jpmota Reviews

La poupée sanglante (1976– )

A thrilling - but outdated - story about a modern Frankenstein...

[8/10 · 3 May 2008]

This would be "Frankenstein" if Mary Shelley were French. It tells a story about an ugly man who lives in the woods and is lynched for the death of a young girl. The town-folks believe this put an end to the dreadful disappearance of young girls that ravaged the are in the last months. Meanwhile, a girl starts working in a strange manor, where she finds the true killer of the girls, and ends being kidnapped. But before all that: her fiancée builds an automaton, the epitome of beauty, and the girl falls in love for the automaton; the ugly man, a nice and gentile servant, loves the girl and is the only one to know her secret love. So, when he dies, the girl's fiancée takes his brain and heart and puts it on the automaton. The servant becomes an avenger for his death, and the only thing that can save the girl from a certain death. As long as he winds up his coil... In the end, the girl is saved and the automaton kills itself to escape suffering and leave the way clear for his maker, the girl's fiancée. I know, it sounds cheesy, but I loved it when I was a kid!

Cargo (2006)

A metaphor about life

[5/10 · 9 October 2006]

Sometimes, people take a detour on their lives and end up going somewhere they would never want to be. That's what happened to a young boy named Chris who traveled on work to an African country and decided to stay (or so he says) to know more about it. Romantic fantasies subside when the truth about corruption and violence in African nations puts Chris in a dire situation... ... so he decides to stowaway on a boat for Marseille, a boat with a special treatment reserved for stowaways. Having slept harmless in the cargo hold for one night, before being found, everybody else on the ship thinks he knows what lies hidden in the hold, that makes strange noises and frightens the crew-members, making them disappear one by one. Is it a sea monster? A ghost seeking revenge?... The problem is: the crew knows more about it than Chris, and a sense of mistrust is visible from day one. Who's friend, who's foe? And who's more afraid of whom? Told to stay in his room, close his eyes, sleep, and ignore the strange noises at night, he decides to find out what secret hides behind a name written in the WC walls: "Rebecca". And he does. And he now knows he SHOULD NOT be alive, and survivor's guilt sets in... "Cargo" is a metaphor about live. About the way we have to live with our egocentric decisions, about the ghosts we carry and the mistakes we made in the past, and the way we deal with strangers and try to find a meaning to our lives in the experience with significant others. And, as "The Baptist" (the cook) says in the last minutes of the movie to Capt. Brookes, "It's not too late to be human again". So the Captain kills him. A very claustrophobic ambiance carries very far the sense of strangeness between the crew-members and the stowaway, and the story is told more with silence and secrets than with acts or dialog (except for the story about "Rebecca" and all the killings after that). You can almost feel the urge to demand that the crew accepts and treats fairly the poor Chris, but they are on opposite extremes of the Humankind. In the end, Chris's sacrifice redeems the entire crew that abandons the ship "Gull" for a new life on the ground, but his body will lie there, in the cargo hold, in the arms of Capt. Brookes, determined to go down with the ship to atone for his sins. Though simple, it is a nice movie to see in late night sessions. P.S.: there are no ghosts or sea monsters on this ship, but the ones we carry inside our own hearts.

Slither (2006)

Off to a slow start...

[5/10 · 16 September 2006]

Since the July opening has been delayed to September (or maybe later) I had to see this movie through some alternative ways. I was expecting something funny and was presented with a very dull, slow movie, full of stereotypes.

But then it started to warm up and, though the script is somewhat lame, it grabs your attention more than once. In the end, I was glued to the screen to watch how it would end.

The actors save most of the movie, since the script is the usual zombie-from-outer-space-blob-thing we've seen in dozens of previous movies. The characters are your usual American little town people, which make Nathan Fillion's character stand out as someone that doesn't fit: a cute smart-mouth policeman in such a dull town? Didn't convince me.

The Mayor, and Grant Grant are very well played. The foul mouthed Mayor was hilarious, and Grant Grant keeps it's stiffness and pride although he's becoming a slug himself.

