Reel07 Reviews

The Emperor and the Assassin (1998)

* * * * out of * * * *

[9 January 2000]

"The Emperor and the Assassin" is one of the best films of the year. This film is strongly reminiscent of a Kurosawa or Lean film, whether in terms of lush photography or deep character studies. Though not ranking at the films of those directors, this film stands on its own as one of the best epics I've seen in a long time. The story follows a ruthless, cold-blooded emperor who will do anything to reach up to the highest level of rulership, a reformed and moral assassin, and the emperor's wife, who bring those two forces together. Though running at a length of 161 minutes, the film cruises by very fast, with realistic battle scenes, almost exactly like Ran and long, sprawling, unforgettable shots like Lawrence of Arabia, extremely good performances all around, and a complexed, but fully revealing storyline. An interesting, highly ambitous masterpiece.

Three Seasons (1999)

** out of ****

[16 October 1999]

"Three Seasons" is a film about four different characters and how they meet at different crossroads. The characters are a cyclo driver, a young prostitute, a peasent girl, and an ex- American GI. It sounds great, won all the awards, and looks beautiful . . . . . . that's what I believed when I rented this.

Whatever message was trying to be translated here was completely diminished with boredom and obscurity. Some characters are fully developed, if anything, developed way too much, and some are not. A great example of one is the Harvey Keitel character, who was pathetically developed. There was no edge or dimension to him, and soon, he became boring because I just kept seeing the same American drunk looking for his daughter. Now believe me, Harvey Keitel is one of my favorite actors ever. See, that is why this kind of topic is best handled by expert directors, not first-timers. Now I am saying that Tony Bui is a bad director. He has lots of talent and I'm sure he will make some great movies. But this movie just became so uninteresting and very pointless after a while. There were numerous scenes I could recall that were completely unnecessary, whether it was Harvey crying at the dinner table, that dragging, annoying story about the old man with no face looking towards death as poetry with the help of the farming girl, the homeless boy playing soccer, and especially when the cyclo driver was hurting and cutting up the prostitute's back. That was unclear and disgusting. There were just too many elements that couldn't be handled equally enough to make the viewer really feel for the characters. There were so many blurry scenes mixed with beautiful passion, especially with the red leaves falling from the trees. I pitied or didn't like any of the characters at the beginning, like I was supposed to, but after a while, just stopped caring because it either got too fake or pointless. The only real character I liked for almost the whole movie was the cyclo driver and the homeless boy, but as sad as it is, that also went on too long.

Yes the photography is beautiful, but parts of it looked way too familiar to Oliver Stone's "Heaven and Earth." There were some good conversations with the characters, but it was a pity to see Harvey Keitel almost wasted in this film. We knew nothing of him. There are sparks of a good director in the future, but this was not a good movie. I don't know how it won all the awards, but I can tell you that the first 45 minutes of the film could have been summed up in 10 minutes, which means the whole film would have started and finished in about 45 minutes to an hour. I could have finished my homework in the remainder time period, but I guess my ambitions for this film and whether it would move at all were too high.

Amarcord (1973)

on a scale of 1-10, I give it a 1, just because there's no 0

[3/10 · 6 September 1999]

Maybe I'm just not paying attention or maybe I don't even care. But this is by far one of the stupidest, intolerable, disgustingly boring movies ever made. There is nothing to see in Fellinni except that he must have been Bertolucci's long lost brother: obsessed with seeing young women naked. That's it. No fun, no magic, nothing. I then saw LA DOLCE VITA, and I detested that like a pestilence. I couldn't finish this movie or LA DOLCE VITA because everyone can only be tortured to a limit. These "masterful films" went over that limit by hundreds of miles. Everyone is saying that some peacock scene is brilliant. Well I have peacock feathers sitting on my ledge and I don't have to waste my precious time on this piece of garbage. This is on my top 5 films for the WORST films ever made. I'm really steamed up that I had to watch that movie. I'm about to blow up right now because I have to right this review. I wasted an hour-and-a-half of my life and I'm never gettin' it back. Now I'm crying. (sob) (sob)

