darkdaedra Reviews

Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World (2004 Video)

Provocative, yet low production value

[7/10 · 30 November 2005]

The issues raised in this documentary are scary and enlightening. Although I was not 100% convinced that many of those interviewed in the film were experts in their field, there was more than enough convincing evidence shown in the film to damn aspartame as a sweetener. Purely from the perspective of content, the documentary was successful. However, much of the film was poorly edited. The narrative style was choppy as Ms. Brackett strongly took the reins in some sections and seemed to disappear entirely in others. In addition, given the quality of the graphics throughout the film, a better job with the occasional green-screening would have been nice. Overall, this documentary is worth the time and the content is easily interesting enough to distract from the film's faults. I highly recommend this film who includes aspartame in their diet.

Free Enterprise (1998)

A light romantic comedy that proves William Shatner can act

[9/10 · 21 May 2003]

I stumbled across this movie on TV today and was really blown away. Who would have thought of a romantic comedy about two Trekkies(or Trekkers, not sure what the term is these days)? The movie appears to be at least somewhat autobiographical, and the story rings true.

Shatner comes through with the performance of a lifetime. His portrayal of himself is vulnerable and believable. His obsession with creating musical version of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caeser" is hilarious and it's really funny to see Shatner poking fun at himself.

All in all, this movie is surprisingly good and although really aimed at sci-fi fans, it is accessible to anyone. I highly recommend this lighthearted film.

Waking Life (2001)

Innovative, Experimental, and Amazing

[10/10 · 5 January 2003]

Waking Life is an animated film like no other. The movie was first filmed, and then they put animation over the film. Absolutely everything in the movie, well, moves. The movie is alive. The subject matter is also incredibly innovative. It addresses the meaning and strangeness of dreams, all the while being inside of the main character's dream. He meets many different people with different perspectives on dreams; however, he finds over and over again that when he wakes up, he remains in his own dream.

This movie is absorbing and complex, yet somehow emotional and personal. The movie connects with the viewer, puts the viewer's mind in a blender and spits it out. All in all this movie is so provocative and revolutionary that it is impossible not to respect.

Bushido Blade (1997 Video Game)

Revolutionary Fighting Game

[4 January 2003]

Bushido Blade had a fresh idea for the fighting game genre that was beginning to get stale. It employed the laws of Bushido into the game. "BUSHI" is Japanese for warrior and is often interchangeable with the word "SAMURAI." "DO" means way. Hence, "BUSHIDO" means way of the warrior. This meant that attacking your opponent while his/her back was turned would result in a loss for you.

The style of game play also was very different from the norm. If you cut someone's arm with your weapon, that arm could no longer be used, and so forth. This game changed the way fighting games were looked at and is a very large part of what many fighting games draw on today.

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

A Last Hurrah of Great Magnitude of The Next Generation

[9/10 · 15 December 2002]

Although the movie was not perfect in many respects, Star Trek: Nemesis succeeds where one would not think such a movie could. The movie starts out with the marriage of Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis), a relationship long overdue. However, much of the start of the film may be lost to people for whom this is their first experience with the Next Generation characters.

The film does develop rather quickly with the finding of a new android that looks remarkably like Data. Then the real meat of the story begins with the a message from Admiral Janeway(Kate Mulgrew) informing Captain Picard(Patrick Stewart) that the Romulans, long time enemies of the Federation, have requested a meeting to discuss peace after a coup took place that removed the former Romulan government. Again, a little complicated for those who have not had experience with the Trek series. But, those people probably won't be seeing this movie anyways.

(I will not reveal any more of the story from here, still not having revealed nearly as much as the newspaper reviews.)

This movie had the most potential of any Star Trek film in years, with the producers already having decided to call this the end of TNG movies. Being the last movie, any character could potentially die off. Sure, they could have before, but we all knew that they wanted to leave the possibility open for more sequels.

Having said all that, the movie truly performs well above my expectations for the film. It displayed none of the signs of a series well past its peak, as did Insurrection. It has neither too linear a plot, nor an overly ambitious complicated one. The movie is a last hurrah for the members of TNG, and will almost certainly be remembered as one of the best Star Trek movies ever made.

I recommend this movie to anyone who has ever enjoyed anything Star Trek related, because such a person is almost guaranteed to like this film. If you didn't like First Contact, then you almost certainly won't like this film. Although I am saying this is a great film, it's not for everybody; no film is. I do believe that this will be enjoyed by anyone who decides to see this film of their own free will.

CQ (2001)

An artistic piece of experimentation

[7/10 · 27 May 2002]

Roman Coppola shows extreme directing and writing talent in this ambitious and powerful cinematic piece. Although the acting is superb by the main character Paul(Jeremy Davies), the interesting plot overshadows anything of the actual acting. Within the first few minutes, the viewer discovers the existence of three movies being made: the main character is the editor of a movie being made by Andrezej(Gérard Depardieu), he is making home movies as a method of personal discovery, and he is also in the film CQ that the viewer is watching. The way each of the story lines intertwines gives a unique and interesting perspective to the movie. Writer and director Roman Coppola has managed to incorporate enough humor and drama into his artistic expression that the movie will be enjoyed by almost all who see it. I give this movie ***(1/2) out of ****.