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Equilibrium (2002)
I didn't "feel" either way about this one.
I have to say, I was a little pretentious going into this, to say the least, out of my love for the book 1984, and the fact that this movie is pretty much that with an added dash of the Matrix. The basic premise for the newbies is that in a society of tomorrow, where all forms of emotion are illegal, the highest ranking officer of the top line in "emotion enforcement" starts to "feel" I guess you could say, and joins with the resistance force to try and bring down this totalitarian nightmare of a society. Now in actuality, this society is less Orwellian and more the perfunctory concoction of an obsessive NIN fan with a bad heroin withdrawal *no offense to NIN fans, I bear you no ill will as I'm one myself* Now I'm not going to get into the specifics of just how much of a monumental failure the way the movie makers set up the society's cog-work from both an anthropological and sociological point of view. But with a concept as all-encompassing as this one, they sure do an awfully poor job of conveying any sort of believability in the script, the acting and the overall work itself. But when I start nit-picking a movie's logical meanderings, then it's usually not a good sign of my opinion of the work in it's entirety.
Then there's gun-kata, the movie's own special martial arts discipline with guns as the weapon. Now I'd like to take this own section to express that I was actually offended by the use of martial arts and gunplay together. These two things do not work when combined and is absurd to say the least, or is that just me? Needless to say, and completely off topic, I think that conflict is what compels me to see The Last Samurai.
But all my pessimism aside, the movie is not without redeeming qualities. The visuals and cinematography is very effective in conveying the setting, but I think they could benefit from a longer run in the conceptual art department, and under the direction of somebody who knows a little about anthropology.
My final word on this is, flawed but at least worth watching for genre fans, it's no 1984, but I think it's the closest thing this generation's seen. Props to the makers for including scenes inspired directly from 1984. I'd definitely advise renting it first, well that and reading 1984.
Silent Hill 2 (2001)
It's OK, but a Definite Rent-Before-You-Buy
First off, I suggest you play the first game because it is more compelling and freakishly creepy than this one. The best thing that this game has going for it, much like the first one, is the atmosphere and the settings. In my opinion this is why the Silent Hill series is better than the Resident Evil games. Silent Hill manages to freak you out merely by the surrounding you are in and the images you see, as opposed to RE's having things jump out at you and make loud noises to scare you. The voice acting is so-so, but manages to not be cheesy like in RE games. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, especially if you change the noise effect setting in the "special options" menu, which is accessable after you beat the game the first time. The story is a little hard to follow but far better than the ones in the mostly story-less RE games, which is the other strong point of the game. The biggest drawback, and the reason I say rent it first, is that there basically isn't that much to do in the game, and it doesn't have the replay value that RE does (you can't blow up monsters with bazookas or annihilate them with gatling guns, plus there aren't that many monsters in the game).
Spider-Man (2000)
Great gaming fun
I love this game because I just seem to learn something new about how to play each time I pop it in to kill some time. Oh, and swinging from rooftop to rooftop is so much fun, I can't explain why, it's just great. The story is stereotypical comic fodder unfortunately, but it's the game engine that makes the game worthwile, and worth coming back to.
Donnie Darko (2001)
An "American Beauty" for the Psychologically Deranged
This movie is very much an acquired taste; you will either love or hate it. It is not for everyone as it is a very dark and brooding film. I, if you hadn't guessed, loved it. It has many, many layers of subtext and I won't lie, it is somewhat hard to follow and the ending (not a spoiler) may very well leave you confused, as it is very open to interpretation. Thus it may require more than one viewing to get the complete picture of this film. It is extremely slow paced, though it is not a setback, it is not for those with a low attention span. It is a refreshingly original film, with a great musical score, while it is mostly very simple it fits well with the movie. Jake Gyllenhaal gives an absolutely astounding performance, which makes the movie worth watching alone. As does Mary McDonnell, who I found to be extremely likable. The rest of the cast also delivers great performances, though for the sake of time and space, I will not acknowledge individually, they are all nonetheless great.
I find the realistic, yet ultimately satirical portrayal of the self-help guru subplot is a very interesting and great part of the movie. It pokes at the extremely self-righteous who are so easily brainwashed by anyone with a nice appearance and views that are so generalized that they can fit theirs that they become so involved and so impassioned by such fluff that it is absolutely nothing when it is subject to scrutiny. So much so, that you may be angered by how easy it is to generalize ideals, package them, sell them, and get inordinate amounts of money off of the weak (isn't that right phone-in psychics?).
This movie is a dark and evocative masterpiece. Interestingly, it is not exactly possible to be justly classified, as it is very transcendent genre-wise. One minute it is a gothic romance, the next a teen coming-of-age story, the next a twisted psychological drama, then a time-travel sci-fi thought maker, then a family drama, and then back again. I highly recommend this movie to any movie lover or anyone interested in broadening one's horizons.
Donnie Darko (2001)
An "American Beauty" for the Psychologically Deranged
This movie is very much an acquired taste; you will either love or hate it. It is not for everyone as it is a very dark and brooding film. I, if you hadn't guessed, loved it. It has many, many layers of subtext and I won't lie, it is somewhat hard to follow and the ending (not a spoiler) may very well leave you confused, as it is very open to interpretation. Thus it may require more than one viewing to get the complete picture of this film. It is extremely slow paced, though it is not a setback, it is not for those with a low attention span. It is a refreshingly original film, with a great musical score, while it is mostly very simple it fits well with the movie. Jake Gyllenhaal gives an absolutely astounding performance, which makes the movie worth watching alone. As does Mary McDonnell, who I found to be extremely likable. The rest of the cast also delivers great performances, though for the sake of time and space, I will not acknowledge individually, they are all nonetheless great.