Run Lola Run (1998)

Impressive

[29 August 1999]

"Run Lola Run" is a new techno-pop, video- like-game movie. The story has been done over the years: Guy owns mob money, loses it, and has to get it in 20 minutes. His girlfriend offers to help. It sounds old and cliched, and it is, but it's shown so lively and fast. The animation mixed with amazing camera techniques and angles, is really fascinating with a retro beat music which perfectly matches the mood. It is shown in three different perspectives, all through Lola (Franka Potente). The film never gets tiring, and is full of "wow"s and is very clever. Highly recommended. And for all you "Thin Red Line" fans, the song after the Japanese massacre is played in this film.

The Thin Red Line (1998)

Flawed, yet realistic, fascinating and poetic

[26 August 1999]

The Thin Red Line is the new war, or anti-war film by director Terrence Malick. I liked "Badlands" which was his first film, but was amateur, and "Days of heaven" was meandering. This film takes a different route on the theme "War is hell" not at all like this year's other war companion, "Saving Private Ryan". This film does not show the atrocities of war through battle and carnage, but through humanity and different perspectives. The setting is in Guadalcanal during WWII and how the soldiers have to battle the Japanese and stick together and hold a key-positioned airfield. The movie studies each character and his worries or inspirations to survive the war. The problem with the film is that it takes many serious viewings to understand it. The narration, though very annoying and almost all southern, sparks out the pity and suffering of war. Why does it happen, who's doing this? All these questions that no one can answer become monotonous after a while, but still remain curiously interesting. At some of the most brilliant and crucial points of the film, they are interrupted by narration. There shouldn't be any; we should be able to feel what the narrator is saying without him actually telling us. The movie also runs long at times, losing the attention, but it is like a commitment. There are also way too many pop-up cameos which takes the viewer off the story at times. There shouldn't be so many familiar faces. That serves as almost a distraction from the whole film. Aside from these flaws, this is undeniably one of the best films of the year. The battle scenes are realistic and superbly done. The scene where the soldiers massacre the Japanese is harrowing, frightening, yet very humane. The acting is great all-around, especially by Nick Nolte and newcomer Jim Caviezel. The Kubrick-like cinematography is breath-taking, and this is one of the best music scores I've heard in a long time by Hans Zimmer. The film takes, like I said before, many viewings to fully understand it. Now I can't stop renting it. I'm waiting for the DVD and might even consider seeing it for the 6th time tomorrow. A thought-provoking, interesting, memorable experience. Worth a rent.

Badlands (1973)

Good, beginner film

[7/10 · 21 August 1999]

Terrence Malick has done some pretty good films (noting that he's done only three). This was alright, and his latest film, "The Thin Red Line" was flawed, but had some brilliant moments and was overall great. However, "Days of Heaven" just bored me. Of the three films, Malick knows the dark and cruel side of human nature, and has a great eye for photography like Kubrick, although he seems to be stuck with the south and if not in America then all the characters have to be from the south, and narration. This film had some great moments, but some poor too. There was too much narration, which is a main complaint for all his movies, strange music, and should have been like "Bonnie and Clyde". You could not relate to any of the characters, and Martin Sheen became tiresome as the one-dimensional James Dean-like character. The end was worthy though because we finally got to know his character, but waiting until the end just takes too long. There were times when I thought that Sheen was practicing for "Apocalypse Now". This should have been moving and brutal like "Bonnie and Clyde" but was a predictable, one-dimensional film. But there are some great moments, and the film is quite memorable. Worth a rent.

Kundun (1997)

A fascinating work of art

[10/10 · 19 August 1999]

I am a big fan of Martin Scorsese films. I've liked just about every one. But this film affected me more because of the topic. It was a heart-warming, fascinating, inspiring, gripping journey about the Dalai Lama and the sad opression from the Chinese and how he is forced out of Tibet. Great music, camera-work, direction, acting all rolled into one creates a masterful, breath-taking, emotional experience. This is a complete departure from the streets of New York for Scorsese and I like his new arrival. It is a change of pace, although this film will not attract to everybody. One of the greatest films I've seen in a long time that has moved me like this.

