Juxtrip Reviews

The Shepherd (I) (2008 Video)

Interesting stylized film that definitely could have been much better.

[6/10 · 11 April 2009]

Jean-Claude plays a tired, sad looking character which works well for this movie; he's been through the death of his daughter due to drugs and is out for revenge on the suppliers as a border patrol agent. The film is quite stylish, with parts bordering on a spaghetti-western style with both the cinematography and music. The style of the film is much more interesting than the story, as are some of the fight scenes and I was pleased to see that most of them were filmed clearly (wide shots) so you can actually see what is happening (unlike some bigger budget films, like the recent Batman, that show fights in close-up so you can't really tell what's going on). The only bad side to the fighting is that the best bad-guy martial artist at the end has much better kicks than Jean-Claude which is not what you would expect if you've seen many of Jean-Claude's films. Overall an interesting stylized film that definitely could have been much better but was still entertaining.

The Edge (1997)

The Jaws of the wilderness

[9/10 · 23 December 2008]

The Jaws of the wilderness. If Jaws made you never want to go swimming again, this film will make you never want to go into the wilderness again. After their plane crashes in Alaska, three characters, played by Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin and Harold Perrineau, are at the mercy of a relentless bloodthirsty bear in what feels like the middle of nowhere. What makes the "monster" in this film better than the one in Jaws though is that it's real; no mechanical creature needed here. (The movie A L I E N is incredibly realistic and believable; imagine how much more so with a real Alien?) There was one moment in the movie where after the plane crashes and Anthony Hopkins' character retrieves a bag of supplies from the plane under the lake before swimming up to the surface, I wondered why he didn't also grab the gun which was visible to us next to it, or at least go back and get it or ask someone else to... perhaps nobody knew it was there or could see it in the murky water and it was just shown for our benefit to make us wish they had found it (which of course would have made the film less exciting). Incredible cinematography, screenplay, direction, music (when the bear appears you'll recognize that Jerry Goldsmith uses some similar music to that which he uses in Star Trek Nemesis) and acting (including by Bart the Bear) make this a fantastic piece of entertainment.

The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008)

Wonderful new X-Files episode with fantastic cinematography and complex characters

[8/10 · 5 December 2008]

Wonderful to watch another X-Files episode; this is what I felt like watching this movie. Excellent performances by both Duchovny and Anderson as well as Billy Connolly. Great story, a real "page turner". The use of the snow, isolation, the dogs and the gruesome experiments reminded me of aspects of The Thing. I like the theme of whatever Mulder and Scully try to do, the darkness of X-Files cases still follows them containing mysteries crying out to be solved and that they can't escape it regardless of whether they work for the FBI or not, that they know it's their life and destiny at the same time as they try to hide and stay away from it. I love the cinematography of the snowscapes combined with Mark Snow's brilliant use of backward-sounding sound samples, as well as a nice re-mix of the classic X-Files theme at the end. While watching this movie I wished The X-Files would come back to TV as there are plenty of unexplained phenomenon out there that could be used for new stories...

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

Brilliant to see the wonderful creatures again in a fun story if you try to ignore the annoyances

[4/10 · 5 December 2008]

The only enjoyable thing about this movie is seeing the aliens again and the on-going cat-and-mouse game between the predator and the pred-alien. Also seeing the aliens on Earth for the first time (except for Antarctica in the last film) is interesting but it's a pity it had to happen for the first time in this film and not a better one. As for the rest of it, I can't believe how much most of the film is filled with rip-offs from Alien, Aliens and Alien3 instead of coming up with more original ideas... e.g. A Ripley/Newt relationship similarity exists, sound FX rip-offs from the Nostromo and almost the exact same shot that was used in Alien3 of the alien scuttling up to the side of Ripley's cheek to check her out. All in all a bit of fun if you try to ignore the annoyances and definitely worth seeing if you are an Alien fan just to see more of the wonderful creatures again.