JamesXabregas Reviews

Funny Games (2007)

I don't know whether to give this a 10 or a 1.....

[3/10 · 3 January 2010]

I hate you Michael Haneke. I really can't decide whether to give this a 10 or a 1. It is not an enjoyable movie. It is the only movie that I have not been able to finish watching because it is too good, or rather so well executed (I eventually fast forwarded through the second half).

This movie is visceral and disturbing. It deliberately sets up red hearings that play on cinema convention; for instance the close up of the knife that's forgotten on the boat at the beginning. In a regular movie this little detail would come back and save the day; not so in this film.

The audience gets no satisfaction from this movie, so from that perspective it should get a zero star rating. On the other hand this film does exactly what it sets out to do and it does it brilliantly, with so much tension and would therefore deserve a 10.

I'm really undecided. This film is brilliantly acted and directed but it made me so angry. I forgot that it was just a film. I wanted to be in it so that I could smash the skulls of the intruders against something hard until I killed them or they killed me. It was not a pleasant feeling.

I can only assume that's exactly how Haneke wanted me to feel.

Bravo Michael Haneke, one day I will find you and punch you in the face.

The Black Balloon (2008)

I can't watch this

[4/10 · 17 November 2008]

Spoiler: sort of.....

I was okay with this film until about the 20 minute mark when the autistic boy starts playing with his own feces. And it's not just one quick scene either. It carries on through a sequence that lasts a good five minutes.

I'm just not that dedicated to Australian cinema.

And even if you take that scene out, this thing really doesn't come across as a good advertisement for Australian film. It's the same old story we always see about a quaint little family drama that fundamentally bores the living day lights out of anyone who isn't Megan Spencer.

Miami Vice (2006)

The Vice Of Mann

[6/10 · 11 August 2006]

I'm not sure if I missed something with this movie but it is clearly not in the same league as Heat or Collateral.

Miami Vice does many things right. Michael Mann the director, does an extremely good job in creating a gritty and atmospheric movie. Michael Man the writer however, appeared to be checking into a rehab clinic for One Liners Anonymous. Jamie Foxx appears to have no purpose in this film other then reciting one liners for the movie trailer. Colin Farell is an empty shell with a bad haircut and a nice suit.

This is a plot driven film, and the plot isn't that bad, it's actually quite good. The problem is that we don't know anything about the characters in this movie that would make us care about them and this severely effects the impact of the film. It actually seems like the most important character's are the least developed of all. We literally know nothing about Sony and Ricco other then the fact that they are under cover cops. How can you care about a character that doesn't exist?

Now I've read some crazy theories that compare Michael Mann to auteurs of French New Wave cinema. The claim basically boils down to this: the characters aren't explicitly spelt out, they are all revealed through pensive looks over the grainy Miami skyline and subtle inflections in voice that reveal their true intentions and feelings. That's a nice theory and it may be valid one, but it doesn't make Miami Vice a good film. I didn't go to watch a French film, I went to watch an American film. I want to see characters with troubled pasts learn valuable lessons about the nature of life, death and love right before things begin to explode in a stylistic, over exposed neon glow. I don't want to watch ill defined puppets stare into the distance in an overpriced motion picture postcard.

Heat and Collateral were brilliant films with good stories and great characters and excellent cinematography. Miami Vice almost got it right.