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Reviews
Halloween (1978)
Theatre of the mind makes it one of a kind
Halloween is a psychogical horror film. There is nowhere near an excess of gore. Rather, it plays like a novel. Allowing the viewer to scare itself on many an ocassion. The beauty of Haloween is it's suspense. Hitchcock said that the difference between terror and suspense is that with terror, the plane suddenly comes from the sky, but with suspense, we know that the plane will fall, but we don't know when it will fall. Halloween is the Grandfather of all modern day horror films. It set the mold. Sure, Psyscho is the Great Grand Dad, but we're talking about Halloween. There are 3 major contributions that Carpenter gave to the genre with this flick: 1) POV, 2) Music, 3) Long Lens view of action. Let me elaborate. The opening scene with the child killer is, in my opinion, the best horror shot of all time. What it does is put you in the eyes of the killer and shocks you with the killer being a kid...all in about 5 minutes. Secondly, the music is a classic. It set the tone throughout the movie, where mundane scenes become scary. You do not have any clue, when something is going to happen, because the music keeps you off kilter. Lastly, the long lens views of Michael Myers make you feel like, "Did I just see that?".
Ash Wednesday (2002)
Frodo? Oh no!
This must have been the movie that taught Eddie Burns the lesson that casting is the most important part of getting a good performance out of your actors and making your story believable. Elijah Wood: Totally wrong for the Sean part. Ed Burns owns the Francis part and watching Elijah Wood play his younger brother is like watching a kid off the monkey bars trying to stand up to a high school bully. They are not even on the same playing field. And we are to believe that this same kid is married to Rosario Dawson. The prospect of this matchup is like watching Dudley Moore and J-Lo dating.
All of the other good stuff that is going on: Period piece of Hell's Kitchen, etc., is overshadowed by the bad casting decision of having Elijah Wood be Burn's brother. Whatayagonnado? Lessons learned.
The King of Kong (2007)
Kajagoogoo Kong Style
Gnarly. What can you say about a movie that pits one of the central themes of the 80's with all the characters that you could possibly muster in a mocumentary that is reality!
Billy Mitchell should be up for villain of the year.
King of Kong is well done in it's ability to take engineering and technical aspects of gaming and presenting it commercially and in a visually descriptive fashion.
The complexities of Donkey Kong were never evident to me when I was playing it way back when, but King of Kong explained these complexities and broke the code all in one motion.
Brilliant!...I mean Awesome!
Lucky You (2007)
Very good Romantic Comedy for Guys
I was pleasantly surprised by this find on HBO the other night. I highly disagree with Roland E. Zwick's earlier post. The pleasure of this film is that the action is NOT primarily set on the relationship between Barrymore and Bana. It allowed the audience to explore the relationship between Bana and Duvall. Usually, romantic comedies are set the other way around (like in Music and Lyrics where all of the attention was centered on Barrymore and Grant - boring). Also, there were many bets away from the actual poker game that made this film both hilarious and dramatic. Horatio Sanz is a comic master, in my opinion, and is one of the more underrated comic actors of current cinema. When, Bana loses his entry fee to his father, you really feel that this guy is out of control. On that vein, I think that Bana could have been a little more desperate in situations such as those, but it could have been that because it was his father he felt that he could always have a chance to win it back somehow. The screenwriters (Roth and Hanson) did an excellent job of keeping the audience off balance. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was wrong. I like that in a movie. When I don't know where the plot is going, I feel like I'm watching something new. The direction by Hanson was excellent, as expected. This was no "Rounders", but it was a very good attempt to make a romantic comedy/drama with the profession/vice of gambling as it's focal point.
The Puffy Chair (2005)
Realistic Portrayal of a Slackers Without Backers
I found this movie entertaining in the sense that the story and action moved along at a fairly even and comedic pace. There were a few pretty funny moments: Plates being thrown on the floor, The lady entering the motel room demanding them to leave and when he confronts the seller of the puffy chair. I think the performances were all believable. The story, especially the ending, was one that Hollywood would not embrace and that is primarily the reason that films like these have to be independent and low budge. I think it's OK that I didn't really love this movie, because I the story is not a lovable one. It's about an arguing couple and buying a chair. Need I say more? The appeal is more about holding up a mirror to the world and showing us what is there. We can talk about it, we can dismiss it or we can just use it as information in our own relationships. Stanley Kubrick used to say to his actors, when they would like to make the scene more real, sometimes reality is not the most entertaining way to tell a story. I think that's where most movies use poetic license to bend and sculpt reality into a pill that is easy for the audience to swallow. I'm all for that, but I also think it's nice to see a film like the Puffy Chair that reminds us of the dysfunction that exists in all of our relationships. This is no Little Miss Sunshine. But how this film differs from Little Miss Sunshine is how Independent Film is supposed to differ from the mainstream. People and ideas outside of the mainstream studio product. There are no stars in this movie and there is no happy ending. Little Miss Sunshine had stars and you could argue about the ending being happy. I think it's important for films like the Puffy Chair to exist and get entry into major film festivals because it allows new talent to continue to be nurtured. If you look at Sundance this year, it is very star and proved director driven. I think that is a bad thing. Let's embrace these types of movies, whether or not they are perfect. Because practice makes perfect. If you don't allow Independent filmmakers to work on their craft in front of an audience, their work will die and we will be subjected to the same old studio formulas that will numb us to death.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
2 thumbs up and bloody ear.
