsiberian
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Smarter? Doubtful...
More likely to jump to
unnecessary conclusions? Most definitely;)
I adore "Le Cercle Rougue" as
well... but my favorite is easily "Le
Samourai". Alain Delon is king in my book
when it comes to suave and conflicted
characters...
Check out "Le
Deuxiéme Souffle" is you are a
Melville fan... great heist film... comparable
even to Dassin's brilliant "Rafifi"!
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Transsiberian
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That last bit is a joke, btw, Meanie... I know
what you meant.
Anyone seen any of the
recent Criterion French noir releases?
Le Deuxiéme Souffle, Classe Touse
Risques, and Le Doulos...
Amazing
stuff...
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Transsiberian
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I never said that you thought one was better than
the other... (do you really READ other peoples
posts before commenting?)
I just don't see
how "It's the closest to modern day Hitchcock
that we've had in a long, long time."
I'm entitled to disagree with your assessment,
am I not?
As for comparing Hitchcock
to Simon Wincer... you're completely within your
rights to do so...
You'd have to be an
absolute moron... but your opinion is certainly
your own;)
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Transsiberian
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I found this to be an overwrought exercise in
heavy-handed direction.
Sure... it
was entertaining... but it was also terribly
predictable... and frankly, more than a mite
unbelievable in the way it played out.
Emily
Mortimer looks great on camera... but with the
austere scenery around, it isn't terribly more
than a by-the-numbers portrayal of a bad girl
trying to be good. There wasn't a second during
this film when I wasn't completely aware of what
she'd do or say next. Still, she does her best
with what material she has.
Woody, however,
is a complete and utter train wreck in this film
and much of his dialogue is actually
cringe-worthy. It could simply be a bad casting
choice... but for whatever reason, it just comes
off as wooden and stereotypical. And don't even
get me started on Kingsley's schlock russian
portrayal...
The basic story premise
is alright... but several coincidental occurrences
seriously hinder the believability of the
narrative. Really hokey stuff too...
I also
concur with the reviewer's opinion of what passes
between the Mortimer character and the character
that Mr. Noriega plays... I simply don't buy
it.
Unfortunately, since it's such a major
part of the story, we are forced to relate to that
unconvincing scene for the rest of the film...
As for comparing Mr. Anderson's film
to Hitchcock's classics... well, I frankly find
that laughable...
I never completely gave
myself over to the story because of some of the
stereotypical characterizations and deliberate
plot coincidences present in the narrative... but
I do suppose that the initial story
"vibe" has a similar feel to it... and
there are comparable settings. Otherwise, I just
don't see it... sorry.
Still, while this
director lacks in subtlety and believable
characterization, he certainly delivers in the
tone and mood department.
I give the
film a strong 6... maybe a 7 if you dig on
"foreign" style film without having to
read subtitles;)
PS: The predictable
ending sequence stinks.
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Heavy Metal
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Yeah... knowing the stories and artists involved
certainly allows for a greater investment in the
film for sure...
I suppose that a few story
segments could seem rather vapid without a prior
frame of reference.
I can't really
weigh seeing the movie in a vacuum because that
simply isn't my experience.
Still, if it
gets a 7.3/10 from someone your age... I can't
really complain.
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Thirst
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I guess we'll just have to wait and see,
Gino...
In the meantime, keep those
great reviews a'comin'!
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Thirst
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I never said the jarring scenes were irrelevant...
just a bit distracting from the clean narrative at
points and they tend to slow story momentum.
It's much more noticeable in his later work as
he grows more confident and feels more able to
challenge his viewers.... at least that's how it
seems to me.
There are a couple of
moments even in Oldboy that could have done with
some trimming (IMHO), but I'd rather have that
sort of experimentation than predictability.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance seems the sleekest of
his films to me, storyline-wise... and it still
clocks in at a muscular 122 minutes and explores
two differing perspectives of the same story
within it;) He's just got a really quirky sense of
progression that seems to be getting... well...
more odd... as he gains experience.
Personally, it doesn't bother me overmuch...
it's just not always to my taste. But then again,
if those are the extent of my complaints regarding
his films... I'm HAPPY to have them as long as he
continues to crank out such innovative told and
beautifully shot films!
