hayman42 Reviews

Eye of the Cat (1969)

Thoroughly Enjoyable Surprise

[7/10 · 9 March 2006]

I just caught a screening of this movie at BAM in Brooklyn last night. I only went because I was given free tickets and dig horror flicks, so with no expectations and my only knowledge being "it has an army of cats," this movie blew me away. I was totally entertained, alternatingly laughing and jumping throughout. The film is shot beautifully, has a great score, the dialogue crackles, and the cast perfectly walks the line between camp and horror. The vaguely incestuous scenes between Wylie and his Aunt Dani are particularly great.

Of course, the best part is the cats! I was promised an army of cats, and this movie delivered. They truly make the average housecat look like a fierce creature of the night.

A fun horror movie through and through. Please release this on DVD!

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Finally a good prequel

[7/10 · 6 May 2005]

I'll come clean - I hated Episodes I & II. So when I walked into the screening of Episode III, I wasn't expecting much except disappointment and maybe anger at Lucas.

Instead, I was actually entertained. Episode III is way above the previous two. It's far from perfect - still some clunky on-the-nose dialogue, the Jedi's are killed way too easily, several of Anakin's big dramatic moments aren't quite as moving as they could be - but for the most part, this is the Star Wars prequel I wanted. The child-pandering elements have been stripped away, Christiansen gives a better performance, and Ewan McGregor rocks. Actually, a lot of the cast is solid, especially Ian McDiarmid and the impressively rendered Yoda. The light saber battles are awesome, as were all the battle scenes.

Basically, by the end, my inner fanboy was alive once again, cheering for Yoda. It was surprising, and very refreshing. Good job wrapping up the series on a high note Lucas.

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Gladiator and Troy look a whole lot better now

[2/10 · 4 May 2005]

A film about the crusades makes perfect sense right now, but this movie is just wastes the opportunity. There are loads of underdeveloped interesting ideas in this script, but instead time is spent on an incredibly out-of-his-league Orlando Bloom. The man is not a lead actor. Supporting actor, fine, but he cannot carry a movie. His character is in-explicitly gifted at fighting and strategy (he was a blacksmith - he shouldn't even have been able to read!) and has waaaaaay too much help. His character isn't nearly active enough. He's a dull protagonist.

Add to that cartoonish villains, a dull love interest, over-edited and poorly shot fight scenes, an even worse shot love scene, and the early departure of the film's only two good performances to make this one yawn-inducing flick. I never thought I'd miss Gladiator and Troy so much. At least they were kinda fun.