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Open Water (2003)
A Genuine Horror that Relies Solely on Realism!
People were affected very differently by this movie. I first watched this more than a decade ago and didn't think much of it then. It had a shaky camera, true story, Blair Witch-vibe which was very popular at the time. I knew it was going for realism, but it never went beyond that. Now my life is different. I have a job and take regular vacations and adventure activities. Watching it again, i realised this was one terrifying and intense movie. Much of the horror comes from the straight forward, simplistic realism. No story is being told here, unlike its sequel Adrift (which i also like btw....just me, i have a thing for watery movies). There is no moral, no cinematography. Just straight forward representation of events. They call this a psychological horror, and it really is. The horror comes from your personal experience of the world and how much you can relate. Even if you don't dive, we all have experienced when things go wrong, when a fun activity takes a horrible turn, when the simplest becomes complicated, when the most unlikely takes place and only a second to unfold. Nothing was inherently scary in this movie. They were only stranded for a few hours, and even when the film finishes, it was only one night (humans can go for days without food or water). The sharks weren't big. The one that bit Daniel was possibly smaller than him. This was no monster movie. However, their situation was serious, dire and hopeless from the beginning, because of the unique circumstance. They were virtually impossible to find and after 7 hours, i was surprised they didn't freak out at the hopelessness of the situation as i would have. The worse for me wasn't the shark bite or one night drifting in pitch black stormy oceans but instead the realisation that there was no hope and no respite.
Transcendence (2014)
Thematically and Emotionally Deep But Lacks Polish and Structural Development
The trailers for this movie had me captivated and intrigued, but then i was disappointed with number of negative reviews this movie received which ultimately delayed my viewing of this movie. Having now watched this movie with little expectation i can say that the reviews though correct have massively overstated their case. This was definitely not a bad movie by any standards, but i can see where it falls short of being both a great movie as well as a big hit!
One of the strongest aspects of this movie is its premise. It might have been done before, and since i'm not a massive movie guru, i can't say whether the central premise is original. I do believe that this is one of the first mainstream sci-fis that explored the subject. However, as with many movies particularly sci-fi, the central premise is usually portrayed in the first 20- 30 minutes of the movie. Transcendence does this adequately though without much lasting effect, but perhaps the biggest problem at least for me, is that this entire premise was more or less revealed in the trailer. This therefore created a rather underwhelming experience.
All is not lost however, and this movie does have enough in store to keep viewers interested. In fact this is an understatement. It would be a mistake to say this movie had an underwhelming first and second act, and then went downhill from there. From beginning to end this movie had some powerful and thought-provoking ideas of consciousness, love, even transcendence itself. What this movie fails to do is develop them, flesh them out or present them in a way accessible to all viewers. It is therefore accurate to say this movie may be meaningful to some, not so much to others.
Many have criticised the underuse of strong cast, and here i again agree and disagree. Morgan Freeman, Bettany Hughes and perhaps many on the "RIFT side" of the movie were definitely underused and quite underdeveloped. In fact this is one of weakest parts of the movie, particularly given calibre of actors we are talking about. The "RIFT side", it aspirations, beliefs are not explored in a level of detail of depth that is needed. On the other hand, i actually applaud the screenwriter for not making this into another standard apocalyptic sci-fi. That said the alternative never seems to be quite there.
However, the same simply cannot be said of Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall. Many commentators were skeptical of the two playing their respective characters and that much on screen chemistry could be found in this movie. I say this proved incorrect. The best and my favourite parts of this movie were those of Depp and Hall in a story of tragic love in unpredictable, unforeseeable circumstances. It is these moments that the movie's subtlety and almost lack of conviction seem to work and work well. The development of these two characters is such that they could have been central to the entire movie though this then would have been a different kind of movie with a much less mainstream appeal.
In all, this movie is certainly watchable and for many may prove to be much more. For these people, this movie does provoke the the themes and emotions that perhaps they had whilst watching the trailer. And though they won't be blown away they also won't be disappointed. As i was one of them, an extra star was warranted!
Romeo Must Die (2000)
A huge waste of potential and talent.....
I was sorely disappointed with this movie, which is a shame because the basic idea was interesting and there was a lot going for it. When i first heard of the title, i was thinking that anyone hoping to do anything like a "Romeo and Juliet" with the rival families being Afro-American and Chinese, the couple played by an R&B singer and martial artist must be out of his mind. It would be the boldest thing in cinema history, a turning point in popular racial/cultural thinking. OK OK, viewed in such a climactic sense, this flick doesn't even scratch the surface, and obviously wasn't hoping to. I guess it did deliver the R&B and martial arts though....
