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Reviews
Dream Kitchen (1999)
Short and (very) Sweet
This is a precisely executed allegory on coming out set against the backdrop of working class Dublin. Showing how, sometimes, the fantastical has to take over in order to allow us to deal with the harsh realities of our lives.
Comical and touching this is a great debut for all involved and will hopefully spread its culinary glow around the world.
Bowling for Columbine (2002)
Compelling Viewing.
I thought this would be a 'normal' documentary. A presentation of the facts and fictions of Columbine high school. I walked out of a screening on New Years day feeling a new understanding in my heart. Michael Moore has with one film answered the question of WHY Americans feels the compulsion to lash out at their own society, their friends and neighbours.
I don't pretend to understand the communities in which these tragedies happen, for many years I have been appalled by a society in which weapons have been so easily available. Michael Moore himself, even though he was raised in these places and is a member of NRA, does not understand them but he is doing something which is desperately needed. He is doing something which the police, the government, the schools and the people aren't doing. He is asking why?
He finds the answer.
This film is one of the most important films I have seen in at least a decade. It does not just tell us what is happening it finds out why. Watch this movie; think about what is being said. Think about what has happened. 'Bowling for Columbine' will get into your mind and change what you understand. It will change the way you think.
My Little Eye (2002)
Reality TV Horror?
I went to this film hoping to be scared. I wanted a spine thrilling, toe bending, blood curdling scream fest. Two hours later I came out completely disappointed. The premise is quite simple. Five people enter a net-cam rigged house for six months, all they have to do is stay for the duration and they get one million each. Pretty tempting reward I have to admit, and the film started off quite well. Light references to 'The Breakfast Club' made the opening a lot more enjoyable. The characters are all well presented and we have no problem understanding exactly their personality, although the relationships to each other seem unrealistic considering they have been spending the last six months together. There is bitchiness but the group dynamic is not pushed to its limit and it seems unbelievable that these people would live together for so long considering they have so little in common, even for a million bucks. The arrival of a letter telling one of the contestants his grandfather is dead is the start of supposedly manipulative techniques on the part of 'The Company'. A series of events and arrivals lead up to an ending that for me made little sense even in the realms of cinema. In modern society where 'reality' based shows are becoming more popular this film tries to add a 'what if' factor that just doesn't pan out. The climax ends up being little more then a cheap frill that we have paid good money to see. A sentiment echoed in the film but without the impact to make any real statement. I understand what the filmmakers were trying to say about modern society and our voyeuristic needs as well as our morbid desires but they just didn't exploit the films potential enough. The dynamic of the group, the location and the theme of the film could have been presented a lot better and the concluding effort to twist the story and surprise us just left me with a feeling of disappointment and frustration. There was so much more potential in this film that could have been executed if the filmmakers looked at what it is that makes reality shows popular in the first place before trying to make a horror hybrid.