rapt3 Reviews

Lost (2004–2010)

Live Together, Die Alone. Lost is unforgettable!

[10/10 · 24 July 2010]

SPOILERS OF THE END OF THE SERIES! BEWARE!

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It all comes together in the end. For those who is still seeking the answer to the show, it's all so clear now.

I can't help it, so I'll just admit it: I cried when I saw "The End", I cried rivers. And I still do, I cry like a baby.

Tears of joy, tears of wonderfulness, happiness, to see that the end of the journey could be so... gorgeous! Tremendous! Seeing Jack walking through the door to find his fellow friends all in one place and us, the audience, being with them in that place of redemption, of moving on, with their stories, their journey, their adventures. I couldn't describe the feeling with mere words. It was just wonderful! As for the mysteries... they were all what they were: symbolisms of something bigger. The Dharma Initiative was a symbol of creed and science. It was a symbol for men. We are the Dharma Initiative.

The Island represented our world. It was a synthesis of our world, full of conflicts, full of issues, and two forces always confronting each other inside us: good and evil.

As for the message of the whole show: it came from Jack's mouth all the time the answer was there, SINCE SEASON ONE: "LIVE TOGETHER, DIE ALONE".

And as for the ending of the show, Desmond tells us: "SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE, BROTHER!" So then, when all the conflicts is over, when humanity learns to live together, we can all grab our pieces and unite to redeem ourselves and find ourselves in one place... and finally, move on.

BEAUTIFUL!! FANTASTIC, GORGEOUS!!! SPLENDID, BRAVO!! Thank you Lost, for all these years, thank you, Damon and Carlton!! Namaste! I'll see you in another life brothas!!

Lost: The End: Part 1 (2010) Season 6, Episode 17

Magnificently beautiful, brilliantly crafted and full of poetry and philosophy.

[10/10 · 26 May 2010]

In this review, I wanna share with you some thoughts about "The End" and why Lost will always have a place in my heart for the rest of my life.

But for that matter, I will let a friend of mine talk about it, because, I can't express with the same clever way than him. Credits to www.cabinecelular.com.br. This for me is the perfect interpretation of what the show was about, so read carefully. Oh, by the way, it contains spoilers: So here it goes: There's a plane. Oceanic 815. This plane represents us, men. Us, always sky high, us, involved in a metal shield hard to be broken. We are always here and there, here and there, flying in high speed, here and there, without thinking, always carrying fragile things inside ourselves, always in the heights, always, going higher and higher, and higher each second, like this, in a flash.

Only sometimes, we fall. Sometimes, we break in little pieces.

So let's take a look in one of these men: Jack Sheppard. He represents us, this plane. And this plane falls on an island, this man, falls into his own conscience: the island.

By the way, who is the first character appearing in the show? That's right, JACK! Jack opens his eyes.

And what happens next? Jack is walking by the forest and then finally arrives in front of his broken person: the plane. And all those people that were there, they were Jack's little fragments. All the characters on the show, all those characters we came to know and love are fragments of Jack's persona. That's right, Lost is all about Jack. Lost is all about men.

So if we stop and start to think hard, all the characters represents a little fragment of Jack that was spread into Jack's conscience (the island) and Jack represents men, and men are represented by the plane of flight 815.

And now Jack will have to recover because he fell, he broke, and now Jack will have to put all his fragments together again. And this happens only now in Season 6, when all of these fragments starts to find one another in the once called parallel reality, which we learn in the final seconds, it's the afterlife.

And the afterlife has begun after Juliet detonates the hydrogen bomb. And who is Juliet in the afterlife? Well, Juliet is the mother of Jack's son. If all the characters are fragments of Jack, Juliet can be seen as the mother, in other words, the mother fragment inside men. It's the mother of men who promotes the miracle of closing the circle with all these fragments meeting each other, connecting each other and being like one again in Jack.

And so finally Jack have his peace, which is the most beautiful example.

And in the final scene, when Jack returns to the place where he first woke up on the island, who is the one that is in the very side of Jack once again? That's right, VINCENT, the dog. And what is the dog? Well the dog is men's best friend. So it's men's best friend together with men, we can remember the very first sequence in the beginning of the series when Vincent just passes by, he's not in the side of Jack; Vincent is also... LOST. But now, in the end, the circle is closed and Jack is his own best friend. Jack found himself. Now, Jack is fixed, he's one again, he's complete.