So what was good. Not a lot. Aaliyah was as hot as ever and yes i was hoping for some romance between her and Jet Li, even if the whole Romeo and Juliet thing could never really have worked. Thing is, it would have been the rarest things in cinema history. I can not think of a single film which would even attempt romance between a female Afro-American and a male Chinese, and i stress the sexes here. By not realising what potential this had, this film was never going to be good. I can understand why the romance was not quite there though. The coupling was hardly possible and Jet Li was about 17 years older than Aaliyah. And also, Jet Li's not cut out for it. He's not really a male icon even in the far east...He's known for one thing, martial arts.....A kissing scene would have been bizarre yet unmissable...given how he reacts in the few romantic scenes he has done (none of them have kissing)...
The bad. I don't know how it is for the Afro-Americans here but as an ethnic Chinese i found the stereotypes tiresome. I've been to HK and i'm pretty sure they don't beat prisoners hung upside down with batons (they do talk about horse gambling though). They don't call HK one of the Four Tigers for nothing. I advise anyone who wants to know anything about HK and not just the stereotypes to watch how they portray themselves to a Chinese audience. Something like Infernal Affairs for example. And yes HK is distinct from China. Jet Li was actually using Cantonese with that guard, not Mandarin, which is what he uses for the rest of the film. And you would be very lucky to meet anyone in HK who knows proper kung-fu. Your better chances are in fact in China. All HK did was produce a lot of kung-fu movies and start-off the genre because they had a thriving a movie industry which the mainland didn't have at the time.
Also, like a lot of the critics here, i have issues with the fight scenes. What's with the unrealistic wire-work. We all know what Jet Li can do without the wire, and even with the wire i have seen a lot better. What made it worst was the enhancements, speed-ups and x-ray sequences. For a moment i thought i was watching sci-fi and no longer took the film seriously. What were the director and choreographer thinking.
Yeah OK, so i didn't really didn't like this movie and i don't think i'm the only one given the IMDb rating.
Walking with Beasts (2001)
Sorry dinos....this was better!!!!
...but I'm biased, not only because I love this subject but because a full-length documentary exploring the vast subject of the Cenozoic era was long overdue. I mean come-on! We currently live in a mammalian world with only 4 surviving orders of reptiles, all of which barely come into contact with everyday human beings. Mammals rule the ocean...they're the biggest, smartest and even the most ferocious (killer and sperm whales). How did all this come to be? The story is told in Walking with Beasts. Indeed it can be said that Walking with Dinosaurs is about interest, while Walking with Beasts is about legacy!
The era is covered in 6 six half-hour episodes, which is about as long as any such programme can hope to be. In geological terms, we have depictions of the early Eocene, late Eocene, Oligocene, Pliocene, early Pleistocene, and late Pleistocene. OK, excluding the boring Holocene...heh...we're missing two epochs (Paleocene and Miocene) which might seem less agreeable...why not do one for each??? Still one finds the amount of information covered in the programme sufficient and of course interesting. I personally wouldn't want to have missed any of them out.
Briefly, in "New Dawn" we get Leptictidium, Propalaeotherium and Ambulocetus, the latter (I'm sure a lot of you are aware) is known for its role in the evolution of the whale. The 6 foot bird Gastornis is another highlight. Forget about the ostrich, this guy was a predator and at the top of the food chain. "Whale Killer" is a follow-up centering on Basilosaurus and its survival in the late Eocene Tethys Sea (the climate change alludes to the end of the Eocene). "Land of Giants" is mainly about the giant Indricotherium (this guy was bigger than T-Rex) and Entelodont, a feisty animal related to pigs. Australopithecus was the star of the episode "Next of Kin" which also features Deinotherium. My Favorite was "Sabre tooth", which features Smilodon, the terror bird Phorusrhacos, and Megatherium, the giant sloth. Lastly, "Mammoth Journey" is complete change of climate. It depicts the ice-age inhabitants Megaloceras, wholly rhino and the mammoth...
They are all incredible animals and very realistic. You can tell that the CG was slightly better than that used for "Walking with Dinosaurs". The creation of realistic fur and feather presented a huge challenge for the team. In short, it has everything its predecessor has. Perhaps a real treat included in the DVD are the two full-length "making of..." programmes. They provide an in-depth scientific discussion of each of the subjects in the series, including a look at the fossils from the Messil pit in Germany, which provided the basis for the "New Dawn". There were also experts on each specific subject. This gave me the impression that the programme was very well-researched, and perhaps better researched than it predecessor, a claim also made by the producers.
