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vidalsdauphin
Reviews
Control Factor (2003)
Damn nice movie of the week...
Control Factor is one of those films that makes you wonder. "What if a big name director took this project under their wing?" I asked myself. Sadly that didn't happen but what the resulting film still makes one of the best movie of the weeks i've ever seen. Nelson did a great job with the budget and the movie turned out to be a quickly paced thriller that has an actual theme (sadly unlike most of Sci Fi channels "saturday action" originals.) Adam Baldwin, Tony Todd and Elizabeth Berkley did a wonderful job and their was not a bad role acting wise in the entire movie. While the movie lacked some action (probably due to it's tight budget) it did provide some bang, a few nice visuals and was compelling right up until the end. In the end if your looking for a decent sci-fi thriller and this is on, your search has ended.
Epoch: Evolution (2003)
Nowhere near as good as the original...
Epoch: Evolution is nowhere near as good as the original, although David Keith and Billy Dee Williams do wonders with the week script. The original was better in every possible way, especially acting wise. The movie was filmed in Bulgaria to save movie and most of the cast had to their voices dubbed over. The special effects are decent, but for it's time and miniscule budget Epoch was able to pull off much better visuals. While the original had a fair amount of drama, and a few thrilling scenes Epoch 2 is dull.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
One of the best films to come out of Hollywood...EVER!
I love everything about Punch-Drunk Love. The visuals, soundtrack, cast (and their performances) and the realistic pacing make PDL my favorite Romantic Comedy. Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan, a man that has serious social problems, who owns his own buisness selling novelty plungers. One day, feeling down, he calls a phone sex company simply to have someone to talk to. The next morning the woman calls back and asks Barry for money, Barry said no and from then on Barry is at odds with the Dean Trumbell (Philip Seymour Hoffman). During this whole thing Barry meets Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), and falls in love. All of this ties together and at the end you have one of the best films of the decade. One thing I want to say is that each and every character is amazing. People say how Barry is the most unrealistic guy ever and wonder how Lena could love him. Well I believe that Barry is meant to represent the social problems EVERYBODY goes through one time or another in life. 7 sisters who constantly rag him, people who take advantage of his good nature (the phone sex company) and without the ability to express his anger (probably due to his sisters) he has outbursts of violence, and I found myself felling sorry for him, even when he was beating the living **** out of a resturant bathroom.
Epoch (2001)
While not bad could have been MUCH better...
While not bad Epoch could have been much better. With a higher budget this could have easily been along side such films as Mission To Mars, but with the limitations this movie had, Matt Codd and crew did a good job. The script is decent overall with some bits of cool dialouge and a few cool scenes. David Keith gives a good performance as Mason Rand but the two standouts from my perspective were Brian Thompson and James Hong. Thompson was very good as the god fearing Captain Tower and James Hong was excellent (as usual) as the Chinese ambassador. Other than those three the acting remains good all across the board. The directing was slick for the most part and the movie cruised along fairly quickly. All in all Epoch is an excellent straight-to-video film that could have easily been a sleeper summer hit, if only the budget was larger.
Memento (2000)
Film noir for the new generation...
Memento is a film noir for the new generation. Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano & Carrie-Ann Moss all give great performances, of course, with a script this good there's no wonder. Add that with slick direction and a cool soundtrack and you got one of the best films of 2000, if not the decade. Many people say this is nothing but a gimmick picture, which I don't think is right at all. By telling the story the way it does, you have the chance to come to conclusions that you might not have if the movie was told from scene 1 on. All in all Memento is one of my favorite films and another film to add to Christopher Nolan's great resume.
The Boondock Saints (1999)
A great movie that makes an amazing B movie...
The Boondock Saints is a great movie that makes an amazing B movie. While being a straight-to-video, b budget movie, The Boondock Saints doesn't show it. The script and directing is slick, funny and fast-paced. The acting is top-notch and Willem Dafoe is amazing as usual. Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, David Della Rocco and Billy Connolly all give first rate performances. With a great script and an equally great director I can't see why a major company didn't pick this movie up, but that's no problem. The action scenes are slick and well-produced, and the soundtrack is also very good. All in all The Boondock Saints is probably the best straight-to-video movie i've ever watched with great visuals, lots of humor and an awesome cast.
Velocity Trap (1999)
A bored cop, $40,000,000,000 and a band of space pirates.
I happen to have a thing for telefilms and b-movies. I don't know what it is. Velocity Trap is a b-movie that, except for the stereotypical hispanic guy, is well-acted, well-written and comes with some solid CG (for a 6 yr. old b-movie). Olivier Gruner gives his best performance as the bored cop Ray Stokes and Alicia Coppala, in her only movie role, does pretty good herself and Ken Olandt is OK (FOR ONCE). Overall I think if this movie had an A movie budget and cast it could have been a theatrical hit.