Once the fragments of Jack was Lost, was all spread. But now, they found one another, they are connected, and they are ready to leave.

It makes perfect sense. Once again: The plane is a symbol: the man. The island is man's conscience, the man was cast away into his own conscience. When the episode finishes, we can remember Jack leaving the place he fell in the first episode, walking to the beach, looking all around, and then he starts to understand: that's me, I'm like this, I'm broken, look at all my spread fragments all over my conscience... it will be a long journey to put it all back together again.

And to sum it all: we are left with two words: broke and leave. In the beginning we are all broken. In the end, all we want is leave. In the end, Jack is ready to die. Ready to leave.

And to conclude: what was that plane that passes in the end? Well, we can think of: Ajira, Oceanic 815, or even another plane. But for me, it's just another man who flies. And this man will find himself... and leave.

What a beautiful way of thinking. What a wonderful ending... what a fantastic show!

The Book of Eli (2010)

Applause for the Hughes Brothers and Denzel Washington

[10/10 · 30 March 2010]

This movie is wonderful! Touching in the sense of the main character and challenging in the sense of our understanding of what faith is about, what we believe.

Denzel as Eli is just amazing in his role, as like Gary "Commissioner Gordon" Oldman as Carnegie. Both very convincing and it would be a crime if they don't be at least indicated for the Oscar of best actor and best supporting actor.

Everything is wonderful, the script, the story, the plot twists, the photograph, they're all amazing. I can't say much about the plot because it'll ruin the surprises. And sorry, for those who complains about the theme (the object of the movie that Eli is protecting), I'm sorry, everyone is entitled to an opinion and each one of us have it's all beliefs, so don't get me started on an endless discussion about that because I'm not interested.

All I can say is that the plot of the movie is intense and entertaining at the same time. Be sure to book a place on your DVD shelf for this movie because it have a strong potential to become a cult movie.

I went this last Sunday to see the movie and I'll see it once again because it's been since "The Wrestler" that a movie didn't touch me the way this one did. I almost went to tears after the credits started to roll.

So, be sure to watch this amazing picture while you can, you won't regret.

1408 (2007)

Scared the living hell out of me!

[10/10 · 1 January 2010]

This is it! This is one of the best ghost movies since I watched The Others, with Nicole Kidman. It also is one of the best Stephen King adaptations since Misery. And I'm not considering The Myst here, which I also think it's great, but 1408 is much better.

Everything in the movie have it's merits, since the production, the script, the performances, the actors themselves, everything shines here.

When you see the main character Mike entering the room, you start to have that tickle, like, despite everything seems so normal, boring and stuff, still, something isn't right with that place, you don't wanna go in there, you don't wanna stay there. And boy, when things really starts happening, it comes those shivers through your entire spine. I'm not kidding, I've sh*t my pants watching this on the big screen and I still do when I watch it from my DVD.

And when you watch it, it's so intense that it's like if you were there with John Cusack, experiencing the whole thing. You are really dragged into the movie. I love movies that can drag you into the experience.

The actors really pulled it out, the direction is amazing, the effects are superb, I mean, just go watch it. Ten skulls... I mean, stars, easily! Plus, this is the movie that really brought me into Stephen King. Yes, I've watched The Shining before, and I'm still a huge fan of the movie, but when I first watched years ago, I was more interested in science fiction literature. But after 1408 and The Myst, I've read the 1408 tale from King and started to get interested by his work, and bought The Shining and Dreamcatcher books to read.

So, in a nutshell, just watch this movie, pal. Simple, just watch it. If you like horror or supernatural stuff, you'll thank me, believe that!

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations (2009)

Just watch the first one. Really!

[1/10 · 3 August 2009]

I've just watched this piece of junk. I kept telling myself that after the big letdown that was Butterfly Deffect 2 I would never watch another one again. But I had to see by myself, anyway, so I said, hell, OK. And man, what a load of crap!! The first movie was awesome!! There was supposed to be just it, nothing more. The plot was interesting, the characters were cool, the story, the twists and turn points were so freaking awesome and well constructed! The key moments, all of them well connected, everything makes some sense, you could actually understand the reasons why Evan Treborn (Ashton Kutcher) needed to travel through time to change something. The supporting cast was excellent, specially the kids, and all the adult actors were good, all of them acting nicely. You could really care about them and their characters, all of them well constructed and with great back story.