I remember reading, either from amazon or here, that the bbc can't make documentaries. I can't disagree more with this statement. I've been watching their documentaries since I was a kid, and I've always liked their "assume an intelligent public" and "broadcast even though people care more about Big Brother" approach to documentaries. This is exactly the kind of thing that gives rise to documentaries like Blue Planet, Horizon and Planet Earth. It's a tradition the bbc should be proud of....
A Walking with Dinosaurs Special (2002)
This was actually very good!
I applaud the producers' efforts in this production. I'm a fan of the whole "walking with..." series in general -- I own nearly all of them on DVD! Yes, I did buy this because it was a spin-off and was therefore skeptical at first. After all, sequels are rarely good and certainly not the same standard as the other productions in the series. Like all those who have reviewed this on Amazon I was quite surprised...
Unlike the earlier productions, this show features Nigel Marvin. Basically he goes back in time and visits...well the animals of his or the producers' choosing....in other words, the more interesting animals! In the first show, we get Argentinasaurus and Giganotasaurus, not to mention Sarcosuchus. The second features Tarbosaurus and Therizinsaurus, and the third part presents a series of seven "sea monsters" of prehistory. All this of course is hardly in keeping with WWD or WWB, both of which uses detailed narratives and delves deeper into each subject. Instead of a prehistoric wildlife show, we get a prehistoric safari!
At first, this might sound contrived and unrealistic, but you come to realize that the idea was to truly recreate the "walking with dinosaurs" experience. A lot of us are fascinated by prehistoric life and the real way to appreciate the sheer scale and magnificence of these animals is to walk with them, literally! This was the appeal of Jurassic Park, both the idea and the film; but movies naturally sacrifice detail or accuracy for drama and action. For example, we actually get to see the correct 3ft Velociraptor and the Protoceratops in this! Chased by Dinosaurs is about as accurate as the series (accuracy typical of BBC documentaries), yet presents man and dinosaur interacting on screen. What's more, the CGI and SFX are of very good standard, comparable to all other such productions.
My interest in this series was the cast...heh...Nigel was a great actor ;-) but I really meant the animals! Argentinasaurus and Giganotasaurus were the two giant dinosaurs discovered not long ago, still holding the titles of biggest plant-eater and meat-eater respectively. I didn't really know about Therizinsaurus, but I assumed it was not unlike Deinocheirus (terrible hand) which has long been the anomaly of paleontology. Sarcosuchus was the "supercroc", the brief appearance of which was one of the best parts of the show. Others like Megalodon, Dunkleosteus, Leedsichthys and Archelon are other highlights, the greats and bigs, familiar to casual readers and followers of paleontology, not to mention shark and turtle lovers....
One can imagine Hollywood producing big budget movies featuring prehistoric animals in the future, utilizing either the time-travel or living fossil story lines -- a number of them already exist. However, my preference for this subject has always been with the scientific documentaries. Fortunately, as the technology becomes cheaper and available we will no longer have to rely on movies for realistic recreations of the prehistoric world
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Hannibal (2006)
Good but wayyy to short....
The BBC makes a lot of good historical documentaries and the story of Hannibal has everything needed for a great one. This treatment was very far from it, simply because it was too short. Given the length of Hannibal's campaign, much longer than Alexander's, a two hour documentary would be the minimum.
Okay, BBC doesn't have the budget and our knowledge of Hannibal is incomplete, not to mention that much of what we do know is in contention. Still, Hannibal's genius didn't just lie in his crossing of the alps and Cannae, but in general logistics. His being able to outmaneuver his opponents again and again. I would love to have seen the crossing of the Rhone, both Trebbia and Trasimene, and a lot more detail on Cannae and Zama, all of which are timeless classics in classical history. The fact that our knowledge is incomplete also allows for a lot of opportunists for informed guesswork and gap-filling, which the producers have missed out on.
All this is a huge shame because Siddig was a very believable Hannibal and a good actor. In general, BBC documentaries do history much better than Hollywood, because attention is given to accuracy, and the target audience is more specific. It's just unfortunate that they're limited by such things and budget and time constraints. Given the length of this show, it is unlikely that it will be released on DVD, and it will be a long time before there will be another attempt at Hannibal...