The Killing Fields (1984)

One of the greatest films

[10/10 · 19 August 1999]

It's underrated films like this that don't get any publicity and the over-rated, pointless films do. I guess that's just the way Hollywood operates. This is one of the saddest, touching, unsetteling, scariest films I've ever seen. It's also one of the best. It shows the atrocities of war in a short amount of time, capturing and horrifying the viewer, but not sickening. It is a story combined with the Vietnam War and two journalists who have to fight their way through Cambodia at the time of the Khmer Rouge and the fall of Penom Penh. Vivid imagery and music is outstanding, but the acting and intensity shown is very realistically. This is the greatest anti-war film and one of the most harrowing, gripping films I've ever seen. Haing S. Ngor deserved the oscar and this should have won against, what I thought was a loser, Amadeus.

Seven Samurai (1954)

A masterpiece, yet to be imitated over the years

[9/10 · 17 August 1999]

This is truly a timeless classic. Great script, story, performances, music, direction, photography, etc. all around. Kurosawa is one of the greatest directors ever. The acting is very realistic and convincing. The story follows a group of poor villagers who hire samurai to fend off the brigands who are invading their crops. This is a great character study, with such humanity and different emotions circling around the whole film. Each samurai is different in it's own way. For a film to be this great and express it's emotions, it will have to be as long as 208 minutes (although the 141 minute version cuts out very important scenes). There is not one boring or pointless scene that I can recall from the director's cut DVD I've got. As great as this film is, it has been imitated in many films like Magnificent Seven, Reservoir Dogs, and Usual Suspects. This film will never wear out and will remain the polished, wondrous, breath-taking, gripping epic that it was when it first came out in 1954.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

A realistic, great movie. . . . but over-hyped

[8/10 · 14 August 1999]

Alright, this one definately one of the best films of 1998, and contained some of the most harrowing, frightening, and realistic battle footage ever filmed. Now I saw it the day after it was released, before ANY hype had touched this film. This film was so over-hyped, it became sickening. Another thing that's so annoying is that people are calling this "the greatest war or anti-war movie ever made." It is may be one of the best, but is isn't in the same ballpark as some of the others. This film is meant to show the horrors of war through battle and carnage. Yes that is one way to show it, but the more "anti-war" style to show it is to show more humanity and suffering, like "The Killing Fields" (the best anti-war film) or "Born On the Fourth Of July" (even "Platoon"). But because of hype, it has the look of an action blood-and-guts type of film. The video stores are categorizing this under ACTION. ACTION. The film had a weak script, but still a story to buoy the film, and an annoying, overly patriotic, beginning and ending, which did play a toll on the film. For a second, you might even think it glorified war. But nevertheless, it is mostly overlooked because of the intensity

But these people who call this "the greatest war film ever" complain about this year's other war companion "The Thin Red Line." it was so different from this, taking a different and interesting approach to "war is hell" and was a great film, but obviously, flopped. Thank god hype didn't kill that. But nevertheless, this is still on my top 5 list of 1998 and is worth a rent.

Affliction (1997)

Amazing, brutal, bleak, not for everybody

[8/10 · 7 July 1999]

Affliction is the type of film that isn't for everybody. It is either said to be overwrought and overdone or just plain boring. That's not true. This is one of the top 5 of last year. I've seen it twice now and it moved me more the second time. It is about a town policeman (played superbly by Nick Nolte, who was robbed of the Oscar) and how he becomes involved in a murder case and that interferes with his past abuse by his father. That is just a summary and there are a lot more details. The film is well acted and Coburn and Nolte both deserved the Oscar. The film should have gotten more nominations. I think Paul Schrader is the greatest screenwriter out there, I didn't really like his directorial films, except for Mishima (one of the best movies of all time) and this. There are many symbolic scenes, and very frightening/brutal too. This is the type of movie that should make people appreciate their parents and be grateful that they didn't live the life of any of these people. 4 stars, rent it now!

