Prime50 Reviews

Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)

Certainly pushes boundaries, Shows new look on life

[8/10 · 23 September 2013]

Of the two competition films I saw in Cannes, this was luckily one of them. If you enjoy foreign cinema at all you will likely find this mesmerizing. I'm a straight male but I couldn't help but feel strongly for the two women during this unconventional love story.

I'll go ahead and let you know that the sex scenes are incredibly graphic (though some have claimed they are unrealistic) and VERY long. I didn't clock any of them but I'm pretty sure one of them is 15 minutes. So, fair warning.

I'd recommend BItWC to anyone who didn't like Transformers 3 or Pirates F-ing 17. Great acting. Great direction. Strong Story. Plus, it's the Palm d'Or.

The Last Days on Mars (2013)

Fun, Well Acted, Believable Characters (Prometheus Spoilers)

[6/10 · 14 September 2013]

I saw this at a market screening at Cannes. I was very impressed by this simple but rewarding film. It's easy to draw comparisons to Prometheus, and LDOM comes out ahead, in my view.

The version I saw was not finished as far as sound and vfx, but the story was solid enough that I never questioned motives and I did want Liev to survive and win. There were actually a lot of issues, but they were all small, and certainly insignificant when compared to, I don't know, Charlize Theron running away from a falling ship IN THE SAME DIRECTION it's falling. Sorry.

Back to LDOM. It's interesting, tense, exciting, and ultimately rewarding. It's not complex, by any means, but the director did a great job; great performances, and Liev actually did well. Plus, the characters had actual, consistent motivations. Though not always fleshed out, the characters Dawson created would at least refrain from trying to touch the evil looking, snake like thing that popped his head out of the 1000 year old, murky water immediately after displaying to the audience and the whole ship's crew that you're a huge vajeen when it comes to even dark places.