GreenBq Reviews

Annabel Lee (II) (2009)

Fun Movie with mystery and suspense, features great scenery

[15 March 2010]

Aly Comingore of www.Independent.com wrote about this movie saying: "Michael Rissi's fictional adaptation of the famed Edgar Allan Poe poem undoubtedly takes the cinematic cake in this panel. We follow a young painter through stunning backdrops, pristine lighting, and visually dazzling dream sequences while he slowly uncovers a web of deep, dark secrets surrounding the unsolved deaths of two prestigious members of the community he's visiting."

Selected by Riverside Film Festival, Dances with Films Independent Film Festival, Big Bear Lake International Film Festival, Temecula Valley International Film Festival and Santa Barbara Film Festival, the film features beautiful scenery and an intriguing mystery.

At the SBIFF, as an introduction, the director of the movie commented that there are several inside jokes in the movie with references to films like Citizen Kane, Hitchcock films and other Poe stories. This is definitely a "popcorn picture" with quite a bit of comedy relief, but it has some good scares as well, great paintings, atmospheric cinematography and a compelling music score. As a kind of throwback to old time movie-making, it also has a dramatic twist ending and a revelation scene almost as long as the explanation scene at the end of Psycho. There are other references, but if you don't catch them, the storyline still holds up fairly well.

Avatar (2009)

Gorgeous cinematography -- story a little arch

[15 March 2010]

James Cameron's AVATAR breaks new ground in cinematic history. The visuals in this movie are technically superb. From a creative standpoint, the story is filled with innovative landscapes and imaginative technologies. Cameron shines at taking his audience away to new worlds. The main downside to this movie is that the military is presented in a very one-sided "soldier of fortune" way. Apart from the protagonist, the members of the military are characterized as having slightly less humanity than Darth Vader and his storm troopers. It's simply not credible. That is, the archness of these characterizations actually undercuts the theme and believability of the movie because the jingoist stereotype goes too far.

Regardless of the unfortunate jingoist stereotyping, this does not ruin the movie. On the whole it is still an exceptional film, especially if you concentrate on the visuals.