reelcaviezel Reviews

Unknown (I) (2006)

"Twisty Thriller" is right! Five men, all stripped of their short-term memory, can't figure out why they are confined to a locked-down chemical plant in the desert.

[8/10 · 4 November 2006]

Maybe the critic who wrote (something like) '...written by the smartest kid in film school...' was right--you really need to pay attention to understand the game, the rules and the players.

And just when you believe you've figured it out, yikes, there are more twists.

Solid performances by all players, every one believable in their loss-of-memory-ness.

Several characters transformed with nice arcs that cross, mesh, repel and attract.

Smart clues dropped unexpectedly.

Plus, released to cable partners of IFC (at least in the NYC, NJ and Conn area) and is also available now with video-on-demand service. This makes this nice little film available to many, many more viewers, because the number of theatres listed across the US playing it numbers about one dozen.

Eight Below (2006)

The Antarctic continent is sorely missed in this version of the story

[5/10 · 22 February 2006]

Since even the working title of this film honours the Antarctic continent, "Antarctica," in pursuit of representing Antarctica like it really is, here are a few items to note.

Children may discuss Antarctica with their teachers (maybe me!), and their teachers may offer differing views on the geography and climate. These are some of the things your children might learn in a science class:

1. Roger Ebert is right: in the geography where they set this story, the sun sets about mid-April and doesn't come up again until about mid-August. Starlight and moonlight may be bright enough to read by, but not bright enough to film a movie.

2. The birds you see in the film are gulls. The only flying birds in the Antarctic are skua; a large bird with a hooked beak and talons on its web feet. Like all Antarctic animals, it, too, is a carnivore. It is about the size of a true raven.

3. The Antarctic is about 30 degrees colder than the northern polar climes where this story was filmed. Admittedly, it's tougher to film a story on the Antarctic continent because it's cost prohibitive.

4. The scientist would have noted the location of the meteor that he found. Today, he would have labeled it with its GPS position. In 1993, at least he would have noted the name of the mountain and on which side he found it.

5. Auroras don't cast shadows nor do they move so quickly. In Antarctica they are mostly green. Admittedly, it was a fun way to see them depicted.

6. It's a Disney film, not a documentary. It is misleading, tho, to purport in any way that there is any realistic Antarctic-ness about this movie. This movie only hints at Antarctica.