Of course it wasn't a masterpiece, but we can safely say that Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber achieved a wonderful cult movie witch have a great story, great development and an interesting proposal.

The second? It hurts deep in my memory just remembering of it. It hurts so much that I don't even try harder to remember. I only remember that I rented the DVD and tried to watch it, more than once. But it was a complete junk in the end.

This one? Well, doesn't change much to the second. Only that the main actor (I forgot his name) can actually act better than the main actor from the second one, but that doesn't help a bit. Bad plot, no character development, no interest, no effort, no nothing! And this is it, pretty much, all I can say is that I hated this one as much as I hated the second one and my strong recommendation is: do not watch this movie or the second one. Just watch the first one. Don't even care to rent this third installment (yes, I downloaded from the internet and erased just after seeing it, thank you!), just help yourself another way.

For me, there will always exist one Butterfly Effect, and one only, and this one I also have it on DVD. And now, I can safely say that, no matter how, no matter what, I won't watch another movie from this franchise again! Ever!! And no time travel will help to change my mind this time, 'cause the portal is closed!

Blackbeard's Ghost (1968)

Another title: "How every comedy movie should be"

[10/10 · 2 October 2007]

This is just a masterpiece of comedy movies! In the same words of Peter Unistov as Blackbeard, it seems that people don't know how to have fun anymore nowadays. I think that's the reason why I never saw many excellent comedies like that anymore. I love to see a great piece in the big screen, one of those who give us some reflection of life, some outstanding lines, epic portrayals of great men of our history and everything. But I also LOVE to strike a great laugh as well! And this movie delivers!! You just blow your head off of laughing, from the very beginning 'till the very end! The jokes are some of the best of all times!! Every single frame of this movie is a turbulence of nonstop laughing!! I just can't find words to say something bad about this movie, I mean it.

How can one not give a single good laugh after seeing Blackbeard (Peter Unistov) put Steve Walker (Dean Jones) into trouble with a police officer? Or even, in the olympics where Blackbeard helps poor Godolphin team to win, specially when he messes up with the final competition, where he confuses every other runner simply using a hot-dog, a flag and a bottle of rum! THIS FOLKS, IS HOW EVERY COMEDY MOVIE SHOULD BE MADE!! I mean it! This is first class comedy! I first saw this movie when I had 8 years. I'm 26 now. And I continue to love this as much as I loved when I was a boy.

This is, without a doubt a 10 out of 10! And even giving this a 10 is not enough, because it deserves much more! Perhaps, shouting the magic words (kree kru vergo gebba kalto kree) out loud can make some other picture like that appears around. While this isn't happen, get this one and have fun beyond your imagination!

The NeverEnding Story III (1994)

Daaaaaahhh... neverEnding negative points!

[1/10 · 8 August 2007]

Two guys who has nothing else to do in their lifes got together and was talking about making a movie...

Guy 1: Duuuhhh... hey dude, hahaha, let's make a movie? Guy 2 (taking his finger off his nose): Duu-u-ude!! Yeah, let's make a movie... let's... ohh... nachos... hahahahah! Guy 1: So, hahaha, I saw Neverending Story... like... didn't understand the movie... but it's cool! Huhuhuh...

Guy 2: Like... yeah... maybe we can... ya know... hahaha... change somethings and get a bang on Hollywood... huhuhu... like a sequel...

Guy 1: Yeah... and that boy could be attacked by a bunch of bad guys like the ones who punch us in the head every day at school...

Guy 2: These guys are nice... hahahahah... and hey... like... duuuhhh... the main character could learn to fight karate... It's cool! Chicks like these things! Huiaihaihahia...

Guy 1: Yeah... cool!! Hahahaha! And like... the dragon could be more like us... and funny...

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That was certainly the dialogue between the people involved in the production of this tragedy.

I have nothing else to say. Everything you need to know about this was already been said by other reviewers. And good movies deserves good reviews. Not the case here.

Stick to the 1st one. I mean, buy the 1st one, because it's certainly something that worths the money and a little space in your DVD collection. Rent the second one and watch only for the curiosity, it's not that good. As for this third one... don't even bother! Forget that it exists. Maybe one day the so-called "producers" of this mess will forget too.