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StephenReponen
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Solaris (2002)
*ZZZzzz... Huh what?*
Well... This movie was quite odd... Ok, I'm quite partial to cerebral movies and I actually understood this film and its concept. But still it doesen't make me actually like it. So the whole "You hate it cause you don't understand" line doesen't really apply to me. Cause I did understand! When the credits started rolling the only thing that popped in my head was "So?"...
When I went to watch this film, I was expecting something slower and more "dramatic" than a full out Sci-fi thriller. I read the reviews, but still kept an open mind, since like I mentioned before I like "thinking" movies...
So I sit down and the film starts. No title credits. At first I thought that it was the projector's screw up, but incidentally the film is supposed to start like that. Ok. Doesen't really affect the film in my oppinion, but at least its a way to already grab the interest of some people. So i became intrigued. But then after 20 minutes of monotonous dialogue and events, I was allready looking at my watch. The film was unfortunately extremely boring. Nothing really happened. It did manage to capture my attention at some parts, even to the point that I was once again intrigued and hoping that the film would suddenly take off and things would actually happen at a regular pace.
I understand some people enjoy slow movies, and I also have no problem with films that decide to take a slower pace to build characters and reveal plot at key moments instead of grand-slam action with big breasted women donning two hand held cannons, blowing aliens to pieces in order to save humanity from an onslought of alien invaders... (Though I do like those movies too. :D) But, this film was slower than slow. I mean, you can even hear the actors deliberatly spacing their words in order to drag out the conversation. Much like "Can...You...Get.....(shot of Solaris)........That?" This was too much to bear for me, but I managed to watch the movie to its completion. Even though I nodded off a couple of times, only to wake up and see that the main character hasn't even finnished his first sentence yet.
Then theres the whole point of the film. Yes, its a thinking persons film. In a way. But if you manage to stay awake, its not really that hard to figure out. There are no clear answers given, but through out the conversations, you get the idea what they're talking about.: "What is being human?" "Human, Clone, alien, does it really matter?" "What makes you, YOU?" "Are you only a compilation of memories, residing in a physical body, thus proving that an individual is a sum of his upbringing and surrounding? Or do you have soul, with a predetermined fate, created by a diety?" "Or are we all just someones dream?" The film poses some great conversation topics. But the film doesen't really express them too well in my oppinion. It doesen't smack you in the face as if they're going "See?! This is how it is!!!" its more like "Well... It could be this... Or this... Or perhaps that... uh... What do you think?"
In my oppinion thinking movies should pose a lot of questions, but they should also try to answer some of them sometimes. Its easy to pose questions in film. (Basically look at the monolith in 2001: A Space Oddesey. Kubrick intentionally left it without explenation. He wanted people to be totally confused) It's harder to answer them... And thats when films like "The sixth Sense" shine. They pose interesting questions, AND THEY ANSWER THEM! *Shock* *horror* How could this be? Well, because the writer thought it out. He realised that its a lot more fulfilling that a film actually does a bit of the cerebral work on behalf of the audience, so that they can atleast enjoy the film. Films that usually lack answers are usually met with more scorn than films that do have answer. I'm not saying that all films that lack answers are bad. I'm just saying that sometimes, when a film poses so many questions, and doesen't even ATTEMPT to answer any of them, audiences feel cheated.
Solaris did not have any personal stand point. It didn't have any of its own oppinions on the questions it itself asks. And I'm not talking about questions like "What is Solaris?" I'm talking about the "Humanity questions" The things this film basically was about. They should have atleast tried to prove something. Not just post questions. So when the credits rolled I was "So? What does it mean to be human?"
The film does make you think. And it is filmed very well. Solaris is beautiful. And the base is creepy and lonely. But the dialogue. The pacing, the actual flow of the film was lacking.
Oh well, this movie was a dissapointment in my oppinion. But sometimes when they try to score a hit, they miss...
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars: Episode II, A force to be reckoned with!
This movie has excelence written all over it! I utterly loved this film. Not only does it return us to the original feel of the first trilogy, it gives us a new one that levels on the same merrits as the first. This film makes Episode 1 also better, becasue this practically starts off where the other left. Apart from it being 10 years later. The plot and overall themes are both excelent and dark, with a few added twists and suprise thrown in for good measure. And trust me, there are some scenes that will be instant classics among all other scenes in film history!
