Merlin-29 Reviews

Armageddon (1998)

Characters 1-dimensional, story implausible and irrelevant. Special effects okay.

[2/10 · 14 November 1998]

I suppose it doesn't matter since this movie is only 1% story- but the portrayal of such a crisis, indeed the entire basis for the story, is implausible. Aside from breaking the laws of physics left and right, the idea of blowing up an asteroid heading for the earth is the worst thing you could do. The characters are very one-dimensional and uninteresting.

Lost Highway (1997)

Film art. Surreal and real melded, even identity is lost in the confusion.

[7/10 · 14 November 1998]

Film art, and pure Lynch. Some beautiful cinematography, construction of the scenes, help build the mood. The mood is characteristic Lynch: dark and quiet, punctuated by the horrible (and at times amusingly grotesque). Also typical of Lynch, the story leaves one full of unanswered questions, but perhaps even more so here than in other works like Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet. There is something of an identity confusion: two men, each with their own lives, are somehow actually only one. There are other surreal elements mixed in with the real, and no clear indications where the division is, nor whether the surreal is external or internal to some character (or from whom). The resolution of this confusion is left to the viewer.

Billy Madison (1995)

Not That Funny

[2/10 · 14 November 1998]

There were amusing scenes in this movie, and I did laugh sometimes, but not that much. The plot had some promise, but after the initial setup I found it disappointing. A comedy doesn't have to have a good story to be okay, but this one doesn't have a good story, and isn't all that funny without it. If you like Adam Sandler, see something else.

M (1931)

Fascinating thriller with moral and civil questions

[8/10 · 14 November 1998]

Fascinating movie. I enjoyed the depiction of a 1930 Germany just from a historical perspective. I noticed some of the subtitles were inaccurate. The movie has some particularly interesting camera work, and convincing acting. The movie begins as a classic thriller, develops some interesting comparisons of the order and function underworld and the police, and ends with some real philosophical wrangling: Does being compelled by psychological sickness to commit crime make one more deserving of punishment, or less? Maybe there is no justice in a case like this.

Savage Nights (1992)

engrossing

[8/10 · 5 November 1998]

For a movie about how AIDS affects a person, his behavior, and the compounded effects on those around him, one might expect the film to play the emotions of the viewer in an obvious way. However I must say I was engrossed from the beginning to shortly before the end by the film, never having the opportunity to distance myself and view the scene or action as a critic, dissecting what the director's intent was. I was very pleased.