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concad44
Reviews
Funny Games (1997)
An exercise in film formula desconstruction *SPOILERS*
In Funny Games, two young men torture and kill a family of three while on vacation. I've seen this movie several times and it gets easier to watch each time. Not because one becomes desensitized, but because you understand more of what the film is trying to say. Now, I may be alone on this one, but here is my theory. The two "killers" are very aware, obviously, that they are in a film. Therefore, they understand what is going on isn't real (not that this makes their actions any less cruel.) The killers are, in fact, the audience members themselves. We can take our own remote control and stop the film at any time, but as Paul/Jerry says in one of his three camera addresses, we (the audience) want to see the end, as all audience members usually do. By continuing to watch the movie, we allow the family to die. Even after Paul/Jerry rewinds the film, after Tom/Peter is shot, showing us that there is no way the family can win, we still allow events to take their course.
I like this film because it takes our natural expectations and turns them on their head. Nearly every movie "rule" I can think of is broken here. Apparently, there are other films like this and made before it, but being the first of its kind that I've seen, it will always stand out for not conforming to the formula I've become used to as an American movie goer.
The Villain (1979)
Worth a look, trust me.
This movie is horrible, its true... but there is so much worth seeing, if not only to see Arnold Schwartzenegger in a western. The opening scene alone took me completey by surprise and the stuttering telegraph operator is a must-see. The bulk of this movie is painful and youve seen it if you seen any Looney Toones cartoon, but I haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a very long time. Not to mention, Ann-Margaret is freaking hot.
28 Days Later... (2002)
Modern Living Dead, Faster, Better
So there's finally a worthwhile horror film that is fun to watch NOT because it's cheesy and it comes from Europe. Danny Boyle reinvents the zombie film (sortof) in 28 Days Later... Jim wakes up from the hospital (very Stu in Stephen King's The Stand) to find out a virus has wiped out all of England. He meets up with a (very) few survivors and they make their way to what seems to be a small military stronghold where a cure is promised.
The music is just awesome. Very well used and completely adds to the pace of the film. Well, the second half of the film anyway. The first half is slow and there is a big difference between slow and boring which a lot of people don't seem to understand. I had these idiots in the theater talking on their cell phones twenty minutes into the movie, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, this movie seemed to take every good thing about the Living Dead movies and put them all into one very creepy film (thanks to the mini-digital video used for filming). I'd like to see a sequel. It would be feasible. But honestly, any thriller this thrilling would be a nice change of pace again.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Third installment holds its own
I have to admit going into T3:Rise of the Machines, I was skeptical as to whether or not this would be a serious attempt at continuing the storyline or a serious attempt at making money for the sake of money. My strongest compliment to this film is the fact that it doesn't take itself completely serious at all. It knows its not the original or even its blockbuster sequel. There are several places where the movie pokes fun at itself and its predessesors and hey, it makes it that much more fun. (Come on, you know it had to be a little cheesy.) For those who want a summary, basicly Judgment Day was only postponed in T2 and the machines, giving up on killing John Conner, have targeted several of his to-be leiutenants by sending back the Terminatrix whose exact model number escapes me at the moment. Of course, good old Arnie is sent back to stop her and the film gives a good explaination as to why the human resistance would keep sending back this inferior model of Terminator while the machines continue to upgrade. The end of T3 made the movie completely worthwhile for me. I don't want to give anything away, but it's not often I applaud a Hollywood film in its writing efforts these days. The only real problem I had with the movie is that John wasn't played by Ed Furlong, not that Im a huge Furlong fan, but I'm a big fan of continuity... yeah, nitpicky, I know. Overall, I was very pleased with T3 and look forward to the inevitable T4.
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003)
This movie should be used in torture camps
Oh my God... you know, I wasn't going to write anything because this movie isnt worth my time, but the fact that so many morons are giving it favorable reviews makes me have to stand up for intelligent people everywhere. This is quite possibly the single worst movie Ive ever seen and I saw Freddy Git Fingered, ok? This movie actually made me sick. The lack of any actual humor was astounding. Apparently the writers assumed that being stupid was funny. Not so. In the original movie, the humor came from being able to understand how someone might come to a certain conclusion if said person was increadibly dumb. This movie, however, has no such logic. For example, at the beginning of the original, Lloyd asks a girl where she is from, she replys Austria... which does sound a lot like Australia if you're an idiot, so Lloyd proceeds to talk to her making references to Australia... funny. In this latest crap calling itself a sequel, Lloyd passes a man in a car with a British lisence plate and accent. Lloys yells out, "Watch it Frenchie." That's not funny, that's just wrong. Not only did the movie make up it's own horrible jokes, it took perfectly good ones from the original and crapped all over them as well. The plot was rediculous and there was nothing even remotely intelligent about it. Say what you will about the characters, but the original Dumb and Dumber was a smart comedy. The only good thing I can say about this movie is the uncanny resemblance the one guy whos name I dont care to look up has to Jim Carrey. Now, how in the world Miss Essay up there on the home page got a 7.5 from this piece of garbage is beyond me. There was NOTHING redeeming about this movie and if you think there is then you have no business in a movie theater. That's not close-minded, its just true. I could really go on for a while on how bad this movie is, but I won't. Just avoid it at all costs. Even if it's free. trust me.
