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Reviews
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West (2005)
Critically important and terrifying
Obsession is a chilling call to action for everyone who cares about the survival of western democratic principles. We are very near the brink of an all-out world war for the soul of civilization and many of us are too distracted, cowardly or p.c. to see it. Don't trust anyone who says this film isn't true or tries to downplay its vitality.
This is one of the most persuasive documentaries I've ever seen. It's perfectly paced, rigorously backs up its claims and is breathlessly dramatic.
We know what Islamo-fascists want because they keep telling us, but we fail to hear: death to Israel, death to America, and worldwide Islam. Islamic violence and atrocities are very well documented -- we have cameras all over the world, and still we fail to see. Well this film will open your eyes.
Things are going to get much, much worse between Islam and the west, and very soon. This film is a commanding testament to that fact. See it. Make everyone you know see it.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Even better the second time
Some films, like Chinese cuisine, pass through you so quickly you hardly remember they were there. Others linger in your mind, sometimes even subconsciously, growing, so that by the time you see the film again it's something more than it was the first time. Master and Commander is deceptively simple. You could sum the story up in a single sentence. But the levels of nuance and texture go beyond almost anything seen on American screens in years. It manages to be exciting, bloody, adventurous stuff without ever becoming inhumane. And it's subtle, human, and beautiful without ever stagnating. Not a single performance bears a false note. The world of the film is so rigorously invented that one can't help but fall into it; it's completely absorbing. But on reflection, it's an amazing high-wire act. It stands as single, overpowering proof that a film with the best visual effects of the year can also be the most clever and intelligent. Maybe it will be even better the third time.
Open Range (2003)
Too honest and sophisticated for the average audience?
Open Range is, without doubt, one of the finest films of any genre to come along in years. A deeply felt, funny, violent, gorgeous movie. It's that rare commodity, a completely satisfying experience. Yet the audience of twenty-somethings I had the misfortune of sharing the theater at the Arclight with couldn't suppress their idiotic snickering throughout. Can these really be my peers? The film has so much to recommend it; I guarantee you won't see a better ensemble cast this year. But perhaps young audiences are not able to process sincerity anymore. Open Range is full of humor, but it does mean everything it says. It has no irony. Maybe that's the trouble.
Afterward I heard several baboons who'd been in the audience gibbering about their own future film careers, and how much hope they had in themselves after watching Open Range. God help us.
Ravenous (1999)
Smart, visceral, funny horror.
Although not without flaws, Ravenous is a fascinating movie, not only because of its fearless blend of humor, social philosophy and go-for-the-throat horror, but also as evidence that a movie this daring and eccentric can still be produced within the studio system. It's predictable that Fox would dump it in the spring with a howlingly awful ad campaign -- they must have been utterly bewildered with the film. But hats off to them at least for not ruining it in post. A uniformly wonderful ensemble of performances led by the astonishingly good Robert Carlyle. Don't be surprised if his ballsy, idiosyncratic and riveting performance ends up being the best of the year.
Vampires (1998)
Pretty good, for a bad John Carpenter movie
It's too bad the one guy we used to be able to depend on for at least one scary movie around Halloween time, even if it wasn't very good (ie: Prince of Darkness) appears to have lost his touch. This thing is one short step from a "Full Moon" picture. Wake up, John! You made "The Thing", remember? Wha' happen'?