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plegowik
Reviews
Haute tension (2003)
Nice try, but no dice
This film has a good feel and look to it--dark, suspenseful, creepy. It even kept me watching and feeling the tension that good thrillers/horror films create . . . until close to the end. As an accomplished film, however, it fails miserably. It begis by pulling a couple of cheap "shock" tactics (which I thought were used only in Hollywood). Its final trick is so cliché that I almost stopped watching there. And where's the logic? There are a number of logical plot goofs that left me . . ., well, disappointed. The acting is great, the look and feel of the film are great, the music is great; it's a shame that the story-line undermines what could potentially have been a good movie. (I'm left a bit disappointed, too, about the stereotype of sexual "perversion" used to characterize the protagonist.)
Dark Town (2004)
Very interesting, refreshing--a vamp movie with a message
Okay, this isn't the greatest vampire film ever made, but it does have something. Though the early part of the story seemed very unfocused, it did draw all the strings together to create a film that was satisfying, one whose characters did interest me. What I found most refreshing was that the people were people I could relate to--a middle class family and kids who loiter on street corners. The story wasn't typically clichéd, leaving me waiting eagerly to see what happened next. I also liked how free will and self-control emerge as the film's message. I'd almost suspect that this film inspired the new television Moonlight series.
Equinox (1970)
two versions?
I saw this film as a kid, too, and still remember how the castle and the pit of hell were so intriguing. I didn't know, though, that there were two versions--the original, low-budget 1967 version "The Equinox," filmed by a couple of teenagers; and the 1970 re-vision of the same film, simply titled "Equinox." I caught part of the revised film some 25 years ago on a late-night t.v. program and remember that I wasn't nearly as impressed with it as I had originally been as a teenager.
This time 'round was another story! The original film was great! It has the feel of teenage rite-of-passage stories and flows really well, despite a bit of technical troubles. The special effects are great, and the story is truly a story, without the need of a lot of build-up or explanation. Reminds me of other independent and European films.
The re-vision, which is the one I saw first, is still okay, but unfortunately, it loses much of the original, fresh charm of the 1967 version. The voice-overs are annoying, and sometimes, the re-editing to build-up and explain what's going to happen is too overdone.
See the original "The Equinox." If you're a cult film lover, you'll love it!
Lady in the Water (2006)
An okay movie, but what ego!
As a movie from a different point of view, this is a good movie. I really appreciated the anti-heroic main character and the un-Hollywood nature of the actors (not all perfect beings and an ethnic mix that reflects contemporary American society fairly well); and the fairy tale nature of the story was very appealing. Everything fits together well, and the meta-fictive aspects of the story were amusing. However, when the ego of the story's creator comes through in an attempt both to stroke his own ego and to lambaste the critics, I have a hard time taking the movie seriously. I thought the brother resembled the author, whom I saw in a television interview last week. Turns out, it was Shyamalan himself portraying the brother, who is . . . a writer, of course. The pity party of his foreseen death is really too much to take, not to mention the reference to the greatness of his work. Gag me! Shyamalan could take a lesson from Shakespeare's self-effacing creation of dramatic art.
The Bone Collector (1999)
mediocre, no chemistry
I saw the trailer for The Bone Collector way back (1999-2000?) and don't remember why I didn't make it to the cinema to watch it. So, discovering the DVD in the $5.50 bin at the store, I picked it up. I now know why the film didn't stay in the cinema long enough for me to see it. There's not much to it. There is definitely no chemistry between the main characters (Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie), nor is there much depth to the characters, though there are many, many attempts at eliciting our "sympathy" toward them rather than letting us discover who they are. The look of the film is mostly okay, though its glossiness doesn't create that dark, horror effect/feel (except at certain moments). The plot/story is probably the film's strongest point, and as a police/suspense/mystery, I never guessed who the killer was. However, I never got the feeling, either, that there was a legitimate, people-bonding police investigation going on. And whatever happened to Donaghy's boyfriend from the start of the film (a string that failed to be tied!)? The Bone Collector gets a C/C- from me (I did watch it all the way through without the temptation to turn it off), but by five minutes after turning it off, I didn't feel it anymore (couldn't care less about the characters or the situation).
Wolf Creek (2005)
Incredibly frightening!