The special FX are top notch, and although there might have be the same amount or more fx in this movie than the last, to me at least, I didn't feel swamped by them. They just "were". Yes there is "eye candy" loads of it, but it won't detract you from whats happening.
Ok, now I've read that the critics say that the dialog and acting was either bad, or campy. But come one! It's Star Wars! I believe the acting to be good infact, however the dialog is just as good as any of the other movies. We shouldn't be expecting Shakesperean prose, rhyming couplets at the end of each act! Altough there was one in the end of Episode 1, actually. :) It also contains the fair amount of humor we all love in the first trilogy, but which perhaps Episode 1 took a little overboard and made it childish. This one goes back to its roots and gives you a chuckle and sometimes a hardy laugh, but never does it try to be too overly wacky.
Overall this is a definite improvement over Episode 1 if you think Episode 1 was bad. (All though I didn't)This actually helps Episode 1 bridge some of the gaps it had with the first trilogy as well. Its exciting, its suspensfull, its funny, and its sad! Everything you want in a blockbuster summer movie! Trust me, this is a excelent movie! When the credits started rolling the only thing I was angry about was the fact that now, I got 3 years to wait for part 3! ***** out of *****
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
My...God...
Now, I'm a major film enthusiast. I watch all types of film from all over the world and I'm usually VERY positive about the films I watch. Even if the film was initially bad, I would still give it a go and find the good parts in the movie. Now, I was quite exited about Moulin Rouge and I've been waiting a long time to go watch it. Now that I finally have, I don't know what to say... I've never actually hated a movie before... This movie was bad, unoriginal, simple and predictable. It's like some sort of psychodelic nightmare of MTV, with a crosscut of all the top hits of the 20th century. Worst of all being them using Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit"... I really like that song, and for this movie to use it because of six words "Here we are now, entertain us" was just too much for me. I've never in my life had a headache from watching a movie. But this movie almost gave me a migrane. I strained my brain to see the positive in it. I came up with one thing. The credits. Cause I knew when they started to roll that I could go home and get an aspirin.
Krocodylus (2000)
My god in heaven...
**SPOILERS**
This is one BAD movie. Seriously. Acting in absolutely horrible, the FX are dreadfull and the plot is down right awful. But hey, its so bad that its fun watching! The script is SO bad that its enjoyable! You just have to cringe and laugh at lines such as "I guess thats what you call CROCTEASING." as the women flash their breasts at the crocodile. I mean COME ON thats funny cause its so bad! It has such horrible jokes that they're funny! But after a while it just becomes to much as the movie turns into crap. I really started to fall asleep. Trust me though, the plastic croc foot stamping on the leaves and the constant swishes of a crock tail well keep you laughing for a long time. Though I have to say it had one cool part when the croc ripped that dude in half and he just hung there for a while figuring out what to do. Heh heh mindless movie, which HAS to be nominated for the MST3K line!!
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Lord of the movies!
When I first heard that they were making the movies I was happily suprised. But then after reading the books, I thought that it was literarely impossible to even put in HALF of the stuff onto the big screen. And then when I heard heard Peter Jackson (whom I am a great fan of) was the director, I really went "uh oh..." Having seen PJ's previous movies such as the classic and legendary BAD TASTE and BRAIN DEAD as well as his excelent HEAVENLY CREATURES and quite funny FRIGHTENERS, I was expecting some sort of cultish kind of semi-gore, psychodelic exploration into the mind of Tolkien and his books. A bit like when David Lynch had his vision for Dune.
However, when I saw the first trailer for LOTR, I almost began to cry. Not because it gave me goosebumps, not because it had some of the sweetest cinematography I've seen, not even because some of the scenes seemed like they were ripped out of my minds eye and placed on film, it was because I had to wait to see the film! So after a long wait, in which I read the books again, I finally got to go and watch the film with fellow LOTR enthusiasts and I was blown away!
I've never been so giddy in a movie since I watched all the Star Wars movies come out again. I simply enjoyed every minute of it! I am so overjoyed at the scope of the movie and how well it has transefered most of the book into the film. I know there are some scenes that were left out and some areas were changed, however they were neccesesary in order to keep the film flowing. Such as the whole Tom Bombadillo scene. However he is not pivotal to the whole plot. Also the change in which Arwen saves Frodo is also a good change for the movie. Even the whole Saruman betraying Gandalf scene was changed for the better of the film. The actors were chosen perfectly and the acting was simply superb, the scenery was breath taking and the special effects outclass ILM! However they did not drown the entire movie in special effects like in SW: Episode 1. No, this film was refined to perfection and I eagerly anticipate the next.