I find the realistic, yet ultimately satirical portrayal of the self-help guru subplot is a very interesting and great part of the movie. It pokes at the extremely self-righteous who are so easily brainwashed by anyone with a nice appearance and views that are so generalized that they can fit theirs that they become so involved and so impassioned by such fluff that it is absolutely nothing when it is subject to scrutiny. So much so, that you may be angered by how easy it is to generalize ideals, package them, sell them, and get inordinate amounts of money off of the weak (isn't that right phone-in psychics?).
This movie is a dark and evocative masterpiece. Interestingly, it is not exactly possible to be justly classified, as it is very transcendent genre-wise. One minute it is a gothic romance, the next a teen coming-of-age story, the next a twisted psychological drama, then a time-travel sci-fi thought maker, then a family drama, and then back again. I highly recommend this movie to any movie lover or anyone interested in broadening one's horizons.
Xenogears (1998)
Great for the Hardcore RPGamer
A great epic and highly recommended for RPG fans. An awe inspiring and wonderfully complex story. The massive amount of text become rather tiring near the end, especially the part where Fei sits in his rocking chair while he dictates the story at half hour intervals with the only control of the character being returned to the player by a boss battle after which they are returned to Fei in his Chair, talking for another half hour. However flawed, it should still be considered a masterpiece of storyline and should be at least taken under consideration by gamers to add to their collection.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999)
Great gaming fun
This is a rare game in that it doesn't have much replay value as it is a completely linear game, but I still love coming back and playing it over and over again. The storyline is great, the voice acting is impeccable, the dialogue is profoundly eloquent and the level designs are amazing, they complement each other perfectly. The drawback to this game is that there are many block puzzles that are too numerous, tedious and a little tiresome after a while. There is a noticeable emphasis on using the environment to defeat enemies which is a little something that games need a little bit more of. But you should give this game definite consideration to adding it to your game library.
Fainaru fantajî VIII (1999)
Good, but not Great Because of What the Game it Followed
To start off, the strongest aspect of Final Fantasy 8 is that it is a technical marvel. What the battle system from FF7 lacked, the one from FF8 gladly made up for, and what FF8 lacks in storyline, and emotional involvement from the player, FF7 surpassed. So maybe if this wasn't the game that followed FF7, then maybe I would have been more impressed, because I generally tend to think of the most important thing in an RPG to be the storyline, which in this case is good, but since it had to follow FF7, that is the only reason that it wasn't great. But now that I've pitched FF7 enough, I'll get back to 8. This game has an amazingly innovative and interesting battle system, the likes of which I cannot find an adjective good enough to fit and one that I cannot recommend more to the gamer who loves to play a game again and again. The storyline is also interesting and nicely complex, but it's not too terribly compelling, but it is none the less a game that should be experienced.
Planet of the Apes (2001)
One of the WORST I have ever had the Discomfort of Seeing
I love Tim Burton movies. I have been a ravenous fan of his since the first of the Batman movies (as we know them today) came out in 1989 (there is another movie made in the 60s based of the classic TV show, starring the one true Batman, Adam West). Furthermore, I loved the original Planet of the Apes. It was one of the most well known, recognizable, and thought provoking movies of all time, with one of the greatest twists in cinematic history. Not only that, but if you look at the series of `Apes' movies, as a whole, you will most likely find that they are one of the greatest, most well fitting together with respect to continuity (if that is even possible to say) franchises ever. So with that being said, could this movie possibly go wrong?
Oh it did. It went WAY wrong. This movie is righteous garbage. The twist at the end (not a spoiler) makes absolutely no logical sense, independently. But if it sets up a plot that will be explained in the sequel, then I don't want to know, and have no desire to see it. But what is my major grievance with this movie:
Marky Mark. In this movie, he single handedly gives a horrible performance, AS ALWAYS, and disgraces the name of models gone actors, which if you think about it is pretty bad considering they have a bad reputation to begin with. One of the more subtle problems that I have with him, besides his pitiful excuse for acting, is that throughout this and seemingly all of his other movies he has the same facial expression, which is something of a mix between constipation and just got done running a marathon. Even moreso is the fact that throughout the whole movie, he never seems to be surprised at the fact that not only is he in a world completely different than his, nor the fact that it is primarily populated by gigantic, walking, talking apes, nor does he ever seem to ponder, even ask, or want to find out, `hey, what in the righteous heck is going on here?'
Here is my breakdown of the other key players in the movie:
Helena Bonham Carter brilliant actress waste of her talent.
Charlton Heston cultural icon waste of his talent.
Tim Burton one of the greatest and most imaginative, and visually impressive moviemakers of all time completely shot himself in the foot for making this garbage.
Anyone else remotely involved in the making of this movie - waste of their collective talent.
The only redeeming factors of this movie is that Danny Elfman once again provides a good score to the movie and the shot where they look back upon the city (it's the only shot in the movie that is signature Tim Burton).
Now I have seen some BAD movies in my day, and not only does this one take the taco, but to categorize it as only a bad movie would be an insult. This is beyond a bad movie. This is a complete waste of your life if you watch it. Please, please, please if you want to see Planet of the Apes, look past the fancy special effects, good makeup and prosthetics job, and the fact that it is a newer movie, and go watch the lower budget, older original. Save yourself the agony.