Cube 2: Hypercube (2002)
ohhhh, the humanity...
I would like to start off by saying thanks for reading down this far to see my opinion on Cube 2: Hypercube. Second, I want to say that the original Cube is my second favorite movie of all time. I love that film. That being said, I have waited a little over a year to see this sequal. All that's really been said in the above comments are negative, so let's start with some positive. I suppose a summary is order real quick... Eight people wake up in a cube with doors on every wall, the floor, and the ceiling. Just like in the first Cube... oh wait, nothing in this movie is like the first one. No numbers, no real "traps" and no real mystery. But I'm getting ahead of myself... positive first. Being in the Hypercube allows (apparently) for alternate realities existing simultaniously. Now, the movie is kindof a treat in the sense that if you watch carefully, several times in the background are past or future scenes from the film. For example, fairly early on in the movie, while Kate is exiting from one of the cubes, if you look in the background, you see her future self looking in through another door. Unfortunately, the one cool idea isn't explored enough to really be all that interesting. Now, I guess for the bad. It's a shame because I've been waiting for this movie for so long. The "plot points" if that what you want to call them are an incoherant mess that don't connect and if they do, it's such a rediculous connection that you feel stupid for being expected to believe it. The dialogue may be bad, but the acting certainly doesn't help. The characters must be in deadly cube a lot because they sure were calm about it. The character of Ms Paisley is absolutely stupid for lack of a better word. Ok, that's enough bashing the movie. If you loved the first one as much as I did, by all means see this one, but prepare to be dissapointed. I would love to see a third Cube. It would be great to see the story continued, but it's a shame that this one was such a disaster. This sequal should have built on the first, but instead chose to make up all these other ideas and make the intriguing simplicity of the original just go to waste. In case you're wondering, the only reference to the first film is in the first five minutes of the film, then it's never mentioned again.
Young Einstein (1988)
One of my fave 80s movies
Yahoo Serious has probably become quite a bit of a joke, which is a shame because his debut effort is more entertaining than a lot of what Hollywood puts out these days. Serious plays Albert Einstein as though he were an Australian from deep in the outback. He makes his way to America to try and patent his invention and meets and falls in love with Marie Currie on the way. The movie is very offbeat but in a good way and very entertaining if you let it be. I have always loved this movie and the soundtrack is excellent for any 80s music fan. Serious went downhill with Reckless Kelly (which isn't a bad movie in and of itself) but got really bad with Mr. Accident. If you want to see a good, funny, and just entertaining film, you can't go wrong with Young Einstein unless you have completely lost the child inside you.
Resident Evil (2002)
NOT amazingly well done
Let me say that I am a HUGE fan of the games. I even played Resident Evil: Survivor and if you have played this, you know what I mean. All right, to the movies credit, I thought the sets were awesome. The sets really conveyed the corrupt corporation image and I loved the gritty white color scheme the set designer used. Also, I too enjoyed the beginning very much. It grips you right from the start and I thought it was a great way to kick off the movie. However, from there on it pretty much goes right off track. The acting is horrendous. I have no idea how anyone would fine the characters "well-developed" as they acted as they they didn't even want to be there most of the time. I felt no connections whatsoever to them and found nearly every line of dialouge humorously misspoken or just out of place althogether. On top of that, the characters looked like they saw zombies everyday of their life. I didn't believe anyone was scared for a second. And if the characters aren't scared, why the heck should I be? Now, like I said, I love the games. Obviously, the makers of this film wanted to attract the fan-base of the game series. So why in the WORLD did they deviate so far from the games storyline??? They didn't even include the characters from the game! I would have been happy if they had just had the charcters names and were completely different. Ok, maybe not happy, but Id buy it. OK, back to something I liked. I really do think that there were some interesting ideas in this movie. I really thought the ending was cool, BUT it actually made me mad because it could have been so much better if Milla Jovavich's character had been better developed. I didn't really care that she survived (Oh, come on, you know she did, I'm not giving away anything). All that aside though, I will see the sequel. I'm too much a fan of the games. I just hope the director Anderson or whatever gets his act together and quits trying to make another Aliens.