The scene where the entire zombified family is trying to convince the girl that escaped, to come out of the car, was terrific. (Although a stereotype from zombie movies as well.) But I am a sucker for this kind of movies, and loved it to the end.

As we say here: to be taken with a grain of salt (which means: not to be taken to seriously), since it can be a very funny movie.

Lost (2004–2010)

SPOILERS ABOUND - LOST, the explanation!

[16 April 2006]

As I have said in several earlier posts, I have come to think about the Island in a very different way. As you may remember, from viewing the episodes, several strange things happen in the island. Different people have their own personal dramas, and sometimes those dramas appear reflected in someone else's drama, as if there was a wizard of sorts knowing about their past life and giving hints to other people. An example: the lottery numbers on of the characters used to play and win a big jackpot, are written on the hatch and are used as the combination of the computer. Big coincidence? Or is it a sign of something else? Several other strange things happen: there are "survivors" that were not on the plane, some people (the good, the children, the strong) are kidnapped never to be seen again... and as one of the "pseudo-survivors" said: "they are better now". Some scenes even have a surreal ambiance, as if inside a dream. And the flashbacks, they always reflect some wrong of the past, something they should be paying for! So, I came up with the following idea: they are not the survivors of the crash, but the casualties! Some went to heaven, others to hell, and these are the gray-area souls that went to Purgatory to atone for their sins before being taken somewhere else. The Monster, the Others, are nothing else but God and his Angels, choosing those that can be "transfered" upwards or downwards... This explains the title: they are not "lost" in space or time, they are LOST SOULS.

The Descent (2005)

Depressing...

[7/10 · 29 December 2005]

First, they shock you with a superbly directed car accident (watching everything from the rear seat point of view, seeing the car is veering of the road, the other coming right towards you and the driver is distracted... makes you wanna shout: WATCH OUT!) Then, they put six girls on a cave system, very pretty in the beginning but very fast becoming claustrophobic... they the roof collapses! And in the second part, when you think you won't be able to watch another second of the movie, so depressing it is, the vampires attack! Preety soon, the group brakes apart, the weaker ones are hunted down, the stronger ones grow up to become fighters. Able to use bones and axes as weapons, two female Homo Sapiens start wreaking havoc among the tribe of vampires, killing seven in total. That left about hundred of them alive in the tribe... And in the end, when the salvation is near, one of them exacts revenge on the other, and flees towards the normal world... only to find out she is in fact crazy and hallucinating her escape, while still inside the cave, having given up the fight and waiting for the vampires to come for her. One of the most interesting points: the cave had been explored by other people before, yet no one knew of its existence, meaning - No one EVER COMES OUT ALIVE! I came out of the cinema feeling depressed. One incredible movie indeed.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

Excellent script and directing - here's why!

[8/10 · 26 December 2005]

Many critics will deride this movie has being many points below "The Exorcist" or any horror movie dealing with this subject. The problem is: this movie is not about demonic possession, is about belief in demonic possession and exorcisms.

First of all, it does not show anything that cannot be explained by a scientific, rational and logic cause. Even the most frightening scenes and events, are totally realistic and possible inside psychological pathology without having to invoke the supernatural. This is the movie's main objective, and it manages to reach it very well. All other events with a greater touch on the supernatural side, are third-person opinions and depictions of the events, thus possibly exaggerated by the biased mind of the witnesses.

Second, all characters are somehow emotionally or personally involved in the story. The Defense attorney is after a promotion, then all she wants is to do the right thing because the last time she didn't. The D.A. is defending his Christian faith against ignorance and superstition. The mambo-jumbo expert on possessions is well over her head into philosophical denial and pseudo-scientific New Age fantasies. The witness doctor wants to believe in the possession because it is easier to him, than assume that he was not so experienced as he thought. The parents need to deny that their rigorous education was the cause for her daughter's suffering. Even the priest wants to believe that he was doing the right thing, because the opposite was to assume that he was a murderer. ALL of them were deluding themselves into a fantasy that clouded their judgment.

