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Klownius
Reviews
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Dude, where's my Morals? There are some places movies just should not go.
Butterfly Effect was recommended to me as a movie to watch with my wife. Bad, bad idea. The use of children in scenes with graphic violence and gross sexual implications here is too far over the top. Two children are standing naked in front of a man taking pictures in a dark basement. A child bludgeons a teenager at a movie theater while smiling. A child puts a dog in a burlap bag and pours gas all over it. Enough already! I shut it off after that (my wife assured me that she was not going to watch anymore as I came to the same conclusion)!
It's painful enough to read this let alone watch it.
It is absolutely possible to make a point without resorting to such measures (tasteful being the operative word). I've seen Reservoir Dogs, a Clockwork Orange, and various war movies, but they didn't scratch the surface. Watching a graphic documentary about a touchy social issue to make people more aware is one thing, but sheesh, NOT like this!
American Wedding (2003)
Ahhhh... the college days.
This movie captures the spirit of college for me more than any other film I've seen. Laughing with friends, hanging out, working crappy jobs, looking for chicks, beer fueled mayhem - it's all there. The way everyone relates and the situations everyone creates are top notch. I laughed from beginning to end.
For example, there's a scene where the guys are searching a house trying to prove the occupants are lesbians. The two women eventually find the guys hiding. They all work out a deal where the women perform kissing and touching on each other IF the men kiss and touch each other FIRST. It gets outrageous with lines like "I'm confident in my masculinity" and "I'll take one for the team." If you don't find this funny, none of the American Pie movies may be up your alley. It's all outrageous, over the top.
Relatively speaking, I found American Pie 2 to be better than the first one. The situational jokes are top notch. Even though some may find the humour to be of the "embarrassing" type, it's a good watch.
Nyarlathotep (2001)
Small crew, big picture
"I am the last...I will tell the audient void."
Anyone who watches horror flicks knows that good pictures are often few and far between. As far as watching pictures based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, good movies are fewer are farther between. That's been my experience, anyway. Perhaps I haven't been looking in the right circles. I've not read H.P. Lovecraft's short story, "Nyarlathotep," and that's a crime in the right circles. However, it wasn't necessary, and it shouldn't BE necessary. This picture's got that covered.
I first watched "Nyarlathotep" at Necronomicon, Providence, RI in 2001. Most of the films were shorts, like this one. As I've heard - more isn't always better, sometimes it's just more (okay, I took that from a movie, and I'm a movie lover at heart). And this one uses its fifteen odd minutes wisely.
With powerful images and an eerie soundtrack, "Nyarlathotep" comes to life (literally as you soon find out). The main character and narrator, Dr. Burke, hears word of a mysterious traveller and inventor, Nyarlathotep. The charismatic traveller has deeper secrets than his inventions, and his naive followers slowly unearth his twisted truths.
I won't spoil the story, but suffice to say, most characters in Lovecraft stories end up insane or dead - like one might expect from this genre. It's all in the telling, and the telling here is superior. I bought the film, and I've watched it more than any other picture I own.