I didn't know what to expect from this film. I rented it for the title alone, wondering if it would be a werewolf movie. When it started, I wondered where it was going, and though seeming to ramble a bit at first, it still held my interest. There's a detached, documentary feel about it, yet the foreboding music promised darker things to come. And when they came, they really came. The film is very disturbing, horrifying. For a terror fan like me, I loved that aspect of it. Moreover, that it is supposedly based on fact really strikes a nerve and makes me consider not ever traveling too far from populated areas again! If I had to compare this film with others, I would say it has something of "The Blair Witch Project" in it as well as a bit of "Deliverance." It's true horror . . . especially since it (supposedly) portrays a true event (and really does convince me that it does).
Of course, the film does have some drawbacks. The characters don't have a whole lot of depth, and the tone of the film is uneven: Is it a docudrama or a film? The foreboding music I mention above doesn't always seem to fit the scene.
Still, as a film it works. It really leaves you disturbed--and so far, one day later, the horror of the film is still with me.
Hostel (2005)
Not too sure about this one . . .
This is a film that kept me watching, but I never really identified with the protagonists or their dilemma. Although I found myself squirming a number of times, I didn't find myself racked with tension or fear; and, unfortunately, the visual displays of torture were a bit overdone. Suggestion works the imagination much more than graphic-ness. I can't put my finger on it, but I just wasn't put in the characters' place, as a good horror movie will do. The feel of the film is "nice," in the good, gruesome way of good horror films--dark and foreboding. But there is something too familiar about the movie's plot: It tends toward the formulaic and never goes beyond the Puritan shadow cast by Hollywood, which makes it, I'm afraid, unmemorable.
Prix de beauté (Miss Europe) (1930)
An under-rated classic!
It is often only after years pass that we can look back and see those stars who are truly stars. As that French film critic, whose name escapes me, said: "There is no Garbo. There is no Dietrich. There is only Louise Brooks"; and there is, thank heavens! Louise Brooks! This is the third of her European masterpieces. But it is also an exceptional film for being one, if not the, first French talkie, for following a script written by famed René Clair, for reportedly being finished (the direction, that is) by Georg Pabst, and for incorporating the voice of Edith Piaf before she was well known! So much talent working on and in a film, how couldn't it turn out to be a masterpiece?! And that's what this film is. It's a shame Louise Brooks was blackballed by Hollywood when she came back to the States--so much talent cast so arrogantly by the wayside! In the film, in addition to getting to watch Louise Brooks in action, it's great to see pictures of Paris ca. 1930 and to hear Piaf's young voice. I never get tired of this film!
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
A very worthwhile film
In a family with more than one child, how can each child be made to feel special? C. S. Lewis solves this quandary by making it logical for a kingdom to have four thrones--one for each child in the four-child family who are the protagonists of this film. C. S. Lewis surely remembered his childhood and recreates a magical, wondrous world, the kind we all know before puberty clamps down on our imaginative powers. Everything about the film drew me in--the mythic creatures, the talking animals, the gorgeous scenery. And the White Witch! what an ice queen! I don't remember the actress's name, but she is the most memorable character of the film (certainly had me shivering in my skin). . . well, the youngest child (don't remember her name either) is pretty memorable, too. This is a very worthwhile film.
La lengua de las mariposas (1999)
Wow!
What a great film! It puts the Spanish Civil War in perspective and shows how awful living under "el franquismo" was going to be. You can feel the exhilaration of living under the Republic and the darkness the country begins to slide into. Spanish film, overshadowed by Pedro Almodovar's quirky film, is really coming into its own and, unfortunately, is often overlooked and undervalued. The settings are true to the era, capturing the feel of Spain in the 1930s. The acting is superb, and the script is great. Plus, there is no overdone drama. The child actor is adorable without being made the object of cuteness, and Fernando Fernan Gomez is lovable without being sappy or sentimental. All I can say is "Wow!"
Rent (2005)
What was the point?
This film was hyped up too much. What can it boast? Loud music, unappealing characters, and a plot that goes on and on and on and on ... until you wonder, "Will it ever end?" The plot isn't strong enough, the characters aren't characterized enough, and the songs, frankly, aren't all that great, except, maybe, for the theme song. Not one song scene stands out, except the maudlin, adolescent song the singer-songwriter composes during his time away . . . and that song, more than a performance, was excruciatingly embarrassing. The film leaves you with the idea that the bohemian lifestyle is the only lifestyle, despite the fact that it offers only freezing cold, dilapidated living spaces and solace in alcohol and heroin . . . but apparently using and being hooked on heroin is okay if you're a bohemian. The drag queen was the only character to stand out, and unfortunately, s/he wasn't allowed to carry the show! I'm not usually so severe with my reviews, but I was very disappointed with this hyped-up movie.