Change Your Image
jshartwell
Reviews
Victory (1981)
Called Escape to Victory in the UK
British viewers will know this film as "Escape to Victory" and will find it listed on Amazon.co.uk under that name. Perhaps someone with appropriate privileges could update the database with the alternate title!
I found it primarily interesting for the appearance of players from the Ipswich Town Football Club, the local team I supported when the film was released and I was a teen. There was little attempt to change the players' distinctive hairstyles of that era to match the period in which the film was set. The original script called for a winning goal to be scored, but this was changed to a heroic save. As a result, the film was nicknamed "Escape to a High Scoring Draw".
It was evident that none of the actors were footballers and none of the footballers were actors, but it was fairly entertaining at the time. It is now considered a curiosity and family film which gets a regular airing in Britain during the winter festive season.
Naqoyqatsi (2002)
Spectacularly disappointing
Having enjoyed Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqatsi I was looking forward to this third part of the Qatsi trilogy and seeing what direction it had taken. Rarely has a film so spectacularly failed to live up to its predecessors and lost its way. Although it tries to represent "civilised warfare" in the form of sport, science, trade and other forms of competition, it lacks the global scope and even the coherently developed themes of its predecessors. War is chaos, but even wars have an aim in mind and this film had little structure and unclear goals.
Naqoyqatsi is flawed by being a chaotic melange of images that does little to develop its theme. On the plus side, it wisely avoided using some of the iconic images of last century's wars.
Naqoyqatsi is also so insular that several times I had to remind myself that I was not watching an advertisement promoting the American way of life. Perhaps this insularity reflects the ongoing "War on Terror". When representing "sport as war" the prominent team logos ensured that the USA was depicted as the winner. Hence it missed the opportunity to depict some of the many sports around the world and showing that humanity is united in its use of sport as a form of civilised warfare.
Apart from newsreel, the footage seemed to have been shot on a budget in the confines of New York and there was little recognition of "life as war" in the rest of the world. The gallery of faces (waxworks) gave only a nod to the existence of important personages outside of the USA. The makers missed the point that globalisation does not mean Americanisation.
The Philip Glass soundtrack sounded much like every other Philip Glass score I've heard (with the possible exception of Koyaanisqatsi) and at best can be described as "inoffensive" neither adding to, nor detracting from, the chaotic imagery.
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Alice in Wonderland, Japanese style
It draws you right from the start and i didn't notice the passage of time. The characters are very well realized with their own individual mannerisms. Parts were reminiscent of "Alice in Wonderland". Without spoiling it for anyone planning to watch it, it's about a girl and her parents who find a disused theme park. While the parents pig out at a food stall, their daughter goes exploring and discovers that the theme park is a place where spirits (e.g. river spirits) go for R&R. Because humans shouldn't be there, she finds herself trapped and has to take a job at the bath-house. With the help of some of the spirits, she has to face her fears and complete several tasks in order to win her freedom.
There are lots of lovely little sub-texts and details: the polluted river spirit, the over-cosseted baby, the spirit of old Japan driven to over-consume, the ghost train etc. Its Alice in Wonderland type qualities make it one of the most Western-friendly animes I've seen.
Cube 2: Hypercube (2002)
Enjoyable as it takes Cube concept in new directions
There are many negative reviews of Hypercube because of preconceived ideas about it based on its predecessor. Hypercube has a multiplicity of little things going on and leaves it to the viewer to fill in the missing pieces or to reach some of their own conclusions. This new cube is not a shadowy place with hidden physical traps, it is a brightly lit place with traps so subtle you might not realise they are traps.
Instead of finding it better than or worse than Cube, think of it as different to Cube - different interactions, different motives, different mindsets, different rules. I've watched it several times now, with and without the commentary track.
If you like movies that show what might happen when people who would never normally get together find themselves in the same confined space, this has plenty. If you like imagining 3D representations of 4D physics, this has plenty, along with some simplified maths and physics to help you! Just don't expect a cut-and-dried plot as Hypercube leaves plenty as a mental exercise for the viewer.
From a personal perspective, it was good to find characters who were less able, less likeable or less physically attractive than Hollywood film stereotypes. Granted, they were still stereotypes, but they were a different set of stereotypes (I know people who conform to those stereotypes!).
***SPOILER WARNING (MILD SPOILERS)***
Unlike the anonymity of Cube, Hypercube's victims are identifiable from the outset. This affects how they relate to each other and how the viewer relates to them. There's an early reference back to the original Cube and we find that the solution won't be as easy (not that it was easy in Cube). This Cube has more subtle traps and plays around with your sense of time and gravity.
The characters find they are all somehow linked to each other. They have opposing theories about who is behind their prison: a semi-mythical hacker with a grudge against the world; a big corporation whose influence reaches everywhere (even into its employees' brains); a reality TV show.
People go in different directions, literally and metaphorically. The film takes the viewer in the logical, but uncomfortable, directions of despair, suicide, cannibalism, starvation and even old age. The multiple dimensions mean people who have parted ways, re-encounter each other out of sequence with disturbing results, even to the point of seeing their own pasts or futures. Those who claim to have secrets react to their surroundings in the most straightforward ways, while those who appear straightforward have things to hide. If you expect a straightforward sci-fi movie or a re-run of Cube, you miss these subtleties.
As with the first Cube, there is a way out and we get a glimpse of who is on the outside. Their unknown motives show us that the familiar world outside is, in its own way, just as dangerous as the Hypercube.
I think a Cube-3 would be stretching things too far - that way lies the realm of hour-long weekly "Cube: The Series" with a different set of characters each week.