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MarcColten
Reviews
The Ring (2002)
Sorry, no sale (major spoilers)
Although I am, generally, easily terrified this movie didn't do a thing for me. My problems: (1) Why did Watts' sister ask her to look into the death of her daughter whose heart "just stopped beating" when we learn she looked like she'd been dead a month? (2) After they find the kid (which is supposed to exorcise the whole thing) her son says "You weren't supposed to help her." Thanks kid, that's a great time to bring that up. I hate kids in movies who make things worse when they could be helping. (3) What were they supposed to do? Was there a way to stop it? (4) I kind of get the "making a copy spares you" thing - you're spared if you help the kid. But why did the son ask what would happen to the person they showed it to? Who said they have to show it to anyone?
Of course they used the old horror film "out" of alluding to things that, if told, wouldn't work. Like (a) how did they actually manage to have Satan's child? (b) If they did all those bad things to her - why did daddy survive? (c) With a whole island to do it in, why did mommy take her daughter all the way to another part of the state to dump her in the well?
Sorry, just didn't work for me.
Reign of Fire (2002)
Failed to excite me (spoilers)
I'm a big fan of flying, fire-breathing dragons but this barely registered. There's weren't many dragons, none had much of a personality and everything people "knew" about them came from nowhere. How did they know there was only one male, instead of a small number? Also if there was only one, wouldn't he be on a constant round the world mating flight? Also if there was only one wouldn't they have had a fair chance to kill it before society collapsed. They didn't fight the dragons very intelligently. That whole leaping out of the helicopter thing made no sense at all, even on a clear day.
Donnie Darko (2001)
Excellent mood but not much logic (SPOILERS)
The film was very moody and offbeat, but had no internal logic. Donnie is saved by Frank, who tells him to flood the school (which infuriates the school bully), to burn down the motivators house (which exposes his child porn ring), etc etc which leads to Frank's death. So where is Frank coming from? Not the future because he's dead (shot in the eye). Not from the past (he doesn't have the wound he got in the future). So what does any of it mean? Frank has no motive to save Donnie since it leads to his death. I understand why (if that's what we're being told) that Donnie chooses to go back and die - but only to save his girlfriend. That could have been accomplished by not doing what Frank said. BTW - in the "improved" future - Donnie is dead and the child molestor is not caught. Not much of an improvement. And what's with the old lady? Does her book add anything to the story - and what was the letter Donnie wrote to her? Was that the letter she was expecting? Everyone has done time travel and loops from the Twilight Zone, to Star Trek, to Babylon 5, and I think they did it better.
I'll give it marks for effort but not for the result.
Cure (1997)
Disturbing take on the serial killer
This film is like a Japanese "mate" to Se7en, although in many ways I think it's superior. The ending is rather enigmatic but if the implications are as I see them (no spoilers) then it is the ending I wish Se7en had gone for. Like many Japanese films I've seen, I get the impression that I'm missing things (cultural outlooks, social relationships) that the Japanese must see. But even knowing that it was a very disturbing film and the director knows how to add to it. It's an extremely dark film (in many ways) and near the end it sounded like something the entire movie was "breathing", like a demon close to your ear. A very eerie effect. Worth seeing.
Great Performances: Secret Service (1977)
Excellent suspense movie
This made for TV movie shows what public TV can provide. An excellent cast (I believe most of them were part of a New York City theater company at the time) included John Lithgow, Meryl Streep, Mary Beth Hurt and others. The plot is compelling and very suspenseful.
Se7en (1995)
Very disappointing (some spoilers)
I was very disappointed in this movie. It's just another serial killer with too much time on his hands, tons of money, the ability to pass through walls and the ability to manipulate time, space and circumstance and no real reason for what he's doing. I've often wondered about the serial killers in the movies, and this one baffled me. In a world where you can go places and kill wholesale, this guy spent an entire year to kill one guy? And how could the detectives be part of the plot? How could he know who would be assigned or what their circumstances would be? What if they took an extra three weeks to find his hidden clues? Wouldn't that throw the whole thing off? In the scene where they found his apartment and he fired at them and ran away (which was odd since they had no evidence on him) I got the feeling they were chasing the Phantom of the Opera. As to the ending - I'd take the case any day. No jury in the world would convict so it meant nothing. I was expecting a darker ending.
The Ninth Gate (1999)
A waste of time
WARNING - MANY SPOILERS - SKIP IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM
First - This movie has the same flaw as all "pact with the devil" movies. Why are these people so eager to contact the devil? I'm not religious but at least I understand the motivation of religious people - they assume their devotion will get them into Heaven. People who make a pact with Satan have to assume they'll wind up in Hell - tough to see an upside. And most of the people in this movie are already rich enough to do whatever they want. Who needs Satan? Besides they were all so evil that could be assumed to be hellbound without any help.
Now the spoilers - I hope this is enough space. This movie is filled with bits and pieces that go nowhere and are never explained. Why did the guy at the beginning commit suicide? What was in the note? It was never mentioned again. If the book was so important to his wife, why was it sitting on his shelf where he could dispose of it? Who killed the bookseller in NYC? Not Balkan - it was his book. Ms Telfer? Maybe, but she didn't get the book, so why kill the guy and leave? I'm sure he would have been glad to tell her where it was, under torture if necessary. "The Girl" - if so, why? What was with the Baroness's missing hand?
People are killed all through this movie, but you wouldn't know it. Shouldn't Depp be wanted on two continents?
The main problem, of course, "the girl". Supernatural? Sure. Satanic? Probably. But to what end? If she's the devil, what's in the book business for her? Depp's soul? As I said above, he was digging his way to Hell to begin with. Balkan apparently wanted to be fireproof, which could have its advantages if you're making a pact with Satan, but what else was the movie about?
Did the twin booksellers exist? Was it just a coincidence that they looked like the figure in the engraving Depp noticed right afterward? What was the ending about? Who hid the last engraving? What was going on? I'm sorry, I don't get it.