There is also a comfort in knowing that I don't have to worry about measuring the second film to the first, because I knew they were all filmed at the same time. So in a sence its one giant movie cut into three, like the book.
This is one movie you cannot afford to miss! It deserves to be on par with Star Wars, and in my oppinion is! I grew up with Star Wars and love the films. What I think will happen now is that Millenium generation will grow up with LOTR and love them as we loved SW.
Swordfish (2001)
Popcorn fun, thats all...
The movie was a fun action pop corn movie which requires little thought whatsoever. If you tried to struggle through the techno-babble, don't worry, they throw common internet terms into a mesh that sounds cool and tries to pull it off as real. Talking about realism, the first minute of the movie when Travolta discusses why he thinks Hollywood makes junk these days actually contradicts the rest of the movie entirely! 1st point is the techno babble, and the 2nd point REALLY got me annoyed to the point of almost leaving the theater! You see, there are Finnish people in it who speak German! Please do not tell me that Hollywood is really that stupid? Yes, I can understand the mistakes in the techno-babble, and they manage to pull it off quite well, but German speaking Finns? Man... BUT, if you put that aside and just live with it, the movie isn't that bad! It's quite good actually. You just have to turn you're brain off and enjoy the eye candy! It has a good use of bullet time and some innovative car chase sequences! So all in all not bad, but with a few corrections could have been ALOT better! 6/10
Le pacte des loups (2001)
Oh, Coooool.....
I have to say that this movie is extremely COOL!!! What I mean by cool is that it has a good quantity of great kung fu action, a REALLY neat and quite scary beast and not a bad little plot! Ok, so the movie sometimes happened to jump from one genre to the next, and might drag in a few places, but I can't help but say that the movie works! It was really good! Great use of sound effects really enhanced the movie and the use of traditional(No Matrix ripoffs) Kung Fu was a good call. The movie was also visually stunning with one of my favorite scenes being a a woman blending into the hills as the scene changes, EXCELENT! Really good movie and I really enjoyed it!
9/10
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Not a bad Movie!
The first time I went to see the movie I got confused and watched the pritty pictures instead, going "Oooooh, Aaaaaah!" Then left the theater and forgot about it. Then when I got on DVD as a gift I was, "Oh cool, the pritty picture movie" and popped it in. Then as I watched, I somehow started to understand the plot and movie. Yeah ok, the script might not be in the godfather class but it suits the movie really well. The themes in the movie are nice and warm and unfortunately seen in many post war or apocalyptic movies, however this movie somehow manages to pull it off and make it sound honest and not so corny as in many other movies. The film score was spectacular and the animation was just mind blowing! I think it takes a couple of viewings to really catch all the things that are going on in the movie and to really appreciate the detail of the charachters. I suggest you really give it a chance and not pass it as childrens movie because its animation, trust me, kids won't understand half of the movie and might even get scared in some parts. 8/10
Metal Gear Solid (1998)
MIND BLOWING!!
This game has to be the best game ever created on the face of the planet! I mean there is nothing in this game that is bad! I bought this game for the PC when I saw the trailer for Metal Gear Solid 2. I thought "why not" since the MGS2 looks so unbelievable, the only reason I'm going to buy a PS2. When I began to play the game, I was astonished at the level of detail they put into the plot and charachters. This game truly felt like watching a movie! Every second was pure bliss for me and when I completed it the first time I started all over again! I wouldn't be suprised if this game would be turned into a movie, but I think why should they? the game is so perfect! Mind blowing from beggining to end! There would have to be something mentally wrong with you if you dont like this game! If this game was so good, I get goose pimples when I think about the potential of MGS2!!!!
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
Book of S#*&!
