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praxis22
Reviews
V for Vendetta (2005)
It's good but it's not the book
It's gets very close to a re-creation of the book, as close as Hollywood is ever going to get, and I suppose I'll just have to be happy with that.
It's a good movie, even on it's own merits. I could do without the wishy-washy political allegory of the final scene, but this is Hollywood, you need a big cinematic finale. The crowd goes wild, cheerleaders all come out for smooches! Blah.
I think far more could be made of the fact that the government made V what he is, the book is more explicit about that too. I would also have liked it, had they not replaced V's TV spot with the "something is wrong with this country" stuff. I would have preferred the original from the book, especially the subversive aspect of the kid writing obscenities under a surveillance camera that's been switched off. But I'm guessing that you can only safely blow up despised symbols in Hollywood. Anything else, these days, especially something that looks like a tower is just too close for comfort.
Do you think I've made my 10 line now?
It's a decent movie, go see it.
Être et avoir (2002)
Slow but worth it
This is not a documentary with lots of facts and figures, you wont learn about French culture, countryside economics or much else, other than about how diverse the rural classroom can be. Nor will you be preached at, it's also not got Micheal Moore in it :)
It's very, very, slow. Nothing much happens that couldn't seen in any small school in Europe. It's a smaller, kinder, gentler environment, where you learn as they do. It's whimsical and funny, and for the kids at least there is always something else worth looking at.
Leave you expectations at the door. If you want to be informed, look elsewhere. This one is for those that just want to enjoy the ride.
Appurushîdo (2004)
It may have made more sense in English :P
I bought Appleseed as Manga back in to 80's, which is why, when walking through a large consumer electronics store in Shin Yokohama, to find a movie playing on a Viao laptop I knew what it was. So with no Japanese to speak of, I dragged a sales assistant to the laptop pointed and "asked" if he had the film in stock. Which is how I came to own a 3 DVD special edition, complete with picture book, and a copy of the storyboards, etc.
I put the DVD into the player, and it was only after the opening badass fight, that I must admit had me totally enthralled, that the fact that I was going to have to watch it all in Japanese shook me out of it a little.
I guess the deal is, that much like "the Revenge of the Sith" the opening moments set you up for a slightly disappointing experience, at least the first time around. It's all pure eye candy, though I'm guessing that the reason I think appleseed is a little off is that I didn't understand much of the plot, or it could be that I'm comparing it unfavourably to "Ghost in the Shell" Shirow's Other masterpiece.
It's all there, the big arches of Olympus, the giant walking guns, landmates, etc. And when it's moving fast, and the action's flowing it's hard to look away, it just seems to break down a bit in the quiet moments. I think I shall have to watch it again. Fist time, once I was shocked out of it by the language, I was looking for the mistakes. The sea water isn't that good; the hair is far too simplistic; some animation seems a little stiff, etc.
Next time I think I shall just have to sit back and watch with a less critical eye, it really is one hell of a ride, especially with a DTS soundtrack. You don't realise how much of a difference it makes until you switch from 5.1 to DTS on the fly, then the sound hits you like a wall! There was one explosion that had a particularly satisfying thump to it :) In short, if you've read it, it's not like it was, but it is a lot better than it could have been. It's what Final Fantasy could have been if it didn't get all wishy washy on you.
The world may not yet be ready to cross the "uncanny valley" of full CG films just yet, but this is a good example of the current state of the art.
Trouble in Mind (1985)
Bladerunner?
The person who compared this film to Bladerunner is not only doing this film a disservice, but is so far from the mark as to be untrue. The chief protagonist is a cop true, and though initially spurned, he does get the girl in the end, but that's about where it ends...
From the opening strains of the muted trumpet, and Marianne Faithfull's beautifuly broken voice, this film is a masterpiece, it's moody, quirky, low key and not without a little menace, especially when Hilly Blue "puts the anchor" on Solo, "they should all blow each other's balls off, make my life easier..." to quote Lt. Gunther.
It's everything that Bladerunner isn't, if anything it's set in some alternate vision of a disfunctional 50's & 80's combined, down at heel low life's, trashy outfits, too much drab neon & hairspray, allied with a little mob glamour and modern art.
I guess I just feel for the characters, Hawk's hunger for a life he never had, the Zen stillness of Wanda, the wild eyed innocence of Georgia and the weirdness that is Coop, Solo freaking out as a Bhudhist, and last but not least, Divine in a suit... "let everybody get what they deserve..."
It's not a fast movie, or an ensemble piece, but at some deep level it resonates.
"what are you looking at?" "you a cop?" "you know damn well I'm not a cop" "that's what I'm looking at then, a woman who isn't a cop..."
It's the film I watch when I get down, I've lost track of the number of times I've watched it, I caught it first at the ICA West Bank in London, on it's last showing before they started a series of Mexican masked wrestling bario movies :) I bought it recently on DVD in a shop in Schipol airport after being delayed in Amsterdam for two hours, I'd been looking for it for years at that point... Even Amazon had it on back order.
It's really a wonderful movie, from icy lake to mountain road, I always come away from it happy, I guess you can ask no more from a movie than that.