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argylefarm
Reviews
Storefront Hitchcock (1998)
Dull, harsh & off key
Yes, Awful. Dated by the time I see this. Our singer in a self indulgent rant about things gone by. Thankfuly warned ahead of time by our opening credits that there will be 15 songs. Better to have been sung in his personal shower. Off key voice that cracks and scratches it's way through some of the most awfully written lyrics. The music in a basic form, any high schooler could follow.
Not impressed to say the least, a complete waste of my time. Smallish, unseen audience, must be close family and friends because someone is clapping after the songs. The onlookers in the background are amusing, but then the curtain closes and we see Hitchcock in a dark, candlelight setting rambling on about who knows what, and then you start to miss the actual entertainment from the street side of things.
Hair whipping? Really? His hair is short and has enough hairspray to hold back a gale force wind, yet he's trying to flip something from his face?
His in between song ramblings I could clearly do without. Is this some kind of British humor? I just didn't get it. His tidbits of personal reflection I could do without. Could have shaved off painful minutes if it was left on the cutting room floor. I can clearly see why I've never heard of this guy and his act. And why it grossed $3,000 at a box office? Must have been that set of close family and friends watching the movie to see if they were in it?
Sorry, this one's a loser.
Abandoned (2010)
Nice drama, Brittany was good, not great.
I enjoyed the movie, although the plot took some time to settle in and drug out in the beginning. But once you realized what was happening, the movie was a little better going. Scale of 1-10 a 4. I really enjoyed seeing Brittany in this film, but think some of the casting was off. Some of the actors didn't fit the rolls and came off kinda dumb. Their acting ability was poor and it brought down some of the scenes. Maybe the director's fault? My only complaint was Brittany's make up and hair. Then to find in the end credits her husband, Simon took credit for it. POOR choice again by the casting personnel. In some scenes she looked clownish. She already has big lips (botox?), but the lipstick applied was over extended and she looked like the Joker from Batman. Make up on her eyebrows and her hair needed the roots done, and a good shampoo would have helped. Her make up/character didn't warrant this effect, and she should have looked better kept. Some scenes she has tremendous bags under her eyes, and her hair sticks out like hair spray was dumped on her. The movie is worth watching because Brittany is in it, otherwise it's just so so.
Cyclops (2008)
Dumb
Yes, I said it's dumb. The quality of the acting is bad. The Cyclops is CG'ed and looks pretty badly done. A real live actor in a cyclops costume would fair better than the efforts of the CG team. The costumes look like they came from the local fabric store sales rack. Pretty low budget flick. OK for the younger kids, but there is a lot of fake blood and killing to be had. If they play video games, this will fall right into that category. The writing is pretty elementary. The use of cheap actor's to play secondary rolls is quite obvious. Some of the camera shots, POV, are poorly done. The use of a steady cam might have helped with some of the scenes in the courtyard shots. The better part of this being made for TV, will be the commercials between the program. Not for the intelligent viewer.
Zodiac (2007)
I didn't like it...
Sorry folks, I couldn't hang with this one. I like all the actors. I know they do great jobs. But the writing and directing kinda sucked. I never finished watching the DVD. It doesn't help when you already know how the story ends. Who did it? Who cares? They never caught the person. A lot of assumptions made here. I could not get into the first half of the movie. The killings seemed so made up. If they we're based on actual fact, I didn't believe it. The directing is what really lost me. First the movie starts out slow, the actors acted slowly and talked slowly. Could they have drug this out any longer? Then all of a sudden we get flashes of events that pretty much pertain to details in the letters and communications, stuff you want to see. I kept wondering when "Grissom" was going to walk in. Oh that's right this happened in the 70's. Before PC's and cell phones. Maybe that's why the cops seem so retarded. No technology. No education. Equals no suspect. And what about the animal crackers? Did the character have low blood sugar, or did the dog need a reward to get him in the car to do his job? My dog will roll over with out treats. I blame the writing and directing on my lost interest.