jesuit25 Reviews

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Crime/Horror

[8/10 · 10 January 2005]

I loved this film for many reasons. For one, the switch from a crime thriller to a horror thriller was seamless. I for one had not heard much about this film before I watched it, and I assumed the TV Times were mistaken in called this a gory horror thriller. To me, it was a simple crime thriller, the norm which is expected from Tarantino's pen. However, the switch was such a shock and so fast, that I didn't now what happened I was amazed at this revelation, since there was no word of any horror topics beforehand in the script. It was completely out of the blue, and resulted in a pleasant surprise.

And the thing that's interesting is that BOTH halves to this film, both the crime section and horror section are enjoyable. The first half has less action, but tension does mount between Keitel and Clooney, while Tarantino is in the back, paying special attention to Keitel's daughter. A great premise with an equally great script in the first half. The second section is also great because of the horrific violence and as I heard mentioned before, the unique ways on how to kill vampires.

The script is witty and full of dark humour, "I have 6 little friends and they all run faster than you.", and the intro is certainly one of the best I have seen in months. The characters are well established, with Clooney as the 'gentleman' (well, not really) crook, Tarantino as his psychotic brother (who, strangely, I found difficult not to warm to) and Keitel is the preacher who has lost his faith, the hostage who will help out later when the satanic hordes unleash themselves.

A special mention must go to Salma Hayek for that special dance. ;) While this film was never made out of blockbuster material, it is still very understated, taking a unique and perhaps surreal viewing on the horror genre, all the while using horror stereotypes. As far as graphic violence is concerned, it is on par with the likes of Evil Dead (well, perhaps not THAT bad).

For once, this is a film which doesn't give the viewer all the answers beforehand. You are in the same boat as the characters and you don't know what's in store for them. If you hadn't seen this before, without any knowledge of the movie, you'd be in for a huge surprise as I was.

An 8/10 for it's script (thanks to Tarantino) and the actors who, while not trying too hard, make this an enjoyable horror flick with a difference.

We Were Soldiers (2002)

I rented this out, now I've bought it

[9/10 · 1 January 2005]

A brilliant war movie by anyone's standards. I heard that this movie would make Saving Private Ryan look like Dad's Army. I doubted that very much, SPR had realism unlike any other war film, in it's time, SPR was the best and only realistic war movie out there. It was revolutionary, and I just knew that We Were Soldiers could not live up to the same standards. WWS had little hype before it's release, especially when compared to SPR. How terribly wrong I was. WWS surpasses SPR in every department. In this movie, we get a feel for the REAL horrors of war. This film is not for the faint hearted, but if you want to see and learn about war, you need to watch this film. The film starts slowly, I admit that, and it takes a while for the Air Cavalry to get to Vietnam, but once the action starts, it never stops. The action scenes are VERY long. The action takes over three days and we see small scale and large scale skirmishes between the to forces. We are taken from one platoon to another, and there are no gung ho running about the place. The soldiers keep their heads down and stay down, firing in short controlled bursts as they should.

However, at one point, there seems to be a hell of a lot of explosions, which I believe was only done for the camera and for action's sake.

But one tactic that is used is to build up character profiles and personalities, which are then systematically destroyed as we see grisly depictions of their death. We think, because of their good nature, that they will make it through, when in fact they do not. The film would not be as moving if it was not for the musicians. The slow, mournful music adds to the despair and carnage, perhaps bringing a tear to the eye of the viewer. A deeply moving story, which is worth another viewing by you.

I, Robot (2004)

Work of Art

[9/10 · 1 January 2005]

I, Robot is one of the most luxurious sci-fi films I have ever seen. The sets have been perfectly created, matching both futuristic buildings as well as older buildings with brick walls. The plot is brilliant, and it heavily focuses on Issac Aismov's theory.

However, Aismov's ideas did not include the robots going crazy, but that they coexisted with humans perfectly. The film even goes into some detail about Aismov's zeroth law, if it does not specifically call it that. I'll let you find out what this law is for yourself, don't want to ruin it for you. Another lacking quality would be the characters. Smith's role is somewhat boisterous and this seems to be another movie in which Smith is a macho guy who saves the world, using many of his traditional phrases, EGA "Aw hell no!".

Despite these facts, the movie is a success. The robot Sonny steals the scene every time he is shown and the amazing detail which has gone into these humanoids is amazing. Careful time and effort has been put into this movie, and the surprises are plentiful. Based upon Aismov's theories, I think the movie has done him justice and after his actions to make I, Robot a film in a previous decade, he should be pleased with what has been created.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998)

Nothing wrong with this film

[10/10 · 27 December 2004]

Strangely, I found this movie quite good. It fills you with a sense of Christmas and there's nothing wrong with sitting down and watching this before you open your presents. A nice little kids movie which appealed to me quite a bit. This year I was feeling a bit bah humbug, but this warmed my heart. The plot is good, sticking to the original idea while skewing away in places, but it remains a nice honest film which everyone can watch. The acting is above average IMO, and Leonard the Bear is my favourite character. A story of the underdog rising up is always great, and this delivers just like it's predessor. Especially fitting for a nice Christmas Day morning. There were some questions left unanswered, however, such as how do the reindeer's fly? But all in all, this is a worthy Christmas tale, telling a story about everyone's favourite reindeer. It is just a shame that this will forever be compared with the original. This is the way great films are ignored and this movie is getting bad feedback because 'it does not live up to the original'. This film is still great, however little can see it's potential. Sad.