When I was at a fair, I won the video and was pritty excited. I had seen the first one and allthough did not think it was scary, it was original and creepy. So anyway, a couple of friends and I decided to watch it that same night. The first 5 mins were really good, but then it stopped. We were all bored until the very end of the movie. In fact, we were actually booing at the film! IT WAS SO BAD! It's like a montage of horror movies but with only the stupid clichés! There was absolutely nothing about this movie that was good or original! When the credits started to roll, we hated the movie so much that we went outside with the video and tied it around a tree. My friends proceeded to open it up and dissembowel it, as we had our own crazy ritual. We pranced around my friends car with the black tape held high above our heads and let the wind take it away, far away. We buried the empty video under lots of rocks in the forests and went home. That brought more entertainment than movie!
Battlefield Earth (2000)
It would have been better as a TV series...
OK, I know that there are a lot of mixed reviews on this film, but I do have to say that it was pretty bad. OK, the locations and special effects were excellent and the way they filmed it so that no blood would be needed was good, but the simple story and believability of it was just too much to ignore. I am pretty flexible, but I literally began to laugh at some of the points in the movie!
The Psychlos were an interesting race, but they were totally two-dimensional. This is also the fact with the human characters. Jhonny seems to be a cross between Braveheart and the usual hero stereotypical hero and doesn't seem to develop at all throughout the movie, well apart from becoming a math wizard, physicist, psychlo speaker, and weapons expert all thanks to the learning machine. Terl as well seems to be a cross between a giant turkey, a Klingon, and a Ferengi. He laughs alot, speaks with an English accent, and doesen't seem to have many brain cells.
Plot wise, the story is coherent, but again dull. It is the year 3000, people have degraded in to tribal people and cave people after the psychlos conquered the Earth a thousand years ago in 9 minutes! As the people rummage around the planet like monkeys, the Psychlos mine it for precious metals. Terl, determined to leave the planet, is told that he has to stay for another 50 years on the planet. He freaks and decides to bribe his way out, when he discovers an unknown gold vein in the mountains. He decides to get a few humans (to the Psychlos, they are considered animals and are appropriatly called man-animals) and make them mine the vein for gold. He picks one of the humans to be their leader, but needs him to be smart. So, he throws him into this learning machine and makes him learn the Psychlo language. In the process however, Johnny, learns other things and manages to get himself onto it a couple of more times, in order to learn mathematics. Being smart he plans a revolution to take back the planet yada yada yada. This is when it becomes more and more unbelievable. He reads the declaration of independence and gets patriotic and recruits some of his human friends to join him. Now they all speak intelligently, but whenever they get riled up, they act like monkeys again. This I do not understand! Almost like they are two different people. Then later on when Jhonny manages to find a bunch of "in working order and fully fueled" 1000 year old harrier jets, he tells a bunch of cave men to fly them! Of course, they learn by using the flight simulators that are there, but they only have 7 days in which to fly them! Ok, TODAY it takes more that 2 years to even learn how to fly a harrier jet, which happens to be one of the more difficult fighters to operate. But these cave men manage to do it in 7 days, quite biblical if you ask me. Then as they attack, they also seem to learn flight talk too! But ayway, at this point I gave up. Finally they manage to blow up the planet Psychlo with a nuke the size of a beer keg! OK...
The theme if this film was basically the freedom from oppression and that learning is the key to freedom. But then of course theres the whole deal about leverage! If you got it, you got power! At first the psychlos used it alot, making it seem like an evil thing, but at the end of the film, the humans use it too! And as we left the film, my buddy and I thought, "So leverage is good?" Very confusing, of course there is sequel potential, but I truly believed this film would have been better off as a series instead of this jumble of effects and bad unbelievable plot.
There also seemed to be a camera problem, since it always was tilted and I found my self tilting my own head to watch the film. Finally I laughed out loud when there was a whole Matrix sequence which didn't even need to be in the movie! Oh well...
A **out of***** for good effects and scenery, but everything else bad.
Supernova (2000)
THE PAIN!
This has got to be one of the worst sci-fi movies I have ever seen! I ofcourse love science fiction movies, but this one really dragged the genre through the mud! The acting was poor, much like listening to boring small than anything interesting. The characters were not interesting, the plot was weak and short, and the special effects were not even that great! Ok, the jump sequence might be the best of the effects shots in the movie, but it seems to be a mix of both Stargate and Star Trek! Also there were considarable plot holes in the the story as well as some really stupid mistakes: If they were a rescue craft, why did they only have enough jump pods for the crew alone? Does this mean that they only go to the area and find if there are suvivors and then leave again? What was the deal with "Sweety" and the crew member? IF she could finally think for her self, why didn't she help out the remaining crew members? And there are other problems too.