As I see it: Emily Rose was a young woman with a strong sexual desire. She received a very strict education against sex, and there she was, away from her family, in an university where she could do anything (anyone?) she wanted - and she just had met a boy she liked. Why did it all happened one night when she was alone? Was it because she was fantasizing she could be making love with her boyfriend? Was she masturbating, or having any sexual fantasies? Anyway, that conflicted against her frigid education by her beloved parents. And then it struck her. Maybe she had had an argument with her boyfriend. Maybe she invited him to her room - and he denied it. Maybe she was jealous. Maybe she was hiding some shame - maybe she had lost her virginity to some guy or other and that was eroding her with guilt. No one cared to know what her troubles were. Neurologists diagnosed her as epileptic, her family called her possessed.

The possession was her way to unite her family with the boyfriend. It gave her the attention she needed to the conflict between her education and her sexual desire. She even says the name of the demon was "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six!" (and in more than one occasion that "Six" sounded more like "Sex!")

That's why I loved this movie. It showed that reality can look a lot strange to the unaided eye, and that resorting to the superstition and the supernatural can only end in tragedy. We are all human beings, with human feelings. We need to be more attuned to these feelings, because doing so we will need no supernatural explanations to what is aching inside of each and every one of us.

Doom (2005)

Duh!-M

[4 November 2005]

Simply put: it is an entertaining movie. Full of references to the game (Dr. Carmack, the elevators, the armors, the BFG, the monsters), but then someone had this dumb idea to abandon the main theme of the game (Hell and a plethora of monsters...) and make some zombie-genetic-martian-whatever story that just does not hold... When it ended, I was glad it ender that way: fast! Rather play the original DOOM (from the 90's, which I still have installed on my PC) than watching this movie again. Not even on DVD! But it is entertaining. For geeks like me. Who played Beyond Belief (a pack for Quake few even heard about) and all Mission Packs for Quake's 1 and 2, and used bots on Quake to play Deathmatches, and connected to the net to play online... but the movie lacked one important thing: a mouse and a keyboard!

Serenity (2005)

Never heard of Firefly. Don't know why I chose to see Serenity. But... OH BOY!!!

[10/10 · 10 October 2005]

First heard about Serenity on Corona Films, and I thought it was some funny pseudo-SF movie made by Hollywood, for teen-agers, some "Buffy-In-Space" sort of movie... I was planning on seeing Nochnoi Dozor, as a matter of fact, but I had no time to go to cinema where it premiered, so I chose my local cinema - and Serenity. Well, how can I put it... ? THE MOVIE ROCKS, is that mild enough? Know those trailers where it's all action, and then you'll find it's all the action in the film? Serenity is 100% action (and humor, and character development, and script, and plot, and special effects, and...) from start to finish. A few minutes into the film and WHAM!, and before you're even breathing again, WHAM! a second time... and then STOP. And you're trying to align your bearings when WHAM! again... then cut to the Title sequence (which is thrilling, hilarious, provoking, and very well directed, all at a same time). And you say this was the same guy that made Buffy-the-boring-whatever?... NAH!

Dark Water (2005)

Ring 3?... sure looks like it...

[7/10 · 31 July 2005]

Remember "The Ring"? Same story. Opening credits, family, building, water deposit with children's bag beside it... OK, five minutes and we already know where the missing girl is, can we go on with the rest of the movie now? We know how it will end, so let's know more about the girl (one hour of dark water dripping from the ceiling)... OK, done that, find girl in deposit but WAIT!, it's not over yet. Ghost comes back, kills mom, nice ending. DUH! Two good things. First: they play around with the "insane mother" thing for a while, enough to make you wonder "is it all in her head?", but they keep her credibility standing instead of making another "crazy mother sees ghost and: option a) it's all in her head; option b) the ghost is real" movie. Second: the characters are simple people but nicely played by great actors that never exaggerate in their roles.

Aniki Bóbó (1942)

How's about a nice glass of Port wine?