American History X (1998)

Overdone realism

[6/10 · 5 July 1999]

American History X is a good movie, not a great one. Neither does it make this year's best films, in my opinion. The story is about a former skinhead (played superbly by Edward Norton, who is going to hit it big) who is sent to jail for an intolerable crime. He then "changes" (I don't know how, but I can tell you that the film didn't show that, and if it did, then not enough) and comes out of jail, only to come home to his younger brother who seems to have been influenced by him and the story moves on about how the character tries to change his brother's views. As realistic and frightening as the film is, it goes overboard with torture and suffering. There are many scenes which could have been trimmed, including the brutal food market invasion of the skinheads, and an unwatchable prison rape scene. The camera angles are poor, with too many closeups at times. It is a beginning achievment, but I felt discouraged because the topic and story should have been given to a masterful director, like Scorsese, and all the brutality would have been shown in a more absorbing and watchable way. Nevertheless, there are great moments, and great performances. Edward Norton deserved a nomination, but not the oscar.

Black Rain (1989)

Not worth it

[5/10 · 5 July 1999]

Black Rain is a typical action 80's type film about a cop with an attitude, who's got family problems, and has to go off somewhere to kill some Asian mob. The film stars Michael Douglas who has to bring some Japanese boss back to Japan for a trial, but by mistake, he gives the boss right back to the mob! The rest of the film is how the American and Japanese cops try to find him. Tedious, not enough action to keep the movie floating, but good acting by Michael Douglas, as much as he was wasted in this movie, and good moments showing how Nick (Douglas) has to lose the attitude to work with the Japanese. Slick cover, but a good action movie to rent would be The Year of the Dragon. As trashy as it is, it's more entertaining than this. It's sad, right after the Wall Street oscar, he did this movie.

Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)

Masterpiece

[8/10 · 5 July 1999]

The first time I rented this movie, I didn't quite understand it. I rented it again and it blew me away. Akira Kurosawa is a masterful director who can combine story, art, history, and emotions that can relate to present day. Very few directors can do that. The acting is superb, and so is the dialogue. The story is set in 18th century Japan, with the war between the three warlords: Takeda, Tokugawa, and Oda. Takeda is shot and later dies. But his soldiers found him a double, a kagemusha, who was about to be sent to death for stealing looks exactly like him. The kagemusha goes through heavy and painful emotional training, forcing himself to have the same posture and voice as the late lord. The story then leads into the war between the warlords and finally, then end shot of the film has so much symbolism, imagery and thought-provoking ideas. the battle scenes are exquisitely filmed, but that's not the main key here. Watch for the emotions. This is a true masterpiece, but not as good as Kurosawa's following epic, Ran.

What Dreams May Come (1998)

Couldn't sit through the rest

[4 July 1999]

This is truly a horrible film. I walked out halfway into the movie because I thought I was being tortured to a limit that was just not fair. There is nothing in this movie, except for the visuals, which get tired after 2 minutes. Truly this year's worst film and one of the worst ever. Don't waste your money

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)

Amazing

[9/10 · 4 July 1999]

Mishima is one of the greatest films ever made. Now I think Paul Schrader is the greatest screenwriter of all time, but I don't really like the films he's directed of what I've seen (with the exception of this and Affliction), but this is an amazing, disturbing, and highly 3-dimensional character study. It follows the life of Yukio Mishima, Japan's most celebrated writer, combining the last day of his life with flashbacks and his stories. I don't know how, but Paul Schrader manages to combine all of those in a very artistic way. The acting is great, so is the photography, and a perfect score by Philip Glass. Although confusing the first viewing, this is one of the few films that becomes richer with each viewing. Truly an underrated gem of a film.

The Ballad of Narayama (1983)

bad

[4/10 · 4 July 1999]

This is a creepy, muddled, sadistic film. Just the idea of you needing to hitch your parent when he/she turns 70 to some god forsaken mountain where crows come and eat you while you wither up and die. Now that's just the summary. There is a ton of pointless sex, and the plot never is sturdy. It tends to jump around a lot. The photography is great, but that's it. Some may like it, I don't know how. An at least decent film by the same director to rent is "Black Rain" (not Michael Douglas).