Or,.. to put
it in proper perspective; one needs only think of
how Hollywood would have depicted the scene of him
leaping from building to building with the elfin
Tae-ju in his arms;)
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Heavy Metal
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I guess it kinda has to do with how old you were
when you saw it...
For me, this film opened
up a whole new way to look at traditional cell
animation... (before I'd ever even sampled the mad
world of Japanese anime)
After seeing
this film as a boy and relating to the content
like no other film I'd seen before then,.. I knew
that once I finished my first short illustrated
piece, there was no other place to take it to be
published. I'm currently working on finishing the
3rd installment of a continuing storyline through
the magazine that inspired this film... and while
parts of the movie haven't aged as well as
others... I still get a secret thrill out of
popping this old flick into my player and
re-living my wide-eyed youth through the frantic,
graphic imagery that flashes across the
screen!
Sure... I'm impartial... but
I'm also part of the film's original target
audience. 8/10 for blind, nostalgic affection;)
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Thirst
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Excellent review, Gino... I concur wholeheartedly
with your analysis for the most part.
A lot of his more "oblique" pacing
devices are all present in his earlier films as
well... you just may have simply accepted it
because his earlier films had more of a direct and
driving plotline than this more meandering tale.
Look back over "Oldboy" and especially
"Lady Vengeance" again and you'll notice
that there are more than a few "what the...
how did we get here?" moments to be found as
well. It's just that some of his more allegorical
imagery becomes slightly jarring when it is
shoe-horned so tightly between seriously realistic
or dramatic scenes. Is it a weakness... or just
the man's trademark? Interesting...
I'm SO glad someone found this as refreshing as
I did... I hate being the only one on the
bandwagon;)
This is easily as arresting as
"Let the Right One In" for completely
different reasons... and was one of the most
entertaining films I've seen this year!
An unreserved 9/10... makes the Twilight films
seem like sophomoric garbage... with glitter
sprinkled on it.
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Alien
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What else is there to say?
Brilliant
adaptation of O'Bannon's story... groundbreaking
visualization by Ridley Scott makes this film a
Sci-Fi classic.
Visionary storytelling
abounds... and add in the crazy horror elements
and you have a great cross-genre success that
doesn't feel like a sorry retread... unlike almost
every imitator that followed this film's success
for the next 20 or so years.
Fresh
and believable... even to this day... few science
fiction films age as well as this one.
The
crowning jewel in Mr. Scott's Sci-Fi crown...
resting neatly beside "Blade
Runner";)
An easy 10/10.
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Aliens
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A GREAT action flick... but it doesn't hold a
candle to the original masterpiece.
Everything great about this movie is present in
some form within the original source material...
not to knock this film at all, I love it... but
it's not nearly as groundbreaking as the first
film. If anything, it really introduced the whole
"action movie" aspect to the series... a
factor that promptly killed the franchise
afterwards.
Easily an action
classic... but not quite a 10 in my book.
The first film still gives me chills... while
this one makes me laugh at the one-liners
contained within;)
Great Sci-Fi action
fun!
The first time i saw it... I'd have
given it a 9. Nowadays, some of the cheese factor
hasn't aged as well as the action bits...
8/10.
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Grace
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I must just have a vastly different standard than
you fine folks... this one simply stunk up the
place in my humble opinion.
I'm all
for low budget horror... and even the occasional
"topical" entry that tries to espouse a
sort of social message... but I just couldn't even
get into this flick.
Sure... I don't
necessarily NEED to know why the whole nonsensical
still-born reversal took place, but in such a
plodding story, one's interest certainly flags
when that the only really intriguing part of the
film remains wholly unexplored. Even besides the
amateur hour acting clinic that this film features
(even the lead actress had to overact in order to
overcome the wooden characters around her), the
story was completely unbelievable and moved at
such a crawling pace that I had to eat a
Butterfinger halfway through to maintain
interest.
This just seemed like a
vegan retread of several finer films in this
genre... with some of the worst secondary acting
I've seen in quite awhile in a film with these
production values.
The best part of
the movie is the opening sequence where the main
character is impregnated... very nicely shot...
but the rest of the film was so static and badly
composed that it looked like another
cinematographer took the helm afterwards...
weird.
This wasn't horrible... but it
certainly didn't live up to the hype for me... and
for either of my friends that watched it with me
(much to my embarrassment).
Mediocre
at best... 6/10
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