[10/10 · 22 April 2005]

Even today, when you visit the river margins of Porto and Gaia, looking at the rabelo boats (that used to carry the Port Wine from up-river), the iron bridges built by Eiffel and his pupils, and you sense Porto has been remade as a city for tourists, you can still sense Porto is, and was, the Portuguese "working capital", as represented in the magnificent movie Aniki Bobó, a sunny city of honest workers, kids playing happily and careless in the streets, old streets of stone and green... Aniki Bobó is a trip to a Porto that disappeared (most of the town depicted in the movie is now ruins), but still lives, through the lives and dreams of kids. Immortal.

The Courtyard of the Ballads (1942)

A Portuguese patio, for sure

[8/10 · 22 April 2005]

An honest and furious salesman, a funny drunk and his obsessive young son, an un-practical inventor, a Russian immigrant (for political jokes), a Brazilian singer (for amusement) and her hard-working Portuguese mother... the most irregular group to liven up things in a typical Portuguese patio (the backyard of buildings)! There is no way you can stop laughing!

(spoilers) The three most famous scenes: - when the drunk's son uses a fake streetlight that his father's mistakes for a person ("Can you give me a light?" - hilarious!), to call him home; - when the inventor listens to music on his home-made radio (when he is, in fact, listening his Russian's neighbor's graphonola), and ends up smashing it with hammers when he discovers he cannot switch it off! - when the singer arrives from Brasil, and everybody on the patio wants to be the first to give the good news to her mother using his own different method (a pigeon, a boy, a home-made radio,...), all arriving at the same time!

A true portrait of a certain way of life in Portugal during the times of fascism. Second only to Italian comedies!

'Non', ou A Vã Glória de Mandar (1990)

Dull, boring, a regular Oliveira's film - GO SEE IT!

[5/10 · 22 April 2005]

I had to see this film, it was about all I like: Portuguese History. It may be one of the richest, in battles, glory, drama, myth... a small country with the most amazing historical background (celts, Romans, sueves, Goths, Arabs, francs...), a nation that could and would rule over the entire world for about 200 years without any opposition (from 1384 to 1583), the so-called Portuguese Centuries! But Oliveira centers his movie around the Portuguese downfall, the way Portugal virtually disappeared from international political scene during the 20th century during the fascist regime, that destroyed the Portuguese place in the world while feeding the people with lies about their glorious past. And what more adequate episode of Portuguese recent History, than the Colonial Wars? From 1963 to 1975, thousands of Portuguese soldiers were killed, wounded, maimed, in the forests of former Portuguese colonies in Africa (Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau), leaving a permanent scar in Portuguese society that's not healed even today... Oliveira joins everything, from the myths of the past to Alcacer-Quibir, to the Colonial Wars, attempting closure. It achieves none. The movie becomes too dull, too slow (although the photography is amazing), and the marriage of King John (Henry the Navigator's father, and the one that started the Portuguese Centuries after defeating the Castillans in Aljubarrota in 1384) shows exactly that (a priest reciting in Spanish with actors placed like cardboard cuts imitating a famous painting). The only scene with stamina belongs to the famous actor Ruy de Carvalho, a warrior ranting about the uselessness of war... A nice movie if you're an intellectual; a boring one if you're a passionate lover of History!

Alone in the Dark (2005)

Just my 2cents

[19 March 2005]

I din't see the movie AITD. But I was a fan of the games, especially the first one (the second was way too difficult, the others I never played). When I heard they were going to make a movie based on the game, I was thrilled! Then I saw the trailer, and thought to myself: "WHAT THE F#%K HAS THIS TO DO WITH THE GAME?!?!?!?!" Now, I know...

Carnby... not convincing... Too many people, AITD was about Carnby, and that was it! Monsters? Aliens? What has that to do with AITD? Where were the ghosts? Portal? What portal? If they can make those scary monsters, was it that hard to make the ghost of a pirate attacking with an old sword? Or a ghost in armour? Or maybe some flying books, or ghost couples dancing on a saloon... THAT made AITD game scary. Now this...

Thanks for your comments, guys. At least I'm sparing my hardly earned money.