A really bad film, not even worth renting on video, a *out of***** in my book.
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
Oh why, oh why did they add the Hollywood CGI Shadow?!!
Well, I can tell you something about this movie...
It was a cold day when this movie came out in my country and I remember seeing the trailer for it. SInce I'm a total film buff, I simply had to watch this movie. So I decided to call up my friend and go watch it in the theaters.
First I was suprised that the age limit of the movie in my country was +16, so I had little hopes for it to be gory or for that matter scary.(Blade was 18 here! And it even wasn't that scary or gory!) Well, I went into the theater with little hopes and when the titles rolled was happily surprised about its tone. I've always been very particular about horror movies lately because they have all conformed to the usual Slasher genre, where a bunch of kids get diced and the killer appears at the end. Very rarely a true horror movie is made. So I was delighted at the first minutes when I saw the grim history of the mental asylum! I knew then and there that this was going to be a true horror movie!
The characters were somewhat weak except for Geoffrey Rush who I like as an actor anyway, but they sufficed for their roles. The story was cliched but good, giving that old Hammer film feel to it. A bunch of people are invited to a haunted house to spend the night. Seems easy enough, however it will be harder to stay alive then they expected. What I really like in the movie was the ambient noise that was constantly heard throughout the movie, that scared me almost subliminally. Within the noises there were often screetches or screams, whips and what not that gave the feeling that the house was truly a disturbing place. I also like the dirty grimy feeling of the lower levels of the house as well, with strewn wheel chairs on the corners, and green walls, giving a truly scary surrounding.
The first 45 minutes of the movie I was absolutely delighted! I was truly scared in fact in a few scenes that almost gave me and my friend a heart attack! After the first scare I told my friend, "I don't think I can live through another one of them!" Fortunately I did, but I don't know about the kids next to me. After the film my right ear was aching from the constant howling from 5, under 13 year old, girls who managed to get into the theater and unfortunately see the film next to me. I liked the way the ghost moved as well, making them totally unnatural and scary to watch! Even though they walk, its scary, and being a film buff and seeing LOTS of horror films, that is an achievement if they can scare people when they see things walking!
I was really getting frightened after the 45 minutes, hoping that I can survive the rest of the movie and having the constant thought in my head that if these normal ghosts were this scary, wonder how scary the shadow is.
However when you do get to see what the Shadow is, thats when the movie takes a 90 degree nose dive. Oh why, oh why did they add the Hollywood CGI Shadow?!! My buddy and I have a theory that the producers had to level down the scare factor of the film, or people would have complained about heart palpatations! However I think that the urge to add the hollywood factor in the film was too great to resist and they added the CGI into it. The shadows was absolutely NOT SCARY! In fact it was pleasent to look at, more like a floating tattoo you'd see on a persons arm. But totaly not scary. And it seems that the story took a dive aswell at the end too. You'll see what I mean if you watch it. If they would have only continued in the fashion that they started the film would have been a really killer film! Unfortunately they added the CGI and almost completely ruined the film.
I give this film a **out of*****, purely because of the shadow, it simply ruined it. I felt almost empty when I left the theater. Totally unsatisfied. However I do believe you should watch this movie purely for the first 45 mins, because its totally worth it, the rest you can skip, but the first 45 mins are mind blowing!
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
A great popcorn movie!!!
Ok , I know the movie might lack a bit in acting I.E Safron Burrows and plot, but it really is a good movie! I heaven't seen a good action movie in a long time and this one takes 1st place. I depends mostly on the action, but that action is INCREADIBLE! It doesent follow the usual pattern as do other horror movies such as "I Still Know What You Did Last summer!". When I wathced the movie, I thought to myself that it'll follow the usual pattern of deaths, but after the first one I don't know what to expect! It was great! I was smiling throughout the movie with exitement to see who'll die next! The sharks were really scary too! They moved like torpedos and attacked in one swift movement, shredding their victim/lunch in the most horrible fashion, which I enjoyed imensely! I was pleased that they didn't use the cliched White shark in this movie. They've gotten a bad reputation all ready from Jaws. Instead they picked the really ugly teethed Mako shark! That was a good move to veer away from cliches. It was a great movie for reviving that fear of the sea! I also enjoyed the fact that my buddy was a set decorator in the movie as well! Lucky guy.