Awesome movie. Everything that can be said, probably already has. Tarantino is a master at telling a non-linear story. You tell this or Pulp Fiction in non-linear fashion and the story is not as good as the one he tells using flashbacks. He is also a master of using music in this (and in all of his movies). Only Kubrick can possibly top his use of "Stuck in the Middle with You" during the ear scene with "Singing in the Rain" during the rape scene in Clockwork Orange.
One note. I wonder why his characters are derogatory towards black people. I heard Tarantino on Charlie Rose and he wants to do a movie about John Brown (The famous abolitionist). Just throwing it out there.
Acting performances are all top notch by Keitel, Buscemi, Madsen, Roth, and all.
The Motel (2005)
Third Act Lack, but Nice Kang Attack
I thought the movie was excellent, except for the conclusion. Like most independent films, the third act is lacking. Kang really told a great story, but it kind of fell flat at the end. I guess his mother reading the story is supposed to be the conclusion, but maybe having some sort of dialogue with the son would have made the third act more fulfilling.
Otherwise, can't say enough good things about this movie. I liked that there were no stars. I always find a movie more believable when I don't know anyone in the cast. Hey look, it's Denzel. Wasn't he killed in Training Day? The opening scenes with strangers coming in to have sex and the family having to clean up their mess was done very well. Brought the audience into a world it never sees.
I knew very little about Asian relationships from movies. The only other Asian film (besides Crouching Tiger and the like) that I have seen that has dealt with relationships is the Joy Luck Club. It was nice to see this dynamic from the viewpoint of a young male. Joy Luck Club was solely from the female perspective.
Can't wait to see more from Kang.
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
Plot holes and other NYC devices
Let me say first off that the performances by Hawke, Hoffmann and Tomei were excellent. Secondly, this could have been a 90 minute movie and lastly severe plot holes exist in a pretty good story.
That being said, the only way to elaborate on the movie length and plot holes is to ---spoil--- the movie.
OK, first off the movie length. Lumet's flashback device, which I normally liked in movies like "Memento", is not necessary here. In fact, it actually added 30 minutes to the movie by constantly reverting to scenes that we had already scene and showing them from the view point of other characters. This style is very reminiscent of the film "Go", which I liked very much, by the way. A linear structure would have worked quite well here and I think would have told the story a little better and in 90 minutes. Usually, a flashback is used to show us something that the we don't know at a later point of the movie, because letting us know it at an earlier point would give us too much information about a character or an event. In this movie there is no information in the form of a flashback that is given to the audience, which would fail in a linear style of storytelling. As a matter of fact, showing us the jewelry store being robbed and the two people being killed would have been better if it was shown in chronological order as opposed to the second scene in the movie. Alright, you might say, the fact that it was the brother's mother would have been revealed. OK, fine, just get rid of the scene about the father going to the DMV and the mother having to open up the store. The father would show up to the store and say "my wife works here" and the audience would still have thought, "That poor man's wife...oh wait, it's Andy's mom." Now for plot holes. OK. If there's a guy that's been shot and he's got a gun and the bullets match the ones that are in my wife's chest and he's laying at the scene of the crime, my guess is that's the guy who shot my wife. Now, why is the husband of the deceased bothering the cops to find the killer. I would think that was the guy. So, we go on a journey to find the "real" killer. Much like OJ did with Nicole Simpson's killer. OK, granted, the husband was 100% correct in thinking he was not the only one involved, but in reality, I think most grieving husbands would have stopped right there. OK, next plot hole. So, the father goes to a jewelry store to the one crooked diamond dealer on 47th street and asks him if the guy knew anything about his dead wife's murder. So, the audience is to believe that the killer was going to go to this one guy and pawn all of his wears from the heist. Oh, and Andy's going to leave his card to incriminate himself. So, if the dealer decides to call the police he can say I didn't get a good look at him, but here's his card. Again, the father was dead on, but come on. That's a bit of a stretch. Also, he's going to ram his car into a police car (at the police station) and no one is going to arrest him. There are other minor plot holes (like the safe being open at the transvestite drug dealers. "How convenient" - ala the Church Lady) Great performances, but a script full of holes. I think if they would have filled those holes and told a linear story it would have been better. P.S. I have heard that a user has tried to put holes in my criticism by stating that Finney is looking for the accomplice because no getaway car was found. This is logical, however not enough to warrant an all out search for an accomplice. Many crimes have been committed or have been attempted to be committed by one person. In my opinion, Finney's character would be more focused on the burglar that was killed and getting the closure a grieving husband would need from finding him dead on the floor. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! (Will Ferrell - Zoolander)