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whokilledreno
Reviews
Give 'em Hell Malone (2009)
Small, cheesy and flaccid.
As a big fan of film noir, The trailer grabbed my attention with some pretty entertaining visuals and some intense music.
It took me about 25 minutes for my enthusiasm to dwindle. Once the feeling set in, I was unable to shake it off.
Credit where credit is due, Thomas Jane deserves a pat on the back. With roughly 80 percent of screen time, I'm glad to say that he has the least cringe worthy moments of the movie. The odds of his accomplishment were stacked against him, since he is given nothing more to play with than a character that is riddled with more cliché's than the body count he racks up through the film.
Very few other cast members came out of this with any dignity to their performances. Two that are worth mentioning are French Stewart, who plays a talentless club singer. The few scenes he has, are pure gold. The other performance that I thought had merit, came from Leland Orser. I have seen him a fair number of times playing less-than-stable parts and it was pleasing to know that he could play against the more colourful characters too.
It is important for me to make it clear that I don't think any actor/actress was to blame for the lack of entertainment in this movie. The script was poorly written. Malone can be summed up in three words.
Tough. Alcoholic. Vengeful These three things are hammered into the audience every minute from the establishing shot to the end credits.
The character of Evelyn was used to contain about,7 stereotypes of character and plot devices that you would associate with the film genre. It made it impossible for the actress to connect with the audience and by the end you feel nothing for her. No anger, no love, just nothing.
Again, the performance by Elsa Pataky gets two thumbs up for trying to play with the crap hand that she had been dealt. The problem comes from laziness in narrative structure.
That is the sentiment that I have taken from this film, that the puppet masters behind this calamity were lazy. The best example I can pull from the movie was in the third act. Malone take out an adversary and there is one of the most poorly edited sequences I have seen in some time. I will not spoil the ending for you, but If you have the ability, watch the last (approx) 20 minutes, it should not be hard to find.
Sex Drive (2008)
Mediocre at best.
Sex Drive delivers a solid 'rights of passage' movie filled with sex, bad language and gross out moments. However its too little too late. It felt like a clash of Harold and Kumar mixed with Superbad. It's not a bad movie by any means, but by the end I was simply thinking to myself, that its all been done before and crafted a lot better in the past.
The 'moral dilemma' of the film takes up and unreasonable amount of time throughout the movie and this means that other characters take a backseat. If they dedicated more time to the supporting cast, it might have made a more enjoyable experience.
Rent it at a time when you have nothing else to watch, but at the moment, there's been a flood of better films than this recently.
Five Across the Eyes (2006)
*beep*
My flatmate has it on right now, I keep looking at the clock, waiting for this *beep* to end. Its *beep* horrible. The acting is *beep* horrible, the sound department is *beep* horrible, the lighting is *beep* terrible. The plot is *beep* terrible. The music is *beep* horrible. The opening credits were *beep* I haven't seen the best part of the *beep* film.....by this I assume the credits are somewhat less *beep* annoying. But I bet they still *beep* suck in some way.
I really wish someone would be kind enough to hammer a *beep* nail through both my testicles. I want to pass out with pain.
If you have had a really bad movie experience. Take my advise. Watch this *beep* first, then watch your crappy movie. It will seem like liquid bliss.
Nabbeun namja (2001)
Great premise....awful ending
This film started off fantastic. It explained in full detail how this poor art student, had her life stripped away from her. Every demoralising act that the girl suffered, the watcher suffered too. Very few films strike this kind of emotional response. I feel that this was partly due to the complete lack of humorous moments to lighten the mood, that you find in so many movies (to make sure that the audience remembers its a movie and to not get too upset).
However it is in this viewers opinion, that the film finished as if they had no idea on how they could end it differently. It was as if they took this idea to a financier and he/she gave them the money, but not enough time.
I understand that the girl found her capture to be the last remaining tie to her previous existence. Though it was completely overplayed.
The fight with the brick, the stabbing with the glass, the prison sequence, her freedom.
In short, brilliant concept - with an ending like a glass of week old coke.
Aurora (1998)
Truly an Independant Film
I can't say that the Special Effects were any good. However Aurora makes the viewer realise that you do not need such things to make a good film. This film depends on its Story. And what a good story it is. Well done to the makers for making such an effort.